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Reuters - Fierce Hurricane Ike weakened as it charged across the Atlantic on Friday and took aim at south Florida and the oil fields of the Gulf of Mexico, while Tropical Storm Hanna buffeted the Carolinas after killing at least 529 people in Haiti.

You might think that a race car driver's life and an extreme athlete's life are interesting and exciting, with never a calm moment, where you never know what the next day will bring. Believe it or not, there is another profession where you simply never know what the next moment will bring - teaching.

Yes, you got it right, teaching is the one job in the world that is simply full of unexpected hazards and the kind of surprises that can either make you fall asleep that night with a smile on your face or the kind of surprises that cab make you tear your hair out.

So you might reasonable think that at the time of retirement teachers heave a sigh of relief and keep the books away at last. But that is not true. When they reach retirement, teachers always seem too sad for words.

This is easily explained, actually. Teaching is one of the most challenging of jobs, and also one of the least financially lucrative of jobs, as well. This combination means that if a person decides to become a teacher, it is purely from love of teaching. This is why when they reach retirement; teachers suddenly seem not to know what to do with themselves.

This is also why, once they do reach retirement, teachers have to keep busy. They might expect themselves to be relieved that they can finally take things easy, but that is not true - after years on the edge of the seat, sitting back and doing nothing is simply not something they can do very well! They are always so used to having young people around them that the change of pace can be disgruntling after a couple of weeks.

The only way to tackle this little problem is, of course, to make sure that they keep busy - after retirement, teachers have to make sure that they still play an active role in the lies of the children they taught. This is especially true in the case of kindergarten and primary school teachers. At that age, children idolize their teachers, and will welcome having them in their lives again, even if not as teachers.

If you are a teacher who has just retired, and you have a hobby you have not had the time to pursue for ages - be it gardening, knitting, painting, writing or hang-gliding - this is the perfect time to take it up. If you do not have a hobby already, go back to the time when you were the age of the children you spent years teaching, and you are sure to find one. Teachers were born busy. Not being busy is something they just cannot get used to!

Katie Appleby is an accomplished niche website developer and author.

To learn more about retirement, please visit You Retired for current articles and discussions.

Dear Margo - This is an unusual column for me to write. Throughout my years as an advice columnist (first as "Dear Prudence," now "Dear Margo"), I have never plugged anything or suggested to my readers that they participate in any event. I do so now to continue a tradition.

If youre already a musician, youre probably already interested in recording at least somewhat. What musician doesnt want to have recordings of their music?

And being a musician means youve probably been to websites and seen magazines related to your musical interests, and in the magazines and website youve seen those ads. Yep, you know the ones, telling you how awesome of a career there is ahead of you once you go to their recording school.

Now before I spill the beans and say anything negative about recording schools, I will say that if you go to them and you graduate, you should be fairly competent in the recording arts. But thats about the only good thing I can really say about them.

Consider this, if youve taken the time to investigate going to one of these schools, youll already know just how incredibly expensive they are. Most cost several thousand dollars just for tuition. And that doesnt include housing costs while you are away, in a different city, going to their school. The tuition for most schools will typically cost you around $3000 or more for their full-blown programs.

If youve read any of my other articles or heard my free audio program, then you should already know that spending this kind of money could potentially be a huge waste for you, much better spend on building your own studio. When you know what equipment to buy and you know my 22 tricks for buying equipment at huge discounts you will easily be able to have your own, great sounding, fully capable setup.

If you go to a recording school you might learn a lot and do so relatively quickly, but once you graduate and go back home, if you didnt already have a recording studio of your own, what good would all your knowledge be? You wouldnt be able to practice your skills and you wouldnt be able to record, and presumably, the whole reason you went to school in the first place was to make recordings

And theres one major thing about recording that most people overlook - you need to practice at it, especially the practicing your mixing skills.

I dont care what school you went to, nothing beats actually doing it. Anyone and everyone will need to practice their recording skills, because a lot of it has to do with honing your listening skills and truly internalizing your audio production concepts by putting them to work in real-life situations. In other words, your brain needs to exercise at recording to be any good.

The several week programs that these schools offer isnt nearly enough time to get the practice you need to actually be skilled at recording. If you know you dont already have the equipment to record, dont even think about going to recording school because when its over, you wont be able to get the practice you need.

Ahh, but you think youll get a job in field right? Isnt that one of the main benefits of a recording school they offer job placement? Well, once again, I have news for you. If you seriously think that this is so, why dont you call up a school or two and ask them what their placement rate actually is. If theyre honest about it, and give you a straight answer (which they probably wont), I bet youll be shocked. Most graduates dont get jobs in the field, at least not soon after they graduate and not without the kind of practice and experience Ive been talking about.

Employers always want experience and a couple of weeks in a school program usually is not what an employer considers as experience. Consider a few facts: It doesnt take that many people to operate a recording studio and most already have all the people they need. The ones that dont have enough staff frequently get free help from other students who are in an audio recording program in a near by school or university. On top of that, due to the technological revolution making it easier for people to create their own home studios, major recording studios are going out of business left and right. Take a look on eBay. Youll see plenty of studios selling off their gear as they go under.

Sure, there are other jobs out there for recording engineers besides working in a music recording studio, such as with local television channels, Hollywood and few other things. But, the people who usually get these jobs are university graduates with a degree in something else other than audio engineering, or at least not just a degree in audio engineering. Employers like a background that isnt one sided, so these job hunters will definitely have a leg up on recording school grads when it comes to getting the jobs.

In a nutshell, what Im trying to tell you is that before you go to a recording school you need to define the reason why you want to go and you need to really consider all of your options. Theres a good chance that what youre trying to accomplish by going to recording school could be done a lot quicker, cheaper and better by doing it on your own.

Brandon Robertson is "The Home Recording Guy." Sponsor of The Independent Musician Source.

As a studio owner and veteran musician he's an expert at making great sounding recordings in home environments and on a low budget. He's teaching musicians all of the world how cheap and easy it is to record themselves and avoid wasting time and money at recording studios. His love of independent music has driven him to do whatever he can to support DIY and independent musicians everywhere.

He's the author of two current books that every musician should read or listen to, including "The Ultimate Home Recording Guide For Anyone On Any Budget," and "The 22 Proven Secrets For Saving Tons Of Money When Buying Music Equipment."

His books are available at: http://www.Guide.EasyRecordingHelp.com

He also has a Free Audio mp3 Course that every musician should hear about promoting, recording and distribution available at http://www.Your.MusicianPartner.com

Home site: http://www.IndependentMusicianSource.com