Sick

Stayed home from work today due to strep throat. I have been fighting this for a couple of days now, but this thing needs to run it's course without me working 12hr days, so I'm taking my antibiotics and trying to get some rest. We have had two new guys start at work, which is relieving some of the workload from the rest of us and that's a good thing. Rumor has it that there are three more people training and coming to our store in the next few weeks, my guess would be one out of the five will stick around for any length of time. That seems to be about normal.

It's raining really hard here right now. Thunder and lightning and all the fun stuff. I think I picked a good day to call out sick!

I just wish I wasn't really sick...

well well...

OK, so it's been a while since I posted here, my bad. I spent seven months out of work before I found a job driving for a local lumber company. I have been there for almost a year now, and am finally getting my financial house back in order.

Trust me, paying for a wedding AND leaving one's job at the same time is very poor planning...

Of course the good news is that I'm driving again and I get to be home at night, both of these things I love, the not so great part is I'm driving straight frame class B trucks, and I have to unload them by hand. I'm glad the overtime is good because heavy lifting in extreme heat and cold really sucks, never mind snow and rain...

So I am going to try to get back into the blog again, it feels a little like an abandoned child to me and that makes me feel guilty!

Summer's almost here, be careful out there on the roads!

Too much time on my hands

Well, the wedding was fantastic, the Florida honeymoon was fantastic, and married life is treating me well. With that said, I left Schneider after all the wedding hoopla determined to find something closer to home to earn a living.

This has not worked out so well yet...

Work is slim pickins' right now. I had expected this, but not quite to the extent that it really is. I have spent the last month and a half looking for work and have come up dry so far. Even the part time work hasn't panned out yet.

The money is all gone, and thank God Linda is working, because that is the household income at the moment. GRRRR My timing has not been so great for leaving my job, but between the low miles, and the driving to PA to get to my truck, the cost was getting out of control.

I'm determined to be home at night, and not be in a sleeper cab anymore, that is a rough life that I never intended to do forever. Linda and I had agreed to 1yr of over the road driving, and I actually spent 18 months out there, so my objective of OTR experience was fulfilled. The obvious problem now is that the economy is soooo bad that everything is slowing down. No need to preach to the choir about this problem, y'all know the tune!

Anywhoo, I'm getting back to the job searching, and will try to keep the posting updated!

woo sa...

OK, Having cleansed my political "colon" of it's bile, and having another payday come, let's get back to the truckin' stuff!

After a slow start, I have been able to log some miles this week, including a bunch of HAZMAT miles, which will pay well. Who would of thunk that concentrated carwash chemicals would be considered hazardous? EEEEK! giant bubbles on the highway! No matter...it's good for the paycheck, heck anything will be better than the last few checks!

I also had the chance to drive a Kenworth T2000 that belongs to an owner/operator. He an I were both stuck in PA last weekend, and we ended up hanging out for a while, it's the truck in the center of the photo. Very cool ride!




Schneider also gives me a new pair of boots every year, very nice of them yes, but it is to help eliminate slip and fall accidents. We can pick from many different choices from the "boot truck" that shows up on site. This year I went with the Michelin's. Who knew they made boots, er, who knew some company in China makes boots and stamps Michelin on them. Anyhoo, they are very comfortable, steel toe'd, and should see me through the winter.


Being a company driver usually means I hook to a lot of trailers during my three week on the road. Drop and Hook is the term used for picking up a trailer at one point and droping it somewhere else. I will normally hook to three or more trailers in a given week. These last two and a half weeks I have hooked to only two trailers. Most of my freight has been live loaded, meaning I take an empty trailer somewhere, back it up to a dock and have it loaded, or unloaded, while I wait. This is more time consuming for me, and therefore not as profitable, but with freight being the way it is, I'll take what I can get. It's just very unusual to use the same trailer for 11 days.

Did I mention I got my truck back? During my "vacation" weekend I got back to normal.




Just another tight loading dock in MA.






I'm looking forward to getting home for the wedding. I'm excited to see family and friends that I haven't seen for a while. Currently I'm in Seville OH with a load that takes me to PA on Monday morning. From there, it looks like I will be shutting this circus down for a while and heading home.

Lets see....show up on time....don't say no.... I got this wedding thing covered!

Find me in the middle...a little to the right

Man, it seems like everyone in the blogosphere has a lot to say about politics these days. How does everyone become such a political expert every three and a half years, and then expect that everyone, no make that anyone, really gives a damn about what they have to say about it.

Funny political system we have here, but it is the best system out there. Freedom of speech, God bless it.

So in my best non-narcissistic way that I can muster for your consideration, here is my "OFFICIAL POLITICAL RANT" entry. Do it once and shut the hell up about it.

I believe in God and the separation of church and state.

Anything that can be done by the private sector can be totally screwed up by the Government.

Government oversight on portions of our society is critical, read: financial, transportation, education, energy, food and health care. I'm sure I've missed a few, but it's my rant and I'm allowed.

The private sector will progress faster than Government regulations, making them old and outdated before anyone notices. "There is never a problem until there is a problem".

Tom Allen has done more damage to the state of Maine over the last 10 yrs than global warming.

We were all ranting 8 yrs ago about how the "outsider" George Bush was going to be a fresh start after being exhausted with all the Clinton scandals, bringing decency back to the white house. Or how Clinton was going to bring change to the White House after "Bush 41", or how Regan was going to bring change after the Carter administration. etc...etc...Why do we all have 7.5year memories??!! SSDD.

I didn't like Baldiacci at first, but I have gotten used to him now. He got handed a bum deal from the start, and played a pretty good hand with it.

I would vote for the Palin/Biden ticket just like I would have voted for the Cheney/Liberman ticket. Why do the VP candidates interest me more than the top of the ticket?

I don't have a horse in this Prez. race, but I am voting for Collins and Snowe for as long as they want to run for office. Chellie Pingree? See Tom Allen rant above.

The more abusive we are on our politicians the worse the caliber of the candidate. Human nature I know, I know...

I struggle with the argument that the country can evolve, but the Constitution cannot, although I still believe the Constitution is not an evolving document.

Abortion is murder.

My last paycheck was $33.00, and I got a wedding coming up soon. Guess I'm getting a little edgy.

Have a nice day!