Saturday, June 7, 2008
6/7/08
Typical day (for me, at least). Lots of good intentions. Very little action. The weatherman got it dead wrong, and I was dumb enough to believe him, so I stayed home and didn't catch the Tigers' win in person. Then I didn't really do anything else all day. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
Friday, June 6, 2008
6/6/08
Here's a 'silver lining' story for you. I headed over to a friend's house to cook up some brats and potatoes before the game. By the time all was said and done, I ate a ton of food and drank a few beers, leaving me feeling pretty sluggish.
So I just hung out and watched the game on TV instead of driving downtown. See. Glad I didn't spend any money on that shit. Sometimes everything just seems to work out.
So I just hung out and watched the game on TV instead of driving downtown. See. Glad I didn't spend any money on that shit. Sometimes everything just seems to work out.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
6/5/08
Thursday, Thursday, Thursday. Not a whole lot new to say. I made it over to my parents' house for a while, then somehow got distracted on the way home. I ran into a former acquaintance at a local watering hole and, well, you know how that goes. I never did make it back to my place, but at least I can be considered a man again, in certain circles. That was long overdue.
I think I'll head to the ballpark Friday and see if that poor excuse for a baseball team is motivated by my presence. Three games with Cleveland just might make or break this season.
I think I'll head to the ballpark Friday and see if that poor excuse for a baseball team is motivated by my presence. Three games with Cleveland just might make or break this season.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
6/4/08
NBC doesn't show the national anthem before the Stanley Cup finals. If you know why that bothers me, go ahead and look into it. If you don't, then just stick your head back in the sand and think you get objective news every night.
The morning was a rainy and dreary affair. The rain was worst around Columbus, during the morning rush, so it got a little slow for a bit. I got into Taylor around noon and dropped off the trailer, then headed home.
An overriding question for me in recent days has been whether or not Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy was worth trying. I've heard ads on the radio and thought I should probably see for myself. Question answered. Pretty solid. It's pretty damn expensive, so I don't imagine I would buy a lot of it, but for a nice refreshment on a hot day, beauty. The slight twinge of lemonade adds just that little bit of distinction. Good stuff.
Anyhow, Wings are on. Time to eliminate Pittsburgh.
The morning was a rainy and dreary affair. The rain was worst around Columbus, during the morning rush, so it got a little slow for a bit. I got into Taylor around noon and dropped off the trailer, then headed home.
An overriding question for me in recent days has been whether or not Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy was worth trying. I've heard ads on the radio and thought I should probably see for myself. Question answered. Pretty solid. It's pretty damn expensive, so I don't imagine I would buy a lot of it, but for a nice refreshment on a hot day, beauty. The slight twinge of lemonade adds just that little bit of distinction. Good stuff.
Anyhow, Wings are on. Time to eliminate Pittsburgh.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
6/3/08
You know that I seem, to make romantic dreams, up in lights, fallin' off the silver screen.My heart's like an open book, for the whole world to read. Sometimes nothing keeps me together at the seams. I'm on my way, well I'm on my way, home sweet home.
Not a day too soon, I might add. This one was another drag of a day. I guess staying up to listen to the end of that hockey game didn't get me started exactly right. A triple overtime loss is like dating a chick for three weeks and then finding out she's saving herself for marriage. Bogus.
I don't know what in the hell it is about West Virginia, but I swear it rains every time I go through that state. Maybe Dick Cheney can add some weather jokes to the old 'inbred' routine. Today's soaker got pretty intense. The spookiest part was coming down a steep slope around a curve when I saw flashing lights at the bottom. Okay. Time to shed some speed, without hydroplaning, and while moving to the left lane as I navigated the curve. Big fun. At the bottom of the hill, a Heartland driver had laid his trailer over on its side. Bummer. Hope he was okay.
By the time I got to Ohio, that was enough of that. At least there wasn't a Swiftie holding up traffic on US-35 this time around, which is nice. The only spot open in this rest area was next to a reefer. I guess that's pretty fitting.
I'll have to get cracking nice and early tomorrow, in order to get to Taylor on time. Then I'll get some much-needed R&R.
Monday, June 2, 2008
6/2/08
What a long ass day. At least the Red Wings were kind enough to let Pittsburgh tie the game so I could enjoy the overtime period.
It started out decent enough. I headed down to the shipper and got checked in. They were loading us at the far left end of the lot (as you sit in the truck facing outward). This meant that the only way in was to set up on the blindside and back in from there. It was a little tight, but no big deal really. After a few people were settled in and getting loaded, the Swifties started showing up. Now, I know it's not nice to play along with stereotypes, but it really was funny. Every one of the three tried to set up for a standard left hand back. This was completely impossible, given the setup of the dock, yet none of them seemed to figure it out until they were all twisted around and facing a sticky situation. So I played the role of the good neighbor and helped them out. Yeah, I know, I'm a regular humanitarian here.
The drive from Winter Haven up to the consignee wasn't bad. The load was 45,500 pounds, so I basically just kept my ass in the right lane and puttered along. I was relieved to get green lights at each Prepass location since I really didn't have time to scale the load. I was pretty sure I had the axles set up right, based on the last water load that I pulled, but I didn't know for sure.
Shortly after I got rolling, my satellite unit beeped me with a message. Since I had requested home time, I checked to see if it was another pre-plan. A run toward home would have been welcome news. Nope. Just a message saying that my fleet manager wasn't in so we should stay off the phone if possible.
A little while later, I got another beep. Since I had requested home time, I checked to see if it was another pre-plan. A run toward home would have been welcome news. Nope. Just a message saying that our CEO had recorded a new message to the fleet. I had nothing better to do, so I dialed the number. There was a bit about helping people affected by tornadoes, then a spiel about fuel mileage. Apparently we're finally starting to see an uptick in our MPG. Since they started clipping our truck speeds about six months ago, I'd say they're probably not getting the results that they anticipated. So the long and short of it was that we've now gone from "Please get better MPG," to "Pretty pretty please get better MPG." Maybe that approach will work this time, as opposed to the last two years of them saying the same thing. Probably not. I would suggest they take advantage of the pro bono work provided by Fenian Godfather Consulting, but then again I'm a little partial to the work of the folks at FGC.
So anyhow, I rolled along another half hour or so and got yet another beep. This time it was a pre-plan. A drop/hook in Savannah, heading to Taylor, Michigan. Beauty. Nice work guys.
I made the drop in Tifton and then high-tailed it over to Savannah. There were a few hardcore thunderstorms and it was all US highways, so that took a while. I was given directions to a place right by the airport in Savannah, so that's where I went. Ghost town. I called in and asked what was the story, to which the young lady on the phone replied that I could just make my drop/hook and that the paperwork should be in the nose box of the loaded trailer. Yeah, thanks for playing, but there were no trailers there. The place was completely deserted.
Eventually we were able to ascertain that I was supposed to be at a different location, one to which I have actually been one time recently. So I headed up the road a few miles. It was a good thing that this wasn't my first trip there, because I would never have been able to find the place in the dark otherwise. It's pretty well hidden from the main road. Then I got to back into a spot that may or may not have been a spot (it was just wide enough for my empty trailer), in a completely jammed dirt lot, with trailers parked all over the place, and with no lights anywhere around. Lots of trips to the back of the trailer there, but nothing harmed. Then I suppose it should come as no surprise that my loaded trailer was in a ridiculous spot. When you have to "G.O.A.L." four times, to go forward, that's bullshit.
By the time my drop/hook was done, I was out of hours on my 14 hour clock. In a recently common theme, it was getting late and I needed somewhere to park. The industrial park down the street had nothing for me. The Pilot in Port Wentworth had nothing for me. The South Carolina scales had nothing for me. The South Carolina welcome center had nothing for me. I found a spot at the CMV parking area a little further north, so that's that. I don't know exactly how the legalities of that situation would be interpreted, but what can you do? I had to get to a parking space, past 14 hours or otherwise. I guess, as far as you know, I made up this whole paragraph and I'm actually in Savannah. Yeah, that's the ticket.
So I'll jam out a good day of driving tomorrow and roll into Taylor on Wednesday morning. According to the paperwork, this trailer was loaded two days ago and its due in Canada by Wednesday night. If that's the case, I guess I was lucky that it never got assigned to someone else before me. I put in my request on Sunday and I'll be home three days later. Not bad.
It started out decent enough. I headed down to the shipper and got checked in. They were loading us at the far left end of the lot (as you sit in the truck facing outward). This meant that the only way in was to set up on the blindside and back in from there. It was a little tight, but no big deal really. After a few people were settled in and getting loaded, the Swifties started showing up. Now, I know it's not nice to play along with stereotypes, but it really was funny. Every one of the three tried to set up for a standard left hand back. This was completely impossible, given the setup of the dock, yet none of them seemed to figure it out until they were all twisted around and facing a sticky situation. So I played the role of the good neighbor and helped them out. Yeah, I know, I'm a regular humanitarian here.
The drive from Winter Haven up to the consignee wasn't bad. The load was 45,500 pounds, so I basically just kept my ass in the right lane and puttered along. I was relieved to get green lights at each Prepass location since I really didn't have time to scale the load. I was pretty sure I had the axles set up right, based on the last water load that I pulled, but I didn't know for sure.
Shortly after I got rolling, my satellite unit beeped me with a message. Since I had requested home time, I checked to see if it was another pre-plan. A run toward home would have been welcome news. Nope. Just a message saying that my fleet manager wasn't in so we should stay off the phone if possible.
A little while later, I got another beep. Since I had requested home time, I checked to see if it was another pre-plan. A run toward home would have been welcome news. Nope. Just a message saying that our CEO had recorded a new message to the fleet. I had nothing better to do, so I dialed the number. There was a bit about helping people affected by tornadoes, then a spiel about fuel mileage. Apparently we're finally starting to see an uptick in our MPG. Since they started clipping our truck speeds about six months ago, I'd say they're probably not getting the results that they anticipated. So the long and short of it was that we've now gone from "Please get better MPG," to "Pretty pretty please get better MPG." Maybe that approach will work this time, as opposed to the last two years of them saying the same thing. Probably not. I would suggest they take advantage of the pro bono work provided by Fenian Godfather Consulting, but then again I'm a little partial to the work of the folks at FGC.
So anyhow, I rolled along another half hour or so and got yet another beep. This time it was a pre-plan. A drop/hook in Savannah, heading to Taylor, Michigan. Beauty. Nice work guys.
I made the drop in Tifton and then high-tailed it over to Savannah. There were a few hardcore thunderstorms and it was all US highways, so that took a while. I was given directions to a place right by the airport in Savannah, so that's where I went. Ghost town. I called in and asked what was the story, to which the young lady on the phone replied that I could just make my drop/hook and that the paperwork should be in the nose box of the loaded trailer. Yeah, thanks for playing, but there were no trailers there. The place was completely deserted.
Eventually we were able to ascertain that I was supposed to be at a different location, one to which I have actually been one time recently. So I headed up the road a few miles. It was a good thing that this wasn't my first trip there, because I would never have been able to find the place in the dark otherwise. It's pretty well hidden from the main road. Then I got to back into a spot that may or may not have been a spot (it was just wide enough for my empty trailer), in a completely jammed dirt lot, with trailers parked all over the place, and with no lights anywhere around. Lots of trips to the back of the trailer there, but nothing harmed. Then I suppose it should come as no surprise that my loaded trailer was in a ridiculous spot. When you have to "G.O.A.L." four times, to go forward, that's bullshit.
By the time my drop/hook was done, I was out of hours on my 14 hour clock. In a recently common theme, it was getting late and I needed somewhere to park. The industrial park down the street had nothing for me. The Pilot in Port Wentworth had nothing for me. The South Carolina scales had nothing for me. The South Carolina welcome center had nothing for me. I found a spot at the CMV parking area a little further north, so that's that. I don't know exactly how the legalities of that situation would be interpreted, but what can you do? I had to get to a parking space, past 14 hours or otherwise. I guess, as far as you know, I made up this whole paragraph and I'm actually in Savannah. Yeah, that's the ticket.
So I'll jam out a good day of driving tomorrow and roll into Taylor on Wednesday morning. According to the paperwork, this trailer was loaded two days ago and its due in Canada by Wednesday night. If that's the case, I guess I was lucky that it never got assigned to someone else before me. I put in my request on Sunday and I'll be home three days later. Not bad.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
6/1/08
I wasn't quite sure why the Wings lost game 3, but now I get it. They wanted to be able to win the cup at home instead of on the road. Good thinking. I guess that whole Detroit trifecta thing hasn't exactly worked out, but I'm not a basketball fan anyway.
A couple hours after I got rolling this morning, I received a pre-plan for my next load. That means that, on two out of the last two times I've intended to request home time from Florida, I've been pre-planned. I guess there's just no way around the mountain of evidence there. Everybody who goes to Florida with the intention of requesting home time will be pre-planned. It's proven 100% of the time, or something like that.
Anyway, the drive down was pretty easy and I found a clean trailer at the ConWay yard in Orlando. That's always nice. It turns out that the pre-plan had an added bonus. I was originally thinking that I would park at the truck stop right by the ConWay yard, but it was jam-packed with trucks (including quite a few red CTL Kenworths). Since I knew where I was picking up next, I was able to head west to Polk City and park for the night. I pick up down the road in Winter Haven at 8am tomorrow, then head up to Tifton, Georgia for an afternoon delivery.
I went ahead and sent my home time request when I got to Orlando, even though I was planned on another load. I'm assuming that there was no issue, since this next run will take me right up I-75 and in the right direction anyway. So I guess the gang at Kelly's Pub had better work on saving me a stool pretty soon. I should be home by the weekend.
A couple hours after I got rolling this morning, I received a pre-plan for my next load. That means that, on two out of the last two times I've intended to request home time from Florida, I've been pre-planned. I guess there's just no way around the mountain of evidence there. Everybody who goes to Florida with the intention of requesting home time will be pre-planned. It's proven 100% of the time, or something like that.
Anyway, the drive down was pretty easy and I found a clean trailer at the ConWay yard in Orlando. That's always nice. It turns out that the pre-plan had an added bonus. I was originally thinking that I would park at the truck stop right by the ConWay yard, but it was jam-packed with trucks (including quite a few red CTL Kenworths). Since I knew where I was picking up next, I was able to head west to Polk City and park for the night. I pick up down the road in Winter Haven at 8am tomorrow, then head up to Tifton, Georgia for an afternoon delivery.
I went ahead and sent my home time request when I got to Orlando, even though I was planned on another load. I'm assuming that there was no issue, since this next run will take me right up I-75 and in the right direction anyway. So I guess the gang at Kelly's Pub had better work on saving me a stool pretty soon. I should be home by the weekend.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)