Well, it was supposed to be about a 200 mile day. I was targeting the service plaza on I-44 outside Chickasha. When I got there, I found what was probably plenty of available parking. I didn't like the look of it though. There were these weird curved lines seeming to denote four lanes. What if you got parked in one of the inner lanes and people were behind and in front of you? That was strange. I'm sure that I would have been fine but I didn't like it, so I moved on down the road a few miles.
I tried the Valero off the next exit. There was about 95% of a parking space open. The trucks who were parked there were spaced much farther apart than they needed to be, so the one potential spot had been squeezed. I could have gotten in there. In fact, I did get in there. The only catch was that the trucks on either side of me would have had to take off my mirrors in order to leave. So I moved on down the road a few miles.
There was a picnic area along the side of the road. I suppose that would have done in a pinch, but I wanted access to restrooms and food and beverages and such. So I moved on down the road a few miles.
The Love's in Lawton was my next opportunity. You know the deal here. Sure, there were spots open - the spots that nobody else wanted. I got to pull into the fuel island and then make a serpentine move around the corner and into a blindside spot. Good enough. Hey, I'm a professional, right? Eh, not really, but I manage to play the part most of the time.
As a result of the parking hijinx, I drove a little further than anticipated today. That sounds pretty silly when I only covered 250 miles, but now I have 125 miles left to cover tomorrow. In point of fact, it doesn't look like there are any truck stops near my consignee so I may end up driving even less than that. My delivery appointment is for 10am on Tuesday so I might wind up running the last 80 miles or so on Tuesday morning, unless I find some better option.
Just because I know it will give my anonymous Keynesian comrade a chuckle, it looks like the hopenchange might have to wait a month or two, but the "conservative" leadership seems to be warming to the idea of spending another trillion bucks or so. Awesome. I'm still holding out for the trucking industry buyout and mandatory $90K salaries though. It's gotta come sooner or later.
And because I know that it will give that guy out in the People's Republic a chuckle, stay classy Rey Rey... (Okay, so I laughed a little. The lovely Ms. Andrews seemed to find him amusing.)
I'm sorry, I just couldn't resisit.Keynesian Economics???? Thats pretty damn sharp on your part. I think you must have been a broker in another life that maybe got into some financial difficulty and now your driving to fight your way back?? Unfortunatly you seem to be under the assumption that we have been or are living in a capitalist society. I contend that the capitalist society that we had all hoped for and that some of us are dilusional toward, ceased to exist during the Reagan era. There are a few remnants of that lost society buried within certain segmants of the job market. Trucking Co's are one. Real Estate agents another. Perhaps a few within the retail sector....Not many beyond that..Who does Exxon compete with?? BP?...Please. Who does anyone in the medical industry compete with??? Hell we dont even know what they charge. Certainly within the banking and brockerage business their is no real competition. If things go poorly they just stick their hand out.
ReplyDeleteQuestion?? Just for kicks. Do you think that the society that we live in is sustainable?? I will give you a for instance. When I was 3 years old , dear old dad bought a house in a town and paid 26,000.00 for it alot of money in the early 60's. I saw where 2 years ago that same house sold for 800,000.00. I couldnt afford to buy the house I grew up in. Thats within 1 lifetime. So I guess when my kids are ready to buy a house they will pay about 2 mil for it....Oh...this house aint in New York or cali. or jersy os Palm beach or any of those exotic places. Just good old home town America.........
Oh sorry...Dont get to worried the Shamans have all pridicted bad things for the messiah..
ReplyDeleteI thought that one might get a rise out of you.
ReplyDeleteQuick answers:
I actually did well in my time as a financial advisor, but the brokerage part of the deal was pretty insignificant. I charged higher than average advisory fees and turned down bad clients. It was a sink or swim approach but I caught some breaks early on and made a nice living. I also take some comfort in knowing that the clients who listened to me should have been able to protect themselves a little against the sudden drop in the market.
Weeks like this one would probably kick my ass a little more if I had money worries to deal with. I'm driving now because, quite frankly, I'm an antisocial schmuck.
I am under no false assumptions about capitalism, nor socialism for that matter (as I don't think we've made it there just yet). But we'll always be moving in one direction or another. I'll come down on the side of freedom every time, good, bad, and (yes, even now) ugly.
Lastly, no. I don't think that this trajectory is sustainable. We don't create any wealth anymore. We just move it around and use loose money to hide the trouble. That can go on for quite some time, as it has (and may continue to do), but not forever. I guess where we diverge is in the fact that I think more loose spending just packs more layers onto the house of cards. Nobody would vote for the guy who says, "Buckle up and deal with it because the next twenty years are gonna suck." We prefer to be the lobsters in the tank as the water slowly rises to a boil. Just more comfortable that way, I suppose.
What will be the next car or internet? I have no idea. There had better be something though. The idea that we'll flourish as a service society doesn't carry much weight with me. If we don't create any wealth as a society, we'll have no reason to expect any better standard of living than the Third World enjoys. The One is banking on "green jobs" so lets hope he's right. I have a feeling that the whole global warming thing is going to blow up too soon for that to happen, but I would love to be wrong.
C'mon Joe Joe, you know I would love that in a second, like you, or I for that matter, would do that hottie any other way. She's a piece and she know's it, that's why she's on the tube bro. As far as the theory of macro-economics, yes, we are screwed. We don't produce anything anymore. The advocats of this consumer society forgot one thing; We will run out of things to buy and the means to do so.
ReplyDeleteMy attempt to work Erin Andrews and a stimulus package into one reply was just too lame, even for me.
ReplyDeleteNicely put, But realistically I don't think that we are in a position where we can "buckle up and deal with it". The fallout at this point in our time line would be tremendous. Unemploymnet way up in the double digits..Bankrupcies at unprecidented levels. Most Americans don't save so they have very little to fall back on when times get tough. It is obvious that as we speak there are real concerns by the powers to be that we could easily in fact head down that bad path. The domino effect is a scary thing. You yourself are starting to feel it in your proffesion. That is real scary because that industry has always done pretty well and is a real barometer of American economics. If there is no freight now then uh oh we better watch out for tomorrow...
ReplyDeleteVito,
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the back and forth between yourself and Mr Anonymous. I have always enjoyed reading the straight forward, unpretentious and sacastic wit in your blog. Keep up the good work and writing.
In a related note I observed this statement on a bumper sticker "I will keep my Freedom, Money and Guns. You can keep the change."
I got a good chuckle out of that bumper sticker but I instantly thought the phrase would have been better stated as "I will keep my Freedom, Money and Guns. You can keep the hopenchange."
Tron
Good to hear from you again. For now though, I simply "hope" to "change" my location to somewhere outside your damn state. That would be a start. It's nothing personal, but I've done quite enough sitting by now. It's time to roll.
ReplyDelete(I'm drafting my own rescue legislation as we speak.)