2/13/10

Well, at least I earned enough money to pay for my dinner this evening. Truck driving? Oh, no no no. There was none of that. I took part in a live online focus group about shopping. I spent ten minutes checking the box that said "very unimportant" and my work was done. Ten bucks. More than I can say for my actual job.

Some of the longtime readers of this blog may recall that last February was a record-setting month in a couple of ways. Maybe some less than perfect parallels can be drawn here. This year, in the first week of February, I didn't manage to eclipse the $1629.68 from last year. I did have a very busy week though. And, in keeping with the imperfection of the parallel, we haven't reached the last week of the month yet. This week, however, I managed to have my worst... week... evah! (I know some of you are a little slow on the uptake, so yeah, I'm still sitting at the McDonald's in San Marcos.) In the pay week that will end in a couple of hours, I managed to jam out 1,264 miles plus $35 for the extra drop on that last load. Gross pay - $515.32. A record-breaking week in all the wrong ways. To add to this week's distinction, I'll note that my worst previous week involved a guy hitting my truck and costing me two days of work. Nothing like that happened this week, although I suppose that I did burn up a couple of days finishing off last week's miles.

Anyhow, yeah, no assignment today. I'm certainly more annoyed than I was at this point last night, but probably less annoyed than I'll be tomorrow morning when I get an assignment just before our asinine layover system kicks in. Gotta sit for 48 hours to collect the cash, so I fully expect to get moving in hour #47.

I must say though, all things considered, this hasn't been a bad place to kick back for a while. I've seen no indication that the McDonald's people are even aware of my presence. There are a variety of dining options within a quarter-mile. There's a convenience store across the street where my Swedish buddy may or may not find something to help him sleep tonight. The sky was sunny and the temperature must have approached 70° today. I got three more audiobooks onto CD's, watched a couple of movies, and read a couple of short stories. In terms of my vocation, this weekend clearly was a royal screwjob. In terms of my personal enjoyment, not so bad. Probably not gonna wake with a little Valentine señorita next to me tomorrow though. That would be the perfect conclusion to an otherwise wasted weekend, I think.

I'll probably get moving tomorrow morning, if only for the fact that those degenerates who pull the strings will lose more money by letting me sit another day. The odd thing is that, after sitting around and relaxing as I have, I feel like I could run for another few weeks with no trouble. I've told some friends that I'll try to get home soon though. Believe it or not, there are a few people who seem to notice when I haven't been around for a while. (I know. I don't get it either.) So I'll get the distinct 'double whammy' effect of a horseshit paycheck next Friday followed up by a horseshit paycheck for whatever week includes my next round of home time. Guess I'm not retiring this month.