2/25/10

Pursuant to a few recent e-mail conversations, I get a kick out of the following bit of news. Back when the Fenian Godfather Institute began publishing this web log, the long vertical column framed in green was most pleasing to the eyes of the editors, so that's the format that we decided to use. Sometimes, however, I can get a little longwinded and the main column can extend pretty far down the page. This left for some imbalance with respect to the sections along the right side of the page and the white space below them. Might as well use the fact that blogger.com is a Google property and even out the spacing with some Google ads, I concluded. They don't cost me anything and sometimes, since they are supposed to relate to the text in the blog posts, people might see something useful.

Today's post is #979 in this little voyage of ours. Occasionally I won't have a chance to post a day's story until the following morning but, one way or another, there has been a post on every single day since this thing began. Today, when I logged on to my bank's website to review my checking account, I saw a deposit in the amount of $100.87... from Google AdSense. It turns out that people actually do click an ad every now and then. The minimum payment threshold was $100 and we've finally managed to cross it. And it only took a little over two and a half years. Ten cents a day, baby! The Fenian Godfather Insititute's days as a non-profit are over!

Added to the bountiful payout from Google, I got some layover pay for my breakdown time and the reimbursement authorization for my motel room. So even though the feds forced me to sit around all day without making any money, until I had been parked for at least ten hours, my budgetary fortunes were getting a little lift. That always helps. I figure that, if the same blogging and ad clicking pace continues for another 14,000 years, I'll have a pretty good nest egg built up for myself.

I was #2 when I went to bed in the morning and #13 when my break was finally over. Several trucks had arrived during the time after I woke from my slumber but before I was legal to drive again, so I can add one more to my list of grievances with the federal government and its regulations. I had requested home time though, so I wasn't in terrible shape. On account of the home time request, I would be given priority status for any loads heading in the general direction of the Great Lakes region. Good enough.

Later in the afternoon I got an assignment that served to tie up plenty of loose ends in one fell swoop. I had to bounce down to a shipper near the border and make a drop/hook, then head for Coldwater, Michigan. So I'll deliver not too far from home on Monday morning, bringing my trip home within easy reach. And it looks like my route will take me through Joplin, giving me a chance to put the damned tire tread issue behind me. While I'm there I suppose I'll pick up my shiny gold ring, even though it will be due for its first diamond in another couple months or so. And the miles for this run, combined with my layover pay from the time in El Paso, will be enough to rescue my week and kick the paycheck over a thousand bucks. All in all, pretty stinking good lads.

I thought I would be clever and take a shortcut down to the shipper, rather than do the whole 'go east, then loop back west' thing on I-10. My route was fine but, given the time of day and the rinky-dink nature of some of the streets, it took a little while to get there. After that, the drop/hook was quick and easy and I had a nice little hop up to the Flying J in Pecos, my standard stopping point on evening runs out of El Paso. This load is a little under 20,000 pounds, which is a welcome break from the string of heavy ones that I've had lately. I was able to set the cruise control and enjoy the ride.

All that's left now is for that global warming to move out to sea before I get up north.