9/24/08

Pop quiz hotshots: How bad does a 4am wakeup call suck? You receive a passing grade if you offered any version of "it sucks ass."

Sometimes the first thought of the day sets the tone. Today was one of those days. I managed to get through Chicago in fairly short order, so at least that was good. I can neither confirm nor deny the rumors circulating that traffic on I-90 was flowing well above the 45mph speed limit.

Then the drive down I-65 in Kentucky is always a bumpy pain in the ass. The Pilot on I-65 in Nashville is a good and shitty place to do a relay. The trailer that I picked up had some kind of wiring issue, such that the blinkers on the left side weren't working. I headed for the T/A a few miles down to get that checked out. I missed the turn for the T/A and wound up lost in downtown Nashville. By the time I extricated myself from there, my turn signal was working fine so I decided against trying to double back and find the T/A again. I don't know for sure what was the issue, but it worked when I got here...

Speaking of here... I got a pre-plan as I rolled through Indiana this morning, so I knew where I was headed once I made my relay this afternoon. How bad does a 4am wakeup call suck? It sucks ass, even more so when it comes two days in a row. I had to head over to the ConWay in Nashville and set up for another relay leaving tomorrow morning. I'll be heading over to make my swap at the damn T/A in Troutville, Virginia tomorrow afternoon. Two days in a row... two early ass ConWay relays... two shitty ass truck stops... a distinct possibility that whatever gets me out of Virginia will carry through the weekend and give me a shitty paycheck... if only you could see the big smile on my face.

It's hot as hell outside and this place is a zoo. I ain't dragging the weights out here. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Now I guess I'll try the excessive air conditioning and other methods to put myself to sleep. Good times. Good times.

9/23/08

Hindsight being what hindset tends to be... I should have taken one of those Monday deliveries out of Laredo. I made my quick trip to the consignee this morning and received my next assignment while I was at the dock. It looked like my general opinion that freight is always available in Illinois would hold true. Yeah, maybe not today. I was sent up to Des Plaines to pull a Con-way load leaving tomorrow morning. Oh well. You win some and you lose some.

So, after I pass off the load in Nashville tomorrow afternoon, I'll be somewhere over 600 miles for the week. Had I known that today would only bring a short deadhead, I may have chosen not to burn the extra day heading north. Had I known that I would be watching a Notre Dame loss on Saturday, I definitely wouldn't have chosen to burn the extra day.

So this week will need a late-inning rescue on the paycheck end of things, but we'll see what happens. My brother called today and informed me that he can't make it to the Stanford game. I guess we'll just auction those tickets, meaning I won't be spending as much money as I anticipated over the next few weeks. Better to be lucky (or blessed) than good sometimes.

9/22/08

So I was lying there in bed this morning. My memories of dreams tend to be a little fuzzy, but I seem to recall trying to convince Maria Sharapova that she could improve relations between us and the Russkies if only she would show her undies more frequently. That may not have been the exact dream, but you know how it goes. Anyhow, a damn reefer parked next to me and shocked me back to my mundane reality in a hurry.

Realizing that I wouldn't be getting back to sleep at that point, I hopped in the seat and tried to start my truck. Nope. Dead battery. That one is a bit of a mystery on account of my not having an inverter or fridge or anything in my truck. I use a little 12V outlet inverter when I'm on my computer, but otherwise my battery is unencumbered. Fortunately I spent the night at a truck stop with a shop. So I called road service and got the okay to have the shop guy give me a jump. The fella on the phone said I would need to call back afterward for my work order number.

The shop dude gave me the jump and the bill was only $22. For anything under $50 we don't need a work order number. I had told the CTL guy that I would call back though, so I called back. That's just the kinda guy I am. After I was on hold for twenty minutes, a different road service guy answered and told me just to send in the receipt with no work order. Lesson: I should just become one of those people who says he'll call back and then doesn't call back. I could have saved myself twenty minutes.

From that point it was a pretty easy day of driving. The truck stop in Bloomington sucks ass, so I stopped in McLean for the night. I guess it's about fifteen miles or so from here to my customer. The only real downside is that it's a nice cool night but I have to keep my truck running. I don't know if I have a battery issue or what the story is. One of these nights I'll leave the truck off and see what happens. I have an 8am appointment tomorrow though. Can't take the chance of waking up to another dead battery.

[Workout A]
Incline Press - Same weights, added two reps
French Press - Same weights, added two reps
Side Lateral - Same weights, added one rep
Seated Calf Raise - Same weight, added five reps
Squat - On indefinite hiatus due to knee issues

9/21/08

Let's see if I have anything to bitch about today... Not really. That's always nice, I guess. I got a few hours of decent sleep last night. Traffic was light all day. The Redskins won again. By the time the sun was going down, I had covered over 500 miles. Not bad at all.

Since none of you volunteered to fight me last night, you are welcome to stop by Saint Robert, Missouri and do so tonight. If I need motivation, I will rely on the fact that Julie Banderas is now engaged to be married. Since my fiance hasn't managed to get in touch with me, I was considering moving to New York and trying to enter the cable news business. Ms. Banderas and I could have been quite a couple. Damn.