4/22/09

So... I enjoyed playing the role of laid off local driver so much yesterday that I decided to give it another go today. Yeah, that's the ticket. Or... maybe my turn just never came up. Nah, that narrative sucks. I chose to sit around all day with my thumb up my ass. Yeah, that sounds pretty good.

I did come across a group of lovely ladies as I was out and about, doing a little grocery shopping. I was feeling pretty manly and decided to make a move and see what might happen. The results were about as we would expect.


Oh well, at least I'm up to #2 on the board now. I probably shouldn't stay up and listen to the rest of the baseball game, even though Granderson just gave the good guys the lead. I'm just about done with a marathon book burning session. (Audio book on CD, not censorship.) I think I should probably head up to the yard and sleep in my squeaky clean Kenworth tonight. They moved a couple of trucks before I woke this morning. A poor struggling driver can hope for something similar tomorrow. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday... I don't know... maybe we can scrape together something like a decent paycheck.

4/21/09

Yes, of course I'm madly in love with Miss California. To those of you who had to ask - come on now, seriously. You didn't really have to ask, did you?

So I decided to impersonate a local truck driver today. I sat at home, stared at the walls, and felt sorry for myself since there was no work for me to do. Hehe, that's a little recession/layoff joke for you. I kid because I care... or something like that. Of course I don't get the unemployment check just yet though.

I went through the usual routine of setting my alarm, tossing and turning all night, and then calling the terminal to put myself back on duty. Per usual, I was kinda sorta hoping I wouldn't be too close to the top of the board when I called. Per usual... be careful what you wish for and whatnot. #31. Shit. Well, plenty of time to go back to bed then, eh?

I spent the day bumming around and checking on my status every couple of hours. It seemed that, about once every hour and a half, a bunch of trucks would come off the board. Then everything would stay static for another hour and a half. I made it up to #12 and it appeared that this would be where I would spend the night. Since donning my luxurious boxers (for your own sake, don't try to picture that) and crawling into bed, I've managed to move up to #8. Maybe I can get some sort of sleep tonight before heading to my truck tomorrow and impersonating an OTR driver for a change.

I'm sure she'll forgive me for not knowing the proper protocol for the blogging equivalent of a chain letter, since I don't have any friends and I don't read blogs very often, but Diane at Heads Carolina/Tails California was very kind yesterday and the folks who sent messages have likewise been friendly people. Rather than try to come up with something clever, I think I could manage the whole 'pay it forward' deal far more effectively if anyone here wanted to chime in with a comment or two and suggest some decent reading. I do like to look at Jake Tapper's blog at ABC every once in a while though.

4/20/09

I'll go ahead and make one of my pointless economic prognostications, based on a single data point that probably should never be extrapolated to mean anything. I've been a cardmember with American Express since 1999. I've never had a spending limit and never failed to pay my balance in full at the end of the month. A few years ago, I added a Blue account to give me some flexibility in case of emergency. It had a $6,000 limit and, as I made the transition into a new profession, there were a few times that money got tight. I was able to carry a balance from month to month on the Blue card, in contrast to the 'paid in full' Gold Card. The balance never got above $1,500 and had been zero for at least the last two years. Two months ago, my $6,000 limit was cut to $500. Today, both the Blue card (with no balance on it) and the Gold card (with only the current month's charges outstanding) were cancelled.

No skin off my nose there. If they don't want my business, then they can kiss my ass. My ATM card has a Visa logo so I can use it pretty much anywhere I go when I'm not carrying cash. I liked the American Express for the rewards program, but that's about it. I never carried a balance anyway. Now we get to the prognostication. There are, from what I've read tonight, lots of folks like me getting squeezed out by these card issuers on account of the fact that we don't accrue and pay high interest rates or late fees. But the online economy is a pretty big driving force these days. What happens when I'm sitting around and drinking a beer, thinking that I might like to sign up to buy a new Mrs. Godfather or something? With only my checking account to access, I probably pass. With my good old American Express... well, I probably still would have passed, but you get the point. This account cancelling deal appears to be one more of those downward pressures on consumer spending that adds to the negative feedback loop. AmEx will lose its rather pricey 4.5% vig from the merchants on every purchase that I make. They'll lay off more people. The retailers will lose some of the money that I am known to waste. Etc., etc. Probably better for the long term stability of the markets though.

So that was about the only interesting thing about today. I got my truck back from the dealership this morning. I don't know how clutches really work, but apprently they loosen up over time. Before mine went on the fritz, it would go through a pretty long range of motion. As it stands now, the damn thing only moves about eight inches from top to bottom. Stops the gears like a champ though. I got all the other loose ends tied up so it looks like I'm ready to be a productive member of the workforce again for a while. Maybe there will even be some work for me to do in the morning.

4/19/09

It occurred to me as I rolled back home this afternoon that the guys from the Kenworth dealer never called to say that my truck was ready. Of course, this comes as no surprise. They never call when they say that they will. It just reminded me that I still need to get my truck back tomorrow.

Mom got the family together for dinner tonight, so I guess that puts the finishing touches on my week. Time to transition toward a working mentality again. I'll have to earn some money sooner or later.