I think we might have a problem here. At some point this morning, the air inside my truck started to warm up. This woke me, naturally. I didn't feel too tired though, so I got up and checked out the overnight news inside the internets. Then I headed in for the traditional haircut/shave/shower routine. Then I stopped by SubWay and got myself an Italian BMT with double meat. Then I headed back out to my truck and hung out for a while as I enjoyed my lunch. Then, when it was time to check the truck over and hit the road, I looked at a clock for the first time all day. 9am? WTF? I must have been up by 7:30am at the latest. On a day when I was free to sleep as late as I liked. This is unacceptable.
Anyhow, I hit the road for what was supposed to be a nice and easy drive. Someone dumped a whole tank of stupidity on I-81 in Virginia today though. Absolutely no flow to the traffic at all. It only takes a few asswipes driving 50mph in the right lane, combined with a few more asswipes constantly speeding up and slowing down in the left lane, to make for a frustrating day on the highway.
Frustrating or otherwise, today found me getting through all of Virginia and North Carolina. I've set up shop for the night in Duncan, South Carolina so I'll have something less than 200 miles to cover by tomorrow afternoon. I'm due to deliver in McDonough, Georgia at 3:30pm. Given the fact that Atlanta pretty much sucks balls, I might try to scoot past there a little earlier in the afternoon. Then I can take a break somewhere along I-75 until it's time to make my delivery.
If you're reading this post, then I suppose it's safe to assume that the Blogger 'post by e-mail' function has worked. I can't seem to access the site tonight for whatever reason. If you're not reading this post and you're still somehow on this sentence, well, that would just be weird, wouldn't it?
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
6/5/10
You're welcome.
Despite whatever crazy thunderstorms blew through in the middle of the night last night, I caught decent weather for today's entire drive through New York and Pennsylvania. The skies are looking pretty cloudy down here in Hagerstown, where I'll be spending the night, so maybe some more rain will come in and cool things off a little. I wouldn't mind that at all.
I'm not terribly skilled with Microsoft Paint and the folks at the Fenian Godfather Art Institute are off for the weekend, so that little demo took me a little while. Therefore I do believe that it's time for me to go inside and get an Italian BMT with double meat. Good day to you.
UPDATE (8:22pm): Guess I forgot to put my usual weekly summary on today's post. 2,652 miles plus holiday pay and over $80 in northeast pay. Solid week at the office.
Friday, June 4, 2010
6/4/10
I think we might have us a true 'man bites dog' story developing today. Two days in a row where everything went perfectly according to the script? Could it be?
I managed to sleep for a few hours last night. That's always a good start. Then I got past Burlington before the traffic kicked up, reaching my consignee in Essex Junction shortly after 6am. By 6:45am I was empty and ready to roll. Beauty.
My pickup in Champlain, New York was scheduled for noon (according to my dispatch), so I had plenty of time to take a long break and get some lunch at a little truck stop along I-89 before heading over there. I rolled into the shipper's lot at 11:15am, learned that my appointment was actually for 1pm, and rolled out of there with my full trailer at 12:30pm. Not too shabby.
Another ride down through the Appalachians is normally sure to include a heavy payload, especially since my last two loads have been a little more reasonable. So upon seeing the pallets stacked floor to ceiling and all the way to the back of the trailer, I was prepared for the worst. A quick peek at the bills showed a total weight of 10,000 pounds though. Excellent. That'll be sure to save me at least a little bit of frustration before all is said and done.
An afternoon appointment in Georgia on Monday means that there won't be any alarms in my future between now and then. Since I was a little tired today, following this morning's early wakeup call, I didn't do a whole lot of driving after I picked up my load. I stopped off at the big truck stop in Wilton, New York and tried to take a nap. No luck getting to sleep, so I basically just had a lazy day of filling out online surveys and listening to mp3's. I think I completed about an hour and a half worth of surveys and earned $8.50 in the process. Yeah, that's right, I'm a high roller. I do have a $50 focus group tentatively scheduled for next week though. Spend an hour telling people that their products suck? I can handle that.
Hanging around and waiting for the ballgame was getting pretty boring, so I did some reading on various financial sites. Oy. I can't really fault the president for trying to put a happy spin on that debacle of an employment report. He has to try and save his congressional majorities by whatever rationale he can muster. My beef is with the damned economists. I've spent the last four days hearing that there would be at least 200,000-250,000 new private sector jobs and a minimum of 500,000 including the temps for the census. Epic fail on both projections. I'm not talking about political hacks here either. I'm talking about respected economists. And then today, after a shitty jobs report, these so-called experts go straight from "Happy Days Are Here Again" to "Sell Everything?" What changed fundamentally in the last 24 hours? Absolutely nothing. That's what.
The long and short of it is that they don't know anything. You don't know anything. I don't know anything. We're dancing on the edge of a razor here and there's really no way of knowing which way things are headed. I'll just echo what was once said by one of the most brilliant analysts of the modern age - "I would encourage everyone to do as much reading as possible regarding the relationship between financial risk and financial reward. I would venture to guess that the historical correlation isn't quite what you've been led to believe over the years." Damned near two years later and, in my opinion, the other shoe still hasn't dropped. I hope I'm wrong. Still hedging against both directions though, just in case.
Speaking of hedging... it's a good thing we didn't go full tilt with ole Max Scherzer's campaign for the Cy Young award, eh? He's back to his true form, stinking up the joint tonight. Luckily he's facing Kansas City so there's a chance he might win anyway. Not looking too good at the moment.
I can't end today's post on that note though. Today was a good day, by golly. So let's talk about juice for a second. I'm not much of a juice drinker, to tell you the truth. I can handle an occasional glass of OJ but it's really not my thing. Too sweet for me, generally speaking. I grabbed a bottle of juice this afternoon and I am thoroughly impressed. The folks at Naked Juice have a product called Red Machine. Fan-freaking-tastic. No sugar or any of that nonsense. Just a wicked good blend of various berries and other fruits. Not too outrageous on the calories either.
I managed to sleep for a few hours last night. That's always a good start. Then I got past Burlington before the traffic kicked up, reaching my consignee in Essex Junction shortly after 6am. By 6:45am I was empty and ready to roll. Beauty.
My pickup in Champlain, New York was scheduled for noon (according to my dispatch), so I had plenty of time to take a long break and get some lunch at a little truck stop along I-89 before heading over there. I rolled into the shipper's lot at 11:15am, learned that my appointment was actually for 1pm, and rolled out of there with my full trailer at 12:30pm. Not too shabby.
Another ride down through the Appalachians is normally sure to include a heavy payload, especially since my last two loads have been a little more reasonable. So upon seeing the pallets stacked floor to ceiling and all the way to the back of the trailer, I was prepared for the worst. A quick peek at the bills showed a total weight of 10,000 pounds though. Excellent. That'll be sure to save me at least a little bit of frustration before all is said and done.
An afternoon appointment in Georgia on Monday means that there won't be any alarms in my future between now and then. Since I was a little tired today, following this morning's early wakeup call, I didn't do a whole lot of driving after I picked up my load. I stopped off at the big truck stop in Wilton, New York and tried to take a nap. No luck getting to sleep, so I basically just had a lazy day of filling out online surveys and listening to mp3's. I think I completed about an hour and a half worth of surveys and earned $8.50 in the process. Yeah, that's right, I'm a high roller. I do have a $50 focus group tentatively scheduled for next week though. Spend an hour telling people that their products suck? I can handle that.
Hanging around and waiting for the ballgame was getting pretty boring, so I did some reading on various financial sites. Oy. I can't really fault the president for trying to put a happy spin on that debacle of an employment report. He has to try and save his congressional majorities by whatever rationale he can muster. My beef is with the damned economists. I've spent the last four days hearing that there would be at least 200,000-250,000 new private sector jobs and a minimum of 500,000 including the temps for the census. Epic fail on both projections. I'm not talking about political hacks here either. I'm talking about respected economists. And then today, after a shitty jobs report, these so-called experts go straight from "Happy Days Are Here Again" to "Sell Everything?" What changed fundamentally in the last 24 hours? Absolutely nothing. That's what.
The long and short of it is that they don't know anything. You don't know anything. I don't know anything. We're dancing on the edge of a razor here and there's really no way of knowing which way things are headed. I'll just echo what was once said by one of the most brilliant analysts of the modern age - "I would encourage everyone to do as much reading as possible regarding the relationship between financial risk and financial reward. I would venture to guess that the historical correlation isn't quite what you've been led to believe over the years." Damned near two years later and, in my opinion, the other shoe still hasn't dropped. I hope I'm wrong. Still hedging against both directions though, just in case.
Speaking of hedging... it's a good thing we didn't go full tilt with ole Max Scherzer's campaign for the Cy Young award, eh? He's back to his true form, stinking up the joint tonight. Luckily he's facing Kansas City so there's a chance he might win anyway. Not looking too good at the moment.
I can't end today's post on that note though. Today was a good day, by golly. So let's talk about juice for a second. I'm not much of a juice drinker, to tell you the truth. I can handle an occasional glass of OJ but it's really not my thing. Too sweet for me, generally speaking. I grabbed a bottle of juice this afternoon and I am thoroughly impressed. The folks at Naked Juice have a product called Red Machine. Fan-freaking-tastic. No sugar or any of that nonsense. Just a wicked good blend of various berries and other fruits. Not too outrageous on the calories either.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
6/3/10
Aside from the fact that there's a douchebag idling his truck next to me (with his windows down, go figure), disrupting the serenity of a lovely Vermont evening, I'd have to say that today was just about ideal. Good weather, afternoon baseball on the radio, and none of the usual issues arose on this trip into New England.
Traffic can be a problem in this part of the country. Today's traffic was moderate to light. Construction can be another concern. The only major construction zone today was on I-84 in Pennsylvania. The road was down to one lane for a looong stretch, but there was no logjam at the merging point, so everyone just had to take things slowly for a while. Parking tends to be another unknown. I found a little truck stop with plenty of parking spaces, somewhere around 50 miles from tomorrow morning's consignee. Then we have the Vermont routing issue to address. Some roads are okay in this state and others require a special permit. I had a frame of reference from a previous trip though, so I just took the same route up past Glens Falls and across through Whitehall today. No worries.
The last thing that can be an issue up here is deciding where to go once I get unloaded in the morning. You get the same routing and parking concerns as before, in addition to the fact that there are no truck stops near the consignee and I don't know which way I'll have to go for the next pickup. This is where a pre-plan becomes more than just a convenience. It becomes pretty important. Fortunately, I received a nice long pre-plan for the weekend as I rolled through Pennsylvania this afternoon. Unfortunately, I couldn't accept it. I'm no cartographer, but I've been led to believe that Quebec is a province in Canada. Furthermore, I'm of the understanding that Canada is like a whole other country or something. Even though I took my chance and opted out of Canada loads a few years back when the choice was presented to me, I wouldn't be averse to heading up there once in a while when the company really needed me to do so. I can't though. For reasons that still are not entirely clear to me, a passport is required in order to cross the Canadian border these days.
I was rolling down the highway and not in the position to have a satellite message exchange at the time, so I reached over and hit the 'N' button on the keyboard. As in 'No' I can't accept the assignment. A few minutes later I got a note explaining that it didn't have to pick up until tomorrow afternoon, and asking why I wouldn't be able to cover the load. I don't know exactly what sort of computer display they look at down there in Joplin, but I was under the impression that they were supposed to be aware of my no-Canada status. For instance, the dispatcher in Laredo once said to me, "Okay, you don't go to Canada. Let's see..." Perhaps today's assignment was just an oversight. I don't know. I arrived at my fuel stop a short time later and sent a quick note - No Passport. And then the load was unassigned.
Once I got onto NY-149 and started across toward Vermont, I received a new assignment for the weekend. If you can't go to Canada, then I suppose you might as well get as close as possible. I'll be picking up in Champlain, New York. Due to another handy bit of knowledge from that prior trip up here, I know exactly how I can get to Champlain without any legal concerns. Good deal.
Now, if only we could do away with these 7am deliveries... Oh well, early morning tomorrow.
Traffic can be a problem in this part of the country. Today's traffic was moderate to light. Construction can be another concern. The only major construction zone today was on I-84 in Pennsylvania. The road was down to one lane for a looong stretch, but there was no logjam at the merging point, so everyone just had to take things slowly for a while. Parking tends to be another unknown. I found a little truck stop with plenty of parking spaces, somewhere around 50 miles from tomorrow morning's consignee. Then we have the Vermont routing issue to address. Some roads are okay in this state and others require a special permit. I had a frame of reference from a previous trip though, so I just took the same route up past Glens Falls and across through Whitehall today. No worries.
The last thing that can be an issue up here is deciding where to go once I get unloaded in the morning. You get the same routing and parking concerns as before, in addition to the fact that there are no truck stops near the consignee and I don't know which way I'll have to go for the next pickup. This is where a pre-plan becomes more than just a convenience. It becomes pretty important. Fortunately, I received a nice long pre-plan for the weekend as I rolled through Pennsylvania this afternoon. Unfortunately, I couldn't accept it. I'm no cartographer, but I've been led to believe that Quebec is a province in Canada. Furthermore, I'm of the understanding that Canada is like a whole other country or something. Even though I took my chance and opted out of Canada loads a few years back when the choice was presented to me, I wouldn't be averse to heading up there once in a while when the company really needed me to do so. I can't though. For reasons that still are not entirely clear to me, a passport is required in order to cross the Canadian border these days.
I was rolling down the highway and not in the position to have a satellite message exchange at the time, so I reached over and hit the 'N' button on the keyboard. As in 'No' I can't accept the assignment. A few minutes later I got a note explaining that it didn't have to pick up until tomorrow afternoon, and asking why I wouldn't be able to cover the load. I don't know exactly what sort of computer display they look at down there in Joplin, but I was under the impression that they were supposed to be aware of my no-Canada status. For instance, the dispatcher in Laredo once said to me, "Okay, you don't go to Canada. Let's see..." Perhaps today's assignment was just an oversight. I don't know. I arrived at my fuel stop a short time later and sent a quick note - No Passport. And then the load was unassigned.
Once I got onto NY-149 and started across toward Vermont, I received a new assignment for the weekend. If you can't go to Canada, then I suppose you might as well get as close as possible. I'll be picking up in Champlain, New York. Due to another handy bit of knowledge from that prior trip up here, I know exactly how I can get to Champlain without any legal concerns. Good deal.
Now, if only we could do away with these 7am deliveries... Oh well, early morning tomorrow.
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