Rambling time!
Been awhile and it's time to ramble some. A brief note on the past elections.... great time for conservatives! How is that, you might be asking? Easy.... just look at all the winners. EVERY democrat that won ran as a conservative.... NOT as a liberal or "centrist" or "moderate". Of course now they need to actually vote that way or risk being one term wonders. If they do vote the way they ran democrats still technically are the majority but they have to temper their radical leftist agenda because there aren't enough true liberals to create a majority. I love it!
On other fronts..... the house is still plodding along. Entertainment center is still the big project but it is getting closer to being complete. Trim work is the sticking point now. Of course there is still the costly part about buying the TV and speakers for the center. Not looking forward to the buying part but we are looking forward to being able to sit back and enjoy everything once it's complete. We are HOPING to be able to have a Christmas tree and be able to live in the main house before the year ends. The kitchen is still a project for the future. I genuinely miss not being able to cook. It is a daily source of joy in my life. I like the times when Honey will walk in and announce that we'll have to go out and eat because "there is nothing in the kitchen." Thirty minutes later I'm serving her a gourmet meal whipped up out of all that "nothing" that was in there. One simply has to be open to all the possibilities..... no matter how unlikely they might seem. In cooking.... thinking outside the box is a talent that must be cultivated.
Then again there are days (and nights) when we don't even need an entertainment center. It seems that various neighbors, on a rotational basis, take it upon themselves to fill that void in our lives. Often their efforts are augmented via "drive by" mobile entertainment systems. Either way, fixed location or drive by, we are blessed with the "BOOM BOOM" sounds emanating from these various kind hearted souls seeking to enhance our drab and musically barren lives. Actually, were they to enter our home, they'd discover our lives aren't quite so barren as they might imagine. Between the "THUMP" and "BOOM" one can catch a hint of Bach, or Larsen, or Copeland if only for a brief instant. Our musical choice of the classical genre is overpowered by their selection of mindless tunes heavy on the bass line. I just wish they'd ask first prior to providing our entertainment.
I had an instance in the small town in Texas where we used to live where I was attempting to watch the evening news. Sitting in my own living room 15 feet from the TV I could not hear the program. Three houses down the street several young men were gathered around a convertible which was the source of the noise. I walked down there and told them of my situation and requested that the turn it down. They laughed. I said they had a choice.... they could turn it down or I'd go get my universal remote and turn it down for them. They laughed..... "No such thing as a universal remote old man!" So I walked back to the house being thumped and bumped all the way by their over amped car. Several minutes later I walked out the back door with a loaded 12ga shotgun over my shoulder heading for the car. They saw me coming and it suddenly got quiet enough to hear birds. "Thanks, guys!" I said. "No problem, sir!" they replied. I never heard that car stereo cranked up like that again. Who says kids today are stupid? This bunch was bright enough to get the message.
The career change is settling in nicely. For the most part I am enjoying the truck driving job but there are some issues that piss me off. I guess number one is getting shorted on miles. It seems that the folks who input the trip miles into the company computer system took a short cut.
On state maps and in the back of the Motor Carriers Road Atlas (Rand McNally) there are cross reference charts that list mileage between major cities. These are provided so the driver can get a rough idea of how far his trip is. It's for planning fuel stops and 10 hour break stops and how many days a trip might take. Additionally these mileage figures are calculated from the main post office in a city so as to be uniform. To get practical trip miles one has to get out a magnifying glass and start adding up the little numbers. Of course, with access to a computer, one can simply input start and destination addresses and get accurate mileage down to the tenth of a mile.
So on my daily relay run to Prescott Arkansas and back they pay me for 223 miles each way. Nice but the actual distance it 232 because I don't drive from main post office to main post office. So each way we get screwed out of 9 miles. The trip to Oklahoma city is even more egregious. For that one they pay for 203 miles and the one way distance is 226. Getting screwed out of 18 miles a day is one thing.... getting tooled out of 46 miles is quite another. I'm going to keep bugging them until they correct it or can my ass. If they try to fire me I have a very simple defense. I can PROVE my numbers are correct a minimum of 4 different ways. All they have to do is DISprove me to win.
Another sore point is just plain STUPID people being licensed to operate motor vehicles. It's honestly a shame that it's illegal to shoot these folks or, at the very least, run over them. I suppose neither would matter in the long run because most of them are old enough to have reproduced... thus fouling the gene pool already. {SIGH!} Why can folks blast around you like a bat out of hell then change lanes and not be able to stay ahead of you? Then when you change lanes to keep from turning their little cars into speed bumps.... they get all pissed off. I had one jerk pass me last week... then slowed back down to where I had to change lanes to keep from hitting him. (I drive with the cruise control set to the speed limit) Anyway I changed lanes and got about half way passed him before he sped up again...... just enough to maintain a spot half way down my trailer. He sat there like a lump for nearly 20 miles before he exited the interstate.
More stupid comes in the form of folks who have no concept of why the acceleration lane exists. That's the part of the road you use to speed up so when you merge with traffic on the highway you are going the same speed as they are. The number of people who come to a complete stop at the bottom of these acceleration lanes is amazing! And I cannot count the number of times some jerk as eased onto the highway at 35 miles an hour right in front of my 40 ton truck doing 65. The wonderful part is that they are all blissfully unaware of ALL other traffic on the highway! They have not made the slightest effort to check mirrors or turn their heads and check for traffic prior to merging. Even the sound of an air horn going off and 18 tires smoking in an attempt to keep from flattening these jerks goes completely unnoticed. They wander off in their own special little world. In the trucking industry.... be kind to dumb animals extends to the kind with only two legs too.
Of course there are truckers who are total and complete morons too. The one thing that irks me the most is what I call "governor wars". Most of the bigger companies have there trucks governed to a maximum top speed of 65 miles per hour. This in not a federal mandate but they do it anyway. In my humble opinion it's completely stupid and quite dangerous. Governor wars start like this: You are driving down the road in the right lane driving the speed limit. You are overtaking another truck at a pretty good rate so you estimate he's going about 60. You pull out to pass and start getting that done but notice that you are making less and less progress. Soon you are making no progress at all..... perhaps even loosing ground. Okay.... so you ease off and pull back into the right lane...... only to have the truck you just tried to pass slow back down to 60 again. Pull back out to pass and he speeds back up. So you have a choice.... you can keep bouncing off his trailer all damn day OR you can just sit out there in the left lane until you eventually complete the pass. If he is a complete asshole (and most who engage in this game are) you could be out there anywhere from three to twenty miles trying to get around him. It usually ends up being a factor of who has the heavy trailer and if there are hills. Up hill you'll pull him if you have the light load. Down hill his heavier trailer will "push" his rig past you. All you can do is stand on the peddle and hope for the best. Meanwhile you have 80 tons of trucks going down the road 24 inches apart for mile after mile. Personally I just keep an eye on the vehicle attempting to pass me. If they are getting the job done (meaning that their governor is set slightly higher than mine) I just flip my cruise control off for 10 or 15 seconds and let them get on by me. That gets them back in the right lane quicker and clears the left lane for the faster moving cars. Additionally.... it adds almost nothing to the amount of time I'm going to be behind the wheel. Over 200 miles if I do that the entire trip it might add one minute. Big deal.
Well, I have things to get done around here so I'd better get busy. Oh.... have you folks noticed that most of the news has started to get somewhat better lately? The war in Iraq is still all bad news all the time but everywhere else things are sounding better! Yep.... now that the democrats have a majority again they also have a stake in things. (Even though technically they don't start to "lead" until 2007) So now the press finds the bright spot and the good news and reports that all is suddenly rosy and bright because democrats have got their power back. This is the same good news they have been unable to find for the past 6 years. Odd. And to think.... the media isn't bias at all in their reporting. If you buy that line then contact me about my new Alpine sky resort near the Amazon basin. Hurry though...... mountain chalet's with delightful views of the snow and ski trails are going fast!
On other fronts..... the house is still plodding along. Entertainment center is still the big project but it is getting closer to being complete. Trim work is the sticking point now. Of course there is still the costly part about buying the TV and speakers for the center. Not looking forward to the buying part but we are looking forward to being able to sit back and enjoy everything once it's complete. We are HOPING to be able to have a Christmas tree and be able to live in the main house before the year ends. The kitchen is still a project for the future. I genuinely miss not being able to cook. It is a daily source of joy in my life. I like the times when Honey will walk in and announce that we'll have to go out and eat because "there is nothing in the kitchen." Thirty minutes later I'm serving her a gourmet meal whipped up out of all that "nothing" that was in there. One simply has to be open to all the possibilities..... no matter how unlikely they might seem. In cooking.... thinking outside the box is a talent that must be cultivated.
Then again there are days (and nights) when we don't even need an entertainment center. It seems that various neighbors, on a rotational basis, take it upon themselves to fill that void in our lives. Often their efforts are augmented via "drive by" mobile entertainment systems. Either way, fixed location or drive by, we are blessed with the "BOOM BOOM" sounds emanating from these various kind hearted souls seeking to enhance our drab and musically barren lives. Actually, were they to enter our home, they'd discover our lives aren't quite so barren as they might imagine. Between the "THUMP" and "BOOM" one can catch a hint of Bach, or Larsen, or Copeland if only for a brief instant. Our musical choice of the classical genre is overpowered by their selection of mindless tunes heavy on the bass line. I just wish they'd ask first prior to providing our entertainment.
I had an instance in the small town in Texas where we used to live where I was attempting to watch the evening news. Sitting in my own living room 15 feet from the TV I could not hear the program. Three houses down the street several young men were gathered around a convertible which was the source of the noise. I walked down there and told them of my situation and requested that the turn it down. They laughed. I said they had a choice.... they could turn it down or I'd go get my universal remote and turn it down for them. They laughed..... "No such thing as a universal remote old man!" So I walked back to the house being thumped and bumped all the way by their over amped car. Several minutes later I walked out the back door with a loaded 12ga shotgun over my shoulder heading for the car. They saw me coming and it suddenly got quiet enough to hear birds. "Thanks, guys!" I said. "No problem, sir!" they replied. I never heard that car stereo cranked up like that again. Who says kids today are stupid? This bunch was bright enough to get the message.
The career change is settling in nicely. For the most part I am enjoying the truck driving job but there are some issues that piss me off. I guess number one is getting shorted on miles. It seems that the folks who input the trip miles into the company computer system took a short cut.
On state maps and in the back of the Motor Carriers Road Atlas (Rand McNally) there are cross reference charts that list mileage between major cities. These are provided so the driver can get a rough idea of how far his trip is. It's for planning fuel stops and 10 hour break stops and how many days a trip might take. Additionally these mileage figures are calculated from the main post office in a city so as to be uniform. To get practical trip miles one has to get out a magnifying glass and start adding up the little numbers. Of course, with access to a computer, one can simply input start and destination addresses and get accurate mileage down to the tenth of a mile.
So on my daily relay run to Prescott Arkansas and back they pay me for 223 miles each way. Nice but the actual distance it 232 because I don't drive from main post office to main post office. So each way we get screwed out of 9 miles. The trip to Oklahoma city is even more egregious. For that one they pay for 203 miles and the one way distance is 226. Getting screwed out of 18 miles a day is one thing.... getting tooled out of 46 miles is quite another. I'm going to keep bugging them until they correct it or can my ass. If they try to fire me I have a very simple defense. I can PROVE my numbers are correct a minimum of 4 different ways. All they have to do is DISprove me to win.
Another sore point is just plain STUPID people being licensed to operate motor vehicles. It's honestly a shame that it's illegal to shoot these folks or, at the very least, run over them. I suppose neither would matter in the long run because most of them are old enough to have reproduced... thus fouling the gene pool already. {SIGH!} Why can folks blast around you like a bat out of hell then change lanes and not be able to stay ahead of you? Then when you change lanes to keep from turning their little cars into speed bumps.... they get all pissed off. I had one jerk pass me last week... then slowed back down to where I had to change lanes to keep from hitting him. (I drive with the cruise control set to the speed limit) Anyway I changed lanes and got about half way passed him before he sped up again...... just enough to maintain a spot half way down my trailer. He sat there like a lump for nearly 20 miles before he exited the interstate.
More stupid comes in the form of folks who have no concept of why the acceleration lane exists. That's the part of the road you use to speed up so when you merge with traffic on the highway you are going the same speed as they are. The number of people who come to a complete stop at the bottom of these acceleration lanes is amazing! And I cannot count the number of times some jerk as eased onto the highway at 35 miles an hour right in front of my 40 ton truck doing 65. The wonderful part is that they are all blissfully unaware of ALL other traffic on the highway! They have not made the slightest effort to check mirrors or turn their heads and check for traffic prior to merging. Even the sound of an air horn going off and 18 tires smoking in an attempt to keep from flattening these jerks goes completely unnoticed. They wander off in their own special little world. In the trucking industry.... be kind to dumb animals extends to the kind with only two legs too.
Of course there are truckers who are total and complete morons too. The one thing that irks me the most is what I call "governor wars". Most of the bigger companies have there trucks governed to a maximum top speed of 65 miles per hour. This in not a federal mandate but they do it anyway. In my humble opinion it's completely stupid and quite dangerous. Governor wars start like this: You are driving down the road in the right lane driving the speed limit. You are overtaking another truck at a pretty good rate so you estimate he's going about 60. You pull out to pass and start getting that done but notice that you are making less and less progress. Soon you are making no progress at all..... perhaps even loosing ground. Okay.... so you ease off and pull back into the right lane...... only to have the truck you just tried to pass slow back down to 60 again. Pull back out to pass and he speeds back up. So you have a choice.... you can keep bouncing off his trailer all damn day OR you can just sit out there in the left lane until you eventually complete the pass. If he is a complete asshole (and most who engage in this game are) you could be out there anywhere from three to twenty miles trying to get around him. It usually ends up being a factor of who has the heavy trailer and if there are hills. Up hill you'll pull him if you have the light load. Down hill his heavier trailer will "push" his rig past you. All you can do is stand on the peddle and hope for the best. Meanwhile you have 80 tons of trucks going down the road 24 inches apart for mile after mile. Personally I just keep an eye on the vehicle attempting to pass me. If they are getting the job done (meaning that their governor is set slightly higher than mine) I just flip my cruise control off for 10 or 15 seconds and let them get on by me. That gets them back in the right lane quicker and clears the left lane for the faster moving cars. Additionally.... it adds almost nothing to the amount of time I'm going to be behind the wheel. Over 200 miles if I do that the entire trip it might add one minute. Big deal.
Well, I have things to get done around here so I'd better get busy. Oh.... have you folks noticed that most of the news has started to get somewhat better lately? The war in Iraq is still all bad news all the time but everywhere else things are sounding better! Yep.... now that the democrats have a majority again they also have a stake in things. (Even though technically they don't start to "lead" until 2007) So now the press finds the bright spot and the good news and reports that all is suddenly rosy and bright because democrats have got their power back. This is the same good news they have been unable to find for the past 6 years. Odd. And to think.... the media isn't bias at all in their reporting. If you buy that line then contact me about my new Alpine sky resort near the Amazon basin. Hurry though...... mountain chalet's with delightful views of the snow and ski trails are going fast!
posted by Rev. Joe Ruyle | 3:57 PM
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