Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Wednesday 6/29/2011

Wednesday

Some pretty strange stuff going on out there.

Uhh, but that's pretty normal in this world.

Anyway, the contest at work starts next month on the 11th. It is a body fat contest: which team can shed the most fat, basically.

I'm definitely joining that one. I am down to low 190 pound range. It is taking a while to get there. You know, the "Last Ten Pounds" syndrome? Not a syndrome, but that's what I'm calling it anyway. Takes forever and a lot of perseverence to get it off.

I walked in the house after getting off of work - late, btw - yesterday and saw it. The entire contents of all of those cupboards laying out everywhere.

This was for the roach cleanout, as the pest control company calls it. It's a bit pricey at $150, but they come twice and it has a lifetime guarantee. That's what the dude told me yesterday: lifetime guarantee. I'm not going to turn that guarantee down, but I think that a bit much if you are serious about staying in business, lol.

However, it was 5:00 pm when he left and he said don't put anything back in the cupboards for at least 2 hours.

In case you didn't guess, I didn't put ANYTHING away last night. I was burnt out from 10 straight hours of bust-@$$ work in the heat yesterday and I just said screw it. Lol.

I am exchanging a couple free weeks of rent to the trailer tenants in exchange for cleaning out all the cupboards today and putting the stuff back. They, of course, didn't want to accept the exchange, saying they would do it and still pay rent. Yes, of course, I would probably say the same thing if I were in their position, but, I am not going to ask them to do that much work for nothing.

Gun. Well I have been trying to win an auction for a 9mm, the last one being a Ruger model, but I am not around a computer near the ending of these auctions and therefore don't really have a chance to play the bidding war game.

I did go and price out new guns at a gun shop - not a pawn shop, either - to get an idea of how much they are worth. I'm hardly an expert, here.

Lastly, I was listening to yet another "expert" giving the doom and gloom speech - this went on for an hour and it still wasn't done - on the US, it's financial state of being and his declaration that if the runaway deficit isn't controlled, completely, and soon, we are going to be in a world of hurt. Nothing new here, just a much more detailed explanation of the why's and how's a financial meltdown is going to occur instead of generic statements that really tell you nothing.

I don't know. I don't even look for this stuff. I surf the net and there it is. I have no idea if these so-called expert opinions are going to come to pass. But I do read it with interest. The housing factor is still in chaos and there are still 14 million Americans out of work, that alone is enough to persuade me that yes, something drastic COULD potentially happen.

But, living life in fear of what may happen is generally not the greatest way to live your life, so I won't. I will just continue to read whatever material I find - regardless of the stance of the write of that material - and see if any of it comes to pass. I have plan B, C, D and F in the case of a financial meltdown and facing the potential prospect of getting laid off at work.

But, I hope not to have to go there. We are talking DRASTIC measures that would be less than pleasant, to say the least. Nothing illegal. Oh, church tonight? Dunno yet. Maybe go and leave at 8:30 whether the service is done or not? Again, dunno yet.

G'day.

ben

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thursday

Church.
Yes, I went to church last night. It went on a bit long, too. I didn't leave, though, I stayed until it ended at 9:00pm and didn't waste any time getting out of there, getting home and getting to bed.

I got a bit of a surprise yesterday as I was about to leave work. No, the ops manager did not show up to hand me a pink slip. My manager handed me a white piece of paper and said here.

Okaaaaaay. I open it up and read a one-liner. I says I am receiving a $.55 per hour raise. Uhh, that's not bad, really. In fact, I was surprised I got any kind of raise after all the commotion was started when I was pulled over twice in December for vehicle inspections and given fully 4 warnings: 2 per inspection. Seriously, that information came down from the near the top and went through every level of management until it got to my manager.

Okay, warnings for commercial drivers carry more weight after the initiation of "CSA2010". Some people say they have the same weight as getting an actual ticket itself, I would seriously have to disagree with that assessment. I asked about this new "thing" they have come out with that regulate the trucking industry much more than ever and affects commercial drivers to the point that, well, some companies may have trouble keeping their doors open if DOT comes in and shuts down their fleet.

But, anyway, they are not, allegedly, revoking class A priviledges for warnings. But, warning have a rating system through points. I think I am understanding it correctly that the points stack up against the company and that at some point, if enough points in a specific time period are accrued, DOT can come in and start the beginning levels of "big brotherism".

In some cases, I would assess that yes, some companies need to be watched like a hawk. If drivers in that company are getting into accidents or if the company is having them drive around unsafe equipment, then yes, I agree.

Anonymous said...

But to not get a warning when they pull you over the exception, not the rule. They find one little thing wrong and they write up a warning. The first guy that pulled me over was a 20-something and definitely had the "god" syndrome going. You will bow and worship him, he is the final authority and if you don't, he'll make your life even more miserable.

It usually isn't worth getting into arguments with them, but I did confront him on the "following too closely" statement. NO sir, you weren't even parked in such a position as to SEE what was going on. Back and forth, but I knew it wouldn't help anything, still, I had to make my case.

The second officer that month was an older gentlemen, nice enough, who adamently claimed that the reduced speed limit was clearly posted coming into the construction zone. A trip back through determined that there was NO signage showing a new speed limit. The DOT crews had put up a STAND for the sign, but they never actually got around to putting the sign up itself.

That's when I complained to AZDOT. "Your officers are handing out warnings and tickets for a construction zone with signage that does not exist." The DOT officer that wrote me back said I would have to go through my company to file a formal complaint, but that he was also going to forward that email I sent to him on to AZDOT.

Yes, the signage magically appeared after that. I would laugh, but there is nothing funny about it. No-one was doing their job in that case. The DOT officers weren't looking to see if the signage had been placed - before handing out their invitations and the state of Arizona obviously hadn't done it's job since the new speed limit, which was supposed to be posted, was not.

The thing that really got me in this case is that there were cars speeding by me going at least 10mph faster than I. The officer didn't care about THOSE people who were REALLY speeding.

These are the kinds of things that make DOT officers mostly unliked in the realm of commercial drivers. They give us a hard time and frequently are very disrespectful, even if the driver is respecting them. If it had been a ticket I had been issued, I would have won that one hands down, because when I saw that the signs were down, I would have immediately driven home, got my camera and taken both pictures and a video of it.

Well whatever, the end of month today, although there is usually a big push to get out whatever product we can to bring up our numbers, all of our stores are doing very well this month. Save some for next month, lol.

G'day.

ben

Fijufic said...

Gun? Get a street sweeper. I have a 12 gauge tactical shotgun. Synthetic, Heat Shield, Pistol Grip, 18.5 inch barrel with a 7 shot holder and 6 more on the side.

Shoot bird the first round or two and go straight to #1 buck. A slug will penetrate body armor and are worthwhile, keep one or two on the sidestock...

Have to keep one handy here because when the hurricanes come we are basically under Marshall law.

I should take a pic of the damn thing...

You don't even have to be a great shot to hit your target and the mess it leaves is nasty...

 Thursday night I am finally home. The ending of the ordeal at the TA truckstop did not go without a hitch.  When I got there yesterday and ...