Tuesday - too late, lol, well not bad bad just I should l have gone to bed a little while ago.  Such is life, I'll hit the sack after this short entry.  

I finally went from 213 pounds to 211.  It was sitting at 213 forever.  I mean, I don't know that it will stay at 211 right off, it typically goes up and down and then will sit at 211 at some point and then, wait a long time and it'll go down again.  It took a long time to get this heavy, it'll take a long time to get rid of it. 

We booked a trip on the Polar Express!  A little pricey but it's fabled to be a glorious if short train ride replete with Santa Clause and dancers and singing chefs and such.  We'll find out.  Kind of waited too long to book tho. There were other seats I would have liked better and I would have liked to go in the dark.

Or would have I?  Hmmm.  I have never ridden on a train.  I've been on them but no rides.  I read that the scenery is beautiful so a day trip isn't going to be bad at all. The kids will enjoy the theme, they both love the Polar Express movie anyway, it's a yearly tradition to watch it together.  The oldest makes his own version of tickets and everybody has to have one to watch!  I won't go into the year 2 years ago when a certain adult in this house rejected it and gave the boy a hard time about it, we're talking kids here, they have imaginations and I just thought that wasn't so nice. 

But whatever.  I don't want to get too involved in this entry since I need to go to bed,  a few items in politics that have caught my attention, nothing major. We also need rain around here badly.  Yes, it's the time of year we don't get any but the grass all over the place is dark brown, dying and we're in a burn ban.  Not that I would want to light a fire anyway, the heat here has been very high.  

So that's it.  Mostly just finally got past a roadblock on my weight loss journey.  

Oh, I delivered today and was supposed to take the truck in tomorrow to have the rest of the work done on it. Yeah, no.  I was called today and informed that two more trucks are in the shop, they need me to work tomorrow.  Whatever.  I don't really care at this point, I'm fairly back into this wonderful routine called work and certainly I want the money so my savings don't go down.     

But, I have to get up at 5 am and get out here by 5:30 am, they want me there "earlier" so that I don't run into another driver who is constantly running. Unlike me, he doesn't go home every day, he just keeps driving until he has to take his 10 hour break.  Good for him! But his paychecks are nice! And whoopdedooo!  Hey, if my situation  gets bad somehow, I can always ask for more work.  Either Gurdon or pop me on Ennis runs temporarily.  

No thank you.

And good night : )

 Saturday - night

Not a lot of time here, I want to watch some tv before bedtime which is going to be early for I need to get up at 5:30 am.  

But, today went pretty well for my 1st official day back at work. I didn't have to have the trailer washed out, it was already cleaned out when I picked it up.  That saves quite a bit of time.  I'll have to do that Monday, just part of the job.

I got to the plant, they scaled me in, got me in a bay and got me out of there quickly. I was back at the park at 11:55 am.

That's very good.  I mean, so good I was pretty pleased about it and hoping tomorrow goes well too.

It should, unless something happens to the truck. Not a fan, as I have endlessly stated on this blog, of working on Sundays.  I need to go to church, it's beyond an "I want to go to church".  

Anyway, I want to get some tv time in. The kids are gone with the father at a local hotel. So a day of peace and quiet. They are apparently going to try to have a new approach and see if things can work out. They being the mom and pop. 

I suggested to her they start over when she said she was having doubts and thinking about trying to get back together.  Yes, but you need to start from a clean slate. Let everything go, all of it, as he will have to, and start out like you don't even know who each other is.

Apparently that had an effect for they are going to try to become friends.

I didn't know they had started the relationship out the way they had.  Many successful couples become besties first before marriage.  I do hope and pray it works out eventually but after hearing that I also suggested they should stay separated during this process. Not a hard thing to do with him being an OTR truck driver.

Anyway, that's it.  Watch a show I like and then go to sleep.

 Friday - morning 8 am-ish

I kind of posted yesterday's post this morning lol, forgot to do that when I went to bed.  I decided last night I best start getting to bed at a reasonable hour so 10:15 pm it was.

I got up early simply because i had 7 hours of sleep and after that? Hit or miss. Might get to sleep, might not.  

I have no idea when I might get a phone call from the alignment shop or a phone call from management saying, gee, they had to order parts.  Whatever the case, I am ready to go get it. I don't have to do anything else beyond that today, tomorrow is when I start back into the grind.  Starting back on a weekend.  Yuck. 

Then again, weekends you typically get loaded faster.  There is sometimes a silver lining in a cloud of undesirable "things to do".  

As for the situation around here, who knows.  I was asked if I want to move to Colorado. That wasn't my first thought.  Or even second. But after a bit of conversation I think I fairly well identified why that person wants to move there and I simply said that changing your geographical location will not offset any despair or depression caused by severe marital stresses.  

One thing I know that helps is personal counseling. I have actually thought about going through that again.  It's kind of a mental/attitude/outlook checkup.  When I went through it several decades ago, it wasn't actually too pleasant.  Those counselors aren't trained to sugarcoat as well they shouldn't be.  And they dig dig dig into your past and identify things that are causing you experience or see things the way that you are.

I haven't decided yet, I feel like you should be 100% to go through the process no matter how difficult it becomes to continue on with it.  It's been what, 3 decades since I did that? I think that I might benefit from another round of it.  

_________

As usual, I get busy or interrupted with "stuff" and leave the blog and come back to it later. Like 9 hours later lmao.  I got the truck out of the alignment shop.  They had a huge list of parts that needed to be replaced including the king pins.  THAT would definitely cause some of that problem I was describing in earlier posts and hadn't even thought about that as a potential problem.  

They said it's good to drive until they get the parts in, so I'm on the hook for working the next 4 days.  Not the end of my world, but I was astonished to see a paycheck with 3/4's of my pay on there. Like, how did this manager invent this for me? I looked, he gave me an excessive amount of money for just moving the truck around.  I don't know how he gets away with that stuff but I'm glad he does.  He's pretty good about stuff like that, it's the communicating that needs serious improvement. 

And I just spent several HOURS trying to figure out how to move files from an old computer to another.  I first tried the microsoft one drive method.  I ended up wanting to just chuck the old thing in the trash but I persisted until - I gave up on that. I tried other methods and finally got to the memory card.  

I was using AI the entire time, I am absolutely sure that if I didn't have access to it, I would either have spent days trying to figure it out or I would have  just said screw it.  I almost said screw it as it stands.  

But I have never done that before and there are a LOT of steps to take to first download the photos and apps to the card and then upload them to another computer. The whole point of doing this? Well, I have photos on that old computer that aren't anywhere else.  I have been wanting to do this for a long time, but I knew it would turn into a major ordeal and I was right.

However, what forced me to do it today?  My rv park reservation system app disappeared on my new computer and wasn't on my laptop either, it used to be on both?!!!  

I can't have that park without access to it. I don't really need the reservation system atm for I have all spots rented to long term, but I do need access to the card processing software that is also in that app.  I don't get a lot of credit or debit card payments now, everyone wants to pay either cashapp, venmo, paypal or cash.  But, I have one hold out that wants to use that card and I really need the ability to do so.  I just wish I had more spots for some overnighters.  

Enough. I"m going to bed early enough to get a decent night's sleep.  Or try to anyway.

G'nite. 

 Thursday - late afternoon

Just got home a few minutes ago. Took much long than it should have to get the truck and trailer and get back down here with it.

Why, you ask?

Because when I arrived there, the mechanic was doing something to it. Upon inquiry, he said the truck won't start.  Uhh, how long have you known about this? Since this morning.  Ok, I wonder why they didn't tell me.  He fiddled with it for quite a while before I just left and went to the office.  Chatted there then back to the truck.  Hung out there for quite a while and then realized this isn't going to happen anytime soon.

During all this back and forth, the manager was indicating he wanted to go to Plan B. I knew what he was going to say before he even said what it was: No thank you. I don't want to drive that truck - referring to a pile of trash truck that I had no intention of getting into. I gave my reasons and I just held firm, even tho he kept bringing it up.  Nope, fix THIS truck and let's get this over with.  

I went to the driver's lounge and went to sleep, actually. No one was in there - there hardly ever is - and I was tired from not having a good night's sleep. The manager came in after a while, chatted with me, brought up that POS again, nooo, thank you.  

Another 30 minutes and the manager came in again, it's done.  So, I go to the truck, turn it on and off several times and confirmed it was working. However, the seat wasn't. It wouldn't air up and it was sitting all the way down on the floor. Then I noticed wires hanging from underneath the truck and actually laying on the ground!  

But, another mechanic had shown up and he fixed those issues and I finally got out of there. Drove it back to my town and decided that yes, I'm taking it to the shop now, why get up at 6 am when I don't need to?  So, I dropped the trailer in their yard and then pulled into a bay. They wasted no time - literally seconds after I parked it - pointing out the fact that there is one new shock absorber but the other 3 are leaking oil. 

"We will check this truck out from front to back and give them a quote".  

He made it sound like there was going to be a lot of work.  I don't care at this point, another weekend off would be great.  I doubt that will happen but you never know!  

I called my friend, she came and got me and we got home ... to... the guy.  He came into town to visit the boys and apparently to discuss this marriage situation.  He told me a few minutes ago he apologizes in advance, but things might get a little ugly...

I want no part of it, not my crusade and none of my business, at all.  If they want to fight and argue, I only think they should not do it in front of or within hearing range of the kids.  They don't need to hear that stuff.  Just going to throw them into mental chaos.  But, who knows? Maybe face to face they will keep it civil?  I simply asserted a few times that I am divorced twice and not my fish to fry. 

....So now the oldest comes into my room crying, they are arguing out front, in front of the kids, something I hoped they wouldn't do.  AT 11 years old, it's going to be hard to process all of that. I don't recall them ever getting into real arguments or if they did, I never witnessed it.  

Not trying to sound unsympathetic, but I'm starving. It's almost 5 pm and I haven't eating in about 24 hours.  Not by design. I mean, yes, I am doing intermittent fasting but I don't go this long.  I was thinking I'd be up there, get in the truck, leave and be home no later than 1 pm.  I should have known better.   `

 Wednesday - morning

Got myself up at 6:15 am, doing that to get used to getting up for work. It's been quite a while since I've done that - work the trucking job that is - excepting the 4 days of Ennis runs in the middle of all of this. 

One of my work buddies was at the shop yesterday, he said the mechanic was working on my truck.  Ok - he's been working on my truck, but perhaps that means they got whatever parts in and he's installing them. So, I would expect that he should be done today or sometime very soon which will mean me somehow getting a ride up there, bringing the truck down here and into yet another shop. 

From what I've read, an alignment should only take at most 3 hours.  There are exceptions of course - if something else is wrong with it.  Very possible once you get actual alignment experts working on it. The other issue is how long before they can get it in? I've dealt with this place before, they have a waiting list, or had one anyway years ago when I was working for KAG.  

KAG - the company that runs you into the ground without a frown.  Most of the trucking industry is like that, tho, it's part of the reason so many people quit within their first year of trucking. They aren't used to 14 hour days and they thought it would be easy. Get into a truck, drive. That's it!

LMAO. The non-trucking public also thinks gee, you have it sooooo easy!  Ok bro.

I am expecting a call today or soon on that subject.  Tomorrow would be fine for me to go up there and retrieve that thing.  Non-happening event today, it's 11 am, just not going to get involved with anything like that if it doesn't start early or mid-morning.  

____________

Hours later, now afternoon and still no word from work? I'm not going to press it, if it's that bad it needs to be fixed.  I just don't know what they are working on now.

It's not the only thing on my mind but it's a pressing issue.  I can't financially survive without that income and tho last paycheck was only $400 short, next paycheck is going to be nothing unless they invent some way to pay me for --- what?  

____________

Many hours later and an earful of total bullshit later - that's a different story coming from a late pay at the park - my manager finally calls me.  There are only a few things left to go on your truck and it will be done tomorrow.  Good.  I have a ride up there as long as you will pay for it.  I don't hold back on that stuff, if they can pay to have the thing towed up there they can certainly pay fuel and then some for someone to go out of there way to drive me up there.  

Although, this person LOVES to drive so it's just another opportunity ride on down the highway!  

But, they don't want me to pick it up until Thursday to give the mechanic time to finish everything up.  Fine and well, go up Thursday, get up early Friday or actually just drop it off Thursday sounds better, then they can get on it whenever.  Slated to work the weekend of course, but I will be back at work. 

And I doubt I will have any days off coming for a- long time after that.  So whatever.  Good thing I'm getting myself used to getting up early again. 

I think this might have been worth it if that mechanic fixed everything, sounds like he's a stickler to have a truck running at the best it can be.  Lots of minor stuff wrong, I'd like to hope he got on it.  

________________

Late. Way later than I should be up, going to bed. Last night of freedom. Thursday is drive up there and take it to the shop - so probably around 6 hours total, Friday they work on it and - get it done I would assume but with everything else that has been wrong and done with the truck, it won't be shocking if they say it needs parts, lol.  But, by chance it doesn't, I'll be starting the daily grind.  I in now way wish to convey here that it's going to somehow be easy or otherwise desirable.  

It will be tough, I am sure, to get back into driving 6 days a week and oh well, I got a taste of retirement and I very much liked it.  Not today, not this week, not this month, next or any time soon.  2-1/2 years minimum if my health stays good and I can continue working. 

G'nite.  

 Monday - morning

I kind of left the last post hanging. Got busy with stuff and forgot about it but eventually posted it anyway.

MORE parts for whatever ELSE is wrong with the truck were ordered and they had "no idea" when they're coming in.  After that, I will have to go get the truck and bring it back here where I live and take it to an alignment shop. Tentative plan anyway.  Things can and usually do change in this job.  

But, the biggest question is how they intend on getting me up there.  I did find that a greyhound will take you to Ruston, LA and then a taxi up to El Dorado. You can also fly up there from Longview, but that's 40 plus miles away and I'd have to find a ride over there after returning to get my vehicle back.  So I dunno.  Not my problem, they'll have to figure that one out.  Well it is my problem because I'm directly involved in it but it isn't my problem to figure out what to do.

Thankfully, the manager is back at work. He was out for a long time.  I think he was still doing limited work from home but it wasn't much and he wasn't, after all, doing any dispatching.  I did inform him I'm not his Ennis man and I want my Gurdon run back after I ever get back into a truck.  

So, who knows, I'm assuming some time this week I will be able to start working again?  Not that I want to, lmao, I could do this nothingness for awhile. But, there's bills to be paid and debt I am paying off. Personal debt, not business related. Well I take that back. I got into personal debt in order to be able to finish the business build.  

I was looking at loans to bring the rate down and they all suck. Yes, they offering much lower interest rate but the price is 72 month term.  That's ridiculous.  I have 3-1/2 years left on the current loan and tho I could cut the payment down by probably $400 per month, there would actually be no savings and even further loss.  Yes, because of the extended length of a new loan.  So screw it. Just keep making payments on the current one and eventually the light at the end of the tunnel will be visible.

Whereas, 6 years starting now would seem insufferable. I'd be approaching 70 by the time I get it paid off? No thanks.  Once I get that paid off, I will have very little debt. I have some credit card stuff, but nothing to get excited about. I actually had AI do the math on the payments, lol, I didn't feel like it but I guess I better verify with a calculator that I am indeed, going to actually save money staying in this loan versus a new one. 

Ok, my calculations show I'd save 3k on a SoFi loan that is 48 months.  All the other ones I had seen were 72 months so I dunno how they did that.  But, SoFi has a notoriously bad reputation on approving loans, changing the interest rate after they "promised" a lower one, difficult to find anyone to speak to and a list of other alleged issues.  There's so much negative reviews that I am not interested in trying to use them at all. CreditKarma only has them listed currently for loans on there, like 15 of them  but all are SoFi.  My credit score is well back into good territory. 

I had the guy out there removing the weeds next to the ditch. We're talking probably close to 400 feet total.  So yea, I'm going to go over there and check it out.  He said he was going to treat it with weed killer, I forgot to ask if he had done that.  Those particular weeds do not pull out easily. You have to cut them down.  

Anyway, I couldn't do any work on the expansion if I had wanted to with all those weeds in the way.  

The group has apparently decided that we are all going on a cruise.  Either next year or the following.  5 days I believe and I would assume leaving out of Galveston since that's the closest port. 

I started doing some research. There is a LOT of nuance to this business of finding a good room that isn't near casinos, restaurants, noisy laundromats, etc. AI was at least helpful in noting that there are only a couple of areas on a ship with balconies that are preferrable and it even gave a layout.  Aft rooms and mid ship.  Apparenty aft rooms are preferred by "pro cruise shippers" who say the scenery is spectacular.  

Also apparently the front of the ship is no good because of noise from wind and going out onto your balcony will not be fun, at all.  I dunno but I'm going to do a hefty amount of research before I pull the trigger on anything.  Carnival is apparently the low cost version but also low quality, especially the builds of the walls and cutting out noise from neighboring - whatever is next to you.  It was advised that we would need 2 rooms.  

There's all kinds of additional fees and expenses as well beyond the base fare.  I'm not going to go into all of that right now, I just did some initial research, I will go into depth at some point. Reddit probably has some good posts from travelers who know what they're talking about, not going to just rely on AI, it can be wrong.  I'm sure there are blogs and websites out there about it too.  It's going to cost a small fortune and if I'm going to do it, I want to do it right.  

I"ve been forcing myself to get up early to get used to such a schedule and I can tell ya, I'm pretty tired right now. Going to bed too late, I'm going to cut myself off at 10 pm tonight and make myself go to bed at a more reasonable hour inline with getting up early.  

Tentatively thinking about November trip to AZ.  Not sure about the particulars, I will probably stay at a hotel and use Uber/Lyft to get around.  My mom can barely see at all now and I don't want to disrupt her from being to find everything where she has it laid out in the house. I will undoubtedly spend a lot of time with her and help out with whatever she needs while I'm there, it really isn't going to be a vacation.  3 days I'm thinking.  

Or, I could go next month for her birthday.  

Anyway, I need to get some stuff done.  

G'day

 Friday - late afternoon

A few things to discuss here. First I was over at the property hacking down tall grass in the front 5 with the Big Boy.  The man I pay to help me was out there attempting to hack down tall weeds next to the ditch.  He started talking about borrowing a weed eater with solid blades on it but his friend is using it. Well, no rush, it can wait so you can get it done easier. No big deal there, people from a tree cutting service were cutting limbs back on the property along where the power lines run.  I knew they were going to be doing that but I asked anyway lol. I got a lot of mowing done today, that was good. 

The trucking job.  Now they have found even more things wrong with it, ordered the parts but they aren't in yet.  Just how much money are they going to spend on that machine?  I'd love to find out.  I'm guessing at least 20k for all of it including parts and labor.  The discussion was that there is a truck sitting up there that I could use. Yes, you mean the one that I came up for several Sundays ago and the AC wasn't working? And it was going to be real feel in the 100's so I went  home? 

That took him by surprise, he didn't know I had come up there for that for he was out sick at the time.  I am not going to come up there for that truck, we discussed yesterday about Monday and I have plans this weekend. Which I do, nothing I couldn't abandon but I seriously don't want to drive that other truck. It''s a ridiculous pile of junk. Gutless, super singles, everything I hate in a truck? It has it. 

Well then he said that even after the parts come in, it still has to be aligned.  Yup and there is an alignment shop in our town, many of the major trucking companies use it. So that was sort of settled, I can go get the truck and take it there for the alignment. How I am going to get up there is another story altogether.   They can come get me, perhaps hitch a ride with another driver, take a bus, I dunno.  

 Thursday - morning

Got up early so I could see the kids off. In fact, I woke up 15 minutes before the alarm went off which was set at 5:30 am. The youngest was in a bad mood - predictable and expected - the oldest was in an ok mood, not used to getting up that early.  They went off and here I sit contemplating the day.

There is no truck work today.  It's been 11 days this time since I've worked.  Obviously I can't continue this forever and to that end I contacted my manager yesterday evening.  I really didn't know where the truck was or what was going on with it, I only knew Peterbilt passed the buck saying they don't do that kind  of work there.  

So, what happened and where is the truck?  Well, they had it towed clear up to the yard in El Dorado.  Lol.  We have a new mechanic who is allegedly a "real", certified truck mechanic.  He's apparently the one who's been working on it and diddling around with it.  What I heard from my manager is that he continued to find things wrong with it - yes, it's got a slew of problems but nothing safety related or that DOT would write me up and I've gotten used to a half working truck. 

It's why I refuse to sleep in it at all.  It's old, it doesn't have the modern conveniences newer trucks have, it's very plain Jane. It's good enough for a day truck, it isn't anything at all I would consider driving OTR.  But then again I wouldn't consider driving OTR in any truck so there is that.  

I"m sleepy.  I haven't been getting up early and so I pretty much need to force myself back into that habit.  Oh, off topic here. Another man working in the office who is co-owner of the company got mad yesterday and told the mechanic after the mechanic came in and said "I found this and that wrong with it" that he needed to have it finished by that afternoon before he goes home.

He did not finish it.  I don't know how much is left to go or even what's been done to it this time around.  The manager was speaking in generalities.  I'm more into specifics, I want to know everything and exactly what has been fixed.  The problem is this: once that mechanic gets done with whatever he's doing, then it has to be taken to a truck alignment shop.  

There isn't a truck