The Woman In The Car - OH, Make That The Women In 2 Cars

First incident today.  I'm driving in the "slow" lane on a surface street in heavy traffic. Not moderate traffic, not light traffic, heavy traffic.  Truck has a partial load on it, very light, maybe 5,000 pounds worth.  Trucks don't even hardly feel that kind of weight.  I'm behind the car in front of me, not lagging behind is what I am saying.  There is a turning lane on my right.  It is obviously a turning lane and the lane obviously ends - at a block wall.

This woman in a compact car decides she is going to pass me in that lane, which is not a passing lane but more importantly, she doesn't have enough time/room to MAKE that pass. I would have had to STOP the truck entirely to let her in since by the time we were almost at that block wall, she was only at the side of my trailer.  At first I didn't know if she was turning in that turning lane or if she was playing these stupid games that everyone does around semi trucks. Well, I wasn't going to slam on my brakes for someone else's stupidity, I figured to let her do that in her own car since she was speeding - probably going 65 to 70 in a 45 zone and also attempting to pass in a turning lane.  Yup, she slams on her brakes and JUST stops short of that wall.  Amazingly, there was a motorcycle behind her that apparently also figured to pass me who was also stranded.

Now, stuff happens in traffic all day long and I was definitely driving, all day long.  But some of it is amazingly ridiculous and stupid stuff.  Like the guy stuck behind me today on the freeway on-ramp. Apparently, I was going to slow for him so he decided to pass me on the emergency lane on the right side of me.  What I am doing is going through the gears and if the truck is heavy, it takes a while to get up to speed.

Then, there was the second lady.  I am turning on a green arrow.  I was accelerating.  This woman apparently thinks I am going to slow and starts honking her horn at me!  She gets by me and flips me off.  I have done or said NOTHING to this woman, no gestures, no middle fingers, nothing.  Then, a black car following her has a finger come out of their window as well.  This is the joy of driving in a metropolis.  A daily event, though it doesn't happen so much in my car since I can keep up with every one and also - because I am cut off so frequently in the truck, so often, I don't LET people cut me off while in the car.

I can't tell you how many times on the freeway today a car comes speeding up beside me, cuts directly in front of me and then slams on the brakes to avoid - hitting the car that is in front of me that is now in front of them.  Morons.

Sooo, last night at the church group.  A lady starts sobbing as she starts talking about her doggy and how the doc has told her the dog doesn't have much time.  She knows it is going away.  That started it all over for me.  I didn't say anything but inwardly I was churning.  The dude that runs the thing looks at me and says how I had just gotten a new doggy - I replied yes, but I just put down my beloved doggy and looked at the lady and empathetically said: It's not a lot of fun, I know.  Well, anyway, he prayed for both of us which turned the faucet on yet again.  I haven't gone to get her ashes yet - and in no hurry to be honest.  I guess I better get them before something happens to them, but at the same time, I'm not sure how I will be able to handle that.

Enough of that.  I had a very long day at work, 10 hours non-stop and I don't even want to go there.  So I won't. Sophie is now learning about commands, especially the one that says "come" and she - decides to ignore me.  I don't know how anyone else trains their doggies, when a dog ignores me and actually starts walking off, I get out of my chair, grab the dog by the collar and yes, we go and we do what I told that dog to do in the first place.  I don't tolerate disobedient dogs, not that I beat the crap out of them, but I do take action to correct it and quickly. I am taking it a bit easy with her, though, I am guessing by the way she reacts that she has been subjected to some abuse in the past.  She's a sweet, gentle and loving dog, though and I don't think it's going to take too terribly long to get her adjusted to my way of doing things.

Still, it takes quite a while for a dog to be around you before it really starts understanding you, how you want it to behave and what lines can be crossed and can't be crossed.  It's a big investment in time, really, to train a dog to the point that you don't really have to say much of anything to get them to do what you want them to do, they already KNOW what you want them to do before you say it. I like getting them to the hand gesture phase, where you simply point and they understand.  I can click my fingers at Prince and he will come, I point at the floor and he lays down.  Nothing complicated or outstanding, just an example.

Well, bedtime.

G'nite.

ben

Wednesday 3/14/2012

I was at the Phoenix LTL (less than truckload terminal, will not say which in case it gets Googled) terminal today, picking up a large delivery of material that for whatever reason, had not been delivered directly to us.  We got to talking about loading flatbeds versus loading vans since Conway doesn't have flatbed trailers, which led to this and that and then he started talking about his hernias and on and on.

I asked him - aren't you about ready to retire?  Not in mocking way, it was a sincere question as he is obviously well up there in years.  He replies that he is 72 years old, but then does the finger rubbing gesture - the one that denotes money and in this case, the lack of it.

72 years old and still operating a forklift because he doesn't have enough money to retire.

This is exactly what I am afraid of.  72 years old, operating a forklift in a warehouse and loading trucks because I don't have enough money to retire on.  How did we get ourselves into this position?  So many people at retirement age that have nothing near the amount of money stashed away that is necessary to enjoy at least a decent retirement without feeling like you are living in want.

Gave all 3 dogs flea baths yesterday and the treated all 3 for fleas, even though the Danes show no sign of it. Sophie didn't exactly like the cold water; Duke loves water and doesn't care how cold it is and Prince - well - he just stood there with a pathetic look on his face, lol.

I need another vacation.  I am trying to hold off until summer.  May warms up then June brings hell.  So maybe 2-1/2 months off. Gonna have to take another 3 day weekend before then, I do believe.

Also went to the small church group yesterday.  I like it a lot better than last week, but - there is always one or 2 people in such groups that feel they must dominate every conversation that comes up.  Their opinion, apparently, is equal to the value of gold and therefore must be heard.  One woman especially.  She couldn't and wouldn't stop talking.  Whenever someone had something to say about the discussion that would be put forth, this woman would chime right in and go on for 5  or even 10 minutes.  I got very tired of listening to it.  If they don't do something to stop it, I may opt out of that small group and go to a different one.  Way back when, when I was leading small groups, I remember a guy that would not shut up.  He would go on and on and on the entire time, leaving very little time for anyone else to say much of anything.  I ended up confronting him on it.  He claimed he didn't realize he was doing that.

Anyway, everyone has a viewpoint and an opinion about everything, including things Bible related.  I just don't get people who think they are somehow pre-eminent  and will never shut up.  They sidetrack entire conversations and go off into tangents that are usually extremely personal - and extremely boring - things that only relate to them and have nothing to do with the conversation that was originally floated.  That's great in your social circle, I guess, but not so great in a church group.  I am not going to say anything, yet.  I will see what happens next week.  Basically, the group leader just needs to take charge and do whatever he has to to limit one person from taking over everything that is brought up.

Well, whatever.  I hate to speak negatively about it, but it became rather annoying after an hour of it and I would doubt that I am the only one that feels that way.  The meeting was supposed to be over at 8:30 pm, which it was not, but the leader saw me looking at the clock and offered that anyone that needed to leave, could.  I got up, said I didn't mean to be rude but I have to get up at 4:30 am, I gotta leave.  They all gave their blessing on it.

Time to go to work, plenty to do today, too.

Later.

ben