Late start for the journey to Sierra Vista.
We paid for it, too.  2 accidents south of town out in the middle of nowhere on the Interstate.  Bumper to bumper traffic that went on for miles, when I got stuck in it I was thinking, gee, this isn't downtown Phoenix, what is going on here?  I get out the phone and dial 511.  2 separate accidents in 2 locations adding up to chaos on the Interstate.  I worked my way over to the far right lane, got off the freeway and took an alternate route.

I've been down the alternate route in the semi 50 times if not more.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that hardly any other traffic was moving down there as well - they were not giving detour routes on the news on the radio, they were simply saying 6 mile backup. Great.  The detour led us by a Subway and I was hungry so decided to stop and get a couple of sandwiches to go.  I walked up to the order line and a gentleman in front of me pulled out a stack of coupons and handed me one.  Another nice surprise, it was a couple for 2 subs for the price of one!  Nice folks they were - he and his wife - we got into a short conversation, I thanked him and we left with our score.

We finally got back to I-10 some 45 miles later on the alternate route and I made up for lost time.  I actually remembered how to get there - haven't been here in a couple of years now.

Walk up to the door and see my dad playing the piano and a young girl watching him.  He is a very accomplished pianist, actually. Upon walking in and after greeting him, I look around to see a man giving me a stare that I remembered from the last time we met.  I decided to greet him warmly regardless of his obvious attitude and blow him off, I wasn't there for him and neither was Caleb.

Caleb later asked, after we were alone, if that guy was the one I was referring to about the tude' from our previous visit.  Yes, indeed he is, I replied, why?  I hadn't brought the subject up to him, why give the man a moment's worth of time.  Kill him with kindness will be my motto, I suddenly decided after I saw the ego, arrogance and condescension.  If he wants to get into a discussion about whatever it is that he has issue with, I will certainly take him up on that.  Anyway, Caleb replied he saw what I was talking about.  You saw the way that guy looked at me?  Oh yeah, he replied, pretty hard not to take notice of it.

Well, we spent a good deal of time talking to dad and that is why we came down here, so no biggies.  Amazingly, that guy's wife is very nice, very gracious and very talkative to me. I don't get it.

Whatever, I am now in the hotel.  They have GREAT wi-fi here, not using the mobile broadband since wi-fi is included and is much faster than my hotspot device.

Well whatever, On a completely different note, I was at our company's main branch today, standing in the warehouse dealing with paperwork.  I hear this extremely upbeat greeting coming from down the way, it's the inside sales manager, the individual that will determine whether I get to switch to inside sales or not.  I greeted him with the same enthusiasm. He had brought his smoker with him and apparently was doing a smoked BBQ beef brisket for everyone.  I had further opportunity to speak with  him in the office, whether I get the position or not, we certainly seem to be clicking.

Walmart is just 2 miles down the road from here - if we can get over here in time to hit the 8:00pm sale.  If not, no biggies.

Well whatever, it's getting late.  We arrived late and it's now way past my bedtime - 11:00 pm, lol.

ben

So I wrote an email to the GM about my desire for the new position. I have to try.  Whether they think I am qualified or capable of performing the duties, I have no idea, but I am going to throw my bid for the job into the hat and see what happens.

He replies and says it's available for anyone to apply for the position.  Back and forth - I sent an email then stating a few things including trucks without air conditioning in the heat of the summer and how I would like to move to a different position in the company if at all possible.  Yeah, I spent a good deal of time in a hot truck this summer and I wasn't particularly happy about it.  My statement included a part about "since we apparently aren't doing upgrades in equipment at this point" - that truck is going on 7 years old.

Then I get the email from the inside sales manager. I send him something back, but he went on vacation, or at least he wasn't at work today, so didn't hear anything back from him.

However, the ops manager comes over to our branch just after I logged off (off the clock) and going home.  He sits down in the manager's office, and invites me to sit down as well, since "you're here".  Apparently, the GM mentioned my statement about "apparently not upgrading the equipment" to him.  We get into this discussion about what he actually said and what the options are.  Whatever, I wasn't trying to diss the ops manager, I was simply making a statement: I am not INto driving hot semi trucks around in the Arizona Sonoran Desert heat.  I don't care what UPS drivers do in those brown vans, the dudes in that company that are driving the semi's? They have AIR CONDITIONING.  Thanks for playing, now let's move on, shall we?  

I have no idea what the end of that story will be since my manager said he was going to get out all the information about how much we have spent on that truck in a full year's time and compare that to how much a truck payment will be.

Anyway, Wednesday morning. After work today - come home, get my stuff, take care of minutia around the house and take off for Sierra Vista with Caleb to go see his grandpa and step-grandmother.  I guess that's what you call her.  Dad wrote me an email yesterday asking about what time I would get there - no clue. Depends on what time I get off of work, unfortunately, which could be 2 or could be 4.  WHATEVER time I get off, I will still drive down there regardless.

But, today's workload looks pretty heavy with lots of running around to do and lots of pickups and deliveries.  So who knows.  I will attempt to get all of it done as fast as possible, but, in the end, the work has to be done and then I get to start my vacation.

Having said that, almost time to leave for work.

G'day.

ben