An actual full day off.
Moving time for everyone is coming up soon, I decided to get all of this utility and perks stuff over and done with.
Water department - yes sir, you will have to come down here, provide us a check and give a deposit.  Well, they are only a mile away so I went down there and did that.

I did, of course, spent at least an hour on the phone with Direct TV.  They are paying for it, but it's going in my name.  I got a much better deal because I had accounts with them for years and years - and years......and years...........

But, they weren't offering any internet service, so, off to that website and found a local provider at a good price.  That really didn't take long to set up at all.

Off to the power company site, that took much longer.  Mostly because they don't take payments themselves, they send it off, on the phone, to a 3rd party company.  After setting up the account, I got transferred to this 3rd party. The 3rd party had no clue how much I owed the power company for a deposit.  I hadn't really paid attention, $300 and something.

So, they run me back to the electric company which is when I had had enough. Manager, please and thank you.  The manager was as useless as the rest of these people, but I had an account number so i decided to see if I could set up my account online and just pay it - online.  Sure enough, all done.  So, I got power, water, satellite and internet service set up. The only thing left is gas and I went through their online process.  They sent me an email saying they are "reviewing the history" of whatever. Great, don't spend a week reviewing, somebody contact me, because they didn't even ask for payment.

Meanwhile, cleaning everything in my room.  We're not that far off from the end of the month.  I have to move out of this room and I want the thing spic and span so there's nothing left to do but move my stuff from one end of the house to another.  The guy I'm hiring to clean the house and move everything I will expect to help me move my bed over there as well.

I went food shopping for the truck as well while I was out today.  I have no idea how long I'm going to be out, I asked my manager but she usually doesn't have those details until the end of the day.  However, after scrutinizing my paystub they send in the mail, it became evident that the mileage pay I was promised is not the mileage pay I am getting. It's good, but not as good as .51 cents per mile.  I also contacted her about that. This was clearly promised to me and I am not going to stand for anything different. It was most of the reason I went up to Pennsylvania and endured hell for 2 weeks.  That mileage pay was contingent on being willing to go out of town for a couple of weeks here and there if necessary to help other divisions out.  I'm fine with that, I did that, and I'm getting 6 cents per mile less?

It doesn't sound like much, but in tens of thousands of miles of driving, it is quite the nice chunk of change. I fully expect to be compensated for that.  \

Okay.  I'm headed to Stryker, Ohio tomorrow. It's almost thousand miles.  Tomorrow, I'll load, drive as far as I can - hopefully around 600 miles but it really depends on time at the plant, then drive the rest out on Wednesday.  Likely get to the area early, such as I did last time and spend the night at that same hotel I was at last time. It was cheap, it had direct tv, it had a comfortable bed, there is a nice restaurant across the street.
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That day is gone. Today, is here and almost gone. Sitting at a TA truck stop in Matthews, Missouri.  I prefer Loves but the company is cracking down on the usage of truckstops outside of their preferred list if there is one of their preferred ones available.  I figured I might want to fuel up in the morning before heading out and not have to worry about fuel for the entire day, arrive at a truck stop down the road from the delivery point and spend the night there.  I think I will drop the plan for a hotel tomorrow unless I get there way too early to be sitting around in a truck for 15 plus hours.   But they have me slated for 6 am delivery and the nearest hotel is 20 miles away. This is another nothing out here in the middle of nowhere delivery.  I was shocked last time I was up here that there was a truckstop - literally out in the middle of nowhere. 

Really, it's a decision I'll have to make once I get close tomorrow.

Meanwhile, my friend showed up at his house - my place called home - today and his mother and dad showed up as well.  The mother and dad are sleeping in my new bed tonight.  Naw, I don't mind.  I just want clean sheets when I get home, tho.  I'm going to have to buy a second set of sheets for that bed.  I kinda offered the bedroom for when I"m gone because they have overnight company at times.  If I'm out on the road anyway, it doesn't bother me to let someone stay in there. My dogs will be over at the new place - for the most part anyway - when I"m gone.  If I happen to leave them at the house, well, whoever is staying in there will be in the same room sleeping with a Great Dane and a German Shepherd.  They are both sound sleepers, they don't get up in the middle of the night and start doing irritating stuff that wakes me up. I've had a few dogs like that.

I take that back, sometimes Addler starts licking himself in the middle of the night.  A tongue that big and a mouth with that large a cavity?  Nahhh, it doesn't wake me up, lol, I have ear plugs in that cut that noise out. But I wake up every night regardless and sometimes he's smack dab in the middle of doing that stuff.  It sounds like there is a horse in my bedroom lololol. 

I would have liked to have visited with the whole lot of them, but, work calls. I had 2 short runs in a row, I knew yesterday that i would be getting sent out on a long run today. If I don't take the long runs, I won't make near as much money as I am now.  Oh, and I got word back on my mileage pay.  It seems I signed off on something when I was hired that allocates a percentage of my pay as "per diem", even tho it really isn't, and it isn't taxes.  So, that amount of my paycheck shows up at per diem pay.  And yes, I saw that in there, but at the time I saw it, I had no idea what they were referring to.  It's a way to have a portion of your check non-taxed and per diem isn't taxed at the end of the year either, as far as I remember it, so it's a win situation for me.  My manager had called corporate to sort all of that out.  I'm actually making .53 per mile, which for a company worker is awesome money.

I was thinking about all of this today. In light of the mileage pay, the stop pay, the hourly wage for detention pay, it would seem extremely foolish for me to quit this job anytime soon. I don't like these longer runs and spending 3 nights in a truck, but seriously, if I really get hat sick of it, a hotel isn't out of the question.  I still make a ton of money regardless of the hotel expense and I keep my sanity.  I'm thinking I will take a hotel stay the 3rd/final night out and then cruise back into town the next day.  That should be on Friday, everything going right. 

Okay, the reason I had thought of finding greener pastures is this truck situation.  For now, this truck is working.  The engine light went out and all the other warning lights as well.  I mean, doesn't mean it's fixed but at least it's not affecting my driving, currently.  I was getting a lot of conflicting advice from friends when I was considering taking this job and dumping that last "thing" I had for what, 2 months?  I am SOOOO glad I got the HELL out of that place and over here.  This trip here will pay around $1,300 - for 4 days.  Figure that math up.

Well, there is much more I had in mind for this entry tonight, but I looked at the clock. My 10 hour break is  over around 6 am. I'd like to get up at 6, do my pretrip and get the fuel if I want or just save that for later and get on down the road, get the last 500 miles of this trip going up over with and have the rest of the day to do whatever.  Which is nothing because out there? There is nothing to do, haha.