Thursday - semi early

Another early load.  The first load driver showed up....5 minutes before I did.  When I got to the scales in Gurdon and went up to the window, the scalemaster said: "I have some bad news for you".  Oh, what is it? That other driver just left here 5 minutes ago.  Mind you, I was almost 2 hours beyond his appointment time.  I didn't get angry but I was definitely irritated. These people demand to get the first load times and then they squander it by showing up late? 2 days in a row. This dude showed up late to the washout the day before, I learned from the employees there. 

So, he lied to me at the plant in Lufkin.  He said he had been there "on time".  Whatever dude, if you don't want to show up on time or even early (as I always do), why do you so adamantly want this loading time?  I immediately contacted the manager.  I don't care what anyone thinks, this is bs and I'm calling these drivers out on it.  In the trucking industry, appointment times are sacred.  I know this from many, many years of trucking and having been turned away from being offloaded, through no fault of my own (usually dispatch putting on unrealistic appointment times because that's what the shipper or receiver wants) and put off sometimes for many, many hours.

"We'll get to you when we can".  Gulf Relay did that to me on every single load.  That dispatcher would dispatch me for the next load before I even had the current load off the truck. So, if there was a disruption in getting the truck unloaded when he "thought" it should done, then that set off the entire process.  I didn't last there long, I quit after a month and a half for a myriad of reasons, that being one of them.  That place sucked, quite frankly.  I wouldn't recommend anyone to work there, especially if you don't live there locally where their yards are at near Jackson, Mississippi. 

Anyway, if this stuff continues, I'm just going to tell the manager he can start giving me the first run all the time.  He probably won't like that or even agree to it, but that's where I'm at.  Get your s*** done on time or get the Freudian Slip out of my way (putting it nicely here, folks).  Where did these drivers (there is more than one of them that does this) get it into their heads that they can just show up whenever they please?  I put up with enough from this company, this situation is intolerable. 

So I have the late load again today, that's 2 in a row.  I best be getting at least 2 runs in a row that are first loads after this. Well, I do have first load on Monday next week.  Today and tomorrow is the last run of this week, I have the weekend off as agreed to when I ended up in Arkansas in front of the manager and discussing schedules.  He made it clear that drivers get a weekend off and a weekend on.  I force them to stick to that unless they have some sort of emergency going on.

There may be a 2 month emergency going on here pretty soon.  The driver trainer is starting his chemo therapy for his prostate and says they are giving him mild doses of it every day for 2 months straight. He has no idea how that will affect him (I suggested yesterday he Google it, I'm sure someone, somewhere has printed their story of their time going through it and how it physically and mentally affected them).  I may Google it myself out of curiosity.  He's a good guy, tho he's also one of those that shows up late every single time unless it's the second load.   

As far as I've ever seen it, anyone getting any kind of chemo treatment is basically getting an extended lease on life.  I'm not trying to sound cold about it, it's just the way I've seen it play out on many occasions. You get 10 extra years or so. That's just anecdotal.  I know chemo makes people feel like hell while they're going through it, which made me wonder about his plan to keep driving.  I'd be looking for ways to avoid work altogether.  This company at least has short and long term disability insurance you can (and I have) buy that is very inexpensive.  I've had that at every job for decades now, I thankfully haven't had to use it.  It only pays 50% of your income, but that's better than nothing.  He's in a rock and a hard place, tho, they just bought a second house and she, the wife, just lost her job.  The pressure is on him, yes, but life is "interfering" with that and sometimes, life takes precedence regardless of your particular situation.

I dunno, but the weekend looms and I'm looking forward to it. I have nothing in particular planned, that's the point. Nothingness.  I can deal with nothingness and doing whatever I please much better than constant this and that all day, every day.  Even a small RV park presents it's challenges and people will complain about something, tho those that have been around me for a bit know I won't tolerate bs. If it's legitimate, I'll deal with it but if it's petty or nothing at all?  Best approach me in the right way about it because if it's a harsh, demanding type of stance? I can dish it back and I have.  No one is going to get rude with me that is totally uncalled for.  Even if there is a situation where I might have been slacking or something, that still shouldn't trigger rudeness. Maybe if you've asked several times with no results...sort of like my dealings with satellite tv companies over the last couple plus decades.  

Oh, I'm thinking about getting rid of it. At least in this house.  It's a lot of money and I've started watching other stuff.  Hulu is one of the biggest ones I've been watching for different content I can't find on satellite tv.  I get so tired of them giving you a price and then, after a few months, they start jacking it up again. Then you have to call them and ask, why did you do that? They always have their excuses sitting in front of them on a computer screen and then I always ask them to put it back to what we agreed to. It goes back and forth and it gets old.  It's endless. 

Or the dumpster. They keep raising the price on that and I keep calling them, what the fractional felony is going on here?  Why are you continuously jacking up the price?  I've called around, there is no one else that does it. There is a company that does regular residential cans on my street, but for whatever reason, they don't and they won't do dumpster service.   There is a host of businesses that have agreed to switch over if someone would offer a cheaper service. Republic Services is way over-priced. Everyone else is at least a third lower in monthly rates than them.

I don't know how I got myself going like this this morning, time to chill out and enjoy a hot cup of coffee.  

And then there is this workamper.  I told him what I wanted done 2 days ago, but did he do it? No. He gave the excuse that "everything is too wet".  It rained for 4 minutes the previous day.  I didn't reply to him, this was on texting.  I had half a mind to just get out there and do it myself and he can then try to prove to me that it is too wet outside to mow grass.  No, it is not.  He may not want to do it, that's a different story entirely. I think this weekend I'm going to write out a list of things I want done and send it to him.  He's really not all there, tho.  There's something in his head where the elevator is definitely not making it to the top floor. Or even several floors below it.  You sit there and say something to him and it's a Biden look he gives back to you. Like, am I even existent? 

If he doesn't have it done by the time I get back today, I am doing it myself and then we're going to have to have a discussion as to whether I even need his services....

As for Keto...slow weight loss. A pound here, a pound there. Nothing significant but at least the scale is going down, not up.  It's day 11 and I've eaten zero sugary stuff, no pasta, no potatoes, etc.  I've followed it diligently.  I am in ketosis, I check that daily.  I don't really need to check it now, I just do for the motivational aspect.  I'll stick with it for the month and see the overall results.  I want 10 pounds off as in previous rounds of doing this diet or....nothing. I don't think most diets give 10 pounds per month results, or do they?  

I haven't even been thinking about a tractor for the most part the last several days.  I need one but I don't need high payments.  I have looked at various loans.  Heloc is 10.99% now that I've done more searching, that's the lowest rate I've seen, which in my view is extremely high when you're talking 15 or 30 year repayment plan.  I don't even know if I would qualify for that.  Creditkarma is showing me guaranteed personal loans the cheapest being it 16.99% if I recall correctly. Maybe one of them was in the 13% range.  The only versions of those loans that look good are the short repayment plans, the amount paid in interest is obviously going to be much lower than a 5 or longer year repayment plan. The payments, however, are pretty high.  

I'd actually just like to pay off the credit card debt and a personal loan that I have and replace it with one, lower, monthly payment.  

I'm mixed between getting something going now or waiting until interest rates finally start coming down.  The question is: how long will that take? 

Oh, well I sent off an email to a local dealer selling LS tractors.  This is equipment made in South Korea.  I've seen ads for dealers giving some pretty low monthly payments, which includes a backhoe.  Those dealers are not anywhere near me so I decided to find out what someone local might want, if it's in the same ball park.  This dealer is about 50 miles away.  If you're talking less than $300 per month and it includes a decent warranty, then yes, I would be interested.  

I got in on the low interest for that cash-out refi before interest rates skyrocketed for actions of the fed.  Now? I see younger generations blaming baby-boomers for holding on to their houses and not selling them, creating an "artificially" high price atmosphere where there isn't much housing inventory on the market, which is consequentially driving up prices.  Excuse me, but those low rates were available to anyone that had decent credit and either a decent down payment or if you already had something worth more than you owe as collateral.  I think it's the down payment department they can't get a hold of.  

I can understand that but you can't blame baby boomers. I wouldn't refinance my house right now, what would I get out of it? Nothing but a much higher monthly payment.  I mean, I guess I could refi-cashout, it would be a stupid move with ridiculously high interest rates.  People are looking to blame someone, somewhere, for everything that happens. Much like this TDS - Trump Derangement Syndrome - where 4 years later, Trump is still being blamed for rainy days and hot weather.  I think it will be a dark day for America if Biden wins a second term. 

He won't survive 4 more years, that is fairly obvious, so we will have a Harris presidency.  Biden is all about clean energy without having any plan in place to replace all of the generation plants that are being shut down all over the place.  He has created a war against natural gas - everything, including appliances sitting in your pantry or your kitchen or the heater closet.  He has created an open border where illegals know if they come here, they are going to be given cash, food, clothing, medical care and transportation to wherever in the US they want to go without any real possibility of them ever having to leave.  

We have a "cold civil war" going. That's what I would call it. There are distinct lines drawn and there are 2 sides.  Yes, I see it is one being evil and the other at least having some morals if not God involved with their view of things.  You see them accusing 2 SCOTUS justices of being compromised and needing removed from the bench.  You have a 2-tiered justice system that goes after Republicans but does nothing to democrats (for the most part unless they want something to "show"  that they aren't the way that they actually are) for doing the exact same things.  You have wokeness, DEI, transgenderism which is being completely shoved down our throats, thought police, word police, it's all evil.  Biden, who was going to "heal this nation", has done more to divide this nation than anyone can currently be blamed.  Couple that with that mouthpiece Pelosi.  A staunch Catholic who believes in "women's rights", read: abortion on demand.  Constantly denigration Trump, Trump supporters and the Republican party as a whole, I don't see any type of religion coming out of her mouth, at all.]

Have you heard that the term "cockpit" is now offensive?  I can tell ya, I won't be adhering to their nonsense.  If I am talking about the flight deck of a commercial airliner, it's also known as the cockpit and I don't have a problem calling it that, at all.  The pilot union denouncing the term is calling it "masculine generalizations". Have you noticed? They want men to become effeminate.  Manliness is a no-no in these deranged people's minds.  God made us man and woman.  Two distinct (and the only) genders with different roles.  

Let me get off of that train of thought.  I am just looking forward to the day when I can just work at my RV park or whatever it turns into and not have to do anything else. Still, I have resolved myself that realistically, Lord willing and I'm still alive, I will have to work until I am 65 so I can get Medicare and not have to pay a grand per month on health care coverage.  

I am seriously considering dividing the property into 2 pieces. The 7 acres up front and the rest of it out back.  Have a permanent easement down the main driveway giving me access and then, if something happens and I lose the park, I don't lose the 15 acres out back.  I would have to put the lease on the 15 acres as well, guaranteeing me access.  I don't know the legalities of it, but that's what I would really like to do. It's probably a pricey proposition, tho, hiring a lawyer to do all of that.  When I say "lose the park" I'm referring to sue-happy people that will find a way to take you to court and try to take everything you own.  I have the signage up that is required by the state for the law they enacted last year.  It states that there is limited liability for RV park owners against people who are engaging in normal activities in an RV park and these sue-happy people with get-rich quick and easy schemes. I have no idea how this new law will play out in the courts, sooner or later, if not already, some park owner is going to use it go get out of some lawsuit a person brings for them tripping over their own feet in the park and blaming the park for it.

Well, the time to leave here is fast-approaching.  Another day in a truck.  Late load, wondering if this dude is going to actually show up on time and get his stuff done.  If he is late again today, I'm going to "suggest" that I get early loads from now on.  At least up against the 2 other dedicated-run drivers.  If an OTR person shows up late, that is more acceptable.  Stuff happens. Getting up out of bed late and taking your sweet time is not a valid excuse.  The thing is, when he shows up to the Lufkin plant late? The plant just says screw it and they start loading their own trucks.  They want you there at 10:00 am or before, not after.  They have a day's worth of loading to do and they aren't going to wait around for you if you aren't going to be there on time.  

That will be my argument if this scenario doesn't change.  If it does change, I'll just eat these late loads and oh well.  I can't expect early load every time, it's just not reasonable with everyone else wanting them.

With that, I bid you a good day.