I haven't had to mess with the rate structure on my reservation page for quite a while. I am not raising rates, I won't get any business, too much competition. I've tried, trust me.  So, I finally remembered what I had to do to get the rates showing up again. It's just that the rate "season" runs out and you have to renew it, but you have to take a bunch of steps to make that renewal.

I erred and nothing happened at all. Then I erred again and added $28 to every space for having 30 or 50 amp.  So, when I figured out tonight how to get the new season started, I went into my reservations system as if I were a customer and saw the rate doubled. Gag. Then i realized what I had done: double charged. The seasonal rate AND the amperage rate.  Got rid of the amp rate and walaah.  

Yes, we all went to Mikki D's tonight and yes, I cheated on my cholesterol stuff. I've been doing quite well, I only cheat on it a little here and there, I am mostly keeping pretty good eye on it.  But tonight would qualify as in the "ridiculous" range with a shake, a big mac and fries.  Yeah, not particularly good for your health, I think I eat at McDonald's maybe once every 6 months.  In fact, I don't eat at fast food hardly any more at all and that started long before I went on this cholesterol watch.  The food is delicious, yes but it is also very unhealthy and I wasn't brought up on fast food.

We ate it here and there, my parents were pretty poor when I was very young and eating out was a luxury.  Even fast food.  We went to A&W on certain weekends here and there, but that wasn't to eat dinner or lunch, it was for root beer floats.  Or DQ for banana splits.  Grandma would occasionally take us to ritzy places where you had to dress up to even enter the building. She was a rich realtor and step grandpa was a rich dentist.  She had a membership at some ritzy golf club and she demanded the service she was paying for.

I didn't mind any of that, it was fun until she got drunk. Then she would get mean with the wait service personnel. She wanted a fresh glass of water every time she took a sip or a fresh ashtray - smoking was still a thing inside buildings then - for every flick of her cigarette.  Oh, she paid for that type of service, there is no doubting that but if they lapsed even a little and she had been drinking? Oh noooo, you best watch out boy or girl, she comin' after you!

Still, I loved my grandma, no one would ever take that away from me regardless of how she was acting.  

But now, I am reverting back to the days of treating eating out as a luxury. It just needs to be that way for now. It's not that I can't afford it, I can but when you look at how much money you are spending on such things on a monthly basis and your jaw drops to the floor looking at the total? Just no.  Time to make adjustments. I have been making adjustments everywhere else, this was no safe space either.  

I'm probably not giving up the after-church-on-Sunday-Appleebee's-visits.  Oh well. They have a few options for healthier dishes including a chicken breast dinner with mashed potatoes and green beans or a salad or whatever healthy. Salmon as well. A chicken rice bowl. Stuff like that.  I do choose the healthier stuff and since it's only the kids or kid going with me, they get the children's menu stuff and that's much cheaper. The total bill isn't very high.  

I just went out 2 days ago and bought the stuff to make some decent stuff to have to eat out of the fridge. In other words, pre made meals so I don't have to go cooking something every time I get hungry, look in the fridge and get a frown on my face. I can't eat that and that, I'll just have to make a sandwich. Well, I don't want to always be eating sandwiches or salads.  So, Turkey medallions it is and also turkey burgers.  Make the stuff in advance, it's a no brainer. Just pull it out, reheat some of it, good to go. Makes life easier to deal with in this low cholesterol era of completely changing my eating habits.  

There are going to be meals here and there that are simply too loaded with fat to where I just have to eat in moderation.  Small portions.  If it's got a lot of cheese and beef and creams in it, I can have a little of it.  Old ways were eat as much as I want, now I really do limit myself.  

I didn't make the turkey medallions yet, I have been sick and as I said in previous post, barely made the bathroom today for the toilet.  

I received a threat letter from a lab today saying if I didn't pay their $5.39, it was going to be forwarded to a collection agency.  Huh?  I paid this, I thought. Did I somehow miss this? I went online, entered the info - this bill has already been paid. Can you imagine a hit to your credit score over $5.39?  Yeah, I didn't think so. At this point, all of my doc bills from all of that I have gone through are paid excepting possibly the visit to the doc a few days ago. They took x-rays, remains to be seen what I will have to pay towards that.  It's $75 right off the bat, co-pay you pay at the window, it's written right on the insurance card.  

It's hard to believe it's the end of Thursday already.  I've been working quite a lot with 2 more days to go before another day off.  Yes, I had Tuesday off but I worked the 6 days previous to that.  So, work four more days after that and another day off and back at it Monday? I can deal with that. Or, I should say, I tell myself that.  I try to occupy myself while driving so that the miles pass by and I don't even think about it. I said I try, that doesn't always work but when it does, I pop out of it and think, wow, I'm already at X point in the trip back! 

I love the early morning runs, for the most part. There are days when I think, gee, I would have been better off sleeping in since I am so tired and was actually sleeping when the alarm went off...today would have been a good day for that. The fact that I slept 2 hours when I got home is a testament to the fact that I was uber-tired and just need some rest.  Age doesn't help in that department, the older I get, the more naps I find I need to take.  That doesn't bother me tho, I like naps!  The only real drag about growing older is the machinery starts breaking down and you have to find a decent mechanic to fix it. I am, of course, referring to the body and doctors.

Not all doctors are equal in their experience, wisdom, knowledge or approach. Some clearly don't give a damn, get you in and out and they really don't even want to hear you out on anything.  I've thought about starting to call these types of doctors out to their faces, when they do that I don't want any further "treatment" from them anyway. You sit there and tell them what you are experiencing and it is like they aren't even listening to you.  If they spend 5 minutes with you, it seems like that was too much.  

I'm not real impressed with the state of medical care being given in this day and age and from my talks with other folks, a lot of people don't care for it.  They are flooded with patients and some of them even tell you they aren't taking on new patients.  That's good, actually, that some of them set limits.  If I call my doctor needing some kind of attention the same day, it's 99.99% guaranteed they are going to tell me they don't have a slot available. I don't even bother anymore, the urgent care place here is very good and can treat most of the stuff I deal with.  

Dang it. I totally forgot about the steroid treatment! Ugh. Need to write a note on my phone to go to Walmart tomorrow and get that prescription.  Completely spaced it out.  I do want to see if that will help this shoulder and back situation any.  Well there's not much else new. I am following the political scene more than I have been right now for the outbursts from the left are amazing - amazingly grotesque and irrational.  The stuff they are saying is truly unbelievable. And then there are Trump's appointments and nominees, he's got the ball rolling far earlier than he got it going last time. He wants all of it done before he takes the oath of office so they can get this stuff rolling quickly in Congress.  

I'm getting off of here.  It's getting late and I don't like going to bed past 9:30  pm if I'm getting up at 5:20 am.  

 Thursday - late afternoon

I can tell ya one thing, sleep deprivation caught up to me today and I slept 2 hours when I got home.  2 solid hours of sleep.  I feel so much better.

However, getting up to Gurdon today? Not so great.  I apparently still have an "internal problem" that decided it wanted out shortly before I got to the plant. But the time I made it through the scales, back out to the highway and into the entrance to deliver the resin?  

Ohhh myyyyy.  I didn't even park the truck at the delivery shack, I found the closest bathroom I could park near and ran, not walked, to it.  I barely  made it in time.  

I didn't spend much time up there, the product came out amazingly fast considering the outside temperatures now. When that stuff gets cold, it thickens.  When it thickens, it slows down the delivery process.  So it was a bit perplexing that I got that entire truckload out in 50 minutes. That's very fast. I had no more "issues" on the way back such as yesterday. When I got back yesterday? Someone was in the bathroom at the park and headed straight for the woods.  Any more info would likely by TMI so we'll leave it at that. 

I've been assigned another run starting tomorrow which concludes on Saturday, Sunday off and then another on Monday.  All of my loads lately and the 2 ahead of me have been the first load. I have said nothing to the manager about any "infractions" from other drivers, but it's really only one now that is doing the line cutting. He has been with the company 20 years and feels like he can do whatever he wants and no one can say anything to him about it. 

The other dude that was regularly cutting me has backed way off from that after the last encounter where he said he didn't even care what the manager had to say about it. The manager had something to say about it and I didn't hear from this dude for quite a while. And then, all of a sudden, he calls me asking me when I'm going to be there.  And now he texts.  I have no problem with this, it's actually quite effective to keep people from tripping up other people's load or delivery times. 

I had tried to start this with him originally.  Yesterday, he texted me asking me what time I would be there this morning. I told him 8:45 - 9:00 am. So, I got a text this morning at 7:20 am that "product is flowing", meaning he should be done by the time I get there. I have no problem with this, excepting the possibility if, after he is done offloading, there is no room in the tank for another load. That rarely happens, but it does  happen.  

I saw him driving the other direction from the plant about 10 minutes away from it. I got there and found that one tank was full but the other tank had room for 2 more loads.  So  much nicer when people communicate and make their intentions known and then if there are any foreseeable problems, attempt to work it out in advance.  Now, I don't know what he's going to do tomorrow.  I'll be at the washout at around 8:10 am, that's pretty much when I get there. I haven't run into him there, either, in quite a long time.  

Anyway, the manager finally called me today. Not that I had asked him to or even expected it, he just keeps dumping stuff into my tablet and I just do it without any other communication.  And so it was, "I just keep putting stuff in your tablet I just wanted to make sure all of this is okay?". Yes, yes indeed. I can work through Saturday, go to church Sunday and then start it all over again Monday.  If he does like he normally does, then Wednesday I will have off. He pretty much always gives me a day off during the week.

I don't ask for it but I'm used to it now and I welcome the ability to sleep in on a day when no kids are home making all kinds of noise and if Taylor is home, she doesn't make any noise at all.  She relishes her peace and quiet time away from the kids as much  as I do.  In fact, if I am sleeping in, I have to get up early, let the dog out for 10-15 minutes and then bring him back in. That dog ...

He'll start barking at something and always on my side of the house where my room is.  So, if I don't bring him back in, well, I might as well just get up.  Fortunately, the dog doesn't mind coming back in, laying down on his new bed and lazing around.  He's just like Addler was, very quiet.  To the point of a fault when he's in the house. I've left him in a few times when it's raining and found him still in there after I get home.  I forget to tell anyone he's in there and he won't make any noise to get out.  It only took the first time doing that and forgetting to tell anyone to figure out - let him out for a while in the morning if the weather is foul and I want him in.

That way, he takes care of his elimination needs and he won't do it on the carpet. 

Today was the boys' Thanksgiving meal at school. We typically go and meet them at each of their schools and have a meal with them. Today, however, no one could go. I've taken too much time off of work and Taylor was working, James is on a crazy schedule now working 12 hour days.  I didn't really like missing it but we are compromising to make them happy. McDonald's for dinner, in about 25 minutes actually.  

I like to go to the school thing to make sure the kids feel like they are a priority in our lives and of course the actual meal, which is a full turkey dinner.  Oh well, maybe we can go next year?  Maybe by next year I'll have more spaces and ...well let's not go into that.  The what-ifs can get  me going down rabbit trails of thought endlessly.  

That's my day. Saw no crazy accidents today but the usual with people playing games with trucks in traffic. I'll never understand that.  Faceboo, YouTube and TikTok are rife with videos of people doing such things that end up very badly for them.  Maybe they don't see such videos or maybe they just don't care.  I do see some such videos, tho, where the truck driver isn't being proactive and attempting to stay out of an accident. They just stay right there and force the issue.

Nice and fine if you don't mind killing and maiming people, destroying property and ending up in hospitals and time off.  Even if the trucker isn't hurt at all, their truck has damage that will have to be repaired, meaning they can't drive until it's fixed.  Or, have to get a rental truck.  Any way about it, it doesn't matter if it's going to be the other driver's fault, you, the trucker, should make every possible attempt to avoid an accident, even if it means swallowing your pride and ego and letting the "idiot" in - or whatever stupidity they are doing.  

I say something on the comments sections of such videos and I get all kinds of wrath.  Whatever, people, you are causing yourselves more problems than you need to have if you just let it go, let these other drivers do their thing and go about your day.  

Oh, I've been following the people Trump is nominating for the various positions that need to be filled.  The one that really caught my attention was Matt Gaetz, lmao.  I'm not to go into all of that right now, I have to leave in a few minutes but I find it funny. Republicans having herds of cows for Trump to attempt to put him into such a position.  

And another one that caught my attention was Pete Hegseth, of which the left are also having cows about.  He isn't qualified!  Oh? Why? I asked one person and he went off with a script that was straight from (or appeared to be anyway) an article from CBS. Not qualified, a warrior but not a leader, yada yada yada, blah blah blah.  Straight from Fox News! is the other one, yes he is on Fox News.  He's not a hoaxster, he's the real McCoy as far as I'm concerned.  

I'm still reading people saying all of the left are going to be placed in concentration camps. I guess these people actually believe this crap, enough of them are saying it?  

Well, off to McDonald's! The home of high cholesterol and saturated fats! LOL!