Watching the funeral of Bush. They're finally to the eulogies.  Quite the grand ceremony, the whole thing.  I actually saw Trump reach a hand to Obama in a friendly gesture.  One wonders what was going on in either man's head considering the heated exchanges the two have had through tweets and the media. The media believes that "could" be the start of an era of healing and bipartisanship and all of that.  Not.  Not happening.  The Trump hate is entrenched. Trump despisers see nothing good in him or what he does.  The ridiculous name calling goes on and on. 

Whatever the case, day 6 in Lufkin and hopefully the final day here. Fixing to call the shop in a few and see if they got the part and if we're still on for today.  Cause' I really, reallllllly want to go home now.  I've been out for 6 days, that's long enough.  I'll make somewhere around $3,600 on this trip - for the miles driven and for the wait here in Lufkin.  I mean, if that part doesn't come in today? I'll have no choice.  Oh heck with it, I'm calling them now.  

They haven't received the part yet.  Gag. FedEx express delivery shows up by 10:00 am I think. It's 11 am now.  I don't even know what to do now.  Ask for another day of hotel?  Take all my stuff and wait somewhere?  I mean, I have too much stuff to just walk around with it tho.  A large bag for clothing and such, a smaller bag for toiletries, a computer bag plus the food I bought.  The  food is half gone at least.  

The problem, of course, is the hotel.  I have to either leave here at noon or have the company get me another day.  That's really up to them, as I just notified my manager what's going on and that there is no guarantee the truck is going to be done, but it's possible it will. Lol.

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Well, giving well advance notice of the dilemma, my manager put it off.  Undoubtedly busy, so the hotel gave me extension til 1 pm.  And more communication with manager who called the repair shop who told her they are having the part tracked down.  Wherever it is, it isn't at the shop.  I would ask them to just let me drive it home - it's just a seal and a very minor leak.  But, our mechanic says he doesn't have the proper tools to be able to install the seal. Here's my problem: I'm stuck outside with all my stuff.  I can't go get my nice hot meal lugging around all this junk unless I get an Uber, it's far too heavy to carry over a mile and I"m just not going to do that. 

I carry all kinds of stuff with me. Between my duffle bag, computer bag and toiletries bag I"m probably lugging at least 40 pounds around.  Im out of clean clothes as well. I had enough to last through today.  This isn't that big of a deal really, I just wanted to go home today and that is looking very much like that's not going to happen.  The repair shop should just order another seal in case the one they did order is never found.  That kind of thing happens, I can testify to that. That way, the seal will definitely be here tomorrow - well hopefully it would anyway - and then they can finish this and I can go home. 

Haha, nope sorry BB boy you aren't going home today  My manager just texted me: part won't be here til tomorrow. I suppose I shouldn't complain. I just did the math, that's another $720 worth of pay.  I'll just have to go find something to do today now that she's getting my room back. I'll be up to 2 weeks worth of normal driving pay at this rate.  She could just put me on the backburner when I get back and not send me out at all considering work is slow. I'll have made my money, let some other driver get their share.

Okay, bowling today?  Or just walk and get some fresh air.  The temps are down but it's very nice outside.  Go get a steak at Logan's roadhouse?  Take in another movie? I dunno, I'll figure it out. It will be a while before my company gets authorization to get me back into a room here.  Oh yes, and my gut! It's visibly decreased since I came into this hotel.  I'm definitely still losing weight - or fat anyway. I wish I could find a scale somewhere!

Well enough of this. I figure the desk clerk will let me back in now.

I'm going stir crazy.  Just here alone, in a motel room, getting cold outside, not much to do.  I could get an uber and go somewhere I guess, maybe even see a movie.  But I'm not going to.  The thing that motivates me right now is the pay.  I verified with my manager about the plant being shut down, but she said "only half a day".  So I guess that means that some trucks at least are getting filled and sent out.
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Day 5 in Lufkin.
I have no idea whether they will have the truck done today ornot, but what is going to happen is my hotel stay ends today. At noon.  It's 8 something am.  So around 10 I'm going to call the shop and see if they think it's going to be done today - or not.  I do not want to pack everything up, go to the shop, wait and then find out I need another night in a hotel.  They should be able to give me a definitive word whether they will have it done or at least a ball park  - yes maybe or probably not.

I'm ready to go home.  Just my mindset as of waking up a while ago, let's get this trip over with. The other mindset is, gee, look at the money you're making sitting around doing nothing. The laundry situation says, gee, you just used your last pair of clean socks.  This was supposed to be a 2 day trip, I planned for at least 6 for "just in case". And, this hotel doesn't have a washer and dryer, the nearest laundromat is 2 and a half miles away, that's pretty lame. Even cheap hotels usually have a washer and dryer at them. This is LaQuinta, a "mid range" hotel brand, tho this is the bottom of the mid range barrel as far as I'm concerned.  I actually asked for this place because it was one of few that looked like it actually had room for a truck.

Yes, there is parking space, but no, getting out of here with a trailer attached is not any truck driver's idea of fun.  Once you pull in, too late! If I ever get stuck in this town again, it's likely that I'm not recommending this hotel.  There is another one up the road - looks like a lower end place - but it's surrounded by restaurants and Walmart is next door.

Meanwhile, it's being reported that Addler is getting grumpy and cranky.  He gets that way when I'm gone too longAfter t3 days he's running to the window looking to see if I'm there, after 4 days he gets cranky, today? It will get worse lol. He spends as much time over there at the other house as he does here, but he's definitely my dog.  He knows that and even tho he likes Rene, it's just not the same. 

And finally, the diet. I've done my best to stay on it while out here.  I think I've succeeded but I haven't been near a scale in 6 days, so I have no clue.  One day I might have gone over on carbs, but I don't think enough to kick me out of ketosis.  I can't  check that because I forgot and left the strips in the truck. I'm having one hot meal a day at least the rest I'm eating out of the refrigerator.  I have no idea whether I'm staying or leaving here today, hence I haven't done the hot meal yet.  In about 30 minutes I'm going to hopefully find out some kind of diagnosis. I called them a little earlier and they just told me to call when it's near checkout time, as they were "doing the diagnostics now", meaning what, they did nothing yesterday?  If I'm staying, I'm getting out of this hotel. End of story on that, spend several hours walking around, going to the mall, whatever, I don't care but I won't spend the entire day in here. 

If I'm leaving, it's about an hour and 40 minutes to the yard. So it doesn't matter what time today I would leave, I'd be home tonight.  I just get really antsy once a deadline approaches and I need an answer.  That would be checkout time at noon here.  They are apparently sticklers for that at this hotel from the way they were talking when I asked yesterday.  Some hotels will give you a few grace hours if you need them. 

Monday morning.
Took the truck in and gave them a list.  Why not have it all fixed if possible.
The warning lights, the cruise control, the billows of smoke that come out of the hood when regen starts, air leaks.  I really want to drag this thing out, actually.  I miss home but I'll love the paycheck 3 Fridays from now. Well they're switching over to weekly pay but I'm not sure when.  So that was quick and easy, they also pointed at 11 other trucks that are in there that have to look at.  I said fine, but I called on Friday, just to be sure.  Yup, it was in there. Okay!  Have a great day! lmao, c'ya later!!

I'm wanting some eggs, bacon and ham. I've been eating all the stuff I bought at Walmart but a hot meal is in order.  Nothing to fancy or expensive.  There is a cracker barrel a half a mile from here, a nice walk in cool weather.  Keto friendly stuff there, just eggs and a slice of ham likely tho.

I'm not sure if I"ll do anything today or not besides walking up for a bite to eat.  I have my doubts they're going to call me and magically tell me the truck is fixed - at all - today. It wouldn't shock me tho if they called and said they can't find out what's the problem, so sorry sob.  I've heard that too many times now.  We no no what wrong, we no do nothing.  You SOL, tank U.  But, there is a bowling alley 2-1/2 miles away, I already saw a movie yesterday and the one I saw was the only one on the list that held any interest for me.  There's a shopping mall but that's a good way to blow a bunch of money, don't need to be doing that right now.

I would go swimming - have my trunks with me - but for whatever reason the pool is closed. It might not be heated, if that were the case then I wouldn't want to go swimming anyway.

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So I walked up to Cracker barrel. Not even a mile away.  I like their coffee and they have offerings for breakfast that work for the diet, just no hash browns, biscuits, gravy, fruits, etc.   This guy brings me my coffee, then my breakfast and then? disappears. My coffee gone, I wanted another cup.  After 5 minutes of waiting - this was a nearly empty restaurant btw, even the waitresses were complaining between themselves how slow it was - I asked another waitress to please get me another cup.  She did and this dude still didn't show up.  I drank that cup and wanted one more before leaving.  He comes out with a coffee pot, fills up 2 tables across from me and completely ignores me!  Note, I didn't say anything foul, negative or otherwise disrespectful to this man at all. 

After he did that, I had had enough.  I got up, walked out to the registers, commented on the service to the person behind the counter. Instead of getting me a manager or doing anything about it, she just referred me to the receipt she was going to give me and said to "fill out the survey". Unbelievable.

Whatever. At least the food was good. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the rest of the day, except wait. The wind is howling outside and the temp has dropped quite a bit.  Not really "let's go out and walk around" type of weather like the last 2 days.  I have stuff to do online now that I think of it, things I want to check out - just my interest in business prospects - and make sure any credit cards didn't dump something on there that I don't know about that needs to be paid or addressesd.

With that, I'm offa here.

Brownsville, got a trailer, headed back up. 
The mechanic calls and asks if I know of a Peterbilt dealership on the way back up.
I said sure, there's one in Houston. He says well take it there and see if they will look at the
problem (that I have been reporting for 8,9 10 months however long).  Well, I can but I don't really want to be sitting around a dealership for however long not making any money. Well that's, the thing, the mechanic tells me, Ann says if you do it out of town you'll be breakdown pay.

I knew that, but I wanted that to come out of their mouths, not mine.  So, I go to the Peterbilt in Houston. Huge facility.  Like, way larger than any other Peterbilt shop I've seen. But I guessed right: they can't look at it until "next week". It was Friday.  So I all the Peterbilt in Lufkin.  First person I talked to says yea, we can get that in on Saturday.  Ok!  Let me call my company and make sure they're okay with that and I'll call back.

Well this went back and forth. Mechanic says fine, whatever, you're better off than coming back here. I call the shop back, uhh, I dunno who you talked to but we don't have anyone qualified to to look at that tomorrow (Saturday).  Here I had thoughts of sitting in a hotel for a few days and getting paid for it and that all came crashing down. Back to my company, didn't hear anything back until maybe half an hour later. The mechanic calls. Well Ann and I have been talking, if they can look at it on Monday, why not do that?  I don't care, I said, as long as I"m getting paid. 

So I called the shop back. And they had to confirm if they would have someone Monday morning. Or whatever they really had to do, not sure.  But they finally called back, we set an appointment and here I have been, since Friday night, at a La Quinta Inn in Lufkin, Texas. Breakdown pay is better than detention pay in that you don't lose 10 hours per day for your "rest" break even tho you aren't working as with detention pay.  You get paid every hour you are sitting around. By tomorrow morning, I'll be at around $1,500 of sitting around in a company paid hotel doing nothing pay. 

Not that I haven't done anything. I've watched several movies, went to Walmart, went to the restaurant next door - which has outrageous prices so I didn't go back there. Today I walked to the Applebee's for a steak. Still doing the diet, yes.  That was the Walmart trip, get food. I then walked even further to the cinema and watched a horror flick. Scary movie indeed lol.

I'm kind of hoping it takes days for them to figure out what's wrong. Remember, 3 other shops have already given up on it.  There is also another problem I'm going to have them look at, I'm looking to legitimately drag this out as long as possible.  The first problem is when all the warning lights come on and then the cruise control quits working. I have numerous pics of it to back up my report, it's an on and off, itnermittent problem.

The other problem is rare but when it happens, it's freaky lol.  The regen light comes on and then? A bunch of steam starts billowing out from underneath the hood.  It literally looks like the truck is on fire.  It's part of the regen process, but people stopped near me in traffic are always freaking out. It's not supposed to do that and I've been told it's a part that cracks.  Well maybe that part is cracked and I have to wait 2 days for them to get the part? 

Why don't I want to go home?  Well that's not it. At all. What it is is that the plant where we load the trucks is going to be shut down 4 days this coming week, or so I was told.  And work is really slow right now. Lots of trucks sitting in the yard, people not working, plants are shut down on the other end for breakdowns.  I didn't bring this idea up to have the truck fixed out here but I'm glad they thought of it and frankly, my manager did it so I could get the money out of it. I was off for 12 days.  I would have a really bad next paycheck after this bad paycheck I'll be getting on Friday. I can absorb one of those, 2 of them in a row? No.  A couple more days down here and I an sit around for the rest of the pay period if it worked out that way with no work at all and have a very nice paycheck. Including this run that I'm on , that is. 

Anyway, I will have the truck at the Peterbilt place at 7:30 am tomorrow, which is Monday, and then catch a ride right back to the hotel.  I'm not going to sit around a driver's lounge in that place when I can be comfortable here.  Actually I need to think about this. There was something else wrong with that thing that comes and goes and it's slipping my mind right now. 

That's it, lol.  Just been lounging around.  I miss my dogs but they're fine at the other house. Rene sends me videos here and there of them, not that I ask for those either but it's nice that she does that.  That's basically their second home. Well lately, it's really their first home for as much time as I"ve been away. 

Oh, and I put an inquiry in for lease-purchase program. Kinda of got into with my manager after she sent out an ugly text to everyone.  I told her I've been writing this truck up for 8 months for the same thing, the truck sat there for almost a month, why wasn't it taken to the shop?  Etc etc etc.  I also said I had asked months ago about info for the lease purchase program that she said she was going to get to me.  So, she sent me that info and I sent them an email.  I hope to receive back the details of the program and especially the costs, how much they take out of any given paycheck and how much I will be paid per mile. 

According to other OO's, the company still pays them detention pay when they have to wait.  I dunno how much, I didn't ask.  I have a couple of people I can ask questions about this situation if I really start thinking I might want to do it.  I wouldn't get breakdown pay, obviously, it's my truck, my responsibility.  I have an old friend in Indianapolis that owns a truck repair shop.  More major repairs I could ask for a load going near there to get fixed.  The shop at the terminal will work on OO trucks tho.  Including regular maintenance.  I'm not sold on the program, I don't know what it entails yet. The OO's own their own trucks, they are not paying the company for them and their trucks are paid off actually.  But sometimes the repair bills are pretty steep.  A turbo went out on one a while back, the repair bill was 8 grand.

Just thinking about it stage.  Been thinking about it, also been thinking about finding a new job.  Or not, lol. 

Well I'm getting offa here. I stayed up way too late last night watching a movie, gonna hit the sack earlier tonight. 

Well, it's Wednesday night.  I finally got a load going down to Brownsville.  Of course, it's the get-up-at-3-am run.  Nothing like being system-shocked back into work!  She offered Corpus Cristi, no thanks.  Very little possibility of any real detention time there. Brownsville you might or you might not, but those times when you do, its very nice.  But I've been getting up at 8 or 9 am for over a week now. Getting up at 3?  Yeah, that's not going to be any fun, at all.  Whatever.

Long day actually. Got my car all cleaned out so i can sell it and re-ran my ad.  Only a few replies this time.
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Okay, I got busy after that making dinner and getting ready for today's trip.
I'ts 3:15 am, I have a few minutes before I have to leave - I always try to get up a little early to
have some Keurig coffee, in this case, McDonald's Cafe. Just received a 100 k-cup box of them. 

I'm glad and horrified at the same time of going back to work lol.  I'll be back in "my" truck and they still haven't fixed it.  No shame.  It would be something nice if I got stuck down in Brownsville on detention pay - there is a small Peterbilt dealership a half mile from the yard.  They've got a shop from what I can see and that means they should have the computer equipment to figure out the problem with the thing - if - it shows the problem at that time. 

WEll cutting this one short, I have to get about the day's business. 

Rather ... interesting... day.
My credit cards were denied 3 times starting last night for that TV I wanted.
3...times...2 different cards....one card I got an email saying I can go ahead and try again.
Which.....I.......did.

Calling Walmart? Might as well ask a fish for directions.  Talk to a telephone pole. Ask the moon if it's alive.  Unbelievable. Not the local Walmart, the 800 please fix this number.  They never did.  I ended up driving up there and just getting one.  I didn't think they'd have any to be honest, I was amazed to find any of them left in stock.

Anyway, it's now Tuesday, I started that post yesterday.
Today's offerings should be work, but she said the loads canceled and no, they haven't taken the truck in to get it fixed.
It's been sitting there what, almost a month now?  If I'd known they weren't going to fix it, I would have taken it in myself, taken an Uber back and charged the company for the trip.  Now, I am faced driving the thing again with the same problems.  My decision will likely to be to find a Peterbilt dealership on the way back from whatever trip I may be on next, tell my manager I'm stopping there and please get me a hotel, thanks.

What else am I supposed to do? I"ve been complaining about this for 8 months now, same problem, never gets fixed, bs.  I'm "assuming" I'm going to work tomorrow, but it's too late.  I'll only have one short run on next paycheck, which might get me a $500 check and then subtract deductions from that.  I have no choice but to use some of the freshly dumped vacation hours up to have at least a small paycheck.

Anyway, I have decided to wait until after the 1st of January to make any decisions about this company and my continued involvement there. If I am going to continue, I want my own truck.  For all the hassle people say it is to own your own truck, they aren't going to deny they make FAR more money after taxes, expenses all of it. Plus, our mechanic will fix anything that he is capable of doing, which is most of it sans electrical/electronic problems. He can't do that because they don't have the very expensive computer system that figures all of that nonsense out.

He likely could have fixed it himself if they had one.  Regardless, I'm in this for the money. It just depends on their terms as to whether I will make the switch or not.  I don't think they offer health care coverage to owner operators, so that's a definite negative.  But as long as the money is really good, covering that would be no problem.  I'm going off of 2 owner operators that have been at the company a while stating they make around  100k per year take home.  That's after everything.

I do NOT want the truck I'm driving now tho.  Something with at most 300k range on it.  Get at least as long out of the truck as the payment schedule goes on for.  There are dealers in this region selling trucks as well.  No clue what it would take to get into one.

And my diet. I've stayed on it.  I failed a teensy bit during Thanksgiving but I was rather proud of myself for sticking on it as well as I did. I tested this morning full Ketosis. Well, as full as I ever was before Thanksgiving. I've never actually gotten into the deep deep purple range, but I didn't care either since the weight was dropping off.

And, I lost another pound and a half.  Weight loss has seemingly returned after a plateau.  I suspect the plateaus will become frequent visitors, that's pretty much how this stuff works in the dieting world.  I need a little over 5 more pounds to get down to the 190's range.  I'm very excited about the potential of actually not being in the 200's range.  It motivates me to push on with this considering I'm so close now..

Meanwhile, Walmart.  They rejected my attempts to buy the TV online 4 times in a row.  So I went down there, asked if they had any of the particular TV, of which they said yes.  Okay, get me one!  But now? They are still trying to charge me for the TV, saying I already picked it up! lmao, so they are going to charge me twice for the same tv lol.

Diet day whatever, lol, 7th week I think.
Up half a pound today.
But just went back into full ketosis so hopefully that will go back down.
And just eat less.
I'm making jalapeno poppers again today and those are quite keto friendly, full of fat, exactly what the keto doctor ordered.
I figure to  get some exercise in today as well.

Anyway, I was looking to just go ahead and pull the cord on getting the 55 inch Walmart TV that is also a smart tv, until I saw that it's refresh rate is 60 mg. I'm not sure about that considering other tv's have much higher refresh rates - with a higher price tag. They had a 2160 for the same price but not a smart tv.

Do I need a smart tv?  I dunno, just seems that if you are going to buy a new tv in this modern era, you should have all the options available in case you need them.  Like if we do decide to get rid of Direct TV, Smart TV's play all those apps available for movies and such.

Meanwhile, today.  I'm assuming I'm not working tomorrow cause' I haven't heard anything but that could change.  Assumptions aside I'll be doing laundry and I want to plant the bulbs I bought over a week ago. Never got around to that.  Daffodils and something else I don't remember.  Other stuff I need to get done around here tho things that can wait.

Yesterday was definitely a recovery day but I kind of feel like I could get some things done today if necessary beyond what's listed above.

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The 65 inch TV I wanted showed up on Walmart to be picked up at the Walmart in town here. So I ordered it and walaah - it came back with "your order has been delayed".  Well, if  they don't confirm it by tomorrow I'll call them and cancel it.  It's really all I wanted and it was the best price for a TV like that that's going to come along any time soon.  I mean, I wanted a laptop too, but I've found I can deal with this notepad I have, it's just the screen is a bit small for my tastes.  But I don't use it that often, just at hotels and sometimes in the truck.  Not necessarily anything worth spending another 5 or 6 hundred on.

Mother was in a very good mood today, we talked on and off for hours.  I was really supposed to go spend a night over at Caleb's house, but it just wasn't working out that way. I was supposed to do other stuff as well, but again, just worked out the way it did.  I was glad I spent as much time with mom as I did tho. She;s up there in years and as my manager pointed out to me, you "never know".  A rather morbid warning but a necessary one. I got plenty of visiting in, but it was limited between my house, Caleb, my mom and the limited engagement yesterday with the rest of the family.

It was a good trip.  I'll simply state that now. It was worth the time coming out here, it was  worth whatever it cost me in money, it's something I should have done last year at the latest.  Somehow I'll have to find the motivation to do it again without letting more than a full year pass. Mom doesn't get a lot of company, I think she more prefers being alone excepting seeing family.  She did her best to get this Thanksgiving together, which she repeatedly thanked me for helping her.  She clearly did not have the wherewithal to do all that work by herself.

The jalapeno poppers were a true success once again. I've come up with a slightly different recipe using Cayenne pepper.  I've not seen one using it in the recipe but I can tell ya jalapeno poppers without extra added kick to it, at least to me? Bland.

Mom put on a cool looking cap at the moment before I loaded up into a Lyft car and left, I snapped a photo which I'll be putting onto Facebook later. Directly after that she started tearing up : ( Not a bad thing I guess but hard to leave like that. The Lyft driver was this cool lady that I had 25 minutes worth of interesting conversation with  At the end, she said she really only does Lyft to have social interaction with people, she didn't care about earning money.  That was a first! Hadn't heard that from anyone before. 

Well I"m at the airport. I showed up early, I had no idea what it was going to be like getting through security the day after Thanksgiving.  The line was short. The wait after I put my stuff into the containers to go through the xray machine was ridiculous. They just stopped everything.  We waited so long I finally asked them what the wait was for. They just stared at me. Louder: WHY ARE WE WAITING HERE? WHAT IS GOING ON?  Started at me again before dude operating the conveyor belt said there is something in a bag they have to check.

I just stood there and stared back at them. Not my bags, I have nothing illegitimate in them, why hold everyone else up? But the apparently thought it was my bag.  A police officer finally showed up and then they asked whose bag this is? ALL of them staring at me, simply because I had the audacity to ask them what the hell was going on.  The young girl next to me said it's mine.  I continued staring at them. Did they think a stare down was going to intimidate people?  Or that it's even necessary? I asked in a normal tone of voice at first, respectful as well. When they just gave me a look, that's when I upped the ante.

____________________

Weird.  I left the place I was sitting at and went to the gate area and they were already boarding.  it was more than half an hour before flight departure so I thought that strange.  The other thing I didn't know or didn't remember is you have to check in 24 hours in advance.   I was asking the ticket agent about why I kept getting basically the end slot of the entire boarding to get on the plane? 

Well whatever.  I ended up in a middle seat - again.  The only good thing that came out of that is that it was up near the front of the plane, getting off the plane was much faster.  Arriving in Dallas, I determined quickly that I was going to drive home and not waste another night of hotel money.  Grabbed a cuppa at Starbucks at the airport and drove 85 mph the entire way back.  I always find it interesting how you catch up to other vehicles and then suddenly they are speeding up and trying to get ahead of you - for what reason?  No freaking clue.  Just the games people play out there. 

And I'm home.  Interesting trip.  Not sure what the next trip is, but it's not going to be to Phoenix, don't suspect.

I got nothing from my manager for this weekend. That doesn't necessarily mean I won't, but at least I'm assured I"ll have nothing going out tomorrow.  I need a recoup day and just get my head back into being out here.  Dogs were happy to see me but were acting strange.  I've been gone a lot lately.  Maybe they start considering the other house their home?  I dunno, but they're here, Addler is on my bed, almost a pouting face. 

So, allegedly Cyber Monday is going to be as good as black friday.  I haven't seen the ads yet and I have looked.  I did not stop at any Walmart in Dallas as I had surmised I might do.  That because of what I saw at Walmart in Phoenix, everything that was "good" was gone before we got there, which was within an hour of the start of the big sale.  I just thought a waste of my time, I'll wait for Cyber Monday, if that doesn't produce anything, I'll just move along.

My room? Weird.  Someone clearly had been sleeping in here but just strange that all the sheets felt wet all over. Even the ones in my clothes hamper.  I think it was just very cold in here and the illusion of wet.  I switched my sheets back on it, I ain't sleeping in someone's else's stuff, whatever stuff that may be.  I also stepped on the scale. 213.  That's the end of the day, not the beginning.  I suspect my weight in the morning may be a pleasant surprise. Or at least no higher than when I left off.

Final countdown to leaving mom's house and heading to the airport.  The "dreaded" Thanksgiving dinner turned out ok.  I mostly just kept my mouth shut and laughed at stupid jokes and made myself as invisible as possible.  If something was going to start, it wasn't because of anything I said.  My oldest brother did not show up with his customary 6 pack of beer in a cooler, which was quite strange.  I've never actually seen that before.  Mom says he's cut back on his consumption. I guess.  He's 5 years older than me meaning he's approaching 60.  Better late than never, when considering drinking too much alcohol.

I will freely admit that I had 2 glasses of wine yesterday, but not at the family get together. Only one inlaw was drinking and dang if you could't smell the liquor from 5 feet away in that glass. Everyone else abstained.    I got out of here after it was over - we lasted together all of 2 hours, which is typical - and headed to my house in Phoenix.  They had wanted me to come over yesterday but I got too  busy.  I was waiting for Caleb to contact me so I figured I to wait at my house and visit.  Lynnette - a non -drinker - had decided to have some Corona's for the holiday, I pulled out a small bottle of Merlot and drank 2 large glasses and dumped the rest down the sink.  I saw no reason to keep it, I didn't want to get drunk and they weren't having any of it so get rid of it.

I got to sit there 2 plus hours visiting with them.  Bought Lynnette some sort of device that gives electrical impulses to relieve nerve or muscle pain, not sure which.  That was my Christmas present to her.  What I'd really love to do is come back here without telling anyone but my friends on a weekend and visit them and bypass family.  I saw family, now it's time to visit friends.

It's Friday, I won't be back to Dallas until 8:00 pm, 2 hour drive home and a stop at a walmart for the heck of it on the way back.  I dunno if I'll even go home tonight.  I could just as easy stay at a cheap hotel overnight and come back in the morning.  I have no idea what my manager is going to arrange for me for work, if any, this weekend. But tomorrow is out of the question, Sunday at the earliest.  I don't really want to go back to work until Monday, but if she dumped me with something Sunday I'd just take it and eat it.  I need the miles and the work.  This last paycheck was awesome, but next paycheck will be pathetic if I don't get at least one good run in and a shorter one.

Meanwhile, my gut is still decreasing.  Mom has an old scale so it's hard to tell exactly my weight and even if it's accurate.  But somewhere between 204 and 208.  But the results in the mirror are definitely showing even more now.  Abs starting to show through fat.  Long way to go, but still very encouraging.  This is why I really tried to stick to this diet even during the eating holiday.  I'm definitely sticking with it til Christmas.  Then? Just depends on where my weight and fat levels are.  At some point I'm going to want to go on a sugar fest and consume ice cream and choco pie.  But hey, I resisted for Thanksgiving and I didn't think I would make it through this week on this diet.

I had bacon and eggs for breakfast, when I get to the airport I'm going to have something there, whatever I can find to tide me over til I get to Dallas.  I'm making no decisions about what I'm going to do when I arrive in Dallas until I get to Dallas. I was out to 1:30 am last night, far too late but it was worth it, but I'll be tired today.  Driving home after getting there may not be very appealing. I could just stay another night at the hotel I have my vehicle parked at.  It's just too early to tell, I'd rather drive home and sleep in my bed tho.

Meanwhile I was texting my friends at the house, they had a big get together yesterday with lots of people there.  But as with me, she is also ready to resume a normal schedule. I'd like to spend a couple days home.  I have been on the run for 2 weeks running.  And then a nice trip to Brownsville and wait for 3 days again haha. 

EARPLUGS!!! I finally remembered.  Got them packed in my notebook bag that I carry on to the plane. I want to be able to shut out as much noise as possible if there are babies and young children flying, as with several of the last flights that I have been on hearing them crying and whining and carrying on. 

And I also thought of a present for myself instead of the elusive TV: buy all the part on Cyber monday to rebuild my desktop computer.  New everything: Motherboard, processer, power supply, DVD player, hard drive.  Just reuse the old case since it's in great condition.  I've gotten my use out of that thing, it has served me well but it's 6 or so years old and it's time to upgrade. This would be the perfect time of year to do that.  And maybe get a 32 inch monitor.  Or just buy presents for everyone else and skip myself this year? I dunno. 

Well, enough of this.  I was online looking at flight departures. Apparently some flights are being delayed. I'll assume in snow/weather conditions in the Northeast, my flight is still showing on time. 

Okay.
Well it's Thanksgivging Day, and yes, the middle brother texted mother a few minutes ago about when to come.

Mother told him and then sent out a text message to all 3: please bring company manners. 

So she started this off on the wrong foot already and I'm already starting to get irritated and question myself why I even bothered to come down here. 

She thinks in  her mind she can magically create some illusion of peace among us. Therefore, she gets cranky about forcing the issue, which in turn makes everyone else irritable because she should have just left it alone and let the chips fall where they may.

She also believes she can control anyone that starts shit, which is also a fairytale.  I brought a bottle of wine for this possibility.  If I'm going to have to put up with this nonsense, I'm going to create my own fairytale mindset and have a couple of nice, solid glasses of wine to "deal" with it. 

If my brother goes off on me, I'm fairy much going to try to simply ignore him and act as if he isn't there.  But he knows me and what pushes my buttons and conversely, I know him and what sets him off.  If it starts up, all I can say is I won't stick around for it. There are places I can go and people I can visit. 

Yes, I know, a lot of negativity on TDay but mom got it rolling with all of us.  And I know how my middle brother and I know how many holidays he has ruined with his foul attitude and he threatened me with bodily harm last time he spoke to me via family wide text messaging.

Mother is not going to like me pulling out that bottle of wine, but the choices are limited.  My oldest brother will bring a cooler full of beer anyway, that's his coping mechanism with this crap.  He won't stick around, either, if hell breaks loose.  He'll literally get up, grab his stuff, tell his wife they're leaving and that will be that.  I would probably call myself an Uber and get the hell out of here as well.  There is a dear friend I would really like to visit today in exchange for family garbage. 

Whatever.

Payday came early cause of the holiday.  My paycheck was quite healthy, as I expected.  I had somewhere around 60 hours of detention pay on the paycheck and that alone was worth some dough, plus the two trips, plus other pay that is thrown in. This is why I welcomed sitting around in Brownsville for 3 days, without that this paycheck would have been much less and rather pathetic. 

Oh, well I am going out with my son tonight.  We're going to Walmart here for Black Friday.  I doubt the stuff he wants is on that sale, but it's fine by me.  He'll have to come get me tho, or maybe I"ll just take an Uber over to him. If I've had a few glasses of wine I won't want to drive anywhere.  Mother won't want me driving her vehicle anyway, which is fine  It's only $15 there, maybe more coming back I dunno if it will even be available tonight, but I looked it up just now and it's available at the moment at that price.    Just depends if anyone wants to make money on a holiday. 

Well that's it for now. Going to get my Jalapeno poppers prepared and ready to put into the oven. 

Well, tomorrow is the big day. 
We already cooked the turkey and cut it up.
My mom insisted on doing it that way apparently my oldest bro's wife did it that way last year.
Perplexing, tho, the reason.  My bro's wife was busy with work, she's in retail sales.
We aren't really busy with anything.  Fresh hot turkey out of the oven?
But it's whatever to me, I'm not going to sweat that, I'm going to wonder if my
middle bro shows up and if he does, what is going to happen? 

Anyway, slept quite well last night, like this morning I didn't want to get out of bed.
That was a refreshing change.  Got the turkey prepared, dumped that in the oven and took off.
Caleb had given me the ashes that were left from my dad and I climbed high up on South
Mountain, had a little memorial of my own and let the wind carry his ashes away.

Oh, I stopped at Waffle House before going up there, I wanted a full tummy. Quite the mistake.
Halfway up that mountain the need to relieve myself came sweeping over me. By the time I got
halfway back down after spreading the ashes? No waiting.  Some dude on a ridge about an eighth a mile away looking at my through binoculars?  Give it a rest dude.  When Mother Nature hits like that, it's not like you have any say over it.  It is what it is. 

After I got done, I was hiking out of there and this dude had actually come down off of his mountaintop and was coming over the top of a small hill coming straight at me.  He came straight up to me and...kept walking by like nothing.  Weird.  Just plain weird.  But I have had weird encounters with people out there in the past. 

After that I tried to go to my old church - but they had moved. So I went to the new address some distance away and they weren't there either. I haven't contacted them asking about it, I don't have any more time for visiting I don't think. Well maybe on Friday, maybe. Like morning.  Tomorrow I suppose I could, but I really want to head back to my house and spend some more time with my friends there before coming back and doing Thanksgiving with family. 

Anyway, I said screw it after not finding the church there, even though there were even pics of it on the internet and I was positive I was at the correct address.  I went to a bar/grill, had a couple of drinks.  Nothing fancy and no drunkenness, but I"m on vacation, so why not?  Carb free, lol.  Left there, went to Fry's.  It's a local grocery store, huge local chain, Kroger's bought them out quite a while back but they kept the name.  Got all the fixing for jalapeno poppers, I'm going to make those tomorrow. Easy recipe, not too much prep time, short cooking time as well. 

Got back here well in time to get the turkey out of the oven, slice it up and then take a nap. Mom and I went to Caleb's apartment for dinner, sat and talked for a couple of hours, and came back to her house.  Caleb wants to do Black Friday with me tomorrow - nothing for me really, just wanted to take him and his wife shopping.  She doesn't want to go, I don't really blame here, it can be a mad house.  Well, if I find a nice laptop for a good price I may do that.  As it stands, I just tried to order a 65 inch smart tv from Bestbuy, but they neither deliver it to my area nor would they ship it to the city 30 miles from my house to their store there.  ?????????  My hopes for a 65 inch smart tv are being dashed to pieces. I keep thinking I'm going to give up on it, then I see something online, only to have my hopes dashed.

Oh well. My last resort will be to stop at a Walmart in Dallas before heading home for the hope that maybe there will be still be some of those TV's available. It's a pretty far-fetched idea, those TV's are likely going to sell out quickly on Thursday.  But, you never know! 

On a different note, I terribly miss having a functioning 15 inch screen laptop and I may just switch to that and wash my hands of large screen tv's. 

Oh!!!  My credit score! Transunion! I got my last update from CreditKarma and it said my Equifax had gone up another 38 points but Trans Union had only gone up 5. Very perplexing.  My next update wasn't supposed to be for another 5 days from now, so when I saw a notice in my email that my TransUnion score had been updated, I was quick to find out what kind of update. The score had gone all the way up to 700, from the previous low-side fair range.  It means that my credit score is in the good range with both of those companies, which is a significant improvement.  It may be some time before I see any more upgrades in my score, I dunno.  I had no hope, literally, of ever getting up to good range.  My hope went down the drain once I saw how long it takes for late payments on my mortgage to fall off of there.

The good range will do.  I guess it doesn't matter, I am not in the position yet to buy land anyway. They're still going to want a good down payment and that's going to take probably a couple of years worth of saving for the amount of property I want.  But, there are these other alternatives I have been looking at.  Tax lien auctions, rent to own, owner finance. 

Anyway, it's getting late, time to go to sleep. 

My mom doesn't have internet/wifi at her house.  So I"m going through more than I'd like.  I figured I would this week but not this much. 

Anyway, I met up with my son and his wife last night at Texas Roadhouse over in Tempe.  We had a good time for a couple of hours visiting.  Great food too, of course.  I am going over to his new apartment tonight, mom in tow.  He invited her through me to come, you know, spur of the moment?  She had a problem with that, but whatever.  If you want to come, let's go. If not, I'm going over there tonight.  She opted to go. 

After resting quite well last night, I took the remaining ashes from my dad and climbed up a mountain to release them into the great outdoors.  Dad had stated to his then-wife a long time ago that he would rather be dumped out a window while driving up Mount Pleassant, a wish I would have liked to have fulfilled, but the mountains here in Phoenix had to suffice.  The whole point is he was a lover of the outdoors and I think his memory sufficiently served.  I buried the box his ashes came in as well.  I don't need empty boxes with small amounts of human ashes in them hanging around forever.  I feel my dad is in a much better place now and that is enough for me. 

Oh, this morning, I had to do all the leg work to get the turkey out, get all the stuff out of it, stuff it with stuffing and get it in the oven. Mom insisted she wanted to cook the turkey the day before. It's whatever to me, I am here to visit people, eating is secondary.  I"m making my spicy jalapeno poppers tomorrow - and it's purely on a selfish level. They will be so spicy I doubt many are going to like them, but I am not going to be eating coleslaw and potatoes and the like, I want something that really appeases my pallet and those are a sure thing. 

Time is flying here, amazingly. I thought it would just drag on but I"ve been keeping myself busy.

Dilemma.  I wanted that 65inch screen tv.  I can't get it. At least not here. By the time I get to Dallas tomorrow I'm pretty sure they'll all be sold out at all Walmart locations.  And now, too late, Rene offers to go get it for me?  I don't have enough cash at home to cover it. It's $398 plus tax.  I think I have $400 there, I don't have enough to cover the tax on that much money. 

I may stop in Dallas at a Walmart just to see if any are available when I get back but I won't be back to my vehicle probably before 6pm.  I'm likely to find slim pickings, but I"ll probably try.  Unless I can get them to loan Rene the extra cash and I pay them back when I get home.  I'm not really sure how she would get the thing back.  The guy at the house over there has a small SUV, I'm not sure the thing will fit in there.  I've found several 65" online for good price but none of them are smart TV. I want the option to watch stuff through the internet.  I mean, if you're going to do it, do it right, yes? 

Well enough. I'm going to take a nap and then get ready to go to my son's house.

After you haven't been to a place for a while, you kinda lose the feel for navigating around it a bit.  It all came back to my memory quickly tho driving around.  And it took a very short time to remember one of the reasons I love to hate Phoenix: traffic, distracted drivers and jerkioffs intentionally holding up traffic.  The major street running by my neighborhood is also ridiculous now. Worse than I've ever seen it.  Oh, and what cruise around town would be complete if you didn't drive by a crime scene where a body is found in a canal? And everything else about this metro Phoenix area that make it, IMO, a hell hole to live in.

Anyway, I spent several hours at my house today. The fish in my little pond have grown HUGE.  I mean, they are FAR too big for that pond.  I suggested trading them for small fish or selling them and going and buying a slew of little Koi and goldfish to take their place.  There is one Koi in there and it's about 14 inches long and very, very large for such a small pond.  Fish that large just aren't happy in a pond that small.

The house? in exact same condition as when I left it. Which is a good thing, it's immaculate, clean, looking good, lots of vegetation, full of tenants, just a nice thing.  Neighbors on both sides are still living like shit, to put it bluntly. They have their own versions of landfills going. Neighbors behind, same crap. It's ridiculous.  But whatever, I'm letting them make the calls there, only if they have a problem that is usually involved with replacing stuff that usually means money do I get a phone call and get involved.  There are a few issues. The neighbor's tree ruined the wood slat fence in the back when it fell over. It covers maybe 50 feet of the back, the rest is a chain link fence.  Mark said 2 grand to replace it, 'm like what?  Nooo.  No way it's going to cost that much to fix it.

And mattresses.  Apparently people moved into rooms with their own and he got rid of the ones I had bought for those rooms.  He said they were falling apart and junk.  I can agree that likely they probably had seen enough lifespan.  But that's 3 Queen beds down the drain and any time one of the people moves out, I'm going ot have to replace one until it occurs in all 3 of those rooms.

Okay, dat 2 of the trip. Extended period on Keto diet.  I wasn't originally going to stay on the diet, but since the options to eat such fare are still in front of me, I have decided to carry on with it.  Perhaps I'll just eat Turkey and veggies at Thanksgiving.

I've read a lot of stories of people dropping off of the diet and having an extremely hard time getting back on it.  I don't really think I'd have a hard time getting back on it, but getting into Ketosis took quite a while for me.  +-

Have spent ample time visiting with mom, but I need to get over to the house and check that out.  Visiting friends and my son are a different story. They are all working and they don't have a lot of time during the week.  I understood that before coming down here but the airfare was the main consideration.  It went up significantly for both the weekend before and after, especially after.  Was just looking at the news, 25 million people flying and almost 50 million hitting the road for Thanksgiving. 

So much of my visiting may just be mom and hopefully at least my son for a night, after that I dunno.  And Thanksgiving. If my middle brother shows up, the festivities will go to hell in a handbasket.  But I'll get to see everyone else so I guess that's a plus, maybe, depending on everyone's moods.

So I'm just going to go see some sights I haven't seen in quite a while and I wish I had the rest of my dad's ashes I would take care of that today.  Well whatever.  I'm going to get this ball rolling and get this day going.

I was actually pleasantly surprised at the quality of this hotel, considering the negative marks it had on reviews. No foul odors, no sticky carpets, everything works.  It's old, yes, furniture and fixtures a bit outdated, yes, but nothing near as bad as what others were proclaiming. I did take a chance and I'm glad I did.

I didn't sleep well, however, which had nothing to do with the hotel. In fact, the bed was almost the same firmness as my new bed, very comfortable.  I dunno, just the unknown coming back here for a holiday where my middle brother may show up and start hell with everyone.  Apparently he hasn't spoken to mom in over a year?  And now I'm hearing his own son won't stay with him when he's in town?  Weird stuff. 

Anyway, there was no huge crowd at security checkin at airport, took about 5 minutes and I was through.  A bit interesting considering this is a holiday week.  Plane was jam packed tho . I mean completely full.  San Antonio stop I was barely there half and hour and we left again on a new plane, same thing, full to the brim.  The only real drag about Southwest is there is not advance seating.  There are boarding priorities but it's first come first served and I was in the last boarding group on both planes.  I still ended up with a window seat.  Not because there were any available but the only seat left was 2 very large people and they said I could have the window seat and the very very large man would sit on the aisle. 

I pretty much slept most of the way, tho there was a baby crying almost the entire trip.  I dunno why I always forget my earplugs.  I have them in my suitcase but I just don't remember to bring them with me.  It would help quite a bit with all the noise from babies and toddlers.  I'm guessing part of the problem is ears not popping.  We went up to 40,000 feet from San Antonio to Phoenix, that's a lot of swallowing or yawning to pop your ears, a thing a baby isn't going to know to do. 

By the time I got to Phoenix I was starving.  I had a small bite in San Antonio but it wasn't enough.  I didn't know what I wanted to do first when I got here so I just stayed at the airport and got a bite to eat.  But it was clear I needed to go to mom's house first. And that's where I've been all day long.  I had no desire to go anywhere and we were talking for a couple of hours. 

It's almost 10 Texas time and I'm exhausted.  I'm going to bed early and hopefully wake up a bit more rested in the morning.  I'm supposed to go meet my son tomorrow evening, but that isn't really for sure yet.  Just hopeful.  I also need to stop by my house and see everyone there.  I guess I don't think I"m going to get as much visiting as I had originally planned, but there is an old friend I really want to see before I leave here and also spreading the rest of my dad's ashes, probably the same mountain range where  Caleb did it.

So that's it. Nothing earth shattering besides talk of my middle brother and my mom's dislike that Caleb doesn't return texts and such.  And finding out Caleb isn't going to be at Thanksgiving.  Take it up with him, I said, I'm not in control of Caleb.  He is spending it with his wife's family.  I do admit that that family is a bit standoffish.  I dunno why or how it is they can act like that, I just tried to be congenial to them at the wedding.  My son isn't really up front about that situation, but that's his deal. I know between work and school he is a very, very busy young man.  And that will go on for annotate year or so.   So I'm not going to judge him for those circumstances plus a year into being married, lots of pressure and stresses to deal with I'm sure.  Dad doesn't need to add to it.

I think mom is just not happy about how family is going at this point in time, I can't offer any hope, I doubt it will ever get better.  I dunno what's wrong with my brother and at this point I don't want to know. 

Well that's it for now, I'm going to go to sleep. 

And just like that, overnight, my credit score jumped to good range for Equifax, all the way up to 2 points shy of very good range.  And, just the same, Transunion only went up 5 points.  Why? I have no idea.  I've looked at both full credit reports, they both have the same info on them, including the late mortgage payments. The last of which was 2 years ago.  So 5 years to go? lol.

I'm going to dispute them anyway.  They're saying over 90 days late which is false and from what I read has a very bad effect on your score after they go 90 days.  The most I went was 60 days.  After 3 months, they can foreclose on you and you are toast, out of your house, etc.  I think I can get that adjusted to 60 days at least.  And then, I've read you can at least try to ask them to do some sort of "forgiveness" thing and it helps if you do automatic payments.  I'm going to try the things that don't cost money at least.  Well I'll have to pay for Transunion real credit report so I can get that 10 digit code to make a dispute.  We're talking 20 bucks.  Writing a letter? Time spent and a stamp.

So what's the end story here for right now? If I want a land loan, go to a bank that used Equifaz and doesn't look at Transunion at all.  It's not impossible to find places that use one over another.  I don't even know what my Experian score is, they only show the Transunion and Equifax on CreditKarma.

But, with a very good score, I can go ahead and apply for a new loan on the SUV - but I'll wait until one of the hard inquiries falls off.  That's sometime next year.  With a Good score I should be able to get my interest rate cut in half and the payment down at least $100 per month.  Same with the loan I took out to pay off the credit cards.  But I don't want to do 2 loans at the same time, that will kill whatever gains I may have made.

Anyway, the Equifax score was just short of shocking.  I was looking through email this morning and saw a "credit score change" notice.  I was hoping Transunion would go up substantially as well.  It only went up 5 points.  Credit and credit scores are rather complex things.  I've spent a lot of time reading a lot of material and trying different things.  Paying down credit card debt was the single thing that I have done that actually made a huge difference. I had hoped it would.

Well, it's Sunday. Leaving for the airport in maybe 6 to 8 hours depending on how long it takes to finish everything. I'm really cleaning my room up nice for these people.  I kinda of let it go after being on the road for a while.  And I'm finding a different hotel for today. The one I was going to has some really bad reviews.  I didn't give them a credit card to reserve it, I'm not going to bother calling them.  I'll just find something a with a bit better rating as I don't want to stay in a room with sticky carpet, "weird smells" and other things that this one I was going to go was listed at.

Or I could just change the whole plan and just get up early like I'm getting up for the first load at work and drive there, park at a cheap parking thing and be done with it.  HECK NO.  I know how I feel all day long after getting up at 3:00 am. No thanks.  I'd rather stay at that "bad" hotel than do that.

_________________________________

So now my credit score research took me to very disappointing results.  The negative effects of having late payments can and probably will stay on your credit report for 7 years. I don't know where I read 3 years, that's what my first thought about it was after reading it somewhere, but now?  Nahhh.  That's not it at all.  I can't be waiting years to do the things that I need to do.  I'm very close to good range on one of the reporting agencies, not so much on another. 

I dunno, but I can't wait years to do what I want to do.  What caught my attention the other day was all of these properties that are going to be auctioned off by the Sheriff next month at public auction. No reserve, highest bidder wins.  Lots of properties listed, 2 of which were interesting at 21 and 25 acres respectively. But who shows up to these auctions? Probably people with a lot more money than me.  But what's the worse that can happen? I'm out bid or never bid in the first place, who knows, but call it a learning experience and try again the next time. 

Right now, I'm perplexed at the listings themselves.  They have a lot of code in it I don't understand or recognize and there is no real description of these properties excepting for lot size.  No addresses either, just rather vague descriptions of the properties being sold.  I guess I'l have to visit the county courthouse and inquire about how to find out about each individual property that is for sale.  I think there is some sort of book they have that you can look at to find out detailed information. 

It's something I will be devoting some time to until I find out whether it's anything worth doing or if there are too many strings attached, or perhaps properties that have to have something done to them to bring them up to city or county codes.  People don't just give away their properties for no reason  However, some of them say the county v unknown heirs - of a person's name.  In other words,, someone died and their property was never claimed I am assuming.  That's weird. There's a bunch of them listed like that in there. Who knows what kind of treasure trove of a property might be lurking in that list.  Very unknown territory for me.

Credit score woes will drive me to find other means of accomplishing my goals.  I'm so close on my experian score, tho, to the good range.  Just 11 more points.  And more than half of those credit cards haven't reported the zero balance yet. Will it be enough to push my score up? Or will those late mortgage payments from the past continue to haunt me?  Who knows.  I should find out next by next month, I would think, these cards will report it sooner or later and then your credit score is affected by the next update. 

Thoughts that have been filling my mind.  Meanwhile, continue to save save save in a savings account and just keep pushing forward.

Except for today. It's past 10 pm and I'm getting sleepy.  I have plenty to do tomorrow but I'll have as much time as I need to get it done.

Alright.
I made it almost 600 miles yesterday which is pretty good considering the route.  It's laden with small towns and slow speed limits.  Especially on the Texas side.  Got up to the plant, dropped and hooked and got straight out of there.  Had an agenda for today and I needed to be home early enough to get it done.  Cleaning being the big factor, laundry, pack my bag and get ready to go. They're having company over for the week so I offered my room since I'm going to be gone, but I definitely wanted to get it cleaned up in here.

So my agenda is maybe half way done.  I've been going at it since before I got home.  Walmart and other stores, dogs out of food.  And a stop at Waffle House.

I'm still on the diet.  I've been finding ways to stay on it even tho I ran out of food.  You can pretty much order meat anywhere.  Stay away from potatoes and breads and fruits.  Waffle House was a slab of ham, 3 slices of bacon and 2 eggs over easy.  Delicious.  I was lusting after the hash browns being cooked in front of me tho lol.  I'm sure I've lost more weight.  The scale showed 214 earlier and that's mid way through the day.  Before today, at this time of day I would be up as high as 221.  I figure my weight this morning was 207 or possibly even 206 since I was at 208 several days ago.

Not to mention I had to pull the belt another notch tighter starting yesterday.

 It's making me rethink my plants of quitting for Thanksgiving lol, but I doubt I will be able to help myself. Potatoes are my weakness.  When I see them I'm like, ugh.

Okay.  Well this is a real vacation coming up hopefully.  Unlike the 10 days off wondering when I was going back to work. I am becoming much more well-adjusted to being out on the road.  It's like, no biggies - until the last day when I know I'm going to be home.  I was missing my doggies greatly at first, but now, I miss them yes but nothing like it was.  I was a true home-body and just sticking around the house was my thing.

One thing I'm telling my manager is do not stick me back in that other truck I just got out of today.  It's a smoker's truck and I despise that smell. Smells like a giant freaking ashtray. The smell gets into the AC/heat ductwork and it never comes out.  I've sprayed and sprayed into the intake.  It's against company policy to smoke in the trucks but lots of driver do it anyway.  Heck, it's against Federal rules to smoke in the cab of a tractor pulling a hazmat load, but don't tell that to smokers lol.  You aren't allowed to smoke within 25 feet of it and yes, the rules specifically state you aren't allowed to. But whatever. I'm not a tattle tale I just don't want to be subjected to that and I don't see any reason why I should hold my tongue on that particular issue.

I'm giving up on a 65" big screen TV on black friday. I'll be in Phoenix, I can't find anyone that will go to the Walmart here and get one for me.  No one likes black Friday, they don't like being subjected to all of the masses caving in on each other. I get it, but that has never really stopped me.  Last year I showed up 20 minutes after the mob.  There was nothing so important I wanted that I needed to be involved with all of that.  I thought about buying one in Phoenix and shipping it, but I"m afraid it would get destroyed during shipping and shipping something that large would cost a small fortune. 

The only thing I can hope for is that cyber Monday will have some good deals.  I don't have to have this, it's just something I want. Looks like Cyber Monday will have some good deals on 55 inch tv's. Perhaps I'll switch gears and get myself a nice laptop instead.  I could potentially go in Phoenix to get one of those if there's something that is instore pickup only.  My son used to love going on these adventures, perhaps I can motivate him and his wife to go on another one lol.

Ok, I'm 2/3rd's done. I'm shooting to leave for Dallas around 3pm.  It's a 2 hour trip, probably less the way I drive but 2 hours is safe bet to say, especially on a Sunday and less traffic.  Get a good night's sleep, leave my vehicle at the hotel, take a shuttle to the airport, get there early so I have time to deal with any problems, relax after I get past security and start my vacation.  Instead of being up all night on red eyes, I will be getting up a bit early, yes, but no 1 am flight times. 

And with that, I must get on with the day. 

Friday Morning.
Weighed myself after 6 days of not having been on a scale.
I was only down 1 pound.  It was neither surprising or disappointing.
It's better to see it go down or even stay the same than having it go back up.
I ate some big meals out on the road this time. Not carb laden meals, but definitely
some calories involved with it. I suspect this next coming week will be worse for
calories and probably getting kicked out of ketosis. 

Today? I'm headed up to Barnsdall, Oklahoma.  I was unsure whether she was going to send me anywhere so close to departure date, but I'm really going to need this little trip on the paycheck after next.  It's a 2 day trip unfortunately. Last time I took this trip, I made it back within 20 miles of the yard.  Ohhhhh so close but yet so far!  I didn't mind tho. I just went to sleep, stayed in bed much longer than I needed to - but, you have to be off the clock for 10 hours.  But, on that trip, I was bobtailing up there, a mission to get a trailer that was needed for another trip going out.  So I gained time not being slowed down on the way up with a heavy, loaded trailer.  I'm hoping to make it back to Paris tonight.  I don't know if I will, but that's about an hour and 40 minutes out from the yard.  I'm just hoping to get home tomorrow with at least half a day left so I can get some stuff done.

I am leaving on Sunday.  I made that decision yesterday.  I don't want to have to get up so early and then travel all day and then be tired when I get there. I may be tired anyway, but not as much as if I were getting up at 2:30 am to get to Dallas in time to find a parking space to get a shuttle to get to the airport to get through security.  I've done it before, many times, it's just much easier I think to treat a vacation as just that: a time to take it easy, not a time to have to be rushed.  That's the plan, we'll see if it works out lol.  Apparently Southwest's $20 per direction "early" boarding isn't worth it after researching it.  It is likely that there will be people there that take priority for being whatever members and having had purchased higher priced tickets.  I'll just take whatever seat I get, lol, the first leg is to San Antonio. 

We won't be in the air very long before landing again. Not much to see in San Antonio, we won't be there long enough to do anything but shuffle from one gate to another. 

Oh, the reason I have so much time this morning? I woke up early, long before the alarm clock went off. I knew there was no returning to sleep so I didn't really try. Another side effect of this diet is you seem to need less sleep and still feel good the next day.  This will be a 14 hour day so I hope that holds fast all throughout the day. I mean, even if I feel tired this evening, I should be good to get at least the Indian Nation turnpike behind me.  Just a long stretch of highway, a terrible road actually, it's in horrible condition but it's the fastest way up there. Other ways will ad at least 2 hours to the trip.

Meanwhile, I watch with great interest this caravan. Some of which have already arrived in Tijuana.  Democrats spewing their nonsense all over TV were wrong, I believe intentionally wrong.  They said the caravan was made up, blah blah blah. Now they're at our border and apparently a bunch of them have been caught trying to illegally cross the border.  Is it an invasion as Trump said? Of sorts I suppose. It's not a military invasion, but no one in their right mind thought that was what Trump meant when he says that.  Where are all these people going to go if they get in here? Who is going to house and feed them? You already know the answers: American taxpayers.  These people aren't sponsored tho I guess some of them have family members already up here.  I would suspect they aren't here legally either.

Well that's it.  I have a pile of things to do when I get back.  I took it easy yesterday.  It's just the nature of having been out on the road for an extended period. 5 days is my version of an extended period.  Other truckers would say being out a month is extended, well and find for them, I don't live by someone else's clock or hometime happiness.  Some of them don't want to go home for a myriad of reasons.  I do want to go home, I need to go home lol.

Well it's that time, to get out of here. Take the dogs to the other house, get to the yard and get this ball rolling. 

So a trailer finally showed up yesterday at 3:50 pm.  My only goal was to make it north of Houston. I knew that driving through there at night virtually guarantees sailing right through it, there might be some traffic - all major cities have traffic 24 hours a day - but nothing that would slow me down. I also figured that the 610 West/North loop would be flowing good. It's the best hazmat route around downtown - IF it's not congested.  I wanted to stop at the Love's in Cleveland, to fuel and take the 30 minute break. But, nahh.

It was listed as full on the trucking app several times, it was late and I blew past it. I got up to a small truckstop 50 miles up the road, it was full, amazingly. I've never seen that place full.  I was going to spend the night there, yawning, tired, past midnight.  I did go to sleep but 20 minutes later a very noisy truck came rolling through ever so slowly, as if the driver wanted to wake every one up.  That 20 minute nap was all I needed.  I got up and drove the rest of the 130 miles out, arrived at the yard at 2:30 am and went to bed in the yard. I had no desire to do all the paperwork and everything else at that hour of the night.

It  was cold. 25 degrees. I got up at 9:45 am, a yard full of drivers. I struck up a conversation with one of them and the next thing you know there was a crowd.  I had things I wanted to do, but it was adult conversation and not to pay myself on the back, but I can keep a party going when I want to.

Anyway, I finally left there and headed home.  But I stopped to get something to eat first.  Interestingly, you can get food a restaurants for keto. It's not sold as such, you leave out the potatoes and anything with high carbs and you're fine.  I just felt like talking. The waitress there knows me well, I had to call her off my usual lol. But we started talking buying properties and houses.  Nice interaction. After that, to the other house to get my dogs. But, same thing, sat there and talked for over an hour.

I literally wouldn't have done any of that if I had known I was getting sent out tomorrow.  With all the trucks sitting in the yard, I figured I wouldn't actually go out again until after I get back from Phoenix. I'm not complaining, tho. It's an overnight trip and there's "almost" no likelihood it will tak me beyond Saturday. This is trucking, you never know what's going to happen. But it's up to Barnsdall Oklaohoma. You drive up there, switch trailers, and leave in 15 minutes.  You can make it back a good 3/4 of the way before running out of hours.  That puts me getting back to the yard sometime mid morning Saturday, which gives me the rest of Saturday to get home, get my stuff ready and figure out what I'm going to do for going to Dallas. Do I stay at a hotel the night before on Sunday and get free parking? Or leave early Monday morning?

I have no clue right now, lol. I'm in a funk right now. I have been gone 5 days and I just want to relax and do nothing. I suspect that's not going to last, as I'm trying to motivate myself.  Just that it's going on 4 pm already and I haven't even been home an hour.  I least want to make some dinner and get food for the short trip ready.

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I'm changing some of my thinking about flying.  No late night flights.  You don't recover from that for a couple of days.  Early flights - like what I'm doing - is fine but getting up too early to get there is not fine. It's the same effect, the day is ruined.  Sleepy, tired, cranky. What's the point. It's a vacation. I didn't have the option before, I do now.  Money was always the issue.  I am still cheap as far as airfare is concerned. Not just the cost of the ticket, either, the cost of all the "extra" fees. Who'd thunk that taking a bag with you was "extra"? Lmao.  Southwest airlines still has 2 free checked bags and their price for where I am going was far cheaper than anyone else's when taking those extra fees into consideration.

But see? I don't want to get up at 3 am to get to the airport.  So, I found a hotel/parking/shuttle deal and it will add to my trip, not take away from it.  I'll leave out of here sometime late Sunday afternoon, arrive at the hotel, check in, do whatever I want to, get up at Get up at 5:30 am, get there at 6, check in, get through security crap and be there much earlier than I want or need to be, but that's the breaks in airport security. You could get in within minutes, you could be pulled aside and given hell.

I've had both.  Some dude running his gloved hands down my crotch and ass area, feeling me out like we were going to have sex. Freaking nasty.  Whatever. You deal with it or you don't fly, that's the end of the story. I can't drive there, it's too far, takes too much time.  Apple maps has it listed at 16 hours and 48 minutes. Take at least 2 hours off that the way I drive and it's still a long, long drive.

I already drive for a living. I like flying, tho flying nowadays is nothing like the memories of flying in the 70's and 80's.  Planes were never fully packed like they are now.  And now, I'm reading about the fact that airlines are packing so many seats into these planes, that the seats don't match up with the windows.

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I've come to the conclusion that tho these people here may want to lose weight, they aren't that serious about it. It started out ok, we had a plan, but after a couple of weeks, I was handling this stuff doing the cooking and much of the buying.  I bought a bunch of stuff before I left, we had discussions about making it.  I'll eat what's leftover, if there isn't anything, I'll just make more. I had all the recipes printed out and laying there.

You have to be motivated to lose weight.  Someone else can't do all the work for you.  That's basically what I've been doing and I'm done with that as of today.  I'll make food for myself and they can eat whatever they're going to eat.

But I'm starting to get signs that it's possibly time to think about moving on.  I never thought this would be anything permanent, kept that on the shelf in my brain.  Relationships, all kinds of them, are complicated things. People change their minds about other people.  They think one thing one day, a year later they might think something different.  I have never thought that whatever happens here, that they might not see things differently.

The spark of the interaction is all but gone. I try to get it there, but their matching it isn't there, like it used to be.  Conversations are becoming void of any detail.  Not on my part.  Texting/messaging isn't what it was.  You just see the signs. Those are a few of  the things. I've been around awhile.  I'll see how this goes in the next coming months but if things continue to go the way they are, I will be moving on.  To where, I don't know.

I have crazy ideas. I don't want marriage. I don't want FWB.  I don't want any of that. I just like to live with people. It's been my life, it's nothing I'm going to somehow break myself of in my mid 50's. I could see a large property with cattle and a small farming operation.  Something with it's own water supply.  Something that is as off the grid as you can be and still be connected to society.  And having people there to run all of that.  Not a cult, not a thing to start conspiracy theories, not a thing to do strange things, just a thing to live a simple life.  To enjoy being in the company and presence of other people.

The internet can serve a purpose, but it appears to me that it's the end all. As if technology has replaced thinking, analyizing,  interpersonal - real life, in person - relationships.

I've spent a lot of time trying to define my goals.  Land? Rentals? What?  Land is the thing that appeals to me.  Rentals is the thing that brings in money. I dunno yet. My credit score jump 38 points and I am hoping after all these credit card companies report, it will launch into "good" range.  I'm almost there.

I get to these points in life and I spend too much time mulling on what to do next.  Usually, tho, I know what I can do. I just take too long to act on it.  Right now? Naw, I have no clue.  Keep saving money,  yes, but as far as living here or not? Moving or not? Where would I move to? I haven't got a clue why they are acting they way they are.