The operations manager finally forced the issue to allow a worker to come over to our branch yesterday and help get things in order.  The place was getting pretty chaotic.  We simply don't have the time for it.  That guy spent the entire day organizing things, putting stuff away and cleaning up.  It is, actually, a part of my job to do all of that.  No time for it.  Pulling orders and driving, that's what I do all day and "down-time" days are far and few between.  I am driving a very dirty truck - a thing I hate - but I don't have time to wash that, either and there are no truck wash outlets anywhere near our store's location and when I do go by one, well, that's all I have time to do: look over and wish I could stop and get it washed.

Oh well.  Company Christmas party on Saturday.  Not sure that I am going.  It's a very long drive and if I wanted to have a few drinks?  Not a happening event.  Driving home is the issue with that, even if I only have a few I am not comfortable driving and certainly not that far.  George - one of my tenants - and his girlfriend offered to drive me out there and enjoy the party with me.  The general manager said no.  Great.  People bring all kinds of people with them to these parties that do not work for the company and in many cases aren't even related to the person that brought them.

I'm leaning towards not going, but I won't really make that decision until Saturday.  If I feel like it, I will, if I don't, no biggies.

Switched insurance companies.  It was time to renew my insurance and a bigger payment. I decided to find out if I could find anything cheaper.  Yes, indeed, I did.  Up until 3 or 4 months ago, the rate had gone up to an all-time high of $249 per month. Then, out of the blue without my asking, they lowered the bill to $189 per month.  Then the renewal came and they informed me that my rate was going to go back up. Bunk.  My new rate is $152 per month. That's for 2 cars, full coverage on one of them and 2 drivers.  Caleb has done well to stay out of accidents and not get any tickets, though he was pulled over a while back for - what I don't know.  He got out of it, whatever it was.

Well, anyway, just a quick update.

Off to work.

G'day.

ben

I woke up this morning (Sunday) around 4:30am.  I didn't want to wake up that early, I just did.

I am going to have to find a way to come to terms with these long work weeks with weekends filled with activities if this is going to continue.  The problem is fatigue.  I was so tired at church this morning I could barely stay awake.

I know for a fact that tomorrow at work is a full day's worth of work.  There are 5 truckloads of pipe to be hauled plus everything else.

I felt like doing nothing today.  I got outside and watered plants and thought about putting up Christmas
lights, but quickly dismissed that idea.  Sunday - going to take it easy.

One of the elders of the church "chased" me down today when I was leaving church.  They are having a special ministry training seminar on Wednesday - teach people how to do altar ministry, he wanted to let me know that the church would like me to come to it.

I'm not opposed to it - but it's a weekday and I miss most of the small groups at this point because of late work days.  I have also been involved in a great deal of altar ministry in my lifetime, but I guess a refresher course wouldn't hurt since I've been out of it so long.  I explained to him my work situation and promised I would come if I wasn't held too long at work.

Church will, inevitably, begin to take up more and more of my time.  By choice, of course.  It won't supersede work of course, but it will supersede many other things if this path that I am on continues to go in the direction that it has been.

Well, it's time to go to sleep just before I start musing about the things of God and the wonder I have about where He will lead me to go and what to do with the rest of my life. Working a full time job may not be in that particular deck of cards.

G'nite.

ben

Unbeknownst to me, the Yerba Mensa had totally discarded the pot it was in and was free-growing along the side of the top of the pond.  Five feet long, an extensive root system simply growing in the water.  I knew that they could do that, I didn't know the thing had somehow removed itself out of the pot.

It was a simple matter, therefore, to lift the entire thing up and over the side of the pond and just let it hang there while I thoroughly sprayed it with ant and roach killer.  Near-invisible caterpillars became extremely visible while they were wiggling and croaking to death.  Good riddance. I waited for a while and then I started spraying the leaves and stems with fresh water.  Doused the entire top of it where any poison might get into the pond water from dripping down the leaves until I felt I had done enough of it - which was a good while.  I then let it drip dry for a bit longer and then - put it back into place.  I resprayed the entire system that is outside of the water with poison and below the top of the pond so that this will not be a reoccurring situation.

It will take time, but that plant will grow new leaves and eventually get rid of the eaten ones.  A month or two, I am guessing and it will start looking healthy again.  Very resilient plant, even with a large percentage of leaves eaten up,  it will send out new leaves and the ones that are eaten up? What little is left of them is still green.
_________________________
Long interlude.  Got the dog outside and started to go to town. She didn't like it.  Not my problem.  She stayed obediently in place for the most part while I shaved that long hair away.  I was informed this was a short to medium haired dog, this is definitely a LONG haired dog, only made short by shaving it regularly.  Well, I have an electric shaver now and I will be doing this once a month, I am guessing.    After spending nearly an hour trying to get all of that off of her, I then bathed her in oatmeal shampoo - she has a problem with dandruff but oatmeal shampoo deals with it quite well - and then took the scissors that came with the package and started cutting away at the hair the machine just wouldn't take off.

I am done with that for today.  There is still some hair left to go on her belly and legs, but for my first time ever attempting to do that, she looks pretty good.
________________________________________

Long day.  Week.  Christmas will bring a 4 day vacation.  Umm, no, I forgot, I put in for an extra day or 2.  4 days off, though, without that.  2 weekend days and 2 paid days from the company and then if I get the other 1 or 2, well there you go.  I could use some time off before then - too much to do and too little time to do it - but I am not going to ask.  I need to save my vacation hours for some time off next summer.
______________________________________

Randy's house is coming together. He's slowly getting the framing done and started installing windows.  However, there is MAJOR problem with that house: the foundation has a crack in it.  He filled it in with cement or something, but that does not repair a crack, just covers it up.  Whatever.  He also used 2 inch diameter pipe for the toilet. ?!!!  LOL!!! Ummmm, okay.  That's not going to work too well, is all I can say about that.

Well that's enough for now.  I have been cranking all day long and I am ready to take a break  - like for the rest of the day, lol.

ben

Saturday 12/1/2012

So, the wasps went away - where who knows - and now caterpillars have taken their place.
I was looking at my Yerba Mensa the other day and thinking how badly those wasps had ravaged that plant.

Well I was looking at it again just now thinking, wait a minute, something else MUST be going on here, the leaves on this plant are completely ravaged.  First thought: caterpillars.  Started looking underneath leaves and sure enough.

How do you get rid of them?  I can't spray poison on the plant, it will kill the fish.

I guess I'm going to have to take that giant plant that is entangled in everything (which was the intended effect) and try to get it out of the pond so I can thoroughly spray it with poison.  It's going to have to be out of the pond for several days to do that and then when I figure I've gotten all those nasty creatures, wash the whole plant with water and then put it back in.

One plant, right, how hard can that be?  This plant has grown all over the pond, down the sides and onto the ground.  It has shooters going all over place. It's a beautiful plant - or was until all those leaves got eaten up.

I can't put it off, those caterpillars are going to kill that plant if I leave it go too much longer.

57 hours, I believe it was, for the work week. Long week.  Plus 5 hours put in at church this morning doing the rummage sale.  The end of the sale was the hard part cause' had to take down all the tables, put them in a trailer and then put all the seats back into place plus fold up all the clothes and everything that wasn't sold and put it in the prayer room until they can figure out what they want to do with it - though I think they were talking about donating it to Goodwill.

Well, anyway. Trip to Walmart was in order.  I am not going to pay $60 or more everytime that dog's hair needs trimmed.  And trimmed it needs, badly. I went and got a pet trimmer for $29 and I bought 2 cans of ant and roach killer spray.  That should take care of caterpillars, too, I am guessing/hoping.  I have sprayed it on plants before and it didn't do anything to the plant, another good thing.

Umm, so, busy week, busy day already,  more to go.

Later.

ben

35-1/2 hours of work in 3 days.
I used to do this, daily, 6 days a week.   For years.
I hated it.  You have no time to live your life.
I don't mind doing it here and there, but when it gets into
the consecutive day type of thing - with things left undone -
the it starts to become an issue.

I ended up going out there and watering plants in the dark today.
Can't let it go too long.
I want to hang up Christmas lights out there as well.
I'm not sure WHEN that's going to happen. I was asked and
subsequently volunteered to work a 5 hour shift at church on
Saturday.

I'm not unhappy with work.  Work is a good thing.
But some things going on at work with individuals - well, anyway.
In some cases, arrogance. In at least one other case, not liking
the type of work they are doing and - not taking pride in their
work, subsequently.

I'm definitely expecting that at some point, things are going to come
to a head.  It's going to escalate to the point that the GM is going
to end up getting involved with this.  I only know that we are
going to hit at least the 400k mark this month.  I'm working my @$$
off, my manager is definitely working his @$$ off, we keep a great
attitude with our customers.

But, the situation with others in our company is at the intolerable point.
People with no clue attempting to tell us how to "expedite" our store and
make it more "efficient", notwithstanding the fact that they have NO input
as to HOW that is going to happen.  I can tell you the only way it's
going to happen: more personnel.

Without another set of hands to pull orders or drive a vehicle, not a
happening event.

Whatever the case, at 4:00 pm, I started petering out.  I had eaten 2
bananas and a very small sandwich early morning and nothing after that.
I didn't want to keep working and I flatly stated such.  Go get something
to eat then.

That's it.  Another day of non-stop grinding.  I DID go up to the mountains,
btw, in the midst of all of this.

To end this one, I need to find a woman.  Seriously.  This single junk has
going on long enough.

G'day.

ben

DO NOT ADD ANYTHING WITHOUT CONTACTING US FIRST!!

That was what I put in our truck routing system yesterday, after seeing that the salesmen had just kept dumping more and more deliveries and pickups in there to do.

Ridiculous.  I already informed 2 salesmen that there is no WAY I can do everything that has been put in there in one day.  Too much to do, too many orders to pull, too much driving.  It's not that I don't want to, it's just physically impossible.

What cracks me up is that some of these people will just put stuff in there without checking with us first and without looking at what they are adding to.  They just assume it will get done.

23-1/2 hours in 2 days.  I'm looking at another long day today unless something changes.  We have been informed that our branch does not warrant a 3rd person.  Great, we are just going to work lots of OT and then perhaps the message will get across.  Or not.  I love OT - up to a point.  At some point, you cross over to another tax bracket or status and then you see more taxes being taken out to the point that  all those extra hours don't add up to a hill of beans.

Oh, wait a minute, I think beans are expensive nowadays, that old saying might not mean that much anymore, could actually be contradictory from it's intended meaning, lol.

Time to get on the road and get to the daily grind.

G'day.

ben

I bought a salad this morning - fat free dressing of course - with an apple and sugar-free white peach tea.
That was around 8 am.  9 hours later, still grinding away but now in the yard, pulling orders and doing all that it entails to get a truck loaded including loading the truck - I ran out of energy.

"Go get something to eat then!".  I was ready to go HOME.  I had a frozen dinner in the refrigerator, heated that up, wolfed it down and went back to work.  An hour later - the truck was loaded, it was all done, only a  few things left to do in the morning. After THAT, then there's MUCH more.  I am supposed to do a couple of other deliveries and then go up into the mines up in the mountains.

Well whatever.  I just do what I can get done.  I work at a very efficient, brisk pace.  Today I slowed down after 11 straight hours of it.

Did I say it's 15 minutes til' my bedtime?

G'nite.
ben

What happens when you are informed by a manager that your work is not up too part and that you need to "step it up" some in terms of productivity?
My manager wasn't too happy when I returned to the yard yesterday - which was at around 6:00 pm, btw.  I was grinding all day long, one place to the next to the next.
Apparently, we need to "find" ways to expedite the process.
All two of  us, that is, running a branch that did 4 and a half million in sales last year.  That includes shipping; receiving; pulling orders; palletizing and wrapping those orders; loading the truck and delivering those orders.  It includes all the elements one could possibly conceive that go into running a store.

All 2 of us did that.

The numbers, fortunately, are on our side.  Not just the 4 and a half million, which is an impressive number by itself.

But also some other numbers that the company uses to measure a branch's efficiency.  I don't know what numbers they use to come to such a conclusion, but an outside salesman informed us yesterday that our numbers are "kicking ass" over all the other branches.  This includes much larger branches with 4, 5 and more personnel that are doing LESS in sales than we are.  We are informed that the numbers at our branch to do not warrant a 3rd worker, yet when compared to every other branch that is within our region, well, the numbers tell a  completely different story.

That outside salesman is on our side, btw.  He SEES what we go through on a day to day basis, it's not like we have to "act" like we're busy, we ARE busy.  Another outside salesman attests to the same thing.

Yet, some higher level managers still think we are sitting around, jacking off, having women over and drinking kegs of beer while watch porn when on the clock.

Okay, a bit of an exaggeration and possibly offensive in nature, but the whole situation is beginning to piss me off.  Mouthy, heady, arrogant people walking around spouting off things coming from lips that are completely and totally clueless.

And then......................

Another story.  Apparently, I am "not going to like" having satellite installed in my truck.  I wasn't there for the conversation - on the road of course at the time - but my manager had to ask: WHY do you think he won't like it?  Do you think he's just goofing off all day long?  What is the point of satellite in a company that hasn't used it and doesn't need it?  Obvious: to monitor it's drivers.  What are we doing all day long?  Screw the satellite, if they think I'm some sort of sloucher - which I can guarantee you 100% I am not - let them install a CAMERA on the dash of the truck.

I dunno.  When a person's work is unappreciated, then what do you do next?

G'day.

ben

4 day holiday comes to a close and back to the grind.
Tomorrow will be very busy, if I recall our truck routing system correctly when last seen on Wednesday.
Manager will be back from Chicago.
Ummmm, I'm going to bed early tonight is all I can say about that.

I dodged a bullet on Wednesday, btw.  I don't remember if I wrote about it, but it's - maybe the third time this year that I came upon a "commercial vehicle inspection station" - portable/mobile, they put them up wherever they can find space to pull over lots of trucks.  I was like, wow.  It's getting near the end of November, I made it this far without running into one and here we go.

Well it turns out they were just putting up the signs.  They hadn't finished putting them up at the intersection and quite honestly?  Who KNOWS where they were going to do the inspections.  I have no legal obligation to follow signs that - aren't there.  So, since they hadn't finished posting them? I continued right one, thanks.

But, it's another place now that I know where they may potentially do them, mark that in the "don't go this route" shelf in my mind.  I intentionally take alternate routes to avoid such areas, especially a couple of places where they have these portable inspection stations put up frequently.  I could name the roads - but why bother? Just in case.................

Fry's Food Stores/Shopping

I did end up going out today.
First to Home Depot.  I didn't find anything there that I was looking for so - just left.  Across the street to the AutoZone to have them plug in their computer and maybe find out why the Service Engine Soon light is on.  They determined "most likely" the cause is a bad fuel cap.  Oh.  I had,  a couple of times, a warning light come up stating that the gas cap was loose, even though it wasn't.  So, I spent the $10 and hope that will take care of the problem.  The car is running fine.

Over to Whitfill's Nursery.  Looking for the ground covering plants that the cats have destroyed to some degree - still plenty out there, but there is now a barren spot where their defecating and urinating has completely destroyed it.  They are no longer doing that there, for reasons I have no explanation for, so I am going to try replanting.

They did not have the fresh-cut Christmas trees, yet, but they did have some amazing looking live trees.  As in almost 8 feet tall live trees that looked very nice.  I didn't get one, but I am considering it.  A very good price for a tree that large and after Christmas is done, just plant it somewhere.  Maybe out front and have a permanent Christmas tree out there, lol.

Over to Fry's food stores.  I got a roast and vegetables.  In checkout, the price came up wrong.  It was not showing the sale price of 89 cents for the cut carrots, it came out to $1.69, the regular price.  Well, their policy: scanning error is free up to $5, over $5 they give you a $5 gift card.  I did not get the item for free and the lady had a bagger go check the price.  We're talking 80 cents here, not 10 dollars.  I was a bit put off by them checking the price, which, when he came back, said yes, there IS a sign there that says the sale price of 89 cents.

Well, now I have to go to the Customer Service desk to get this taken care of.  There are 7 people in line.  No way am I going to wait that long for an error on their part - the customer service desk takes forever just to get up to it.  So, I had the assistant manager paged (I prefer the GM, but not there today).  Not my regular store, either.  Individual never showed up after  2 pages in a couple of minute's time.  No call to say why he isn't coming, nothing.  Finally, she says she's going to page him again. Don't bother, I am not going to wait another second for this individual.

Instead, I simply called the store.  Yup, I headed to my car and called the store from the number on the receipt.  The man finally got on as I was driving home, actually.  He gave his excuse - which I didn't find to be a valid one (if he isn't available but knew he was being paged, why not just call up and tell them that?) - Mr. Torrence was his name.  Oh, he states, I would have taken care of this situation.  Really? Do you think I have all day long to wait for something like this, or perhaps should have to wait 20 minutes in a line at the customer service desk?  He had no reply to that.

I just informed him I would be calling corporate headquarters on Monday and yes, I would be asking for a gift card to be sent to my home.  Again.  Not the first time.  I did wish him a nice day and then ended the call.

Is it worth it?  At least one person I know that reads my blog would say no and then proceed to tell me about myself. Yes, it is worth it. First, to get the lady that had an 80 cent error on the ticket "retrained".  For that low amount of money, they just let you have it.  My "story" about it being on sale was verified, but my interaction with Fry's Food Stores in the past has been for something where the discrepancy is that low, just give it to the customer.  Follow your own GM's guidelines. Second, because I didn't get the store's policy of getting the item free for incorrect scanning.

I usually come out well ahead in such things when the store acts in such a way to cause' far more problems than 80 cents is worth.

Whatever, that's long since over, I will have a 5 or 10 minute conversation on the phone with Fry's headquarters on Monday and then we'll see what happens.  Meanwhile? I have plants to put in the ground and need to decide on that tree.  I don't know how long they are going to have those nice, full looking trees around before people come and zap them up.

G'day.

ben

Umm, Black Friday was a bust for me.  The only thing I scored was a huge - cheap quality I am sure but around here no problem - screwdriver set from Home Depot for $9.95.  I did end up going to Sears to try and score one of those TV's, but unbeknownst to me (and apparently everyone else in line), you needed a "voucher" to get one.  No explanation of who got the vouchers or how those that had them, got them, was given.  I just walked out.  I am not going to buy "something else" in the store when they start playing games like that.  They are lucky they didn't start a riot, numerous people that were at the front of the line were told no more TV's.  The FRONT of the line!  Before a single TV was even sold?!!

Sears can go piss off.

Walmart was a jungle.  I finally found the TV's they had on sale only to find yet another line and more tickets being given out.  SCREW those freaking tickets.  Not only that, but they weren't going to even start selling them until 10:00 pm.  It would have been an hour and a half wait, I just left there, too, wasn't about to go attempt to find other bargains with all of those people in there pushing and shoving each other.  Ridiculous.

No biggies to me.  I really didn't need to spend money anyway.  I wouldn't have minded finding a good coffee maker on sale, though, someone has broken mine and I want to replace it.  I might meander up to Walmart today to see if they might have any on sale, allegedly their Black Friday sales go through the weekend. Emphasis on allegedly.  Their ad states they are, but who knows what's left, probably not much of anything.

The drive home from Sierra 'Vista to here?  I'm afraid that I was speeding even worse than I thought.  I must get that speedometer fixed on that car.  247 miles in ..............well I'm not going to say it on here.  Just am not.  Let's just say that it didn't take near as long as it should have.  But, when you have a 75 mph speed limit and find at least half the distance is on a 6 lane interstate - meaning finding ways around the clog ups where everyone is all congregated together - you can cruise pretty nicely.

It's now the weekend.  The rest of their family in Sierra Vista is leaving today.  One couple has been there since last Saturday.  They were talking about doing Thanksgiving at their house next year.  Yeah, well if I happen to be in or around San Antonio next year, I'll certainly hit them up for it.

Our company is giving us Monday as a "special gift" for this year.  Meaning they have decided to keep the stores closed on that Monday (Christmas is on Tuesday this year) and also give it as a paid day off - versus having to use vacation or other hours.  Well, it is a gift, we don't normally have the day before a holiday off if the holiday falls during the week, you either have ask for a vacation day or you show up for work for half a day and will be very bored, cause' no contractors will be working so it's senseless to have any of our stores open.  All of our contractors have our salesmen's cell phone numbers and they know that if there is an emergency, they can call them at any time.  They can call me, lol, it's a $150 charge for showing up after hours.  That charge goes to the employee that showed up.  Plus double-overtime.  Yes, they could definitely call me in an emergency, I have nothing going on now that couldn't be interrupted.

I have enough money saved up now to cover Christmas.  I don't think I'm doing the dinner so that will save a  lot of money in not having to buy roasts and do all that there is to putting something like that together.

Must be offa here.  Plenty to do today.

ben

Actually much warmer day here than expected.  I'm sitting out back of my dad's house which sits right next to a golf course, and yes, there are a few people out golfing, have been off an on all day long. After eating a huge Turkey dinner, I couldn't sit around watching football games all afternoon long, especially since the teams playing were not my favorites, though I still ended up watching a lot of the game anyway. But - I went on an almost 6,000 step walk around a portion of the course on the golf cart path.

I dunno, but I am enjoying myself much more than I did the last time.  Just decided that the dude wasn't going to bother me and because of that decision, well, there you go.

Called mother this morning - she isn't actually having any family over.  My oldest brother won't go over there for Thanksgiving anymore, been 4 or 5 years since he's done that but my middle brother is going over there on Saturday.  I didn't bother to tell her we could come on that day too, I don't really want to be there for another Thanksgiving with him around.  No biggies.  I saw mother more this summer up at her property than I had, cumulatively, seen her in years.

I have decided to hit Sears up at 8 today if the line isn't too terribly long.  They have a 32 inch flat screen for sale for $97.  Yes, that's 97 bucks. That's cheap.  Walmart's version is $138.  I am guessing if there are people waiting out there, it's going to be for that if nothing else.  but, it's only 4:22 and I refuse to go sit around at a store entrance for hours  on end.  I will walk over there from the hotel and see if I can score. If not, maybe I will go to the Walmart.  But really, if I don't score anything today, it wouldn't bother me.  Home Depot's sale is at 5:00 am.  I may or may not be up that early. It would be nice to score a couple of their deals on pliers and adjustable wrenches.

The sun is finally going down and it's starting to cool right back down : )

Whatever.  Just throwing this in there.  I'm still at my dad's house and there are a lot of family here, but a lot of them went took naps when I decided to - get the blood pumping and get a good long walk in.

Later.

ben

Got up this morning, had a small breakfast and went for a long walk in the brisk, cool\- FRESH - air to be found down here. This area is surrounded by beautiful mountain ranges.  Everything was closed, our hotel is in the same parcel of land as a giant shopping mall.  I decided to walk the circumference of the mall.  Best Buy had no-one waiting out in front of it but Sears had to people sitting in lawn chairs that had just shown up at the same time I was walking by.  So, spend your entire Thanksgiving sitting in a lawn chair in front of a store for 12 hours.

Whatever.  I walked off the property and was looking at a fenced off area across the street.  Upon closer inspection, it is an old, abandoned goofy-golf place.  Covered with weeds, but when it was open, it must have been a fun one cause' had all kinds of weird devices and things to apparently try and hit your ball into.  The driving range also shut down and also completely covered with weeds.

My dad's wife bought Thanksgiving dinner in advance.  IE: prepared by Fry's Food Stores.  I didn't know Fry's did such a thing.  I'm sure it will be good regardless.  Whether the man with the tude' is going to change the direction of his obvious disdain for both my son and I, I have no idea and if it continues I am going to smile, say hi to him and then completely ignore him.  I will not have a man's glaring attitude ruin my Thanksgiving, a person I don't know, have only met once and had the same reaction from.

Well anyway, since Thanks giving dinner is going to be at 1:00 pm today, that certainly allows for me to visit the Walmart tonight if I so desire, or even the Best Buy if there aren't 10,000 people there - who knows what kind of turn-out they get in a small town such as this? - and see about getting a few deals.  Home Depot is 300 yards away as well. They are having a great sale on hand tools - tools that I use frequently at home and could definitely stand replacing.

Undoubtedly, Mark had to spend the night on the couch in the living room.  The dogs.  Apparently, when I leave, they grumble, growl and bark all night long.  I was told the other day that when I leave for work, Prince will start barking at one side of the property, then run to the other side and then back. They contend separation anxiety and looking for me to come back.  Well, can't be bound down forever by dogs, gotta have a life beyond the house.

9:00 am.  My walk over, I think we're going to go over to dad's house in about an hour and spend the day over there.

ben

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ben

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Having said that, almost time to leave for work.

G'day.

ben

I was on the freeway going to work the other day.  It was still dark.  Some traffic, but no heavy.  A Highway Patrol cruiser gets onto the freeway from an on ramp.  I'm in a crowd of 10 or more vehicles spread out in 3 lanes.  He makes his " move" and gets directly behind my vehicle!

Admittedly my speedometer doesn't work - it's not high on the priority list of things to fix considering how much money they want to fix it - but I figured sticking at the same speed as everyone else around me should be good.  I have absolutely no idea what attracted that officer to get behind my car in the manner that he did.  Perhaps I was just being paranoid - I have a commercial driver's license and any kind of ticket is not something that's going to help my career out, doesn't matter if I'm driving my personal vehicle or a company's commercial vehicle, anything will count against my record.

Well, there was nothing wrong with the car, all the lights work and the registration is current along with current insurance.  So, I just waited for a while to see what was going to happen.  At some point, he finally got around from behind me and sped off.  I have no clue, but it made me really nervous.  Another month and a half - if I can just stay out of the way of commercial enforcement for another month and a half and not get any warnings or tickets, I will be given the Safe Driver Award again and it's now 2 weeks pay every time I get it.

The company is, however, not going to get us a new truck.  I dunno.  Trucks get older = more potential problems = potential warnings = trouble.

Well whatever.  Nothing I can do about it.  Whoever ordered the truck I am driving - delivered to us new almost 8 years ago - didn't apparently much care for "optional" things, things that I consider elemental to a truck and for it's driver.  The thing doesn't even have air horns.  It is missing most gauges - pyrometer; differential temp gauges; oil temp gauges; load application gauge: things I like to be able to see in a truck to make sure temps aren't heating up to critical levels.  It has idiot lights, instead, and of course, as most idiot lights go, they only come on AFTER a problem is already a done deal and nothing you can do about it.  It has a cheap, junk-plastic beverage holder that I quit using shortly after we got it - it dumps your drink onto the floor as soon as you hit a bump.  On and on.  I have put up with it for this long, but I am not really willing to continue to put up with a piece of junk forever.  We keep it maintained, but that's it.  No upgrades, nothing is ever approved except for repairs.  If I want something on it, I would have to pay for it myself.  The stereo in it is a cheap piece of junk with extremely tinny sound speakers.  You spend as much time in a truck as I spend in that one, you want at least a few things to be a bit better than cheap, tinsel-coated junk.

Well, off of that subject.  I can't do anything about Obama, but I pray that some of his agenda is stopped at the pass.  Obamacare is apparently a done deal, yet I am reading more and more news stories about companies planning on cutting back hours and now a couple of companies that are going to do flat-out layoffs.  And then restaurants that are declaring they are going to pass the expense onto the customers.

But the situation with Israel and Gaza is far more interesting and potentially even scary.  Well, if I were living in either land it would definitely be a bit scary, I would think, with the threat of bombs landing all around you at any time.  But what's interesting - wrong word - ummm - why can't I think of the right word here? lol - anyway is that what is it, Iran and Egypt being allies of Hamas? What kind of regional chaos could this escalate into?  And then the statements now coming from Iraq, of all places, backing Hamas/Gaza.  Yup, it is definitely something I am watching on a lot of different news fronts.

Caleb is still on his 7 day fast.  Monday he ends it.  I"m not worried - at all - it's a fast unto the Lord, not some thing used to lose weight.  I've done it a hundred times.  I'm more interested to find out what - if anything - he might see or hear in the spirit realm during or after going through it.

I took the dogs to Kiwanis Park early this morning.  It was cool out and we went on a brisk walk.  I tried to stay away from people but they went out of their way to stop me and ask questions about the dogs.  Duke was getting upset, too, lol.  He wanted to walk, darn-it, not stand around listening to "his" human talking.  Although I could have gone on much longer than we actually did - Prince's hip problem/bum leg/whatever you wanna call it started kicking in.  He was lightly dragging his foot and I didn't want to prolong that, so we went home.  There's not much I can do for him excepting taking him for "extended" walks as one vet suggests, though I won't go beyond what he can handle - and giving him the glucosamine pills.  He wasn't wincing in pain, though, he just couldn't keep that one hind leg from having his foot drag on the ground.  I won't be giving up on that dog until it becomes an issue to the point he can't get around or if he's in pain all the time.  I am not looking forward to having yet another dog being put down after having to have had put down 2 in the last 14 months or so.  It's not fun, Prince is a great dog and I hope I can get another year or two out of him if at all possible.  He's 8-1/2, which is into the end of the life expectancy of a Great Dane.  Yup, sucks, big dogs, shorter life span.

I'm done.  It's Saturday night, I don't really do much on weekend nights cause' - I almost always go to bed as early on these nights as I do on weeknights.  Thanksgiving week en-queue.  Meaning 4 days off.  Work through Wednesday and then take off after work with Caleb down to Sierra Vista where a hotel room is already reserved and paid for for us.  Yup, that's my dad : )  I'm trying to figure out how to enjoy being around a certain element of his wife's sons, one of which, well anyway.  I already went through this once and at Thanksgiving.  I'll just go with a good attitude and deal with it as it comes, I guess.  Or just ignore the man altogether if he really gets obnoxious.  I for some reason had the date confused in my mind about the church's Thanksgiving meal.  I thought they were doing it today, but it's actually tomorrow afternoon. So, church in the morning, come home and get some stuff done around the house and then church dinner with whosoever shows up (invites have been handed out to the community all over the place).

G'nite.

ben

One of our inside salesmen is quitting.  He is moving to the East Cost with his girlfriend (they have been together for a long time now) who has been offered a lucrative nursing job where her family lives.  He has decided to move there with her and hope to find employment there.

Well, there's an opportunity, well there is if they are open to just anyone asking about it, which I now have.  The GM sent out a note to everyone: if you are interested in doing inside sales, contact us and let's talk.  The sales manager came into our branch this morning and I was asking him questions about it, but never really got into a serious discussion about possibly being looked at for the position.

I was just toying with the idea. But after thinking about it all day, I just up and replied to the GM, yes, I'm interested. It isn't the easiest job in the world to learn, but I know something around half of it anyway.  Navigating around Trilogie is one key "issue".  I have been learning that system for some time now.

Here's the problem I have faced in other places I have worked in the past in attempting to switch to something else within a company or get promoted: Too valuable where you are at.  You have done the same job for years and you are good at it.  You don't have to have people watching over your shoulder or calling you every 5 minutes.  You develop good relationships with the contractors and you deal with problems immediately in calling salesmen and letting them know what's going on.  You have MORE interaction with the customer than ANYONE in the organization and you put on your best face everytime you see them regardless of how you might feel that day.

Now, why I would want to move to another position within the company.  Numerous reasons.  First off, I am getting to the point where I absolutely HATE summers here. It's TOO hot and it SUCKS. It's hot in the morning, it's hell in the afternoons.

Second, we worked our asses off, all 2 of us at the branch we work at and did 4 and a half million worth of sales.  We were told how no other branch in the entire country could pull of such a feat, etc etc etc.  Yet, when bonus time came? It most certainly did NOT reflect such efforts.

3rd: trucking.  It's getting pretty sucky to be a truck driver.  The regulations keep pouring in and drivers are simply not unified enough in the industry to make a stand and say no more to unbelievable regulations that cannot be found in any other industry to the degree we are subjected to them. This new point system they came out with at the end of 2010 is outrageous.  The Federal government doesn't CARE how many drivers will end up being put out of their career, eventually, however, the public WILL care.  That's because there is already a shortage of drivers and it's going to get FAR worse in coming years.  When that happens, look out, cause' American wants what it wants and gets it when it wants it.  If she can't, she throws a fit.  IT will take the news media to make an issue out of it, undoubtedly, but eventually it's going to occur.

Until then, however, I see a Highway Patrol vehicle? I'm getting all kinds of nervous.  If they pull me over and even if I just receive a minor warning about something, it goes against my company. That's right, it's points racked up against my employer and if an employer gets enough points from all of it's combined drivers, then "intervention" begins. So, companies put the onus back on the driver.

It's just getting to be too much.  And from the news reports? A lot of other "older" drivers are feeling the same way. The vast majority of truck drivers are older, not younger.

Anyway, trucking is not what it used to be and I am growing out of love with it.

4th, dealing with heavy city traffic all day long.

5th, I am just ready for something different.

6. I am not into driving older trucks.  They pose too much of a risk, IMO, in getting warnings, getting pulled over and inspected.  The truck I am driving is almost 8 years old  and I was informed this week that they are not going to upgrade, they want to keep expenses down and since that truck is now paid off, they aren't paying $3,500 per month payments on it.  Great, and it's a piece of s***.  I'm getting tired of driving it.  Just my personal preference.

But, who knows if they will want me for that position.  I may be making too much money per hour in my current position for them to want to have me in another position that is, from what I have heard anyway, lower paying.  Not going to take a pay cut, thanks. I have no clue, but I at least have to look into it.

Well, the weekend is here. I have slept pretty well all week - until last night.  I was having some pretty bad dreams and kept waking up. Weird.  48 years old and having nightmares. Is that normal?  I dunno, but I'm flat out tired.  REALLY tired.  Like, try to stay awake until at least 8 o'clock tired.

Whatever. I'm done.

ben

Strange Dreams

I have strange dreams sometimes.  When I wake up in the morning to the sound of the alarm clock, I am sometimes happy that I did, indeed, wake up and out of it.

This morning was one of those mornings.

The dream was - really strange. I don't remember the beginning of it, but I do remember that I was with my middle brother - a person of whom I have grown to greatly dislike.  We were going somewhere together, driving around here somewhere.  Suddenly, the whole scene changed and we were passing a sign that said :" You are now entering Mexico".  Out in the middle of nowhere desert, no port of entry but a small Mexican town was off in the distance.

The next thing I know, we are in a house.  It was ours, I knew from the way I was thinking, we had inherited it but from who, I don't know.  I had been there before, I could tell, my brother had not.  When we walked inside, the first thing he did was start to tear down some wall decorations and destroying them.

I started fighting with him saying NOOOOOO, don't DO that!  I walked out of there, him destroying the house and me in some state of mind I cannot describe.  Outside, I looked down on a city.  Elevated house.  I walked around a corner to a gazebo type thing on the property and was immediately accosted by 3 men that I have never seen before.  They threatened me with death for whatever reason.

They were there to kill me, I don't know if they knew about my brother.  I took all 3 of them on and the next thing I know, all 3 of them were lying on the floor.  At this point, the alarm clock went off and ended this horrid dream.

I always wonder when I have such ridiculous dreams if there is anything I can glean from it for real life, is there some reason that I had that dream and what can I get from it, learn from it, take away from it?  Nothing, in this case, at least at this point.  It did nothing to make me think the situation with my brother is ever going to change.  I have no clue what the 3 strangers were about.  They weren't there because I had ever done something to them, rather, they were there because they knew who I was and for whatever reason wanted to challenge me.

Well anyway.  Thursday almost over, Friday almost here and then after work tomorrow, the weekend starts.  Slow couple of days at work. Like, driving half the day and working around the store the other half.  Which was cool, I have been able to do a lot of clean up.  Place was looking rather - trashy - really.

Well whatever, I have to be off to bed.

G'nite.

benD

It's a week away from my departure to Sierra Vista, where my dad and his current wife resides. I love my dad, his wife is cool, too, but some of her family? I am having thoughts about how it is going to go if one of her sons starts his mouthing activity again.

I don't want to just sit there and listen to an arrogant, mouthy, crass individual go on and on and on all night long. Reminds me of my middle brother. I'm going to have to figure out how I am going to deal with this before it happens - but I have no doubts at all that it IS going to happen. Apparently, their whole family bows in awe whenever he speaks - or maybe they have gotten used to it.  I have found that my dad's wive's generally despise his sons and I don't doubt that attitude isn't conveyed to her family.  I think this is my dad's 6th wife now.  Do you wonder why my visits to my dad are extremely infrequent?

Nahh, not because of that. Other reasons I won't go into here.  I can deal with that dude. I am just trying to decide whether I want to deal with such an individual on the terms I would normally deal with such or give way to my dad and his wife and have a "nice" event.  I don't want to dwell on it further, I am going to visit my dad, that's it.  If I get accosted by her family as it occurred last time, well, we'll see.  I have sat idly by and given way ONLY because I did not want something to happen that would ruin the event. Yet, a mouthy person that is blasting off on everything under the sun, incessantly, without stop? I can't HANDLE that for hours on end. I don't WANT to have to handle it.  

Whatever.  I was looking for deals on turkeys - and couldn't find much.  47 cents a pound at Fresh'n'Easy if you buy $30 minimum. I have a $10 coupon with them.

I was delivering a large amount of materials to a jobsite this week, located right next to an elementary school. K-6 grades, I believe.  School was in session.  Kids in class.  The fenced-in area for the kid's bicycles was right there, across from where we were unloading.

There were all of 4 bicycles in there. Enough racks to hold at least 100 bikes, probably a lot more. I was in awe.  When I was a kid, the bike racks - a LOT of them - were always full.  Hundreds of bicycles.

What's the issue?  We wonder why kids are getting obese at an early age?  Moms bringing them to school, lines of cars waiting to drop them off and pick them up?

Whatever.  An obese generation? No, several generations of obesity going on now, being perpetuated on our kids in unhealthy eating habits and a lack of a lifestyle that includes lots of exercise.  When I was hanging from monkey bars and riding my bike for countless hours a day, playing basketball, football and running around all over the place as a kid, I didn't think of it as exercise.  Neither did my friends.

The age of technology may have some benefits, but the negative aspects, I believe, far outweigh them. Video games and kids playing them endlessly are only one aspect.  Texting, losing the personal touch of personal interaction.  We are so lost in technology, that life is passing us by and we don't even realize it.

Amazing.