Soooooo.....
Just got back from another Oklahoma trip.
This morning, I did my pretrip inspection and found the tail lights out on the tractor.  Odd.  No other lights out on the entire truck or trailer.  I tried finding the relevant fuse for it.  A huge fuse box, I carefully looked at all of them. Only one of them came close to referring to it, so I took it out - and it fell into the engine compartment somewhere and I couldn't find it. Which caused turn signals to stop working.  Gag.
Had to leave it til the next truckstop - 25 miles away - to get a new fuse. 

While driving to that truckstop, I got a notification on my screen that one of the low beams had stopped working.  What on earth.  That many lights don't just happenstance go out at the same time. 

Then, after replacing the fuse and filling up the tanks at the truck stop, the fuel gauge needle started popping back and forth between empty and full.  Now I am 100% sure there is an electrical problem and there is no way I am going to diagnose that s***.  These "modern" trucks are loaded with electronics and wires.  I don't know how they even begin to try and figure out a problem like that.  Codes come up on their computer when hooking it up to the truck, but they aren't going to pinpoint the problem. It will come up with a bunch of different "possibles". 

Anyway, I texted my manager.  All this stuff.......I hear back from her half an hour later.  Then I got into it.  That ABS light on that trailer has been reported 3 times in the last two weeks and I told the mechanic specifically to his face what was wrong with. "Well that's because he's come down with pneumonia". NO, I replied, he got sick LONG after he knew about this problem.  Then she disappears again and comes back with "well he doesn't have the computer stuff to diagnose the problem." By this time, we weren't texting, we were on the phone.  Well while y'all aren't doing your jobs, that light is on and if  trooper sees it, he can pull me over and write me up for it, it goes onto MY record and points against me. 

Meanwhile, one of the drivers popped up a group text message - separate from the one I had been having personally with manager - he texts: "There are 4 trucks in the yard with expired IFTA stickers!"  I immediately texted, "Yeat, one of them is mine".  Then, my manager gets on there and says "that's part of your pre-trip inspection"  "Yes", I replied, "reported that a long time ago, nothing was done about it".  My manager conveniently disappeared out of the conversation which went on well after that with other drivers chiming in. 

THEN< this safety officer - useless, absolutely useless person that does nothing - sends me and one of the other drivers with old IFTA a message: "grace period ends next week".  I'm like, what on earth is he talking about? Is this some sort of veiled threat? So I asked him What are you talking about? 

IFTA - next week the grace period expires. Great, I replied, y'all do nothing about this stuff and dump this s*** on me?  No thanks.  This is YOUR responsibility, it's already been brought to your attention, y'all did nothing about it, I relieve myself of any responsibility.  This guy gets offended easily, but at this point I was pissed with all of it.  I went into all kinds of safety related issues that he couldn't defend. 

This went on for hours with my manager and the safety dude.  I wasn't backing down. There are not going to shut me up and the safety officer was obviously not liking the idea of me contacting the President and giving him a lengthy report of why drivers are not staying in the company.  They had a high ranking management person out this week asking drivers about that and all of them are always talking about driver retention - but the steps they list do nothing to address problems.  I saw this guy pull into the yard when I was leaving the yard for my last trip. I didn't know who he was but even if I did, I had no time to talk. 

Then, my manager told me that our account with National - a local truck repair shop - had been reinstated, take the truck and trailer there.  Well I already knew National was either closed or would be closing soon and told her that. She said she would call them.  I get a text half an hour later to take the truck and trailer over there.  So I get into the truck, text her I'm rehooking to the trailer and then 30 seconds later get a text that National is no longer open on the weekends.  Well what the hell?  She told me she was calling over there and then apparently just decided to tell me to go there without verifying it - and then - obviously called and found out they aren't open? 

Anyway, the end of the story - is nothing.  Nothing was resolved, I won't be able to take the assigned load to Barnsdall on Monday because - the lights. I will not drive a commercial vehicle with lights out on it.  I did this morning but only because there was no way to get it fixed where it was at.  After getting it back to the yard, that's where it's going to sit.  I told my manager I was going to look in to purchasing a truck through the company program and if that doesn't pan out, I'll be looking for a new job.  I will not waste any more time with this company with this bs, especially since paychecks are getting pretty slim. Money is always the bottom line, if that's missing, bye!  I'm on track to making 25 grand less this year than I made last year.....

Yup, after writing this post, I'm going to write a first draft to the President.  I'll cover everything I can think of and then let it go for a while, come back, read it and then more will pop into my mind.  There is a lot going on here, I know I'll forget some of it on the first round, I'll edit it, add to it, proof read it make sure I'm not getting into "out of line" speech/insubordination, remain respectful but still make quite clear my facts and points.  I'll let it go again - a day or two, I dunno - maybe just a few hours - but then I'll come back to it for a third read and then send it off. Do nothing rash here - and no, telling my manager I'd be looking for another job isn't being rash. I've given that considerable thought, it was time to come out and say that without any ambiguity.  It's time.  I did this with Ferguson, waited too long, but that was pay.  A bad manager, yes, but pay was the biggest issue.  Pay going down here? That's the line. 

Anyway, I'm home, the weather is finally nice for once!  It's been raining here forever.  Today? No rain here. It was misting all the way back from Oklahoma.  I got lucky I never saw a state trooper in either state.  I took a chance but I didn't really have a choice. The best I could do getting pulled over would be explain truthfully that this stuff all just happened.  They could still write you up.  But, if you're respectful you can sometimes get away with stuff. 

Any my Daffodils! They survived the cold after sprouting early and now they are in full bloom! They are beautiful!  I have no plans for today besides working on the letter.  I need to wind down after this nonsense earlier.  No more texts, I got off of it because I was starting to get angry with their replies. Not worth it.  Let it go, go well up the chain of command, get past all these people that are obviously sugar coating what is going on in the rank and file and let the main man hear directly from a driver whether he wants to or not. My future with this company is irrelevant to me at this point, if they no longer want my help, that's fine.  I've learned from my past, time to move on. 

So, I have all this stuff revolving around in my mind, I need to get it written out.  G'day.

Weight stuck at 199.
Better than going up to the 235 I would be at by now - at least - if I hadn't started on this diet many months ago. 

Anyway, I just took the entire Convertible Sofa assembly out of the huge box.  There were gaping holes in the box so I was concerned the thing was damaged, but it appears to be alright.  But, as expected, looks like quite the project to put the thing together.  I'll be working on that today and also some errands needing to be run around town. 

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The whole day is now gone. I ended up just shoving the sofa into my room - in it's folded up state in a corner.  I went out side and got out the blower and started on the front yard.  I spent well over an hour just trying to get the leaves up off of one corner of the lot.  We let it go too long. Several layers of leaves and the bottom layer is wet. There is a HUGE pile of leaves against the house now where I blew all that mess to, replete with snakes flying up in the air as I was disrupting their habitat.  No snakes were harmed in this operation, but if I had the chance, I would have killed them. They got back into the leaves before I could do anything,. 

Anyway, I went to several stores, took over the top mattress of the futon for the dog bed here - I had 2 mattresses - for them over there at the other house. I bought dog beds for Addler and Aspyn when we first started this stuff over there, but they don't have enough cushion for Addler.  He's too big and heavy even for the dog bed version.  The futon mattress is thick and he will enjoy that much more.   And back home, making 2 dinners.  I figured the chicken wouldn't be enough for me to have enough to take with me on the next trip, so I made this weird meatloaf full of ground beef and chorizo.

Somewhere during all of this was my next load sent to me: Alabama.  I had to think about this one for a while.  I haven't been to that plant in at least 8 months.  I have no understanding how she goes about handing out routes, but others that have been there for a while and observed her - her being the manager - have stated that her methodology for handing out routes is quite unfair.  Whatever. this is a decent run. Should only take 2 days, or at most 2 days and back the 3rd morning. 

What's the take? I'm getting sent out, at least for now, after a day home instead of after 2 days home.  My paychecks will pick back up.  But only if it stays this way.  And yes, I'm happy about it even if it means on the road a lot more.  But, this Amarillo run - done in November - that I still haven't been paid for and they are still playing their little games with. I'ma send my manager and this clown in payroll a notice if I am not paid for this run on Friday: Get it on my next paycheck, or expect to hear from upper management.     

And so it is. Other things going on, but I need to get my stuff ready for the morning. 

Uneventful trip to Oklahoma. No detention - didn't expect any - and no delays.  Back to the yard at 9:30 and now on a 34 hour reset  I haven't had a "needed" 34 hour reset in a long time. I get 34 hour resets after every trip - but not because I need one, but because they have me off for 2 days.  My paychecks have been reflecting that time off.  Now? They brought the loaner drivers back, which was stupid.  I hate to talk negatively about work all the time, but that is literally all I hear from every single other driver, frequently.  They want to tell me their frustrations because they are afraid for whatever reasons to express those sentiments to management.

As I said in another post on here a while back, I have no such reservations.  I don't get disrespectful, but I will speak my mind about situations that IMO are egregious and shorting people on paychecks? That's egregious and incompetence.  I don't believe it's intentional at all - it's just the level of "quality" that we have with this new company and it's employees that do the paperwork.  They just plain, fat suck at their jobs.  And my manager?  Nice lady, but we've all come to the conclusion that she has literally no clue what she's doing.  And, possibly, she doesn't care. 

I'm off tomorrow and I'm going to continue to peruse available local jobs.  I'm really local for a truly local gig - where you're home every day or night.  I mean, the President of my company may actually care, but he can't run the whole company If you have people working for you that don't give a s*** about their roles in the company, the company is eventually doomed, especially in this industry where truck drivers will leave in a heartbeat for something better.  The problem with local gigs is I have had a taste of good money and that would be hard to walk away from.  I can find other jobs going out of town all the time like I am now and be in comparable yearly salary, but the good local jobs are hard to come by and are gobbled up quickly. You really have to keep on top of the listings to find them and you'd better drop everything you're doing if you want a real chance of landing one of them. 

I'll keep trying.  Meanwhile, my new futon is in. I'm not doing that today, I simply don't feel like it.  Tomorrow I'll take it out of the box and inspect - there is a huge, gaping hole in the box and several smaller ones. If it's not in perfect condition, they can either come get it or give me a partial refund.  I paid good money for this thing, there is no way I will settle for anything less than perfect condition unless they agree to give me some of the money back. Which I doubt they will do.....

In fact, it doesn't look like it's going to rain tomorrow, if it doesn't, I'm doing the leaves.  I was half expecting the Daffodils to have bloomed by the time I got back today. The flowers are showing some of the yellow, but so far they aren't sprouting.  I mean, if they're going to sprout early, I at least want t see them before it might freeze again and ruin them.

___________________

Some days, I go overboard on eating. Not carbs usually but calories.  Today was one of those days. I ate a whole pint of the low carb ice cream plus a bunch of pork rinds, plus a steak dinner and I ate at Waffle house.  It's probably 3 to 4 thousand calories I ate today lol.  Well, once in a while isn't going to hurt. 

I just got done eating a pint of chocolate ice cream.  It was ooooh sooooo delicious.
It was also only 6 grams of carbs for the entire pint : ) I've been wanting to do that and tonight was the night.  I paid enough money for that stuff, might as well indulge.  I have other flavors as well. Mint, cookie dough - of which I've had some already and it's quite delicious replete with large chunks of cookie dough in it - I think another flavor I can't remember what now.

I think the test strip was bad or something, I took a reading this morning and it showed nothing.  But, I just did it again and almost in the moderate range, the best range to be in.  So who knows?  But I'm still under 20 carbs today even with that pint cause' that reading this morning startled me and I ate nothing but fat and meat today, zero carbs, zero sugars. 

Umm well anyway, I got back to the yard today- I'm done with the 4 day trip to and basically unleashed. The truck still has all of those warning lights showing - after what, a year now? - it's back to having the cruise control not working more often than not.  Let me tell you, when you're sitting behind the wheel for as many hours a day as I do, you need that cruise control to work.  I've gotten to the point now that I have trained my left leg how to use the accelerator and braking because I can't use my right leg on that foot pedal all day long.  But I flatly told my manager and the mechanic who happened to be in there that I was drawing the line. 

The manager informed me I am going back out tomorrow.  Okay, where? Baker.  Back and forth for a while - you have Brownsville runs? Yes I got 47 of them for this month.  Well send me to Brownsville! But, she's handing out the routes as the drivers roll in.  She has no sense of fairness, actually, when handing these runs out . She will give a person back to back Cheneire runs if it works out that way in the order they come in, instead of ensuring that a driver get a good run along with a bad run.  Well whatever, I'm going to Oklahoma tomorrow morning after just getting back from Ohio today. 

A bad thing? No, my paychecks have been terrible, I'd take back to back work for quite a while just to get caught back up.  34 hour resets are mandatory, so those would be my saving grace.  In fact, now that I think about it, I'll need a 34 hour reset after these 2 trips.  I'll be off for 2 days - legitimately off - not off because there isn't any work. 

But today, after getting home........another driver called me.  What's up?  He went off for a full 5 minutes of bitching about the manager, the job and getting shafted on pay - that will piss off any worker at any employer. He's had the same problems I have in getting shorted on pay - tho I have also been shorted an entire paycheck.  And I'm still waiting to get paid for a run from last year.  He stated he knows the President of the this new company personally - and gave me his personal cell phone number.  LMAO!!  Umm, yeah, that's bad news for my manager and that idiot payroll person in Amarillo. 

It was a rather long conversation not worth going into all of it, but the end of the story he gave me this dude's number and his blessing to tell this President that  he gave me your number.  Well, I have a lot of things I'd like to point out to this individual if I ever do call and actually do get his ear for a few moments of time.  I'm not acting on that right away - but I will if more of this nonsense occurs.

So that's it for now.  Off to Barnsdall tomorrow, be home on Sunday morning/early afternoon. 

Up in Stryker Ohio.  Sitting in front of the gate at the plant. 

I was here at 3:30 pm, plenty of time left in the day to unload the truck.

But they won't unload a day early.  I knew that before I got up here and I knew I would arrive well early of the delivery date and time, but what are you supposed to do? I'll tell you one thing I could have done, and that is stop in Indianapolis and see a friend I haven't seen in decades.  I opted against it because I would only have a few hours to visit and then I would have to leave - hours on the on-duty clock would wind down and I have to be here the day before.  

I thought about going to a hotel, but I opted against it for two reasons.  First, because I need to save money and spending it on hotels too frequently isn't conducive towards that end and second, because I don't want to have to get on the on-duty or drive clock tomorrow morning.  I can just pull into the plant, unload the thing and get on the clock about an hour before it's unloaded and I'm ready to leave.  Last time up here, I lost 6 or 7 hours due to the weather and them not being able to get to me the first thing in the morning.  That shortened my drive day to 400 miles. I prefer to get 600 plus miles in tomorrow and then have a bit shorter drive the final day - which would be 400 miles or less.  

Plus, the final day of this tour will be Friday, I will be home in time to visit with my friends and such before they go to bed since it will be the weekend.  

Instead, when I got up here, I went to the Petro a dozen or so miles away, fueled up - it's cold up here, I'm running the truck 24 hours a day on this trip, making sure I have enough fuel to idle all night long plus during the unload - and get a bite to eat.  This Petro has a nice little privately owned diner attached to it.  It isn't the Iron Skillet restaurant, which has okay food, but just okay. The diner has 24 hour breakfast - so - a pork chop, sausage, bacon and 2 eggs.  I forgot about the ham. They didn't have it on the "sides" menu but I bet they had it available if I had asked.  Anyway, it was delicious and I have food with me in case I get hungry again - cause mama, there ain't nothing out here.  There is this plant, a few farms and that's it.  

In fact, I have a steak in the fridge and I might just gobble that down a bit later.  Stick in the microwave, heat it up nicely and have a nice meal, replete with a bed of lettuce and dressing.  It's not as bad as I thought it would be hanging out here in the truck.  I have very good reception for ATT and I will be watching "data-free" tv here pretty quick. But the internet is my connection with people when I'm on the road.  

Anyway, Taylor found a hotel right on the beach and made reservations.  So I made mine as well - it doesn't take your money up front and it has free cancellation anytime up until July 11th.  But then I did some reading about this place called Commodore On The Beach. Yes, it's on the beach but I wasn't impressed after reading the reviews.  I'd rather spend an extra $60 per night and have a decent motel, but I understand they are on a budget.  The reviews are not so great about the cooling and heating.  Middle of summer, you want the cooling to work.  Some said the rooms smell and other things about the place.  I try to look at all the reviews of a place and try to come up with a "somewhere in the middle" type of thing.  But there are plenty of pics of the place, it's right on the beach and that was the only redeeming feature about it for numerous reviews.  

But there were reviews that said it was good enough.  I dunno. I found a few other places. La Quinta is only $15 more per night and that is almost always at least a decent hotel brand.   But there were places that were $229 per night and up - those were the places that appealed to me.  Look, it's the middle of summer we're going, it's the most popular time of year there. Any other time and the prices are less than $100 per night.  Whatever.  I'll take my own pillows and sheets.  I'll take Lysol and other things, but the idea of the cooling not working so well is a bit daunting.  And "spotty wifi".  I mean, I can deal with that with my phone I guess, but the place is going for $167 per night, that's pretty steep bill for bad AC and WiFi, doncha think?  

But, Taylor says we're only sleeping there so no big deal. Yup, it's the sleep quality that makes or breaks a vacation.  If you sleep like s***, you have sh**** days.  Just plain facts.  Oh well, I'll take my big box fan as well.  

But on a good note, this has motivated her to start Keto again.  She wants to shed pounds so she can look - whatever she said I can't remember - for being on the beach.  Well, it's 5 months away.  If she got on it and stuck with it, she could lose 40, 50 even more pounds.  The reason it's good is because that helps me.  She'll go all hog wild on finding recipes and then we'll all eat the stuff, including James.  So there doesn't have to be 2 versions of the same dinner served every night. I've been winging it tho.  Finding recipes that are keto friendly that are also delicious.  Made some meatloaf that was absolutely awesome.  And a version of crock pot swiss steak with a red sauce that I loved.  I added some ingredients - the biggest being tomato paste for extra added tomato flavor.  They loved the taste of it too, thankfully.  I have the leftover with me, it's what I ate yesterday. 

But, it's much easier to do this diet when everyone's eating it.  I've stuck with it long after Taylor quit. She got me started on it - but she only lasted a week.  The diet sucks at first, there is no getting around that.  All diets suck at first tho.  This diet has the best results I've ever seen.  I get compliments all the time now for the amount of fat I've dumped.  I still have fat, not saying I'm skinny at all, but I'm much leaner than when I started this thing. It's what's motivated me to stay on it almost 4 months now.  We started October 15th and today is February 13th.  I'm hoping she'll get going on this thing and stay on it.  She just gets into moods and eats to compensate. Some people do that, I get it, makes it difficult to stick to a restrictive diet like this.  

Anyway, I'm getting offa here and watch some tv.  

And just like that, the weight starts coming off again. ???
Down to 198.  My goal weight was 182 originally, but I adjusted that
to anywhere in the 180's.  Cause' I don't really think I need to be that thin.
182 was my weight for most of my adult life - it flucuated around that but
it was always around that number.  I was pretty skinny.  I dunno, but it feels
good to be below 200 and going down. 

According to one chart I was looking at, I was obese at my highest weight before
starting this diet and I'm still overweight now.  It also says for my height I need to be
down to 182 at the most to be in the normal range.  I'm guessing that's probably about
right, actually.  Another site told me close to the same thing, but giving me up to 188
pounds to be in the normal range.  See, the thing is, overweight is the new norm in
America.  Being 210, 220 pounds people consider normal.  Which I know it's not
and never accepted as such, I just wasn't doing anything about it. 

My BMI is too high and even my BMI scale tells me that beyond these charts I
have been looking at.  It's not discouraging - at all.  It actually motivates me even
more to push forward and move on with this.  At one point in my life, I had 4.9
percent body fat, now I'm way higher than that, tho the mirror is, thankfully, showing
the results.  My gut is disappearing, my butt is disappearing, my thighs are shrinking. 

On the road again.  Tuesday morning.  I'll be heading out to the yard to get the truck, hook
up to a trailer and head out to the plant.  Destination: Stryker Ohio again.  Looking at the
radar map, I'm either going to be running into rain or snow - or both.  Actually, I dunno.
I might actually be avoiding all of that today, looks like snow in/near Stryker tomorrow.
The good thing is the temps are expected to be 23 degrees, which is a far cry better than
the temps it was at last time up there,  showing up at the plant in zero degree weather.

I just get concerned about slippery roadways.  Especially hauling what I'm hauling.  I'm not
afraid of it, per se, but I have a healthy respect for foul weather conditions considering some
of the pictures of stalled out trucks and trucks that have slid off the highway that surface
every time a snow storm goes through any given area.  Last time up there - which wasn't long
ago - I saw at least 100 trucks stalled out on the side of the highway.  I don't want to be one of
those people.  Well, ok, I sort of do, breakdown pay is excellent and starts the second the
truck breaks down, lol.  I have plenty of warm clothing.

There usually isn't any chance of detention pay on this run.  But it's over 2,000 miles round
trip so it's good mileage pay. 

Oh. Yesterday.  I was over at the other house. Rene is definitely intent on leaving, good thing
she's sticking around long enough to get some new people in there.  But there was a new family
that just moved in across the street and the dude  came over to discuss guns and Texas laws.
They just moved from Washington State, Seattle to be precise, which has ridiculous, outrageous
gun laws they recently enacted.  He stated that half of his gun collected will become illegal to own
there when the new law goes into effect and that was the line that was crossed to make them want
to move.  The other ridiculous scenario is outrageous taxation.  There's a reason people are leaving
California, New York and other states.  These people love these wonderful socialist programs -
until they have to start paying for them. 

Anyways, best be off of here to get my stuff and get out.  It's always nice, tho, to start my SUV from
my bedroom and have it warmed up by the time I get to it : )

Time for a fat intake day.
Not because I want to, but I've been slowly going out of ketosis.
Too much protein is likely the culprit.
No matter there, I'm going to eat cream cheese all day long.
That usually does the trick.
I love cream cheese, it's full of fat, the only meal I'll eat will be dinner tonight, the rest of the day will be cream cheese- maybe some pork rinds.

I could also make some fat bombs, which I am contemplating.
I haven't really made any of that so far, but they look delicious
and they serve the purpose.  I think I'll also put a couple tablespoons of butter in a cup of coffee.
These are all tricks people use to get back into ketosis. I'm in "small" ketosis right now which
isn't good enough.  Although it's possible that I have become "keto adapted" and the ketones
just aren't showing up as much.  Another thing people do is fast for 18 hours.  But I've already
eaten a large amount of cream cheese and my final cup of coffee of the morning is definitely going
to have butter in it.

Meanwhile, my new convertible sofa - should be here tomorrow. That's unfortunate because I'm likely not going to be here tomorrow.  I can only hope upon delivery that it's put on the porch and out of the rain and that no one will come along and us their 5 Finger Discount card to acquire it. I'm really looking forward to getting rid of this thing I have in here now. It was my friend's - they had no use for it so I've used it as a dog bed for the last couple of years - but it's done, toast and fried.  I'm going to pay them for the amount they paid for it since my dogs have basically trashed it and then put the new thing in it's place.  It won't last forever either, but it's much better looking and I do my best to keep large blankets over them to keep dog hair and odor off of them.

It rained all  night long, no chance of blowing the leaves up again.  In fact, the only way those leaves are coming up apparently is good ole' fashioned raking.  I'll finish the back yard before I start on the front.  And maybe build a fire.

_______________

Just spent the afternoon visiting with a new neighbor over at the other house.  They just moved here from Seattle, Washington.  Long story - but they are initiating extremely restrictive gun laws - mostly aimed at semi-autos and with that? They decided to leave the state.  Yup, people tend to leave when their rights are being stripped of them.  Couple that with high taxation and liberal policies? A conservative isn't going to want to live in an area like that.  It was pretty interesting conversation that went on for several hours. It was nice.

The new tenant that is moving in there is also pretty cool.  I think I may have just found some friends.  I dunno, but I'll definitely pursue it.  Until it either pans out is a dead end on either party.  I just need more friends here is all. I'd probably be more motivated to go out and do things outdoors if I were hanging out with like-minded people. 

Anyway, I reminded my manager I'm here, asked her if I'm being sent out anywhere and she said yes.  That was earlier, no run yet.  But, she doesn't deal with that stuff until the end of the day.  That's just the way the industry works. 

And, finally, put cube steaks into the crockpot with a nice tomato sauce and some vegetables.  I decided to throw in a small roast with it.  I'm going out on the road, might as well have something to take along with me. 

Home.
No detention in Brownsville, yet again. I guess I was just hitting it lucky? Whoever went down there today  - I saw the truck driving down there - they are the lucky one that gets at least all day tomorrow for detention.  It's a matter of the day I"m sent out.  I have far greater chance of finding no trailer down there if it's a Saturday run versus this Friday stuff I"ve been getting.  I really could use some sitting around time to puff up a paycheck or two.

As it stands, I was sent nothing for tomorrow or Monday, so I guess I"m sitting at home for the next 2 days.  Unwanted, thanks.  Uneventful trip anyway.

Filed my taxes before I left. I'm only getting $500 back. After paying 10k in federal taxes, one would hope to get a bit more of it back than that.  That was a bit disappointing, I was hoping enough to go out and buy a used 4 wheeler or maybe an old fishing boat.  Instead, I'll just save that $500 for the upcoming trip to Galveston.  It should pay for the hotel cost at least.

Anyway, I found a really cool dude to take the open room in the other house. About time.  I have 2 good people in there, just need one more after Rene leaves.  She is intent on moving back to Michigan, some friend is going to let her use a guest house for free - so she says anyway - but the real deal for her is free pot.  It's whatever to me.  She is free to do with her life as she pleases. Meanwhile, I will still have a place to take my dogs when I go on my runs.  Maria says she wants to do it.  Otherwise, I have zero need for that house as I'm not making anything off of it and the market here is very tight for finding renters..

As it stands, I'm going to look for other rental houses, owner finance and rent to buy places next month before April gets here. A larger house would be nice, but the point is the over priced house we are dealing with now.  I want a bargaining chip - if they don't bring the rent down, I'll move the whole lot of them into another house and wash my hands of that place.  I intend on getting the price down one way or the other.

And, my ice cream arrived!  Good Lord, I just now remembered it.  6 pints of heaven sitting in the freezer.  7 grams of carbs for the entire pint!  I don't think I can eat it today, actually.  I'm close to my carb limit.  I think I'll eat a whole pint tomorrow and just eat mostly meat the rest of the day.  I haven't had ice cream in many months.

Umm, so my friends have a lady over from work.  "In her 40's but looks like she's 30, blonde, hot".  I'm told. I'm going to meet her in a minute. I needed to come into my room, sit down and relax after a day of driving.  I walked in the house and saw no one anywhere. The lights are all on, but they are...where?  Oh, in their bedroom? Weird.  They never do that.

I've got the dates now for the vacation to Galveston - July 12-15, 3 nights.  I don't know where they are wanting to stay yet.  But I'm going to do the rounds of the hotel searches - Expedia, Booking, Priceline etc and see what I can find.  One night at a resort hotel would be awesome.  But it's the worst time of year to go speaking on the pricing of hotels.  Motel 6? $127 a night. For a Motel 6!!! LMAOOOOO. I'm not sure they are going to be able to afford a beachfront property, but we'll see.  The decent ones are in the $200 plus-per-night range.  And that's now. And waiting too long probably means everything sells out.  So I'm going to push them on this.  I guess it just depends on the experience one wants. If you want a beachside hotel that is decent, fork out the cash. If you can deal with staying in a city 10 miles away and driving to the beach - save a ton of dough.  I personally would rather do a beachside deal, it's a vacation, might as well spend the money and do it right.

Okay, I met the lady. Nice enough - but about 100 pounds over weight. Not my type.  Sorry if it sounds shallow, but looks are part of the equation, in my book, of any potential relationship.  I'm definitely not looking for a relationship, tho and really not interested.  My relationship desire has been soured to the point of not wanting one.  Not at the moment anyway.

It has been a long struggle to stay away from carbs.
It's truly a battle at times. When you see a baking sheet freshly pulled out of the over with hot, crispy french fries sitting within arm's reach, the temptation can be great, such as it was a few nights ago.
There simply is no real substitute for potatoes.  There are Keto foods they have the claim a "good" replacement, but alas and in the end? Not.

However, there are substitutes for sugar.  We all know that - sweeteners that have zero or very low carbs in them.  And a few of them actually taste pretty good.  I'm getting a shipment of 6 pints of "Rebel" ice cream coming in a few days.  7 to 9 carbs per entire pint.  I mean, I stuck with the flavors that have 7 grams.  I will be eating an entire pint the first day.  After that, I dunno.  That's a lot of carbs for one sitting for this diet.  It's just that I can't not indulge in something any longer.  I've been following this thing almost to the T for 3 months now, I need some kind of break.

The results, tho, are my size 34 waist jeans are now getting loose.  After having had that done with size 35's.  I actually think I could fit into 33's.  I'm not going out and buying 33 size jeans at the moment, I'm not buying any pants right now . I have all my old 34's I'm wearing now and the off chance I slip into the 35's? Yeah they won't stay up on my waist now. They just fall off.

So, the results of this forced abstinence of eating the foods I love has had palpable results.  That is what has made this journey worth it.

I talk to people about going on this diet all the time.  But it becomes a non-starter when I start telling them they can't eat pasta, rice, most beans, potatoes, sugar, etc.  All the foods you love? Are gone.  Wait, but not all! You can eat any meat you want!  You can dump ample amounts of butter on everything!  In fact, you have to eat a lot of fat on this diet.

But, you can get tired of eating meat all the time and not eating everything you see everyone else eating.  The Keto diet has become very popular, but no-one I know in person is doing it. People online I know are doing it, some have started it after seeing the results i have posted online.  It does work for most people.  I say most people because some have stated they don't lose anything.  I think they aren't doing it right.  Ketosis is the goal - your body feeding off your fat.  That only happens with under 20 carbs per day and high fat intake.  High fat intake is actually quite important because if you eat too much protein, your body can do some sort of thing where it converts it through some process (sorry, I don't know the technical terminology, I just read about it today) to glycogen/glucose and you aren't using fat as energy.

Tho, to be honest, even if that happens, you are still likely going to lose weight if you aren't consuming sugars and high carbohydrate foods.  See, we are addicted to sugar in this nation.  And high carb foods.  It's why we have so many diabetics in our society. Everything has some form of sugars in it.  It's why this diet really requires you to prepare as much food at home as possible.  Yea, I eat out a lot but what I eat is quite limited.  For example, I'm going to Brownsville tomorrow.  I'll have an Atkins drink in the morning, eat some pork rinds and some cream cheese in the morning and then, when I get to Refugio, Texas, I'll stop at Stripes.  Stripes is a gas station, some of them are truck stops and several of them have huge offerings of various types of Mexican food.

And the offering that appeals to me is the baked half chicken.  Skin and all - skin gives me the fat I need.  I always get 4 roasted Jalapenos with it and it's quite delicious.  Carl's Junior - has lettuce wrapped burger option.  I mean, low carb has taken a foothold in this nation and a lot of restaurants are happy to adjust some of their offerings to make it Keto compliant.  I just find it amazing that I was able to get all of this fat gain reversed. I no longer feel like I am doomed to become a 300 plus pound fat old man.  I really thought at the rate it was going I was going to be there in the next few years.  I was rapidly gaining weight.  I have pics of a large gut.  I now have pics of a greatly reduced gut.  People telling me I've lost enough weight.  I'm sure I haven't but it's good to hear the feedback without asking that my gut is gone.

I feel like I could go off this diet for a few weeks, eat whatever I want, gain 10 or 15 pounds, then go back on it and lose it all over again. I won't do that.  I keep thinking I'm going to cheat for a day or two - but I haven't done it.  But if I do? It's going to include Dairy Queen Blizzards!  And french fries!  And spaghetti!  lol

Should I have to follow this diet so strictly forever? The answer is no, of course.  I'll get myself there - to the Blizzard that is - sooner or later.

Meanwhile, it's not late but it's getting late for my wake up time in the morning.  After 2 days off, I now remind my manager that I'm ready to go somewhere.  Brownsville tomorrow. I haven't had much detention pay lately, a good couple of days would be nice.  But not expected.  It's just random when it happens.  Very nice tho!  I have the Brownsville run memorized. The only help I need from the internet is to find the fastest route through Houston.  Mostly it's the Beltway 8 loop, but there are 3 other options for looping around downtown - which I cannot legally drive through - to take. I'm always looking for the shortest time option - time is my enemy in the trucking industry. Making it down there the same day as getting loaded is fully dependent on getting out of the plant in less than 2-1/2 hours and not running into any significant traffic.

Wednesday.
State of the Union address was marvelous.  Trump said all the right words and put the onus on Democrats to stop with the political games and start dealing. Of course, democrats came on after the SOTU and called Trump all kinds of stupid names and said the speech was horrible and did nothing to unite the nation . Of course it didn't, that's their progressive agenda.  They can't have a President who is facing an election in a year and a half having any wins!  That would be horrible!  Lmao.

Actually, Dem reaction was predictable. Just as predictable is that nothing will get done in Congress. It may not be such a bad thing that bills with outrageous spending on them such as the Green New Deal will go absolutely no where.  7 trillion dollars was one estimate I read for that nonsense.  Every expert on greenhouse energy has stated that it's impossible to be 100% renewable energy at the moment, but any person with any amount of common sense and who reads about this stuff would have already known that.  They won't have it in 10  years, either, which is the set date for 100% energy being sourced by renewables.  The only source of energy that exists that could cover all of that is nuclear power plants and those are extremely expensive to build an maintain - but it does not rely on fossil fuels.
_______________________

I got distracted yesterday and didn't remember to get back to this.  Day 2 of being off.  I figured that was what was going to happen.  I'll hopefully get a run for tomorrow, a good run - 2 day solid one at least and then maybe one for Monday again. 

Yes! Just looked at my paycheck for tomorrow - more than the last 3 paychecks combined. That's what I need and should be getting every week.  That makes me feel better at least.  Next week should be very good too, those runs are already turned in.  Actually, next week should be a thousand more than this week's. That will get me all caught up. Which doesn't mean I'm not going to stop looking for a new job.  I'm just being picky about who I apply with and so far I haven't heard anything back. 

Meanwhile, Taylor called me out to the kitchen last night with a proposal: Let's go to Galveston Beach!  Ummm, okay!  Not til' this summer, but sure, why not? Get away from here, have some fun on a beautiful beach and have a good time.  They're going to work it out so James parents come down and watch the boys - it really wouldn't be much of a vacation if you brought those kids. They are too young yet to be able to just romp around on the beach without constant adult supervision. It would just be a babysitting outing. I did specify that I was not going to drive - at all - and that I would be getting my own hotel room, thanks.  They didn't care about either stipulation.  Good.

Now then, it would be nice if they could work out the specific dates so we can book rooms in advance.  I'd just get the insurance in case the dates change, but summer time at Galveston Beach is a very popular place and time to be there.  Hotel rooms likely go for much more than they are right now.  There are some really nice resorts down there - tho paying that much money isn't really in my mind and they wouldn't want to do that anyway. But a Comfort Inn or a Holiday Inn brand would work nicely.  I think it's 4 days/3 nights we would be staying down there, which is about right for me.  I'm kind of excited about that - but it's really depending on if they follow through and actually do it - which really depends on their tax return. 

Taxes - really need to get that going.  I have my W2 from last year, it would be pretty simple to go ahead and Turbo Tax it and get it over with.  I should be getting a huge chunk of change back, well I dunno, I think anyway.  I'm in a different tax bracket, one I've never been in so I dunno how that works.  Just have to fill out the forms and find out. 

Anyway, I'm going to go to Tractor Supply today and get professional strength dog deterrent. That dumb puppy craps all over the porch and it's disgusting.  They put down the cayenne pepper as I relayed to them the info about how to get the puppy to stop doing it there, but they didn't put down the vinegar first, so the puppy wasn't deterred and just started crapping on the porch all over again.  They sell stuff that will make it very unpleasant for them to want to be anywhere near that area. I want to work out and get my arms and chest back to some semblance of what it used to be, but no way am I working out in the midst of a sea of dog poop, that's just gross. 

Speaking of animals, I opened my closet door and leaving it open. The kitten - which is almost not a kitten anymore - goes in there and sniffs around. I'm sure that's where the mice are coming from, a cat is the best deterrent around.  But I'm getting more glue traps anyway, really need to catch the mama and nip this in the bud. 

As for today? 90% chance of rain.  I didn't do anything yesterday cause' I didn't feel like it. Today, I wanted to blow the leaves off the front yard.  That isn't going to happen, it's already raining.  Gag.  The front yard is literally covered with leaves.  The natural look, lmao.

Alright, so I finally got back into town.  I mean, it didn't take any longer than I thought it would, I just wanted this trip over with.  However, I was listening to the State of the Union Address Trump was giving, amazing.  I mean, this wasn't the "shoot off the hip" stuff, this was a very well written speech. 

But anyway, I went to Applebees' for birthday dinner. Why not? Everyone here would be asleep, I was starving and I figured a steak would be nice.  I sat down at the bar across from some rather beautiful young black ladies sitting there.  They were getting drunk - there were numerous empty glasses sitting there which were margaritas and they had consumed several shots.  The amusement came from the old guys sitting at a table behind them. 

Actually, they were total asses but they offered to buy these girls shots of Patron after overhearing these girls ordering house tequila - cheap stuff, not very tasty but after you've already been drinking,  pretty much irrelevant.  So the girls took them up on the free shots but I could tell they weren't interested in them as far as "let's go home and have fun" stuff. 

But then, one of the girls said they were there celebrating her birthday!  I immediately asked if she was serious?  She went digging for her ID. Lol, no, it's my birthday too!  Tho I wasn't hitting up on her, just random coincidence.  I mean, how often is it that you encounter someone having a birthday the same as yours?  But these dudes were intent on making their move and it was appalling.  Just pathetic treatment.  They moved to the bar from their table, uninvited.  Buying more shots, basically thinking they were going to buy their next sex encounter.

I dunno how much they spent, but it was money wasted for their intended, obvious, desired ending.  The girls weren't biting and they finally paid up their alcohol bill for them and left.  Amazing. Amazingly pathetic, but amazing.  I also left after them - I wanted to get my dogs and go home - wished her a happy birthday of which she wished the same to me.

 And so, home I am.  I'm off tomorrow but I'll be reminding my manager that I need to work tomorrow afternoon.  Why? Because I need to keep working right now. 

Well, it's almost midnight, I'll enjoy my last few minutes of my special day...and go to bed. lol

Yesterday, screwups at the plant ruined my plans to be home today for a good portion of my birthday.
Figures.
One truck developed a leak after filling it. 
They wasted a bunch of time determining that they couldn't fix it and then hours more unloading the trailer. 
It threw everything off for everyone else after that, which was every other load, since that load was the first one.  I mean, my manager could have bothered to tell me that this was going on, I wouldn't have shown up to the yard until last night. 

I went and did some shopping after showing up to the yard and finding all of this out.  But I had no idea it was going to be so late before I ever got out of the plant - 9:30 pm - I didn't even know they stuck around that plant filling trucks that late.  I drove til 1:30 am and that was it.  I couldn't do anymore, my eyes were telling me it's time to go to sleep, so I stopped at the service plaza on the Indian Nation Turnpike and here I sit, waiting for this ridiculous 10 hour nonsense to elapse so I can start driving again. 

I'm wide awake, well rested, there is no valid reason, besides government intrusion and over-reach that I shouldn't be able to get in the driver's sit and get this trip over with.  I still have 131 miles to the destination and then 335 miles back.  I will most likely make it home today, but not until around 9:00 pm or even later.  In my view, I could have started around 7 am this morning, drove up there, drop and hook trailers and then started back, pulled over somewhere, taken a 30 minute nap and then drove the rest of the way back to the yard.  This is why so many truckers are pissed.  The government doesn't know what I need for sleep or when I really should take breaks, my body tells me that information.  I could have driven all night long last night - and that would have been really unsafe, again, government intervention is total bs. 

So anyway, here I sit for another 45 minutes waiting for the government, installed courtesy of my company, via an electronic device, to tell me when I can start driving again. 

The bright side of this is that there is a McDonald's 100 feet from me and I absolutely love McDonald's coffee. I decided to waste money on 2 Egg McMuffins as well - it wasn't the easiest thing to take off the buns, nicely toasted and buttered, and throw them in the trash can.  Leaving very little product left to eat.  But that was birthday breakfast.  It may very well be that when I get back to the yard tonight? I'll just head over to Texas Roadhouse and finish the day off there.  My friends will be in bed sleeping by the time I get home. 

I think I might be a bit grumpy.  It's just the fact I could have left here hours ago and gotten this trip over with to be home at a decent time.  And probably the fact the circumstances at the plant yesterday that caused all of this to begin with.  And likely because I've had this coughing going on for a week now and it's starting to irritate me.  And....letting them know yesterday that today was my birthday and could I switch with someone for a different load?  They just laughed at me.  I shuttered the urge to let loose on them.......I missed Christmas at home, I didn't think it was too much to ask for my birthday, especially considering drivers sitting around doing nothing claiming that they want more work.  Well here it is!

And then.....listening to this long time driver - he's been with the company like 28 years - bitching about the workload. Every time I see this dude he goes off. Like, okay dude, I get it, it sucks, but I don't need to hear this every time I see you. 

Oh, and finally, a trip I made in November, I think it was.  They "skipped" paying me for it and I raised hell about it.  Well this lady in payroll is finally getting back to me about getting paid for this what, 2 weeks later?  It's like $600 that I could really use right now to buffer my checking account and get it back up into a good healthy "ahead" range.  I received an email from her this morning about it, but it was just a forwarded email.  Apparently my manager had gotten a request from her about it and my manager? Had done nothing about it.  So, 15 minutes after this email is put out, I get a text from my manager. 

She wants to know the trailer number and details of the trip?  LMAO.  yeah, that was months ago and you expect me to just cha-ching that info up in my computer data based memory? Lol. Not to mention the fact that I turned in all the paperwork - to HER - for that trip? She has the paperwork - somewhere.  This is all on her.  But. I went through old texts and found the trailer number at least, she had never issued a trip number so that as well is on her.  She claimed she would get this taken care of, at least I have the lady in payroll riding her ass about it to get it done. 

This is what I go through at this company and this is part of the reason I have considered finding a new job.  Money talks, tho, above all of it.  So I'm going to see what this next paycheck will be and the one after it should be quite healthy.  If it isn't, if I'm shorted again, I'm going to be bypassing people in the chain of command and go straight for the CFO or CEO. They won't want to hear from me, but they're going to anyway.  The CEO lives in some mystery wonderland of how everything is going so wonderfully with drivers and trucks and how everything is run.  They likely don't hear from people like me. Or, more likely, the people they do hear from have the same gripes but are too afraid of "job security" and "powerful management" to speak up.

I have no such problems. Never have.  To a fault at times.  If you're going to ask me how things are going in the company, don't expect a sugar coated version of it. Don't expect an exaggerated version of how bad things are, either.  You will hear specific details of what's good and what's bad.  And right now, it's mostly on the bad side.  This isn't the company I signed on with, that's just the plain hard facts. I either have to deal with it and stay with them or move on and say screw this.

It's just hard because I really wanted to stay with hazmat tanker stuff.  I don't have enough experience yet to get on with the really good, local companies. 

Well anyway, I'm going to end this one. Get a refill on my McDonald's coffee, do some cleaning in the cab, do my reports and get ready to go. 

Monday morning. 
Preparing - mentally - to go out on the road.  I'm just happy it's about a 24 hour trip.  I mean, it would be optimal if you could leave in the morning and get back late that night, but it's just a bit too far to make it. I've made it within 25 miles of the yard before I had to stop.  In the good ole' days, I could just finish the run with no problem regardless of hours.  No one would say anything and nothing would become of it.

But now, with ELD's - electronic logging devices - there is no leeway. It's kind of dumb to have to stop 25 miles from your destination for 10 hours.  In fact, it's extremely stupid.  Truckers are getting pissed about the stringency of these elogs and are actually striking for a day here and there over it.  I find a one day strike useless tho.  If we all shut down for a week, the economy would come grinding to a halt and we could pretty much get whatever we wanted. 

It may happen someday, but it wouldn't include the mega carrier drivers who are too afraid of losing their jobs - tho I don't see why, it's a driver's market now, not the other way around.  Anyway, until this situation is dealt with, I just tolerate it.  On paper logs I could just cheat, frankly.  And I don't care about excessive government regulations made by people who are clueless about the driving culture and how it works.  They think they know better so the make one-size-fits-all rules that are outrageous and ridiculous. 

It's a lot of kneejerk reaction to that actions of a few drivers that get into horrible accidents.  But, cars get into a lot more accidents than trucks, they don't think to put a lot of this nonsense onto drivers of cars.  Accidents are going to happen regardless of the untold amounts of excessive regulations they put on truckers, period, end of story.  Your 30 minute rest rule has done far more damage to getting freight to locations on time than any good it has done and that has been statistically proven. They are now considering getting rid of the rule.  I don't need the government tell me when to take a break.  If I get really tired, I'll pull over without their coercion and take a nap of my own accord.  If I'm near a delivery or end point, I shouldn't have to pull over because my hours ran out - yet I'm only 20 miles out.  Or even 30 or 40 miles out. 

Whatever the case, I think I'm probably lucky to be getting any kind of run with only a day off since the last one considering the slow down. drivers are complaining and the manager is getting an earful on a daily basis.  I simply made my case without cutting her down or trying to make her feel bad.  This new company takeover is what's at fault here, not her.  I'm not, however, going to go broke and start using credit cards again to survive.  If it comes to that, bye!  And I can say that another 3 or 4 paychecks like what I've been getting and I'll be at that bridge. 

Meanwhile.....time to get ready to leave.  But, perusing some jobs that  are local or regional.  Cause I have the feeling that I'm going to have to move on.

Stuck at the plant for almost 7 hours yesterday, Very little time to get anywhere after I left.  The roads weren't too bad, tho, considering it had been snowing all night long.  I made it all of 400 miles before I quit.  I added the "exception", it's a button you push when you have been delayed out of your own powers that add 2 hours to the 14 hour on-duty clock. Not the 11 hour drive clock, the 14 hour clock.

But I got to 15 hours yesterday and I said enough.  Pretty typical trucking lifestyle - push your self 14 hours a day and if you have to, use the exception rule.  You can only use it once per 70 hours.  So I'm told, I've never looked it up and th company doesn't say anything to me about using it.  Not that I would care at this point, this new company sucks.  Head-Up-Their-@$$ syndrome, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.  Ostrich's in a sea of sand with their heads buried, the only thing that will get their attention is even more people quitting.

Which I threatened yesterday and was quite serious about.  Anyway, I stopped in Mount Vernon, Illinois at one of the large number of truck stops there - this place has a huge parking lot and it was almost full at 8 pm.  I got a spot tho and then went next door to Chili's for a hot meal.  Not a lot of keto options there, I just ordered a 6 ounce steak and double broccoli - instead of the potatoes that normally come with it.  After that I went and crashed.

The 3 nights before that I hadn't slept well? Caught up with me.  I was out like a zombie and the alarm went off too early this morning.  I mean, it went off the time I set it at, but I was sleeping so hard when it went off I woke up with a fried brain, my head was aching.  I went back to sleep for half an hour - it seemed like I had reset the alarm for half and hour, went to sleep and woke up a minute later. My head felt a little better, but I really had to force myself to get up this morning.

But get up I did. I had 610 miles to drive and I was determined to get it over with and get home.  And that's where I'm writing this, in the comfort of my office chair on my desktop computer. However, I preceded that trip to the Huddle House to get a helping of ham, bacon, eggs over easy and some sausage.  There are at least a few perks to this diet, you can eat meat like that and not screw up your plan.

Anyway, excepting some fog in Illinois this morning, the trip went trouble free, actually.  Upon arrival at the yard, I encountered another driver watching a movie in the "driver's lounge", which isn't a lounge at all, the terminal there sucks for drivers. I don't care for my own concern since I just leave and go home. The OTR version of drivers - those that don't live near there - have it pretty horrid.  No showers, no laundry, no kitchen, just a sh**hole.

This other driver - yet another in a long list of them I have encountered with the same gripes - went off.  I sat there and listened to him complaining about the same thing we've all been complaining about.  Lack of work, paychecks being shorted, people getting short fuses.  And a company that doesn't seem to give a shit.  It's the same thing, over and over, from every single driver I've spoken with.

But I didn't stick around long.  He was enjoying a movie and I wanted to go get my dogs and go home.  The grandma and grandpa are here again.  The kitchen was a disaster and 2 more mice were in my glue traps.  And someone had been sleeping in my bed, apparently.  Tho I had offered it, Taylor had stated that since I was only gone one night of their stay here, wasn't worth it. Whatever, it doesn't bother me, excepting the kitchen and the mice.  After sitting around in a truck in frigid temps, I decided a bit of activity cleaning the kitchen wouldn't hurt.

Oh, Addler. He was grumbling and making all kinds of noises when I saw him at the other house. Lol. The poor giant dog just doesn't get the attention from anyone else that I give him.  I got the reports before I got back earlier today: He's getting cranky.  I miss the dog when I'm out but right now? I'd take another 4 day run back to back to get my finances back up.  Instead, I have tomorrow off and then up to Oklahoma.  It's a 24 hour run, basically.  It's around 680 miles. Because of going through a bunch of small towns and speed limits, you can't make it back in one day, but you can get close. This is the run that takes me by the casino if I'm so inclined.

But it's a very late load tomorrow and I doubt I'l l want to do any gambling at the blackjack tables - but - you never know?  I'll be back home in time for my birthday.  I officially - in my mind anyway - turn old man at 55. 

Well.
The roads getting here ... about 30 miles cause' I took major throughways that have been driven on all night versus side highways that were covered with fresh snow - where not so great.  It didn't help that on the final highway I was stuck behind a snow plow going anywhere between 5 and 20 miles per hour.  The road was not that bad, he should have been moving at least twice the speed he was going.  There was at least a mile backed up behind this character and even when he had the chance to pull over and let traffic pass? He didn't do so. 

Well, it's snowing and has been since I left the hotel.  This disappointment was when I finally arrived at the plant - they have been experience 45 below wind chills here,  I was informed, and a couple of days they just shut down and went home coupled with their pump that hasn't been working.  Who knows if it's working now?  They said it "should".  So I'm wasting on-duty hours sitting here.  I like detention pay but this won't be enough to make it worth it and will just eat up my clock and will force this 4 day trip into 5 days.  Now, if they shut down again today, that would be a different story. Go to a hotel - paid for by the company - and get some decent detention hours on it.

Which takes me to the next subject.  I looked at my pay deposit in my checking account, less than half of what I was expecting.  NO MORE. I'm not going to sit around waiting for these idiots to do their job and go broke while it happens.  I immediately texted my manager - my pay has been shorted yet again. I was and am pissed.  I've had enough of this shit and I"m ready to start looking seriously for a new job when I get home.  This just isn't worth sticking it out - not when they continue to shaft me on pay. 

The end result is I finally got a hold of that lady in Amarillo that you can never get a hold of.  I"ve called her numerous times with no reply and have left several voice messages with no return call.  I kind of dumped on her in a semi-polite way - about the time she started making lame excuses I just put my foot down. You will go through all of my settlement sheets today and rectify my pay against what those sheets are telling you, thanks. 

I then texted my manager: I can't keep doing this.  My paychecks aren't covering my bills and this is the third time I've been shafted on my pay.  Etc so forth, basically let her know I would be looking for a new job.  Most incompetent company I've ever worked for.  The switch over to this "new" company has been pathetic and it's like they don't give a damn if you get paid of not. 

Anyway, I"m getting off of here. I have to wait for who knows how long to get unloaded and right now? I"m rather aggravated. 

Something woke me out of a dead sleep this morning at around 4:37 am.  I was going to get up at 5 am. Knowing how I sleep? I just got up, took a nice, long hot shower and dried myself off as best as possible, knowing that in a little while? I'm going to be outside in this frigid cold and I'm going to be outside in it for a while.  So I actually have a little bit of extra time, something I hadn't planned for. 

Opening the door to check on the truck - I left it running all night long with the idea that turning the thing on this morning wouldn't be an issue - a blanket of snow has fallen across the land.  It's 3 degrees right now with a real feel of minus 10.  All I can say? I am putting on all my thermal stuff and outer layers and hopefully we won't run into the same problems as last time.  I am prepared for that today. I just don't know how this frigid cold is going to affect trying to build up pressure in the coils.  It works on the principle of the extremely cold fluid going through the lines under the truck and heating up since the outside air temperature is much higher than the product.

Well, that's still true but not near as much.  So, this may take even longer than hoped for, who knows.  It takes about 50 minutes to pump out the contents of the truck - but that's only once the pump is going.  It could take 2 hours to get it to that point?  I'm not holding my breath and figuring I'll need to simply be mentally prepared to withstand this junk for as long as it takes. 

However, I think I'm going to leave a bit early.  The roads are probably whacked out and it will take longer to get there.  They are sticklers about being there at 6 am and I don't mind getting this show over with as early as possible.  In fact, with that in mind, I think I'll take my leave and get out of this place.

Good day.

It's very cold here. It may not be 56 below zero with windchill like in Michigan, but it's 15 below with windchill here, right now, and I'm not a fan. In fact, my few minutes out doors on 3 occasions here?  My face started burning. I have no ski mask for the morning and that is concerning. I'm going to have to take a shirt or a sweatshirt or something and wrap it around my face, I'm not standing out there 2 hours and just take it. 

It was quite the trip up here. Not for me, but for at least 100 trucks I saw stranded on the side of the road. That isn't any exaggeration.  Truck after truck after truck.  Several places where there were 6, 7 and more trucks broke down on the side of the highway in less than a mile.  Why?  I can only surmise, but I'l take an educated guess that their fuel is gelling.  Diesel fuel can gel in extreme temps, you have to put additive in the fuel - tho in the cold states they usually add it to it at the truck stops so you don't have to. 

But it's the only reason I can think of all those trucks broken down like that. 

I fought internally coming up here whether to get a hotel or not.  I was looking and could find nothing "cheap".  $100, $140, $80 - nothing I want to spend just for a night to get out of that truck and into a warm, cozy room with a comfortable bed.  After an hour of searching I gave up and drove on.  Only to get irritated, why can't I find anything? So I did a broad generic search for the region near the plant.  2 hotels that had no truck parking and - no thanks anyway.  More searching and finally found this place in Wauseon.  I'm in Ohio, btw.  Using some of my Expedia points, I got a room at the Rodeway Inn for $45.  That's cheap enough.  The room was  a pleasant surprise.  A bit of wear on a few things but the carpet is not smelly or sticky and the bed are comfortable.  The bathroom is decent and it has a refrigeror and a microwave in it.

That's a good thing, because the diner I was going to eat at? They shut down due to the cold.  So the truck stop owner next door says.  They were in there, tho, the restaurant that is.  I called over there with no answer.  I later was looking out the back window of my room which has a view of their back entryway and saw 6 of them coming out of there.  They all left except for one person who went back in. The place is shuttered and the lights aren't on, they aren't cooking today.  Besides nasty truck stop food, it's the only thing near here. If there's something further down the road? I don't know and I don't care.  It's too cold to be walking any great distances and I don't want to drive that big truck to try and find a place to eat. I'm stuck in this hotel for the night - not a bad thing - and I brought in leftover dinner from the other night.

That and I had this sneaking feeling something like this would happen so I have my gourmet cheese, mustard and sausage my oldest brother sent as a Christmas gift, dining on that and then heating up dinner.  I've been more relying on simply modifying dishes at restaurants to fit my Keto needs.  Not tonight!  So anyway, what I have is good enough.

I'm absolutely dreading tomorrow morning.  I mean, I was keeping warm out there and that without half the gear I have with me, I'll be putting the rest of that stuff on in the morning.  But my face? I can't be having the wind doing that to me. 

I'll figure it out tho.  I"ma get them to get this done as fast as possible.  It would actually be nice if the cold did something to their plant and I head to the Holiday Inn on the company dime.  One can wish.  I'm amazing they work outside in this frigid cold.  At least half of what they do is outdoor activities. 

Well, I decided to leave the truck running tonight.  There is no sense in shutting it off and risking it not being able to start in the morning.  The thing has plenty of fuel and its better to simply leave it run.  I would have had it running all night anyway if I had decided to stay in it.  No difference. 

Nothing else of note on this trip for now.  I do hope the truck has no issues running.  The tank liquid gauge is showing 55 inches - which is not possible, so I'm hoping that's just a trick the cold is playing on it.  It was showing 36 earlier, which is a bit high but nothing out of this world. It just shows the amount of liquid in the tank, the pressure is what you really have to pay attention to and in this cold? It's not going up at all. 

Yummmm. That roast pork is just as delicious tonight as it was 2 nights ago! So happy to have a hot meal to eat on a cold winter's night. 

My trip to Walmart netted me hunter's version of thermals for my legs.  I didn't have any. I'm not standing out in that cold without leg warmth, too. I am also not going to risk driving through all of that region without enough warm enough clothing to stay warm if the truck were to break down, or perhaps get caught in a traffic snarl and run out of fuel, or whatever.  $30 worth of insurance well spent in my view.  It also netted me these hand and feet warmer things. I was hoping they had them.  You just break them open and they keep your hands and toes warm for about 20 minutes per pack.
And I bought a much larger cap for my head, fully insulated.  I got what I could that I don't already have and unfortunately, they didn't have anything remotely close to a ski mask and I wasn't driving 40 miles to get one.  I'll survive.  As long as the rest of my body is amply warm, I'm good. 

I have thermal tops, sweatshirts, small jackets and very heavy duty winter jacket.  I have both thermal and other types of extremely heavy duty sock that will keep my feet warm when coupled with normal socks.  I have gloves made for cryogenics - they are heavily insulated to keep your hands from burning if that 150 below liquid hits your hands.  I have everything I know that I need to have besides that face mask. 

My biggest concern, as always, being in extreme cold isn't how warm I'm going to stay. That's a high priority of course, but inside the truck it's warm and cozy while driving. It's the potential for ice on the road.  I've seen video after video after video of cars, pickups and trucks all bent out of shape on the sides of roads after hitting ice - including several jacknifed trucks. 

Jacknifing big no-no in trucking world. You do that, you are going to have a hard time finding another job unless it's proven it was someone else's fault that cause you into that position. 

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Dinner and laundry.  I make dinner when I'm home - I mean real dinner.  Like cooking roasts and spaghetti and such. I made them spaghetti yesterday at the same time making my own version of it. They scarfed 2 whole bottles of the stuff including an entire box of angel hair noodles.  Anyway, I made a large pork roast with some nice heavy whipping cream gravy made out of the drippings of the roast, very nice and no carbs.  A pan of potatoes for them - they were at the verge of going bad, not there but you could tell eat them now or throw them out.  That was very nice - I didn't eat any of them but they enjoyed them.  I had enough pork left over to have 2 days worth of meals for the road.  It's a 3 day trip - if I"m lucky depending on this weather.  Wait, no it's a 4 day trip.  2 up  2 back. 

We'll see. 35 plus below with wind chill factor, crazy.  My mom? Sent me numerous texts about - everything cold - after seeing my post on Facebook lol.  Mom will always be mom : )  Gonna have to make sure I make it back somewhere around mid year.  I've been derelict in making trips back, I just don't like doing it but once I'm there I certainly am enjoying myself. 

Anyway, my bag is packed.  I have several coats in the truck already.  But, thermal top, microfiber heavy "shirt", then a sweat shirt and the a very heavy coat. That should do it.  Finger and toe warmers.  I'm as ready as it's going to get. 

And with that, I"m offa here. 

Tuesday morning.
Blahhh.
It's cold (my version of it) and I don't feel like doing anything.
34 degrees - and yes I know how cold it is up north, that's their business, I don't live up north for several reasons, that being one of the major ones.  It's cold enough here for my bones. 
But, I'll likely get out front to rake leaves in order to get some exercise in. I might even pull the fire pit out there to warm up.  But that's not right now, I'm "busy" drinking morning coffee lol.

Upon checking this morning, my weight hadn't budged. Up or down.  I'll take it.  The way it's been going lately, it goes down, stays down for a bit, goes back up and then it takes  a dip to new lows.  It's just hard to swallow that I'm .9 pounds away from 199. 

And last night, I found out Shiratake noodles? Are disgusting.  They are a "great keto alternative to pasta". Gross.  Might as well go eat rotting food out of the trash can.  It was that bad.  I bought a box of the stuff, it comes in plastic pouches, stored in liquid until you open it. You drain the liquid, dump the noodles into boiling water for a couple minutes, then drain it again and wash it with cold water and then.....you put it in a pan to try and dry it out.  I did all of that. GROSS.  I mean, just plain nasty.

There are some odd recipes for Keto and at least half of them that I have tried end up being disgusting dishes that I won't repeat.  But, fortunately, some of them are delicious. It's not a particularly easy diet to follow just because of the limitations of foods that you can eat, but since I've had such great success on it - down 28 pounds now and lots of fat gone - I'm going to keep with it. 

Today, I haven't figured out what to make yet.  I have a full pork roast in the fridge, but I'm not sure I want pulled pork.  Maybe a recipe I found that just cooks it in a crock pot for 4 hours, then put on certain spices and put it in the oven to finish it out and give a nice texture on the coat and then, a nice gravy made solely with heavy whipping cream and the juices from the roast. 

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And so I finally got a run - and of course it would be going up north/east.  It's not as bad as Minnesota but it's still cold and it's driver unload so I"m going to have to be prepared to wear a lot of layers of clothing to stand out in that stuff for 2 plus hours.  Stryker, Ohio, btw, a small nothing town out in the middle of nowhere, but east of the really bad arctic vortex they are saying is coming further west.

Well I take that back, it's going to be minus 16 there tomorrow but I won't be there tomorrow. I will be there on Thursday - Lord willing - and it will be "warmer" at minus 1 degree - we unload up there early morning, before the sun comes up, it will be bitter cold and if it's windy, it's really going to suck.  I think they sell these warmer things to keep your hands warm, like you break them open but I doubt they sell them around here.  Well the weather forecast says "bitter cold" yeah I believe that actually, out in the dark, windy, -3? I think I'll go to walmart and at least see if they have any ski masks.  I have thermals at least, and other various layers of clothing I can put on to help from getting frost bite.  But yeah, before it gets too late in the day, I'm going up there now. 

My texting with the manager today resulted in no work tomorrow.

The first text series was that her computer was down, she'd have to get back to me later.

She didn't get back to me later, as expected, so I got back to her. Did your computer system ever come back up?  No loads until Wednesday.  That's 4 days off.  I informed her I had already been off 2 days and she said she knew. No explanations, just that's the way it is.  

4....more....days.....off.  And this person is hiring more drivers?  So I checked this competitor's site i was referring to the other day that is taking some of our business.  Their current job list doesn't have any Ethylene positions.  So I wrote them an email instead asking if they think they might have any positions open in the near future.  

No idea on that one.  But worth checking out. Two major haulers that go into the plant I go into - Groendyke and Martin - simply do not have a good reputation and they don't pay that well.  So I'm not even going to bother checking with them, but I have heard some good things about GenX haulers, so that is next.  

I can deal with 2 days off in between runs, I cannot deal with 4, 5 and 6 days off on a continuing basis. That's just not something I can sustain for any length of time.  I'm also going to apply with Gemini - they haul fuel for all the Love's Truck Stops around the nation.  The driver I spoke with says he has good off time, never out overnight and makes around 75k per year.  That would work for me, tho they'd have to be interested in teaching fuel delivery. 

Okay, their application appears to be quite long and involved.  Most of them are, unfortunately.  Anyway, after hearing that from her earlier, I have decided it's time to go full tilt looking for a new job.  Learn my lesson from Ferguson and not wait around - while going broke -forever.  I'll be doing that tomorrow.  I just came to this conclusion a little while ago and then started looking at openings available in my area.  

Well well well. The dogs and I were sitting in here minding our own business earlier when I heard a crunching noise. Sounded like one of the dogs eating dog food.  Looking across the room? There was a mouse in Addler's food bowl, right there, in front of us, chowing away!  I have all kinds of glue traps left over from when this house was infested with rats.  We got rid of them long ago. I had seen a mouse running into my room a few weeks ago, but it seemed like the cats had dealt with that issue.  Funny there are mice in here anywhere with 2 cats lurking around.  I let them come into my room at will to look around and establish their presence.

Anyway, I put out a huge rat trap - that's what I have lol, the glue kind, those giant ones are the only ones that will keep a big rat on it without letting it go - and now? I have an itty bitty mouse in it.  But where there's one mouse there's more, so I'm letting it sit there and make it's noise. I'm curious if it's calling its friends for help. They can most certainly come and save him!  He's sitting smack dab in that glue, no way he's getting out of there tho.  

Well, anyway, the news about not working until Wednesday was disconcerting.  But motivating.  I absolutely hate the idea of quitting yet another job and starting up again somewhere else, but what am I supposed to do? I will ask, tho, about getting transferred over to fuel delivery.  It's worth a shot, I just don't think they pay as much.  

Well, my manager just told me "it's fixing to get better".  That would be very nice.  She is short on specifics tho.  Why does she believe it's going to get better? Does she have information she could pass on? Why keep everyone in the dark? It makes no sense.  So how long should I hold out? A week? A month?  Months? Just weird that this job gave me more work than I wanted at one time and now - every single driver - is experiencing the fact that we are sitting around - a lot.  2 34 hour resets in a week is not normal in the driving field but that's what's happening with everyone.  

Okay, I'm going to hold out a little longer.  The worst that could happen is resorting to credit cards again - bad idea but it's available if it got that bad - and deal with it.  That's a worst case scenario.  I have lots of savings right now, but that can get eaten up quickly if the paychecks aren't cutting it....

and with that, I have a mouse to deal with. I was going to let it sit there calling it's friends but the racket is getting ridiculous.

......edited - the racket worked and now two of them in the same trap - itty bitty things, there's probably a whole family of those suckers.