August is here. Check It Out

Welcome to the new addition to the blog. Thank you to Cynthia A, Rebecca L, William S, and Mary L for your suggestion. It appears that some people come to follow the fun stuff and not really the work stuff. So now, I will separate that out and it will be in a box that looks like this.
I am running short on time, and started out at the Springfield Terminal, headed toward York, PA on what is probably my final run before my 34-hour reset. But I am not sure of that yet. It was an okay day, but I am running a bit tail heavy, so the truck is dragging on the hills. The good thing is that on the downgrades, I get a little extra speed. But I have to be careful so that the Variant watchdogs don't catch me doing something silly, like speeding. Oye. I forgot to mention that I got a call last week from Safety telling me that I drifted through a stop sign a few weeks ago when I was picking up at Proctor and Gamble. They did not put me on probation, but told me to be careful. I actually remember the incident, and I did come to a full stop, but it was BEFORE the stop sign with full sight in both directions. Since they did not put me on probation, it was not worth the argument. I shut down around 200 in the afternoon in the Beaumont, OH rest area for the night. Right before it was time to drive, the gods attacked the area with the thunder and lightning storm that felt like the end of the world. It even took out the cellular tower, so no email or updates. Tomorrow, we shall see what we shall see. To 34 or not to 34? That is the question.

The non-work stuff

This was mostly a work day, but it is also the first day of the month, so we will do a catchup thing. I did not sleep well, and since I was at a terminal, I got my butt into motion and got a shower and started the day. A retrospective on the past month has me kinda grumpy because between work sucking for the most part, and me being in almost a month-long mood, I did not really accomplish anything. I did pretty good in the new course, which is Ethics in Criminal Justice and we are having some very interesting conversations. It doesn't hurt that I have a few people that were in other courses, so we have really good interaction. I did get a lot done on Ancient, once I got on a roll. And I am at day 71 of my French as of today. My tummy was acting up due to stress (I think), so I did not get a lot of Saxophone done, but I got some art done, and I reworked the first chapter of The Awakening again. I have to move on, I am my own worst enemy on that project. Other than that, it was a pretty routine month. But I have goals in my Legend Planner for the month, so hopefully thing will come together. Time will tell.

Today was a pretty easy day. A run into ADUSA in York PA to drop off a load of condiments from Heinz and then it was time for a 34-hour reset. At first, I intended to head to Carlisle PA and shut down at the Love's. It is surrounded with city stuff, plus a Petro right next door with good food and a few other things in walking distance. The problem is that the place is notoriously dirty, busy and has all kinds of angry people. I looked at my GPS and found that about one mile closer, was Middletown, PA. Another Love's on the opposite side of Harrisburg. Not much around there, but I have been there before and it is nice and quiet. I headed that way and got a corner spot and shut down for the duration of the weekend. I figured that I would probably be here until Monday since we are on a weekend and the 4th of July holiday to boot. But I was intent to not sit on my butt like I have been doing a lot lately. I had a plan.

A day of rest

Like I said above, I was not going to get caught into the rut that I have been falling into on my breaks where I sit and stare out the front of the cab and just watch time go by. So I formulated a plan, and it worked. I got all my personal stuff done, cleaned the entire truck except for the windows and floors (that is for tomorrow), finished up both discussion groups and my paper for the ethics class, cleared out all email, including spam and trash on all accounts, caught the blog up with new features, worked more than 100 pages on Ancient, and finally, worked the Awakening until I was comfortable with the results. I still have a few things left to do tomorrow, but I think that I am satisfied with the day.

A few annoyances

I have mentioned a few of these before but they are worth repeating. They are just observations of the world around me and things that flip my switch here and there.

It is a foot thing. I went in to use the men's room and there was a young gentleman washing his feet in the sink. I have seen this many times, but this guy was digging debris out from under his nails and flinging it on the mirror, the walls and the floor. He cleaned out his ears, and used paper towels to clean his body, leaving them laying all around. It was disgusting as hell and left puddles of dirty water all around.

Time suck videos. While going through email, I went through a bunch of info-messages that linked to videos that cannot be fast-forwarded. The problem with these advertisement videos is that they are between 10 and 15 minutes long and they have no information. They waste time doing repetitive tasks, attempting to build suspense, then have a ending that has no point at all. More and more of these videos are popping up in direct mail advertising and social media. These things seem to exist for no other reason than to suck time.

Show me your face. Finally, we have the recent influx of videos that have some interesting or funny content in which the narrator or video-blogger feels the need to pop their face into the transmission to make some snarky contact. Granted, this is usually not a problem, except that lately they are taking on the role of ME ME ME where the narrator will put their face directly over the action, obscuring the purpose of the video.

Ending the day

One of my so-called projects was to finish up the Southpark that I have sitting. That is done. I kept music rolling most of the day, but as things wound down into the mundane and repetitive, I popped in the Southpark episodes that I have remaining. I finished the series that I have with and reloaded the drive with Agents of Shield. I don't think that I will follow Southpark anymore though. The last eight or so episodes was nothing more than booze and drug avocation. It isn't funny anymore. Or perhaps I just grew up.

A second day down

I continued with the round robin and finished up a few things. Most of the day was spent on the brain. I got exercise, meditation, and yoga out of the way. Then I concentrated on my skills. I worked some of the Ethics course, but most of my concentration was on Saxophone, art, photoshop and photography. I cleared out the rest of the sitting magazines, and enjoyed a relaxing day. I finished up cleaning the truck, did inventory and then settled in, watching the New Star Trek movie again before sleep.

The camera

I went through every part of the truck and my little camera is missing. I just can't figure out what I did with it. The Minolta continues to give me problems. It is almost like it sees when I have a good picture to take and it decides to crap out then. It is very annoying. I had two cardinals that appeared to be posing for me, and that is when the camera said BYE BYE. As soon as I had it fixed again, they were gone.

Ending the Day

Once I did everything on my list for the day, I settled in to watch a movie and just relax. I don't know what this week is going to bring, but I am pretty sure that it is not going to start until early tomorrow morning.

Another down day

There is not much to tell about today because it is just more of the same. As you can see from the work box, I am sitting on my butt again, but at least there are plans for movement. So, instead of sitting and doing nothing, I have my sax out, my drawing stuff, and I am working Ancient. I got in and checked my medical since I have to do the medical certification while I am home next time, and I do not have to make an appointment with WONG this time through. I miss the old dude. ROFL. But all in all, it was a nice and relaxing day. But I am looking forward to getting back on the road.

Some spiritualism

Many people know me and many people do not. I am Enochian, which is a fringe spiritualism following based on the Aythers. These entities are NOT gods. They are guides. There is a big difference. But the keystone or foundation of the faith is that the Aythers are not jealous. They do not care, in any way, if you follow Big G, Allah, the Great Spirit, Gaia, or a head of lettuce named George. They are not bundles of rage like some deities, and they are not sharing their existence to move the human-animals like pawns in a galactic chess game. They simply ARE and commune with you if you choose to seek them out. That being said, I usually have a secondary following in place that interests me in some way. For the past few years, that has been Bastet. Why? Because hello! Kitty Goddess. You have to give some love to the kitty goddess. Lately, I have been drawn to Lilith and the Lilithum. Lilith is not a true goddess, and has been greatly demonized by most Christian faiths. Her greatest sin was that she was Adam's first wife, and exiled from Eden when she refused to fall in line with the will of Adam. She, and her brood, according to mythos, were exiled to Nod, the Wasteland, before the curse of death was put onto the heads of Adam and Eve, making her an immortal. I wonder why, mostly Catholicism, demonized her. Lilith is a big part of my current creative project The Awakening and recently, I have reached out to her. Yesterday, during three hours of mediation and an hour of Yoga, she finally answered. Granted, I am not delusional enough to believe that an ancient first human reached out to me physically and affected the world around me, but just the action of reaching out to her had positive effects. My little camera, which has been missing for months, appeared on my dashboard. I was just looking for this yesterday, and I am sure that I woke up last night and remembered where it was. But Lilith was in my dreams and said she would give me a present. I choose to believe. And maybe she will kick the butt of my muse so that I can get The Awakening moving along a bit faster.

Technology Development

So, I got a working camera again, and I have finally gotten my selfie pod working properly. I have no idea what I will do with that, if anything. But the big news is that on my last trip home, I grabbed a microphone out of the garage and finally got it set up to work with my production computer. I can now dictate, quite accurately, into Microsoft Word. This is exciting because though I can type quickly and accurately, dictating and editing happens about five times faster. That may help me overcome the ....I am working, I am working, oh look, something shiny, attitude.

Work: Not a great start

I was up and in motion, ready to go, but I should have known that it would not be that easy. I got out of Middletown, PA easy enough and hit Hamburg, PA to fuel at the Love's. I should have fueled before I left my rest stop, but no, I am going to go by the book. Hamburg was a joke. The driver in front of me, an owner operator, was taking a 30-minute break on the fuel island. He was a bit irked that I asked him to move. I mean, there were only about 10 open spaces, and he had to pick the fuel island. You know, if you FUEL and then twaddle around lifting your hood, and doing your windows and all, that is one thing. But he pulled onto the island, not even with someone in front of him, and sat there making his breakfast. All the time, all the lanes are full. Sigh. People. It took me 35 minutes to get in and out of there. 30 minutes waiting for him, then five for me to fuel. Could I have switched to another lane? Sure, except they were all double stacked and there were at least three of them out of, I think, seven, that had drivers nowhere to be found, plus my guy. But deep breath, and I was out of there.
Then I made it over to Piscataway for my 6:00am appointment. I was only a few minutes late. But that did not matter because this was not supposed to pick up today. It was supposed to pick up FIVE days ago. So I had to sit and wait while they figured things out. The wait turned out to be about three hours, but they loaded me quickly. I hit the scale about an hour away, and it was off toward Atlanta.

Vexed

I was able to get up and get my butt into motion this morning and I was ready to roll right on time with my French, Saxophone, art, meditation, exercise, and Yoga all out of the way. I double-checked my Ethics course and still pulled my break right on time. I love it when I get on a roll like that, but I was feeling vexed because with all that I got done, I did not feel accomplished. What's up with that? It really is weird, but it seems like the more that I get done, the more that I wish that I could get done. I guess that is not a terrible thing.

I was able to finish my latest Thomas Covenant Novel and move on to the next. Of course, it ended in a cliff hanger, but then again, Donaldson loves to do that. But that is okay, I have the next one up and rolling. I am into the ones that I did not read the first time through, so that is fun.

AFter a day of rolling hard, I shut down in Stunton, VA for the night. Not my favorite place, but it was close and convenient. All good to go. So I am caught up on everything and things are rolling fine for now. But tomorrow is another day.

I need a priest

No, I am not having a crisis of faith and I am not suicidal. I am talking about The Awakening. I have been having a lot of trouble with the first chapter of the book, and it is mostly because I hate temporal prologs. And since the first part of the story takes place 6000 years ago, that is what I had to find a way to incorporate. So, over the past few days, I have erased and restructured the first chapter of the book. Now there is an old priest giving the reins over to a young priest, reading historical documents written in Lilithum, a dead language. Yeah, that works! And, since I am working the creative muse right now, I finished up the main Astrology section of Ancient Pathway as well. Granted, I still have to go in and do the re-writes, but the main section is completed. I still have to do the 12 signs of the zodiac and the compatibility chart, but that is another section down and ready to roll. It has been a creative few days. Woo hoo.

Atlanta Drivers

I really dislike driving around Atlanta. I think that they teach people to play with big rigs. And there is nothing more fun that five lanes of traffic moving along at 60 miles per hour. Scary stuff. But it really does not matter what time you hit the loop (the 285 bypass), all five lanes are always wall to wall. And people LOVE to pass on the right. Patience people, patience.

A rushed morning

I slept a bit later than I intended, so instead of three hours, I only had about 45 minutes to do the morning thing. I got breakfast and was able to get my mail, my Replika, French, and all done. I got an email out to the wife, updated the blog, and checked school right before I had to log in for work. I did get my exercise and a tiny mediation, as well as a single Yoga pose done. Not exactly the greatest way to start the morning, but I got my butt into motion right on time, and that is what counts. I had to stop for fuel on the way into Atlanta, so I was able to replenish milk, and bread. All good.

After Pepsi

After I got out of Pepsi, it was a mad dash to the Ellenwood terminal. The guard was kinda distracted and it took forever to get through the gate, but I think I pulled my brake just as I ran out of my 14-hour clock. I was tired so I made some hot sausage and headed off to bed. I was going to do the laundry thing, but I was not sure I could stay awake for both cycles. Something for the morning. I did not even touch my ethics class, and I am having fun there.

And away we go...

I was tired. I had really weird dreams about both Lindsey Lohan and Lindsey Stirling. That makes since because of the movies I have been watching the music I have been listening to. But it is still odd. I used the pre-drive morning to roll through my daily and weekly to-do list. I got my email done, blogs updated, laundry done, shaved the face and head, did some art, did some photoshop, and my French. Finally, I logged into school and played catchup on my Ethics course. All before 5:00am. Not bad at all.

The Creative Journey

I have been doing art every day, but just random stuff, nothing structured. When I was young, I used to do wonderful art of everything from still life to comics to erotica. They say that you never truly forget things that you have learned. That is not true. My recent attempts at drawing have given output that looks like mongoloids on meth. So I have chosen to go back to the beginning. This morning, I looked for a YouTube series that does not require payment of about the cost of a Master's degree to relearn the basics. I found Schaefer Art. The YouTuber has everything from basic to advanced, including an excellent basics series. Today, I went through the first video and I intend to get one of them each day that I have connectivity. And I put it into my legend planner, so it will happen. Today's lesson was Sketching Basics and materials. On to the journey.

Another unintentional break

I rolled into Van, TX to the double Love's about 1100am. I don't have to be at Autozone until 830am tomorrow morning, so it is a down day for me. And that is okay, because I really slept cruddy last night, and could use a bit of rest. I had an early dinner of Chicken with Japanese veggies, mashed potatoes, Asian sauce, and a salad. I had to settle for creamy Caesar dressing because they did not have any French. But I dealt. Then, since I had time. A BIG art lesson, some saxophone, some reading (Quantum Buddhism), an extra French lesson, my ethics course, and then some Agents of shield. I worked on The Awakening, trying to get the priest into the mix. Not nearly as easy as I thought, but it is coming together. I kept busy and then hit the sack around 500pm. I will get up early, have a good run in the morning and all will be fine. Yep, that will happen. In theory.

Too much downtime

So, a short work day and then I set down in Hutchings, TX at the Love's. I was not exactly sure where Niagara Water is because they have three listings, so I shut down close to all of them, even though this Love's kinda sucks. But, on the bright side, one of the biggest complaints is the parked trucks. People park here and then stay away for a long time. There are stickers on a lot of them letting them know that they are about to get towed. But more than that, for a few hours, they were coming in and out, towing them! Good for them.

Work that brain

I pulled out the old sax and noodled a little. Then it was on to some brain work. I worked the new art video lessons, did my Ethics paper for the week, ran though some white hat hacking, did a photoshop tutorial, and watched a French Movie. Not a terrible day and I did not sit like a bump on a log, so there is that. I am just tired of all this wasted time. Tomorrow is a bit of a pickle, because after I pick up in Dallas, I have a single shift run over to South-Eastern Louisiana. But the Monday drop is far from any Love's, so I have to figure out if I want the extra drive on Monday, or the comfort of my chosen shut-down point. Oye.

Into the land of the Loa

The drive was okay once I was loaded. Pretty much a straight run across Texas and into Louisiana. About half of it was high-speed back roads, so no biggie. I was able to do my morning routine, but I saved the bulk of the TODO for when I shut down at the CASH truck plaza in Port Allen, LA. I debated my shutdown point because I did not want to hit the New Orleans area, but everything before that was tiny little stops. I chose Port Allen because it appeared to be the best. It worked out. I did stop and grab a salad so that I could have that an my pork. Tomorrow morning, it is time to grab another few meals from the freezer and go from there.
I shut down with about 19 hours before delivery and only 90 minutes left to drive. I worked through my exercise, Yoga, courses etc, then I hit the wall. I started to get that grumpy cat feeling and just lay down and stared for a few hours before I fell asleep. Not great, but the LOA came for a visit, bringing with them the wrath of the gods. A rainstorm that felt like the end of the world. It was wonderful. It lasted for almost two hours and actually helped with a nice, deep meditation. It brought me a little way back to center, but still rocking the grumpy cat.

The trap of Dwell

Dwell is when there is an extra amount of time on a run, and it is a big problem lately. It gives way too much time to fill up with non-work stuff, other than when on a break. Though I am an introvert, there is a time when this can become overwhelming. This is one of those times. The past couple of weeks has created way too much non-movement time. It creates an air of laziness where I am forced to fill the time. And while having extra time sometimes can be a good thing, allowing the pursuit of the creative muse, when there is too much of it, it acts against that muse. And that is where I am right now. While I have a battery of things to do such as Sax, French, and Art, when too much time is available, these become more like WORK than enjoyment, and the world unravels. That is the grumpy cat for today. I got to a point where there was no joy in anything. I am just not made to sit this long. But tomorrow is another day, and we shall see where we go from here. I have about 16 hours left on my 70 hour HOS shift, but I start picking up serious recaps tomorrow night, and I can run about five more full days without a required break. Of course, that also means that I will be pushing almost 10 days without a break. Welcome to the catch-22. We shall see how things play out.

Killing the grumpy cat

It is good when you are able to self-reflect and see problems before they start. With the attack of the dwell and other delays lately, I have been slowly slipping into darkness. Granted, slipping into madness is a lot more fun, because there are usually COOKIES. But you take what you can get. But, as any good warrior knows, the best way to avoid a trap is to know that it is there. And I see this one. I have drawn my sword, perfected my stance, and I am prepared to do battle with the evil GRUMPY CAT. I woke early and before even jumping out of the bunk, I did affirmations to move in a positive way through the day. Even before I ate, I got email, journals, and blogs caught up. Then I had a decent breakfast, pulled new meals and started working through THE DAY. Meditation with intent (the Awakening), 3 French lessons and a French cartoon, Art, Saxophone, Yoga. The Yoga was interesting because I am on a new pose, Viparita Virabhadrasana, the reverse Warrior. It is providence because it is a preparation for battle, and that is how I am feeling lately, preparing for war. Interesting how the universe plays along once in a while. After Yoga, on to the creative muse and an assault on Osparia and The Awakening

After the drive

As you see above, the day was mostly work. But that does not meant that I did not enjoy finding a parking space in the tiny Love's. It really was a surprise. The Internet connection is not great, but it is there and I can get to it mostly. So there is that. I did some school, watched a silly cartoon, and then it was time to get off to bed. I made some decisions about tomorrow, and I have to contemplate those actions and see where they take me.

Caught by surprise

Okay, rest is good, but I am too set in my ways to properly handle a 34-hour break that I don't find out about until I am 10 hours into it. It really tossed me into a nasty mood. But I grabbed it by its' nads and fought it to the ground, eventually. I did not have a structured plan, so I pretty much had to wing it. However, I knew that a lot of the problem was going to be the old gray matter in the head. I will get to that a bit later.

The practical

A quick look at Google Maps found a Walmart about 3/4 of a mile away. Time for a walk. I picked up some breakfast sausage, macaroni and potato salad, hamburgers with buns and such. I was going to get some fresh fruit and veggies, but they were very nasty. I think that I might have gotten there too early. Then I was going to grab some chips to go with my burgers. $9.00 for a bag of chips? Is Lay's serious? To get ONE bag of chips a minimum wage worker has to work more than one hour. I double checked the price when I got back to Love's. Yep, they are the same. This is not inflation, this is highway robbery. I will not be eating chips any time soon.
I got back to the truck with my goodies, then it was time for a nice hot shower. I took one full hour and enjoyed the very hot water and some exfoliation. It has been a while. I looked like a lobster, but it felt great. And I got to shave the old face and dome. Woo hoo.
Then it was noonish and time for food. I tried out the Old Town Mexican place across the street, and it was pretty good. A pit pricey because, and they have this in the window, their supplier costs went up so they added $1 to every menu item. Oye. But still, I think it was worth it.

The rest of the day.

Since I did not have a plan, I figured that I would slow roll the day so that I did not wind up sitting on my butt staring all day. I figured that I got my exercise with my 1.5 mile walk to Walmart, so that was checked off my daily list. I spent one hour on Ancient, mostly reviewing pages, and then one hour on The Awakening writing the rest of the outline. It is coming together. Two hours on Yoga, again with review and some well needed stretching. Then the big concession, I did a three hour meditation with a list of brain issues that have been piling up. Colorado, work, school, alternate education, life in general, etc. I have not done a transcendental meditation in ages. It was long overdue and came out really well. I feel clarified, centered and balanced. I hope it holds for a bit. Once that was done, I figured it was break time. I watched the movies Oxygen and Amelie, both in French. Then I read Don't Be Scared! - N'aie pas peur a French children's book. I was going to call it a day with the brain stuff, but then I jumped into my ethics course and got my second discussion out of the way and set up my paper for the week. I also found out that Bart Eliz is going to be my instructor for my next course. I have had him before and like him. I finished up the brain work with a couple out of series art videos then some ethical hacking (bitcoin basics). Then it was time to relax.

The form of relaxation

Relaxation steered me toward watching my current series, but I put that to the side. Instead, I re-read my own works and gathered everything into a viable, usable directory so that I can find things more quickly. I double checked and modified some of the story boards and storylines and ....are you ready for it???? I DELETED 22 stories that just do not work. Yes folks, I deleted things that I have been sitting on for decades. I read my outlines, considered the story, which were 21 short stories and a novel, and after much consideration, removed from because they were silly, don't work, or simply were boring as hell. And YES, I understand that sometimes silly has a place. But not here. They were too far to the left, to the right, or off the cliff to be of interest. So buh bye. And then the day was at an end.

A good start

I got myself into motion right on time and ran straight on through. I am in a positive state of mind right now, and I am hoping it will hold. I spent a lot of time over the past day or so cleaning out my digital life. I cleared out more than 20 old stories that I will never touch, thousands of back-stocked photographs that I was saving for a rainy day, and about two dozen book marks that I was going to check into later. Later has come, I have checked them, and many are gone. I fired up the new game Geogussr, offered by Laura, and it is kinda cute. I did pretty well on the first round, getting within a couple miles on 4 out of 5. Some of them are really difficult in world-view mode. They gave me a neighborhood street in Belgium with no distinctive markings no matter what way I walked. But it is still fun.

Shutting Down

When I loaded up with the animal food, I was running low on time. I could have used the sleeper berth option, but I did not think of it. So I had to shut down. I hit the Pilot right around the corner instead of braving to find a Love's while running critical on time. But it was okay. They had a Taco-bell. Luckily, I remembered my last experience with the bell and decided to eat my pork. It was good. Then it was time to put on some nice meditation music and sleep off to sleep. I am going to leave all the brainy stuff for the morning.

Not the greatest day

I have some personal and family issues going on right now that I am not going to give to the public. Suffice it to say that it brought my personal character under attack from the self. I am not proud of my reaction to the situation and I have to get myself back to center and stop being so self-absorbed. Yeah, that will work. Now I just have to do it. I got to Horse Cave KY and got to watch the angry people because all the pumps were shut down and they were tossing their weight around, like there was something that the Love's employees could do when there was no fuel. I got my dinner, some goulash, and relaxed, watching a sitcom that I could not remembered 10 minutes after I turned it off. Then it was time for some meditation and self-reflection, leading to the self-dislike that I mentioned above. I was not feeling well, so I took off to bed early, counting on tomorrow to be another day. I did check my grades for Arizona Global, and I am back over a 97 for the course. And I checked my next course, that will begin on 8/2/22. All good and right on track.

Nope nope nope

Nope, still rocking a negative mood, but not nearly as bad as it has been. Work was a bit rough and then I shut down in Columbia. I really wanted to get a Salad so that I would have lettuce for my hamburgers. No dice, this place is seriously understaffed and not really well run. But such is life right now. I made my burgers with some fried onion and macaroni and potato salad and then checked school and a few other things. I put in about 10 applications through Linked-in and zip recruiter, just keeping my options open. I got one response from Colorado Springs as a consultant for the FBI (yep, that FBI). That would be pretty cool. But there are thousands of applicants for things like that.
I got into bed early because I was not really feeling well. I did not set the bunk AC properly and woke up roasting. But I got it figured out and set right, then it was off for some decent sleep.

Oye, with a bit of Vey

I got an early start this morning. Twice last night I set the bunk AC wrong and woke up hot as hell. Either that, or gremlins are messing with my truck. But I got a decent night sleep and was up and in motion first thing. I did my email catch-up after I got coffee and tea, and then did my French while my breakfast was cooking. I use my French to gauge how attune my brain is. Today, not so much. I was missing little things that I know that I know. But that is okay. I am allowed an off day now and then. On Monday, if I don't miss any days for two more, I will have hit the French for 90 days in a row. Woo hoo. C'est l'heure de fêter ça (Time to celebrate).

The work day was good, the personal day was not. I was driving all day after getting up a bit late, and rolling my latest Donaldson book in the background, and I hit Horse Cave, exhausted. I figured that I would fall right to sleep after dinner. I had sausage and noodles, then settled in to sleep. But I woke up every 15-30 minutes all night with very weird dreams from feral monkeys to being pistol whipped by a Southern sheriff for commenting on the nipples of a young Helen Slater. I have not even watched any of her stuff in ages. I have no ideas where these came from, but they kept waking me up.

And some drama

Some drunk girls whacked a truck parked next to me and put a hole in it. It was a bit of a nightmare because it was a hazmat truck and carrying a inhalation hazard. I woke up to MOVE MOVE MOVE and pounding. I moved. But then it was time to go back to work. Not exactly a restful night. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit better. I still have to get my paper done for school. Sigh.

Tired, but not a bobble head.

I really thought that today was going to give me a hard time with being tired, little sleep, and the rain. But it was not too bad. I got up a bit too late to do my daily stuff, but I ran right through with only one stop for coffee and such. After I hit Demotte, I took a one hour nap and then worked on school. I got my paper done, and then did the rest of my daily stuff. I almost forgot to do my French, but that is out of the way now. See, that will teach me to brag about it like I did yesterday. I almost missed it. I looked, figured, then re-figured my time. I should be good to go if I get out of here between 200 and 300 in the morning. I have to drop off at the logistics center, and then head to the Markham Terminal. That might mean that I don't need an empty if they don't have one. That would be nice. The only thing that I did not get to do is writing. But since I am now ahead on everything for the morning, if I get up on time, and I am able to grab a shower with time left over, all that I will have to do is my French for the morning and then some writing. That would be nice.

Good Starts

I have been in a foul mood for a couple of days. This morning, after a good night of rest, I got my ass into motion and started the day with a bit of gusto. I got exercise and meditation, Yoga and a long hot shower, and then worked on the old brain. I got done my lessons for school, my French, and my art classes. I have progressed with the art beyond the basic 12 lessons and I am into the more complex lessons, ready to start creating. I worked on The Awakening and had some fun with my priest that is going to take on the burden of knowledge about the origins of man and the misinformation of the current belief. I had some real fun with it and added some humor, something that was lacking in the original. I think that starting out with the passing of the torch for the knowledge is better than the original prolog of the Garden and the removal of Lilith. Instead, I am using FLASHBACK to tell that story in chunks. It is working out much better. Once I finish the first chapter, I am going to send it over to the wife to see what she things. Since it is fantasy and not horror, I think that she will be okay with it. And since she has no qualms about telling me the truth, I think that she will be my best judge. And NO, don't send me email trying to get me to send it to you. Nope, you don't get it. But I am working hard on it, and with a bit of luck, it will soon be available on Amazon. It's about time!

Swing Swing

Work was intense as you can see above. And I shut down in Sheboygan and then ate one of my final meals that I have available. Getting tight here. But I hit a mental snag. I saw a post on Facebook about a company that needs a CDL driver for local work. Turns out it was Drew from Memphis Tree Service. I called and talked to him, and it is one hell of a potential opportunity. But I keep drifting back to when I left Organix to go to MSES. That looked really good too, and then it wasn't. I just can't get into a mental position to make decisions right now. The personal issues that I mentioned a few days ago have compounded, and though I am due home in about four days, I may have to limit that home time or skip it all together. And it is really sending me down the emotional and mental rabbit hole. I ate dinner and then jumped in the bunk, things will be brighter in the morning.

Too Peoply

Ina, IN is horrible. They have no columbian coffee, a dank and nasty McDonalds, no iced tea and grumpy people. But I will be in the truck, so I can deal. I am still in a bit of a negative mood, but I am trying to work through that. As such, I am treating the next day as a mini-break with a round-robin and a microlist. I am not sure how that will work out, but I am going to try. I am stressed out a bit. Too many choices, things to do, lack-of-drive, etc. I have prepped for tomorrow. I have one good meal left, and then I am on cans, and I have my creative stuff all lined up. I am over 90 days on my French now, and I beginning to understand the French movies and stuff that I am watching. Kinda cool. I have no idea when I will ever use the language, but I am almost to a point where I can say that I am bi-lingual. Fun times.

Oh look, I am perty! I have not put a photo up in a while, so I figured that I could pull an old one and do some editing. This is what I look like as a super model. Be afraid folks, be very afraid.

Almost Home time

It is almost time to head home. There is no work block today because I was stuck on a 26 hour Dwell in Ina, IL, with only three hours left on my 70 hour clock, and six hour to my drop location. I had to wait until close to midnight to drive so that I did not run out of time. I tried to make use of the time well.

The day

I have admitted that my mental state has pretty much been stressed lately. I did my best to combat that today. This included NOT listening to the news, because it is just irking me off. But I did jump into school and get two discussions done and worked on my paper for the week. I will update that a bit more later in this post. I did my French, and that puts me over the three month mark, and I did some of my art classes. I went over some of my ethical hacking, and did a LOT of reading, mostly for the end of my ethics course, and my next course in Constitutional law. I watched a movie, but it was background noise and I can't even remember what it was. And the rest of the time I kept some uplifting and relaxing music going. I did about 12 Yoga poses, and three hours meditation / exercise. For now, it has me back close to center, I just hope it holds.

My updates

Okay, that was fun. We have become a society of sheep that think that they believe everything they read. At least until we stop and think about it. But now, what am I up to?
Ancient I continue to work on Ancient and it is coming along, even though it is slowly. I am working on the Astrology information now, and most of it is out of date, so that is close to 1000 pages to be rewritten. It is taking a while.
The Writing
I continue to work my writing every day and it is coming along. The most exciting thing is that I finally have a bead on The Awakening and since I removed the prolog and changed it to flashbacks, it is looking a lot better. I am almost ready to share chapter one with a few people to see what they think. The other writing projects are slow and sure.
French
The French is coming along well. I just passed the 90 day way point and I am going strong. I am gaining a grasp on the language, even though I have no idea what I will do with it.
I think that is enough for now. I am still working on my ethics course for criminal justice and doing my art lessons once a day. I have an interview with Memphis Tree while I am on home time, and I am not sure what I am going to do about that. We shall see. So for now, I will see you on the flip-side.

Early Home time

I got to the yard, emptied the truck and headed home. I took the day to relax for the most part, because I am a day early. Very uneventful.

Do it...DO it...DO IT

Today was a cooking day. I spent the entire day when I got back to the house, cooking. That lasted until I went to bed, and I still have to make my chicken. I made Red beans and rice, Hot Sausage, Pork Tenderloin, Tilapia, Goulash, Meat Sauce and Shrimp with Lemon and pepper. Not a bad mix, plus I have a tub of Bar-B-Que pork. Right now, I have a total of 32 meals, plus the chicken. I will shell out the missing two or so with meatballs, and I will be good for my next tour. It was a boring day mostly. I got some time with the family and watched Bill and Ted. A calm day.

Yeah Home!

It was a hard working home day, well, compared to sitting in the truck. I finished up school for the week and will be going into the last week starting Monday. I finished up my cooking, and my truck stuff. I finished all my digital stuff. Then I went outside and attacked teh small jungle that was trying to take over the front yard. All pretty good.

The cat is away

Laura is working but this cat does not get to play. I started shoring up the stuff for while I am on the road and getting everything doublechecked and in order. That includes my reading material, the stuff that stops me from getting bored, my writting, and my art stuff.

So, not terrible

The big accomplishment for the day was getting the frame of the garage done. I have been trying to get that done the past few times home, and it just has not worked out. But it is done now, and ready to paint. I have on emore day off and then it is back to work. Tomorrow, I have my DOT physical, and I am supposed to meet with Drew of Memphis Tree about a potential job. ah life.

The Bouncing ball

The morning was uneventful. I finished up my data transfers and have plenty to read, watch and listen to for the next few weeks. I double checked the road stuff, and I think that I am all good and ready to roll. I updated the muse and made sure I have everything that I need, including an agenda and plan to get some writing and drawing done. All a good thing.

And then the afternoon and evening

Into the afternoon and evening was okay. I finally got together with Drew over at Memphis Tree, and things are a bit off-kilter. He has a good, profitable business, and it just needs a bit of control and tweaking. But I am not really sure if I am ready to jump ship with Variant for numerous reasons. Mostly the education and portability of the job with Colorado looming. I will figure it out. After that, it was home to some family time and then a dinner of a big old plate of Nachos....yummm. I am so not ready to go back on the road, but I will hunker down and make myself ready. Tomorrow morning, I have to pack up the rest of my stuff before Laura gets up, and then we will be off to the races once she is ready to roll.

A Little Foreshadow

I had to renew the websites this weekend, and as a present, I was able to pick up the .NET version of Ancient Pathway. That has been unavailable for more than a decade, now it is mine. I have a good template for it, and it is going to be my photography portfolio. More to come on that later.

Not the best start

This is not the best way to come off of home time. Running around for work all day and getting nothing done. I finally set down in the Exxon that has the missing trailer and talked to Sam and Mattie, the two young ladies running the location. They said that the trailer has been here for a very long time. They are not sure how long. I would, of course, have to speak to the day manager to get a resolution. I was mentally and physically exhausted so I just went to sleep. I did not even eat my yummy dinner that I had planned.

Speaking of dinner

On home time, I did an excellent job with the meals. And they fit perfectly in the truck with no overflow or gaps. Pretty impressive, I think that I finally got it right. Except for one small problem. I forgot to label anything, so for the next month and a half, every meal will be pot luck. Isn't that special? I actually find it kind of funny. Unusually, I mix things up when I stock the freezer and I pull the next five at a time. Now I can just pull random and every day will be a surprise.

Go Go Go

I started out on day 97 of my French and did pretty well. I had a good breakfast including hash, a muffin, fruit and cheese. I did the above negotiations and then hunkered down to get things done. I updated my journals and blogs, did a bit of work on Ancient and Ancient.net while I was waiting on hold and handled some problems with Michael, my new mentee. He had some really basic questions about the tablet. Those can be really intense if you don't pay strict attention in orientation. A lot of information in a little bit of time. I get those questions a lot. I took almost 20 calls from him today and they never did get him rolling. I called Chris, and Chris, the mentor advisor and one of my ops specialists and no one could get him in motion out of South Carolina. Weird. He finally went home, which was right next to where he had the truck. So we shall see what tomorrow brings.

Anyway

I have not been a bum. I am still working on my art and keeping up with my French. I am working on Ancient and AncientNET and my writing. SO I am keeping busy and feeling pretty good about it. This is the last week of my Criminal Justice Ethics course and then I have to do a class on Constitutional Law. Fun times. But it is coming along well. It is just good to be in motion again. Tomorrow is another day.

Hey look, Grumpy Cat

I am only three days out of home and I am already doing the grumpy cat thing. As of tomorrow morning, day four of the work week, I am sitting at about 600 miles. That is not acceptable, but appears to be the normal right now. It makes me grumpy. After I talked to Michael, I ate dinner and did some reading for school. I got my two discussion groups caught up, and all that remains is my responses and my final paper. Woo hoo. I did work on Ancient and AncientNET, finished Covenent-All things, and then went to bed. All in all a frustrating but better day. Tomorrow is another day.

Good Starts

I got my butt out of the bunk, even though I did not want to. I checked email, got my exercise and yoga done, then a good jaunt of meditation. The grumpy cat persists, but at least I have him on a leash. Even with the grumpy cat, I did pretty well at keeping my cool. In the distributor, people were acting like asses, and I did not have to stop and count to 10, not even once. I just smiled and looked them in the eye (and of course pictured them buried to their necks in sand while fire ants advanced on them).
I realized that tomorrow is the first day of my new class. It is going to suck because it is Constitutional Law and the Courts. But I know the professor so it should be okay. I don't think it will be a problem.

Advancing the fun stuff

I have been back on the road for almost a week now, and I have been riding the grumpy cat, but it also means that I have not been driven to get things accomplished. But today, I got a bunch of Ancient done, advanced the .NET project, re-read and prepped for the next section of the Awakening, added another mini story to the 13 story collection, did some drawing lessons, watched a cartoon, and played the sax. All in all, I am counting it a good day, even though the mood is negative, the actions are positive. I am about to journey into a weekend, and I will be down in Cajun country, so I am unsure how things are going to work from here. I have my fingers crossed.

Into the weekend

I did not waste my downtime while I was waiting for service. I did a bit on my paper and set up my new course.It was something that I had planned for tonight or tomorrow, so a bit of time saved. Woo hoo. Unfortunately, my mood hampered my creativity. I have had more than 20 wasted hours this week. That is a potential for at least 1000 missed miles. It is getting on my nerves.

Using Time

Time is a fickle thing. There was no way that I could sleep comfortably because when I am in a public space like Home Depot, there is way too much going on around me for me to get comfortable. Funny that I can get comfortable in a truck stop, but not a public space. I am sure that there is some psychology at work there. Anyway. I took a look at my google map and could see that there was stuff nearby. There was a Walmart, but I am pretty much stocked up on everything I need for right now. I could have picked up some potato and macaroni salad, but that is about it, so I decided against it. But I did treat myself. In the Walmart Parking lot was a Starbucks. So I got myself a Mocha and settled in. Since I was going to be unable to sleep, I chose long-term transcendental meditation. It is not a replacement for sleep, but can help in the short term. I was there about 12 hours, when I got up the trailer was ready and unlocked, and I was down the road. But time, time is a fickle thing as I pointed out because with all that stagnant time, and things pending like my final paper, I got little done. But there is always tomorrow.

Some Extra Time

I got to take about an 18 hour break instead of a 10 hour break in Blytheville, AR because of the way that this run is scheduled. I know from last time into Belleville, IL that I cannot deliver early and they have no place to shut down nearby, so I have to time this right. I took advantage of the time. After a hard push into Blytheville, I managed to shut down at a Love's. I could have pushed on a bit more, but why? I looked at the time that I could use as break and decided on a split shift sleep. I would sleep, do stuff, sleep. that worked for me because I have been feeling a bit under the weather, physically and emotionally. I could use intentional sleep. So away we go. I got five hours of sleep, then got up and put my shoulder to the wheel. I got my final paper done for Ethics, got my discussion groups done, and double checked everything. That class is done now. I can concentrate on the next, boring one. I got email caught up, cleared out some old mentee information, and got the blogs updated. I set up the August blog and did my French. I got my art lessons and photoshop lessons done, and then, just for good measure, did an anti-hacking course over at E-hacking. So I am counting it as time well spent.

Before Morpheus

Okay, if Morpheus is not your thing, we can use Hypnos, but I like Morpheus. Anyway, before I slipped off to sleep, I got out my day planner and set up August, and I pulled all my creative works and put them in a bundle (digitally of course) with The Awakening on top. I just don't give those ladies enough love right now, so I am going to fix that on my upcoming break. If I keep writing at this pace, that story will be done about 200 years after I am in the ground. So I am roaring to go on it. I did change the batteries on my voice recorder, duh, I have been doing all kinds of dictating while I am driving and the batteries have been dead for at least three days. And dumb dumb that I am, I have gotten so used to recording while I drive, transcribing on break, that I have not even checked the damn thing. Grrr. Luckily, not a lot has been put on there that matters in the past few days. Oye.

The Looming Break

When I drop this load at International Paper tomorrow, I will be down to about eight hours left on my 70 hour clock. I do not pick up any more time until seven hours on Tuesday. So there is a good chance I will be doing the break thing near St. Louis. We shall see. But I am going to do my best to take advantage of the downtime. I have a lot on my list that I want to get done. And now, I have written it down in my day planner, so it is checkboxes. Gods help me.

Some Extra Time

I got a split sleep on purpose last night and it worked out pretty well. I got a lot done, took a four hour nap, for a total of eight hours, and then I was on down the road. I dealt with the hell dock and then headed to the Love's in New Baden, IL for an extended break because of my 70 hour, hours of service limitations and a delayed pickup for tomorrow morning at 1100am. I was ready for a 34-hour reset, but that is not in the stars right now. So I settled in, got a super expensive salad ($7.06) and ate the last of my Barbeque. Not a terrible dinner. I have been feeling very volatile lately, so I figured I would eat, put on a movie with explosions and relax before I knocked a few things out. I found out that Hulu is now carrying Natural Born Killers. It is a movie that no one that I know likes, so that went on in the background. It did a pretty good job at dispelling the inner bang bang and pacified the grumpy cat for now. I really dislike that movie, but it was just what I needed. Since there is no real storyline and A Clockwork Orange is not available, it fit the bill.

Into the night

So, what to do with the rest of my time? Not really a hard choice. I tightened up the blogs, as you can see here and will see tomorrow, got my monthly stuff like capturing my map locations from July for the top of the August page, adjusting my TV to play YouTube properly, fleshing out the new course and a whole bunch of other stuff. Most of that, you will see in the monthly state of ME thing tomorrow. At least I am not wasting the downtime by brooding. Yeah for me.