PhotoCredit: Unknown

Welcome to the new Journey of Christopher Klein. I am down in Dwight, IL. right now, and I had a little extra time before I head out. So I used this time to complete the Triumph Media website, or at least complete a big portion of it. Part of that is re-doing the journey. Now I can get back to regular posting of updates, pictures and other interesting things. Thank you for stopping by, and I hope that you will walk with me on this path. I will be adding the archieves as time permits. I have not run anything on the site through grammar and spell checking, but I will get to it. I also have to move the previous entries from Wordpress and LiveJournal. Then I have the task of going through my previous journals, written works and such, and getting them in place.

I hope that you enjoy what I put here. I intend to do a lot more posting, and get the back stuff up and running as well. For now, I am off to Georgia to see what wonders the Peach State have in store for me.

PhotoCredit: Christopher Klein

If you take a close look at the picture above, you will see little dots near the corner of the Maersk trailer. Yep, those are bees. They filled the entire area during a traffic jam coming out of Georgia and heading North. There were several Maersk trailers and all of them were infested. It was amazing actually, the sky was filled with them. They were honey bees. Maybe the population is coming back? I hope they find a nice home.

Anyway. Welcome back. It has been one hell of a week since my list posting. I am quickly coming up on my birthday, this Friday, the 18th and it strikes me that I am supposed to retire. At least that is what they told me when I was very young and back in school. You get out of school, get a job, work hard for a few decades, and then you get to retire when you turn 55. I don't think that is going to happen. But there are still a few days to go. Ain't that special?

Right now, I am just finishing up my 34 hour break in Dayton OH. It was a really bad week last week. I got stuck in docks, had to get towed from the side of the highway because I rand out of hours, and I was appointed an "ambassador" for Variant. Don't get too impressed, it is just an over-the-road recruiter, but I may be able to make it work. There is talk of a new Gray Variant truck, but we shall see. They are still getting the program together, so there is a lot of juggling going on.

Last night, once I finished school, I watched the controversial movie "Cuties", mostly because quite a few friends of mine have asked me to watch it and condemn it. Actually, they just told me that I should sign their petitions or speak out against it, they said nothing about watching it. After watching it, I don't think that they have watched it. The movie is in French with English subtitles and it is suggestive, but not the all that horror that is being spoken about on social media. The movie quality and storyline sucks. But the underlying story is good. I cannot condemn it, and I said so on social media. I lost 21 friends overnight. Isn't that special?

I am hoping for a good set of runs this week and I am starting out by heading down to North Carolina. Where I go from there is up to the great and powerful trucking gods. Time will tell. But I am hoping for West coast for a bit. I am about two weeks from home time and a nice coast to coast would run that out nicely.

I almost forgot. School! This class in Human Resource Management is killer. I am halfway through it and it is rough. I am still carrying a 94% or so, but it is a struggle.

PhotoCredit: Christopher Klein

Today is my birthday, and this is the day, many moons ago, that I dreamed of retiring. I was told that if I worked hard and lived a fulfilling work life, that when I turned 55 years old I would have a million dollars and a puppy. I checked this morning, no million dollars, and I prefer cats. Oh well. But nothing stops the movement of time. Right?

It has been another hell week. But I am pretty sure that things are coming together now. I have been stuck at dock after dock for more than a week, 2 hours here, 4 hours there, and it has been adding up. Yesterday, I showed up at Walmart in Louisiana, only to be turned away because I was four hours early. When I finally got into the dock, waiting another 2 hours, the issue was resolved when I talked to Fleet and explained what has been going on. Now, instead of a 500 mile run today, I start out on a 1300 mile run to Frankfort New York. That is a bit better. I may even have a chance to pop through Tunnel Hill today, or set down there this evening for my break. But it will be after hours. Oh well, maybe next time through.

School is kicking my butt. This Human Resource management course is killer. But I am enjoying it. I got a big surprise last night when I received an 8 out of 8 on my latest assignment. Professor Bates is a hard educator. She does an excellent job of tearing you down, but explains exactly why she is doing it, and tells you how to improve. I admire her. I never expected that high of a score from her. I guess it just shows that you can never tell what is going to happen.

There is no picture today. Sorry for that. This is not because I don't have any, it is because I am running against the clock this morning and don't have time to edit one down. So it has been a big week. First of all, of course, last week was my birthday. The old 55, and that officially makes me a senior citizen. I get discounts and respect. Okay, maybe I just get discounts. But that is okay. I can deal. I did not have to deal with my annual deep blue funk, but through meditation and reflection, I have identified the reason that I have issues around my birthday. I will share that with you soon, but not today.

As I think that I have said, I am not an Ambassador for Variant. Right now, if I put that together with $5.25, it gets me a Mocha at Starbucks. But I still see it as the potential for positive. and to bolster my confidence and perhaps get me a few recruits, Rebecca has said she is going to do a short promotional video for the Variat drivers, thanking me and them for our service in this time of crisis. Oye. You would think we are at war, the way people talk.

I am not going to go political, at least not yet. But Ruth Ginsburg passed away. This is not going to bode well for the country, I can see it already. I am in WATCH and see mode right now with a lot of things. I am due for hometime in about 9 days, and I am headed out to Kansas tomorrow. So things may be looking up.

Turn to face the strange changes. No, wait, this is not an old song. This is reality. I am down for about 22 hours in North Carolina while I wait to pick up a truckload of Hair. Yep, hair. I don't know where it came from or what is going to be done with it, but there it is. Although, there are a lot of bald cats. Hmm.

Okay, so I had all this time on my hands. I have completed my work on the new Triumph Media. If you link to this page specifically, or even the journal page, you may want to hit the main page and see the articles. The only thing that I have left to build is the gallery, then it is just what happens from day to day. I am excited.

You may ask why I wasn't working on school since I am in such a rough course right now. Well, yesterday, I sat down, dug in and got everything done for the week except my test. I will do that when I take 34 down in a couple of days. In the morning, I head out to Kansas, and when I get there, I will be fully out of driving and working time. It will be time to relax. And then, in just over a week, I get HOMETIME. Woo hoo.

PhotoCredit: Artist Unknown: Public Stock

There is so much going on in the world today, and things are moving so fast, that we no longer appear to have time to stop and smell the rosees. Okay, that was a bit cliche', but I think you get my meaning. We, as the human race, are being kept on the edge of our seats by everything from politics to science. There is never a moment to sit back and breathe. And I think that it is beginning to take its' toll on the world. I can feel it from people around me, they are wound tight like springs in a clock, and that can never be good. We need to relax. And I mean that singular, and world-wide.

On the personal and professional side of things, I am down for a bit in Obetz OH in a little dinky Love's that is off the beaten track. I am rolling on recapp right now, so it is run and sit run and sit. But right now, it is working out. The Love's here is a bit tiny, but it does have a Hardee's, Chesters and Godfather Pizza. The showers are hot hot hot, but it has Ohio water. I always forget about that when I am in the area. The water is "soft" and leaves a bit of a residue. You never get that squeaky clean. This is something that we may have to deal with in Colorado, because I am pretty sure it has to do with well-water and water softeners.
The ole blood pressure and blood sugar are doing well, and I am getting a lot more sleep than I should, as well as exercise and meditation. I am about to break into my last week of Strategic Human Resource Management and right now, I am rocking a 96+. I still have an exam to take, so that could change. All in all, considering that hometime is only 4 days away, things are going very well. I am ignoring the political situation, even though I can see the trends and the ripples. I will start paying attention in October to see what kind of rabbits people try to pull out of their butts.

I am trying to figure out restocking of the truck. I was hoping that my Variant truck would be forthcoming, but it does not look like that is going to happen. I am headed out of here at noon, headed toward St. Louis, and whatever adverture that brings. But I am thinking that I want to go heavy on Stuffing this time. I really enjoyed that. I have to triple up on my pepperoni and cheese, and need cereal. I ran out fast, and it is very expensive in the truck stops. Of course, I need my chili and corned beef hash. But I am good on tuna. I want to check out the price of canned salmon and such, to mix in with the stuffing. I can make it into patties and toss it on a bun with some brown mustard. Yummy. I want to make sure I bring at least 5 hot sausage links and some rolls. That was good the first week out. And I need Ramen. But I have to come up with something other than the canned soups and all. They get old fast. I did find that by removing the liquids and putting the solids over potatoes, that works out well. So that is something. I also do not want to replenish my ravioli, that got old fast. But I am still into the lasagna. Things to consider.