PhotoCredit:Christopher Klein

Traveling South

So, the last couple days have been spent avoiding the blizzard in the North East. Sadly, this means that I had to head all the way down the coast of Florida, close to Miami. The trees that you see above, are proof of that trek. And the two pictures of the Grackles, come from Southern Georgia. They are really pretty birds and they have been singing to me since I stopped here a couple of hours ago. I have a little extra time before I have to sleep, then I have to make a 4:00am live-unload near Savannah Georgia. Then it is off to goals unknown. My Variant app keeps changing.

Education Ho!

There is an interesting development in my Project management course. I was looking over the six assignments and found that three of the written papers have word-count limitations on them. The limits are 900-1200 words. I E-mailed Professor Romano about this, and that is the proper requirement. I can barely say hello in 900 words, so it is going to be a challenge to meet this criteria. The plus side of that is that my papers usually take about six hours each, and they are close to ten pages. This means that I should be able to write each of these papers in under an hour. Go me!

A Musing

This entry is short because I am tired. I am feeling a bit down lately, but much of it may have to do with exercise and meditation. Yesterday, I walked 3.4 miles round trip to a Wal-mart to restock my fresh and frozen items. This was a lot harder than I remember. There were times when I could quick-walk or even jog with a 50-pound pack on my back, wearing boots. I am pretty sure that if I tried that today, I would be an ex-Chris. Lesson learned. But I have lots of yummy foods now and I get to get some extra rest today, not to mention catch up on email and a few other things. Woo hoo.

PhotoCredit: Christopher Klein

I don’t know what it is about an industrial site in the dark, but I don’t find it creepy, I find it interesting and intriguing. These pictures are of a waste recycling plant in Georgia that takes used cardboard and reprocesses it into fine paper. The only thing bad about a delivery like this is the aroma of the site. It sticks to everything. It is not bad, just there. And it penetrates into clothing, even into the inside of the truck. I will smell the site for days.

The Variant Adventure Continues

Okay, because I point many drivers to this blog, I want to make some things clear. Yes, I am an Ambassador for Variant, and I do sing their praises, because for the most part, Operations does take care of the drivers. This is unique in the industry, from what I have seen. Fleet management and operations listen to the drivers. This is important. Because Variant is a logistics company, there are times when things simply do not go right. The past two weeks have been one of those times. The miles just weren’t there. I have been stuck in what I like to call the Eastern Triangle. This is an area between Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. I get 500 mile runs with long lead times, and spend a lot of time sitting in my rear end. Today, I am heading into Georgia, but I have an early morning pickup that is heading out to Los Angeles, so that fixes the problem. At least for now. The big thing is that the drivers tend to jump on Facebook or other media and complain there. That is not what should happen. When I get stuck in this pattern, I jump on Fresh Chat and let Fleet know that I am in the Triangle, and they do their best to break me out of it. Sometimes it takes a while because the computer (optimizer) loves to push you right back into the same pattern. The point is, if you come over to Variant, and find your miles slipping, say something to those that can fix it.

Project Management

The new course is in full swing now. The syllabus looks surprisingly easy, but it is not. The instructor sticks to some serious rules about post and assignment word counts. This makes my normal pontification, that usually keeps me in my 4.0 grade average, moot. But I have adjusted so far. I am rocking a 100 across the board right now, but I really have to pay attention. These are graduate classes and I am not in the courses with newbies that don’t know what they are doing. For the most part, my classmates are highly educated and at the end of these educational journey. I find them all interesting and well learned. It is a pleasant change from those that don’t really know what they are doing yet. I only have about three more courses to go and then I have my Master’s degree in Business Organization. I am not sure where I go from there, but that is the end of one journey, and the start of another.

Westward Ho

I am a little bit over a month from the Vacation and evaluation of Colorado. I am starting to get excited about the trip. Even with the Pandemic in full swing, it looks like we will be able to pull this off. It is going to be a very tight trip, but once we are back, we will have a better idea of if Colorado is a viable option, and then we can go from there. I have a feeling that after March, things are going to move fast. But we shall see. Laura is on top of things, bringing together lists of things that we have to get done and planning an itinerary for the trip. Fingers crossed.

The creative front

PhotoCredit:Christopher Klein

Ahh the Differences

There is no doubt that Laura and I have a lot of things where we have different tastes. One of those is photography and imaging. I love the big view. A mountain range, or a lake, a frothing sea, or an open sky. Those are my domains. But when it comes to Laura, she loves the intricate views of the world. The close-up view of something that shows the great detail, the colors, the intricacies that make the world a wonderful place. To that end, while traveling through Arizona, I set down in a rest area and took a walk in the desert. I took quite a few pictures that I will handle later, but I offer these two to her, and to you, my wonderful followers. I hope you enjoy them.

The Variant Way

I love the run to California. It is long, it is calm for the most part, and it means that I can usually sit back and just drive. And that is what we, as drivers, like to do. Drive! It is when you reach your destination in logistics and dealing with the Golden Coast, that things get, well, interesting. Even with the onslaught of cold, the run was easy. I did not realize exactly how treacherous the roads were until I was well past the problem. I hit the California state line, and then the fun began. I got pulled in for a safety inspection, but I passed it with no problems because I do excellent pre-trips before I move. The real problems came at the receiver. I managed to sweet talk an empty trailer out of the yard, and then waited patiently. No new dispatch. I wandered over to the Fontana yard and managed to find legal street parking. Then I was told that there was no pre-plan and I should run out my 34-hour break. Not the best answer, but I took the down time, and here I sit, waiting.

Update before I uploaded this. I finally got a run out of Proctor and Gamble. Easy pickup, new trailer. But then things got evil. According to DriverTech, my nearest CAT scale was in Coachella, CA. Normally, that would not be a big deal, even if there were issues, except it is 60 miles away and past the California Safety Inspection station. I weighted at Love's, and got upset. Almost 5000 pounds over on the drives. Nothing at all that I can do about it. I talked to Scott in Fleet, and it something we will have to deal with in the morning. They are probably going to have to send a crew to adjust the load. So down for the night. More wasted time.

The State of the Nation

Trigger Warning: Political Commentary
I have been avoiding the news lately, because with all that is going on in the world, the news remains focused on Donald J. Trump. He is not like Hitler. He is more akin to herpes. He just won’t go away. This week, he was acquitted by about 43 traitors to the Constitution to the United States of America. Even though five people died and more than 140 were injured in an insurrection called for by him, they found him innocent. I can’t help but wonder how much it costs to purchase a Senator now days? But of course, it is possible that they were not bought, they could simply be cowards, afraid of their lord and master.
But that is not the biggest problem. Battle lines are being drawn, and I feel that we are seeing the demise of the Republican party. Even those that follow blindly, now see that they can not be trusted to uphold the rule of law. This is a dangerous precedent because it is setting the tone for the future. As long as you are willing to lie, cheat, steal and speak with a loud voice, you can be in control of the masses, and they will follow you blindly, even as they die for you. So, he is not Hitler. He is more like Jim Jones or Charles Manson. END OF RANT

Me, the education, and stuff

I am feeling a lot better than I did last week. My stomach was doing the tossing and turning and I had a headache for a while. But my o2 level and temperature were stable, so no CoVid. Yeah. But like I said, feeling a lot better now. I did get through week one of school, and into week two and so far, so good. We shall see how things develop.

PhotoCredit: Christopher Klein

During my stop in Arizona, I came across this plant. It looked like white sage and smelled like white sage. This is interesting because it is a high-value item in the pagan world and seems to grow in abundance in the area, in the wild. I wonder if it grows in Colorado.

A Hiccup in the journey

So, I am sitting in California. It has not been the best 72 hours. But I am trying to remain calm and focused. I want to point out that this is typical, but not normal. I was loaded at a shipper, and in their haste, they made a mistake. They loaded the front of the trailer too heavy, and this would normally not be an issue. Under normal circumstances, I would return to the shipper, they would unload and reload the trailer properly. But there is a bit of a problem. Between me and the shipper is one of the most strict weight and inspection stations in the country. If I knowingly cross that scale overweight, even on an axel, it could put my license in jeopardy, or at the very least, lead to one hell of a fine. So I am not moving. I am waiting for a resolution from Fleet management, and they are doing their best, but because I am in Coachella, CA., this causes some logistical issues in finding a team to rework the trailer.

The Advantage

One good thing about my situation is that a large portion of the country is covered in ice. Being in California, I am not in the middle of the eternal skating rink. So that is something. I did not really use my time well yesterday, but I am doing better today already. I have completed a project that is over two years old, going through my Firefox bookmarks, verifying accounts and passwords, and making sure that sites that I have used are still in operation. That clean-up project is well overdue, and now it is done. If I have to sit here for a long time today, it is time to organize and prioritize my writing and some other projects. I did delete the OLD trucker log on Wordpress, and my personal journal on LiveJournal. I saved off all the information so that I can get it entered into the pre-designed matrix here. But that is another project

It’s a School thing

I am fully caught up with school as of today and even a bit ahead. The only things that I have left for this week is getting a small assignment completed, which requires me to set up a 30 day trial on a website and enter some information. That should be easy but I want to wait until the end of the week because of the limited trail. If I continue to have extra time, I am going to use my accounts at Zenva, Udemy or Coursea to get a few more things in the old brain.

No picture today

I have been playing in the ice and snow for a few days, and though I do have a picture or two on the camera, I don’t have a whole lot of time this morning. I am sitting in Kansas City KS right now, waiting to go pick up in Johnson City MO, headed toward Delaware. Fun times. But it is bitter cold and has been for a few days since I hit Dallas. And it was a sheet of ice in Texas for the most part.

A new feature

I had a lot of time without internet while I was sitting in docks, so I had some time to play with the background design of the journey. I have added a rant box, when you see the orange, those are things that the more sensitive people may just want to skip over. So watch for them. And to give you an example, let’s talk about Ted. Not a Ted Talk, but Texas Ted.

A school update

Right now, the school is giving people a lot of rope due to the cold conditions across the United States. My professor is without power and water, and so are many of my classmates. I was able to finish up this week this morning, and I am working on my postings for next week. I am one of the lucky ones. As long as I keep rolling, I should be just starting my next course when we all go on vacation next month. I am really looking forward to it.

What’s going on with Variant?

I am in St. Joseph MO. About to head out to Delaware. Fun times. I will be back on the East Coast. That may be good or bad, only time will tell. I am getting decent miles after the past few weeks of problems, but I am very close to needing a 34-hour break. And then I am going to need preventative services shortly, I am almost to 60,000 miles. So I will have to route through a service center soon. But for now, I am rolling the miles and enjoying some normality.

PhotoCredit: Christopher Klein

The World is cold

Above, you will find a picture of an accident from my travels. According to the local news, a car cut off a big rig, and the professional driver turned the wheel hard to avoid hitting them. This is what happens when a professional driver is willing to sacrifice his livelihood to prevent harm to someone that just isn’t paying attention to the world around them. Please give the big-rigs a bit of extra room. Your life is not worth it.

Traveling in the Snow and Ice

For the past week, I have traveled from California, to Dallas TX, to Kansas City and then into Delaware. It has been a mind-wracking trip. Going from the heat of California, into the coldest winter in a long time, has been a test of patience. The roads are ice-covered and snow covered, there is limited parking, and much of the areas in which I am traveling have been under boil water requirements, or simply not had power. But things are looking up. This morning, it is much warming than it has been lately, and I am on a 34-hour break in Elkton MD. Before heading out to Vandalia Ohio. Things are looking up.

The Variant Thing

This has been a good work week. 3100 miles to round out the pay-week and a reset just before the new week starts. Things are looking up. The snow and ice has caused a lot of shippers to cancel loads, and everyone has been a bit frustrated. But with the spring thaw coming, things should improve. I think that I have been out too long though, it is getting harder and harder to maintain my perky and positive attitude. It will be good to get home, get the Colorado trip underway, and begin, hopefully, the next chapter of our lives.

PhotoCredit: Christopher Klein

Thank the Wife for Truck Coffee - without it, the past two days would have been rough. I know it is a reused picture, but it fits so well.

And again into the forge...

Sleep is a fleeting thing sometimes, when you are on the road. I had to take a DOT required break for 34 hours in Elkton, MD. and it was not a fun break. I stopped in the Flying J, just outside of Elkton, in Elk Mills. This place is a bit of a nightmare. The parking is very tight. I saw a handful of "bump" accidents as drivers tried to get into the tight, spaces, all on an angle. The first day, the snow and ice was still on the ground, but by the second day, that was gone. It did not help. On my final night, last night, I was able to sleep, but woke up with only a few minutes to spare before I had to get into motion. I was headed into Purina in Allentown, PA. A rough site because the directions are wrong. If you miss the turn, which I did, you have to go five miles before you have a chance to turn around. I still made it in on time, but barely. And this is one slow dock.

Oh look! A Trigger.

Since I did not have internet for the past two days, I used a lot of time for reflection. And I have come to a conclusion. Much of the population of the United States, and by abstraction, the world, have no butt holes. I mean that they have become so anal retentive when it comes to what will set them off, that their butt holes have completly closed up and no longer exist. But I am sure that is a trigger to someone.
Consider who is getting upset. This is the generation that would sit and watch Tom chase Jerry all over the place with murderous intent. Wile E. Coyote devised horrible plans to commit road-runner-acide, and Batman and Superman were always slapping around those that offended them in one way or another. Harley Quinn, a psychological basket case, was in an unhealthy relationship with her abusive beau (which was recreated recently to show the origins of this relationship) and a cross-dressing rabbit of questionable sexuality would kiss everyone to make his escape. This was our childhood - and we turned out fine. As we aged, the beligerant Eric Cartman would degrade everyone from the Jews and Blacks, to the Catholics and his own, admitted, crack-whore slut mother. The Simpsons showed us that being bad could be good, Family guy showed us that losing your virginity on Saturday Night Live could be cool, and American Dad taught us that it is okay to lie (about the alien in your attic) as long as you are a red-blooded, queer hating Republican. We won't even discuss things like Futurama, Brickleberry or other offensive, adult oriented, cartoons. This thought does not even touch on things like "The Conners", Saturday Night Live, The True Housewives of (enter city here) or Duck Dynasty. How could people that immerse themselves in such mind-numming fodder, ever be offended by anything? And yet here we are. Something is not right...
The most recent trigger warning is on the Muppet Show. This is outlandish. We are talking about Disney here. A company that purchased the rights to "Rocky Horror Picture Show" making Frank-n-futer a Disney princess. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that you should not get offended now and then. There are many offensive things in the world today. The problem is that when people do get offended, they must take to the airwaves and make sure that everyone is as offended as they are. And if people will not get offended, then the originator is even more offended because people cannot see their point of view about the offense. It turns into a cause. Then a war. So, leave the Muppets alone. Leave the movie "Grease" alone (seriously, they want to either BAN the movie or seriously edit it to remove the "rapey" references".) Understand that NEMO lost his mom and siblings, Bambi lost his/her mom and Abselem was a drug addict - as was Alice. Prince charming kissed Snow without her permission, and she lived with seven dudes out of wedlock (Hi HO!) and the only reason that the princess belived that she found her prince through beastiality, kissing frogs, is because those frogs where psychedelic and she was stoned. Admit that Hansel and Gretle were murderers, and GoldyLocks was guilty of Breaking and Entering. It is all perspective.

And now for something different

Not really, but if you read through that last section, you may think that I have lost my mind. Nope, I didn't. I just heard about the trigger warnings on the Muppets and the movie banning for Grease and it .. well... triggered me. I am looking forward to setting down this evening in the Springfield terminal and maybe grabbing a free shower and going from there. I have some school to do, but I am ahead right now, instead of behind, and the Colorado trip is only about sixteen days away. I am working on Ancient Pathway, and that is a long process. I hit a bit of writers block dealing with the religious pages, but I think that I am past that now. And Osparia is doing well. She just seduced Lilith and they are having a grand old time while Adam settles in with his new love, Eve. I wonder if Adam will regret his decisions when the apple incident comes to bare and he realizes that having a strong woman like Lilith around, when the garden is barred to them, could be helpful? Time will tell.