Archive for August, 2010

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Comments Off on Just a bit crispy

Just a bit crispy


2010
08.29

Posted in Dammit, life, work | Comments Off on Just a bit crispy

Been working all week and this one will see me w/ NO days off. Ack! We’re short a driver and a half and we had better hire someone this week. I know I have to be somewhere next Sunday and Kent will be setting up for it on Friday.

Yuck

Been feeling a bit sickly, don’t know what it is. Head kinda pressurized and dizzy. Hope gets better. Tired of feeling old. I think a lot of it comes from not having enough time off or vacation… I NEED vacation. No calls at 2AM… “This is Thelma…”

Road Trip

Gotta get up in the AM to go down to Jessup… 2 hours that trip is. Oh well, could be worse and I AM going to the boat tomorrow. It seems the WestMarine I was going to has closed and i have to dick about finding a different one.  @^$%@*$(($)()_@@@)&*@^^#!!!! Corporate Wankers…

Auch

My brother Mike is hurting right now…. maybe think of him and wish him luck. Life can be fucked up!!!

Ende!

Comments Off on It ain’t really the weekend…

It ain’t really the weekend…


2010
08.28

Posted in MD, my_boat, Pick up truck, sailing, trucking, work | Comments Off on It ain’t really the weekend…

…for us that have to work it. And this week, I won’t get ANY days off. Due to driver shortage, I am working both Saturday AND Sunday… did that last weekend and ended up not having to go to Jessup on Monday… this week, I have to go down there. Oh well, I’ll make it a day… our Head of Maintenance is going to have the mechs put the starter on my pickup!! Cool! I am a bit tired of playing roulette as to whether it will start. When it doesn’t, I have to get out w/ the big screwdriver Kriss loaned me and short across the solenoid–it always shits when there’s a lot of people around watching >:-(

Also, he said I can use their pressure washer, so that will be cool. I want to see if I can get some of the crap off the frame and especially clean up engine area from power steering leak that was there for years before I bought it.

Before bottom was scraped. Needs cleaning and paint now... Wanna donate a gallon of bottom paint?

To the Boat!

I am going to go over and see if I can unbolt the port side forward lifeline stanchion and seal under it w/ 3M 4200… I am told this will help. That and I am going to seal around the main hatch too. That will make it drier. It’s been leaking BAD around that stanchion… I KNOW the deck is all f-ed up there. Gonna suck shit out the butts of monkeys to fix that–I am NOT a woodworking person and it will take that. Removing the decking from below so as not to mess up deck above, then epoxying new in. I know the how’s, but am not really good at this kind of shit 🙁 Maybe I can delay it a bit. Am hoping to find a trailer to bring it home during Winter and find somewhere around here to work on her… Edgemere’s WAY too far for working on it–TWO HOURS, 20 mins. Anyway, one thing at a time.

Need bottom paint and some new lines. Working on getting lines. Then a new battery… So close I can taste it… I want to go sailing. I will have major male PMS if I can’t use her some this year.

And the OBLIGATORY Marsh political message…

Found this for Jim’s blog… I like it. Wish I had it as a T-Shirt:

I do, actually!

Comments Off on Another blog in the making…

Another blog in the making…


2010
08.27

Posted in memorial_day | Comments Off on Another blog in the making…

Well, not mine, my little brother Jim. He’s over at www.tiki-jim.com and will, I am sure, be soon spewing out his own brand of wisdom… Sometimes he’s very politically astute–this hidden under all the bondo dust and grumpiness.

Comments Off on And another dilhole!

And another dilhole!


2010
08.26

Posted in Dirtbags, lazy shitheads, life politics truck stop life, Scumbags, trucking, Ungrateful assholes, work | Comments Off on And another dilhole!

So I get a text from a driver awhile ago (this has not been a good night) and he says something like “Im not drv n dis trk tomro Dnt even thnk bout it. Service my trk friday.” Seriously, that was it. I think I unnerved him w/ my sudden explosion and copious and sustained use of the F-Bomb. That and my musings about wanting to beat the shit out of someone w/ a blunt instrument and mentioning it to the big boss. WTF?! And they wonder WHY I am stressed out. And to think, I WORRY about these guys. I worry about their runs, I worry that they’ll do something dumb and get fired (highly likely). I worry that they won’t have their normal truck that they work their asses off to keep clean and decent. Why do I do this??? I DO NOT KNOW. 🙁

Some of the truck nastiness

Nasty

Nasty crap on the floor of truck 7431

And some damage (these are just representitive shots mind you)

Niiiceeee

Niiiccccceeee....

I know, maybe I am overreacting, but EVERY TIME we get a truck from somewhere else (mainly NJ, NY or Fremont) they are MESSED UP. Ask Kent, he will tell you. DIRTY and in a way my boss would go nuts over. And damage… I mean stuff that SHOULD have been fixed (and NO, I don’t mean safety stuff you ambulance-chasin’ scumbag, not at ALL). Alternators, A/C, seats wasted, needing windows, just tons of work. Hell, what are we, the Resto-Terminal??? This ain’t rocket science! My boss is a pretty good guy. These things aren’t hard fixes… it just pisses me off. AND NO, I am NOT perfect. Not by a long shot, but I try. Why do my drivers always have to ask me “Why do you make all our trucks only go 65, when EVERY truck we get form some other area goes like 72+ MPH??” I can only say “We follow the rules. They aren’t supposed to do that.” And ya know, I turn them down. How hard is it? Especially in today’s trucking climate. We need to lose the cowboys in my profession.

Comments Off on Some people are just bastards

Some people are just bastards


2010
08.25

Posted in Bad Drivers, ignorant shitheads, life, life politics truck stop life, trucking, work | Comments Off on Some people are just bastards

Why do I say that? Well, I had a driver recently quit–okay, fine, he’s got a better job… we’re happy for him! His replacement… that’s harder, but discounting all of last weekend’s unpleasantness, I thought we had this covered.  I had been talking to another driver who was on layoff (his request… I wonder if the unemployment people would like that knowledge) and he was going to come back to work. He’s worked on and off here since 2006… of course, he always quits right before he gets his 2 weeks vacation (don’t ask me why… if he stayed, he’d get it). Anyway, we got him a drug test. We ran a new DAC. This stuff costs MONEY people… Anyway, everything is ready… No problems. I call him today to touch base and he asks me “What did you plan for me to run?” and I told him. Boom! He tells me “I ain’t gonna do it.” “Whuuut?” says I? Seems he has talked to unemployment as to whether we can call him back to drive that far–the distance he was already driving EACH time we hired him!?! WTF? Sure would have been nice if he told me BEFORE we wasted all this money on his ass. And then he tells me he thinks he has a job. Well ain’t that fuckin’ nice… when were ya gonna call me? Tomorrow night when the run was due to go out? And really, I think of all the shit I did for him. He was stuck in a Schneider truck getting MAYBE $300. a week when I told him we needed a driver and he could come back. And to think, I thought of this guy as kind of a friend. My boss Paul told me “You can bend over backwards to help these guys and they will turn around and FUCK YOU!” and you know what… it’s TRUE. Well, I will say this: He will NEVER work here again, even when we again get runs down by where he lives. NEVER!!! Not eligible for rehire! says his record.

What to Do?

It just disgusts me. Don’t know what I’ll do for Saturday… had to have some other drivers cover for this and because he was here (and was “dependable”) I let drivers go on vacation. Nice, now we’re WAY shorthanded. I need 1½ drivers RIGHT NOW. And there really aren’t any. Good drivers are getting harder to find every day and guys we hired a couple years ago are totally unsuitable today. Oh well, we’ll figure it out, but these douche-bags will NOT be coming back. If I have my way, they will be blackballed from Mail Hauling. Hell, I want to be the one to write their DAC reports and will ask for this privilege.

Something dumb, this way comes

Two somethings actually… the day was already going bad because the NY shop let some guys take one of our trucks. Now, I am sure you will say “Well, aren’t they all company trucks?” Well yes, they are… but some of the other terminals don’t actually keep their trucks clean or in decent order. I just spent $4000. since June on that tractor to fix it. AND when we got it, it had all the stuff stripped out and was SOOO dirty. Like someone had spilled a soda or 3 on the floor, then dumped junkyard dirt all over the floor and ground it in. It took a hose to get it out and weeks of work. The dash and such took ME two hours to clean it up it was so encrusted. It’s Kent’s truck, so I hate to think what will happen when it comes back… AND, the truck they gave us for that one while they worked on it… DIRTIER EVEN YET (my driver had to scrub the floor for 25 mins before he would even drive it… dirt, scum, bird feathers… disgusting!) and it had been all scraped up — it used to be one of our trucks here, but it was let go and it is just so heartbreaking to see it now. Used to be in such great shape. I don’t know why the other areas can’t have their drivers keep the trucks up… it’s not like the company doesn’t tel everyone to get them washed–it doesn’t cost drivers. What dirtbag would want to drive a dirty, smelly truck??? I guess that says it all. And before someone asks, no, my truck isn’t all sparkly, but it is clean inside. Our stuff runs (even w/ 1,950,000+ miles on it) and is maintained.

The other dumb thing was one of my drivers mentioned that the guys he meet never have DVIR books or the trucks they switch out w/ don’t have them… “WHY?” asketh I… because they tell him “We all keep our own books.” WTF? What a frigging DUMBSHIT! You leave the book in the truck so drivers who come after you can know of any problems and whether they’ve been fixed.

No wonder the boss goes nuts about things. This is NOT rocket science. It ain’t. These yahoos embarrass me to be a driver. Are there any good drivers out there? Do you have a CLEAN Class A CDL? Want a good paying job? Let me know.

Comments Off on On a good note

On a good note


2010
08.21

Posted in Navy | Comments Off on On a good note

So, I had an old Kamerad from my time in the Amerikanische Kriegsmarine contact me through FB today 🙂 Kewl, been looking for him for 20+ years! Ain’t the Internet grand!

Anyway, it was a good chat and I hope they’ll be more–Hell he is into sailing!! I remember him and I taking a Sunfish out in Key West (The Navy rented them for like $2. an hour) and I remember us sailing around and damn near dumping our asses in the water (but we didn’t). Ahhh, my youth.

Etc.

Time to go to sleep… I’m fried and I have a nasty feeling I am going to have to run this run tomorrow night… I am about to just stop caring about drivers… as my boss told me “You can bend over backwards for them and they will turn around and try to fuck you!” and it’s SO true. I’ve met some good people, but also some shitbags. My, my old Navy attitude might be returning… Oh, the horror of it! FTN!

Ende

Comments Off on Just Peachy

Just Peachy


2010
08.20

Posted in Governmental Corruption, ignorant shitheads, life politics truck stop life, Politics, work | Comments Off on Just Peachy

So, I had a bunch of stuff planned this weekend. Part of this planning and need to do stuff was due to my check being delayed a little bit. Had it scheduled, but then, then it got worse. I had a driver give notice… it happens, I’m happy for him as he’s going back to his old job from a couple of years ago where he made good money, had weekends off and had benefits! 🙂 However, this left me (already about half a driver short) w/ needing a driver NOW! I had a back up though, ready to go, a guy I used to haul Mail w/ and someone already approved by the power-that-be. Alas, when I went to hire him, one of the office guys said “Oh, he had 2 tickets” Yeah, FIVE years ago… “Let’s let the insurance consultant look at it.” “Nope, could be a liability” and that was it. >:-o Lawyers and insurance companies are already destroying this nation, even worse than our “messiah” Barry Mugabe/Sotero/Obama…

Cool huh?! tickets from FIVE years ago plus — and I have seen it from things 9 years in the past keep someone from getting a job. “Wait, you’re saying… they can’t tell about you.” “Au contraire mon frere…” (excuse what is probably BAD French) they can, as there is a system called the “DAC Report” that is like a credit report for truck drivers and in which, former employers can post info about you, why you left, etc. AND it will show tickets from WAY past when the DMV removes it from your license.  Yes, I think it’s probably unconstitutional too, but they get away w/ it. Didn’t you ever really wonder why our country is in such bad shape? Why people are out of work and can’t get a job, yet many industries are crying for help… guess what, it is mainly due to two industries that our Nation is being brought to its knees… The insurance industry and trial attorneys are responsible for this; both industries should be taxed at 97% of profits and made to show transparency in their book keeping.

Why Stress is here

Anyway, we are bringing back one of our drivers who was on layoff — been working here on and off for almost 5 YEARS, but… his drug test results won’t be back until too late. Anyway, I had told one of my other drivers who runs this particular run I need his help. As we were talking, I heard his wife in the background saying “That ain’t gonna happen.” But he said he could probably do it. Of course, he tells me today he can’t. Nice, I wonder if she has a job to support them all??? IF I have to run it, blowing off all the plans and things I really need to do AND losing a day, there will be problems AND I have to work on Monday, one of my normal days off–the thrid one in a row. Hell, I even offered this guy Christmas or Thanksgiving off (yes Kinder, we work those…)… answer was “no. can’t.”  I asked him what she was going to say about him working the holidays and got silence. And he will be. Even if he stays here, his rotating schedule will have him working (I looked, I didn’t make it that way) Labor Day and Thanksgiving (we get the day AFTER the holiday off), so he will work the holiday, then layover in NJ for a day after. Monday holidays like Labor Day are especially egregious, as not only do they lay over their “normal” Monday layover, but the day after that… TWO days laying over in the truck. Anyway, I am sure he’ll quit or something soon.

More people to hire

Not that there are many out there. There is already a driver shortage, and that is about to be much worse too… w/ the new CSA 2010 program started by the  DOT and de Gubment, a HUGE amount of drivers (like 160,000+) will be losing their jobs… Just peachy. I am most discouraged and my chest hurts in that weird hollow way I have come to take notice of. I am sure that that will be cause for ME to lose my CDL and be unemployed. I think that’s what Barry wants.

Our Idiot Leaders at Work

I was also reading today about the movement afoot to redo the hours of service for truck drivers. Oh joy, EVERY time these MORONS mess w/ it, it gets worse. In 2003, they first changed them… Before this, you could only drive 10 hours a day and had to be off 8. So, if you got off work, you might (and I did for a long time w/ Matheson) have to be back at work 8 hours later. Oh JOY, I get off work, fuel the truck, get my shit, drive home (1-2 hours), try to eat and wind down. Take a “Clinton” go to bed. Hey, 3-4 hours sleep, get up, take shower, read e-mails. Drive to work. Then get truck, go to P.O. and get load. Drive to Delano (from Sacto) 4 hours. Layover in motel for 4 hours, then back. Repeat. Of course, under the old rules, you could “push” your hours of service (HOS) by going off duty. Worked real well for team drivers who drove 5 on and 5 off.

Anyway, after the change, we got 11 hours driving and 10 hours off 🙂 That helped. But… once you logged in, 14 hours later, you HAD to be done driving — not done working mind you, they could keep working you, you just couldn’t drive a commercial vehicle. Also, to reset your clock, you had to have 34 hours off duty as you can only work like 70 hours in 8 days. I forget, it gets SO confusing and dumb. Rules written by dumbasses who know NOTHING about the industry. By politicians whose opinions and knowledge are about as important and pertinent as a fart in a hurricane… Also, for teams, get this, now, instead of only having to drive 5 hours before rest, you HAD to now drive 10 hours… ack, my back screams at that. Neato huh?!?

So now, these dumb shits (including safety group shitheads, political appointees like our dumbass Sec. of Transportation Ray LaHood, etc.) want to go BACK to 10 hours driving and a 48 hour restart. I read that you will be able to “push” your HOS again though. Hey joy, more drivers w/ less time at home. And these idiots wonder why there are truck accidents–due to THEM. And I should mention…

Most accidents involving big trucks are caused by 4-wheelers (trucking term for an auto or pick up, etc.) — they are! If you ever rode in a truck you would be shocked at just HOW BAD most people are. Crazy. Stupid things. And think on this, if you own an RV, you don’t need a special test… hey, down the road you go… Next time you see a truck in an accident, don’t just assume it was his fault, because, chances are, it wasn’t.

I need to be done ranting now, my chest hurts, and I need to go try and relax. Ears ringing and all. Not good. G’nite for now… maybe I’ll write more later.

Ende

1 Comment

Obama, offending our friends more now than ever.


2010
08.15

Posted in A Tragedy, ignorant shitheads, life, loyalty and honor | 1 Comment »

Here’s something I missed earlier because the “real” news orgs wouldn’t dare to print something assholey that the “messiah” did.

Barack Obama sends bust of Winston Churchill on its way back to Britain

bust of Winston Churchill

Churchill bust in question

Barack Obama has sent Sir Winston Churchill packing and pulse rates soaring among anxious British diplomats.

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk

A bust of the former prime minister once voted the greatest Briton in history, which was loaned to George W Bush from the Government’s art collection after the September 11 attacks, has now been formally handed back.

The bronze by Sir Jacob Epstein, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds if it were ever sold on the open market, enjoyed pride of place in the Oval Office during President Bush’s tenure.

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk

But when British officials offered to let Mr Obama to hang onto the bust for a further four years, the White House said: “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Diplomats were at first reluctant to discuss the whereabouts of the Churchill bronze, after its ejection from the seat of American power. But the British Embassy in Washington has now confirmed that it sits in the palatial residence of ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald, just down the road from Vice President Joe Biden’s official residence. It is not clear whether the ambassador plans to keep it in Washington or send it back to London.

American politicians have made quoting Churchill, whose mother was American, something of an art form, but not Mr Obama, who prefers to cite the words and works of his hero Abraham Lincoln. Indeed a bust of Mr Lincoln now sits in the Oval Office where Epstein’s Churchill once ruled the roost.

Churchill has less happy connotations for Mr Obama than those American politicians who celebrate his wartime leadership. It was during Churchill’s second premiership that Britain suppressed Kenya’s Mau Mau rebellion. Among Kenyans allegedly tortured by the colonial regime included one Hussein Onyango Obama, the President’s grandfather.

The rejection of the bust has left some British officials nervously reading the runes to see how much influence the UK can wield with the new regime in Washington.

Now it is likely that Gordon Brown will offer a alternative symbol of Anglo-American fealty when he visits Washington to meet Mr Obama for the first time since he became President. Diplomats are still working to finalise a date for the visit which is expected in the final week of this month or early in March.

One suggestion, given Mr Obama’s interest in the Lincoln era, is that Mr Brown should offer an artefact relating to the career of John Bright, the 19th Century MP and political reformer who became the most prominent British supporter of Lincoln’s Union forces during the American Civil War.

A British Embassy spokesman said: “The bust of Sir Winston Churchill by Sir Jacob Epstein was uniquely lent to a foreign head of state, President George W Bush, from the Government Art Collection in the wake of 9/11 as a signal of the strong transatlantic relationship.

“It was lent for the first term of office of President Bush. When the President was elected for his second and final term, the loan was extended until January 2009.

“The new President has decided not to continue this loan and the bust has now been returned. It is on display at the Ambassador’s Residence.”

Obama just doesn’t get it… what a frigging embarrassment to our nation :’-(

Ende

Comments Off on Some Great Quotes from Proud American Citizens

Some Great Quotes from Proud American Citizens


2010
08.15

Posted in history, Politics | Comments Off on Some Great Quotes from Proud American Citizens

I found some good quotes earlier. Enough that I thought I’d post them. I notice no one is commenting, which means there must be something on TV…

Winston Churchill, a great AMERICAN Citizen!

Winston Churchill, a great AMERICAN Citizen!

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

~Winston Churchill


“To sit home, read one’s favorite paper, and scoff at the misdeeds of the men who do things is easy, but it is markedly ineffective. It is what evil men count upon the good men’s doing.”

~Theodore Roosevelt

“When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”

~Thomas Jefferson

“It isn’t that Liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”

~Ronald Reagan

“How do you tell a Communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.”

~Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan, the GREATEST President in our lifetime.

Ronald Reagan, the GREATEST President in our lifetime.

(BTW, before some dumbass whines at me, Winston Churchill was made an American Citizen after WWII, although he was also that by birth, his mother being an American)

Comments Off on Suddenly, such behaviour

Suddenly, such behaviour


2010
08.15

Posted in Governmental Corruption, life, Politics | Comments Off on Suddenly, such behaviour

I can remember a couple of years ago, the left was putting out all kinds of anti-Bush bumper stickers, t-shirts, etc. “A Village in Texas is missing its idiot.” or “Shrub!” or 11-2-2008! Now, that we have the Messiah as President, you see t-shirts against him.. but now it’s “inappropriate” or “racist” or “un-American.” Riigggghhhhttttt…

Or making fun of the Messiah with photos such as this here to the right.

Hey, it was okay to make fun of G.W. Bush, isn’t it also okay to use my freedom of speech rights to lampoon our current “leader.”

I can think of tons of art and photos that the left and neo-Bolsheviks made and posted everywhere making fun of Bush. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, right?

Ende!

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