Gi-Gi Roxx - The Ravings of a Lunatic

At a recycling center in Buffalo, NY I had to back onto this scale while empty and then again after I was loaded up. It was a little tricky but thankfully there was a big empty lot across the way that I could utilize to make life easier. Same recycling center, about 40 feet to the right of the scale was the "docks". Again, the empty lot across the street came in very handy. The last one for the recycling center, just illustrating the mess that is made for the sake of being 'green'. Lake effect snow squall on I-90, which dumped about 8 inches in a couple hours between Buffalo, NY and Erie, PA. Of course this was the only accident I saw. It was a big truck that skidded off into the median and needed a tow truck to help him back onto the actual road. Moron. A round-a-bout on US-20 in Indiana. It was a little jammed up thanks to the slippery roads and scared drivers. But it wasn't that bad. A really neat weather phenomenon where the fog actually rolls up, over and the...

Well I certainly believe I made out like a bandit this year. In more than just the gift giving/receiving department too! It all started with getting out of New Hampshire safe and sound. I have to admit that I missed the soft shimmery snow that I left behind in the northeast when Christmas Day finally arrived. But only a little. I was in NH during the brunt of the storm that hit early last week, which dumped about 18 inches of snow on the ground in parts of the state.... you know, the parts I was in! haha When I left NH the roads were mostly good to go. A few icy patches lingered in the shady spots, but for the most part they were just wet. Really really wet. I had to drive from basically Manchester, NH to Boston, MA with an empty trailer to pick up a load, too. It could've only been worse had I been bob tailing it! But I made it safely and that's what matters. Once my trailer was laden with 540 chep pallets from a warehouse on the south side of Boston, I was south bound and do...

Just wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a super Happy Holiday Season! May the coming New Year bring you happiness and prosperity. May you each be blessed with all the necessities of life and may you find gratitude in every moment you're given. Peace to you and yours! Gi-Gi Roxx

I had a brilliant idea for a blog earlier today, but to save my soul I can't recall what it was. I just remember driving along thinking... "oh yeah... man I totally need to blog about that". Oh well. I'm sure it was bound to be fabulous and profound. I did see a horse rolling around on the ground today scratching its back. That was pretty funny. I am frequently entertained by the creatures of this world as I pass them by in my big truck. I've blogged before about animal antics ( here and here ). Of course I've seen several new instances of mammal insanity since then. One of which was a couple of weeks ago. I saw four horses in a field, three of which were much smaller than the fourth. The tallest horse was standing in a pose which I can only describe as "authoritative and angry". The smaller three were standing in a row, side by side, facing the larger horse with their heads down in "shame". To me it appeared that the dominant h...

No, I'm not going to rant about any political crap, as the title might have led you to ASSuME. I am however, going to bitch about a common issue I hear about nearly every day on the road. Today I turned on my CB Radio to find myself listening to a regularly occurring conversation which went something like this: Driver A : "North bound, you got a full grown with a capture about the fourteen yard sticker." Driver B : "10-4, you're lookin' good back that way, there was a broke down oversize on the shoulder at about the four but it might be moved on. Looked like they was just fixin' to roll when I passed by." Driver A : "Thank ya, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year when ya get to it." Driver B : "You to!" Driver C : "Just passed the capture here at about the fourteen and a half. Don't they know it's fifty-five through here?" Driver B : "Awww, you can roll through here at sixty or better with no problems...

For my readers... who enjoy pictures. And for people who enjoy pictures but don't want to read a lot of words. Enjoy. Taken on I-71 north of Louisville, KY on Thanksgiving Day. I was headed south, they were all trying to go north. Glad I wasn't on the flip-flop! What's wrong with this picture? The weekend before thanksgiving I was home and out and about town, ran into this. Well I didn't run into it but it was certainly making travel a bit of a headache in town. I bet the driver felt like a huge boob. Snowy and foggy mountain driving. Slow going, but lovely!

I just finished a sugar free Cherry Gel snack ( I can't call it Jell-O since it's officially a generic brand that I bought). It was yummy. Not nearly as yummy as the foods I spoiled myself with the last few days. Night one, sushi. It was damn good sushi shared with good company, whom I know let me off really cheap on my cost of the meal. It was fantastic and I was surprised at how well sushi went with light beer. Go figure. Night two, Mongolian. O M G I could eat Mongolian every freaking day for the rest of my life and never tire. It's the bestest. Primarily because you make it how you want it. If you've never been to a Mongolian BBQ restaurant then you're truly missing out. In a traditional Mongolian BBQ you approach a long bar that is filled with chilled or frozen meats, veggies, and other nummy-nums that you place into a bowl (or two). As much or as little as you like! Then you approach a second long bar that houses large containers of just about every ...

I found such great interested today in the strength and overall durability of a Subway restaurant spoon. It was complimentary with the meal I purchased which included my 6" sub, Dannon yogurt and a soda. I was nodding with great approval while feeling very satisfied with the spoon as I took it out of its plastic wrappings. It was like a gift from Jared himself! Then I finally snapped out of it and realized it's just a stoopid spoon that I will utilize then dispose of when it's served its full purpose in my life. And I enjoyed my yogurt immensely. So it's been a little exciting the last couple of days. After my fun in Virginia and a chilly overnight stay in PA on the I-80 I headed north on US-219 to make the rest of my journey towards Buffalo. My delivery was set for 13:00 hours, aka 1 pm, and I was making great time, despite the hefty load I was hauling the hills I had to climb. I really enjoyed the drive through parts of PA and NY I'd never seen before. It...

Watching, waiting... anxious for each new blog? How about this one.... So I picked up a load in PA that would deliver at two stops in VA near VA Beach the other day. I headed south and made it to stop number one with enough time for a 10 hour break and a nice visit with friends who recently moved to the area. It was super short but super nice to be able to visit with them. Plus, I got to eat at Red Lobster, which I've not done in YEARS, and thoroughly enjoyed. I'd arrived at my first stop around 2pm and couldn't deliver until the next morning at 2am. I'd also gotten way off my sleeping schedule by the time I'd arrived so I was going to have a rough time of it for the next day or so. I tried and failed to get some quality sleep before going to dinner with my friends. Then I hoped beyond hope that I would be able to sleep after dinner, with a full belly and all. All I got was about 3 total hours of cat napping before it was time to get docked and unloaded. UGH....

The Story Does this not bother anyone else? It bothers me... a great deal. I often imagined what life would be like in America if there were militiary patrols in our own backyards and on our own neighborhood streets. I suppose that if these things proceed... it might not be just my imagination any longer. I know they claim that the troops would be for use to "help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe..." but umm.... isn't that was the National Guard is already trained and prepared for? I mean.. "the reason why our founding fathers said there would be no standing army is because the federal government has no place in your town. The power to order troops, the power to be able to have people with weapons in your neighborhood must not ever be in the hands of the President or the congress. It must be in the hand of the individual governors. Our founders knew this." - (quoted from glenn beck) All I can say i...

I have been Wal-Mart FREE for over 5 years. I have also been "Black Friday" FREE for about just as long. Actually I think I only went shopping on the day after Thanksgiving just once in my life and that was plenty enough of the experience for me. I don't see the sense in the madness and I can't support the freakin' idiots that participate in the madness. If you're one of those freaks, my condolences. I can't seem to wrap my brain around the way people have evolved into such animalistic assholes just to save a buck for one of the "Christian faith's most celebrated holidays". Perhaps it's just the adrenaline rush. Maybe its just the thrill of the hunt and the chase. Maybe... maybe it's just people being assholes. Whatever the reason, it's senseless. And it certainly doesn't fit into the ideals of the Christian faith. The sales and lower prices will not bring peace of mind. They will not make one into a better parent, friend, ...

Yep... two gifts in one. Pictures and now this (or this and then pictures...whatever)! So today was a rather interesting day. I woke up in Knoxville, headed south to towards Chattanooga...actually to a town called Cleveland, TN. I delivered a load of Chep pallets to the P&G/Duracell place there. Things were going great until I got stuck sitting and waiting for my next load assignment. For some reason or another our box planning department, which is responsible for assigning empty trailers to drivers when needed for a load assignment, decided not to do it's job for me in any semblance of a timely manner today. When a driver is without an empty trailer and requires one to either be live loaded or swap for a pre-loaded trailer, then box planning must find an empty for the driver to acquire. When the dispatcher has put a new assignment on a driver, the macro's can't be sent over the Qualcomm until the box planners do their job of assigning a trailer pick up location. ...

Consider it an early Christmas present... here's a few new pics to enjoy! The snow was heavy on the trees along I-77 south in WV during the first real snow of the season. It was lovely! More snowy goodness. I love looking at it... hate being out in it. Lucky for me the roads were cleared by the time I came through. I heard it was a mess early in the day. YIKES! The uphill battle truly isn't always obvious. This one doesn't look too bad, but I had to take it in 7th gear! (for the non-truckers that's about 25-29 MPH) But hey... at least the scenery was nice! Along part of the old Historic Rt. 66 in Illinois I found this little station on my way to deliver a load. I wish there'd been room for me to park and get out and snap a few other pictures but alas... all I got was this one shot from the intersection. Sunrise in Kentucky. Being silly and enjoying some of the unique features on my new camera. This one is called "color swap"... and it's tons of...

My head is killing me so for those of you who are lazy readers, this blog will suit you perfectly. ha! Unless of course, I get on a roll and my fingers walk quickly all over this keyboard. Which, honestly... probably won't happen. I just wanted to blog a quick one to mark the occasion of my survival of my first taste of winter. I had picked up a load in Illinois the other day which I had to deliver in Charlotte, NC this morning. The route the company gave me took me along the southern route, the route I decided to take took me into WV where I could have lunch with my sweetums and only be 30 miles out of route. Of course, had I taken the southerly route I'd have postponed my first snow squall of the season. But instead I got to drive right through the thick of it. And honestly, it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. The I-77 corridor going south through WV, south of Charleston that is, is notorious for it's winding turns and steep grades. It's also where most ...

If you need something positive to read during these not so positive times, I suggest you head to your nearest bookstore and purchase your very own copy of Glenn Beck's "The Christmas Sweater". I just sat and absorbed the entire novel in one sitting (well, with one potty break). I have to say that in the current world, the message of this simple story will warm you to your core and give you new found hope for the road ahead. It dragged me through many emotions, some I wasn't sure I was looking for, some I'm still not sure I wanted to experience. But in the end I'm ever so glad I put the time into reading this novel. I don't think that I will even feel the true message of "The Christmas Sweater" immediately. I don't suspect that it will happen tomorrow even. But in time, it will sink in completely and that moment of "ah-ha!" will occur and I will be all the better for it. It's interesting to me that just about two weeks ago someth...

I appreciate all of the concern expressed in regards to my escape from New Hampshire. I did finally get the out bound load I was waiting for on Wednesday morning. I picked up in Mass. and headed south to Va. En route I even got a stop over at our terminal in Carlisle, PA complete with a hotel room for the night. woo hoo I drove from Carlisle to Lynchburg, VA where I delivered in the afternoon. Then I headed to the Ga. Pacific in Big Island, VA to acquire my next load. I was told that I could head over and probably get in line to be loaded early. So I hit the road, enjoying the rolling hills and curvy roads towing an empty trailer (not so much fun with a heavy load). I arrived and checked in only to learn that they could not load me any sooner than 21:30 last night. Unfortunately for me, my 14 ended at 20:45 so I would have to take a 10 hr. break and check back in the morning. So, that's what I did. I settled in for the evening, chatting with another company driver who was ...

I don't believe I'll ever get out of here. Last night I inquired with the Company about my position on the waiting for freight list. I was #34. This morning I inquired again. I was #25. About 30 minutes ago I inquired once more. I was #10. I'm movin ' on up... but not movin ' out. I'm bored. I've certainly idled away any hope for a bonus this quarter. And I'm getting irritable. The Internet just doesn't provide as much entertainment for me as it once did. I've blogged, sent various emails and messages to friends, balanced my bank account, read blogs, researched things to do in eastern PA for when I take my week off there in December. Hmm ... what to do what to do?! UPDATE: 11/11/08 15:33 PM EST: Received a message from my manager and dispatcher both stating that I should prepare for another cold night in New Hampshire. Apparently not gonna get out of here until sometime tomorrow. BAH.

Thanks to everyone who has responded to my digital camera post. I'm still torn between a couple cameras but I figure that once I see them and play with them in person I will make up my mind. It's either the compact Canon SD1100 IS or the Nikon Cool Pics L18. The deciding factor may actually just be the battery. The Canon uses a Li-Ion battery which is touted to last longer than any regular batteries. The Nikon uses plain ol ' AA batteries... on which I've probably spent enough in the past year alone to have purchased a pretty nice new camera. But I do want to play around with each of them and see what I think about their individual ease of use. So hopefully I will get a friggin ' load out of New Hampshire headed towards home tomorrow. I have a few things I need to take care of at home ASAP, the camera being one of the most minor. But if I don't get it returned to the store by next Monday I'll be stuck with it, hoping to sell it only on ebay . And I...

I recently bought a Kodak EasyShare M863 camera at Circuit City. I am not thrilled with the quality of pictures and some of the camera's functions. Mind you, I've only taken about 50 pictures so far, but when I uploaded them to my laptop and viewed them on the screen, they just looked horrible. My old camera was a Sony Cybershot DSC-S600. It took GREAT pictures but it had a lot of mechanical issues. I'd sent it back to the factory three times and it could really be worked on agian, but alas, my warranty is kaputz. So I've snapped off my usual fare of en route, on the road pictures and all of them suck. I've tried about 5 of the major "settings" and it doesn't seem to matter what I do, but they all turn out grainy and "foggy" and just crummy. For the money I paid for this camera it should take better quality pictures. Of course, today I reviewed the new camera online via various sites and it seems that the "crummy picture syndrome...

I've learned recently that some folks feel like I'm bombarding them with words. Some have commented that I'm long winded and that my blogs are excessive in content. Well boo hoo! If you don't want to read long blogs, then move along. I'm not forcing anyone to read my blog. Heck, as much as it thrills me to know I have a small following of readers, it's not like I actually ever expected anyone to actually read my crap. And if you find my entries too long, then I say again, move along. Find something else to read. I don't care. I write how I think and I think A LOT. That's just me. Like it or leave it, baby. On that note, I will also mention in reference to the title of this blog that it was insanely windy down here in the great states of Tennessee and Arkansas both yesterday and today. My word! I was blown all over the road, especially yesterday when my overall gross weight was much less than today. But even at about 77K today, I was having trouble keepin...

Well I was a "Buccaneer Beauty" for our annual Halloween Bash. It was fun. I enjoyed myself. I ate, drank and was merry! Our party, both nights of it, were both poorly attended. But we managed to have a freakin' awesome time with those who did show up. You ROCK. Things had been such a blurr for the past few weeks thanks to the allergy retarded-ness that I was dealing with. I was pretty much on auto-pilot for nearly 5 weeks, my turbulence was sneezing and my complimentary pillow and blanket came in the form of over-priced kleenex. Damn truck stops charge way too much for necessary items these days. But after a trip to the doctor last week when I got home I am much better. I was prescribed my trusty ol' cocktail of allergy meds and started them right away. It only took about three days for my sinuses to finally get back to normal. Well, as normal as they can be. And I am soooo happy to be back on track. I don't think I could've taken another sneezing fit. Honest...

According to a comment on my last blog I am normal. How strange. I always believed I was normal and everyone else was weird anyway... this just reinforces that belief. Woo Hoo. But really, does this look normal to you? I'm glad everyone enjoyed the pictures and the MeMe blog. I have to admit that I don't mind telling strange facts about myself to anyone willing to listen to or read about it. I don't hide too much about myself. I'm an honest person, almost to a fault when it comes to my personality traits. I have to admit, however, that I'm also a compulsive liar. But never about things that count. I have never lied to cover up my flaws or oddities. I've never lied to save myself from humiliation or just from generally looking a'fool. Nope... I don't lie for selfish reasons. I lie to make stories sound better than they really are. I guess in reality it's not considered compulsive lying so much as just embellishing the truth. Consider a fishing trip st...

I was tagged by The Daily Rant for a MeMe . I know I've never done one on my blog before so don't freak out. It may never happen again (we can only hope!). I will warn you. You are about to learn some really weird things about me that may or may not deter you from reading my blogs in the future. I am not by any stretch of the imagination a "normal" person. I enjoy things that most people find offensive, disgusting, and just odd. It's who I am... and I'm totally cool with that. Here goes nothin '! Rules are as follows: 1. Link to Highway Hags and list the rules on your blog. 2. Share seven facts about yourselves on your blog — some random and some weird. (all of mine are likely to be weird) There were two other rules, but I'm sorry I don't follow rules very well. The first two rules seemed to be the most important so those two I kept. The others included tagging 7 people and telling them they were tagged. I, personally, don't mind be...

And now for some Americana... enjoy. Crossing the Key Bridge in Maryland. Waiting to finish crossing a different bridge. I sat there for 35 minutes feeling the wind and the bounce beneath my 18 wheels. I don't mind bridges... when I'm not stuck on them. Probably the best picture I've taken so far of Philadelphia, PA. Under the bridge downtown... is where I took this pic! In Philly. I found these two signs at a paper mill in Virginia and thought they were just about the funniest things I'd seen in days. Picking up the trash at a recycling center in my hometown. Thank goodness the lady who loads the trailers is very very patient. She had to guide me in to this cranny which was much tighter than it actually appears to be. Tight squeeze. Nightmare! I don't know what happened, nor do I want to know. I just hope this never becomes the fate of my truck. Scary stuff!

Some pictures from my most recent trip to Canada. Nothing special. Traveling along Hwy. 35 in the Upper Peninsula of Michian was a lovely drive. I especially liked the views of Lake Michigan. This one is a little blurry but one of my faves. Let's go to Canada! Crossing into the Great White North via Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Lots of drivers complained to me about this bridge so many times that I was very nervous as I got closer to the border. Turns out it wasn't such a big deal... when there's no snow involved anyway! Crazy suicidal seagull. I presume that this is a mill of some sort, probably paper. I just thought the amount of dead trees was astounding. Canadian Clouds. Nothing special, just regular clouds. But I thought they were pretty.

I related a story about a llama leading a pack of sheep across a field in a previous blog. As if that wasn't odd enough. Yesterday I saw another strange animal event. There was a lovely brown horse standing in a yard next to a tree and a fairly large rock. Not bad yet... right? Well, atop the rock was a rather large goat (I'm sure there are breed specific names for both of these fine creatures by the way, but alas I don't know them). As its not so out of the ordinary to see goats on rocks this should seem to be not such a big deal. The big deal with this situation was that it appeared that the goat was investigating the horses' behind. As in, the goat has it's nose nearly up the horses' arse. I mean, why? What good is it to stand around sniffing a horses' arse all day long? Was this a rare moment or was this common? And seriously... why? I often wish I had the ability to talk to animals so I could learn just why they do the strange things that they...