Thoughts and Observations

The stock market is on very shaky ground. Polar bears are starving and therefore being forced to become cannibals. And Clay Aiken finally admits that he's gay in an upcoming magazine interview.

The world MUST be coming to and end.

I've suspected that the end of the world is near for about the past twenty years or so. Not only because those crazy loons on the street corners hold signs up stating that we should all "be prepared for the end is near"! No my friends... the reason I know that the world is nearing the end of times is because well... I said so.

So since the world is ending, I guess the best thing to do then is just lie quietly on the floor with a paper bag over your head until the end.

Can you tell I'm irritable? I haven't been sleeping very well thanks to this allergy/cold/sinus crap I've had now for over a week. And for some strange reason I've felt compelled to pay attention to the current goings on in the news media. Which just makes it worse. I suppose the old adage "No news is good news" really rings true to me right now.

....and before I continue I will state that I just deleted about 4 paragraphs of rantings and ravings about the state of affairs in our world today. After careful consideration I figured that this blog was not the time or place to put my opinions on such matters in the public eye. This blog is not meant to be used in that manner. I only wish to blog about my life and the things that I think might entertain or educate others' about my career and the lifestyle I live. If I start throwing in politics, theory, religion, moral values, etc... this blog would most certainly take a drastic turn in a direction I do not wish it to go.

So for the sake of myself and my readers... I shall now entertain you with a small story about a real life event that occurred just the other day.

(*cue curtain* *cue music*)

I arrived at a Anheuser-Busch distribution center where I would pick up a load bound for the D.C. metro area. I was weighed and checked in and sent to a door to be loaded. I was given strict instructions to follow on a laminated sheet of sterile white paper and was advised that I would not be loaded until I'd followed each step listed. The guard was very handsome and after batting my big browns at him, I assured him I'd follow the rules like a good little girl. (I'm obviously embellishing the story for entertainment's sake... I'd never use my big browns to get my way in business.)

After getting back into my truck I followed the road to where I would find the dock door I would be backing up to, referencing the yellow highlighted trail on the map on the back of the laminate. I found the door with ease and set up for backing up.

After opening the door and sliding the tandems I back 'er up, set the brakes and chocked the wheels on BOTH sides (which is unusual) and climbed back in the cab to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

After about an hour and a half I was finally feeling movement in the trailer as the freight was being loaded. It was odd movement, I noticed. The standard rocking associated with a fork-lift was not at all what I was feeling. It was different... and very vibratory. I almost felt like a test tube in a laboratory that is being shaken by a separator thingy (not sure what it's called... forgive my vague description). It was forceful and the vibrations were of an unnaturally high speed.

I tried not to think about it too much and just sat back with some grapes, a water and a good book. After about 3 hours of being docked I started to get really impatient. Huge gaps of time went between each shake of the trailer. Sometimes as much as 15 minutes passed (on the few times I watched the clock). I decided I'd go inside and see what was taking so long.

As it turned out people weren't loading my trailer at all. No one was doing the deed, indeed. No, my friends, it was like something out of this world...

The whole assembly of orders, palletizing and loading was being done by robots.

Yes... I said ROBOTS.

I was amazed at the fact myself... I never dreamed that there were robots in my trailer causing all that shaking and vibrating. Not at all! And I was fascinated. And I finally understood.

It is kind of a shame though really that the job of which might employ close to 30 workers on a shift was being done by one lousy robot. But hey... it was cool to be able to say I was loaded up by a robot. I wish I'd been able to see them... I'm sure they weren't droid-like robots like C3P0 or anything... but I bet they were pretty cool machines.