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Showing posts from January, 2011

Talk about Ford Tough

Today I was on my way home from a fairly fantastic day of work. I needed to stop and fuel up the truck and decided I'd swing by the Pilot in Nitro, WV to do so. If you're a trucker and have ever decided to stop there, you know what a pill it can be. If you haven't been yet, avoid it if at all possible. There are plenty of other fuel stops in the area, save yourself the headache. So there I was at the bottom of the exit ramp waiting for a break in traffic so I could turn right towards the truck stop. I noticed flashy blue lights in the distance. Oh boy. What could this be, I thought, and is it gonna be in the way of the truck stop entrance?! I finally made my way towards the truck stop when I saw the dumba$$ move of the day by Joe Schmoe trucker. Now this particular Pilot is really set up for one way traffic flow. You go to the second entrance on the right to enter if you're in a big truck and then you leave through the fuel islands at what would be the first ent

Recovery

I'm recovering from Yoga quite well. And had I not stayed out so late celebrating not one but two birthdays last night I'd have already hit the gym today. I'm working on mustering up the motivation for it. Really I am. Today is just cardio anyway, so it's just about an hour and a half visit. I am just draggin'. We didn't get home until sometime after 2am this morning. Which is why I'm dragging, because I am not used to being up after 10pm even on nights I'm not working. Last night, we made our first stop at our favorite beer and hot wings place where we met with some of our good friends for dinner, drinks and celebration. My sweetie was celebrating his birthday yesterday. Around 9 we finally decided to blow that joint and head over to my ol' college besties house for her birthday celebration. Totally didn't know it was an 80's theme party and felt awkwardly dressed in my circa 2010 cords and cable sweater but we still had a blast! We c

Yogaaaa---ouch!

So I've been hitting the YMCA two to three times a week for a few weeks now, on my days off. Yesterday I was excited to get there because I'd decided to try something new. It was a class called "gentle yoga". My brain stressed gentle which is why my body agreed to go. I got to the gym about 45 minutes before the class was due to start so I could knock out part of my cardio workout and get good and warmed up. After four and a half miles on the recumbent bike I was sufficiently soaked in sweat and felt great! I had to go into the locker room to stash my iPhone (which entertained me during my cardio with an episode of Futurama on Netflix) before heading up to the yoga room. Now I've NEVER attempted yoga before. So this was a little scary but still pretty exciting. I was one of the youngest members in the room, only one other gal that might have been under the age of 40. She was nice and spoke to me making nice. A couple of the other ladies spoke to me as well

Of course...

This week (and for who knows how long) we're down to just one truck again while the other is in a shop getting it's tank inspected internally. Last time we did this, the truck was down for 13 days. I really hope they don't take so long again. It's a pain in the butt finding happy mediums in the working schedules when we're down to just one truck. So far this week Sunday was easy because I'm the only scheduled driver on that day. Monday and Tuesday I share the road with another driver who LOVES getting an early start. As in he rolls at around 2 am and is back usually before 11 am. This has been great, but today who knows how it's gonna go. The other driver on the road today is that "other new guy" I mentioned in my last post. The one that my paranoia believes is out to get me. I texted my boss yesterday while out and about on my afternoon shift to see what time the other guy was gonna be coming in, and never got a response. Of course. So I s

There's an App for that!

On my other blog I posted about signing up for Netflix . For a low monthly fee I can get unlimited streaming online and one DVD at a time via snail mail service. I got the latest DVD last night but haven't watched it yet. But I've been taking full advantage of the streaming online services since pretty much day one. When I started this new job back at the end of September my boss and I spent a lot of quality time on the road together and got to know each others' likes and dislikes and such. He and I did a lot of talking about books and movies. During that time he turned me on to Dexter by lending me his copy of Season 1 on DVD. First episode I was hooked. Now, having it readily available on Netflix I have dived head first into Season 2 and am just loving it. The best part about the unlimited streaming service that Netflix offers is that there is also an iPhone App for it and I can watch anything that is available for streaming on my iPhone. I've found that an e

Good Morning TV

I am thoroughly enjoying watching any and everything on my new TV. My next NetFlix movie should arrive this afternoon via USPS too, which is super exciting! When it comes to the basic cable we pay for, the HD channels are amazingly clear and crisp. The non-HD channels are also pretty darn clear and crisp. What HD doesn't fix is the insanity that is the Today show's daily installment of Kathy Lee and Hoda on NBC. Seriously? Who enjoys that crap? The cameras start rolling and find one or both of these women with a drink in their hand. At 11 o'clock in the morning? Yipes! And anytime there is a young or even middle aged man on the show, watch out because the cougars stalk and attack their prey with gusto! It's disgusting and slightly embarrassing to women. Anyway, just had to get that out there.

Where have all...

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bunnies gone? I've noticed over quite some time now that there seems to be a bunny crisis. Now it might just be me, but really, where have all the bunnies gone? Where are those fluffy little cotton tails with their little noses and twitching wiskers? I can't recall seeing a single bunny anywhere in the country over the past couple of years. Aside from in cages at the State Fair, of course. But in the wild, I can't recall having seen a single bunny nibbling grass or hopping along happily through fields. And I drove all over while I was still over-the-road. I know they might be holed up in their little bunny burrows for winter time and therefore much less active. But I miss the bunnies. Here are a few cute bunnies for your viewing pleasure.

D R A M A

I thought girls were the worst for drama . Apparently men can be equally or or even more dramatic than women. Let me tell you a little story. I had finished enjoying my three days off last week and on Sunday morning I was up and at'em around 5:30 in the morning, at the shop by 6. I rolled in ready to rock-n-roll, eager to make sure sure everyone got their bubbles. I unlocked the door, crossed the expanse of the shop to the little makeshift plywood office. As I approached the office I noticed that someone has defaced a sign the boss had posted a few weeks ago. The sign was a reminder that if you remove a full cylinder and replace it with an empty one while out and about, that at the end of your shift you needed to replace the empty one with a full one. Under this vibrant red ink laser printed information was a new addition, scribbled in standard ink pen and highlighted with bright yellow highlighter ink. It said (and I quote, bad grammar and all) "Gos for everyone Ang not just

Well, uh... I went back.

After a few hours at the house my boss and I began texting. I was offering to come into the shop to do some cleaning on the trucks' interiors or help him paint cylinders. He informed me that there were two OOG calls (Out Of Gas) both in Kentucky that needed to be taken care of. So I agreed to come in, grab a truck and head to KY just to get those two customers taken care of. UGH. So I dusted the snow off the car for the third time yesterday and headed in to work again. After dragging my feet at the shop, I finally hit the road. The local roads were (and still are) crap. Ice and snow covered. The interstates are in better shape, but still have a little slicky slushy stuff here and there. But Kentucky... damn it was a nice day over there. I even had to break out sunglasses, yep. Sunglasses. I was diggin' Kentucky yesterday. But I was only there long enough to service the two customers in need of assistance then it was back into the belly of the big white beast. The first stop was

Four Letter Word

S N O W. The nastiest four letter word in my opinion. Oh sure sure, we're not getting pounded here in Charleston as hard as they are in say Boston, today. But for this area, we're getting hit pretty good. I did manage to drag my butt out of bed. I got dressed and drove to the shop for work. But that's as far as I got. After talking to another driver who was alreaady out and about had called to warn me about the road conditions deteriorating quickly, I figured I'd check with the boss. He said it was up to me whether or not to risk it. I debated, checked weather and road condition reports via the internet, and finally decided it wasn't in my best interest or the rest of the motoring publics' for that matter, for me to go out today. So I dusted the snow off of the car for the second time today and headed home. I will have to go back in a while, to the shop at least, for personnel evaluation meeting with the boss. And I've asked him if he would pick up so

Television Show Quickie

I had opened my new post maker planning to bitch about work. Then I turned on the TV to find the Rosanne show playing on the CW. O M G Classic 90's throw back. The clothes, the hair, the canned laughter. It's amazing. I've always loved this show. The parallels with my own dysfunctional family are uncanny. When I was watching the tube last night I found myself enjoying another favorite show, Scrubs, wishing for a best friend relationship like Turk & JD. I know, they're dudes and I therefore can not ever have a bro-mance. But, it would be kind of neat to have a bestie like that.

Clever Blog Title ;o)

The holidays are done. The new year has begun. I'm plugging right along at work, doing what I'm expected to do, no more, no less. I LIVE for my three days off, which is kind of depressing. I'm still not really liking my job. The job is good enough, it pays well, and I have figured out most of the stuff I didn't really learn in training. I can trouble shoot problems for the most part, but honestly... still not quite feeling it. I do it, because they are paying me to do it. But I'm not enjoying it. Well, no that's not really true either. I thoroughly enjoy the being behind the wheel part of it. I've opted for most of the out of town runs because it gives me more drive time. And while the trucks we have are loud, bouncy, and quite uncomfortable, I love to drive. So I'll suffer for those moments of enjoyment. In the non-work related world... I'm sore. I finally started using that YMCA membership I've been paying for for 3 months. I'