I'm still holed up in a hotel while the engine shop tries to figure out why my truck is losing coolant. I was bored yesterday around lunch time and took a walk to look around a bit and stretch my legs while seeking out something to eat, A couple of blocks down I found a brand new Whataburger. I would never have expected to find one here. You find Whataburgers all over Texas but until recently you never saw them anywhere else. The company has started expanding and building locations in other s...

I left the house early Monday morning to go pick up a wide load, a couple of farm tractors heading to MI, at an auction location a couple of hours from my house. The trip  to the place took longer than expected due to heavy fog most of the way, but I did eventually get there. The place was really busy and it took a while for me to get to a ramp to be loaded. Finally I saw one of the tractors coming to the ramp and saw a problem. The tratcors have dual rear wheels and I was told that the ...

Monday morning I'll be heading to an auction yard about 2 hours from here to pick up a wide load. It's a large John Deere farm tractor. The guy was wanting me to come and pick it up today but that simply wouldn't have worked. Being a wide load I would have to get oversized permits before I could actually roll with the thing and the states' permit offices aren't open on the weekends much like any other state office. No way I was going to go down there and load the thing today and then have to ...

As I will be home over the weekend I made a grocery run to pick up enough supplies to last a couple of days.  I should say that I never cook from any recipes, I just kind of make things up as I go along. While shopping I had an idea for a chili mac sort of thing and picked up the ingredients for same. It's on the stove now and is smelling pretty good. Basically I just browned some lean ground beef with onions, diced red and green bell peppers, diced onion, and a dash of chili powder and ...

So far dispatch hasn't found me a decent load out so I am still hanging out at home. The day isn't over yet and they could call any time. Somehow I suspect I'll be here over the weekend. That's ok.   During the Winter I don't normally cut my hair as the extra insulation comes in handy when out in the cold weather chaining/strapping loads. But today I noticed that I was really looking pretty shaggy and decided to go ahead and walk over to the barber shop and get it cut. I have to admit...

I was sleeping well this morning and had no reason to be getting up early. At 6:00 am some asshat with a much too loud car stereo with thumping base felt it was time for everyone in the neighborhood to get up. The car was parked at the c-store across the street and was blasting the stereo so loud my windows were rattling.   Needless to say I was pissed.  I heard someone yelling at the driver of the car but the stereo didn't abate. Screw this, I got up, grabbed my cell phone, and ...

I was concernedd that it was going to be too cloudy to see the lunar eclipse tonight but Mother Nature was kind and the clouds cleared out just in time for the start of the show. I stood and watched it start and will walk back out shortly to see it when it reaches full eclipse. I love a good show!

I just walked over to the c-store to pick up a six pack. One the way over I noticed several kids on bicycles and one, a black kid of around 9 or 10, was pushing his. As I drew closer I saw that both his tires were flat. I felt sorry for the kid and asked him what happened to his tires. I intended to offer to check out the tubes and patch them for him if needed as I have a full tire repair kit on hand.   The kid was so damn rude that I immediately changed my mind about helping him out....

I'm pretty fed up with some of my neighbors. What the hell is it with some people? There are a few people who seem to think that my carport is a public sidewalk and I'm getting fed  up with it. Whenever I come home I take the time to sweep the grass clipping andsand off my carport but within a day it's dirty again because of thesepeople tracking their dirt through.   Several times a day I see a shadow go by on my carport. There are several people who, instead of walking down the ...

Judging from the articles popping up on JU it seems there are some mixed reactions to the new JU format. I suppose that's to be expected whenever any major changes take place. As  with anything new there will be a learning curve and a bit of an adjustment period before most people get comfortable with the new format. And of course there will be some bugs to be worked out, which is also to be expected whenever one deploys thousands of lines of code.   So far I have found one or tw...

This morning  I had to run down to Boynton Beach to deliver the two trash compactors I hauled down from WI. I had told the guy I would be at the jobsite at noon and left early enough to ensure making it on time.   I stopped at the truckstop in Vero Beach to fill my coffee cup. Just as I stepped out of the truck it started sprinkling. No big deal, it's FLorida and it tends to rain often here. Those big drops were pretty damn cold on my back though. I got my coffee and continued on...

For the past several weeks I have been testing a Linux distribution, PCLinuxOS, on my laptop. It's a pretty good distro, well designed and stable, but still not as fast as the one I normally use, Slackware. Today I decided to go ahead and put Slackware back on the laptop. It's been my primary operating system for years and I felt that I had pretty well put PCLinuxOS through it's paces. Right after I had reformatted the drive partitions and was about to start installing the OS the cdrom dec...

I was supposed to deliver down near Miami this afternoon but had a change of plans. I spoke with the owner of the company that is to receive the deliver, a couple of trash compactors, and he said he wouldn't be able to unload them at the job site by the time I made it down there this afternoon as his people usually knock off early on Friday. That was just fine by me and I set things up to deliver around noon on Monday and put it in the wind for home. After being broke down in Oklahoma Cit...

I went over to Applebee's for dinner. I didn't stay long as I wasn't feeling up to it, but I was glad I went. Shortly after I sat down at the bar I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see what it was. It was Jenna, formerly my favorite bartender then shift manager before she was transferred to another location. She had seen me sit down and was running over to give me a hug. I haven't seen her in ages. She was there working as a visiting manager for the night. The ser...

I spoke with my boss this morning just to update him on my condition. It was a difficult conversation as my voice hasn't yet returned and I am croaking more than speaking. While I am starting to feel better I am not feeling up to getting out in the sub-zero weather and working. He said to just keep resting, it's supposed to be a bit warmer tomorrow. He also said that he would swing by the hotel and take care of the bill, pick up my paperwork and take it in to the office for me, and drop o...