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...

Just a few screenshots of my current Linux desktop. It's a 3D cube. The pics show it stationary, in rotation, and with an application open. I really like the glowing theme.

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...

As I am starting to regain a bit of strength I wandered over to Applebee's this afternoon. I am sick of the four walls of this damn hotel room and after being laid low by the flu I wanted to get out of it for a bit. Holy shit is it cold outside! It's still sub-zero weather. That sounds bad but feels much worse. It's not a long walk over to Applebee's and I had bundled up for it but it was still a frigid, miserable walk. Naturally the wind was in my face all the way over there so my eyes...

Well, ok, actually it's just chicken noodle soup, but it's the first thing I've eaten since I caught this damn flu that actually tasted good. I managed to drive over to the grocery and pick up some soup, more orange juice and Gatorade, and a few saltines to help settle the stomach. I thought I was starting to feel better but walking around that store sapped me. The fact that the place was crowded with people stocking up because of the forecast of snow to come tonight didn't help much. It s...

I've had the flu before. Most everyone has I would think. But this one, this strain, is different. It's a real ass kicker. Normally the flu might put me out of commission for a day or two and then just make me feel bad for several more days and that would be that. This one has literally taken me off me feet since it grabbed hold of me. I find it amazing how something so small you can't even see it can take a grown man off his feet. I've been dealing with it the best I can. I've been dosing...

I finally made it back to the yard today after spending all of yesterday in fog so thick that I couldn't see 50 feet in front of me. I was very happy to finally be back at the yard as I am feeling like shit. Last Monday when I unloaded in OKC one of my fellow drivers also delivered to the same airport. One look told me she was very, very sick. After we got unloaded we both went to the closest truckstop for some breakfast. She sat across the table from me. I made a point of not touching an...

I made this hat for an Applebee's waitress who asked me to make her one. The colors are what she said are her favorites. I used moss stitch for the main body of the hat which made for a nice textured pattern.

After delivering at the Oklahoma City airport on Monday I took my truck to an engine shop for repairs. As I suspected the head was bad...again. A nearby hotel has a shuttle service so I called them to pick me up and I checked in here. As there is a bar next door called Sherlock's and I spent a little time in the evenings over there enjoying a few cold ones. I think I blew their minds a bit when I first went in there. Big bearded guy in a cowboy hat sitting at the bar knitting LOL. I've bee...

I made it back to the yard from NM Friday afternoon just in time to get my DOT physical done at the clinic. I'm all legal once again with a shiny new medical card good for two more years. While I can't see very well close up, I need glasses to read small print, my distance vision is even better than I thought. I scored 20/15 on that. Not too shabby I guess. I spent Friday night down at the little bar at the bottom of the hill from the yard having a few brews and shooting the bull with the ...

Most of us have seen them, those rubber ornaments that look like a bull's nut sack. They started among truckers, especially bull haulers, as something of a joke but caught on among non-truckers as well and can be seen hanging off the backs of pickups and cars in many places. While I personally find them a bit crude they're hardly obscene. Virginia State Delegate Lionel Spruill introduced a bill to ban displaying replicas of human genitalia on vehicles, calling it a safety issue because it ...

While in Applebee's this weekend one of the servers, the one who calls me Sam because she thinks I sound like Sam Elliott, asked me when I was going to make her a hat. She told me her favorite colors are turquoise and yellow. I am currently knitting a turquoise hat with a bit of yellow trim for her. For this one I decided to experiment with moss stitch and am pretty happy with the way it's looking. The moss stitch makes a very interesting texture which I think will make for a very nice lookin...

I am finally back in WI and it's freezing up here. I've checked into the hotel and had a nice hot shower to get warmed up and de-hogged, and will be walking over to Appleby's once I am certain my hair and beard are totally dry. As cold as it is out there any dampness would freeze immediately. I did manage to finish up the camo watch cap last night. It's nothing fancy, just a basic cap made with camo yarn. It fits perfectly and is quite warm. I'll be taking it easy here tonigh...

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry I had some delays in getting my load ready to roll Sunday. That was all finally straightened out and I started to pull out of the yard to start for Oh. That's when the red emergency air line between the tractor and trailer snapped. That sometimes happens when it's really cold. The really shitty thing about that is that when that line goes the brakes on the trailer lock up and you're stuck. Such was the case and, after all the previous delays, I was ...

I left WV yesterday morning and didn't stop until I reached the yard in WI last night. They had a load waiting here for me that I knew would take a little time to get all secured and the first stop is in Eastern OH for 11:00 Monday. While not outside the realm of possibility it still promises to make for a long day. I got up early this morning to begin securing the load. In the light of day I spotted a couple of problems right off the bat. The first is that they told me there was a wooden ...