YES! The A/C is finer than frog's hair now (compressor went out.) I be chillin'. Thank God I'm salary.

I've taken a new job. I took it last night. I am now a professional "Nay Sayer." What with all the friggin bums at the Flying J in Baytown beggin for cash or the opportunity to shine my wheels. I've become very proficient at going, "NAY.... Nay I say!" A couple guys wanted to shine my wheels. I told one I just had it washed (yay.) "So what? You don't want your wheels shined?"
"Naw, they're shiny enough for me."
"Pshh.. ok."

Next time I'll tell them "I hate shiny things. It makes my Agent Orange act up. Reminds me of the brilliant flash of the Daisy Cutter that mis-dropped near my platoon in Desert Storm. It was horrible. HORRIBLE I tell yeh..... **twitch-twitch** Burnt elbows and a-holes flying everywhere. A finger stuck me in the eye. I still remember the shrill of forty grown men dropping the poppy plants they were collecting as souvenirs and suddenly crying for their mommas. **twitch** Shiny? You want my stuff shiny? I seen what shiny kin do. And it aint purty, boy."

One of them acted like I passed up the deal of the century cause I wouldn't palm him $5 a wheel for some shine. Since I wouldn't go for that, least I could do was give him a smoke for his troubles.
Some other guy showed me his driver's license. I aint sure WTF that's supposed to do to support their case. But I think next time I'll ask to take a closer look then start laughing at his pic, etc. But anyway, so he hands me a story about how his truck broke down on the road and in less than two hours DOT had his truck towed, leaving him stranded. The manager at Valero said he could get a bus ticket somewhere near us rather than having to go to the terminal in downtown Houston, which is convenient. And now he's got all he needs but $11. So I bid him good luck coming up with it.

My favorite was "Keith." He's hit me up before; I remember his pitch. "I don't mean ya no harm. Hi, my names Keith. (A.A. crowd in unison: "HI KEITH!") I aint gonna give ya no story about no wife and kids or anything. I'm just gonna tell ya straight up, I'm homeless and I'm hongry. And if I could just......"
"Keith, are you hungry?"
"Yeah man, I really am. And if I could jus...."
"Keith, gimme just a moment and I'll take ya into the store and I'll buy you something to eat."
"Naw, man... we don't need to do that. If you can just gimme a dollar or two.... I just wanna go to McDonald's where it's cheap."
"Sorry Keith.... I carry no cash."
"Maybe some change.....?"
"Sorry Keith, I operate on the card alone."

And the hoes were busy. There was one gal that had a few different descriptions.... like she'd been beat with the entire ugly tree. Like she'd crawled right out a horror movie. Like menopause itself tackled her and beat the piss out of her.

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I met another of our account's drivers today. Turns out he lives near me. He was an interesting guy, pretty cool. About every 4th word was "f**in;" .... "So I pulled my f**in truck into the f**in parkin lot. And this f**in b**ch......"
He's none too impressed with our DBL.

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The day the Supreme Court upheld ObamaCare my wife found this cool pic on FaceBook:

Yes, I'm a secessionist. I think Texas is awesome. Yadda, yadda. heheheh That's why I made THIS pic:

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For anyone contemplating becoming an O/O: When I was stranded at the OC last week I scored a few minutes to chat with my recruiter. She mentioned if one is to be successful you gotta be organized to keep all your stuff together, bills paid, GET paid, etc. She mentioned that you can make pretty good money, but if hometime is very important, O/O may not be the right choice because it's hard to make money when you're at home.
Another interesting thing she brought up, which I wouldn't have expected to hear in a trucking office, she said that things in the trucking industry are "ok" right now and seem to be looking up..... but keep an eye on what's happening in Europe because you never know if their mess will collapse and fall over on US.

So at the J yesterday I met an I/C and talked to him for a moment. He was having to have WingFoot jump his truck because he left his 4-ways on (unanticipated expense.) He advised the following: Stay AWAY from the company lease program (OOIDA financing may be a good option) and he gave me a couple locations to check for reliable used trucks. He was on his second truck in the last few years: first was a 2000 Volvo and this is a 2007 (?) Freight.... both he got for around $25k. He said to check with Truck Nation and the other place he couldn't remember but he told me where it is. By the directions I think he was meaning Texas Truck Sales, which also has a location in Dallas.


Aiighty, I'll catch ya on the flip-side.