I'm baaaaaack!!!!!!!!

Well, played catch-up today after getting royally screwed by a bunch of Amish farmers yesterday (and not in that consensual hold your breath back up and let's experiment kind of way). Ran hard, ran late, got within 490 miles of my destination, due there tomorrow. They want it there by noon, but getting the bukake treatment from the Brethren (good luck getting THAT picture outta your head) put me over six hours behind schedule. Always fun when a multi load trip plan gets spooched by a shipper or receiver's uncaring attitude or cluelessness.

Wife trudged to the top bunk and switched off like C-3PO and I'm in my rack about to do the same. I'll fill you guys in on stuff like why I left Dart after talking so good about them and why I'm moving now in a day or two when I have time to write more. Debating whether to start a new thread on my adventures at my new trucking home or just continue this one. Suggestions?

Well, I need to let the goat out. Later.

I am Captain Zoom.
I have spoken.

 

INSOMNIAC THEATER!!!! It is 0140 and sleep evades me with great skill and enthusiasm.

Did you know that Kung ## is not technically a martial art, but a generic Chinese term used to refer to any skill that requires time and energy to master? The term ## meaning Time is combined with Kung meaning Energy (although the correct pronunciation would be something between Gung and Gong, with the hard "G" being sounded off the soft palate), producing a term which transliterates to "Learned Skill." The term for martial arts is Wu Shu, or Wushu, in which the word for Violence (Wu) is combined with the verb To Stop (Shu) to produce a word which communicates the principle of self defense. Cool, huh?

I'm gonna go run around the parking lot in my underwear.

I CAN'T SLEEEEEEEP!!!!!

 

Profanity Nanny edited out some non profanity in my previous post. Substitute the hash marks with Foxtrot Uniform and I WASN'T CUSSING! I understand the need for that bit I guess. But what if I wanted to cuss phonetically? And why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds? For that matter, why is abbreviation such a long word? If a pig loses it's voice, does it become disgruntled? If you blindfold a Japanese man and spin him around, can he become disoriented? Sleep eludes me like the concept of truth eludes politicians. Going a little crazy here.

...Oops, time to walk the goat.

 

I would like to apologize to any readers for the previous postings. I was punch drunk after being awake for nearly twenty four hours. Worst case of insomnia I've ever had. I'm leaving them up to keep myself humble.

... Disoriented?? Sheesh.

 

At the Indy yard about to get a rental car so we can do our doctors appointments and run errands. Need to remember to scan in my trips so I can get that teenie, weenie little paycheck.

 

Hey Packard, long time! I'm back in the game. Gonna do a little exposition tomorrow when I have time.

... Chicken??

 

Well, finally won the Great Battle of the Indiana CDL (I live in Indy but I've been working with a North Carolina CDL because I couldn't get an Indiana license with my birth certificate since I was born in Panama (Canal Zone--Army baby) and the Indiana BMV was telling me I needed a Certificate of Birth Abroad but the State Dept wouldn't give me one, only a Birth Certificate with a raised seal and certification because the Canal Zone was a United States territory at the time of my birth and it isn't like being born in Germany but I finally convinced the right people that I had the right documentation straight from the State Department so there).

Back on topic--I am going to Gordon Trucking. This is not because I am mad at Celadon. There is some BS here just like every other trucking company in existence. Anyone who tells you they have NEVER had ANYTHING go wrong in this business is either lying to you or still in CDL school. The disintegration of driver support on weekends, planners who either don't care or openly disparage the driver, availability times or home time requests being disregarded, etc--Things like this happen everywhere, and the bigger the company the more often they happen. Celadon is a fairly large company so I put up with as much BS as the next guy. That said, my dispatcher is first rate and I don't generally sit around waiting for a load unless I want to. The company generally treats me with respect and they are usually on my side if I say I can't do something safely. You can't ask for much more than that.

I only have one real beef with Celadon--the pay. Unfortunately, that is a very big beef. I have about a million miles under my belt and make the same money I was making almost 9 years ago. I get a one cent pay raise every 120,000 miles. And a couple hundred dollars every quarter if I keep my nose clean.

I have an offer on the table for ten cents more a mile than I'm making right now. It would take me approximately TEN YEARS here to reach a level that I can get to in a few days.

To recap, I can get to a level of pay in less than a week by changing companies that it would take me ten years to reach staying here. And I'll be doing exactly the same thing I'm doing here. Dry van, mostly no touch, OTR for a fairly large company. Also, the cost of benefits is significantly lower than here.

Seems like a no brainer. I'm not mad at Celadon; they have been a decent company for me. This is strictly a financial decision, for my family's benefit.

I still haven't worked out the nuts and bolts but it will happen soon. Trying to decide if I'm going to start a new thread or just continue this one. I'll keep you posted. Right now I'm going to visit the latrine, then I'll go into why I left Dart for Celadon when I had a thread talking about how great that company was for me.

I am Captain Zoom.
I have spoken.