Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...

That all makes sense. This is something like I heard in orientation when I asked the benefits speaker what the negatives of doing the per diem this way. They also said something about having less reportable income for getting a loan later.

Based on these explanations I'm going to go ahead and cancel that per diem for now. I'll just do my taxes the way they have been getting done the past few years and claim my per diem at that time. I still want to talk to an accountant though about getting back the maximum amount on taxes next year.

Thanks to everyone for all the info!

 

This type of per diem is new to me. I'm going to stick to doing it the way I did before for now and consult an accountant for next year's taxes.

Still basically running from Chesapeake, Virginia up to Pennsylvania near Scranton. I have to start planning my route to coincide with available parking. Running past DC everyday is tough. Definitely not easy money.

New focus to lose...

I'm joining a 24 hour gym this week. I definitely need a distraction and to place my focus somewhere else. My terminal is 2 miles from a 24 Hour Fitness so despite the somewhat expensive membership, I think it will be worthwhile. My goal is to lose 100 lbs so once I hit my target of 160 I can know I lost a total of 210 lbs. I'm motivated.


Brandi...

We have been talking again but it just ended up as the same result. She wanted to text and talk on the phone, discuss things that way. I was reluctant to discuss anything this way since in the past it had proven to be a problem in itself. That type of communication, coupled with discussing heavy issues and an extended time physically apart, has been disastrous. Positively destructive. We never did meet face to face this time and once again things went south via text and phone.
I wanted to meet, I got her to finally agree and we both backed out. We never should have canceled that plan.

There's something severely different about the way we behave when we are together. We never stop touching, we can talk all night and we are comfortable and content. It always is. But time apart, this last time now over 6 weeks I think, is ruinous. And it seems I lost her again. That previous wound just barely even started to heal before it was just reopened again this weekend, wider than ever. I wish I could have had 5 minutes with her.

So the thought has been going through my head; is it possible for two people to start all over? Start from scratch, completely new?
Or does our history stay jealous and present?

The big difference this time, if we started over, would be that I would actually be here for her.

We started on the wrong foot, the wrong way. From the start she told me that her partner needs to be nearby. It was the main issue in her previous relationship and caused that relationships demise. However the difference between that relationship and this one was that her previous guy CHOSE to be away from her and travel. I, on the other hand, have done everything to be near her and to spend time with her. Not just because she needs this but because I want to be near her. I want to be a part of her life. I moved here, got a local job that got me home every week and moved everything I owned here so that I would never have to be away from her again. I wanted it. And now, although I'm close to my family, it feels like it was for almost nothing. I miss her and the way we are when were physically together.


Running this load up here to Penn and got a back haul to Norfolk for tomorrow.

 

You are right Witchy but we do end up at the same point over and over. As they say, at this point "it's a wrap".

I was already worn down and barely along for the ride this last time as we talked off and on either by phone or text. Once again, and as always, that exact communication that leads to arguments. We still hadn't had a conversation in person like I had wanted. I simply asked her to tell me when she was ready to meet in person. I put it on her - when she wanted to meet let me know and if my schedule allowed it then I would like to meet with her in person. She half heartedly, somewhat passive aggressively, asked me if I was going down to my sister's house. That was the weekend before last. Supposedly I was supposed to read into that to mean that she wanted to see me. Instead of her just saying "I want to see you, let's meet up", she instead asked me if I was going down to my sister's house. I would have met Brandi but she didn't say she wanted to meet. She asked about me going down to my sister's house that weekend and I wasn't. That was as close as we got to actually meeting. It never happened and at this point it's been almost 2 months since I've seen her.

She had gone away for a vacation. She brought one of her kids and went with my sister and sis's family and the remainder of her circle of friends. We had just started to communicate somewhat regularly before she left for vacation. She texted me right before she left for vacation and when I texted her back she didn't respond until days later when she returned. She purposely avoided conversing with me under the guise of needing time away from her phone. Typically that would be believable but it wasn't as simple as she made it sound. She never mentioned needing time away from her phone before she left but conveniently after she returned that was the excuse. I have my own theory but I'll leave it alone. Simply put, it was more game playing by Brandi as that's what she does. I should have nicknamed her "Last Word Brandi". It's her M.O. along with playing the victim. She plays the victim as it's always about how something is done to her. She is in a never ending battle of making things even when there's nothing to fight. There's always a battle around the corner and she has to have the last word. We've all known someone like this, the regardless of whether they are wrong they will fight their point until the bitter end. Add that together with someone that is always the victim, is always trying to get even and is too proud to apologize and you have a recipe for someone that I don't want to be around.

When she returned from her vacation she began texting me. Whereas she expects everyone to wait over 3 days for a response to her texts, she expects an immediate response. She texted me over and over and called. She asked if I was ignoring her, all this within a matter of minutes. Had I done the same thing to her when she didn't respond to my texts I would have been called insane or psycho. She continued to text and started to call me. I am on an earlier schedule; early to bed, early to rise. I went to the gym the day before, went to bed early was stuck in traffic the next morning and I took my time responding. I was busy driving the next day and was in the hell of my weekly commute through D.C. When I did respond to her, called her, she was now angry about my delayed response. Really at that point I was done. Brandi is all about Brandi. She's selfish and she doesn't even realize it. For my birthday, she got me ####e. Not a f'n thing. Funny because we were dating at that time and when I told her that she didn't need to get me anything she insisted that she buy something because had it been her birthday she would have expected something from me. Never got me ####e tho. I moved out here, mostly because of her, at least sped up that process entirely because of her. Remember I used to work for Swift? I changed my job, mostly because of her or at least sped up that process entirely because of her. I paid her and her friend's dinner tab the last time as it was expected of me - I showed up later after they had been drinking, her friend left and Brandi told her friend that she would pay the $70 tab. Her friend left and as always it was assumed I would pay. She made a gesture to pay but it seemed assumed that I would pay. I did. At the time I was ok with it but it was kind of selfish on her part once again. Glad I could pay for you and your friends though. I paid every time we went out. Every time. Again, I offered to and thought it was gentlemanly but I didn't have to and at the time I didn't mind. I paid her vehicle registration when she needed it and was stuck in a jam. I offered and insisted and, again, was happy to do so at the time. I sent her flowers for no reason other than that I wanted to make her smile. I didn't have to but I wanted to surprise her and make her happy that day. I always drove down to see her, even when she got pissed and told me to turn back around after sitting in traffic for hours.

One of the last time's we had a real conversation she had to have me explain to her all the things that were special. She wanted to know all those reasons why I loved her. She wanted affirmation and to hear sweet things. As we all freakin do. Things were still very tense between us but I obliged and gave her what she wanted. Honestly I was sweet and truthful and fed her everything from my heart. It was truthful but not easy at all considering that we were both on our guard. But I fed her my feelings anyway. When I asked her for the same thing she basically gave me a dry regurgitation of part of what I had already said to her. It was probably the emptiest reciprocation of feelings I have ever received from anyone. It was absolutely pitiful and it was positively insulting. That conversation and that specific response her is exactly what I will always remember her by. It was sickening considering how much of myself I had poured out to her Feck that. What has she done for me??? Hmmm...what has she done for me? Let me think. Ah, nevermind. She can play her games with the next guy. I'm better than this and not going to play into it. And honestly I don't have to. I'm in the Catbird Seat. I'm single, getting healthier and thinner, I make good money, I don't have kids or baggage and I'm a good guy. I won't let her treat me this way. Good luck to the next guy as I'm sure he will change his whole life around just for her (insert sarcastic wink here).

So last conversation was a text and I let her have it. I let her know I'm done playing her games and I wasn't going to feed into them. She is trying to get even with me for something, to win as always. Fine, Brandi wins.

Moving on...

 

(Driving for Epes and my experience so far...

I'm just over a month in with Epes and the experience has been great. That is, with the exception of my "route" I run every week.

As promised I get every weekend off for a 34. My miles are pretty much dependent on me. Epes, as a fail safe, guarantee 1500 miles a week. At my rate of .55 cpm that is a guaranteed gross of $825/week. I've never had to fall back on that. A low week with miles has been about 1750 miles. A high week, such as this last one was 2850 miles. This last week was a long week and left me exhausted as my "route" takes me through the D.C. and Baltimore metro area. That's 2850 miles through the Northeast which would exhaust most drivers. I also hit the more minor metro areas of Harrisburg, PA (can be rough during rush hours) as well as Richmond (not so minor when it comes to traffic, accidents, road work and general presence of idiot drivers), York, PA, Wilkes Barre and Scranton.

They have even more of a hands off approach than Swift. Swift was great and it had a great support network. I felt, for lack of a better word, coddled when it came to support. Any time I had an issue I called my driver manager at Swift and she made things better. Joni was awesome. Here the approach is more get it done how you need to get it done. I have almost no interaction with my driver manager other than a few freeform messages I send on the Qualcomm to keep him updated. I think he prefers it this way as he had a lot of other drivers he needs to take care of. Plus, with my dedicated route I can basically take care of everything myself.

Pay has been pretty accurate although my actual miles driven are always more than what I get paid for. I guess that's trucking. I'm guessing it is zip code to zip code as most companies pay. I have flexibility in what route I take although I will only get paid for the miles they have allotted. I'm still trying to figure out the best routes through these metro areas.

I really don't have any live loads. I think out of the 4+ weeks I've been driving with Epes I've had two live loads. They pay $12/hour after the first two hours. Less than what Swift pays but I don't really have to worry about it. Epes pays $30 stop pay but I haven't had multiple stops.

I signed up for my benefits last week. I have the basic benefits and they cost me about $17.50/week. I don't have vision benefits.

One of the things I enjoy most, which is somewhat an Epes things but also a dedicated routing thing, is that I never sit between loads. With Swift, as with most OTR lower 48 positions, there is downtime where I'm sitting somewhere in Nebraska for half a day, waiting in Texas for a day to pick up my next load, etc. With Epes they keep you rolling, even the regular OTR guys stay rolling and rarely sit for more than a couple of hours (not counting a 10 hr break). Specifically with my route, I have my next load before I'm finished with my current load every single time. I have never sat yet.

So when I applied for this job there was a miscommunication on the company's part about this exact position. When I applied I asked and I was told that this was a Lowes dedicated route. That I would be picking up from a DC in Chesapeake, running to 2 stores in Pennsylvania, an additional store in Virginia and then back to the DC in Chesapeake. This appealed to me because: 1) I would be running to Lowes stores which meant that I would always find parking since I could shut down at the Lowes store if needed. That would take a lot of the stress away with trying to find parking later in the day in the Northeast. 2) There would be stop pay for each store. At $30 a pop that would be extra money. 3) It would be a consistent route.
When I finished orientation that Wednesday I found out that there was a mistake and a miscommunication. It was not a consistent Lowes route, not completely And it wasn't multiple stops to Lowes stores. In fact, there were no Lowes stores involved whatsoever. It was basically a dedicated route from a warehouse that supplies Lowes out of Chesapeake and I would be taking it up to one of two actual Lowes DC's up in Pennsylvania - either Minersville or Pittston. Then I would get a backhaul to the Chesapeake area to pick up from the Lowes warehouse. When I found this out I kind of raised hell at the Epes terminal. Here I was, I just finished orientation, I'm officially hired and the job that I applied for, quit Swift for, prepared for and now traveled to and spent 3 days in Greensboro for was not what was promised and sold to me. I was upset. I told them I would have to go outside and think about what I was going to do. I was really frustrated and let down at the time. They offered to rent me a car and send me back up to Williamsburg. I considered it and called my dad to ask his opinion. As upset and disappointed as I was the idea of returning back to Virginia and starting from scratch looking for a new job or crawling back to Swift again did not appeal to me. I considered it but it did not appeal to me. I went back inside and told them I would give this a shot. I'm glad I did. It wasn't what was promised or expected but it is pretty close. I don't get stop (and stop pay as a result) and I don't run to multiple Lowes stores or any Lowes stores. But I do stay running, the miles I had wanted to get are there.

Most of the backhaul loads I get are the same. Usually I pick up a pretty light preloaded trailer out of the Proctor & Gamble in Tunkhannock and run it down to either Norfolk or just over the state line to another Lowes DC in North Carolina. The loads going up are always out of the Lowes warehouse in Chesapeake. Always. So I am a dedicated driver. A couple of times in the off hours, the night dispatch down at the main terminal has sent me wonky loads as a backhaul. When I tell them I'm a dedicated Lowes driver out of Chesapeake they take the offending loads off of me and get me a proper backhaul, something I usually take, back to Chesapeake.

Overall I enjoy this. I have to work on my routing through the DC metro area. When I say "DC metro" area I'm basically referring to the area just north of Richmond all the way up to past I-83 in Maryland. It's a huge area and a huge mess most days. Every day there are accidents, construction, delays of some type. The drivers are absolute idiots in this area all the way up until I get into Pennsylvania. When I get into Pennsylvania I feel like I'm on vacation because they can actually drive up there. They merge properly, they keep right and they get out of your way when you need them to. However when I get in the D.C. metro area it's like encountering the worst drivers from everywhere all bunched up together. They do the stupidest and most unpredictable things. I have never in my driving career used my air horn as much as I do now. I must use it at least 6 times a day. Yesterday was about 9 times. You have to be on high alert and drive defensively when going through the N. Virginia to nearly PA area. And you have to be more aggressive in your driving to be on the defense, if that makes sense. It's not easy money, that's for sure. And it's a little repetitious compared to running the lower 48, what I was doing with Swift for 2.5 years prior to this. I still have the impulse to wave to Swift drivers I pass.

New life out here and changes...
But I get to see my family more out here, which I have done. I'm around my mom and dad and can actually plan on doing things with them now. That has been one of the best advantages to this new move.

Gym...gym...gym. That has been my focus lately and I love it. I joined Chester Fitness, about 3 miles away from my terminal. I keep my sportbike parked here at the terminal and the big BMW GS Adventure still sleeps at my parents house. With my bike here I can run to the gym as much as possible. I try to get to the terminal during the week as I pass it between my runs in Chesapeake and Pennsylvania. If I can, I'll take my 10 here at the terminal and run to the gym for a couple of hours. Every weekend when I return to the terminal, usually on Saturday afternoon, I go to the gym for 3 hours. It's my rock, not to sound trite. I look forward to it like a vacation from reality and stress. It's my time. I'm went last night for 3 hours and I'm going again today for a few more hours. I couldn't hit the gym before running the lower 48 but I wanted to. I exercised around the truck but I really needed more. Now I have it.

The gym is a 24 hour spot. It never has more than one or two people in there and most of the time I'm the only one. When I pulled up last night all the automatic timer lights were off and it was dark. I love approaching it dark as I know I'll have the whole place to myself. After being there for about 1.5 hours last night a couple showed up but that was it.

The gym is fantastic. It's been there for 11 years and they have everything I need. They have about 10 treadmills, one stair machine, 4 elipticals, 2 bikes, a large free weight area with dumbbells, kettlebells, and every bench you could imagine. There is a Smith machine (which I love to use for the squats I hate doing) and a great cable machine. On the other side they have a yoga/mat area and about 20 Nautilus machines. Everything is maintained perfectly. They have TV's everywhere and I usually start and end my workout on the treadmill catching up with the garbage that is on tv. Last night I caught a good UFC fight while sweating my ### on the elliptical.

I've starting running a little on the treadmill. Man, does it feel weird to do that after so many years. It must be at least 8 years since I've even tried to run. Someone chasing me would have no problem catching me so I'm trying to change that as I'm a big fan of zombie movies. Time to get zombie ready. My weight hasn't changed much, I think I'm down a few pounds to about 250 but my shoulders and arms are getting bigger. It's strange running with this much weight as I never have tried. I think the last time I was jogging I was about 180 lbs. I can really feel the weight as my body pounds down on the treadmill. But it's a start. Right now (don't laugh too much) I only run for about 2 minutes at a time although I walk fast for about 45 minutes each time. I use the incline and bring it up to 15% at times to make it more difficult. I definitely leave the gym exhausted and sore. But again, it's a start. And I love going.

My membership costs me $25/month and there is no contract. A keypass is used to gain entry. It's absolutely the best gym I have belonged to.


This weekend and my time off and my Epes terminal...

This weekend, my time off, I'm not really going anywhere. Since this week has been hellish with my runs I decided I'm going to just hang around here in Chester.

My terminal has free laundry. Yes, free! There is only one washer (a huge top loader HE machine) that works great and two dryers. They are almost always available since there are not a lot of drivers here.

Unlike the Swift terminals where I used to find, comparatively, a lot of drivers milling about. Here at this terminal and the main terminal down in Greensboro, drivers do not lounge about. They are either home or running loads. So when I come inside to the terminal there is usually no one here. Right now there is one guy here reading a book and I'm guessing his truck is in the shop.

The terminal is similar to Swift's terminals. Free wifi inside, a tv lounge area, microwave, vending machines, bathrooms with showers and a laundry area. The standard fare. However, my terminal has a free pool table, exercise bikes and a treadmill inside. All newer and in great shape. I've used the treadmill before I got this gym membership.

There is a shop here and only a few mechanics. They don't seem very busy and the one time when I came in to get my CB installed they did it right away. Same thing with the main terminal down in N. Carolina when I needed a service. They did the work immediately and I was rolling in a couple of hours. They will install your cb here as well as an inverter if you buy it. That was something I like. I still need to buy a larger inverter to have them install.

I'm going to get to know Chester a little more as I spend more time around here. There is everything nearby that I would need like a grocery store, Target, every kind of food and a movie theater. And to boot, something I really love, is that my terminal has a company loaner car for us drivers to use if we want to run out and get food or something. I used it yesterday to run to Target for groceries and a big bag of paper towels, what I didn't feel like carrying on my bike. I love having a loaner car to use at my terminal. Granted it is a little Nissan Sentra but it has working A/C and it gets me there. We just sign it out and go. It's always been here when I needed it.


Female friends...

I did have a couple of female friends that offered to do something this weekend and hang out. I was considering going to the movies since it's been so long but the prospect of riding on any highways after this tough week was not appealing. I just couldn't do it. Maybe another weekend. I would love to go out for a drink, maybe even get drunk sometime but I have to secure a place to stay and leave my motorcycle. I'll take Uber or a taxi to wherever I end up crashing (figuratively speaking).

It's been cool that these females have been so forgiving during the Brandi relationship. I basically brushed them off and told them to take a hike in a misguided effort to be respectful of Brandi. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do. But I am relieved that they didn't write me off and now I can resume being friends with them.


I already have my load for tomorrow morning ready. Since I didn't start my 34 until so late yesterday I can't leave until about 5 AM tomorrow - about 3 hours later than I wanted to be available to leave. But I'll work with it.

Off to the gym.