Tuesday December 11, 2007
Please stand by we are experiencing technical difficulties.
1. I wish to set up my laptop with a broadband wireless connection. I had checked with Verizon my service provider for my cell phone and it seems like it may be a good way to go while trucking. I welcome comments and suggestions on this. What do you use to connect to the internet?
2. Does trucking companies provide computers? Anything!
3. I also have an old version of Microsoft Streets and Trips but I plan on upgrading to one with GPS. What is my best way to go here?
4. I am thinking of installing cameras to monitor my home while I am on the road. We have cameras all through our plant that can be monitored from anywhere that you can connect to the web. My understanding is all that is required is a router and I can log on anywhere to view them. This seems like a good method to keep an eye on my house while I am gone. I would love to have some input from anyone with knowledge on this subject.
I am trying to get prepared with the items that I will need while on the road but until I know which company is going to hire me and I get a truck it is difficult to know what I will need. I have started a need list so that I can start acquiring these items. Of course I don’t know what the company policies are for power convertors excreta.
I have done a lot of camping, canoeing, motor cycle travel, horse back riding, and back packing. I had a to take list for each. I have made three extensive trips where I was gone for months traveling and camping. I have been in 44 states in my travel. This can’t be too different other than being told where to go and when to be there but I don’t have to foot the bill. My wife hasn’t been on these trips so I am looking forward to sharing this with her.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
Christmas is Getting Close
Monday December 10, 2007
Nothing much to report. I worked on the house Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday was raining so I finished the tile work that I had started on the kitchen counter. I am glad to have that finished. It looks good. The old counters had a Formica top and needed something better. I had considered different finishes but settled on covering them with tile because of the cost and time required to do it. I might do something else at a latter date. I only have about $40.00 in doing them. I got my tile from the tile outlet in Crossville for less than $20.00 and used glue that is made for vinyl flooring to secure it to the Formica and then grouted the seams. I wouldn’t use this for tile flooring but the counters don’t carry the weight. It is handy having the tile counters for setting hot pans on from the stove however don’t drop anything breakable on them.
Sunday had quit raining so I was able to finish the time on the outside windows. The windows that I had left to do all required climbing a ladder. I was up and down on the ladders all day. Today I am sore in my legs. It is amazing how little time it takes to get out of shape. Trimming out the windows has been as big a job as replacing them. I still have the trim to paint. I hate painting on a ladder.
My sister-in-law and family are coming to visit this coming Saturday from Kentucky. They have a beautiful farm. I enjoy visiting with them and getting in some horse back riding.
I miss my horses but I am now living in town and I wouldn’t have been able to keep while traveling around the country in a truck. I probable won’t have horses again. I will probable keep the house that I have for retirement and that doesn’t allow for horses. I like living on the river as Shelly and I are both water people. She isn’t able to ride after being thrown from a horse and having back surgeries.
Christmas is getting close. I am anxious to get some days off and head to Florida to see family. Also it gets that much closer to getting my trucking career started.
Nothing much to report. I worked on the house Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday was raining so I finished the tile work that I had started on the kitchen counter. I am glad to have that finished. It looks good. The old counters had a Formica top and needed something better. I had considered different finishes but settled on covering them with tile because of the cost and time required to do it. I might do something else at a latter date. I only have about $40.00 in doing them. I got my tile from the tile outlet in Crossville for less than $20.00 and used glue that is made for vinyl flooring to secure it to the Formica and then grouted the seams. I wouldn’t use this for tile flooring but the counters don’t carry the weight. It is handy having the tile counters for setting hot pans on from the stove however don’t drop anything breakable on them.
Sunday had quit raining so I was able to finish the time on the outside windows. The windows that I had left to do all required climbing a ladder. I was up and down on the ladders all day. Today I am sore in my legs. It is amazing how little time it takes to get out of shape. Trimming out the windows has been as big a job as replacing them. I still have the trim to paint. I hate painting on a ladder.
My sister-in-law and family are coming to visit this coming Saturday from Kentucky. They have a beautiful farm. I enjoy visiting with them and getting in some horse back riding.
I miss my horses but I am now living in town and I wouldn’t have been able to keep while traveling around the country in a truck. I probable won’t have horses again. I will probable keep the house that I have for retirement and that doesn’t allow for horses. I like living on the river as Shelly and I are both water people. She isn’t able to ride after being thrown from a horse and having back surgeries.
Christmas is getting close. I am anxious to get some days off and head to Florida to see family. Also it gets that much closer to getting my trucking career started.
Friday, December 7, 2007
A Day That Will Live in Infamy
Friday December 7, 2007
A day that will live in infamy
Note: Shelly’s dad was in Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 where his ship was hit. He suffered burns and received a silver star for saving fellow sailors lives.
Our plant is closed today (not because it is December 7) but because it’s another 4 day work week. I have made $20,000 less this year that I did last year. I started here at the end of September last year. The owners had just bought the company back and it was still busy. They have lost the family business twice. The founder got it back once after being injured on a cruise ship and receiving a large settlement. The son (the current owner) lost it again but bought it back after his wife received a large inherence. It has been on the decline since they have taken over. When I was hired in they had just loss several of their top management people. They replaced them with family members that show up to work when they feel like it.
I am sure that you have figured out that I don’t have much respect for my employer. You are right. Maybe it is because I have been fortunate enough to have been in good positions and worked for good people. Then again maybe it is because I have been in this industry too long and have seen it decline and that I no longer wish to work in this environment. I hate negativity and I hate it even more when it is I. I have always been a very positive person and dislike being around anyone that isn’t. It is hard to change in this environment and around the people that I work with.
When I had my business the top criteria that I considered for hiring someone was attitude. If someone didn’t show an enthusiasm for working in my company I didn’t hire them regardless of experience. One person that wouldn’t cooperate or was a complainer would bring down everybody that had to work with them. If I had someone that wanted to learn and advance their experience and skills I could work with that even if they lacked the experience needed. Attitude was the most important factor.
Leadership: Attitudes of the ownership are reflected throughout a company. I can tell what type of a person the owners are before I ever meet them by the attitudes of their management teams. Companies succeed in many ways. Managers lead by intimidation or by example. Both can get results. But I don’t care to work under a dictator. Life is too short to be doing something that you don’t enjoy.
A day that will live in infamy
Note: Shelly’s dad was in Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 where his ship was hit. He suffered burns and received a silver star for saving fellow sailors lives.
Our plant is closed today (not because it is December 7) but because it’s another 4 day work week. I have made $20,000 less this year that I did last year. I started here at the end of September last year. The owners had just bought the company back and it was still busy. They have lost the family business twice. The founder got it back once after being injured on a cruise ship and receiving a large settlement. The son (the current owner) lost it again but bought it back after his wife received a large inherence. It has been on the decline since they have taken over. When I was hired in they had just loss several of their top management people. They replaced them with family members that show up to work when they feel like it.
I am sure that you have figured out that I don’t have much respect for my employer. You are right. Maybe it is because I have been fortunate enough to have been in good positions and worked for good people. Then again maybe it is because I have been in this industry too long and have seen it decline and that I no longer wish to work in this environment. I hate negativity and I hate it even more when it is I. I have always been a very positive person and dislike being around anyone that isn’t. It is hard to change in this environment and around the people that I work with.
When I had my business the top criteria that I considered for hiring someone was attitude. If someone didn’t show an enthusiasm for working in my company I didn’t hire them regardless of experience. One person that wouldn’t cooperate or was a complainer would bring down everybody that had to work with them. If I had someone that wanted to learn and advance their experience and skills I could work with that even if they lacked the experience needed. Attitude was the most important factor.
Leadership: Attitudes of the ownership are reflected throughout a company. I can tell what type of a person the owners are before I ever meet them by the attitudes of their management teams. Companies succeed in many ways. Managers lead by intimidation or by example. Both can get results. But I don’t care to work under a dictator. Life is too short to be doing something that you don’t enjoy.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
The Decline of the Middle Class:
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Another Day, another 50 cents and if you figure inflation then about a quarter.
The decline of the middle class:
First let’s take some mathematical facts into consideration about the decline of the middle class. If you take the average annual income or the net worth of all Americans, then take the top 25% for the upper class, the middle 50% for the middle class, and the lower 25% for the lower class and see what percentage of the population is in each group. Then use this same formula and compare to 20 years ago. The Upper and Lower class has grown and the middle has declined. So what does this say? The wealthy is getting wealthier and the poor is getting poorer and the middle class is disappearing. This is a mathematical fact.
I don’t oppose the wealthy but I believe that the greed is out of control. I am not in favor of redistribution of wealth. I also believe in the middle class working man/woman. If you look at the gap between the wages that are being paid for the typical employee and the corporate managers, it has never been as great as it is now.
I was in business for 25 years. It has gotten very hard for small business to compete today. We have so many government regulations, tax disadvantages, high medical cost, foreign competition, and the never ending quest of people to sue; it is extremely difficult to stay in business. Small business has accounted for over 50% of the patents and new products that were being made in this country and accounts for a large portion of the middle class. Small businesses are disappearing. It is becoming Wal-Marts, Lowes, Home Depots, and chain stores that are large enough to have a legal department and with purchasing power to import goods. We end up with companies like Wal-mart that pay people less, keep them under 40 hour work weeks without benefits, and treat them as a number on a time slip. In the end we loss completion and we have little or no savings for the consumer. So what does this mean? We will make less but pay more. Our life style will deteriorate.
Many people believe that the wealthy does not want this to happen because it would in effect limit consumer spending. It is true that it would but it would not hurt their life style and that is what we are talking about here. The amount of money that you make is not a true measuring stick of your life style. But it is the gap that determines that. For an example: in a third world country you can hire full time domestic help for $25.00 or less a week. Now how many of us would not have someone at that rate cooking our meals, doing our laundry, and cleaning our house? Would it not improve our life style?
Where I work we use mostly Mexicans in our plant. A few years ago this was unheard of in this area. They are hard workers and they get paid a wage that you can not reasonably live on. Because of this import labor and the high unemployment in the area, companies are paying less than they have in years. It is supply and demand. It is now a buyers market in the manufacturing labor market.
So why am I becoming a truck driver? Someone has to deliver the goods make in China to the Wal-Marts.
Another Day, another 50 cents and if you figure inflation then about a quarter.
The decline of the middle class:
First let’s take some mathematical facts into consideration about the decline of the middle class. If you take the average annual income or the net worth of all Americans, then take the top 25% for the upper class, the middle 50% for the middle class, and the lower 25% for the lower class and see what percentage of the population is in each group. Then use this same formula and compare to 20 years ago. The Upper and Lower class has grown and the middle has declined. So what does this say? The wealthy is getting wealthier and the poor is getting poorer and the middle class is disappearing. This is a mathematical fact.
I don’t oppose the wealthy but I believe that the greed is out of control. I am not in favor of redistribution of wealth. I also believe in the middle class working man/woman. If you look at the gap between the wages that are being paid for the typical employee and the corporate managers, it has never been as great as it is now.
I was in business for 25 years. It has gotten very hard for small business to compete today. We have so many government regulations, tax disadvantages, high medical cost, foreign competition, and the never ending quest of people to sue; it is extremely difficult to stay in business. Small business has accounted for over 50% of the patents and new products that were being made in this country and accounts for a large portion of the middle class. Small businesses are disappearing. It is becoming Wal-Marts, Lowes, Home Depots, and chain stores that are large enough to have a legal department and with purchasing power to import goods. We end up with companies like Wal-mart that pay people less, keep them under 40 hour work weeks without benefits, and treat them as a number on a time slip. In the end we loss completion and we have little or no savings for the consumer. So what does this mean? We will make less but pay more. Our life style will deteriorate.
Many people believe that the wealthy does not want this to happen because it would in effect limit consumer spending. It is true that it would but it would not hurt their life style and that is what we are talking about here. The amount of money that you make is not a true measuring stick of your life style. But it is the gap that determines that. For an example: in a third world country you can hire full time domestic help for $25.00 or less a week. Now how many of us would not have someone at that rate cooking our meals, doing our laundry, and cleaning our house? Would it not improve our life style?
Where I work we use mostly Mexicans in our plant. A few years ago this was unheard of in this area. They are hard workers and they get paid a wage that you can not reasonably live on. Because of this import labor and the high unemployment in the area, companies are paying less than they have in years. It is supply and demand. It is now a buyers market in the manufacturing labor market.
So why am I becoming a truck driver? Someone has to deliver the goods make in China to the Wal-Marts.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Our Shipping Department
Tuesday December 4, 2007
Today is my anniversary. Shelly is an early riser and was up before the alarm this morning anxiously waiting for me to get up to give me an anniversary gift and card. We are quite opposites about the mornings. She gets up wide awake and animated and I need time before I talk to anyone. We both love the mornings but in different ways.
We get several trucks here at the plant each day. Some days we have only one or two but then others as many as ten or twelve. We don’t have a shipping department. The shipping person was good but she quit after a disagreement with the owners wife. Now the owner’s wife is in charge but she is seldom here. Their son (an arrogant 20 something year old) they couldn’t find anything he could do so they made him the plant manager. When trucks come in to be loaded he will let them sit for hours without loading them. It is his power thing. I have known of trucks sitting for 5 to 6 hours before being loaded. This practice has stopped now, I am sure they had complaints.
Yesterday I had spoken to a driver from Estes Express about his job. He really liked it. He had been driving for 2 ½ years doing local Pickup and Delivery. He said that the company OTR drivers make $60-$70 K a year. He said that he made less but didn’t work as much and was home every night. He did say that he was paid well for the hours that he worked. Of course what is good pay for him might not be for someone else.
I get very anxious to get the schooling behind me and get on the road.
Today is my anniversary. Shelly is an early riser and was up before the alarm this morning anxiously waiting for me to get up to give me an anniversary gift and card. We are quite opposites about the mornings. She gets up wide awake and animated and I need time before I talk to anyone. We both love the mornings but in different ways.
We get several trucks here at the plant each day. Some days we have only one or two but then others as many as ten or twelve. We don’t have a shipping department. The shipping person was good but she quit after a disagreement with the owners wife. Now the owner’s wife is in charge but she is seldom here. Their son (an arrogant 20 something year old) they couldn’t find anything he could do so they made him the plant manager. When trucks come in to be loaded he will let them sit for hours without loading them. It is his power thing. I have known of trucks sitting for 5 to 6 hours before being loaded. This practice has stopped now, I am sure they had complaints.
Yesterday I had spoken to a driver from Estes Express about his job. He really liked it. He had been driving for 2 ½ years doing local Pickup and Delivery. He said that the company OTR drivers make $60-$70 K a year. He said that he made less but didn’t work as much and was home every night. He did say that he was paid well for the hours that he worked. Of course what is good pay for him might not be for someone else.
I get very anxious to get the schooling behind me and get on the road.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Designing for Batesville Casket
Monday December 3, 2007
Back to work today. I am working on a design for a lid for a casket for Batesville Casket Company. This is not one the more enjoyable parts that I have design. I am not fond of having a casket in my office. It’s not a completed casket, just the metal stamping without the covering. I don’t have a fear of death, probable less than most people, but I don’t care for the morbid either. I know somebody has to do this stuff but I had rather it not be me. I have design some weird stuff before but this is my first casket. I have design a vase for funeral flora arrangements. That was okay, it had other uses also. You might have had one at your wedding, not that there is much difference. I had designed a part for baiting Ballyhoo which I had frozen so I could work with them without spoiling. Thank God they didn’t send a corpse with this job. I usually get educated on any project that I work on but this one I am trying to avoid knowing anymore than is necessary. Some of the parts that go into this you don’t want to know. I never realized what happens after you are in the casket. Cremate me and get it over with. Well I will get it designed and move it out.
Back to work today. I am working on a design for a lid for a casket for Batesville Casket Company. This is not one the more enjoyable parts that I have design. I am not fond of having a casket in my office. It’s not a completed casket, just the metal stamping without the covering. I don’t have a fear of death, probable less than most people, but I don’t care for the morbid either. I know somebody has to do this stuff but I had rather it not be me. I have design some weird stuff before but this is my first casket. I have design a vase for funeral flora arrangements. That was okay, it had other uses also. You might have had one at your wedding, not that there is much difference. I had designed a part for baiting Ballyhoo which I had frozen so I could work with them without spoiling. Thank God they didn’t send a corpse with this job. I usually get educated on any project that I work on but this one I am trying to avoid knowing anymore than is necessary. Some of the parts that go into this you don’t want to know. I never realized what happens after you are in the casket. Cremate me and get it over with. Well I will get it designed and move it out.
Cajun Spiced Chicken
Saturday – Sunday, December 1, 2007
Saturday and Sunday I worked on my house. I am trying to get as much work done on it as I can before I start trucking. What I don’t get done now won’t get done for a long time. I can’t get it completed but it is getting quite livable. The summer has been hot with little rain. The draught has not been good for the farmers but it has helped me to get work done on my house. I haven’t had to deal with rain causing construction delays. My home is on the Calf Killer River. The river has been low all summer and not looked so good. I haven’t had the time to enjoy it anyway. I do wish that I could have got a dock built while it was low.
The weekend has brought snow storms in the north. I am not looking forward to dealing with that. I being from the south haven’t had to deal with much snowy icy conditions. When it threatens snows here the schools closes, the grocery stores get bombarded like a hurricane warning in Florida, and they salt the roads. More often than not we don’t even get any snow but it makes for good TV news rating. We have closed schools just because it has threatened snow. I don’t know of every being snowed in where we couldn’t get to the grocery store. But we don’t want to starve to death in the few hours that it takes for the roads to clear. But people continue to stock up with every snow warning in the hopes of a really good snow. It could happen!
I haven’t heard from TT@Nashville so I assume that I am not in the first round of students accepted for the January truck driving class. I could still get in because everyone on the waiting list doesn’t show. If I don’t get into the January class I should be in the March class. Either way I have a lot to do to my house before I go trucking and I would like to get some driving experience before I start dealing with the icy roads.
I cooked dinner Sunday which I do occasionally. I have several specialties that I make. Sunday I made a chicken pasta dish. I believe that it would be one that I can make on the road easy. Here is the recipe for two people:
Ingredients for two servings:
2 boneless chicken breast
½ box of Ziti
½ bag of frozen vegetable mix of cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots
1 jar of Alfredo sauce
2 tablespoons Cajun spice
1 tablespoon Cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons Olive oil
Grill two chicken breasts and cut them into strips. I don’t bread them.
Sprinkle them with Cajun spice while cooking. I add a little extra Cayenne pepper for taste.
Set grilled chicken strips aside after cooking.
Cook ½ box of Ziti per instruction on box.
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil after draining and blend in.
Heat a jar of Alfredo sauce.
Add a half bag of the frozen cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots mix. I let them thaw before cooking but you can add them frozen and give them more time to heat.
Add Cajun spice to mix.
Serve over the pasta with the chicken strips.
Tip: I measure out about 2 tablespoons of the Cajun spice and one of the Cayenne pepper onto a piece of wax paper of aluminum foil and mix and use about half to coat the chicken and the rest in the sauce. This is not real spicy but enough to give it a good taste. Adjust to your own personal taste. It is rather easy to fix and everyone loves it. Disclaimer: It may become addictive.
Saturday and Sunday I worked on my house. I am trying to get as much work done on it as I can before I start trucking. What I don’t get done now won’t get done for a long time. I can’t get it completed but it is getting quite livable. The summer has been hot with little rain. The draught has not been good for the farmers but it has helped me to get work done on my house. I haven’t had to deal with rain causing construction delays. My home is on the Calf Killer River. The river has been low all summer and not looked so good. I haven’t had the time to enjoy it anyway. I do wish that I could have got a dock built while it was low.
The weekend has brought snow storms in the north. I am not looking forward to dealing with that. I being from the south haven’t had to deal with much snowy icy conditions. When it threatens snows here the schools closes, the grocery stores get bombarded like a hurricane warning in Florida, and they salt the roads. More often than not we don’t even get any snow but it makes for good TV news rating. We have closed schools just because it has threatened snow. I don’t know of every being snowed in where we couldn’t get to the grocery store. But we don’t want to starve to death in the few hours that it takes for the roads to clear. But people continue to stock up with every snow warning in the hopes of a really good snow. It could happen!
I haven’t heard from TT@Nashville so I assume that I am not in the first round of students accepted for the January truck driving class. I could still get in because everyone on the waiting list doesn’t show. If I don’t get into the January class I should be in the March class. Either way I have a lot to do to my house before I go trucking and I would like to get some driving experience before I start dealing with the icy roads.
I cooked dinner Sunday which I do occasionally. I have several specialties that I make. Sunday I made a chicken pasta dish. I believe that it would be one that I can make on the road easy. Here is the recipe for two people:
Ingredients for two servings:
2 boneless chicken breast
½ box of Ziti
½ bag of frozen vegetable mix of cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots
1 jar of Alfredo sauce
2 tablespoons Cajun spice
1 tablespoon Cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons Olive oil
Grill two chicken breasts and cut them into strips. I don’t bread them.
Sprinkle them with Cajun spice while cooking. I add a little extra Cayenne pepper for taste.
Set grilled chicken strips aside after cooking.
Cook ½ box of Ziti per instruction on box.
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil after draining and blend in.
Heat a jar of Alfredo sauce.
Add a half bag of the frozen cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots mix. I let them thaw before cooking but you can add them frozen and give them more time to heat.
Add Cajun spice to mix.
Serve over the pasta with the chicken strips.
Tip: I measure out about 2 tablespoons of the Cajun spice and one of the Cayenne pepper onto a piece of wax paper of aluminum foil and mix and use about half to coat the chicken and the rest in the sauce. This is not real spicy but enough to give it a good taste. Adjust to your own personal taste. It is rather easy to fix and everyone loves it. Disclaimer: It may become addictive.
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