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| Gators gonna gait... |
You knew that title was coming after a month and a half with
no updates, didn’t you? Let’s see, where
was I since 3/26? Tell ya where I
haven’t been- NJ. Back in for
the weekend, but the last 2 times I managed to get home I got up north to
MA. 1 hiccup in the chain of command and
suddenly I get an assignment from Madison to San Antonio on a Wednesday. “Well, guess I won’t be home for the
weekend…”
Yea, somebody misplaced the memo apparently; the best thing
that came of it was seeing The Avengers opening night, which kicks ass,
btw. Despite ending up getting a
Monday-Thursday off that was a nice change of pace from the constant east-west
runs on I-80, or the errand boy trips from Green Bay to Madison and back. The pain was the reminder of just how old an
invention ice cream is that being eons older than the standardization of the
53’ container. Thus, access to these
facilities are a little… ehh.
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| I enjoy seeing this in the plans |
Blocking a 3-lane road with a 50mph limit (with assistance)
was a very satisfying experience. That
is, only after approaching the wrong way up said one way street from a block
down, because otherwise it would be a blindside. Still, they don’t seem to be sending me to
the nightmare places quite as much as they used to. Google Street View is an invaluable asset in planning ahead.
I managed to save up a few bucks to get myself a mobile
workstation, namely an ASUS G53S. Beats
the hell out of my rig about 3 fold, but doesn’t look half as good doing
so. I started working on a new model
during a 14 hour layover at Vince Lombardi service plaza in NJ. Finished that day with 25 seconds left on my
70. Weekend coverage was all “Why the
hell did you cut it so close?” I’m all
“I didn’t, ran the numbers and it equaled over 90 minutes of leeway” The one thing
I had forgotten in planning this run from Hartford to Newark is that I-95 in
CT, no matter what time of day, what day of the week, always manages to get
unprovoked pockets of congestion, despite there being no significant
interchanges or choke points for miles around.
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| Faux News isn't the only place to get political commentary |
What there IS a significant amount of is lack of overnight truck parking
on I-95. There is a Pilot in Milford, CT
and heading south after that its 65 miles to VL Plaza, the northernmost one on
the NJ Pike. That’s pretty much it. I reached the point of do or die in Milford,
the numbers still looked good, so I made the call to keep going. A few miles later CT said NOPE FU MATTI
WELCOME BACK HAHA LOL LETS DO SOME RANDOM STOP N GO EVERY 8 MILES. Ironically, I hardly stepped on the brakes
the whole approach to the GWB, and had my foot on the floor after passing
it. It wasn’t just the numbers, the big
reason I didn’t want to call it in CT is because I would have to traverse the
GWB AND the NJ Pike early Sunday morning instead of 1300 like it was at the
time on Saturday. Weekend or not I don’t
like doing cities unless it’s either before the sun comes up, or after noon.
The real kick in the ass is that dispatch receives my total
hours in increments of 15 minutes from Sheila’s computer. This is because their computers are built on
the paper log foundation, which also logs in 15 minute increments. Enter Qualcomm and Windows Truck PC, who
wonderfully log with increments of FIVE SECONDS. Biiiiiiiig difference between 15 minutes of
play and 5 seconds. They’ll never see
increments of less than 15 minutes on their end, but they WILL see the red flag
that goes off at 70:00:05
Despite all the zero tolerance, do I miss doing
paper logs like we had to in training?
…NOPE.
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| Spinners next time? |
Product plugs! This
has been a long time coming, but a whole bunch have stacked up recently and
I’ll be using for a while.
I’d like to thank uncle Don for recommending Nevr-Dull,
taking care of the wheels and fuel tank crap.
Effortlessly dissolves all the mess into a fine greasy film that needs a
whole bed sheet and a lot of elbow grease to get 3 square inches to a mirror
shine. But DAMN does it look good.
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| Don't know how high 13'6" is until you reach for it |
Second is Dad for picking up Meguiar's Ultimate Compound for Sheila’s sunburn. Sitting in a parking lot for 2 years paint
oxidation runs pretty mean especially on fiberglass. Works great with minimal effort, the biggest
drawback is that its literally like applying a 5oz bottle of sunscreen to an
elephant using only a napkin. I’ve done
all I can reach from the ground and steps, will need a pretty serious setup and
a whole day to hit the roof.
Lastly, Prestone Bug Wash.
$1.89 a gallon at Wal-Mart and its clearly marked “Skin irritant avoid
contact” Not “avoid prolonged exposure”, straight up do not touch. That’s how you know it’s good. It’s made to be used undiluted as windshield washer
fluid, but I need to take it a step further.
In comes my multi-purpose pesticide spray bottle and she’s good to reach
the mirrors, the visor, grille, headlights, everywhere those pesky bugs like to
stick to. I use that just before I drive
through the auto wash bay in Gary and it works *almost* perfectly.
I’ll update as things progress, for now know that I’m
hanging in there, having fun when I can, and in retrospect, making bank doing
so.
