That's why we call it - Gary

So I finally caught the check engine light on while passing through Gary and I'm on the waiting list.  Every time I have to stay here more than an hour weird things happen.  First I wonder under what other circumstances would I find myself watching Gunsmoke, Bonanza, and The Big Valley?

Nope.  Only at Gary. 

Shortly after checking in I get reassigned to a red-eye going back to Youngstown, taking off later tonight to get there at 0500.  FML,  Hopefully they'll get to me soon so I get to sleep in my own bed.  This comes after a change of plans in Y-town on Saturday left me a 34hr reset there.  I've spent more time sitting still than I'd prefer.

This sucks.  Needs more All in the Family.

I remember seeing the article in Game Informer back in '08 for Aliens: Colonial Marines and thinking "Best movie of the franchise and Gearbox is making a game out of it.  Awesome."  At least I'm all pre-ordered on Steam.  6 days and the wait is over.

Technologic

So I've been working on a new post for about an hour and a half, typing about the weeks events and for some reason placing pictures in the editor vs how they come out was suddenly reminiscent of doing the same in Microsoft Word.  In other words, tell it to do one thing, and it does something else you couldn't do yourself if you wanted to.  I was done writing, and pasting a caption into the last picture on the post. Apparently Google thought Ctrl+V means "Erase entire page and don't save draft"  Funny because last time I checked it meant "Paste"

Luckily, I still had the last preview page open.  Albeit unable to copy any text.  At least the conventional way.  Salvaging it from the page source code would be like trying to pick all the cookie dough out of a gallon of ice cream.  And you don't get the satisfaction of eating either when you're done. So here you go.

Red Barchetta

And they turn purple when you click them

NYSE: NAV

When I started here a year ago, company trucks were predominantly red, some blue mixed in maybe 1 in 20.  Most were Freightliners.  The new ProStars for the Flatbed and Specialized division were silver.  O/O's had their share of diversity but they were in a small minority.  The incoming flow of new power units were a mix of Freightliner Cascadias and International ProStars.

A few months ago incoming went to full-on ProStars.  I guess they found something they liked.  My guess is it had something to do with Daimler's dozen-ish recalls on new model Cascadias in the last 2 years.  Several of which included the DEF system, which the ProStars don't have.  Looking around the highways it seems that a LOT of companies are making the same switch.  Unfortunately it looks like the factory in Escobedo ran out of red paint.  Recently HQ started making exceptions to our motto.

Game over, man.

 Serina 2.0

Not an O/O? You need simplicity.

My Nuvi 550 was running on maps from 2008 and had its list of debilitating wear and tear.  Thus I was hesitant to load on 2013 maps instead of just getting a new unit with lifetime maps. It's been a long time coming but my research wasn't done in time for my Christmas wish list.  Lucky for me I had about $50 saved up on loyalty fuel points having not spent a single one since July.  When the Garmins (some of them) went on sale at Pilot/Flying J and I happened to have an afternoon-overnight layover at the one in Hagerstown, Maryland I decided to conduct my research.  Just my luck their computers wired to the loyalty card network crapped out moments before I made my decision and didn't come back online for about 5 hours.  The manager was kind enough to set my pick aside for me in the meantime.  Nice to have a parking spot 100' from the door and 65° out anyway.

I got the last 465, the first in the Nuvi line designed for trucks and a combined savings of $95 off the retail price.

Basically a dashboard mounted iPad.
I'll pass.

<While the Rand McNally TND series truck units are off-the-wall feature-packed, highly favored, and an interface about as simple (sarcasm) as that of Curiosity Rover, There is one thing Garmin has that they don't.  Easy waypoints.  I have to follow my (text) routing from HQ for each assignment and the ones automatically generated by GPS units rarely match it.  Thus, I have to manually drop flags where I need to go.

I had a few doubts at first but they're just typical nit-picky things.  Like admiring the Nuvi series for using the simple UI unchanged since they launched in 2007, I'm a little critical of bugs that have been left in 6 years later.

Here I Go Again

01/16/2012  -  01/16/2013

A Long December

I was inspired by a truck I saw last December while out training with John who had a single length of rope lights on his dashboard at night.  Despite all the truck stops we stayed at, that was the only truck with Christmas lights I saw all season.

So this year, every night I was parked somewhere from Thanksgiving to Dec. 23rd when I came home, this is what you'd see.

Similarly, there was only one other truck I saw with lights this year.  I am disappoint.






The upgrades at my favorite terminal are moving along as weather permits, hopefully the new showers and cafe will be done on time in April.  I think other drivers are more concerned with the additional service bays and possibly (but unlikely) the expedition of maintenance work in the future.

Simplified explanation

Full Bath = Shower, bathtub, sink, toilet
3/4 Bath  = Shower, sink, toilet
1/2 Bath = Toilet, sink.
Gary's current units have only a shower and sink.  What does that make them?

Snow Shoe, PA

 Headed into some hell after embarking out west again after Christmas.  I was on a mission to keep 44k lbs of bananas at a steady 60°F all the way from Philly to Stevens Point, WI.  According to Sheila the outside temp never beat 34 and I ran into some seriously MEAN stuff in Indiana when the lake effect collided with the already slow moving snow storm I was driving through.  Near South Bend it went from just wet roads and flurries to near whiteout and 3"+ on the road in a handful of miles.  An hour later I was in Gary and it was evident they didn't see a damn flake since I left on the 21st. 

Hartford, WI

I enjoyed hanging out with Rollie and Dean for the afternoon with the time I had to burn on the way to SP.  It added a taste of reality and nostalgia to my very much digitized social life.

Wish I had a lapse in delivery times like this more often.

List of things you usually do NOT see in a 3/4 bath:  The first is obviously a bath tub.  Now the second on my list is input jacks for speakers in the shower head.  Welcome to Pilot #056 at 2825 Lane Street, Kannapolis, NC.

I don't pack my bags for a shower expecting to do A/V setup, so I didn't have any cables to utilize this anyway.  Maybe next time.

<And next time time I get a place of my own, you'll find this.

Leaving HQ a few days after Christmas.  One of many snowbanks around the yard  That truck is driving on the road BEHIND the pile, not stuck in it.

Carry On

It was only yesterday when I got down to acquiring the 5 stickers and 15 pages of permits for 2013 I realized a lot went down since I last posted... again.  Mainly because work has been a whole lot of the same day in and day out.  An unwelcome change to that came in the form of forwarding (and subsequently chasing) an extremely time sensitive envelope from Old Bridge, NJ to Georgetown, MA to finally Gary, IN.  I'll make a point to update my mailing address now.  Nice of them to tell me it was coming after they had already been sent out.

And I'm damn well not blogging on home time

If you're reading this you probably don't need to hear about my belated thanksgiving, because you were either there or I told you about it.  Nice to see the family as always.
The moment has passed for a 1 year anniversary post for FTF or a political rant (November 5th and 6th, respectively) or even how I weathered 3rd storm of the century (in 10 years)

Thus:
-Thank you all for following me since 11/5/11 and my journey through this tangent in my working life.  It's been real and will go on for a bit longer.
-Voting for the lesser of two evils and its front for a rigged system is the biggest joke we all put up with and only 1% of America was interested in changing that this time and I believe myself and 1.2 million others did the right thing.  Other than that I won't complain about the outcome.
-I spent the beginning of the storm traveling from home to Portland, then spent the night there after a live unload during the worst of it.  Got up and continued on my way, haven't been back to NJ or southern NY since.  Climate change is real, and it IS man made.  Anybody who tells you different is either blissfully ignorant, misinformed, or on Koch Industries' payroll.  The 50 gallons I chew through every day doesn't just magically disappear and I'm not proud of it.

North Massachusetts born and raised, Playin Halo is how I spend most of my days.
This isn't me playing, but I'm in these matches.  Look for the tag "M80"
Credits to Rob for recording our latest college reunion.  This is what I only wish I could do out on the road.  If you listen carefully you can hear me on the TV here and there

Back To Good

Sometimes delayed launches turn out to be worth the wait.  1432 miles, plus Canada bonus- Stratham to the Twin Cities via over the lakes.  The first weekend of the month I spent rolling to the highest hemisphere I've ever been to, 46° 34' in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.
The only drawback- with every mile my allergies were turning into a head cold.  By the time I got to my destination I was down 3 boxes of tissues and about as miserable as could be.  As I moved on to my next destination and one more tease of a swing within 40 miles of headquarters, then down to Gary, I finally got a promised run from Gary to Tomah, WI, then just a 50 mile empty ride to HQ to get some well deserved work in the shop.

Thunderstruck.

Fast forward to 10/14 and I'm having a bitchin time with my hot meals and coffee before I even open the door every morning.  It won't bring back the Xbox but my diet doesn't suck so much anymore.  Should be a great winter now. 

Check out my last inverter-less ride: