International Woman's Day

To start off, I want to proclaim that I am for women. I am for men. I am for equality among genders. And I'm happy to spend a day, a week, a month, a year, a lifetime dedicated to honoring women in history. We should honor all the people who have made advances in things and made our lives better. If they only made one life better, it's enough for us to celebrate their life.

Having said that, what was the point of women protesting today? That is a legitimate question. Why were they protesting?

As a woman in a male-dominated field (truck drivers are mostly male), I can honestly say that I have never been discriminated against because of my gender, except in one specific spot (and I don't know that gender is what caused the issue, so I can't fully feel comfortable blaming that). In fact, I've mostly had good reactions to me being a female who drives a truck. Probably because I don't seem to fit the stereotype of a female truck driver.

I've never had someone act like I couldn't do my job because I'm female. They've been impressed and surprised, but not demeaning. I've never been paid less than my husband, which is more impressive because he's got a longer history of driving than I do. (This is mainly because of the fact that I came in as an owner-operator, which got a set pay no matter how long you had been driving. And the truck we currently drive gets paid x per mile and we make y% of that amount.) This is an industry that does not care what your gender is, as long as you can drive. Most pay is based off of experience, unless the company pays a set amount per mile for anyone.

Trucking, while not exactly female friendly in terms of cleanliness, is an equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, gender, or religion.

If it has to do with the government not helping to support the purchase of birth control, I'm not personally overly concerned with that. I might be willing to protest about not being taxed at a higher amount for hygiene products, as that is not something women just buy for fun. (Seriously, most of us would be happy to skip having periods, if that were an option without removing the option of having kids. Periods are not fun, but should be at least minorly understood by all.) I have options besides pills for birth control (including condoms, an IUD, and abstinence). I don't have a lot of options about having a period.

Anyway. Congratulations on being a human! I hope you make things better in the world! And please, explain what women were protesting today by "not showing up to their jobs", because that would just get me in a world of trouble with several people if I had done that (the trucking company and my husband, at minimum).

The Cyclical Nature of Trucking (Problems)

One of the weirdest parts about living on a truck is how often the same problem pops up on different trucks. The truck we are currently inhabiting, we've been living on for 2 weeks (and a night). In that 2 weeks, we've had problems pop up that have needed to be fixed (which is sad, in that 2 weeks isn't a long time, but this truck had nearly half a million miles on it when we moved in).

Today we delivered (Ace did, and I slept apparently soundly.). Then we came by a truck stop to get an oil change done. And have them check out the a/c (it wasn't blowing cold in the front half). And find out what the check engine light on the truck meant. We have a truck with fresh oil, temporarily working a/c for the front, and a trip to a different shop for tomorrow to try to get the rest fixed (including a part that might be messing with the alignment). The check engine light had to do with the exhaust system, which is not something to be ignored.

If this had been the first issues, I'd be less wondering if the owner of the truck finds us annoying. However, we could not have done any of this damage in 2 weeks. I know he knows that, but...

Anyway. Every truck I've lived in has had some problem pop up with the exhaust system. Truck manufacturers have worked hard to make it so that trucks actually not only don't greatly pollute the air, but in fact, will clean it. This has to do with California and it's smog problem. But, I don't think all the bugs are worked out of their systems for cleaning the exhaust.

So, tomorrow will be spent at a Freightliner (a first on type of truck), hoping that we can get back on the road soon with a fixed truck.

I am not holding my breath on it being a quick fix (it hasn't been in the past, but maybe Freightliner is better at this stuff).

Random Thoughts No One Else Probably Cares About

I still suck at this posting more than once in a blue moon thing. Sorry. I hadn't quite realized how long it had been since I had posted.

Since I don't really have much in the way of coherent thoughts right now, here is a random list of what is on my mind.

1. Some people are really good at circumventing the rules. Sometimes it's impressive. Sometimes it's bad. (Ace is reading me a follow up article about a kid who got suspended for selling full sugar Pepsi. The kid figured out how to keep selling the soft drinks without breaking the rules.)

2. Why are we, as a society, so hung up about gender and what people have in their pants? Does it matter if I'm female or male to anyone other than Ace and me? Should it?

3. Did I use proper grammar in that last point? Should it have been Ace and I instead of Ace and me?

4. I need to post that email that made me laugh sometime. With the explanation as to why it was so funny.

5. Ace and I traded trucks. We love our new one, even if there are a few things we don't love about it it. It is so much better than the last truck. (I can drive this one without messing up my hip!)

6. I should post about weird/random/whatever things I've seen since I've started driving. (I have a weird story about a wheel. Short, but weird.)

7. Today kind of sucked. But we made it through the day without crashing the truck or yelling at anyone.

8. I had to pay a quarter to use a bathroom that didn't even have soap or paper towels (or a hand dryer) to clean my hands. That sucks.

9. I'm glad people are talking about depression and not just ignoring it. Why do we stigmatize mental illnesses? Are we afraid they are contagious?

10. I don't have a ten, I just like even numbers.

My brain is kind of active lately. But now I think it's time for a nap. Hopefully I'll get back soon with those posts.

Because Of Course It Is

In an effort to prove that Ace and I really shouldn't share a laptop, my nice, new, under-a-month-old laptop decided that it's hard drive should fail. So, we're sharing a laptop for at least a few days until we can see if my old laptop can used with a monitor and my new laptop can have it's hard drive replaced (that should take about two weeks, because of mailing the laptop off and getting it mailed back).

Thankfully, it should be a fairly quick fix once we mail the laptop off. Whee.

Thank God for my smart phone. It will help tremendously.

I love my husband, who spent over an hour on the phone with tech support (staffed in India) to get this issue as resolved as it already is. The man is awesome. (They kept trying to say they could send a tech out within two to three days, which is nice, but impossible for us on the road. They finally decided that it could be mailed off and they will mail us a box to mail it to them in. Hopefully they got our address right.)

Life is... well, better than it could be. That backup laptop is sounding better and better by the hour.

I'm Still Alive Even If My Body Says It's Not So Sure

So, it's a new year. And I haven't posted in a month.

December was kind of crappy for me.

My laptop got broken (the screen did) and had to be replaced (which it has). But I don't have everything set up on the new laptop yet because I don't have an unlimited internet connection and all my game cds.

I got a cold that has continued to last for over a week. Right now I have the most pathetic cough when I don't have medication in me. On the plus side, that is about the sum of what is left of the cold.

We had a terrible snow/ice storm pop up when we were on our way to home time and visiting my dad leading to a delay on getting to see them. And the roads in northwest Arkansas do not get plowed nearly thoroughly enough, which made travel slightly tricky once we could get there.

I had meant to post, right about the time my laptop broke. But then it broke and I had to share a laptop with Ace for about a week and we both hated it (we cannot share a laptop, that much is obvious). (We may be getting another laptop as a back up laptop in the nearish future... because we can't do the sharing a laptop thing again and that would keep that from happening.)

And throughout all of that, it was actually not that crappy of a month. Mostly because the stress of dealing with Ace's job was about half that of what it was in the past. Even when we have had stressful situations, I've been past the annoyance with his new company in a matter of hours instead of still shaking my head about it all.

It helps that we had the money to buy a new laptop within a week. Without hurting anything else in our budget. It helps that any annoyances are usually derived from having to drive back highways more than we had been. Which is only annoying when I'm on my period (which seems to be when they are the most popular for us to drive, oddly enough).

Basically, I'm complaining, but my life is actually better. Verifiably so.

Now to just clear up that jury duty issue...

A Post About Nothing

I feel like I should write and pour my heart out. Only, I really have nothing that needs to be said.

I spent about 48 hours terrified concerned that I might be pregnant, because as much as I want kids now is so not the time for a pregnancy. And then I started spotting and now I feel like I can breathe again (don't tell me that until I actually start my period there is no breathing room, I know this, but I feel better knowing my body is doing something it's supposed to do right now even if it could mean something else.).

Hormones had me feeling nauseous more often that I like. And peppermints were helping, but bumps were making it worse. And there are a ton of bumps on the road.

Things are going well with the new company. We're keeping ourselves as put together as we can and it's been less stressful.

I have discovered which company makes condiments for McDonald's. That's kind of cool.

Yeah... I've got nothing right now.

Another Letter to an Unnamed Trucking Company

Dear Unnamed Trucking Company,
I'm sure you are wondering why Ace left you. Not that any one there except his driving manager seemed to try to really talk him into staying. And that is part of the problem. No one cared.

We even had one guy tell Ace that no one would care at any other company, so he might as well stay with you. That was a bad reasoning on why someone should stay at a company.

Someone else gave some excuse for how he wouldn't be stuck for the better part of a week starting in January. This was in September, so it wasn't a good excuse and the company he was switching to would have the same benefits under the proposed California law. This just made us confused about why that would be a reason to stay.

It doesn't help matters that Ace got stuck in California twice in a month. Nor did it help that no one apparently noticed that his info said that he doesn't drive in New York City. Or that before the second time we got stuck in California he had already declined 2 other chances to go to California that same day (really, why were you all so hot for him to go back to California?).

Your planners apparently decided to stop planning ahead and sending us info for the next load to pick up before we delivered, which was costing us lots of money each week. And left us sitting around more often than not.

His new company did send him to California on his first trip with them. And then gave him a trip right back out of California right afterwards. With no waiting and wondering what the next trip would be. In fact, we've had very little just sitting around between trips, and each time there was a logical reason for why we were waiting (once is because we were having work done on the truck... and we had our next load before it was done being worked on).

Working with people up at your company was stressful. Ace and I hadn't been off the truck since July 1st, but you were not willing to help with a hotel room when it became apparent that quitting the company was going to take until the next day (because the truck wasn't needing work that would keep us off the truck, apparently). The new company rented us a car and had a hotel room paid for us to stay in from Saturday until Wednesday (we paid for 2 days because we got there on Thursday). Quitting cost us way too much money, but we'll happily make more (even if I'm not driving yet) with the new company. So far, there has been no stress when talking with anyone at the new company.

Basically, your company sucks and that is why Ace quit. We miss the size and some of the storage options of your truck, but that's it.

Much less stressed,
M.A. Smith

Change Has Come

So, this year I am not doing NaBloPoMo. I have been doing badly about updating this blog, and I doubt that I'd do better by pushing myself to post every day for a month.

Instead, I am going to try to post more often than every two weeks. I make no promises.

Ace has switched companies, something that he had been considering since June. Things are changing. Today we are starting our first trip with the new company. Later, I will probably write a letter on here to the old company explaining why we left. I have feelings about it and I need to vent them. I'm still not naming companies though.

I am surprised to find that I am getting twitchy about having sat still for so long. I'm not used to us not going somewhere, and while I know that eventually we'll be out of over the road truck driving, that time has not come yet. I'll probably feel twitchy then too, until I get busy.

In the mean time, I have things to do (like bags to unpack and get things settled into semi-permanent places as they seem fit to do so. And I've got to try to leave some open space for the stuff we have yet to put on our truck, but will need.

Life is fun and exciting, except it's not anything I want to write about because it's involved and probably somewhat boring to most people.

Life is changing. And right now, that is good.

Things You Should Know Before Getting on a Semi

Life on the road is... different. There are things that you should know before you even contemplate doing it.

1. If you are on a truck with someone, you can't really get away from them. The best you can get is being on the other side of a curtain or being apart during bathroom breaks (unless you are the same gender, then I don't think that will happen). You are going to have to figure out how not to make the other person want to hurt you and how to deal with the stress of seeing/hearing/being around someone practically 24-7. Ace can't do much that I don't know about. I can't do much that he doesn't know about. We are constantly around each other and there is almost no break from that. If we hadn't already gotten used to it, we'd probably have had some fights by now.

2. If you have an APU (alternate power unit), it helps keep you cooler or warmer. It cannot make you comfortable in 90+ degree weather. It is too hot to handle all of the cooling on it's own. You will have to idle the truck or you will have to stay hot. There are no other options.

3. There are temperatures that are impossible to sleep in. 100+ degrees outside makes it difficult or impossible to sleep soundly inside.

4. People in 4-wheeled vehicles drive like they are nuts. Especially around semis. They cut a big truck off and then slow down. They pass on the right. They slow way down from in front of a truck to get behind it when they are entering the interstate, just to zoom around it afterwards. They have almost no idea how long it takes a truck to stop, how wide the turning radius is, or where a driver's blind spots are. Given the number of crazy people on the road, there is a surprisingly lower number of wrecks involving semis and most of those are not the truck driver's fault.

5. Some companies don't care about their drivers. Some companies do. Some companies are good to start with to get enough experience to get to a company that will treat you right. Be careful who you work for. Talk to truck drivers to find out what they've heard, but take their information with a grain of salt. They have probably mostly heard other drivers complaints if they are talking about a company they have never worked for.

6. Sometimes you will have to stop somewhere you don't want to because you don't have any other options. Hopefully it will be a place that is open 24-7 and has decent bathrooms. Hopefully you will never be yelled at for using a bathroom at a truck stop (if it's one of the chains, they won't yell ever because that's what the bathrooms are for).

7. Playing make-a-space sucks. If you get hit, even if it's not your fault, you could be blamed by your company for not being in a legal space. Sometimes you may not have other options. If you can buy a space, cough up the money instead of making-a-space. It's safer and then you are covered. Plus it's tax deductible.

8. As much as you may hate it, you will eventually have to pee somewhere without a toilet (or one so nasty you don't want to use it). If you are male, use a bottle. If you are female, buy a pitcher with a lid and pour said contents into a bottle. You will probably always have a bottle around, because it is ridiculously easy to find 1 liter drinks at truck stops.

9. Eating out is expensive. The truck does not have any type of kitchen appliances. The two end up being related. You will either buy a microwave and a fridge, or you will constantly overspend on eating out. The microwave/fridge option is probably cheaper in the long run. Heat and eat meals are a lot cheaper at Walmart than at the truck stop.

10. You will not get to shower every day. There are plenty of times you will get to shower. You will probably have plenty of showers that expire before you use them. But after driving for 10+ hours a day, you will usually want to go to sleep. Sometimes, you won't be at a place where you have a shower available because it was the best place to stop for the night. You won't get to shower every day, and that's just a fact of life on the road.

11. Most truck stops have laundry rooms. Most of those laundry rooms are available to the general public. Sometimes the general public will take up all the washers and you will just be pissed off about it. Unfortunately, you can't do much about it but wait to do laundry, either at that stop later or at another stop.

12. Some loads take forever to get loaded. Some loads take forever to get unloaded. You will be stuck waiting at a shipper or receiver at some point. You will get stuck calling like you are obsessed to check on a load. This is especially bad when it's meat being hauled, but Ace and I just waited 2 extra days for a load of gum and life savors (which was still not fully right).

13. Deadlines for delivery (DLDs) are sometimes just given to make you laugh. I know because some shippers treat them as suggestions instead of actual deadlines. All you can do is tell your company and hope that either someone else will be able to swap trailers with you (so the load gets there on time) or that the receiver is willing to change their appointment so that you can get it there on time. If the load is ready by DLD and anything happens, the load is going to be late (unless you can swap trailers).

14. The internet is key to trip planning. Google maps, while not wholly appropriate for trucks, helps give you a good idea on what ways are likely to be good ones to travel. Pay for internet availability. It's not optional.

15. Verizon seems to have the best coverage for phones and internet. You will need a cell phone to contact people at your company. I've already talked about the internet. Most of the big name truck stops have apps for smart phones and there are other services that are useful with apps too. Smart phones are optional, but well worth the money. Plus, then you can play games while waiting to be loaded or unloaded.

This list is by no means exhaustive, but I have some more pressing needs to take care of.

Stay safe and be careful around semis if you are in a 4-wheel vehicle. We'd like you to all stay alive out there.

Random Randomness

Okay, I am completely terrible about remembering to come back here and post. I think this has been established. Thus, today, you get some random bits.

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On the other hand, Ace and I are talking a lot. We've come to some fair (to me) compromises on dealing with his parents from now on. Basically, I can do everything reasonably possible to not have to be around them and he won't complain. He's a bit annoyed about the part where his father sexually assaulted and harassed me, so he totally understands my desire to stay away.

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Unfortunately for me, we've been in some of the rainier parts of the country lately. I am so ready for some sunshine. My emotions are being a bit more fickle because of the constant grey clouds.

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We've added two new states to our list of states we've been to (new to me, not to Ace). I'd tell you how many that is, but I don't currently have access to the numbers.

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One of the recent updates on my laptop has made it more difficult for me to use Word or Excel. This is part of the reason I don't have numbers on the states. This is really annoying me. WTF Microsoft?

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Ace is considering switching trucking companies. Provided we can get answers to questions. Sometimes the weekend comes at inconvenient times.

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I keep having dreams that I only remember like one thing about when I wake up. It's mostly annoying because I don't really seem to care about these dreams, but they won't quite leave my mind. Last night my dream had something to do with hair pulling (and that is pretty much all I remember about it).

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I am still obsessing about Welcome to Night Vale. I don't think I want help though.

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And that's pretty much been it lately. Well, that and lots of sleep, lots of rain/grey clouds, and lots of driving/waiting.

"Can Today Just Be Over Now?" "No."

I'm having one of those days today. The kind where I wonder who okays me being in public, except I have to be for bathroom purposes because I live in a truck and why don't trucks come with toilets? It's not a great day, is what I'm saying.

And it isn't even anything that Ace could fix if he wanted to, because it was something out of his control that made it feel like such a bad day. And something that happened yesterday isn't helping and my brain is going a million miles a minute and nothing is right and why did I get up? (It's kind of loud in my head, is what I'm trying to say.)

Yesterday, we almost had a wreck. It could/would have been a bad one for us. I could have potentially died or at least been in a hospital for a long while. It scared me badly and I don't think I'm fully over that yet, even if the idea of being on the road does not bother me today.

And then today, we had issues with a load that should have been a simple pick up a trailer and drive down the road. It was over-weight. We were picking it up from a drop yard, so we couldn't have the shipper fix it. It wasted a few hours of our day. It wasn't something to get nearly as upset as I seem to be over.

I've also been emotional lately. Weepy about the most random things. I just had my period, so it's not likely hormonal, but I can't rule anything out at this point.

I'm having one of those days. And hopefully the chocolate I'm about to eat will help.

(The title of this post is an actual conversation between Ace and I. He was sympathetic to my desire for the day to be over.)

A Few, Short Letters

Dear Readers,
I have not forgotten this blog. I have just been caught up in a cycle of not enough sleep and focusing on reading Lord of the Rings (we're on book 6 and should be done with the actual story by the end of the month!). Hopefully some things will change soon (the lack of enough sleep).

Sorry,
M.A. Smith

Dear Unnamed Trucking Company,
Why did you decide on black trucks? And why do you think driving overnight in the summer is going to lead to anyone getting a good 8 hours of sleep when the truck is too hot during the day? You suck at making good decisions.

Tired and cranky,
M.A. Smith

Dear Miley Cyrus,
I don't even want to know what happened at the VMAs. But nobody respects you, based off of what little I've seen about it. You are not winning over any parents.

So over it,
M.A. Smith

Dear Heat,
I just want to sleep for 8 hours straight. Between you and my bladder that hasn't happened in a bit. Give me a break!

Overly hot,
M.A. Smith

Dear Ace,
You are the best. Even if it's too hot and I'm too tired. I love you lots. Don't change.

Love,
Your wife

This Post Is Also Pointless, But At Least It's Not Disgusting

We seem to have hit a small snag on things just running smoothly lately. Last week just had a bunch of fairly small issues that compounded and made for a bad week. This morning added a new, fixable problem that has not helped things feel like they are going right.

That said, we did get off the yard at unnamed trucking company within 48 hours, which is a record. It was going to be within 24, but there were issues with a load and it was just easier to go back to the yard and try again the next day.

And we have plenty of miles under the last two weeks. Which is good, because they pay by the mile, so any time spent sitting is somewhat costly. Especially when it is because of waiting on a load to be loaded or dealing with overages on a load (both of which happened last week, which is at least partly why it was a bad week).

Things work better, of course, when the people you are dealing with at your own company are not crazy. And when other companies don't lie to your company. Friday was not a good day (lots of sitting, not a lot getting fixed, no chance to actually do our laundry like we wanted/needed to).

I would like to urge anyone out there who thinks that going to a truck stop and doing your laundry there is a good idea, at least do the truck drivers a favor and don't use all the machines at one time. If you do, your laundry getting done is cutting into our break time and we only have 10 hours to get any laundry done and try to get 8 hours of sleep before hitting the roads again and driving vehicles that weigh up to 40 tons. Do you want a sleepy driver driving something that would then become a very heavy weapon down the roads you might need to take? (This has happened to us more than once. Why do people who have cars and can visit laundromats or friends or neighbors or family or anywhere else too think their laundry is more urgent than the truck driver who can, at best, maybe make it another day or two before he or she has to wash their clothes?)

It was not a good week last week. And we're both still a bit annoyed right now. (Especially since we only have one computer that can get online right now, because the other one seems to have some virus.)

Can things just smooth out a bit for a few days, please.

This Post Is Not Worth Reading

I apologize in advance for today. After ignoring this blog for way longer than reasonable, I came today to whine about how I'm not feeling as good as I'd like to.

It starts at about midnight last night. I had gone to sleep at 7 pm (Ace and I hadn't quite had enough sleep lately, and I was exhausted) and woke up between midnight and 1 and needed to go to the bathroom. While I was taking care of business, Ace texted me and asked if I wanted to get dinner while we were inside. Not seeing any particular reason not to, I said something along the lines of I guess.

After I finished eating dinner, I stopped by another bathroom, because my bladder was uncomfortably demanding I go again (I'm pretty sure I may have a mild UTI and maybe some minor dehydration, but without checking with a doctor it's hard to be sure). While in the bathroom, I grew uncomfortably cold. I walked back to the table, where Ace was still eating, and he handed me the key to the truck and told me to go ahead and go out (apparently I looked like I was needing to lay down). I made it to the truck and wrapped up in my blanket, but I couldn't seem to get myself to lay down and be comfortable.

So, I decided to sit in the front seat and watch for Ace (even though he was going to text me when he was on his way). I got out a slightly garbled text to let Ace know I wasn't feeling good (the word throw came out as hrpw), and then I was opening the door to throw up on the ground/steps to the truck. Ace then told me to grab the trash can (too late). He bought me some peppermints and some Pepto Bismol before he came out to the truck. Unfortunately for him, the sight, sound, and smell of vomit causes him to respond in a like manner, so neither of us got to actually digest the meal he had just bought for us. While he was recovering from his reaction to my stomach's protest, I suddenly had to rush back inside.

Apparently, my body was not satisfied with just throwing up. All I will say is that I felt amazingly better after and was just tired. The Pepto at the least didn't hurt my now calm stomach. And I slept until the alarm for us getting up and taking a shower went off this morning at 6:30.

While my stomach is still acting a bit more queasy than I'd like, I seem to be only tired at this point. And I will admit that sometimes my stomach can't quite differentiate between hunger and nausea (after last night, I'm being extra cautious). I don't think Ace has much of a problem with that. The only good thing is that I know it wasn't food poisoning because I threw up a bit too soon for that to be the case. Just my stomach being very unhappy.

And now for another peppermint, because this is not helping my stomach calm down.

Unnamed Trucking Company Letter

Dear Unnamed Trucking Company,
I am sorry that my existence seems to be troubling your lives lately. I know that it's frustrating that I want my husband to actually have some time off. I mean, in your eyes, he's had time off as recently as April and what does he need more time off for anyway?

The thing is, he hasn't really had time off since March. When we took a few days to visit some friends. In April, we were trying to get the truck fixed. And that didn't really happen until we were back on the yard and supervising the fixing ourselves. Even then, we left with one of the main problems still unfixed (unbeknownst to us at the time).

However, it is our 10th anniversary in just over a week. I have demanded only one thing: not to be on the truck (or in a car, really) on our anniversary. It's really the simplest demand possible. I'm fairly sure most wives demand something more impressive for their 10th anniversary, but my desires right now are fairly simple. We even gave you at least most of June for notice that we wanted time off around then and where we wanted to go.

The fact that this notice did not seem to be enough for you is hardly my fault. My husband cannot go back in time to change our anniversary for you. And he wouldn't even if he could.

While we are off the truck, we will be talking with another company. They seem to treat their drivers better, and that appeals to us right now. How things go from there partially depends on their answers and partially on how close to our anniversary it gets before we get off the truck. There are a few other factors, but those are some of the stronger ones right now.

So, Unnamed Trucking Company, maybe in the future you should remember that your drivers are people. They have lives outside their job for you. And if you keep treating them badly, it's not going to go well for your company in the future. After all, truck drivers are smart enough to know when they are being shafted and to ask drivers from other companies how that company treats their drivers.

Cordially,
M.A. Smith

Why We Are Considering a Change

One of the reasons we are considering a change of places of employment for Ace is how much he's being annoyed by, well, frankly everyone but his driving manager and about two other people (one of whom he hardly ever talks to, so there's that).

Case in point: On Wednesday, we get up at 2 am to deliver a load at 7 am. We finally get to leave with an empty trailer at 10:10 am. By the time we're done with sending off our load sheets (so we can get paid) and doing a post trip inspection (or PTI), it is about noon. When we get done with our trailer being unloaded, we have to send something off via the Qualcom (basically a computer with very limited things it can do) to the company to tell them what time it is, when we will be available for dispatch, how much unloading was, all that fun stuff. We wanted a day and a half to just relax and not deal with anyone at the company, so we put in Friday (today) at 8 am for when we would be available.

Somehow, the system didn't show that we had a trailer, despite one being put in on the unloaded message. That is potentially a glitch. That is only minorly an issue in this story.

So, the planner, doing his job, re-entered stuff in for us having the trailer. Only he didn't pay any attention to when we said we would be available for dispatch. So he sent us a load yesterday and called to let us know. Then he proceeded to interrupt Ace every time he tried to talk after Ace told him that he was planning on taking yesterday off. He proclaimed that Ace had had a day off Wednesday (since when is a 10 hour day a day off?) and that he had hours he could drive.

Nicely, Ace's driving manager was able to go talk to the guy, get us back off that load and point out that he was the reason he was seeing us as available when we had originally said we wouldn't be. A few hours later, we got a different load assignment, but before Ace could accept it, he was sent a message saying that it was for a different driver. This morning, after leaving us waiting for a while, he sent a message asking if Ace was ready yet. We are both annoyed with that planner, as he seems to barely be doing his job (The last time we had him planning something for us, he didn't send us a plan until after we dropped off a load that we had all day to deliver, so we wanted to know when we would pick up and where as we could wait to deliver until close to pick up time. We ended up wasting quite a few hours that day sitting around because of that.).

So, with the diminishing respect for anyone who works in the offices, it is not very surprising that we are considering a change. Preferably to a company that we haven't heard any complaints about thus far (in fact, we've only heard good things about them, even by their own drivers).

On Anniversaries and Changes

Ace and I have our 10th wedding anniversary coming up. We're taking a week off. My only demand has been that we be off the truck by roughly 10pm the night before. (All right, I've also asked for cheesecake, but that is a request, not a demand.)

Ace has never had quite that much time off. At least not since his first break during training.

While we are off, we're going to talk do a different company. We've had a few too many problems lately with the current one. We sat from 7 pm Friday until 1 am Tuesday on Memorial Day weekend. We got paid $270 in compensation for that. None of that actually saw our checking account for various reasons.

We are not amused. And we are tired of Ace being called for favors and getting messed up financially for doing them, with no one willing to help us out in return.

It's coming up to being time for a change.

So, change we are looking for.

(I am still frustrated and tired and overwhelmed by some things. But I'm better, knowing we have a plan.)

I Don't Even Know Any More

This past month has been awkward for me. I have never wanted to say "I quit" more. And I'm not really sure what it is that I want to quit. Because it's not my marriage. Nor is it being on the truck.

I think we are both done with this company. I'm impressed Ace has made it this long. We're going to talk to another company Tuesday to find out a few things (like if it would be better to wait until he has a year under his belt before switching).

I'd like to blame it on this being May, but I doubt that's the issue.

I'm ready for a break. We aren't planning one for almost two weeks. But I'm ready for a break.

I am starting to be able to tell which bathrooms had a woman's help in planning them and which a woman was only consulted to make sure nothing was missing.

To explain, there have been multiple bathrooms I've been in where the trash can for feminine hygiene products was behind the head of the person going to the bathroom. Until today, I didn't use one while on my period. Not that it's stopped me from thinking it was a dumb design before today. Today, it just made me want to scream. Because what woman, while dealing with cramps, wants to have to figure out how to avoid blood dripping off a tampon and onto her clothes?

Whoever designed that bathroom clearly was just trying to cram as many stalls in, and had to have someone (probably a woman) point out that they were missing something from the stalls. With no extra space on the walls (except next to the toilet paper, which would have made more sense), they put it the only place they thought made sense. Behind the woman's head/shoulders.

Yes, I am feeling disgruntled about it. After last month, where my body decided to play with what it was doing, it has decided to bleed like a stuck pig this month. Meaning I've had my period for less than 7 hours and have already had to change my tampon twice. There is a reason I'm eating a king size bag of M&Ms and following it up with a regular sized bag.

So, whoever is designing stalls for women's bathrooms, I implore you. Do not make a woman suffer more when she is on her period. Especially if she lives in a truck. Her life is already hard enough. Make the bathroom as pleasant an experience as you can.

And now I'll go back to eating my chocolate. Because chocolate understands me today. And it thinks my jeans are evil too (Ace claims pants aren't evil, but he doesn't have cramps).

Harry Potter Mania Continues

So, Ace and I have finished book 2 (Chamber of Secrets) and are just over halfway through book 3 (Prisoner of Azkaban). And before you say, "I thought you weren't going to push so hard to finish books any more" I'd like to tell you that we finished book 1 on the 26th of April, and I've only been reading 5 chapters a day at most (I've skipped a few days). Book two is fairly short (18 chapters), so it wasn't hard to get through that quickly and book 3 is only 22 chapters, so it's not that odd that we might be over halfway through it right now.

We've watched through Goblet of Fire. We've now got all the movies (Walmart had them for a good deal, and we got all of them for $40 because we were willing to look for the last two at another Walmart because the first one didn't have those two.). And we are frustrated because while our TV works, the place it was plugged in does not. But we have laptops that will play the movies if nothing else.

I think Ace is excited about the stories. Which makes a change from 10 years ago when he asked me to not bring the books into his house (which is why I stopped reading them after book 4. So looking forward to more/new plots). And it's a nice change. He's grown as a person. And I no longer have to avoid most things with Harry Potter, which is great because it is huge in the nerdy/geeky things that we love.

Whee!