Quote of the Day

One time Atticus said you never really knew a man until you stood in his shoes and walked around in them; just standin' on the Radley porch was enough. The summer that had begun so long ago had ended, and another summer had taken its place, and a fall, and Boo Radley had come out.

It's on Encore Drama at the moment. I'll be busy for a little bit.

I'm With Rat

I'm Jeffro, and I approve this message.

Natural Selection

Gun Recoil Knockout - Watch more Funny Videos

link

I got this in an email labeled "How a Democrat Holds a Rifle." The description of the video at Break says the guy was betting he could hold the rifle at arms length and keep the recoil from hitting him in the face.

Idiots like this clown give the rest of us a bad image. I hope his head still hurts.

H/T Larry S

Survey Time

I take online surveys for fun. Yes, I get that bored sometimes. I'll get the occasional DVD by turning in reward points, or the odd buck or three in my PayPal account. Sometimes they even send out a product for testing.

So, today was one of those days. Essentially snowed in - roads not clear enough to move, far too cold to wash my truck or do much of anything. Luckily, the pipes didn't freeze, and I'm warm and comfy. So, I took some surveys today.

I've been sworn to secrecy, so I may be violating a trust by telling y'all this stuff, but wow, some of the ideas floated were just farging ridiculous to me. Most of it involves cell phones and different attachments or functions. A couple of weeks ago, I took one about a phone with a blood glucose monitor attached. So sorry, but that seems like a very stupid idea. Oh, yeah, I'd have that puppy with me all the time, but I'd also have to have the strips and other supplies on my person to use it. Plus, just adding crap to a phone does not automatically make it a great idea - look at what can go wrong? I've had a meter peter out before, and the manufacturer will overnight a replacement, plus supply the container and postage to send the defective one back. Yep, I can see Verizon jumping right on that.

Today it was other crap. One had a detachable music player. Okay, now we have something that can be lost or broken, possible connection problems, and for what? Yeah, the player was tiny by itself. If I want a portable music player, I fear I want a dedicated player that has nothing to do with my lifeline - the smartphone.

Another had a detachable keyboard. For an extra fee, one could purchase several different styles of keyboards. Again, something small, fragile and likely to fail connecting. Plus, in a newly formed touch screen world, one must ask why? Why have individual switches when one can use a touchscreen, and customize it for responsiveness? Blackberrys are notorious for their keyboards and scroll wheel getting dirty and needing replacement. More of the same isn't a good thing.

The one that actually made some sense had a couple of "larger" speakers for more robust speakerphone usage. It also included a noise canceling directional mike. I never use speakerphone - the truck is too loud. Bluetooth headsets are failures in my environment - so I kinda doubt that phone would help me much. Someone else in a specialized environment? Perhaps.

Then, I just took a cat food survey. This one presented the problem of the cat getting hungry some time after eating, so the kibble had an outer coating that soothed the hunger pangs of kitteh, and an inner core that would soothe hunger pangs later.

My cat is gonna swallow this whole like a time release capsule? He's not gonna chew this stuff up, mixing it all up in his stomach? Or perhaps the "inner core" isn't readily digestible - requiring some quality time in kitteh's gut to break down. Just what I need - something to upset the King of Barfers' tummy. Or maybe, just maybe, it's all marketing hype. No, that would be unpossible.

Luckily the surveys had an area to write my opinions, which of course, I did. I often wonder what "they" think when reading my comments. Heh.

How to Plan Ahead

One of the worries of an oversize load hauler is the weather. More law enforcement agencies are paying far closer attention to the fine print on our permits. Most states have a statement about no movement being allowed in inclement weather, but that is a judgment call and different states enforce the same thing inconsistently.

At any rate, it pays to keep up with the road conditions where we are traveling. One of the reasons I got a Blackberry was to be able to get online to see the latest from different states. Colorado has a pretty decent website with good updates during daylight hours. If we see that Loveland Pass has the chain law up, and I70 is pretty trashed all the way to Limon, well, we've got a pretty decent clue that the state LEOs are not gonna want to see us at all.

I had to take some tanks to the McAlester OK area yesterday, then swing through Ft. Worth to pick up some "heads." Heads are rounded ends of pressure tanks. A large propane tank will have one on each end with rolled sheetmetal for the rest of the construction. These puppies are made with the time honored hammer mill. My company doesn't have the equipment to make them, so when someone orders a pressure tank, we have to get them from a specialty manufacturer.

But, I digress - just so y'all know why I was in Ft. Worth instead of going home from McAlester. The heads I picked up were under 102", so it was a "legal" load. We had a major winter storm move in while I was gone - and I had no idea what the roads would be like. I wasn't going to be in violation of an oversize permit, but I was darn sure concerned what sort of mess I was gonna find. Texas had a pretty decent site with a search function that found whatever road you'd wanna know about. It's info was laid out by county - black ice, travel not recommended - all in text. Useful to say the least.

Oklahoma had a pretty picture of the state carved into districts, and a color code that indicated the level of nastiness. Nothing on a particular road, but at least I had an idea.

Then, I got to the Kansas website.

You are using an unsupported browser. Please use one of the browsers from the list below.

I was then informed that the site was optimized for the Microsoft or Macintosh operating system.

ORLY??

So, let's see if I have this right. A site set up for travelers to check the road conditions isn't capable of displaying on mobile browsers - which would be what any traveling traveler would use? So, what am I gonna do - fire up my laptop and hope for a wireless connection somewhere? I don't have an air card. Maybe after I've slid into a ditch somewhere that happens to have an unsecured wireless access point I can go online and see where I screwed up.

Well, anyways, the whole thing had me pretty peeved. The geeks at the state DOT need to have a mobile site up - it defies comprehension why they don't have it now. What is the point otherwise?

At Least Bing is Trying

As opposed to Google.

Why The Lord of the Rings

is a liberal's wet dream.

The most glaring reason is the huge plot hole. I've bitched about this before. Like I said back then, if you like the books and movies without irony, do not read on. Damn the torpedoes, spoilers ahead!

First off, let's get the plot hole right out of the way:



link

Mmmkay. You know a liberal would require the heroes to do it the hard way for character development and redemption - scourging themselves like a bunch of mad monks at Deranged Monkery (what? Nuns are in nunneries) Central, hair shirts and all. It just doesn't count if someone doesn't suffer. Smeagol redeems himself. King Theoden redeems himself from the mind bending parasite Grima Wormtongue - a minion of Saruman, who gets his comeuppance from a bunch of anti social trees.

But wow, at what a cost! If the Quest had just air dropped the ring into Mt. Doom, wouldn't all of Sauron's works (supported by the power of The Ring and the other lesser rings) have crumbled to dust just like it did in the end? Same ring being destroyed. Same powers eroded.

So, let's look at some of the associated costs. First off - Saruman - a rogue wizard who had really gone off the reservation. He's become an outwitted minion of Sauron, using a Palantir without a license. So, if the Rings are all destroyed, Saruman's power would certainly be diminished. He wouldn't automatically become good - as he was capable of evil even after Sauron's fall, but he'd have been easier to contain and eventually destroy. Why do I say that?

Well, for one thing, there would be a heck of a lot more humans alive to do that very thing in this alternate version. The Rohirrim and the armies of Gondor would be intact. Aragorn would still have legal claim to rule, and he was no peacenik. There would be a metric boatload of Elves that didn't die. They were planning on leaving anyways, but still. Too late for the Dwarves in Moria, though. The Balrog? Welp, that's one more thing ya gotta do before ya go, Gandalf. Yer tasks aren't quite done, just yet. There won't be a huge supporting cast of orcs - remember, they all get swallowed up by the earth when the One Ring is destroyed, as well as trolls, Nazgul and their steeds, and so on.

The new Sheriff in town would have a far easier time dealing with the lesser miscreants left over after Sauron's fall. The Men of the South? Well, Aragorn still has The Dead as a weapon - since he didn't have to waste them on Sauron. Too bad about the Olyphants. Samwise might get to see them on an air tour someday - those Eagles can't always be doing good deeds for free. I'm sure that they get hungry, too, and killing the occasional horse probably wouldn't be good PR. Trade an old nag or a steer for a ride, and everyone's happy. Capitalism at it's best.

Would the Ents still become involved? Good question. They were decidedly neutral, but were driven by events to defend themselves. Saruman did destroy all those forests, though, even before the Ring came into Frodo's possession. Tough call.

Boromir would still be alive. He wanted the nuclear option, so in Liberal Utopia - he had to go, period. Dad would still be stuffing his face with grapes and such, but he'd be out of power. Remember, Aragorn had the support of Gandalf and the Elves, plus probably the Rohirrim. He's got the necessary lineage to rule. Would there be civil war? I'd doubt it. Remember how Boromir acknowledged Aragorn's legitimacy? Even if ol' Dad was around the bend, Boromir saw the truth and Faramir wasn't stupid.

What about Smeagol? So what? What about him? "Oh, we can't kill him, he might play a part in the future I can't see." Ok, so in the video above he ends up in the fire pits of Doom anyhoo. He never did actually redeem himself - his greed got him killed no matter. The Ring ended up getting torched either way. He's a great example of classic recidivism. There is just no hope for some people or warped hobbits, so why do the rest of us have to suffer on their account? "Oh, but Jeffro - he couldn't help himself. The Ring warped him - he had no control." Yeah, whatever, silly liberal. I maintain that the Ring removed inhibitions, just like a lot of today's recreational drugs do. It exposed and turned his "bad side" loose. Bilbo (yeah, remember him?) didn't lose his essential goodness, despite an occasional lapse of bad manners, and he even gave up possession of the Precious. So spare me the moral relavism in regards to Smeagol. He was a greedy, selfish little bastard before the Ring came along. It just enabled him to be a worse individual.

And the Hobbits - they came back to The Shire as changed beings, able to lead their compadres against Sharkey's minions. Remember, Sharkey was Saruman kicked out of Orthanc in the long, drawn out version. Would the hapless Pippin and the more pragmatic Merry be able to withstand Sharkey should wend his way out of Orthanc after the Ring was destroyed? Maybe, maybe not. Remember, though, we've still got a bunch of elves still around who didn't get killed, a former Ranger (who is intimately acquainted with The Shire) in charge back at Gondor, Gandalf, and some Ents who seem predisposed to liking the little furry footed creatures. I ain't gonna worry about it - they're still the same characters, just not exposed to all the death and destruction.

All I know is Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin wouldn't stand for this sort of crap. They'd have the Walls of Mordor knocked down tout suite. They'd have a geothermal power plant up and running at Mt. Doom and the oil (you just know Mordor is sitting on a huge pool) pumping right outta there. They might even have the Southrons manning the rigs - taking the fight right outta their thinking. Capitalism at it's finest, I say.

A Tune for the "Herbed"

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This is one song that I've always liked (of course) but I knew bupkis about. It's been on XM49 and the local classic rock station lately, so it's on someone's approved playlist. So, I looked it up.

Luckily, Wikipedia comes through again. It's Children of the Sun by Billy Thorpe, released in 1979. Turns out he was Australian. As in, he passed away in 2007 from a massive heart attack. Well, crap - late to the party again. Seems he also scored Star Trek: The Next Generation, Columbo, Eight is Enough and other television shows through his recording and production studio. He even collaborated with Mick Fleetwood on a side project.

He had me at STNG.

It's a cool song - the quirky effects in the opening make it sound like something is wrong with the Mighty Binder - those pops, cracks and sizzles just make the cab feel wrong. Then, we've got the spacey lyrics:

People of the earth can you hear me
Came a voice from the sky on that magical night
And in the colors of a thousand sunsets
They traveled to the world on a silvery light

The people of the earth stood waiting
Watching as the ships came one by one
Setting fire to the sky as they landed
Carrying to the world children of the sun
Children of the sun

All at once came a sound from the inside
Then a beam made of light hit the ground
Everyone felt the sound of their heartbeat
Every man, every woman, every child

They passed the limits of imagination
Through the door to the world of another time
And on the journey of a thousand lifetimes
With the children of the sun, they started their climb

Children of the sun, children of the sun

No more gravity, nothing holding them down
Floating endlessly, as their ship leaves the ground
Through the walls of time, at the speed of light
Fly the crystal ships on their celestial flight (on their celestial flight)

Children of the sun

What else do ya need for a spaced out rock song, man? Like, wow!

Thank you Algore's intertubes for enlightening my brain once again!

Bah

Bah! I say.

Yeah, that's scenic. I've gotcher scenic right here. I had to "go over the hill," which to use means going over the Rockies on I70. I'm in Rifle, CO tonight - gonna unload in the morning.

I'm sure I've kvetched about this before, but as a rule, we're too tall to go through the Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnels at the Continental Divide. So, we have to take US6 - Loveland Pass. Narrow, winding, steep grades, hairpin curves, few guardrails - I'm sure it's fun in a Beemer with a roof rack full of skis, but for me, not so much. This is one of the switchbacks on the westbound downhill side. No guardrail on the right, but I can at least see where I'd hit and die.

The road is snowpacked, too. Plus, we're always in a hurry, so ya gotta push it. It really is surprising just how much traction these trucks have, but a little black ice can change that situation. Not for the better.

So, I'm not unloaded and pointed home yet. I70 is fast and busy between here and Denver. I hate traffic.

Bah.

Abso-Frakking-Lutely!

Amen.

Ve Haff Vays of Makink You Pay

Video and full story here

If you’re frustrated by poor service at a restaurant, think twice before you decide to not tip. You may be in for a bit more than just a dirty look from the waiter.

"Nobody, nobody wants to be forced to pay a tip or be arrested for terrible service," Leslie Pope said when her happy hour ended in handcuffs.

Pope and John Wagner were hauled away by police and charged with theft for not paying the mandatory 18 percent gratuity totaling $16 after eating at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem, Pa. with six friends.

Pope claimed that they had to wait nearly an hour for their order and that she had to get napkins and silverware for the table herself.

Rest of the story

A couple of weeks ago during a trip to North Carolina, all five of us drivers and our five escorts went to "The Australian Themed Steak Restaurant" to eat supper. Their policy is to charge a mandatory 18% gratuity for groups of eight or larger, for which we qualified. We saw the notice, and knew it going in. But, we're nothing if not cranky individualists, so when presented with the actual dunnage - it pissed us off.

We'd had nothing but exemplary service - unlike the younguns in the news - so we had no complaints on that front. It was just the idea. A gratuity an option for rewarding good service, not a forced requirement by the restaurant. I can understand why they do this - I know people who think a dollar is more than enough for a tip no matter the bill or service. The restaurant is trying to protect their servers from getting stiffed on tips from a large group. I get it.

Conversely - if the restaurant is so concerned about making sure their help is adequately compensated for their efforts - geez, isn't that supposed to handled by their wages? So the food price is higher - ok, what's the difference when they're jacking the bill with mandatory tips? And causing hate and discontent with such a practice? Pay the help, already, ya cheapskates - if that's truly their concern. I also get the idea that restaurants underpay their wait staff and depend on tips to supplement their income and provide an incentive for good service. But that scheme requires cooperation from the customers, not coercion.

That forced gratuity actually hurt our server, because I and others would have definitely popped 20% - and I'm one for going 25 to 30% at a "nicer" joint if service is above and beyond. It was in this case - I was figuring somewhere between the 25 and 30 numbers when the 18% sort of floated into my consciousness and harshed my mellow. So 18% was it and no more - I happened to have exact change.

And, it turns out the police dropped the charges.

Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said Pope and her friend were right and recommended to Bethlehem police that the charges against the couple be dropped, according to the Allentown Morning Call.

“It would not be the kind of case that should be processed criminally, Morganelli told the paper. “It was one of those matters that should be processed civilly.”

The couple will be appearing on CNN for their fifteen minutes of fame. An attorney for the pub

said he was a bit surprised by the news.

“We do not agree with the facts as presented in the press last week. Sheenan told the Morning Call. “This is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Bethlehem Police Department, not Lehigh Pub, and we will defer to them as the legal process plays out.”

The pub claims they offered to comp the couple for their bad experience - before the arrest, which leads me to believe they did not retract their demand that the gratuity be paid. Yep, a bit of free food and drink at a place that has my blood boiling and has proven to give poor service yet requiring me to pay a tip for said poor service would have me telling the manager where to stick that offer, and it ain't sunny there. Since the customers were balking at paying the gratuity, I'd find it hard to believe that requirement was withdrawn, then the police called in to arrest 'em for non payment. I'd sure be interested in what the pub's version of the facts are and why they acted as they did.

If this is the wave of the future at sit down restaurants, it just might be Mickey D's for this tubby trucker. I'm just sayin.'

A Love Story

Another raid on the ol' email inbox - I hadn't seen this one and it really made me snorfle (to steal a Wachelism).

A 10 Year Old's Love Story

Little Bruce and Jenny are only 10 years old, but they know they are in love..

One day they decide that they want to get married, so Bruce goes to Jenny's father to ask him for her hand.

Bruce bravely walks up to him and says, "Mr. Smith, me and Jenny are in love and I want to ask you for her hand in marriage."

Thinking that this was just the cutest thing, Mr. Smith replies, "Well Bruce, you are only 10. Where will you two live?"

Without even taking a moment to think about it, Bruce replies, "In Jenny's room. It's bigger than mine and we can both fit there nicely."

Still thinking this is just adorable, Mr. Smith says with a huge grin, "Okay then how will you live? You're not old enough to get a job. You'll need to support Jenny."

Again, Bruce instantly replies, "Our allowance, Jenny makes five bucks a week and I make 10 bucks a week. That's about 60 bucks a month and that should do us just fine."

Mr. Smith is impressed Bruce has put so much thought into this. 'Well Bruce, it seems like you have everything figured out. I just have one more question. What will you do if the two of you should have little children of your own?"

Bruce just shrugs his shoulders and says, "Well, we've been lucky so far."

Mr. Smith no longer thinks the little shit is adorable.

H/T Scooby

The New Disinfectant In Town

New! From Messianic Pharmaceuticals! You'll get it for free! No, really! Well, those rich people will pay. Yeah, the rich.

H/T MoK

Bear Attack? Pah!

Created by Oatmeal

Just long enough to break out the Blitzenboomer Recoil Monster and blow the ugly ursine away.

Shift That Spectrum!

H/T Funnyjunk.com

Extra Mom

It sure seems like I'm doing a lot of these lately.

Mother and Dad originally hoped that Mother could be a stay at home mom, but it became clear that the extra income she could provide as a teacher would make life far easier for our burgeoning family. But, Mother had let her teaching certificate expire, so she had to go back to college for several summers to get re-certified.

That was when Donna came into our lives. She was hardly older in the big scheme of things than Sis and I - she was just old enough to drive out to our farm. Sis wasn't old enough to go to kindergarten yet, and I was in the early years of grade school. So, it was a growing experience for all - a young teenager learning to help raise two young kids, parents learning to cut some apron strings, and the two children growing up with a new influence. Donna had a very positive guiding hand - she played games, kept us intellectually busy, fixed our lunches, refereed our fights, fixed our boo boos, and became quite entwined in our family. Sis and I adored her.

When her father, an ag pilot, was killed in a small airplane crash, my dad stepped up and took her under his wings - no pun intended. It was a grievous blow, but one that she endured with help from my parents. Donna told me once that my father's help was a great deal of comfort to her, and for which she was very grateful. She had my Dad on a pedestal.

Mother finally finished and started teaching again, and Donna got married. Sis - the flower girl - remembers the wedding better than I - she broke down crying that she was going to lose Donna forever. This mortified our Mother - who believed children should behave themselves in public, not ruining someone's wedding, for instance. Donna took it in stride, and comforted my little sister, easing her mind and the situation. She ended up getting divorced and remarried.

As we all aged, we did grow apart. The electronic age helped revive our friendship in the form of email. When Donna's aged 'puter was giving her fits, I gave her one of mine - it was not the latest or the greatest, but all she did was go online and read emails, with a side of surfing, so the one I gave her sufficed for that. She was there for us when Dad died, and when Mother died, she announced that we were to consider her our mother when we needed one. She was one of our "Extra Mothers," which we were lucky enough to have three.

Donna was really into bowling, too. She visited Sis in OKC during some of the tourneys held there - she was pretty good at it. During this time, she was also diagnosed with cancer. It was a struggle - the therapy made her lose her hair, but she always had a sense of humor about it. She liked to wear punk style wigs. It seemed she had it whupped. She and her new hubby worked at the nearby Wally World, so I'd see them fairly often, giving my extra mom a big hug. She always had to show me off to her coworkers as her extra son, making a big deal out of it.

She was also one of "those" types who forwarded glurge emails that drive me nuts. I chided her for it, to no avail. She claimed ignorance - and frankly, she just didn't want to learn. But, I did to her what I do to everyone who sends me that stuff - I return it with the simply found truth that the story is false.

I noticed that the emails from her dropped off to nothing. Sis told me the same thing the other day when we discussed this, so I wasn't the only one. I figured I'd finally pushed the wrong button too many times, returning emails with snarky comments.

Another thing I noticed this year was the flower on my Dad's grave. Just about every year when I finally decorate graves on Memorial Day, someone beat me to it for Dad. It was always a small, completely innocuous little flower stuck in the grass. I wasn't sure who put it there, but Donna was my first suspect. The whole idea fit her - just a small memoriam. This year, no flower.

So, the other day, I got an email from Classmates.com. I've never been a paying member, and I fear Facebook has blown them clear out of the water. However, I did notice a memorial section - and Donna's name was there.

What??????

Donna passed away July 8, 2009.

No one in her family told us. Nobody told us her cancer came back, or that she had passed on. We would have liked to say goodbye, if that were possible. We'd have been there and helped out, had we known. We'd certainly have shown our respects by being at her funeral. We will be decorating her grave at some point in the future - that, at least, is left for us.

I really wanted to point some fingers. Character flaws and whatnot of some of the family. I find that I'm just too weary to do so, plus it's probably for the better that I keep my smart mouth shut. I'd have thought that someone would have questioned why we weren't there - what sort of ungrateful brats were my sister and I, to abandon our extra mom?

I was carping about this to one of my best friends. He emails or texts short messages letting me and others not "in the loop" know if someone in the local society is having some sort of trouble. He knows that those he informs probably won't find out any other way, and considers it just something that should be done. He knew about Donna, but he didn't know her involvement with our family. I called him to thank him for that particular "service" - his little moments of thoughtfulness are in stark contrast to what we got from other sources in this case. Small town societies survive thusly. There is a lot of gossip passed along these kinds of networks (not from my buddy, though) - Dad used to call it "The Widow's Hotline." My grandmother was a major node in that system, fer sure. The gossip the men pass on at the coffee shop or the pool hall is no different. It is part of the lifeblood of a small community.

Sis and I both have had to contact relatives and friends to pass on bad news. It's just something that you do, period. We did it, even though it was painful.

RIP, Extra Mom.

I Wuz Thankful

That I didn't pile up my truck Tuesday. Two of us were north of McCook, NE on US83 - northbound. I was following. We'd caught a slow chicken hauler. My compadre had gotten around him, and I was working on the same.

That is some hilly, rolling country with a lot of curves and few passing zones. There is a southbound truck lane not too far north of McCook, and when I and the chicken hauler arrived, I could see that after a car went by, I'd be clear to pass. I see a lot of people go ahead and pass in that situation if the oncoming car is in their far right lane - but I don't like to do that. It makes me twitchy when someone comes at me in a lane intended for traveling in the opposite direction, and I'm sure I'd have made the driver of that car extremely nervous if they had to meet a semi and an oversized load in that situation.

So, I was poised to jump - I had a bit of the oncoming lane staked out, watching to time my move. When the car cleared, I stomped on the throttle and turned left - almost immediately hitting a white Ford 3/4 ton pickup in the lane beside me. How did I know it was a 3/4 ton? It had the extended mirrors that barely cleared my "rookie rod" - or bumper guide. That idjut had to have seen me peeking around the other semi, the oncoming car, my turn signals, and the fact that I was already partly in the lane he staked out for himself.

The reason his mirror barely cleared the rookie rod? Because he swerved to miss me?

Au contraire mon frere. It's because I stomped on the brakes and swerved hard to the right. After I had just cut to the left.

Semis don't care for confused inputs like that.

Just about any vehicle does not care for stomping on the brakes while turning sharply at speed. Dirt trackers use that technique to put their racers in a slide. Trucks don't like to slide very well.

I'd have preferred to not stomp on the brakes, but the gap between my front bumper and the rear of the trailer ahead of me was closing fast. I could feel the truck sliding a bit and leaning over - and now it was swerving to the right. So, I had to cut 'er back to the left until I could feel the bite in the wheel. A few corrections like that corkscrewed the rig back into a stable rolling mode. I think when I turned back to the right the trailer - which was one of our single axle drop decks - had drifted to the left. Turning back to the left helped bring it back into equilibrium. I've noticed in the past that those trailers seem to be less stable than tandem axle trailers.

Well, my heart had basically jumped out of my ribcage through my throat. It did not affect my power of speech, because I fear I turned the airwaves on the CB band blue. My compadre and I were running on our "company channel" - which is 24 if yer interested - and he got to hear me vent. I had to gather myself for a minute or three before I was ready to try to pass the chicken hauler - again. Compadre spotted an opening for me, and I got by.

Then, I noticed I was catching the impatient sob. I mentioned this to my coworker - who is senior to me in our little world - and he asked me what I was gonna do?

Well, I'd sure like to put him in the weeds, but I fear the crew chief back home wouldn't care for that too much. Maybe I could get his tag number and turn him in.

We're both NASCAR fans, btw.

Past experience has shown me what a waste the second option is - most of the time the officer who is supposed to take your story is gone, and you play phone tag, and he doesn't return your calls like he says he will. Or they chase in the wrong direction. Or you'll see a patrolman after you call in, but he ain't doin' nuttin.' Basically, my experience with reporting bad driving is if the cops don't see it, it didn't happen. Their level of concern is somewhat less than impressive, IMHO.

At any rate, before I caught up, we had to turn off on another road.

Now, when there are several people waiting to pass someone, the first vehicle has the right of way. If I notice they aren't looking to pass, and turn down several very good and safe openings, then I've waited long enough and I'll pass them, too. I've been courteous and given them their opportunities. If I see someone actively trying to pass the slow vehicle, I'm not cutting in line, as it were.

I usually try to contain my language here, but I'm gonna cut loose a bit. If you are such a self important impatient prick that you have to pass me while I'm cutting over to pass, then you'd better at least fucking drive faster than me after you've cut me off and nearly made me wreck.

Retreat! - er ReTweet, That Is

I use TweetDeck to keep up with my Twitter feeds - and it also has a Facebook feed option I use. So, it's kinda rare that I go to my home page on Twitter on my browser. Today, just 'cause I was bored, I checked out to see if a follower I'd reported for spam was still active (they were not), and clicked on the link to my home page. This popup was waiting for me. So, if yer a tweeter, it looks like they'll have this handy little symbol to indicate a retweet. If this eliminates the two RT characters from the 140 character limit, so much the better, I say.

Happy Thanksgiving

Of course, I'm hardly the first to say this, but at this time of year on this particular day, we really need to step back and take stock of our lives and realize how God has blessed us. There are so many, many ways we as a people are so very fortunate. In spite of our political squabbles and doubts of the future, we still live in the best country in the world. We have more personal freedoms than our fellow travelers. We are wealthier - in that even our poor are considered rich beyond the dreams of those who suffer globally. We, in spite of our current leadership, have a health care system second to none. We have religious freedoms none can match. We can, if we choose, raise our standard of living by improving ourselves and working hard - as opposed to circumstances of birth holding us in our place. No, we're not perfect as a nation, and we have plenty who think the things that I have outlined as qualities are in fact defects, but the legions of those who want to come here is testament against that kind of thinking.

Personally, I'm thankful I'm even alive. A hundred years ago, I'd have died as a teenager - my appendix would have done me in. And after open heart surgery? Are you kidding me?

I'm thankful for my family and friends. I have the best sister ever. She'd go to the depths of hell for me, just because I'm her brother. You always find out about the quality of your friends when things unravel, and mine have come through in spades. I have to include my "internet" friends - y'all have meant more to me than you'll ever know.

I am thankful for my job. My employer kept me on during my recovery from surgery and when business for them really slowed down - it was a financial hardship for me not working the hours I needed, but laying me off and losing their health insurance would have been an even more severe blow. They continue to show I'm valuable to them in little ways. We carp about our wages, but after working for those who think of employees as overpaid and underworked Social Security numbers, I can really appreciate the efforts expended.

Probably my biggest problem at the moment is obesity. I really, really need to lose weight. I've looked into lap band surgery. I'm gonna celebrate Thanksgiving by indulging myself once again. The irony does not escape me.

But, on this day, the pluses far outweigh the minuses - as, in fact, they do every day. I hope that all of you have a joyous holiday with friends and relatives, and appreciate what you have. I'll be doing the same.

Y Knot?

Why shouldn't Teh Won bow before The King? At least he'd be consistent.

H/T MoK