Busted

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 2/28/13 Busted

BUSTED. Yup, that is what I got today as I was in the process of busting the driver about four spots away from me. He was emptying that all too famous yellow jug of his out of his passenger side window all over the parking lot for the rest of us to have to walk through. Of course the restrooms not five hundred feet away. Well, at least this time he was not parked right next to me and the contents dumped right on my battery box like some smuck did a few years back. As I tell my story today, what I want folks to understand here that there are a lot of hard working decent family minded truckers out here. And as such, we work hard to clean up our image. We work hard to run safe and legal. But just like the rest of humanity, we all have a few, well, let's say less then desirable characters in our mist.

 

It went down like this. I was sitting in my truck just finishing up my log book and about to put it in gear, when I hear the unmistakable sound of liquid hitting the ground just off to my left. I look over and see the emptying of the contents in the process. From where we were parked, anyone on the property could watch, even from the fuel pumps for the cars. So I reach over and grab my nifty smart phone and start snapping pictures. Then I pick up pad and pen and start writing the trucking company name, DOT number and tag number. Right about here is where I got busted as the driver noticed me making a record of all of this and taking pictures.

 

So he yells out his window, "Driver, do you have a problem?" And I yell back, "Yes sir I do, I do not want to have to walk through all your filth every time I visit a truck stop." I pull forward a bit to get the final bit of information that I could not see from where I was parked, then proceed to leave the truck stop. I noticed in my mirror as I was leaving that he had finally gotten his boots on and was chasing me across the parking lot taking pictures of the rear of my trailer with his smart phone. I think to myself, what is he going to do, turn me in for leaving a clean parking spot behind?

 

Now I know as most drivers with any time behind them, that one carries with them in the truck everything they need to take care of their basic human needs. All too often we are held for ridiculously long times at docks with no access to food, water, or even allowed to use the restroom facilities. No effort what so ever is made for us by the place we are conducting business at to provide us as truckers, the basic human niceties that one might provide for the common stray dog. But hey, I wear big boy pants and I choose of my own free will to put up with this kind of crap. Rest assured though, I never return to these docks.Let them find another dog to deal with them.

 

That being said though, at a truck stop with a trash can, a dumpster and a rest room not five hundred feet away and you have to dump your mess out for the rest of us to have to walk through. For us to have to crawl under our trucks to work on. For the general public to watch and have yet another trashy trucker story to tell. I do not think so. It is folks like this that have towns making laws disallowing trucks to park in them. That stores no longer allows us truckers in so that we can do some every day shopping. And shippers and receivers stop letting us park on their property over night so that we can get a decent nights rest without having to jump up and run through rush hour traffic hoping that we get there on time.

 

Sooner or later, if you drive a truck for a living, you will find yourself with the very real need to go in a predicament that there is no place to go. That is part of being a trucker. Just understand though, it is not us truckers that make the rules that put us in these situations. When this happens, there are simple ways to deal with the outcome. For starters, add some disinfectant to the bottle to keep it sanitary. Do not use bleach because as the product breaks down it makes ammonia and as we all know, mixing bleach and ammonia will cause toxic fumes.

 

Wrap your product up so that as you dispose of it in a proper waste container or preferably a dumpster, those that empty these containers do not have to deal with a unsanitary package. I have know some drivers to discreetly carry into the showers and dispose of the waist in the commode found there. Even walking to the to the bushes on the out skirts of the truck stop is preferable to just dumping it out your window for all to walk through. This act here is nothing but pure disrespect for your fellow drivers.

 

The point is this my friends, most truckers are clean respectable people. When you see one that acts like this, understand that that example is not the norm for our industry. We work hard not only to keep our highways safe, but to keep our image as truckers impeccably clean. As safe and legal truckers, these things are important to us. The information I gained from this morning will be forwarded on to the company in question in a letter. The letter will be requesting that this driver be informed that this type of  behavior is no longer acceptable in the trucking industry. That forever on, those that witnessed this event will have a clear image of yellow liquid being poured from the window of a truck with their company name displayed promptly behind it. And I sir, have the pictures to prove it.

 

Hey, I did pretty good. Not once in there did I use the words urine or pee. Awesome

 

God Bless America

Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"

Copy and share as much as you want (-:

Nighty Night

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 2/17/13 Nighty Night
Let us see here, they took about fifty three people a week if I understand this right. From January Twenty Ten, spending who knows how many millions of our tax dollars; all the way until May of Twenty Eleven and watched them sleep. During this time, they let them sleep in several different shifts each containing ten hours a day. The shifts were from ten pm at night to eight am in the morning. Then there was a split sleep shift from three am to eight am with a three pm to eight pm time period so as to finish up that shift. Then a final sleep shift of ten am to eight pm. To sum up, an all day sleeping period, a split the same time everyday sleeping period and finally an all night sleeping period.

The participants of this great study were all between twenty two and forty years old. All with a body mass index of less than thirty in order to reduce random factors affecting the data. The study was done by a Doctor Greg Belenky and all of this, is according to an article in The Trucker that I read the other day. The results of said study were used to determine FMCSAs hours of service criteria for truck drivers. What I am trying to figure out about this study is what if anything, any of this has to do with the normal everyday operations of a real world truck driver.

For starters, the sleeping times only work if you just happen to be a local driver home each day. As for the rest of us over the road types, our start and stopping times do not even get close to being regulated or started on time each day. We are forced by the nature of the business to be ready within minutes to go from a deep sleep to wide open within seconds. I guess you could look at us working more like a swing shift type of situation.

Also sleeping in a nice cozy sleep lab is nothing even close to being forced to spend eighteen hours in the hot desert sun unable to idle keeping us in cool environment. No food or even access to a rest room is something that none of these participants were subjected to as truckers often find themselves dealing with. Now, let us crank down the windows so that we do not suffocate in the heat as we try to sleep as we worry about what is going to crawl in with us. Not to be found in this study.
As for the age of the participants, I am sure twenty two to forty years of age is a awesome time of your life to kick back in some sleep study and get paid for it, but out here in the real world I regularly kick back and enjoy a meal down at the restaurant with a driver well past seventy. Half of the time we talk about how over regulation is keeping us up at night. As for the body mass index part of the study, under thirty, are you kidding me? Perfectly healthy specimens without a care in the world instead of beat to death road warriors that have more on their minds then what the good Doctor Belenky, a fine person I am sure; has planned for their next meal.

Could this study have been done any further from the reality of real life trucking? Does the FMCSA really believe that some skinny twenty two year old kid probably never worked a job in their life can be used to show them what this fifty year old, thirty year veteran truck driver can do. A driver that takes as much pride in running a safe and legal trucking operation as that kid takes in playing their video games. Lets get real here. This study was done in such a way that it has absolutely nothing to do with trucking. And from this study, they now are forcing truckers into yet again, another set of new hours of service rules starting just around the corner.

Putting people up in a nice cozy sleep labs has nothing to do with the real life aspects of trucking. From the perfect sleep schedule to the unrealistic supposed to be truck drivers all the way to comparing the different conditions of a nice cozy sleep lab as compared to the cab of a truck, the FMCSA really missed the boat on this one. And now Anne Ferro is wanting some trucking company to do a pilot test program so as to prove what the study shows. More grant money handed out chasing the trillions of dollars that this country is already in debt.

Here is a clue for the clueless that regulate the trucking industry. Get off our backs. Give us our eleven hours driving time in any giving twenty four hour period and let me, you know the one actually sitting behind the wheel, decided when it is I am sleepy and need to take a break. Stop trying to be a God and guessing from your desk thousands of miles away and who knows how many years ago when it is that I am sleepy today, right here, with what I am dealing with at this moment.

I know, it will never happen. The folks up there on the hill are complete control freaks. But it is our jobs as safe and legal truckers to continue to try and hammer the true facts into them so that maybe, just maybe, once in a while they might just get something right.

Be safe peeps. God Bless America
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"
Copy and share as much as you want (-:

Maxine

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 02/11/13 Maxine

With another long day of trailer trucking done, I pull into a crowed truck stop looking for a place to park. Finding a spot, I back in and call it a night.  It is going to be another long day tomorrow so I know already that I will be dragging my butt into a shower even before day light hits and then off for an early breakfast. Breakfast is the part of this plan that I have been working toward. Looking forward to I think describes it better. You see us long time over the road truckers can tell you every hole in the wall best place to stop. It could be decent food we are looking for or perhaps a clean shower. Whatever it is we are looking for, we know all across this America just where to go.

On this particular trip I was looking forward to spending a little time with a special waitress that no matter how grumpy you are when you first walk in, you will leave with a smile on your face just watching her work her tables. This is especially true if you just happen to be her victim for the day which somehow I always seem to be. You see, Maxine unlike most waitresses that will treat you extra nice, has figured out how to treat you extra nice while putting you in your place. She will pick at you and poke at you in such a way that will have the whole restaurant laughing in tears. And if you think you will get the best of her, well, I hope you like sitting under your table instead of at it.

I have traveled a lot of miles during my career. I have met a lot of waitresses in that time. I have even come to know lots of them just like family. But I have to say, I have never come across one that cares for her customers like Maxine does. Nor have I ever seen one that holds the respect and friendship of her coworkers like Maxine. Each and every time I stop in to visit her, there is always one or two drivers that are there just like me, stopping by to spend a few special moments with not just another waitress, but our good friend Maxine.

It’s a cold hard word out here sometimes. I feel a very lucky person knowing that I always have a friendly face with a smile on it waiting for me when I stop in at the TA at Terrell, TX. Sure, I might get kicked under the table and then slapped for being there. But everyone around is going to have a great time while we are at it.

Thanks Maxine for being our friend out here on the road. A special thanks from me for all the times you made my grumpy day into a great day. It may be just a day or two, or maybe a month or two, but soon, drivers that know where to find you look forward to sharing time with a friend like you once again. It sure makes being away from home just a bit easier to handle knowing we have a friend like you out here.

Be safe peeps. God Bless America

Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"

Copy and share as much as you want (-:

Should I? Could I? Do I Dare?

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 02/10/13 Should I? Could I? Do I Dare?

Capitol Hill, is it really that far away destination that so many Americans are scared to reach out for?  Have we become so preconditioned to think that as normal everyday citizens, that we cannot or should I go so far as to say, do not even have a right to try and achieve such a destination as we peruse the American dream. We can go there as citizens and visit, we can stop in and see those that are supposed to be representing us, but to actually become the one doing the representing. The one that actually wins the election and then makes their way to Capitol Hill to do the bidding of those that elected them. Has this become a mere dream for the average person that is actually in my opinion supposed to be there?

I wonder about these things as one of my Senators announces that he will not be seeking another term in the upcoming midterm elections. But who am I to be considering such notions? I am not a doctor. I also do not hold the title of a lawyer or other such important person. I do not even hold even as much as a college degree. What right do I have to even consider such things?

As far as money goes, I have none to speak of. I owe more then what I am worth. No rich family to fall back on, no rich friends to borrow from. Not a stitch more then what I can earn using my own labor which is usually just enough to get by with on a good day. Yet, I still think about the possibilities.

Should I? Could I? Do I dare? Do I have what it takes to do the job? I seem to be smarter than most up there. I can tell you that sixteen trillion in debt should have never happened. I can tell you that our Constitution and Bill of Rights are something to be honored, not trampled on. I can also tell you that our government was designed with checks and balances that no longer seem to matter. In fact, I can tell you a lot of things just like millions of other Americans can tell you about what is wrong with our government today.

But am I the one? Am I the one that can stand up starting with nothing but the shirt on my back and love for my country that will win out over the status quo of what wins elections today. Can I make my way to Capitol Hill and be part of returning America to the home of the free, the land of the brave, to the glory the she used to be.

As we move forward in time and as we watch what is being done on purpose to our country in a slow methodical way, it is time that we as individuals start asking these questions of ourselves. Do we leave it to the status quo or do we do our civic duty and walk away from our secured lives and take a chance to change the face of politics that has led us down this current path we find ourselves on.

As I look to Capitol Hill to see what is up there, I see lawyers and doctors and wealthy business men and women that mostly have never walk in the shoes of an everyday person. One that started from scratch to build a business just to have all of their efforts demolished by the legislation and regulation of those that apparently have no clue of what it takes to survive down here in the real world. You know, to survive as folks like us plumbers, cooks, ditch diggers all the way to the little guy entrepreneur that provides for most of the jobs in America.

And as I look to our past, I see our forefathers that worked the fields and started from scratch an army to secure our free nation, I can see what is wrong with our government today. We need Statesmen up there on Capitol Hill that know and understand what it takes to build not only a strong life for one’s own self, but one that has a willingness to set forth a government that allows every citizen to do so for themselves without government intervention, without becoming a government dependent, without becoming a servant to the very government that is supposedly protecting the God given freedoms provided to us in our Constitution.

Should I? Could I? Do I Dare? I am certainty thinking about it. The position is open as I understand it. Perhaps more of us should start running and finding our way into this mix because the future of America is counting on us. We need Statesmen and Stateswomen up there on Capitol Hill that love and care for our country, not more politicians thinking of only their selves and their agendas.

Be safe peeps. God Bless America

Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"

Copy and share as much as you want (-:

Tea Party Community Has Officially Arrived

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 02/03/13 Tea Party Community Has Officially Arrived

Me, political, ya know it. I love America and our freedoms so much that I have many times over the years explained just how far I am willing to go to protect it. Our Forefathers gave up not only property but their lives as well. They lived through starvation and inclement weather fighting from the same tyranny from a tyrant king that we see in today’s world from our own tyrant president. And just as our Forefathers must have felt in their time, in today’s time many feel that the battle has been lost. But just like they did so many years ago, we must continue to fight to keep our country free. We must not allow a defeatist attitude to set in and win the day. That is why I bring to you today the new Tea Party Community.

TPC is here to bring us all together so that we as one can coordinate our activities into a winning solution to the Marxist, Socialist agenda that we now find attacking the American way of life. I myself am but one and many have seen my activities fighting for America. There are millions out there just like me though that feel the same way as I do. TPC or the new Tea Party Community has been officially launched and not only is it here to stay, but it is looking for both mine and yours participation towards saving our great nation.

TPC is set up just like Facebook, except without the liberal over lords, at TPC, you will able to link with people and actually find in your local area like minded people that are getting involved in saving our country from this liberal attack against our Constitution and the American way of life. Tom Trento, TPC Co-Founder Ken Crow and special guest Jan Morgan, put on an awesome show about the launch that I found on Youtube (look up TeaPartyCommunity.com Official Launch) and listened in. You can also find it in places like Iheart radio. Where ever you find it, it is well worth the listen so that you get all the correct information about TPC.

As TPC was launching over the internet, hacker attacks were so bad shutting down the live feed that the service providers had to discontinue service to TPC because it was hurting other sites as well. It is clear that the left does not want us to get our message out and they will go to great lengths to shut down any attempt to save this country. It is a shame the other side does this to us because we believe not only in free speech, but the respectful exchange of ideas.  We want them to speak up because as they actually put out what they believe and are trying to do, it hurts them more because freedom loving Americans will reject of their own free will such notions. As we speak, and they know this, our message will spread and the taking back of America will gain strength and grow. They try to shut us down because they understand that we will soon win this battle and there is nothing, not even their hacking attempts, that will stop our quest.

So I urge you to join up with the TPC especially if you are “disturbed by the political and moral degradation of America” as Wild Bill puts it or as Jan Morgan says, “that the Tea Party is a group of Liberty loving, gun toting, the founder’s spirit is alive and well in that group and if the founders were alive today, this is the group that they would be hanging with. “

It is like I have said before; we have lost an election, not the war. We can and will take back America from the clutches of these clowns that are trying to destroy her. It is our duty to leave to future generations the same freedoms that we were born into. It is their birthright as Americans themselves. It is our civic duty to in a legal, moral and respectful way make this happen. Personally, I am looking forward to the day we conquer the challenge.

Be safe peeps. God Bless America

Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"

Copy and share as much as you want (-: