We're at the chattanooga airshow

We're at the chattanooga airshow today The Blue Angels fly soon We climed in a KC-135 Supertanker I'm right next to an A-10 waitin 4 nachos cool.

No more pacification apparati in

No more pacification apparati in our house! Today Natalie gave her binkie to a lady at church and got big girl stuff. She's growing up. :) & :(

DARN IT!!!

I wish these guys would focus on making a profit but at the same time be fair!

What they've done to us recently is only making a profit and the American public be damned!

Aaaarrrgghhhh!

Check this story out. Exxon Mobil Profit, Sales Soar to Records

If you don't have time to read the whole thing, a couple of quotes...

"Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) rewrote the corporate record books Thursday as the oil company's third-quarter earnings soared to almost $10 billion and it became the first public company ever with quarterly sales topping $100 billion. Anglo-Dutch competitor Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA) wasn't far behind, posting a profit of $9 billion for the quarter."

"Thursday's outsized earnings are a result of surging oil and natural gas prices that pushed pump prices to record territory after Hurricane Katrina. They come on the heels of similar eye-popping gains reported this week by BP PLC (BP), ConocoPhillips Inc. and Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) Chevron Corp. (CVX) reports its earnings on Friday."

"Exxon is a good corporate citizen but it does not work for the welfare of the country," said oil analyst Fadel Gheit at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York. (B!S! They've been screwing us all!!!)

"Exxon Chairman and Chief Executive Lee R. Raymond did not mention of the record results in the company's earnings release. Instead, he noted that the world's largest publicly traded oil company "acted responsibly in pricing at our company operated service stations, and we also encouraged our independent retailers and distributors to do the same." (That man is so full of BS he wouldn't know if it hit him in the face... acted responsibly my eye!!!)

Again... AAARRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!

The Goings On

So - My first week of road training is complete. I like, really, REALLY like my new schedule. I left Sun at 10p and got back Mon at 9p. Then I had Tue and Wed free. I took a nap most of Wed afternoon and left at 10p and was home by 4p on Thur. I don't have to go back to work until 4p on Monday. (Trip to Battle Creek, MI and back) While I'm at work I work hard - but when I'm home I can get things done or just relax or whatever. It is SO much better than before.

I just heard from someone who was associated with a ministry my former boss called and turns out he called an yelled and berated an employee that doesn't even work for him. Sad, sad, sad! I am thankful to be out of there.

My mother-in-law is doing better. Turns out she didn't need surgery on her wrist. Her left wrist is broken, they set it and put it in a cast. Her right wrist has a badly, badly pulled tendon - so they wanted to imobilize it - so they put it in a half cast. So she has two casts like Joelle did! :) You ought to see Joelle being a little 'nurse' to Sandra when they're around. It's so cute.

So cuz of her arms - my sister-in-law and her youngest son is coming down from Minnesota for the next couple of weeks to help out. It'll be good having them around. In fact they'll be here this afternoon. We're driving up to Madisonville to spend the weekend with everyone.

Tried uploading some pics but it kept erroring out - so I'll to try 'em another time.

Have a great weekend y'all!

Break in trip. It was

Break in trip. It was a doozie We were to leave at 10p & bcuz shipping put half our order the wrong trailer we didnt leave until 1:30a What a day!

1st Trip Out

So in about an hour and a half, I leave for work for my first trip out. It's a 4 hour trip to Greenville, SC to deliver 2745 cases of cakes to 7 drops. Should keep us very, VERY busy! :)

After unloading we head for Piedmont, SC for a backhaul of the thin cardboard for the individual boxes to hold a pack of cookies - then back to the yard by supper time on Monday.

I'm feeling a bit anxious - I've done this stuff before - but you know, a new job, learning a new system, wanting to do a very good job and do it right.

Should be interesting.

Yoooo! (Quote: Johnny Five - Short Circuit)

Wow, driving around Hattiesburg MS

Wow, driving around Hattiesburg MS we're seeing some of the damage from Hurricane Katrina. Road signs & trees down, roofs with holes tarped Wow.

We're in Hattiesburg, MS to

We're in Hattiesburg, MS to pick up Sandra and bring her home she's feelin better-saw the dock she took a header off. Ouch. We'll head home soon.

Broken Wrist OR Chrysler Ambulance

Quick story - I've gotta get to bed. Today, my father-in-law calls Doreen with some painful news. The short of it was they are in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and Sandra fell of a dock (in a hospital) while they were getting ready to pick up a piece of equipment to take to Pennsylvania. She fell about 4 feet and definetly broke her left wrist, cracked a left rib on the left, brused her shoulder and has a cut on her face. Her right arm may be broken - we're waiting for the results of the MRI to get back on that one.
So tomorrow morning at 5am We're loading up in the van and all 4 of us are headed 7 hours down to Hattiesburg, MS to pick Sandra up and bring her home. She can't climb into their FedEx truck - so we're gonna go down and get her so she can have the surgery that her left wrist is going to require to be set and heal, here in TN. 14 hours round trip. All I can say is I'm thankful for a built in DVD player in the van. (We tried a number of different avenues to find someplace for the girls - but just couldn't get anyone! Oh well)

Cookie Hauler OR Snack Cake Relocation Specialist

Whichever you think is best! :)

Whichever it is - it is hard work. Today 5 of us (2 trainers and 3 trainees) unloaded a 90% full 48' semi trailer of Little Debbie Snack Cakes into 5 warehouses for independent distributors to pop the cases open and then deliver to local stores. 2388 cases. After we got things figured out - even the trainers had a couple of things to get figured out - we 'blew' those cakes off the truck!!! It'll be a lot harder when it's just me and a co-driver! :) I'm up for the task though - albeit as long as it is next week. I am SORE from today's work. Almost 6 years at a desk job has let me get soft, very soft! Pansy soft! :)

I am sore in like a hundred and twenty places. Ouch!

Oh well - it felt good to have a new outlook on work. It was nice getting out of the training room and actually do the job I was hired to do.

Once I get in the flow of it - I believe I will really enjoy this position. Of course getting out in -20 degree weather in Michigan will be tough - but I'm gonna smile and say "I Love My Job" even with chattering teeth! :)

Tomorrow is my last day of training. Log books - and an update on the 'freaky' new hours of service and some last little things they want us to remember out there. Then I'll be a 'real' Snack Cake Relocation Specialist with McKee Foods Corp. Cool. Found out the info on my first run. I leave Sunday night at 9p run to Greensboro, SC and empty a trailer full of snack cakes, then run to Atlanta, GA for a back-haul of some snack cake ingredient then back home in time for supper on Monday. (I'm going out with one of the other trainees and 3 trainers. Should be a fun time!)

Gotta go to bed and let my body relax and recoup!

Later y'all!

States I've Visited Map...

Got this from Cheryl.

The only state I haven't been in is Hawaii. Doreen did the same 'google blog-thing' and the only state she hasn't been in is Alaska. So it's a race, I'm trying to figure out how to get to Hawaii before she get's to Alaska and vice-versa. It should be interesting. If and when we ever get a winner - I'll be sure to let you know! :)



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Information Overload

Ok - So I LOVE my new job - however, on this first day of orientation - 8+ hours of classes - my brain is full to overflowing. Wow - so much to know about a trucking job. :)

Actually - I've learned a ton about McKee Food Corp and what they stand for. I learned about Insurance and Benefits and blah, blah, blah. But the most important thing is that they want employees to be happy at work. I believe I will be!

Yeah baby!

Now I gotta get some sleep to let this stuff trickle outta my head so I can assimilate more tomorrow! :)

A Great Family Day

Today we had a very nice day at home. We mowed, weed wacked, did a bit of landscaping, hung a swing rope for the girls. Had a delicious breakfast and lunch, took a short nap. Ran an errand, picked up two pumpkins and just thoroughly enjoyed the day.
Joelle and Natalie are cleaning out their pumpkins to make jack-o-lanterns and to get us some pumpkin seeds to roast and eat. Yummy, yummy!

4 Precious Faces! :)

Fun Find

Here we are at one of the four finds we found while canoeing and geocaching today. We had a blast with our friends.

Wading to a find

We had to 'park' our canoes across the way from the island where the geocache was hidden. Then we piled out and walked across a sandbar to where we needed to go. What a GREAT experience.

Perfect Picnic

On one of our cache stops, we found a perfect place to have a picnic. It had shade, beautiful view of the lake and a comfy bed of pine needles on the ground to put our blankets and food and to have a delicious feast!

Getting back.

Joelle working hard getting us back home while I relax in the back!! **GRIN**

Actually, the battery on our little Minn Kota motor ran out. Got to a get a new one. So for now our friends towed us back so we didn't have to row the entire way. It was great just laying back relaxing!!! :) What a fun day. 6 1/2 miles on the water, 4 successful caches, 1 could not find, a great picnic and a ton of fun!!!

Tuckered at the end of the day!

What a GREAT day. Natalie sacked out on the ride back to the cars. This was so cute - we couldn't pass up this photo.

Sore Racquetball Shoulder OR Canoein' & Cachin'

Thursday (my first -real- day of freedom) my wife and girls went to a friends house for a play-date for all the kids. And from what I hear they had a ball and the girls had quite a 'chat-fest.' So I did some much needed work on the computer here at home and then at 6p met two friends at one of the three racquetball courts here at Southern. We played for an hour. And sometimes we even played hard! It was a blast and I added it up and it's been almost 10 years since I last played a racquetball game. That is sad - but I'm getting back into it now! We had a ball - but boy, I'm paying for it now. It's known as sore racquetball shoulder. I've not used those particular muscles in years and - ouwie! :) But I'll have to say, its a good, very good ouwie! :)

Tomorrow is gonna be a great day, we're mixing two of our favorite activities. Canoeing on Hunter Lake and Geocaching. Someone has placed 4 caches on islands in this lake that can only be reached by boat - or so it claims - and so three families are gonna go canoeing. Like pirates we're going to 'raid' those caches! Arrrgh matey!

Have a great weekend all!