Nouvelles photos d"Eva-Mae

Philly from I-76

Baltimore Harbor Tunnel

Bubbles

C'est l'hiver 2

Mon Pays, ce n'est pas un Pays, c'est l'hiver.

"Park by feel" AssHole

I'm at the Pilot in Cannonsburg and got awakened half hour (2:00AM) ago by a "Park by feel" kind of guy.
He didn't stick around to see the damage he did to my passenger side mirror and mount.
By the time I put pants and boots on and got out of the truck, he was gone.

Thank you AssHole!

Horse riding @ Wal-Mart

53 years ago today

I just wanted to cross the Border.

Monday morning, I pick up my trailer in Ingersoll, ON and I got to deliver in Columbus,OH Tuesday 6AM.

At 1230PM, I start heading toward Windsor, ON where I will be crossing into Detroit, MI.

When crossing with commercial cargo, the load has to be accepted before showing up.
If it's not, they likely will turn you around. And possibly fine you.

My custom broker's (Livingston) computer system has crashed yesterday and I can't cross the border.

Paperwork was faxed at 1130AM and then again at 230PM yesterday.
At 330PM, I was sitting 4.7 kilometers from the border and unable to cross.
At 730PM, they acknowledge receiving my paperwork but still not able to cross.
At 9PM, still not done and I gave up. Decided to throw all this time in my 10 hours and get up at 1AM.
At 1AM Tuesday, still not done and the guy on their end asks me for my cell number so somebody working on my load can call me.
At 140AM, I get a call and it's not good.
Apparently, there is information missing and they can not clear me.
Thank you for telling me at Fucking 2AM.
That's something I would have liked to know 12 hours ago.
Now I got to wait for people to show up in my office and the shippers office.
Got to wait until at least 9AM.
At 9, people start working on it.
At 1115AM, I get a call from the broker telling me I can cross at noon.
I finally cleared Customs at 1230PM. A full 21 hours later than expected.

New problem now.
I can't deliver on Tuesday anymore.
New appointment is 8AM on Wednesday.

Got to my delivery at 745AM Wednesday and trailer was empty at 1115AM.

Somebody found the Christmas stuff

My new phone

Those things are getting tiny.
Weighs less than 3 oz.
And it's got a camera and 2G memory for music.
I sync"ed" it with my laptop and now got 421 songs on my phone.

It is so fucking annoying

when this is the only thing you get from your favorite website:






Especially when it happens over and over and over and...

I Love HD TV

Personal check up time.

Had the day off yesterday and met with 3 doctors.
I needed a physical done for the MTO (Ministry of Transportation of Ontario).
And why not fill the day with 2 more doctors.

Doc said to me that I am a healthy 40 year old.
Dentist told me I got no cavities.
And the eye doctor said my eyes aren't worse than last year.

A little dose of cuteness

Wishing Mommy a good day


Chad is her favorite

Bonne Fete Matante Manon

This week

Monday morning, deliver in Guelph, ON.
In the afternoon, pick up a load in Ingersoll for Canajoharie, NY.
Delivery in NY on Tuesday 6AM.
Picked up 1 skid as reload in Utica, NY Tuesday afternoon.
Deliver that Wednesday morning in Mississauga, ON.
Pick up new load in Strathroy, ON for Montegomery, AL.
Delivery in AL Friday morning.
Reload is in Albany, GA.
Pick it up Friday afternoon and head home.
Arrive home late Saturday night.
Off for a couple days because this week-end is the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday.

I went and cast my (early) vote last week-end.

The choices I had here in Oxford county were:
Conservatives.
Christian Heritage Party.
Liberals.
NDP.
Green Party.

I don't like the idea of a "religious group" as government, so I couldn't vote for CHR.

The Liberals want a shitload of new spending without saying how they would pay for it yet. And, really, can we trust them yet?

The NDP want to raise both spending and taxes. By a lot. I don't like that.

The Green Party, they want to raise taxes, spending and basically kill the industrial sector for the sake of the enviroment. I don't like that either.

There were no Independents on the ballot.

The Party whose philosophy I like the best, The Libertarian Party of Canada, doesn't have a candidate in my county and even if they did, it would be a losing proposition.

In the economic situation we are in and heading to, I think the Conservatives are the best (or less bad) option.

Now, I am afraid Quebec will fuck it up again by voting Bloc and we will have a minority government again.

This week

Left home Saturday morning and arrived in Fairburn, GA (near Atlanta) sunday night.
Dropped my loaded trailer at customer.
Picked it up empty 34 hours later on Tuesday morning.
Up to Decatur, AL.
Got to my delivery in Leamington, ON on Wednesday 10:30AM.
3 trucks to unload before me.
I leave there at 3:30PM.
Get back to Ingersoll and sleep in my own bed.
Thursday morning, I pick up a load in Ingersoll, bring it back to the yard.
Then to London, pick-up a load of (uncooked) chicken wings and deliver them to Paris, ON.
Back to the yard with the empty trailer.
Hook to a loaded trailer and on my way to Canajoharie, NY.
Deliver that at 8:30AM on Friday.
Reload is in Wolcott, NY.
Arrived back at yard around 9PM Friday night.
Now off until Monday morning.

I didn't meet this Asshole but I know he is an Asshole

I'm at Flying J truck stop in Walton, KY, relaxing, looking at some Sporty bobbers online when I am jolted forward.
Damn! Somebody just backed into me.

I put my boots back on and went to the back of the trailer to see if everything's fine.
It is.

Except the behavior of the culprit. He didn't get out to check things out.
(And by the way I felt the impact, he had to know he hit me.)
He just pulled away, toward the exit.
Never saw his truck and the trailer doors and sides were blank.

I may not know you driver, but I do know you're an Asshole.

This week:
Monday morning went to Toronto to deliver and then 2 pick-ups and back home.
Tuesday left for Lebanon, TN. That's by Nashville.
Delivered Wednesday morning then up to Louisville, KY for a late night pick-up.
Delivered that load on Friday morning in Trenton, ON.
Back home Friday afternoon.

Just some clips from the dashboard.

Old pop "Français".

R.I.P.

My little Pride and Joy.

Yum Yum!

The 1st new car I bought.

I saw 2 movies last weekend.

Friday night, I watched "Next" starring Nic Cage on TV.

Nic Cage wasn't as bad as I expected him to be.
(Last of his movies I saw was "Ghost Rider" and he was like a "Zoolander" on a motorcycle, i.e. he was awful.)
I thought the movie was pretty good until the end and then it totally caught me by surprised and it pissed me off that I did not see it coming and it made the flick better.
As a bonus, the very pretty Jessica Biel is in it.




Saturday, Melinda and I went to theater and saw "Tropic Thunder", starring a lot of people.
Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey JR and a lot more.
If you are easily offended, stay home.
They joke and make fun of EVERYBODY.
In a way, it's an old school film like Mel Brooks used to make.
They do not care who they offend.
Of course 99% of the jokes are stupid.
But once in a while, it is good to stop being so serious and sensitive and fun to laugh at fart or fat jokes.
Bonus, worth watching if only for Les Grossman.

Mixed feelings week-end

This past weekend, Eva-Mae went camping with her babysitter.
She left Thursday afternoon and came back on Sunday after lunch.
My wife was off all weekend long.
And I got home Friday morning and left Sunday before lunch.

Obviously, I did not see my little girl this weekend.
But that is not really unusual as I have been gone 2-3 weeks at a time before.
This time, she's the one that was gone.
Just Melinda and me in the house felt strange and somewhat lonely.
We were not able to sleep in on Saturday or Sunday. We still woke up when Eva-Mae usually wakes up.
I even almost panicked when I walked into her room on Saturday morning and saw that she wasn't there.
I had to think about it and remembered she was camping and not kidnapped.

Melinda and I were able to spend some quality time (wink-wink) together.
Saturday, for the 1st time since I don't know when, we went for dinner, movie and, well, you know.

I had a good weekend as a husband but a not so good as a Dad. I missed my girl but enjoyed seeing my wife again, not my wife and my girl's mother.

To be honest, it has been over 3 years now since I saw Melinda only as my wife.

Merci P'pa pour la table et le coffre a Eva-Mae.

Eva-Mae sur son tri-cycle.

Started Sunday 6PM, pick up loaded trailer in Ingersoll, ON.
Deliver Monday in Fort Wayne, IN.
Reload in Fort Wayne on Monday.
Sleep in my bed at home on Monday nite.
Deliver in Toronto, ON Tuesday AM.
Reload in Ingersoll.
Deliver in Fort Wayne on Wednesday AM.
Reload in Upper Sandusky, OH on Wednesday PM.
Drop trailer in Ingersoll Wednesday nite and sleep at home.
Thursday early AM, pick up empty trailer in Ingersoll and do 3 pick-ups in Wheatley, Leamington and Kingsville, ON.
Deliver in Algoma, WI on Friday morning (receiver washes out trailer).
Reload is in Greenbay, WI.
Trailer is refused and I go to wash out the trailer. Again.
Go back to shipper.
Trailer is refused again.
New pick up is in Little Chute, WI.
Drop loaded trailer in yard in Ingersoll, Saturday 2PM.

7 days, 3009 miles.

I could have been home last nite, but overall, not bad.

I was done doing my pick-up and got out of the shipping docks and saw this rat in the front parking lot.
I had to go take a look.