On my Mind

Sending out drivers to the far reaches of the state when the snow flies at it did last night, their safety is on my mind.  Often out with or before the plows, breaking trail is a frequent occurrence for our delivery vehicles.

My faint sleep was not interrupted with a phone call of emergency last night, so I'm assuming that all is well...

Here

Riots in the streets,

flames in the night.

A country divided,

no end in sight.

The end of the road,

or the start of a new?

Here in Montana,

not much to do.

Problems less dire,

questions less searing.

Like a bum truck,

with no power steering.

Binoculars

While hunting this last weekend and watching my dad and brother constantly throwing binoculars up to their faces, I was reminded of a garage sale we had two summers ago as we prepared to leave Missoula.  For at this garage sale, we had a pair of cheap binoculars on the table, and literally every single person who stopped by took a moment to look through them.

It became almost a joke and experiment when someone would stop, 'you think they're gonna look through them?'

Sure enough, everyone did.

I guess it is human nature to look through binoculars.

Flannel Sheets

Listening to the wind smash icy rain against the side of our house isn't doing much for making me want to go hunting.

It is making me want to remain in the flannel sheets Melissa bought for our bed.

In-a-gadda-da-vida

Went to visit my grandfather just now to catch up on some BS and thank him for giving me his pickup truck.

The radio doesn't work that well, but I discovered that the tape deck works just fine.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find an Iron Butterfly tape in a junk drawer of mine...

Daewoo

I'm getting rid of my 2001 Daewoo Nubira today.  I've had this car for 4 years now, and paid $2000 dollars for it.  That comes out to roughly $1.40 per day to own.

I don't think I could have owned a better piece of shit.

Bundled

My daily blog was postponed by mechanical issues at work yesterday when I teceived a call at 5am that a truck was broken down.  I had to go in and get an old 1970s International box truck started and everything unloaded and then swapped and reloaded.  Then after deciding that I was a little manlier than I thought I drove my standard transmission truck to work for the first time after I got home from the emergency call.  Everything went smoothly.  Then I had a meeting with our main freight company's managers to discuss interrelationship efficiencies.  Today brings a managers meeting within our own company to discuss efficincies internally.

I've always worn responsibilty well, and these days I keep fairly bundled up with it.

Now it seems, I should take a moment to contemplate what I'm doing for Thanksgiving...

No More Parties

Halloweens over, survived my buddy's 30th, and for the next foreseeable future there are no more parties upcoming.

As fun as it is to party, I am looking forward to a little tranquility in life.

Better Living Through Technology

Today (hopefully) my pickup truck will be ready to be picked up at the shop after two weeks of being serviced from a decade of sitting outside.  They fixed all the lights and blinkers, replaced dead fuses and belts, and cleaned up all the filters and other myriad issues.  One thing they told me that they could not fix was the broken speedometer, it sits dead at 85mph no matter what speed the vehicle is moving.  Not to worry though, with better living through technology I have downloaded a gps operated speedometer app onto my smartphone that I can place on the dash to track my speed.

When the truck was born in 1984, Im sure nobody ever thought that it would have satellite assisted speed control.

Birthday Party

This weekend, one of my best friends will be turning 30.  A few of my friends are already 30, and soon I will be as well.

Holy crap.  'Doesn't feel like we've grown up at all,' he told me last night.

'No it doesn't,' I replied.  'But you are an electrician and I run a warehouse, thats kind of grown up, right?'

'Yes,' he said, as we fired up some video games.

Warehouse vs Restaurant

When told by my higher-ups that they want me to manage the warehouse more like a restaurant, I couldn't help but think, 'this is very much not a restaurant.'

The Tire Business

Wintertime in Montana, especially when the weather shifts this rapidly, is a boom for the tire business.  I got to the tire shop this morning before they opened to be greeted with a line of people waiting to get snow tires put on their vehicles.

As I sit and wait, the amount of people flooding in the door getting told the wait time is upwards of three hours is kind of amusing, especiay when you factor in what the cold will do to one's demeanor.  

First Snow

Last night as the wind howled and our home's heater made bizarre gurgling noises, the first winter storm laid a blanket of frozen across the town.  Our cat attempted to make its morning jaunt outside, only to give the snow a resounding 'fuck that,' and dart back inside.

Leaves

Even though I've raked twice, it is a little despairing how many leaves are still clinging to the willow tree at our house.  I worry the snow will fall before they do, and I will be left with a frozen organic mess of a yard.

Red Wednesday

Even though I'm fairly certain that not much will change in my day to day life, the results of yesterday's midterm elections gives me an uneasy feeling as I head out the door...

Disguised

Yesterday Melissa and I went shopping at various department outlets and grocery stores around town.  Among the things purchased was new underwear (kindof excited about that today).

The thing that felt bizarre about the trip is that I felt very much disguised.  Shaved head and goatee, wearing blue jeans (which I never wear) and a fleece pullover (which I also never wear), I felt like I was dressed up as some sort of evil yuppy Randy.