Wednesday, May 28, 2014

One week recap of my new life as a truck driver

Lessons I have learned in a week as a newbie truck driver:

1. ALWAYS wear your gloves....or this may happen

My finger got pinched in the load bar...causing a giant blood blister on my middle finger....and yes...I am gladly showing my middle finger to all who inquire :-)

2. When in doubt.....get out! This comes from a incident I had on my SECOND day....when I was backing up and I sorta missed judged a bit lol..and bent over a pole....hence my new nickname at work is now "crash". I'll take that nickname over being fired however.

3. When you see white smoke coming from the back of the truck, pull over and wait for help to arrive lol....this happened today at work on the busiest road on a hill just past a bridge....never have I been so happy to see the two owners to show up like knights in shining armor to save me!

4. Always always always keep the window up....even if it's hot! Third day on the job a bee flew in the window of the truck while I was driving on the hwy and went down my shirt...stung me on my left boob...then fell into my cleavage.....mean while the stinger is pumping the wonderful painful shit into my boob and it's not like it's not big enough already....it starts swelling up....AND I'm driving on the hwy at 110 km.

These are only SOME of the lessons I have learned....there have been many more that some of the old truckers have shared with me to "help" me out.....and for that I am forever grateful I will admit....I will take what ever tid bits of advice I can get, it will only make me a better driver. There is this old guy....he's 78...I could listen to his stories all day about his experiences....after talking to him one day I said to him "when I grow up, I wanna be just like you"...he had a good giggle at that....especially when I told him I was 42 and I had no clue what I was gonna be when I did finally grow up lol.

So.....for now....I shall keep on truckin!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

New career, new beginnings


So 20 years ago when I was just a young wiper snapper I got my class 1 with air ticket all thanks to my father who at the time was working in the teamsters union and was able to put me through their driving school.
Well I passed and got my license but never did anything with it. My oldest brother years later got his class 1 and has been hauling all over the place for the last 10 years always dropping hints here and there that I should drive.
I never have because I lacked the confidence because I have never done anything with it....as far a driving a rig professionally.
So last week I quite my job that I have only been at for 8 months, my life was up in the air so to speak. My family laughs that I am a serial jobist....and maybe they are right....but some how I always get a job.
Well this time I applied for something out of my comfort zone....like way the hell off of 3rd base kind of comfort.
A DRIVING JOB....so my first thought was...."who the hell is gonna a hire me...I have no experience". Well...this company did and they threw me do the dragons right of the bat at 8am this morning......so once I stopped puking from the stress, it turns out it was not all that bad....they didn't throw me into a big rig...so that was nice...just a big ol 5 ton truck....so doable and tolerable. So that's what I did all day....loaded and unloaded my truck and drove all over the city to places I didn't even know existed and did my deliveries.
I didn't run anyone over and didn't kill anyone...and felt like a kick ass machine being so big and high up!
Tomorrow....they sending me off all on my own....INSANE....in fact I even told my new boss...."well I think your nuts, but hey...if this is what you want me to do...then I'll do it lol...but I still think your crazy since I have never driven a truck...unless you count 20 yrs ago when I got my license....but sending me out all on my own with out any supervision...are you sure about this?" lol
So he said yes....I will be an unsupervised driver tomorrow lol....(there is where you might want to say a small prayer for the people of Lethbridge)
So I will know by Friday if they want me to keep coming back...and if they do, then maybe this is what I am gonna do for a while...who knows...all I know is that this whole day was one big freakin blur...and one of those rocking chair experiences for me that's for sure.
I just have to hope I can remember where to go tomorrow and hope to hell I don't get lost lol.
May the truck force be with me :-)

Monday, May 19, 2014

The end of my Facebook era



Well I can say I was 100% addicted to Facebook since 2007. And like anything one is addicted to....quitting is hard to do. I am not gonna sit back and say it's a piece of cake, cause that would be a lie. But when you do take a step back and really analyse how much of your life it really does take up or consume....it's mind blowing and terrifying.
I really got a good look over the past week at the effects it was having on my life and others around me and the reasoning and excuses people today use to justify to be on it and let it run them.
I too was one of those people....I thought it was ridiculous when I met people who said they were not on it....I even gasped and often responded with "well how do you communicate and keep in touch with people?"
Wow....what an idiot I was...to seriously think that I could not keep up with what's going on in other's lives unless it involved Facebook.


I found myself getting more and more aggressive with posting ridiculous things on my Facebook and others...feeling like it was my right and duty to do so....again...what an idiot I was....lol....I even found that it was getting to the point that no matter what I was doing, I was always thinking things like "omg...I totally have to take a pic of that and post it to my Facebook" and "omg, I just had a great thought, I have to post that to so and so's Facebook page". The list goes on and on of all the times in a day that I would think about who I wanted to post to or what I was going to post to my page or even...who would I stalk next to see what they were up to.


My hubster laughs at me....he thinks I will go back....I also think he thinks I will go back to eating meat too LOL.
I will admit though....I am still addicted slightly to Pintrest. I am trying to reduce the amount I let it consume me though...if that's at all possible.
I am very happy though that I am being more proactive with other REAL LIFE things going on rather then what's going on with life in the "Facebook" world.
I have relatives that are mocking and ridiculing me for my choice...and this is just fine by me....I'm a big girl, and I can handle that lash out directed at me, everyone is entitled to their opinion....heaven know's I have had my fill of "opinions" directed at others....in fact, I'm sure there are a few people who are happy to see me off of Facebook lol. The funniest thing though I heard yet was the fact that some are upset because I did not "announce I was leaving first" LOL....seriously...for real? That just blows my mind.
I have been told that I am an old fuddy duddy and that I am going backwards with life, and that I will loos friends because of this. WOW....so so sad that THIS is what we have become in society.
So....I hope to stay strong in my conviction, that I will not DIE unless I am on facebook lol....I will be still emailing....I am not dropping of the computer world completely....and I will continue to blog about various things....maybe this will free me up for more blog time :-)
Either way....it's an end of an era for me, and I am going to better myself for it that I am sure :-)

Monday, May 12, 2014

Long time no post....and oh yeah..Happy Mothers Day :-)

These two ridiculously amazing adults are the reason I look forward to every day....well....having a ridiculously amazing hubster helps too.



My future son in law drove my two kids out from the big city this weekend for some amazing quality time with BOTH kids at the same time....this has not happened on a Mothers day for me in 5 years.....so you can imagine how high on life I was this weekend.
We played games at night and they took me out for an amazing brunch, saw a movie and came home and played more games and had amazing conversation.
Then I took the day off today from work and did some more fun stuff...like cut the lawn for the first time this year, rotatilled the garden and planted two rows of potatoes and four rows of onions. I even got some tanning in on the deck and had a wonderful bottle of beer!
Yup..life gets busy sometimes and I forget to write my blog....but it's busy cause life is GREAT.

 
So this evening we are looking out off the deck with excitement of more gardening in the weeks to come and all the wonderful things we will grow and have adventure in together. I can't for a couple of months when the picture will show a garden in full swing!!
Happy Spring :-)