Thursday, December 16 I'm back on the road until Christmas. In order to get a jump on planning for today's trip, I requested that Mr. K (my fleet manager) send me the trip details to the truck yesterday afternoon (that's when I checked to see if the truck would start after 3-days of Wisconsin weather. It actually wasn't that cold except for one day. However, the truck batteries--all 6 of them--are good for nothing after 3-5 days of very cold weather. In fact, you're supposed to start the truck and let if run 30-60 minutes every day if the weather is extremely cold. Hmm, sounds like the trucking industry needs a bit of R&D via NASA regarding battery technology. I wonder if/how the Martian mission will overcome battery obstacles! But I digress....)
When I arrived at the truck, there was a big goose egg--zip, zero, nada--waiting for me. No trip plan. Fine. If the company doesn't want me pre-planning a trip on my own dime, it's their loss. So, after warming the truck up for 20-30 minutes, I left. But not before I noticed muddied foot prints on the truck's carpeted area by the bunk. That's odd. The last thing I did on Saturday prior to going home was to sweep the entire cab area of dirt and grime. I made a mental note of it, locked the truck up, and went back home.
This morning, after loading all my stuff into the truck, there was the pre-plan of my trip--sent about an hour or so after I left the truck the previous day. About all I can say is that Mr. K got it there yesterday afternoon--albeit late afternoon. I hooked up to an empty trailer to take to the company where I would exchange it for a loaded trailer. That's when I discovered that my "tire-thumper" was missing (the device used to check the tires to see that they aren't flat). Then it hit me. Someone had indeed been in my truck. Hmm, I wonder what else they took. I learned a few weeks ago that the particular make and model tractor I drive has 5 master keys. In other words, I could go to any trucking company in this country, try my key in a similar make and model truck, and I have a one-in-five chance that my key would open the truck and start it up. That's "comforting" to know.
Nothing else seemed out-of-place but who knows. I may discover something tomorrow or the next day. I sent a message that I had been a victim of theft. I haven't heard back anything yet. I'm fairly positive that no one has read what I wrote on the Qualcomm. So, I'll have to bring up again. Don't you just love bringing something up again when it should have been addressed the first time around? I am noticing that in order to get results with people via e-mail concerning a question/problem with one of their products, I have to forward the original e-mail with the words "2nd Request" (and sometimes "3rd Request") before anyone responds to me. If they are working on it, a simple "thanks--we're working on it" would at least indicate that they received my message. Heck, even a canned e-mail response is better than nothing! But again I digress....
I'm headed to the exact same place in South Carolina as I was last week. Deja-vu! Hey it saves a bit on trip planning!
Today was a good driving day. I got further than I thought I would (legally of course).
My wife received some good news today. She found out today that she was approved to receive special nutritional education (a certified nutritional course) from physicians who are raving about a new, all natural nutritional system. Sad to say, most physicians in this country are trained to respond to emergencies--crises of the human body--rather than preventative maintenance. That's starting to change very, very slowly (similar to the lengthy of time chiropractics became mainstream accepted by the traditional medical community across this country) as students entering into the medical field are starting to be trained on the benefits of all natural nutritional preventative health care. (I'm dumbfounded at the close mindedness of physicians across this country. Many think that the answer to all problems is a man-made chemical pill. While I have no problem with that on a short-term basis, common sense dictates otherwise for long-term well being. In a similar vein, I heard today on the radio that something like two-thirds of physicians do not trust the FDA for the role they play in safeguarding America's approved drugs. Two-thirds! That's what I call a vote of no-confidence. [Is that psycho or what--physicans prescribe nearly 100% of all chemical meds in this country and they don't trust the overseeing body in charge of it all! Hmm, maybe now they will seriously start examining the studies out there on the benefits of natural medicine!] I'm all for the FDA. However, there's only so much that a bureaucratic organization [of any stripe] can do in informing the public which drugs and which supplements are safe to use. And of course they have made some bone-head moves in approving items like cigarettes over the years.)
So at any rate, all of the nutritional products my wife represents are approved by the FDA (I should say that all of the ingredients are approved by the FDA. They are so swamped by approval requests--priority is given to those who have the most clout/money to "grease" the process--that our products probably would be in the pipeline for 10-20 years before being approved. At any rate, if they approve all the ingredients that go into our products, they are essentially approving our products. I know that some would argue that from a technical standpoint that isn't true. But hey, we can't all have common sense now can we?) as well as being of pharmaceutical grade (the highest and best ingredients that can possibly be included in either an all-natural health supplement or man-made chemical composition). All this is to say that my wife (and I) am very happy she has been to train with some expert physicians who recognize the value of all-natural supplements in today's dietary regimen. We ended our last conversation with her attempting to book two different round trip flights. Seeing that my wife computer-challenged (she's getting much better), I can hardly wait to hear how things went tomorrow when I speak with her. (that's for you honey! Remember, I'm grinning with you, not at you!)
miles driven = 576
8:58:42 PM
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