A train ticket home

I bought one today. I'll get reimbursed for it. Is this how my sister lived all her life?

Roy Boy replied to an email, said he'd speak well of me. Cool.

Back in the day, Spooner used to sit on the Diag (Univ of Mich people will know what that is) and crochet halter tops. They were a fad. He had a sign next to him that said, "I can alter a halter, to fit your tit." I want to twist chain mail head covers in that spot. It'll never happen, but it's a nice fantasy.

Truely Amazing!!

My step mother just told me that if I move back home, the family trust will give me free rent in a house the trust owns, and provide me with a free pickup truck to drive, they pay the insurance.

Wow! My first reaction was to say yeah, sure, then my lawyer said, wait a minute how much cash can you get instead. She said she wanted me to make up my mind, and I'd already told her what I wanted to do, so I made the rounds of my friends and said, what should I do? Fast Eddie said go and look at it, Lynetto said jump on it, Heidi said Jump on it, Dickie said Jump on it, Jay said be true to yourself, and Jeff said he'd probably take it. That's 1/2 in favor of jump on it. They have cab companies in Ann Arbor.

But I can't drive cab there with a Wisconsin license. I'm not giving up my Wi. license right away, so I don't have an occupation, do I? Well, I have to go there and visit. Next week for 2 or 3 days. I finally got a friend to agree to watch the dog for me. Same friend might let me stay in his basement on and off if life got grim, but why would it? Sigh...... This has just been the year from hell. Dave has the option of renting the house for $800/month, maybe he'll do that and save me making the choice of moving there. Then I'd get the $800 for rent here.

Back in the saddle, I think.

I think I will have a silver cab to drive soon. Not a moment too soon, I'm going crazy with boredom. Joe invited me into his office and asked what happened, so I told him and he asked if the management of the red and whites are crazy, letting someone go after all those years for such petty BS. Well they did. Red and white used to be THE color cab to drive, but I don't think that's been true since they stopped being Dodge Diplomats.

Anyhow, I've always liked Joe, and all the people I've ever talked to who drive those silver cabs tell me they like it just fine, make decent money, and are treated well.

On some other fronts, my life is really turning for the better. My housing troubles are going to clear up in a few days. I won't have to abandon the dream of being in the portable welding business after all. And I actually feel like restarting work on that book I was trying to write. AND... After stepping back from it, I'll bet starting over will work out real well. Anybody out there got suggestions as to were to keep it on the web, let me know in a comment. I wouldn't keep it on a machine after going through all the hair pulling when this very machine had to be reformatted low level and I lost EVERYTHING. Life is improving, I want to write again!

My right hand has improved enough that I can touch type with both hands again. Again? Yeah. Funny story coming up here. I was trying to catch this cow, and I had her cornered, and I was trying to grab her halter. Say what? Really was, but don't laugh yet, it gets better. Little brown cow, not one of the huge black and white ones, jersey I think. She didn't want to get caught so she kicked me in the knee. I impulsively slammed my fist down on her rump and shattered the bone between the little finger and wrist of my right hand near the base at the wrist. Damn, did that hurt, and I mean immediately!! Fortunately for me, my health insurance was current, so following day I went and got it treated. They put on this removable 1/2 cast made out of plastic that attaches with velcro. And that was 25 days ago. It took about 10 days to basically knit back together, and I've been able to use that finger to type with for around 24 hours now. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to wipe yourself in the john with the wrong hand? Nightmare!!) I see a doctor or somebody for final time in 3 weeks, then I'm ok to return to work, if I had a job. I will though. I'll load trucks.

Load trucks? Yeah. I used to load moving trucks for a living. I'm not in that great a shape, so it will be like going to the gym and getting paid for it. I was stacking stuff in my storage unit this afternoon, and it wasn't that easy with that cast on, but it was do-able. I can still do it just fine. Loading trucks is kind of like a 3 dimensional tetris game, there's a learning curve to it. And there's a busy season to it too. God, was today (Wed 6/30) a good day.

While I'm rambling about random stuff, I've been looking at chain mail again and thinking to myself, everyone needs a hobby. My dad didn't like me sitting and knitting with my mother when I was 7. Well making one of those chain mail head covers that drapes over over somebody's shoulders looks like a cool similar thing. Only instead of yarn and knitting needles it's wire and pliers, why not, great way to kill time at the airport waiting for a plane to come down, right?

Paper shuffling

Most people think the company is in business to provide rides. I don't think that's been the case for quite a while. It's true that you can get a ride, but the money is in the administrative charge for filling out a charge slip. I'm not sure how much it is these days, but it's non trivial.

When I started driving, a delivery cost a buck more than a passenger for the same ride. I really liked deliveries, and I think all drivers did. Over time, the administrative charge for processing that slip increased. They say that the reason deliveries have declined is because of the color fax, and digital photography. Perhaps. Was any effort made to find anything to fill that void? I sure didn't see it. Did that processing charge deter people? I think so, but they'll argue it didn't.

The charge rides for people, used to be competitive, then it wasn't, now it is again. The issue is mostly drug testing. In order to get the BIG contract, you have to drug test. I always said I'd never pee in a cup unless it was to drive a big truck. So, I drove big trucks, acquiesced to drug testing, and started doing it at the cab company. I prostituted myself, and I should not have done it. It was never worth it, which is why the other cab companies in town don't.

Poor post............... Really poor quality, oh well. Sorry bout that.

this is a really great quote

I share a great quote:

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"
Ben Franklin

My new career, unsuccessful writer, heh heh.

I've been writing, I just haven't been writing much here. So.......... What I'm going to do is post some of the things that I've written elsewhere, and see if y'all like them. This is mostly cab stuff, only perhaps fictionalized or polished or what ever.

This first one is about what is sometimes called, 'A heavy load'

Eleven (Former title - A Few - )

Last modified: Thursday 4/22/10 I pulled up to the green awning at The Essen Haus and counted eleven. They'd had a great time, were going to continue whooping it up at the next bar, and weren't going to be separated. Only got one cab? We'll all squeeze into it, unless you don't want to take us. All or none. If it hadn't been so slow. The money had been terrible that night. "Ok, guys, I'll take all of you, but here are the rules: Rule one, you have to promise me that when I stop, you'll get out of the cab fast. Rule two, you have to pay me in advance. If a cop sees eleven clowns rolling out of a cab, that's six bozo's too many. The ticket for extra clowns is a hundred a head. It's $4.00 for the ride, plus ten extra passengers at a buck a head. Plus tip! A big one! Who's paying?" A tall fellow with a southern accent handed me a couple of twenties and said keep it. Then he quickly announced "Shoddie!" I had to smile. Where did this guy learn how to speak Wisconsin English? He sure did say 'shottie', funny. The woman behind him immediately complained that he wasn't entitled to shotgun simply because he paid, but it was already too late. A lady around thirty jumped in the front seat first. The fellow who paid next, then the woman who had been hanging on him sat on his lap, draped her arms around him, and went back to what she'd been doing. Both rear doors opened up, and the other 8 people started piling in. I was standing outside the cab supervising. I would compare it to telling cord wood where to stack itself. A small woman hopped on the two people sitting in the center of the back seat. A sixth pushed and squeezed in directly next to the driver side door, then one of the two remaining people slammed and jammed that door into their friends. The final two people headed in through the my door. They were pulled over the seat into the back. They laid across everybody and hung their feet out the open drivers side window. It was funny to look at. The cab was filled to the ceiling and hanging out the window, the bottom pair of shoes were on the outside and pointed up, the top pair of shoes were on the inside pointing down. I stood back and admired the load for a moment. The car was all the way down on the springs. They were all laughing and giggling. I never have a camera when I need one. I was almost to The Plaza when we passed a cop going in the opposite direction on State. He turned his head looking at the feet hanging out the window, and I knew I had trouble. I looked in the mirror, and could see him pulling up to make a U turn by Paul's Club. Luck was with me, I got the light at State and Frances. I whipped around the corner, pulled up in front of The Plaza, leaped out, and ran around the cab pulling open the doors, and pulling people out. Just as the last one of them was going through the door into The Plaza, the squad car pulled up behind me with the cherries going. I reached into my pocket for my license, and held it out for the officer. Normally, they'll tell you to get back in the car, he didn't. He snatched the license out of my fingers and demanded, "How many people did you have in that cab?" "Ah, a few", I answered sheepishly. "How many is a few?", he demanded? "Well a few." "There were more than five people in that cab, now how many were there?", he again demanded. He was pissed! For some reason, he needed me to tell him how many. I stuck with a few, thinking I'd get as small a ticket as possible that way. Each time I told him a few in some small varied way, his face got a little redder, but it wasn't going anywhere. Finally he told me to get in the car and wait. Usually it takes at least 10 minutes for them to come and either hand you a ticket or tell you how lucky you are that they're not handing you a ticket. He as at my window in less than ninety seconds. "Don't ever let me catch you doing this again.", he said, "Now, get out of my sight!" I put my turn signal on, dropped it into drive, and pulled up to the stop sign at Gorham. I couldn't believe my luck! I couldn't believe that guy didn't give me a ticket. I guess he needed a number he didn't have.

Change of scenery

I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I need a new permit. I think I'll apply for 2, both the other cab companies in town. They didn't like what I said, but nobody called me a liar. So how does that work? My intention was to return to driving days and they said I couldn't.

Andre, you're right!