A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers. She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet. She makes coverings for her bed; she is clothed in fine linen and purple. Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes. She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. Proverbs 31:10-31 NIV
Well kids.....of course this is what I'd love to attain, however, I don't see my kids rising up and calling me blessed any time soon. I'm not so sure of my worth being "far more than rubies", but I'll continue trying my best to be the godly person I'm supposed to be. If we keep our focus on God, I believe it is pleasing to Him.
I sure hope there isn't a clause in my hiring contract that says I cannot talk about them! If so, I'm doomed!
No one is paying me to say this, but I seriously love this company! :-) I'm so blessed to have found it and then get hired. The longer I drive, the more stories I hear, and the more I appreciate it!
They're big, but not too big. The reefer division seems to have more perks....such as getting a rental car to take home from the terminal in Columbus, OH and back every month, which I understand the dry van side does not have a budget for.
I can also go home for an entire week each month, which is pretty much unheard of in the industry (unless you're local or dedicated). Most companies allow their drivers one home day for every week they are out. I'm out for three weeks, then I'm home for a week (normally).
I miss everyone when I'm not home, but I DO like the job a lot!
I love the freedom to arrange my day the way I need to or want to. I am not always free to do as I please, but there is no one looking over my shoulder asking, "Why are you doing that now?" "WHAT are you doing?" You know, kinda like what I do to my kids! lol
The only thing that would be nice is getting paid a little more. I hear other drivers who get paid more per mile (As a company driver - you can't compare Owner Operators to a Company Driver's pay. O/O get paid way more cuz they pay to maintain their own vehicles).
At Knight we have the freedom to say, "No way! I'm not going THERE". And yes, I have done this. Not many other companies give their company drivers this option. If you're an O/O, you d0, but not as a company driver.
It's called "No Forced Dispatch".
I absolutely HATE Maryland (If you've been following my Facebook posts, you know this and you know why). My Driver Manager (DM), Rob tried to give that crap to me right after taking away my beloved Florida trip....just to add insult to injury I guess.
Or, I needed to be punished for some infraction I'm not aware of.
Something.
I thought he was joking.
I was like, "Are you freakin' kidding me???" Uh, no. Not doing it. He's like, "But you can just get in and out. It's already loaded." Too bad that ISN'T the problem with Maryland.
I now have a new found hatred for Philly. Oh yes. Philly. I agree to go to the dreaded New Jersey that I hear everyone say they hate, because I went there once and it wasn't so bad.
GETTING there is another story.
Too bad you can't Beam Me Up Scotty - all the way to Jersey.
So, here is what happened: I took a wrong turn. Happens ALL the time in Philly. GPS can't keep up with the wacky roads and always seems to steer me wrong. Plus, the signs just suck!
So I head right when I needed to go left (a fork in the road) and my GPS is like, "Turn left at the next light"....to get me back on track. Okay, she didn't say it exactly like that. Close.
So, I attempt to turn left. Yeah. Not gonna make it. Too tight and my trailer is going to take out some poles on the corner. The police were already there cuz they were helping some other truck maneuver into somewhere, so they helped me back up onto the road, holding up traffic, so I can now go straight instead. Yippee! The fun has just begun.
I find myself on this side road, sitting behind a VERY slow garbage truck.
One way street. Just enough room for cars parked on my left. Cars parked on my right and for me to sqeeeeeeeze down the center without taking out anyone's mirrors. It was lovely.
The garbage guys were SO bad at their job that the residents were flocking around my truck like I was a celebrity - to pick up all the trash that came flying out of the truck and out of the trash they were not-so-eloquently placing in the back of the truck. Again - lovely.
So, for about 20 minutes, I'm on the phone with some funny guy (can't remember his name) who is another DM taking the weekend shift. (His voice reminds me of my brother-in-law Dan.) We're joking back and forth while he's trying to get me outta Dodge. My GPS keeps insisting that I turn. But seriously, the roads it wants me to turn onto are no wider than my truck. I couldn't get around that corner if God Himself picked me up and put me back down in the other direction, like a kid playing cars.
So we're both pretty much praying that I actually have somewhere to turn - eventually. I was coming up on a body of water, so there weren't many more options.
Funny thing is, there were NO signs prohibiting trucks down in that area! Later, I saw some. But they were for roads that looked "ok" to be driving down. WAY better than what I was just on!
I guess they figured only a moron would go the way I did, so they didn't feel the need to point it out with a sign. Fooled ya Philly, didn't I??
I'm sitting in a seedy little back woods truck stop just inside Ohio (from West Virginia) and what better time to start a blog than now?
I've had many suggestions and comments about starting one (I guess as opposed to writing all my adventures on Facebook?).....
....So here it is folks.
I'm going to post some of the previous Facebook posts here, to archive them so they're all in one place. Some of them are hilarious and some I'd like to just save.
Bear with me as I get them all out. I have no clue how this blog organizes them...so it will be trial and error, for sure. And besides, right now I'm too tired to care. I'll figure it all out tomorrow.
Well, off to bed. Have to get up at 4am so I can schlepp my body over to the Walmart Distribution Center (DC) to unload 10 pallets of grapes. That's what I picked up from the Holt Port Terminal in New Jersey yesterday. Oh, and three pallets of peaches. But that load doesn't get delivered until Tuesday (I had three deliveries off this one load).
See you soon! Hopefully I'll be a little more pithy then.
