Below are the 9 most recent journal entries recorded in DJ's LiveJournal:

Wednesday, March 27th, 2002
8:25 pm	Crossroads. I'm standing at a crossroad and for once in my life I don't know where to turn. At nearly 22 years of age I still live at home. My parrents are completely happy that way, but I'm not. It's rather embarassing, really. I want a place of my own so badly I can taste it. Apartments are available, yes, but I want a house with a yard. I'm desperately longing for the companionship of a dog, be it my "absentee" pet, Dusty, or an adoptee from German Shepard rescue. Problem is that houses in Sountern California are so damn expensive, starting around $300,000 even for an old place!! I'd never be able to swing such a thing without a larger paycheck. I'm due for my next raise in April, but the company owners, being the greedy, worthless, pieces of sh#t that they are (excuse my language) are coming up with bogus excuses for widtholding raises from employees who are due. With my CDL qualification I could easily find another job elsewhere, though with the economy being the way it is I find it prudent to hold out with a company where I am already firmly rooted. At least until things stabilize a little more. I'd love to Move back up to the Sacremento area where living is more affordable and jobs are plentiful. However there are so many things that I have come to love down here. My volounteer work at the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum in Vista, and with German Shepard Rescue of Los Angeles, just to name a couple. I could make a lot of money running cross country, but I might not like the weeks at a time of not being home. I really thought I had it made when I took this job with Clairemont Equipment, but now I'm not so sure. With my first truck driving job, at the age of 18 I was considered a tradesman. I was a respected member of a team. Now I feel more like a slave. My manager (who by the way holds no ownership in the company, but just runs one location) likes to talk about "What HE has created" Even when he's talking nice to you, he gives himself full and sole credit for everything good that has happened there. Granted, he made the descisions, but what use is a good descision without skilled and competant people to carry it out. He would be NOTHING without the sweat of guys like me!! Ray Paulsin realized that, and had health problems not forced him to retire I would still be working for him. I feel so utterly alone, not knowing what my next move should be, and feeling trapped where I stand... Current Mood: depressed Current Music: Roger Miller: Me and Bobbie McGee (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, January 12th, 2002
6:28 pm	A new toy. My God, it's been what? 6 months since I've posted?? I've been staying away from the computer a lot lately, but I seem to be back now. Anyhoo... Disregard that last post, that job didn't pan out. When we had the stock market scare after 9-11 all the people who were gonna invest in that company pulled out. That job died on the vine. Too bad, it would have been a sweet gig. Anyhoo, needless to say, I'm still driving for Clairemont. They retired my old cabover and assigned me a new rig yesterday, well a new tractor anyway, I'm keeping my trailer. Number 13. She's a 1994 Ford L-9000 three axle. She's got an N-14 Cummins engine, a 9 speed RTO Road Ranger tranny, self adjusting service brakes (sweet), a three position jake brake, a sterio that WORKS, a hookup for my CB, a brand new clutch, and more. It feels funny to drive a conventional after all this time in cabovers. Both my old Freightliner that I drove temporairily, and my big White/GMC were cabovers. It feels kinda funny having a hood out in front of me again. What's funny is that my old "Gimmy", (now religated to service as a spare truck) had stricken a nerve with me. It was a pile of junk, but I had some good times driving it. I sort of miss it, even though my new truck is far, FAR superior in every single sense. Oh well, it's the business. Over all though I'm thrilled with this new one. I have yet to think up a good name for it though. ~L~ Yes, I name my trucks. Scott, don't say it! :P Current Mood: excited Current Music: Hot Rod Lincoln (Comment on this)
Monday, July 23rd, 2001
7:09 pm	A tantalizing possibility Recently I've caught wind of a brand new trucking company starting up in the Orange County area. I heard about it from a friend who is attending a trucking school in Anaheim. One of the instructors is the guy starting the company. As with any new business venture, there is the possibility for one to loose his shirt, so I will be carefully watching how things progress, but the guy seems to have his act very well together and he already has some firm contracts set up and sounds like he's close to completing more. One of the 2 divisions of this company is going to be long distance transport of equipment for the militairy, and moving bulk highway mail for the postal service. Robert tells me that this guy is very interested in talking to me because I have experiance hauling equipment on flatbeds, and I'm ambitious enough to jump in to heavy OTR haulage. The fleet will consist of brand new trucks, Peterbilts to be exact. CAT engines and either 13 or 18 speed trannys. Drivers should still be getting weekly days off, despite the distance of the hauls. I'm told that I can probably expect 2 days a week, unlike OTR freight haulers who can be out for up to 18 days at a time. This could be an excellent oppertunity for me to get in on the ground floor of this company, and as one of the "original" drivers I could actualy get to BE somebody, instead of just another peace of shit on the grass like I am with my current company. I'm dying to meet this dude in person, we're trying to set up a time this coming weekend! Current Mood: excited Current Music: Kinda half watching The Hunt For Red October (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 14th, 2001
6:35 pm	Trucker's code of honor Always go out of your way to help another trucker. Anybody in a rig is your comrade, no matter who he pulls for. Never give another trucker the shaft to save yourself time. If you see a trucker trying to merge or turn, make a hole and help that boy out! Always yield right of way to a child, a senior, or a handicapped citizen. Take pride in your rig. Take pride in anything you sign your name to. Never sacrifice your integrity to make a buck. A handshake is as binding as a written contract. Never turn your back on one of your own Current Mood: nostalgic Current Music: Big Wheels in the Moonlight, Dan Seals (Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 4th, 2001
9:30 pm	Happy birthday USA. Well, today this country of ours celibrated its 225th birthday. One should really take the time to sit back and think about what all the flags, bar-b-qing, and fireworks are all about. Look at the age of this nation compared to that of most others. Germany, Russia, and even England, who spawned us have been around since the last days of the Romans. Many eastern countries have been around a lot longer than that even. In a mere 225 years, we have gone from 13 colonies ruled by a small, yet powerful European nation, to a global superpower. Geographicly, technologicly, and echonomicaly we are big and bad ass. We won our independance, survived a civil war, and have emmerged victorious in almost every conflict we've been involved in. This country was built upon the courage and dedication of ordinairy men and women who chose to serve in its defense. All the rights and liberties that we take for granted were bought for us and paid for with the blood of so many who were not afraid to sacrafice themselves to secure a future for their children and their countrymen. In that respect the 4th of July is also a day to remember and pay tribute to all who have been lost in the defense of our freedom. I'm the first to admit that I have my share of bad things to say about certain people in our government, but the fact is that as a citizen of this country, I have the RIGHT to say those things. If I want to talk shit about the Clintons, or Gore, I can. In most other countries I would be repressed and likely fined or jailed for openly stating my opinions. Americans, be truely thankful that you live here, and be proud of your nationality. I'd like to leave you with this... "There's homeless on the streets of every city, and big city crime in every little town. There's people making money off of Jesus, and taxes dragging everybody down. There's politicians 'kinda' stretching the truth, and farmers are getting pulled up by their roots. And there's pushers telling little kids that high's the only way.... Welcome to the USA today. It's true, we got our problems. Lord knows we make mistakes, and every time we solve one ten others take its place But you won't see those refugees heading the other way, welcome to the USA today. But there's a million happy homes for every homeless, and oppertunity still knocks on every door. Our younger generation's really shining, much brighter than they've ever shined before. And we're all free to speak our minds and not get locked away... Welcome to the USA today. It's true, we got our problems. Lord knows we make mistakes, and every time we solve one ten others take its place But you won't see those refugees heading the other way, welcome to the USA today." ~Hank Williams Jr. Keep between the ditches y'all. Current Mood: grateful Current Music: The battle of New Orleans, Johnny Horton (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, June 21st, 2001
5:26 pm	A very close call... Yesterday I narrowly avoided serious injury, and possibly death in a very serious work related accident. I was picking up a 21' rough terrain forklift from a jobsite at the top of a steep hill. I couldn't get my semi truck up to the machine, so I had to park down on the level, hike up the hill, and "road" the machine down. About half way down the hill I noticed that the brakes weren't holding back the way they should. I applied more preassure but I could not slow the forklift down, with no hope of stopping. The jobsite was inside a gated community. The locked gate was about 500 yards down the hill from where I realized I was in trouble. The hill only got steeper from where I was, and since I couldn't stop, my 2 options were to either crash through the gate, whick would cause severe property dammage and probably hurt me pretty bad... or I could try to "ditch" the machine. There was a sharp right trun coming up and my plan was to drive straight thru the turn and stop the lift by stabbing the forks into the large earth bank. It was going to be a ROUGH stop, and I knew it was gonna hurt, but I also wasn't about to jump free. The FIRST thing they teach operators and lowbed drivers in training is NEVER to jump. The machine can run you over, or fall on you and crush you to death if it rolls. The safest place to be is inside the ROPS (Roll Over Protection Structure. A cage-like cab that the operator sits in on most modern construction equipment.) It's a good thing I chose to ride it out, because instead of hitting the bank squrely, I hit it and an angle, which caused the left front wheel of the machine to ramp up the bank and the machine promptly flipped onto its' right side. I crawled out of the ROPS beaten, brused, and hurting from head to toe, but alive and with no broken bones. This is only the BEGINNING of the days adventures. Diesel was spilling from the fuel tank of the overturned forklift, so I made a hurried call on my nextel radio to report the accident and give all the information I could. The SDFD paramedics and Hazardous materials team was promptly dispatched to my location, and three employees from my companies SanDiego location hurried out with absorbant sweep, and shovels to help contain the spill. The firemen checked me out and determined I was ok. (My politely telling them to f**k off as I tried to shovel oil absorbant was probably a deciding factor) Once the situation was stabilized the Haz Mat team began to inspect the near by storm drains to make sure none of the spilt fuel had made it into near by Mission Bay. Greg from the SanDiego yard suggested a large wheel loader to get the forlkift upright again, but the dispatchers chose to call a recovery service to the scene, saying that "They didn't want anymore accidents and we'd let professionals do it." They were about to eat their words. When the wrecker arrived (it was a BIG one, one of the 10 wheel, 32,000 pound boom trucks) the driver got set up to lift the forklift. Greg suggested that he drop his outriggers to stabilize the truck, but he said that he didn't think the forklift, at a mere 9,000 pounds was heavy enough to warrent the use of outriggers.... Little did he know that an extra 5 minutes of work would have saved him a LOT of trouble. Because of the turn in the road and the location of the downed forklift, the wrecher truck had to park slightly uphill and at a bit of an angle, but everything seemed to factor out. With everything rigged and ready the wrecker began to lift the forklift. All appeared to be going well until the machine went past it's balance point and landed back on it's wheels. The wrecker truck operator did not have enough slack in his winch cable and when the forklift flopped down it jerked the truck. The rubber tires and airspring suspention on the truck allowed it to bounce and when it bounced down the cable went slack and the forklift, having no brakes started to roll down the hill. (bear in mind that all this happened in about 2 or 3 seconds) when the truck bounced back up, the cable went taught again and the tremendous force of the forklift moving away from the truck and the truck trying to push it's self the OTHER way was just too much. The odd angle the wrecker had parked at and the fact that outriggers were not used both spelled the end as the force of the tug pulled the wrecker over on it's side, the operator managing to dodge away just in time to avoid being crushed. We all just stood in stunned silence. This guy had come to upright our machine and get us out of trouble, and now HE was where we had been only moments before. The forklift was upright, but this 32,000 pound wrecher was now on it's side!!! Diesel, oil, and hydraulic fluid were pouring from the truck, so the fire dept. and Haz Mat crew began their struggle anew as my co workers and I looked on. To make this long ass story a little shorter, a 100 ton crane had to be brought in to lift the big wrecker truck. It was about 9:50 am when I had the accident with the forklift, and I got out of there with my fellow employees who had come to my aid at 6:30 pm. The entire day my leg was killing me and when I showered than night I found that my entire right leg was just one big blue and purple bruise. I took today off (actualy I was TOLD to take today off) I went to the company clinic to get checked for any additional injury, and I spent a few hours doing accident paper work. All my superiors agree that there was nothing I could have done, it was a mechanical failure, I followed proceedure, and I didn't get dead. Although I am extremely sore today, and probably will be tomorrow as well, I will return to work tomorrow. I'm not gun shy after what happened, what happened yesterday was an occupational hazard. Any kind of truck driving has traffic risks involved, but transporting heavy equipment like I do adds a whole new set of potental dangers to the game. Maybe that's what draws me to it, I love the challenge. Current Mood: sore Current Music: The Eagles "Take It Easy" (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, June 16th, 2001
12:10 am	Hard and fast Man, what a day. Elfin Forest, Santa Ysabel, Ramona, Lakeside... I hit about every backwoods town in the county. I've never done so much 2 lane trucking in one day before. And I loved it. I enjoy the challenge of highballing a loaded rig through the hills. The up and down grades and the narrow winding roads keep me on my toes, it's fun. The old Freightliner impressed Mark today, he didn't think she had it in her. We were running in convoy and I was out running him. hehehehe. Old rigs are the best rigs. Also, tomorrow is the first day of the AG&SEM; June steam up! I won't sleep a wink tonight, I never do. The steam up is better than Christmas! Tractors, trucks, steam engines! And Kira will be joining me! Lately between her school and my work we haven't seen much of each other, but now that will change, at least for a few days. I can't wait! I also might get to plumb my little Cornwall engine up to the boiler and see it run on live steam! Yeeeee haaa!! Current Mood: excited Current Music: "The ballad of Thunder Road" (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 13th, 2001
10:54 pm	Yawn I'm tired but I can't seem to find sleep. Earlier I had an argument with my younger half-sister Ashley. She's at the top of her class in highschool, in the honors program, college bound, and stands a chance of being able to graduate early. She's no Dougie Houser though, she's got a swelled head and thinks that she knows it all and is smarter and better than everybody else because of her academics. Little does she know that highschool in NO way prepares you for the real world. Just ask me, I'm a drop out. Here's some words of wisdom, hee them... "I've been a driver 20 years, but you say you've never missed a gear... Well you've got a LONG way to go. You think because you've been to school you'll never be nobody's fool... Well you've got a LONG way to go. I know every route to get to anywhere I want to go, I've been around enough to know that you can always find another road. The biggest lesson you learn behind the wheel is no matter how far you go you will STILL have a long way to go. You say you've really been around. Heh, you don't know your gas from oil on the ground, and you've got a LONG way to go. There's lots of rules on this lands road and driver-to-driver some go untold, and you've got a LONG way to go. I know every route to get to anywhere I want to go, I've been around enough to know that you can always find another road. The biggest lesson you learn behind the wheel is no matter how far you go you will STILL have a long way to go." ~Dale Watson Keep between the ditches... Current Mood: tired Current Music: Garth Brooks "Go Back" (Comment on this)
6:31 pm	Blah What a thrilling first post this is :P I paid my car insurance today, $800 bucks out of my pocket, yay me... I'm fairly upset over some recent events, and I've been doing a lot of thinking and wondering as a result. I'm not the type of guy who goes looking for trouble, different strokes for different folks, but for me personaly the best policy is to nut up, shut up, and deal with it. In other news I'm anxiously waiting for delivery confermation of a bit of mail I sent off recently, containing payment for a big ticket purchase. God I hope it gets there in time, I hate mailing stuff :P Tomorrow should be a reasonably decent day, I get to kick off the morning by running pilot for my senior driver. I love piloting, it's a nice brake from gear jamming 70 feet worth of big rig. Anyhoo, I'm too restless to sit in front of this computer any longer. Keep between the ditches... Current Mood: blah Current Music: John Denver. "Country Roads" (Comment on this)