The Life and Ramblings of a Firelizard
[Recent Entries][Archive][Friends][User Info]
Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Kilroy" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
|
02:11 pm
[Link] |
Available times!
Ok, this hasn't been touched in forever, and all dates listed previously are very much invalid, done, and over with :P
As of right now my schedule looks like this:
I can be seen at MFF '09!
All other time at home plans for this year (2009) are pretty much taken :P All time at home for 2010 is not planned yet.
Conventions I plan on going to in 2010!
-Midwest Fur Fest
Sadly that's all I can do until further notice. Getting my own place some time next year (not an apartment either! My own home! :D Well.. trailer home!) and am unsure how that's going to affect my budget for these things. Since MFF is a relatively local convention for me at the moment, I'm pretty much guaranteed to show up there unless something truly catastrophic happens.
Anyways, keep an eye on here next year for any time at home availabilities when I can be met or something! :D
|
|
09:25 pm
[Link] | Assuming this works, this post will merely point you in the direction of several semi-important posts! Or make things easier to refer to when searching for something in particular (that isn't one of my more, "normal" posts :P
For example, you might be interested in days I'd be available for visits or something? Assuming you live close enough. Will also be a list of events I'd be going to
As more items of noteworthiness appear, they will be linked to here for easy reference! And because I'm lazy, and don't want to search through many journal entries to find something :P For example, This gem on books I need to get!
And score! I finally got a copy of Dragon Warrior IV! The rarest of the four US games! I actually had a copy, but was forced to sell it to pay bills I sadly lost a lot of neat games that way. I'm never doing that again! I also have the original box coming in soon, and hopefully will get the game manual/maps as well (original, not printed pages that the NES store online is doing now that all reprints have been generally discontinued.)
|
|
07:58 am
[Link] |
Oh look, an LJ post!
One of my increasingly ultra-rare LJ posts! :D
This time it's about lumper services! And why they are thieves.
So get this. 53' trailer. Full of freight. Takes maybe.. 1-2 hours to unload? Let's say 3. Cost to unload it via lumper service? Sometimes up to $500. That's damn near $200 an hour! And sometimes it doesn't even take that long! That is just outrageous. These lumper services can rake in upwards of thousands of dollars a day. Figure at least 15 trucks a day. That's already $7,500 made in just one day! I don't even earn that much in a month! Oh sure, there's the cost of paying for the workers, but the more you have working, the less time it's going to take. 3-4 lumpers can probably get a trailer unloaded in an hour or two. That's still $50-$100 an hour per worker. There aren't many factory jobs that pay that much I imagine.
And why do they charge this much? Because they know they can get away with it! Drivers won't, or in some cases, can't unload the trailers due to unreasonable time constraints set by the consignee themselves. 2 hours for one person to hand stack well over 1,000 boxes in a 5x4 pattern, 3 cases high, per pallet, and then wrap each one? That's not entirely possible! And a lot of these places either demand you pay or you do it yourself. And if you're not done within the time limit? It all goes back. They don't want it.
I personally think that trucking companies should start refusing to pay these outrageous costs. And not fault the driver if the receiver refuses the load as a result. Eventually the receivers will get the idea that we aren't putting up with it.
What gets really frustrating? When the lumper service will give you an estimate. After they've already done the work. Then you have no chance to get the lumper service authorized, especially if it's going to be a huge amount! These checks are taken directly out of pocket, or out of our pay statements! Sure, we get reimbursed. Usually within the same pay statement. If it's authorized. So what would we do then? The lumpers have already done their work and won't release the papers for the load until they're paid. So it's almost no choice. Either pay out of pocket, or don't get paid for the load at all, which is going to piss off the company you work for, because they won't get paid as a result because there's no signed proof that said company was the one to deliver it!
It really should be illegal to offer a service, perform said service, then tell you what the price is. Now in the case of emergencies when said service has to be done or there are fatal consequences, like hospital work, then no, do it, don't care what the cost is! But cases like getting my trailer unloaded? No! Tell me what I have to pay before the work is done, or else I shouldn't have to pay one damn cent! That alone is extortion! I can't tell you whether or not this is something that I can permit, because I don't know what the price is, therefore the work should not be done until I get a price so I know if it can be done!
|
|
01:55 pm
[Link] |
New Phone?
Ok, so I'm in need of a new phone. My current one is crap, battery life drains pretty damn fast. Now, I'd like to get something like a blackberry, because it seems to have a lot of uses. Problem is, through Verizon I can either get a voice plan with it and pay per data usage (which really, I might as well just get a regular cell if I do that) or get unlimited data, but pay something like $0.25 a minute for voice. And then there's the whole wanting to use the phone as a modem as well for the laptop. And that's where things get real confusing! Would my phone data plan be covered under the 5gb broadband plan? Or would I still be paying per kb/mb/whatever transferred when not using the phone as a modem?
Soo I'm kind of looking around at the moment. Now supposedly Sprint has this neat plan where I can spend $149, which includes unlimited voice/data, and 5gb mobile broadband (laptop internet.) $18 more expensive than what I'm paying now. Or get 450 anytime minutes, with unlimited data and 5gb mobile broadband for $130. Technically what I'm paying for now.
But really, I'd rather forgo the internet card and just use the phone itself to connect to the internet. But is that really better?
Thoughts? Suggestions? Recommendations? I've got a few months before I can do this :P My contract doesn't expire until November 5th.
Has to be on a network that provides coverage throughout the US, and services Green Bay. So far as I know only AT&T/Cingular, Verizon, and Sprint/Nextel are the only ones that do this. T-mobile, while another big name, does not provide service for my home city so I can't realy consider them.
|
|
03:54 pm
[Link] | I really do need to update this more often than I do. I should install Semagic on this thing. Anyways! Update far too big for twitter, so here you go! :P
Oh man, today was just insane! Traffic was phenomenal though! Started at 0045, made my way from the IL/WI state border to Gary, IN for a load of salt! ...from Indiana Sugars. I don't get it either :P But hey, it's a load, don't care about the ridiculousness of it! Got scaled at the facility, kind of. Basically got the weight of the tractor, and the weight of the trailer axles. I didn't get steers or drives for some reason. But eh, no matter. the only time I would ever have to worry about the steers being overweight is when a trailer is loaded so very badly, to where the drives probably have 40,000lbs on them. I have had all kinds of weights, and the steers have always been below the 13,200 limit the tires themselves have. Anyways, trailer was around 32,000, and I figured the steers would be around 11900-12100, so I figured the drives were good. Close, but good!
So I go! Pass Cline Ave, where I'm supposed to go to fuel, but holy crap GPS is reporting 30 minutes early arrival, but I'm still going through hellChicago. Primarily the Dan Ryan/Kennedy expressway inbound junction (I-90/94 and I-290 WB junction for those who are not familiar with Chicago interstate names). 90% of the time I go through there it is a mess. 5 lane area, 3 left for 90/94, 2 right for 290. The 90/94 express lane ends about a mile south of it, and comprises the three left lanes. The local lanes, plus I-55 NB make up the two right lanes. So you got all the people from the local/55 lanes who want to stay on 90/94 trying to merge left, sometimes at the last minute, and all the people who want to get on the 290 from the express lanes merging right, and the 290 ramp is almost always messed up.
Apparently though around 4 in the morning it's pretty dead :P So I keep rolling, don't fuel since my delivery's only a few hours away anyways, and I figure the next load will keep me in compliance with the fuel solution planner! Stop at a Pilot anyways, since I have a few minutes, and get some food and coffee because I have had nothing from the time I shut down yesterday afternoon. Then get rolling, show up at some spice company in Oak Creek 6 minutes early, and enjoy the smell for about 6 minutes! :D Get unloaded, go to the Pilot nearby for a quick break. Maybe get some stuff scanned and get some food!
..or maybe not! Next load! Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee, expected to arrive at 0830. Delivery to a distributing company in Crystal Lake, IL at 1100. Essentially I have to get there, get the trailer, and go if I have any hope of delivering on time. Get there around 0815, drop my trailer 0845 because I can't find an easy hole to back it into, and then pick up my trailer and leave around 0915. Because that stupid trailer was raised too high. I don't think that was anyone's fault this time though; I think the landing pad the trailer was resting on is on the peak of a tiny hill. Or something. Either way, I get out and oh man, GPS is reporting 30 minutes late! D:
But, it's assuming I'm driving slowly on small state routes. So I go! This thing is heavy, and I know I'm supposed to fuel at a Pilot along the way (well, Road Ranger, but same thing really :P) so I think I'll scale there! Only one DOT scale and that's at the state line, and the fuel stop is in WI! So I get there, I know I don't have time to fuel, again, but I do need to scale. Except... there's no scale. Anywhere on the route I took apparently. Crap! This thing has me damn near gross, and I can't remember where I'm supposed to put the trailer tandems for beer loads. Well, guess I'll just run it and hope for the best. Can't afford the time to find a scale, especially since I'd have to backtrack a good 30 miles to do so.
Get to the state line, and joy upon joys, I see a glorious site! Weigh Station Closed. Holy crap that was close! Now I know I wasn't over gross. But I suspected I might be overaxle. Not by much, but it doesn't take much for the DOT to ticket you :P So yay! Home free! And with the way things are going, I might make it to my delivery on time! ...until I hit a town halfway through my route in IL. Red light after freaking red light! Enough to ensure I was a good 10 minutes late when I got there. But I alerted Customer Service that I could be late because of the red lights, and the customer didn't have an issue with it! So I get unloaded, and make plans to stop at the nearby Road Ranger! Pull out of the dock, and get a flurry of messages (no signal where I was parked. Inside a building :P) saying to drop the trailer at Gary. No wait, Milwaukee. It's a dedicated Miller trailer, as designated by the "M" in MTA######.
So I message back, asking if I should drop the trailer back at the Miller yard, or the drop lot nearby? Either way I start heading out, since no matter where they tell me to drop it my route is going to be the same up to a certain point. About the time I hit the IL border I get the message to drop it at the drop lot! So instead of taking US-12 up to I-43 I detour onto the WI-120 to WI-36 to WI-83 to WI-11! Except.. several parts of that route are closed, with posted detours :P So I wound up taking WI-120 to WI-83 to WI-11 to WI-83 again to WI-11 again, all the way to Sturtevant! Dropped the trailer, went to the Pilot for a desperately needed shower, and called it quits! Helps that when I dropped the trailer I only had 15 minutes left on my 14; just enough time to get to the Pilot! Now to stamp my paperwork and get it scanned, and do something until it's time for bed! And hope I get another load before I do so I can plan for it.
|
|
09:39 am
[Link] | Yeesh, it's been a month now and that check is still not received! Great. Now I have to get that check stopped. Going to have to go through ING for this from now on possibly. Or just have my parents drop off the check and I pay them. Which would probably be easier, as transferring money is much faster :D
|
|
10:55 am
[Link] |
Fursuit Parade!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmq2fZ8Uba4
I don't have it uploaded yet, but check back around 11:30-12 Central time for it to be completed! I'll also update the link later on to go directly to the video. I swear it's not a rickroll! :D It's the Megaplex 2009 fursuit parade! I almost missed the first pass too! Heard the jingles of the bells, and moved quickly while setting up the tripod! The second I had it turned on they appeared, and I quickly adjusted the angle and recorded! :D Hurray for perfect timing! And it's in HD too! :D
EDIT: Uploaded! :D Still processing though, but there's the link! Enjoy! :D
|
|
06:19 am
[Link] |
On the road to Megaplex!
Megaplex CountDown: 2 days! :D!
Halfway to Megaplex! Stopped in Manchester, TN for the night, and another 626 miles to go before I reach the hotel! Watch http://twitter.com/kilroyfirelizrd for updates as they happen, and see previous updates! Like when I discovered my car can go 444 miles on a single tank of gas! Adventure! :D
|
|
09:45 pm
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/82413613/308685) [Link] | Megaplex Countdown: 8 days! :O
Oh my god I am so excited! And I think I'm getting stressed out too :P All day today I was pretty high strung, getting pissed off at the simplest of things! But after I sat at Gary for 45 minutes, I calmed down, and got rolling again! Got to Tomah just fine, dropped that trailer, and now I'm off on a new adventure! Shorthaul though :P Should be at the delivery point right on time, even though I just shut down 15 minutes ago :P 0800 delivery, an hour to get there, should be ready to roll at 0700. Cutting it real close! D:
Anyways, while I was sitting in Gary I ran some figures and estimates. Knowing for sure I'm getting $650 this payday, and guesstimating approximately $550 (currently! I'm not home yet so still adding pay to that check! Which, as usual, may be off by as much as $30 in either direction), subtracting $650 in bills I have to pay for sure by the end of the month, and I'm left with $350 in spendable income over the two upcoming paydays! Not including the $100 going to my ING checking, and the $100 going to savings. Now, based on my estimated fuel consumption, roughly using 12 gallons each time, the current average price per gallon nationwide, and rounding each fuelup up to the nearest.. whatever.. I figure $33 a shot, I'll be spending roughly $300, including initial fillup of both tank and 5 gallon jug. Current confirmed hotel expenses have me down almost $500. This does not include the money I'm getting back yet from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) undyingwavesong of course :P Right now I'm figuring what I need to have set aside to be sure this trip is possible! :D Figure $150 for food, which actually may need to be bumped up a bit, as I foresee a couple... not so cheap forays into deliciousness :P So maybe I'll set it at $200. There's a stop on the way home I'm planning to make; I haven't reserved the room yet since I didn't know for sure if I could afford it, but I set aside $90 as a rough estimate. Probably going to be off by about $20. No matter
So! Added up, we have roughly $1,084 this trip is going to cost me! :D ... D: Holy crap that's an expensive vacation. But! Totally worth it! *hugs everyone! :D* Now! As of the time I start driving I estimate I'll have $1,129 on hand. So already I'm in the plus $50, if I get nothing on the 24! :D Wait.. I'll be in the minus $250 thanks to a bill. Right. So, not as good as I'd like. But I know I'm getting paid on the 24th, so eh :P Anyways! Looking at this, at the start of the convention I'll have spent $700. Leaving me $462 in the plus! By the end of the convention, assuming I buy nothing from the con itself (Not happening! I have 12 artists I need to try to have draw in my sketchbook! :D And holy craaaapp.. I need to see if I can find fishy_boner during the convention and have her add a doodle for monies! :D If you see this, please draw in my book! *hatchlingeyes!*) I will have $750 unspent! This includes the $250 not going to bills, and the room money from my roommates! :D By the time I get home, I would have $400 left over! Hurray!
Now naturally this is not going to be how it is :P I'm hoping to get a few things, though I would like some money left over. So, I'll set aside about... $150 for arts! :D Plus whatever of the $168 in gas money not spent yet! Maybe a little more, depending on whatever :P
|
|
08:43 pm
[Link] | Hurray for entries! Uh.. Megaplex countdown: 9 days! :D
So I know I forgot an entry yesterday. And the day before. So what? >:(
Anyways, still not a lot to report. Did a restart Sunday! :D Monday was local deliveries, didn't cover more than 100 miles. From West Memphis to Southaven to Memphis to West Memphis to Memphis to Capleville. Save for the load of flammables I hauled to Southaven, I had a total of 42 paid miles! :D After getting that stuff off my trailer, I dropped the trailer at a business in Memphis, went back to the OC to pick up a load of Tostito's Salsa con Queso to deliver in Memphis. Then after getting unloaded went to the Pilot not more than 2 miles away. Parked, and slept! Got up today, went back to Southaven to a location less than a mile from where I dropped off the hazardous materials, got loaded up, and headed on my way! My goal is to get this delivered early tomorrow, as I'm <3 hours away (yes, I did that on purpose :P) and hopefully will get another load ASAP! Something with miles, but will keep me able to get home Saturday! Thankfully, thanks to staying on that one load and restarting I was able to keep my paid miles up pretty well for this week! I'd have to double check, but I think I'm at $450 net pay right now. Which is pretty sweet! But then, 9 mile shorthaul pay is pretty awesome :P Surprisingly, even though it's a relay, I get paid shorthaul miles. I noticed I get it picking up a relay, but for some reason i also get it when dropping off a 0 paid mile relay, picking up from the shipper. Maybe even get it for any mile within the shorthaul range. I dunno. Board seems pretty good about paying me for such things though!
Anyways, off to sleep! Did some cleaning and organizing today of the sleeper berth. Still have a ways to go, but if I can do the same amount each day, by Friday night I'll be ready to unload the truck quickly! Tomorrow I'll probably finish cleaning back here, Thursday I'll spend cleaning out the overhead compartment in the cab, and then Friday will be spent packing up everything I don't need to do whatever i need to do! Saturday I'll unload, be done, and enjoy my time off! Sunday will be spent in Steven's Point with family, Monday with family, and cleaning of my car, and Tuesday is the start of the great voyage to Orlando! :D Wednesday is the completion of that journey! Then Thursday I go to Jacksonville, hang with undyingwavesong and hopefully drakenbyte and her friends, and maybe anyone else that wants to tag along? :P Then Friday to Sunday is spent having fun at Megaplex! Monday I head off, Tuesday I visit raptorianone since I have a day to, Wednesday I get home, and start getting ready for my journey back to work, Thursday is a lazy day, if I have that day off, and then Friday I go back to work!
Or so the plan goes. Either way, I'll try to keep my twitter up to date on what's going on as it happens, so keep an eye out starting Tuesday! :D
|
|
09:50 pm
[Link] | Megaplex Countdown: 12 days! :D
Actually, I think it's 13. But no matter!
Anyways, not really a lot to say today; got up, got started, drove for 10 and a half hours, dropped my trailer for a PM, and am taking a restart tomorrow! Sure, I could drive some more, but I haven't had a day off where I didn't have to worry about truck or trailer for at least a week, and honestly, starting off the last week before vacation with full hours should ensure that I can get home Saturday! Because otherwise things are going to be really screwed up.
|
|
08:03 pm
[Link] |
Payment Woes
Megaplex coutndown:13 days! :D
So today's entry isn't nearly as bad as yesterday's but still not good. So I recently found out that my monthly payment for my storage did not go through. Or rather, was not received at all. Payment was sent via paper check from the Chase Bank itself on the 22nd, and should have been received on the 29th. But alas, this has apparently not happened! Here it is, 11 full days since the money was supposed to have arrived (9 business days. Well over a week!) and they have nothing. Very odd! After months of sending checks this way, why is it not working this time?
Sadly I may have to rely on my parents from this point on. Have them write the check and get it out, and then transfer the money to their account directly. Every month. Ugh. I am not happy about this really. I am well on my way to getting my financial life back on track; I don't need to deal with missed payments and crap due to bank/post office screwups! If I have to do a stop check on this thing, I'm going to be pissed at someone.
|
|
08:01 pm
[Link] | You know, I was really hoping to get back into posting here more often. Since I've discovered Twitter I've been using that more than anything. I was hoping though to make one post here a day. My last post was not how I wanted to start that though. I should never have had the fury to make that in the first place! But god damnit, it's just so infuriating the way people behave sometimes!
Ah well, maybe tomorrow's post will be happier! I'd post more, but I gotta get to bed. However, I will share with you in 10 words or less what's been going on lately!
Kept busy, vacation 2 weeks! Truck broke, but fixed now!
|
07:30 pm
![[User Picture]](http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/50640796/308685) [Link] |
Furries! What the Fuck?!
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )
Current Mood:  pissed off
Tags: conventions, furries, wtf?
|
|
04:33 pm
[Link] | Hurray! Done for the day! I've been seriously neglecting my LJ as of late! I sorry! But anyways, here's what's going on! Truck broke down! Injector #5 stopped responding, and as a result it's affecting engine performance. So I'm in a loaner! Got a nice load too! But first I gotta get back to the OC and switch back to my truck. Then trek another 800 miles to deliver the load! Hopefully on time too! :D But yeah, I'll kind of miss this truck, but then again I won't :P
I was hoping to make the OC today, but some delays in getting loaded kind of screwed that up. So I stopped 240 miles away. Still have 2 hours left on my 14, but why? It's not going to change what time I get to the OC, nor is it going to change the fact that I'm shutting down again once I get there since I gotta pick up my truck tomorrow, and it's not estimated to be done until 1800 my time. So, I'm going to skip over to the McDonalds ... well, maybe not skip.. a skipping firelizard may be cute in theory, but it's really more of a WTF?! kind of thing in real world application :P Anyways, food then some chatting maybe, then sleep! Can't wait to sleep in my own truck again really. This one is kind of odd to me.
|
|
09:53 pm
[Link] | Other than that, doing well, getting miles, sleepy, busy, etc. Same old stuff, different day sort of thing!
EDIT: Crap. Sallie Mae bill went up. But is lower than it used to be, so not complaining! I was expecting my lower rate to go up once I got off their payment issue plan thingy, where I paid less for 6 months or so. I think I deferred some of my loan payments for awhile. Anyways! I can cover it, but had to dig into my ING savings to do so, since it's due tomorrow. Should be able to pay myself back though. $200 this week, another $200 next week, and then another $200 to give myself an extra $30! And with any luck I can afford to throw in an extra $200 the 17th just for kicks, and still afford to have some fun down in Orlando the 24th!
Thankfully, unless something seriously major comes up, I'll still be able to afford my trip down there! Gas money and hotel money and food money! Art money may be non-existant, but at least I won't go home empty handed! Several friends have lots of arts for me built up that I'm getting at the con! Yay! :D
Now sleep! I promised someone I'd be off work by 4-5PM tomorrow, so I want to get up early enough to get a full day of driving in!
|
09:52 pm
[Link] | Oh crap, my mind's media player just malfunctioned! I got both versions of Lollipop playing in my head! At the same time! D: Make it stop!
|
|
08:15 am
[Link] | Ok, so this isn't good. I think it's time I got a cooling thing for my laptop. Last night it peaked at the maximum safe operating temperature (which I believe is 195F). Not good! So I'm going to stop at Best Buy and see if I can get something to help keep it cooler. I think the whole system locked up as a result of it overheating; I had to power down without shutting down because I just couldn't do anything. Although, it could have also been a result of a disc I put in that it couldn't quite read or something (DVD drive has been acting up) or a glitch with the video card using both the TV and the laptop screen (watched DVD's. My current desktop background also is just gorgeous on my TV! Sure, it looks quite nice on the laptop itself, but on the TV? :D) But yeah. Until my tax return comes in next year, or I wind up with a few hundred dollars I don't have planned for anything, I'm going to have to do something until I can replace the laptop. I'm hoping to get something way sturdier than this, yet still have the power to play TF2 (at some point.. I've yet to actually play it with others! do you know how boring it is running around a map in a game designed to kill other people by your lonesome? No other players or AI's! Though granted it does give me a chance to scope out the map, get a feel for it, and find the good hiding spots that everyone probably knows about by now :P
|
|
11:09 am
[Link] | Ok, so I've gone through the binder of DVDs. I know a few are missing. A few more than I thought. Surprisingly though not too many. However, sadly a few are also damaged beyond repair (they were not when I last saw them). So those will have to be replaced at some point.
Quite a few DVDs are not mine. Hell, I have little interest in them! Most of the CDs aren't mine either. Though most of these songs are absolute crap in my opinion (how can people stand listening to some of this crap? It's like an audible assault on my ears! D:) I do like a few of them, thus my mp3 collection has grown by a few songs! :D
|
|
01:24 am
[Link] | And last entry. Bill was sent on the 7th of May (Why the hell did I not get it until now?) Payment from my HRA was sent on the 27th of May. But, I should call the hospital regardless to ensure it was paid.
EDIT: New concern. Passport arrived. Passport card and birth certificate missing. Will worry about that tomorrow. Right now I need sleep!
|
[<< Previous 20 entries] |
