Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

Most truckers with laptops are online A LOT. After reading Life on the Road there are tons of things to do and people to communicate with in dozens if not hundreds of ways. From chats, VOIP, email, myspace, facebook, myspace sites just for truckers, your documents, photos, videos and files can all be online. Face it, if you’re not online you’re in the dark ages.

One of the best protections against all of the bad people that want your identity or that want to hijack your computer for evil deeds, or just place a bunch of crap on your computer is to keep all of your software up to date.

Microsoft Windows Updates

Microsoft comes out with operating system updates about once a week, critical updates get pushed out as soon as they’re ready. If you don’t have Automatic Updates turned on, you’re putting your computer at risk. Most of the updates are some type of security updates. If a vulnerability isn’t known by every hacker in the world, when Microsoft puts out an update, every hacker in the world now knows about it and will exploit that particular problem against people that are slow updating their system.

If you’re not sure about your updates go to your Start button, then Right Click on My Computer, or go to your My Computer icon and Right Click, click on Properties, then click on the Automatic Updates tab and this is what you see.

At the very least, be notified of updates and you can download them when you’re going to be online for a while.  On your desktop, there’s no reason why Automatic can’t be checked.

Or you can go to the Windows Update site to check for and download any updates, you have to use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer to go to Microsoft Update.

If your still on Windows 98 or anything else before XP, you’re putting everything on your computer at risk.  If you’re computer is too old or doesn’t have enough processor power or enough memory for at least XP, there are several things you can do. The single biggest bang for the buck upgrade is RAM/Memory and hard drives are getting dirt cheap. Or you can switch to Linux, but that’s a whole ‘nother series. Read the rest of this entry »

Got ya. I’m just kidding. I just wanted your attention. Box drivers are OK, I guess. Again, just kidding. Hey, you know flatbedders, we’re always climbing on top (of loads) and using our arms, legs and toys, I mean tools - to tarp and secure, of course. Watch it VGrumpy. There are impressionable minds reading this. There are? Who knows.

ANYWAY. I love - love - but that’s not exactly what I want to talk about. Let’s talk about country music. Yup, I said country music. A new topic for ‘ole VGrumpy. Do you know who the man in the photo is? If you do, you’re a fan, if not, that’s OK. More about him later.

Do you enjoy country music? Most truckers certainly do.  Nascar, country music, fried chicken and beer - right? Personally it depends on my mood. I also love Sinatra and the standards. A little Elvis sometimes. Maybe some 50’s stuff. Chicago, the Beatles and others on occasion. The Eagles and Bon Jovi. But recently I’ve been “hooked” on country music via the “Highway”,  Sirius Satellite channel 60. I’m sure there’s an XM equivalent. 

I’m still kind of turned off by the whiny bouncing fiddley ”my dog done got run over and my girlfriend wants to drive my pickup to WalMart” kind of nonsense. But have you heard the song by Jamie O’ Neil? “Shiver, tremble, I never - no I never once felt so00 (my emphasis) much - it shakes me - how you take me - deeper than I’ve ever been - it’s to the core - under my skin - I shiver - I’m overwhelmed - you smile I melt - and somewhere inside, oh baby, I.”  Holy moly!

How about her other hit song (Feel like a Woman) -  Baby, lay me down on our bed - touch my body like only you can - kiss me softly & take away my breath - slow it down and make it real - cause tonight I want to feel - like a woman. For the guys out there, can I get a “rebel” yell. Come on, nobody’s look’n. “Saaa-looood.” Thanks.

This song is sizzlin hot! And it ain’t Brooks & Dunn or George Strait, for darn toot’n sure.  I almost drove off the interstate when I first heard it. If this is “country”, well I’m stick’n around a while to listen to more.  It is a prime example of the second wave of  ”new” country music. Far from Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. Heck - even actor and Academy-Award director Kevin Costner has a touring country band. I heard one song and I had no idea it was him. It was good. I was surprised. As Alan Jackson sang in one of his songs “He’s gone country!” Because of what I call this new “tweek” in country music, I like it better now than ever, whether Costner or Kelly Pickler sings it. It’s sexier and “edgier” and a real nice change from the traditional stuff. And wouldn’t you agree we all need a lot more lov’n, kiss’n and a hold’n this New Year?  Right ladies? Ok, so who is that guy in the photo?

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Your physical security was compromised and your laptop or desktop are gone, but you’re not worried because your important data was encrypted, but now what? If you were backing up your data, you buy your new computer, restore your data and continue like nothing happened.

Backing up your data even on a desktop is essential and it’s one of those things everyone knows they should do, but no one does. People usually wish they would have backed after something happens. Because most humans are lazy, especially about backups, the best backup solutions have the least amount of human involvement. The best backup system is the one you will use, consistently and can restore your data easily.

Thumb Drives

Flash drives, also known as thumb drives or USB drives can be connected to your laptop in seconds. If your laptop has a built in card reader you can also use SD or Compact Flash memory as a drive.

For backing up to another hard drive or flash drives, I like Syncback from 2BrightSparks. There are several versions of Syncback, including a completely free version. For something that’s as important as your data, you need something reliable and easy to use. It’s extremely flexible and will allow you to backup to any kind of drive, including FTP (more on that later). You can choose to backup or synchronize directories on different computers like home and laptop. You can automate backups using Syncback with several different options, including any time a file is changed, it gets backed up.

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dangerous? Hey, let’s start 2009 right. Buy a firearm. The photo is of an HK 9mmX19/.40. I have no idea what that means exactly, but I was impressed. Case included. Bullets extra. Extra clips $50/each. Total cost? Let’s just say, it wasn’t cheap.

After decades of watching 007 (James Bond), Dirty Harry, the Godfather and Schwarzenegger, I now possessed similar firepower as they used in their action movies. And even though this particular weapon is not mine - it belongs to my son  - by taking me to the local range for Christmas to experience mano a mano what’s it like to terminate (like that spy lingo?) a paper target, I have already began the New Year with a unique experience under my belt.

Have you EVER fired a gun? Yes - No? For the No folks, it is like firing a mini cannon. It is obviously powerful. Scary at first. VERY loud. A kind of  ”explosion” happens every time you press the triggger. You can see the fire come out of the barrel. And, you MUST concentrate. My son is an excellent instructor. Standing right behind me, he knew what I was about to do wrong and let me do it. That, I’m told, is how one learns - by experience. So fire, fire, fire. Stop. I’m a little shaky. I feel a trickle down my thumb. Blood. I wasn’t holding the gun properly. The hard metal from the recoil slit the base of my thumb.

“Use two hands” my son says. “Want a band-aid?” Would Arnold need a band-aid? How whiny. I don’t want to be a “girly-boy.” ”Of course not”, I said, and just like men and shooters and hunters from years past I stuck my thumb in my mouth. Only then did I realize I’m standing there with a .40 cal HK serious dangerous weapon in one hand and my thumb in my mouth. It didn’t help matters that I was wearing some stupid hat that I grabbed leaving the house. I was having a bad hair day. My son didn’t say it, but right there and then I knew he was thinking - his father is a loon. He said, “their gonna throw you outta here!” I put the weapon down and moved aside to “let” him shoot a few clips while I nursed my thumb and whatever dignity I had left.

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Hanging the Bathroom Shelf – a true story

I am very proud of myself. I completed a new task just last week. I hung a small wooden shelf on the bathroom wall. It only took eighteen months to accomplish.

Why did it take this fifty-two year old woman a year and a half to hang a small wooden shelf on the bathroom wall? Grab a cup of coffee and put your feet up and give a listen.

If you have never done anything like that before you know what a daunting task it is. If you are a ‘do-it-yourself-to-save-money-on-home-improvement’ type of person, then you probably have been doing tasks like those for so long you cannot remember how involved this task is for a rank beginner.

Oh, you think you were a rank beginner when you first hung something on a wall and still are shaking your head that I did not accomplish this task in a day? Well let me ask you this: did you already have the tools you needed and the knowledge to complete the task even if the shelf bracket drill holes did not align with the studs? Aha! I thought so!

So here are the directions for hanging a shelf – for the true novice

1. Have a shelf given to you and have your daughter fall in love with its pink and green paint job. Do not roll eyes, just smile and promise to hang the shelf. Put the shelf in the garage and forget about it for a while as you realize you have no idea how to hang a shelf, or anything for that matter, on a wall. The only reason there are paintings on the walls of your house right now is because the previous owners had driven nails into the walls and they looked handy.

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Did you ever notice how much bad news comes in December? I first started to notice this when I saw an article suggesting the best time to do layoffs and terminations was immediately before the Christmas holidays. Of course, an underlying theme throughout the article was how to control employees through intimidation and it was felt that terminating people at Christmas time, in traditional Ebenezer Scrooge style really demoralized the rest of the staff to straighten up and bow properly to their ‘betters’. The public reason would be that terminating and laying off people immediately before a holiday break or even on Friday afternoon kept them from finding out about the dastardly deed so they didn’t have a chance to get together and talk about it over the weekend.

Maybe that’s the idea behind FMCSA publishing their latest rules on Driver Medical certification: we either wont find out about it because no self-respecting news agency would break even a major news story on a weekend when the favored talking airhead wasn’t there to get ‘face-time’ over it. And this one would be very minor in the view of most of the public. Or, it’s the FMCSA’s idea of a special Christmas treat for their most unfavored subjects, us! Talk about coal in your stocking!

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It is 3 am in Cincinnati, Ohio, and this tired Santa is about to hit the hey.  My daughter turned 8 and a half this month and I swear that is too old to still believe in Santa.  If someone doesn’t spill the beans soon, she is going to find out by accident because, I swear, I am too old to play Santa much longer.

This year I thought I would be really smart and do all my Santa shopping online.  So about two weeks before Thanksgiving, late at night, I perused shopping comparison websites and websites of toy sellers and outlet stores and found websites and stores I didn’t even know existed.  But in the end the online shopping experience turned out to be an exercise in futility.  If my kids wanted it, so did yours, and you started earlier.  By the time I got to the websites, the pickings were mighty slim.

Take the footed pajamas, for example.  There just aren’t as many choices for older children.  I was determined to find Disney Cars footed pajamas for my son, size 6.   Only thirty minutes of searching and I found them at the Wal Mart website, and I ordered them and chose the ‘pick up at the store’ option.  Can’t have Santa presents arriving at our home ya’ know.  While I am in Wal Mart I decide to see what other footed pajamas are available in the store and come home with a size 6 Spiderman and give them to my son because he needs them, it’s cold in December this year.  Within thirty minutes he has torn a hole in them in three seams.  Turns out he needs a larger size.  As he shows me the tears in his new Spiderman pajamas, I realize in horror that the Cars pajamas I ordered online are going to be too small as well and will have to exchange them.  I promise him I will sew up the tears in his Spiderman pajamas. That same night while he is sleeping I sneak off to WalMart in search of size 8 Cars and Spiderman footed pajamas.  Three hours and 4 Wal Marts later I return home with only size 8 Spiderman.   Read the rest of this entry »

So you say you want to start your own trucking company? Well take heed to the new safety audit, as if you do not adhere to the regulations, you might as well just forget about making your “dream” come true.

The FMSCA recently passed regulations stating that new entrants will receive an automatic failing of their safety audit should any of the following take place:

“1. Sec.382.115(a)/Sec.382.115(b)Single occurrence.Failing to implement an alcohol and/or controlled substances testing program

2. Sec.382.201-Single occurrence.-Using a driver known to have an alcohol content of 0.04 or greater

3. Sec.382.211-Single occurrence.-Using a driver who has refused to submit to an alcohol or controlled substances test required under part 382.

4. Sec.382.215-Single occurrence.-Using a driver known to have tested positive for a controlled substance.

5. Sec382.305-Single occurrence.-Failing to implement random controlled substances and/or alcohol testing program.

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Over the last week, I’ve given you two funny pieces about Santa, the DOT and Christmas. But now, let’s turn the page and talk about something serious. It’s called SAD, or seasonal affective disorder. Simply put, the bleakness, the cold, snow, the lack of sunlight and being on the road - alone in the truck - makes you depressed. It typically happens during the Fall and Winter. Sad to say, the suicide rate during December is higher than at any other time of the year. What I want you to focus on is getting through the next two weeks and what is commonly called Christmas depression, which is part of SAD. 

As the prime directive of LifeontheRoad, is, well, life on the road, let’s talk about how many OTR (over the road) truckers suffer from Christmas depression. I’m not a medical professional nor a trained therapist or counselor, but I am a driver who, on more than one occasion, has been “stuck” in the truck, at a truck stop, alone on Christmas and New Year. I have suffered both from SAD and Christmas depression. I’ve been lonely, felt like a loser, been frustrated, angry and did the big 3 no-no’s – ate, drank and slept too much - just to get through the holiday’s. How many folks suffer with this, nobody knows, but it affects both men and women and I would make the intelligent guess that it’s very common among OTR truck drivers. That being said, I have some suggestions for you to deal with the holidays.

- Your dispatcher didn’t get you home as promised. You’re angry and want to quit the company. You’re going to give them a piece of your mind over the Qualcom. Don’t. Being angry is fine, but try and cool down. You need to take care of yourself right now. Make the best of a bad situation. Do nothing and say nothing right now. A lot of decision makers are on vacation right now anyway, so please, just chill out. 

- If you have family that was expecting you. That’s tough. But whatever the holiday - Christmas, July 4th, Memorial Day -  for a trucker, it is celebrated when he or she gets home. Family members have to be brought into your world - not the other way around. Your wife, girlfriend or significant other must support you with this. Kids will not mind waiting, if they know the holiday will be that much more “special” when you get home. Hams, turkeys and fireworks can be bought year round. Remember, Christmas is only one day and in reality can be celebrated anytime. 

- So you’re stuck in the truck - keep a set schedule – don’t oversleep – try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day your down and not under a load. Watch only funny movies. Listen to good music. But, don’t do anything stupid that you might regret later on. Driving jobs are not as plentiful as they used to be. You can deal with your dispatcher after the New Year. And under no circumstances are you to be so upset to abandon your truck and grab a Greyhound on your own home. You will regret that decision for years to come and it will prevent you from obtaining another trucking job. 

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Listen Santa, we’ve got to talk.

You can’t just ignore me, please.

Santa, I’m really sorry the DOT did what they did to you.

I’m sorry OOIDA doesn’t return your phone calls.

But you’ve just got to look past all that.

Santa, there are millions of kids who are relying on you.

No, you just can’t stay down here looking for metal treasures on Clearwater Beach.

I know it’s beautiful here.

I know it’s 80 degrees.

I know the mahi mahi is awesome.

Yes, my son did offer to let you use his boat.

Yes, I know you want to fish.

Yes, he did offer to take you to the that strip club.

But Santa, you just can’t right now, it’s Christmas.

Yes, I understand you’re fed up.

Yes, I can appreciate your feelings.

Yes, I…

But listen Santa - Kris! -  Christmas is 5 days away, less than a week.

Mrs. Claus keeps calling Mrs. Grumpy and she is VERY concerned about you.

You just took off without notice.

We didn’t know where you were.

Yes, the sheriff did call me.

After all Santa, you kinda hard to miss.

I know you should have shaved off your beard. Read the rest of this entry »