Fare Thee Well, Sparkle Motion

So we sold Sparkle Motion Emerald Pearl. 

Here we are, enjoying one last.... stand in the driveway. That's all I could do, because the damn thing hasn't run in over a year. 

But it's gone, thank heathens. Some dude came and towed it when we were out over the weekend and when we came home this was all that was left...

Like it materialized.

I'm having a hard enough time with it as it is.

Tow Tow Tow! Merry Crash-mas!

First off, yes all is well. No one is hurt, but it would be my luck to be doing a good deed like driving the huge cardboard boxes we've been accumulating from oversized baby products and Christmas packages to the recycling bins at 6am and hit a slick patch, bump off into a ditch and blow a tire. To add to the unfortuosity, I was on the one two mile stretch of road that we get no signal. I thought it best maybe to just wander off into the woods and disappear.



I managed to get hold of a sleeping Laura by sneaking a text message thru just down the road, and she came and got me. We drove to a clear spot and called for the tow and now we're home again, eating oatmeal and a cup of tea to warm up from the soggy damp morning trudge. I did spill raisins all over the floor when i tried to break them up by shaking the box. Today is the day I should've stayed in bed.

Heights Weren't In The Contract

I drove a flatbed today. Gotta strap heavy steel staircases to the back, kinda tricky stuff. Makes for rides of high anxiety. Don't wanna kill anyone ya know? Every once in a while I have to pull over on the side of the highway and tighten up the straps, to keep things from falling off. As if being on the shoulder narrowly dodging speeding cars wasn't enough, I chose a rather poor spot to do it today, on a high overpass over a junkyard. But I didn't notice til I was walking along the edge of the bed of the truck and looked over the side and didn't see the road below but gravel & grass, about 4 stories down.



Looks lime someone's made the fall before. I saw their ghost.



Short story shorter, I'm home safe and sound.

Yelling Wednesday

Wednesday. Starts on a Tuesday. Ends on a Thursday. Lots of yelling on a Wednesday. First Laura yelling about her phone updates. This sort of thing should not be attempted at high speeds. Then yelling at work. Not at me, just around me. But I find it amusing. Big business, well oiled machine, still operates like a schoolyard playground. Good thing I get to hop in the truck and leave. Had a loaner while the real deal was being serviced. The hood on it (the loaner) was broke so it kept popping up. Made for an interesting ride. Wasn't sad to let it go. Reilly broke the backgate too. Crazy lifter. GT was quicker than ever. I had hopes to clock out on time. The last 2 miles of 380 would make sure that wouldn't happen. The kind of traffic where people get out of their cars and walk around. I saw a woman taking her blood pressure while she was driving. That's either careless driving or extremely careful driving. Now I'm yelling at the phone. I'll sleep on it.

You Can Never Call Me A Pessimist

This week was rough, but I decided to seek out the positive in it. Day by day:


MONDAY

I woke up with the beesting, fully swollen to the back of my head and not feeling all that spiffy. I decided to stay home and try and sleep it off, but after Laura made a trip to the pharmacy and had a brief yet effective phone conversation with my mother, I was informed I would be checking into the emergency room.

The Upside: I updated my tetanus vaccine and got plastered on benadryl and slept more than I have in years.


TUESDAY

Again, woke swollen and stayed home. But didn't submit to the drowsiness and instead went crazy on the house and tore it apart. Moved the computer desk downstairs, and pulled all the boxes of CDs out of the laundry room. Worked myself into a tizzy making up for the guilt of not going into actual work.

The Upside: After that didn't resolve any of the space issues we decided to finally take the plunge and get a storage space, followed by a birthing class, and on subject found out Gabuk had kittens in the doghouse. Five of them.


WEDNESDAY

Actually Wednesday was okay.


THURSDAY

I was back to work and made a run down to Fuller's, a plater run by two brothers, neither younger than 85, and after he almost killed himself and spilled a 3,500lb skid of steel bars on my foot, all because they use a forklift older than them. In the home stretch on Main Street Strousdburg the load shifted at the light and burst thru the particle board box sliding all over the truck bed. Another couple of inches and bars would've slid right thru a Ford Taurus' window. I spent the next hour picking up each 75lb bar one by one and placing them in a makeshift box. I left work 2 hours late.

The Upside: I got some fresh air and met all of the lunch rush hour of downtiown Stroudsburg and their middle fingers.


FRIDAY

Another anxiety attack when a stack of slideaway stairs cracks thru their wooden skid and I'm still an hour from the plant. A quick tightening and then I learned to drive while looking thru the sideview mirror.

The Upside: I didn't spend a moment in the plant counting shit and I have nothing to do tonight. Burritos & baseball!

Bustin V. Smooth-On

V.

I gotta weigh some pros & cons and I choose to do it here....

COMMUTE

Bustin: 40 minutes round trip thru wooded backroads & a small suburb

Smooth-On: 2 hours 10 minutes round trip out to 80, down 33 and thru the city of Easton

Advantage - Bustin


ATTIRE

Bustin: whatever the hell I want

Smooth-On: a navy blue Dickey suit, buttoned up, tucked in & belted

Advantage - Bustin


MUSIC


Bustin: each station has it's own personal radio, so I heard a mixture of death metal, hip-hop and jazz most of the day, but I'll usually be driving alone all day so it's all about the iPod

Smooth-On: satellite radio usually tuned to 80's or 60's pop

Advantage - Bustin


SUPERVISION
Bustin: a collection of mellow, probably ex-hippies that know there's a job to do but aren't worried about it actually getting done and like my jokes

Smooth-On: a gaggle of overly obsessed foul-ups that think if a mold rubber doesn't make it to Germany by tomorrow the world may very well come to an end, and no jokes

Advantage - Bustin


DECOR


Bustin: a confusing mix of multi-decadinal decor including 70's wood paneling, 50's art deco bathrooms and a kitchen full of microwaves & refrigerators from the 80's.

Smooth-On: concrete floor, concrete walls, no windows

Advantage: Bustin


ACTUAL JOB
Bustin: driving back and forth between Stroudsburg, Allentown, Scranton, Pittstown, Perth Amboy & Elizabeth, and all the places in between

Smooth-On: packing boxes full of plastic molds & rubber, mixing batches, crashing forklifts and throwing anything I can get my hands on at Sarah

Advantage - Bustin


WILDLIFE


Bustin: bunnies in the brush

Smooth-On: possums in the plant

Advantage - tie


MONETARY COMPENSATION
Bustin: 5% more than Smooth-On, not to mention the money I'll save on gas

Smooth-On: 5% less than Bustin plus two tanks of gas in the Dodge Dakota each week

Advantage: Bustin


FINAL RESULTS
Bustin: 8
Smooth-On: 1

Gotta go call to quit. New job!