For some reason, when I hit the "Expand Blog with Comments" button it fails to show everything. Just cuts it off short. Annoying. Oh well...
A great many states now have laws that prohibit truck drivers from idling their trucks while parked.
Well fuck that. It's friggin' HOT out. Everywhere. Granted the idea behind these laws isn't actually to kill truck drivers by sauna. It's environmental of course. And to be perfectly honest, the solution that most companies are beginning to deploy makes sense in more ways than one. Many new trucks (or old ones who are retrofitted) get a little auxiliary motor that offers heat, A/C, and electrical power. This not only puts out much less waste, it saves money in the long run because MUCH less fuel is used. Everyone wins, assuming you can afford the $7-10,000 these gadgets cost.
My company has already had diesel-powered heaters on our trucks for years, so instead of these new auxiliary units they're just buying a chemically powered cooling unit. I imagine they do the job (for up to 10 hours at least, so they say). But my truck is a 2004 and I have over half a million miles on it. They only began putting the external cooling units on trucks last year. So I ain't got one. Suffice to say I am sitting here running the engine solely to make air conditioning despite the fact that there's a big sign that says I cannot. Most of the other trucks here at the Columbus, Ohio Wal-Mart distribution center are also running their motors too. I don't imagine anyone would be so cruel as to tell us not to. Seriously, the whole country is sweltering lately.
This has been perhaps the most interesting week of national and international news in a long time. Not that it's been good news or anything. But compelling. I have been listening to CNN pretty much all day long since Monday. I love satellite radio.
Still 3-4 weeks away from getting my folding bicycle. It's a tough wait. I'm feeling anxious.
One of my sisters (Becky) is coming with on my Disney vacation. My mother also. It'll be kind of cool having a family trip without any of the younglings. I've splurged for the super deluxx package where I get picked up from the airport and brought right to my hotel room (the Polynesian right on Disney property). No need to rent a car. Just step outside the hotel room and right onto the monorail. Plus I got the food package. Awesome. That'll be during the last week in September. I just hope a hurricane doesn't fuck things up.
Last but not least: everyone should stop buying Chinese products. I've been an advocate of this for YEARS, much to the exhaustion of my family (to whom I preach is far too often). It's getting a lot of media attention lately, but it is certainly nothing new to me. Granted, I'm somewhat of a hypocrite because sometimes you simply can't avoid it. My relatively new HDTV is Chinese made. I really would have preferred something made here but... that just wasn't realistic. But I --DO-- go out of my way to avoid Chinese made products whenever possible. It has nothing to do with safety. I do it because the United States is traveling down a dangerous road. We're going to be economically buried if we aren't careful. Spend a bit more and buy American made products when possible. Your fellow citizens jobs depend on it. (And possibly your own health and safety).
A great many states now have laws that prohibit truck drivers from idling their trucks while parked.
Well fuck that. It's friggin' HOT out. Everywhere. Granted the idea behind these laws isn't actually to kill truck drivers by sauna. It's environmental of course. And to be perfectly honest, the solution that most companies are beginning to deploy makes sense in more ways than one. Many new trucks (or old ones who are retrofitted) get a little auxiliary motor that offers heat, A/C, and electrical power. This not only puts out much less waste, it saves money in the long run because MUCH less fuel is used. Everyone wins, assuming you can afford the $7-10,000 these gadgets cost.
My company has already had diesel-powered heaters on our trucks for years, so instead of these new auxiliary units they're just buying a chemically powered cooling unit. I imagine they do the job (for up to 10 hours at least, so they say). But my truck is a 2004 and I have over half a million miles on it. They only began putting the external cooling units on trucks last year. So I ain't got one. Suffice to say I am sitting here running the engine solely to make air conditioning despite the fact that there's a big sign that says I cannot. Most of the other trucks here at the Columbus, Ohio Wal-Mart distribution center are also running their motors too. I don't imagine anyone would be so cruel as to tell us not to. Seriously, the whole country is sweltering lately.
This has been perhaps the most interesting week of national and international news in a long time. Not that it's been good news or anything. But compelling. I have been listening to CNN pretty much all day long since Monday. I love satellite radio.
Still 3-4 weeks away from getting my folding bicycle. It's a tough wait. I'm feeling anxious.
One of my sisters (Becky) is coming with on my Disney vacation. My mother also. It'll be kind of cool having a family trip without any of the younglings. I've splurged for the super deluxx package where I get picked up from the airport and brought right to my hotel room (the Polynesian right on Disney property). No need to rent a car. Just step outside the hotel room and right onto the monorail. Plus I got the food package. Awesome. That'll be during the last week in September. I just hope a hurricane doesn't fuck things up.
Last but not least: everyone should stop buying Chinese products. I've been an advocate of this for YEARS, much to the exhaustion of my family (to whom I preach is far too often). It's getting a lot of media attention lately, but it is certainly nothing new to me. Granted, I'm somewhat of a hypocrite because sometimes you simply can't avoid it. My relatively new HDTV is Chinese made. I really would have preferred something made here but... that just wasn't realistic. But I --DO-- go out of my way to avoid Chinese made products whenever possible. It has nothing to do with safety. I do it because the United States is traveling down a dangerous road. We're going to be economically buried if we aren't careful. Spend a bit more and buy American made products when possible. Your fellow citizens jobs depend on it. (And possibly your own health and safety).
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
I've noticed the same thing about the expand blog with comments key. If you hit little black text next to the date of the blog, indicating number of comments, that expands it out to see it. It's pretty stupid that you have to do that to begin with. I liked it better when you just clicked on someone's profile and got their whole blog.