The Who Shoulda Stayed at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum - Super Bowl 44

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Last night my dear friend, Donna Butland, posted this on Facebook :

I think they should have kept the Who at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum where they belong...no offense but it was bad lol!

Then I said:

As bad as The Who was, it must'ave been just what New Orleans needed to hear ....

Geaux Saints

IN OTHER NEWS - Also from Donna's Facebook (photos), on Febuary 6, 2010:

Well, it is still snowing..just creepy.. we had a lot of downed branches but we still have electricity but, Yikes the satellite when down...there are so many branches down behind our house too...hope none of these tree topple!

Donna lives in the Washington DC area, as do other dear friends, Shirley Ellis and Tom Vatter. The following are from their Facebook (photos) on Febuary 6, 2010:

We had a very wet snow of almost 30 inches and many many trees have fallen.... It sounds like the fourth of July here with all the tree limbs breaking.

One of my other very dear friends, Carol Johnson, lives in NW TX. They've had their share of snow this winter, especially last week, but nothing like what the DC area has seen. And there's more on the way, according to the news.

I'm sure now that God has a hand in my being laid off through one of the worst winters the East Coast (east of the Mississippi river) has ever seen. There've been many tractor-trailer accidents, and some of those involved fatalities:

...was driving a Dodge Caravan in the northbound lanes of I-81 at mile marker 58 in Wythe County, Va., at about 12:40 a.m., when he stopped to provide assistance to another vehicle that had spun out of control and stopped in the left lane of the northbound lanes. ...A tractor-trailer traveling North attempted to avoid the disabled vehicle, jackknifed and struck Smith and the Caravan. Smith as well as his father, William Edward Smith Sr., 54, of Sylva, N.C., who was in the vehicle at the time of the accident, were both pronounced dead at the scene of the accident." (Source)

It could just as easily have been me driving the big truck.

Facebook's New Homepage

This post is just for reference - so I could show one of my Facebook Friends what the new homepage looks like. Click on the picture for a larger view.

And while you're here, please click the ad link that interests you the most. This blogging service, the one I do my blog on, is a free Google service. AdSense, the Google Ads that appear on my blog, is also a free service; it allows people/companies/etc. to advertise on my blog, and I get to collect a tiny little fee for the space - for legitimate clicks, that it. As of now I'm up to $7.94. When I get up to $100.00, Google will mail me a check. (I actually got a check from Google once.)

I have to thanks all my wonderful Facebook friends for checking out my blog and looking at the ads It's because of them that my little Adsense account has come from $3.79 on September 24, 2009 to $7.94 today It doesn't sound like much until you start thinking in terms of FRACTIONS of a penny per click.

Finally, if you want to see the "home page" for this blog, you can click on it's title at the top.

There Is No POTUS Without TOTUS

And sometimes even that doesn't work:



TOTUS = Teleprompter of the United States (coined by Rush Limbaugh).

It'd be a joke if it weren't so serious. Michelle Obama said she was never proud of her country until now; and I say this is the first time I've ever been ashamed of it. Can't you just see the rest of the world laughing?

Our Commander-In-Chief for God's sake!

One of the comments at YouTube reads,

"Shouldn't the so-called Commander In Chief at the very least know the correct pronunciation of "corpsman?" This is emblematic of Obama's total disconnect with anything military, and the American people, too...."

And this:


There Is No POTUS Without TOTUS


The United States Of America, as we know it, is dying a slow and torturous death. God's will or Muslim terrorism?

Crap Cleaners And Other Tweaks For My Vista Laptop

I've been fooling around with computers (off and on) for the last 19 or 20 years. I remember buying one of these, a TRS-80, from a Radio Shack in Wichita Falls TX back in the early '80s:



There were no such things (as we know them today) as Microsoft, "Windows", or the Internet. What you could do however, was write your own programs using what Wikipedia calls a "...family of high-level programming languages" called BASIC (Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code). BASIC kind of reminded me of algebra, and was absolutely fascinating to me. The following is an example of what BASIC itself looked like, and how you used it on the TRS-80:



This is what the display looked like (not using the program above):



My TRS-80 came with a manual of BASIC syntax and language, and I studied it front to back. It was so much fun - and it was uncomplicated.

Anyway .... Because there was no Internet back then, your "microcomputer" couldn't communicate with the rest of the world ; BUT, nobody had to deal with "Cookies"; Malware; Spyware; Viruses; or any of the useless crap that's silently planted on your computer every time you download something - like Windows Update, for example.

Windows Update thinks my computer needs the Microsoft .NET Framework, and if I had the updater set to "Automatic", the updater would bog my little laptop down with it. From what I can gather, the .NET Framework is geared for Developers, and there are very few instances where I would need it. Automatic updates slow my computer waaay down too, so I just turned it off completely. I'll look for the updates when I'm good and ready, and I'll decide what I need.

I kept searching the Internet for other ways to make my computer run faster, and stumbled onto a wonderful thread from NotebookReview.com entitled NBR Member Vista Tips and Tweaks Guide. If you have the Vista OS you should take a peek at this thread - if you're interested in improving your computer's performance. It was last edited on 09-03-2008, but so much of it is still relevant.

Specifically, it recommended two simple (and FREE!) programs to download that will give your computer a good bath on the inside:





Both of these programs let you see what's really in there rather than simply telling you the task is done. (I never trusted "Internet Options" - especially not in IE8)

Another little tidbit from the thread: Did you know "...by default, there is a 20 second delay in shutdown of Vista, a process that vista has set in order to allow software to shutdown correctly. You can adjust this to a much shorter time, thus significantly reducing the total time it takes to shutdown your computer...."

I found Defraggler on my own. PC World says:

"Piriform Defraggler will remove those pesky, tailed, Muppets from the your hard drive once and for...oh wait. Well, it won't do that, but it will defragment your hard drive, and it offers some features that the free defragmentation utility including in Windows does not.

First off, it's faster and prettier. The latter is important since, with large hard drives, you'll be staring at it--or any defragmentation tool--a while. Second, it has a number of nice features which can make disk maintenance...well, not fun, but easier and more focused.

For example, Defraggler will show you all your fragmented files. You can click one to see where on the disk its various pieces lie, or defragment just that one. This can be useful when dealing with very large, performance critical files such as databases.

Piriform Defraggler shows your disk layout in the traditional "large mosaic of colored squares" fashion, and the colors leap and bounce around as various sectors are read from or written to. This offers no improvement in functionality over Windows line graph style, but I find it more interesting to watch. Aesthetics matter.

Piriform Defraggler is free, fast, marginally more interesting to watch than the default, and has useful additional features. What's not to like?"

Would you believe I embarked on this endeavor so I could play Farmville (Facebook) faster?

Necessity is the mother of all invention

Vernon Is Really "Spikey" - The Dog Rescued By The LAFD

Remember Vernon, the 6-year-old German Shepherd mix rescued by Los Angeles firefighters on January 22nd? (See Shepard Smith And The Outstanding Rescue Of "Vernon" )





Turns out, Vernon's name is really Spikey, and he's owned by an elderly woman who lives in Maywood. According to the family friend who went to claim him Tuesday, the dog's owner speaks only Spanish and, since the rescue didn't receive as much attention on Spanish-language TV, she wasn't aware that her dog had become a media sensation until a friend alerted her several days later. (Source)

Medina's son, Ramon Medina, said the family figures the dogs got out when some of the grandkids left the backyard gate open. "Once they were loose, they were probably scared and running all over the place because the rain had been so heavy," Ramon Medina said. The dogs had never been out of the yard before, he said, and his mom has had them since they were puppies. (Source)

More Buddy Fence

Last March, I began building a small chainlink fence for Buddy because "...I'm gonna have to ride a bus down to Dothan, and I won't be able to take Buddy with me ... so Buddy will be in the not so capable hands of Mother." (Source) (The next day my chest started hurting, and voila! I'm suddenly a heart patient. But that's a different story.)

I tried to build the chainlink by the directions because I didn't know any better. And now the finished enclosure only measures 21' x 21'; wound up costing well over $700.00; required more little parts than a clock; and was one of the biggest hassles I've ever taken on. One of the reasons it took several days to finish is because I used a posthole digger and cemented the posts in the ground - just like the directions (Lowe's website) said to. Little did I know....

The thing in this picture is nothing more than a very heavy pipe, capped off at one end, with handles welded onto it.



You slip the pipe over a fence post and bang the post into the ground. The simplicity of the thing drastically understates the power it delivers. It's like having your own personal jackhammer, or backhoe even! I can't believe how easy it makes this job:



As much as I love her (or maybe because I love her so much) I've decided I can't take Buddy on the road with me. I just don't have the time or space on the road. So I'm building a bigger fence for her at the house. This fence will cost less than half the chainlink job; be more than twice as big; take less than 2 days to finish; and goes up with very little physical effort compared to the chainlink. I'm so proud!

In other news: I filed my income tax return for 2009 on 01/21/10, which translates into a $1,384 refund by 02/05/10. I'm gonna need it because it's a new calendar year for my BCBS insurance - meaning I have a $500 deductible to meet before I can get any money back on my prescription medicine. Won't take long to spend $500 on prescriptions....

I filed a weekly claim for my 4th week of unemployment yesterday (although I've been unemployed for almost 4 months now.) Whatagreatguy didn't touch base with me last Friday, like he said in the email, but this doesn't suprise or upset me. I know there's at least one other AMX driver (a Facebook friend) drawing unemployment, so there could be several others waiting to be called back. Some of those people could have families to support, and they'll need to go back to work before I do. But I hope it's not too much longer. I miss my job and my wonderful benefits. I miss the road. I miss AMX in general.

Shepard Smith And The Outstanding Rescue Of "Vernon"

To see just how beautiful and gentle Vernon (the 6-year-old German shepherd mix rescued by Los Angeles firefighters yesterday) really is, you need to watch this video and this video. The latter also shows the firefighter, Joe St. Georges, in a much more candid environment, saying he lost his thumbnail. (Sadly, I couldn't find a way to embed the video.)

Shep Smith is my all time favorite news anchor and reporter. I love the way he does this dog rescue:



Did y'all know that Shep is from Holly Springs, Mississippi, southeast of Memphis and just off the heavily travelled 78 highway? Being from the South myself, this makes me kinda proud....

In the video below somebody other than Shep interviews firefighter Joe St. Georges and helicopter pilot Scott Bowman about the rescue:

"I knew the dog was scared and tired. It's not too surprising that it was really upset with this big, loud noisy thing blowing all over it," St. Georges, 50, said. "And then some guy comes and jumps on its back — what a surprise the dog bit me."

The dog, nicknamed Vernon after the Southern California town where he was found, is in good health and is being quarantined while animal experts monitor him for rabies. Vernon "appears to be well-maintained and cared for," said Sgt. Charles Miller of the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority in Downey, Calif." (Source)

St. Georges shrugged off his injury, which he described as a single bite on the thumb. The firefighter said it was more “prudent” for him to do the rescue than to risk having a civilian jump in after the dog. “I’m not sure there was a whole lot that could’ve been done differently,” St. Georges told reporters. “Somebody was going to go do it, and then we’d have to rescue a human victim.”

The dog was taken by [human] ambulance to a Downey shelter run by the Southeast Area Animal Control Authority, which serves 14 cities, including Vernon. (Source)

Scott Brown Wins Massachusetts!

The Republican, Scott Brown, did win the special election in Massachusetts to fill the Senate seat of the late Edward M. Kennedy. This is what I stated in my Facebook status that night: (Tue at 9:02pm) "WooHoo!! WooHoo!! If I had some fireworks I'd go outside and light up the sky. Yea Massachusetts!!!!!!!!"

"Coming on the eve of the first anniversary of Obama's historic inauguration, the stunning upset eliminated the Democrats' filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and created an immediate roadblock to approving the health-care plan and other Obama priorities. ... The symbolism of the rejection was difficult to overstate: Kennedy, who held his Senate seat for nearly 47 years, served as a political mentor to Obama and was the patriarch of the Kennedy family's political dynasty. Even before the polls closed at 8 p.m., Obama's top advisers engaged in a public blame game with the campaign of state Attorney General Martha Coakley, the Democratic candidate, over who is responsible for the crippling setback to the party. (Source)

Tons of stuff has been written and reported about the meaning in Brown's victory. You know what it says to me? It sends a message from the whole country "We don't want Obamacare - and we want all the corruption in this slimy administration to stop." I could go on and on....

Again, lots of other little stuff I could talk about, but I've been researching the Brown win for a couple of hours already. I'm tired of writing.

Work News And Other Stuff

It seems like ages since I made a post here. I've been doing so much farming on Facebook's Farmville - it literally takes hours to visit all my neighbors, fertilize their crops, feed their chickens, give gifts, etc. But I love the game, and it keeps me entertained in the absence of a TV in my room.

Here is the latest email between Whatagreatguy and myself - the most encouraging news I've heard yet:



I'm really ready to get back to work. Every time I cross over I459 and see all the trucks on the road, something tugs at my heartstrings. As lonely, tedious, exhausting, etc., as the job can be, I want to be out there with them. So hopefully it won't be much longer....

I can't talk too much about politics or I get nauseated. Seriously. But the election to fill the seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy for nearly half a century in Massachusetts is today. And it looks like a Republican, Scott Brown, might actually win. If he does, it will break the Democratic majority in the Senate, and Obamacare can be filibustered to death - and hopefully all the other corruption in this slimy administration will begin to subside. The Nebraska deal. The Lousyanna deal. Bribes and outright theft in the millions of dollars. I just can't think about it for very long.

Lots of other little insignificant things I could mention, but I've got to get back to my farm....

The Clinton Obama Antithesis

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the stimulus package or stimulus bill, was signed into law by President Barack Obama on February 17, 2009 in Denver CO. According to Wikipedia, the full title of the ARRA is

An act making supplemental appropriations for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes.

Notice is says "Job preservation and creation".

On February 22nd, 2009, Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton, during an interview in China, said,

"...It would not be in China's interest if we were unable to get our economy moving....the Chinese know that to start exporting again to their biggest market, namely the United States... [She was reassuring] Beijing that its massive holdings of U.S. Treasury notes and other government debt will remain a solid investment...." (Source)

Is it just me, or is this a direct contradiction to the purpose of the stimulus bill? Just five days after Obama commits us to a $787 billion debt to, in part, create and preserve jobs, Hillary's over in China urging them to keep lending (let's call it what it really is) us all this money so we can ... buy more Chinese products? Who's economy is really being stimulated here? It's ludicrous to me.

The Haiti Earthquake 2010

My unemployment compensation kicked in yesterday
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(From USATODAY.com)"A huge earthquake rocked the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010. Thousands are feared dead.

The greatest death toll from an earthquake in the last century came on July 27, 1976, in Tangshan, China. The official casualty figure is 255,000.

The Dec. 26, 2004 earthquake and subsequent tsunami off the coast of Sumatra killed 227,898 in 14 countries in South Asia.

[The death toll in Haiti could reach 500,000 and higher.]

(Map shows those quakes that have resulted in a loss of more than 1,000 lives and Earth's tectonic plates.)....

.... Since just 2004, Haiti has faced floods, food riots, mudslides, at least five hurricanes and a rebellion that left it briefly without a functioning government, forcing United Nations peacekeeper to take charge. The succession of calamities — made worse by decades of dictatorship and political mismanagement — has led to a country where most people survive on $2 or less a day. Even before the earthquake, Haiti relied on foreign aid for most of its food."

I've Been Immobilized By .... Stuff And Things

Ever been so worried, depressed, or anxious that you couldn't do anything at all? That's the way I've been for the last several days. Oh, I've been physically sick too.... I've had a stomach ache ever since Mother and I got into a screaming match about what I posted/deleted on Another Dog Attack In My Neighborhood.

It wasn't enough that I deleted it; she had to come into my room and give me a loud lecture, and when I yelled for her to get out of my room and leave me alone, I think I strained something. Mother's got a pretty loud scream herself, and it takes a lot of breath to out-scream her. A bad headache ensued, along with sinus problems and hoarseness. I've generally felt like doo-doo the last few days. I still do.

But there are so many other things that are bothering me mentally. My job (what job?). Stuff that needs to be done around the house. The political situation in this country. Obamacare. And on and on. I'm hoping to have the mental energy to make separate posts about all this stuff.

Petition To Let The Cameras In

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I first read about this in the ad section of Facebook. I don't usually take part in petition signing of any sort, but this is something I truly believe in - a petition to allow C-SPAN to televise and film the congressional debate on health care reform. You, and everyone you know, can sign the petition here:

Let The Cameras In

The petition says:
"President Obama and Congressional Democrats are ramming health care reform through Congress. In March 2008, President Obama promised the health care debate would be open and transparent saying: "I am going to do it all on C-SPAN so that the American People will know what's going on." (Town hall meeting, Lancaster, PA, 3/31/08)

Now the Democrats are holding secret meetings to negotiate the health care reform bill - and keeping the cameras out. Sign the petition today and demand transparency and an end to the secret meetings and back room deals. Let the cameras in! "



(I was the 622nd person to sign this petition Now it's up to 22,640 and counting. And, according to an article from CBS News, "All 40 Republican members of the Senate sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday asking him to hold health care negotiations in "the light of day.")

The petition is sponsored by American Future Fund, where you can also read this article:
Stimulus Funds Went to Nonexistent Zip Code Areas - First it was phantom Congressional districts. Now it’s phantom zip codes.

The petition "To Let The Cameras In" has a fan page on Facebook and Twitter.

Brian Lamb's (CEO of C-SPAN) original letter to Nancy Pelosi, et. al., can be seen HERE.

And I had to add this video by Ray Stevens:



You tell 'em Ray - "Hey Congress - You vote ObamaCare, we'll vote you outta there!"

In other news:

I got a $30.00 rebate check from Remington yesterday for buying our shotgun

There are still no trucks availble at AMX

I got a letter from the Unemployment Office saying how much I can draw IF my claim is approved. I still haven't received word on the approval, but I am to allow 3 weeks....

Another Dog Attack In My Neighborhood

Four dogs jumped on my neighbor's Boxer with the intent to kill. The Boxer was inside his fence in his own territory. Luckily my neighbor was home and was able to stop the fight. For now I'm just posting the pictures, but I'll have more to say later on. This happened 3 or 4 hours ago:


(Ear)


(Front shoulder side)


(Back, between shoulders)


(Back, hind end)



THE REST OF THIS WAS DELETED ON ACCOUNT OF MY MOTHER STARTED YIPPING AT ME LIKE A LITTLE CHIHUAHUA WITH SHARP TEETH NIPPING AT MY HEELS. IT'S JUST EASIER TO SAY "OK MOTHER" THAN TO ARGUE WITH HER ABOUT IT.

Understanding Unemployment Compensation In Alabama

This is an effort to understand how Unemployment Compensation works in my state. I filed for UC online, just after Whatagreatguy said I could collect it last Monday. Once I finished the claim, I elected to read the HANDBOOK FOR ALABAMA UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION CLAIMANTS online instead of having one mailed to me. The information for this post is from that handbook.

Unemployment compensation is taxable income, and as such, you can elect to have 10% withheld for FEDERAL income taxes. I elected to have it withheld.

I will receive a Statement of Benefits, Form 1099-G, to file with my income taxes no later than January 31st, 2011 for the tax year 2010. (Seems funny to be talking about it now, since I haven't even filed for 2009 yet....)

The Unemployment Compensation program is financed by employer taxes - employees don't pay anything into it. Unemployment tax is paid by employers on the first $8,000.00 of their workers’ gross earnings during a tax year. These are called insured wages. The employer pays this tax to the State on a quarterly basis and it goes into the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund. However, some employers elect to reimburse the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund the amount of benefits paid to their workers on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

You must have earned enough wages to collect unemployment benefits, and your employer must agree that you can have it. The employer part is easy - if you quit or are fired from your job you can't collect; however, if you are laid off for any reason, such as lack of work, you can collect. In my case, the multiple choice answer that fit the best was that my position was eliminated.

When Dr. Flagman wouldn't renew my medical certification, Whatagreatguy had to let me go and my particular position within the company was eliminated. My truck was given to another driver; therefore, my particular position isn't available now. Because there aren't any trucks available now, there are no positions I can fill within the company. My position has been eliminated, right? Because I wasn't fired, and in my eyes, I didn't quit.

To determine if you have been working long enough and have earned enough money: You must have wages in at least two quarters of your qualifying period (base period). The base period is the first four quarters (12 months) of the last five completed quarters from the date your claim is filed. For example, if your claim was filed effective October 5, 2002 your base period would the 12 month period beginning July 1, 2001 and ending June 30, 2002.

My claim was filed December 28, 2009. That's the end of the 4th quarter in 2009.
1. 4th Qtr: October 1 - December 31 (2008 - I had wages in this quarter)
2. 1st Qtr: January 1 - March 31 (2009 - I had wages in this quarter)
3. 2nd Qtr: April 1 - June 30 (2009 - I had wages in this quarter)
4. 3rd Qtr: July 1 - September 30 (2009 - I had wages in this quarter)
END BASE PERIOD______________
5. 4th Qtr: October 1 - December 31 (2009)

The total of your base period earnings must equal or exceed one and one-half times your highest quarter earnings. The average of your two highest quarters must equal or exceed $1157.01. (Not going to attempt this now, as the thoughts of it make my hair hurt.)

Matter of fact, I'll finish this post later.

Updated 01/04/10 11:00AM
"To be eligible for payment, you must file claim certifications each week as instructed, even if the determination has not yet been made on your claim." I can do this online - it must be done by 5PM Friday during the following week; for instance, I just filed for the week ending 01/02/10, last Saturday.

I am to look for another job too.

Frost Stalagmites And Unemployment Eligibility

We had a very heavy frost last night. When I walked Buddy early this morning I saw this:







EF Hutton gives each of his two shop cats a can of tuna every other day. Buddy's big thrill when visiting the shop is searching for the empty tuna cans - she totes them outside and licks them clean. I pick them up and set them on a 55gal drum outside the shop, where they collect rain water. I saw these formations 2 mornings ago - one was about 3" tall! - but was too lazy to get the camera. This morning it occurred to me that I could bring the can to the house Very interesting stuff.

And Whatagreatguy told me yesterday I could draw unemployment compensation:



This is good news, but it's sad too - because I don't want to work for anybody else. I hope it isn't too much longer before I can get a foot back into AMX's door. I know there's nothing Whatagreatguy can do - he can't materialize a truck out of thin air....

Arrow Drivers (And Customers) Wake to Nightmare Before Christmas

___________(For the record - Arrow drivers were treated like stray dogs on December 22, 2009)

From Tulsa's NewsOn6.com


And there's this from ABC News (By LAURENT BELSIE Dec. 25, 2009):

"Layoffs are a fact of life in this economy, but there are humane ways to do it. Then there's the Arrow Trucking method. The Tulsa, Okla., trucking company stopped payment on the gas cards of its drivers, leaving some of them stranded Tuesday around the United States, miles from home. No explanation on the website. No one at the company answering phones.

The 200 or so employees at Arrow Trucking's headquarters were told to pack up their belongings and go home Tuesday morning, according to the Tulsa World.

The only acknowledgement was a brief recorded message on the company's main phone number, asking drivers of its Freightliner and Kenworth trucks to turn their rigs in to the nearest dealer and to call a special hotline to arrange for a bus ticket home. Drivers of the company's Navistar trucks were told to call back for more information.

"I wouldn't say it's typical, but I wouldn't say it's unheard of" for a trucking company to lay off workers in such a fashion, says Alan Bristol, a truck driver in Fort Collins, Colo., who was laid off earlier this year.

The difference is that more than 95 percent of such failures involve companies with fewer than 20 trucks. The apparent failure of Arrow Trucking, with some 1,400 flatbed trucks and 2,600 trailers operating throughout the US, created much bigger ripples throughout the industry. "A company this size would normally go into this bankruptcy in a little bit more orderly manner," Mr. Bristol says.

Information about the company's fate remains scarce. In February, the company laid off 32 administrative workers, about 2 percent of its workforce, citing a soft economy. ..."

Video that goes with this article is HERE. The video says that Arrows customers were picking up their own freight at the Dallas terminal. (Sorry for the annoying commercial at the beginning).
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More about Arrow's customers comes from another NewsOn6.com article:

"TULSA, OK -- A long time Tulsa company may be facing the end of the road.

Arrow Trucking's indefinite suspension left more than a thousand people out of work, some drivers are still stranded across the country and customers have orders that were never delivered.

What's left of Arrow trucking sits idle, while a deserted flatbed stands guard but Dan Murphy says he has unfinished business to settle.

"It's their business they want everybody out, but we have stuff in there that we need," Murphy said.

Dan Murphy works for International Truck, he says Arrow was supposed to deliver chassis used for school buses but the shipment never arrived. Without it, Dan's says they are left to scramble and may be out of almost a million dollars.

But he is not the only one waiting; hours later others came to collect.

The flatbed made way for truckers hired to remove trailers as collateral and wreckers also hauled off other seized property.

Signs of turbulent times, customers like Dan and others in the trucking industry say they never saw it coming. ..."
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I borrowed the title for this post from OOIDA's (separate links here) Landlinemag.com, which is also the source for the following:

"December 22, 2009 BREAKING NEWS: Arrow drivers wake to nightmare before ChristmasTuesday, Dec. 22, 2009 – On Tuesday, as many as 1,400 truck drivers for Arrow Trucking Co., based out of Tulsa, OK, have been frantically trying to figure out their next moves as the company unexpectedly announced it was “suspending all operations” that day.

Truckers started calling in to the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and Land Line after they were awakened with phone calls from their dispatchers alerting them to the grim news that the company was shutting its doors and that their instructions were to turn in their trucks to the nearest Freightliner dealership. However, no instructions were given for drivers of International trucks.

One OOIDA member told Land Line on Tuesday, Dec. 22, that he had a bad feeling this was coming down the pike when his fuel card didn’t work at a truck stop the previous night. As of press time, the company driver, who didn’t want to be named, was stranded at a Freightliner dealership in Roanoke, VA, because he didn’t have enough fuel to make it to his delivery in Maryland.

“The dealership has been really good to me and said I could stay in the truck tonight since the bus headed home has already left for the day,” he said.

He said he had tried to call his customers to alert them to the situation. He said Freightliner staff also volunteered to make phone calls on his behalf regarding his load of vinyl fencing.

OOIDA Member Tim Tucker of Cedartown, GA, was in Los Angeles, CA, when a fellow driver called him with the news. He said he was “still in shock” because he had only been with the company for three weeks and had yet to receive a paycheck from Arrow. All he had received so far was approximately $40 in orientation pay, which he used to buy groceries.

At press time, Tucker was on Interstate 10 headed to Phoenix, where he has been instructed to turn in his truck and trailer.

“I really don’t know what to do or what to think right now,” he said. “Unfortunately, I only have a few hotdogs and a couple cans of soup left to get me back home to Georgia.”

Stephanie Ortega, who works in the Fleet Services department at Daimler, said she found out when she arrived at work Tuesday morning that Arrow Trucking was shutting its doors and about the company’s plan to help get Arrow’s drivers home.

She was instructed to tell drivers to drop their vehicles off at the nearest Freightliner dealership and to leave their keys with an attendant there or at a truck stop if they are out of fuel.

Ortega said drivers are asked to then call Daimler at 877-294-9679 and she and others there “can get them a bus ticket through Greyhound or the company will reimburse up to $200 for alternative transportation costs.”

However, one drawback to the plan is that drivers are on their own to find transportation to a local Greyhound station once they have surrendered their trucks.

“If they can get themselves to a local Greyhound station, we will get them a bus ticket and get them home,” Ortega told Land Line.

Bonnie Bastian, media relations manager for Greyhound Lines Inc., said she was made aware of the circumstances surrounding Arrow drivers around 3 p.m. today. She said while Greyhound’s commercial sales department is going to be “fulfilling orders,” Daimler personnel will be handling the ticket arrangements to get the drivers to their destinations.

For Tucker, he said as of yesterday his dispatcher was still trying to get him a load going home so he could be with his family for Christmas. He said he was surprised when he heard the news because Arrow Trucking was still hiring drivers, including him, in early December, so he assumed they were doing OK financially.

“I am still in total shock. I just don’t know what to do,” he said."

An Unexpected Wonderful Christmas

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Merry Christmas Everyone!



This has been one of the best Christmases I've had in a long time It's been quiet and peaceful, and there's a special aura around here that I haven't felt in years.

As silly as it sounds, it probably started for me yesterday morning when we were finally able to open the gifts in our trees at Farmville:



Without going too deep into the game, this is how Farmville neighbors exchanged gifts:



We've been collecting them for weeks now, and couldn't open them until yesterday morning. I didn't expect it to be as much fun as it's been! Christmas in cyberspace

I've already mentioned that all my Facebook friends have been exchanging virtual Christmas cards and gifts, which has helped build some Christmas spirit in real life. But I feel a real closeness to some of friends now too, which has helped even more.

Then yesterday I took a break from opening gifts to post some Christmas music to Facebook, and I came across this video:



This cinched the Christmas spirit for me. And Until yesterday I didn't know if this was something David Bowie had created, or if he really did this duet with Bing Crosby. I Googled it, and found a very interesting story about how and why this music was written.

The sky was cloudy and overcast all day yesterday - the kind of weather I adore. Had it been bright and sunny, I wouldn't have felt as good as I did/do. (Sunshine depresses me, but I don't know why.) When I walked Buddy in the pasture yesterday, I stood at the top of a hill where the wind hit me full force. It felt so good, and the clouds were so close.... I tried to feel the kind of anticipation that people must have felt 2013 years ago when they were waiting and watching for their Savior to be born. For a couple of minutes everything felt magic to me.... (Yeah, I know it's deep.)

Then last night Mother and Disabro cooked. Not really a "Christmas Dinner", but just stuff to have here. It turned out wonderful! It was just the three of us - glad to have each other, and thankful we are so fortunate.... I guess it's kind of hard to put it in words....

Anyway. I've been working on this post so long...I'm tired of writing. Maybe I've conveyed what I'm trying to say.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

The United States Of America Is Dying

The United States Of America, as we know it, is dying a slow and morally torturous death. I suppose it's been happening on a small scale for quite some time now. Little things like gay marriage rights, etc., happening here and there across the country are nothing new. But with the deals made in the Senate's version of the healthcare bill yesterday, it became even more obvious to me that Barack Obama and his followers are hellbent on destroying the USA.

His comments were "Today is a major step forward for the American people. After a nearly century-long struggle, we are on the cusp of making healthcare reform a reality." (Source)

What he's "on the cusp of" is a strain of human killing measures included in the parts of the healthcare reform legislation that we've been made aware of.

I say "we" because there's no telling what else is included in the House and Senate versions of the bill. There's no telling what will be included in the legislation that could become law. Obama himself hasn't fully read either version, from what I understand. And I don't think he really cares - because as long as it tears down everything it meant to be a citizen of this country, he's all for it. He intends to turn all of us (people who will work for their living) into slaves rather than citizens.

It's no different now than it was in the days of the Old South, except now the Chinese are the slave owners and all the Americans who aren't on welfare are it's slaves. Our great, great, great grandchildren will still be working to pay off all this horrific debt. In fact, somewhere on the internet you can find the statistics that say something to the effect of: even if every American worked around the clock for 500 years we could not pay for all this spending...." Or something like that.

The $871-billion healthcare measure, which is supposed to insure an additional 31 million people by 2019, will be funded by China - because they will buy the treasury notes that will be sold to fund Obama's overwhelming domestic debt for this crap - all of his crap. (See this, where Hillary says, "It would not be in China's interest if we were unable to get our economy moving.... So by continuing to support American Treasury instruments, the Chinese are recognizing our interconnection. We are truly going to rise or fall together. We are in the same boat and, thankfully, we are rowing in the same direction.)

Back to the killing measures. I can best explain what I mean by recounting the comments on a 'status update' of one of dear Facebook friends. Her original post was:

"I am so sick of this healthcare & drug coverage BS in Congress ...Obama doesn't care either...if we can afford to fund 2 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan...there should be no reason why every American cannot get healthcare...drugs & live comfortably & work. I am conservative in every way...But our country is starting to sound hopeless and that is not we are about..May God Bless the USA...cause no one in power cares."

Among the responses was this:

This new healthcare is going to place Hospitals out of business due to limitation on what you can have done...such as mammograms...

Which prompted me to say

Hundreds of women will die because they won't be allowed to have yearly mammograms until they're 50 instead of 40 (as the American Cancer Society recommends). Breast cancer is the 2nd biggest cancer killer in the US for women. I guess it'll be necessary to sacrifice a few to fund mammograms for all those 50 year old women. I agree that health care needs reforming, but not like this....

And this morning I went on to say:

I just read [this] that abortions will be covered by the government-ran insurance plan. Innocent women will die because they can't get their preventative mammograms, yet every low-life promiscuous woman will be able to get an abortion - as long as they pay a little extra to help fund other abortions.

Thank God I'm in this world but not of it. I believe the beginning of the end is happening. Seriously.

Do you see it? The government will kill many women under 50 and kill many unborn babies.

GOD HELP US! It's too scary and depressing for me to think about for long periods of time; and when I walked Buddy this morning, I tried to look into God's eyes and said, "I don't deserve it, but please save me and my family...."

Wintry Weather On The East Coast

(from The Weather Channel)

As another gust of cold, damp wind blusters in through the window a/c unit in my bedroom, I'm glad I'm not travelling up the east coast today.