Wanna pizza?

Well, you better damn well make it yourself. The Mrs. is out of town with her girlfriends. I just came in off the road. I'm hungry and see a Domino's ad on the tele. Just so happens we got a bunch of coupons in the mail. So being the high tech guy I am, I went to the Domino's web site to place an order. As Tony Soprano would say, fagetaboutit! Too much info to enter, the code for the pie I wanted wasn't valid, even though, as I just said, we just got it in the mail and it's good for another month. And, the price was $5 more than my wife paid (for the same thing) just a few days ago. I couldn't even e-mail a complaint because their web site is screwed up. I called the local store, but was on hold for too long. What a pain! So I did what every other retarded husband does. I called my wife in Alabama and she placed the order for me. Her friends thought that was hilarious. And he drives a truck? How does he get from one place to another? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fagetaboutit! After the delivery, I saw that we had a few frozen pies ready for the microwave. Go figure.

A word about Wal-Mart...

In the next week, I will "have to" spend upwards of $150 at Wal-Mart, maybe more. I have tried switching to Target, but there's something about "them" that I don't like. I can be a picky SOB, and so, when I walk around their stores all the "teenagers" that work there have their walkie-talkies blaring instructions from their supervisors on where to go and what to do. It gives me a headache. I have complained. I told them to wear ear pieces and not bother the customers. They have chosen not to listen. And so they lose my $5000+ a year that I typically spend on restocking items for the truck. I tried K-Mart or Sears/KMart or whatever they call themselves these days. Their stores are pathetic. Not only are there no customers inside, there is little or no merchandise. As far as I'm concerned, they are already out of business. I have tried to "spread" our hard-earned dollars around to HEB, Publix, Walgreen's, CVS and Lowe's, but that's a lot of driving, walking and dealing with too many people and systems. So, as they say, all factors point toward Wal-Mart. But that really bothers me. This Sunday morning while eating my bowl of Sam's Choice extra raisin bran cereal, I noticed on the side of the box: "Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, listened to his customers, understood their needs, and found ways to offer quality products to them at everyday lower prices." But does that mean having over 20,000 suppliers in China? I guess I'm really all for a global economy, but I don't know if I can accept everything I buy being from China or Mexico. Perhaps it's too late. No one ever asked me in the first place. It kinda just happened. But paying anyone - Chinese, Mexican or American $ .25 a day (week?) to work in shitty conditions without any health insurance while polluting the planet is wrong. And I think Wal-Mart knows that. What to do about it is another matter. I don't know the answer. But for now, it's back to Wal-Mart whether I like it or not.

Important update to our piece on depression..

Was up until about 3:45am last night. I was watching an old movie about 3 soldiers returning home after World War II. I don't know why but my eyes opened about 9:30am and I just decided to get out of the bunk and clean. The last week was extremely busy and I was in "throw" mode. The night before I had to really crunch the gears to get moving and was existing on T/A triple caffeine coffee, chocolate mini-donuts and blasting a "live" Charlie Daniels CD. I'm a very organized person, but the inside of the truck looked like a "typical" teenagers room. I should be on the way back to Florida for the holiday, but instead got stuck here because the lumber company stopped unloading (85 miles north of here) 3pm on Friday. So rather than clean my garage, I'm here "re" organizing the interior of my truck. I was going to break out the new Pentax, but never got around to it. Since I don't fuel at Petro, I had no shower points, but paid the $15 dollars anyhow. I got back $5 for returning the ancient towels to the old grumpy lady behind the store counter. The water came out of the shower head so hard, it hurt. I tried readjusting it and the head came off. The result was a nice strong stream of water without the sting. So much for today - now I've done this before and I'm doing it again - this is important - please read our 5/28 blog piece on depression. And to update what we said - I'm going to recommend a new book that was reviewed in the June 19th issue of USA Today. It's called "The Seven T's" by the singer/songwriter Judy Collins. It's about depression, suicide and coping. The review by Nanci Hellmich says "In 1992, her (Collins) only child, Clark Taylor, got into his car in his garage, placed a hose from the exhaust through the car window, started the engine, rolled up the windows and died of carbon monoxide poisoning. He was 33 and married with a 4-year old daughter. Before his death, Clark had relapsed into alcohol after seven years of sobriety." It is so important for drivers OTR to understand the signs of depression and how to deal with it. The first and most important step is to get professional help for yourself or someone who you feel might be suffering from depression.

Interesting news items beyond trucking...

We received some criticism when we used the Nazi flag to make a point about Memorial Day. See our 5/28 posting. This blog is not and will never be "politically correct." We tell it like it is. We will have it no other way. The photo on the left is of an Iranian cop (goon) forcing a man to put his mouth on a device that is used to clean one's rear end. His clothes were criticised as being "unIslamic." The photo, taken by Ebrahim Norovzi of the Fars New Agency, is from a story in today's (The) New York Times. Other items drivers should be aware of:

(1) From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Lawmakers in an urban Georgia county are poised to vote on a plan to bar companies who hire illegal immigrants from county contracts. Under proposed changes in the Gwinnett County purchasing ordinance, contractors would be required to verify the legal status of their employees."

(2) From The New York Times: "Army Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba unflinching honesty showed the United States at its best: following blame wherever it led. He concluded that responsibility for Abu Ghraib extended beyond just a few bad apples on the night shift, as the Pentagon referred to cast it. Taguba was quickly ordered to a desk job - then forced to resign this past January. He confessed to feeling as if he had joined the Army, but wound up in the Mafia."

(3) Katie Zezima of The New York Times: "Boston, June 20 - For several years, the Maine Troop Greeters have welcomes soldiers from every military transport plane that has landed at Bangor Int'l Airport with hugs, handshakes, cookies and homemade cookies. But the visits, and the soldiers bellies, have been a bit emptier since airport officials asked the greeters to stop serving food last month because of concern about liability and food safety."

(4) Michael Fairley, retired captain, US Airways: "In the late 1970's, economist Alfred Kahn, President Carter and Congress decided that the American public deserved better airline service, more competition and lower fares. The result was the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. This was done in spite of the fact that airline service in the USA was by far the best and most efficient in the world. Since - and because of - that legislation, airlines have gone out of out business, tens of thousands of airlines employees have lost their jobs and employee pension retirement dollars have been erased from the books. Meanwhile, airlines executive pay has climbed to obscene levels, accompanied by enormous bonuses for their brilliance in emerging, yet again, from bankruptcy reorganization."

(5) From the Associated Press: " Circuit City , the #2 electronic retailer, posted a $54.6 million first quarter loss. In March, the company announced it would lay off about 3,400 retail employees and replace them with lower-paid workers."

Finally here is our KW T-600 review...

I hate this truck. It is the 2007 T-600. It was not designed by or for a "real" trucker. Your carrier will probably require you to spend at least two weeks living in this "beast" until you are "permitted" to return home and recover. In reality, we have spent upwards of 8-10 weeks in this thing. To be fair, there is one really great thing about this truck - the CAT engine. Ok, so much for the good stuff. The rest is all downhill. This vehicle was designed either by a soccer-mom or MBA or worst, both. If a trucker did provide any input into the design of this truck, he either was ignored or has never driven OTR before. Tomorrow is Saturday morning and we have some down time and a new Pentax camera. We will try and take some shots of the interior and what we have had to do to it to make it more workable and livable. Specifically, the interior of this "ant-eater" is just to damn small. If you're fat, this is not the vehicle for you. If you're fat and have a fat wife or girlfriend, your life will be miserable in this truck. If you're thin with a fat butt, you will have trouble getting past the two front seats into the back. If you just kinda overweight and have a big (fat) dog, both of you are going to be extremely unhappy. If you don't love your passenger to death, plan on plenty of arguments in this truck. The space between you and the other person is closer than two people playing at a poker table. After a few miles, you're going to feel like the person next to you is not next to you, but riding with you in your lap. The front of this truck is like working in a broom closet. The bunk will remind you of sleeping on top of a washer-dryer in a hot garage. I've seen two really fat folks get out of a T-600 with 3 dogs, a cat and three kids and wonder where the hell they all came from. To make life more "reasonable" the time we do spend in this vehicle, we need a cb, a laptop, a compass, a qualcom, a television with both a dvd and vhs tape player, a toaster, a microwave, a coffee maker, laundry basket, clothes for cold, hot, wet and "in-between" weather. We need a refrigerator or cooler, we need water, food, silverware, bowls and coffee cups. We have pillows, several blankets, a heated blanket, an emergency sleeping bag, emergency supplies and a first-aid kit. We have work boots, sneakers, hats, a "safety" hat and a Sirius and XM satellite radio. We have a camera kit. We have a printer and paper. We have a CD player with headphones and two cell phones. We have a scale, a circular saw, 100-ft extension cord, a tool box. We have a GPS unit. There is no provision in this truck for any of what we have just described. We had to trade in our old Galaxy because the moron who designed the CB holder did not make it large enough for the "typical" AM/SSB cb radio. If your microphone cord comes out the side of the radio, sorry, you're out of luck unless you plan to drill a large hole in your new $100K truck. There are four "cigarette" lighter holes to plug in stuff. We had to immediately add a Cobra inverter. We have yet to gain control and organize all the wires and plugs were have going everywhere, to make everything work. The "closet" next to the bunk was designed for "Barbie" and not Bob. If you wear size 00 tops, and "Daisy-Dukes", this closet was made for you. Anything larger than a 9" tv will not fit anywhere. There are four shelves on either of the bed that can hold about 5 cans of spaghetti and some VHS tapes. The storage space under the bed (not available with the double bunk unit) will hold 4 pillows or two small soft sided pieces of luggage. There are two drawers next to the bed - simulating a night stand - that can hold underwear, sox or books and vitamins and aspirin. You will most likely have to put everything you have on the bed during the day and on the floor at night. The curtain is the same one that KW has used for years with the "heavy-duty" zipper that will surely break on you at about 70,000 miles. Moving back up to the "work" area, all the old dials and toggle switches are gone. Even the new "smart" steering wheel is nothing like the big "ole" truck steering wheels that could be easily replaced and customized at your favorite chrome shop or Iowa 80. Forget about opening the windows for fresh air - they're too large and will blow everything out or around. There is a "modern" ac/heating system that is always on - you cannot shut it off unless the truck is shut down. This feature is very annoying. It makes you want to tear the whole thing apart to find the one wire that will make the air not blow. The interior lights are so bright, you will think you're sitting at a night game at Yankee stadium. With the lights on, you will be seen for miles by bears, aircraft flying overhead or the voyeur trucker on the other side of the highway. We have yet not been able to replace these new bright bulbs with anything "softer". The bunk area is lit by a large overhead fluorescent lamp that makes you feel like a dead corpse waiting to autopsied. There are two other yellow spot lamps that generate enough heat to make a onion ring feel right at home. The drivers seat in this truck was replaced by our carrier with a Bostich "more comfortable" (more expensive?) seat. If you regularly read this blog, you know our feelings about this seat. It is terrible. The KW factory installed model would have been far better. After 8 hours driving our asses are literally burning. After 11 hours (with regular breaks) driving, we need to use a cold compress to ease the welts on the back of our legs. Whatever our weight, the seat should have been designed better. But then it matches the complete lack of logical common-sense design that was employed throughout the entire vehicle. As we said earlier - there could not have, at any time, consulted a "real" truck driver. Just look at the dash - it looks like a Jeep Cherokee. The strangest thing is that KW made a little space below the steering column for a small plastic smoked color clipboard with the KW logo on it. What the hell is that all about? Why would anyone take more than a second to think about this? It is a complete waste of time, effort and money. It seems more thought was put into this nonsense than talking to "real" truckers who have to work, live and drive this vehicle in order to make a living. We give this truck a big fat "D" for dumb. We give the Caterpillar folks an "A" for the engine which easily pulls 48,000 lbs. up a hill without much effort or downshifting. KW - what were ya'll thinking?

Drivers asked us to reprint this popular item...

Grain Valley, MO - In a stunning early morning raid, members of PDFC (professional drivers for change) raided and took over the headquarters of OOIDA (owner operator independent drivers association). The OOIDA sign on the outside of the building was taken down and replaced with PDFC neon signs. As morning lite appeared, the PDFC ordered Jim Johnson and Todd Spencer to retire effective immediately. The 22 member board, 99% overweight old white males, were thrown out of office. All (alleged) 153,277 members were notified by e-mail that the old OOIDA is dead. The PDFC will be the new organization. Since OOIDA has done nothing worthwhile to assist drivers since the 1970's, all welcomed the change. The OOIDA has miserably failed to represent professional company drivers since the organization was founded 30 years ago. It allegedly been "in the pockets" of unions, the big 5 trucking companies and the ATA. The organization will now represent all professional drivers both company and owner operators. The PDFC will aggressively pursue the elimination of dual speed limits, moronic trucking laws, outdated weigh stations and black boxes. They will insist on the immediate change of HOS regs and insist on a Federal trucking simplification bill. They will fight to institute waiting time pay, real world miles and minimum pay of $.50 a mile. It is anticipated that membership will shortly triple. Other employees of OOIDA will be allowed to return to work if they promise to get their heads out of their asses. (important notice - this story is fake and unfortunately never happened)

Things to consider at week's end...

(1) The T/A apparently has enough cash to purchase Petro, but cannot seem to find enough money to repair their dreadful truck stops. One of the worst is the T/A off I95 in Greenfield NH. This property is a disgrace. There are dangerous huge potholes everywhere. Getting in and out of the parking spaces is extremely risky, especially in the dark. Leaving is very difficult and a safety hazard. The lazy stupid local cops do nothing to assist big trucks get out. T/A should hire a cop, especially during morning and afternoon rush hour, to avoid an accident. There are too many 4-wheelers going in and out interfering with everything. T/A has invested nothing in this place to make it less stressful and safer. Again, this place is a disgrace.

(2) We were up in Dixfield, ME to pick up a load of lumber headed for Detroit. We could shave off about 225 miles if we could drive thru Canada and then back into the US. If this was Europe, this would be no problem. But then, our system is screwed up and so we have to drive southward and then head north back up into Michigan from Ohio to Detroit.

(3) Osama continues to laugh his head off somewhere in Pakistan. Not only did he force us to take off our shoes before we get on one of our airlines, soon we will have to show our passport and drivers license to get back into our own country.

(4) If there is another terrorist attack in this country, the only people to blame will be the US Customs and Immigration Service. If I were someone who wanted to do damage to the US, I would simply fly or get on a boat to Mexico and walk into the US, like all the other illegals. Do "they" think making "us" have a passport and drivers license is going to stop anyone from getting into this country? Absolutely not.

(5) We have eliminated FJ as the "best" internet hot-spot service. There is nothing we like about FJ. Our new winner is the Idle Aire web service. Just make sure you park near one of their little grey "portable" buildings. It's $4.95 a night and the signal and speed is excellent. We still do not like whole concept of Idle Aire, but since Siricom is so pathetic, go with Idle Aire. You do not need the "whole" Idle Aire set up to use the internet service. Stay out of the Idle Aire space, park near the little building and use your credit card and your web card will automatically connect to the service.

(6) So Anderson Trucking flew a wounded vet home - ON THEIR CORPORATE JET! Most of the ATS trucks we see appear to be driven by drivers who need a handout. Their trucks are nothing to write home about. Just why does a trucking company need a company jet and chief pilot anyway? I hear it's tough flying commercial to your beach house in Florida. How much does their CEO pay his drivers per mile anyway?

(7) NASCAR has its car of the future or tomorrow or something. Boring and slow, it reminds me of a car designed by communists. Yes, we said communists. See our review of NASCAR back on 5/21. Equally stupid is the new NHL uniform designed to "revitalize" the sport. More bullshit, that no one could care less about. The only "one" it benefits is the bottom line of Reebok and the NHL.

(8) This should happen every day in every city in the US. The story from The Boston Globe this past Thursday, June 21st - "30 immigration agents landed on Nantucket on a Coast Guard ship and raided several houses. By mid morning, they had arrested 16 immigrants on charges of assault, theft, credit card, drug dealing and other felonies. All face court hearings that (could) lead to deportation."

(9) NYC mayor Bloomberg (doesn't he look like a lizard?) says he is now an "independent" and is not running for president. Good! I don't want a mayor of any city - large or small - anywhere near the White House. And that includes Giuliani. We've all had it with the former governor of Texas and the other former governor of Arkansas was nothing to write home about.

(10) A dump truck in CT was involved in an accident. The details don't matter. It was not on the interstate. What's the solution? The pinheads are trying to keep the I95 weigh station open longer hours. Huh? What is that going to accomplish? NOTHING! We're so tired of these lame non-solutions to make local legislators feel better thinking they've done something to help us poor folks.

(11) Are we really free? Why does "our" government forbid us from going to Cuba or buying Cuban cigars? They are a communist dictatorship. Oooooo! So it's ok that Wal-Mart has over 20,000 suppliers in China - equally Communist and a serious polluter, too boot! More bullshit. This country is filled with morons - our elected "officials" topping the list.The only thing that makes us great is that the rest of the world is filled with less educated, stupider morons.

These are the best of times and the worst of times...

Geeze, not our two most favorite people, but examples of why free speech in our country is so damn important. That's Shawn Hannity, the conservative broadcaster on the left and Michael Moore, the "liberal" movie director, on the right. You like that, conservative on the left and...well that's the way the puter decided to put them. Listen drivers, the most important issue for us right now is health care! If you don't get off your fat asses and voice your opinion on issues to your employer, your elected representatives who work for you, the companies where you spend your hard earned paycheck and the ballot box, you are a moron. No more whining around the buffet counter and doing nothing. No one wants to hears your BS anymore. Time to take action! Our entire system needs one massive courtesyflush! We are on our way from the windy city up I-90 to Devens, MA. The rest of the staff is all over the place. There has been heavy rain during most of our driving this week ever since we left Texas last Friday. Why don't Werner drivers turn their lights on during a rainstorm? I really hate that company. The Pilot & T/A at Perrysburg, OH were backed out almost onto the interstate. Screw that and the damn fuel solution system. We drove the mile down to the Petro and fueled there with no wait. Carrier management is so damn stupid. To save a few cents in fuel they overwhelm most of the Pilots around the country with their traffic. Pilot can't handle its "regular" business, let alone more of us. A 45 minute or more wait to the pump is bullshit! Truth be told, Pilot is more interested in being an "uber" Greyhound stop than a truck stop. Would you want one bus with 50 hungry losers staying 20 minutes or less or 50 trucks taking a lot of space all night spending little or nothing? T/A bought Petro. Name will be changed to TAPER. Just kidding. Watch for more potholes and grumpy employees at all Petros. Paris is still in jail, the Clinton's made a video copying the Soprano's and the Queen decided to Knight Salmon Rushdie. The Queen's an asshole. Fast forward, the nutty Islamic extremists will begin killing innocent Brits over that real soon. The war is still no better, July 4th is coming up, NASCAR is boring, Verizon cell service still sucks along the interstate and who gives a shit if Rosie takes over the "Price is Right." Approval for the Sirius/XM merger is overdue, my ass still hurts in this seat and 11 hours driving is, without a doubt, too long. I'm tired of "dressing up" my wheels with Chinese metals and dieting sucks. It's 9:43pm and thanks to the free Internet service provided by the New York State Freeway Authority, we can communicate to you. These, my friends, are the best of times and the worst of times. Someone famous said that, but I'm too tired to look up exactly who.

** photos are from Wikipedia off the world wide web

Those damn Jews!

I met a driver a few days ago. He was a nice enough fella. He works for the same company I do. We delivered to the same place. We picked somewhere else. We're now headed to Chicago from Spring, TX. Between loads we were talking about a whole bunch of things from the news, to politics, to economics. It was then he mentioned that I should check out the John Birch Society website. He said something about the late (Rev.) Falwell. Then he asked if I knew what the core of all of "our" problems was. I said no. He paused - then said - "Jews - they're the problem. The chosen people of the bible - but the bible is wrong." He also said something about reading some German papers, also via the Internet. This is the 3rd time recently a driver has "casually" said to me that all of "our" problems are the fault of "the" Jews. As the church lady from Saturday Night Live used to say, "isn't that special!" If I were to speculate on the root of "our" problems, the last folks I would blame would be "the" Jews. Or, for that matter, blacks, Mexicans, Irish, Italians, gays, Muslims or anyone else. In fact, it is our opinion here at acourtesyflush that religion itself is the #1 problem in the world. Without "it" we would all be far better off. I guess I feel sorry for this guy. He seems bliss in his ignorance of the world. For all his ills, he has someone, other than himself, to blame. After he started to talk about the Trilateral Commission choosing our next president - the election is an exercise in futility - I chose to make tracks and get back in my truck. I need to think about this. Right now, I don't know how to deal with his stupidity. If you are interested in reading more about the John Birch Society, you can go to http://www.jbs.org/. This is for your information only - we maintain no current position on their organization, publications, members, or operation.

NASCAR loss...

William C. France (1993-2007) - RIP - Mr. France was instrumental in the development and success of NASCAR.
For additional information on France's life and contribution to motor sports, please go to http://nascar.com/ The photo is from http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar

Are we ready yet?

I've been home since last Thursday night - 5 full days in all. The doctor says we're working way too hard. We have to stop eating in the truck so late at night. We don't necessarily eat because we're so hungry, we eat to fall asleep. She, the doctor, wants us to lose weight and get our blood pressure way down. Last week, when we pulled into the driveway, we were in full trucker mode. Today, as I write this, I don't know what "mode" I'm in. I could take the next two to three weeks just dealing with the fixing up of our house, taking care of myself, and a whole "slew" of other issues (bills, refinancing, painting, etc.) that will just have to wait until next time. Of course, for every day off translates into another day not getting paid. There's also the problem that if I go inside one more Wal-Mart or Publix (that's a supermarket for those of you not living in the south) I will lose my mind. The prices of everything make what they sell in the truck stops cheap. In fact, I think we spend less money on the road, versus living at home full time. Everything from milk, juice, bread, meat to gasoline is expensive. I drink V8 juice. I don't remember what it cost when I first bought it, but a pack of 6 cans is over $4. And in no way has my per mile income kept up with the increase in the cost of living. So tomorrow is back on the road until the July 4th holiday weekend. The doc says staying out for more than 2-3 weeks is crazy. This last time we were out for over 40 days. That time on a oil rig out in the gulf earns you a plane trip home for a month off. But that "ain't" trucking. Are we ready yet? Don't really know. The Mrs. certainly had to do a lot of laundry and we thank her for that. The photo from "The Empire That Was Russia" at www.loc.gov/exhibits/empire/work. By the way, if you have followed our problems with FJ - we had purchased a wi-fi card and antenna about a month ago - the software did something to our computer and it literally died. Working with Dell somewhere in India, we brought the system back up. It took over a week to do that. We sent the wi-fi card and antenna back to FJ corporate and never heard anything. Today UPS delivered a 3-day air envelope with a check from FJ for $98 - a full refund - right on FJ - you folks finally did something right for a change.

What was this driver thinking?

We saw this story and photo on The New York Times website. This guy drove through the Lincoln Tunnel the other day. For all the details go to their site at http://www.nytimes.com

A reminder to all tractor trailer drivers in NYC and Chicago - there are many signs warning you of low height restrictions. To get into the city take the GW bridge. In Chicago - as we have said before - get a map that lists the height restrictions throughout the area. The "typical" GPS unit will not route you around these low clearance places. Throughout the 5 NYC boros there are many low bridges, railroad crossings and structures that will get in your way. Needless to say, it is not a good place for a 13' 6" truck with a 53 ft trailer. Pay attention to what you're doing and where you're going. Better yet, avoid the entire area completely.

Finally home...burning butt

My ass hurts. I've been sitting in this damn truck seat for over 40 long days. I don't care how much the company spent on this seat, it sucks. I haven't found a truck seat yet that was good enough to hold my rear comfortably day after day. No damn way. Maybe the seat feels good to the company president's momma, but not to me, and from what I see, my rump, is pretty much typical of an OTR truckers butt. So it's more Advil and sitting a pillow for a few days until my "posterior" gets back to "normal." It's finally raining in southern FL after a long draught. Driving on I10 east of Tallahassee was all eye-burning smoke from the many forest fires because of the lack of consistent rain. Of course, it waited until I got home to rain, which dampens (pardon the pun) my plans to get some rays at the beach. There are now about 6 homes on my block of 40 that are for sale. The market is horrible, but the signs stay up. Our next store neighbor was moving our today over I-4 to Orlando. Despite Disney, that's one of the most miserable places to live in the US. The Mrs. got a promotion (hubby will have to find another job) and the company will put them (and the kids) up at one of those residential motels until the house sells. I have a feeling that it's going to be on the market a long time. We've lived in our house for about 20 years and everybody else just seems to come and go. Whatever, I don't really care. It's Chinese for dinner tonight and I will try to get a decent nights sleep. Last night, just after coming home, we had some birthday cake - I, of course, was on the road on my birthday, and I think being overtired and eating chocolate, I couldn't sleep. I moved out to one of the big living room chairs, watched Orange County Choppers and woke up around 6:45am. After transferring to the big bed, I feel asleep until about 11am. I mentioned my burning butt, but I truly feel like shit all over. I've been home now for just about 24 hours.