Decisions, Decisions

I’m picking up next week in Boston to head to LA. West, finally! Three thousand miles, the first decent trip I’ve had in months.  I feel like finishing in two days, but probably won’t, maybe three, then head home. I’m looking for an audiobook for the long trip. I don’t listen to audiobooks while I sit around, too many distractions and I should be doing something  productive.

I’ve always wanted to read Atlas Shrugged and now the new book I’ve heard a lot about Daemon. One is about the struggle between capitalism and socialism and the other is about computers being used to hack into the power grid. Both a little too close to real life right now and I don’t feel like listening to the news for 62 hours.

I don’t need something happy, but how about something that doesn’t remind me of what a sink-hole the country is in. Bot nets are in the news today, all about ghost nets and other hacker events. Then there’s the threat of socialism or worse. Socialism may sound good in theory, but throughout history, socialism has created a class system of extremely rich and extremely poor with everyone hating the rich. America was built on the principles that there are no classes and anyone can do anything without being enslaved by the government. Every group wants to be the one in charge making the rules, but they don’t want to live by those same rules because they’re special. They’re more important than others around them. If this is the first couple of months, I can’t even to begin to imagine what the next couple of years is going to be like.

After a major tangent like that, maybe a good science fiction to take my mind off of taxes and truck payments or a good pirate story, where the hero comes in and rescues the hostage, killing dozens of pirates with a single bullet. Both equally unbelievable, but I can let things like that pass if it’s a good story, where you can relate to the characters and if the emotions and drama seem real, the rest is just scenery going by.

I’m sure I’ll find something. I’m glad to be working and going home at the same time. I’m starting to lose sight of what our goals are. I was supposed to be making money and saving as much as I could. What’s the point of making what little money I am, only to send it to the government, spend the rest on the truck for stupid stuff like tires and oil changes, to end up with nothing at the end of the day and be away from home. How can a business cost so much, make so little and still owe taxes? It’s a vicious circle.

If I was making money, I’d go along with most anything, but these trips are barely enough to pay for fuel, let alone much else like a truck payment and forget about saving anything and they’re spread so far apart and pay so little it’s really discouraging.

And while I’m off the subject, this stupid load was spread out over the long weekend. If I have a load, there’s no layover or detention. Five days to go 1400 miles, this is stupid, but at least the company doesn’t have to pay layover, smart on their part, but I’m getting really tired of making their money and getting shafted. They may not even be making that much money nowadays, but they have trucks that can take care of their customer and that’s all that matters.

I don’t mind a company making money, but I have to be involved and get my share instead of getting the short end of a short stick every single time. What am I still doing here?

Continued on Life on the Road – http://lifeontheroad.com/2009/04/12/wheres-the-light/2190.html