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Sat.Feb.05.2005

2:21 am EST        47°F (8°C) in DeLand, FL

Calendar of Updates

I'm finally getting a day or so off to get some service done on this truck. It needs an oil change, lube job, and clutch adjustment, among a few other small things. I would guess I'll be back on the road tomorrow, but only time will tell.

I hereby announce a boycott of WLW-AM (700) in Cincinnati, Ohio. I had just picked up a load across the river in Kentucky, and had to fuel shortly after the pick-up. Since I was far behind with paperwork, I decided to park in the back of the lot and catch up with some of that; while I was doing that, it began to snow. Beginning to fear for my ability to arrive in Florida on time, I tuned in WLW, hoping to hear a weather report. What I did hear was an inappropriate and offensive syndicated piece called "Earl Pitts, American." In the piece, the fictional Southern-redneck character Earl Pitts talked about the recent flap involving the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants' alleged homosexuality. (In the land of reality, a place where social conservatives never dare to tread, SpongeBob was among a large cohort of cartoon characters that appeared in a children's video to promote tolerance and understanding of all people, regardless of race, gender, or the fact that some children are being raised by two same-sex parents.) "Mr. Pitts" proceeded to go on stating the usual gay stereotypes of exceedingly effeminate behavior, and referred to two of Satan's sons (James Dob-satan, er, Dobson and Jerry Fool-well, er, Falwell) as decent, honorable people. Needless to say, on Thursday afternoon, I contacted WLW's program director, Darrell Parks, to make a complaint. He claimed to have not heard the "Earl Pitts" piece, but claimed that he would look into it. I got the impression that I was being brushed off; I mean, since when does Clear Channel Communications (which owns WLW) ever have to listen to the desires of its customers? In any case, we ought to do what the right-wing hypocrites do: generate thousands of complaints from a mere few people. You can reach Darrell Parks between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm Monday to Friday by calling (513) 686-8300 and asking to speak to him.

When I go in for my next set of psychiatric appointments on February 16, I am going to have to ask about adding or substituting different medications. After some incidents that have occurred recently, it's becoming more and more clear to me that I have a pretty serious problem with attention deficit disorder (ADD). Lately, I have been noticing my abilities to concentrate and think critically diminish, and my short- to medium-term memory (less than 24 hours) has gone all to hell. I made two serious, albeit meaningless (in the end), mental mistakes on Thursday night that could have gotten me ticketed, fined, or even fired. In southern Georgia, traveling through a construction zone on Interstate 75, I got so caught up in keeping my eyes on the orange construction barrels that I must have failed to notice the signage telling me the weigh station was open; by the time I realized it, I was far too close to the off-ramp to safely exit into the weigh station. I ended up just blowing on by; fortunately, the Georgia State Police didn't bother to chase me down.

Later, as I continued south into Florida, I started to suspect I was having a tire problem; the steering felt a little weird. I pulled off to the side in the state agricultural inspection station, and decided to shut down both my tractor and reefer engines so I could hear any potential air leak from a tire. My air gauge showed sufficient pressure in all 18 tires, so I disgustedly tossed the air gauge onto the floor of the truck, jumped in, and took off. It was only 45 miles later that I realized, "oh shit, I forgot to turn that reefer back on!" With a -20°F ice cream load, I was afraid I'd have soup all over the floor of the trailer; fortunately, I caught it quickly enough that the temperature hadn't risen above -5°F, and the load was fine. Certainly, though, had I not caught my mistake as quickly as I did, I'm certain I would have been fired for negligence leading to the loss or destruction of cargo.

I suggested to my psychiatrist back in August that ADD may have been one of my problems, but he brushed that aside, calling ADD a "fad" diagnosis. That may be true, but the descriptions of ADD I have been reading lately fit me to a "T." I'm going to have to be more adamant about it this time, because this mental "fog" is getting out of hand.

Well, it's off to bed for me.