My current employment is tenuous at best...

Greetings from the wet Pacific Northwest...

Toni and I returned from Sacramento on Sunday, after staying the night in Grant's Pass, OR. I really hate driving straight through from or to Sacramento from here. It's a long drive (about 10 hours of a long drive...), and I hate making that drive! It's not that I can't make the drive, it's just that Toni hates driving in the mountains. So, I choose to drive the whole way...anyway, we went to Sacramento for a 1203.4/1203.5 PC hearing. What is this, you ask? Well, in CA, after a period of time has elapsed, a person with a conviction, can apply for an early release from probation, and a dismissal of a conviction. Now, your conviction is still on your record, and can be used against you again should you fuck up, but it goes down on your record as "set aside..." After that, you don't have to disclose that you were convicted of anything, unless you're applying for a government job (which I have no desire of ever applying for!!!)

Anyway, I had a hearing date of 17 September, at 1:35 PM in Department 61 of Sacramento Superior Court. Unfortunately, my court date was changed on me, and the court didn't have the common decency to notify me either by mail or by phone...assholes!!! We made the trip for nothing!!! I had said prayers, asking for The Lord on High to give the people in charge His wisdom in deciding to release me, and to give me the strength to keep going. What I got was help from places that I had least expected! I had called Sacramento Co Probation Dept. to see what they had on me...they of course had nothing on me, because I wasn't being supervised by them. The Probation Officer had asked me why I called, and I had told him. He then started suggesting that I show that I had proof of potential employment, and this could be proved by showing emails from potential employers. This was something that I was not expecting; help from a government agency!!! The Probation Officer, had hoped that I was successful in my endeavour, and had also wished me luck! How about that...I had not have expected that in a million years!!!

I had gone to the courthouse, and I had found out that the court date had been changed, and that my appearance was not mandatory...I had been informed when I had set the court date, that the appearance was mandatory. I was informed by the clerk in Room 102 that the rules had changed in July; why was I not informed of the change of appearance? My attorney, said something about my appearance wasn't necessary, but rather, was optional. He did say that my appearance would actually bolster my case, because it shows to the judge that you're remorseful of your dastardly deeds, and you have no desire to repeat them. True enough, I really don't want to go back to jail...fuck that!!! I wasted enough of the taxpayers' money being confined!!! So, now I have to wait until 22 October for this nightmare to finally end!!!

As far as work is concerned, 2 weeks ago, I had to pick up a wedding party in Chahalis, WA by 5:30 PM. No problem, I could do this...the problem was, that I had a bad address, a church with no name, and to make matters worse, no cell service!!! When I arrived at the address on my run tag, I didn't see a church...what I saw was absolutely nothing!!! Nothing but trees, trees, and more trees!!! I had to go back into Chahalis to call the customer, and call the boss for a better address. What I got from the customer was a line of bullshit so thick, the Mohave Desert would be blooming in the wintertime!!! And, I got my ass chewed by my boss as well!!! He wanted to know where the fuck I was...I told him, I was at the address that he gave me...when I had called the customer, she had told me that they weren't in Chahalis, but rather, they were in a small town called Pe Ell, WA...I asked her where they were specifically, and I was told by her that she didn't know the name of the church they were at, but that it was off of WA-6 in Pe Ell!!!

There are 3 churches in Pe Ell, a Catholic, a Methodist, and a Nazerine...how do I know this? I went to all three!!! None of the above mentioned churches had weddings that day, and none of the churches had any mention of this on the fronts of their churches. So, how am I to know this? Isn't this the job of my boss and the customer? Aren't I supposed to have accurate address information to make the pickup? I know that I had accurate map information, because I had just updated the software in my GPS, and I had mapped out the info on Google maps...add to that, a Motor Carriers' Road Atlas; I should have a pretty good idea of where I'm going, right? But, no, my boss doesn't think so. I even went out of my way to find this church...I drove 15 miles into Pacific Co. WA to find them. Finally, after 2 hours of trying to find this party, I gave up in frustration!!! I had though about going to the drop off point to see if they had arrived at the destination, and try to smooth things out. But, if I had done that, my boss would have been livid! I would have made him look stupid, and we can't have that now, can we? Even though, this is all on him, he would have fired my ass on the spot...so instead, I have to wait to find out what he plans on doing.

If I lose this job, I'm not going to cry over it. It was fun while it lasted, but it wasn't frequent enough for me; it was too part-time... Now, I was given a job opportunity as a truck driver; I have to renew my Medical certificate, and that's proving to be a pain in the ass!!! I have to get medical information on my Diabetes, or else I can't get the physical done. Per FMCSR, I have to have a current Medical Card on file with the DMV. With Diabetes, I can't be on insulin...FMCSA feels that a driver on insulin can't effectively perform the duties as a driver, because injecting insulin requires too much attention as far as they're concerned. Not that I care, because I'm not on insulin, and I hope to never be on insulin. I've received information from the study I'm involved in, and I hope that's enough. If it is, then I should be able to drive...I hope!!! I wanna make my girl proud of me...she was before, and I want to make her again!!!