Comments By Robert B. (The Dragon) yes, I breathe fire and other sideshow tricks

First off, good luck and a speedy recovery after the surgery. Luckily, I drive a pickup truck when not in the Volvo but man is it weird to jump on the bike to get some wind therapy.

Gotcha. I had to go to a couple different Ortho surgeons to get one who would fill out the paperwork myself. My doctor was a plastic surgeon who is a hand specialist and according to the guidelines, didn't qualify which was outrageous but oh well. Out of curiosity, have you downloaded the application packet? It has the doctor section that they fill out. I had to find one who would look at the packet and then schedule an exam along with all the medical records associated with my injury. Lucky for me, I got released from the program after 4 years.

Totally agree but those investors have recovered the investment and made money. The next step is to bail while there's still some value and on to the next thing. Just a few weeks ago, the tallest building in Ft Worth sold for 12mil. It cost 112mil to build. Those with money are trying to move to things to secure the wealth they have and ride the wave to see the aftermath. I've never invested in the stock market personally. I don't mind risk but I never gamble and prefer to secure what I have with precious metals and tangible items. Regardless of what happens, I'll still have my house, my vehicles, the lights will stay on and my family can eat. To me, those are the most important things.

It just tells me that the economy is garbage and everyone needs to hold on for a wild ride. Commercial and residential real estate are tanking, the true inflation numbers aren't being reported and the majority of people are struggling to just get by. Politicians have absolutely wrecked the value of the dollar and the rest of the world has taken notice. Every empire throughout history has fallen due to ego and greed, we're watching it happen again.

My apologies, I missed your original post. Is your nerve damage something that happened organically, or is it due to an accident or incident which you received medical treatment for?

I am dealing with the same issue as many. Please share any doctor that may be helpful. I have called many in my state but none know what I am talking about or say their doctor does not perform those evaluations. What do you tell them that you need? I kept being told to talk to the DMV.

What is the disability?

You'll start out on the open deck side and have to work your way up, unless you're going there specifically with quite a bit of previous heavy haul experience. Just keep putting a bug in their ear about doing oversized loads and as you get more experience, keep letting them know you'd like to make your way into that division once a slot comes open. They do a lot of work with Cat as well as Minnesota Limited, Veit and Michels construction so there's always over dimensional loads to be hauled as well as the cryo tanks. Pay attention, ask questions and show you're a go getter and willing to go the extra mile and you'll get where you want to go. They have the opportunities, you just have to work for them. I pull hopper bottom now and love every minute of it but I did enjoy open deck work, especially the heavy stuff. The down side is home time when doing a lot of the bigger stuff and I enjoy being at home more frequently.

Maybe but I'm not counting on it just yet. Knight, Swift and several others dumped their contracts and let those loads go back to the spot market, hoping it would raise the rates as their contract negotiations were not going to be profitable at the current time. They'll need to grab as many of those loads as they can as things get progressively worse in an attempt to buffer themselves as well as possible.

Congrats!!! I worked at Kivi and loved it, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. They have a good training program and Shaun is exceptional in his knowledge, he will always steer you in the right direction. I was dispatched out of the Blaine terminal and it was a great group of people to work with. The new terminal manager there is Nicole Houser and she's absolutely awesome. If you have any questions, just ask. I don't do open deck or heavy haul anymore but you never really forget.

Keep doing what you're doing. They're so used to seeing the bare minimum performed that when they have to go through a proper log of daily activity, it frustrates them because now they actually have to do a bit of work. I use the splits from time to time and the computer sorts it all out so as long as I'm putting it in the proper location regarding sleeper vs on duty, I'll always be good and man does that frustrate them.