Is ADN>twitter: 256>140 (that’s obvious)& comment on abouttruckdriving.com @toddmccann podcast

DISCLAIMER:>>>
I SOMETIMES USE FOUL LANGUAGE IN MY BLOG SO IF THAT OFFENDS YOU IM REAL FUCKING SORRY. LMFAO OH…WAIT THERE GOES ANOTHER SQUIRREL. HaHa! THERE GOES MY ADD AGAIN

BUT SERIOUSLY IF THE OCCASIONAL 4 LETTER WORD DOESN’T OFFEND YOU AND YOU CAN FOLLOW ALONG WITH MY MINDLESS RAMBLINGS. PLEASE CONTINUE READING AND BE SURE TO LEAVE ME A COMMENT, SUGGESTION, CORRECTION OR INSULT DOWN BELOW IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. THANKS @driverchrismc

Allow me to start off here with my comment, in its entirety, that I wrote last night on @toddmccann ‘s latest Trucker Dump podcast on abouttruckdriving.com. I originally thought I would have to just leave a link to it in his comment section. Because I thought it would be too long winded and would cause his website to go into self destruct mode. He’d be more than a little upset with me if that happened. He worked way too long & hard on it. So please folks if you haven’t checked it out yet. I would recommend you do so Trucker Dump on abouttruckdring.com

First off let me say, before I forget as far as your reply to the 19 year old(from your feedback section). I’m not sure where you are getting that you have to be 23 to drive interstate OTR. The company that you know I drive for, as well as instruct for hires 21 year olds on a weekly basis. I’ve instructed some of them. I’d hate 2 think my company and I were illegally training drivers.

I could’ve written a whole blog instead of commenting here and I’ve even had thoughts of turning my blog into a podcast just like you did.

But here’s the reason I won’t do that( ill just leave the comment here. Perhaps you’ll read it in a future feedback session and ill have achieved the same end result). I don’t mind people hearing what I write, actually I think it would be cool! Just not in my voice. Yours or anyone else’s would be fine. You’ve met me, Todd, you know what I sound like.

Well I hate the way I speak. As a kid I took a lot of kidding(psychological abuse) because of it. I’ve just never gotten over being self conscious about the way I talk

Now enough said about that. If I can remember what I wanted to say now. Oh yes your “drivers seat phenomenon” blog/ podcast

Ill have to admit to being one of those drivers sitting in the seat you were talking about. I can tell you most of the time, when I’m in the seat, I’ve either got my iPhone in my hand(usually on twitter) or sometimes, like right now I have my iPad mini resting on the steering wheel writing this comment. After I finish this I will likely do something I don’t often do. Ill get the MBP out and work on my blog post.

And yes I’ll set it up on the steering wheel. It makes a handy little laptop stand IMO.
And yes the bright white glowing apple will be visible to anyone that passes by my truck and looks. I’m proud to let others know I got an apple MBP. Can’t say that I’ve ever had the fear of someone breaking into my truck. I’m usually in it when it’s parked unless I go in for a quick shower or to grab something to eat. I rarely eat in the restraunt anymore.

Or sometimes maybe I do look like I’m staring into space or watching people walk by or watching the guy next to me park and hope that I can trust him to do so without touching my truck or trailer. I’ve Been a “people watcher” ever since I was a kid. When I’d go to the mall on Saturday nights with my grandparents. Grandad and I would sit on a bench and watch people while my Grammy was in one of the stores.

Or maybe I’m doing my paperwork so I can get paid for the loads I deliver.

Or maybe, and I’ve never thought about it this way, till I listened to your podcast. I just maybe a tad bit clostraphobic. Being in my sleeper area with the curtain closed while I’m awake just feels wrong to me. It’s like I’m shut off from the rest of the world. Unless I’m sleeping or eating, normally the curtains open while I’m eating.

I guess basically what I’m saying is I see no good reason to be in the sleeper with the curtains closed unless I’m actually in bed sleeping.

That should about cover it. I think I’ve confirmed some of your thoughts on this subject and hopefully enlightened you on a few others

And in addition one more reason for sitting in the drivers seat that I didn’t even think of until after I had already left my comment on his website.
I’m sure this wouldn’t have occurred to him since he doesn’t share the habit. Perhaps the driver is, like me, a smoker who doesn’t normally smoke in bed. I only do this twice a day. The first one in the morning when I wake up and the last one at night before I go to sleep. All my other daily cigarettes are smoked while I’m sitting in the drivers seat. Whether I’m driving or parked at a customer or a truckstop.

Ok now that I’ve shared all that with you, just in case your not a subscriber to his blog, I wanted to make sure all of you had the chance to read my words of wisdom LMFAO

On with the blog;

Is ADN>Twitter?(if the shoe fits lace that bitch up and wear it)

Before I get started with this blog post. I feel I should give it a little introduction or more specifically let you know how it came about…

One day last week, I believe it was Thursday , as I was driving towards my 90, that’s how Prime refers to my receiver, I was driving west on I74 in Illinois fixing to have to get on I57 to get to I72. I had been thinking about writing this blog and the things I wanted to say in it, and how I would say them and why…

That was my first mistake. As I’m sure some of you other drivers know, whether or not you want to admit it. Thinking and driving, or daydreaming as its sometimes referred to. Is more distracting IMO than either texting, tweeting, posting or being on the phone.

They should probably write me a ticket for that. Instead of the HUGE fines for texting and driving. I do use Siri most of the time so I’m not actually having to type but I still have my phone in my hand. So I think I should probably invest in a good Bluetooth b4 I get in trouble.
See there I go off track again. Where was I ?

So anyway I exited onto I57 but missed the exit for I72 and had to go down to the next exit and flip around to get to where I was going.

What I had been thinking about as I was driving that day was ADN or App.net. Some of you may have heard of it already or may already be on it. Or you might be asking your self what is ADN and why I should I give two shits about it…

Well ill have to do some more research on it before I publish this blog but for now let me introduce it to you. Let you know how i came to be @driverchrismc on App.net(you can follow me there as well just like you do on twitter) and give you my first impressions. As if you care. LOL. Of course you do if you didn’t you you wouldn’t be reading this….You are still reading aren’t you?

Ok great since I haven’t lost you yet. Here goes the blog:
A few weeks ago I started noticing one of my friends on twitter mention that he was on app.net. Then another of my twitter friends got on there. So I was to say the least curious at this point. So when that first friend I mentioned retweeted someone else’s tweet that gave a link to get on this app.net. I jumped on it. Yes I admit I’m a follower. No shame here.

This is not the same tweet that I was referring to but it will get you there if your interested in going there.

@filmfreak75 Sign up and pay for App dot net on their website, or get a free account via their app:

https://t.co/Nmxp9L2t8b

Yep that’s right the basic idea behind it is a paid social network, like twitter, but not-exactly

Let me say upfront here that you can get on it for free as of this time. That’s how my 2 twitter friends got on it and that’s how I got on. I think we all know my first friend is too much of a cheapskate to pay for something like that,even though I haven’t mentioned his name.

As I said two of my twitter friends were already using it, and by their own admission they plan on using it for a different more techy or photographic purpose something altogether different than the friendly twitter conversations we have on a daily basis. I think that’s a great idea. More power to them, I say.
But here’s what I’ve got in mind as my way of using ADN in addition to twitter
Now as you all know I live on twitter and wouldn’t even think of giving it up or replacing it with ADN

But here’s what I find to be most useful to me about ADN, instead of twitters arbitrarary, or at least I thought that they pulled that 140 character limit out of the blue. I now know after a google search that it indeed makes some sence. http:/limit/www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/twitter-basics-why-140-characters-and-how-to-write-more_b1124

ADN allows your “posts” to be up to 256 characters, almost doubling the length of your “tweet” which is limited to 140.
Also they allow you to cross post your post to your twitter account. In the Netbot app I use for it that option can be found under the retweet…excuse me…I meant repost button.

If your post is too long for twitter. It will be appropriately shortened and a link added to your complete original post. Now I know there are other alternatives to get around the 140 tweet limit. I’ve even used some of them myself. TMI.me is one option, twitlonger is another. I really never liked either one personally. Although they do serve the purpose. Another option if you’re interested is a twitter app I used to use occasionally called “Tweetcaster”. That app automatically splits a long tweet into two parts not exceeding the 140 character limit. But I was disappointed. It sometimes tweeted them backwards or retweeted your old tweets the next time you open the app.

So basically that’s all I want is to not be kept in a strangle hold by that 140 character limit. From now on when I have more to say than 140 characters. Ill simply post it on ADN and then repost or actually cross post it to my twitter account.

So y’all are more than welcome to follow me @driverchrismc on ADN, after all to borrow a phrase from @darkstaff I am an Attention whore. So just like on twitter the more followers I have the more content I will be. However since like I said most of my posts on ADN will be cross posted to @driverchrismc on twitter. It’s not absolutely necessary that you follow me on ADN as long as your follow me on twitter you’ll be seeing retweets of what I’ve posted there.

In addition I have since found out that my initial fascination with ADNs 256 character limit. It’s not all good, there do seem to be some limitations. First of all you have to either recieve an invitation from a paid subscriber or get the app.net app on your iphone. https://join.app.net/I havent a clue if its available on android. Maybe one of you robot phone users will read this and find out. If you do please let me know in the comments section. If you are on a free account like I am, you are limited to 40 people you can follow. So I’m guessing here that your number of followers will be limited as well. I can’t prove that yet because at this time I only have one follower.
Here’s a link if you’d like more information on a free app.net account    limitations link

Well that’s about all I can think of to say here. I’m sure you were all ready and waiting for me to conclude this thing. So until next time. Be safe out there drivers.

https://posts.app.net/5988006

Ok folks here’s my dilemma what do you think?

Ok folks here’s my dilemma. What do you think?

Ok so that title maybe a tad bit self deceiving. I know what I want. I’ve been saying I wanted it for 3 generations of iPads now. I’ve always felt that it(this iPad that I’m blogging on )was just a little too big to be really useful as a portable device.

Now don’t get me wrong I love it. As I loved the original as well as the ipad2.

My point is the same now as its always been-it was too big. But now that the iPad mini is a reality. What do I do?

I would’ve loved to jump on it and get one when it was launched. But. Unfortunately the mini that apple released is inferior to the new iPad with retina that I currently own.

It’s basically an iPad 2 that shrunk.

Come on apple. Really now. I’m sure it was a good move business wise, but it has left me And I’m sure many other of your fans, disgruntled to say the least. I’m sure they’ll improve and eventually perfect it(retina,superior processor etc). That’s what apple does best

But in the mean while, while I wait patiently, I hope

Here’s the other part of the dilemma

Do I buy a Verizon 4g model or do I go with. Wifi only version for $130 less????

The new iPad that I currently on is a 4g LTE version. Previously I had only owned the wifi only versions.

It is nice to have the always present connection instead of having to rely on wifi, or the unreliable signal from my verizon hotspot

But the issue with that is that syncing between devices. Photo stream etc. won’t work between my iPad and iPhone as long as I’m using the ‘personal hotspot’ on my iPad as the 4g wifi hotspot.

I understand that verizon has a new 4g hotspot out called ‘jet pack’. So if any1 has any experience with that device please let me know.

Or here’s the kicker. Should I buy a wifi only ipad mini. Keep my new iPad and continue to use it as my wifi signal via its personal hotspot.

I’m starting to think that might be the winning combination. So if I can stand it. Ill wait till March of next year when hopefully the iPhone 5s comes out and see if they are bringing out an improved iPad mini. 😉

TTTR04.03.2012 with a special tumblr pictorial and my paper.li

Welcome back to this weeks #truckertuesday twitter recap.

Unless you won the mega millions this weekend and been off the grid for a few days. You undoubtedly already know that I am writing this weeks blog on my brand new iPad which runs on Verizon’s 4G LTE service. Which to say the least is amazing. I ran some speed tests on my new iPad as well as my other devices(so that you could see the difference). Those are posted on my tumblr blog

Glad you came back and I hope you were as impressed as I am with those 4G LTE speeds.

Folks this new iPad is blazing. Almost literally. That brings me to this point(I threw this part in to be fair). I am 98.6% satisfied with my new 3rd generation iPad. Way to throw us a curve on that one apple. It should’ve logically been called the ipad3. But it wasn’t. Guess that’s why my name isn’t Tim Cook.

Anyway my point being the 1.4% that I’m not totally satisfied with

First off the smart cover which I mentioned in an earlier blog as the best feature of the ipad2. It doesn’t turn the new iPad on and off as it was originally designed to do. Something about the polarity of the magnets.

Secondly we have, what is being called “heat gate”. Yes it is true it gets a little hotter than normal when charging or when you are using the mobile hotspot function. But that has been reasonably explained by apple. It is due to the larger sized battery in the device, which is necessary to run the awesome 4G LTE speed. If you are lucky enough to have the Verizon 4G LTE model.

The final thing that makes me not totally satisfied with it is ‘photo stream’. Which was a part of iCloud, a feature that apple gave to us in ios5. Ok here’s the deal with that. It is designed to keep your photos in sync between your devices(iPhone,iPad). It only works when both of the devices are using the same wifi signal.
Now since I replaced my Mifi device with the mobile hotspot feature of the new iPad. My iPhone is running on wifi courtesy of the new iPad. But the iPad itself is running on Verizon’s 4G LTE. As a result photo stream won’t work. Oh well no big hairy deal.

So should these minor drawbacks stop you from buying a new iPad. Certainly not IMHO

The retina display. It’s resolutionary , according to apple.com, the 5mp iSight camera, the ultra fast 4G LTE(again that’s just for us verizon customers)

There are more than enough reasons why I would recommend the new iPad.

Anyway enough of that. Apples not paying me to recommend their products. Although sometimes I think they should. Lmfao

As usual I would like to thank some folks for their RTs of my blog last week. @BTDTruckingjobs @HTDTruckingjobs my wife @tammymcfadden and @toddmccann

And a special word of thanks goes out to Heather@trkrsvoice who in addition to the blog RT has also posted a link to DriverChrismc.com on her Dark side of trucking website

Also on her website you may now find Todd’s rumblings as well as a link to his blog

Well I’ve said my piece for the week. As far as the actual TTTR part of this blog please read my paper.li

Ok now that you’ve read my paper and come back let me explain. I chose the paper format because it’s more professional looking.

Ok honestly folks I did it because it saves me time and well let’s face it I’m lazy.

That’s all for this week hope you enjoyed it and I hope you will be back for next weeks edition. Until then drivers Be Safe out there.

This blog was written in its entirety on my new iPad. All material used in it was either my own intellectual property or gathered on twitter by paper.li and the respective tweeters were credited.

Any comments suggestions or submissions may be sent to me by email driverchrismc@gmail.com

TTTR 03.27.12

This weeks blog is gonna start off a little differently. Normally I start by mentioning the folks who retweeted and said good things about my blog last week. I’ll get to that in a minute, but first I’d like to apologize for last weeks blog.
The version of my blog that so many of you read last week was not the final, polished, updated version I had prepared to be published.
I learned a valuable lesson. I usually write my blog on my iPad and then update it on my MBP. However last week I did that and then I tried to reupdate, if you will, or update my updates using my iPad once again.
Unfortunately in doing that the original updates that I had made using my MBP were lost.
This was due to, I believe a flaw in the wordpress app for iPad.

Now that that’s out of the way let me start off by thanking Challenge Magazine they tweeted ” Our fav quote ‘Like other twitter fiends we had in common, vampire movies, light sabers, being geeks rather than nerds'”

Also BTDTrucking tweeted this endorsement “Follow Chris” “Read his blog”. “Be entertained! And no, I’m not paid to say this!”

HTDTruckingjobs had this to say about last weeks blog “LOVE the real conversation tone! Thanks for the inclusion, Chris ! Everybody enjoy!”

Now as I was saying some of my updates were lost last week. So I’ll include them here first:
Tachoblogs weekly View from the cab was posted a couple days late, but better late than never su.pr/21PYct and included darkstaff, driverchrismc, jayceebigrig,trkrsvoice and AZVern

I was also going to mention Smart_Trucking they have an informative website for drivers as well as LifeOTR who is going to be posting photos I send them on their Facebook page as well as linking back to my blog here.
One of my many new followers this week also writes for life on the road. @trkrsvoice

Her website is called The Dark Side of Trucking
Lastly I’d like to say before we get started with this weeks #truckertuesday twitter recap. I’ve made some improvements to my WordPress blog site and with a little luck by the time your reading this, you’ll be able to go to driverchrismc.com. And directly go to my WordPress blog site!

So here’s this weeks TTTR:

Check out this article: http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/03/25/top-10-mar252012/
We start out with that from @idownloadblog it’s a recap of their 10 top iOS news tweets of the week

Boy I just saved a lot of space with that one! LMFAO

Then we have this by a new writer over at idownloadblog
Weekend reading: Detailed iPad 3 review which takes a long, hard look at both the little things and the big picture http://t.co/1IqHsY0e

Then we had these tweets from the folks over at iPhone news

Some Smart Covers Not Working With The New iPad:
iLounge reports that based on their testing, they have f… http://t.co/Ih4poV1c

iOS 5.1 confirms that Apple is working on a 4G capable iPhone: Now that Apple has finally ventured into 4G terri… http://t.co/HGTB27uE

Rumor: next iPhone to feature 4.6-inch display: Now that the rumors for the third-generation iPad are over, rumo… http://t.co/wbPkRLOX

And then when we had this tweet by Smart Trucking whose website I mentioned earlier

Tips for #truckers for handling #Department of Transportation inspections! http://t.co/zXki47jU

Alright that’s it folks. Kinda short and sweet. After last weeks monster sized blog. I figured y’all would appreciate me taking it easy on you. I’ll be back with another blog next Tuesday. So keep comin back and reading I’ll keep writing. Be safe out there drivers!

This blog was composed in its entirety on my ipad2. Cause I don’t have my new one yet. Dammit LMFAO. Comments can be emailed to driverchrismc

This shot was taken from the Flying J in Tucumcari NM

TTTR 03.20.2012

Your gonna love this first part i know i do
Ok folks here we go it’s Friday afternoon. Im on the way down to Nogales from Albuquerque to pickup our next load in the morning. I was thinking while I was driving. So then I stopped. Cause well I had to stop at a rest area and I hear tell that it is now illegal for us truck drivers to text while driving. I can only assume that would apply to twitter as well.

Anyway I was going to put all this on twitter. But then I thought. Wait. This is way more than 140 characters and you would all have to read your timelines backwards. So I put it here.

I was gonna start by saying EXCUSE ME MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE NO don’t worry this is not the lyric to a slim shady(Eminem) song. So if you are over the age of 25. Please keep reading. I promise your safe. Well my next tweet would have been. Thank you that’s better. Now that I have your attention I wanted to let you know that I’ve started work on next weeks blog already. Mainly because I’m getting older and have early Alzheimer’s or as I like to call it CRS. if you don’t know what that means. Send me a DM and I’ll spell it out for you.
Like I said I was driving and thinking of ideas for the blog and what usually happens is if I wait a week to write it down I’ll forget my brilliant ideas.
I was going to tweet that I was going to give you a rare inside glimpse of next weeks blog
I wanted to let y’all know that it would include what I like to call my list of UNusual suspects. Confused? Don’t be. Let me explain. If I may ramble on. Gotta be careful here I’m becoming a little bit too much like Todd ‘long winded’ McCann LMFAO
Anyway my list That’s my blanket way of referring to people on twitter, friends, publications, organizations or anyone who as helped me with this blog. They are names that I @mention on a regular basis. They all either RT my tweets. Mention my blog, post a link on their Facebook page, or website, or post my photos. I was going to let you know that I was adding a couple new names to the list. That list is pretty much anyone that strokes my ego and that’s a pretty big job. Believe me I’m one of the most egotistical arrogant bastards you’ll ever meet. I’m number one and i know it. People in four wheelers tell me everyday that’s a truck drivers joke.

But then I thought. No I can’t do that. Surely I will offend someone’s delicate sensibilitys because they come after someone else. Or they’ll think their special because their listed first. So no list. Well now wait a minute. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I can list them alphabetically. Let’s face it the alphabet has always been the same 26 letters in exactly the same order and is often the basis for creating lists
I was also going to tweet that next weeks blog was going to be a little more me and a little more snarky than usual
Oh and one more thing. Thanks Steve.
That inside glimpse I promised you
I’m pretty sure you just read it haha

So anyway. Wait for it. Wait for it. Saturday Sunday Monday ok now it’s Tuesday and you can read my blog. And it goes a little something like this.

Welcome back friends, followers,enemies. I don’t really care who you are as long as your reading my blog
I’ll start off this week by thanking @challengemagwho tweeted last week that I had a sweet trucking blog. That was seconded by @todaystruckingthank you as well as @HTDTruckingjobsAndrea tweeted This was great! thank you!
And to all those who Retweeted or read and commented on my blog THANKS!!!

Anyway here’s that list I promised you earlier @alanqbristol, @BTDTruckingJobs, @ChallengeMag, @darksaff. I could’ve used Eric’s real name. Wouldn’t have changed the order of the list. @hnldriver,@HTDTruckingJobs,@lifeotr, @raysunshine77, @tachoblog,@toddmccann
We met @toddmccann last Wednesday evening 4 a tweet up at the flyin hook in Amarillo TX
We had a good meal at Denny’s
Good conversation I thought but according to todd it was “interesting. Three people with their faces buried in their iPhones “HaHa! My wife @tammymcfadden thinks he’s funny. Funny HaHa! Not funny queer>;;;;;;;;>;;;;;;;;said in my best Billy Bob Thornton voice.

Anyway now I know the best kept secret on twitter. He drives for…….???

You won’t here it from me. Especially not you Eric @darkstaff
I had to swear an oath in blood not to tell you he’s with JB H…
Oops!

No really he’s not. He has a good reason for not revealing his company.
So as a man of my word. I won’t reveal my friends secret.

As you might have guessed we discussed twitter over dinner. Who woulda guessed that LMFAO
I also asked @toddmccann if I was doing something wrong. I remarked that I could no longer post more than one picture at a time on twitter. He agreed it was maddening and support couldn’t give him a good answer as to why.
UPDATE. @Toddmccann figured it out Sunday morning and sent me an email. All we had 2 do was change our settings in #tweetbot to use an image upload service other than twitter or twitpic. I’m using img.ly. And it works hallelujah.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

Oddly enough we hardly talked about trucking at all-strange 4 a table with 3 truck drivers
We talked about all sorts of different things. Like other twitter friends we had in common, vampire movies, light sabers, being geeks rather than nerds, the new iPad and the list goes on

In particular the new 3rd generation iPad. Will Todd get an iPad? Will the evil overlord,that’s Todd’s wife in case y’all been livin under a rock and didn’t know, get a new iPad. I really can’t say. But as for me I can say I’m startin 2 warm up 2 the idea. Especially now that I found out the Verizon 4g model have a 4g hotspot at no extra charge. It will of course count towards your data limit. so really it’s not free it just doesn’t cost you any extra

That option is particularly appealing to me since my 4g Mifi is about as unreliable as I don’t know what. I think my old 3G Mifi worked better sometimes or maybe I’m just using that as an excuse to get a new iPad. Either way. That’s my story n I’m stickin to it. LMFAO

But no folks I won’t stand in line on launch day to get one, I’ll wait at least a week or till my birthday on the 24th. I’ll be 41. I wasn’t going to announce that but @tammymcfadden already put me on blast on twitter

But anyway enough of me On with the #truckertuesday twitter recap. If I’m not careful here I’ll end up bein as long winded as you know who JK LMFAO

Good news for truckers as U.S. Senate passes highway bill http://t.co/cb8LNa8z via The Vindicator

by ChallengeMag at 3/15/12 12:47 PM

(Source: http://twitter.com/ChallengeMag/status/180364663291252736)

Rob W (@hnldriver)
3/15/12 12:24 AM
I’ve just updated my site: thetrucker.yolasite.com

Didn’t know he had a site but we all do now

New iPad confirmed to sport 1GB of RAM and 1 GHz CPU: Tinhte, the Vietnamese tech blog who got its hands of the … http://t.co/lqJsicMs

by iPhone_News at 3/13/12 1:30 PM

(Source: http://twitter.com/iPhone_News/status/179620462907764737)

Camera+ 3 is Out and Here is the Gigantic Change List: Camera+ 3 is out a day earlier than expected, and the lis… http://t.co/dDSnTjar

by iPhone_News at 3/13/12 1:30 PM
I LOVE THIS APP THINK @darkstaff and @toddmccann would both agree with me
(Source: http://twitter.com/iPhone_News/status/179620480309919744)
As a matter of fact Eric@darkstaff tweeted us this link:
RT @iOSPhotoApps: “Camera+ Goes To 3.0” http://t.co/iIStlyql #Camera+ #iphoneography <;;;;;;;<;;;;;;;Sweet. #fb

by darkstaff at 3/13/12 10:01 AM

(Source: http://twitter.com/darkstaff/status/179567949206659072)

Speaking of #camera+. I found out, while waiting on my wife in the ER, by googling yours truly @driverchrismc that all of the #camera+ photos I’ve shared on twitter are available on http://campl.us/user/DriverChrisMc. Pretty cool. It made a website for me I didn’t know I had!!!

Andrea also let us know on twitter>;;;;;;;>;;;;;;; Here are some apps for your phone that can help on the road http://t.co/i9EwIsmr Food, gas, audio books, & speed traps!

by HTDTruckingJobs at 3/13/12 10:56 AM Thanks Andrea

(Source: http://twitter.com/HTDTruckingJobs/status/179581596389736448)

Oh BTW let me go back to tooting my own horn 4 a minute. My wife and I are slated to be driver profiled in the may edition of Challenge Magazine as I was informed in the following email
Hi Chris,

We’re hoping to have you as the driver profile for the May issue of Challenge Magazine. Do you have any high-resolution photos of your wife and you with your truck? If you could send a couple, that would be great. It’s always nice for the art department to have some choices.

Thanks again for being one of our driver profiles!
Amanda

Amanda Jakl
Assistant Editor
Social Media Manager

Well that’s all I can come up with for now,as I sit here at the flying hook in Albuquerque
And my Mifi signal isn’t the greatest here, kinda frustrating for what should be 4g!

So anyway where was I in my story oh yeah. B4 we left for California and Todd got on his way 2 Houston. I decided to take a picture of us in front of his truck. Just in case y’all were still wondering who he drives for.

As usual this blog was written on my ipad2 using info gathered on twitter. Please leave your comments below. Till next week. Be Safe Drivers.

TTTR 03.13.2012

Welcome back friends. I’ll start off this weeks edition by letting u know I’ve officially named this blog now it’s TTTR. Thats trucker Tuesday twitter recap.
It will be published weekly, or as often as I get around to it.

I would like to thank Challenge Magazine @challengemag
Last week they tweeted about my blog “We love his writing style! Check it out.”

And on that point I also received word from them this morning that they are going to feature my wife and I in their driver profile in may. Very excited! Be sure and pick up the latest issue at any Pilot or Flying J

I wanted to pass along a friendly word of warning to all my fellow truckers OTR. I was informed last week by our companies safety director that the state of Indiana DOT does 35000 inspections annually! Compared to 5000 in the rest of the states. That’s 7 times the national average. They are to say the least ‘aggressive’

They are, by their own admission, more interested in radar than creepers. In other words they are more interested in our safe driving than they are performing inspections to look for mechanical problems.

They are looking at us for violations such as speeding, following too close, improper lane change etc.

Their also NOT a probable cause state according to my safety director. Meaning they can just pull us over because they want to.

So let’s be careful when driving thru Indiana. If we drive safely,like we should anyway as Proffesional drivers. We shouldn’t have any problems.

Apple held a keynote last Wednesday to announce the highly anticipated ipad3, although they are not calling it ‘3’ it’s simply ‘the new iPad’. Leave it to apple to do something unexpected. Lol

Check it out the new iPad It has quite an impressive list of features.
Although it wasn’t, as I was hoping for, smaller(guess I got spoiled on the first android tablet I had by Samsung). It is worth getting. Most notably is the improved retina display and of course the fact that its 4G LTE capable! If your on verizon like I am. They have announced that it’s 4G hotspot will be FREE. That’s good news right!.?

Ok enough of me lets get down to the TTTR for this week.

@tachoblog posts pictures weekly in what they call their View from the cab. Last Fridays post bit.ly/Akuigq included photos from yours truly As well as an awesome shot of a cloud that looks like a UFO from the movie Independence Day. It was taken by my wife Tammy I was so impressed that I had to send it to them for her. There were also pictures from our friend Eric who is back with us now after taking his break from the socials. He says you need that once in awhile. LMFAO @darkstaff as he is known to us on twitter also shared with us these spectacular night shots flic.kr/p/bp6LQo
flic.kr/p/bC1CnX
flic.kr/p/bp6DDw
and “the imprisoned moon” https://twitter.com/darkstaff/status/177712970292404224

There was no new blog post from my friend @todd mccann. But he did mention to us on twitter that he recently did an interview with job shadow.com. He was very informative, and by that I mean long winded as usual LMFAO. Give it a read folks

Wanted to say welcome and thanks to my new followers. I hope you’ll consider subscribing to this blog as well. Andrea@HTD @raysunshine77 and Randy Nose who according to Tachoblog is leaving us for another line of work. Like they said Randy good luck

Well that’s all for this week. As always please feel free to leave me your comments. Hope you’ll come back next week

All info for this blog was gathered on twitter and was written in its entirety on my ipad2
Any material not my own has been credited to its respective owner

Till next week Be safe drivers. Chris McFadden

parting shot clouds after sunset from I80 eastbound in PA

TTR 03.06.2012

OK folks here we go first off let me start by explaining the title TTR. Now get your minds out of the gutter folks.TT It’s not a bodily function nor is it 2 parts of the female anatomy. It could stand 4 trucker trash but that may or may not apply to some of us. As far as the R well even I’m undecided. So therefore I just went with the initials TTR. Kinda like the classic rock band CCR. But there the R stood for revival. That sounds too religious to me. And if you’ve read my blog “Hippocracy on high”. You already know I’m anything but religious.

So this is what I came up with TTR. We are all familiar with the #truckertuesday on twitter. So since today is Tuesday I thought I’d start with that. Now as for the R. As I said I’m undecided. It could be reblog,retweet. Since this blog will contain both. It could mean remix nah scratch that this isn’t a song and I’m no DJ. Incidentally remix is also what Walmart calls the trucks that deliver basically everything on the grocery side of their store that doesn’t require temperature control. I know that cause I used 2 work there and unload them. But now I sometimes get to deliver them haha!

So what is it. Well I’ll leave it up to you to decide. To each his own

The direction I’ve decided to try for this blog is not an original idea. The web is full of people reblogging other peoples blogs. Twitter is overloaded with retweets and pics reposted. But it all works together for the greater good I think.

So anyway I thought if people like@Tachoblogcould get tribemembers,myself included, to send them photos to repost every week in what they call “View from the cab”#VFTC. And idownloadblog etc can repost others blogs or repost their links

So could I So here goes nothin:

We start with a new blog post from one of my twitter followers @toddmccann
This was as he said his first attempt to show us his more artsy side. I suggested to him that a pictures worth a thousand words and maybe this would keep him from being so dang long winded. However he assures me that plot will fail. A trucker visits carhengeis that blog post. Good short read with an accompanying video

@gypsyhooker also has a blogMy flavor of crazy
Todd also tweeted that mike the driverhas a blog as well

Admittedly I’ve not had time to read either of those yet but just trying to help spread the word

Now let’s get to the photo portion shall we….

My first inclination would be to include some of the works of@darkstaff
But he has been on a self imposed break from the socials. So not much to include from him as of late. But you can check out all his stuff on his about me page

I took this photo earlierand edited with my camera+ app on my iphone4s. It was taken at the second westbound rest area on I40 in California

@leftlanetruker shared this picturewith us on twitter

And my wife@tammy McFaddentook this awesome shot while she was driving this morning she said the cloud looked like a UFO
And here is her picture again with some of my
camera+ editing

So now just to wrap this up and make everything clear. The content contained in this blog has been credited to their respective owners.

The content in this blog was collected using Tweetbot on my iPhone. And this blog in its entirety was composed on my ipad2

Let me know what y’all think. And maybe I’ll continue with this format if it is well received

West Texas dust storm update

Ok now that’s messed up WordPress won’t allow me 2 upload videos without paying 4 another service. I thinks it’s time 4 me 2 either find a way back in 2 my original blogspot account or start a new one. It’s much easier to use let’s me upload multiple pictures or videos and will even record video blogs

Hippocracy on high

This picture should be familiar to most truck drivers. If you’ve ever driven through Amarillo TX on I40 you may recognize this truck stop at exit 76 amongst all the other truck stops there. Sorry folks I know the pictures not that good I was just driving by. It is the “Jesus Christ is Lord” truck stop. I have also seen trucks on the road with that name on the trailer so I’m guessing they are part of the same company

I was sitting in the Loves in Tucumcari NM about 6 hours ago and was going to start writing this blog before I forgot what I was going to say. But no such luck. Signal was awful. I couldn’t even tweet. I’m starting to believe truck stops are blocking signals in an effort to get you to purchase their WiFi.? But that’s not my point here

My point here is the issue of ‘Christians’ being hippocrites. In my opinion that is. I’m far from considering myself a Christian. But I would not say I was atheist either. That’s just another organization. I don’t believe in any kind of religious organization. Anymore that is. I probably should fill you in on my background so that you’ll understand I do know what I’m talking about here and that you shouldn’t just dismiss this as the rumblings of a ‘non believer’ who doesn’t know any better.

You see I was born into and raised in a Catholic family. I went to catholic school did bible study. I was an alter boy. The whole nine yards. Later on in my adult life by choice rather than obligation I attended several other churches baptist episcopal etc.

So any way back to my point about this truck stop/trucking company. In Mark 11:15-19, 11:27-33 as well as the other three gospels of the new testament. There is a story in which Jesus goes into a temple in Jerusalem and is furious upon finding money changers(people doing business) in the house of God

Now doesn’t it go without saying that you should not use his name in an attempt to get people to do business with you. I believe that’s exactly what it’s saying. I also believe that this company in Amarillo while claiming to be spreading his word is in fact attempting to attract business using the name of God and I think whether or not you believe that is dead wrong, the bible says as much in the afore mentioned scriptures.

While we are on that subject. Why is it that every church you go to asks you for money? Oh wait I’m sorry the bible actually says that you should tithe Deuteronomy 14:22-29. Convenient for the churches isn’t it?

Ok here it is folks and this is just my opinion. In Matthew 7:1 the bible says. Do Not Judge
Therefore I’m not trying to pass judgement here on anyone or to belittle anyone’s beliefs. You have your right to believe what you want and I have the right to say what I want(1st amendment to the US Constitution)

The way I see it IF there is a God. He isn’t the loving forgiving God that the bible tells of. I don’t believe he cares. I believe he has put us on this earth to suffer. I have experienced too much in my lifetime and there is too much turmoil worldwide for me to believe that if God exists he cares.

I’m sure many of you will disagree,feel free. But if you are Christian and believe in what the bible says, you cannot judge me for my opinions

If you don’t believe what I said about the worldwide turmoil, suffering, poverty, famine, wars etc.
Pick up any newspaper or watch the evening news.

How could a God that loves us allow these things 2 happen? Since I mentioned war I bet most of you fail to realize that alot of wars throughout history have been fought in the name of God. Many people have been killed in the name of God(including in biblical times). Now I ask you is that Christian?.

Hell folks, 911,world trade center, the worst terrorist attack in history on US soil, was perpetrated by a man who thought he was doing it in the name of his god. Food for thought

Now back to my point about the above mentioned business using his name to make money. In the bible Jesus said in Luke 9:23 In order to follow him you must deny yourself and take up your cross daily. He wanted people to live as he did. He had no money, no job, no means of transportation Of course there were no cars back then. Most people traveled by camel. However the one time that Jesus rode instead of walked he did not choose a camel he chose to ride an ass(No folks that’s not a bad word it’s in your bible, it refers to a donkey)

So I believe my point is valid about not using his name to make money while proclaiming yourself to be a good Christian.

And as far as being a good christian, y’all have it made. You have been given the worlds greatest cop out. You can all say I know I’m a sinner but if I ask God will forgive me. Hey that’s wonderful news. So that means that you can live your life the way you want and sin all you want. But if you ask you will be forgiven. Come on now I’ve met alot of people who can ‘talk the talk’ but none of them ‘walks the walk’. Just think about that. If I ever meet anyone who does, I will believe again. I can say that confidently because I know without a doubt, I will never meet such a person.

And speaking of being a good Christian. Most of you reading this are probably truck drivers as am I. I happen to think the two are mutually exclusive. If you are an over the road truck driver you can’t possibly be at home every Sunday to worship the lord and keep holy the sabbath.

You most likely have gone a day or two without a shower. Cleanliness is next to godliness. Right?

There’s been a lot of discussion lately about e-logs. It makes it nearly impossible to fix(fudge,falsify,lie) like drivers were used to being able to do on paper logs. Isn’t that breaking the ninth commandment?

Who among us has not violated a traffic law(speeding etc.). Would that not be considered a sin?

I really had alot of other things to say on this subject. But unfortunately or maybe it’s fortunate for you. I can’t think of anymore right now.

So I’ll conclude this way. Well thought out intelligent non-judgmental comments are welcome. But if you are just going to tell me I’m wrong or you want to quote more bible verses to me. Don’t bother I probably already know them. And please don’t say you’ll pray for me. I know how Christians love to say that. The bottom line is you will not convince me I’m wrong and I know I cannot convince you that I maybe right. So let’s just respectfully agree to disagree and call it a night.

10-4-2011 The big iphone5??? announcement

So here it was finally the day we were all waiting for. Tuesday October 4th 2011. all us macaddicts were so eagerly awaiting the announcement to find out what would be our next new toy(iPhone). We were all I’m sure hoping for a totally redesigned iphone5

Instead what we got was a new iPhone 4s that looks just like the iPhone 4 you could be holding right now as you read this blog. Now let me say this before I go any further. I was originally going to post this Wednesday night then I and the rest of the world learned the tragic news of Steve Jobs untimely death. So then I was like I just can’t say anything negative about his company tonight. I’ll just show some respect and keep my thoughts 2 myself.

Well now it’s Saturday the man was buried yesterday in a private funeral I hear. That’s probably not what everyone wanted but I believe his family was showing respect by not making his funeral public.

Anyway as you know if your following@driverchrismcon twitter I’m sitting at a truckstop waiting 2 go pickup a load in the morning. I started out today at a flying J in Ribon Ca left made my delivery in Stockton then came back 2 the flying J 2 get our showers and wait for our next load. Well after a heated argument with dispatch over the load they wanted us 2 take which would not have us home in time. I agreed to go pickup the load with the understanding that we could bring it to our home terminal in Springfield MO drop it there and get another load taking us home 2 TN as had been previously agreed upon.

So I start heading towards where we were going 2 pickup because I checked the book and saw that there were 3 truckstops at this exit off I 5 and we would only be an hour away from the customer instead of 2. Well just before I got here my iPhone rang, it was our dispatcher. I thought that was strange because he normally communicates with us by Qualcomm. So I answered and he told me he had found another load for us to pickup in the morning. This load we could take straight towards the house in TN instead of having 2 go to the terminal in Springfield. Only problem is I’ve gotta turn right back around go back thru Stockton plus 2 more hours north 2 pickup this load. Dam sure glad I don’t pay for the fuel in this truck anymore.

So anyway I need 2 get back 2 my point before y’all get bored reading about my day log. Incidentally I’m sitting here in my truck writing this blog on my ipad2(which I’m lovin more and more everyday. It’s almost like. Why do I even need a laptop?) less than 2 hours away from Cupertino which is why I thought about all this.

I was initially largely disappointed that we were getting an iPhone 4s that looked just like my iPhone 4. Why pay the difference if no one can tell the difference. Right?

But as Tim Cook said inside it’s a whole different beast. The iPhone 4s should come presumably with iOS 5 already. Since it will be available for download on the 12th 2 days before the official launch day.

It will feature an A5 dual core processor with 1 gb RAM which should make it perform up to twice as fast. 8 megapixel camera with auto focus auto flash and some other technical goodies which I don’t claim 2 understand. Maybe @darkstaffcould explain them 2 you if you really want to know. It’s gonna shoot video in 1080p HD!! Which is way cool. So overall sounds like a much better camera.

That is really the most of the improvement on it the camera. It will also for the first time be available in 64gb. So we can store even more photos videos movies and of course download more songs from iTunes as well as movies you can purchase through iTunes and books from the iBook store. Like Steves biography that I preordered today. Sadly I’m not much on reading but since it’s all about MR Jobs RIP Steve and thank you for all you gave me…uh I mean all you created that I bought from your company and I can download and read it on my ipad2. I figured it was worth buying.

So in conclusion after Tuesday’s announcement I really wasn’t sure if I wanted 2 buy one. But after Steves death on Wednesday and everybody kept saying the ‘s’ in iphone4s was for him. And I took a closer look at the specs and realized how much faster(should rival 4g speeds) and how much more powerful it will be and I can get 64gb of storage as opposed 2 the one I have now which is only half that size. I’ve decided that maybe the best way 2 honor this legendary genius(Steve jobs) would be to run out on launch day and buy it. Hopefully that will work outnfor me. We will be home. But I can’t say 4 sure that our local Verizon store will have one 4 me if and when I get in the door. If history repeats and preorders are any indication. It will bealotveasier said then done. I’m not one of those people who’s willing 2 camp out in front of a store. Oh sure I’ll get there real early maybe even the night before. But I wouldn’t camp out as some people do days or even a week ahead of time. I can’t even imagine. Can you?

As always comments suggestions or whatever you feel like saying are ok with me I’m just glad 2 know somebody’s actually reading this crap LMFAO

Till next time this has been another blog by @driverchrismcChris McFadden
Www.driverchrismc.com