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

West Texas dust storm

Well folks I was going 2 go back 2 my original blog spot account and abandon this one. But apparently I can’t get into driverchrismc.blogspot.com. Think i forgot my username or password So I guess y’all are stuck with me here. Anyway this isn’t really a blog post just wanted to show y’all some pictures of the dust storm I had 2 drive through yesterday on I40 west of Amarillo I made it into a little video sideshow presentation with a new app on my iPhone 4s. Called slideshow+. Available in the app store.

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

The day the apple died

Steve Jobs 1955-10/5/2011

It was Wednesday 10/5/11. A day that I may not soon or should never forget, for several reasons.

First and foremost it was my wife’s birthday, she was 21 again excuse me she says she’s 31 this year. She figured she better change it since our middle daughter will be 21 in a few months.
Anyway I like a dumass forgot. Oh shit. Now not only should I never forget her birthday but I should also remember that day as the day my beloved GranDad died back in 1997. Now my wife being as understanding as she is said 2 me that if I was anything like her I’d try to forget that date.

Meaning that she also tries to forget the day her grandfather passed away unfortunately she can’t forget because that day is also her dads and her aunts birthday Also some years later her grandmother passed away on her middle daughters birthday. Notice I referred to her daughter here because I was making the point about the odd coincidences of birthdays and deaths in her family. Normally I refer to her as I did previously as our daughter. I feel like her and her sisters are my daughters. I don’t use the 4 letter word ‘step’

So anyway I said to my wife People in your family should stop having birthdays. You killed Steve Jobs Honey how could you. And we both laughed.

So anyway it was Wednesday evening I had been driving most of the day I think I had about three hours left on my shift. I was riding down the road thinking on the blog I wanted to write that night about my disappointment over the previous days iPhone announcement. It was shortly after 5 when I got a text message from our son n law. He told me Steve Jobs had just died. Whoa. I just couldn’t write the blog I had planned

I immediately picked up my iPhone(which is something I should never do while driving the truck). I quickly checked Twitter and the Internet and sure enough it was all over the place Steve Jobs, the creative genius behind the very device I was holding then as well as the one I’m writing this blog on, had in fact died The pancreatic cancer that he had suffered from for several years finally took his life. RIP Steve Jobs 1955-2011

Now I know I’m rambling and can be quite random folks but bear with me read on please I’ll get to the point I promise y’all.

Anyway the evening went on and turned into night and my wife took over as usual to drive her shift. I twittered around for awhile before retiring to the sleeper berth. But to no avail. I couldn’t sleep for one reason or another. I was literally up all night folks. Now this was a problem because the load we were on was considered by Prime and the customer a “high value load”. This meant we couldn’t stop I had to drive my shift Thursday morning when my wife was done in order for this load to be delivered on time.

However I always put safety first. Like I tweeted. No load is more valuable than our lives. I knew I could not safely drive my shift being that I hadn’t slept. So tell you what I did,and thanks Eric for giving me the idea to include this in the blog, for those of you that don’t know he is @darkstaffand he also has a new twitter persona now he’s using to promote his new wordpress blog. So y’all go follow@ebtographySo anyway finally as I was still awake and my wife was running out of time I sent a Quallcomm message to our dispatcher explaining the situation. He almost immediately arranged a swap for us. By the time we got to the truckstop in Amarillo he had another truck coming to get our load and we in turn took their load which wasn’t due to be delivered in California till Saturday morning instead of Friday. That gave us the break I needed to be able to sleep. Thanks Darren and Prime Inc. Just goes to show that sometimes it can work out to stand up for safety.

My review of my new ipad2

So Ive had my new ipad2 for a couple weeks now so I decided to post my review of it. Like anyone cares what I think LOL. But I’m giving it to you anyway so read it or leave it

I had to sell my iPad back in July when we needed the money so I was without one 4 awhile and I really missed it surprisingly. I say surprisingly because I originally didn’t want one. Shocker huh
But it’s true. Back when Verizon started selling the iPads I went into a store while we were laid over in Springfield Mo I was planning on purchasing the iPad. But my initial reaction was it’s too big, only works on wifi not Verizon’s 3G. I wasn’t too sure about the purchase

But just so happens Samsung had come out with a smaller tablet that day. It was an android device ran on Verizon’s 3G had really good cameras front and rear. If I remember right 5&8mp respectively. So I thought for a minute and you must understand now back then I was not a diehard apple fanboy/Mac addict. Although I did already have a Mac book pro. I didn’t own an iPhone. I know your all shocked. I heard the gasps haha. But yes it is true So I know you all want to know why not Well here’s my answer plain and simple I won’t do business with AT&T and thats all I have to say about that(Forest Gump reference)

So anyway I got the Samsung galaxy tab liked it played with it for a few months and can’t even say that was unhappy with it. However in February of that next year when apple unveiled the happy happy news that Verizon was getting the iPhone. I just knew I had to have one and in March I did in fact get one. As a matter of fact I bought another one for my wife a few months later. Needless to say although I’m saying it(joke courtesy of @dark staff). She loves it too.

So I’m rambling I know I apologize bear with me I’ll get to the review I promise

Anyway when I went back to get her iPhone I also purchased an iPad! Yeah me haha
Honestly I was less than thrilled with it but still satisfied(mainly because it was made by apple Steve Jobs is a god LMFAO )

So like I said I had to sell it and then I realized that I missed it. So hear goes folks we went to WalMart while we were home a couple weeks ago and I got a new ipad2 :)!!!!!!!!

So here is what I think about. I like it a lot a whole lot I mean really really like it

The slimmer sleeker design is awesome(looks more like an iPod touch than the iPhone)

The volume/speaker is much much better

But here’s the standout and again maybe it’s just me but in my humble opinion the single most unique functional innovative design feature of the ipad2 wait for it

It’s not actually part of the device it’s an accessory. It’s the smart cover. One word Apple/Steve Jobs GENIUS I LOVE THIS SMART COVER

So hear we go and I hate to say anything bad about an apple product but this is supposed to be an honest review and it has 2 be said

The cameras both front and rear. I mean come on Apple what were they thinking these cameras suck. Sorry I had to say that but it’s true

I think the only reason that they even added cameras to this device was so they could add the FaceTime app to it. Which let’s be honest has anyone ever actually used FaceTime productively, I certainly haven’t. Or is it perhaps just a feature that apple can say is truly exclusive to any iOS device

Anyway enough bad news

The icloud folks Truly Amazing. It hasn’t even officially been released yet in ios5 and already it is amazing

I’ll tell you how I came to know that. You see I love music. I have 1671 songs on my iPhone I have used up 14.9gb of my 32gb iphone4. Now being that I didn’t want to fill my 16gb ipad2 up with all that music I chose not to sync my music from my iTunes account onto the iPad.

So your asking So what about cloud. Well as I said I didn’t sync any of my music to the iPad but all I have to do is open up my iTunes go to the ‘purchased’ tab and it will show me my entire iTunes music library! All I have to do is pick what I want to download hit the little cloud download button and instantly and free of charge(thanks apple finally). The song or songs or albums I’ve selected is downloaded from the cloud to my iPad. Can Genious Jobs come up with anything better I don’t know and personally I’m not sure what the future of apple is going to be without him as CEO

There are more amazing features I’m sure just can’t think of any more to write about right now

Oh and one more note on how bad those cameras are and how I know for a fact. Prime the company we drive for utilizes both transflo/trippak scanning services for us to turn our paperwork in. Recently I have been using the TripPak mobile application on my iPhone. Works fine no problems but the other day I tried to use my iPad to photograph my paperwork and send it in via trippak mobile. Well the next day I received a quallcomm message from our company and I quote. “the documents you submitted for that trip were blurry and unreadable. Please resend” need I say more I think not. I really hope they improve the cameras in the ipad3 otherwise I probably won’t want one.

Anyway that all for tonight folks and I think it’s really enough I outdid myself this time
As always your comments are welcome and appreciated. And of course I must say a special thanks to @Toddmccann@alanqbristolfor helping me get the word out about my fledgling little blog here and thanks to to Eric@dark staff for letting me steal that needless to say joke

Thanks one and all for reading spread the word and if u don’t already follow me and my wife on twitter@driverchrismc@tammymcfadden

My wife says I’m bipolar…?

So my wife @tammymcfadden thinks I’m bipolar. I strongly disagree. But I was told by a doctor about 10 years ago that I have adult ADD. I was on Prozac and the like medication until I started truck driving. I wasn’t sure it would pass a DOT physical so I decided 2 stop taking the meds so I could get a job driving 4 Werner(insert jokes here). Anyway after they trained me I stayed about 8 months then I moved on 2 PTL. I was at PTL 4 a year b4 I came 2 Prime as a lease operator. Eventually I became a CDL instructor 4 them taught my wife 2 drive and now we run team cross country. Now let’s see where was I see told y’all I wasn’t bipolar just a little random…oh wait dam there goes a squirrel LMFAO that one never gets old.
Anyways I guess that’s all 4 tonight had lots of other thoughts 4 this blog while I was drivin today but right now I can’t think of any. Guess it’s that ADD thing kickin in haha. But at least I can’t ramble on about a subject say 1600 words or so I’m not naming names but you know who you are @ToddMcCann seriously though if u want to read a good blog I recommend his-thanks 4 reading my random blog comments are welcome and be sure you follow me on twitter @driverchrismc truck driver trucker(inside joke)

My first attempt at blogging on wordpress

Ok folks so here goes. I’m not a blogger I’m not much on writing. I lack the creativeness and dedication it would take to keep a blog updated.

I only signed up for this account as an add on to my website http://www.driverchrismc.com

So anyway I just finished reading my twitter trucker buddies @toddmccann blog. yes I called u a trucker, get over it! LMFAO.

So anyways he doesn’t think he’s a trucker Although he is admittedly a driver. I really didn’t know there was a difference. I thought @tammymcfadden,my wife, and I were truckers but I guess according to todds opinion. We are truck drivers. Like @Darkstaff said we don’t fit the ‘stereotype’ of dirty uneducated NASCAR watching truckers. And I suppose if todd was talking about not wanting to be considered a stereotypical trucker. I can understand where he’s coming from.

However, like darkstaff said both my wife and I are professional and we enjoy what we do. And he hit the nail right on the head. This isn’t just a job. It’s a lifestyle and not everyone could do it. Sure anyone can be taught to hold a steering wheel but not just anyone can be a truck driver(trucker).

So that’s just my opinion. Hope you didn’t mind being my inspiration for my first blog post Thanks Todd and thank you darkstaff for your opinions on the subject