The Demopolis Asphalt Plant Broke Down Today

It was just an average day today, at work. Hauling asphalt from the Demopolis plant to highway 80 in Bellamy. And then, the asphalt plant broke down. All trucks, including me, parked for 2 hours, with nothing better to do, waiting for the asphalt plant to be fixed. We chatted on the CD radio for a while, but eventually it went silent. I play the game on my phone, and took some notes. Collaborated and transferred notes around. And now I am writing this. 

It is Friday, June 28th, 2024 and I am ready for the weekend. Julie has not called me yet, asking me if I will work tomorrow. But I am expecting that phone call. Of course, I will say yes, because I want and need the extra money. But I would rather have two days off work, to relax my mind and body.  On another note, so to speak, I finally chose a note taking program and app, as my default notes taking program and app. 

And, it wasn't what I was expecting at all. Microsoft OneNote. I know, right? It was the lowest on the totem pole. I never thought I would ever choose it. I still use ColorNote for quick notes on my homepage of my phone. But when it comes to writing my thoughts down, writing ideas down, tasks to do, yeah, Microsoft OneNote. It's the bomb. 

I weighed all the options. Looked at all the different features on all the different apps. And I couldn't believe it. Lowest on the totem pole. Shaking my head. Microsoft OneNote wins hands down. That app, that I thought was just too simple and had no features, is slap damn full of features, organization, and ease of use.

Stephen

Passing Around Stupid Pills

Someone is passing around stupid pills at work today. Honestly, I have not seen this much condensed amount of stupidity in one place. Tim could clearly see that there were 15 trucks front to back that needed to pull forward, before the spreader machine ran right up our ass. Did he go to his truck, and move his truck forward? 

No! He stood there talking to other drivers, while the spreader machine is running up our ass. So, I got out of my truck, and I said to him, we are packed in like rats here, please pull your truck forward. And he said, packed in like rats huh? 

I said, yeah! Do you see how close these trucks are to each other? Do you see that the spreading machine is coming up on a large group of trucks that are packed in tight together, very fast? Do you see that? Will you please pull forward. Finally! It's sunk in! And he walked to his truck and pulled his truck forward. 

I don't understand what type of convincing is needed, to trigger the common sense needed, to see that these trucks do not need to be packed in so closely like this. Pull forward! Spread out! Stop the damn spreader machine from running up the next truck's ass! Bushel baskets full of stupidity! 😡

On another note, it is Friday, May 10th, 2024. And I am ready for this day to be over. I am ready to start the weekend. I have some great plans that involve mean earning money. And, I'm going to learn, take notes, plan, organize, and take action. Absofreakinlutely!

Stephen

So Far So Easy

Another easy morning at ST Bunn. I am here, with 4 other drivers, at a stockpile, off of highway 43, in Northport, Alabama. We are all loaded and waiting to get started. Dooley is having a meeting with state officials, about this road job. And we are instructed to stay here, at the stockpile location, until the meeting is finished, and they are ready to get started. 

Most of the job is already finished. We only have about a mile left to go. And the job will be finished. And we will be able to move on to another job. We all worked late yesterday, I clocked out at 7:40 p.m. . And I got home about 8:15 p.m. . I did not stay awake too long. I went to sleep about 10:00 p.m. . I got plenty of sleep, and I feel fully rested this morning. 

I already paid the rent. And I already made the pickup truck payment last week. The only bills that are left now are the utility bills. I also paid for the server cost, to keep my website up and running. The email marketing website is going to be another $30, in about 10 days. I have it. I will pay it. The email marketing business that I just recently started looks very promising. I hope to do very well at it. But I still have a lot to learn about sending email using the can-spam compliancy and proper etiquette. 

I'm also having trouble finding good affiliate offers. Most of them is just junk. It does not work. And it is overpriced. It is very hard to find an offer that is worthy of advertising in an email. But, I must not give up. I must keep looking. I will try other affiliate program websites. Hopefully, I will find a good one that I can use on a regular basis. 

Stephen

It Took 3 Months

After 3 months of learning, trying different methods, and changing settings, and editing and adding DNS records, I have finally discovered that the reason my business emails are going into other people's Spam folders, is not my fault. It is nothing that I did, or needed to do. The IP address that was assigned to me, by the hosting company Colohouse, was already being blocked by another spam monitoring company called SORBS. They blocked the IP address back in November of 2023. 

I did not start my account with Colohouse until February of 2024. And so, this means that the IP address that Colohouse assigned to me, when I signed up for the hosting package, was already being blocked by SORBS before they assigned it to me. And, for 3 months! 3 fucking months! I racked my brain, trying to figure out why my emails are going into other people's Spam folders for no reason. 

As it turns out, there was a good reason. And it's not my fault. And was never my fault. It is Colohouse's fault, and I should take legal action against them, for not checking the IP address to see if it was being blocked by any spam monitoring companies. They said, they will put a request to delist the IP address from SORBS. I will need to wait 48 hours for other people to get off their big fat asses, and remove the IP address from the blacklist on SORBS. 

After they FINALLY remove the IP address from the blacklist, I will be able to turn verification emails back on, and also send out newsletters to the members of my website. Knowing, that my emails will be sent to their inboxes. It took a long time to figure out, and nobody offered help at all, to give me advice, as to what might be the reason why my emails are getting sent to spam. I had to figure it out all by myself. 

That, accompanied with a full-time job, as a dump truck driver for an asphalt company, it doesn't leave me with much time to figure shit out. But the little bit of time that I did have, I was able to do research online, and find out through MXtoolbox, the reason why my emails are going to the spam folder. That is when I learned about SORBS.

And the rest, as they say, is history 

Stephen

Working Late Today

May 1st, 2024, 6:25 p.m. 

Working late today, shooting Rock on highway 43. I'm pretty sure it's going to be dark by the time we get back to the shop. But, I still want to stop at the store and buy some more noodles and some Chicago steak seasoning.

Stephen