RowdyRebel

sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit...I got some ocean-front property I'd be happy to sell ya right here in Illinois.

I've always had a rule... ...I won't date any girl who adversely affects the performance of my bike. Fat girls are out. So are girls who don't like bikes.

The seat that was in the truck when I bought it, besides the air-supports not working (lumbar, something in the thigh area, too, etc...) it was always too wide for my behind, too. The regular old 915 Talladega fits me real good, though. I can't see you being THAT much smaller than me....I wear 34" waist jeans....with 36" inseams. 34x34's are too short & expose the ankles of my boots when I sit My seat stays all of the way back, but I leave the backrest upright...no room to recline very far anyway, and besides, I'm a driver. If you have to move your body or have to put any effort into stretching to reach any part of the steering wheel, you really aren't in control of the vehicle. You are just along for the ride, and as long as nothing happens, you'll probably be alright. Get up on the wheel & drive

I've seen some of them magnum radios where the CB shop is claiming some pretty big numbers on the power...sure, I been tempted to spend the money on one of them, but my General Lee's been giving me great service. I run an Astatic mic, too... ...but don't waste my money on them expensive antennas anymore. I just run a 102" steel whip. Sure, it gets into EVERYTHING (reaches 15'6" mounted on the LOWER mirror bracket) but just like a Timex, it takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. The one on the truck right now cost me $15...and that was 5 years ago. Gets out every bit as good as one of them high-dollar antennas, without any SWR issues, and without having to worry about low bridges, low branches, or any other overhead obstruction.

You oughtta get a new seat. I bought a seat last year... http://www.bostromseating.com/products/t915.htm I got #2345027 in leather...Dual HD Dampers & Armrests. I got it with mechanical lumbar, but air is an option...the seat that came with the truck had air lumbar that didn't work. Mechanical just works. The dual HD dampers work GREAT...even on the roughest roads, the seat doesn't bottom out. Granted, it isn't as smooth of a ride as some other, softer suspensions...but you can choose between a few different dampening systems...and one of the other systems may give that softer ride. I just wanted a seat that I could set & forget. Sometimes (especially on longer trips) a softer riding seat would be nice...but usually I'm in & out of the truck so many times during the day that it's no big deal. I HATE bottoming out, though. Bumps in the road aren't too bad...but when the chair bottoms out, it can hurt. My seat don't bottom out, even if it's set real low.

That's the forearm...just below the elbow on my left arm. Kinda hard to take good pics of your own arm ...and my ass cheeks ain't that tanned...they ain't seen the sun is at LEAST 3 decades. My arms, on the other hand...I don't wear sleeves memorial day - labor day....and that left arm spends a LOT of time hanging out the window with the sun shining down on it....'specially since I only got 2-70 air in the Mack. I usually have a real good tan on THAT arm by the end of the summer:thumb:

You're being awful generous. Most of them companies want to make you a trainer after 90 days... ...so 90 days out of school, some punk kid becomes a trainer... ...90 days later, the punk kid trained by the punk kid can start training... ...and ya wonder why the industry is filled with a bunch of know-it-all screw-ups? Yeah, I went to school to get my CDL...but I had already been driving for a while. I've been getting paid to drive one size vehicle or another since my 18th birthday when I got a job delivering flowers (my birthday is 2 days before Hallmark day...I figured SOMEONE was making money off of all the pathetic saps who were expected to pay big bucks for weeds that would be dead in a week...may as well get my hands on some of it). Taught people how to ride motorcycles while in college, then started running wreckers once I got out of college. That job was fun, and I was being trained into the heavy duty stuff when the company got bought out & the new owners brought in their own employees. That's when I went to CDL school to get what I was working towards in the wreckers. I guess I got lucky, because my trainer was old-school. He had been with the company for over 12 years at the time, and had owned his own truck in the years before that...he had been around for a while. I've had my CDL for 8 years now...been paid to drive for almost 13. It ain't getting funner, that's for sure. New regs...new technology...new mandates...stricter enforcement... ...and now THIS! Yup, just like carriers have had their safestat score, now individual drivers will also have a score. I find this rather amusing, though.... http://www.csa2010.com/articles/CSA2010_Driver_Introduction.htm scroll down to the bottom of the page.... I avoid 'em whenever possible. If I know they are somewhere waiting for me, I take a different route. Even if I'm EMPTY, I don't run across their scales if I can avoid it. If I hear they are out with the portables...or just sitting somewhere waiting to harass big trucks, I take a different route. I've been running that way since I hauled logs...and it carried over to every truck I've driven since....I really don't see any reason to change that now.

have a sticker in the back window of the '86 Ranger... "I still miss my ex... ...but my aim is improving"

Yup...I found that out the hard way, too....and no heat shield on the derned exhaust, either Getting in, the mirror bracket hit the intake and the door quit opening...I was already climbing up the steps, so when the door stopped & bounced back, it knocked me into the stack

I usually use 2nd @ 1600 RPM's...unless you consider L to be 1st, then I'd be in 3rd...unless you are counting splits as gears, then it would be 5th or 6th depending on where I've got the splitter lever.... If you can't push a little harder on the throttle and accelerate, you're in the wrong gear.

Hell, I just paid $8500 for the house next door...doubled the size of my land holdings....got about 1/2 acre now....and it guarantees I ain't gonna have any neighbors anytime soon. You ain't gonna find land for $99/acre ANYWHERE! Even in the NRA magazine, they advertise 35 acre tracts out west for around $30K....and that's still over $950/acre. Once I have the truck paid off, I may look into getting maybe 3 or 4 of those 35 acre tracts...as long as they are all together... My goal in life is to have enough land that I can sit out on my back porch sippin' on a cold beer shootin' bottles & cans. 100+ acres somewhere would be nice...'specially if it had a 10 mile drive down a 2-track dirt road to get there.

Nope...that was high screwl I gradiated from in '97. I'll be 31 next month Fiance just turned 26 last month...she was 18 when we started going out. I figure, if it don't work out with her, I'll be too old to get another 18 year old...so it BETTER work.

OK...now I don't feel so old anymore.

Almost looked as though he didn't select a low enough gear, lugged the engine, and attempted to downshift on the hill....and snapped the drive shaft when the weight of the truck + gravity fought the torque + gearing of the engine & transmission...the drive shaft proved itself to be the weak link. I've seen a lot of coal haulers attempt to "get a run" at the coal pile, start lugging & slam the transmission into the next lower gear...surprised more of them haven't dumped their drive shafts right there on the coal pile. Then again, the company trucks are cut back to MAYBE 425 HP and they are only 80,000 pounds...not 600+ HP pulling 400K

OK...now I'm feeling old.

A definite improvement

As long as the restriction is based upon their acceptance of government assistance and NOT on their age, you'd be fine. However, considering the 65+ demographic is the most reliable when it comes to showing up on election day, you'd be hard pressed to find enough of your OTHER elected representatives to get that passed. Not only that, but when it comes to the younger crowd....think about who they tend to support How's that saying go again? If you are 20 and not liberal, you have no heart. If you are 30 and not conservative, you have no brain.

I'd rather go back to the days when only landowners voted. Actually, there is nothing in the Constitution to prevent a state from prohibiting non-landowners from voting. As long as you are not using race, color, or previous condition of servitude (15th Amendment), sex (19th Amendment), failure to pay poll tax or other tax (24th Amendment), or age if over 18 (26th Amendment), there is nothing in the Constitution which would prohibit a state from keeping any group of individuals from voting. There is no Constitutional Right to Vote, so long as the restriction is not based upon one of those specific protected classes of persons. That being said, you COULD legally restrict voting to only landowners. You COULD legally restrict voting to employed individuals. You COULD legally restrict voting to those NOT on government assistance. You can even restrict voting to legal citizens who were fans of pre-steroid era baseball... ...but you can NOT, however, restrict voting to only people 18-49. That would be unconstitutional.

http://www.atom.com/fun_games/tiger_woods_defense/?xrs=cp=_gorilla

I buy my own. I shopped around, found a policy I would be happy with, and bought it. Then they raised the premiums...I wasn't happy, but I dealt with it. Now, the policy is NOTHING like the one I bought...AND it's getting more expensive. F 'em. I'll drop 'em like a hot rock. I've had people tell me "you'd be crazy not to pay TRIPLE just to have insurance..." or "I'd gladly pay twice what I do now..." and it is that kind of thinking that allows these run-away prices. People need to stand up and say ENOUGH! If something happens, I'll pay out of my pocket...or work out a payment plan directly with the doctor or hospital that treats me. I don't have to worry about any insurance company telling me what is or is not covered, or some government bureaucrat telling me what I HAVE to spend my hard earned money on. Insurance should be just that...insurance. Expected expenses should NOT be covered...just the unexpected ones. When they decide to allow me to buy insurance, and the premiums are reasonable, I will purchase insurance. I do not want or need to buy into any shared medical expense account...which is what medical "insurance" has become.

I need to make a phone call to BC/BS tomorrow regarding a letter I finally got around to opening. I guess Illinois passed a bunch of new mandates for various coverages which must be included on all policies written in the state. The one that's pi$$ing me off the most, though, is the $20 co-pay for doctor visits whether the deductible has been met or not....along with changes in my deductible which are unclear at this point in time. The letter says my deductible has gone up, but the "new" amount of the deductible is considerably lower than what it SHOULD be. When I first took out my policy, it was simple. I paid $65/month and it protected my assets in the event of a catastrophic injury or illness. I had a $1750 deductible, which I had to pay every dime of before BC/BS would fork over one red cent. Once I met the deductible, BC/BS would pay 80% on the next $15,000 of medical bills, when I would meet my $4750 maximum out-of-pocket for the year. Beyond that point, BC/BS would pay 100%. I was pi$$ed off LAST year when they jacked the premium up by 30% to $85. It was pushing the limits of what I was willing to pay, but I paid it. I'm not sure what the new state mandates have done to the premium THIS year, but if they have gone up by even $0.01, I'm dropping the insurance altogether. I can take that $85/month and put it in the bank. Insurance is SUPPOSED to cover the unexpected expenses...the out-of-the-ordinary, unplanned, unforeseen events. Insurance is NOT supposed to pay for the anticipated and expected expenses of daily life. Think of it this way: What would your auto policy premium look like if the state mandated a $10 co-pay on gasoline fill-ups? What about a $10 co-pay on tires, brakes, tune-ups, oil changes, etc.? Those are expected costs that go hand in hand with owning a car...not what INSURANCE is supposed to cover. Anyway, I'm fed up with being told I HAVE to buy certain coverages that I do not want or need, so I'm just not going to buy them anymore. When the state allows insurance companies to sell medical INSURANCE, I will buy it again. However, as long as the state mandates that companies sell medical expense accounts, I refuse to buy in. I'll pay for my own damned medical expenses one way or the other. It would be nice to have a little protection for my assets in the event of a catastrophic injury or illness, but I'm not too concerned about it. I'll cross that bridge if & when I ever stumble onto it.

Heck, you could lose control if ya ain't got a good grip on the wheel when you blow out a LP 22.5 on the steer, too...

Heck, I can feel the difference in ride quality on the haul roads just going from a LP 22.5 in the company trucks (40" tires) to the 11R24.5's on my truck (44" tires). Smaller tires drop into holes where bigger tires don't. Heck, put some floats on the steer, too...wide tires will float right over some holes that would swallow a small car.

eh....just get ya some bigger tars 'n ya won't even feel them pot holes.