Below are the 5 most recent journal entries recorded in Dick Williams' LiveJournal:

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Sunday, October 11th, 2009
9:56 am	Fall - the season and the state of the driveaway business - Oct 2009 I'm in a one month dry spell -mostly self-imposed but also testimony to the slow flow of trucks.   I've had to limit my trips to short runs where I was out only one night at a time due to my mom's needs - she'll be 102 on October 26th and with those 102 years comes an accumulation of issues. She's in fairly good general health but the eyes are dim from macular degeneration, the knees are weak, the hands don't have much grip and hearing is poor so she does well with those conditions and I admire her a lot for 'keeping on keeping on". Every single thing we do easily and without thought is an effort for her and I'm glad to provide assistance which means checking in on her every day now.  Not too conducive to this line of work. This month, October 2009, my wife, Gay, is out of town visiting kids and friends from  OR to VA to NC to  GA so with her out of town  I can't even do the short local runs I was able to do- thus the last two trips I did were in September and shorties with excess deadheading. That's been the story of 2009 for me - deadhead 250 miles by bus or toad to to a rev run of 200 miles and still end up 300 mile from home. The only thing good about it is the toad miles - racking up a lot of those and they're golden  since they bring in a 55 cent per mile deduction while only costing me about 8 cents per mile out of pocket for gas.  This will be my first year to operate at a loss for tax purposes - so the normal drill of owing several thousand to IRS wll not take place for the 2009 tax year. I'm at about 11,000 miles. Won't add much if any in October and probably not much in Nov and Dec so this will be by far my lowest mileage total since starting in May 2001. As a result of the two factors - need to stay close to home and very few trips to select from I've made apps in a couple of others lines of work - one would be permanent and the other seasonal. First was an app from Craig's List to a medical courier outfit. Applying via Craigs List is pretty much the same as filling out a paper app then using it to make  a paper airplane and throwing it as hard as you can out a window.  Nothing ever happens - no "thank you very much for applying", "go to hell" or "don't call us - we'll call you".  The apps just go out to die so no expectations from that one. The one showing a spark of life was done online for a seasonal job with IRS as Tax Examiner. I, the guy who only got my 2008 return filed about a week ago and had someone else do it, am applying to work for IRS. A little ironic or shaky I know. That would being in Feb and go for a few months. I got my rating back so in this case I know they got the app - haven't  been selected so that one is pending.    There was another Craig's List add for driveaway out of Kansas City to destinations within 500 miles with paid return transportation. That I could do - a day trip out and return overnight by bus so that would fit my mom-care requirements but since it was Craig's List that app went out but no follow up or any slight show of interest even with my 8 years of doing this work as my credentials. Three irons in the fire - I anticipate I may get a call from IRS so have some hope there. Also Census will do more work in the Spring and I'd assume they go back  to the list of  people who did the address canvassing and make some offers but that's around April when their next field campaign will begin. Fortunately I have income from my retirement but would like to have some regular work to supplement that and provide some structure to the day. Driveaway work is ideal when it's working  since it's so flexible but for now it's at low ebb.   I know : whine, whine, whine. Never becoming for an adult.  So that's the October report . I have one week of deferred housekeeping to do in the next 4 hours. Gay has been out of town so I've done nothing but let mail and newspapers accumulate..  Time to tend to those, water the plants and hope they're still alive, vacuum the rugs and wash the dishes. Image above: the latest in green GPS technology - no power cord, no satellites, no nothin'!  Just align the sphere with what you see outside your truck window and use thumb to rotate as you travel.   Happy Trails Dick Williams Current Music: Happy Trails by Ray Hensley (Comment on this)
Friday, July 31st, 2009
11:20 am	Summer 2009 A recap of the past couple of months in a word: slow.  Still at low ebb. The job list comes out once a week if that often and has 3 to 6  jobs on it. The typical job anymore is travel 200 miles to the pickup spot, drive 200 miles and end up 200 miles from home meaning deadheading on both ends ot the trip - about a $40 bus ticket twice - move the unit and wait for the bus home. Very inefficient way to do this work but for now it's that or nothing.  Got a 2nd toad - bought a 1996 Saturn set up for towing from another driver who's leaving DUSA and this work. His car was nicely set up for use with a stowaway tow bar and the car gets good mileage and has an air conditioner that works so it's an upgrade in comfort and convenience even is only a new newer than my 1995 Chevy S-10 pickup.  195,000 miles on the Saturn vs about 165K on the S-10 but the air is the big thing for summer and the  better mpg.  Just need some trips that will make use of a toad.. I'll sell the S-10 - wanna buy a toad? Most recent trip was yesterday - July 30, 2009 and not a good one. Moved a Sterling tri-axle crane from Lindsborg, KS to Kansas City MO. And that required a $37 bus ride to Salina and a $45 cab ride to Linsdborg from Salina.  Then the unit was on empty so no help ffrom found fuel and it got 4.3 mpg so took 50 gallons or $125 in fuel to make the 200  mile trip. Add bus and cab of about 80 and turnpike toll of $3.45 and the take was just about equal to the expenses. One of the few times I've done that - made a big mistake in taking a trip. I will get some help for the cab ride and the poor fuel economy. We're guraranted to get 6 mpg and company makes up the diff from my actual of 4.3 mpg to 6 mpg so that'll be about $40 added to the $45 so I'll come in around $85 and maybe more if Dispatch takes pity on me.  I advise others to run every trip on paper and leave these losers behind - in this case i knew it would not be a good trip but decided to take a chance. Should have let it pass.  Found fuel could have made it ok but that didn't happen. Later - Dispatch did spiff me enough to make the trip come out ok. On some jobs it's "shared pain" - company doesn't make much, driver doesn't make much but we keep a customer.   You hope not to have too many shared pain trips in a month. New computer system an HP E9107- a sig upgrade from my nine year old system. And LCD monitor for the first time - that's nice tool Dick Williams Kansas City MO   (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 30th, 2009
2:37 pm	Independence KS Delivered an ISUZU cab and chassis here in Independence KS and waiting now on the northbound Jefferson Lines bus back to KC. Trip was 97 pct uneventful. The 3% that was eventful was here in Independence. I got to the north side of town - coming in on US 75- and fuel was down to "E" - same way I found the truck in KC. I had about 5 miles to go and didn't want to risk running out prior to the drop so stopped and added one gallon. Tried to start and got only a click. Again and same. I'd had no problems up to that point including a brief bathroom stop in Garnett - truck started fine there but it was dead in Indy. It didn't seem like battery voltage as headlights were bright - panel lights bright. This unit doesn't have an ammeter or voltmeter so couldn't judge the stage of charge. I asked in the gas station if anybody had jumpers even though I didn't think they'd to any good. A guy named Rick said he thought he had a pair with him and he did so he maneuvered his pick up next to my cab and chassis and we set up for a jump. First try and "CLICK" again - second and another "CLICK" but on third or fourth turn of the key the engine turned over and started - to my great relief. I didn't have a strong Plan B and was worried since there's one northbound bus a day through Independence. Also didn't have any night/weekend contact info for the receiving outfit Hackney. They're hard to contact M-F 8-5. I drove the final 4 or 5 miles to the Hackney lot and parked the unit. As an experiment I tried to restart it and "Click" so they have a dead one on their hands. Got the bus ok around 1500 - back to KC at 1800 and Casino Cruiser bus to Westfall where I had started the trip at 0930. However the Westfall lot was locked up and all service departments were closed. They used to be 24/7 but no more. I could walk onto the lot since it's not tightly fenced if you're on foot - just for vehicles. It's gated so you can't drive any vehicle on or off the lot. So I walked in and loaded my gear into my pickup and I drove around the property. Big operation with about 5 gates and all were closed. All the service and rental and parts operations that used to be open 24/7 are now closed from 1 pm Saturday till Monday morning. In the end a security guard came on duty at 2000 hours and after taking down my info - drivers license, my truck, Bill of Lading info - he let me off the lot. Lesson learned - assume nothing in this down-turning economy. Outfits are cutting back to core hours even if their signage still says 24/7 as it does at Westfall. No other trips on my schedule for the week ahead so this one with 174 miles is it for a while. No sign I see that anything's picking up yet. We hear rumors and teasers of better things ahead but the job list doesn't reflect it. Dick Williams started via cell fone from Independence and concluded from home PC in KC (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
11:46 am	Census Run is over - a good six weeks My time as an Address Canvasser with the Census Bureau has ended - as of yesterday 5-20-09. That was six weeks into a Not to Exceed eight week appointment. Two weeks ago it appeared that the run would end at the four week mark - then our Kansas City crew was detailed to a northern Missouri Crew Leader, Lane Seymour,  and we worked for two weeks, 80 hours, in rural counties across north Missouri. I did AAs or Assignment Areas in Harrison county - west of Bethany, MO and in Gentry county, just east of Albany, MO. I had a few hours left yesterday after completing my final Harrison county  AA so was sent to Worth County where I did a few Blocks in Sheridan, MO - near the Iowa border.  All good experiences - a lot of running back and forth across Harrison County in particular since the canvassing in rural areas means a lot of dead end roads and lines on maps that look like roads but  turn out to be dirt lanes along Section lines;  in wet weather they turn to mud and after the mud they're dry but deeply rutted from tractor and farm equipment.   Two of our enumerators ended up needing tows - I played it pretty conservatively and didn't venture where it didn't seem wise - stayed mostly on gravel and out of trouble. I learned that nobody lives on true dirt roads - there are some abandoned homes we're obliged to approach and ascertain their condition and exact location but in no case did I find any occupied homes that were not on serviceable gravel or asphalt. ( Read more... ) It was a lot different working in the rural areas versus the city canvass I did for the first four weeks of my assignment. In the city I could complete 25 address in an hour - well over 120 in a day. In rural territory i could and did spend an hour on one address but the norm was about 6 an hour - and 35 to 50 per day. The days were long - we commuted each day. It would have been more economical for the Census Bureau to house us in Bethany and work from there but a policy decision was made to have us commute - a 100 to 115 mile drive on the clock and with paid mileage at 55 cents a mile. Thus it shortened our time on station and increased the expense to the government but we did as told.  In addition to the 200 miles of back and forth driving I typically logged 60 to 80 miles per day crisscrossing my county. Most people are not home - just as in the city. A lot of rural Harrison county is very thinly populated. In many whole Sections - 640 acres,  one mile on a side,  there are no homes and in most Sections only 2 or 3 homes.  Lots of vacant homes, some in good shape, some vacant long enough to show some deterioration and some are hulks - still standing but with considerable damage from the elements and time itself. We were to inventory everything that was standing and recognizeable as a home - former home. It was sort of nuts to be putting abandoned homes that hadn't been occupied in 50 years into the system but that was our job. They go in as UNINHABITABLE if they're "open to the elements". That means doors or windows missing or open or if the roof is perforated so water enters the home. Lots of those across the county but also lots of vacant homes that could be moved into tomorrow.   Part of the out-migration from rural areas.  I did come across several families that had moved to Harrison county from the Kansas City area - "to get out of the city" in those cases.  There are some Amish families in Harrison County and one of our clues as to where a home might be - power lines - doesn't work with the Amish.  People were cordial with almost no exceptions. I anticipated more resistance to just having someone from Census show up but the vast majority understood  the need for Census data. I had it easy in that I wasn't asking any Census questions - in this stage we're simply verifying addresses, doing the inventory of living quarters - making changes to the map database by adding or deleting or renaming roads and obtaining the lat/lon of homes we inventory - even the uninhabitables. We worked from a pre-loaded set of addresses or descriptions and prior locations - I guess obtained by GPS ten years ago - possibly by another means like aerial survey.   The pre-loaded stuff was "fair". it was a starting point but in some ways it would be easier to start from scratch. When the pre-load info was in error - not uncommon - it took more time to resolve the error than if we'd started from scratch. A lot of addresses were ok but in the wrong "block" and that was a nuisance. Most rural homes did not display a house number or 911 address  either on the home or on the mailbox and that slows down things considerably. If we don't contact someone we simply obtain the lat/lon and use a shorthand word description of the house - 2-STORY TAN HSE W/ BL TRIM.  METAL SHED S.  I used AEROMOTOR WINDMILL once in a description - they seem as timeless as the houses even if  only the windmill tower remains.  The descriptions were sort of fun and  in the country it's needed info.  Less so in the city where descriptions were rare and house numbers much more common. . Met lots of dogs. Everybody has dogs, usually more than one.  There may be some "puppy mill" operations in Harrison County.  No dangerous encounters and I found the dogs provided a good "foot in the door." My plan of attack after a couple of days was - 1) make over their dogs and talk about our own Elmer dog then  2) ask for help. I'd take my map along and ask about roads that aren't really roads - also where the next house will be. I spent a lot of time at night with RandMcNally.com pulling off maps of each of my AAs, piecing large scale depictions together and spotting the pre-loaded housing locations on the map before I started an area. It was worth it to me. It made me look organized when in truth it's what unorganized folks have to do as a workaround. Surround myself with crutches like a detailed, annotated map.  Once in my AA I marked each road segment as I drove along it so I didn't repeat myself on a particular stretch of road any more than necessary. There was still a lot of backtracking due to roads closed, roads that weren't there, bridges or culverts out or to double check and resolve conflicts . Often finding one place would lead to making a correction to a prior listing. I did climb some fences and gates to enter property with a long lane and a remote, over the hill, house or trailer. I was apprehensive about doing that but no incidents - again most proved to be vacant or the owner away for the day.  Still I  didn't want to surprise somebody far off the road behind a closed gate - me showing up on foot with something that looked like  a Geiger Counter in my hand could be dangerous so I was happy nobody was home on those long, remote lane behind a closed gate investigations. We were ok to do it legally - not so sure about the common sense of it and I deferred on some of them - a few were clearly wanting seclusion so used the "CANNOT COLLECT" option a few times.   I made a one mile walk along a rutted dirt road to verify the existence or extinction of a place. I was sure it would turn out to be DNE- "DOES NOT EXIST" but it was over the brow of a hill and as I got closer I saw the telltale red chimney and it turned out to be a very large, 2 story home, totally weathered and abandoned for probably 30 or 40 years but still erect and in fair shape. But on a dirt road with no access. I was impressed by the fact these remote, abandoned homes were not vandalized. Window glass still intact, no markings, no signs anybody was using them for parties or other mischief. Maybe the overall thin population means everybody knows everybody and you just don't mess with stuff on a farm.   Even abandoned stuff.   Don't know but no signs of malicious destruction.  I'm back to driveaway work - actually enjoyed the interlude away from it. The money was pretty good with three of the weekly checks yet to arrive - that'll be nice and in contrast to driveaway work not a lot of later bills to pay like airline, bus, motel bills. I  did buy about $27 worth of gas per day but put that on debit card so no big surprise later. I understand we're all to be terminated "for lack of work". That wording will help those who were on unemployment or will go on unemployment. Quite a few on our team of 16 were unemployed so the work was a good six week period of regular pay - for most I'm sure it was higher pay than their state unemployment benefits. We got 14.50 per hour and 55 cents per mile with a max of 40 hours per week. I worked 35 to 39 hours most weeks so close to the max. There was no cap per day - only the cap of 40 hours in a week. Tuesday I stayed with it late and logged 14.5 hours - that's how I got my to 38 hours in 3 days. And that's also why I"m off today - I'm tapped out on my 40. Others are still working but the entire Northwest MO project is to finish up by Friday. Interestingly my Harrison County crew leader was retired Navy - a former propulsion officer in nuclear submarines and a very effective Crew Leader and nice guy to work with. Same for my KC Crew Leaders, Stephanie and Steve. Good people all around at the local level. Some of the stuff coming from the higher ups was questionable but I had a good insulating layer between me and them - my Crew Leaders. Appended below - some of the ways to know you're a rural northwest Missouri Address Canvasser for the Census Bureau. I'm working this up with one of my co-workers, Mary Beth. Mary Beth just emailed me some thoughts on the past two weeks. We talked back and forth quite a bit after our day in the field and Mary Beth also "got it" - got the essence of the rural area and people.  I'm going to quote first and ask her ok later but I think she'll be ok with my lifting her remarks.   Dick I  had the same experiences and feelings as you did about the old abandoned homesteads.  They had such a beauty and integrity about them.  I wanted to just kneel down and say a little prayer out of respect for the good people who lived there and cared for the land.  Such quiet beauty.  I love that nobody has botoxed foreheads or perfect teeth.  I love that the kids—all ages and sexes—play together outside and ride around on their little bikes.  I love the Dads on their tractors with a bunch of fresh-faced kids holding on and all happy and laughing.  I love the families “working” together on Sunday afternoons:  It’s really not work—it’s just enjoying each other while they’re doin’ what needs doin’.  Every time I parked the car and walked down a path or overgrown drive, I found some special kind of sanctuary.  I never regretted taking the time to do that. MB Nicely stated.  I think we city folks got more out of it than we bargained for - more than just a paycheck - some insight into a  different way of life. Not sure the "advantages" of city life are all on the plus side.  Am I ready to move to Harrison county? No - but it would be great to see the Milky Way again and be surrounded by pastures, hay fields, cattle, woods and from every hilltop a green horizon with nothing larger than a barn in sight.  Happy Trails Dick Williams You Know You're a Rural Northwest Missouri Census Canvasser ... When you can park right in the middle of the road for five minutes and nobody cares    For every house you see you compose a six word, abbreviated description.  Most read:  2-STORY WHT HSE W/ BLK TRIM    You can spot an abandoned house hidden in the weeds and brush half a mile away.    When you get on a paved road you think you're in heaven!    You know every dog in Harrison County.  And most of their names.  When the door's wide open but nobody's home! You wave or waggle a finger at everybody - sometimes the same person six times in one day. When the gravel road narrows then has grass growing between the tracks that means it's about to turn to dirt, then rutted dirt and impassability even in dry weather.  Might as well give it up when you see the grass. When the only cafe in town opens at noon and closes at 1. When the town you're canvassing has more goats than people. When it's 15 miles back to Bethany for  a filling station and a bathroom.      (Comment on this)
Friday, April 17th, 2009
7:17 pm	New Rig - New Gig Well the new rig is a 1995 Chevy S-10 - my Blue Toad - used in driveaway but now to be used in my new gig as Census Enumerator. I'm one week into an eight week term assignment as a address verifier with the US Census Bureau - meaning I'm back in the Department of Commerce - I even have a Personnel Action and a new Service Comp date of 4-13-09 - a few years down the road from my original Service Comp Date of 11-29-63 - as in November 1963 with the National Weather Service. I took the test given for Census work last March - got the call and just completed a week of training - 4 days in class and one int he field. I'm part of a small army that is walking every city block an driving to every rural house this spring and summer to verify addresses. We carry a handheld computer with built-in GPS and simply verify the street address and "map spot" or mark the location of the home - all via the handheld - for every home, trailer, apartment, condo, vacation home, nursing home, prison, dorm, occupied boat, inhabited cave - and yes even an occupied cardboard box. The manual specifically says we're to "map spot" cardboard boxes if there are signs of habitation. All this is preparatory to the real people counting that will take place in April 2010 but there's a lot of work to do now to clean up the address lists from the 2000 census and add millions of new homes and apartments, add any new streets and update realigned roadways. If you consider the changes in the fast growing parts of the country the scope of the work becomes apparent and even in stable areas it's still a lot of walking to visit every home on foot and stand at or near the front door in order to locate the structure. We ask no census questions - we're just there to nail down the location and update the database. One day into the actual field work it looks like it'll be a good seven weeks- a lot of walking - a lot of time outdoors. Too cold and it'd be unpleasant, too hot and it'd be unpleasant but this is a good time of year for the project which will continue into summer. They hope to have Kansas City canvassed by July - some areas go relatively fast - others will bog down and some will be very slow where there are streets and homes and apartments to add. Data entry is by stylus on a virtual keyboard - in fact the keyboard display is quite small and a steady hand is needed. I have not ditched driveaway work but the work has dwindled considerably this spring - a trend that began summer 2008. So I signed up for this and there is enough flexibility to the census work that I might be able to do an occasional short driveaway trip. I'd like to keep enough of a hand in with DUSA to stay on the active roster. We can work from 20 to 40 hours per week in this work and can pick our times for working - even Sat and Sun; nights are out because it'd be very difficult to see house numbers but it's light till nearly 8 pm now and the days will lengthen till mid June so there's plenty of time to get 40 hours in a week and still leave 2 or 3 days free - IF - legs and feet and stamina hold up. I worked myself out of new work today - so haven't yet put in a 7 or 8 hour day - only 4 hours today with about 70 addresses verified. Pay is by the hour not based on production although they do track production to make sure we're not going too fast or too slow. Lots of checks and monitoring by our 2 Crew Leaders so we'll be kept on rather short leashes which is appropriate for this army of new hires with no experience at the job we're to do. Nobody's done this before. Ten years ago it was pen and paper this year everything is entered via the HHC - handheld computer. There'll be a 2nd round so this original eight week tour could evolve to a 2nd tour and I assume once in the system we'll have a shot at the actual census work to be done in Spring 2010 - that's when the other army hits the field. The send people around on census day itself to look for the hard to find and hard to count people - transients, people in transit - those who haven't returned the mailed forms - homeless and so forth. Census work is a good tide-me-over sort of thing for those who are recently or long term unemployed -the pay's pretty good - varies with the area but it's in the 13 to 15 dollar an hour range - no benefits - but you are a Federal employee if that looks good on a resume. For me it'll help at at time when the trucking income had become unpredictable - some weeks ok but most weeks I'm seeing one 250 mile trip so the work has dwindled to the point of being relatively small change. I will not be saying anything about the specifics of the work - we take oaths and sign papers guaranteeing the privacy of census data - so not a peep from me about anything learned on the job. In this phase we really don't learn anything but the sanctity of census data is pretty much absolute for 72 years then it's released as public record. Just think in only 7 years you can find out where and where I was born. Well I guess it's longer than that - my first decennial was 1950 and that data will see daylight in 2022 so you do have to wait a while - 13 years. Or figure it out when I go on Medicare in 3 months. Can't wait for that - no more co-pays and early every local transit system in the country will let me ride for half fare with my Medicare card. Bring it on! I will say working a five day 40 hour week has been tiring - I mean fatiguing. Driveway work can be tiring but most of the time it's ok - this has been rather hectic. Of course 40 hours of 8 to 5 is what 80% of the country works and most drive more than the five mile commute I had so it doesn't sound too bad - it's just for me - i haven't worked a 40 hour regular hours type work week since 1999 and it's been sort of a shock. i'm glad it's over. The field work will be tiring in a physical way - that much time on foot and the miles of walking but I think it'll be good. There could be some health benefits for all of us. I might find a pedometer - will be interesting to see how many miles I walk in a day. It's not a huge number since waiting for the GPS signal to settle on a location slows down the production - but it's more than most of us are accustomed to I'm sure. Probably 4 or 5 miles in doing 120 to 150 homes in a typical day. I need to set up some ledgers and track my houses/day. No real need to but it'd be fun to track it and it's the sort of thing I do - count stuff - including my own stuff. Most recent trucking work was two weeks ago - I moved three Altec units to St. Joe in two weeks - one from Chillicothe, MO to STJ, one from Beatrice NE and the third from Holdredge NE - that was the longest one at about 300 miles and a long day with the deadheading of 400 miles. The sort of trip that is more work than it's worth to be honest. Of course Chillicothe to STJ was 78 miles and I did that and the Beatrice job in the same day so that was a good day. Happy Streets ... and Trails. Dick Williams Kansas City Lessons Learned Department This "scratch" on a recently delivered unit was the subject of a lot of phone calls and a $700 damage claim later reduced to $300. I missed it on the pre-trip so my company had to pay - but split the charge with the shipper who'd had the truck for 2 years while I had the truck for 19 hours. I'm sure it was pre-existing but I didn't document it on the pre-trip - it's barely visible unless you're on all fours looking at the lower portion of the driver's door from ground level. The receiver was sure he'd find something wrong with the truck and he and two employees crawled every inch of the body and the glass looking for something - the most thorough turn-over inspection I've seen. It worked - he got $300 and will most likely repair the massive damage in house with some touch up paint - he has a paint operation so even if he does a full repair it's all in-house. (Comment on this)