Friends & Life, An Old Thought

I was talking to a friend today, yes I do have a few people I call a friend, he brought up something so many of us seem to forget. All of us know and agree that most people need to work, however, the majority of people do not do what they dreamed of or love doing. If you have a job meaning "just over broke" stop and think about this, do you like what you are doing? If you have a job and it pays really well and supplies all your needs and wants, do you like what you are doing? Let us look at it this way, do you dread going in to work every day? Are you always irritable? Is there something that you see others doing and you think, wow, if I had only done that years ago? Folks, it is not about the money, yes we all know you have to have money to survive, but do you have to have that much to survive? Are we surviving or keeping up with the Jones? If you could do what you love and still make it in this world, would you? If not, then why? Do appearances to others matter more than your happiness? Do not let someone else dictate what you are doing. If you have a son, daughter, brother, sister, or friend support them in their decisions. Right or wrong it is their decision and maybe, just maybe they do not want what you want for them. Maybe you know they could do or be so much more, again, not your decision. Let them experience life and all life's ups and downs, who knows, they may just do what they love and survive doing it. Let them do what you didn't or couldn't do, let them be the best at something they love. All of us just need to be the best at whatever we do, whether it be an artist, preacher, teacher, mechanic, truck driver, floor sweeper, singer, guard, bank teller, it really does not matter, just be the best one you can. Never stop learning about the profession you have chosen, someday you may be the teacher. Are you the best at what you do? If not then why? Maybe you need to change what you do. Go, go now, be the best at whatever it is you do. Thank you, my friend, for a reminder about life.

HEY HEY

Happy Thursday folks, lets all get out there today and do something productive. Wash a car, help a friend, wash a car for a friend, buy the people behind you lunch, say hi to your neighbor. There are so many opportunities everyday for each of us to do something nice for someone else, yet we let it all slip right by, it doesn't take money to be nice, it does help sometimes though, if you have it share it,and time is meant to be shared also. Our time means more to someone in a lot of instances than money ever could, visit your folks if they are still around, call your brother or sister, mow a strangers yard, just do something, it could be the start of an awesome day. Enjoy today folks, you may not see tomorrow.

tornados

, Hello peeps, I have been busy working on junk and getting annoyed with it, LOL, been doing that alot lately with this truck, and then something like a tornado or a few come through and gives you a whole new outlook on things,like having junk to work on, alot of people have lost alot of things in the tornados that came thru the midwest and some have lost everything including loved ones, I want to send a prayer out to all of these along with all the responders who have helped in this devastating time. I cannot say I know how they feel because I have never lost everything to a tornado, I can say however that I am more appreciative of the things I do have and the family that surrounds me.. this time of need for many people should make us all stop and think about what we have and more importantly who we have, and thank GOD for them, you never know when a family member will be taken from you so cherish the time you have with them regardless of the circumstances, good or bad, with stuff or not, you can always get more stuff if that is what you desire but you cant replace a family member or friend,, so if you made it through the storm and still have things left, lets remember the ones who dont and if any way possible give back to the people what GOD has so graciously givin to us, we must remember that we are just caretakers of GODS things until he wants them back or someone else needs them, my memory of this has been misplaced far to long and it is about time I remember also, and if someone you know has lost a family member or friend try comforting them and helping in any way possible.

Truckstop review

A review of the Wilton Travel Plaza in Wilton, NY. This is my own personal opinion and experience. When I first pulled into the truckstop I noticed plenty of parking, although the layout is not the best with parking to your left at an angle and then to your front on both sides, the ones on your left are really close to the building and nice but if they are full and you make the turn to try and go behind you will probably be stopped, there is no way to get around if they are full and the ones directly behind them un less you cut through the cat scales or back up, but there is usually plenty of parking in the back and middle of the lot. the fuel islands are to your right along with the shop, no experience with this part of the truckstop, although it did look to have plenty of room for trucks at the islands. the staff was fairly friendly with all customers from what I had seen, my main concern was the showers, laundry facility and food... The showers are $8.00 plus a $2.00 deposit for the key and towel, you do get this back but I left mine for a tip. The shower I had was clean for the most part except for the shower curtain, it was kinda dirty looking, I always lysol my shower floors and curtain anyhow which I do recommend with any shower, it could also use a small shelf or something other than just the one by the sink, just a preference of mine to have somewhere else to sit things other than the floor, to their credit they did have a step stool but my bag kept falling off of it, if you are a husband and wife team you might want to get 2 showers, they are not bad for a single though, the water is hot enough but does go to cold every once in a while, lol, needs a better venting system, if you take a hot shower the ceiling will drip on you in shower number 3, the towel and washcloth was soft enough and they still offer small bars of soap, which I prefer over the liquid, I highly suggest bringing your own towel even though they provide them, after watching them do a load of towels I wish I had, lol,, there is no way those towels can get clean stuffed in the washer like they did,, speaking of washers they do have one, $2.50 per load and one dryer that says .25 for 10 minutes, it gives you 7 minutes for a quarter actually.... The restaurant was fairly clean and waitresses did a good job while I was there,,, food is really good but needed salt for my taste,, you do get a good portion for the price although drinks seemed a little high at $2.59, but you get free refills...Overall experience was a good one, better than alot of truckstops out there nowadays... I do recommend Wilton Travel Plaza, stop in get a bite to eat and enjoy the food and good people,, be sure and bring your own towel though, lol..

regarding giveaway

it is open to all followers who like them and want to participate, there is no cost to the follower(unless you live outside the continental United States then you can pay for shipping ), if you arrive after the drawing then you are to late to participate, if you arrive just before the drawing then you may participate, blog will be checked for new followers just before we draw a name, a picture of the J. Ray Original will be posted along with the winners name on this blog. hope to have drawing on nov 15, 2013, tell all your friends to come on over. thanks

J. RAY Original giveaway

Ok peeps, this is a couple of drawings I have done, as you can tell a couple means 2, one before and after framing and one not, I have been doing these for years and enjoy doing them, the problem is I have been slacking off a bit lately, so to help me get back into them I will be giving one away to a follower on my blog, the design will vary because I never know where the pen will lead when I start one of these, we can do this giveaway one of two ways, 1st of all if you do not like them do not participate, lol, no seriously dont. now on to the deal, we have to wait until i get a few more followers, once we get say 10 followers I can draw a name from a hat( i know high tech right), the winner can pick up to 2 colors from the selection I have and I can draw them a picture, or I can go ahead and do one in whatever color or colors I choose and they can be surprised. Now do not expect this to be an overnight project, they look simple but or very time consuming, if you would like to participate and have a chance to own a J. Ray original let me know what you think. If you have any additional ideas please post and we can see where they go.. thanks

PARTS

Car parts and body parts. The manufacturing of each is very different, one is produced by man, the other by GOD, but im not here to talk about that now, I want to talk about replacing them, I know you have never really thought about how they relate, thats ok, I have, therefore I will tell you my thoughts on the matter. 1) both car parts and body parts need someone with knowledge in this field to replace them, I personally believe it is harder to diagnose car parts than body parts, hold on let me explain before some doctor gets on here having a heart attack then has to call a mechanic when his car breaks down on the way to the hospital. With cars there is usually a diagnostic procedure you must go through to make sure you are replacing the right part and that there is not another reason the part failed, especially electrical parts, there are so many things to look at, batteries, fuses, wires, switches, relays, bad connections, and the hard part may not be checking these items, but finding them and getting to them. Once you do determine the cause, you purchase the new part, replace it and whatever else broke due to that part failing, and hope and pray the part or parts you replaced work. Because we all know just because you get a new part does'nt mean you got a good one, lol, I have replaced several new parts with new parts just because the new part was bad. Now on to the body part, when a body part needs replaced it is either worn out or missing, not hard to determine which, now if it is just not working it is usually a nerve somewhere that has been pinched, there, problem solved,, nerve,, worn out or missing not to hard, now if you determine it is a nerve go to the spot thatis pinched and fix it, poof all better, if it is worn out are missing, find a good used one if it is an arm or leg or something you can get used,(if you want the real thing), or they make excellent aftermarket ones that you only have to replace once because they always work the first time, largely because the manufacturing process is different and so much better.So see, not alot of diagnosing or having to replace the same part 2 or 3 times until you get a good one. 2) Education. Both technicians and doctors have to go to school to learn how to do what they do. Both schools are very expensive, and long hours before you can graduate. 3) Tools and equipment... Doctors have tools that may have cost them a few thousand dollars ( if the hospital does'nt furnish them), and if they do have their own they can carry them in a small to medium size bag wherever they go. The equipment they need is furnished largely by the hospital they are working in.. Technicians have tools that cost many thousands of dollars and the service center does'nt furnish anything unless it is specific to a particular vehicle they sell, just the box alone to put the tools in a technician must have can run upwards of 20k to30k dollars, and you can't just pick them up and take them with you. 4) So based on this information I believe automobile technicians are way under paid and doctors are way over paid, the way I see it, technicians need a pay raise and I know how to make this happen. Doctors will have to put there automobiles into a car care program, when they need repairs they will have to call the head technician to schedule the repair, the doctor then takes the automobile to the repair facility and waits, once the repair has been done the automobile will be returned to the doctor along with an inflated bill that will compensate for the difference in wages plus a low income charge for the next non doctor repair that comes into the facility... this way we can all get repairs done on our vehicles and the doctors can feel better knowing they have helped someone less fortunate.