Happy 21st birthday Tiffany!

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Today, my favorite niece turns 21. She's probably going to spend part of it the way most kids do, but she's got some really interesting things in mind too. Wish I could be there to help her celebrate, but I gotta work. She'll be staying at the Hilton, so if you're there and you witness any young girls acting all drunk, that might be her. But it might not be. But just in case it is, be nice to her and say, "Uncle Jimmy says hi". You don't get to call me that, but she does.

In the past couple days I got to do a lot of exciting things. First, I got to direct traffic in a jammed truckstop. Seems that when the snow starts coming down, truckers forget how to drive and get clogged up in small roadways. I went out there and helped get it cleared up. Now I know how rewarding the job of traffic cop is.

Next, I got to go several places I've never been before. I spent a good two days in unknown territory and loved every moment of it! Well, okay, not the part about being thrown around by crappy roads, and not the part about paying tolls, but other than that, it was great!

First, they sent me to upstate New York. I've never been there before the other day ago. On the way up, I skirted through the eastern side of the Adirondacks until I got to a little town on Lake Champlain. I figured looking at Vermont was the closest I was going to get, since in 4 years I haven't been this way. I took a few pics of the lake - which was frozen, but not nearly enough to walk out on - and counted myself lucky for what I'd gotten: the better part of the day in places I'd never been.

But then they wanted me to go to.... Dun dun DUUUUHH!!

Maine.

Yes, that one.

Overjoyed, even at the prospect of being cheated out of over a hundred miles on this trip (I'm usually cheated out of only about 50), I made my way north until I got to the bridge that goes across the lake. That bridge is within a mile of Quebec, a province I haven't been in, but I have it on film. Digital film, I mean. Microchip. Anyway, next thing I knew, I was in Vermont! Woo hoo! And holy cow, was I happy to discover that Vermont has free wifi in its rest areas! Too bad I couldn't spend the night, as I had to get to Maine by morning.

So I headed cross-country on some bad roads. I was in Vermont about 3 hours, including a couple times I stopped for pictures and potty breaks. And then, before I could go crazy having to drive so slow on these back roads that still had some snow on them, I was in New Hampshire! Woo hoo!

But the roads there were even crummier there, and I was only in the state about an hour or so. I almost forgot to stop and walk on the ground; I remembered just before I got out of the state. I didn't get to drive on more than 5 miles of interstate, so I have no idea what their rest areas are like.

As the sun was getting close to the ground, I crossed in to Maine, that unique state. It's the only state in the Union that borders only 1 other state, AND it's the only one whose name is but one syllable. And the roads were worse still! But at least I found a place to stop that had free wifi. (I update my list of free wifi locations now and then.)

Oops, I forgot. Maine! Woo hoo!

Okay, so here I am, hoping I can find some place that sells cheap lobster. Turns out, I'm a couple months early. You gotta go in late March. Most of the seafood places were closed. But I did manage to find a place to eat. But it didn't look like they ever sold lobster for cheap. But I definitely had fun. I got to drive along the coast and take some really nice pictures. Maine's got some nice beaches, except for all that ice on them.

So I got me a tee-shirt to prove I've been there, and found a coconut for one of my little cousins, and then proceeded down to Massachusetts, until I got to Connecticut, to one of the first places I ever drove my truck, and also the first place anyone ever tried to destroy my truck. But that's a story for another day.

I'll update my travel post when I get the chance.

The third thing I've got for you is a minor update to the site. When I originally wrote the article that you can find at stonehouse.mopjockey.com I wrote it for a less-mature audience at a different site (totally unlike the audience I've got here). Well, that audience has been served, and so now that I have a different (and much better) audience, I revamped the article so it reflects my level of professionalism slightly more accurately. Go ahead and check it out and tell me what you think of it. And if you go see Crissy, tell her where you read about her. I'll be updating other parts of the site here and there, and let you know when I do.

Lastly, I've been extra busy of late. I'm really surprised my trucking company has been keeping me so busy. Usually the first few months of the year are slow, and this company I drive for is rather notorious for making me sit even during the good months, but so far I've been doing a lot of driving, and what little free time I have, I've been using it to work on articles for the site and trying to get other personal business taken care of. But I haven't forgotten, oh no, not by a long shot. In the coming months, I plan to unveil a new business, which I expect to allow me to break the chains of wage-slavery once and for all! Not immediately, but within a few months after I launch it.

Wish me some good luck, and be your best!

(And, as always, buy something from Amazon using one of these links to help keep this site afloat. Thanks!)