I’m not very good at doing nothing. I’m a person who likes to be busy; I build things, create things, or fix things. You know, be productive. Recently, I found out just how much it bothers me to do nothing. 
 
A couple of Fridays ago, I had a little trouble pulling a fifth-wheel release on my semi, as it was jammed with mud and gravel. Being a guy, my solution was to pull harder. And yes, that worked. Problem is, more than the fifth-wheel release gave way. My shoulder made a weird stretching sound and that was followed by a good dose of pain. With the shoulder getting worse over the weekend, by Monday I ended up at the emergency room. Either a torn rotator cuff or a torn muscle the doctor said. I’ll find out later this week when I get an MRI. Yay!
 
For now, I’m restricted to light duty at my job, which means I can’t drive. Instead, since there are no other jobs for me, I sit in my pickup for ten hours a night and write down truck and trailer numbers as they come in and out of the terminal. That’s about 20 - 25 trucks a night, which only takes about 15 minutes total. If I can still do math right, that leaves 9 hours and 45 minutes of free time.
 
Normally, this wouldn’t have been a problem; I would have spent the time writing a book. But with a right arm that won’t work, that became difficult. Sure, I can write fairly well with my left hand, and did so a lot while I was in school. But not having practiced much in the last thirty years, it no longer comes naturally. While I can do it, it’s slow, very slow, and that doesn’t really work well for writing. By the time I get a few words written down, the rest of my thought is gone.
 
And since the Internet doesn’t like to work very well at my job, doing anything online was not really an option. That doesn’t leave much to do while confined to my pickup in the dark. I can’t build things, create things, or fix things.
 
So, I downloaded a few games to my tablet and spent ten hours a day playing games. A most unproductive way to spend my time. At the end of the week, I had absolutely nothing to show for it. Nothing! Not even at home. That has to be the first time I’ve accomplished a week’s worth of nothing in my life!
 
The good news is the arm and shoulder are getting better. I can now move my arm almost like a normal person! Still can’t lift anything but I can feel it getting stronger every day. By the time I have my MRI, I am hoping I’m already well on my way to recovery.
 
So, what’s my point? Well, as anyone who reads my blog may know, I am sort of a jack-of-all trades. That doesn’t mean I’m a pro at everything but I can usually do it well enough to work. Which sometimes leads to people asking if there’s anything I can’t do. And now I can honestly answer, “Nothing.” ~
 
Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook and paperback on iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords.  Amazon Profile - www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

Last Friday night, I was making good time. All twenty-four wheels on my semi were singing along and I figured I’d be home an hour earlier than normal. Of course, being ahead of schedule is just asking for problems.
 
The problems started about half way through my run. After picking up a trailer, I had to swing by the office to give them a new copy of one of my logs—apparently, someone had lost it. That went okay, but then I stood and talked a few minutes. And while I talked, I laid the logbook down. And yes, thanks to my absent-mindedness, when I left, I forgot it. I noticed after going a few miles but didn’t really want to turn around and go back; it would have taken about forty-five minutes, eating up most of the hour I was ahead. So, I decided I’d drive without one. There is a fine if caught with no logbook but even worse would be the cops, or DOT, could make me sit for ten hours—to make sure I had my time off and wasn’t driving tired. But odds are, I figured, no one would know. It’s not like they routinely ask for my logbook. In fact, it is actually very rare, especially at the time I was driving; few cops are on the road and the scales are usually closed late at night. So, unless I was speeding or involved in an accident, I thought it shouldn’t be a problem.
 
I made it down the road 150 miles to another terminal, grabbed a logbook but all I filled out was for the current day. I’m supposed to have a copy of the last eight days, but I was still in a hurry; had to get home early! So, I picked up my next trailer and then started back. I’d just pulled on the freeway—hadn’t even gotten up to speed—when I saw the lights up ahead. Lots of lights. The red and blue flashing variety. Then I saw the line of trucks.
 
My first thought was that they were doing impromptu inspections. But I didn’t panic. I knew, using the part of my memory that does work, I could re-create my logs while I waited my turn in line. But then, I noticed there were cars stopped too. Oregon doesn’t have traffic checks for cars so it was a pretty safe bet something else was going on. That’s when I turned on the CB and learned there had been a multiple vehicle wreck; it was blocking the whole road. So much for being ahead of schedule!
 
I ended up waiting almost an hour before they cleared one lane and let us through, which put me right back on my normal time. Sitting there that long, you’d think I would have filled out the last eight days’ log, huh? But I guess I like taking chances, because I didn’t fill out any logs. What did I do instead? I wrote this blog post!
 
And just in case anyone is wondering, I did make it all the way home without needing the logs! ~
 
Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook and paperback on iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords.  Amazon Profile - www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of memes and other references on Facebook to the new insanity of common core mathematics. I’m thinking it’s a good thing no one had enough stupidity to unveil that to the world when I was in school. I just wouldn’t have done it. I had a hard time following the rules as it was; especially things like showing my work.
 
For some reason, my teachers wanted to make sure I actually understood how to do the problem. That was okay for problems that were a little involved but when it came to basic equations, I just wrote down the answer. And yes, I sometimes got marked down for it—that is, until I learned it didn’t really matter what I put down to “show my work.”
 
I found that scribbling anything on the paper was enough to satisfy them. So, of course, I had some fun with it. I’d switch problems, that is, show the work for the wrong problem, but then put the correct answer. Or, I’d show the numbers for an entirely different problem, one that hadn’t been included on the test. And sometimes, I’d just write down random numbers and then scribble over them so it wasn’t entirely legible.
 
And out of all the times of doing this, which was most of my schooling career, I never once got in trouble—they never even mentioned it. Maybe they knew I was playing games and chose not to play along, I don’t know. Or, maybe they saw that I did know how to do the problems, and arriving at the right answer was actually the important part.
 
Despite my refusal to always follow the “rules,” I liked math. It was straightforward and logical—unlike other subjects—and I usually did it in my head. In later years, for the more complicated problems, I would do the simple parts in my head, maybe writing down those answers so I could remember them, and then do the next computation in my head again. So, I really had nothing legitimate to write down for the problem as a whole—although, I did once suggest to my high school teacher that I could just draw a picture of a brain and call it showing my work. Thankfully, he had a sense of humor!
 
But something tells me my tricks wouldn’t have worked with common core. It seems the teachers of that are more interested in showing the work than getting the right answer. And my stubbornness would have dictated that I not participate. I know, I would have probably received a failing grade, which would have perfectly illustrated my point of the absurdity of this “new and improved” system—getting the right answers and still flunking.
 
But then, the only evidence of my flunking would be the final grade on the report card, right? And in keeping with the spirit of the correct answers being irrelevant, I assume it would then be perfectly acceptable for me to switch my grade. On second thought, maybe common core math wouldn’t have been so bad after all.

Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook and paperback on iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords.  Amazon Profile - www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

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2016. A new year. So far, it doesn’t seem any different from the old year to me. This is the fourth day and I don’t see anything that’s changed—other than the calendar. Sure, there are little subtle differences from day to day, but those always occur. Monday is a little different than Sunday, Tuesday changes a little more, and so on. We start new days, new weeks, and new months without much hullabaloo. But for some reason, everybody gets all excited about a new year.
 
I could understand if the year marks a big event for someone, graduation, getting married, or retiring; something they’ve been looking forward to and waiting on. Maybe the anticipated birth of a child or grandchild would be something to celebrate. But I know not everyone has a monumental moment planned. In fact, I’m pretty sure most people don’t. Still, for some reason everybody gets all excited about a new year.
 
Also, I’ve noticed during past years that the newness of a new year tends to wear off very quickly. By the middle of January, people are back to the grind, the festive mood of only a few days before all but gone. They go back to their “mundane” life of day to day living; getting up, going to work—or whatever else they do—going home, and going to bed, getting up... I’m sure you get the picture. This continues right through December when, for some reason everybody gets all excited about a new year.
 
I have my suspicions that it isn’t really the new year that matters as much as the fact that it’s a holiday and people like having time off work and celebrating. I could be wrong, but I doubt it. So, while I didn’t mention anything last week about the new year, I wanted to make sure I didn’t let it slip by unnoticed—because I know how everybody gets all excited about a new year.
 
HAPPY NEW YEAR! ~
 
Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook and paperback on iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords.  Amazon Profile - www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.