It finally seems as though things are finding their groove. Of course it didn't help a whole bunch to basically take two days off last week to work on the Thanksgiving meal for the crews, but I think it was worth it!.

Last year I began giving out what I called score cards to all the seed truck drivers. We had a couple of drivers who were sluffing off and not carrying their part of the load and I felt that if everyone else knew what was going on, peer pressure might help boost productivity. On these cards I ranked every driver as to productivity. I have what I call a baseline, which is fourteen, and baseline is the minimum I expect from every driver in a given week. In the past these rankings have been almost owned by Adan and Gilbert from South Texas. I finally got around to looking at the rankings for the last week. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that our past winners were tied for third place, sporting sixteen loads each. Cowboy on GMT 1 came in second with seventeen, and the weeks champion was a newcomer, Carlos, on truck 23 with eighteen loads!

I cannot imagine how ANYONE can haul more than this and log them legally! This was a real surprise as in the past this truck and the former driver had wallowed back in the pack. Best part is that Carlos has a friend who is now driving unit 15. I visited with Carlos and told him that was a big number and cautioned him on not over extending himself or burning himself out. He told me he was really enjoying the run because it was so different from anything he had done before and that unit 23 was a dream unit. I asked about any problems, how the unit was driving, if the engine was trying to heat and so on and so forth. All he had to say about the unit was positive which was a shock in itself from the previous pilot's reports. Carlos was laughing when he told me he had been stopped at Tahoka by DOT and weighed and he axled out legal, being just a few hundred pounds over but well within tolerance, and then (as per usual, if DOT is going to stop you they are going to try to find something) the officer did a road side inspection! No problems, no brakes out of adjustments, no tires, no wheels, no lights out. Nothing!

Yippee! That is kind of like winning the daily double! Carlos did ask me if he could make a few changes in the truck like taking a lift spacer off the brake pedal and such. Most of the proposed changes were small and bringing the truck back closer to factory. I told him if it contributes to continued productivity I sure didn't mind and I'm sure the unit owner wouldn't!

Carlos recently returned from two years in Iraq and has moved to West Texas. I am impressed with his work ethic. He is courteous, knowledgeable and hard working, but most of all I am impressed with his mindset. He actually doesn't mind working, and every day is a new beginning. I guess with what he has seen he knows that this world is far from perfect.

He has been a breath of fresh air not only for me as his supervisor, but his co-workers really appreciate the contribution he is making!!

I'm just hoping that as his wallet gets fat from the money he is making it doesn't make it difficult for him to get comfortable in the driver's seat!

You go Carlos!

Krl and I put together all the tickets for the Thanksgiving meal and I took them to the GM. I told him to take off $250 from the total ticket for items we bought and didn't use. He asked like what, and I told him we had purchased a safety turkey and it now resides in the freezer. He looked at me and exclaimed, $250 for a turkey! I told him no, that we had the turkey, some milk, some spuds and a few other items that we had kept after meal preparation, and I had factored in a cost for the meal for my people deducted it! I am sure he will review it further before sending it to Kristy for payment as per our agreement. I didn't include anything for Rian or his gas, but that was between Rian and me.

Every Tuesday Frank, the plant "Super", holds safety meetings in the meeting room of the office. After my conversation with the GM yesterday I went into the meeting room and put left over turkey and ham into smaller ziploc bags and I told Frank when his services were over to tell employees that baggies of left overs were available. He ran out in brief minutes. I walked in minutes after the meeting was over and I could see men exiting with ziplocs and plastic bags. When I walked in to the meeting room Frank and I looked at the empty refrigerator in awe! They took it all, meat, left over dinner rolls, marshmallows. Everything. Maybe we should have left the clean up to our guests of honor Thanksgiving Day!

If we had had shopping carts we could have made it a timed event!

Have a day! Remember the trick is in the mindset. Brighten someone else's day!

FATHER, thank YOU for new beginnings. Thank you for change. Work YOUR change in me. Thank YOU for every worker at this compound, I ask for safety and YOUR blessings on them.