$&*)#*&@#*@ MONDAY!

Today was the typical bitch of a Monday!! It started with nightsweats at 12:34 AM. That was first time I woke up. I was awake at 1:30, 3:00, 4:00 and finally at 5:00 I climbed out of bed. So much for getting a good night's sleep.

Ok, so I get the coffee going, let Shadow out and go through my morning routine. Finally it's time to leave for work. Climb in the car, turn the key and listen to my battery's last gasp. Thankfully, my neighbor was still home and I knew she would jump start the car. Otherwise it meant waiting for AAA to arrive. Just what I needed for a Monday morning ... a dead battery and now to be late for work. It wasn't too bad, I was only 15 minutes late.

I get to work and things are going too smooth for a Monday morning. Finally an e-mail from the CEO arrives. Business has been extremely slow and there is a hiring freeze in effect. In the meantime, we need to "tighten our belts" across the board. Although he didn't come right out and say it, I'll go out on a limb and state it -- looks like we will be having layoffs. The question now becomes WHEN. Happy Holidays -- yeah right!

Now it's time to leave and guess what?!?! My battery is totally dead. It didn't do any charging on my drive to work. Thankfully we have a Maintenance Shop for the tractors & trailers. They have portable batteries for jump starting. While I waited for someone to come out and jump start the car, I called my mechanic. He usually closes at 5:00 PM but stayed at the shop until I got there, to install a new battery for me.

Let's see, to recap the car issues for the last couple of months -- Tune-up & oil change, new water pump, 4 new tires and 1 new battery. What next!?!?!?