Where have all the salt trucks gone?

We've had snow all week long and I have yet to see a salt truck on the roads. Unfortunately, it's likely that I won't because for some reason that I have yet to figure out, the price of a ton of salt has skyrocketed this year. Worse, cities and counties and the state department of transportation have no surplus from last winter to spare. Why they didn't restock their supplies during the spring and summer months in preparation for this winter is beyond me, but now that winter has arrived in its full fury, there's no salt to be had and it's likely there won't be this year, meaning that driving conditions are going to be quite treacherous for those of us living in the Lake Erie snow belt areas. I suppose this is fallout from the deep recession that we're in and not likely to be out of anytime soon, so it's going to be a long, cold and tough winter for driving this year. The very prospect of this depresses the hell out of me because I hate being housebound as it is during the winter and to know that driving conditions are likely to be far tougher than usual and that roads won't be cleaned in time for rush hour commutes in the morning and evening hours means that it's going to take me far longer to get to and from work. I've heard that forecasts are calling for a milder winter for the Midwest, but if our weather so far is any indication, I'd say that they're dead wrong on this. I'm thinking that it's going to be a far colder and snowier winter than usual if it's this bad this early in the year. I just hope that cities and counties can somehow find some emergency funding to buy some road salt, but given the financial crunches being felt all around the world, that's really not going to be very likely, unfortunately.

EXHAUSTION

Yesterday I badly overslept my alarm clock and didn't awaken until 8:00 a.m., the time at which I am supposed to report to work. The night before, I had fallen asleep on the sofa sometime before 8:00 p.m. after a day of feeling achy and sleepy all day. This time of year, I begin to feel a nagging exhaustion that begins to drag at my stamina and causes me to feel tired constantly. I suppose a part of that is Seasonal Affective Disorder, because I'm a lot more prone to depression this time of year from lack of sunlight. Add to that the fact that I have been denied my usual holiday vacation time and I am feeling pretty upset that nearly every vacation request I have put in this year has been denied. The only reason I got my summer vacation off is because I pleaded that it had already been paid for and I could not get a refund, but my supervisor was more than ready to deny my summer vacation request as well. Why he's being so stingy with my vacation requests this year is beyond me, given my 25 years of seniority, but where I work, seniority means nothing, from what we've been told, and that it doesn't give you any more leverage than someone with 1 year of seniority, which to me seems downright unfair. I haven't given my workplace a full quarter of a century of my hard work only to be told that it means nothing. I remember a time when seniority meant that you were given preference for your vacation requests, among other perks, but now, that privilege has been revoked. It makes me even more eager to retire in June of 2013, knowing that I won't have to deal anymore with that kind of BS. In the meantime, I am wondering how I am going to get through this time of year without my usual winter break to recharge my already expended battery. That I slept over 12 hours the other night is a sure sign that I am in major need of some serious rest, but apparently, I won't get it this year. If this pattern of vacation denial continues into 2009, I am going to have to ask why I am no longer being given my requested time off and what I have to do in order to get it back. It seems unfair to give preference to less senior employees over someone with my seniority, but alas, as mentioned before, where I work, the issue of seniority is moot. Which really sucks, if you ask me.