Hello again.
On friday I found out that the CDL school a couple miles from my house is 3,995 for a 30 day course, which is 40 hours of classroom time plus 120 hours of hands on instruction. Too bad I didn't have the presence of mind to seize this opportunity last summer when I still had some money, not having been unemployed for so long... 20/20 hindsight. Can't point to a real long list of good decisions I've made in my life anyway.
In any case, I could sell my bike and use some of my remaining cash to raise the money, but then I'd be left with a not-running car and very little cash to fix it. What would be really nice would be get a home equity loan against my trailer, but my credit is exceedingly bad. It may ultimately be necessary to sell my trailer to free up the cash, which is an exceedingly stressful self-inflicted violence, but would ultimately be worth it to give myself a financially viable future and a job I wouldn't hate. My ideal lifestyle would be to go truckin across the country, making tonsa money and partying with my favorite SG's when I'm in their areas, but I guess that's rather an overidealized picture and getting rather ahead of myself.
Actually tuesday a guy from another CDL school is coming by to pitch his school at me. Maybe they can offer financial aid such as won't necessitate my gutting myself financially right now. Well whatever, we'll see.
I had a couple of extremely important linguistic insights while commenting in Enola's journal this morning.
1. Recuse has the same Letters as Rescue, it being a narrower definition of rescue, exclusively from jury service, as far as I know. I think that makes it a palindrome, although that might be the word for a word like RADAR which is spelled the same forwards and backwards.
2. would it not make more sense to spell "three", "threee"?
other linguistic insights I had a while ago include
3. misspell is and odd word to spell, and if you mispel it mispell or misspel you're conveying the concept as or perhps even more effectively that if you don't mispel it.
4. if you mispel "prepare" "perpare", you get a word of comparable meaning and utility.
Now I shall whine a bit. I was reading ZakSmith's last journal entry and he mentioned how his paintings take all day every day for a month. I hate trying. But it is abundantly evident that such things as are created by wonderworkers, which incidentally is another linguistic insight i once had, wonderworkers being a great word to use for great artists or musicians, though its conventional older meaning refers to people who perform miracles or charaltans who dupe the gullible with fake ones, are the results of great quantites of trying. Of effort, dedication, commitment, guts, what have you. I rarely bestir myself to try much of anything. And here comes the whining-i think it has a lot to do with how demoralized i was as a kid, with my dad always riding me to work hard, he made himself this terrible model of what a hard working person is like, angry, bitter, violent, mentally and physically cruel. He never encouraged me to pursue anything i showed an interest in, her always made work something directly opposed to my following what was in my heart and something i was a worthless lazy bastard and doomed to financial failure for not doing. A brief example-- I used to spend a lot of time looking up at the night sky with my binoculars, and his respone was thus: "is that all you're ever gonna do, look at stars with your binoculars?" Not: "it's great that you have this interest: go with it!" This is as mild as his unsupportiveness would get. At the other extreme our wills would clash and we would come to blows, and he would always win; at least twice I had to give up fighting because he had his hands around my throat and I couldn't breathe.
So I feel sad and bitter and demoralized a lot of time and I wonder, who would I have been if I had had supportive parents?' I know other people like Temper who also have had bad experiences with their parents, but unlike me came out of the experience, as far as I can tell, way more together and way more functional than me. Irony of my life is that I have a streak of violence and anger in me, that I got from my father, that led me to physically fought with him; now I have major trouble dealing with authority figures and am fearful of confrontations with anyone about anything. I guess I lost fights with him a few times too many and absorbed too much of his hateful attitude toward the relationship of the passions in my heart and the world of work, to digest what I have the innate capacity to digest and grow out of. A B-17 Flying fortress was a tough plane and could lose an engine or the tail rudder and still make it back home, but even the B-17 went down if enough flak hit it, took out three engines or set the fuel on fire. Everyone has limits of what they can take.
Bah. I shall learn to drive trucks. Make a few bucks and see some new places. Publish my theory of motivation on the web. My brain will still need to vent on occasion so here's the forum for that.
love and kisses to all.
On friday I found out that the CDL school a couple miles from my house is 3,995 for a 30 day course, which is 40 hours of classroom time plus 120 hours of hands on instruction. Too bad I didn't have the presence of mind to seize this opportunity last summer when I still had some money, not having been unemployed for so long... 20/20 hindsight. Can't point to a real long list of good decisions I've made in my life anyway.
In any case, I could sell my bike and use some of my remaining cash to raise the money, but then I'd be left with a not-running car and very little cash to fix it. What would be really nice would be get a home equity loan against my trailer, but my credit is exceedingly bad. It may ultimately be necessary to sell my trailer to free up the cash, which is an exceedingly stressful self-inflicted violence, but would ultimately be worth it to give myself a financially viable future and a job I wouldn't hate. My ideal lifestyle would be to go truckin across the country, making tonsa money and partying with my favorite SG's when I'm in their areas, but I guess that's rather an overidealized picture and getting rather ahead of myself.
Actually tuesday a guy from another CDL school is coming by to pitch his school at me. Maybe they can offer financial aid such as won't necessitate my gutting myself financially right now. Well whatever, we'll see.
I had a couple of extremely important linguistic insights while commenting in Enola's journal this morning.
1. Recuse has the same Letters as Rescue, it being a narrower definition of rescue, exclusively from jury service, as far as I know. I think that makes it a palindrome, although that might be the word for a word like RADAR which is spelled the same forwards and backwards.
2. would it not make more sense to spell "three", "threee"?
other linguistic insights I had a while ago include
3. misspell is and odd word to spell, and if you mispel it mispell or misspel you're conveying the concept as or perhps even more effectively that if you don't mispel it.
4. if you mispel "prepare" "perpare", you get a word of comparable meaning and utility.
Now I shall whine a bit. I was reading ZakSmith's last journal entry and he mentioned how his paintings take all day every day for a month. I hate trying. But it is abundantly evident that such things as are created by wonderworkers, which incidentally is another linguistic insight i once had, wonderworkers being a great word to use for great artists or musicians, though its conventional older meaning refers to people who perform miracles or charaltans who dupe the gullible with fake ones, are the results of great quantites of trying. Of effort, dedication, commitment, guts, what have you. I rarely bestir myself to try much of anything. And here comes the whining-i think it has a lot to do with how demoralized i was as a kid, with my dad always riding me to work hard, he made himself this terrible model of what a hard working person is like, angry, bitter, violent, mentally and physically cruel. He never encouraged me to pursue anything i showed an interest in, her always made work something directly opposed to my following what was in my heart and something i was a worthless lazy bastard and doomed to financial failure for not doing. A brief example-- I used to spend a lot of time looking up at the night sky with my binoculars, and his respone was thus: "is that all you're ever gonna do, look at stars with your binoculars?" Not: "it's great that you have this interest: go with it!" This is as mild as his unsupportiveness would get. At the other extreme our wills would clash and we would come to blows, and he would always win; at least twice I had to give up fighting because he had his hands around my throat and I couldn't breathe.
So I feel sad and bitter and demoralized a lot of time and I wonder, who would I have been if I had had supportive parents?' I know other people like Temper who also have had bad experiences with their parents, but unlike me came out of the experience, as far as I can tell, way more together and way more functional than me. Irony of my life is that I have a streak of violence and anger in me, that I got from my father, that led me to physically fought with him; now I have major trouble dealing with authority figures and am fearful of confrontations with anyone about anything. I guess I lost fights with him a few times too many and absorbed too much of his hateful attitude toward the relationship of the passions in my heart and the world of work, to digest what I have the innate capacity to digest and grow out of. A B-17 Flying fortress was a tough plane and could lose an engine or the tail rudder and still make it back home, but even the B-17 went down if enough flak hit it, took out three engines or set the fuel on fire. Everyone has limits of what they can take.
Bah. I shall learn to drive trucks. Make a few bucks and see some new places. Publish my theory of motivation on the web. My brain will still need to vent on occasion so here's the forum for that.
love and kisses to all.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
My circumstances were actually VERY fortunate in general. Back then, I was a courier for FedEx. A position opened up that required a class A license and they always promote from within. I was selected among the candidates and went to a 3-week CDL school that catered ONLY to FedEx employees. The school utilized a closed-down B-52 base in Blytheville, Arkansas. We stayed in the former BOQ, ate at company expense, and earned our normal hourly wage for all training hours. I mean... THAT is hard to beat. Not only was the school free for me, but I was paid my normal salary to attend. The first week was all classroom. The second week was spent (mostly backing up) out on the runways. This included various obstacle courses marked by highway cones including maneuvers that are expected to be on all states tests such as parallel parking. The third week was actual on-road practice. There were two students and one instructor per truck (which were sleeper model old cabovers).
Once I completed that class, my managers took me off my delivery route early several times specifically so that I could practice the EXACT road-test the state would give, and I practiced it over and over.
I also had my choice of equipment to use. The test varies slightly depending on what vehicle you bring. I decided to use a "pup" trailer and a single-axle tractor because that setup is highly maneuverable. The downside to that is that you get much LESS room to work with. They take the length of your vehicle plus X (?) to determine how much space you get.
I've almost never used such a small trailer since... but that doesn't matter. These days I pull a 53' van trailer with a conventional sleeper Freightliner Columbia.
I would assume that any school you attend... regardless if it's an independent school such as NETTS or one of the company-owned types would provide you with the truck you'd use for the test. As to how much practice time they give you specifically for that, I haven't the foggiest idea.
In regards to the physical, it's nothing much to worry about. They'll check blood pressure (too high disqualifies you), they'll ask if you're diabetic (type A cannot get CDL, type B can but requires blood testing in a lab to ensure your levels are within reason). You'll read an eye chart (WITH corrective lenses if you use them). You'll be asked to identify the difference between red and green. I am actually slightly colorblind and I can still do that part of the test. Of course there will also be the obvious drug screening.
As a side note, don't fool yourself into thinking this is a ticket to easy street. Trucking is hard work, long hours, very very frustrating situations. Constant scrutiny from your managers, the idiots who drive cars, and the state police. You'll sometimes spend hours doing nothing waiting for loading or unloading and then get a seemingly impossible overnight trip after you've been awake and waiting around all day.
Then there will be times when it's next to impossible to find somewhere to park for the night. You'll quickly grow tired of eating off the same few truck-stop menus every day. And you will quickly learn how bad most car drivers are... all the while you being expected to be the professional.
On the upside... some people more or less live out of their trucks and can avoid "normal" living expenses such as rent and utilities. Heck, I don't even own a car myself. Aside from keeping yourself fed, there are very few expenses unless you own your own truck and are paying for fuel, tires, and repairs. As a company driver, I consistently make $50-55k a year. It's pretty easy for me to put a third of that into 401k, Roth IRA, or just a savings account for whatever. That's certainly a lot better than living paycheck to paycheck.
[Edited on May 29, 2006 2:26PM]
I didn't drive the full year in 2005, but in 2004 I turned just over 140,000 miles.
I do over-the-road because it is what I enjoy. I think perhaps if I had a wife and kids I'd be more inclined to pick something else. I typically like to stay out 2 weeks at a time. Occasionally 3. I usually get some pretty good weekend trips when I stay out... the ones that send me south and west. I love the north-east but I hate DRIVING here. I've gone back and forth across PA so many times it makes me dizzy.
The company I am with pretty much seeks experienced drivers only (as far as I know). It's a small fleet with slightly more than 100 drivers. I like them because I get along well with the dispatchers and management. It's a family type atmosphere. If you really want, you can talk to the company owner, or either of his two sons and one daughter all of whom also work there. They take good care of their equipment. Most of their trucks are automatic transmissions. (I love them, but new drivers need to learn to drive a manual and master the art of double clutching and then subsequently "floating" the gears). Having mastered that, its great to not have to shift.
I have hypertension which seems to run in my family. But I'm on a medication for it which brings my numbers down to normal. That isn't a problem.