Today was ........ Different as 5 instructors retired today. Kind of an odd thing to know that some of the instructors that helped get you to where you are now will not be there to see you graduate. Sort of bitter-sweet. We are happy for them all and wish them all the best in the endeavors going forward. See you all on the Big Road!
I also heard some sad news today. My first driving partner, Mike, has been MIA for the last 2 days and I got word today of why. Apparently his father had a heart attack. So our thoughts and prayers go out to Mike and his family.
As far as school went today, well ..... it went. Nothing really exciting. The morning was spent in the classroom where we learned more about truck weights, weighing, and how to adjust the tandoms, and why we adjust them.
In the afternoon, my driving partner and I got in a few short runs, including one that took us through the scale house on Hwy 41. Good experience going through the scales, really simple, and really quick.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
He Will Be Pulling Double Trailers When he Comes.....
I had a pretty good day today, but I am really tired. I woke up this morning on the floor as apparently my air bed has a leak in it somewhere. I tried in vain to find it when I got home tonight, well I will just have to hope it will hold up till the end of the week when I have more time to deal with such things.
My morning was filled in classroom with an exercise in route planning and load planning. Pretty simple stuff really but there are many thing you have to take in to account prior to accepting a load. Do you have enough time on your log book to make the run in the required time, what is the load weight, what is your vehicles weight, etc., etc.
After which I was assigned the doubles trailers. This is basically 2- 28 foot long trailers hooked together. Hooking up Doubles seems like a real pain in the ass if you ask me, I am sure with practice it wouldn't be so bad. Pulling the doubles is a piece of cake compared to a 48 foot or 53 foot trailer. All your are really driving is the first trailer and the second one just follows like a dream. You do need to allow for about 2 feet of off-tracking on the second trailer, but you can make turns 3X shorter or tighter with the doubles than you can even a 48 foot trailer even though the doubles are longer! The added articulation point is the reason for this.
Tomorrow I am told that the scale house on HWY 41 will be open, so I plan to get a run that way and hopefully catch the scales. Sounds a bit strange, but I want to go through the experience first hand. So I hope I will get to do that tomorrow.
But for now, I am off to bed!
My morning was filled in classroom with an exercise in route planning and load planning. Pretty simple stuff really but there are many thing you have to take in to account prior to accepting a load. Do you have enough time on your log book to make the run in the required time, what is the load weight, what is your vehicles weight, etc., etc.
After which I was assigned the doubles trailers. This is basically 2- 28 foot long trailers hooked together. Hooking up Doubles seems like a real pain in the ass if you ask me, I am sure with practice it wouldn't be so bad. Pulling the doubles is a piece of cake compared to a 48 foot or 53 foot trailer. All your are really driving is the first trailer and the second one just follows like a dream. You do need to allow for about 2 feet of off-tracking on the second trailer, but you can make turns 3X shorter or tighter with the doubles than you can even a 48 foot trailer even though the doubles are longer! The added articulation point is the reason for this.
Tomorrow I am told that the scale house on HWY 41 will be open, so I plan to get a run that way and hopefully catch the scales. Sounds a bit strange, but I want to go through the experience first hand. So I hope I will get to do that tomorrow.
But for now, I am off to bed!
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Anyone See Some Donuts?
Today was a REALLY fun and cool (not the temperature however) day. Today myself and 2 others from my class got to go and do skid pad training. This training is to teach us how to identify, control, and prevent loss of control in the event of a skid.
The first question that was asked of me, "Was it scary?", not really to me anyway. It was interesting doing a 360 in a 17,000 lb truck however. It was also very educational to experience a jack-knife in a controlled environment and learn how to take corrective action.
We also had training on the proper use and conditions of ABS brakes. I can hear some of you already, "You needed training in ABS brakes?!". Your darn right, and I will bet you $50 (figuratively speaking of course) that you do too, EVEN FOR YOUR CAR/TRUCK/SUV! Lets test you on it, and I will prove it. Here are a few questions and at the end of the post I will list the answers. See if you know the truth about ABS.
1)scenario: Dry pavement, busy freeway traveling at 65mph.
Question: Which will take farther (longer distance) to stop?
A) A vehicle WITH ABS.
B) A vehicle WITHOUT ABS.
C) Both will take the same distance to stop.
2)scenario: Dry pavement, busy freeway traveling at 65mph.
Question: To make a emergency stop or to stop quickly in a ABS equipped vehicle which should you do?
A) Brake only as hard as is needed to try and stop in time.
B) Mash the brakes to the floor and hold them there.
C) Brake hard till you feel the brake peddle vibrate, release the brakes and then re-apply them again.
3)scenario: Snow covered 2 lane road, traveling at 35mph.
Question: Which of the following will stop in the shortest distance?
A) A vehicle equipped with ABS brakes.
B) A vehicle equipped without ABS brakes.
C) Both will stop in the same distance.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of the other things that I really liked about the skid pad training was that I really got to find my own personal limits as well as the limits of the truck I was driving. You can assume what a spin out would be like in a bobtail tractor but until you experience it...... well it takes on a whole new meaning.
This training is one of the many reason that I choose Fox Valley Tech and I HIGHLY recommend that anyone that is considering going into truck driving make sure that they get this training as it really is that invaluable. Even if you have been driving for 20 years on the big road, if you haven't had skid pad training, pay the $200 or whatever it costs to get it!!
It just might save your life, or someone else's!
So lets see how you did on my little ABS quiz.
Question #1: Which vehicle will take farther (longer distance) to stop?
The correct answer is (B), A vehicle WITHOUT ABS.
That is right, a ABS vehicle will take longer to stop than a vehicle without ABS. This is because when the ABS system is activated, the computer that controls the ABS system allows the wheels to lock-up and then releases them so they start rolling again (this is to help maintain traction), then locks them back up. Every time the ABS system releases the brakes you are moving again with no effective braking so your stopping distance is increased.
So right about now your saying, "Then what is the point of having ABS?". The point is this, while it takes you longer to stop you are in full control while you are stopping. ABS will help prevent an out of control skid in hard braking and will allow you to steer. A non-ABS vehicle will be able to stop in a shorter distance, but because of the tendency to lock-up the wheels they are out of control and cannot steer while they are braking.
Question #2: To make a emergency stop or to stop quickly in a ABS equipped vehicle which should you do?
The correct answer is (B), Mash the brakes to the floor and hold them there.
ABS equipped vehicles have a little computer on them that controls the brakes. It essentially brakes the wheels until they lock-up, then releases them till they start rolling again, and then brakes them again till they lock-up again. It repeats this process until the vehicle is stopped or until you release the brakes. HOWEVER, the computer will ONLY engage when the brakes are FULLY APPLIED!
In an emergency stopping situation, you must fully apply the brakes (mash the peddle to the floor) and HOLD IT THERE. For many people, the first time they experience ABS they panic because of the pulsation of the brake peddle. Resist the urge to let up on the brake and keep it down and steer where you need to go to avoid an accident.
Question #3: Which of the following will stop in the shortest distance?
The correct answer is (A), A vehicle equipped with ABS brakes.
An ABS equipped vehicle will ALWAYS stop in a shorter distance than a non-ABS vehicle in slick driving contitions. The reason for this is skid control. Skidding in a straight line with the brakes locked up is even worse than not applying the brakes at all! The ABS equipped vehicle has a clear advantage here because the computer helps prevent a skid by releasing the locked-up wheel and allowing the wheel to regain traction.
Now some of you are going to say, "Dude you are WRONG!". Guess what, do your own research, learn how your ABS equipped vehicle works. You going to find out that I am right. Here is another thing I encourage EVERYONE to do, especially if you have kids that drive ABS equipped vehicles. Find an empty parking lot with lots of room. Drive until you are going about 15-25mph, make sure there is no one behind you, and mash on the brakes (all the way to the floor), and experience what it feels like when the ABS system engages.
Ok, "WHY?" you just asked. Did you know that 85% of crashes that involved ABS vehicles were 50% worse than they could have been because when the ABS system kicked in it scared the driver and they took their foot off the brake! Think about it for a second. You are already nervous/scared/panicked because your in an emergency situation, (doesn't matter how careful you are everyone will encounter it at some point) you aggressively apply the brakes and now the brake peddle is pulsating and vibrating in ways you have NEVER felt before. Human instinct kicks in, what do we do when something is not right or scares us? We stop doing whatever it was that started the "weird" thing to happen. Unfortunately in this situation, everything is working just how it is supposed to, but because it doesn't feel normal to us, we will take our foot OFF the very thing that is trying to help us.
So experience the sensation of your ABS in a controlled environment at a safe speed so you know what it feels like and how it reacts. So when your in that real emergency situation, your not surprised even more than you already are.
The first question that was asked of me, "Was it scary?", not really to me anyway. It was interesting doing a 360 in a 17,000 lb truck however. It was also very educational to experience a jack-knife in a controlled environment and learn how to take corrective action.
We also had training on the proper use and conditions of ABS brakes. I can hear some of you already, "You needed training in ABS brakes?!". Your darn right, and I will bet you $50 (figuratively speaking of course) that you do too, EVEN FOR YOUR CAR/TRUCK/SUV! Lets test you on it, and I will prove it. Here are a few questions and at the end of the post I will list the answers. See if you know the truth about ABS.
1)scenario: Dry pavement, busy freeway traveling at 65mph.
Question: Which will take farther (longer distance) to stop?
A) A vehicle WITH ABS.
B) A vehicle WITHOUT ABS.
C) Both will take the same distance to stop.
2)scenario: Dry pavement, busy freeway traveling at 65mph.
Question: To make a emergency stop or to stop quickly in a ABS equipped vehicle which should you do?
A) Brake only as hard as is needed to try and stop in time.
B) Mash the brakes to the floor and hold them there.
C) Brake hard till you feel the brake peddle vibrate, release the brakes and then re-apply them again.
3)scenario: Snow covered 2 lane road, traveling at 35mph.
Question: Which of the following will stop in the shortest distance?
A) A vehicle equipped with ABS brakes.
B) A vehicle equipped without ABS brakes.
C) Both will stop in the same distance.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of the other things that I really liked about the skid pad training was that I really got to find my own personal limits as well as the limits of the truck I was driving. You can assume what a spin out would be like in a bobtail tractor but until you experience it...... well it takes on a whole new meaning.
This training is one of the many reason that I choose Fox Valley Tech and I HIGHLY recommend that anyone that is considering going into truck driving make sure that they get this training as it really is that invaluable. Even if you have been driving for 20 years on the big road, if you haven't had skid pad training, pay the $200 or whatever it costs to get it!!
It just might save your life, or someone else's!
So lets see how you did on my little ABS quiz.
Question #1: Which vehicle will take farther (longer distance) to stop?
The correct answer is (B), A vehicle WITHOUT ABS.
That is right, a ABS vehicle will take longer to stop than a vehicle without ABS. This is because when the ABS system is activated, the computer that controls the ABS system allows the wheels to lock-up and then releases them so they start rolling again (this is to help maintain traction), then locks them back up. Every time the ABS system releases the brakes you are moving again with no effective braking so your stopping distance is increased.
So right about now your saying, "Then what is the point of having ABS?". The point is this, while it takes you longer to stop you are in full control while you are stopping. ABS will help prevent an out of control skid in hard braking and will allow you to steer. A non-ABS vehicle will be able to stop in a shorter distance, but because of the tendency to lock-up the wheels they are out of control and cannot steer while they are braking.
Question #2: To make a emergency stop or to stop quickly in a ABS equipped vehicle which should you do?
The correct answer is (B), Mash the brakes to the floor and hold them there.
ABS equipped vehicles have a little computer on them that controls the brakes. It essentially brakes the wheels until they lock-up, then releases them till they start rolling again, and then brakes them again till they lock-up again. It repeats this process until the vehicle is stopped or until you release the brakes. HOWEVER, the computer will ONLY engage when the brakes are FULLY APPLIED!
In an emergency stopping situation, you must fully apply the brakes (mash the peddle to the floor) and HOLD IT THERE. For many people, the first time they experience ABS they panic because of the pulsation of the brake peddle. Resist the urge to let up on the brake and keep it down and steer where you need to go to avoid an accident.
Question #3: Which of the following will stop in the shortest distance?
The correct answer is (A), A vehicle equipped with ABS brakes.
An ABS equipped vehicle will ALWAYS stop in a shorter distance than a non-ABS vehicle in slick driving contitions. The reason for this is skid control. Skidding in a straight line with the brakes locked up is even worse than not applying the brakes at all! The ABS equipped vehicle has a clear advantage here because the computer helps prevent a skid by releasing the locked-up wheel and allowing the wheel to regain traction.
Now some of you are going to say, "Dude you are WRONG!". Guess what, do your own research, learn how your ABS equipped vehicle works. You going to find out that I am right. Here is another thing I encourage EVERYONE to do, especially if you have kids that drive ABS equipped vehicles. Find an empty parking lot with lots of room. Drive until you are going about 15-25mph, make sure there is no one behind you, and mash on the brakes (all the way to the floor), and experience what it feels like when the ABS system engages.
Ok, "WHY?" you just asked. Did you know that 85% of crashes that involved ABS vehicles were 50% worse than they could have been because when the ABS system kicked in it scared the driver and they took their foot off the brake! Think about it for a second. You are already nervous/scared/panicked because your in an emergency situation, (doesn't matter how careful you are everyone will encounter it at some point) you aggressively apply the brakes and now the brake peddle is pulsating and vibrating in ways you have NEVER felt before. Human instinct kicks in, what do we do when something is not right or scares us? We stop doing whatever it was that started the "weird" thing to happen. Unfortunately in this situation, everything is working just how it is supposed to, but because it doesn't feel normal to us, we will take our foot OFF the very thing that is trying to help us.
So experience the sensation of your ABS in a controlled environment at a safe speed so you know what it feels like and how it reacts. So when your in that real emergency situation, your not surprised even more than you already are.
Monday, June 27, 2005
A 10 Speed Taking Shortcuts
Ok, Ok, so I back dated this post to yesterday as I just didn't get a chance to make one. So no your not crazy.
Today was an interesting day. At dispatch I was informed that I was changing trucks again. This time to a Volvo (Truck #9252) which is a Super 10. It is just like a regular 10 speed but it works a bit different. Each hole (or gear slot) has 2 gear placements just like all other 10 speeds, however with a super 10 instead of having to shift through the 5 speed pattern twice, you only have to do the patter once thanks to a little button. The Hole (slot) for first gear has gears 1 and 2 in it, Hole 2 has gear 3 and 4 in it, and so on. So if you start out in first gear you would accelerate till you are ready to shift to second. Then you slide the switch on the tower (gear shifter) forward to select second gear, let off the accelerator till the gear grabs and your done. No clutching, no moving the shift tower. NICE!!
Now down shifting is pretty much the same as up-shifting, with a catch that is hard to get your brain to let you do. Lets say your in 4th gear (the shift button is in the forward position) and you want to down-shift to 3rd gear. You would slow down till your RPMs get around 1000, slide the shift button backward to the 3rd gear position, then, and here is the trick, you have to accelerate until the transmission catches the lower gear. If I ever thought that bumping the accelerator in a standard 10 speed was a hard thing to get my brain to allow me to do, it has NOTHING on this. It is a scary feeling accelerating while downshifting to a stop light with a car in front of you. Your only instinct is to abandon the downshift and just brake to a stop.
Well needless to say it took the whole morning before both myself and my driving partner got the hang of things and got our check on (means we can drive the vechicle on public roads). But after getting out on the road with this transmission, it is really simple to operate and much less work. Allot less shifting and clutching that my knee really approves of.
Today was an interesting day. At dispatch I was informed that I was changing trucks again. This time to a Volvo (Truck #9252) which is a Super 10. It is just like a regular 10 speed but it works a bit different. Each hole (or gear slot) has 2 gear placements just like all other 10 speeds, however with a super 10 instead of having to shift through the 5 speed pattern twice, you only have to do the patter once thanks to a little button. The Hole (slot) for first gear has gears 1 and 2 in it, Hole 2 has gear 3 and 4 in it, and so on. So if you start out in first gear you would accelerate till you are ready to shift to second. Then you slide the switch on the tower (gear shifter) forward to select second gear, let off the accelerator till the gear grabs and your done. No clutching, no moving the shift tower. NICE!!
Now down shifting is pretty much the same as up-shifting, with a catch that is hard to get your brain to let you do. Lets say your in 4th gear (the shift button is in the forward position) and you want to down-shift to 3rd gear. You would slow down till your RPMs get around 1000, slide the shift button backward to the 3rd gear position, then, and here is the trick, you have to accelerate until the transmission catches the lower gear. If I ever thought that bumping the accelerator in a standard 10 speed was a hard thing to get my brain to allow me to do, it has NOTHING on this. It is a scary feeling accelerating while downshifting to a stop light with a car in front of you. Your only instinct is to abandon the downshift and just brake to a stop.
Well needless to say it took the whole morning before both myself and my driving partner got the hang of things and got our check on (means we can drive the vechicle on public roads). But after getting out on the road with this transmission, it is really simple to operate and much less work. Allot less shifting and clutching that my knee really approves of.
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Some Finishing Touches
I had quite a bit going on today, well at least for me on a weekend by myself. I am putting the finishing touches on my PC now that it is up and running correctly. I still have a few programs to re-install and a couple of glitches to sort out (like why my pop-up blocker is not working). I also did some work on the site as some of you might have noticed. I have added a search feature and joined the bravenet affiliate program (under the support this blog section). So if you like the neat tools that I have from bravenet, please use the link there, as I get $1.00 for everyone who uses the bravenet service for 15 days. It is free BTW!! So if you wanted to support my blog, that is a great way to do so, using someone else's money!!! LOL
Stephanie (A.K.A. SnowKitten) is on her way to Reno, NV for her girlfriends wedding, where she will be for the next 4 days. She is picking up a friend that is going with her from the airport, but it looks like she will be a little bit late getting there. Now if only I can keep her out of the casinos............... Yea right! What is the point of going to the gambling state of the world if you don't gamble at least a little. I am sure she will have lots of fun. Kind of wish I was going with her, but that is just not practical with me in school and 2500 miles away.
On Friday I have to turn in my 60 day notice to the apartment complex. Kind of sad about that, as I really like my apartment. But Stephanie is not really interested in moving out here, and the apartment does not allow pets which is the major problem. Inaddition, it really doesn't make much sense for me to keep the apartment (especially without a roommate) when I will be on the road for weeks at a time and only be able to spend 4-8 days a month here. At a cost of $800 a month to run the apartment, it is just not cost effective.
Well better get back to work on my computer here, so I will talk to you all tomorrow!
Stephanie (A.K.A. SnowKitten) is on her way to Reno, NV for her girlfriends wedding, where she will be for the next 4 days. She is picking up a friend that is going with her from the airport, but it looks like she will be a little bit late getting there. Now if only I can keep her out of the casinos............... Yea right! What is the point of going to the gambling state of the world if you don't gamble at least a little. I am sure she will have lots of fun. Kind of wish I was going with her, but that is just not practical with me in school and 2500 miles away.
On Friday I have to turn in my 60 day notice to the apartment complex. Kind of sad about that, as I really like my apartment. But Stephanie is not really interested in moving out here, and the apartment does not allow pets which is the major problem. Inaddition, it really doesn't make much sense for me to keep the apartment (especially without a roommate) when I will be on the road for weeks at a time and only be able to spend 4-8 days a month here. At a cost of $800 a month to run the apartment, it is just not cost effective.
Well better get back to work on my computer here, so I will talk to you all tomorrow!
Friday, June 24, 2005
And The World Keeps Turning
Well folks I am finally back up running. My new power supply and monitor came in today. Things seem to be much more stable and working correctly so far *knock on wood*. I just want to thank Stephanie for helping me get the parts ordered as well as helping me attempt to keep my blog updated as best as possible.
So lets cover a few events from the past few days real quick here. Thursday was a simply crappy day. I was paired up with a phase 2 student which was a bad idea in my mind. We both got a run in in the morning but because of how bad the seat in the truck became we finally had to get something done about it. My instructor asked me to drop it off at the maintenance bay for repairs that should take 30 mins. So at about 11:00 am I put my truck in the schools mechanic shop and went to lunch. This is when I found out that getting paired up with a phase 2 was not a good position as he had classroom all afternoon. This left me without a driving partner. The phase 4 students graduated on Thursday to boot so there was NOBODY to be found to be a co-rider. At about 1:00pm I checked on the status of my truck only to find out that they would not be able to even start fixing it till 3:00pm!!! So I talked to my instructor and gave him the info and requested another truck to drive. He assigned me another truck. So I went back to my "old" truck to get my mechanic's gloves out of it that I use to do my pre-trips with, only to find them gone. Some asshole dirtbag mechanic stole them out of my truck. I reported it to the instructor for the shop as well as my instructor. The shop instructor really didn't seem to give a crap, and my instructor was pretty pissed about it, but not nearly as pissed as I am.
I gave the instructor of the shop till 2:00pm Friday to recover my property from his thieving students. After Friday, I pity the SOB that I catch with them. It is not about the money aspect, they only cost about $35. But it is MY $35. I won't tolerate a thief. If I find someone with my gloves, there getting fucked up something serious.
Friday, I still didn't get my gloves returned, so the fools in the maintenance shop better hide come Monday cause I will be going looking for them.
Aside from that it was a good day. We get to participate in a train-the-trainer program. Basically, companies send their driver-trainers to FVTC to learn how to train and evaluate their new drivers. Well to practice what they learned, they got to evaluate us today, and we in turn evaluate them. The cool thing about this deal is that we got a totally different and new route to drive. My route took about 2 hrs and was 71 miles long. Awesome!!! There were some really good challenges in this route, some tight turns, heavy traffic, construction, overpasses, etc. It was a refreshing break from the 3 routes were currently have to work with. I wish we could drive that route all the time. It was definitely only for those of us who are a little bit ahead skills-wise than some of the others as it was quite challenging. But all of us involved in it loved every minute of it.
Before I go, I just want to thank everyone for your patience this past week. I received a few emails from some of the regulars wondering where the posts were. It was really hard to dictate a post to Stephanie over the phone and have her type it out. She did a great job, I thank her for taking the time out of her day to help me out with that.
Goodnight.
So lets cover a few events from the past few days real quick here. Thursday was a simply crappy day. I was paired up with a phase 2 student which was a bad idea in my mind. We both got a run in in the morning but because of how bad the seat in the truck became we finally had to get something done about it. My instructor asked me to drop it off at the maintenance bay for repairs that should take 30 mins. So at about 11:00 am I put my truck in the schools mechanic shop and went to lunch. This is when I found out that getting paired up with a phase 2 was not a good position as he had classroom all afternoon. This left me without a driving partner. The phase 4 students graduated on Thursday to boot so there was NOBODY to be found to be a co-rider. At about 1:00pm I checked on the status of my truck only to find out that they would not be able to even start fixing it till 3:00pm!!! So I talked to my instructor and gave him the info and requested another truck to drive. He assigned me another truck. So I went back to my "old" truck to get my mechanic's gloves out of it that I use to do my pre-trips with, only to find them gone. Some asshole dirtbag mechanic stole them out of my truck. I reported it to the instructor for the shop as well as my instructor. The shop instructor really didn't seem to give a crap, and my instructor was pretty pissed about it, but not nearly as pissed as I am.
I gave the instructor of the shop till 2:00pm Friday to recover my property from his thieving students. After Friday, I pity the SOB that I catch with them. It is not about the money aspect, they only cost about $35. But it is MY $35. I won't tolerate a thief. If I find someone with my gloves, there getting fucked up something serious.
Friday, I still didn't get my gloves returned, so the fools in the maintenance shop better hide come Monday cause I will be going looking for them.
Aside from that it was a good day. We get to participate in a train-the-trainer program. Basically, companies send their driver-trainers to FVTC to learn how to train and evaluate their new drivers. Well to practice what they learned, they got to evaluate us today, and we in turn evaluate them. The cool thing about this deal is that we got a totally different and new route to drive. My route took about 2 hrs and was 71 miles long. Awesome!!! There were some really good challenges in this route, some tight turns, heavy traffic, construction, overpasses, etc. It was a refreshing break from the 3 routes were currently have to work with. I wish we could drive that route all the time. It was definitely only for those of us who are a little bit ahead skills-wise than some of the others as it was quite challenging. But all of us involved in it loved every minute of it.
Before I go, I just want to thank everyone for your patience this past week. I received a few emails from some of the regulars wondering where the posts were. It was really hard to dictate a post to Stephanie over the phone and have her type it out. She did a great job, I thank her for taking the time out of her day to help me out with that.
Goodnight.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Some Days Are Not All Wine And Roses.........
Quick recap for yesterday:
Both Linda & "Little" Dave got their CDL's yesterday, which made for a wonderful donut feast this morning. Really have to hand it to them both on this little accomplishment as Linda had a little trouble getting her backing down & "Little" Dave for having his brush with a stop light on his first CDL attempt.
So Congratulations to both!!!!
In other CDL news, Cathy got her CDL today, Congratulations Cathy!!
Now that all that is done with, down to business.........
Today I got switched from my previous truck to truck #240. #240 is an old beater with a 9 speed transmission & a 900lb clutch (by far the hardest clutch yet). I was also given the task of pulling an empty tanker instead of a trailer today. The interesting thing about this tanker is it's only 45ft long so it required some adjustment in the way I make my turns because I don't have to take them as deep or wide as I do with the trailers. As far as the truck is concerned, what a pain in the ass! As I already mentioned, it has an absolutely brutal clutch which is totally killing my knee, it also has a screwed up steering wheel that is not adjustable (think of a school bus), and to top it all off, the seat only moves side to side & is tilted to the right. Other than that, it drives like a dream and shifts very smoothly for a 9 speed.
Today we also had student counselors from an area High School come in and we had to give up our trucks for about an hour so the counselors could go on a little joy ride around the truck stop with the instructors. They seemed to get a real kick out of it, although it did cost me some time in being able to get more runs in with my truck. Even with that said, I broke 800 miles today.
We also had a recruiter from MBM Distributing who handles food service deliveries for restaurants like Hardy's, Burger King & Red Lobster. Interesting sounding company, but definitely not my cup of tea. While they offer great home time, generally 2 days out & 1 day home, you're also required to hand unload the truck for inside delivery. Now I don't know about anyone else, but after driving for 10hrs a day, I really don't feel like unloading 20,000lbs of frozen products, so this company is definitely not on my list.
Other than that, just tried to get as many runs in as we could and that was about as exciting as the day needed to be.
This post brought to you verbatim from the ramblings of Maveric himself by the ever infamous "SnowKitten" Typist Extraordinaire & Spell Check Master.
Both Linda & "Little" Dave got their CDL's yesterday, which made for a wonderful donut feast this morning. Really have to hand it to them both on this little accomplishment as Linda had a little trouble getting her backing down & "Little" Dave for having his brush with a stop light on his first CDL attempt.
So Congratulations to both!!!!
In other CDL news, Cathy got her CDL today, Congratulations Cathy!!
Now that all that is done with, down to business.........
Today I got switched from my previous truck to truck #240. #240 is an old beater with a 9 speed transmission & a 900lb clutch (by far the hardest clutch yet). I was also given the task of pulling an empty tanker instead of a trailer today. The interesting thing about this tanker is it's only 45ft long so it required some adjustment in the way I make my turns because I don't have to take them as deep or wide as I do with the trailers. As far as the truck is concerned, what a pain in the ass! As I already mentioned, it has an absolutely brutal clutch which is totally killing my knee, it also has a screwed up steering wheel that is not adjustable (think of a school bus), and to top it all off, the seat only moves side to side & is tilted to the right. Other than that, it drives like a dream and shifts very smoothly for a 9 speed.
Today we also had student counselors from an area High School come in and we had to give up our trucks for about an hour so the counselors could go on a little joy ride around the truck stop with the instructors. They seemed to get a real kick out of it, although it did cost me some time in being able to get more runs in with my truck. Even with that said, I broke 800 miles today.
We also had a recruiter from MBM Distributing who handles food service deliveries for restaurants like Hardy's, Burger King & Red Lobster. Interesting sounding company, but definitely not my cup of tea. While they offer great home time, generally 2 days out & 1 day home, you're also required to hand unload the truck for inside delivery. Now I don't know about anyone else, but after driving for 10hrs a day, I really don't feel like unloading 20,000lbs of frozen products, so this company is definitely not on my list.
Other than that, just tried to get as many runs in as we could and that was about as exciting as the day needed to be.
This post brought to you verbatim from the ramblings of Maveric himself by the ever infamous "SnowKitten" Typist Extraordinaire & Spell Check Master.
Monday, June 20, 2005
From Pitch Black To Screeching Halt
Today I got an interesting surprise! I was taken off my 53ft trailer & given a loaded 48ft trailer instead.
This new trailer adds a whole new dimension to driving a truck and is nothing like running around with an empty trailer. I really couldn't tell much difference at first until I tried to go out on the highway. There is absolutely nothing more terrifying for a truck driver than merging in to traffic traveling at 70 mph when you're in 9th gear and only moving 40 mph; needless to say, it takes this truck a long time to get up to freeway speeds with a loaded trailer.
My next realization of just how different driving with a loaded trailer is came the first time I tried to take a short off-ramp and was barely able to stop my truck in time. I also found I had to adjust my shifting speed to compensate for the weight of the trailer. Normally I can shift at a leisurely pace, but with a loaded trailer I have to shift much faster as the rpm's fall a lot quicker.
Today, I also broke the 600 mile mark of "Behind the wheel driving" Yea me!! Only 400 miles to go to meet the school requirement of 1000 miles. We also have a new class starting Phase 1 this week so my class & I have been moved to Phase 3.
Next up, we have the joys of technology.........
Got up this morning to check on the transfer to Steph's computer & the monitor was having issues. Light is on, but no display & nothing happens regardless of mouseing or messing with the monitor buttons. Needless to say, Steph is not thrilled as it is her monitor. On the positive side of things, my new 600w Power Supply is shipped & should be here by Wednesday.
This post of truck school hijinks & technology blunders brought to you by the infamous "SnowKitten" via the word for word ramblings of Maveric and my incredible ability to type better than he does ;-)
This new trailer adds a whole new dimension to driving a truck and is nothing like running around with an empty trailer. I really couldn't tell much difference at first until I tried to go out on the highway. There is absolutely nothing more terrifying for a truck driver than merging in to traffic traveling at 70 mph when you're in 9th gear and only moving 40 mph; needless to say, it takes this truck a long time to get up to freeway speeds with a loaded trailer.
My next realization of just how different driving with a loaded trailer is came the first time I tried to take a short off-ramp and was barely able to stop my truck in time. I also found I had to adjust my shifting speed to compensate for the weight of the trailer. Normally I can shift at a leisurely pace, but with a loaded trailer I have to shift much faster as the rpm's fall a lot quicker.
Today, I also broke the 600 mile mark of "Behind the wheel driving" Yea me!! Only 400 miles to go to meet the school requirement of 1000 miles. We also have a new class starting Phase 1 this week so my class & I have been moved to Phase 3.
Next up, we have the joys of technology.........
Got up this morning to check on the transfer to Steph's computer & the monitor was having issues. Light is on, but no display & nothing happens regardless of mouseing or messing with the monitor buttons. Needless to say, Steph is not thrilled as it is her monitor. On the positive side of things, my new 600w Power Supply is shipped & should be here by Wednesday.
This post of truck school hijinks & technology blunders brought to you by the infamous "SnowKitten" via the word for word ramblings of Maveric and my incredible ability to type better than he does ;-)
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Technology Can Be Such A Pain
Friday was a pretty slow day for me. However, while it was a slow day it was also an interesting one as we were assigned a 53 foot trailer! Now I know many of you are thinking, "Big deal, it is only 5 feet longer, big deal at this point". Not so my friends. 5 feet is eternity when your making a turn and waiting for that EXTRA 5 feet to clear a center divider. It takes a little bit more finesses to maneuver around with a 53' trailer. Right now we are a little hampered with what routes we are allowed to drive because of construction, so there is not much in the way of real city driving routes. Most of the 3 routes that we can drive are mostly highway driving. I hope that some of the other routes are able to be opened soon so I can get some practice driving this 53' in those downtown city conditions. But I really fell like I have a handle on what I am doing.
Saturday I went to the Brown County Fairgrounds for the truck show. I was a little disappointed at the small size of the show. There were only a handful of vendors and companies there. There were about 30 trucks on display, and while many of them looked very nice, there were about 10 or so that REALLY stood out! Totally chromed out to the limit, some with hardwood floors! Pretty neat and very impressive.
This weekend I have also been working on getting my computer up and running. I am still running into the same type of problems that plagued me earlier. After some testing it appears that my power supply is just not doing its job, so I have been forced to order a new one to eliminate that as a possible cause. The bad thing is that this purchase uses up all of my available budget for "MISC" things. So I really hope this solves the problem and gets my PC working right. As of right now I am transferring a backup copy of my data off-site to Stephanie's computer just in case something goes terribly wrong with mine. It will take most of today to transfer the nearly 20GB of data from my PC to hers, but until I get the new power supply my testing capabilities are pretty limited. I just can't risk corruption of my data, so the off site backup will have to be completed first before I can continue testing.
Saturday I went to the Brown County Fairgrounds for the truck show. I was a little disappointed at the small size of the show. There were only a handful of vendors and companies there. There were about 30 trucks on display, and while many of them looked very nice, there were about 10 or so that REALLY stood out! Totally chromed out to the limit, some with hardwood floors! Pretty neat and very impressive.
This weekend I have also been working on getting my computer up and running. I am still running into the same type of problems that plagued me earlier. After some testing it appears that my power supply is just not doing its job, so I have been forced to order a new one to eliminate that as a possible cause. The bad thing is that this purchase uses up all of my available budget for "MISC" things. So I really hope this solves the problem and gets my PC working right. As of right now I am transferring a backup copy of my data off-site to Stephanie's computer just in case something goes terribly wrong with mine. It will take most of today to transfer the nearly 20GB of data from my PC to hers, but until I get the new power supply my testing capabilities are pretty limited. I just can't risk corruption of my data, so the off site backup will have to be completed first before I can continue testing.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
On The Road Again.......
I must apologize for the short post yesterday but it was pretty late and I had to get up early to buy donuts for everyone. Sort of a ritual that everyone that gets their CDL does. On my test I got a total of 9 points, points being items that I did incorrectly. I got 3 points out of 15 max on my pre-trip. I forgot to mention the rear running lights on the trailer, "Cuts" in the rear tire, and cracks or welds in the rear wheel rim. The last one I did mention I was checking it for and my instructor was willing to change my score and give me credit for it, but it really doesn't matter. Passing is Passing.
I did fine on my straight line backing and my alley dock backing. Neither were perfect but I got the job done.
On my road test I got 6 points out of 20 max, 1 point for rubbing a curb (there wasn't a actual curb there, but for the test they treat all roadway boundaries as curbs and my instructor felt that I came a little too close, in that, if there was a curb there I would have rubbed it.), the other 5 were on my up-shifting of all things. I was shifting about 1/10th of a sec too fast (according to my instructor) and my instructor said that he heard and extra "click" on my up-shifts. It is possible, as I was a bit nervous (I ended up taking my test in the middle of rush hour traffic) but I personally think what he was hearing was the shifter entering the gear slot and then the gear engaging. But regardless I am VERY happy with my performance. I lost 0 points on my traffic checks which is the biggest area and easiest to lose points on.
After my test my instructor told me he was very impressed, and that I showed to him that I really cared about what I was doing and was always thinking of safety, not only of myself but of the other motorists on road as well. I verbalized allot of what I was thinking during the test as well as my rational for what I was doing and how I was doing it. There were 2 times that I probably could have made it through an intersection, but choose to wait till I had a larger gap in traffic, my reasoning for this was, in case I miss a gear that on coming traffic (moving at 55+ mph) won't have to take action to avoid me. It was safer for me to just wait a moment or two until I had a larger gap in traffic.
I have to admit it gave me a very good and positive feeling hearing that from one of my instructors. Kind of reassured me that I was doing things the right way.
This morning after dropping off 3 dozen donuts for the staff and my classmates, I went down to the DMV and got my official CDL license. Picture still looks horrible though.....LOL
The rest of the day I got to drive 3 new road routes and put on 123 miles. After today I have a little over 450 miles behind the wheel driving, with a minimum of 550 more to go. Tomorrow will the probably be the last day I can relax a little now that I have passed my CDL test, as I will be given a new truck with a 53' trailer soon. I also need to start working on my offset, and blind side backing, as well as keeping up on my straight line and alley dock. Can't let myself become complacent as I still have a final backing test to pass. In the weeks that follow I will also have to pull a flatbed trailer, a set of doubles, and a tanker. I will also be getting assigned to new trucks with different transmissions (super 10, automatic, etc). Then there is still skid pad training as well. So it won't be boring, that is for sure!
This weekend there is a big truck show at the Green Bay Fairgrounds that I am going to attend. A few of my classmates are going to be there as well, and the school has one of our trucks and a booth there. Admission is free to all, so if your going to be in the area this weekend I encourage you all to stop by.
I did fine on my straight line backing and my alley dock backing. Neither were perfect but I got the job done.
On my road test I got 6 points out of 20 max, 1 point for rubbing a curb (there wasn't a actual curb there, but for the test they treat all roadway boundaries as curbs and my instructor felt that I came a little too close, in that, if there was a curb there I would have rubbed it.), the other 5 were on my up-shifting of all things. I was shifting about 1/10th of a sec too fast (according to my instructor) and my instructor said that he heard and extra "click" on my up-shifts. It is possible, as I was a bit nervous (I ended up taking my test in the middle of rush hour traffic) but I personally think what he was hearing was the shifter entering the gear slot and then the gear engaging. But regardless I am VERY happy with my performance. I lost 0 points on my traffic checks which is the biggest area and easiest to lose points on.
After my test my instructor told me he was very impressed, and that I showed to him that I really cared about what I was doing and was always thinking of safety, not only of myself but of the other motorists on road as well. I verbalized allot of what I was thinking during the test as well as my rational for what I was doing and how I was doing it. There were 2 times that I probably could have made it through an intersection, but choose to wait till I had a larger gap in traffic, my reasoning for this was, in case I miss a gear that on coming traffic (moving at 55+ mph) won't have to take action to avoid me. It was safer for me to just wait a moment or two until I had a larger gap in traffic.
I have to admit it gave me a very good and positive feeling hearing that from one of my instructors. Kind of reassured me that I was doing things the right way.
This morning after dropping off 3 dozen donuts for the staff and my classmates, I went down to the DMV and got my official CDL license. Picture still looks horrible though.....LOL
The rest of the day I got to drive 3 new road routes and put on 123 miles. After today I have a little over 450 miles behind the wheel driving, with a minimum of 550 more to go. Tomorrow will the probably be the last day I can relax a little now that I have passed my CDL test, as I will be given a new truck with a 53' trailer soon. I also need to start working on my offset, and blind side backing, as well as keeping up on my straight line and alley dock. Can't let myself become complacent as I still have a final backing test to pass. In the weeks that follow I will also have to pull a flatbed trailer, a set of doubles, and a tanker. I will also be getting assigned to new trucks with different transmissions (super 10, automatic, etc). Then there is still skid pad training as well. So it won't be boring, that is for sure!
This weekend there is a big truck show at the Green Bay Fairgrounds that I am going to attend. A few of my classmates are going to be there as well, and the school has one of our trucks and a booth there. Admission is free to all, so if your going to be in the area this weekend I encourage you all to stop by.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
9 Points To Perfection
I am going to keep this post kinda short tonight as it is getting late, but today I took my CDL test. I PASSED!!! YEA!!! I missed 3 points on my pre-trip and 6 points on my driving test. I will cover what I all missed in tomorrows post. I need to get to bed so I can get up early as I have to buy donuts for everyone. (It is a CDL passing ritual everyone does). In addition to myself, my Co-Driver Dick T., and Randy also passed their CDL test today. Congrats guys!!!
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Taking A Ride In The Country
Today was kind of a slow day but a good one for me, not so good for a others though. In the morning I practiced my alley dock and straight line backing in preparation for my CDL test which I am told is going to be tomorrow. EEK! I am a bit nervous already, but I feel ready for it. The only real worry in my mind is my backing test.
In the afternoon I had a road evaluation that went very good. Took a long dive in the country on some very bumpy and narrow 2 lane roads. But I did everything just like I was supposed to and only ground 1 gear. I just hope I do as well tomorrow on my CDL test.
4 other students in my class took their CDL tests. John and Uhe (not sure how to spell his name but it is Pronounced "U"), Joe and "little" Dave all tested today. Only John and Uhe passed. Joe messed up on is brake test and has to retake that part tomorrow morning but sadly "little" Dave failed, bad. Dave made a bad left hand turn and hit a stop light. He didn't take it out but did cause some minor damage to it. It was a simple mistake, one that any one of us could make. He got into an intersection and the light changed on him and he tried to hurry through, but forgot about that 48 feet of trailer behind him. Thankfully no one got hurt, other than Dave's pride, and the damage was repaired even before the police arrived to fill out the incident report.
If you have never driven a semi truck with a 48 foot trailer you might be tempted to say something like "Man that was stupid, how could you not see that?" But let me tell you, it is a very easy thing to do especially considering the total disregard the 4 wheel traffic has for semi's. We have to CONSTANTLY watch for a car or pickup truck cutting in front of us, passing on the right, running a red light so they don't have to be behind us, etc, etc. The general motoring public really has no clue just how many times they come soooo very close to getting either into a major accident or killed because of their lack of patience, common sense, and just poor judgment. It requires 90% of our attention just to watch out for idiot 4 wheelers that we only have 10% left to concentrate on our own driving. Pretty sad if you ask me. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.
Well it looks like tomorrow is my big day. Cross your fingers and say a prayer for me.
In the afternoon I had a road evaluation that went very good. Took a long dive in the country on some very bumpy and narrow 2 lane roads. But I did everything just like I was supposed to and only ground 1 gear. I just hope I do as well tomorrow on my CDL test.
4 other students in my class took their CDL tests. John and Uhe (not sure how to spell his name but it is Pronounced "U"), Joe and "little" Dave all tested today. Only John and Uhe passed. Joe messed up on is brake test and has to retake that part tomorrow morning but sadly "little" Dave failed, bad. Dave made a bad left hand turn and hit a stop light. He didn't take it out but did cause some minor damage to it. It was a simple mistake, one that any one of us could make. He got into an intersection and the light changed on him and he tried to hurry through, but forgot about that 48 feet of trailer behind him. Thankfully no one got hurt, other than Dave's pride, and the damage was repaired even before the police arrived to fill out the incident report.
If you have never driven a semi truck with a 48 foot trailer you might be tempted to say something like "Man that was stupid, how could you not see that?" But let me tell you, it is a very easy thing to do especially considering the total disregard the 4 wheel traffic has for semi's. We have to CONSTANTLY watch for a car or pickup truck cutting in front of us, passing on the right, running a red light so they don't have to be behind us, etc, etc. The general motoring public really has no clue just how many times they come soooo very close to getting either into a major accident or killed because of their lack of patience, common sense, and just poor judgment. It requires 90% of our attention just to watch out for idiot 4 wheelers that we only have 10% left to concentrate on our own driving. Pretty sad if you ask me. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.
Well it looks like tomorrow is my big day. Cross your fingers and say a prayer for me.
Monday, June 13, 2005
Geee Toto, Is This Really Kansas?
One thing I forgot to mention about school on Friday is that I got to do "Live Dock". One of my instructors took us down to Neenha, WI to his old company that he worked for. He had made arrangements for us to goto their warehouse and dispatch center and actually back up to a real loading dock. It was a fun experience.
Today was a really good day, all things considered. I practiced my alley dock backing for about 2 hrs, and then got a CDL holding student to go out on a run with me. That trip went really good. At lunch I had to go up to student admissions and get my class registration straighted out AGAIN! Apparently, they didn't have me enrolled for the 2nd block that I have been in for 2 weeks now. Needless to say I was not very nice to folks in admissions, and I expressed my utter contempt with their incompetence.
After lunch, not that I got to eat lunch, we had a recruiter from W.O. Wolding company. Sounded like a decent company but they don't make any runs to Northern California so there not a good fit for me. I had a road evaluation that went great. I was once again informed that I would be up for my CDL test very soon. I am not worried about my pre-trip inspection or the road test really, but my alley dock backing has me a bit concerned. I am not performing that backing exercise with the consistency that I would like. I am completing the maneuver, but sometimes it is better than others. I really want to get that down pat better before my CDL test.
In the late afternoon we had to stop all driving and head into the building shelter areas as a tornado was spotted in out area. This took up about an hour and afterwords it was pointless to do much more with the little bit of time remaining.
I am still limping along on my PC. It is severely limited as I have nearly 160 GB of data crammed onto a my little 60GB backup drive. It looks like there is one casualty, all my bookmarks are forever gone. Quite upsetting but there is nothing I can do about it, and no way to recover them. It will take till about the end of the week till I get my new Maxtor 200GB Sata Drive. When I get that setup and configured it will still take me a few days to a week to get everything back up to 100%. I really hate having my PC in this crippled state for so long of a time, but there is nothing I can do about it till I get the new drive. I am going to be contacting Western Digital about the 2 dead drives I now have and arrange for either a refund or replacement of them. If they just send replacements (like I am sure they will) I will be selling them on ebay so I can purchase a new power supply. The power supply is the only thing left that is in real question in my mind after the failures I have had. Strangely it is a very good power supply, an Antec True Power 550W. My system is pretty beefy, but not that beefy that it should over draw a 550W PSU, but after running several diagnostic tests on the CPU, chipset, RAM and motherboard and having all of them come up clean with no errors at all, the power supply is the most likely culprit. But a new 500W+ PSU is not cheap, about $150-$225 for a quality unit.
So in the meantime I will just have to deal with things as they are, so be patient with me.
Today was a really good day, all things considered. I practiced my alley dock backing for about 2 hrs, and then got a CDL holding student to go out on a run with me. That trip went really good. At lunch I had to go up to student admissions and get my class registration straighted out AGAIN! Apparently, they didn't have me enrolled for the 2nd block that I have been in for 2 weeks now. Needless to say I was not very nice to folks in admissions, and I expressed my utter contempt with their incompetence.
After lunch, not that I got to eat lunch, we had a recruiter from W.O. Wolding company. Sounded like a decent company but they don't make any runs to Northern California so there not a good fit for me. I had a road evaluation that went great. I was once again informed that I would be up for my CDL test very soon. I am not worried about my pre-trip inspection or the road test really, but my alley dock backing has me a bit concerned. I am not performing that backing exercise with the consistency that I would like. I am completing the maneuver, but sometimes it is better than others. I really want to get that down pat better before my CDL test.
In the late afternoon we had to stop all driving and head into the building shelter areas as a tornado was spotted in out area. This took up about an hour and afterwords it was pointless to do much more with the little bit of time remaining.
I am still limping along on my PC. It is severely limited as I have nearly 160 GB of data crammed onto a my little 60GB backup drive. It looks like there is one casualty, all my bookmarks are forever gone. Quite upsetting but there is nothing I can do about it, and no way to recover them. It will take till about the end of the week till I get my new Maxtor 200GB Sata Drive. When I get that setup and configured it will still take me a few days to a week to get everything back up to 100%. I really hate having my PC in this crippled state for so long of a time, but there is nothing I can do about it till I get the new drive. I am going to be contacting Western Digital about the 2 dead drives I now have and arrange for either a refund or replacement of them. If they just send replacements (like I am sure they will) I will be selling them on ebay so I can purchase a new power supply. The power supply is the only thing left that is in real question in my mind after the failures I have had. Strangely it is a very good power supply, an Antec True Power 550W. My system is pretty beefy, but not that beefy that it should over draw a 550W PSU, but after running several diagnostic tests on the CPU, chipset, RAM and motherboard and having all of them come up clean with no errors at all, the power supply is the most likely culprit. But a new 500W+ PSU is not cheap, about $150-$225 for a quality unit.
So in the meantime I will just have to deal with things as they are, so be patient with me.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
The Day Of The Phoenix
Well folks as Stephanie posted for me, my computer decided to try and commit suicide on me on Friday.
Friday was started out bad, I think it was just one big cursed day. It began with me almost being late for school after sleeping through my alarm a good 15 mins. I made it just in time for morning roll call and dispatch (truck and trailer assignment for the day). I had another road test that went really good, I did scrub 1 curb on a tight right hand turn with my left front steer tire, but I knew and told my instructor that I might. I didn't jump the curb or anything, but I should have button hooked the turn just a little. I will post a pic of what a button hook turn looks like when I get my PC back up to full capacity.
After school is when things REALLY went to hell in a hand basket. When I got home, I check the mail, and I received 2 checks from financial aid, but it was WAY too much money. A call to the school revealed that they somehow someone didn't bill my my student account correctly nor did they enroll me right. My course is broken into 3 parts, 2- 3 week blocks and 1 4 week block with a CDL test fee. Well I paid the first 3 weeks out of pocket, and the 2nd and 3rd block plus my CDL test fee were supposed to be paid for using my financial aid account. But somehow, I didn't get enrolled in the 2nd 3 week block, even though I am currently in it! I find this aggravating as I have spent tons of time working with the admissions staff and everytime they tell me everything is setup and correct, only to find out weeks later that something is not right. So once again I have to jump through hoops with the admissions department to get this straightened out.
After that "little" event my damn toilet broke! Apparently the plastic little arm that connects the flush handle to the flapper inside the toilet broke, maintenance didn't have the part needed so I had to wait for repairs till Saturday. No big deal, just a minor inconvenience. I checked my email and when to the bank to deposit the 2 checks from financial aid so the money is available on Monday when I have to pay for the 2nd 3 week block that the school failed to bill my account for, again not that big of a deal just another inconvenience.
However, upon my return home I planned to spend my weekend filling out online job application with some trucking companies to get some pre-hires, only to find my computer locked up. I didn't think much about it, just restarted it and got some information together to fill out apps. But when my computer starting to boot back up I got an error say that a system file was damaged, missing, or corrupt. Another inconvenience, or so I thought. I grabbed my WinXP cd tossed it in and started the repair process when suddenly my monitor when into standby mode. Humm, a little bit of a problem. I can't see what is going on with the repair process so I can't do the repair. So I am forced to reboot again. However this time, I still get no video and the On-board self test (it is a audio deal) tells me my video card has failed self test. Hoping it is just a glitch, I restart again. No dice. I tried this a few times, till the Video card kicked back in, however now the bios will not recognize my hard drives! WTF!! So I reset the bios, and reboot. This time the bios sees the hard drives, but no more than 30 seconds later my video card craps out and stays that way. Dead Jim, Dead!
Just fucking great! Now i have to buy a new video card as my motherboard does not have on board video and requires a video card. I called Stephanie in a bent out of shape rage, and asked her to check some video card prices online for me for some area stores, then it was off to Best Buy. $141.32 later, I am back home with a new video card, a ATI Radeon 9550. Not a great video card and definitely not what I would have purchased for an upgrade, but it is decent and cheap and the best I can do right now considering my budget.
So I should be good to go right? Wrong! Of course the new video card works like a charm, OS I can now see what is going on, however now my primary hard drive takes a crap on me! OM MY F()&*)^*(%$ GOD!!!!!!!! My 160GB hard drive has everything on it, and normally I have a system backup just in case of things like this, but my last backup go damaged somehow and the new backup was supposed to be created Saturday at 2am. Does me now good however at 8pm on Friday. So I have no system backup, and now my hard drive will not even spin up. SHIT!
In a attempt to keep you all from getting bored out of your skulls I will just hit the highlights, but trust me when I say that this was not an easy process. After screwing with EVERYTHING, and striping the entire system down and rebuilding it several times, including a few good kicks just for measure and attitude adjustment, was finally able to get my backup drive working. That is when things got worse. I began installing WinXP on my backup hard drive so I at least had something I could boot into while I worked on my dead 160GB drive, when my CD-Rom drive apparently got hungry and literally tried to eat my WinXP CD.
Now WAIT JUST ONE MINUTE DAMNIT, no one ever told me you had to feed a damn CD-Rom drive, that is not in any of my manuals!!!
After fighting with the cd-rom drive it finally gave me back my WinXP cd, scratched to hell I might add, and now has sections that are no longer readable, so I can't install XP on the backup drive. OMG!!!! I just wanted to throw the whole PC right off my balcony into the street (after I removed the new video card for a return that is....). But I resisted that tasty temptation. So on Saturday morning I went down to a local PC shop and borrowed a clean WinXP CD, I finally got WinXP installed on the backup drive, and what happened RIGHT after it gets installed!! CD-ROM ATE that disk too! So out that drive goes! But, I got WinXP installed that is the important thing. While XP was updating I took my 2 CDs down to a local video game shop and got them both resurfaced, they look good as new.
After spending hours screwing with my 160GB drive I finally got a glimmer of life from the drive and pounced on the chance to get my data off the drive. I did, thank god, as I thought for sure that all was lost. I also have a brand new 80GB drive that is a replacement for another 80gb drive that failed on me a few months ago. All 3 of these drives are Western Digital hard drives. The brand new 80GB drive is DOA right out of the box. I will have to contact Western Digital and arrange for replacements, but I really think I need to buy a NON-Western Digital hard drive for a backup drive as I have no confidence in them anymore. Might just be a bad batch, but they have some serious quality control issues.
Right now I am up and running at about 20% as my backup drive is only a 60GB drive and is barley holding up with all the data on it. I am can't even install 1/10th of my programs on this small of a drive.
So things are going to be a bit limited for a while till I can get a replacement drive and rebuild my file system. I hope this next week goes better.
Friday was started out bad, I think it was just one big cursed day. It began with me almost being late for school after sleeping through my alarm a good 15 mins. I made it just in time for morning roll call and dispatch (truck and trailer assignment for the day). I had another road test that went really good, I did scrub 1 curb on a tight right hand turn with my left front steer tire, but I knew and told my instructor that I might. I didn't jump the curb or anything, but I should have button hooked the turn just a little. I will post a pic of what a button hook turn looks like when I get my PC back up to full capacity.
After school is when things REALLY went to hell in a hand basket. When I got home, I check the mail, and I received 2 checks from financial aid, but it was WAY too much money. A call to the school revealed that they somehow someone didn't bill my my student account correctly nor did they enroll me right. My course is broken into 3 parts, 2- 3 week blocks and 1 4 week block with a CDL test fee. Well I paid the first 3 weeks out of pocket, and the 2nd and 3rd block plus my CDL test fee were supposed to be paid for using my financial aid account. But somehow, I didn't get enrolled in the 2nd 3 week block, even though I am currently in it! I find this aggravating as I have spent tons of time working with the admissions staff and everytime they tell me everything is setup and correct, only to find out weeks later that something is not right. So once again I have to jump through hoops with the admissions department to get this straightened out.
After that "little" event my damn toilet broke! Apparently the plastic little arm that connects the flush handle to the flapper inside the toilet broke, maintenance didn't have the part needed so I had to wait for repairs till Saturday. No big deal, just a minor inconvenience. I checked my email and when to the bank to deposit the 2 checks from financial aid so the money is available on Monday when I have to pay for the 2nd 3 week block that the school failed to bill my account for, again not that big of a deal just another inconvenience.
However, upon my return home I planned to spend my weekend filling out online job application with some trucking companies to get some pre-hires, only to find my computer locked up. I didn't think much about it, just restarted it and got some information together to fill out apps. But when my computer starting to boot back up I got an error say that a system file was damaged, missing, or corrupt. Another inconvenience, or so I thought. I grabbed my WinXP cd tossed it in and started the repair process when suddenly my monitor when into standby mode. Humm, a little bit of a problem. I can't see what is going on with the repair process so I can't do the repair. So I am forced to reboot again. However this time, I still get no video and the On-board self test (it is a audio deal) tells me my video card has failed self test. Hoping it is just a glitch, I restart again. No dice. I tried this a few times, till the Video card kicked back in, however now the bios will not recognize my hard drives! WTF!! So I reset the bios, and reboot. This time the bios sees the hard drives, but no more than 30 seconds later my video card craps out and stays that way. Dead Jim, Dead!
Just fucking great! Now i have to buy a new video card as my motherboard does not have on board video and requires a video card. I called Stephanie in a bent out of shape rage, and asked her to check some video card prices online for me for some area stores, then it was off to Best Buy. $141.32 later, I am back home with a new video card, a ATI Radeon 9550. Not a great video card and definitely not what I would have purchased for an upgrade, but it is decent and cheap and the best I can do right now considering my budget.
So I should be good to go right? Wrong! Of course the new video card works like a charm, OS I can now see what is going on, however now my primary hard drive takes a crap on me! OM MY F()&*)^*(%$ GOD!!!!!!!! My 160GB hard drive has everything on it, and normally I have a system backup just in case of things like this, but my last backup go damaged somehow and the new backup was supposed to be created Saturday at 2am. Does me now good however at 8pm on Friday. So I have no system backup, and now my hard drive will not even spin up. SHIT!
In a attempt to keep you all from getting bored out of your skulls I will just hit the highlights, but trust me when I say that this was not an easy process. After screwing with EVERYTHING, and striping the entire system down and rebuilding it several times, including a few good kicks just for measure and attitude adjustment, was finally able to get my backup drive working. That is when things got worse. I began installing WinXP on my backup hard drive so I at least had something I could boot into while I worked on my dead 160GB drive, when my CD-Rom drive apparently got hungry and literally tried to eat my WinXP CD.
Now WAIT JUST ONE MINUTE DAMNIT, no one ever told me you had to feed a damn CD-Rom drive, that is not in any of my manuals!!!
After fighting with the cd-rom drive it finally gave me back my WinXP cd, scratched to hell I might add, and now has sections that are no longer readable, so I can't install XP on the backup drive. OMG!!!! I just wanted to throw the whole PC right off my balcony into the street (after I removed the new video card for a return that is....). But I resisted that tasty temptation. So on Saturday morning I went down to a local PC shop and borrowed a clean WinXP CD, I finally got WinXP installed on the backup drive, and what happened RIGHT after it gets installed!! CD-ROM ATE that disk too! So out that drive goes! But, I got WinXP installed that is the important thing. While XP was updating I took my 2 CDs down to a local video game shop and got them both resurfaced, they look good as new.
After spending hours screwing with my 160GB drive I finally got a glimmer of life from the drive and pounced on the chance to get my data off the drive. I did, thank god, as I thought for sure that all was lost. I also have a brand new 80GB drive that is a replacement for another 80gb drive that failed on me a few months ago. All 3 of these drives are Western Digital hard drives. The brand new 80GB drive is DOA right out of the box. I will have to contact Western Digital and arrange for replacements, but I really think I need to buy a NON-Western Digital hard drive for a backup drive as I have no confidence in them anymore. Might just be a bad batch, but they have some serious quality control issues.
Right now I am up and running at about 20% as my backup drive is only a 60GB drive and is barley holding up with all the data on it. I am can't even install 1/10th of my programs on this small of a drive.
So things are going to be a bit limited for a while till I can get a replacement drive and rebuild my file system. I hope this next week goes better.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Stuff just goes wrong........
SnowKitten here, please excuse Mav's absence as his computer has decided it deeply hates him.
Until it is fixed, I will be updating the truck school hijinks as per his requests and what he tells me.
S. Kitten
Until it is fixed, I will be updating the truck school hijinks as per his requests and what he tells me.
S. Kitten
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Take A Moment To Meet Someone New
Today was a pretty average day, but god was I tired. Thursday's is always that way after 11.5 hrs of driving on Wensday. Today I had another road test that went very good, no mistakes so that that is good. I still need more work on my alley dock backing as I only getting it right about 50% of the time with this slow turning truck.
After lunch we had a state representative for the Highway Watch program give us instruction on the program. Basically what Highway Watch is, is a nationwide program, like Neighborhood watch except it is for professional drivers and state employees. We are trained and educated on what and how to report suspicious activity while we are out and about the country. It is a division of Homeland Security, and a great reporting method to help prevent terrorist activity.
Afterwords I asked my old driving partner (who got his CDL this morning, Congratulations Mike) to ride along with me on a route. The pretty much much finished up my day at school.
A few days ago I received an email from on of my faithful readers named Peter, who arranged to be in Green Bay today while on business and asked if I would like to join him for dinner. So I graciously agreed. It was a real pleasure too meet one of my readers, and have a nice chat over a meal about trucking, and my experience in school as well as life in general. Thank you Peter for the conversation and dinner. We will have to do it again if your ever up this way again.
So folks, the lesson for today is this: A stranger is a new friend you simply have never met.
After lunch we had a state representative for the Highway Watch program give us instruction on the program. Basically what Highway Watch is, is a nationwide program, like Neighborhood watch except it is for professional drivers and state employees. We are trained and educated on what and how to report suspicious activity while we are out and about the country. It is a division of Homeland Security, and a great reporting method to help prevent terrorist activity.
Afterwords I asked my old driving partner (who got his CDL this morning, Congratulations Mike) to ride along with me on a route. The pretty much much finished up my day at school.
A few days ago I received an email from on of my faithful readers named Peter, who arranged to be in Green Bay today while on business and asked if I would like to join him for dinner. So I graciously agreed. It was a real pleasure too meet one of my readers, and have a nice chat over a meal about trucking, and my experience in school as well as life in general. Thank you Peter for the conversation and dinner. We will have to do it again if your ever up this way again.
So folks, the lesson for today is this: A stranger is a new friend you simply have never met.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Moving At The Speed Of Light
Well the tempo of things at school has skyrocketed the last 2 days, hence why there was no post yesterday. I was just totally wore out as I am tonight, but I can't leave you all hangin.
Yesterday, I couldn't shift for crap for some reason. I was grinding almost every gear with no real rhyme or reason. Once i finally worked that out of my system, it was road test time again. Everything went awesome except 1 damn left hand turn. I totally miss-read the turn and my setup was way off the mark. I pulled about 2 feet forward too far and had to backup to make the turn. I was PISSED!!! Ohh well, I requested an instructor to help me on Wensday with making left hand turns. Hopefully with a bit of practice I will get it down pat.
3 of my classmates were also told they are going to be taking there CDL test tomorrow (Wensday), they also told me that I would be up for my CDL test "soon"!
Well today is Wensday, my Co-Driver Dick my old Co-Driver Mike and Dave are all scheduled to take there CDL tests today. Man were they nervous, as I am sure I will be. Well, none of them passed! Mike and Dave made a goof on the Air Brake Test, and will have to do that portion again tomorrow morning to get their CDL's. Shouldn't be any big deal, they both make simple mistakes. They will both get their CDL's tomorrow. Dick, my Co-Driver failed the road test and his backing test. He touched a cone in his straight line backing, and failed to do proper traffic checks while on his road test. He now has to wait 1 week, and pay another $85 to retest to get his CDL. He was pretty upset with himself after that, so tomorrow he will be working on those points.
I got another road test today and asked my instructor to take me on a route that has LOTS of left hand turns so I learn how to judge them properly. I made every left hand turn with no problem. So he took me on some other types of turns. REALLY HARD ONES!!! Button-Hook right hand turns, turns where cross traffic has no stop, heavy downtown traffic and turns. I did all these very well. I did mess up one right hand turn, that didn't look like I had to use a button-hook to make, but it turned out I was about 4 inches off the mark. I had to do a controlled drive over a curb to make the turn.
Well after that grueling drive and how well I did on it, my instructor informed me that if I was taking my road test for my CDL I would have passed, and therefor, I am going to be put on the "test" list. Well, I am not sure I am quite ready yet, but if I get called to test, I will test. I felt REALLY good and confident after my road-test today.
Wow, things are getting tense and the pressure to perform is really there right now, but at least now when I run into a problem like my shifting going to crap, I know what I have to do to straighten it out and get it back on track. Tomorrow will be an interesting day!
Yesterday, I couldn't shift for crap for some reason. I was grinding almost every gear with no real rhyme or reason. Once i finally worked that out of my system, it was road test time again. Everything went awesome except 1 damn left hand turn. I totally miss-read the turn and my setup was way off the mark. I pulled about 2 feet forward too far and had to backup to make the turn. I was PISSED!!! Ohh well, I requested an instructor to help me on Wensday with making left hand turns. Hopefully with a bit of practice I will get it down pat.
3 of my classmates were also told they are going to be taking there CDL test tomorrow (Wensday), they also told me that I would be up for my CDL test "soon"!
Well today is Wensday, my Co-Driver Dick my old Co-Driver Mike and Dave are all scheduled to take there CDL tests today. Man were they nervous, as I am sure I will be. Well, none of them passed! Mike and Dave made a goof on the Air Brake Test, and will have to do that portion again tomorrow morning to get their CDL's. Shouldn't be any big deal, they both make simple mistakes. They will both get their CDL's tomorrow. Dick, my Co-Driver failed the road test and his backing test. He touched a cone in his straight line backing, and failed to do proper traffic checks while on his road test. He now has to wait 1 week, and pay another $85 to retest to get his CDL. He was pretty upset with himself after that, so tomorrow he will be working on those points.
I got another road test today and asked my instructor to take me on a route that has LOTS of left hand turns so I learn how to judge them properly. I made every left hand turn with no problem. So he took me on some other types of turns. REALLY HARD ONES!!! Button-Hook right hand turns, turns where cross traffic has no stop, heavy downtown traffic and turns. I did all these very well. I did mess up one right hand turn, that didn't look like I had to use a button-hook to make, but it turned out I was about 4 inches off the mark. I had to do a controlled drive over a curb to make the turn.
Well after that grueling drive and how well I did on it, my instructor informed me that if I was taking my road test for my CDL I would have passed, and therefor, I am going to be put on the "test" list. Well, I am not sure I am quite ready yet, but if I get called to test, I will test. I felt REALLY good and confident after my road-test today.
Wow, things are getting tense and the pressure to perform is really there right now, but at least now when I run into a problem like my shifting going to crap, I know what I have to do to straighten it out and get it back on track. Tomorrow will be an interesting day!
Monday, June 06, 2005
Nothing But A Matter Of Time
Today was the type of day that I tried to avoid, but sometimes you just have to do what you got to do. I left school at 10:00am today to get some things done that I just can't get done around my school hours. There were 2 things that I had to get done before 12:00 noon as both places the people I had to see would not be available after that time.
The first was the Big Apartment Manager, the head honcho. He requested a meeting to sign some additional paperwork and to have a "little" chat regarding my ex-roommate's abrupt departure. Needless to say they are not real happy with her, and are debating whether or not they are going to send her a bill for early termination of her half of the lease. The other big thing I think was to make sure that I wasn't going to pull a similar stunt now that I didn't have a roommate, and that I could cover the full amount of rent. Pretty reasonable concern on their part, as when I requested to add my roommate, they only did so on a "good faith" basis as she couldn't pass the credit check. Now at that time I was faced with 2 options, either get a roommate to cover half the rent, or break my lease. Thankfully the apartment management was willing to work with me and "bend" the rules a bit to make it all work out. I have to say that this "landlord" has been the best I have ever dealt with, and I would do anything to honor the lease agreement on that basis alone. So after a brief discussion on "where did I stand" without my roommate, and my assurances that I can handle the rent without her they seemed very relived. So got that done.
The next item that I had to get done, again before noon, was to pick up my grant check from the local VA office. Talk about timing, as I also had to pay the rent ASAP as I was already 1 day past the normal cutoff. This meant that I had to pay the $25 late fee. So I got my grant check and got that put into the bank, got a counter check to pay the rent (still don't have my bank issued checks yet) and dropped that off. Whew!
2 down and a million more to go...LOL. Yesterday, my ex-roommate called me and asked if she can come by the apartment to "talk", but about what she wouldn't say. To me this just screams, "I think I still have stuff there and want to get in to scope around and see if I can find something.". Well, she is going to be a bit disappointed as I have already gone through every square inch of the place and put EVERYTHING that is not mine into a box and have it waiting for her at the top of the stairs. Anything beyond that, she will have to request it and I will see if I can find it, but I will be damned if she is going to screw up all the cleaning I have done the past 5 days. I will throw her sorry ass right the hell out the door if she tries that crap. She can have ALL of her shit, I don't want a single item of it. About the only things she left that were hers was crap that she didn't want, but she is taking it anyway, empty boxes and all. She can throw it away if she don't want it but I know if I toss it, then she will be bitching about how I threw her stuff away. Not going to happen!!
One of my friends asked me today why I am even going to bother dealing with all this. Well it is simple really, no matter how ticked off I am over the way she moved out and all that crap, I just want her to pay HER half of the $600+ utility bill. Besides that it is illegal for me to withhold her property, at least till after 30 days, then I can toss anything else she has not claimed or requested. But as I said earlier, I don't want any of her crap. If I don't have anything of hers, she has no reason that she needs to come over here. I just want to close the door on this whole ordeal that was one of the biggest mistakes I have just about ever made.
So I lost about 5 hrs of school/driving time dealing with all this. But I have gotten allot done with the time, including tons of cleaning. Not really the way I want to spend my school time, but since I had to anyway, might as well get the most out of it. The good thing is that after today, all this crap with my ex-roommate will done within regards to her property, and all the paperwork with the apartment management. So I will have no future interruptions in training. *knocks on wood*
The first was the Big Apartment Manager, the head honcho. He requested a meeting to sign some additional paperwork and to have a "little" chat regarding my ex-roommate's abrupt departure. Needless to say they are not real happy with her, and are debating whether or not they are going to send her a bill for early termination of her half of the lease. The other big thing I think was to make sure that I wasn't going to pull a similar stunt now that I didn't have a roommate, and that I could cover the full amount of rent. Pretty reasonable concern on their part, as when I requested to add my roommate, they only did so on a "good faith" basis as she couldn't pass the credit check. Now at that time I was faced with 2 options, either get a roommate to cover half the rent, or break my lease. Thankfully the apartment management was willing to work with me and "bend" the rules a bit to make it all work out. I have to say that this "landlord" has been the best I have ever dealt with, and I would do anything to honor the lease agreement on that basis alone. So after a brief discussion on "where did I stand" without my roommate, and my assurances that I can handle the rent without her they seemed very relived. So got that done.
The next item that I had to get done, again before noon, was to pick up my grant check from the local VA office. Talk about timing, as I also had to pay the rent ASAP as I was already 1 day past the normal cutoff. This meant that I had to pay the $25 late fee. So I got my grant check and got that put into the bank, got a counter check to pay the rent (still don't have my bank issued checks yet) and dropped that off. Whew!
2 down and a million more to go...LOL. Yesterday, my ex-roommate called me and asked if she can come by the apartment to "talk", but about what she wouldn't say. To me this just screams, "I think I still have stuff there and want to get in to scope around and see if I can find something.". Well, she is going to be a bit disappointed as I have already gone through every square inch of the place and put EVERYTHING that is not mine into a box and have it waiting for her at the top of the stairs. Anything beyond that, she will have to request it and I will see if I can find it, but I will be damned if she is going to screw up all the cleaning I have done the past 5 days. I will throw her sorry ass right the hell out the door if she tries that crap. She can have ALL of her shit, I don't want a single item of it. About the only things she left that were hers was crap that she didn't want, but she is taking it anyway, empty boxes and all. She can throw it away if she don't want it but I know if I toss it, then she will be bitching about how I threw her stuff away. Not going to happen!!
One of my friends asked me today why I am even going to bother dealing with all this. Well it is simple really, no matter how ticked off I am over the way she moved out and all that crap, I just want her to pay HER half of the $600+ utility bill. Besides that it is illegal for me to withhold her property, at least till after 30 days, then I can toss anything else she has not claimed or requested. But as I said earlier, I don't want any of her crap. If I don't have anything of hers, she has no reason that she needs to come over here. I just want to close the door on this whole ordeal that was one of the biggest mistakes I have just about ever made.
So I lost about 5 hrs of school/driving time dealing with all this. But I have gotten allot done with the time, including tons of cleaning. Not really the way I want to spend my school time, but since I had to anyway, might as well get the most out of it. The good thing is that after today, all this crap with my ex-roommate will done within regards to her property, and all the paperwork with the apartment management. So I will have no future interruptions in training. *knocks on wood*
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Trying Times - Part 2
One thing that I didn't cover in yesterdays post was things here on the home front. As most of you know, from Wednesdays post my roommate moved out without warning or notice. This kinda sucks on the financial front of things, but god I love the peace and quiet. Anyway, my roommate called me the other day because she forgot to get a few things out of my garage. However, she also needs to sign some papers with the apartment complex to get her name removed from the lease. So, on Tuesday I will have to leave school early to deal with these issues. I am not very happy about having to take time from my schooling to deal with this "Jerry Springer BS" but at the same time I want to get it done and over with.
My roommates moving out will have a very poor effect on her as she will now get a very bad reference from the apartment management as they are not to happy with her no notice move out. But for me, it is mainly the added financial strain. Had she giving me some notice I could have prepared for this, and would have even helped her move. However, this was not the case, and in her haste to move out before I cam home from school, she left the place a mess. Yesterday I had to go buy a vacuum to start cleaning the place up, and make multiple trips to the dumpster as she left boxes and trash everywhere. Today I will have to go grocery shopping to get something to eat in the house as well she cleaned that out too.
Ahh well, good riddance to bad rubbish as the English like to say.
My roommates moving out will have a very poor effect on her as she will now get a very bad reference from the apartment management as they are not to happy with her no notice move out. But for me, it is mainly the added financial strain. Had she giving me some notice I could have prepared for this, and would have even helped her move. However, this was not the case, and in her haste to move out before I cam home from school, she left the place a mess. Yesterday I had to go buy a vacuum to start cleaning the place up, and make multiple trips to the dumpster as she left boxes and trash everywhere. Today I will have to go grocery shopping to get something to eat in the house as well she cleaned that out too.
Ahh well, good riddance to bad rubbish as the English like to say.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Times Can Be So Trying
Sorry for not posting the past 2 days folks, I really wanted to post but I was simply too tired at the end of the day to do anything. But I will cover both days right now.
Thursday: Things are starting to get a bit crowded on the Keller Driving Range as there are 6 new straight truck students with the new Phase 1 group. The strait truck program is only 4 weeks long and 2 folks from our class will graduate on Friday. Unfortunately, the congestion of the driving range will only get worse by middle of next week when the students in the Semi program from Phase 1 get their trucks and start learning to drive.
Today I had another road test/evaluation. It went pretty good, although I did rub a curb with my trailer tires on 1 turn. I just didn't stay in the far lane quite long enough before turning back into my lane on a 90 degree turn. The other problem I was still doing at the start was rushing. I was rushing my shifting, turning, hell basically everything. My instructor made me aware of this and and coached me a bit and told me to do everything at HALF the speed I was trying to do it at. Man do these instructors know their stuff. I kidd you not, the second I simply slowed everything I was doing down by half, everything got a 100X easier. My turns were smoother, my shifting was much better, and I was much more relaxed and focused.
I think a big part of my problem was I was constantly trying to keep up with the car traffic. Which I just can't do. There is just no way to move that big 70+foot long truck that quickly nor should I even try to. Once I stopped trying to do that, things were much easier.
Friday:Today I got a bit of a surprise at morning dispatch, the instructors are changing things up on us. They have paired everyone with a new co-drivers, my new driving partner for today is Dick Turner, A.K.A. Mr. Casual, or Casual Dick. (yea, some of you already get the joke) He got this nickname because he want to be a casual driver. These are folks that basically drive when and where they want, and are normally owner-operators. Anyway, I got pulled from my truck and assigned to Dick's truck, #9256 with trailer #4838. This truck has a sleeper cab on it that adds about 5 feet to the wheelbase. Now let me tell you, that extra 5 feet makes a world of difference to the way that truck handles. This truck does not turn on a dime like my past 2 trucks have, this truck takes its good sweet time turning.
I was told after dispatch that I was going to be checked on with this new truck right after dispatch. (a check is where an instructor takes out, kinda like a road evaluation, basically to make sure you can handle the truck) Well, needless to say I was not thrilled about this, as I have never driven the truck before. It shifts different and acts TOTALLY different. So I picked up my trailer from the trailer yard and drover over to the Keller Driving Course to learn this new truck. Everyday on the Keller the direction of traffic is different. Some days it goes in a clockwise pattern, other days counter-clockwise. Today was counter-clockwise. What makes it this direction of travel a little more difficult is that to get on the course you have to make a sharp, hard right hand turn to clear the 2 stop and go signal lights.
Well, not really knowing how this truck would handle that turn, and knowing that my vehicle is now 5 feet longer I tried to compensate. What I didn't account for was the extremely slow and wide turning radius that this truck has. So my first attempt at making this turn with this truck, failed!! I had pulled too far forward before starting my turn, added to the fact that this truck does not turn on a dime like my old one, I had to back up a bit or run over the stop light. Yup, a little embarrassing but no harm done, that is the important thing. After only 1 lap around the Keller the instructor called on the radio for me to take my check on, which I refused. I explained that I didn't have the mechanics of this new vehicle down yet and would not go out on the public roads with it till I could at least know when to start my turns, shift properly, and back the vehicle up. He scoffed at that, but I held adamant. About 2 hrs later I felt I had the basic mechanics of the vehicle down well enough to go for my check on, and I was right. Passed my check on with no problems. When I got back to the school, one of the CDL holding Phase 3 students was willing to ride along with me, so I went and drove one of my 3 approved driving routes. YEA! This was my first road trip without an instructor, and it went great! The only thing that happened was I missed 1 down shift coming to stop.
I am finally starting to feel like I am getting a handle on my driving, and am becoming more confident in my abilities. I still need LOTS of practice, but it is starting to feel more natural and easier as I learn to work with the truck, not against it.
Thursday: Things are starting to get a bit crowded on the Keller Driving Range as there are 6 new straight truck students with the new Phase 1 group. The strait truck program is only 4 weeks long and 2 folks from our class will graduate on Friday. Unfortunately, the congestion of the driving range will only get worse by middle of next week when the students in the Semi program from Phase 1 get their trucks and start learning to drive.
Today I had another road test/evaluation. It went pretty good, although I did rub a curb with my trailer tires on 1 turn. I just didn't stay in the far lane quite long enough before turning back into my lane on a 90 degree turn. The other problem I was still doing at the start was rushing. I was rushing my shifting, turning, hell basically everything. My instructor made me aware of this and and coached me a bit and told me to do everything at HALF the speed I was trying to do it at. Man do these instructors know their stuff. I kidd you not, the second I simply slowed everything I was doing down by half, everything got a 100X easier. My turns were smoother, my shifting was much better, and I was much more relaxed and focused.
I think a big part of my problem was I was constantly trying to keep up with the car traffic. Which I just can't do. There is just no way to move that big 70+foot long truck that quickly nor should I even try to. Once I stopped trying to do that, things were much easier.
Friday:Today I got a bit of a surprise at morning dispatch, the instructors are changing things up on us. They have paired everyone with a new co-drivers, my new driving partner for today is Dick Turner, A.K.A. Mr. Casual, or Casual Dick. (yea, some of you already get the joke) He got this nickname because he want to be a casual driver. These are folks that basically drive when and where they want, and are normally owner-operators. Anyway, I got pulled from my truck and assigned to Dick's truck, #9256 with trailer #4838. This truck has a sleeper cab on it that adds about 5 feet to the wheelbase. Now let me tell you, that extra 5 feet makes a world of difference to the way that truck handles. This truck does not turn on a dime like my past 2 trucks have, this truck takes its good sweet time turning.
I was told after dispatch that I was going to be checked on with this new truck right after dispatch. (a check is where an instructor takes out, kinda like a road evaluation, basically to make sure you can handle the truck) Well, needless to say I was not thrilled about this, as I have never driven the truck before. It shifts different and acts TOTALLY different. So I picked up my trailer from the trailer yard and drover over to the Keller Driving Course to learn this new truck. Everyday on the Keller the direction of traffic is different. Some days it goes in a clockwise pattern, other days counter-clockwise. Today was counter-clockwise. What makes it this direction of travel a little more difficult is that to get on the course you have to make a sharp, hard right hand turn to clear the 2 stop and go signal lights.
Well, not really knowing how this truck would handle that turn, and knowing that my vehicle is now 5 feet longer I tried to compensate. What I didn't account for was the extremely slow and wide turning radius that this truck has. So my first attempt at making this turn with this truck, failed!! I had pulled too far forward before starting my turn, added to the fact that this truck does not turn on a dime like my old one, I had to back up a bit or run over the stop light. Yup, a little embarrassing but no harm done, that is the important thing. After only 1 lap around the Keller the instructor called on the radio for me to take my check on, which I refused. I explained that I didn't have the mechanics of this new vehicle down yet and would not go out on the public roads with it till I could at least know when to start my turns, shift properly, and back the vehicle up. He scoffed at that, but I held adamant. About 2 hrs later I felt I had the basic mechanics of the vehicle down well enough to go for my check on, and I was right. Passed my check on with no problems. When I got back to the school, one of the CDL holding Phase 3 students was willing to ride along with me, so I went and drove one of my 3 approved driving routes. YEA! This was my first road trip without an instructor, and it went great! The only thing that happened was I missed 1 down shift coming to stop.
I am finally starting to feel like I am getting a handle on my driving, and am becoming more confident in my abilities. I still need LOTS of practice, but it is starting to feel more natural and easier as I learn to work with the truck, not against it.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Ohhh How The Leafs Do Change....
Well all kinds of things happened today, most of them good or for the better. As with most good things there is also a downside, but I will get to that in a moment.
Today was the start of a new month and return to truck driving school after a week and half off for semester break. My class moved from Phase 1 to Phase 2. With this change can a nice perk. New Trucks to drive!! Thank GOD!! My old truck, #9128, was a single axle Frieghtliner Century Class 9 speed with a low and a Detroit engine. Needless to say for those who are recently joining us, it was a real beast with a stubborn transmission and a 40lb clutch. My new truck, #9258, is a dual rear axle (also called a tandem axle) with a split 10 speed transmission and a Cummins engine (I think it is a Cummins engine, I will double check that tomorrow and get back to ya all). God I love this new truck! It drives like a dream, and shifts like melted butter (as long as I am not the one making the mistakes that is).
I also had a road test today, and am proud to report that I passed it!! So now I am able to drive 2 specific routes with any licensed CDL holder. I only had one thing happen that scared the crap out of me. I was stopped at a red light, and shifted into what I thought was 2nd gear. But it went in to gear so easy that I wasn't sure about it, something just didn't feel right. So, when the light changed, I kept light pressure on the brake and slowly let the clutch out just until it started to engage the gear. To my shock and horror, I was NOT in 2nd gear, but in REVERSE!!!!!! The instant that I felt the truck tug against the brake, BACKWARDS, I jammed the clutch in and mashed down on the brake. I don't even think my truck moved a full inch backwards before I quickly recovered, and put the truck in the correct gear and continued on, but it scared the hell out of me butt good!!! So I no longer start out in 2nd gear anymore, I start in 1st or 3rd, to make sure I don't accidentally put the transmission in reverse again.
Other than that it was a long, but very good day at school.
Coming home from school was another......suprise??? Getting home after a long day at school I came home to find that my roommate, MOVED OUT! This was a bit of a shocker. No note, no call, no nothing. Now this is a blessing and a curse, as I didn't exactly have room in my budget to pay the full $670 of rent. So by budget has gone to total shit, and I will have to do some fancy re-figuring to work this problem out. As of right now I back to a deficit of $650. (BTW did I mention that folks can make donations........ LOL) Ahh well, While I knew that this day would come, in August as I was informed by my roommate 2 weeks ago, the immature way it was handled does not sit very well with me. But, what can I do? I don't cry over spilled milk, or worry about what can't be changed. What is done is done, time to work through the problem and move on. At least my roommate left me a few slices of bread and my lunch meat, I think she left the mayo also, so I will be able to make myself lunch for tomorrow. Dinner is going to be interesting as she cleaned out nearly everything else, along with all the food in the freezer. My poor apartment is now trashed, she even took the vacuum (granted it was hers but it would have been polite to USE it before she left) so cleaning the mess she left behind is going to be a minor challenge. Damn she even took my broom and dust pan! Well at least she left 2 rolls of toilet paper!!!
And so the saga continues.........
Today was the start of a new month and return to truck driving school after a week and half off for semester break. My class moved from Phase 1 to Phase 2. With this change can a nice perk. New Trucks to drive!! Thank GOD!! My old truck, #9128, was a single axle Frieghtliner Century Class 9 speed with a low and a Detroit engine. Needless to say for those who are recently joining us, it was a real beast with a stubborn transmission and a 40lb clutch. My new truck, #9258, is a dual rear axle (also called a tandem axle) with a split 10 speed transmission and a Cummins engine (I think it is a Cummins engine, I will double check that tomorrow and get back to ya all). God I love this new truck! It drives like a dream, and shifts like melted butter (as long as I am not the one making the mistakes that is).
I also had a road test today, and am proud to report that I passed it!! So now I am able to drive 2 specific routes with any licensed CDL holder. I only had one thing happen that scared the crap out of me. I was stopped at a red light, and shifted into what I thought was 2nd gear. But it went in to gear so easy that I wasn't sure about it, something just didn't feel right. So, when the light changed, I kept light pressure on the brake and slowly let the clutch out just until it started to engage the gear. To my shock and horror, I was NOT in 2nd gear, but in REVERSE!!!!!! The instant that I felt the truck tug against the brake, BACKWARDS, I jammed the clutch in and mashed down on the brake. I don't even think my truck moved a full inch backwards before I quickly recovered, and put the truck in the correct gear and continued on, but it scared the hell out of me butt good!!! So I no longer start out in 2nd gear anymore, I start in 1st or 3rd, to make sure I don't accidentally put the transmission in reverse again.
Other than that it was a long, but very good day at school.
Coming home from school was another......suprise??? Getting home after a long day at school I came home to find that my roommate, MOVED OUT! This was a bit of a shocker. No note, no call, no nothing. Now this is a blessing and a curse, as I didn't exactly have room in my budget to pay the full $670 of rent. So by budget has gone to total shit, and I will have to do some fancy re-figuring to work this problem out. As of right now I back to a deficit of $650. (BTW did I mention that folks can make donations........ LOL) Ahh well, While I knew that this day would come, in August as I was informed by my roommate 2 weeks ago, the immature way it was handled does not sit very well with me. But, what can I do? I don't cry over spilled milk, or worry about what can't be changed. What is done is done, time to work through the problem and move on. At least my roommate left me a few slices of bread and my lunch meat, I think she left the mayo also, so I will be able to make myself lunch for tomorrow. Dinner is going to be interesting as she cleaned out nearly everything else, along with all the food in the freezer. My poor apartment is now trashed, she even took the vacuum (granted it was hers but it would have been polite to USE it before she left) so cleaning the mess she left behind is going to be a minor challenge. Damn she even took my broom and dust pan! Well at least she left 2 rolls of toilet paper!!!
And so the saga continues.........
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
