Archive for the ‘Me’ Category

Now what?

Now that Barack Obama has won the election, I’m a little confused about the timeline on when the Change should start happening. I mean, I’ve already got my Muslim name picked out, but should I go ahead and change it now or wait until the formal announcement of Jihad on Jan. 20? Of course the same question applies to when I can start forcing Republican women to have abortions and when I can start teaching sex ed. to kindergartners.

Life update #847

Here’s an update on what is going on with my life for those of you who might be taking notes. I now work for Ozburn-Hessey Logistics. Currently I am working on their Starbucks account doing inventory control. So far it seems to be a good job and something I want to do for a while.

I also finally found a place to live in Antioch, TN. It’s a small one bedroom apartment. So far it seems like it is a nice place to live, but I’ve only been here about a week. I still don’t have anything put away, so I’m just living out of boxes right now. I’ll get it pulled together eventually.

Drawing the line

I went and voted today. In fact I went out of my way to vote (about 250 miles round trip). I’m currently living in a hotel in Nashville that I moved into a few weeks ago. However, I am still registered to vote in Huntingdon, TN. Thus a long and exhausting trip. If your state has a primary today I urge you to go out and get your vote on.

When I returned to my hotel room I decided to check the news and came upon this story:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2008/020408_election_cancelled.htm

Normally I dismiss anything that has to do with Alex Jones since he’s a complete nut job, but I got to thinking about the scenario mentioned in the article. What if the President did suspend the elections and tried to remain in office? It all comes down to where do we draw the line. I ask myself that a lot and I think this situation is where it happens. I could not allow that sort of thing to happen without fighting back. Such blatant disregard for everything this country stands for could not be ignored.

So what is your breaking point?

Update on my life

Well, I’m no longer a truck driver. I decided that it was not what I was looking for at this time in my life. Driving consumes your entire life and there is little or no room for social interaction. You are merely driving the truck 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

So now I am sitting in a hotel room in Nashville. I am looking for work and hope to get a job nailed down in the next week or two. When that happens I’ll find a place to live here and go on from there.

For now I am just enjoying not being in the truck.

I’m going trailer trucking

Well, It’s been about a month since I posted on this blog. I think it’s high time I gave everyone an update.

As I mentioned before, I spent most of the month of September at Central Tech learning to drive the Big Truck. I took some photos while I was there and I’ll post a link to those at the bottom of this post. My class was a good one and we had a good time and learned a lot. I graduated at the top of my class and I felt pretty good about that considering my utter lack of experience with driving manual transmission vehicles.

After a few days at home I was back out on the road headed to Joplin, MO via Greyhound bus. Except for the guy who slept on me from Memphis to Little Rock, it wasn’t a bad trip and was my first experience with interstate bus travel.

In Joplin I have been going through orientation at CFI, A Conway Company. CFI (aka Contract Freighters, Inc.) is a leading trucking company. I chose them because they had a good reputation in the industry and amongst the drivers. I also liked the terms of their student program. They liked me because I had a steady job history, a good driving record, and the willingness to drive a tractor-trailer all over this country.

My orientation consisted of a lot of paperwork, a few classes on the paperwork and other things I’ll be expected to do as a driver, Smith System training, an obstacle course, a backing test, and a road test on the mean streets of Joplin. Since I’ve been here I’ve been treated very well and the people who work here really seem to love it. All of the drivers I have talked to are very satisfied and glad to be working for this company and that really means a lot in the trucking industry.

Tomorrow I head out on the road with my finisher Eduardo. I talked to him on the phone and he seems like a good person so far. A guy at the terminal said he had 17 years at CFI so it’s obvious that he knows how to get things done. I’ll be with him for 7500 miles, then I’ll get my own truck should I prove to be worthy.

See you out there on the open road.

From Central Tech …

Trucking school

Well, I’m at trucking school in Drumright, OK. Since I’m having trouble finding internet access, I decided to make updates using my mobile phone. You can check my mobile updates on the home page of this site.


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On the road

Well, for everyone who has been wondering what I have been planning for a career, here it is. I decided that I want to be a truck driver. I’ve done a lot of investigating over the past few months into the trucking business and decided that it would be something I’d like to do. I still have to pass my physical and go to school and pass that and get hired, but I’ve already started working on all of that and I hope to be on the road by mid October. Anyway, wish me luck and I’ll update this page as things progress.

My health blog

Check out my health blog. I’m trying to take better care of my self and you can track my progress there. I’m hoping it will be informative and I’m hoping that you will all help to hold me accountable for leading a more healthy life.

Shuttle launch reality

The launch on August 8, 2007 of the Space Shuttle Endeavour went well. I had a pretty good viewing area right across from the cape in Titusville, FL. They won’t let you get very close to the pad. I messed up because there are two launch pads that the shuttle is launched from. It was hazy and they were just on the horizon, so I didn’t know which one to look at. I picked the wrong one and missed about the first second. The launch happens very quickly. That thing was up and out of sight in about 3 minutes and that’s with high power binoculars. The exhaust is also much brighter than it seems on TV. When it was low to the ground it almost hurt my eyes through the binoculars. The sound is odd too. Since you are far away the thing is pretty high before you hear anything, then it is a low rumbling that gets louder and shakes. It’s hard to describe as I’ve never heard anything like it. It is at a very low frequency. Here is a slideshow of the few pictures I was able to take.

Shuttle launch dream

It’s long been a dream of mine to see the launch of a space vehicle. I came pretty close back in 2003. I just happened to be in Florida in late June when I discovered that the second Mars rover, Opportunity, was set to launch. The night of the launch I waited on the beach along with about 50 or 60 other people, but a line of storms was moving in and the launch got scrubbed. I was gone by the time the launch actually happened.

Yesterday I was watching television and realized that the Space Shuttle Endeavour is set to launch this Wednesday. Since I am currently jobless and I don’t really have anything to do, I decided that it would be a perfect time to make the trip and see a launch. So I’ll be leaving out tomorrow morning and I hope to be there around mid-day on Tuesday.