I'm not in love with the new site design. It takes more clicks to get at anything, and I can only link to the blogs of the five people who come to the top of my friends list underneath my favorite SG's. I shall refrain from doing a top 5 friends list.
As of this moment I have a job that's compatible with cdl school,...
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As of this moment I have a job that's compatible with cdl school,...
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slide:
Thanks 
A lot of the stuff I do is drawing with very fine pens, as well as the painted stuff
A lot of the stuff I do is drawing with very fine pens, as well as the painted stuff
leica:
That would be the exact case.
I shoot with a mamiya and I dont think thats such a pretty name. I do like SLR's for their mobility. Leica is my first choice when I cant use a tripod.
I shoot with a mamiya and I dont think thats such a pretty name. I do like SLR's for their mobility. Leica is my first choice when I cant use a tripod.
VIEW 14 of 14 COMMENTS
elf:
Don't think it sounds creepy!
SG needs a real elf! ♥
SG needs a real elf! ♥
lizzi:
I had a great time! Thanks dude! Your journals are always a pleasure 
VIEW 11 of 11 COMMENTS
sid:
that's why you toss and run. 
midnyte:
We thought of that, but we'd all be dead by now
Hello again.
On friday I found out that the CDL school a couple miles from my house is 3,995 for a 30 day course, which is 40 hours of classroom time plus 120 hours of hands on instruction. Too bad I didn't have the presence of mind to seize this opportunity last summer when I still had some money, not having been unemployed for so...
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On friday I found out that the CDL school a couple miles from my house is 3,995 for a 30 day course, which is 40 hours of classroom time plus 120 hours of hands on instruction. Too bad I didn't have the presence of mind to seize this opportunity last summer when I still had some money, not having been unemployed for so...
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VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
jormagund:
I passed the road test on the first try but I think it has everything to do with proper preparation. I took mine in Connecticut back in '98 which supposedly has a reputation for being more difficult than many other states. But I was well trained and ready.
My circumstances were actually VERY fortunate in general. Back then, I was a courier for FedEx. A position opened up that required a class A license and they always promote from within. I was selected among the candidates and went to a 3-week CDL school that catered ONLY to FedEx employees. The school utilized a closed-down B-52 base in Blytheville, Arkansas. We stayed in the former BOQ, ate at company expense, and earned our normal hourly wage for all training hours. I mean... THAT is hard to beat. Not only was the school free for me, but I was paid my normal salary to attend. The first week was all classroom. The second week was spent (mostly backing up) out on the runways. This included various obstacle courses marked by highway cones including maneuvers that are expected to be on all states tests such as parallel parking. The third week was actual on-road practice. There were two students and one instructor per truck (which were sleeper model old cabovers).
Once I completed that class, my managers took me off my delivery route early several times specifically so that I could practice the EXACT road-test the state would give, and I practiced it over and over.
I also had my choice of equipment to use. The test varies slightly depending on what vehicle you bring. I decided to use a "pup" trailer and a single-axle tractor because that setup is highly maneuverable. The downside to that is that you get much LESS room to work with. They take the length of your vehicle plus X (?) to determine how much space you get.
I've almost never used such a small trailer since... but that doesn't matter. These days I pull a 53' van trailer with a conventional sleeper Freightliner Columbia.
I would assume that any school you attend... regardless if it's an independent school such as NETTS or one of the company-owned types would provide you with the truck you'd use for the test. As to how much practice time they give you specifically for that, I haven't the foggiest idea.
In regards to the physical, it's nothing much to worry about. They'll check blood pressure (too high disqualifies you), they'll ask if you're diabetic (type A cannot get CDL, type B can but requires blood testing in a lab to ensure your levels are within reason). You'll read an eye chart (WITH corrective lenses if you use them). You'll be asked to identify the difference between red and green. I am actually slightly colorblind and I can still do that part of the test. Of course there will also be the obvious drug screening.
As a side note, don't fool yourself into thinking this is a ticket to easy street. Trucking is hard work, long hours, very very frustrating situations. Constant scrutiny from your managers, the idiots who drive cars, and the state police. You'll sometimes spend hours doing nothing waiting for loading or unloading and then get a seemingly impossible overnight trip after you've been awake and waiting around all day.
Then there will be times when it's next to impossible to find somewhere to park for the night. You'll quickly grow tired of eating off the same few truck-stop menus every day. And you will quickly learn how bad most car drivers are... all the while you being expected to be the professional.
On the upside... some people more or less live out of their trucks and can avoid "normal" living expenses such as rent and utilities. Heck, I don't even own a car myself. Aside from keeping yourself fed, there are very few expenses unless you own your own truck and are paying for fuel, tires, and repairs. As a company driver, I consistently make $50-55k a year. It's pretty easy for me to put a third of that into 401k, Roth IRA, or just a savings account for whatever. That's certainly a lot better than living paycheck to paycheck.
[Edited on May 29, 2006 2:26PM]
My circumstances were actually VERY fortunate in general. Back then, I was a courier for FedEx. A position opened up that required a class A license and they always promote from within. I was selected among the candidates and went to a 3-week CDL school that catered ONLY to FedEx employees. The school utilized a closed-down B-52 base in Blytheville, Arkansas. We stayed in the former BOQ, ate at company expense, and earned our normal hourly wage for all training hours. I mean... THAT is hard to beat. Not only was the school free for me, but I was paid my normal salary to attend. The first week was all classroom. The second week was spent (mostly backing up) out on the runways. This included various obstacle courses marked by highway cones including maneuvers that are expected to be on all states tests such as parallel parking. The third week was actual on-road practice. There were two students and one instructor per truck (which were sleeper model old cabovers).
Once I completed that class, my managers took me off my delivery route early several times specifically so that I could practice the EXACT road-test the state would give, and I practiced it over and over.
I also had my choice of equipment to use. The test varies slightly depending on what vehicle you bring. I decided to use a "pup" trailer and a single-axle tractor because that setup is highly maneuverable. The downside to that is that you get much LESS room to work with. They take the length of your vehicle plus X (?) to determine how much space you get.
I've almost never used such a small trailer since... but that doesn't matter. These days I pull a 53' van trailer with a conventional sleeper Freightliner Columbia.
I would assume that any school you attend... regardless if it's an independent school such as NETTS or one of the company-owned types would provide you with the truck you'd use for the test. As to how much practice time they give you specifically for that, I haven't the foggiest idea.
In regards to the physical, it's nothing much to worry about. They'll check blood pressure (too high disqualifies you), they'll ask if you're diabetic (type A cannot get CDL, type B can but requires blood testing in a lab to ensure your levels are within reason). You'll read an eye chart (WITH corrective lenses if you use them). You'll be asked to identify the difference between red and green. I am actually slightly colorblind and I can still do that part of the test. Of course there will also be the obvious drug screening.
As a side note, don't fool yourself into thinking this is a ticket to easy street. Trucking is hard work, long hours, very very frustrating situations. Constant scrutiny from your managers, the idiots who drive cars, and the state police. You'll sometimes spend hours doing nothing waiting for loading or unloading and then get a seemingly impossible overnight trip after you've been awake and waiting around all day.
Then there will be times when it's next to impossible to find somewhere to park for the night. You'll quickly grow tired of eating off the same few truck-stop menus every day. And you will quickly learn how bad most car drivers are... all the while you being expected to be the professional.
On the upside... some people more or less live out of their trucks and can avoid "normal" living expenses such as rent and utilities. Heck, I don't even own a car myself. Aside from keeping yourself fed, there are very few expenses unless you own your own truck and are paying for fuel, tires, and repairs. As a company driver, I consistently make $50-55k a year. It's pretty easy for me to put a third of that into 401k, Roth IRA, or just a savings account for whatever. That's certainly a lot better than living paycheck to paycheck.
[Edited on May 29, 2006 2:26PM]
jormagund:
Actually I don't remember how I stumbled here now. But once in a while I check the bottom of the front SG page and just read some random recently updated journals. Or just random journal hopping. *shrug*
I didn't drive the full year in 2005, but in 2004 I turned just over 140,000 miles.
I do over-the-road because it is what I enjoy. I think perhaps if I had a wife and kids I'd be more inclined to pick something else. I typically like to stay out 2 weeks at a time. Occasionally 3. I usually get some pretty good weekend trips when I stay out... the ones that send me south and west. I love the north-east but I hate DRIVING here. I've gone back and forth across PA so many times it makes me dizzy.
The company I am with pretty much seeks experienced drivers only (as far as I know). It's a small fleet with slightly more than 100 drivers. I like them because I get along well with the dispatchers and management. It's a family type atmosphere. If you really want, you can talk to the company owner, or either of his two sons and one daughter all of whom also work there. They take good care of their equipment. Most of their trucks are automatic transmissions. (I love them, but new drivers need to learn to drive a manual and master the art of double clutching and then subsequently "floating" the gears). Having mastered that, its great to not have to shift.
I have hypertension which seems to run in my family. But I'm on a medication for it which brings my numbers down to normal. That isn't a problem.
I didn't drive the full year in 2005, but in 2004 I turned just over 140,000 miles.
I do over-the-road because it is what I enjoy. I think perhaps if I had a wife and kids I'd be more inclined to pick something else. I typically like to stay out 2 weeks at a time. Occasionally 3. I usually get some pretty good weekend trips when I stay out... the ones that send me south and west. I love the north-east but I hate DRIVING here. I've gone back and forth across PA so many times it makes me dizzy.
The company I am with pretty much seeks experienced drivers only (as far as I know). It's a small fleet with slightly more than 100 drivers. I like them because I get along well with the dispatchers and management. It's a family type atmosphere. If you really want, you can talk to the company owner, or either of his two sons and one daughter all of whom also work there. They take good care of their equipment. Most of their trucks are automatic transmissions. (I love them, but new drivers need to learn to drive a manual and master the art of double clutching and then subsequently "floating" the gears). Having mastered that, its great to not have to shift.
I have hypertension which seems to run in my family. But I'm on a medication for it which brings my numbers down to normal. That isn't a problem.
Ja, und? "Yes, and. . . ?"
Is a useful German expression I picked up from Run Lola Run that means "what you just said is entirely meaningless, a fact that is observable from the lack of ramifications that follow your having said it". I don't know if english has an expression of comparable point and force.
It's what you might say about my last...
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Is a useful German expression I picked up from Run Lola Run that means "what you just said is entirely meaningless, a fact that is observable from the lack of ramifications that follow your having said it". I don't know if english has an expression of comparable point and force.
It's what you might say about my last...
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VIEW 10 of 10 COMMENTS
hydra:
I did blend a little bit didn't I? hehe... I love being bright!
Well, it's Saturday, I'm attempting to catch up to everything on here so it becomes normal again..Slow paced. More time to put effort into comments left on people's pages. People like you.
This comment was made while I was really hungry. Fancy that eh? Well, I am off, I shall talk to you soon enough!
xo
Well, it's Saturday, I'm attempting to catch up to everything on here so it becomes normal again..Slow paced. More time to put effort into comments left on people's pages. People like you.
This comment was made while I was really hungry. Fancy that eh? Well, I am off, I shall talk to you soon enough!
xo
salome:
Thank you so much for your kind words. Don't worry, I'm not quitting SG anytime soon. I'm just fed up with the modeling profession; even the "alternative" modeling circuit has the same attitude that women should be skinny and not heard, just like the Playboy/glamour shots mainstream. This is news to me, and I don't like it. SG is a fantastic community and I'm very grateful for the people I've met here, and I'm staying as long as they'll have me. But I think my modeling will be more or less restricted to SG from now on.
You know, a website isn't a bad idea. It's immediate, cheap, and you can get feedback and possibly interest in funding your project.
You know, a website isn't a bad idea. It's immediate, cheap, and you can get feedback and possibly interest in funding your project.
My head isn't real clear about a lot of things a lot of the time. Last night I had to send a rather apologetic email to a professor of mine for having missed an exam due to having gotten the date wrong. I even knew what the date was, but my mind just didn't focus on that fact that the date was yesterday.
Another time...
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Another time...
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fred:
I hear what you're saying.
Something to say... how about, it's not what you know, it's who you are.
I hear what you're saying.
Something to say... how about, it's not what you know, it's who you are.
lizzi:
"Hey baby, want to be in an oil painting?" That was the 1850 equivalent of creepy porno producer dude. Brilliant!
Thank you!
Thank you!
fredericka:
squinting as well, my friend, squinting as well-Fred
Hello there. After I wrote out all that stuff for my last post I started thinking of any number of reasons why the idea would never work, and I found it rather disheartening to consider the all of the human failings that would effectively prevent this idea from working. I find the human race eminently un-fixable in light of having had an idea that attempted...
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salome:
Juicy farts in the faces of people with no sense of humor! Now there's a lasting visual! See, I knew you guys here on SG understand.
fred:
Some good photos.
Yesterday I was having myself a cheeseburger and some chili at the mall food court when I got me an idea and was therefore rather annoyed. The trouble with new ideas is that when you get them you have this responsibility to the world to propagate them for the benefit of all mankind. Which is fine unless you don't have a graduate degree in the...
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salome:
Your idea of putting all inmates in solitary, while increasing safety, is unworkable. Not to mention cruel and unusual.
salome:
I blame the mall food.
I'll be facing a typical New England parking issue tonight. There's a distinct lack of available truck stops in the north-east... and so many places dis-allow truck parking. Just a few years ago I could pretty easily park at any Wal-Mart if necessary. This was doubly handy because I actually need to do some shopping there (not just park somewhere with access to bathrooms). But lately it seems like every Wal-Mart I encounter has a sign that says "No Semi Parking". Tomorrow (Monday) morning I'm making a delivery at a NH Wal-Mart. I'm on the fence about actually trying to park there overnight or not.