Stairway to 2012

The 99% can chew on this^

This is more of a personal post aside from trucking, so if you don't read this blog for such then I'll see you next week. 
...No, really- this gets deep, opinionated, and there is nothing to read here about trucking.  Anyway, it seems as though pretty much everything seems to be revolving around trucking now.  Luckily I don't feel like its taken over my life, like SOME jobs have in the past.  To sum up, Christmas with the family came and went, the usual Christmas eve party at my parent's house, Christmas morning there and then some time Nana's house, followed by the after-party stocking and grab on the following weekend day, which this year happened to be the 26th.  I got a small pile of stuff in comparison to most years, but not a sinlge thing is going to waste, thats for sure.

Some of my Christmas cheer

I've always wanted to learn to play guitar since I first picked up Guitar Hero back in 2006, but the opportunity never presented itself.  Back in October, the guys at Ubisoft San Francisco dropped as good an opportunity as ever, Rocksmith.  More on that later, suffice it to say I now have a beautiful Fender FSR Stratocaster HHS to entertain myself on the road.  Thanks mom and dad for that, and Sara and Chris for the PC78. 

I also have an armful of tools of the trade fresh off my list I made after my trip with John.  I'm really ready for my own ride now.  To do that, its a matter of linking up with HQ and my FM on getting me a ride back to Gary to test out.  In the likely event I get assigned to John again, I should be rolling again sometime next week.

Buddy never sees the end of any party

 

As for my time at home alone today, I've spent a good amount of time doing laundry and cleaning up the house for my sawed-off New Year's party.  For those of you who don't know its been a 5-year progressively growing bash of 20+ friends from high school and college from 7 states converging here to play rock band, drink, sit around a fire, light fireworks, crash, and then tour Boston the next day. 
But that's different this year.
Given there was no guarantee I would be either here nor in NJ at this time, no big plans were made by me months in advance as usual.  The fact that I no longer live here was further reason to make the backup party in NJ.  Now most of the crew is attending that party, while the locals from northern states are coming here for an impromptu get together.  I still plan on having a damn good time regardless.

As I hinted at in my first (and previous) post, I've shared a pretty unlucky couple of years with a lot of friends and family.  We've powered through it, but overall with a few exceptions, '10 and '11 are better forgotten in my book.  (Which will seem cold after I list the following) I could lay down specific downfalls but that's no fun, better to do that in person at a time when people will listen but nobody will remember when they wake up- Namely tomorrow night just before we happily toast to 2012.  Just trust me when I say that these were 2 years I enjoyed very little.  I will say that family-wise, I attended 3 wonderful weddings, gained 3 once-removed 1st cousins, a brother in law, and a new job.

But, a handful of words got me through the worst of 2011:
So no one told you life was gonna be this way
Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A.
It's like you're always stuck in second gear
When it hasn't been your day, your week
Your month or even your year

I don't do New Years Resolutions, partly because I never remember what they are.  But with any luck, I won't have to wait until December 21st for the next major turn.  It is more likely that will occur on November 6th.  In which case I will either reach a new personal level of hope for humanity...
...or sit back in my comfortable cab and watch the whole thing burn :)  Only time will tell.


Also, first paycheck clicked in today.  Sh*t was SOOO direct deposit.  Cheers to 2012!

Shipping Up To Boston

So what we've got here is I-84 N just a few miles north of Hartford.  The typical scene of arbitrary lane closures at all times of the day (except at night) slowing down my ride home.  I signed on too early today forgetting I shut down at 11 last night.  Because I didn't get 10 consecutive hours off I can't get BTW today :/.  Oh well.  A few more hours and I'll be home.  Like, HOME home.

John is dropping me off on his way up to NH, and he doesn't have to deliver until 0400 tomorrow.  Rather fitting that I'm using a Market Basket store as an RV point to finish this 7-day shenanigan.

The next step is scheduling a pickup to get my ass back to Gary after Christmas.  The catch is just how long the relays are, because getting a direct ride back there is a snowballs chance in Phoenix.  When I do, I take another volley of tests and get issued my own set of wheels.  Unfortunately I've hit another speed bump; it was bad enough with the episodes in October but now Christmas and New Years are slowing up this process.  If I end up having to ride out for another week of 1:1 training I'll be a little... Bothered.

I could get all philosophical on this trip but the story of the last 5 years of my life has been told, the who, the why, the where, and to some of you, even the interest rates.  Suffice it to say, I didn't see this coming.  Also, though I haven't seen the first paycheck yet, its been worth it.

Riding with John has been pretty kick ass.  Much like working with Dale in Marshfield, I can't think of what a better learning experience would be.  Both at a pro and real level, when you live in a 6 square foot box with somebody for a week it feels like you've known them for a year.

Rock_117 out

Bug report!

So the Blogspot app decided to get stuck in a perpetual "publishing..." mode on the 6 paragraph draft I composed during our eventful 18 hour layover in Ohio yesterday.  No amount of task managing or rebooting seems to fix it and I can't even view what I wrote.  Long story short:

Layover.  Clean shower.  Football.  Power nap.  Staying hydrated.  Meat lovers pizza.  Laundry.  Kick ass parking.  Firefox beats Internet Exploder.

Also, I'll be home for Christmas.

Snow, gadgets, street lights, people.

So today was a full punch of highway driving for both of us.  We cruised from Madison to Toledo.  When we got up this morning this is what we saw, a dusting by Wisconsin standards.  After parking it here in Ohio the same thing is going down.  There's a band of flurries following us all the way back east. 

Passing through Gary again I proceeded to do a bitchin' 45° back like a BOSS.  Today rocked for that reason enough.

I spent a bit of down time messing with John's laptop, relieving of its memory hogging factory programs courtesy of Sony.  Of course with 1 gig of ram, a 1.7 gig Intel and Vista SP1, I'm good but I'm not a magician.  While I was btw I offered my phone as entertainment, John had a blast with my Youtube app watching Blue Collar Comedy and cursing his BlackBerry Bold that sat lonely on the dashboard.  After cuing up my phone through the aux jack he was further impressed by my old school rock obsession.

I'm excited about this gig but like I imagined early on, I can't help but feel like a fish out of water when mingling with other drivers.  Most everybody is friendly but just a little retracted on the outside so its tough to break in.  It might be a long time before I'm really comfortable being myself around the crowd.  I can honestly say I haven't met anybody I didn't like yet, which helps a lot.  Even the mannerisms of other drivers are eons ahead of what most would expect. 

I just hope this streak keeps up.

Top Gear: No Overdrive

These things are fast when they're empty, but 17 tons hanging on your tail makes a hell of a drag.  I got nearly all interstate time today, which was nice because hilly or not thats my forte.  I clocked about 7 hours today, and at 65 that covers a lot more ground than PA state roads.

I still need work on my backing, though thats no surprise.  I've only been able to try once though, because every place we've been has been a bitch even for John to tackle while I spotted for him.  Hopefully tomorrow will present another opportunity to try, with any luck it won't include a time limit.  At least today I felt accomplished doing something I've been good at for years.

Another milestone occurred today, my first visit to another company terminal, which included a whole bunch of free services, most  importantly a shower.  I was skeptical on how presentable this was going to be, but lets just say I prefer Roehl facilities over Villanova University's  South Campus.  Though I can't speak for the lodging here because its another night in the truck.  All my gear is already up here anyway plus we have an early start tomorrow to make our appointment, but to get my 10 hours off I need to be the one to sleep in.  :)

Maybe I'll finally find a postcard with cows and a barn on it like I didn't last time I was up that way.  We'll see.

Day 2: still tired from the move

Well, it doesn't get much more real than this.  2 full days in and I've seen more episodes of The Big Bang Theory, Bones, and Supernatural than I have in the last year.  I need to start watching TV again.

Oh wait, this is a trucking blog. My bad.

Who would have thought my start would be on the most beautiful and scenic highways in America, the New Jersey Turnpike.  Mr. Keyboard Sarcasm Machine GO!

Though I can't call specifics, suffice it to say I helped move stuff that was made in America to a few small businesses.  Though we had to tailgate unload 53 feet of things  significantly heavier than my pre-work screening of 40 pounds, it still felt good that we helped make a piece of the local economy move forward.  Nice and all, but now I'm in bed and feel beat to hell.

Though that was easier said than done.  Most of my 6 BTW hours yesterday were on some mean state highways in the mountainous western PA.  Most of which were in the dark.  I was told I handled them LIKE A BOSS.  If he doesn't mind I'll say more about John next time, but also suffice it to say we're a 2 pair born about 20 years apart.  Convienently I always say I was born 20 years too late so its perfect.  I was sitting there driving in my first hour yesterday and I hear "Eastbound and down,loaded up and truckin'..."  Looking down at John's phone blinking I'm all, "Seriously man?  Omg this gets better and better".  I've learned a lot I could never have seen in a classroom and there's plenty more to go.

Even after 2 days we still haven't gone too far from Jersey yet but we're going on a pretty long hike tomorow on a certain highway I've seen a lot of in the last year near a place I was fairly recently. 

Well, off to SB time for me, stay frosty.

Life gets Roehl (part 2)

Also the first post from the Blogger Android app.  Thats right, I ended up going with the Samsung Galaxy II.  Aside from surrendering my physical keyboard, this is most definitely the start of a beautiful relationship :-)

Anyway, I was in the middle of an edge-of-seat scream out loud intense CoD SpecOps game with Kyle when I got the call from my trainer, John.  Tomorrow is the day.  I go out on an active company truck and learn the ways of the road, as hands-on as hands-on gets.  I've had the clothes packed since Thursday, but finally now I can get my day-to-day things in order.  As we did before my trip to RDTC, we celebrated at the Texas Roadhouse tonight, in a similar atmosphere but with a different state of mind.  This time I felt a bit more accomplished, needless to say.

The 1 week gap had one advantage, this is the part where I say thanks to Nana for my birthday present.  I had a blast seeing Jerry Seinfeld at Foxwoods on Friday night, I just wish I had a full weekend (and paycheck) to make it last longer.  It was good seeing the family again after all this time.  I really feel like I've been down here forever.

Tomorrow I'm gone though, and although I'm not on my own yet- it'll be a hell of a lot better than spending 7 straight hours unlocking all the achievements for Halo Anniversary...  Okay maybe not quite as cool as yesterday but still better than SpecOps.

I'm Winston Wolfe. I solve problems.

Is this the real life?

Sunday in Milesburg, PA

RDTC is done, and I am a proud holder of a Wisconsin Class A license.   I'll write more on how awesome it was in my next post.

The ride home was pretty uneventful, less for my first wine tasting event at my wonderful Cleveland stopover.  Another fact about myself I learned is that I much prefer driving the expanse of I-40 in New Mexico rather than I-80 in Pennsylvania.  At least in NM you can see more than 300 feet in any direction, even if all you can see contains nothing.

This was true last night, when I wasn't sure if the whole thing had been a dream and I woke up at the house in NJ I'd seen way too much of in the last 2 months.

Today reality was confirmed, when I went to the MVC office to transfer my license to a NJ CDL.  Did you guess it was going to be a pain after this 2 month headache?  I sure did.

I hate it when I'm right.  After 30 minutes of cross-checking SOP's and making a few phone calls the agents came to the conclusion that they don't have an exact procedure in place for my unique situation.  They made copies of everything I had in my master folder and the testing department head needs to verify all my papers and presumably to make sure I'm not a threat to homeland security.  Unfortunately as luck would have it he wasn't there but will be in the office tomorrow and will call me with an answer.

I expected them to ask me why the hell I went to get my CDL in Wisconsin.  They didn't.  What they DID ask out of curiosity is why did I take until 12/5 to apply for a license when my NJ CDL permit was issued on 9/26?  Why did I take 70 days you ask?

Funny story about that...

This Was A Triumph

I'm making a note here; HUGE SUCCESS.

 

Its rather funny how this song fits the occasion, in more ways than just the first 2 lines.  We came, we saw, we all drove and did our tests in the snow, and came out on top.  More on everything later- got to get packing because we're out of the hotel at 0600

I would say its great to be finished, but as a good man once said "No; I think we're just getting started."