FYI- Soon Schneider National will be hosting a benefit concert for victims of Dallas' recent tornado. Headlining the act will be none other than quasi-famous rap band (or something, I dunno what they sing. I never heard of em) Smashing Pumpkins!

Keep an eye out for specifics in an upcoming edition of OTRA Newsletter.

(thanks Pumpkin King for the inspiration on this one. "looked like a squashed pumpkin", ha!)

Finally I'm a rollin!

Last night we got a late start. As I'd mentioned before, the starter was out on our truck. The mechanic at the Dallas OC put the wrong starter on it. What should have been about an hour long job turned into all day.

Finally they told us we were ready to go. Then the interior lights wouldn't come on and we were readin "low voltage." Our ace mechanic put a wire on wrong. Didn't take em long to fix that.

Then they wrote us an order ...

I finally got my marching orders. This morning I was to meet my TE at 10 at the Dallas OC. Of course it's clock rollback time. My phone is my alarm clock. Being set by whatever controls the clocks on phones I had no worries.

My alarm was set for 6:45 A.M. I got up and began getting ready to jet. As I put on my wristwatch I noticed it read 9 A.M. I thought, "That's weird. It SHOULD read 8. So I looked at my phone. It read 7. I looked at my wife's phone and it read 8. Crap. For whatever ...

A week ago my orientation week was completed with Schneider. Tuesday I was to meet with my training engineer (TE) to begin my on road training. I got 30 minutes from the house when he called to inform me of his brother's death and had to cancel on me. He said someone would be getting in touch with me soon.

Wednesday I called our student training adviser to ask if I needed to wait patiently or if I needed to be in contact with someone. He didn't return my call. So I called my drive ...

Tomorrow is the final day of orientation week. But for all intents and purposes it seems today was the "decision day." Looks like I'm in!

My road test went pretty well with a few minor points to work on. Jason has been a great trainer and really put me at ease.

My written test was ok. I scored a 94. I really didn't understand some of the MCP questions because of my lack of familiarity with it; but all that will come along.

My trip plan ...

Today is the third day of Schneider orientation and my first day in a Schneider truck. I got a boost in my confidence today.

First off when I met my driver trainer, or TE for "Training Engineer" (love political correctness), I learned he has the same name as my roomie in drive school. How odd. He's a big ol' guy named Jason. He told us that we'll learn he is "Kind of a BIG deal."

Jason is a good guy, very friendly and easy going. But I have to back up ...