New soon to be swift trainee!

Finished with my mentor class. Waiting to be coded as a trainer and get a student before I'm dispatched.

 

Well? What did they talk about in the class? I'm assuming you have to be a very social person to be a good trainer? That is why I personally could never do it as I am not a "people person" at all. As a trainer can you say If you want a smoking or nonsmoking student?

 

Yes, they try to match a non smoker with another non smoker. Even if you are a non smoker and say you are willing to take a smoker. They do their best to match the same types of people together so as to avoid as much conflict as possible.

 

Just wanted to say that I love trucking and again thanks everyone for their advice and tips. Guys are awesome! Just did some financial "push ups" and saw what I needed to do to retire from trucking in 30 years or so if I remain fortunate and I think its time to get my ducks in a row while I am still relatively young, a will, Life insurance, health, 401k, roth IRA etc. Never know what can happen. Time to build up a serious savings account and also a retirement fund. If I start now I reckon I could have a few hundred thousand in both the retirement fund and savings account. I also have to start a workout regimen to stay healthy enough so that when I am 62-65 I will be healthy enough to enjoy my latter years, if God so decides I reach that age. If you are younger than I am and thinking about truck driving and or is already truck driving, get rid of all your debt, the money that you save compared to dishing it out to pay expenses is amazing. I now understand why older folks used cash to purchase things in the old days before credit and why those same people own their houses and even trucks outright. Its freeing. That brings up another thing, I was thinking about being a lease owner, but when I saw the funds I could have saved in a few years and whatnot I have placed that on hold for awhile. I rather have a nest egg for a rainy day than dishing out such and such amount on a weekly basis. I may still do it when I have a down payment enough to satisfy me. I am for sure going to get a 3-5 year old truck compared to a brand new truck so that I would have lesser payments weekly and if anything goes wrong with it Ill have the funds in the bank to pay cash right there instead of owing anyone any money. Once I have paid off all my bills, I refuse to get back into the debt is good lie. Maybe a house note, because that can increase in value but I never really wanted to buy a house lol. I will never again have a car note that is for sure, if I cant buy a car with cash I dont need it just yet.

Life smacked me in the face when I went to academy and still had expenses to pay, now because of hard work 3 of my bills are gone and another 1-2 large bills will be gone by the end of next month. Got to be driven, I respect and admire those with families because as a unmarried young man it was a little difficult catching up on bills until I sat down and did the math and realized I dont have to be afraid to open the many envelopes that came in the mail while I was otr. That is why I will always say make sure all your finances are in place before you come out here, because you dont want to be receiving bills while you are away and have to play catch up. All I want to pay is cell phone/entertainment bill, food bill, and retirement fund and savings account. Life is too short to be in debt and paying other people with your hard earned money month in and month out, year after year.

If any one works out what type of work out process do you have? I am not looking to get huge, just toned and in better shape. Do you take any vitamins and if so which kind? For your heart, brain, eyes, etc? Had to write this down so that I can stay on track and not get fooled by the pretty lights of this or that thing and start the process over again.

 

I just got Google maps and Google earth and I was test trialing it just seeing how the locations Ive picked up and dropped from and its amazing. I wish I had it before, no more wondering how a place looks before I arrive. hmm? Did I ever tell of the time I was picking up a load and had to pull down this side two lane street and about 10-20 feet I had to pull into this gate with one ditch on the one side and one on the other side and manage not to hit the fence while pulling through a place that was built for cars. In fact it was the car parking lot area, so after I made it through the fence avoiding the ditches I had to go around all the cars and find a parking spot in the small driveway. 2 other drivers were there, one was in the dock and one was turned back facing me. So I parked and went inside. Come to find out I was in the receiving area. (doh) so I was told to back up out the way i came in..

Well knowing how difficult it was getting in there I told myself I would not back up into traffic and possibly run the trailer into the ditch. What did I do? Well I pulled forward and tried to go through the muddy, wet soaked grass with an empty trailer. Needless to say I got stuck. it was either pay 500.00 dollars or stay. Luckily another driver pulled me out the grass and saved me that 500.00 tow. Back on track now I hope the maps help me so that I know before I even start my journey how the shipping and receivers facilities look. That way I wont be wondering. Wish it had updates for constructions but Im not using it for gps just for places look. Does anyone use these apps?

 

I never used Google while truck driving but I can tell you this. Sometimes those sattelite pictures are several years old and currently inaccurate. But they usually do come in handy. And if they compromise military security they won't be available. I have observed several islands in the far south pacific go from detail so good you could see the individual bushes to being clouded over and then showing only ocean. I don't know what they are doing down there but they clumsily don't want anyone knowing about it. Stupid security move on their part.

 

Right I only use the Qualcomm gps system and the only reason I like the idea of Google maps etc is it shows the overhead of the business and I can get a feel for a entrance and or exit and I can look at the surronding roads. That way, I am thinking, if my qualcomm gps goes ballistic like it does for that like one percent when its wrong I know what I am looking for beforehand. Lol, I googled my house and Im not sure, I'll have to google it again but I think I saw a car in my parking lot. I have to do some investigating to see if it was the old car I had before I bought the new one or its the new one. I am intrigued by being able to see my home even miles away and my city and whatnot. Maybe I am a geek that way. It was genius for google to come up with it, even though its big brother. O.O *side note* I keep trying to spell Goodle for some reason.. I dont know.. :}

 

Vertical or audio dyslexia doodle. Yes, I have all my latest vehicles on Google also.

 

Yesterday I was coming from minnesota and was goin through missouri when it was raining/snowing. Was on I-35 and saw a truck on its side facing oncoming traffic. No cops around, no tow truck, no bystanders, it was just sitting on its side. What it looked like happened was during the storm, the driver lost control from the northbound side of traffic, went through the median, came over into southbound traffic and turned over in the grass. The marks in the median from the truck going through it looked like he hit it with some speed. Be safe out there guys!

 

If other truckers aren't passing you in a snow storm, YOU are the one going too fast. Don't be the first one at the scene of the accident.