another week down

Hey all another grueling week is in the books, It was the first week on the range. The first day was spent straight line backing. I wasn't feeling to hot after day 1 I thought I was too hard on myself. Day 2 was spent mostly straight line backing and splitting the cone. I felt better about things after day 2 . I will say the more reps you get in the truck the more confident you will be come. Day 3 we were doing the pull out of one dock and put the trailer into the next dock. Didn't do so great with that at first, but when the afternoon came i felt better doing that. Day 4 was spent alley docking and blindside parallel parking. Man I really found my niche with these two things. I was performing these maneuvers like a champ all day.
I would like to point out a few things we have 5 instructors on the range. When Mr Tony teaches us he seems to get irritated when you don't do something exactly the way he wants it done and he always wants to correct you with out letting you try to correct it your self. Ive learned that I don't learn well from Mr tony its just his style of teaching. When Mr. Mike, or Mr Aaron, or Mr Milton or Pete teach me things they seem to click with me so much better. They tell you how to do the maneuver, then they let you try to do it a few times and try to correct your mistakes and then if your not getting it they will help you out, give you a few pointers and will do the maneuver a couple times with them standing on the steps. When we were doing alley docking i was putting the trailer right down the middle of the alley dock dead center not favoring one side of the dock more and MR Aaron got a little peeved at Mr Tony, because Mr tony was trying to say i did something wrong when i didn't. Yes Mr tony frustrates me but the main people I need to impress is Mr Mike, Mr Aaron, and Mr Milton, They are the examiners for the dmv test.
Pete the diesel mechanic who also has his cdl teaches us on occasion when he isn't fixing our trucks. I like it when Pete teaches because he used to be a student himself, and he understands what the students go through. He is like most of the other instructors let you try it on your own and if your not getting it, help you out and then let you do it on your own. over all a good week I felt great after leaving Thursday, being able to do the hardest dmv exam maneuver pretty well. Mr Aaron says we did really well the first week as we are doing maneuvers that most classes don't touch in the first week at the range. He says most students don't get out of straight line backing until day 3, and that we are ahead of the curve some. I would like to point out time in the trucks is maximized with only 6 students in out class we usually start with 1 truck til about 930 or 10 then we start using 2 til lunch and through the afternoon. We are kept fresh though we will try a maneuver 2 or 3 times and then switch out.

Til next week all!

PS quick job update:

Companies that have accepted me

Maverick
Swift
Werner
USA Truck

Should hear back on monday about TMC I followed up with my recruiter and domino's said i never worked there. (domino's doesn't keep records long about employees who leave) I had to fax w-2s from domino's over to them and they had to verify my papa johns employment via phone. They accomplished all that on Friday afternoon and I should definitely hear something on Monday. I hope to get approved by TMC as they are top on my list.

Still haven't heard back from PAM or US xpress. I'll keep calling in hopes of getting an answer.

Been a busy 2 weeks

Hey all

I didnt forget about you, its just been super busy between school and work. I have been loving every minute of truck driving school. We have done a lot of classroom, material and im glad the classroom is over and we move on to The real fun that starts monday when we go to the range. I cant wait to go to the range. We had a few tests this week, I passed them all highest grade in the class! My average for all tests we have taken is a 96.33% (yay me). I cant wait to get out of the bowling business. Too much BS.

I have been in contact with many recruiters from various companies. Man I will tell you one thing if you dont call them they wont call you. If any of you are applying to any trucking company make sure you followup about your application. I called 3 companies today about my apps, and followup goes a long way I should hear something from them sometime nextweek.

So far the list of prehires pending the completion of trucking school includes

Swift
Maverick
Werner

And list of companies Im waiting on a response from:

USA Truck
PAM Transport/Decker
US Xpress
TMC

Hopefully I will hear something from werner today, and the rest of them early next week.

Well Anyways I gotta grab a bite to eat and get going to work.

Im counting the days, and each day that passes by the smile and anticipation increases

Getting ready for tommorrow

Im gettting ready for tommorrow, the start of another week of school. Cant wait for 8am tommorrow.

My parents dont think i will make it but im out to prove them wrong. Then again if my parents have not done it before they think its bad. I feel i can pass and be sucessfull and thats what matters most.
Im not gonna let them drag me down.

I even tried the plunger trick with the shifting i think it help me some. Well I gotta go eat some dinner and go do inventory at work since i have class in the morning. Catch all of you later!

1 Week down 9 more to go

Well week one is over its been a pretty long 4 days. Been up 18 hours straight each day, but Im seeling about 6 hours at night and feeling refreshed. Yeah the days are long now but when I get my cdl it will be all worth it. 4 days down 36 to go

We had our first test and im not one to brag but I got a 100 and was the only student in class to get a 100 and only half passed the first test. I was happier than a pig in shit. It just shows that my hard work has paid off. 2 more weeks til we start driving the trucks, I cant wait.. Im gonna start studying my pretrip now, I figure if I replace the magazines on the magazine rack in my office (bathroom) with copy of the pretrip i will get some extra study not only that, some people do their best thinking on the crapper. I believe it.

Anyways we went over a few chapters today and went down to the computer lab so the other who dont have their permits can get some practice testing in, I used the time to take some hazmat practice tests, I havent even read the hazmat section and Im getting 70%'s on practice tests.

well i cant wait wait for another exciting week of school im hitting the sack im beat

day 2+3

Well yesterday afternoon the bumper to bumper text books came in and we started to review different chapters and watch a couple of videos. The videos break up the monotony of reading the books. the fmcsr books havent come in yet so we wont get to take the text books home til monday. the monotony of the reading isnt bad though its interested and im learning new things. No biggie though I am retaining info pretty well. We were given the answers to the chapter quizzes we read so we wouldnt be behind. I will retake the quizzes on my own and check my answers to keep me on top of my game.
Since I am ahead of the class and already have my permit i would love to learn and have the entire pretrip down pat by the first range in mid august.

Wednesday we watched a video on pretrip and another on rollovers and covered some more chapters. We have a general knowledge test tommorrow but I am confident that i will pass it with flying colors.

I am really liking my instructor Mr Aaron, we cover a lot of information but he doesnt fry our brains out and relates to his personal experience . We had a instructor that used to work at the school stop by on tuesday and we all went out to look at his rig. Mr Aaron was like a little kid in a candy shop when he saw the rig this guy was driving.

Well til tommorrow See ya

First Day

First day of school went really well, I had fun and feel good . I was the only one in class that already had their permit even though you dont need it til the 25th day of class i feel good yay me. The class is small, theres only 6 people in the class and with the small class sizes it will provide much more seat time than the average class gets.The classroom instructor Mr. Arron is pretty cool, ex marine with 25 years+ of experience, We watched a few videos on safety, eating healthy etc etc. Some of the students from another class came up with a couple of the tractors used in the yard and the range instructors. Answered any questions we had and got to talk to other students who were going to graduate the following week.

First test is thursday and its a general knowledge test should be a cake walk for me since i already have my permit and take the general knowledge a couple times already. goin to bed talk to all you tommorrow

Getting ready for school tommorrow.

I cant wait for tommorrow. It's my first day of CDL school and I feel like a kid all over again i got my backpack packed and all. It will be a long but fun 10 weeks because i will be working and going to school full time. It will be worth though because its an investment in my future. I think it will be an uplifting and fun expereince. The parents arent too keen on me but its my life and its not like I asked them to pay for it im paying for it all on my own.

Tommorrow should be interesting as its the first day so it will be a lot of info and such, handing out books and stuff. Im already ahead of the class as i have my learners permit already. The first week or so is supposed help the other students get their learners. Yeah I know im ahead already but thats good them most of it will be review.

Well anyways Im going to graba bite to eat and get some sleep for tommorrow!

Keep checking back for updates to my blog, you can im me on aim at bigpapa7272 or look for me on class a drivers. I will take my camera with me when we go to the range and stuff.