Just testing...

      Oh, its late (after midnight) and I'm still a little wired.
      Today was my last day at my spiffy Tech Support job. I am going to miss several people there, and the job. Its nice to know I left on a fairly good note (I think!) and that if, God Forbid!, anything goes wrong - at the very least they'll be happy to recommend me in the future.
      Grey & I just did our taxes and filed online, so that's a huge load off our minds. One less thing to worry about in the coming weeks. Of course, next year we'll have to hire Grey's friend R. as our accountant to deal with all the itemization and yada-yada... but I'm not going to start worrying about that just yet.
      Elsewhere in the world of Lour & Grey, we're trying out this new webservice called GrandCentral.com. It was recently acquired by Google and since Google owns Blogger, they've made it integratable (is that even a word?). I think it makes for some interesting possibilities.
      Using it, we can easily post voice messages from people, jokes or whatever, but more importantly we can use it to post free-and-easy V-Blogs. Oh yeah! That excites me even though I am 99% sure we'll never really get around to using it.
      Still, the button is there if you want to give it a try. They claim to be free, so unless you're using a cell and pay for incoming call minutes - I don't see a problem with it.
      Below I'm going to (try) to embed the test VBlog. Hope it works!

Slow Updates Hide Big Surprises

Its true, I have not updated faithfully, but I blame the proxy settings they forced upon us at work. I can no longer blog during the long, slow downtimes and with the weird shift I have been working, by the time I get home its usually a routine of: eat dinner, watch movie, fall asleep around 11.

Nonetheless, there is a lot to report.

We took our DOT Physicals last Monday and, of course, Mark passed with flying colors. I was fine on everything... but my BG levels. That's blood glucose for the blessedly uninformed. It was quite high - result of my irrational belief in my youthful immortality (which, incidently, I don't believe in at all because I'm a somewhat hypochrondiac-ish with serious death phobia) and neglect of proper medication.

Fortunately, I was able to see my family doctor, get my medication updated and get my DOT card. No sweat. So thanks to our sweet contact at SNI, we are officially a go for STA at Carlisle on 3/1.

Woot, I say, woot.

My last day at work is Wednesday, which leaves us just about 48hrs to get all the laundry, house-cleaning, packing, buying, finding, gathering, preparing done. Whew!

So, starting Friday, expect daily updates about the actual STA and until then, lots of me praying we pass the PWS Stress Test-thingy.

Moving along.

Well, I can't believe I never got a chance to update previously (blame the new parent-company-switch-over that doesn't let me even check my email at work anymore...grr) but both Grey & I have our CDL permits and we're scheduled for the DOT physicals and drug screening come Monday. Yay!

One more hurdle to go, and then we start STA on 3/1. We had hoped to make 2/23 - but its just too busy this time of year. The bad news is they've dropped the pay rate for training, the good news is... everything else.

Woot.

That's all that need be said. Oh yeah, and Hi Mom!

Good News...

and bad news.

The bad news first - I was sick Wednesday and Thursday, so we didn't take our written exams until Friday morning.

The good news (and it is GOOD) is that the general knowledge exam was cake. Big green "PASSED" flag, woohoo!

The bad news returns - because we both failed the Air Brake exam. So close, but no cigar.

And worse news? We were going to head up this morning, but its snowing and I'm feeling sick again - so we have to wait til Monday.

I think this means we're gonna miss that 2/23 course in Carlisle, which sucks. Hopefully, we can get our stuff faxed over Monday and get the ball rolling for the 3/1 STA. *sigh* Hopefully.

In other news, we've been reading a lot about other drivers having trouble OTR this time of year due to freight being slow and, naturally, the weather. I'm glad that we'll have a few months of driving under our belts before the worst hits next winter.

Wow. I really couldn't believe how well I did on the General Knowledge test though. I just whizzed right through it. Just wish us luck on the Air Brake part, right? :)

Monday... no really, it is.

This time its Monday in the quote real world. Bah. We had hoped to take our permit exams Tuesday, but alas, life has intervened and we will be putting it off until Wednesday morning. Still, if everything goes well, we can get this truck a-moving soon after that.

I'm really very grateful for all the advice and whatnot that we've received from the people at PD.com and the folks we've talked to in person. Its a big, difficult decision and I really think its the right one for us. Luckily, these people have kept us grounded and realistic about what to expect.

Oy vey. Work calls... I suppose its time to earn my paycheck. Man, I can't wait to taste the open road!

Getting Psyched

Ah, Monday - how I loathe you.

Yes, I know its Saturday, but in Lour's world - the first day back after a lovely weekend is Monday even if its actually Saturday. Anyway...

While toiling away, helping clueless instructors figure out how to email their students and the like (Oh how I love Tech Support!), I've been trying to study my permit guide. There's an awful lot to know, but most of it seems like common sense. Truly. We'll be fine for the tests, I'm sure.

The more research I do about eating out of the truck and keeping healthy on the road, the more I think this could definitely be the finest idea we ever had and I truly, truly hope it all works out. Whew. So much!

Anyway, I hear beeping which means I've got another caller. Oh joy. Hopefully this one won't be as silly as the last fellow. He couldn't get his printer to work, so he went out and bought a brand new computer, a brand new printer... and still can't get it to work.