Wow.
Our time here is just blazin' by. Its already the start of Day Five and even though I slept pretty long last night, I don't think it was very good sleep. And thanks to CBS morning news, I know way more about the primaries last night than I really wanted to know.
So, day four was flipping HARD. I mean, HARD. After a brief meeting with our in-truck instructor (I'm with Greg, Grey is with Jim B.) we went out to the trucks and got the day started. Jimmy was my co-classmate for the day and he'd never driven a manual transmission - ever - so his shifting was a little ugly but it was pretty cool to see how he improved over the course of the day. My shifting wasn't terrible but the bump & run to come down kept baffling me. Breaking my rhythm. Clutch-neutral, rev, clutch-gear. Ugh.
Anyway. We bobtailed around the yard in the morning, just to get a feel for it. Apparently I "granny-hand" the steering wheel and need to work on my hand-over-hand motions. Do-able, definitely. I was just SO nervous.
After lunch though, came the real horrifying thing. We took the truck and trailer out on live roads. For instance, up Rt.11 and onto the Carlisle Pike (a very busy road with shopping on both sides and rush-hours that last from dawn to midnight :P). I seriously thought about bailing when we found out we had to go on the real streets.
But we survived and apparently Greg had enough faith in me to have me take the highway back to the STA. So that's a good thing.
Grey and I are having doubts this morning though. He is having a little more trouble shifting than I am and I think his nerves about the future are getting to him. I know they are for me. This really does seem like our "last chance" or "best hope" and so its a lot of added pressure.
Anyway, its getting close to 6 and I need to scarf down some Cheerios before we catch the pumpkin bus.
March 05, 2008
March 04, 2008
STA - Day Three
Eek! I didn't get a chance to update last night, after Day Three, because we ran to Wal-Mart to get gloves, ponchos, magnifying glasses and pocket calculators. We were seperated yesterday for the Sim & Lab lessons - I went to those in the morning, then back to class in the afternoon and Grey was vice versa.
We were both really grateful for the "experience" of shifting in the simulator so we don't go completely blind into the real truck today (TODAY?!?! AHHHHH!). I think I got the up-shifting pretty well, rev bump bump. But the bump & run on the way down was giving me fits. I ground a bunch of gears trying to get the clutch-neutral, rev, clutch-gear rhythm down. O'well. It wasn't as horrible as I thought.
We also learned coupling and uncoupling and how to safely climb in & out of the truck and the catwalk. My stubby little legs made it interesting, but I made it - no worries. Whew!
Today we're headed out to the trucks for the first time - to drive them. Grey & I are both excited and nervous. Should be interesting ;) Wish us luck!
We were both really grateful for the "experience" of shifting in the simulator so we don't go completely blind into the real truck today (TODAY?!?! AHHHHH!). I think I got the up-shifting pretty well, rev bump bump. But the bump & run on the way down was giving me fits. I ground a bunch of gears trying to get the clutch-neutral, rev, clutch-gear rhythm down. O'well. It wasn't as horrible as I thought.
We also learned coupling and uncoupling and how to safely climb in & out of the truck and the catwalk. My stubby little legs made it interesting, but I made it - no worries. Whew!
Today we're headed out to the trucks for the first time - to drive them. Grey & I are both excited and nervous. Should be interesting ;) Wish us luck!
March 02, 2008
STA - Day Two
Ah, Sunday, I barely knew ye.
I swear, we passed out last night and blinked and it was 4:30 on Sunday and Day Two began. Fortunately (or not) I apparently got enough sleep because I was hyper and excited and could hardly keep from dancing everytime we were on our feet.
The day was pretty uneventful - studying logging requirements and some fatigue goodies. Nothing strenuous, not yet, but tomorrow we hit the Simulators for the first time and have to learn about shifting those big, scary manual transmissions.
10 gears? Jeez.
1st - zero. 2nd - 6. 3rd - 8. 4th - 10. 5th - 15. 6th - 20. 7th - 25. 8th - 30. 9th - 40. 10th - 50 and up.
Woot. Now if we can just remember all that, we're good to go. You should see Grey & I sitting side-by-side shifting in the air with our right hands. Its amusing. And now - back to the Food Network (Oy! I have missed cable tv) or a little Without a Trace and sleeps for me.
I swear, we passed out last night and blinked and it was 4:30 on Sunday and Day Two began. Fortunately (or not) I apparently got enough sleep because I was hyper and excited and could hardly keep from dancing everytime we were on our feet.
The day was pretty uneventful - studying logging requirements and some fatigue goodies. Nothing strenuous, not yet, but tomorrow we hit the Simulators for the first time and have to learn about shifting those big, scary manual transmissions.
10 gears? Jeez.
1st - zero. 2nd - 6. 3rd - 8. 4th - 10. 5th - 15. 6th - 20. 7th - 25. 8th - 30. 9th - 40. 10th - 50 and up.
Woot. Now if we can just remember all that, we're good to go. You should see Grey & I sitting side-by-side shifting in the air with our right hands. Its amusing. And now - back to the Food Network (Oy! I have missed cable tv) or a little Without a Trace and sleeps for me.
March 01, 2008
STA - Day One
Well, Grey & I arrived at the HOJO at around 8pm last night as snow fell all around in a nasty little storm. But we were safe and we're in a room together, which is lovely. Its not too ghetto, but its not exactly the Ritz.
Anyway, we arrived, we're safe and that's all that really matters.
We didn't get up as early as planned and I didn't sleep for beans (I blame the Arby's Motz sticks I had for a late dinner) but we made it to the continental breakfast room on time and got to the bus with plenty of time to spare.
The big orange pumpkin bus picked us up and shuttled us about 10 minutes up the road to the Carlisle OC. It was actually smaller than I pictured. Anyway, they led us up to the portable classroom and we got started on the gads of paperwork. Oy vey.
Our instructor today was Mike Dakan and we only had about 12 people in the class. So far, everyone has been awesome.
I'd write more, but Grey wants to use the laptop for a bit. So to cut it short, both Grey & I passed the PWS test and all I can say is... well, hear it :P
Anyway, we arrived, we're safe and that's all that really matters.
We didn't get up as early as planned and I didn't sleep for beans (I blame the Arby's Motz sticks I had for a late dinner) but we made it to the continental breakfast room on time and got to the bus with plenty of time to spare.
The big orange pumpkin bus picked us up and shuttled us about 10 minutes up the road to the Carlisle OC. It was actually smaller than I pictured. Anyway, they led us up to the portable classroom and we got started on the gads of paperwork. Oy vey.
Our instructor today was Mike Dakan and we only had about 12 people in the class. So far, everyone has been awesome.
I'd write more, but Grey wants to use the laptop for a bit. So to cut it short, both Grey & I passed the PWS test and all I can say is... well, hear it :P
February 28, 2008
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!
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!
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