Going back to work.

[tcmtech]

Looks like I am joining the official working class again.
I got hired on as a truck driver in the oil fields today and start my training and certification tomorrow. I get a new truck, full benefits, and outrageous pay in comparison to the local cost of living!

The thing was I did not go looking for the job specifically. My grandma saw an add in the paper and mentioned it to me so while I was out getting groceries last Thursday I stopped by the job fair they had expecting to get some free snacks and a pen to too. (no snacks but I got a hat and a nice pen.)

I gave them a rather rough application and asked a lot of questions and just figured they where looking for more qualified people. They said they would call me this week if they thought I was of interest. The next morning they called back and asked if I would come in Tuesday for a drive around test to see if I can actually drive a truck. 4 miles later I was hired!

So when your Grandma calls check out what she has to say. It could get you a job with a take home pay in the mid to upper 5 digits range!

So for you guys who say you cant find work, get your butts up to North Dakota! $50K to $100k a year is waiting for you!

 

[Hero999]

Good for you.

I wouldn't mind doing that but I lack the appropriate licence and don't fancy moving to the US either: driving isn't that well paid in the UK

 

[Vizier87]

cool.. now you can, er, get married? care to post a pic of that truck bro?

 

[tcmtech]

The truck I drove today they referred to as an older one but I doubt it was more than five or six years old. Either way thats new enough for me!

Its going to take about two weeks for me to get all of the OSHA and other safety related training done before I get my official truck. If I understood it right I will eventually be getting a new or almost brand new Kenworth.

I rather expect that being the new guy I am likely going to be bounced around from truck to truck until I am given/earn a specific route, truck, and driving schedule. But at $21 - $28+ an hour I can handle being the bottom peon for a while.

At least I wont be driving worn out 50+ year old farmer junk any more!

 

[bryan1]

Good onya Tcm,
bout time ya got off butt and into work just so you can sit back on ya butt and get well paid for the privilege. But just watch that obamanation jump in a take a big slice of ya pay check now that bill got through.

Cheers Bryan

 

[Vizier87]

but ain't it gonna be amazingly boring driving trucks with your "default" interests? What are you planning to do with all the money once you get your hands on it? I wouldn't say you wanna get married...

 

[tcmtech]

I dont mind paying taxes to be honest. I appreciate what privileges I get by being a US citizen and compared to many of the other countries and insane nuts they have running them I dont find ours to be all that bad in comparison.

What I plan for the money is to start building a new house this year some time and possibly finish off the shop so that is heatable and usable year round. Between the estimated average pay I will get driving truck and what normal income my side line work brings in plus if half of my stock investments do half as well as they are predicted (oil, tech, and communication services stocks) there is a likely chance I could pull down a 6 digit take home pay this year or at least gross one before taxes.

I have no major debts I owe on anymore so anything I make from now on is mine!
I dont think I will get married this year but the girl who has my interests sort of has the say on that one. I wouldn't mind it though being she has the possible chance of getting work that pays just as well and possibly better than mine does if things work out for her as well.
So who knows, all of this could go sour and I could be back to living on $20K - $30K a year by this time next year or I could be married with a combined income that pushes $200K+ !

Who knows what may happen really. I will be content with just landing someplace in the middle of all of that at best.

I dont find the idea of driving a water truck for the oil fields the least bit boring. I will be outside all day working mostly by myself which I like and I will have a fair amount of time while loading and unloading to stand around and take to whom ever there is that is also loading and unloading. Its not a long hauls type of driving but rather Bee work which is more of a back and forth traveling around a localized area type stuff. Plus I will be home every night as well.

 

[Vizier87]

I suppose we'll be seeing you less often then? Good luck with you and your girl.. and your life on the dusty roads.. Take care TCM.

 

[Reloadron]

Well good deal on that note and congratulations! Nice way to come into Spring. Yeah, once things are going take a picture of the truck!

Happy for ya man.

Ron

 

[killivolt]

Buy yourself a good seat cushion. Bouncing around like that will do weird crap to your organs.

I suppose we'll be seeing you less often then?

Na he'll just log in after work like the rest of us junkies.

Good luck TCM if obama care kicks in and just because of your age, they most likely will stick it to you like they will me.

Keep your business license and right off as much as you can. I have a Limited Liability Company that offsets my earnings. I figure if they want to let me have the deduction I will.

 

[Vizier87]

Buy yourself a good seat cushion. Bouncing around like that will do weird crap to your organs.

Haha.. especially truck drivers who suppress their tank all the time..

 

[mramos1]

Good job TCM, I sometime drive down the interstate and wonder what it would be like to drive a truck. I hate driving, but I do not get paid to drive. What background did you have on the trucks? Commercial license?

 

[tcmtech]

My background in trucking was just a spin off or addition to my driving and operating almost anything else. I grew up on a farm and have always had friends who where farmers so I started driving equipment of all types at a young age. Old grain trucks lead to newer and bigger grain trucks that eventually lead to full sized semi trucks.

Some years ago I picked up some work as a substitute bus driver at a local elementary school so I went and got my class B CDL for that being they where paying for it.
Up until then I never needed the commercial license simply because most small farming operations are exempt from needing CDL's for their trucks because of the short distance most farmer travel while hauling in their crops.

This job follows the similar reason of since they require a higher level CDL and are paying for it I will upgrade my license again.

When you are paid well to sit behind the wheel it is far different that when you are doing it for free and paying for the equipment and fuel!

What more could I ask for? I will work mostly by myself doing a rather easy type of work and I will be home every night as well. It may be routine and predictable but the pay is very good and the stress is likely to be on the low end being that its not a hard or demanding job.

Getting up at 5 am is probably going to be my biggest stress and dislike, that and having to get a cell phone that has to actually be turned on and answered while I am at work.

 

[tcmtech]

Well I have my full OSHA training done and my 2 inch high stack of new employee related paperwork filled out.
I now have 90/10 health insurance, full dental and optical coverage plus a big sign on bonus I didn't even know about as well.
I am planning to take night shift which pays an extra $5 an hour so my normal rate pay will be around $26 - $33 an hour depending on commissions rates.

I hope its worth the $100K a year average my company is paying fully certified truck drivers because I really hate this getting up at 4 am BS.

 

[Reloadron]

I now have 90/10 health insurance, full dental and optical coverage plus a big sign on bonus I didn't even know about as well.

Sometimes surprises like a sign on bonus are really sweet aren't they?

Best wishes with this and I am sure you will adjust just fine to different hours.

Ron

 

[mramos1]

tcmtech, Sounds like a nice deal and it keeps getting a little better. 4AM is a pain, I get going at 6AM everyday, and it is not too bad. Off work today, but going a town north of here to do a side project with my son (computer work). I told them I will be there at 10 Best of luck on your new venture.

 

[tcmtech]

So much for the job for a little while.

I managed to do three 16 hour days, Up at 4 AM home at 8 PM, before I ended up in the emergency room for convulsive exhaustion. They kept me over night for observation Thursday and did a EEG and MRI scans Friday due to my blood work not coming back so great.

I have a pituitary adenomas, Pituitary adenoma - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , that are creating to high of level of some hormones that prevent my body from getting any restful sleep apparently. Plus they figure I have moderate sleep appnia that keeps me from sleeping that much more.

As explained to me that the sleep appnia keeps my brain from achieving sufficient REM state sleep and the high level of some hormone form the pituitary issue doesn't allow my body to go into the correct recovery mode when I am asleep. They said that I may look like I am asleep for 8 - 9 hours at night but I am only getting around 2 - 4 hours of real sleep and I have probably been that way for a long time given several of my general health symptoms I have had for most of my life. These three long days just put me past my breaking point.

Now I am on a two week medical leave until they get my blood work and sleep issues taken care of. If that doesn't work they will have to do surgery on my pituitary gland and remove the adenomas.

They have me on some sort of pills that are supposed to help me sleep and stabilize things but now I just feel completely exhausted and am sleeping about 16+ hours a day.

This is not what I wanted to get out of this job.

The work itself is long hours but easy and I rather liked the aspect of learning more about the oil industry, plus the trucks are rather nice too!

 

[smanches]

I have Graves disease (hyperthyroidism); my thyroid produces way too many hormones even though my pituitary is telling it not to. I have medication to keep it normal, but sometimes have attacks where it floods me with hormones again, usually when I'm sick. This causes me to sleep no more than 4-5 hours a day, and when I wake up I feel utterly exhausted usually with my heartrate over 100. I can get about 12 hours in a day before I'm so exhausted I have to sleep again.

Sounds like what you have is doing something very similar. It sucks.

 

[Hero999]

Did you now know about this before you started your new job?

Perhaps it's a good thing you found out, otherwise it could've been much worse finding our later on in life.

 

[tcmtech]

Did you now know about this before you started your new job?

Strangely I didn't have a clue about this but now after a few days of reading up on it the symptoms and conditions that relate to it they describe with almost frightening accuracy what I always considered and assumed was the normal feeling of life. Or at least what has been a normal feeling for me even from my days of being a kid. I am starting to think a large part of this problem might be from a life long chronic problem that never was properly diagnosed earlier in life. When I was 19 I was treated for depression for what was assumed to have been a stress induced break down.

Now I am wondering if what happened many years ago is perhaps what happened to me last Thursday night only back then it never got properly diagnosed and treated.
It just always seemed strange to me to be told I had depression even though I generally didn't feel bad about myself or my life to any great degree. Sometimes I get frustrated and disappointed with life at times but I get over it fairly quickly.
When I had the depression issues many years ago what I felt was that I just didn't care about anything and had no motivation or concerns about doing anything only just more so than normal. I could have cared less about life and what happened which is one of the more common symptoms related to pituitary gland problems.

I grew up in a family with very limited health insurance and parents who believed that if it never happened to them then its not real and thus no doctor visit is needed which is likely how most of this stuff was never got picked up on and treated properly years ago.

After reading up on this and the related effects and symptoms it sort of worries me that if they fix it I might turn into one of those overly motivated overly driven morning person A$$h*les that runs non stop for 18 hours a day.
I have always hated being around because they cant sit still so if I become one it could create a whole new set of personal issues for me to deal with!

My first follow up appointment is tomorrow and I would almost bet they start me off with antidepressants first.
That seems to be the common solution to any mental or general health related issue around here. Dont fix the problem but instead just make you feel really happy about having it and then let it degrade until it is a seriously expensive problem to treat.