Letting Go A Piece Of Myself

I feel a little roughed up today.  I got to thinking about something that happened last week.  With my birthday coming up that meant it was time to renew my driver's license.  After a lot of thought I gave up my Class A (trucking) license.  After Carroll Fulmer essentially blackballed me from the trucking industry, I knew I would never drive a semi again.  So it didn't make much sense to carry the endorsement on my license.  Here's why.

If I were to get a ticket of any sort, I can't take the classes to get the points off my license.  And due to the way insurance companies will jack up your rates for any points, I thought it was best to give up my Class A.  Especially if I'm not going to use it. 

If you go to some of the first of my blogs on this site you will see they are about trucking school and trucking in general.  It has been a part of me since 2008.  It like, "how do I not be a truck driver?"  Some of my best songs for my band are about truck driving.  In fact, I think my best song is, in part, about truck driving.  It's such a part of me, and I feel like I've just killed it off.

Despite all the crap that I went through with Covenant, I liked the job.  I had a few great runs, and a great co-driver in Eric.  It was all the paperwork, and things that got screwed up at the front office that I didn't like with them.

Going to Carroll Fulmer was the worst mistake I could have made.  It was one lie after another, and they sent me to some of the shittyist places I've ever been.  There's no way they should have sent me to some of those places.  And all the crap they put on my DAC report just killed any chance I could get on with another company.  In the end it just wasn't worth what any trucking company was paying.  There's a reason they always need truckers. 

So like a lot of things in life, the world isn't split into perfect and awful things (or jobs in this case.)  There was a lot I liked about it.  And there was a lot I didn't like about it.  But regardless it was a piece of me.  And that I will miss.

And for memory's sake, here's a picture of my last truck with Covenant:

And here is a picture of my favorite truck, Trouble.  She was the first one I got after training.

Tough Choices, Evil Empires, and Black Gold

Job hunting is tough all over.  Except for one place.  North Dakota.  Why you ask?  Simply put, black gold, also known as the new oil boom.

The evil empire known as Haliburton has invented a new way to drill.  Instead of drilling from the top of a mountain, they can go in from the side.  They then frak the rock, and suck the oil out.  And there's a lot of oil.  How much?  In twenty years they believe North Dakota alone will out produce Saudi Arabia. 

And that's where I come in.  Or should I say workers from across the United States come in.  Let's be honest, North Dakota is kind of sparse, and doesn't have enough workers.

And they need workers.  Lots of workers.  Heck, even the fast food employees are getting $12-$15 an hour.  And they need truckers.  Lots of truckers to move that black gold from the oil fields to the refineries.  But it is a dangerous job.  I actually had to stop and think what driving a semi truck in North Dakota would be like.  Something like this I suppose.

Ok, hopefully it wouldn't be exactly like that.  It would be more like this.

Then there is the fact that I would be working for Haliburton or one of their underlings.  And we all know what Haliburton means.  It means Dick Cheney will try to shallow your soul.

And with oil comes oil spills.  And no one wants cute animals to die.

But let's get back to talking money.  Yes, it's easy to make $1500 a week, but what are the expenses?  First off, since there are very few people in North Dakota there is very little housing.  What housing there is takes half your paycheck.  And then there's the matter of food.  Food and all other goods have to be shipped in.  They can run quite a bit of money since North Dakota is so far out.  So even if I make a good amount of money, after expenses I don't know if I would have much left.  And I would still have bills to pay. 

I'm not going to make a quick decision on this as I don't want to work in North Dakota during the winter.  Once it hits Springtime I will think long and hard about it.  Different companies up there have options as far as housing and food go.  I would just have to find one that would be a good fit for me.  Oh, and one that would let me keep my soul instead of letting Cheney suck it out.