Duct-Tape

Today I am feeling like duct-tape around my team-mate and my room-mate.

From my team-mate, he's considering going home and he has good reason. The
strain of missing your family and them begging you to come home; especially
your children. I had to beg him in a way to just go two weeks with me in
the truck...the money will start coming in, which will relax things at
home, make the wife happier, and smooth things out.

From my room-mate, he forgot his paperwork yesterday, so they sent him back
to the hotel and rescheduled him for today. He failed his SQT in the
morning, and then failed it again in the afternoon, so they are sending him
back out on the road with a Training Engineer for another week. He wants to
quit too...but I am doing my best to convince him otherwise.

Let's talk about me for a change...I had a trip-planning session this
morning that totally kicked my ass...took me three and a half out of four
and a half hours. They love inserting tricks into their curriculum...and I
fell for a few but I think I was able to recover. I guess I'll find out in
the morning. Speaking of falling...while I was out negotiating the CDL
Driving Course, I swung the truck out to far on a turn and dropped the tire
in a drainage ditch...dropped it far enough to make the lugnuts hit the top
of the curb...think about how far of a drop that is. The drop was so hard,
not only did the truck bottom-out, but it shook so violently that it was
like being in a submarine that got struck by a torpedo.

All in all, I feel pretty stressed out right and I really miss my home, my
wife, my son, my mom, and my place. After mising out on Halloween last
night, I realized that this job is going to cause me to miss most of the
important moments in my son's life. One of the reasons I took this job was
to get away from home for a while, but I didn't think it would affect me
this deeply, this quickly...

I have to pass everything flawlessly tomorrow, or else I am prolong the
time before I get to go home...