Life changes

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Michael
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Re: Life changes

Post by Michael »

Congratulations! Glad you're doing well!

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GeddyWrox
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Re: Life changes

Post by GeddyWrox »

pioneer98 wrote:
August 15 20, 12:48 am
Learning of cronos passing got me thinking and I thought I'd share some stuff.

The past year has been wild. Around this time last year my wife had a stroke. It was not a life threatening one, but it did mess her up bad. It gave her double vision and vertigo. It took months before she could drive again. It was really bad for about 3 months. The double vision has cleared up. The vertigo still comes and goes sometimes, but it will now go away after a couple minutes. Before, she could have vertigo for hours, days, and just be miserable. No idea why it happened. She's not a heavy drinker. She was only 44. She's been on blood pressure medication, but her blood pressure is under control. Genetics maybe played a role. She tested positive for some gene known to cause blood clots in legs, but even that seems like a long shot. Good news is today she just started a new job for the first time since before the stroke.

I know I talked about this somewhat on here but in January I left a company I worked at for 18 years. They offered a buyout because their business was struggling. I took another job for now, but I am taking classes on nights and weekends to get my teaching license. I sometimes wonder if I'm crazy to go into teaching during a pandemic. I am doing it because I feel like it will be more meaningful than what I've been doing all these years.

Finally, I have been reading a lot about the autism spectrum. I have a few friends who are on the spectrum and I felt like my son may be also. Now I think I may be on the spectrum myself! I'm thinking about getting me and my son tested. Even if we do not have enough of the traits to say we "have autism spectrum disorder", we definitely have some of the traits. Some of the traits are common to other conditions, such as ADHD. So we'll see, but I am convinced my son and I have *something*. One of the traits is a "pedantic" speaking style and/or writing style. I will sometimes give way more detail than is really needed (this post is probably an prime example). This style of communicating can sometimes come off as condescending, but that's unintentional. I realized I have been guilty of that on here. Thanks for putting up with my pedantic writing all these years. It has really changed my self image for the better. Before i thought I was just a normal guy so I'd really get down on myself when I'd fail at things that came easier to other people. Understanding that maybe I'm just wired different from other people has helped me accept some of my failings. Now we gotta weed work on getting my son this understanding.
I'm kind of the same as you. I over-explain, and have a tendency to try to relate to others by talking about things that I've experienced, which comes off as trying to make things about me, which is unintentional.

Also, my wife teaches young kids and is trained to spot a multitude of issues in children, including autism spectrum type stuff. So one day, we're talking about autism and aspergers. And she just mentions that our son is Aspy. I'm like, Yeah, I can kinda see that. And then she says she is too. I was floored, but after I thought about it, I saw it. It is a WIDE spectrum. Diagnosing won't necessarily help the individual but finding out can certainly help the individual's loved ones adjust their communication styles some.

Good luck!

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Radbird
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Re: Life changes

Post by Radbird »

I’ve been dealing with vertigo for the past 10 days. Got up to go to bathroom in middle of night on Nov 8 and everything started spinning. Cold sweats and nausea followed. Severe for next three days. One of the worst sensations that I have ever experienced.

Doc put me on meds, I’m on day 6 now. Still getting dizzy but spinning has pretty much stopped. She’s also referred me to PT which starts after T-Day. Hopefully I’ll be able to drive by then.

Pioneer, I hope your wife is doing better and wish you well as you move forward with your teaching career. Did you and your son get tested yet?

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heyzeus
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Re: Life changes

Post by heyzeus »

Radbird wrote:
November 18 20, 8:48 am
I’ve been dealing with vertigo for the past 10 days. Got up to go to bathroom in middle of night on Nov 8 and everything started spinning. Cold sweats and nausea followed. Severe for next three days. One of the worst sensations that I have ever experienced.

Doc put me on meds, I’m on day 6 now. Still getting dizzy but spinning has pretty much stopped. She’s also referred me to PT which starts after T-Day. Hopefully I’ll be able to drive by then.

Pioneer, I hope your wife is doing better and wish you well as you move forward with your teaching career. Did you and your son get tested yet?
Sorry to hear that, Rad. Mrs. Zeus gets spells of vertigo too. It can be caused by allergies. There's also a trick to cure it, which involves laying on the bed with your head dangling upside down off the edge, but it's probably a good idea to talk to your doc about trying that first.

tlombard
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Re: Life changes

Post by tlombard »

The last year has been a rough one for me. First getting laid off after 23 years and over half my life with the same company. I enjoyed the furniture gig for a bit but it just wasn't working out. The company just can't get enough furniture delivered to the stores to make any kind of decent living and when you can't fill the customers' orders then you're getting barely over minimum wage for 40 hours a week even though your spending 50 hours a week in the store with upset customers wanting to know when to expect their furniture and you literally have no information for them.

Anyway, I just couldn't do it anymore so I decided to take the leap on something I had been thinking about late last year and at times randomly during my life in general.

I gave up my apartment, put a few things in storage in a friend's basement and drove to Springfield, MO this morning. Tomorrow I start my CDL training. I'll be here for 4 weeks and leave with my CDL to head down to Dallas to get paired up with a company trainer for the outfit that's paying my way through this. I'll then spend 4-6 weeks with that trainer driving through all 5 regions of the country while I get 240 hours of seat time in and while I'll only be making $600/week during that phase, it is still more than I was making at the furniture store as a manager. Then I'll be on my own for 90 days making $1200/week. I'll have my own company truck provided. Quarterly bonuses for safety, fuel efficiency, etc. Then after 90 days solo I can transfer to a regional or dedicated route out of St. Louis that will have me home on weekends at a higher pay rate and yearly raises as I get experience.

It's a major life change but I just can't see myself back in an office setting and just have no idea what it is I even want to do for work since playing baseball is clearly out of the picture. I enjoy driving and have a patient demeanor/attitude when it comes to idiots doing dumb things so I am not worried about road rage becoming a problem and impacting my mental or physical health, lol.

So, I'm excited about this new adventure! I can't wait to get started tomorrow.

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st.lewis11
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Re: Life changes

Post by st.lewis11 »

tlombard wrote:
August 15 21, 6:34 pm
The last year has been a rough one for me. First getting laid off after 23 years and over half my life with the same company. I enjoyed the furniture gig for a bit but it just wasn't working out. The company just can't get enough furniture delivered to the stores to make any kind of decent living and when you can't fill the customers' orders then you're getting barely over minimum wage for 40 hours a week even though your spending 50 hours a week in the store with upset customers wanting to know when to expect their furniture and you literally have no information for them.

Anyway, I just couldn't do it anymore so I decided to take the leap on something I had been thinking about late last year and at times randomly during my life in general.

I gave up my apartment, put a few things in storage in a friend's basement and drove to Springfield, MO this morning. Tomorrow I start my CDL training. I'll be here for 4 weeks and leave with my CDL to head down to Dallas to get paired up with a company trainer for the outfit that's paying my way through this. I'll then spend 4-6 weeks with that trainer driving through all 5 regions of the country while I get 240 hours of seat time in and while I'll only be making $600/week during that phase, it is still more than I was making at the furniture store as a manager. Then I'll be on my own for 90 days making $1200/week. I'll have my own company truck provided. Quarterly bonuses for safety, fuel efficiency, etc. Then after 90 days solo I can transfer to a regional or dedicated route out of St. Louis that will have me home on weekends at a higher pay rate and yearly raises as I get experience.

It's a major life change but I just can't see myself back in an office setting and just have no idea what it is I even want to do for work since playing baseball is clearly out of the picture. I enjoy driving and have a patient demeanor/attitude when it comes to idiots doing dumb things so I am not worried about road rage becoming a problem and impacting my mental or physical health, lol.

So, I'm excited about this new adventure! I can't wait to get started tomorrow.
Good luck with this, I hope it works out for you!
I'd also considered CDL a number of years ago, but decided against it.

tlombard
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Re: Life changes

Post by tlombard »

The money is really great right now and I honestly have nothing to tie me down to a specific location so the worst case is that I don't like it and go back to the office life after a year. I think I'm going to really enjoy it in the short term and then just not hate my job in the long term which is more than I had before.

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CardsofSTL
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Re: Life changes

Post by CardsofSTL »

tlombard wrote:
August 15 21, 6:34 pm
The last year has been a rough one for me. First getting laid off after 23 years and over half my life with the same company. I enjoyed the furniture gig for a bit but it just wasn't working out. The company just can't get enough furniture delivered to the stores to make any kind of decent living and when you can't fill the customers' orders then you're getting barely over minimum wage for 40 hours a week even though your spending 50 hours a week in the store with upset customers wanting to know when to expect their furniture and you literally have no information for them.

Anyway, I just couldn't do it anymore so I decided to take the leap on something I had been thinking about late last year and at times randomly during my life in general.

I gave up my apartment, put a few things in storage in a friend's basement and drove to Springfield, MO this morning. Tomorrow I start my CDL training. I'll be here for 4 weeks and leave with my CDL to head down to Dallas to get paired up with a company trainer for the outfit that's paying my way through this. I'll then spend 4-6 weeks with that trainer driving through all 5 regions of the country while I get 240 hours of seat time in and while I'll only be making $600/week during that phase, it is still more than I was making at the furniture store as a manager. Then I'll be on my own for 90 days making $1200/week. I'll have my own company truck provided. Quarterly bonuses for safety, fuel efficiency, etc. Then after 90 days solo I can transfer to a regional or dedicated route out of St. Louis that will have me home on weekends at a higher pay rate and yearly raises as I get experience.

It's a major life change but I just can't see myself back in an office setting and just have no idea what it is I even want to do for work since playing baseball is clearly out of the picture. I enjoy driving and have a patient demeanor/attitude when it comes to idiots doing dumb things so I am not worried about road rage becoming a problem and impacting my mental or physical health, lol.

So, I'm excited about this new adventure! I can't wait to get started tomorrow.
Good luck! Making a big change is exciting and nerve wracking but it sounds like you're at the perfect time to give it a shot. And you'll see the country from your big rig seat... Good times.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: Life changes

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

Good luck, tlom! Hope it goes well for you.

Seems like there is a shortage of drivers recently.

tlombard
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Re: Life changes

Post by tlombard »

Day one went great for the most part but of course in the end, I found out that tomorrow might be a problem. I'm not worried about the physical in general, or at least I wasn't. I have learned in the past couple of hours that most likely the nurse practitioner is going to say I need a sleep study and can't be cleared until I have a CPAP or the results of that say I don't need one. That is going to delay everything by weeks. I could possibly claim that I already have one and hope he doesn't call me on it and demand proof but if he does and I can't provide proof, I'm toast and might as well not even bother trying to come back to this school and everything goes to sh!t. I guess I'm going to have to order a home study kit and take that. I could have that done and the results back within a week. Then it just comes down to actually getting the machine. I'm probably looking at nearly a month delay now. A month where I have no income other than trying to bust my a$$ on Doordash deliveries and have given up my apartment so I would even have to find a place to stay which I wasn't counting on at all. This is not good.

I found all this out about the sleep study because we have roommates while down here for training and that's what happened to the guy I'm paired up with. He tried starting the second week of July and got sent home and is just now getting back. He got lucky that his grandpa had a spare machine that he was able to give him so that he didn't have to wait three weeks which he was told it would take to get a new one.

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