Comments By Rob ( A.K.A. CASE)

Guyjax...I like your style!! Besides the Spring 2013 Macbook Pro I bought brand new last year I haven't PURCHASED a computer off the shelf since 2001!! I have SIX not including my MBP which is just in its own category of awesomeness...but my WORST Linux box is heads and shoulders above anything being sold out of the big box stores and most speacialty stops. Again my MBP being my workhorse (since it literally does EVERYTHING to cover all the bases of my multi faceted life) my main desktop windows computer leaves anything else in the dust as soon as you start comparing desktop backgrounds!!

And Old School I certainly get the point you are trying to make but as fat as my own personal situation goes...once I got to the University of Washington and was in charge of 250 seats of every design package that Autodesk had to offer I thought I was King of The Hill. My position being funded it was directly tied to the state budget and as soon as the economy took a dump my job ceased to exist. So the sour taste in my mouth just reinforced my belief that the carpet can always be pulled out from under you. I live in SEATTLE, I could hop on my mountain bike and be cruising around Microsoft main campus in about 35 minutes. I could also find any IT/CAD/Tech type job I was suited for and I could spend easily an hour and half driving each way to work and back. But I have done that for far too long. Driving two hours to work to sit there and use my talent and creativity to make SOMEONE else money makes as much sense as spending two hours to purposely drive to some random building every day to get punched in the face for 8 hours...just to drive home get some sleep and get up and do it all again the next day. Talk about insanity.

Especially considering I have worked for some real morons...guys that would literally come into my office and stare at my computer screen and breath down my neck when I know full well they would never be able to tell the difference if I was working on creating a CAD detail or design block or a production drawing or playing freaking asteroids!!

I would much rather be in control of my own destiny, be my own supervisor...I am certain that I hold higher standards for myself than any tech firm would ever hold me to.

I would rather die with my boots on standing on my own two feet than to live on my knees. All this country needs is some more people, young and old to believe in it again and to not expect things to be handed to them and to actually understand, believe and realize that yes there are a lot of shortcuts you can take but the plain simple truth is that the American dream is right out there waiting for you...waiting for you to string together a couple days of honest hard work...followed by a few more and a few week, rinse and repeat...its not hard...its out there.

Sorry...I just ate a pretty good sized steak and I guess the red meat shakes kind of set in and I got a bit off topic..I will get off my soapbox now. But yes....that High Road Training Program is freaking awesome and worth every penny and then some!!

Well Brett all I can say is "Well done sir". So you are a webdesigner/trucker eh? Boy you guys are a dime a dozen. MAYBE someday....after I get a decade and a half of trucking experience under my belt there will be TWO of us. My background is in web design and I am super impressed with your work. Do you mind if I ask you what platform you built it on?? I could dig but I won't lol! Hey if you ever need any help with any thing, content creation etc let me know I would love to give back someday!!

Thanks again!

Rob (aka case)

Hey Karen....always good to say hello to a fellow Washingtonian!! I live in Des Moines and am currently jumping through some hoops and trying to document my entire process as well. I fully agree with everything in this thread mentioning the High Road Training Program, I kind of blew it off the first few log ins on the site. However I have a couple hurdles I need to clear before I get into school so I thought I might as well use my time productively and I can NOT say enough about it.

Please keep us updated on your progress and don't let anything stand in your way. I will be paying close attention to your progress and looking for your updates!!

Keep in touch and good luck!!

- Rob (AKA Case)

Hey guys,

I just wanted to take a minute to express how impressed I am with the High Road Online Training Program.

I don't know who is responsible for creating this masterpiece but all I can say is "GENIUS".

Some of you may have been following my on-going saga and I really can't tell you how much the words of encouragement have meant to me. But encouragement only gets you so far, in the end...its all about practical application.

I have taken a lot of different kinds of classes, various training programs and taught myself many skills. I cant say how this program compares to other FREE ONLINE TRUCK DRIVER TRAINING, but I can guess it blows anything similar out of the water, if such training even exists. This should be nationally recognized as one of the best training programs anywhere. I don't know if any of you have done any of the Rosetta Stone language learning programs but they are amazing and this training is equally as good.

The bottom line is education on any level is not about regurgitating information, it is about RETAINING the information you are being taught. The way the course brings back questions from earlier modules really reinforces what you are learning, not so you REMEMBER it but so you KNOW IT!!

What is the maximum allowable width of any commercial vehicle ? 8'-6" - What is the maximum allowable height of any commercial vehicle ? 13'-6" - What is considered to be excessive speeding ? Anything over 15 m.p.h.

I know this is all rudimentary stuff and the very beginning portions of the training but the point is....I knew NOTHING about any of this stuff yesterday. Today I KNOW this stuff....period.

I know it has been mentioned and repeated throughout this forum over and over that newcomers should definitely go through the high road training and I can not express how much I emphatically agree!!

Thank you THANK YOU for this invaluable resource, I seriously can't believe it is FREE!! AMAZING

- Rob

Hey Brett thanks for your response, great to hear from you and appreciate the kind words.

I have started the High Road Training Program....wow what a TON of information, this resource is unbelievable!! Thank you for this amazing website!

Yeah Stephen, I am in shock that this is actually free! Wow 98% gives me something to shoot for. I am at 99% however I have only completed 3% of the thing....4 pages into the Rules and Regulations. Plenty of stuff to chew on!! Gives me something to shoot for, now I have to REALLY stay focused!!

Thanks again guys for checking in on me, I am going to document this entire journey from start to finish so stay tuned!!

Rob

Hey guys wanted to give you another update.

First of all thank you again for all the words of encouragement. What a great support group you all have been, and to think I am just getting started!! Good to know I will have some people with my back when I get out on the road and I hope one day to be able to return the favor.

So I have been waiting with baited breath for this other judge to make a decision and after not hearing anything yesterday I just called the court and asked the clerk if she could just tell me what the decision was in my case.

Unfortunately the judge said NO!! That is pretty much the long and short of it. The time that has passed since it has been passed off to this collection agency leaves her hands tied (at least that is what she said). So at first I was feeling completely defeated as this meant that I will need to come up with the entire balance before this ticket will be lifted which in my current financial situation and not having any income it might as well be $898 thousand. However I think I have mentioned before I have run into a lot of walls in my life and this was just another one to go around, climb over, dig under or KNOCK DOWN!!

So with a "where there's a will there's a way" attitude I contacted the credit agency and asked to speak to a supervisor, once I got someone on the phone I asked to speak to THEIR supervisor. After a decent wait I finally got to speak to someone that could actually make some real decisions.

I pleaded my case with her and told her the court told me that the credit agency could on a case by case basis accept payments while still lifting the hold on my license. At first she wasn't sounding to willing to budget but once again I made my case telling them that they could release the hold and I could get a good job and have some kind of income coming in which would lead to them getting this 7 year old case removed from their delinquent account list. I told them I had no assets and no income. I then made the point that they hold all the cards, if I set up a payment plan and dont make a payment they can always place the hold back on my license and I will be SCREWED as it will affect my CDL.

I wanted to reinforce the fact that I WANT TO PAY THIS TICKET OFF and I WOULD NOT SCREW IT UP!!

So eventually we reached an agreement. She said if I pay $350 she would release the hold on my license immediately and set the balance of the account up on payments!! While this is still a huge chunk of change I knew it was the best deal I was going to get and once again...where there's a will there's a way."

So I did my own little version of crowdsourcing. I went to my friends, my family even the pastor of the local church. I have some work to do and some promises to keep and some money to pay back but I am happy to report that after a full day of telling people how much I wanted this and how determined I was to make it happen I now have enough money to get the collection agency their $350 and the extra cash I will need to get through a few weeks of school before I get a check!

Wow just reading back the words I just wrote kind of gives me goosebumps. I have to say I may have been determined but reading all of your posts and your words of encouragement and learning as much as I can about what this whole journey is going to be like has been the driving force behind my determination and I can't thank you enough. There are no fantasies here I know that this is just the beginning and that there are going to be many more hurdles and some tough times ahead....but this IS HAPPENING PEOPLE!!

So now it is onto a lot of logistics, getting the money picked up and brought to the collection agency, going to courts and following up to make sure this things get lifted and getting another drivers abstract to make sure they are off and getting school scheduled. That is a lot to do.

Yes Starcar....there will be no rookie slackers round here!! Starting the High Road training today. Have been reading my commercial drivers manual just to prep myself. Thank for the push!!

Thanks everyone!! Will keep you updated!!

- Rob

Hey guys just another quick update. Yesterday I wrote a pretty detailed letter to the second judge that oversees the court my other ticket is out of and filed that with them yesterday afternoon. I was told that the court will mail me her response so keep your fingers crossed. It's not the end of the world if she denies my request but it sure throws a pretty good mountain right in my path so I am really trying to stay positive and hoping for the best.

And @starcar - most definitely. Don't let the court clerks tell you different. Just contact the court and ask them who the judge is that is either attached to your case or who the judge is that reviews FTA's and late payments etc. Somewhere there is a judge that can do whatever they want by court order so find out who that judge is and write them a letter pleading your case and send it to them. Like I always so the answer might still be no but it is definitely no if you aren't willing to ask!!

I'll keep you updated as soon as I hear anything in the mean time think I will start the high road training to make good use of the time.

- rob

Hey Daniel,

Just to add my $0.02 into the conversation and for whatever it is worth. Your posts here on TT have been very inspirational to me and given me a much better understanding with how this business works and what to expect from school. I think you would be a great instructor no matter which option you choose but it sounds like you are leaning toward PSD.

I have run into a couple of snags getting some unresolved tickets removed from my drivers abstract so I may be delayed a month so if you are training then I will certainly try to find you! Crazy how things work out. I am still leaning toward Prime so I am taking things one step at a time as soon as I get those tickets lifted its on to the next step. I'll keep you posted!

- Rob

Ok so some good news today. The judge agreed to pull both tickets back from collections and let me get back on a payment plan!! So I have to come up with $50 bucks and go set up the payments and they will release both FTA's from my license which will make them not show up on my DMV abstract as " UNRESOLVED" any more so that just leaves one ticket holding up my future plans. I plan on taking the same approach with that court starting tomorrow. Starting to feel good about things again, beautiful BEAUTIFUL day here in Seattle today.

THANKS EVERYONE for all the great advice, insight and information. I am not a super religious person but I have to say I feel bigger things at work here, I am being lead in a certain direction and have not felt this certain about a decision in my life in a long long time.

This may very well be this best site on the Internet! It certainly is to me right now. Thank you! I am truly blessed

Hey guys... Thought I would give you a quick update. Feel like i had a little set back today and would like your thoughts.

So I went and got my DMV Printout and my license is clear but I have 3 unresolved tickets. TWO "driving without liability insurance" in 2012 and one "No license on person" t be honest I had kind of forgotten about those darn things. I had been working a side job and got laid offf but while I was working I had arranged to make payments on the fines through a court sponsored credit agency, when I got laid off I couldn't afford to make payments.

So being the pro-active type of guy that I am I contacted the local recruiter for Central and told her I was concerned and she asked me to come to the office right away, which I did. She kind of laughed it off at first because she thought I had some felonies or something so she said "let me see your printout" when she saw that I had the 3 unresolved tickets she said that was a deal breaker and I would have to get them cleared first no exceptions.

So I left feeling pretty deflated but thought there has to be a way out of this mess. So never being one to give up I contacted both courts ( two of the tickets are out of one court and the other is from a separate court) they said they would look into it and one court clerk called me back from the court holding two of the infractions.

I told the lady my whole sad story and she said I was either stuck trying to get the credit agency to reinstate the payment plan or petition the judge . The thing I have probably failed to mention that as long as the credit agency has a payment plan set up the infraction will no show up as unresolved but since I stopped paying they now require the entire balance to clear it ($600 some dollars)

So I immediately wrote out a heart felt letter to the judge and emailed it to the clerk she called me back and said she would get it to the judge ASAP and she couldn't promise anything but said it was a very moving, and compelling letter and she thought I had a good shot at getting it re instated. I basically just told my whole story to the judge told her I was In a pretty tough spot financially and trying to make a positive change in my life and asked if she would " at least re authorize the payment program, significantly reduce the fine, or if she felt compelled to dismiss the case outright ( I figure hell, what do I have to lose?? The answer is always no until you ask!!!)

So now I waill wait and see what happens.

My question to you guys is do you think this is a policy specific to Central or is this pretty standard thought the industry??

Any suggestions??

Thanks again eveeryone for your support, trust me... This might be a wall but I love climbing over walls. This is not going to stop my pursuit, the drive is too strong now!!

- Rob