Profile For Bush Country

I didn’t know when the requirement for English stopped being enforced or that a federal memorandum caused it. Here in the Permian Basin I’d say that about 80% of the frac sand haulers and vacuum truck drivers speak no English. I had put that down to our proximity to the border. It’s frustrating but I’ve slightly improved my limited Spanish and become very proficient with google translate.

If the drivers were safe and efficient at their jobs it would bother me less, but they seem to delight in taking out fences and cattle guards.

I saw this on a car last week. My thoughts exactly.

Me too. We have even been labeled - we're "Double Haters"

KLLM - Knocking ’em dead since 1963!

Don’t tread on me!

I have actually been interviewed, back about '99, by WorkBoat magazine. The company I worked for launched a new frac boat that was a step up from those working at that time, and I was a supervisor on the boat.

One part of the Texas CDL Manual that is not covered in the High Road program is on Section 14. Be sure to familiarize yourself with that and you shouldn't have a problem getting your CLP. It will be the first section on the test, and if you flunk that you cannot go on to the other sections.

There is an amazing book called Rich Dad Poor Dad which everyone who is not rich must read. You will be completely shocked at how backward so many of your views about money are.

• Stay out of debt
• Live within your means
• Do it yourself to save money
• Save your way to prosperity
• Skimp on yourself to save for retirement
• Get a job with good benefits
• Go to college

I could go on all day. Almost everything they taught us about managing our financial lives is wrong.

If you're not rich and you haven't read "Rich Dad Poor Dad" then do yourself a favor and get it. I promise you'll be shocked at how backward your thinking is about managing your money.

Oh please.

One would be hard pressed to find worse financial advice than that provided by Robert Kiyosaki. He is currently in debt to the tune of $1.2 billion. He has declared bankruptcy on more than one of his endeavors including Rich Global LLC. I read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" and my BS meter was pegged for most of the book. It is mostly a work of fiction.

Personally, my wife and I have grown wealthy in the financial sense by:

• Staying out of debt
• Living within our means
• Doing it ourselves to save money on many, but not all things
• Saving (and investing, primarily in the the stock market) our way to prosperity
• Not exactly skimping ourselves, but being frugal, to save for retirement
• Having jobs with good benefits
• And....going to college (me: BS, BS, MS; her: BS, MBA)

Full disclosure about those last two items -

Books I would recommend:

Your Money or Your Life by Dominguez and Robin

Security Analysis by Graham and Dodd (who taught Warren Buffett how to invest)

The Intelligent Investor by Graham

The Millionaire Next Door by Stanley and Danko

A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Malkiel

Buffettology by Mary Buffett (former daughter in law of Warren Buffett)

However if I'm flown out to another terminal I won't be able to carry all of my stuff that I need with me for my truck.

Everything you need to take in your trainer's truck should fit in a carry-on, or, at most a small carry-on and small checked bag. Here's a picture of the bag I took in my Knight trainer's truck (12" ruler for scale):

"I’m just not quite understanding how you can drive for two weeks straight and only get two days off. In reality it should be drive two weeks straight and get one full week off to rest, then go back on the road."

FWIW there are jobs like this available with decent pay:

Schlumberger Oilfield Concrete Driving

The guy that started that thread hasn't been back around on TT since he went to work for SLB

A normal schedule for this type of job would be 14 days on / 7 days off. There are a very few service companies that offer a 14/14 schedule. These are hourly jobs and start at somewhere around $60k a year. One advantage of this schedule is you can live anywhere you want, but travel time is done on your own time. In other words, if it takes a day to get to work and a day to get home, then you would be home for 5 days.

But (there's always a "but") the cementing side of the business is pretty much the only part that offers the 14/7 schedule that involves much driving. The cement is delivered to well sites in pneumatic bulk trucks. The cement pumps are driven to location for the cementing jobs, which is cementing casing into oil & gas wells. The normal career progression would be: bulk truck driver/operator, cement pump driver/operator, then cementing supervisor (driving an F250 or something similar).

On the hydraulic fracturing, or frac, side of the business a lot of companies use contract drivers to move equipment from well site to well site and the equipment operators hardly drive at all. Some service companies no longer require the operators to have a CDL. The reason for this is that, once the equipment is on location, it is typically there for about a month depending on the number of wells and number of frac stages per well.

Hauling frac sand and fuel delivery are both more like regular local driving jobs.

First: Led Zeppelin, March 1975

Most recent: ZZ Top, Raw Whiskey Tour, a couple of months ago.

Two way tie for best: Black Sabbath, August 1975, the night before I started my senior year in high school, and The Who, February 1976.

I never saw Stevie Ray Vaughn, but sure wish I had.

I wish I still had my list of concerts, but I threw it away: Black Sabbath twice, second time was when Ronnie James Dio replaced Ozzie. The Who twice. Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Robin Trower (with Van Halen as the warm up). Frank Marino (with Journey and Van Halen as warm up). Kiss in 1975 or early 1976. The first two Texas Jams - too many bands to remember. Willie Nelson. John Prine - my favorite singer-songwriter. George Jones (with Tracy Lawrence and John Anderson as warm up).

I also used to play bluegrass, but no big venues.