Ever think is just not the right time for something?

Recently I have been trying to obtain a professional licence. I did the courses, took the pre-qualification test and thought that I was ready for the big provincial test. Well after 3 tries. I didn't pass. Close but not enough. I am pissed off and really just don't understand. All the work and all the time spent... seems wasted.

So now might not be the time for me to change my life. Maybe I should just keep on doing what I have been. But that the pissed off and deeply disappointed me speaking. What i should be doing is taking the 6 month break and then starting from scratch. Redoing the entire process again. This time not taking a two month break between passing the pre-qualification course and taking the provincial test. Maybe it will be the right time then.

till then... I will not spend 1 second studying or even looking at the test material.

Dealing with the cell phone ban is easy...

So recently the new ban has actually been a mixed blessing. With no blue-tooth I don't have to answer the phone while driving... I can even mute the phone and only check it when I am waiting at a loading dock etc. Also its nice not to have the expectation that I must answer the phone ASAP... and while I even got a new phone which can have blue tooth, I am not going to buy one. I like that I can't answer the phone while behind the wheel.

Are you a supporter of the Afghan's

True story:
A cross-border Canadian driver approached the border crossing @ Lewiston USA. He was wearing a red poppy (the kind that the Royal Legion sells every year) on his sweater. When his turn came to speak with the USA customs officer the much younger(age) officer asked him if he was supporting the Afghan's. The driver politely asked what the officer was talking about.

The office became very insistent on having an answer from the driver. "You are wearing a poppy. Are you not? Poppies are a major drug export of that nation and you are wearing one." replied the officer. Now the driver was is a retired Canadian Armed forces member and took great offence to the line of questions and the tone of the officer.

The driver expressed that he was deeply offended by the officers remarks and question. The Driver through the use of  some choice words towards the younger officer expressed his rage at the officers disrespect towards all those whose memory the driver and both our nations were were trying to protect and remember each time this year. The driver was not afraid of the officer and his gun. He was enraged by the younger officers disrespect for the poppy and what it means when worn.

What the driver and customs' officer did not know, was the the customs supervisor was listening to the entire conversation from the office and came out to address the problem. It did not help that the conversation was being over head across the parking lot at this point.

Finally the driver decided that enough was enough and was just about to ask to speak with the supervisor, when he appeared. The supervisor interrupted the heated argument and thanked the driver for taking the time to explain why he wore the poppy and wished him a good day. The supervisor then turned to the young officer and began to berate the young officer very loudly.

The driver left the station and would not easily forget the encounter.

So how do you remember?? Are you ready to defend yourself?

Giving out parking tickets???

So this past week I was getting more and more annoyed with 4-wheelers who parked in and around loading zones which would make it impossible for me to get loaded and unloaded at the shippers .... So I found online a site which you can get funny tickets to use for jokes... The ones I found were very insulting and nasty. I didn't want to be that mean. So I made my own tickets up and had them printed on neon orange paper at the local copy shop.

Friday I used 6 'tickets'. Four at a grocery store downtown Toronto. This store has a very narrow ramp for the trucks to back down to get unloaded. At the street level there is just enough space to back the truck into and open the rear doors before backing down the ramp. The truck and the ramp are very visible to the car passing that area. The problem is that there looks to be enough space for the truck to get out from the vantage place of the 4-wheelers who decide that they can park in the loading zone... marked by paint and sign age on the wall that its a loading zone and they can be ticketed for parking there. Yet people park there. Its not very close to the store entrance.

So of course while I was trying to back off the street and into the Loading Zone. two cars tried to park in the spot where I needed to go. I just pulled the horn and starting to back up. They moved away. once in the dock I walked back up and told two other cars that it was a loading zone and to find parking in back (which is closer to the store than the parking in front) they moved. I had grabbed a bunch of 'tickets' from the truck knowing that I would have to use them when I was trying to leave. After unloaded for all of 10min. I found three new cars parked in the loading zone. I walked up to each and made a show of witting the 'ticket' and then placing it under the wiper. By the third ticket was being issued. A lady with bags of food came running up to me and starting to plead with me about the ticket. She has no clue that its only the city parking authority who can give out tickets. She was freaking about another ticket which she could not afford.

I took pity on her, and told her that it was a joke ticket and that it is how I vent when people block trucks and myself from working.

What a great laugh!

Cell phone band starts monday!

So my company decided that they finally HAD to issue a policy on it.

But here is the kicker.... we have mike phones... which use a push-to-talk feature. Which means that they phone can be held away from the mouth and face... etc. So under the law we are allowed to the use that feature if the phone is attached to the truck or our person. So we can't just hold it while chatting away.

I just hope that people like the person I saw this morning rush are paying attention. Driving in the express lane, while his RIGHT foot on the wheel and his hands, and eyes on his crack berry!

Which reminds me I need to get a new cellphone with a hands free device this weekend.

fall out of no handsfree device?

So yesterday I was working / driving along the 401. I had the radio up and couldn't hear my mike phone beeping and my dispatcher talking to me about a redirection. Turns out that another customer called, and they wanted me to pickup on my way to my other pickup first. Well, I didn't get he page till I arrived at the original location and my dispatch was pissed off. oh well. They are not going to be able to give us a hands free device that can use the mike feature on the phone that work gives us. And we can't be talking on the mike while driving, so I guess that in the end the customer and then our boss will lose business with this law in place.

can't drive and using your cell phone... in ontario!

So if you want to talk while driving... that's fine but you must be using a hands freed device. So why after talking to people for the past few years, does the provincial government decide that they need to take 3 months to educate the driver who are using cell phone or other electronic devices while driving and how its so very dangerous? And why does the government think that a small $500.00 is enough to stop people from putting those stupid things in their hands?

I would much rather have the fine around the $1-2,000 range and with a 2-4 point range depending upon what you were doing while on the phone/electronic device.

I truely belive that the cell phone comanies can really help to get the message across to their users. They do have the technology to track when a cell phone is being used and when it is moving, so why can't they send a message to the user that warns them of how dangerous it is to be using the phone while driving? They could also only enable features like speaker phone, or even bluetooth technology while the phone scenes a movement of more than 15kph. Hey, if the movement is along the road, and Bluetooth is not active, then features like texting, games, etc would be disabled altogether.
Thought the problem is that what if the person is taking transit, or even just the passenger? Then what?

So the simple solution is for people to understand how expensive talking etc on their phone is going to be. Make the fines and point so horrible that they will think twice about using it. Also allow the cops to have access to cell phone records when they stop or deal with an accident. If they show you - the driver were on the cell phone, then you are given x points on your licence regardless...

police on their cell phone

Howdy,

Just wondering if anybody else has seen a cop on their cell phone while driving? I see it far too often on the roads, esp in Toronto, Ontario. I am concerned that their might be a double-standard when it comes to the anti-cell phone laws. I don't understand that with their union that they can't find a way to have a hands-free device mandatory on their cars.

Should I report their usage to the police? Of would cops policing cops be a bad idea?

Please don't bomb my fuel station???!!

So on Monday (sept 13) during work I passed by what looked like a Police action in a strip mall along Markham Rd, North of Finch in Toronto, Ontario. There were a LOT of Toronto Police cars and other trucks. But of course having seen this sort of stuff before and trying to get my load of cargo delivered, I pushed on pass and didn't stop to look around.

Good thing I did keep on moving. Because about ten min later another of my fellow drivers was stopped and redirected away from the Markham rd location where the police suspected a car bomb to be. My friend was diverted during the evacuation order by the police... it took him 1:30 min to get to where I was and had driven in 15min. Talk about good timing on my part.

The van as it turned out was not a bomb, but an attempt at an alternative fuel source... but what the heck, if it was a bomb how much damage would it have done, to the propane storage facility, the fuel station and even the rail station down the way? I was could have been so very close to being part of the news instead of avoiding it.

I just wonder what would have happened to the towing company who moved the van who has lots of parking tickets to that location without even checking to see ... WTF

My cursaid for driver testing...

Not sure if this sits well for you, but in Ontario the G1, G2 and then full G class driver test are provided in 17 different languages. Thinking about our two official languages of French and English would have been assumed to be offered. But why does our government offer more than just the two official ones?

While driving or even operating a car do you not think that being able to read and understand English or French wold be critical to operation of said car? Do you not read traffic signs and street names in English or French. How are you navigating? Most people can't navigate a route to a new place if their life depended upon it... I don't have to site examples of this... Or do I?

I really think that any distraction while you are driving is a very dangerous thing indeed.  People we really need to focus on what is going on around you while you are piloting that car.

This is why I believe that people should be retested every five years to keep their driver's licence. We as professional drivers are tested every five years with a written test. And each time we change companies we are tested on the road. We can be tested by the MTO officer who pulls us over etc.

I know that its too bad that us trucks and you have to share the road, but its the only way for you to get that thing you just went to the mall to get. Hey without trucks you would have to go to the train station to get your food or even that new cell phone you are using.But I am not getting into that.

All drivers should be tested every five years... yes write the test and then drive the test. So much has changed even in two years let along five years. The government needs to keep on educating you the driver on all the new and updated laws and even the traffic signs.

Would you pass the test?

Pulling over an Armoured car?

So today during the PM rush I noticed that an OPP had pulled over a armoured car in the West bound express by Morningside.

I have to wonder what sort of procedure would that driver and that cop would have to go through inorder to give and receive the ticket(s)? Which got me to wondering, what would it be like to drive that armoured car?

I think that all the training would be very indensive and wild. Just think of all the stuff they would teach you in how to handel the car in an emergancy. High speed chases.... crazy off-roading... Oh what skills you would have to learn and practice... maybe they would send you a cop training program?

I have thought of going through different driver's ed program like the one offered by  Global Racing Schools in Ontario.

We can alwasy become a better driver, no matter what we drive.

Frank Llyod Wright is everywhere

So there I was at Disney world in Florida and just looking around their section called Downtown Disney. Which is mostly a mall of sorts. I come across two very distinctly FLW inspired designs. Either this is a homage to the man and his work, or some hidden reference by the designer and only viable to those looking.

Have a look at the buildings around you in your daily life. You might be suprised at their design and where they come from.

Did you know that Disney by Chiacgo is linked to FLW? Also that Disney has a link to Ontario, Canada?

Here are the Link-n-logs a playtoy of FLW as a boy, right across from the Pint trader's store.

Pin traders building which if you look at the sign age is a great FLW inspired background. Plus.

You will find this tile pattern in the floor of the traders building.

Cell phones while driving?

Just in case you have not heard.... using your cell phone and any function of it is very dangerous... Why cause you are not using your mind to drive with. You must think that its easy or safe to driving with that thing on your ear. I and most people are able to pick out cell phone driving morons on the road. 
For some reason, while using your cell you think that its OK not to signal, check your blind spot or even keep up with the flow of traffic anymore. 


You have to remember that in my truck I am sitting about 4 feet higher than you are in your car. I can see into your car and see you with your cell phone on and trying to drive. PLEASE STOP YOUR CAR AND THEN OPERATE IT.


I would feel much safer with you no using that dam thing. I would love to be able to call the cops on each and every one of your drivers, but the problem is that I would have write down your plate number and then pull over to make the call. 


I wonder what would happen if you were in an accident and then the cops as a policy checked the cell phone useage of all drivers. They found that yours were on, and then charged you with the accident and you had to pay for all the damages... then you could not get insurance... because you were chraged with a DUI which resulted in your being stripped of your driver's licence for a year. Would you stop using your cell phone then? Or what if you caused the accident and killed somebody?


WHAT WOULD IT TAKE FOR YOU TO STOP USING THAT DAME PHONE?

Driving adventures of today

Today I drove mostly in the Toront and Vaughn area.... I was amazed to see how little work had been accomplished by our city's crews while I was gone. There is still the HUGE problem of the Belfield road work,  and the Dufferin bridge is still closed between Dufferin and Bathurst along Finch.


But not to fear. I will still get around the city and try to leave less of a footprint.

Segway?

So recently I was at Disney World, Flordia and had the chance to try a Segqay with an instructor for all of 2 min. I was impressed more with the ajility of the device than with the instructor. So today, I went looking into if I could rent on or even go on a tour with one. I was in luck. There is a place in the distillery distric in Toronto which does tours, its also a dealer... mmmmm

But how practical would one be for me? Well I live in a small town norht of the city and really don't have much use for one. I commute to work (45min) and need a car for that chore. But if I lived and worked close by, sure I would enjoy the segway, because I would have to give up my car to afford one.