I now have my ME card (for my cdl license)

[faralos]

Pennsylvania made a new law requiring anyone even those of us not working
 to get the me (Medical Examiners Certificate) card for a cdl license or else lose the cdl endorsement
 so even though I have been out of work since Jan of 2011 with NO income I had to pay out
$128 for a physical and drug test to keep my damn cdl license (my gal paid for it)
so now finally I have the ME card and I am in more debt to my girlfriend
 this has contributed to my depression too
 more money that I don't have had to be spent just to keep my damn license
ah well I got it so now I can (legally) apply for driving positions
as for pins well..I am sitting on the fence on i do I just give it all up or take a much needed break?
 A break is what I need I think since all I tend to do is sit home and mope
so I think I will try my hand at trying to learn the B2s thingie while taking a sabbatical from actual pin building
This  doesn't mean I won't hang here or at vpf, I just won't be cranking out pins any time soon
I'll still keep my hand in the till so to speak though as this site
and vpf and pn are my only links to the outside world any more
so until the next insult that comes my way, ta ta for now people...

[Itchigo]

Don't forget, I think this is a (federal thing) you also have to register your medical card with the state- I had to in Illinois. When I did it, it was free to register. All you really had to do is tell them whether you're an Intra-state driver, or Interstate driver. This is something new. (If you register as intra-state, and go out of state- you're illegal. If you don't register it within a certain time, your cdl isn't valid anymore. A driving job shouldn't be too hard to find, but most want recent experience. There's no shortage of driving jobs, provided you're willing to be taken advantage of..... :whistle:

Take a break- it's what you need. If you never make another table, your friends are more important.

What's a vpf? Oh, I know....

[faralos]

that is how I actually first heard of the law
 i did send back my doctors report to the state
and I put down as interstate cause ya' never know
when you may be called on to drive out of the state
and better safe than sorry (or impounded and ticketed!)
driving jobs around me suck and are mostly for the class A drivers
 I only have a Class B license so I can only drive straight trucks or buses
but I still had to have this damn card just to look for driving jobs
 as no one will even hold an interview if you don't have one
of course I don't have any endorsements on it...no hazmat, tanker or articulated
 so that too limits what I can and can't operate but I can drive stick shift
 something that most of the trucks in this state do NOT have
Seems Pa companies like automatic trucks,
you'd think with such a hilly state they would like stick shifts

[Pintrepid]

You have to get a ME card to keep your CDL? "ME" = "Medical Examiner"?? I don' geddit ... what does one have to do with the other?

My brother Ray's been very depressed with trucking anymore. For the last 3 years, he's been delivering propane, and he's been driving big rigs 25 yrs before that. He's gotten really tired of propane delivery, and even more tired of never having enough money, so he wanted to go back to driving OTR.

But, even with a CDL, and EVEN with hazmat, no can do! He hasn't driven a big rig in 3 years. So he'd have to RECERTIFY for such. And to do that, he'd have to go back to SCHOOL for that! Imagine working your job for 30 years, and you get downgraded to propane delivery at a point ... well, to start over again, it''s like starting COMPLETELY over, like a completely greenhorn student right off the street!  :wtf:

Nah, things like conventional employment ain't getting it no more. Gotta take matters into your own hands.

I've been in commercial printing for 30 yrs ... but it's been going away by degrees in favor of digital and online solutions. The thing for me to do is to adapt to digital along with the industry. Yes, that's FAR easier said than done. And, I'm screaming in my own ear now. But the time has come to start selling my design services to small business owners, and even broker print jobs ... for a nominal fee. It's not gonna make me rich by a long shot ... but it may pay down some of these med bills.

Bottom line ... there's gonna come a time when you just ain't gonna TAKE this NO MONEY BULLSHIT ANY FUCKING LONGER!!! That's when you'll see what needs to be done in a very clear light, and can just get down to business! *-YUH!-* I'm screaming to myself here  :whistle: but that's how it is. You either do what needs to be done or fight on with the doldrums. Well enough is enough ... time to get to work ...

[Itchigo]

ME= D.O.T Medical card. There are some companies that will take you with no experience, but most of them are road positions. So long as you don't mind getting screwed... :whistle:

I'm actually taking the opposite approach. I've had so long with 60+ hour weeks, running myself into the ground- I'm tired of it. I've always "gone the extra mile", and I have nothing to show for it. So I'm done. I work my hours and go home. I pick up an extra shift once a month. I shouldn't have to work 6 days a week, just to survive. I work 4 days, at 46.5 total hours. With trucking overtime laws making it legal that I can't get paid overtime- no matter how many hours I work, why should I go nuts with extra time? As far as I'm concerned 40 hours is considered full time, 46.5 is plenty for anyone else...... Why should it be any different with me? Shit, I'm going to be 47, why do I need to be working 60 hour weeks? We always found a way to make it before, and we'll continue to make it this way.