Sandman
January 19th, 2008, 01:03
... and feeling chatty tonight, which fits in nicely with my story (see the part about my nickname, below).
My stats: : 44 years old, married for 21 years, one teen-aged daughter, one cat.
I've been driving commercial vehicles since '86, with several years previous experience in various Army vehicles from motorcycles and dune buggys (Ft. Lewis was a fun place to be stationed) to 5-ton trucks and various models of the M-113/M106 APC. Also jumped out of many perfectly good aircraft, which was great fun at the time. (Airborne!)
My first trucking job was driving the mix truck for a helicopter crop duster. Lasted through the summer, fall and into early winter. Then I moved to the east coast with my bride-to-be.
I spent several years doing beer deliveries with straight trucks and 48' vans. A short stint hauling building supplies on flat beds; some time with an LTL outfit as a local P&D driver then my first over-the-road gig hauling produce from Florida and Georgia up to NYC. Got tired of that real fast... Hooked up with a flatbed outfit out of Georgia hauling lumber all over the east coast.
I took the plunge into becoming an owner-operator the year before my daughter was born. Moved back to Minnesota for that. Hauled over-size loads all over the country and several times into Canada. Had a blast with that, but after 8 years I decided I'd better check in on my wife and daughter, since I hadn't seen much of either one... (gotta make the payments!)
Sold my truck and took a summer job with a bed-bug outfit (learned a lot about moving, sweated myself down to 170 lbs). Got hooked up with an LTL outfit and stayed with them until layed off (for no apparent reason... I'm still pizzed about that). Joined the crew where Big_Dave works, but decided to leave there to try my hand with pneumatic flour tanks. Which is where I'm at now...
More frivolous stuff: Got my nickname (Sandman) from another driver. Long run to Detroit, late at night yakkin' away on the CB to keep awake. Didn't work too well... this guy told me I must be the Sandman or his apprentice, since I was putting him to sleep with my banter. He called me "Sandman" ever since then, and it stuck.
My avatar is from the DC Comics "Goth" genre comic "The Sandman", wonderfully written and illustrated by Neil Gaiman. Check THIS LINK (http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Comics/) to view all of Neil's comics (including all the "Sandman" series, as well as his more recent works).
Somewhere in between all the trucking, I started messing around with computers. I found I am truly a computer nerd... Bought my first one in the early '90's (a Radio Shack/Tandy TL-1000 with a 286/10mHz processor), and have bought and/or built... a lot of computers since then. A buddy of mine in Richmond, Va. got me started with online stuff, and together we ran a bulletin board system called "Bones and Blubber" on WWIV software. He did most of the hard stuff, but I tinkered with it and learned a ton. We'd go to the big computer parts flea markets, buy up all kinds of hardware parts and pieces, build several computers out of it all and sell them via personal ads in the paper. Actually made money at it too, but it interfered with both our day jobs, so we never tried expanding into a real business. It was just a lark and a hobby to us...
While messing around with the computers, I discovered an un-tapped love for flight simulations. I was hooked. When I stumbled upon a small community of guys playing a combat flight simulation online (Red Baron, a World War 1 based sim that still is played today, although in a slightly more modern version than the original), I was even more deeply hooked. I joined a group called the "Wing Walkers (http://www.wingwalkers.org/Forum/index.php)" in 1992... and I've been with them ever since. We fly online every chance we get, these days using a game called "IL-2 Sturmovick" as the basis for our flights. With IL-2, the player can recreate World War 2 air combat from just about any perspective you care to... Allied, Axis, European or Pacific. I have a LOT of fun with this hobby, and especially this group I've been part of for 15 + years....
If you made it to this point, you've learned I'm a devoted husband, father, trucker and flight-sim geek. What a package, huh? :D
My stats: : 44 years old, married for 21 years, one teen-aged daughter, one cat.
I've been driving commercial vehicles since '86, with several years previous experience in various Army vehicles from motorcycles and dune buggys (Ft. Lewis was a fun place to be stationed) to 5-ton trucks and various models of the M-113/M106 APC. Also jumped out of many perfectly good aircraft, which was great fun at the time. (Airborne!)
My first trucking job was driving the mix truck for a helicopter crop duster. Lasted through the summer, fall and into early winter. Then I moved to the east coast with my bride-to-be.
I spent several years doing beer deliveries with straight trucks and 48' vans. A short stint hauling building supplies on flat beds; some time with an LTL outfit as a local P&D driver then my first over-the-road gig hauling produce from Florida and Georgia up to NYC. Got tired of that real fast... Hooked up with a flatbed outfit out of Georgia hauling lumber all over the east coast.
I took the plunge into becoming an owner-operator the year before my daughter was born. Moved back to Minnesota for that. Hauled over-size loads all over the country and several times into Canada. Had a blast with that, but after 8 years I decided I'd better check in on my wife and daughter, since I hadn't seen much of either one... (gotta make the payments!)
Sold my truck and took a summer job with a bed-bug outfit (learned a lot about moving, sweated myself down to 170 lbs). Got hooked up with an LTL outfit and stayed with them until layed off (for no apparent reason... I'm still pizzed about that). Joined the crew where Big_Dave works, but decided to leave there to try my hand with pneumatic flour tanks. Which is where I'm at now...
More frivolous stuff: Got my nickname (Sandman) from another driver. Long run to Detroit, late at night yakkin' away on the CB to keep awake. Didn't work too well... this guy told me I must be the Sandman or his apprentice, since I was putting him to sleep with my banter. He called me "Sandman" ever since then, and it stuck.
My avatar is from the DC Comics "Goth" genre comic "The Sandman", wonderfully written and illustrated by Neil Gaiman. Check THIS LINK (http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Comics/) to view all of Neil's comics (including all the "Sandman" series, as well as his more recent works).
Somewhere in between all the trucking, I started messing around with computers. I found I am truly a computer nerd... Bought my first one in the early '90's (a Radio Shack/Tandy TL-1000 with a 286/10mHz processor), and have bought and/or built... a lot of computers since then. A buddy of mine in Richmond, Va. got me started with online stuff, and together we ran a bulletin board system called "Bones and Blubber" on WWIV software. He did most of the hard stuff, but I tinkered with it and learned a ton. We'd go to the big computer parts flea markets, buy up all kinds of hardware parts and pieces, build several computers out of it all and sell them via personal ads in the paper. Actually made money at it too, but it interfered with both our day jobs, so we never tried expanding into a real business. It was just a lark and a hobby to us...
While messing around with the computers, I discovered an un-tapped love for flight simulations. I was hooked. When I stumbled upon a small community of guys playing a combat flight simulation online (Red Baron, a World War 1 based sim that still is played today, although in a slightly more modern version than the original), I was even more deeply hooked. I joined a group called the "Wing Walkers (http://www.wingwalkers.org/Forum/index.php)" in 1992... and I've been with them ever since. We fly online every chance we get, these days using a game called "IL-2 Sturmovick" as the basis for our flights. With IL-2, the player can recreate World War 2 air combat from just about any perspective you care to... Allied, Axis, European or Pacific. I have a LOT of fun with this hobby, and especially this group I've been part of for 15 + years....
If you made it to this point, you've learned I'm a devoted husband, father, trucker and flight-sim geek. What a package, huh? :D