Registration at CDL School

Hello, and welcome to my BLOG. This will be my public journal of my experiences while going through my decision making process and eventual registration and training.
So, a brief background on me to begin;
I am 47 years old, and in 1999 I retired from the Navy Reserves. I did 10 years active, and 10 reserves. I will not draw retirement till I am 62. My wife Mary and I celebrated 25 years together this past year by taking a cruise to Cabo San Lucas. We have 3 Son's, one is now working as a Music Teacher, my #2 is in his senior year of his BS in software engineering, and our #3 is in his second year at the local community college. In the past three years I have been laid off twice from my career as a IS/IT Manager-Administrator. For the past 4 months, I have been using all available resources to find work in the IT field to no avail. So, I decided to look into becoming a professional driver.
My first thought was to become a courier, or a local school bus driver. I could find no decent paying jobs as a courier, and the hours and pay for school bus drivers is really pity-full. Research, research, research. I began looking into getting my CDL.
First, back to the Internet (Familiar ground for me). Then talking with a close friend who has already earned his CDL. Then, the big step, I traveled to a nearby city and met with the Admissions folks for a very reputable trucking school.
I was given a through tour of the facilities and a full background on the schools credentials.
After the tour, we went to his office and got down to the "nitty gritty". He discussed course options, and payment options (there are many). I asked about housing as I didn't want to commute to school every day. This is when I learned that I would need to attend the school's main campus located 100 miles in the other direction. At this point, I knew I needed to retreat and think about all the options that we had discussed.
Two days later, I had an appointment with the admissions person at the main campus, and a laundry list of materials I would need to bring with me.
The list:

1. Copy of School diploma(s)
2. Copy of drivers license
3. Copy of social security card
4. Copy of Military Records showing my awards
5. Copy of 2007 Tax Return

Although I underestimated how long it would take to get to the school, they were very understanding, and I was able to jump into a tour that had just begun. Upon completion, I met with the admissions officer, and then the financial officer. Both meetings went very smoothly. I then met with the housing officer. I will be staying near the campus five days a week, going home on the weekends. I left the school today will all scheduling and financial applications completed, and a start date of April 6th.

Once the decision is made to go for it, it was simply a matter of knowing what I wanted, and getting my documents together. The Admissions process was very easy. I look forward to planning for my first week of school and living away from home. I will update my BLOG every Friday, when I get home.

My next update will be April 10th, at the conclusion of my first week of school.