They gave me this thing and I don't like it. It is a tablet. They tell me it is nice. It was 3 years ago that I got my first new ELD. It was fairly simple and it only took a day or so to get the hang of it. Now, they gave me this new thing. New technology usually frustrates me. I'll get it – eventually. The first few tries I am thinking “What was wrong with the old system? It worked fine. It wasn't broken. Why did you have to fix it.”
My dispatcher (poor thing) gave me my first lesson with this new thing. It was a Friday morning. The thing worked OK, except that I couldn't figure out how to plug the charge cord in. As I started to pull the loaded trailer from the dock, I couldn't remember if I checked the fifth wheel connection. I got out and looked again. Never get so concerned with new stuff, that you forget the important stuff. When I got back to the yard, a fellow driver showed me how to plug this new thing in. Did I tell you that I struggle with new technology. We had fun making fun of the old guy.
When I got in on Sunday, of course the thing would not work. It was too cold. Apparently these things 
aren't going to work when it is cold. Information Technology is telling us that it may take 10 minutes for these things to warm up. We should hold them up in front of the heater for 10 minutes. Maybe the information technology people can come in and preheat it for us – off the clock. I think that this is a problem that will be solved. It isn't surprising that people who work in an office did not foresee this issue. Have I ever written that we need to get more drivers into management?
Then the first time I tried taking a picture of the BOL with the camera, I set it on the steering wheel. After I took the picture, it started shrinking. They call it cropping and say that some drivers put the BOL on the floor to take the picture. Now, I feel for these young people who have to teach me how to use this new stuff. When Heather (ATBS) tried to teach me how to use this software that we use on the blogs, there were audible sighs on the other end of the phone. She said “no problem”, I know that I can be frustrating and I apologized. She said that I reminded her of trying to teach her mother how to use technology. It made me laugh. I know that with a decent attitude that I will adapt to this new thing. It will be better than the old thing. Never forget that the most most important thing is to operate the truck safely. Everything else will come around – eventually.