03/29/05

February 2005

Feb 17th -- Driving back from my breakout in Denver

Feb 23 -- Head'n to Chicago

Feb 28 -- Happy Leapday!

Feb 17th

That’s right all your mutha trucka’s! I’m broken out punks! Ok, so enough for my “clean” Dave Chappell imitation. Let me explain my jubilation:

I moved from Jacksonville, Fl to Williston ND in August of 2004. I work in the 24 hour day lifestyle of the oilfield. The work is defiantly long, at times physically demanding, and usually mentally draining. I know I’ve explained what I do several times here, but just for completeness:

I go with 1-3 other people to a remote location where they are drilling a well. When the rig is ready for us, we set up our “tool-string” that is anywhere between 40-80 feet long and about 4 inches in diameter down the well. That’s the physical part. We lower the tools down the well, “tag” bottom, and take measurements while pulling them up out of the hole. We can “log” at 3600 ft/hr max. The wells can be between 1500 – 15,000 feet. While they are coming up I monitor them on the computer, and then organize the data for the client and print out the logs. You then “rig down” the tool string, pack up, and drive back to the shop to finish the paperwork. The entire process including drive time has taken me between 6-30 hours for one job. There have been 3 occasions where I do back to back jobs.

Well I do that all over N. Dakota and Montana. You live off of Exxon hot dogs and combos when you’re on location (which anyone who knows my childhood understands that this is not always a bad thing). Your bathroom is the great outdoors, and you are pitied if you need to squat. Twice have I been doing jobs where it’s been –30 F. My shortest weeks have been around 85 hours and my very longest over 110. Since August I have gotten a total of 17 days off from this. So that’s about 2 days off per month with those work weeks because I was still in “training”. Now while the above is all true, it is just one side. The job itself is very interesting, and I’m only at rigs 2-4 times per week max. You get lots of responsibility, they compensate you well, and get to mess with real high-tech equipment.

Once you “prove” yourself, by not quitting during the training period, and then going through an 8 hour interview / presentation day, you “break out” which means you are now an official engineer. Among several perks is the ever elusive rotating schedule. You work 12 days on, then have 6 days off! This is in addition to 9 holidays and 3 weeks of vacation.

WELL I JUST BROKE FREAK’N OUT!!! :)  This is really exciting. I have been waiting for this for a long time now, and I have “proved” myself to this company. It really was like graduating high school or something. Fairly high up managers after interviewing me for 8 hours stood up and clapped, then one by one shook my hand.

This is great, because now I really get to experience this job and what the lifestyle is really like. I’ve made it through boot camp and now I’m a soldier – in the same respect as Kevin Winslow, the former tight end of the Miami Hurricanes J

I talked to the managers in Denver, and the impression that I got was that once I became a Senior Engineer, I’ll get transferred. The transition from Engineer to Senior Engineer takes most people a year – so one more year in ND then you can color me gone!

In all seriousness, this job has been really hard, and not just the work. I have many awesome friends who have continually prayed for me, and I needed it severely. I still don’t have any kind of fellowship, and this lifestyle is not the most conducive to seeking God all the time, so I’ve needed all of your support. I still do! Thanks guys, I’m not sure if any of us know how much it all has helped.

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Feb 22

Well I'm on a train heading east to Chicago on my first week off. That's right, a train. I just got back from my first toilet trip, and the rocking and sudden jarring motion of the train as it moves along the tracks at 45 mph adds a whole new element to the bullseye game I've been playing since I could walk. I had to focus much more than usual, and spotted a sign above some paper napkins that says, "Please be courteous to other passengers and clean up after yourself," so I realize I am not the only one who was challenged.

I can tell that sleeping on this train will be a challenge as well. But that's ok, I've wanted to ride a train -- a real train, not a commuter nor subway -- since I was very little. I'm 25 and in charge of my own life now, so I get to make the calls! Theo (friend from college now in Jax who works for CSX), I hope you get a chance to enjoy some of your product some time and take a trip.

It takes 20 hours to make it to Chicago, so I brought some movies, combos, and a I'm in the middle of a good book. Rudyard Kipling's Kim. Probably his 2nd most famous novel behind the jungle book. Take the train rather than the 15 hour drive allows me to relax a little bit more, and travel during the night while I try to sleep. Since I've logged around 2500 miles in the last 3 weeks I felt I needed a break from behind the wheel. Kim is about an english orphan in India who is completely assimilated to the local population. He ends up working for the British Intelligence Service because of his ability to be in both worlds (English and Indian) comfortably. It's no Brother's Karamazov, but it is still a fun read so far.

I plan on catching up with Owen Immen, Shea Willis, and hopefully Chris Harris while I'm in Chicago. There's a bulls game Friday night, but it's against the Wizards, so I probably won't go. They have a neat "city pass" that gets you into several really cool attractions (the Shed Aquarium, several museums, etc), so I'll probably do that. I've only been in Chicago one other time -- with Jason Alderman, and had a blast. We met a couple of Irish blokes who traveled 4000 miles to "visit the pubs" -- which they did on a consistent basis. One day our hostel had a fire alarm at 11:00 am and all the residents had to go outside. We saw them in barefeet with wife-beaters and boxers on looking all groggy-eyed from the night before....fun times...

ALRIGHT! We just passed through a town, and I saw the railroad crossing arms down and a line of cars waiting on our train! THAT'S RIGHT, IT'S MY TURN NOW PUNKS!!!!

Oh, I also need to give Andy Olson a "shout-out" for turning 21 today. He's a coworker. Here is a picture of his truck that confused me one morning as I cam into work. Look carefully at it. Here is another picture of what I saw when I cam to investigate.

Well I just got back from the dining car. I sat with a couple, the wife was born in Jacksonville, Florida and has lived in Edinburgh! So I met a lady with my same hometown, who has also lived in Scotland, in a train in the middle of North Dakota. Small freak'n world, huh? The couple was really nice -- it's amazing how certain settings just breed sociability. I've never been on a cruise but I imagine it is similar.
 

After going to the toilet for similar, yet slightly different and longer reasons, I found another "hazard" besides poor aim. This brings us to "Boone's tip of the week":

When negotiating a hostage situation on a train, make sure the lavatory door is fully closed. Otherwise when the train sways, the door could be suddenly thrown open allowing the public to see you release the prisoners.

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Feb 28

Well Chicago was fun. I was able to spend a lot of quality time with Owen Immen, and Shea Willis. I went downtown 3 days, saw more museums than you can shake a stick out, and walked about 5 miles a day. I also have a new joke for you all:

You might be a redneck if .... after buying a ticket to an Art Museum, your credit card's fraud department contacts you because they believe someone has stolen your credit card.

This happened to me. About 20 minutes after purchasing my ticket for the Art Institute of Chicago, Discover Card called me to make sure that I was the one that purchased the ticket. Boy, that's an ego booster. You know you need to get out more when your credit card company thinks a thief is more likely to go to an art museum than you. I did take some cool pictures, and since this is the 2nd time I've been to Chicago, you can go to the same page to see the updated pictures.

Shea and I went into the Chicago Board of Trade, where they trade commodities and futures. We tried to go the trading floor, where you see those crazy floor runners buying and selling stock, but they are no longer letting people view it since 9/11. Even after assuring them we were "good citizens" we couldn't get in. So we went across the street to the Fed's branch in Chicago. That was kinda cool...I asked if they could hold off interest rates till I get a car loan, but doubt the outcome of that.

Chris Harris is going to kill me for not calling him while I was in Chicago. He is currently working on his Field's Medal as a graduate student in Mathematics at Purdue Univ (only a couple of hours away from Chicago). Sorry Chris! I ran out of time, so if you reading this, consider my not seeing you this week revenge for the 7 nights of no sleep that I got after you took me to see The Ring you punk!

I also was able to see three movies. Napoleon Dynamite, Oceans 12, and that Will Smith Movie about being a Date Doctor. Napoleon Dynamite's saving grace was that it was not Ocean's 12, perhaps the most boring, worst movie I've ever paid for. Napoleon was stupid, but at least it was *supposed* to be :) That Will Smith movie was ok, but I'm not a big fan of the message romantic comedy's send, so I'm generally don't see / like those types of movies. My dad must have seen a great movie this weekend, because he called me and left the following message on my voice mail:

"We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live."

Ben Hur, great movie.