Back From Second Rig

WOW what a stint away from reality. I was back in Laredo Texas for a 13 day run. I would have been there longer had it not been for 2 test I have to take next week. I was on the Orion Haley's Comet rig drilling for natural gas. I found out I was flying out the morning of. I was in the car on the way to work looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend when I got a message saying that I have a 10am flight. So we got to the site around 4pm and luckily the tools hadn't arrived. We drove the 40 miles back to town for some groceries and finally made it home around 11pm. Just as I went to bed I hear that the trucks are pulling up. Needless to say I kept sleeping till 4am. at 4am as I was walking out of the trailer to the logging unit I heard a loud long horn blast. In the back of my head I knew something wasn't right. Long story short we took a huge kick and they had to shut off the well. Oil based mud sprayed all over the drilling floor and covered most of the other equipment. So basically this happened for a week strait of drilling ahead a few feet and the circulating out the gas. Anyways we ended up putting our tools in the hole the day we were suppose to be done the job so I was wondering when this would end.

Sorry if the oil talk wasnt entertaining. So since our rig was 2 miles from the Rio Grande we had boarder patrols crawling all over the local roads. We were pulled over 3 times and one time had the drug dog in the car smelling us. I thought it was entertaining but thats only because the last time I thought I was actually getting a speeding ticket.

The second cool part about being close to the boarder is the stories of wondering fence hoppers. The rig crew said that a frail guy wondered onto the site in tattered clothes and said he had been lost for 140 days. The rig crew gave him some money and water and sent him on his way. Good times in South Texas.

Back From First Rig

This is my desk and computers in a small shipping container called the logging unit.

I'm Backkkkk. My trip was a little shorter than expected. I was suppose to be out there for a week maybe two but drilling went well and we hit our target smoothly. If it wouldn't have been smooth I would not be happy and it would mean more work. By work I mean tracking depth and taking surveys.

I got to the site Saturday afternoon and had a brief run down of what my duties were. By midnight I was all by myself in the unit. If something did go wrong I only had to wake the manager up, but really define a problem severity that warrant's waking someone who you just met whose has just fallen asleep after a 12 hour shift. Needless to say no waking up was done and I didn't get yelled at. I think, maybe, possibly, probably I did a good job. For 12 hours I was basically in charge of running the tool and making sure it didn't die in the hole.



A brief description of my job is you have a train on tracks and it has a computer. You've told the computer to tell you the temperature outside and where exactly on the tracks it is. the train has a string attached to it so you can measure how much string is let out. I basically make sure the trains not lying and that the string length is correct. It gets a little more complicated but not much more.

A little excitement arose when some rain fell and then some hail and my manager told me there was a tornado warning. I asked him what I should do and he said sit tight. I then asked if I should go anywhere and he told me I was in the best place to be. My faith in the logging unit was not very much. So there was no tornado but there was a lot of mud. By mud I mean a few inches of thick sticky red clay. I almost kicked my boot off when it was fully laced up. Anyways that is about all that happened that I care to write down so...

First Rig

Quick note...Gone to Laredo Texas where its 102F hope I dont melt. if you need to get a hold of me facebook me. I'll be gone for 2 weeks.

Moustache Wars

Finally I'm allowed to shave off this little lip tickler. Blaine and I unfortunately decided to grows mustaches and see who could last the longest. We made a quit date of July 13th if no one folded, which I was getting nervous we might run into. My mistake was that I assumed that facial hair grows overnight like mine. So come Monday morning I was rockin the handle bars/Foo Man Choo and Blaine had no more than a little prepubescent teen stash. After about the first day of work I was OK with the new look but I could tell Blaine was a little self conscious about it. The kicker to the whole story was a I met a girl last weekend while i had a beard and now I was going to meet her for the second time with this thing on my face. Long story short Blaine met a girl Friday night and without telling me he shaved Saturday. YES that's right I couldn't even differentiate his stash from a dirty face after a week and a whole day of hanging out. So end of story I'm shaving after this post goes up and Blaine is paying for my dinner to Ruths Chris steak house. Enjoy the pick, as much as ill enjoy the steak dinner.

Happy Hour Oysters

Since my visit to Biloxi, MS I have been wanting oysters. The other day I was waiting around for the hot shot (driver) and I was flipping through the free local paper and BAM. That's right, I hit a double whammy of a pub with 40 beers on tap and 35 cent oysters till 7pm. So had this been any other bar I would say cheap sea food is a recipe for disaster. Fortunately the bar is located in "River Ranch." See RR is like the Galleria of Lafayette where it is twice as much to live, and everyone on the commune gets a free gym membership. By the way its a mile a way. Anyways, me and a buddy of mine went for dinner and ate tons of oysters and enjoyed the 40+ beer menu for $11 plus tip. I dont think Ive gone out to eat for under $18 buck since I got here. Ok Easter lunch was CiCi Pizza for $5.

Sorry for the uneventful post but seriously you know how I am about a steal of a deal mixed with food and a good time.

MISSISSIPPI

Me and 3 other guys from work, packed the car and headed east to a little Vegas on the coast. It was a YEE HAW weekend. I just got back from Biloxi, Mississippi about 3 hours away. Luckily our boss let us out of work early on Friday, which made for an early arrival in time for a great dinner. We asked the front desk where to eat and the lady just raved about the food at a place called Shadies. While the place was legit I think the namesake came from the neighborhood. Anyways, we enjoyed some amazing oysters and gumbo before throwing back a local Mississippi brew. The beer was Southern Pecan by Lazy Magnolia, WOW it was nice. From the restaurant we headed to the Hard Rock Casino. Once inside I had a crash course in Craps and ended up taking home about $500 bucks. The night ended with a $7 limo ride back to the hotel like big spenders, it was the same prices as cabs.

Saturday started late and we made it to te Grand Virage Buffet. Riding high from the night before I think I hit the jackpot again eating about $30 in shrimp and crab legs. The next festivity was the Rodney Atkins country music concert. My buddy Blain was able to get tickets from a friend that allowed us to meet and greet Rodney before the show. A special thanks to Kati for hooking us up. The picture below says it all. The show was great and we had the best time. Unfortunately we headed to the Hard Rock again and I treated them to about all my winnings from the night before.

Now its Sunday night and its back to the grind. TWIC cards this week which are passports to go offshore. Maybe in another 2 weeks I’ll have news on when I’m going offshore, until then I’m studying. Here is a teaser from a guy in well testing who just got back. The basket is the way you get onto the rig.

Helicopter training DONE

There are three things I've wanted to do since I started my new job. The first was drivers training and the second was heli training. The last thing on my list is actually getting out on a rig, and theres no date set so far.

The main reason I wanted to complete drivers training was because I wasn't allowed to drive or rent a car till I passed the course. The second reason was because I got to do 360's in a full size truck. Unfortunately they wouldn't let us take photos so you'll have to imaging it. If your having a hard time doing that, then go to Stadium and B Street the for first snowfall and watch the cars slide through the intersection.

Now on to heli training. Today was packed full of trying not to fall asleep in classes, then lunch, then into the pool. For the first bit I had to jump into the pool and climb into a 25 person life raft. Inside the raft it was a hot wet indian sweat cerimony. If I have to ever spend more than 10 minutes in an emergeny raft I will flip out. Imagine sitting on a waterbed cross legged with 25+ people under the covers. Ok, on to the fun stuff. So for heli training we climbed into a 4 person death trap that was dropped into the water and we had 4 simple steps. Hold your breath, knock out the window, unbuckle, and finally crawl out. We did a total of 5 drops with the last 3 going inverted. I figured this whole thing would be easy and I could just open my eyes underwater but I was wrong. In the end it wasn't as fun as I thought and really just a scary reality. I have a nice video but its kinda large, so check my facebook or email me. If theres any luck I'll get it posted here. Im wearing red in the back on the right and I end up swimming out the left side. Enjoy

Crawfish

Tonight was Crawfish night, well sorta. From what I've been told your only suppose to eat crawfish on months ending in an "r" so we figured it was the last time to get them before there out of season. The deal we thought we were getting was $3.33 a pound but that ended right before we got there so I think it went to $6 a pound, but it was good. After about half our food was gone a lady at the next table came over and asked if we were from out of town. I guess out shucking skills were poor. she jumped right in an showed us the trick. needless to say its an art and we reverted to the smash and pull method.

For those who dont know how its suppose to be done, its a push twist and pull. Now thats just to get the tail off. If your lucky the first ring stays on the body and the meat just needs to be yanked out. Hopfully we'll be able to get back there for sunday lunch and do it like a pro. In case your wondering I sucked the goodies from one head, but its really just spices and yellow goo.

New Toy

New Job, New bike. So its hot and sunny here in the south and what better way to enjoy the outside than at @ 100mph. Well I've only gone about 30mph so far but it was scary. I was looking into bikes the second I landed here since my baby was left at home and wouldnt be shipped till September. I had it narrowed down to a Honda 600rr or a Yamaha R6. I was lucky enough to find this jewel hidden in Baton Rouge which is about an hour away.

Here is to hoping that hurricane season is gentle this year.

Day in the life of...

So I just started a new Job working for an oil field service company and my life is busy. Since I have a love hate relationship with facebook I wanted to start a blog. I'll start off by saying that any comments on my grammar and style fall on def ears. I really want everyone who knows me to be able to keep up with me and know where I'm at. Yes I ended that in a preposition. So please enjoy the photos and status updates.

Currently I am in Lafayette, LA. I am finally developing some stability in my day to day life. I spent the last 2 weeks in Houston and Tulsa. My job started on March 9th in Houston with orientation. It basically was a reiteration that I am owned by the company and I will sink or swim. So far I'm swimming... treading. The second week I was in Tulsa doing light vehicle training. Part of the training was on a track where we learned how to control skids and spin out. Then last Friday I landed in my new home town of Lafayette. I'll be here till July 13th, when my 8 week school starts in Houston. That is about all I know about work. Until school, my work will consist of learning the ropes of an off shore oil rig. The coolest thing that I can look forward to is my survival course, where I'll be dunked in a water landing helicopter simulator.

I'll try and post some photos of work and my day to day. I'll start off with a shot of my new/old baby which I left in Bellingham. Its a '76 Honda CB550 Cafe Racer. I'm looking into getting a newer bike this weekend, photos to come.