Bittersweet Symphony

Today was bittersweet. I haven't blogged in forever... too busy hanging out with people and having pot luck dinners. Now that people are leaving I have time to slow down and collect my thoughts. I finished my internship today and said goodbye to everyone and it was a little sad. I'm glad to be heading back "home" to Manhattan but having everyone say over and over again "You're leaving? Aww... well we will miss you!" made me a little gloomy. They whipped together a pot luck for me and I brought thank-you baked goods. They gave me a picture they all signed. People told me to hurry back. Bless their hearts!

On a less sentimental note I also got to go "fly" a simulated airplane today. Very cool. Be jealous. Actually don't be too jealous, it made me nauseous. I'm terrible and theme parks and I would make a horrible pilot. Oh well.

Oh and one other unfortunate thing happened. There was a roach incident. It was traumatic. It came out of nowhere and ran across my desk. I yelped. I also made Darrell come over and chase it away. He then did the chivalrous thing and hosed it down with Windex. Darrell's a good guy. He hugged me when I left. So it turned out ok in the end.

Tomorrow I am going to try to be a packing/cleaning machine. It won't likely be too fun. but you gotta do what you gotta do.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT'S SNOOOOOOOOOOOWIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!

People! It is JANUARY! The 10th to be exact. And we finally have the puffy white wonderland I've been waiting for since December. I've had off-white Christmases before but there were usually leftover dirty piles of snow to remind me of how pretty it was the week before or a white New Year's to make up for it(Ma nature has really lousy timing). This year we had NOTHING. NADA. NILL. Until now.

It's snowing in my inbox (GMail is superior to all other e-mail providers. Disagree and I. Will. Fight you.) and snowing aggressively outside. We are talking flakes the size of throw pillows. Thankfully there's not driving wind so it just gets to float slowly and plop down where it pleases instead of assaulting my face. Folks there was easily 4 inches perched atop the car just a bit ago when I went to clean it off. And it's STILL COMING DOWN! It's like good ol' Ma Nature just realized she forgot to deliver and is trying to make up a month's quota in a day. Bring it on woman! As soon as my financial aid reimbursement comes through I'm getting me some gloves and I'm'a go play in it!

I will say this, Manhattan, no matter how much I love you, you seem to have a flippant attitude toward snow removal. Em's street was driven down but not scraped by the trucks (What the hell?) twice, and my little street got zero love. Also KSU, just because 90% of the students here are the Asian kids in the dorms, does not mean you should leave the snow sit until mid morning and then just kinda push it around a little. You're more on the ball during the year, so you should probably try to keep up during intersession. Just sayin'. I know it's still coming down but tomorrow it'll be so much worse!

But I digress. I love the snow right now so nothing will get me down. Ha!

She LIVES!

I have survived! I came through finals ok and I made it through "NonTrad Christmas/Marin Road Trip 2011" virtually unscathed. I did make a few idle threats on my sisters' lives but who wouldn't? That back seat got a little small there near the end.

I have started my intersession class (roughly 1/2 done!) and I'm thinking back on the good time I had New Year's Eve. Time for a list!

2010, thanks for...

...MSDA. It was hell-on-wheels while we were in the middle of it but in hindsight it was a great experience and it brought me closer to so many of my classmates. I love togetherness!

...Paper Conference in San Antonio. Again with the togetherness! So many good times...

...the most epic pub-crawl we've ever seen. I may have coordinated it...I only wish it was something I could put on my resume.

...the summer in the oil fields. I know nobody saw that coming but it really was an adventure and I made some great friends. Can't complain about that!

...my wide travels. I've never felt so grown up as when I've been terrified that I would be lost, and then wasn't. I never got really lost and I did it all without Garmin SanDiego!

...Kyle. He's kinda cool. I sorta like him. But seriously he's fun and sometimes you need more fun in your life. :)

2010, what the hell?!...

...Susan & Mahjabeen leaving. Uncool. I'm going to be bitter with you about this for a while.

...Simulation. I knew it had to come around eventually but it was PAINFUL.

...The financial-aid-scares: the 2010 edition. Seriously I'm about on a first name basis with the graduate school and the financial aid people who have to do their black magic to get me my money. This is ridiculous.

2011, I'm excited you're here. Kudos on starting things off right. Always important to make a good first impression. Here's to hoping you and I have a good run!

Coil tubing is not for the faint of heart.

We went to our coil tubing job yesterday (the yard at 4 the site at 7) and spent five and a half hours rigging up. It wasn't so bad compared to the day to two day long rig ups of frac. The crew we were on (Nick and I) was kind of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree crew--half the crew missing, one white hat and a bunch of green hats, the janky fluid pump, and 2 3/8" coil which requires you to "stab pipe" (put the pipe in the injector head which is normally how it comes). In spite of all this we still made it home before the other crew on site (and sadly Anjelica) around 8 or so. Both crews are supposed to go on jobs again tomorrow and this seems to mean Anjelica does not get her day off tomorrow (that's right people... another sighting of the rare and elusive day off!) which blows.

On the job we can't really do much beyond rig up and rig down but this time because of the different equipment there is a separate unit for the coil that requires someone additional to spool it on and off the reel, and we got to do that. It's not super hard until you get to the edges when it kind of gets tricky on the turn around... it's ok that I was kinda bad at it because during the job you just spool it on and off the reel over and over again anyway. That's why they let the interns do it. :)

While the work itself wasn't so bad the overall job was kinda rough. We were there just short of 48 hours and during that time I didn't shower. I could have but my bag was locked in the truck during my window. I didn't even change clothes (I should have fought harder on that one...). I smelled like the inside of a fake leg. I didn't brush my teeth or wash my face either which are both kinda raunchy. I slept in my blues and boots at the kitchen table and then on the recliner. I am sunburned from my eyes down to my chin from sitting in the sun in my gear. I have grime so deep in my fingerprints I'm still getting my hands clean. Woof.

I'm just REALLY glad to be home and showered and sitting in the air conditioning. I also ecstatic that I get to sleep in a bed tonight and sleep IN (for realz) in the morning. Seriously we are one more happy thought away from tears of joy. I'll report on how awesome that turns out tomorrow. I may leave the apartment if I feel up to it...or I may not. We'll see what I feel like... man days off are awesome!

OMGDAYSOFFROCK!

Today we had the day OFF. For those of you who may not know (I know I forgot) a day off means you don't go to the yard, and you don't have to stay in Conway in case they call. You also don't have to go to any job sites. It's amazing. To celebrate our day off, last night we found a concert in Conway to check out. It was a rock concert and not so much our style but it was outside our apartment so it's ok. The band we stayed for wasn't horrible and since there were only about 10 people in attendance I even got a song dedicated to me ("because you're right there...and very beautiful" good save there buddy). After we peaced out from that experience, we just headed to a pizza parlor/bar in Conway for a beer before we headed to bed. First time we've "gone out" since the week we got here... so it was kind of a big deal. Sad huh?

Today I got up and went to mass and when I got back Anjelica and I started to plan our day off. We were struggling to come up with something because we don't know the area at all (in spite of being here for about a month...we live at the yard). We settled on the zoo in Little Rock. We both love the zoo so it was the best plan ever conceived.

Anjelica and I LOVE the zoo!

The wire giraffe sculptures at the gate are pretty cool... just sayin'!

When we got there we headed straight for the Lorikeet Landing--and exhibit where you are in a large netted space with a bunch of Lorikeets and for a dollar you can feed them. It was the best dollar I've ever spent. These birds are "playful" and "friendly" and will climb all over you if you feed them. Brace for pictures.

So when you feed them they get excited enough to sit on your arm if their buddies are in the way of the food (the tiny cup of nectar).

This guy really liked me...

Anjelica made a friend too and she didn't even feed anyone! :)

See? He liked me a lot... or maybe it was just my hair product... I think it smells good too!

And now he brought friends! These guys alternated between biting my ears (which kinda hurt) and eating my hair (which felt funny and kind tickled). I'm trying not to spaz and scare them but it REALLY tickles sometimes...

After that even the giraffes paled in comparison... Just kidding I love giraffes...but I really want a Lorikeet now. For real. We moved on and looked at lots of other good stuff... I photographed most of it but as usual I'll just show you the highlights (I tend to over photograph and no one really does want to see 15 shots of giraffes that are all eerily similar). More photos incoming...

Anjelica is not a big fan of bugs... not at all.

Oh yea... Anjelica got a ride on a camel named Sassy! :) Throwin' up the gator bite from the back of a sassy camel, what's up?!

So yea, best day ever. Ryan just called to confirm what's going on with us tomorrow and we are to report "promptly" at "8:03" and we are to pack for "0 days" while "the dude" is to pack for 3 days. Nick get's to go out on a job tomorrow but we'll spend the day in the yard. I don't know what that really means for us. Oh well I'm sure it will be interesting. We will probably go out on Tuesday from the sound of things in the office. We'll see. At least we don't have to show up at 4 like originally told me (he likes to kid).

In summary: I LOVE the zoo. I LOVE days off. I LOVE not going in before 8am. I would like a Lorikeet for my birthday.

And the skies opened up, and God said...

People rejoice for there hath been a miracle! When we arrived for our 8am yard time (praise be it was so late!) we found out that today (not tomorrow) was our last day of frac! Knowing that it was in fact my last day made today a lot more bearable. We were rigging up (night crew rigged down after we left last night) which is a long, rough day. Fortunately, little of the equipment had been moved when we got there so we didn't have too much work to do. We ended up taking a lot of good breaks which helps a lot. There was also a good breeze most of the day (See? God exists and he loves me!). To top it all off the crew we worked with (all new guys minus Justo and Leelund) was pretty fun. Citizens of Francie, brace yourselves--one of my new favorite guys is John Stevens. He's an older guy, native to Arkansas and he cracks me up! I can't tell you some of his catch phrases that have become common to the crew (words unfit for civilized company) but they get me every time. I also had a heart to heart with Leelund today while we soaked up a bit of air conditioning. He told me a little about his life--he's my age but married three years with two little girls. I finally met the infamous duo of Flower and Daisy. People talk about them as a set (because they have the same shift schedule) and so I've been waiting to meet them. Flower got his nickname because he's "a bloomin' idiot" (seems nice to me) and Daisy started with him and they couldn't both be flower... these two are good guys and Daisy even told me on the ride home that he appreciated having us there and that we should skip out on coil tubing and stay with the yellow crew (at least for rig ups anyway). Nice thing to say. And best of all, I met a fellow Wildcat today--Mike is a recent grad of K-State (Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering) and he's been with the company only since the beginning of the year. We agreed that there is no place like Manhattan and he misses it. Also best of all because we were rigging up and didn't need to wait to be relieved, we got home around 7:30. AWESOME!

Tomorrow we're going to go in and help with maintenance of the coil tubing equipment. Tommy (the guy in charge of coil tubing) said that if we get it all done he likes to give his crews Sundays off. Furthermore, because these crews don't have shifts and they go out and stay until the job is done, meaning a few days at a time, he would probably put us on the crew that he was sending a trailer with. That goes out most likely on TUESDAY!!! So much time not spent working (or at least not like we've been the past week) and it's not even my birthday... This morning was just full of great news. Probably another reason my day seemed so much less painful than it should have.

Right now I am eating pizza I had delivered by Papa Johns. It tastes like possibly the best pizza ever. Maybe because I haven't eaten normally all week. Maybe because it is the best pizza ever. The world may never know.

It's Thursday I think...

So the days are running together again... we had a discussion this morning before leaving the yard and someone had lost a week of their life... they thought it was the 15ht or so and this came to light when they checked their phone because they didn't believe it was Thursday.

Today was another day of staging the job. I planned my day a little better and spent my morning outside and my afternoon in the FracCAT. I didn't really do anything at all today. Just watched and listened. Towards the end of the day I did go sit next to Justo who runs the 13 pump trucks on location from the FracCAT and he kind of taught me his job. It was pretty interesting and intense. Basically, if sh!t hits the fan, it's kind of his head on the chopping block. No pressure. He let me prime up the pumps on our last stage of the night. Very thrilling. ;) We also ran into Brendan today finally. The wireline guys are there and between stages they set plugs and perforate. We assumed we'd have to see Brendan on one of these crews eventually and it finally happened today. He has yet to work a weekend and he just works when he wants to. It made me want to punch him a little bit.

Our day didn't end until 9 or so because we were late arriving this morning (had to wait for the rig relocaters... the people they hire to drive us around when we're out of vans or drivers) and on our drive home Jose (the engineer), Anjelica and I fell asleep in the back of the pick-up. This meant that the driving supervisor and Leelund (an operator) decided to mess with us and pull the ol' drive over the rumble strips, swerve and yell obscenities trick. Needless to say that was the highlight of their day.

I forgot to mention a couple of things I am thankful for. A couple of the non-tangibles...

* Notes from my mother who remind me of the closet of last summer and how awful that job was and how much she loves and misses me. Thanks Momma!

* Notes from Emily that say things like please quit your job and come back immediately or I miss you. It's nice to know I'm missed by people besides my Mom (no offense Mom, but you're a given and I love you for that!)

* Texts from Kyle that say things like you'll be alright, and hang tough. Though they kind of irritate me at the time it's only because I know he's right and I do need to just woman up already. Sometimes you just need to hear it.

*Bananas. I know it seems random but last night I didn't get cramps in my calves in the middle of the night and I'd like to give at least half of the credit to the banana I ate that morning. The other half goes to stretching. Cramps in the middle of your 6 hours of sleep suck big time. Potassium for the win!

Happy Thoughts

Today was eons better than the past two days. We are done rigging up and are now actually running stages. We also followed Jose, the on site engineer to see what an engineer does on one of these jobs. Turns out being an engineer on a frac site is much less miserable. We spent the first half of the day in the FracCAT (Fracturing Computer Assisted Treating) which is air conditioned and only kind of dirty. They monitor all the pumps, densities, rates, and downhole conditions from computers in the FracCAT and call the shots or "treat the job." It's kind of boring to watch, especially since we can't hear what all the guys on site are talking about over the radio but it was much nicer than roasting.

The second half of the day, we wandered outside to look helpful. I didn't do a whole lot but I went to sit and watch Jimmie run the POD and after a bit he let us interns run it. It was kinda fun. After that we wandered around and "helped" fix one of the pumps. We didn't do much since when you are pumping the job, things are set unless something breaks, so when it does EVERYONE kinda dives on it.

Since I've been whining so much (since we started) about frac, and since today was unusually smooth, and since we have a 10 hour night and thus a "late" yard time of 5:45, and all of this puts me in a good mood, I'm going to make one of my "famous" lists of things I am thankful for:

1. Showers, soap, loofah's, and shampoo. As a team, these things can erase a really bad day. Love you all.

2. "Underarmor" and all things like it. Special shout-out to Wal Mart and Starter for giving me access to this miracle fabric at an affordable price.

3. Fruit. Even when you are hot, sweaty, smelly, and generally disgusting, and when food doesn't even sound good, fruit still does.

4. Baby wipes. These little guys can get you just clean enough to enjoy some fruit after a long day on site. They get the grime and dirt off your face and hands but don't burn if you rub your eyes with them. Praise be to the Lord in heaven.

5. Gatorade. Orange specifically. Regular or the low cal version. Great stuff.

6. Beef jerky. When you are starving and you've eaten all your fruit, beef jerky makes you feel like you've really eaten something. For realz.

7. Dr. Sholls heel supports. Steel toed boots are rough and tough, but these guys make them less rough on me.

8. My PPE (I know... I know... I also hate it but hear me out here). Those blues are one big napkin and it's kind of a badge of honor when they stop looking so blue. That hard hat has sheilded my head from countless encounters with corners and edges of trucks, pipe, and valve wings--bless that thing. And my RedWings...I've dropped enough heavy hose and pipe on them to really know what it means to love steel toes. I've also used them to kick countless things that would have annihilated my feet. Love you guys.

9. Sunscreen. As a ginger, sunscreen is my religion. My nose may be a little pink and kind of peeling but I can't imagine the state I would be in if I hadn't worn sunscreen. Like Kyle said, I burn like a cheap pizza.

10. Toaster strudel. Starting your day with one of these does things you wouldn't believe for your morale. I only have one left so I may have to make a second post-job-Wal Mart run tomorrow so people can look at me funny as I stink up the aisles. They're that important to my day.

11. Microwave dinners. When you get home at 8 and you first and foremost need a shower, being able to eat 5 minutes after you set foot in the kitchen seems like the stuff of fairy tales. And the box says LEAN Cuisine so it's good for me (please don't shatter this illusion, it keeps me going).

I have a dozen other things and those are the things that keep me from hiding under the sand chief in the middle of the day. I can't think of everything just now but I'll keep you posted if I remember any other really good ones. You know, besides the standards (I don't have cancer or AIDS, I have never been shot at, I am not a starving child in Cambodia being chased by a tiger...).