Rooooaaaaadtriiiiiiiiiiip!

So Saturday was essentially all driving. Conway to Little Rock airport to Houston. It was just a long day on the road. I got to Houston about 5 (yea I didn't get lost or anything--miracle!) or so and was immediately greeted by my homegirl, Jennifer. Missed the crap outta that girl fo realz. We spent the rest of that evening on various shenanigans including, red wine + peach schnapps (which is DELICIOUS and DEADLY), dinner at Alexander the Great (a Greek place around the corner--I had braised lamb shank and it was delightful!), a run to Walgreens for CHEAP wine (we only had that one bottle which was NOT sufficient to meed the needs of all of us, let alone the new wine fetish of Julia and Jen), and drinking said cheap wine while we lounged around in Jen and Julia's room listening to some choice tunes. Those in attendance included Jen and Julia (obviously), Maria, Anjelica, Aislinn, myself, AAAAAND.... Donnald! That's right, the man we all know and love, the pimp the men envy, the one and only Rap Master D! Also known as D Money, he is so fly he can get his nails painted pink and have no one even dare THINK of revoking his man card (lest he shame them to their core with his lyrical stylings). It was a great night.

Today we spent the whole day at a race track. Not the ponies but go karts! It was a long day because there were so many (70) of us but it was a good time. We got there at approximately noon and the final race wasn't until 6 (a whole 5 hours after we began... we had to "warm up" and then qualify...intense!) so we didn't leave until... something like 8ish. Woof. When we finally made it back to the Double Tree we ate some of the tastiest pizza ever and then we all pretty much dispersed to go either to bed or to work on our presentations (don't worry I'm done). It was just a fun day but I'm wiped, however my devotion to you dear readers has kept me up long enough to do some behind the scenes reporting. You're welcome.

Tomorrow: presentations and then one of our infamous dinners on the company tab. I'm hoping my liver can handle it...it's kinda out of practice after this very lame summer. I'll let you know how it goes... eventually.

In unrelated news I finished my first recreational book in ages. State of Fear by the almighty Michael Crichton. Very good. Thought provoking. I recommend it.

And finally we'll wrap up tonight with the usual countdown:

Houston: NOW!!!

Manhattan: 4 days!!!

SFKS: ONE week!!! (MOM IT'S SO CLOSE!)

Goodnight and good luck.

The beginning of the end

Today I slept in, made pancakes, I went to get my car looked at (Thanks Toyota dealership!), went to the yard to register all my upcoming travels with Journey Management (if you actually want to know what that is we'll talk about it later... it's not real exciting), packed up almost all of my stuff, read a lot of my book (first recreational book I've read in... I don't even know how long which makes me sad), got a manicure (some femininity needed to be recovered lest we risk me remaining oil field trash forever), and wrote out my directions to Houston (yes I said wrote out...some of us don't have a Garmin, ok?).

Tomorrow we start our journey bright and early tomorrow morning at 7:30 by swinging by the yard to drop off our apartment keys, key cards, and internet cord and then it's off to Little Rock to drop off Anjelica at the airport. Once that mission is accomplished, I will ride off into the sunrise on my trusty steed (or in my maroon Camry...whatever) toward's Houston. I'll arrive (in theory) eight hours later assuming I don't get lost (riiiight). Don't worry too much about me in my travels, for I will be stopping every two hours as prescribed by my Journey Management plan and checking in with dispatch at each stop. Gonna be a good day...

Goodbye Conway! Goodbye Arkansas! Hello Houston!

Dun da-dun dun DONE!

I am done in Conway! I presented my project today and completed my exit interview and now I have a day to pack and I leave for Houston on Saturday. Glorious!

My presentation went pretty well, twice as long as it is supposed to be but other than that it was delightful I'm told. I can totally trim some fat so I'm not super worried about it. We took cookies to people as a thank-you for having us and I think that made some days. Not gonna lie here, I think we set the bar kinda high for future interns. Sharron tells us that she tried to dig up dirt on us (talking to people we worked with to assess our performance) and there was none to be had. These people seem to have loved us. Thank you Mom and Dad for my old fashioned, Midwestern upbringing--they loved that we SHOWED UP. It baffles me that this is apparently a recurring problem. I would think that would be the easy part of any job... go to the place of your work. Whatever. Bottom line, they love us. We got parting gifts too! Ok just a little "log book" type notebook (us girls got PINK), some hand sanitizer on a key chain, and a pocketknife (all company promotional items). I'm most excited about the knife. Being a lady of the Midwest I am used to the men in my company to carry them, and I know that I'm never expected to, but now being a piece of oil field trash I feel the need to have one to pry things apart, dig into and cut things, and just use for all kinds of good manly tasks.

Tonight, Anjelica and I celebrated being done by going to dinner at a Japanese steakhouse down the road for sushi. It was pretty tasty. If you're reading this in a timely fashion, my twit-pic should still be over there >> on the sidebar. Or you can see it on Facebook. It was pretty. Not to pretty to eat though. Very tasty! Nick, on the other hand, celebrated by leaving for Texas IMMEDIATELY. This whole damp county thing is suffocating him.

Tomorrow's agenda:

Sleep in (because I CAN!)

Get my car once-over'ed for all the upcoming driving (so much driving!)

Get my nails done (I need to feel like a girl again... very much need)

Pack all my stuff (which has spread out and settled in famously in the past month. Ugh)

Look up, write down, and draw out my directions for Saturday (many MANY times)

Countdown...

Houston: 2 days (ish...depending on how you count Saturday...whatever)

Manhattan (Manhappiness): 7 days

Francie: 10 days

I made it!!!

Also special shout-out to one (of 4) of my readers: Happy Birthday Heather!!! :)

I'm running out of clever titles for the boring days

So we decided not to work in the office today because the work to be done didn't require it. We slept in, I made PW pancakes for Anjelica and I, and then we went in to the yard just long enough for her to talk to someone about her project. I spent that time in the parking lot reading a book so no one would see me sitting around doing nothing (they don't like that... they prefer you to hide).

I polished up my presentation from the comfort of my couch and then I went to the pool to try to correct my tan lines (I swear, one burn, one time and you can't fix it! You either have to re-torch yourself or live with your circus pattern) before I bonded with the couch some more.

Productivity spiked again a little before 4 when I took Anjelica to the hair dresser. I came home and baked thank-you-cookies to kill time before I went to pick her up. Knocked out two tubes (one of them JUMBO sized thankyouverymuch!).

And thus brings us to the present, where our heroine sits on her couch watching Sinefeld. I'll finish baking at some point, perhaps read some more, watch SHARK WEEK and then go to bed. Looking like an intense night. Risky since I present tomorrow at 1pm but I like to live on the edge.

Cashing in my foregone air conditioning

I spent today working on my presentation in the office again. I touched up my "project" a little more and edited photos (which are a HUGE player in this presentation). I did that between Facebook checks. It was a boring day. Luckily, Anjelica finished early so we were home by about 3:30. I took a nap (not because I NEEDED it but because I was vaguely drowsy and I COULD) and after I ate leftover Papa Johns (I pledge allegiance to Papa Johns) we went to Wal Mart to get sour cream for THE Pioneer Woman pancakes we're going to have for breakfast tomorrow and cookie dough for our thank you treats we're bringing on presentation day.

Ok now if you're still awake after reading about my fascinating day...

The countdown to Houston: 4 days

The countdown to Manhattan: 9 days

The countdown to SFKS: 12 days

So close!

Easy like Sunday morning...

So today I didn't get to sleep in, I had to go to work at 8. It was a little rough to get up because Anjelica and I went to see Dinner for Schmucks last night and didn't get home until midnight meaning I got only 6.5 hours of sleep or so. Not ideal but considering my recent patterns pretty darn good. We went in for a "class day" with "Mama" Sharron which meant we talked all morning about our projects (and what they would be if the ones we were given were garbage) and our experiences. It was a pretty informal conversation, she just made sure we took turns and all talked about everything. I like Sharron.

We determined that my project was going to be a cost analysis of getting flow meters for the liquid chemicals so that it would reduce the discrepancies between the inventory records of the bulk plant and the coil tubing department. That is if I get the ok from Tommy for the project. I couldn't do that today because he wasn't there. I'll talk to him tomorrow. Because of this I just worked on getting my journey management registered and my reimbursement paperwork printed. So still a productive afternoon.

We ended up home by 2:30 which made up for missing mass this morning because I got to go to evening mass in Little Rock. It was particularly good today because they had a bunch of kids doing the music rock band style. Nice change from the slow, sad organ.

I polished off my leftovers from Los 3 Potrillos for dinner as I watched the old Shark Week coverage leading up to the new stuff for this years Shark Week. I really can't complain... my life rocked today. :)

The greatest day of the week...the day off.

Today I slept in until 9. I probably could have slept a little more but I didn't want to waste too much of the day and since I'd gone to bed at 11 I felt like 9 was reasonable. Don't judge me for going to bed at 11, I was TIRED PANTS after that stupid coil tubing job.

Like I said, I slept in, and when I got up and turned on the TV guess what was on. Yup. Jurassic Park. And it had just started a little before I got there. This is a great omen for my day. When I finally left the apartment a little after 11 I went to Target for a few odds and ends and then I got Slim Chickens (if you recall it is a place that I have a bittersweet relationship with; sweet because I LOVE it so and bitter because it's only in Arkansas). After that I made up my mind that I would get a pedicure to celebrate the end of our official field time. I may have to go out again before we leave but maybe not. And my feet needed it after 40 hours in my boots. I took magazines and the nice little lady let me read in peace while she rubbed, filed, scrubbed and polished the yuck out of my poor little feeties. Bless her for that. It was like nirvana.

Anjelica caught a ride in from the field early today with a guy who had to come back for food that fit his heart friendly diet (you have to have a GOOD reason like a heart attack to get to leave a job) so when she got showered up we went to celebrate the end of coil tubing at Los 3 Potrillos. It was way good. But I am STUFFED. Like me and the couch are besties, stuffed. I'll be eating my dinner for a couple more meals too which I'm not upset about. Oh and today was PAYDAY!!!! All in all it was a good day.

Tomorrow we have a "class day" with Sharron, which at this point means she doesn't have a detailed plan but we're going to talk about our projects, and what we've learned and questions we have. We're starting at eight which means I'm going to have to ask nice if she'll let me go in time to catch mass. Hopefully she'll be down with that. As always, I'll keep you posted.

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!

Boo Yard Day

We had another yard day today... this job just keeps sneaking off. But finally we have a yard time... unfortunately that yard time is 4am. Whatever, I can do it. It will be painful but I'll be fine.

Today's yard day was painful. I had to "help" change out o rings in the BOP's. That means I watched while other people did it (and still others stood around). I learned more about the BOP and how it works and is pressure tested (or at least gained a bit of clarity). Unfortunately we had to be useless until 2pm before we could go to lunch... which made me a little more cranky than I already was. This wasn't helped by the fact that this afternoon, Anjelica worked on her video while I continued to be useless outside in the heat. When they told me yard day I assumed they wouldn't let us "work on our paper" so I left my laptop home. Lesson learned I suppose. We got to go home at 5:30 so at least they didn't make us stay until they left. Silver lining right? Yea I'll go with that.

When we got home I finally butchered our free watermelon. We have a ton of it so we're going to give some to Nick when he gets back from the liquor store. Now my tasks are to pack and then to go bed at a senior citizen-ly hour. I was told to plan on at least 48 hours in the field (barring complications) so I need to pack a lot of stuff. Lots of food said Nick, and stuff for a shower (we get a trailer) and my pillow and a blanket for the 3 or 4 hours I'll get to sleep at a time (possibly the only sleep we'll get each day... we'll see) said the guys I talked to. I heard there will be no internet connection out there so I may not be "live blogging" this portion of my summer but it's only a couple of days and I can't imagine this being such an integral part of anyone's day that it will be devastating to anyone. Either way the laptop is coming with me so that if I have a spare moment I can finish up my paper. I'll probably be tweeting from the field so you can always check up on me that way (it's over on the sidebar for that reason... even more live coverage!!!).

Wish me luck!

PS My video is on YouTube if you want to see it at what seems like a higher quality. Check it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4DilKtopPo

I hate writing papers...blogs are better.

Today we sat in the office ALL DAY and wrote our papers (ok that was a small portion because I started mine last night and it's mostly finished and whatever...). We worked on organizing our media to make our propaganda videos (that could potentially win us an iPad, iPod Touch, or and iPod Shuffle) and surfing the Facebook. Not until almost 5 did Ryan finally beckon us to come ask him all of our pre-job questions. That took about another 30 minutes and then we got to go home. It was established during this meeting that Anjelica and I would probably go on our job either tomorrow or Thursday (this thing keeps creeping away from us... such the life of a service provider I suppose). It was also established that we wouldn't have free time in the field (contrary to what EVERYONE else has told us...so we are a little skeptical of that statement) so we decided that we would soldier on with our videos in spite of having no coil tubing pictures since they're due Sunday. Our paper is due this Saturday so the coil department might get the short end of the stick there too. We'll see how this pans out.

As I said I spent my evening making this little video. I'm putting it below for your enjoyment. I had fun making it (so much more fun than writing a paper) and I think it's kinda nifty. I hope you like it!

Uh...why are we here?

So Nick is in the field and bored (I can tell by his blatantly obvious Facebook status) and now Anjelica and I are at the yard...bored. We haven't done anything related to coil tubing yet today unless you count lunch with Ryan and Russel. We've spent the morning working on our paper and I also got my photos more organized for my video. This afternoon we were to come up with a list of questions, expectations, and fave/least fave things about coil tubing. That took approximately 15 minutes. Supposedly in about half an hour Ryan is coming to get us for something... I'm praying it's our rig tour. But then again who doesn't love some Facebooking at work?

White Elephant Interns

Another day of maintenance in coil tubing. When we arrived this morning we sat around for about half an hour before they doled us out to people and their projects. I was so lucky as to be paired with a guy helping change filters, and fix a c pump on one of the pump trucks. First he showed me around it pointing out all the highlights. Then we propped the cab up (it's an over engine style tractor... old school) and looked around... then we put it down because we determined...well I dunno I think they may have just wanted to pawn it off on the mechanics. Either way we decided to wash it. That meant I stood around and waited my turn because they gave me the task of rinsing. The rinse hose has a small range but lots of water so you get soaked trying to do anything with it. I think they gave it to me because I'm the ignorant intern and they knew it was the worst part. Whatever. Anyway, they moved it into the shop afterward and I watched them change filters. I held one so it didn't spill diesel everywhere. Big day.

Before lunch we noticed that a couple guys were unloading watermelons onto the lawn in the yard--free for the taking! So I took one. Afterward I realized that I couldn't find my Clay (there are two, Anjelica was paired with the other Clay) and I was informed he probably just went to lunch. Awesome. So I did too. We ate and Slim Chickens (again) a place we LOVE. It was AMAZING as usual. We went ahead and took our time since everyone else seems to.

When we got back we were still ahead of everyone, so we visited the bulk plant. After killing some time we went to talk to Russel and Ryan about what to do with our afternoon. Unfortunately we were told just to head back to the boom truck with hydraulic problems that had been giving them fits since Saturday. We can't really help with this so we just stood and watched at a distance. Super boring. I think they forget we're around... again whatever. I wandered off to tell Russel and Ryan this and they were going to give us something else to do after they finished their paperwork but then the truck was fixed (finally!) and we had nothing to do. After a discussion of what to do with us it was decided that them spending time inventing tasks was a waste and we'd go home and work on our videos and papers. We got to leave early because we are basically inconvenient at this point. Oh well we got a short day and I'm not complaining.

After work we went to best buy to deal with Anjelica's sad camera and then we watched When In Rome... a predictable and super cheesy romantic comedy. It was cute. We also went to Wal Mart again for travel sized shampoo bottles for when we finally go out on a coil tubing job. I'm now trying to write my paper. It's been a pretty vanilla day really. Tomorrow morning we're going to go with Russel (who is the cell leader and a cool guy) to see a job site (all rigged up) for a quick tour to keep us from feeling so lost when we go...which seems like it will be Wednesday. Today wasn't a very inspiring day...sorry if this reads as boring to you (Mom, Scarlett, Nomi, Heather... possibly other people...) as it does to me. Hopefully tomorrow will be more exciting.

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.

So... what do you want me to DO?

Today was our first day in coil tubing. It just so happens that they aren't doing any jobs just now so today was a rare yard day which for them means much needed maintenance work on their equipment. The coil tubing department does all their own maintenance and they don't have a chance to do it often so you would think they'd have more for interns to do... unfortunately they are swimming in green hats (newbies) so this was not the case. First thing Tommy (coil tubing manager) did was show us all the equipment (again for Anjelica and I who did it last week) and next he tried to split us up. The first option offered was to help him with inventory which made the others sick so they threw me under the bus immediately by looking at me and saying "isn't that what you guys do?!" I didn't mind, because they're kind of right so I took it. The other two were sent with guys to go "help" fix things that are broken. Turns out none of us did anything that I'm aware. Tommy spends his time trying to pretend he can multitask--fighting fires, helping the guys fix things, and organizing the department-- which means he ignored that I was there. I sat and watched him pour over schematics with the guys for a good hour and a half this afternoon until Ryan (a newer engineer in the department) came to my rescue. He just sat me down and showed me the paperwork he was working on but it was still WAY better than listening to schematic babble. He's nice and he's only 24 so he seems to "get it" more than the old guys. The young people know a little better what it means for us to be interns. He's also pulling for us to have tomorrow off and he let us go at 4:40 or so today because he realized we were just standing around the whole day. I like this Ryan guy.

As of now it looks like we won't go out on a job until Monday or Tuesday. We don't know much besides that. At this point I'm just pulling for Tommy to delegate us out to engineers to shadow so that we actually do things because watching him pretend to juggle things kind of blows. So far the coil tubing engineers and supervisors I've met are cool so here's hoping.

Tonight we're hoping to think of something fun to do since worst case scenario we have to go in to the yard by 9 tomorrow. Fingers crossed that we come up with something because these nights off are so few and far between. I'll let you know if we come up with anything...

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!

Frac Orphans

Today we arrived for our 6:15 yard time and were orphaned by the Yellow crew due to a lack of space in the van. Anjelica and I weren't sure what to do with ourselves and Andrew of the Red crew adopted us (so we got to hang with Nick). We didn't leave until approximately 9 am so I took a good 2 hour nap on a desk in the break room. Both crews were rigging up today and both crews had some issues getting the equipment transfered from sight to sight so it was a sort of slow day. We helped change out valves in the fluid ends of the pumps and general setting up of the site. It was nice that we weren't covered in sand but it made for a lot of sitting around. The good thing was everyone was sitting waiting for equipment to arrive so we didn't look like too much extra dead weight. It was another crazy hot day and again I succeeded in hydrating adequately and not having to pee at the sight. Win for me! I also acquired a couple new nicknames from Cody (a frac'er): Toto (you have no idea how many Dorthy/Kansas jokes I've endured...I've lost count) and Sam-I-Am. They pair up nicely with Jay's "Red." All in all, it wasn't a terrible day. I'm still counting down the days until frac is over though. Sorry Chetsi.

Gahhh Frac

So far Frac is my least favorite. The days are crazy long and as an intern who isn't qualified to do anything we just stand around and watch people do things...when they do them. Sometimes we stare at eachother doing nothing. It was also approximately as hot as the surface of the sun.

We had a 5am yard time this morning meaning we arrived on the job sight around 6:30 or so. Anjelica and I were then assigned to follow our new friend Chetsi (a new hire who lives in an apartment upstairs from us). She's a super green hat also so none of us are really qualified to do much. This is where a lot of the standing around originated I think. That and we were there for 14 hours and you can't possibly be busy for 14 hours straight. As far as I'm aware we completed about four stages on the two wells at the site. It could have been five because I wasn't sure exactly what was going on when we arrived that morning. When we got there they were fixing the POD (truck that mixes the sand and water for the job). At the end of the day they were having problems with the PCM (precision continuous mixer). In between there we frac'ed four or five segments of the wells and wireline guys set plugs between them. That was the day in a nutshell.

I learned a little more about the plug and frac interaction, the set up of the job (where the PCM and the acid trucks get into the sequence etc...), and the general atmosphere of a frac job. I also operated a shovel and was allowed to carry empty buckets back to the chem transport truck. I also learned that when everyone disappears they have gone to the tractor cabs to cool off and we were allowed to do the same. And we did. A lot. I also reaffirmed my ability to fall asleep sitting up and or standing propped against a truck. I didn't mean to but you can only watch sand fly into a slinger from a sand cheif for so long before your brain shuts down and your eyes and body follow suite. Woops.

Overall the day was kind of miserable. There is sand EVERYWHERE... all over everything and all over you. I can't imagine that anyone working as a frac'er would ever agree to go to the beach. It would be too much like work. On the plus side I drank just enough fluids to keep properly hydrated but I never had to use a port-o-potty (yea I sweat that much). Thank the Lord in heaven for that. I hate those things.

Tomorrow's yard time is 6:15 so that will be a bit better but I imagine that just means we'll be back a bit later. I hope not but I'm assuming the worst. We'll spend the day rigging up because we were just finishing the job when we left (it had started on Tuesday of last week and each well needed 13 stages which takes...well until Sunday night) and it is being rigged down tonight as I type this up. It's going to be a long day tomorrow and a long week. I'll try to remain faithful to you dear readers (Mom, Scarlett, and...well you may be it) and post nightly but I make no promises. If you don't hear from me, know that I am probably fine just really sweaty and sandy.

Accidental day off...

Today has been AMAZING. We went in at 9 and spent half an hour drawing up cement job layouts and when we were through there was no one around to tell us if we'd done a good job or what else to do so we went home. We stopped for a treat at Starbucks (no coffee pot in the apartment...not ok) and then we realized, WE HAVE THE DAY TO OURSELVES!!! I did something I haven't done in a while...I went to the gym. I know crazy days we're living in. Working this kind of schedule is changing me. I'm doing crazy things. To balance my craziness I then spent a little time pool side trying to iron out the weirdo tank pattern I've been rocking from the Fourth of July parade. Hopefully I made some progress. Time will tell.

I'm showered and dressed (again!) like a real person. I'm going to put on some makeup (gasp!) and go to evening Mass tonight since we'll be leaving for frac in the morning (not sure exactly when but it will be EARLY PANTS!). When I get back Anjelica and I have decided to go to Los Potrillos for mexican food and margaritas to give ourselves a last hurrah before we give our lives to frac. I'm going out in style! I keep acting like I'm being sent away to Siberia permanently... I'm so dramatic sometimes.

The hottest day ever

Today we hung out with Reggie who maintains the iron. He is in charge of making sure that each piece of piping, chicksun (I guess how to spell that every time), and valve gets taken out of rotation for inspection at the correct interval and he also tests the equipment (trucks with pumps and so forth) before they go back into the field after they come in for maintenance. Testing of the iron is done at FMC (we were told this stands for Food Manufacturing Company... a company that has expanded beyond it's beginnings obviously) which is just down the road. Reggie drives over there to pick things up and drop things off daily. That's what we did this morning... except that he left us there for 30 or 40 minutes to help the big guy running the forklift organize the old jumbled iron sitting outside. Yep, we spent that time team lifting very heavy lengths of 3' and 4' pipe onto pallets and shuffling chicksuns from pallet to pallet so they were more organized. I sweat more than I have sweat so far this summer. Partly from the lifting and partly because today we were under a heat advisory and doing all this lifting in the morning sun. I know that I was ripe by the end of the day.

On a fun note we ate at a place named Holly's today for lunch. It's a place where a group of women just make what they want to make and you file up cafeteria style and just pick out a main dish and two sides and then pay at the end of the counter. I was good! Like having mom cook for me... miss you girl!

We (Anjelica and I...Nick's on his three day weekend) spend half of tomorrow with Reggie again and the second half we have to clean out the cabs of ALL the trucks in the yard. I'm not excited about this but I bought ForceFlex trash bags tonight for the cause and I plan to sneak some rubber gloves from the lab before we start tomorrow. Saturday we are to "inventory the trucks" which means we need to know what trucks are in the yard and what they all do. We also have to be able to diagram all the workings of a cement truck by the end of Saturday. Should be interesting.

Sunday begins frack. We'll call in Saturday night to find out our yard time and on Sunday we ship out for a 12 to 16 hours and then come home for a shower and brief nap before doing it again the next day. I don't think this will be my favorite part but I don't think I can get out of it. I've begged Kyle to come kidnap me and he refuses. He told me to be tough and that I could do it. It's like he talked to Dad. Suspicious. Anyway, Reggie used to be a fracker so he had some advice for us today. We went to Wal Mart (a theme of my life these days sadly) and got not-UnderArmor, Gatorade, and fruit. He assures us that these will be much needed items for the coming week. We are grateful to have had this talk with Reggie.

On an unrelated note I've eaten Toaster Strudel for breakfast for the past couple days. I haven't had those things in years and I've missed them. Mom wasn't one for random junk food but she did let us do the Toaster Strudel thing. Thanks, Mom!

Oh yea... it's PAYDAY!!!! My favorite day of all... something good on the hottest day ever.

Maintain!

So NyQuil commercials imply that the stuff will make you have a peaceful sleep such that you have never experienced. I think it's a lie. I have not had such stressful sleep...ever that I recall. I had crazy dreams about having to get things done (connected, pumped, mixed...I don't know) in spite of the fact that I knew I was sleeping in the apartment. I tossed and turned. It was crazy. I woke up feeling awful but I had some tea and took some Advil and long story short I feel much better.

Today we got a call to come in and help out in maintenance. Everyone's been telling us to try to avoid doing any time in maintenance but I don't think there's a way around it. By the time they called us and we made it in, the maintenance crew had headed out for lunch so we just sat around for a good 40 minutes waiting for someone to come get us and tell us what to do or where to go. Finally one of the cementing supervisors happened by and saw us sitting like bumps on a log and told us to go help his crew work on one of the pump trucks. We spent the day helping them replace the part that attaches the goose neck to the truck and regulates the recirculation and addition of cement. Actually there were too many cooks in that particular kitchen so we mostly watched and handed them things. Anjelica and I did get to repaint some of the iron on the truck (the 4 foot pipes, valves, and chicsens--the u-shaped swivels that allow you to change direction and level with your piping...that I have no idea how to spell correctly so that's my best guess). It was fun to hang with those guys today. They're good guys. Jay is one of my favorites. He randomly took me on a "tour" of the pump truck quizzing me on the parts and what they do so that I would learn more about the process. Jay also calls me Red which is kinda funny.

Tomorrow we'll start in regular maintenance with the mechanics. This is the part they suggested we should call in sick for. I'm sure it won't be as bad as they say. At least I hope.