Finals: Day 2...summary

Day's Stats

Finals: 0 (ish...take home requires attention)

Hrs. of sleep: 8 (ish... it's a Christmas miracle)

I basically spent my day working on my take home final for Advanced Econ. 9:30 to approximately 4 (except for lunch... I nuked soup and made a grilled cheese for those concerned about my nutrition during this difficult time). Put a good dent in it. Should be able to wrap it up tomorrow. This evening was all about SIM with Ed. I worry our model is too simple but then I remember it's possibly because our class models were SO CRAZY. Whatever. We've committed. It'll be fine.

Next maneuver: Go to bed. Again at a decent hour...unless Conan gets good. Finals week sucks but somehow I'm working in more sleep... how does that happen?

Tomorrow's plan: Get to school by 9ish and just start annihilating that econ final. Go team!

Finals Day 1.5

Captain's log--Star date: 12/13/2010 00:08 central time

Current coordinates: Durland Hall

Status: Groggy

I managed a nap this evening after dinner and cleaning the kitchen (it was bad and I had to clean it before the health department found out). It was supposed to be for 20 minutes but because I'm tired and our microwave clock is way wrong I miss-set my alarm and overslept (a whole hour nap!) and left Ed to fend (simulate) for himself. Woops. Good news, he forgave me.

Tomorrow's agenda: 9am begin Advanced Econ take-home final in earnest. Work until 2 or 3 when Ed and I begin working on SIM. Eat at some point... fill all spare time with Econ Final. Try not to fall asleep on my computer.

Next maneuver: go home and go to bed at a decent time. Tomorrow should be good.

My SIM family

It's currently the middle of the night and I am still in the lab. I have been in the lab for basically every spare moment this week and it's starting to get cagey in here. I'm running on 11 hours of sleep since Monday and it's not looking like there will be any improvement before Friday (and even then the improvement will be small). On the bright side I am "stuck" here with my team who has fashioned itself into a family. No really. We are calling Jeff "dad" because he keeps bossing us like our fathers would. We also call Brant dad because he was the one who mandated that we wouldn't be leaving for dinner until everyone reached a stopping point (which didn't happen until 8pm). Yep. We have two dads. Two "gay" dads. They aren't so fond of this. Like I said...we're not functioning at our peaks here people. Kevin, Ruth and I are pretty good kids and we're trying to be obedient to the team leaders but we tend to drift. We took a "family trip" to Dara's (the gas station across the street) for late night sodas and snacks and a boost in team morale (Kevin's personal mission on this project is team morale so we try to do things to uphold it often).

Which brings me to my next barely coherent point. My diet is abysmal these days. Well during the day it's fine. Emily has even fed me REAL DINNER twice this week. But after about 10 pm I try to be strong and fail. I either eat whatever candy I can find, drink a pop, or eat a baked good Jordan brought in (she did some baking and we are all reaping the benefits). I've just resigned myself to the fact that I have to get energy from somewhere and late night food (CAFFEINE!) is my only option (sleep just doesn't make the cut). It is what it is. I keep telling myself that after finals I'll try to reign myself in. It shouldn't be too hard because I'll go into a temporary coma once I finish everything and I'll sleep through the sugar jonesing that would pull me off the wagon.

The things keeping me going at this point besides coffee: Christmas music, Greek yogurt with honey (discovered it at Dillon's the other day and it changed my outlook on life), Kevin's morale boosting efforts, Tweeting all the ridiculous happenings of the lab, and short naps.

If you don't hear from me in the next two weeks (or for a few days after that) it's probably fine. I'm either holed up somewhere trying to furiously iron out four projects simultaneously or I've fallen into that coma I alluded to.

Countdown

to the end of this project: 1 day (technically 2 but we're pretending otherwise so we can go to the pub crawl)

to Christmas break (end of finals for me): 15 days

to actual Christmas: 23 days

People... good things are coming. At least that's what I keep repeating to myself in hushed tones when I get more assignments and tasks added to my list...

Zombie story

So...It's been roughly a century since my last installment. I blame Simulation. I have spent nearly every night in the lab since then and a couple of those nights turned into mornings. I just woke up from a five hour nap...the first sleep I'd had since getting up for church on Sunday. I woke myself up because I didn't want to further mutilate my sleep schedule and wake up at three in the morning ready to meet the day.

Yester/today was brutal. We went in at one in the afternoon feeling fairly good about where we stood with the project but then we just kept finding things wrong with our model and had to keep troubleshooting and before we knew it we were just trying to crap out a paper by the deadline. It's not gonna be pretty.

I'm trying to think of things I've done since last I wrote but all I have in my head is the IMSE lab and simulation... poor Ed had the worst partner ever too. I tried to help but he is just way more dedicated and basically built our model by himself. I tried to hammer out the paper but he had to help because he knew more about our model than I did. Somehow he doesn't hate me, thank goodness.

Last weekend I visited Kyle in Kansas City. We went to the casino and I learned to play 21. Well I learned in the safety of his kitchen and then wasn't brave enough to play for real but I watched and I'm thinking maybe next time...if I have any disposable dinero. We'll see.

Oh! Mahjabeen got herself a blog too! It's about dang time! We have been waiting for some desi NYC adventure stories since she said "peace" to Kansas... check her out! She is the chutney to my samosa and I miss her but this will help a little. It's off to a "slow" start because she too is a busy graduate student but between the two of us we may update weekly! ;)

I don't know what else to tell you... I'm basically a zombie right now. I'm still going to go over to hang out with the guys and whoever is still alive... I want to hang out with these people and NOT talk about Simulation. I can barely believe I'm saying that considering I spent the past 24 hours with these folks. We got kinda close being so tired we were basically drunk... why not go be actually drunk! :)

Hopefully I'll get back to a real life this week before the next project gets crazy and if we play our cards right I may even write about it...

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!

How is it only Tuesday!?!

Another day rigging up for frac. This time with yellow crew. Our location was really pretty if you stood on the edge and looked away from all the equipment...

It was another HOT day. Ridiculously hot and sweaty we helped hook up hose and fix fluid ends. We also helped clean up a spill on site which amounts to using a pickax and shovels to dig up the ground that is contaminated and put it in buckets to take back to the yard to be properly disposed of. I also got to hear stories from on the of the mechanics that would have made sailors blush. That kid is a piece of work. Good times.

While I'm getting quite proficient at drinking exactly enough water throughout the day, I've failed at eating. We stopped at McDonalds this morning on the way to the site for breakfast so that helped tide me over but all I ate for lunch was one of those little single serving cups of applesauce. I just can't eat when I'm that hot, sweaty, and dirty. Once we call it a day and get in the truck or van to go back, I use those baby wipes to mop up my face and hands at which point I realize I'm starving and I tear into the food I brought and didn't eat all day.

Speaking of food I was out of milk and rather than come home and shower before going to the store, we went to Wal Mart in our disgusting blues. It was nasty of us but we are not the first ones to do it. We got some funny looks and the kid that rang me up and I had an interesting exchange:

Kid: "How are you doing?"

Me: "Oh I'm just SUPER" dripping with sarcasm I smile so he get's it... "I smell and I'm ready to go home."

Kid as I grab my stuff: "Enjoy that shower." He smiled so I don't think he was being a douche.

Me: "OH I WILL!" He laughed. It was just kind of a funny/sad little exchange.

Tomorrow's yard time is 4:30 so again I try to remain optimistic about getting home before the sun goes down. We just barely made it today. The good news is that we are rigged up so for a couple of days we will be staging the job which means we interns don't do much (besides sweat profusely and get coated with sand). And now begins the countdown to the end of frac week: 4 days left!

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.

Sick and Tired

I'm not THAT sick but I've been tying to ignore a sore throat for a few days now and it's finally bad enough that I have to acknowledge it. I noticed the other day that one of my lymph nodes is kinda puffy so it's for reals. I haven't been doing much of anything between jobs besides sleeping but yesterday I had time...I spent it on my couch since I don't know when I'll be called out and as I mentioned, I've been feeling sub par. Also there was a special on the Discovery channel last night called 'When Moose Attack' and who could resist that? I finally caved at took some Tylenol last night (and then again in the middle of the night when I woke up hurting again) and I slept ok. I woke up around 10 and decided that I was going to make the grown up decision to go to Wal Mart for some drugs and tea so I can nip this thing in the bud. Normally I would just kind of ride it out but the hectic schedule (or lack thereof) would probably work against me so I decided to be proactive! While I was at Wal Mart I got my hair cut. Trimmed anyway. I was in grave need. My hair dresser was all sorts of chatty (as most are) and he told me (among other things) I should really try to get a hold of some moonshine while I'm down here. Hard to find because the cops bust them all the time, but worth the effort he assured me. Told me I should take some back for my boyfriend. My hair dresser was a kick.

So I'm sitting here watching Dirty Jobs (Mike, I have a new level of respect for you.), drinking tea and enjoying the effects of my DayQuil. I feel better already. Hopefully I can relax a while longer before I get a call to head back out to the field. Sleeping out there can't be helping my cause. Perhaps I'll try to catch a nap...

Job 3... I'm getting better at this

Third job went out last night (7pm yard time got to the site a little before 10) and we got to sleep through the night. I'm in a much more positive mood after this job for a few reasons...

*I thought I'd have to go immediately on another job but Momma Sharron saved us and put us off to a night job. I love her.

*I discovered the sleeping outside on the fender of the ABT (truck with the cement tanks) is WAY more comfortable than the cab of the truck.

*Turns out that sometimes they have a trailer that no one is using and so we (the non-drivers who don't get sleepers) got to go sleep in BEDS. REAL BEDS. Granted they had no sheets but it was EONS better than the cab and even better than the fender.

* I had a fun crew this time around. Wednesday's crew was just...not...fun. They were serious and gloomy. My driver, Gary was nice enough but I got the distinct feeling that Ross didn't like me. He went on this job with us and he was nicer. I think it's just the mix of people you get. Brian, our engineer, was a good guy. "The best" according to Bucky (not kidding...his name is Paul but he hates it...so he goes with Bucky...whatever).

* The weather was reasonable today. I've been working at night and dreading a day job because of the heat and humidity but it rained last night and was overcast for most of the day. It got hot around noonish but then the rain came back. It soaked us but it did feel nice when it started. And we were about done anyway. I rode home soggy but not nearly as soggy as Danny (my driver) who had it "clear down to the underwear." These guys crack me up. They give each other so much crap over the CB radio and on site that it keeps you pretty entertained in spite of the fact that we sit for hours waiting for this and that.

This was a production job (like I think job 2 was) so we pumped cement for about 3 hours. During that time I am normally just standing (or sitting or perching) around hoping that someone will let me flip a valve open. Today they had me doing more of the same but I think I looked too stagnant so he sent me to the other side of the rig to watch returns. This means stand around out of site and watch the oil based mud come circulating back out of the ground to be sifted and settled before it goes back down. You do that to make sure it stays the same. You don't want circulation to slow or speed up. Not sure what that means to the job I just know it's not supposed to do that. So I stood there for what felt like an eternity (probably an hour or two) occasionally "helping" by glancing at the mud in the shaker. Don't worry, it stayed pretty constant.

In unrelated news, I forgot to mention I went to buy books the other day to read during the waiting parts and I treated myself to the Pioneer Woman cookbook. Great life choice. I already made the pancakes (Emily, you introduced me to them and PW herself, I thank you from the bottom of my heart) and they were spectacular! I'm sad that I am ill equipped to make much of anything in it just now but I'm stoked to get it home to my kitchen and whip up some amazing stuff. Get ready friends and family, I may try to feed you. Go with it--she's amazing and so is her food.

And so it begins...

My first job!!! I got a call yesterday at 5:15 that I had a 6pm yard time (I was informed later that no matter what they tell you your yard time is, you have an hour from their call so I overachieved by being there on time). I showed up and waited around for everyone to get there and do their pre-trip prep. I was assigned to Kevin, a young operator who apparently keeps getting the interns. We drove to the site in the 18 wheeler that brought the dry cement. I've been loading these trucks with the bulk plant so it was nice to have that pinch of familiarity. Kevin walked me through his pre-trip checklist, making me idle up the truck, and start the compressors to check for leaks in our tanks. Kevin is pretty knowledgeable and he was good at explaining things. Also on our ride was Shawn, the engineer, Jay the other operator and music guru (played music trivia via CB radio and he knows it all!) and the other green hat guy who's name I think was Daniel. (By the way, in case I forgot to mention this earlier, green hats are literal and they signify the new people. It makes us easy to look out for. Once you are hired on by the company and/or go to your first school you graduate to a white hard hat like everyone else.)

We drove out to the site and did a surface job which is just what it sounds like--we cemented casing for a shallow well. Sometimes it's just the first part of the well and it will go deeper after the cement sets but in our area most everything is shallow and horizontal so I think this may be it for this well. Because this was a very small rig (basically a rig truck and air drilling which I didn't know existed) this was an easier, shorter job. Rig up took about 10 minutes and the cementing took about half an hour. We arrived on site at 9:30 or so but they hadn't finished drilling and so we waited for them to finish and set the casing which took until 1:30. Hurry up and wait. We napped in the truck (as best we could...the front seat is not as comfortable as you might think and I slept in that morning so I only caught maybe 2 hours) until they finished. We worked until right about 5 am which is as early as we are allowed to drive. Our convenient finish time meant we got on the road without napping first. Kevin slept well in the bed in our cab so he was fine to drive, I, however was essentially catatonic and passed out not long into our drive. They made fun of me. "Puppy, here fell asleep" and "How's red doin' back there" over the CB radio...at least that's what I heard of it through my coma.

The job went as planned and I got to help the other green hat guy connect hose and tear down iron (the pipes that carry cement). I also played the nurse role and fetched them the tools they needed ("Scalpel!" "Wrench!" "Hammer!") I got plenty dirty carrying and lifting hoses and other such things. I think I did ok. At least I wasn't in anyone's way.