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

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.

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...

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.

Frac Approaches

I have been spelling it wrong I think. I believe I should have stopped at the c (frac seems to be how everyone abbreviates it). Oh well... I'll press on.

Today we were supposed to have the morning with Reggie but he didn't have much to work on so we cleaned trucks early and helped him when we were done. We watched him test a truck and fix it and test it again. Actually we went to lunch in there (Taco Bueno which is my new favorite!). After lunch we also got Reggie to explain to us all the frac trucks and the basic set up of a frac job. That was our task for the afternoon--figuring out all the trucks in the yard (name and purpose). We also went through the coil tubing trucks with Eric (a coil tubing guy obviously). We're saving cement for tomorrow because we kinda know it already and tomorrow we have to diagram a job anyway.

Because it was a slow morning and we worked ahead we got to leave at 3:30. This meant we were home during daylight and we went to the POOL! I have been swimming precisely twice this summer which is horrifying considering my history with aquatic activity. it was a much needed swim. To top it off we ate Pioneer Woman pancakes again. Those things can change lives. For serious they are amazing. PW, I love you. After we ate pancakes (from heaven) we went to see Inception. Spoiler alert: It's AWESOME. Ok kidding about the spoiler part but not kidding about the awesome. (Dad, you would like it a lot. Go see it please. I'm sure it will come to Francie eventually. Do it. ) And the best part? I put on REAL CLOTHES for this. We're talking, JEANS, and NOT A T-SHIRT. I even wore MASCARA! Big night on the town! I haven't worn mascara in...weeks. I wear almost exclusively athletic shorts and t-shirts (don't even talk to me about a real bra...). Getting really dressed was kind of amazing in itself. Listen to me... I'm going slowly crazy.

Tomorrow we get to diagram the cement job and make sure we know about the cement trucks (that we already know so intimately... sleeping in them will do that). This shouldn't take long so we're going to treat ourselves to sleeping in and going in a little later than 7 and we're thinking we'll be out early again as well. Not sure what we'll do with our extra time but I'm sure we'll try to make the most of it. Frac starting Sunday is like a mini death sentence--you have two days to live and then... they own you. But it's only for a week and if this internship is teaching me anything, it's that I can go with the flow and tough it out for a week. Wish me luck!

We interns are cursed

Day two in the shop makes me think we interns have some kind of hex on us, at least when we're in the yard. At least me. We got split up today and I worked with Matt on rebuilding a slinger (the thing that mixes the sand and water for frack jobs) and NOTHING went the way it was supposed to. First of all people needed the crane so we sat around waiting for it for most of the day. Secondly, when we got things taken apart we had to take about another one to trade the sand plates. When we did, the water plate didn't match up with the new sand plate which has never happened before in the shop. Literally everyone was stumped by this. Once we got ANOTHER water plate and put it on, the reworked bottom and middle parts didn't fit together correctly. What should have taken an hour or an hour and a half took ALL DAY LONG and wasn't even done at the end of the day because it had to be torn down, scrapped out and re-done by the night shift. Matt was ticked. Fortunately I still learned a ton about slingers and in spite of the troubles I think I could probably rework one if I had to (under close supervision of course...). I know the difference between a road-side and a curb-side slinger (the direction of rotation of the water...and how that slurry will get to it's next destination on the truck due to it's orientation) and I know that you never re-use a slinger bolt or the bolts that connect the plates. I also know that the top, middle, and bottom parts of the slinger can be re-worked once and then they have to be scrapped. I told him I am nothing if not a good listener.

I realize I haven't put up pictures in a while so let's have a moment to go back and appreciate some of my past adventures as well as some more current ones, in photos...

The bulk plant team!

My first job! A surface (cement) job on a VERY small well. Shawn's crew--you'll note that I rode to the site in the truck with the tanks (at right) and the other truck mixes and pumps the cement (rear of said truck at left). Shawn's pick-up monitors it all!

I don't know why but it refuses to let me delete this duplicate photo of Shawn... sorry.

Shawn (unaware I am photographing him) as the cement is pumped. In the background, Jay the pump operator makes the magic happen.

My bed for my first two jobs... yep... the cab.

This is Kevin on my second job. He's fun. Not a fan of the camera but he's fun.

On that second job we found a HUGE bug. A bug of EPIC PROPORTIONS!!! Orange glove for reference and Anjelica in the background for added drama.

That's a slinger...kind of. It's 1/2 taken apart. The things that look like giant mints are the water plates. The white (new) one is bolted to the sand plate.

This is Matt... he's attaching the water plate. He's a little frustrated by now.

This is Adam putting the middle and bottom parts together...or trying. They don't fit. He's irritated because he's not the first to try and it still isn't working.

That's the silicone job I did... lots of silicone! I was told to "annihilate" that thing with the caulking gun. Mission accomplished.

Today I was a mechanic!

Today was an eleven hour work day as a mechanic. I know you're getting jealous but hold on there sport, we spent most of our day standing around. Pretty par for the course this summer. Our number one responsibility is to learn so that means watch people do stuff and hope they let you help. Luckily today the standing around was due to the fact that we were waiting on people to get us stuff we needed. We actually got to be fairly useful. We were under the "watchful" eye of Chris today with some aid from (mouthy) Adam. Chris, it turns out, isn't even old enough to legally consume alcohol (that you can't buy in Conway) but Adam likes him anyway. Adam has been reported to the ethics hotline and written up some 19 (I think) times since January for improper conduct (saying offensive or sexual things). Granted most of the time people know him and know that he's kidding but sometimes new people hear him say things and take him seriously. They seem like alright guys. ANYWAY....

Today we helped rebuild a C pump and after lunch we took out and replaced the bearings (NOT ball bearings) in a power end (the part of the pump truck that helps create pressure...it's like the engine of the pump...that's as best as I can describe it considering how I understand it). C pumps usually go down because the rubber rings in them need to be replaced so that's really all that is involved in fixing them. It didn't take long. From 1 to 6:30 we dealt with the bearings. These bearings are just sort of cuff things that fit around the drive shaft parts and create a smooth surface for them. You have to get in there and unbolt the things that go around them and it's very greasy in there. Also have to sand the drive shaft part some to make sure that it's completely smooth. Friction is the enemy. Once you've taken all of this stuff apart, the fun begins when you have to try to put it back together. It's very greasy. Also in case you've never looked inside a power end, the grease in those things is not only plentiful but it reeks. Seriously. It's bad. Like make you think about vomiting bad. At least I think so.

Tomorrow is another day in the shop but not sure who they'll have "teach" us tomorrow since Chris is going to be on days off. Maybe Adam... or someone new. We shall see. Thursday we work with a guy who takes care of the iron. Not sure what that will mean for us but again, we shall see.

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.