Not dead yet!

So I know I don't ever update and that makes Mom sad (sorry Mom) but I honestly spend most of my time being busy with REALLY boring things (read: Simulation). Since last I wrote not a whole lot of new and exciting things have happened...

This past weekend was homecoming and we had a home football game. Naturally that's the weekend we chose to do our IIE tailgate (IIE==Institute of Industrial Engineers...our professional society. I'm the Chapter Developement co-chair this year...). I was in charge of this event. Our president kept bugging me about if she could help (she didn't really want to but she had to look supportive) and honestly I didn't have much to delegate. Everything was gangbusters (what the heck are those anyway?) up until the morning of (we made breakfast burritos the night before and I rounded up all the stuff we'd need and had it staged in my living-room ready for pick-up promptly at 7:30 the next day!).

The morning of rolls around and Aaron overslept (the kid who was providing the vehicle and the ride for me and all my stuff). Not a huge deal but I realize I can't find the parking permit. Shoot. Well we finally get up there with 10 minutes to spare before this thing is supposed to kick off. Not bad. But we go to the gate to explain our parking pass issue and they give us the runaround for 25 minutes about not being on "the list" before finally admitting that there is no list and we never stood a chance. Buttholes. Whatever. We're late and we're not where we're supposed to be but we'll make it work. No one will die at this point.

We get over to the student lot and set up and get our crock pots going (to heat our breakfast burritos) only to find out that the emergency batteries (to jump your car) we brought can't handle the amperage (or voltage I can't recall how it works exactly) required to run a crock pot (who knew those things were such power sucks...) for more than 15 seconds. It's finally clear that this will NOT work so we have punted at this point and have Aaron's girlfriend Erin (yea...I know...) calling her sister to get a grill. God bless Erin and her sister because they provided us a way to serve our stupid (and yet quite tasty) breakfast burritos. Love her.

So at this point it's like 1/2 way through the event and things are finally good. Better late than never.

I get into the football game with all my IE's and Jordan (who acquired her dad's parking permit) tells me she just found the permit that started all this...in her pocket. Damn. Well no use crying over spilled milk I guess...

That night was "Halloween" (the "" are because it's really the day before but since it's a Saturday it counts). I was a "White Lie" (dressed in white with little notes on myself that said things like "You're a good dancer" and "He'll realize it was a mistake to dump you! He'll be back!") and I went out with Kyle a Capone era gangster. I saw Ed "Professor Plum" Zuiss, Brant "Mayhem" (from the Allstate commercials) Roney, Jordan "Bever" Bever, and also ran into a "Ceiling Fan" (white t-shirt with "Go Ceiling!" and "Ceiling is #1" written on it), and several Chilean Miners--one mid rescue (complete with the hoisting cage thing...)! It was a good night out. I bonded with "Ceiling Fan" guy over the difficulty people had at figuring us out. I got his without help but I didn't have anyone get me... Ha!

As for the rest of my life... well it's back to the grind this week. I made some drawings in my notes today in class (I take notes in OneNote and this class is BORING...so naturally playing with the "Draw" options is necessary.)

Yep...these are it. I know you're impressed.

SIM is about to rear it's ugly head once more... so I'll be gone a while. But this weekend Kate will be visiting to play Rugby and I just found out that Thursday I'll see the rest of the fam as they travel to watch Al try out for some sweet volleyball teams. Go girlfriend! I shall be persevering through the week with those bright spots as my guiding lights! :) Sometimes I wax poetic (wax? what does that mean... where did that come from...? Whatever... I didn't make it up).

See you...when I see you!

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 news as of late

I have had what I thought was some ornery allergies for about two weeks now and it's just getting to the point where I'm tired of trying to ride it out. I want off this ride immediately. I'm going to Lafene this afternoon for a consult to see if we can nip this thing in the bud. Here's hopin'.

I'm writing to you dear reader (Mom) from the OR 1 exam that I am proctoring today. Mom, you must give several tests a month between all the subjects you teach; you must get a lot done while those kiddies are sweating away over their spelling words. This is really boring because I didn't come prepared with anything to occupy me so I'm aimlessly surfing the internet. And writing about it. On the upside Dr. Wu paid for my lunch for springing this on me last minute and let Robbie come along (but since we have to be quiet this doesn't do me much good in the entertainment department).

Also, Mom, you would be so proud of me. I played softball last night with Stacey's fiance's team (because they needed some more ladies to fill out the roster) and I was actually kind of a productive person! I played catcher which people always say is good for someone who doesn't really know anything. I have always thought that it seemed like a scary place to stand--next to someone swinging a metal stick while someone throws a "soft" (not soft at all) ball at you. But I did ok. I got less scared each inning and by the end only a couple rolled by me. This is quite the feat for me. I also hit the ball every time I was at bat. Not well but I got to first base and since I was immediately before the slugger of the team that meant I made it home all but once (he made me go on LONG sprints...). Anyway I'm sort of beaming with pride at having been helpful.

Oh and I made that chicken taco pizza on Saturday. I shared it with Robbie and Ed and they both tell me it was pretty tasty (I thought so too but I can't taste anything really with these "allergies" so I rely on others to confirm). Here's how it goes:

Crust dough: Go to thepioneerwoman.com and find the pizza dough recipe. Make it (at least a day in advance)

Make some chicken. I used two frozen chicken breasts, thawed and marinaded for about 30 minutes in some tequila and lime juice (the kind in the plastic lime)--about a shot of each I'm estimating... Then I just put it in a skillet until it was cooked. Nothing fancy. I had to add a little lime juice in the middle because things were looking a little dry. Do what you want.

Once you have the dough spread out, spoon on

3/4 (ish) of a can of sauce (I used a spicy tomato sauce I found in the Mexican food isle of Dillons. Robbie would have went with salsa. Do what you think is right.)

3/4 (ish) of a can of black beans

1 med-small green pepper (or a large on if you really like green peppers...or none if you don't)

1/2 a small onion (again if you really love onion do more...or leave it out...whatever)

2 frozen chicken breasts, shredded up (or cubed if you like it that way I guess)

1 bag of Mexian cheese (you can do it P-Hut style and put 1/2 the cheese on under the veggies and 1/2 of it on top of the chicken... if you want) unless you really love cheese then you can put more.

Clearly pizza leaves a lot of room for interpretation so go with your gut. Mine was good but I'll probably change it up a bit next time just to keep things interesting.

Nothing else has really happened since I last touched base (we are ignoring the Nebraska massacre of Thursday because it is too painful to recount). We SIM happened but no one wants to hear about that.

So in closing, I'd like to offer a special shout out to my parents, Ed and Anita. On this day in 1986(if I did the math right) they tied the knot-- Happy Anniversary! I hope you get to do something fun! Love you guys!

Behold!

I know you're asking yourself: "Self? What IS that?" The answer, dear reader (Mom), is Bubble Tea! It's a little weird but in all the right ways... Mine (left) is taro root with black tea (also milk and tapioca pearls--the black things at the bottom) and Ed's (right) is red bean with black tea (and milk and tapioca pearls). Mine tasted like cookies & cream to be honest which isn't what you'd think looking at this purple-y drink. It was yummy to be sure. Ed and I went to get these at the Chinese Grocery that opened up in Aggieville recently. It was a fun little field trip/experiment that we plan on repeating. there were plenty of nifty food items (none of whose labels were in English) and even a box of fresh (alive on Tuesday) crabs! It was a magical journey and I found things that one day I'll need to buy when I get ambitious and try to make fun Asian food that I like. Who knows when that will actually be...

Also before our field trip, I made Ed and I PW's favorite pizza: eggplant and tomato (produce courtesy of the farmer's market...mmmm)! It was pretty good but I think I have a few tweaks for next time planned. I still have 1/2 the dough I made (don't be impressed, it's SUPER easy) so I get to make my experimental pizza soon. I decided on chicken taco pizza. I'll let you know how it goes (and if it's good how to make it yourself!).

All in all it's been a really good food day. :)

Windy City Love Song

So when I last left you, dear reader (Mom), we were on our way to Gino's East. It was amazing. After Gino's, Taberie, myself, and the boys went to go find Coyote Ugly. Bad news is, it's been closed for at least a year. Good news is, it was located right next to a couple other clubs. People, my lady bits were far too covered for me to have been there (in my Sperry's and Cardigan to boot!) and paying $9 for a drink just made it all the more... uh... special. Let's go with that.

Friday we spent most of our day at the trade show. Good times. It was a lot of walking and my normally comfy dress shoes wore a blister in my heel. Irritating. Saw lots of neat stuff (mostly reruns from last time but still worth looking at) and had fun running around with the other K-Staters. After we finished up there we headed down to the US Cellular Stadium for a Sox game. We didn't get to see a win but it was lots of fun and we got a free hat for 1/2 way to St. Patty's day (I love that Chicago celebrates 1/2 St. Patty's day). After the game we grabbed some beverages from the 7 Eleven across from the hotel and just enjoyed our own cheap company for the evening.

This morning we got up and headed up north to Murphy's Bleachers to watch the ISU game with the other K-Staters living in Chicago. It was a great time and as always we ate too much. It was a long ride home on the El (I have no idea how I'm supposed to spell that but whatever... it's short for elevated I think) feeling so stuffed but after a win for the Cats (again!) I can't complain. After we got back we took a long scenic (we stopped in Millennium Park!) walk over to the Sears (Ok Willis but no one calls it that) Tower to see the view. We got to stand in the new glass boxes that hang over the edge and take artsy pictures of each other and the Chicago skyline. Good times. Afterward we went to go stuff ourselves at Hackney's and we ended dinner by deciding to walk back home after all (we needed the exercise bad) and we got to see the crazy sculpture that looks like a baboon. I'll put up a picture later...

Tomorrow we depart at 10 to head back home. The highlight will likely be the World's Largest Truck Stop in Iowa. I missed it on the way up in favor of not getting out because I was sleeping. Judge me if you want but those 3 hours brought me to almost 8 and I survived the rest of the day because of it! It's gonna be a long day.

Pictures of the trip will get put up...when they get put up. This week SIM is due so it may be ill advised to hold your breath. It'll happen though.

Holy AWOL Batman

So I've been effectively ignoring this sucker for a while. My bad. It's not like I have such a whirlwind lifestyle that I can't update, in fact it's more the opposite. I am doing nothing worth talking about and then when I do I am busy doing that thing and can't tell you about it. I also usually forget to tell any good stories after the fact. Blogging may not be my calling...

Things I think that might be worth mentioning (sorry if I'm wrong):

Robbie got an office... mine! We are now office mates! It's gonna be awesome. By awesome I mean we'll get nothing done. Oh well. It'll be fun.

I learned a new recipe: eggplant bruschetta... it's amazing. Like life changing. I had never really eaten much eggplant so I was just feeling adventurous and it turned out phenomenally. If you want to have your life changed please see one of my new fave food blogs: smittenkitchen.com specifically http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/08/eggplant-salad-toasts/print/ . Hang on to your butts people. It's gonna blow your mind. Also see http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/11/mustard-roasted-potatoes/ if there's anything left of your brain... these will polish it off.

I visited Kyle at the end of August for a wedding and I have now been to Power and Light! It's pretty fun... basically an upscale version of Aggieville. Good times.

This past weekend we put a tally in the win column for the Wildcats... always a good time. I had forgotten how much I missed gameday... tailgating before hand, standing in the sun while I get burnt to a crisp, cheering for the cats and telling the refs how to do their job... ahh... so glad it's fall again.

Last night we went to watch Fiddler on the Roof...on the roof of Fiedler Hall. Yea. I know. A laptop, a projector, and 70 ft. of extension cord require an epic venue. Mission accomplished.

So all in all it's been a semi-eventful couple weeks. Hope you don't feel cheated by not getting this info live. Trust me...it wouldn't have been much more interesting in multiple installments.

Gone Rogue

So I've been AWOL for a while again... sorry about that. I've been enjoying what summer vacation I get. Kyle visited me in Manhattan when I got back which meant I didn't sit down and type up anything. I then journeyed to exotic St. Francis (SFKS as I've been known to call it...) where I have hunkered into the buttery soft leather couches my parents put in our living room and realized I left my laptop cord in Manhattan so blogging has stayed by the wayside. Woops.

Manhattan is LOVELY... I just missed it SO MUCH! Kyle and I visited his friends...in Aggieville, and Pillsbury Crossing (I've never been so I can cross that one of the ol' bucket list). We also went and saw The Expendables (because as girlfriends go I am fantastic) which was pretty good (Kyle might have LOVED it) and saw Kate and Dad on their way to (and from) Atchison. All in all it was a pretty stellar weekend.

I came home Sunday (sans laptop cord) to hang out with the fam and meet our new dog Jackson (who we call Jack, naturally) who happens to be the cutest, most awkward dog ever. I love him already. The family is pretty busy living their lives so I sleep in and bond with the couch but I do get some face time with Aly...by visiting her at work. She's across the street at the "St. Francis Aquatic Park" (if you want to see the reason behind the sarcastic quotes, I'll show you on google street view why it's so ironic) where I used to "work" (best gig ever). I've tuned up my "tan" and even reconfirmed that I can still do a "one and a half" off the diving board (kind of... I think I may bruise a little from my less than graceful entry).

Last night we also went to dinner at Big Ed's just because I requested it (my family loves me...and steak). Tonight I made them Pioneer Woman pancakes so I think we're about even. On tomorrow's agenda is mani/pedi's for Aly and I (a late birthday present...) and then I think I may head back east. Mom's trying to talk me out of it (which I respect) but I have stuff to do in MHK so it's anyone's battle at this point. We'll see.

For now I close with this: I have been told that this blog shouldn't die with my internship ending. Should I chose to keep this up, a problem arises: what do I call this after I'm not having intern adventures? I'll probably keep the URL (to make my life easy) but the title should probably get a facelift. I'll be thinking on this as you should be dear reader(s?). If you have any wicked ideas please feel free to post them in the comments section and help a sister out. I can only be so creative on my own.

Peace, Love, and Chicken Grease, Sam

That's a rap!

I am still alive. THE interns kind of own your life when they get together so I have been AWOL and I apologize. Here's the low down on our wrap up:

Monday we all presented our summer experiences and projects. I started the day off right by getting on the wrong shuttle with Chris and Donald and going to the training center instead of the office. Don't worry we got the shuttle driver to come back for us and take us but he didn't know where. Fortunately we had a dream combination of people in this predicament--Donald knew the address, Chris had an iPhone, and I was willing to talk to the driver in broken English. We got there which is the point. Luckily in spite of that start, mine went really well--I was the last of the Conway kids to go and we all had basically the same experience so I was pretty sure that people were going to be clawing their eyes out by the time it was my turn but on the contrary they seemed to enjoy my take on things.

That evening was dinner out on the company tab and this meant free food AND free margaritas. Love this. It was a great knight, hanging out with my new people and eating AMAZING Mexican food. Nirvana I tell you. Afterward we just went back to the Double Tree to hang out and drink some more in various rooms. We just wanted to hang out together... Awwww.

Tuesday we had to get up (in spite of some of us having had epic nights...not me but...well we'll leave them nameless) for exit interviews. Again mine seemed fine. It was over fairly early so us girls went to our free lunch and then decided to go shopping. Cute dresses had by all (well nearly all anyway). After shopping we collected a bit of sun at the pool before dinner at...get ready...The Hobbit Cafe. Yep. It was Hobbit themed. I had blackened fish tacos which were AMAZING and we also all had a seasonal German beer they had... it was dark and serious...like a beer smoothie. Also AMAZING. We wrapped that night by again knocking back a few at the good ol' Double Tree with all our new besties. Good times. Until people started trickling out and we had to say goodbye. It wasn't quite tearful but it was sad for sure. Crazy how much you can get attached to and miss people you only met a couple months ago. Le sigh.

I spent the whole day Wednesday driving to Wichita in convoy with Eric. It was a long day... but we made it to Justin and Kevin's and enjoyed the company in spite of the fact that the air conditioning was on the fritz and we all dearly died of heat stroke. I bandaged the wound by making PW pancakes (obviously) for all of us this morning. I rock.

I made it back to Manhattan today and I promptly went to lunch with Emily, Susan and Bre. The Palace knows how to throw down a pizza. God bless them. This afternoon Emily and I went to the new city pool (aquatic park/wonderland) and worked on our tans. Or freckles. Whatever. We capped off the day by eating La Fiesta... I enjoyed a healthy sized margarita. I seem to have missed enjoying a good bev on this dry summer...

Now I sit here amidst my stuff (I am a little appalled that I have THIS MUCH STUFF!) procrastinating putting it all away by writing this. I thought about continuing this to included the things I learned this summer, the best memories, the this I may miss or not miss... but then I realized that Kyle will be here tomorrow and my room makes me look like a hobo so I need to just suck it up and save all that mushy stuff for another day.

Coming soon: Lessons learned in the oil field, Things I'll miss about Conway, Things I won't miss, and a Greatest hits list of memories. Look alive.

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 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.

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.

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.

Cement testing and gelling water...

Today was our first day in the lab. What does a oil extraction services provider do with a lab you ask? They design and test cement mixes as well as frack job fluids. They do this all in the comfort of an air-conditioned trailer. Needless to say, I like the lab. We got to run rheology tests for cement mixtures that were going out on jobs and we also got to help test a water to gel mix and the corresponding breaker. I'm probably not using all the right terms here but who'll check me on it? After lunch we also watched the USA soccer match on Mark's phone while he mixed test slurry. He's into soccer so it was fun to talk to him about it. Lunch was amazing by the way; La Fuerta (sp?) is the Conway version of La Fiesta. So tasty!

We'll spend a couple more days in the lab before we move out to the bulk plant where Nick has been working and sweating is (you know) off. You haul, open and mix bags of cement and additives to make the mixtures designed and tested by Mark in the lab. It will be heavy manual labor in the sun and humidity so I'm trying to soak up the AC while I got it.

As for last night's festivities at Chris's (who had a birthday yesterday), it was fun. The nice thing about working here is that everyone's really friendly and they like to hang out with each other...probably because their schedules don't really promote out of company friends...but I digress. They invited us lowly interns on the spot and they were happy to have us. It was good times!

Oh I'd also like to add a note about the effects of the gulf incident (sorry I haven't done more of this, Bre, but I don't know what to tell you):

The company will likely cut their recruiting efforts drastically for the coming year because their policy is not to fire people if the need in their district wanes (or is eliminated by other means) but to relocate them to where they are needed. All the displaced workers are going to be filling the positions that open up around other parts of the country and so they won't need to hire new greenhorns for those positions. This has been the first few days since starting work that I haven't heard something about BP or the oil spill or "the situation in the gulf." It's a hot topic.

Mom, I know I just told you all of this but now it's properly documented in case you forget about it. It was good to talk to you tonight!

Stay tuned for the next installment of Intern Sam and the Oilfield Diaries.

Heel, toe, dosey doe!

Last night we went to Caravan Cattle Company, a line dancing bar in Tulsa. It was amazing. We had so much fun watching everyone two step and swing their partner round and round and we even participated in most of the line dance numbers. We also tried our hand at two step and though not many of us had really done it before we held our own (or at least didn't cause any major pile ups as we did our laps around the floor). We rounded up two cars worth of people to go so we had a good time watching each other as we mingled with the local folks. So much fun. I don't know why I quit going to the country bar in Aggieville... two steppin' is where it's at!

Jennifer, Shawna, Anjelica, Kevin, Leslie, and Rifaah--livin' the dream at Caravan Cattle Co.

Never take your friends shopping...

Yesterday was...boring. We spent the morning presenting our findings on wind energy knowing that the oil/gas team was going to slay us. Good news is, when you put me in a corner I come out swinging. We did a good job and our class was reasonable and since our moderator didn't insist on sticking to the unanimous decision (or any well defined decision for that matter) we never officially lost. We spent the afternoon in a "round table" and doing "one on one interviews" which translates into we spend a good three hours just sitting in our classroom sporcle-ing and napping.

We came home and I got a nap in before making shake-and-pour pancakes for Jennifer and I. Those things are tastier than they sound. We then spent time trying to round people up for a night at the Dusty Dog. We got several people interested and were going to be on our way when we were informed we had to wait for birthday cake in honor of Eric's 21st. Once we all made it to the Dog there was some drama over people not quite as old as Eric (was going to be in 30 minutes from when they ousted him). Finally everything was fine and we had a grand time buying him drinks and carousing with the middle-aged clientèle of the establishment. Things were great until we went to go home and some guy had parked literally touching my car. Good news was he somehow managed to touch it but not put any kind of dent in it. The "mark" was deemed so slight that we could buff it out with some turtle wax which Kevin helped me purchase this morning. That is on tomorrow's agenda. Special shout-out to Kevin for being the ringmaster of our little drunk circus and being a super sport about everything including dealing with the guy who can't park his car.

Today was shopping with the girls. It was deadly. When you take your friends shopping they can help you justify every purchase you consider. I finally have a swimsuit (which I needed because it's HOT as all get out here) but I also have a couple of skirts, two shirts, a pair of sandals and a new set of Sperry's (those were on sale and I've always wanted them and I assure you I thought that one through thoroughly and the fact that Kayla and Jennifer were also buying Sperry's had NOTHING to do with that choice). We also went for cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory. Amazing as you would imagine. I can now personally recommend the White Chocolate Carmel Macadamia Nut Cheesecake. It may have changed my life.

The plan for tonight is line dancing. We were going to go to a rodeo but found out we missed the boat by a day. But for those of us who want a good "midwestern" experience, line dancing is the next best thing. I'm pretty excited about it. I need a reason to wear my new clothes anyway...

TGIF and Weekend!

Friday we got lucky and got to leave the training center early! We spent the day learning to lift things safely and use stairs properly. We also wore drunk goggles to play catch and rode "The Convincer"--an apparatus that simulates a 4-5 mph crash into a brick wall. I did not actually ride it because it looked VERY unpleasant and since I already wear my seat belt and was convinced by watching alone, I opted out. One girl is sore today for it so I'm glad I passed.

When we got home I promptly took a much needed nap. After napping we made a WalMart run (I needed a geek string for my safety glasses--don't judge) and and then joined the intern bar-b-que. Much booze was consumed by most of the interns and shenanigans ensued. There were water balloons and super soakers and people being shoved into the pool. I avoided that bit but it was fun to watch. After a while a group of us decided to go on a little exploratory mission to a little dive "piano bar" down the road called The Dusty Dog. Let me tell you people, it was a winner. The clientele may have been largely middle aged but the group of us girls loved it anyway. Sometimes you need to have girl talk and the Dusty Dog proved to be a good place for "all the single ladies" to pow wow. Good times! We made it back in time to see the remaining shenanigans and have a few heart to hearts with the remaining drunks. Again good times.

This morning, several of us ladies went to get pedicures. We're thinking that when we are in the middle of our month long camping trip style internship, we will look down and what remains of our pedi's and think to ourselves, "oh I remember when I used to be girly and take regular showers and have access to a bathroom...*sigh*" Afterward we went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch soccer with a BUNCH of fellow interns. It's nice because in spite of the little clusters that form we still hang out together in large hordes now and then. In case you don't know the game was USA vs. England and it was a tie at 1-1. I don't really follow soccer but it was fun to hang out and pretend I knew what was going on. I sat next to Donald (Rap Master D) and he was less a fan. Very irritated by the tie. He's accustomed to hockey which affords more violence and harsher penalties. He's hilarious when he's griping about stuff.

After the game we fulfilled a dream of Jennifer's; we went to the circus! It was magical. Aislinn, Kevin, and Jennifer had never been to the circus and Kayla and I were happy to take them. There were elephants and tigers and zebras as well as the standard horses and dogs. Acrobats and tightrope walkers (who made Kevin very nervous) and all the usual circus fodder were in attendance. We also got to see two women simultaneously fired from a double barrel cannon. Spectacular. We acted like five-year-olds and got Dippin' Dots at intermission (Mom, I know they're ridiculously over priced but I wanted them and I'm a big girl now so I got them. They were delicious) and screamed and clapped with the best of them. A dream come true.

Post circus, we went to dinner and then I did laundry. A bunch of people are going "clubbing" but it's the intense people and I know I can't hang with them. Several others are boozing in the pool now and let's be honest, I can't ride with them either. Forrest-Gump-Peter is drinking enough to kill a moose and I anticipate him doing serious damage either to himself or the Stratford Palace Kingdom. The boys are gross and keep peeing in the pool so again... there's no real draw for me to stay. Instead I'm lounging at Jennifer's watching The Holiday and blogging for you my loyal readers (Mom, Scarlett, and well... possibly Jennifer).

Tomorrow should be pretty low key also, including Mass and general lounging. If anything else exciting happens I'll try to let you know.