Happy Thoughts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Bulk Plant...it is what it is..

So today we worked in the bulk plant. We had to start our day at 7 (I think lots of parts of the yard do but lab let us come in at 8...I think because the morning prep work and paper work was not intern friendly) and we finished at 6. By finished I mean they let us go because they hadn't used us for anything all afternoon and in spite of having more work to do, we were probably irritating to look at perched atop palates of additives. Anyway... We spent most of the day waiting. "Hurry up and wait" is the theme of the oil and gas world. We made several (I forget exactly how many) batches of cement for the cementing department and at the end of the day we also filled a truck with liquid nitrogen for the coil tubing department. Mixing cement means getting a recipe and dumping bags of additives into a hopper that feeds into the bulk tanks. All the additives mix with the cement from the bulk tanks and transfer to and from a couple of the empty ones a few times to get them mixed to a homogeneous blend. We just helped empty bags into the hopper.

Loading additives into the hopper. It gets messy real fast.

We also swept the shop a few times as it gets pretty dusty with all the bags being ripped open. We also helped hook the hoses to the trucks that took the cement to the jobs. That is trickier than it sounds because the hoses are heavy rubbery numbers with iron wings to screw them to things. Sometimes it takes two people to do it. I did it by myself pretty quickly once which made me feel like a beast.

Like I said, we sat around a lot today because they recently hired a bunch more guys for the bulk plant and a move to day/night shifts is imminent. There are more than enough people to get things done so the little intern girls get to watch. Because it's hot we're pretty ok with this (but it was fun to get dirty for a change...I'm sure I'll eat those words later).

Anjelica, modeling our dirty blues. Work it girl!

Today we met:

Mario--a Mexican man who's basically second in charge (in charge of us interns and the guys lifting sacks into the hopper). His English is dicey but we get the point most of the time (he uses a lot of charades). He keeps things going in order and make sure we measure things up right. He's also got mad forklift skills. Seriously he whips that thing around with such precision!

The one and only Mario. He was making fun of me by striking poses while I took pictures of other things but then this is what he gives me when I point my camera at him...

Justin--nice guy, has a couple little girls and his fiancée is working nights in the dispatch office.

Nick--also nice. An Arkansas native.

Will--very new (a week I think), nice, and learning along side of us. Receives most of Mario's life lesson style speeches about how to do things and why we do them the way we do. This means he is the cause of at least 1/2 of Mario's little dance numbers which crack us up.

Andy--He says in the air conditioned cube in the corner of the shop, running pumps and giving signals. Don't know much about him but he seems nice.

Several other guys who's names I never heard or forgot--all seem pretty nice. I think they are going easy on the only two girls in the shop. I'm only vaguely offended but the heat makes it hard to notice.

Will, Mike, and... Brandon? I hope that's his name...

The guys try to include us but at some point it's hard to do that without stalling the process and we respect that. Tomorrow I'm going to try to weasel my way into the cube to see what goes on in there. I have to try to learn something good to put in my journal. Also it's air conditioned which I don't hate.

By the way...here's the lay of the land...

That's the main building (offices, dispatch, mechanic's shop) and part of the yard. Just beyond it near those trees is parking lot. Slightly to the right...

...is the rest of the yard... lots of trucks. All large and special purpose for the most part. That's basically the yard but there are a few more trailer-y buildings behind the main office building (like the lab...).

And if you turn around in that spot... the bulk plant! Over yonder is the cube and just beyond the fork lift is the hopper. Also notice all the palates of additives for the cement we make to the left. Outside behind all this is the series of big tanks. I don't know why I neglected to photograph that... tomorrow!

Humidity is my arch nemesis...

Another day, another class. We spent the morning "learning" about coil tubing. What is coil tubing you ask? I'm not sure I can really tell you. Our instructor was an intense Colombian woman who flat out told us she wasn't going to tell us anything, just take us down to the pad and let us ask questions. She warned us we would need to ask lots of questions and really try to figure it all out because we would have to build our own coil tubing set up from little mini magnetic "LEGO" like things when we got back. Needless to say this particular intern was a bit intimidated. We tried but she gave us vague instructions about some kind of rotation plan she had and then left it up to us to figure it out. I accidentally took a couple of flash naps sitting in a roll-y chair next to the shop building while I waited my turn to go see things. She never came and we found out we were supposed to just kind of wander up and but in at some point. She seemed to have no plan. Whatever. At least it was in the AM before it got screaming hot and hella humid... oh wait....it's always kind of hot and plenty humid. Especially in that dang PPE Smurf suit.

After lunch she made us put the little models together and explain it to someone. I think our group did a passable job since we're a bunch of ignorant interns. We got back into our PPE and headed back to the shop building "down hill" (which by the way if I have not mentioned is maybe a 1/4 mile away but the walk has to be at least a 1/2 mile with the hills and winding) in the afternoon humidity to go look at fiber optics and tooling. Then we walked back "up hill" to do a coil tubing simulation. That part was also very intense because she gave us a BRIEF explanation of each of the gauges (there are like 20) and knobs (again something like 20 of them) and what things were supposed to be like and then had us "start the job"--which she promptly screwed up for us so we could trouble shoot it. Like we even know how to run the damn thing under proper conditions... anyway we got it together and didn't kill anyone (yesterday's kill count was rumored to be over 60 people due to a snapped line creating an acid shower). This lady was intense. It seemed at times she was trying to break us. I dunno...

We got back to the "Stratford Palace" (as Peter* is calling it) and promptly walked down the road a bit to the Mediterranean restaurant, Ali Baba's, for falafel sandwiches and gyros. Delicious and affordable! Jennifer and I plan to speak highly of it. We should probably get some sort of commission. Possibly free falafel?

I skipped out on the nights activity of volleyball because I took Sarah to the clinic to get her ankle looked at. No one seemed real into volleyball anyway so I don't know if it even happened. In other news I am still exhausted and plan to go to bed early again if possible. Let's hope!

*A note on Peter: He is also a Vanderbilt kid and he is so painfully southern that he sounds like Forrest Gump from time to time. Hilarious. He's also very loud so you don't have to talk to him to know about this. Jennifer assures me he is usually a "couple notches" less intense and he's just hamming it up. Either way he's really fun to eavesdrop on...