I really didn't think that I would be able to find as many things to blog about that I have. My night hand woke me up last night and told me I may want to move my truck because of some hose blowing up. I looked out the window and nothing was on fire or anything and the Directional Driller said that nothing was going to endanger my life so I just went back to sleep. I woke up this morning to find that my truck was covered in drilling mud. Apparently the chemicals that they use for the mud is not great for auto paint, and that is why they were trying to get me up to move my truck last night. Luckily there was a lot of fog last night and it kept my truck wet, so it didn't ruin my paint. I told the DD i was going to go to the car wash and pressure wash my truck off. I hopped in my truck and one of the worms or trainees on the rig asked me if I wanted him to wash my truck. I told him I would just go to the car wash, but he insisted on washing my truck. So, instead of spending about $5 in quarters and no telling how long, probably at least 15 minutes, I let this worm wash my truck. And he washed it good! He washed under my windshield wipers, and cleaned my wheels. He even cleaned the pair of tennis shoes that I had back there! I offered to give the guy a five dollar bill, but he told me no, because he had already washed 2 other trucks, and it got him out of doing some dirty work that got pawned off on another rig hand. So now my truck looks better than it did before I drove onto location, but I don't expect it to last long, as drilling rigs are typically not the cleanest environments to work. We finally got back to drilling, but are only making like 6-10 feet per hour. Hopefully we can make this job last till the week before or of Christmas.
Until next time...
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
October Vacation
Our vacation that we had been waiting for months for finally came and went. It was preceded by a lovely 13 days home that I was paid for. Problems on the rig = one happy Paul. I was able to get some "honey do's" around the house done before my week off. Our vacation started out on Monday, October 24 and went through Sunday the 30th. On Monday we started our vaca by washing the dog. Then Tuesday we got up and had some fancy coffee. We packed our bags and went to the fabulous Wimberly, Texas. Dayna had booked us a room at the Cypress Creek Cottages. They were super nice. A quiet resort type place. Had a private hot tub on the porch and a trail down to the Cypress Creek, which was dry because of the drought. We took our dog down to the real Cypress Creek and he got to swim where there was some water. He chased some ducks and got to run around and let everyone tell him how cute he is. I could have gone for not taking him, but Dayna would not go for that. We went by and saw Dayna's Dad and stepmother, got to see our nieces for a while. It was a school night so we did not stay long. Then we had a nice supper at Ino'z brew and Chew. We had dinner and drinks and then went back to the cabin to enjoy the outdoors and hot tub. A couple of nights in a KING size memory foam bed, a couple of hikes in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, some fine dining and fine drinking, and a couples massage, we had done almost everything that we wanted to do.
From there we went to spend a night in Fredricksburg with Dayna's mom. Thursday night we had some drinks and kabobs. Friday we went to main street and walked. A cold front had blown in so it was really nice to get out and walk around and "window shop". So a night in Fredricksburg we were ready to hit the road again and went home. Saturday we had plans to go out drinking with friends to celebrate Halloween, but before we could do that, we had to cash in a Christmas gift from last year from my parents to Fogo de Ciao. OMG it was so good. All the meats and flavors that we got to experience. I think my favorite item of the night was not off of one of the skewers, but off of the salad bar. It was the smoked salmon. I probobaly ate a half pound of smoked salmon. It was great getting together with the family. It is a rare occasion that we all get to get together because of my job and never knowing when I am going to be home.
So after stuffing ourselves, we all went to Ben's house to get into our costumes. Luke, Jordan, Amanda(who is the only one who has a decent excuss(Prego)) and Jon decided to be lame and not go out with us. Ben dressed up as some kind of mime or clown(not really sure what he was), Mark was Buddy the Elf, a classic for him, and Dayna and I were "Beer Garden People". I don't think anyone got a pic of all of us together but I will check. We found out after eating as much as we did, it was painful to drink, and the place that we went was so crowded it took about 15 minutes just to get a beer. We met up with friends briefly and then we broke off with a smaller group and went to another little bar, maybe with some older people. We were actually able to sit at a table and get a couple of pitchers of beer. It still hurt to drink, but we had a few. Sunday was a wind down, recuperation day. We had a great vacation, and can't wait to plan another. We are thinking a cruise in March or April with our friends the Stevener's who live in North Carolina. Still in the works...
Until next time...
From there we went to spend a night in Fredricksburg with Dayna's mom. Thursday night we had some drinks and kabobs. Friday we went to main street and walked. A cold front had blown in so it was really nice to get out and walk around and "window shop". So a night in Fredricksburg we were ready to hit the road again and went home. Saturday we had plans to go out drinking with friends to celebrate Halloween, but before we could do that, we had to cash in a Christmas gift from last year from my parents to Fogo de Ciao. OMG it was so good. All the meats and flavors that we got to experience. I think my favorite item of the night was not off of one of the skewers, but off of the salad bar. It was the smoked salmon. I probobaly ate a half pound of smoked salmon. It was great getting together with the family. It is a rare occasion that we all get to get together because of my job and never knowing when I am going to be home.
So after stuffing ourselves, we all went to Ben's house to get into our costumes. Luke, Jordan, Amanda(who is the only one who has a decent excuss(Prego)) and Jon decided to be lame and not go out with us. Ben dressed up as some kind of mime or clown(not really sure what he was), Mark was Buddy the Elf, a classic for him, and Dayna and I were "Beer Garden People". I don't think anyone got a pic of all of us together but I will check. We found out after eating as much as we did, it was painful to drink, and the place that we went was so crowded it took about 15 minutes just to get a beer. We met up with friends briefly and then we broke off with a smaller group and went to another little bar, maybe with some older people. We were actually able to sit at a table and get a couple of pitchers of beer. It still hurt to drink, but we had a few. Sunday was a wind down, recuperation day. We had a great vacation, and can't wait to plan another. We are thinking a cruise in March or April with our friends the Stevener's who live in North Carolina. Still in the works...
Until next time...
First of many...
Well I thought one day I would write a book. Instead I decided to start a blog! Right now I am on a job in Beaumont Texas. I am working with a nice group of people out here. There have been some funny conversations in the days at the rig. One of them was on the subject of people quitting their jobs on the spot. There are certain people at the rig that know they can quit their job today, and be at work for another company tomorrow. There are truly some vibrant characters out here and working with them is making me a much thicker skinned person. See if you dont have thick skin and stand your ground on some subjects, you get walked all over. So I have learned to face my fear of confrentation and tell someone off when it is required. I dont have to like doing it, but I have learned how to do it. It really feels good to tell someone in so many words to back off!
This is a line of work that I am enjoying. I just passed my 1 year and 5 month mark. I have learned so much about the drilling process and politics of a drilling rig. A 12 pack of cokes will get you 5 friends who would do just about anything for you. Needless to say, I buy rig hands cokes, they basically do whatever I want. See, if they are helping me do something, it gets them out of doing something else, probably harder than what they are doing anyways.
This is my first job where I have worked days since I started. With the promotion came a slight raise and so much more responsibility. It is crazy how much I have to know to start and run a job. And to have my name as "Lead MWD" on a multi-million dollar project is just crazy for me to think about. I had 3 tool failures at the begenning of the job, but it was determined that it was not my fault, which was a relief.
I bought a wireless internet router so I am able to surf the internet and now blog, but the main reason I bought it is to FaceTime or video chat with Dayna. She has been a trooper through this whole situation of me being at the rig 75% of the time. Her job is keeping her busy, and she is loving teaching the family in Richmond that she homeschools. I will try to get her to blog on here so it can really be our blog, similar to keepingupwiththekleckleys.blogspot.com. I told my sister in law Amanda she is the one who motivated me to start a blog. It may be a hobby and it may not, but I hope I can keep whoever cares to know what is going on well informed of places I work and people I work with. I hope Dayna keeps everyone updated on what she is doing and what our animal children do. Maybe my next blog will be more organized and on one subject.
Until then...
This is a line of work that I am enjoying. I just passed my 1 year and 5 month mark. I have learned so much about the drilling process and politics of a drilling rig. A 12 pack of cokes will get you 5 friends who would do just about anything for you. Needless to say, I buy rig hands cokes, they basically do whatever I want. See, if they are helping me do something, it gets them out of doing something else, probably harder than what they are doing anyways.
This is my first job where I have worked days since I started. With the promotion came a slight raise and so much more responsibility. It is crazy how much I have to know to start and run a job. And to have my name as "Lead MWD" on a multi-million dollar project is just crazy for me to think about. I had 3 tool failures at the begenning of the job, but it was determined that it was not my fault, which was a relief.
I bought a wireless internet router so I am able to surf the internet and now blog, but the main reason I bought it is to FaceTime or video chat with Dayna. She has been a trooper through this whole situation of me being at the rig 75% of the time. Her job is keeping her busy, and she is loving teaching the family in Richmond that she homeschools. I will try to get her to blog on here so it can really be our blog, similar to keepingupwiththekleckleys.blogspot.com. I told my sister in law Amanda she is the one who motivated me to start a blog. It may be a hobby and it may not, but I hope I can keep whoever cares to know what is going on well informed of places I work and people I work with. I hope Dayna keeps everyone updated on what she is doing and what our animal children do. Maybe my next blog will be more organized and on one subject.
Until then...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)