Toxicity

I'll tell you a little about camp.

There's a main road running north from Fort MacMurray for about 45 minutes before reaching a dirt road. Down that dirt road for about 45 more minutes and you hit our camp, which is called "husky sunrise". The Sunrise lease is a Husky energy thing, and we're just contracted out along with many other companies. The camp is 6 km's from the lease. The lease is an open area of land hundreds of acres wide (maybe thousands). Among road construction crews, safety companies, and excavation companies, we are the only oil rig up there.

Camp is very small, with only 100 people in it. Of that number, 10-15 of them are woman. They are either camp admin, kitchen employees, or rock truck drivers. I say that this camp is small because 10 km's away is the PTI camp, which houses 5000 people. The camp is basically a bunch of portables put together. That being said, the outside appearance makes it look lame, but inside it's actually not bad.

The camp has 3 wings of rooms, and I'm in a6. There's a rec room with pool/fooseball and satellite tv. My room is small, but it has a shared bathroom with a5, a desk, and a tv. The kitchen is fairly big, with 10-15 tables seating 6-8 each. The food is the best part of camp. All food aside from hot meals is available 24/7. There are buffet stands for each meal of the day, with hot food, and a huge salad and fruit bar. Desserts like crazy, including 32 flav's of ice cream, as well as sandwiches and any drink imaginable.

Many of the employees in the camp are there to assist our rig in some way. Their days off are all dictated by how our work is going. If we finish a well two days behind schedule, scheduled days off of other employees get pushed back. So there's some pressure on us. At the same time, we're kind of VIP's. If dinner ends at 8, and we work until 9pm, then dinner waits for us. Everyone knows my name, which is weird because I haven't been introduced to anyone besides the cooks and my own crew.

Now I'll tell you a bit about the work I'm doing.

I'm on an oil rig, but there's no oil that we deal with. In 1981 on this lease there were 50 active oil wells that were 'abandoned'. Abandoned means that a cement plug is set down the well, rendering it inactive. Some wells had more than one plug set.

New drilling is planned as part of the Husky Sunrise project. It involves steam pressure to release oil from new wells. The problem is that this steam pressure will affect the abandoned wells in the area, rupturing the cement plugs. This is where we come in. We set up our rig over each of these abandoned wells, drill through the existing cement plugs, and set new thermal cement plugs which can handle the steam pressure. Each well should take 2-7 days to complete, depending on a number of things. We got 3 wells done in 16 days, but the first was a ridiculous nightmare and took 10 days.

Husky tries to set a estimation of what each well will cost and how long completion will take. The problem is that when the wells were abandoned in 1981, little to no records were kept. Our first well was estimated at 1 plug, 3 days, 100,000$ budget. Well it became 3 plugs, 10 days, 170,000$.

We drill through plugs using super expensive drill bits. A metal drill bit is worth between 2000-10000$. In one day we wrecked like four bits trying to drill through one plug. The plugs are made of a carbide alloy, which is the third strongest material in the industry. Second strongest is ceramic, but it's too brittle and doesn't get used. The strongest is a diamond alloy, which gets into the 200,000-500,000$ range. It gets flown in with a security team when it's needed.

I'll try to outline a little about my job, but it really isn't interesting. My job is the most dangerous one on the crew, as I work directly below 6-8 high tension winch lines, a 400 lb. set of 'tongs', 200 lb. 'elevators', and a 75 ton block. 75 tons. We had a pressure change in the well once as we penetrated the plug, and I was on the rig floor. Normally on an active well this means a blowout of oil, but we we're on an inactive well. Ground water spewed out of the well though, and I got soaked in gross smelling water. I spend my time either on the rig floor either putting pipe into the well, or pulling it out. The plugs are set 200-500 meters deep (which is shallow in this industry), and the lengths of pipe are 9 meters long. When I'm off the floor I have two basic jobs. If something moves, grease it. If it doesn't, then scrub it clean. Woot.

This is getting long. I'll probably post before I go back. Have a good holiday weekend.

'Don't drink the water...'

Crushcrushcrush

Back in Edm.

I'm off for a few days, so I'm down in Edmonton at Dusty's. Dusty is such an awesome guy. He'd let me stay at his place indefinitely without asking for a thing. I think that is one part of me coming to Alberta that I really lucked out on. Back to work in a few days, and it's a 7 hour drive with four other guys in a pickup truck. Guess who rides bitch?!

Anyway, I was really happy to be paid for the first time last night. I can now settle all my debts and pay for a few things I need, and some that I want. I bussed to West Edmonton Mall today and bought shorts, a phone, and a book.

I'll probably update more later, but I only have a short time on here right now. I want to sort of explain what camp is like in a little bit of detail, but I really don't want to think about that right now.

My hands are incredibly sore. I can't explain the pain. Turning a 36 inch wrench for many hours a day get the muscles going in my hand. My thumbs are so swollen that I can't touch my thumb to my pinkie.

Here is part of what I do in a day: http://youtube.com/watch?v=uKBkJg3m-ig

Thanks for reading.

'And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass'

We Never Change

I have a few minutes online, so this won't be long.

I'm up in camp a few hours north of fort Macmurray in a place called fort Mackay. The sun comes up at 2:30am. It's pretty far north. The good news about that is the northern allowance that bags me 2$ per hour just for being here. Ship it.

It took me a week to get used to camp life, and I'm still adjusting to working on an oil rig. Half the day at work is super slow and I have nothing to do, and the other half is so fast that I can't keep up. But I'm adapting pretty well, even though I would say that camp life and work both really suck.

What else? Umm, well I guess that before I came to Alberta, I had worked less than 40 hours since last august. My first week on the rig banked 82 hours, and the paychecks will have around 150-160 hours. 88 at 26.90$, and the remainder at 39.90$. Wowza.

I get a few days off around canada day, but I don't have time to fly home. Pretty lame. So I'll be back in Edmonton, and I'm gonna sleep the whole time. Then on the 2nd it's another 24 days on, and I'll be back July 27th-ish. I'm looking forward to that day.

I don't really know the feeling of how much money I'm making, because everything is free in camp, and I haven't been paid yet. But it's a really nice feeling to be banking everything with next to no expenses. I will be a balla. I will be a balla. I will be a balla. Lol.

That's all. Check in periodically. I miss home, and my friends.

For All The Cows

In Alberta, and not a day too soon.

I got a call from my rig manager this morning, and he said that work starts tomorrow morning, not wednesday. Which meant I needed to get to edmonton asap. Which was fine. But I was rushed just a little, as I had nothing booked, packed, or planned for my trip at that point.

I caught a float plane to YVR, then I caught the next flight to edmonton, and got in around 7pm local.

John (my manager) said that he'd pick me up at 930am from my place in edm, and we'd drive to camp where we wouldn't leave for at least 21 days. That sentence sums up what my last post mentioned about "best case scenario". So I'm really happy, and excited. Not really anxious or nervous, but wait until I get on the rig floor.

I doubt I'll have internet access until July, so this will probably be my last update before then. I know I'll have a phone and a washing machine, and those two are bonus enough. I have zero concept of what a camp even looks like though. I have this quirky image of a combination of university dorms crossed with shawshank prison. If that's what it is in reality, then it'll be ok.

Oh yeah, Holland crushed Italy today 3-0. Oh fuck yeah. I've been stoked all day on what that could mean for the rest of Euro. I only caught the first half of the game on t.v. before I had to leave. I was thinking of a guy Erik who I used to play ball with, and I know he's as excited as I am.

Big ups to shannon shorr, a guy my age who's blog I read every chance I get at shannonshorr.com. He just won 350 grand on his 23rd birthday, and although he doesn't know me more than the few times we've email corresponded, I feel like I know him pretty well.

Anyway, not much else is going on. If I get an hour a week to get online, I'll pop in here.

Bring on the 84 hours weeks...

'my pen is a pistola'

Veneer

Going back to Alberta.

Well I got the call that my bank account wanted to hear, but my social life didn't. Work starts for me next wednesday on Nabors rig 117, so I'll fly out midday-ish on tuesday from vancouver to edmonton. It's going to be really great to be working a lot, for a lot. I have my rig bag packed, and I'm only going to take one other bag along. I went to Alberta in late april with 3 bags, and came back with 4. Now I'm heading back with 2. Which means I'm sacrificing books, nice clothes, and other containers that hold my sanity intact.

Euro 2008 started yesterday, and Holland plays tomorrow against Italy, the best team in Europe and third best in the world. Holland is ranked 10th in the world, one behind England who actually didn't qualify. With England being out, Saul doesn't really have the interest he usually has, but nonetheless, I'm really excited for Holland to do well. The Dutch have the best midfield in the tournament, and that's more statistical than my opinion. When it comes to discipline and penalties, the orange are awful. Hopefully they get past the group stage, then anything can happen.

Not much is new around here. My dad started his 48 week treatment, and the interferon is really caustic.

I'll probably update once I get to Edmonton. I'm hoping for the best case scenario: lots of work, little home time, and no accom/transportation problems. I'll be back August 1st at the latest, and I plan to salvage a little summer time (if there's any to be had).

Thanks for reading.

'You've made me an offer that I can refuse,
Counter proposal: I go home & Jerk off'

Getchoo

Yesterday was nice.

I had my grad convocation, which I was on the fence about for a while. In the end I was glad I was able to go. I think my parents were glad that I finished my degree (finally), after a long 6 years. It was also really great to see a bunch of school friends that I may not see again.

I'm working a little bit, but I'm still holding hope that alberta will work itself out, and that I'll head back there soon. As much as I'd like to get back and get working, it's really nice to be back in a number of routines, only without the nagging guilt of school.

I got the new grand theft auto today, and so far it's been all hype. I almost have the urge to play call of duty 4 instead, but I'm going to give gta a good chance. Although I wasn't as ecstatic as I'd hoped to be, I have to admit that the improvements over the old version are ridiculous.

I've been downloading a pile of music recently, and I've also been playing a bunch of bass as well. I'm still hooked on the death cab album, although with summer coming there should be a number of good albums coming out. I've been playing a ton of audioslave and rhcp on bass, and it's making me a lot quicker with my left hand. I'd like to buy a new bass this summer, either a 5 string electric bass or a 4 string acoustic. Either one would be awesome, and I'm leaning toward the acoustic because I want to learn some strumming riffs.

What else? I got a new watch for my grad present, just like the last time I graduated. Tissot prs516 retrograde is what it is, and I'm really excited about it. To me, a nice watch seems like a really important accessory to have, although it's low on my priority list of things to buy. Which is why it's a perfect gift.

It's been a week and lots is new, little is exciting, and I'm generally a happier camper. Oh yeah, Jer came home for a few days from alberta, and I was happy to see the guy.

I'm not sure how often I'll be updating this now that I'm out of school and my routine at night is non-existent, but I'm sure I'll feel the need to write now and then.

Thanks for reading.

'Forget about the reasons'