The Last Time

11 hours to go.

I have had an awesome week off, but I am ready to get back to the slope. I have been extremely active, but also, for 2 days straight I slept until noon. Most of Wednesday I spent picking up the apartment, washing dirty clothes, and packing. In the evening I met up with fellow intern Kirsten who was just getting in from the slope. I went out to dinner with her, her mentor and her mentor's husband, and another well services engineer. We ate at the Peanut Farm, which has really good food, and some really intoxicated people who laugh loudly in public. Lets just say I will hopefully never laugh like that lady at the table next to us. Shrieking laughter is amusing though, I cannot lie. At dinner Kirsten and I decided that we wanted to see the movie Wanted, and the other people enthusiastically decided to join us, so off we went. It was actually pretty good. Lot of blood though. And swearing. And violence. Hmm...in retrospect...maybe it's good movie qualities are questionable.

Now my clothes are clean, the apartment is relatively clean, and my suitcase is halfway packed. Now all I have to do is go to bed, and then wake up at 8 am and frantically pack and clean so I get to the airport to catch my flight. A time tested method that works wonders!! Oh, and incase you were wondering, It has been raining all day here. Weird. The most rain I've seen since leaving Kansas. It's probably one of the things I've missed the most. We have the most glorious storms at home! Thunder, lightening, torrential rain, flooding, etc. They have a soft rain that picks up occasionally and is kind of steady in general. I've only seen lightening once, and that was on the north slope. Apparently I had a real treat because thunder and lightening storms are rare in Alaska, and even rarer on the north slope, which is classified as an arctic desert.

This next hitch will be full of doing stuff. I am having an interview with my FSM (field service manager), finishing my project, writing a 3 to 5 page paper about my internship experience, going out on jobs, and hopefully helping one of the engineers with an environmental project. And going out to rigs, as it would be my job if I actually worked for this company. We'll see! Iam looking forward to it so much!!!! I am not sorry to say this, but I really do not miss Kansas or college.

Have a great Thursday people who I love!

In which I summit a mountain, glide through water, and generally have a rockin' time

Ok. So I will attempt to update you on what has been going on. I have had an intense week in terms of busy-ness. On the 5th of July I went on a wireline job. And then again on the 7th. Wireline is the section of Schlumberger that deals with all that happens in a well after it is drilled. They check for leaks, blow holes in the exact right places so oil will flow upwards, etc. I am not really sure about all they do, but it doesn't really matter because I like D&M better anyway! The jobs were ok, but there was a lot of waiting around on one of them because one of the computers an engineer was using would upload what he wanted. On Tuesday, I was up and ready at the usual time to go out to the rig, but Eddie (the engineer I have been shadowing since Jamie left) was already gone. Accurate depth tracking is kind of important in our job, and we were getting readings that were 20 feet off of what the depth was supposed to be. So Eddie went out 2 hours earlier than his shift started because he is the senior engineer on the rig, to try and fix it. He thought he did, but right after I got out there it happened again and then continued to happen with greater frequency as he was troubleshooting. 14 hours after I got out there, at 9:30, we finally headed back into camp with a temporary fix in place. Apparently the ASAP, a thing that controls all the sensors that are read from and that everyone sees on their computer was failing. I tried to help Eddie troubleshoot as long as possible, though I know nothing that is helpful. I mainly just ran around for him. Brought him food and such. Then, when 2 more engineers and 2 techs from the shop came out I left the engineer's unit entirely and hung out with the roughnecks (we had stopped drilling at this point so they were bored) in their meeting room on the rig, so I wouldn't be in the way. I don't feel like I did a lot during that day, but I learned so much about how to troubleshoot, and what perserverance really means. Eddie, at some points, was clueless about how to solve the problem, yet he didn't stop or give up or say it was impossible so he was going to quit. Granted, in the oil field that isn't an option, because every hour we are not drilling is costing BP a lot of money. Like, in the range of 100,000 dollars. And he may have gotten really frustrated, but I respect him way more now because he is awesome at handling pressure. Yup. I don't think I've ever done any job for 14 hours before. I love my job/internship!!!!!!!!
Then on Wednesday I went out to the rig again, but ended up having to go back to camp and pack frantically for a plane ride I didn't know I was taking back into Anchorage! I thought my days off started on Thursday, but I wasn't paying enough attention, I guess, to the schedule. The shop guys had to pick me up an hour and a half after they had dropped me off at the rig. Which is another story in itself because they had an epic rock/paper/scissors battle in order to see which of them got to take me out to the rig in the first place. I have it on video. :D
Sidenote: the righands/roughnecks love me because I bring them stuff. I gave one of them a green schlumberger hardhat, because he (like all roughnecks) collects them and I also brought them a lot of mountain dew for the rig, which they don't get at their basecamp. Oh, and I let them have my race day pictures. So yeah, we get along pretty well, and they help me out if I need it. Or they just don't mind if I hang out with them and they'll come over and say hi if I am doing stuff on the pad.
Back to the real story. So I flew home to Anchorage, surprised Robin who didn't know I was coming back on Wednesday, and then proceeded to sleep for 12 hours straight (AMAZING). The next day we rented a car, did some walking around town, and just relaxed in general. Oh, and we also went in search of stuff to make chocolate martinis, because they sound awesome, but I have never had one. It was a failure, as none of the liquor stores we went to had all of the ingredients we needed. :( Oh well, I guess I will have to save that experience for another time.

FRIDAY:
Woke up really early. Picked up our rental car which turned out to be a PT Cruiser. Oh well. You can't win them all. Then we finished packing, hit the road, and drove the 110 miles down to Seward. This trip to Seward was waaayyyy better than my last one. Right after we hit Seward, we went to the Sea Life Center. Robin and I petted starfish and anemones, and watched sea lions and seals swim around and frolick. Sea lions are huge. If I EVER met one in the water I would just cry and hope to die quickly because regardless of their agression level, they are super scary and could squish me like a bug. Next we went to a Greek restaurant where we both order these awesome pizzas and took the leftovers back to the place we were staying overnight. It was actually really inexpensive, but was cute and had a fridge, freezer, microwave, toaster, sinks, dishes, tv, coffee maker, bed, couch, huge closet and sweet bathroom in it. I guess it was kinda like a one room apartment. We then left and walked down 3 blocks to the base of Mt. Marathon. Mt. Marathon is the location of one of the most messed up races I have ever heard of. These people race up 3020 feet to the summit of a mountain and then back down again. The winners can do it in 45-50 ish minutes. After hiking it, I have no clue what kind of beastly strength they have to be able to do it. Robin and I hiked up the race trail (after getting lost for a bit) and it took us about 3.5 hours. Both of us are in pretty good shape, and we didn't ever take a lot of breaks. It is just brutal. The inclines on the majority of the trail are about 60-75 degrees. Over half of the trail we had to climb using our hands and crawling up because standing up was just not really a safe thing to do. And every time we thought we were getting close to the summit, we would get over a rocky outcropping and realize that we had a LONG way to go. The last 1000 feet or so was on an extremely steep mountain side covered with loose rocks. I don't think I have ever appreciated flatness so much in my entire life! But it was totally, entirely, 100 percent worth it. It was probably harder than my half marathon (at least i had trained for that), and I have some of the coolest memories that I could ever have!!! Are you sore, you might ask me. My response is HA. Yes. Very, very very sore. Everything from my waist down hurts today. A lot. But I already am looking at trying to summit a 6400 foot mountain that is north of Anchorage! Just as soon as my body forgets what the first on was like. :D
This morning we got up (soreness and all) and went on our second adventure. We kayaked out into Resurrection Bay. We went out with a guide and 4 other people. 2 parents, and their kids Eric and Scott who were Robin's and my age. The boys didn't seem that thrilled to be on vacation with their parents. Who knows, we might be wrong. Maybe whining is their way of showing affection. :) We kayaked 4.5 miles out in the bay and then at a really good sack lunch and did a 5 mile round trip hike (OUCH to the already sore lower body) up to a fort that was built during WWII that is no longer used now. They used to have 2 huge guns in it, and it is built entirely underground. The only reason existed was to support those guns. Very cool. Working there in WWII? Well, that might not have been so cool. More like boring, I would think. They only ever shot off the guns twice. Once to test them, and another time in order to scare the postman into telling them ahead of time that he was coming, because apparently he wasn't so good about that before. The 4.5 mile kayak back was not bad at all, because the wind was at our back and we got to ride in on some awesome swells (I think that is what they are called). Robin got really wet at one point because one actually broke over our kayak. It was sweet. Oh! And the water. I have never seen water so beautiful ever. It was all these different shades of blue and green. Kind of like it was made of gemstones. Pictures of my trip will never really do it justice, but yet again, oh well!
Finally, after having a 2 day, full body work out, Robin and I were tired and ready to come back to Anchorage. So we ate at a seaside restaurant and I downed a lot of coffee in a very short time period, and then we were off!!! Now we are back, we uploaded some pictures, talked a lot, retured the car, watched Batman Begins, and Robin just headed to bed. I think that is where I am headed as well. I am honestly kind of afraid to move. But I will be brave and make the 20 foot trek to my bedroom because I am not a fan of couches when I can use my bed! :D
Have an awesome, awesome Sunday guys!!

UPDATE

Our boat got 3rd or 4th!!!! We are not sure which. It had a pretty good showing and we had about 10-12 boats in all. It was pretty sweet. We are going to try to get t-shirts made. Enjoy your fireworks!

Happy 4th!!!!

I hope that everyone is enjoying the fireworks and hotdogs and homemade ice cream. Also, if any of you happen to have taken pictures of fireworks or family fun, please send them to my email address at mariankaus@yahoo.com and I would be eternally grateful!
I am working today, but that is a given. If you are on the North Slope, you work, for that is the only reason it exists. We do not have fireworks up here. I doubt it is an environmentally friendly, and we have 24 hours of daylight, so we really couldn’t enjoy them very much. However, it’s a fun day up here anyway. A lot of guys are wearing little American flags on their jumpsuits and the food is phenomenal, of course. For lunch we had ribs, grilled chicken, hot dogs, cream cheese stuffed jalapeno peppers, deviled eggs, 2 different types o potato and pasta salads, chili, and for dessert there was a 2 layer chocolate cake with amazing icing and strawberries and blueberries on it in the shape of American flag.
We are also having a boat race today! The directional drillers, company man, roughnecks, drillers, the engineers (that would be Jamie and I…consequently, the only 2 women on this rig besides the cook), and the cook have all built little sailboats. Ours is really cute, about 2 feet long, 8 inches wide and 1.5 feet tall. It looks like a Viking boat and is made out of cardboard and covered in Schlumberger tape! We even added pink tassels on it because we wanted to make sure the guys knew whose boat it was. :D I am going to at least take pictures, but I might even video the race and try to upload it on here. We will see. The fork lift operator (who is in charge of the proceedings actually just stopped by the MWD unit to tell us they would be meeting soon for group pictures and then the competition begins! We are pretty excited. It will be the highlight of this 12-hour shift. The reason all these guys can stop what they are doing and participate in the boat race is because we just hit the point at which we put casing in the hole (we are not finished drilling entirely) and so all we are doing right now is circulating the pumps to clean out the hole and everyone is not really needed for that. Plus, the race won’t take very long. It is windy today.
Speaking of weather, it is gorgeous outside today. It is about 56 degrees (our warmest day yet!!!) and with very few clouds and a ton of sun. The mosquitoes are out in force, but it is windy and they cannot just swarm in one spot. That is one thing I cannot just get over. I have never seen a cloud of mosquitoes before. It is kinda scary and definitely gross. I have become a mosquito killer extraordinaire! I was just bitten on the side of my wrist this afternoon. That entire side of my wrist swelled up. Kinda weird.
I have made progress on my project. I have done all I can with it on the rig, and now I have to go back into the shop and ask the guys for their input as well. I have also found out what the maximum time period I can spend in my boots is without being in pain, that cold is an entirely relative concept, and that even the most intimidating looking/sounding person can be really nice. Oh, and do not eat cream cheese stuffed jalapeno peppers. Not even on a dare. That is all.
As for you question, grandma, we talk, read up about a lot of stuff that relates or deals with ANWR up here. It is an extremely hot subject in Alaska. You can imagine the oil field’s opinion about it, and I tend to agree with them after being up here. Both of our potential presidential nominees are against drilling in ANWR, but I seriously doubt either one has really readup on what’s up here, the latest advances in the oil filed or that either of them has visited here, because that definitely changes your opinion as well. I think they should drill ANWR for many reasons, and I can write another post about why if you want. If so, or if you have any specific questions about it, just write on my wall. Also, please forward me those forwards cause I would like to see them.
I will try to get out to Denali on my next off hitch, Mary, but I am not sure if I will make it. I might be going on a fishing or rafting trip instead.
Be safe everybody!!!

End Of June

So. I am sorry that it has been so long since I have written. Finding time to write is not difficult, but focusing long enough to do so, is. Currently I am sitting in one of the lounges where I work. Specifically, the D&M lounge, watching the first X-Men movie with my friends Oscar and James. Oscar is one of the summer help, who go around picking up trash on the tundra, painting, and doing general maintenance type of things. James is an MWD Engineer who is a little more bored than Alan and I, and who generally hangs out with all day. We all watch movies or TV together in the evenings. At first it is a “I am bored thing.” Then it becomes a “you’re my coworker, I also see you about 20 times a day, and I am just used to being around you” thing. Once again, I marvel about how meeting all these random people is really an interesting thing. They are maybe not who I would first hang out with in college, but since we have been up here I have found a ton of cool, original human beings who are just generally nice. But I am getting ahead of myself. I haven’t told you about my time off!
To be succinct, it was awesome. I got to sleep in, relax, have fun with the other interns, and enjoy being not quite a resident, yet not quite a tourist, in a strange city. I did a lot of walking around Anchorage, and went to see 2 movies (Get Smart and The Happening) with my fellow interns Amanda, Kirsten, and Robin. The guys went camping together for 3 or 4 days, so they were not involved in the fun action. On Saturday (the summer solstice), Amanda, Kirsten, and I drove down to Seward and went camping overnight. Summer solstice is a huge thing up here, because it is the longest day of the year (more of a big deal in the lower part than in Prudhoe Bay, as it has 24 hours of daylight anyway), and so a ton of people were also camping. Amanda’s engineering mentor was also in Seward with her 3 good friends, so they all came to our campsite and hung out with us for awhile. On Tuesday we went to Wittier (again) and kayaked for 6 hours in Prince William Sound. I found out that bald eagles are everywhere in Alaska (we saw 5!), sea kayaking is awesome, I really need to build up my upper body muscles, and a Sound is actually a really big bay with a ton of coves within it. Prince William Sound has over 4000 miles of coastline in it alone!! Oh, we also drove within 8 feet of a baby black bear….without a mama for some reason. It was absolutely adorable, but I restrained the urge to jump out of the moving vehicle and hug it. I would have to say, though, that my favorite thing about my week off was being outside, around trees, and able to run!!!! The average temperature in Anchorage right now is between 55 and 65 degrees in the afternoon. Absolutely perfect, for a lovely jog among the semi-vicious mosquitoes. Finally, I got to meet my FSM, Franklin Medina. He is a really energetic sweet guy from South America with a wife, little girl, and twins about to come any minute. We touched base about everything I was confused about, and he explained what I was really going to do with my engineering project this summer.
Since I flew back on Thursday, I have mainly been trying to work on my project and keep from getting bored. It is difficult to motivate myself to run, as we have 4 elliptical machines and only one treadmill at my specific camp. Some camps are nicer than others, and the one in Endicott (which you can look up on the internet) has a 1/16 mile track, basketball/volleyball court, and a plethora of weight equipment. Ours just has the basics, but for me, no matter how bored I get, the basics will be enough. To motivate myself to run, I have created a schedule and have decided to stick to it, no matter where I am at. I ran 3 miles miles today. 1 at 8:27, 1.5 at 8:19, and the last ½ at 8:00. Pretty fun, very tiring.
Finally, before I go, and I promise my next messages won’t be this long, the animals and flowers are showing up here. All over the tundra we are getting tiny yellow, lavender, and white flowers. Also, the caribou, red foxes, and musk ox are wandering Prudhoe Bay. There is a really large one that hangs our right next to our building that they call the Roadboo, as it wanders around near and in the road all the time. They have nothing to fear from us, because we can’t even honk a car horn at them, so they get pretty close sometimes. The bear should be here soon, because they come up for calving season. Yum, lunch.
I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday. I love and miss you guys.

My Fellow Americans

I've always wanted to address a large group of people like that. Maybe one day when I am the 1st female president of the United States, I will have the chance. If there was one very shallow reason I wouldn't want to be president, it is because of how much it ages you. You would go into the presidency looking like a relatively well preserved older person and then come out looking like you've had horrible sleeping habits for 40 years. I don't know if four years of that much stress would be worth it.
Anyway...the last couple of days has been really boring. I haven't gone to any rigs, or worked in the shop. I cannot work on my project yet, as no one knows what to do with it and I think I am getting a new one. The project I am supposed to be doing is "Standardization of the AKA D&M Work Processes". Sounds kind of simple, yes. However all the people who know what they're doing (including the real engineers) have told me that it's basically impossible for me to complete. Not because I am stupid or anything like that. They say that to be able to effectively do anything with that subject I have to have a working knowledge of the processes themselves. As I have only worked up here for 2 weeks....it's a no-go. The new project I might get to work on I will talk about later if we get the thumbs up for it.
I am excited, though, because I get to fly back down to Anchorage tomorrow! My flight leaves here at 12:25 pm and then I have a week of absolutely nothing. I considered the Denali trip, but I am still not sure. The Denali trip we wanted to do involves a 9 hour/60 mile drive into the park with frequent stops to take pictures of animals and such. It sounds interesting, but I am really not a fan of sitting on a bus for 9 hours. Even if we get breaks occasionally. After being up here I just really do NOT want to be inside anywhere for nine hours. Unless I am sleeping, of course. I am also leaning really hard towards a two day kayaking lessons/on your own type of deal, as it is not really expensive and I will get to be outside/doing physical stuff. Plus, it's WATER!!!! I like water. A lot.
Besides that my life has been boring. Oh yeah. To G'ma Joanie: I checked out the one general store that they have up here. It is actually just a hardware store with a room above it that you can buy cold weather gear/sweats/shampoo/knicknacks from. It has nothing in the way of film developing/uploading in it. It does, however, have a movie rental area, a large section of porn (or so I am told by the guy interns...Alan took a picture of it, but I wasn't excited enough to check it out), and the only cat in Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse, Alaska. Sorry, I tried. :) And it also sells shot glasses, which I found rather ironic, as no alcohol is sold or can be brought up here. Unless you drove, and why drive 400 miles on a nasty dirt/gravel road with alcohol when it would only get you fired from your job? Yup.
I will write soon. I love you all!

Happy Father's Day!!!!!

11:51, my time. I am finally getting tired, but it has taken awhile. My body has been doing weird stuff since I've come off working nights. I keep thinking that it shouldn't be such a big deal because it is light all the time up here, but apparently I am wrong. I keep on being hungry at odd times and then I don't get as tired (but that could just be because it is so light). At this point I don't care about the reasons, I am just slightly annoyed with the symptoms. The food is still good, though, and the people are still really nice. I am now friends with the D&M people, some of Slickline, and half of the kitchen staff. I am planning on taking over the world with friendliness eventually, but please don't tell anyone as it might ruin my plans.
Today wasn't super productive. I ran in circles with my project that I am suppose to be doing this summer. No one really knows what to do with it. All the manager people/people in charge that are here either think it is a time waster that won't have a productive out come or that it is way to big of a project to take on in 6 weeks (Well...4 more weeks, really, because we are 2 on, 1 off). My FSM (field service manager) who assigned the project is currently on some sort of leave/vacation thing, so calling him isn't really an option. I've recieved some opinions about what I should do with it from people here and elsewhere (thanks dad), but I still am not sure and will be searching for some kind of clarification before I fly to Anchorage on Wednesday.
Speaking of Wednesday. WOOT! I like being up here because it is interesting and new, but I can see why people look forward to their week (s) off. The job isn't bad at all, it is just....time consuming. Working twelve hour shifts every day for two weeks without a day or afternoon off is kind of weird to get used to. I continue to lose track of what day it is because I don't have a week to reference from, or look forward to. Everyone here always has plans for what they want to do when they leave the slope. A summer hire is going to go camping with his girlfriend and their mutual friends, some of the shop guys are going on a boating trip together, a couple are going to hang out with their families, and getting drunk is definitely involved in quite a few of the plans I have heard. Since my week off coincides with a lot of the guys' weeks off, I have had some offers of being shown cool places in Anchorage and neat trails to hike on. All of them have advice for interesting/non-touristy adventures to go on, but we will see what the interns and I decide in the end. I know that I definitely want to go kayaking and a couple of us are planning on that, and there are some votes for a trip to Denali National Park, but that is an 8 hour train ride just to get there. There are some movies and restaurants we definitely want to go to, and basically just hanging out without having to be busy doing something will be nice.
On a side note, I took a fit test/respirator test yesterday. I would just like to thank my parents, the french horn, and running, before I go any further. Before we could get fitted with a respirator, we had to blow into a machine that measured our lung capacity. This has to be done at least 3 times with similar results before going on is allowed, and the results tell you your "lung age" or something along those lines. My lung age is n/a because, as the nurse put it, they are freakishly strong. I scored a 127 percent of the capacity I should have, and apparently after 120 percent the machine can't predict what your lung age is. My fellow interns had lung ages of 10-46 year olds but I was the only one off the charts. Aren't you glad that you now know why I can talk so much, mom? You should have given me worse lung genes. :D
And with that I am ready for bed. I will probably get up at 6 and wander down the hallway to work at 7 am (it is soooo convenient having your main job/mechanics shop in the building you live in!!!) and then proceed to be productive for the rest of the day. I hope you all have a wonderful fathers day and that somebody makes dad brownies for me. Preferably without walnuts in them, as that sullys the amazing taste. Basically, if that happens don't tell me please, because I will become depressed at the ruined brownie-ness and be forced to eat more sugar cookies (so amazing!) from the kitchen here in compensation.
I love you all!!!

A meager attempt to explain work.

I don't think I've actually written anything since I've started going on jobs. Well, one job, to be precise. D&M goes out when the drilling begins and stays out until the job is finished. The thing is, even though they are in charge of/monitor all the drilling tools, they are not always busy. There are different stages to drilling wells. There is the initial prepping, then drilling, cleaning the well, pulling out, cementing...and then drilling another section. Wells are drilled in sections because different rock formations are prevalent in different layers of the earth. The drilling mud that is circulated down into/throughout the well is used to bring up chips, cool down equipment, power the tools, and finally, to stabilize the well and keep the formation together while drilling is going on, so no fracturing occurs in the walls of a well. However, because different formations occur at different levels of a well, varieties of mud at different pressures need to be used. Thus, a well is drilled in different sections so the mud can be changed out, added to, etc. That is my understanding, at least. The thing is, D&M engineers (also called, MWD's and LWD's) are out there throughout the entire well drilling process, even if no drilling is going on, there is always at least one to two engineers in the Schlumberger unit which is about 50 feet from the rig that switch off every twelve hours. Twelve hours is a looonnggg time. Well, it really only feels like a long time if you don't come adequately prepared for the down time. I am getting really good at crossword puzzles, looking up useless stuff online, reading, and facebooking. I have also chatted enough with the directional driller (the guy who is the head honcho of drilling on the rig) to know his kids, their names, what they like to do in their spare time, his dog's name and that she is pretty cute (yellow lab), as well as the fact that he owns a cabin in the woods and gets harrassed by bears a lot. The people are all pretty nice to me. By people, I mean guys, as I am the only female (besides the cook who is 50) that is currently out at the rig site. So of course they are going to be nice to the only girl. :D They answer all my questions, take me to check out cool places on the rig, and chat with me when they aren't doing stuff.
It's not like I am bored all the time, though. I have learned how to depth track, create reports, read the 16 graphs that are all moving simulatenously and know what they mean. I have also learned how to prep the tools before they begin drilling, what real troubleshooting is, and why geologists and mud engineers are so important. Yes, I said mud engineer. That's how important the mud really is to drilling operations. The one that works nights with us is named Jeremy, and I have also learned how to take resistivity measurements whenever he brings in samples. Cool fact: resistivity is not the same thing as resistance. I definitely did not know this until the MWD that I work with explained it to me. During the "night" shift (though it is always light) I work with a 23 yr. old engineer named Bill who is pretty nice for a human being. On days, two engineers named Eddy and Andy work, both are also very nice. Since D&M is such a small group in Schlumberger, they are pretty laidback and generally close-knit. I am actually kind of sad because the guys that work on the tools in the shop traded out with their replacements and went home, as they work 1 on, 1 off. I will not see them for 3 more weeks because our weeks off and on will not collide until then. :(
So, anyway, what I have been doing for the past week is working 12 hour night shifts and sleeping during most of the day. It was pretty hard to get used to for the first couple of nights, but now it doesn't really bother me. I'm actually kind of grouchy right now because I am acclimated to working nights, and then today I found out that I can't go back on a rigsite until I get some stupid respirator training and ear testing. They forgot to train us in Anchorage, so we get to waste a day up here instead. It wouldn't be such a big deal, but we have to drive 30 miles away (which takes about 45 min-1 hour since the speed limit is 35-45 mph here) and then wait as everyone does whatever it is we have to do. We don't really know anything, they just tell us to bring a book. Woot. The other problem with us going is that I will have to be up all day tomorrow, which will not feel good because I slept all day today and now I am not tired (except for a ridiculous headache), thus I will be tired tomorrow. It is a non-fixable issue, so I will just deal with it and have fun regardless! At least I can hang out with the other interns for a long time!!!
Well, I might as well attempt to sleep. It probably won't be super hard, as I usually can fall asleep anytime, anywhere. Have a great Friday, guys!

Finally!

We arrived!!!! They flew us up here on a shared services plane Tuesday afternoon. We did all the normal stuff like checking our bag(s), walking through security and getting lost trying to find our gate because it had been changed in the 20 minutes since we printed out our boarding passes. Because we are smart kids, we just decided to look for the most male dominated section of the airport and then ask at the check-in counter there. We won. The flight was nice with just a little bit of turbulence, and I was asleep for most of it. After getting off the plane, I went through the smallest terminal I've ever seen and then we got driven from Deadhorse to Prudhoe Bay, about 1/2 a mile.
Everything is flat here. Everything. They say on a clear day you can see for 35 miles in any given direction. We are only 5 miles from the ocean. The reason the are we are in is called the North Slope, is because the land slopes continually down from a way-far-away mountain range to the ocean here. And it is north of the mountain range. I haven't seen any mosquitos yet, but I have seen some cute arctic foxes (do not pet either...they carry rabies) and a bunch of birds. Nothing is green here, it is technically an arctic desert and the tundra is just grassy and brown with lakes plopped in it, connected by streams. Usually this would be frozen, but the top layer of earth melts in the spring, turning everything into a marsh/swamp thing. I would put up a picture, but I cannot load my pictures onto the computers here as they are schlumberger's.
The other unique thing that I have seen is that this place only exists for one purpose. Work. All the buildings either house parts, machines, or humans. A lot of them are propped up on stilts because due the the freeze/thaw action, the ground isn't stable enough to build on. When something isn't propped up, it is because it is built on a "pad" which is a built up gravel surface. All the main buidings and roads, as well as the rig sites, are built on these. That is a lot of imported gravel.... Another thing that amazes me is that everywhere you look around, everything that is not tundra or wildlife was trucked up here. All the buildings, food, water, storage, trucks, parts, etc. And the only road up here is a very long, mult-hundreds of mile dirt road with little or no gas stations.
Lunch is happening, so I am going to check out the buffet line. That is the other awesome thing about this place...the food is AMAZING. This might not be a good thing though. Thank goodness they have ellipticals here.

To the Slope!

It is only about 30 minutes now before I leave the apartment for to pick up my coveralls and BP badge. I should have had them both, however the coveralls were delayed to begin with, so they just arrived in Anchorage this morning, and 3 of the intern's (including me) paperwork wasn't sent over to BP until too late yesterday afternoon. They are the only two things left that I need to go up to the Slope. I got my NSTC (North Slope Training Co-operative) badge yesterday after watching powerpoint slides for 8 hours. Again. I think that I have had the same safety information drilled into me abou 4 or 5 times now, so if I do screw up and do something stupid, like petting a polar bear, it will be entirely my fault. Seriously...what idiot would actually try to pet a polar or grizzly bear?! Do they not think it could hurt/kill them? Anyway, I am all packed, awake, and ready to really begin what I came up here to do. I will talk to you guys later!

A cause for celebration

It finally happened! We have some semblance of a schedule! This morning we went to the Anchorage office of Schlumberger and met the majority of the management for Alaska (yet again, all of them were really nice and friendly) and we had meetings until lunch, and then were set free for the day. After they fed us, of course. Hearing country music in a barbeque place in Alaska is a bit odd, to be entirely honest, but the food was amazing, of course. I am getting off topic, however. We found out today that we will be getting two weeks on and one off. However, we will not know until we reach the Slope (flying out on Wednesday afternoon!) which weeks they will be. So I might actually only have to work one to start with, or I might work 3, get one off, then come back for 2 and actually start a real schedule. The nice thing, is that I will always be off at the same time as at least one other intern, so I will have someone to hike with when I am in Anchorage. My coveralls (or smurf suit...) haven't come to Anchorage yet, but I really hope they will arrive before I head up to Prudhoe Bay, or else they will have to be shipped and I will have to wear borrowed ones until then. :(
We also learned that even though we were given green hardhats by Schlumberger, they won't ever get to see action, because BP is now requiring that all nonpermanent workers wear orange hardhats while up there. Since Schlumberger is basically a contractor for BP...oh well. I get to keep the green hardhat, though, so I think I might just wear it for the entire trip back Kansas. Planes are dangerous places, you know!
Anyway, I am going to start unpacking because we have finally been put in corporate apartments (WOOT!) and I need to find out where all the stuff is I randomly shoved in my suitcase this morning in the hotel. I kind of woke up later than I wanted to. Oops.

A really long sunday.

So it is Sunday evening, almost Monday morning. We got back from Wittier, AK about 2 hours ago. This has been an incredibly cool(in multiple senses of the word) day. We hopped on a train in Anchorage and then rode south along the coast, through the longest car/train sharing tunnel in North America, until we arrived at Wittier.
It is a super small town that is big on kayaking, hiking trails, and glacier tours. I think the kayak rental and tour arrangement businesses actually outnumber all other buildings in town. Oh, and almost everyone basically lives in the same apartment building. So really, theses people do know all their neighbors. I also wandered around and found an old military building that is no longer used. All the windows are broken out, and it is covered in graffiti. It looked very lonely and sad. I briefly thought about adventuring inside to see what there was to see, because a door was entirely broken in. Then I saw the clean blanket, and bag of belongings, and tarp about 10 feet away, and all of my adventuring-ness was abandoned. I may like to try new, exciting things, but being stabbed by a desperate Alaskan hobo is not one of them. Finally, as it was raining outside and the temperature had dropped to around 45 degrees, I decided to head back to the train and eat some wheat thins (yum!).
The ride there and back was absolutely incredible! As we left Anchorage the mountains became larger and larger. The words beauty and majesty truly cannot describe the mountains or landscapes we passed. Right now all the snow is melting and running off in small to relatively large streams that fall as mini-waterfalls over the rocks. All the flat, sea level area has melted and with the added runoff has turned into a marsh. Also, a large portion of the mountains are turning a huge variety of green shades, so there is something new, everywhere you look. Basically, Alaska really is as beautiful as they say! I will try to add pictures next time I have time.
Finally, I have to say that the one thing I truly love about Alaska(besides the awesome scenery) is the genuinely nice people that I have met. A bartender that I met at lunch today off (don't worry mom, he didn't hit on me) gave me his number and email and said that he would take my friends and I hiking when we come back from to Anchorage on our weeks off. Our tour guide on the train gave us her number and email and told us she would take us go-carting when we had time off. Finally, our taxi driver (a grizzled looking old man, who worked in Prudhoe Bay in the 1970s and early 80s) dropped us off at a Wendys (which was about 6 blocks from our hotel) so we could get dinner. Then, he realized that we couldn't get in the doors (it was closed) so he came back in the parking lot (even though there were other restaurants around) and told us he would take us through the drive through. He said he was done for the day and was heading off to drink, so not only did he drive us through once, he did it a second time when somebody forgot something. THEN he (while hardcore refusing our offers of payment) drove us the rest of the way back to the hotel. All the while he told us really cool stories about working on the pipeline when it was first being built. I was kind of in shock, to be entirely honest. Everyone I have met here is so incredibly friendly it is unbelievable. Plus, the Kaladi Bros. coffee is really, really good and not very expensive.
So, this is the end of this post. We get to start our training at the Schlumberger offices in Anchorage tomorrow and hopefully we will get to go out to The Slope on Wednesday!!!!!! Thanks for your comments and well wishes, my wonderful relatives (I totally count you as a relative Mary :D). Grandma, I promise I will do my best not to play with any type of bear/moose (even though I saw a HUGE one today). Also, Uncle Charlie, where did Scott get the list of trails from? I know I probably won't be able to do very many of them, but I really really want hike some.
I love and miss you all!

Temperature Extremes = Amazingness

Hooray I am finally here!!! I am typing this message from the Coast International Inn, in Anchorage, AK. My co-intern Robin and I arrived at 11:15 Alaska time, and the sun didn't set until about 40 minutes ago, so I am just now becoming tired. When we flew in the first sight we were privileged to see was all the huge snow-covered mountains that surround Anchorage!!! I think I am still in awe.
This entire last week has basically been a blur. I flew into Houston on Sunday night, proceeded to meet a ton of people (there are 97 interns placed all over the US, 6 of which are going to be in AK), and then promptly forgot about 2/3 of their names. The whole week we have been sitting in rooms learning about the history of Schlumberger, what is expected of a field engineer intern, and what the different sections of Schlumberger do. The main sections that I remember right now (it is late and I am very tired) are Western Geco (seismic readings/interpretation), Drilling and Measurements (my section!!!), and Wireline (similar to D&M, but with smaller tools). I would make an attempt to explain what D&M actually does, but I think that is a job for another, more awake, time.
Some of my favorite things about the week were the people and the hands on training. My roommate for the week was Stephanie, she goes to Cornell, and is pretty cool. However, she is going to Wyoming so I will probably never see her again. This is case with almost all of the people I met last week with the exception of the Alaska interns. I also met some KU people who I actually liked. Yes, this shocked me too. :D Finally, one of the coolest things about the week was that not only did I get to meet and hang out with the recruiters on a daily basis, but I also got to meet various managers and important people. I got to talk with the Personnel Manager for all of North America, as well as the D&M training manager for all of North America. And it wasn't for 5 minutes. The D&M training manager, 3 other people, and I talked for about 2 hours this morning. So cool!
I can't think of anything else to type right now. I believe that my brain has officially stopped working. So goodnight, and I will hopefully type more tomorrow. Or Sunday.

May 17....The Beginning.

Normally I am not an amazing communicator. And being in engineering I am definitely not a superb writer. However, as I am going to be chilling in Alaska (pun definitely intended) for 2 months, I thought it might be a good idea to find one simple way to tell my friends and family what is going on. And since I am too lazy to actually email multiple people, I decided to let them come here instead. Since I will have internet access, hopefully I will be able to post pictures and stories relatively often. If not, oh well. At least I will have attempted!!!