This about what I felt like watching the bama game yesterday. I just couldnt believe our piss-poor play in the first half. After that second interception by GMac I felt like Gmac=Tyrone
We eventually pulled it out and let me tell you, there were a lot of pissed off people at the Bufallo Wild Wings in Lafayette. Its good to be the King.
I was literally on the floor laughing at last nights Community. Expecially the very end with Betty White as the Anthropology teacher.
This is of course remeniscient of the rap they did for Spanish class last season
Afterwards I caught up on How I Met Your Mother, which always makes me laugh, but this had me rolling. This is the Halloween Episode when they are all getting thier costumes
Barney is by far the best character on the show. Here is his playbook for picking up women
My 7-day 11-state tour is over. I am finally back home and it feels good. The funny thing about the whole trip is that we had to be in ND on Tuesday to attend a 3-hour safety class for a 1-hour job on friday. So 60+ hours worth of driving for 4 hours of work. We couldnt fly because we had to take equipment with us up there.
We were hoping to be back sooner as the job was supposed to start at 7 am. This means that we had to be ready at 6 am. Since we spend about two hors rigging up on thursday all we had to do was drop the tools on depth on friday, which still takes an hour to get to around 10,000 ft. So we needed to start dropping tools at 5 am. Since the nearest hotel was 90 minutes away we had to leave at 3:30 am. All this is well and good as the job was supposed to last 1 hour. The other crew didnt even show until 7:30, took them until 10 to rig up, had a few problems so the job actually started at 3:30 pm. They finish around 5 and we have to monitor for another hour so we start our 2 hour rig down at 7. Long story short, we were hoping to leave by noon but we left at 10:30 pm.
We decided to drive straight through again, another 1800 miles. 3 guys who had worked all day and not showered going for a 30 hour car ride. To say the truck was a little funky at the end is an understatement.
Since im the new guy I had the dreaded 2 am-8 am driving shift. The only saving grace is that there is nobody on the roads of SD at 3am and the speed limit is 75. BTW, if you ever find yourself driving through Fargo do not stop at the Pilot station off the interstate. Within 5 minutes I saw/heard these things:
1)A guy in full canadian tuxedo (denim, on denim, on denim) 2)A guy ask the clerk for a glass of water because his quarters were thirsty. Seriously. 3)A dude buy, literally, all the beef jerkey in this place.
So I'm on this lonely road with the other guys sleeping and I have a lot of time to myself to just think. This song called "Turning Home" by David Nall comes on. Awesome song, its about this guy remembering all the good times he had in his home town/ friends / first love. I don't know why it got me thinking but it did. I don't know if it is because I came from such a small town or that I didnt really enjoy high school that much except for my senior year, but unlike the song when I think of all these things I think of college.
Usually take one last pass through town Stop the car and touch the ground Watch those streetlights swayin’ in the breeze Decorated store fronts Rusty old gas pumps Try to fill my mind up With somethin’ before I go Picture postcard memories You know they always make for good company
I don’t know no town Like the old town Even when the miles are many I feel like I’m still around Deep inside me Like rings through an oak tree Yeah, there something ‘bout a Sunday when I’m gone That keeps me turning home
To me this just described Tuscaloosa for me. I really do love that town, as ready as I was to leave it. As an alum, its a totally nastolgic feeling when I visit. Since my parents moved away from the town I graduated high school from, there is not much of a reason to go back, plus the fact that I truely had the best time of my life in Ttown is why I really will always consider it "home".
I’m standin’ here beneath these billboard lights Takes me back to those autumn nights Hometown bleachers packed real tight As we marched down the field My feet would swing from a dropped tailgate Out on Airport Road real late No one could walk a line too straight We usually made it home alright And glory days I cant re-live Stories I’ll never forget
And I don’t know no friends Like the old friends I never seem to laugh now Like I did with them But deep inside me A piece of history Yeah, I hear their voices even though they’re gone And it keeps me turning home
While he is talking about playing HS football, I think of attending Bama games. More specifically, pre- or post-gaming for games is where I cant remember laughing like I did at Stadium Apartments my freshman year, 701 13th st my sophomore year, the fraternity house my next two years, and my apt the next two. Everyone just drinking, eating, and laughing are the times I truely miss. Ive attended a game as an alum and really there is just no comparing to having 30-40 of your best friends at one place while you are all in school to tailgating on the quad with families.
Never twice the same way does it start And sure enough she stole my heart On the old gym floor, spinnin’ round and round one night And though we both tried hard to wait We sure did love the taste Of the sweet love being made and prayin’ I got it right Graduation came and went Along with all the time we spent
And I don’t know no love Like the first love When I think about the best times She’s the one I think of Deep inside me All though the taste is bittersweet I see her smilin’ even though she’s gone And it keeps me turning home, yeah And it keeps me turning home
This one probably got me thinking the most of all. Like most people, I had my first serious relashionship in college. And like most people, it didnt last. In my case it was two people who were finally having to face the world after 2-3 years together and realizing that they were headed in opposite directions in life when not given the commonality of college. And in all my life I have never had regrets except on this issue. I don't regret the relashionship, I loved her and I knew she loved me. I don't regret the breakup, in hindsight it was the right decision. The thing I regret is that my relashionships to people changed over the whole thing.
I was having a ton of fun and was really good friends (and I mean friends) with a lot of girls when I entered the relashionship. I allowed myself to disengage those friends to be more focused on my gf. This may be the biggest mistake of my life. I just cut and dry was not a good friend to the people. Even after the breakup, friends that we had as a couple I suddenly no longer had, because I guess they felt they needed to choose sides or something.
Through it all, I've had my best friends stick by me, and for that I am truly blessed. I have to use two hands to count my true friends and even I know that is unusual. And a few of those people I wasnt good friends to have forgiven me and we talk or text pretty frequently now, which doesnt take away my regret but does make me feel better about.
Hey, if all life is is a collection of experiences im well on my way, and I thank all of you for being a part of it, no matter how large or small the part.
We were rigging up on location today when-and I'm not lying here- thousands and thousands of birds flew over us. This picture is only what i could cover in one picture. I would have to have taken 10 or 12 of these to show you all of them (there are alot of the ground in the back of the picture).
Now for the kicker, these birds were seagulls, in the middle of north-central ND. Needless to say we were all in shock and this face was abundant.
New Season of Always Sunny in Philadelphia starts on Thursday. Super pumped. Maybe I can watch it but if not I'm definitely DVR'ing it. If you don't watch this show you really should be.
I get to travel a lot with my job. It has its ups and downs. The downside is that I'm gone from home alot. And I mean alot. I so far have spent 51 of the 90 days I've been employed in hotels. The good news is I get to see the country for free, and I am racking up killer Holiday-Inn points.
I am currently sitting on a job on an Indian Reservation in North Dakota about an hour south of the Canadian border. Hey, I never thought I would get to see this part of the country and its pretty cool. So far I have came to the following conclusions:
There are about 100 people living in ND and SD. Seriously. I think this must be where the FBI sends the winess protection program.
This is what the whole state looks like. There is just nothing out here. Expect for the road and a little barbed-wire fencing to keep the cows out of the road this place is untouched by humans. As you are driving its really not hard to imagine the Souix Indians following buffallo through here. You almost expect to see them crest the hills.
The main exports of this state must be hay, sunflower seeds, and horses.
Its currently 3 weeks away from snow up here. Its Sept and its 95 today at home.
My god ND is a long way up here-30 straight hours of driving, I think any more and the truck would have caught fire. We seriously did not turn it off except to fuel.
We took a 30 minute detour while in SD and got to see Mt. Rushmore. Guess what-it looks exactly like this picture. Seriously, other than to say youve ben here and seen it, you've experienced it. Don't get me wrong-its cool and all and I'm glad I did see it, but there is nothing to do here.
Step 1: Look at the Faces
Step 2: Leave
This is the third cool thing I've had a chance to see on Big Red's dime. I saw Independance Hall and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and Carlsbad Cavers in New Mexico.
This started me thinking, what else would I like to see. I had alot of time driving so I cae up with a little bit of a Bucket List.
Watch Alabama win a National Championship in person-CHECK
Graduate College-CHECK
Go to a World Cup-currently planned for 2014 in Brazil
Attend a summer and winter olympic games
Visit Europe (Ireland, England, Normandy France, Italy)
Octoberfest
Go to NY and LA-1/2 there
Visit Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef
Skydive
This list will keep growing I'm sure. Post comments and let me know some other things I should do.
For those of you who I havn't spoken to in a while, I thought I would make my first blog post about what I've been doing lately. I graduated from UA in May with a degree in Electrical Engineering. I took a job with Halliburton, and oil-field service company, in Lafayette, LA. Let me tell you, if you have ever hard the words "Cajun" or "Crawfish", this is where both of them live.
Lafayette itself is a pretty good sized town, about 3-4 times larger than Tuscaloosa. The thing that gets me though is that 30% of the people speak some sort of French (at least phrases in everyday conversation that I don't pick up) , I can't pronounce the road names (I live on Kaliste Saloom, pronounced "Call-ee Saloom", and forget about anyones last names, i.e: Savoi (Sav-wah), Guillott (Gey-ott), and Bellager (Bell-on-jay). On the reverse side of that, the food is excellent, and the city itself is actually very nice.
****WARNING-NERD ALERT****
THIS IS PRETTY BORING
So I was hired by Halliburton Seismic Services, a Sub-PSL (product service line) under the W&P (Wireline & Perforating) PSL. Because Halliburton is like the 5th biggest company in the world, it has lots of PSL's and sub-PSL's, basically broken down like this:
Sperry Drilling- Drill the wells and run casing
Cementing- Cements the metal casing in
W&P- Places different tools down the well to record anything and everything about whats down there. This can include what kind of rocks are there, the porosity and permeabiliy of said rocks, how much gas/oil is to be expected there, how much radioactivity there is at certain levels and of course Seismic.
Completions-Starts producing from the well
My buddy Darby says I work for Conglom-o (if you remember the Nicktoon Rocko's Modern Life). He is about right.
So basically Seismic services puts a tool down the hole. These tools have microphones in them. We then get a huge source (airgun, dynamite, or most likely Vibrosis Truck), to cause an event at the surface so energy waves can enter the earth. Our microphones pick up this energy. Since we know how deep our tools are and when we set off our source, this gives us the travel time of the energy wave. From that we can tell what kind of formation our tool is at (because energy travels different speeds through different materials-like sound through water and air). And thats basically it.
