Its been an eventful month since my last post... IN short order I (or we, as the family case may be)...
1. Finished up my classroom training after returning from Scotland.
2. Went right into a 2 week hitch (14 straight 12 hour days, with rig pay...) at our 'command center' in Provo, learning the ropes of monitoring systems from rigs around the globe
3. Spent 4 fun-filled days in Menifee, CA with jared and Emily for Thanksgiving
4. Started my current 17 day stint in Taft California at our test/training rigs with Oxy.
Couple notes--Thanksgiving was a blast. Spending time with Jared & Emily only served to remind how much we miss them. Hanging out with them is like meeting up with your best friends from old high school days, only better. The kids had fun too--although Ashton's infatuation with all things Nintendo WII now has me a little concerned... He went a little notes over it, for an eight year old. Ali craves time with her girl cousins (I wonder why????) and Aidan added to his growing collection of infatuated little girls vis a vis Natalie. His so good with them. I chalk it up to his gentle nature and kind demeanor. that, and the chicks or all ages just dig the guy. I am worried about these boys of mine.... Both of them had older girls hitting on them in Hungary--reason #2435 that it was ultimately a good idea to come home to Utah....
I don't miss movie prices in California--no 4.50 early matinees there--we all went out one night to see BOLT, in 3-D, and while the movie was pure throwback fun to classic Disney flicks of the past, I felt a little violated by good 'ol Cali at having to cough up 77 bucks for 6 tickets. GAAAAAH! And Holly wood wonders why people are going to the movies less and less--HMMMM 3 guesses, you Mensa geniuses...
We headed back to Nephi pretty early on Saturday, in order to beat the Zoobie hordes who would invariably return to campus either Saturday or Sunday. This, in hindsight, was a wise move. Sunday night, in looking off at I-15 from our upstairs window, it was BUMPER TO BUMPER TRAFFIC, MOVING AT 35 MPH. In FREAKING NEPHI. We saw nothing but tailights as far as could be all the way north. And all those cars didn't come from Scipio or Fillmore, which tells me traffic was heavy like that probably to Cedar City or St. George.
The original plan was to come back late Sunday afternoon or even on Monday, as I still had a full week off from work (I love this two week on/two week off schedule) but that was shortchanged when my hitch to California was moved up from February to now. So, after only a week off, I had the unenviable situation of driving back from Menifee on Saturday, only to get on a plane to Burbank early Monday morning.
THAT flight was fun. Not. Here I am with a million Delta miles, upgrades up the wazoo (ie I haven't flown in coach on a domestic Delta flight in about 3 years...), and I get STUCK ON SOUTHWEST! OUT OF A DELTA HUB IN SLC!. That's what I get for having a last minute ticket, I guess.. To make matters worse (in addition to the standard Soutwest cattle call seating cluster%$^&*...), I had to fly to Phoenix first. Making a 70 minute flight to Burbank a 5 hour odyssey. Heck, I could have driven from Nephi in eight hours, and that would have been more relaxing.
But I digress. I am finally out on a rig. My two compadres and I went through the one-day California rig safety training, required of everyone--from the engineers to the first-time roughnecks-- who will go onto any rig in the state. So. I finally a good idea of what prison school must be like. Bwaha.
I'm now on a schedule from 530PM to 530AM. Until 16 December. SO lucky me, I get to spend my 37th birthday (man 37 sounds OLD!)
On the plus side, I'll have about 4 weeks of time off waiting for me afterward....
I'd post something political, but I am still in denial over this whole Obama thing. Maybe later....
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