Bunko Night!

The girls getting ready to start Round 1 of Bunko!

I won a prize, I couldn't believe it!

Tonight I attended a fundraiser event that was held by a Civic Sorority that one of my friend's mom belongs to. It was to raise money for a local women's shelter. I had a lot of fun playing a game called Bunko for the first time. For those of you who don't know, it is basically a dice game with the goal being to roll certain combinations depending on the "round." It was a fun game but it is more about the company and conversation! It was nice to be able to catch up with a couple of friends during the week. As you can see in the pic, I even won one of the prizes they drew names for (this was pretty much the only winning I did all night, as it turns out I am not so lucky with the dice!). It is a latern and candle which I was very excited about! It was a good time, and the girls are even talking about getting a group started for our own Bunko nights once a month. So watch out ladies here in town, you know the Evite will be coming soon!! :)

By the Way

Just FYI, we did end up drilling that last hole section in one bit run; I blogged a bit about it a couple of posts ago. Turns out that that was the world’s longest 12¼” Autotrak (the downhole tool we use to turn the well in different directions), and the world’s 4th longest AutoTrak run of any size. It also set a Chayvo (“Чаиво” is Russian for “settlement by the bay” - the oilfield we’re drilling in) record for fastest 12¼” ROP (Rate of Penetration is how fast the well is drilled) at 344m/day; the old record was 334m/dy. When the operating rate is ±$350k/dy - that adds up pretty quick. My self-assessment that’s due once a year for all XOM employees (which is coming up), should look pretty good this year… drilled the world’s first and second longest wells, set the world’s deepest whipstock, and a world record bit run. Things like that keep this job interesting, and make the long travel, days away from home, and the bitter weather worth it.

Am I Done Yet?

Well, I'm officially half-way into my hitch, but I think it's only fixing to slow down. Usually, my hitch is split into two halves. The first half (2weeks) I spend with the most unbearably incompetent person on the planet - understandably this is a fairly miserable 2weeks. The bright spot is the half-way point. Typically after two weeks, the sycophant leaves, and a fella that I really enjoy working with, learn a lot from every time, and really runs his business in a way that I aspire to emulate, takes his place. Unfortunately, because we're having visa issues with the Russian government - I've got to endure an extra week with God's most useless waste of skin.
So, to mitigate feeling like I'll never leave - I've adapted a new counting system to keep track of how many days I have left. The old counting consisted of not counting your last day at work (you're going home... it just doesn't count), and the current day (because getting out of bed is the hardest part, and if you're lucid enough to count - that part's over). This system works well when the remaining days are in single digits.
For occasions such as this where days remaining are in the double-digits. I've adpoted the new "Steak Night" system. Every Saturday, we have a barbecue steak dinner in a special "barbecue shack" which will be blogged about at a later date. Well, as near as I can figure - even though I get to work on a Wednesday, I really don't get started until after Steak Night on Rriday (it takes that long to get used to the jet-lag and funny sleep schedule). Then, by the fourth Steak Night - the hitch is practically over (the last few days don't really matter because... well, I haven't figured that out yet but I'll justify it somehow). Thus, I really only work the three weeks between the first Steak Night, and the fourth. And by this method, I've only got 10 days of work left - not bad.
I'll post some more uplifting blogs when the atmosphere around here improves in another week, but for now - enjoy this video of a roughneck I've never met, but I really admire his propensity for being able to have fun at work. If you look carefully, you can see the rotary turning in the left foreground (this is how any well is drilled) - which makes this a particularly hazardous little dance... but most enjoyable things involve some element of poor judgement, so this is easily forgiveable. It's not hard to tell where this hand spends all his time and money

The Dirty Dozen

Admittedly, I am little bit of a "foodie." I am not sure if it is the influence of The Food Network, my use of baking as a form of stress relief, or just the strong pull of genetic influence (my mom loves to cook/bake, and so did her mom!). At any rate, I love and am interested in all things related to food. Over the past couple of years I have been making a concerted effort to buy more and more things organic. I was talking to my sister the other day about organic products and decided to do a little research today. I found this list of 12 produce items that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has found to contain the highest levels of pesticides. So, if you don't buy anything else organic, or want to start slowly (as organic items tend to be more expensive); this list is a good place to start:

Peaches

Apples

Sweet bell peppers

Celery

Nectarines

Strawberries

Cherries

Pears

Imported grapes

Spinach

Lettuce

Potatoes

*And remember, these pesticides leech into these fruits and veggies and can't be removed by washing or peeling!!

Other random tips:

- The USDA regulates the term "organic" and products with this label must meet certain guidelines (no pesticides, no fertilizers, no growth hormones, no antibiotics, etc.)

- Organic food producers must be certified by government inspectors

- The USDA does NOT regulate products that claim to be "natural" or "all natural" so you cannot be assured these products meet "organic" regulations

Depending on where you live, and what grocery stores you have access to, it can be difficult to find organic products. However, even here in the midwest most grocery stores have even a small section of organic products. Just remember to look for that green and white USDA Organic seal, and Happy Shopping!!

Dog Rescue!

"M" holding the rescuee!

Me with the lost dog. She was quite sweet and even knew how to sit!

Sunday was a random, but eventful day. The husband is out of town so I decided to go to church with my friend “M”. After church we decided to grab a quick bite to eat for lunch and then go study. She is in a Master’s program to be a Nurse Practitioner and I needed to study for my nursing state board exam. On our way back from studying we saw this dog who appeared to be lost in “M’s” neighborhood. Even though it was a very nice day (temp in the 60's), the dog kept wandering in and out of the street and we were worried that she’d get hit. We asked a couple of people if they were familiar with the dog, and after no luck we just scooped her up, put her in the car, and took her to “M’s” house. We called the local animal control and they came and got her. But not to worry, she’ll stay at the shelter for 3 days and then go up for adoption. Hopefully someone will call looking for their cute white dog with a purple bandana! She was very sweet and we hope she finds her family!