Walk in the Park

Today I walked to my dance lesson.  That may seem like an innocent endeavor, but it was snowing like crazy.  It's not too long walk, though most people would never think of doing it.  I am constantly teased about walking to class.  But it was pretty out, and they way there was lovely. 

Today's Exploit:

I have never experienced an ice storm, and did not know what to expect.  It turns out that it means lots of rain, that freezes as soon as it touches whatever it lands on, ie. your car, the stairs, your umbrella, ect.  It was interesting, and I spent half an hour chipping at the ice on my windshield.  A bit later the rain started freezing before it hit anything.  It looked like hail from a distance.  Up close it looked like the crushed ice my sister likes to eat, from Sonic.  Everything looks different when it has half an inch of ice on it...

This bush was cool, it had what looked like buds under lots of ice.  It was kinda like a museum, where they have bugs trapped in amber.  It was very surreal walking by blades of grass or twigs that had an inch of ice around them. 

My favorite was the fence.  For some reason it just grabbed my attention. 

I guess this can be quite devastating when it builds up on the power lines.  My neighbor upstairs warned me to stock up on wood in case the power went out. 

It has started snowing, and I'm kinda relieved I can't get in my car.  That means I don't have to be on the road with these crazies.  Now that snow is covering the ice, they are driving like it's not there.  That's when the problems start...

Ta Da. It Works!

Yesterday I mentioned that my mouse didn't work.  And while I'm delighted that I have it, it doesn't do me much good if it won't connect.  Not that this is a large problem, I just have no background with these types of things.  Therefore if I try to solve the problem myself, I will cause some major problems. 

This is my new mouse.  It is about half the size of my other mouse.  And I like it a lot, now that it works.  I have also noticed that I am in the habit of using the touchpad anyway.  This I will have to break...

Today's Exploit:

I sent a message to my new friend Jonathan telling him that I had a question about the wireless mouse he gave me:

Me: I have a question about the wireless mouse you gave me.  I know you set it up in your office, but it is not working and I am not sure what to do.

I know I specifically said WIRELESS MOUSE because I went back and checked. 

He asked me what wireless I was trying to connect to.  This really confused me, so I said I didn't know.  He then asked me to call him.

He started giving me instructions on how to connect to the wireless.  It was very familiar, because I have done this before.  FOR THE INTERNET.  (P.S. obviously I'm connected to the internet if I can send you IMs.  You know, some of the smartest people can be so dense)

Finally I asked if this was for the mouse. 

Jonathan:  No this is for your wireless internet. 

Me: I don't have wireless internet at home, I was asking about the mouse.

Jonathan:  Oh, we need to communicate better.

Me: Haha (this is when I went back and checked.  It did say I had a question about the wireless MOUSE!!!)

Well, we got that figured out and I love that I don't have to have 6 feet of wire in the way to use a real mouse.  Since my touchpad is stupid and jumps around all the time.  Now, to teach myself to actually use it ad not just waste the batteries.

Dog Food Crisis

This weekend my computer got a virus.  It was one of those nasty things that claims it's a security program, but won't let you close it no matter what you try to do.  Then if you do somehow get it closed, it gives you a warning message every 4.32 seconds. 

I had to take the poor thing into the IT people, because I don't know about these things.  My new friend Jonathan tried to re-format the computer, but evidently the virus was too smart, so he had to reimage the whole computer.  Thankfully I have 2 drives and only 1 was infected.  So my very important pictures and recipe files were saved.  It took all night to do it, though.  I didn't get to make sugar cookies with royal icing last night because the computer was at the hospital.

Today when I went to pick up my computer, I still had to wait while Jonathan put some programs that I need back.  So I wandered around his office for a while, and looked at his Star Trek collection.  He has a lot of models still in the boxes.  He also has some very cute messages from his wife:

If I were a diciduous tree, my leaves would fall for you.

I don't like leafing you in the morning.

And so on, but back to my story.

As I was packing up my new friend Jonathan gave me a new wireless mouse.  Now that I have it at home, it doesn't work.  But that was to be expected, right.  I did learn that my goofy touchpad is not normal, and am going to get it fixed the next time I am in town.

Today's Exploit:

I finally got everything together and headed back to my car.  I walked out the door and was it by a....something....of dog food smell.  You know how the dog/cat food isle in the store smells kinda funky?  Well, imagine that about 465 times worse.  It was the smelliest, squelchiest kind of dog food, too.  I think a few semis delivering the stuff may have exploded mid-transit.  The poor dogs that had to stomach that stuff may go hungry for a few months...or 10 years. 

Also, I have not been able to eat since.  Every time I go into the kitchen I think of that smell, and it's as if I were bathing in the gunk all over again.  Eew.

Picture from Google Images

Adventures in Drunkenness

Most of the guys on rigs don't ask me for my phone number, they just ask if I'm married.  When I say no they tell me they love me, one even asked me to marry him.  On the rare occasion (twice) that they ask me, I am caught off guard and give it to them.  This results in some pretty interesting phone calls...Late at night.

Today's Exploit:

The other night I woke to my phone ringing.  When that happens I just answer.  It takes me about 3.24 minutes before I can think/understand/reason.  Of course the first thing they ask is:  What are you doing? 

Damn, dude.  I'm the most boring person you know, all I do is Work and Read and Cook.  What do you think I'm going to be doing?  Hanging out at the clubs with my nonexistent friends? 

Well it turns out this guy had been drinking a bit and was feeling chatty.

Steve: Hey! What are you doing?

Me: Mpfht

Steve: I just got a tattoo!

Me: Huh?

Steve: Yeah, it's this little lawn gnome with funky boots and a funky hat pushing a lawn mower...just below my belt line...

Me: Huh, just what I wanted to know...

Steve: Yeah, one of my friends is a tattoo artist, and every time I go drinking with him, I get a new tattoo.

Me: Oh.

Steve: Oh, hang on, my neighbor's coming up to the door.  (in the background I hear some indeterminate mumbling, then...) Yeah, I just about run my truck off into the ditch!

Me: Shoot, you're driving, talking on the phone, and drunk?  I don't want any part of this...

To top it all off, he called to apologize the next morning...right in the middle of my run.

Spankable

I was at my dance lesson yesterday.  This is a common rare occurence.  I go as often as I can, but I am out of the town so much I have to cram when I get back.  Of course since I just started last month, and I am gone so much, I don't always remember the steps/leads.  While we were dancing to the rumba, I believe, I had one of these moments.

Today's Exploit:

Shawn, my instructor, was teasing me for missing the lead.  It's a kinda embarrassing one for me, since I would rather underplay my bum, and this focuses on it.  Finally I did it, kinda hop back and pop it out there.

Shawn: Well, that was still spankable...

Me: (Well, shiiit what do you say to that?  So I did what I do best and turned as red as the walls, or as the border for this post.)

Shawn:  YOU MATCH YOUR SHIRT!!!  You're gonna blend into the walls! Hahahahaha!

Both Shawn and Louie have a great time making lewd comments, trying to make me turn red.  This one just happened to work too well, and now every time I see him he says something about it.

I may never live this one down...

I Have a Vice

Yesterday I was making lunch and listening to the Mud Engineer and Directional Driller.  They talked about how old we look: 

The ME (Mud Engineer) said he was carded for a student ID when he went to watch his daughter play volleyball while she was at the university. 

The DD said that he had rarely been carded, even while he was underage. 

"Shockingly" they thought I looked younger than I am...

Then this turned into things you like to do, ie drinking.

Today's Exploit

They talked a while about being young and dumb and getting drunk.  And how now neither drink very much because alcoholism runs in their families.  Then they started talking about other vices.  Such as sports, gambling, drugs, ect. 

They talked about how pretty much anything can become an addiction if one allows it to "take food away from the table".  Both said that all vices could be ok if they were done for enjoyment an taken to excess.  Then the kicker came:

ME:  Everything is ok in modesty.

PJ:  Hahahahahahahahah! (silently)

'Scuse me, sir.  I think you mean moderation. 

DD: Yes, these people don't know how to control themselves and take responsibility blah blab blablablah blah...

Oh, man.  The things people say.  And the things other people miss...

Sunset

I'm looking out at an amazing sunset right now...

Too bad the trailers are in the way.

Jealousy

I got a call a little bit ago, in my box.  I've gotten this call a few times, but this one seemed more hopeful:

"You have running water!"

Hopefully this time is for good.  I had running water last night.  It warmed up enough for that.  Evidently the hose came away from the tank, in addition to freezing.  A couple times it would freeze even if I left it running.  Very frustrating.

This time, though, I am hopeful.  They rigged up a bypass system, to that the water flows continually.  Maybe this will be enough.  It doesn't hurt that the temperature is rising. 

Today's Exploit:

My sister had her birthday party Friday.  It was bad enough not being able to go, but I have been forced to work at all times, and thus have not gotten the chance to send her gift.  To make things even worse she had Eli and Cavan at her party.  And they got to cook, in the new kitchen no less.

Cupcake tried to be helpful by sending me pictures of the boys, but that only served to make me more jealous.  This is the picture she sent:

A bit later I got to talk to them on the phone.  Cupcake said they kept asking about me, which made me feel a bit better.  (At least they didn't forget.)  And they both talked a lot.  Mostly I remember as Eli being pretty good at communicating, and Cavan as being mute or incoherent.  They both asked me if I was coming, which made me sad.  I wish I could have :(  They also told me how much fun they were having jumping over Cupcake's legs and looking at her belly button. 

Unfortunately for me, this was one of my not-so-busy days.  And I had nothing to do but work on Cupcake's blog.  I eventually remembered that I had some books in my car.  That was a relief, much better than being frustrated by the blog, or bored to blindness by staring at the work computers.

These are some of the books that kept me going.  The Hero and the Crown, and The Blue Sword.  Some of my favorite books.  Not that that means much.  Most of the books I read I call my favorites.  But these are some of the ones that I read on a regular basis.  Along with Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen by Garth Nix, and the Alanna series by Tamora Pierce. 

Blogging Queen

The last couple days have been pretty easy for me.  The Head Honchos out here decided to pull out of the well to find a pipe screen that was lost.  They pulled and pulled and pulled, always hoping that the screen would be at the next section.  They finally made it to the MWD tool, (mine) and it wasn't there.  This was the farthest it could have gone, because my tool blocked the path at this point. 

So we switched out our tool, with one that had a fresh battery, and went back to the box to be ready for going back down.  We were ready for 36 hours before they got to a point where we could start working again.  I'm not sure why it took this long, they don't usually come by with updates for me.  But this trip should have taken maybe 8 to come out and go back in.

On the way back in the crew ran a "rabbit" through each section of pipe.  They never found the pipe screen.  There's probably someone somewhere laughing at our struggles, while they hold that durn screen.

Today's Exploit:

This misadventure just happened to coincide with Cupcake deciding that she wanted a new template for Her blog.  So I texted some instructions.  That proved to be too complicated, so I got on Yahoo messenger.  Even that was a struggle, and I ended up getting her password and doing half of it myself.

She didn't like all of the format, so she asked me to change it.  Basically she only liked the background, and I changed most of the rest...that's what it felt like, anyway. 

But I did it!  And I am immensley proud of myself.  I know approximately nothing about html.  Yet somehow I managed to blunder along and make the page look just like she wanted. 

DA da Da DA! The Blogging Queen has arrived...

This is Texas

So, the weather forecast has been correct so far.  It got really cold last night, and even though I left my water running it froze.  I am not lucky enough to have a bypass to keep it circulating, so...  Other than that it is lovely.  All the puddles froze.  And you'll be glad to know, dad: Black ice.  They look just like puddles until you step on one, and break your neck. 

Today's Exploit:

As you know, I've said it's cold.  But do you really believe me?  I hope you do now.  I took these pictures 5 minutes ago through the window of my box:

 I was very lucky to have a rig had run down the stairs as I was taking pictures.  A good reference for the size of the icicles.

And here are the hoses between the water tank and my trailer:

You see?  No chance of running water for the next 2 days.  Hopefully no more than that...

Water Crisis

My dad sent me a video of the "Real" Uncle Fester so that I could compare.  And while the mannerisms are quite different, they both have the stooped walk and very round bald head.  "Company Man #1" looks very much like Uncle Fester.

I finally pulled my camera out of my car to take some pictures.  I've just posted on PJ's Kitchen, and have more in mind.  I'm pretty excited about the new picture settings on blogger.  I just wish they'd add the spell checker back in!  I do alright in the spelling department, but I'm not that great in the typing department.

Today's Exploit:

So, the other night I got up to use the toilet, and when I tried to wash my hands the water didn't work.  I was a little confused and a lot groggy, so I went back to bed hoping it would work later. 

When I got up for work it still didn't work.  I was kinda at a loss.  I thought maybe the water was gone, but that didn't seem right since it just stopped working, it didn't taper off. 

I did find out later that when the water gets low enough, the pumps turn off so they don't burn up.  Even so, after work I tried the faucet again, and it worked!  But I didn't remember seeing a water truck come by.  Hmm....

Last night the same thing happened.  When I got up to use the toilet the water did't work!  I finally figured out that the hoses are freezing!  It's been really cold here, for Texas that is.  It freezes every night, and the water supply hoses are just that: garden hoses.  They have no insulation at all.  And because they are between all the trailers, they don't melt until afternoon when the sun finally hits them. 

To top that, I heard this morning that it is supposed to be even colder tomorrow and Friday.  That means no water at all for the next couple days.  I'd better get a shower in tonight!  Hopefully it will warm up enough for that...

Test Taking

Today I was sitting in my little box, wishing I could go back to bed and not watch 101011000010101010101... march across the computer screen in a never-ending stream. I finally roused myself enough to take some of the quizzes I need to finish before I "Break Out" and become a Lead Hand and get a Raise. That means that I really don't feel as though I know enough to be out here alone, but they'll send me out anyway.

Today's Exploit:

I was working on a quiz, with my chin on my hand and my elbow on the desk when the Directional Driller (from now on these guys will be DDs because it's so much easier) came in to check on the temperature of the tools. The door is very loud, and not many people come by so I jumped a little.

He chuckled at me and asked if I was sleeping. I said no, I was taking a test.

"Soaking it up?" Huh? I'm not sure what that meant, but he didn't believe me. Evidently I looked like I was soaking up the sunshine, because My chair happened to be in the only sunny patch. (This was not by design, because it is roasting in this box when the sun shines on it.)

He took a couple more steps in to see the computer screen and:

"Oh, you really are taking a test!"

Well, yeah. I did tell you that. I guess he doesn't know me well enough to know how bad I am at lying. As with everything else that makes me the slightest bit uncomfortable, I turn bright red.

At any rate, it is time to end this post, because I need to move away from the sun.

Uncle Fester

My mom suggested that I post all my entries that were not about food on this blog. It's not a bad idea, but it would take much more effort that I'm willing to expend. A bit funny considering how much time I put into making the header of PJ's Kitchen, but there you go, that project was definitely more interesting.

Sorry Mom, it's not gonna happen.

Today's Exploit:

The other day a guy came into my box and introduced himself as Aldo, he also told me his title, but it had no meaning to me and I promptly forgot. He was a nice man, and asked questions that I knew the answers to. That helps his "likable" status immensely. He's stopped by a few times since to ask how things are going, and to look at the graphs that I have on my computers.

The second or third time he came in he asked me:

"How's Uncle Fester treating you?"

I was a little lost, so I kinda laughed and said "Alright." I really had no idea what he was talking about, so after puzzling over it for 3.8 seconds I let it go.

I eventually figured out that, whatever his title, he is the "Head Honcho" out here. The "Company Men" run the show, and he's their boss. I was kinda impressed that he didn't act like a jerk like "Company Man #1". This man has a very narrow picture of what is going on out here, yet he throws his weight around considerably, and is generally better than every one out here. He gets angry over little things and makes most of the workers angry.

The next time Aldo came in he told me that he would be leaving this week, but that his boss and his boss's boss will be coming out this week. Evidently his boss is like "Uncle Fester".

And then it hit..."Company Man #1" is Uncle Fester. Hahahahahahaha! I can't believe it. This man calls a guy who works for him "Uncle Fester". And he's so straight faced when he says it; I think that's why I had no idea at first. It could also be that I have seen approximately .68 episodes of "The Adam's Family".

So, now every time I see "Company Man #1" I have to struggle not to burst out laughing. The challenges of this job...

The first of the Real World

Previously I have posted on Rig Life and Cooking on PJ's Kitchen.  But, mostly due to boredness, I have decided to reorganize.  I've wanted a new format for a while, and this is my experiment.  To ensure that PJ's Kitchen will continue to operate if I mess with it a lot.

Today's Exploit:

I was just getting in to my little blogging world when I hear this ding from a computer.  (I am at a rig.  Working in a box that's 100 feet form the box I sleep in and about 20 feet from the big box on stilts that they drill from.)  I look over and see a sign saying hspm has encountered too many errors and will shut down. 

Well, Sh00t! hspm is how we recive data from the tool.  It is the reason I am here. 

First thing. I save what I already have.  Next I call and ask the driller to stop for a few minutes.  Then I restart the computer.  Going alright so far.  Now I get to the tricky part...setting up the sensors.  Well, usually they revert to the last configuration used, but not today. 

So I call for assistance.  Turns out no one at the "General Assistance Headquarters" knew what they were doing either.  I spent 40 minutes on the phone with one of these people trying to figure out how to set this up.  Turns out it would have been about 14.2 times faster to do this on my own. 

Meanwhile I am getting calls from the computer company asking when I want a computer delivered, and from the Directional Driller asking for updates on the status of my "Reboot". 

Finaly, with assistance, the computer froze again.  This is when I get off the phone wth the "General Assistance Headquarters" person and go ask the guy I'm working with (Dave) for help.  He was sleeping and a bit groggy, so he wasn't much help either. 

I came back to the box.  Restarted the computer again (the mouse was being funky and not letting me control it) and commence setting up.  I am almost ready to call and tell the Directional Driller he can start drilling again, when Dave comes out and asks how it's going. 

Well, it's finally working.  And that'll teach me to call for help when I don't know what's going on...