Weeeeener Weeeeener!

Friday found me in Houston at the SPE Sporting Clays shoot.

It was hot.

It was muggy.

I was in hormonal woman meltdown mode.

Until this girl, my friend Jenaya, won this...

Yup.  AND a $500 gift card.  She had a very, very, very good day!

And, I had a good day, as well.  I shot an 81/100.  Not bad for picking up my shotgun for the first time in almost a year.  While melting.

I was happy.

To top it all off, my coworker Chesney ordered us these cute pink shooting shirts - we were the only all-woman team at the shoot.  Jenaya, Chesney, Joy and Janie! We had a great time!

Bring it, shooting season!  We got this!

Changes in Temperature - Hormonal or No?

I dread one sporting clay shoot per year.  And I leave tomorrow to go shoot in it.  It's the DFW American Association of Drilling Engineers sporting clay shoot at the beautiful Dallas Gun Club.  Shooting?  FUN.  Usually.  

But people...it's August.  There are a lot of trees.  And no breeze.  

And I am a hormonal woman.  Just saying.

This comment on a business email sent earlier today to a Pennsylvania client, and penned by moi, sums it all up.

Bbbbbbbbusted...By An IPhone App - And Starbucks

I guess ThatManILove can tell when I get coffee.  

Even when I'm in the PA.

Life in the Petroplex Just Got Funnier

Our town, Midland, Texas, has grown so much that the entire populace is groaning about all sorts of issues.  From the very basics of no groceries on the shelves to high rent and bad restaurant service, every business in the area is stretched.  And let's not even talk about horrible traffic and bad driving.

This is also the case for our neighboring town, Odessa, Texas.

One smart soul is making us all laugh about our issues, though.

A new Facebook Midland Meme page cropped up on August 4, 2013 and has already amassed some almost 20,000 likes in 7 days. AMAZING.

I have laughed so hard at some of the memes, I have cried.  The mysterious meme creator has definitely captured some of the facts about our fair city, as well as (insert evil laugh) those of Odessa, Texas.  Below is some of his/her work.

And POW! SMACK! Robin, you dork, you deserved this one.

True.  You go into a restaurant, see empty tables and wait 30 minutes due to lack of waitstaff.  

 Don't even ask me about the water.  We spend untold dollars on potassium for our water softener, regularly use our RO unit, AND buy bottle water.

One of the very best things about working in Midland, Texas is our tuned down work attire.  The young man on the right definitely epitomizes the attire of the majority of the young professionals here.  He looks great, and he's not gonna melt in the excessive heat.  And that's a good thing, right?

We went to the grocery store and got out within an hour.  Thought that was pretty good, considering the checkout lines were 5 baskets deep.  I saw a potential for a  fight to break out in a couple of the aisles, though, just due to cart traffic congestion and bad shopping manners.   

Oh, wait. Crap.
 That was me.

I hope this page grows and grows! Not a day goes by that I'm not hit in the face by some funky reality due to our overpopulation, and this page will help me keep everything in perspective AND laughing.  I am proud to be employed in the oil industry that birthed this situation...and proud of the creator of Midland Memes.

Bravo, Midland Memes.  Bravo!

Work and Fun In The OilPatch of the Marcellus Shale

Just returned from a great trip to the wonderful P of A...I love that state!

My new boss flew us up in his jet, we were super busy with appointments and sales calls, which I LOVE! Thursday afternoon,  I attended the National Board meeting for the American Association of Drilling Engineers.

This meeting was, wonderfully, followed the next day by the AADE Appalachian “Blast”, the Appalachian AADE’s sporting clay tourney benefiting the Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital.  We did have a blast.  The tourney was held at Hunting Hills Gun Range in Hunting Hills, Pennsylvania.  Beautiful.

It was the first time I ever shot sporting clays in hard, pouring rain.  Vendors manned stations, and cooked all sorts of good food: bacon-wrapped quail, jambalaya, bacon-wrapped scallops, pulled pork deep fried egg rolls, and much more.  I have mentioned that the drilling group likes to eat, haven't I?  Well, we do!

The shoot was really fun, even with all the rain!  I shot at 9 am, and by 6 p.m. when we arrived at our friends’ house, I was still soaking wet.  

I learn something on every trip.  Here are my discoveries from this one:

• If you’re traveling in a private jet, it pays to have superb pilots.  Especially when they’re trying to land between two huge thunderstorms, and the tower gives them clearance on a runway where another plane is trying to take off.  Thanks, y’all - good eye!  You’re amazing!
• If you have to travel on business, having good friends in the area makes your trip super sweet.  My friends John and Suzan are amazing.  It was so fun to hang with them, and I learned to play the domino game “Shoot The Moon”.  I didn’t do too badly at it, either! Love y'all. And tell Patches the kitty that the Wonderdogs went ballistic because she had been in my suitcase, haha!
• I got to see my good friends Tommy, Deb, and Daniel.  I think of them, and start to giggle.  We had some really funny stuff happen.  Another story, another day!  Love you guys.
• If you decide to buy ammo in Pennsylvania, especially if you’re buying for multiple people, plan ahead and locate your ammo dealer in that area.  Because you might have to buy multiple boxes instead of flats of ammo...and that’s IF they have any in stock.
• If you're going to a shooting tourney and there's a good chance of rain, take (1) another change of clothes and (2) don't bother to fix your hair. Just wear a ball cap. You'll come out ahead and get 30 minutes extra sleep.
• I only shot a 70/100.  I need to practice more.  Of course, I could always blame it on the trees.
• If you’re traveling with your shotgun, be sure to take cleaning cloths, a cleaning snake, gun oil, etc.  I was woefully unprepared to properly clean my gun and protect it post shoot.  Hey, don’t be hating...I’m a desert chick.  It doesn’t rain out here, people. I clean my gun when I get home.  (Not this time!)
• Corporate jets are the Way.To.Travel.  Yesterday morning, wheels up at 8:30 a.m. EST, home by 10:30 am CST.  Smooth, beautiful flight, great company...it was awesome.  Did I mention I didn’t even have to pack my shotgun in a travel case?  Suhweeeeet.  Thanks, Bossman!

I love Pennsylvania...it is so very beautiful.  And I LOVE the people, especially my compadres in the Oilfield. I cannot wait to go back.

Oh, Doritos, How I Miss Thee

I’m an oilfield girl.  Well, maybe not girl, anymore.  But, a lady, in the oilfield.

Many a day, I’ve donned a hardhat, steeltoe boots, jeans, H2S monitor, safety glasses and trekked around out on a location.  Early mornings.  Late nights.

Running into town to grab breakfast, or lunch, for the company man and my crews.
Which usually entailed lots of sodas, chips, burritos, burgers, fried chicken, for me, and for everyone on location.  

We’d fry turkeys.  We’d boil shrimp or crawfish.  Anything, to give these guys a break from eating lunches brought from home.

I’d make my famous oilpatch crack in a cooler - a mixture of frozen strawberries, whipping cream, angel food cake, and vanilla pudding.  An entire cooler full.  The workers LOVED it.

I was remembering this morning that my usual oilfield breakfast would be a 20 oz. Dr. Pepper, a fried bean burrito from our local convenience store, and a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos.

I kid you not.

ThatManILove and I, because of some gastro health issues, went on the Great Taste No Pain diet a couple of years ago, and changed the way we eat.  We felt so much better.  It’s really a change in the order in which you consume food.  And, we changed our diet to about 85% gluten free. (Yeah.  We have been known to consume bread at our favorite upscale restaurant.  And maybe even the Butter Rum Cake.  Shoot me.)

This morning, for breakfast?
Steamed squash, steamed asparagus, and 2 boiled eggs.

Doritos’ and Dr. Pepper stock has had to suffer in the past two years.  And I can’t even stand looking at one of those fried burritos now.

My, how things have changed.  

A Few Of My Favorite Things…in The P.A.

We have just returned from one of the prettiest places, in my opinion, in the Continental U.S.

Yup, Pennsylvania.  “The P.A.”, as I call it.  Like as in the letters, pronounced individually.

It does warrant a nickname of its own.  I think it’s beautiful.  Green.  Rife with wildlife, trees, and great people.  I LOVE visiting this state.  I LOVE visiting our friends there, and making new friends there.

The only thing about it I hate?  Having to leave.

How has this state crept so firmly into my heart?

I don’t really know.

It could be random sights like this.

Cornbread.  Covered w/ Berries and IceCream.  Yum.

Or this:

Okay, I love street names like this.  And yeah. We got lost.

Or this.

A beautiful creek, off the Sewicky River.


Or this:

I know there's a turtle in them there hills somewhere.  

Or this - I LOVE this!!

A rooster mailbox.  TOO CUTE!

Or, this, from the restaurant B R G R.

Spiked Handcrafted Shakes.  And…yes.

Or these beautiful, winding roads.

The temperature.

Houses.  With. Finished. Freaking. Basements.  So awesome.

The cool, when it rains, even in hot summer.

Energy.  I love looking at drilling locations/completion locations/producing locations, sandwiched into fields of corn. Wheat. Pumpkins.  

Or next to an old, delapidated barn. With that cool red vine growing up it…and over it.

I see something new every time I go to The PA.  I learn something new every time I go to The PA.  And I come away with a new love for this part of our wonderful country…Every. Single. Time.

Go!  Explore!  Love!  You’ll be glad you did.  

Creativity For Hire

We have a referral bonus drive going on at work.

For example, if I refer a person, and they make it through the gauntlet and actually get hired, I get a bonus.

So I did.

Refer a person.

And they got hired.

I’ve received notification, however, that I’m not going to get the bonus.  Because the person that we hired forgot to put my name in the online application form.

I appealed their decision.  Utilizing the logic that (1) the online app is hard and (2) not everyone is going to be able to 1-2-3 navigate that thing as easily as they suppose.

And then, like a good neighbor, I substantiated my claim via PrintScreen.

You see, the person had contacted me after hours, and I didn’t have my computer on me to walk them through “the process.”  

So, I did it via my iPhone, on Facebook Chat.  1-2-3, every step. Included the job website. Told the person exactly what to do.

Oh, yes, I did.

And I had every one of the messages in my FB archive, thankfully, though through zero prior planning on my part.  (Thank you, Facebook!)  And I also happen to have the Print Screen function on my work computer (Thank you, Dell).  And I also happen to know how to copy, paste into an email.  (Thank you, me.)

I ran into the head HR person, in from Houston, yesterday.  She looked at me, and grinned and we laughed about it.  It was the first FB referral she’d seen. 

I said, “Awww, c’mon. You don’t expect someone like me to follow the rules verbatim, do you?  Little Miss Think Outside the Box?”

She told me she was going to have to take it to a higher power.

I thought, “I already did.  God gave me the wisdom to do the Print Screen.  And, send the text to y'all.”

But, I just smiled.

Because, you know....it’s never boring around here.