Yeah, I own a copy of Snooki’s book (No Homo)

This is long overdue, but I would like to thank NFM (National Fuel Marketing) for the care package!  This CRACKED ME UP!  I'm still laughing about it now.  Take a look at the picture below.

Whoever thought to put Snooki's book in there, I owe you a beer/fist pump.  I just about died laughing.  Not gonna lie, I immediately hid this fearing I'd get my ass kicked out here.  Also, Christine, I want you to know I ate my fair share of cookies, but to no surprise when I got back home, guess who snagged the rest of the bag off the counter??  Yup.  Big Baby Champ is also a big fan of your chocolate chip cookies.  And...random thought, but you guys know me so this won't be a shocker...follow me here....Champ sleeps an inordinate amount and I always kinda wonder what's going through his head.  This solved it for me.  Now, whenever I'm home and he's sleeping, I like to look over at my roommate (Rodine) occasionally with a dumb face and narrate Champ's dream in a deep, oaf like voice, "COOOOOOKIES".....Then, I get the, "you're a ratard" (yeah, with 2 a's) look from him and that pretty much makes my day.....You're welcome for that little story and no, you can't get the past 30 seconds of your life back....

Anyways, thanks again!  You guys know me all too well.  Gatorade's, double shots and oatmeal can pretty much get me through any day.  I also appreciated all the books; The Shack, When The Wind Blows, etc.  Quality literature.  Kind of reminded me of The Shining....thanks.  Hope you guys are doing well and I wish NFM the best.  Also, heads up, there are bagels in the breakroom every Friday...

Coming in HOT ----> more posts.....getting this thing all caught up.....until then, Marinate on this....

"COOOOOKIES...."

Did you know there's a Flintstone's Themepark in South Dakota?!?

Well, there is!  This past weekend we were on a casing break.  I took this opportunity to meet up with Whitney in Rapid City, South Dakota (halfway between my rig and Denver).  Casing is when they run steel pipe and cement it into place to stabilize the wellbore.  Here's a website if you want to learn more, http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=casing.  This is done by another company so we're allowed to leave location.  Annnnd...we're still on the payroll so it counts towards my 86 days!

Sooo, back to the important part.  South Dakota has a Flintstone's Themepark.  I think I was slightly mislead, because I thought it was going to be for all ages and possibly have a pub.  Wrong.  After further investigation, it's closed during the winter and appears to be for anyone ages 6 and under.  So what I'm saying is it's about the right maturity level for me, but I'll have to come back in the summer.

Other points of interest were Mt. Rushmore, The Black Hills, Fort Hays (where Dances with Wolves was filmed), and Deadwood (recognized for the murder of Wild Bill Hickok....anyone remember the movie Wild Bill??).  Now, Deadwood is a small historic town with several gaming halls.   The most notable being Kevin Costner's Midnight Star Casino.  It's pretty much like a tiny Planet Hollywood, but it only has Kevin Costner's memorabilia and you can gamble....which we did.....unsuccessfully.

All in all, it was a good trip!  South Dakota, surprisingly, has a lot to offer and looks like it would make for some pretty sweet camping in the summer.  Nonetheless, it was a great excuse to get off the rig for a bit.

Final thought...Jackalope do not really exist, but everyone in South Dakota will tell you otherwise.

In the words of Jay Z, On to the Next One....

On to my 3rd rig.  This one's roughly 50 miles from the nearest Walmart.  I'm just outside of Tioga, ND and things are looking up!  Word on the street is that there's a 24 hour gym in town.....

And....For everyone in Texas/Oklahoma complaining about the snow....This one's for you....

"Cooler than a polar bears toe nails!"  And, that was a good day.  I've finally started to adjust to the cold weather.  I can tell if it's really cold or really, really cold just by how crunchy the snow is under my feet.  That, and, whether or not it hurts my teeth when the wind blows.  Oh, and for those of you keeping up, my windshield crack has expanded to roughly 5 ft....
 
TO BE CONTINUED......

Adventures of The 7 OH UNO....

For all of you packing your bags for North Dakota.....don't.   Not because it sucks, but because I want to keep this remarkable state all to myself.  Ok.....it sucks.  "The bitterness of sacrifice is worth the sweetness of success" though, right!?...(Thanks Mom Raylene...I took that one straight from the whiteboard on your door)

I'm working 12 hour shifts (currently the night shift) and live in a trailer on site with no booze.  I think it's an understatement to say this in an entirely different world for me, but I welcome the challenge and can only laugh at the obserdity of the problems I've encountered this far.....

I started this journey just in time to experience my coldest winter ever.  My washer fluid is good for -25 degrees....it froze.  A couple weeks ago my windshield cracked.  I've only had my Jeep for a couple months now so I wasn't pleased.  And naturally, over the course of my drive back from town, I watched as it grew from the initial 3 inches to approximately 4 ft.  Yeah, it started to spiral so there's room for improvement...I'll keep you posted.  Think I'll set the over/under at 4 and a half.

Groceries.  I'm currently on my second rig.  The first one was about 70 miles from the nearest Walmart.  This one is roughly 40 miles out.  This is BOOMTOWN (looking forward to that rap song) so if you don't go to Walmart you're going to pay 3 times the price.  For example, Chewy Bars....$3.59.  I have a picture I'll post later.

What have I done with any spare time?  I'm starting to learn the guitar (working on Boys from Oklahoma), otherwise I read, workout and sleep.  I brought one book out here (The Millionaire Next Door) and finished it in the first 3 days so I ordered 3 more off Amazon (Bogleheads -Guide to Investing, Don't Tell Mom I Work on the Rigs She Thinks I'm a Piano Player at a Whorehouse (I highly recommend this one...and it's a quick read too), and A River Runs Through It).

iTunes. I stumbled across Mumford & Sons and can't stop listening to them.  I've been able to access iTunes (what!? what!?) and downloaded their "Sigh No More" album.  Can't believe I just discovered them.  I'm always stoked to find new music so if you guys have any other recommendations (you know I like everything) send em' my way!

A few last, random, thoughts....

Day 12.  If you're going to eat my oatmeal, please eat two packets of the same flavor...FYI, I usually eat two packets at a time.  I woke up to find someone else had been helping themselves to my oatmeal.  Not a big deal, but how are you gonna leave me with one banana packet and one blueberry packet?  Yeah...It was pretty rough, but I persevered.

Day 24.  I got stuck in the snow for the first time.  Two hours later.....I got stuck in the snow for the second time.  Ironically, I was listening to Young Jeezy both times.  I'm so Icccyyy..

Day 27.  I got my haircut at Walmart and they CAN screw up a buzz cut.

Day 38.  I had my first run-in with wildlife.  I went in to town early on this morning to grab some groceries and when I headed back I came across a flock of pheasants.  Bottom line, Jeep 3.  Pheasants 0.  I felt pretty guilty, but if you hit your brakes out here you're pretty much gauranteed to be in a ditch.

What in the hell is an MWD?.....

Exactly!?  If you figure it out, let me know......Just kidding....but, be prepared to be bored during this post.  MWD stands for Measurements While Drilling.  Feel free to wiki it...I stay on oil rigs in North Dakota while we drill horizontal wells approximately 20,000 ft deep (10,000 straight down, 1,000 curve, 9,000 lateral hole).  During this process I relay measurements to the direction driller to make sure he knows how to guide our tools (bit, motor, MWD (the reason I'm employed), pipe, etc.) in the right direction.  Obviously, I've kept this pretty concise, but feel free to hit me up if you ever want to learn more.  So far I've actually found it to be very intriguing....Lame, I know....

86 Days.....

That's right....

I started my journey on Dec 23, 2010. 

My first day was Christmas Eve. 

My next day off is March 18, 2011.....  

I have a buddy who's already doing this (Shout out to Justin Foster!) and he worked 85 days in a row when he started.   I'm young, stubborn, money hungry, and out to prove myself so I'm going for 86 days in a row.  Yup, I'm one uppin' you Justin!  Time to kick my debt in the face!!

I've purposely told everyone I'm doing 86 days in a row solely because I'm not even sure I can do it.  Now...I have to.

So... I'm starting my career on the rigs in the 7 OH UNO, where no one listens to rap music so I can officially say it's about to get waaay more gangster.  Just when no one thought North Dakota could get much cooler....(yeah, that JUST happened).....