Rick's in Norway, but on his way somewhere much more remote

Ok, so no postss in a while. Sorry loyal readers, but I have a feeling I was hanging out with most of you so that makes it ok right?
Anyway, here the update. I took 6 weeks off from work in aberdeen to head to calgary. It was awsome, loads of canoeing, hiking, campling. Picked up an ultimate frisbee MVP award, and learned how to make beer. Thats the short unemotional update and all I feel like writing for now, cause I miss not working.

I went swiftly from that to.... well not working. I arrived in Aberdeen after a helish flight with a kid kicking my chair and his father next to him having no idea how to be a parent, just in time to get to sleep. Straight to work in the morning and I got some news. "Hey Rick, your going to Norway" I thaught this was my transfer and I started to loose it, but then I was told it was just 1 job and should be fast and easy and not to worry. SO that some day I was on a plane and heading East. Found my hotel and again went to sleep. Woke up the next day for offshore survival with Matt (My flat mate from Aberdeen). Apparently they wanted the entire dream team over here. After that I wne tto the base, then went binge drinking from Friday night until 3 am Sunday monring.
First impressions, Norway girls are amazing to look at, but are kept in glass jars. You cannot touch them or talk to them unless you are from here, and you can't break the glass, no matter how much you want to and how hard you try.
So Monday in the base, checked some tools. I talked to my boss and he told me to call him later, I went to the hotel and fell asleep. I woke up to a phone call saying "Your transfer is in and you are going to In Salah, Algeria."
Amazingly enough one of my oldest SLB friends works in Algeria, In Sallah to be exact, so I emailed her and got the inside scoup. I also looked it up on google maps and this is what it looks like.



May not look like much, but its worth a visit to Google maps to see for yourself. Its at least a 1000 miles fromt he middle of nowhere, and at least 2000 from somewhere. Its going to be great. I really am excited about it, only reading things like ( http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/08/10/algeria.bombs.ap/index.html ) worry me a bit. But who is going to drive a car 2000 miles to blow me up.

So there will be lots of time to talk about that, now to talk about Norway.
I was in Bergin, and like I said some good place to drink, some great place to eat, and luckily I was on expences the whole time ( I think/hope) A beer here is about $18. Yea you read that right. I pint of Beer $18.... crazy.
So after some time in Bergin doing nothing but reading about some big sand dune invading my future home on line I was sent North to Kristiansund.
We were supposed to get up here Saturday and leave Sunday, but now we are delayed til tomorrow (Monday)
So we took today to do a little sightseeing. We went to this little fishing village called Grip. It was amazing. It was about a 45 min boat ride out into the Norweigean Sea and we found this little Island. There are about 30 buildings.




Apparently they are Redskins fans (Go Skins Go)

They had a church built in the 1400's





Apparently all of the Churchs here have ships and the beginning and end of the Isle and its called the ship not the isle. I thaught that was interesting.

The landscape here is also quite amazing. All the rocks are Granite and its Islands everywhere.


Ok thats all for me. I wont be heading off to Alferia for a little while due to the excessive time it takes to get a visa, so after this job it will be back to Aberdeen for packing up and a few goodbye parties.

O ans sorry about the sideways pics, i don't know how to fix that

Goodnight all!

if u don't like Calgary, then i probably don't like you.

It's also means you're likely a moron and have bad taste in tunes.

Thats all for now!

Long time no blog.... plus Nats Game update

So first a quick update on life since my last blog. Work, move to a different job in schlumberger Aberdeen that is basically my old job plus some new stuff :-( Work Work, 10 days at home for New years, Work, Work, Big Promotion from Senior Field Engineer to General Field Engineer (Which while it sounds like demotion is actually a pretty huge promotion and now puts me at the highest level of Field Engineer Schlumberger has). Then I worked for 8 more weeks and now, finally I am on my 2 weeks off that I was promised back in November.
So now that you are up to date with my life lets start up this blog thing again.
Alright, if you don't know Washington DC has a baseball team. They are the old Expos and they still are not very good. But if you don't have a good team you may as well draw a crowd by having them play in the middle of the wrong part of DC. Wait a minute, that sounds crazy..... but its working. and the reason why you ask????? New Stadium. That's right folks the Nats have a new stadium and the city is energized. The team does also have a lot to live up to because Washington's other big 3 pro teams were all int he playoffs this past year, and while the Skins were 1 and out, the Wiz will collapse as always and the Caps are down 2-0 in game 2 of the series as I am writing this, they all made it. Will the Nats..... after yesterdays performance my prediction is No.
Anyway as for my day yesterday, it was awesome. I don't think i have ever had a bad day when i got to watch baseball live, especially in a new stadium. We had awesome seats and got to see quite an offencive explosion. The Braves put up 4 int he top of the 4th and the crowd was going nuts. i guess part of not having a team for 30 years means that lots of people start rooting for other teams. and if you started rooting for teams int he 90's the braves were a pretty good choice. Quick side note. 95% of the girls at the park wearing Braves jerseys were smokin hot, and because of this I decided my next girlfriend will be getting a Braves jersey to wear around, actually it may not have to be a Braves jerseys, I'd even say that an average girl in a Baseball Jersey moves up a point on a 10 point scale just by having the Jersey on.
Back to the Blog. so Yea the Nats got shelled, but it was a fun day at the ballpark.

John Smoltz pitched for the Braves and did very well. As you can see. We had pretty awesome seats. Half way between 3rd base and the foul pole about 12 rows back. I missed 3 foul balls by about 12 seats each and even better I got on the Jumbotron for the first time ever in my sports watching life. And what a jombotron it is. Its the Biggest HD TV in the world. I don't know the exact size, but as you can see.


It is huge. What did I learn by seeing myself in HD and that big. Well other than the fact that I was the best looking person in our section, possibly the whole stadium, HDTV isn't good for guys with short hair. It makes them look like they are going bald.

One last thing to note, in between innings these guys come onto the field to make sure people won't do anything stupid. First off, i think i could outrun this guy,

second, I thought Tiger was shooting a 68 at the masters but clearly he was stopping the drunk guy in the first row from spending a night in SE jail. Which by the way is all anyone needs to know to act proper at Nats games as all the White people from the burbs love going to a game in SE, talking about how nice it will be one day and how the stadium will bring up the area, but non of us EVER want to go the the jail in SE because of being stupid at the baseball game 'cause that same jail houses people that live in SE and we spend our whole lives staying away said people not trying to get into an 8X6 with them.

that's it for now folks, Will try and update again soon.

STOP, collaborate and Listen

Ok, So this will be long, and impossible to believe, but I have
pictures to back it up. It is true and it is amazing. First off I will
give an analogies of what happened. Monday night was the equivalent of
going to a Chicago Bulls game in 1993 and after the game havingMJ come
up to you, ask to play you in HORSE and you winning by dunking from the
3-point line, Impossible you say that’s what I would have thought
before last night.
It all started on Friday when we went out
to watch the Rugby at a pub. At half time they moved a band in and we
decided to move out. We knew there was a place that would be playing
the game as they advertised to play every minute of the World Cup so we
went on to Tiger Tiger. After 15 minutes of them not playing the game
they finally turned it on. I went to the bathroom where the next minute
would permanently change my life. As I exited the bathroom I saw a
small sign and on it, it said, “Ice Ice Baby is playing Tiger Tiger on
Monday Night” I instantly went outside and went straight to the bar to
buy tickets. “What do you mean your not selling tickets?” “Not that
big” “Just a normal Student night?. Those were the things that the
bartender told me. I was unconvinced so I spoke to the bouncer,
manager, and some other people. Apparently it was the truth. On the way
out we met 5 girls promoting student night at the club. I figured they
would be as excited as me and my 6 friends were. They actually were
promoting the following weeks show. DJ Jazzy Jeff. Are you serious,
this place could be Aberdeen’s goldmine! Anyway for the rest of Friday
we told everyone that we saw that Vanilla Ice was playing on Monday
night, and were met with indifference or the common “I thought he was
dead”. He is not, in fact, he is very much alive.
So after taking the weekend off I sent out this email on Monday morning
to the 2,000 Schlumberger people that work in Aberdeen.
Hi All,
I know this is very hard to imagine but the Ice man himself (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla_ice) is playing our hometown
tonight at Tiger Tiger. The publicity is rather low, but I was told by
members of the Tiger Tiger staff that he is guaranteed to play "Ice Ice
Baby". It is not possible to make reservations or buy tickets ahead of
time but cover at the door will be 4.50 the slightly higher than the
Monday night rate but far from a ripoff.. Doors open at 8 PM, and he
will play at some point after midnight. Some of us fromWireline are
planning to go showing up at around 9:30 PM after dinner. This is a
once in a lifetime experience where you will see a major
recordingartiest
in a small venue. We can only hope that in addition to Ice Ice Baby
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp-is6S_b_g&mode=related&search=)
he will play classics such as the Ninja song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFLGRidfFo4 . I hope everyone seriously
considers coming as this will be a life changing event for some if not
all of us.
Just thought the SLB world should know about this unique opportunity
I instantly got 2 responses they were
'Hi all' should have been replaced with 'STOP, collaborate and Listen'
and
That's
AWESOME. Unfortunately, home with super sore throat so will not be able
to attend. Try to get some video on your mobile or camera!! If you
seeXXXXX, remind her as she knows all the words to ICE ICE BABY!!
The second one was from my personal manager; XXXXXX is a person who is
about 3 levels above me. I told her, and she came and was almost as
excited as me.
Brenton and I were extremely pumped about the event, we plastered the
base with posters and spent the day reading wikedpedia, and watching
Ice Ice baby and The Ninja song on Youtube. The Ninja song on Youtube
has the most hilarious moment ever where they are interviewing Ice
after the video shoot and he explains that “The director told him to
put some Ice on it…. So he did” It was a productive daySLB shares
dropped about $1.32.
We decided that while the club told us to show up before 11 to get in
we were not willing to take a chance so we planned dinner for 8 pm then
were going to head to the club around 10 pm. We hit the door and the
bouncer that I talked to on Friday remembered me. By the way I was
wearing black pants, a white shirt withcuff links , and a silver vest.
I was dressed just like Vanilla Ice in the Ice Ice video. So we get in
and claim the couch right by the stairs to go downstairs to the club.
Its like a restaurant upstairs on street level and a basement club
below. Not opening the downstairs til after 11. No problem, we need a
little pick me up anyway. We start pounding VodkaRedbulls by the
pitcher. What an awesome drunk!
So when they finally do open the stairs down we rush down with everyone
else. We head to the stage……. Everyone else heads to the bar. And when
I say we, I mean the 20 people fromSLB that came. I did that, and I
told everyone I was quitting to become a concert promoter. However the
20 people I brought were nothing compared to student night. I forgot
how amazing student night is. It was basically like Kingston at the bar
down by the water, just a skin fest, it was great.
Anyway so continue the Redbull
and Vodkas for a long long time, listen to some great old school jams,
bust out a few dance moves for the people there which include my
immediate manager, theaffor mentioned high up manager, and 30 something
sales engineer, and 4 people from the interpretation team..
Ice goes on stage at 12:30 Am and kills it. Before he comes out I start
a “Go Ninja Go Ninja Go” chant. It caught on with everyone (maybe 100
people around the stage) He does a few songs and then in a slight lull
in the performance I start another “Go Ninja” chant. Ice says “Wow, I
can’t believe you guys remember that” then busts out with the Metal
Rock version of the Ninja song. 1 of the 2 songs I wanted to hear was
played, and he is defiantly singing the other one so I am happy. A few
songs later here comes, “Yo VIP, Let’s kick it” Place goes insane. Well
at least the first 3 rows, possibly the only 3 rows cause when I looked
behind me there were 2 rows of people pushing, then open space on the
dance floor. I knew half the people on the floor cause I brought them.
Anyway, he again does a Metal remix of Ice Ice Baby and kills it. What
an awesome night. All of my goals for the show were completed. I was so
happy. After some more comedy during the show including Vanilla coming
out with a song directed at the girls he dragged on stage “Show me the
titties” In which he just said “Show me the titties” over and over
again. It was over. Amazing, so mush fun so drunk, and so much energy
from theRedbull . It started to get very dark in the club section
downstairs after the show so we headed upstairs to talk about how
awesome the show was. I find a hot girl and start talking to her. She
does not want to hook up with me so I leave her. Brenton goes outside
for a smoke and then calls cause he can’t come back in cause it almost
last call. I go talk to the bouncer and it is my buddy who loves the
outfit and the excitement I have. Brenton is allowed back in.
Apparently I have say there.
So one last drink and we head to the
place where everyone knows your name; the International Casino. Take
out 100 pounds and with the 50 in my pocket start playing blackjack.
Brenton takes 50 and looses at Roulette, comes over and acts as my
adviser. I needed no advise as I was doing well. Craig, the pit boss
comes over and says, “hey guys he’s here”. We were confused and asked
who is here. He said, “Vanilla Ice is here” I’m impressed shocked and
happy all at once and run to the door to see if I can sign him in as my
guest. He already has a membership card that he just got, but I give
him a man 1 arm handshake hug and say great show. We then start playing
Roulette. And Vanilla Ice sits down next to me. ……………………………….
That’s
a pause for effect because of what I just said. Yes, Vanilla Ice just
sat next to me. The Vanilla ICE!!!!!!!!! We start playing, I’m betting
huge to try to impress him. We start talking, I start winning. Brenton
is advising me to make some 25 pound 5 number bets, and we hit. 175
pound pay day. We hit again. Things are looking up. We play for about
3
hours while just shooting the shit with Ice. We tell him that we are
just some Texas boys like him, at which point he shows us the state of
Texas outline Tattoo on his leg. I show him my tattoo. We talk about
his tour, we talk about his family. Talk about our lives here. Talk
about what he does, his investments. He is actually a really cool guy,
but whowouldn ’t say that when they meet someone as influential has
him. He actually hung out with the 2 of us more then his 2 friends that
he brought.
The highlight of the game was when a girl tried to get
in-between me and Ice and he tells her to move somewhere else. Then
turns to me and says “I’m sorry dude, did I justcockblock you?” Vanilla
Ice just asked if he cockblocked me. Awesome
! At this point I should mention that I love all celebrities and if
your famous its for a reason and I respect that. I would like to be
that, but it will never happen, but I will celebrate the people who did
make it.
Anyway, there was this girl in a red dress that followed
him to the casino hoping to hook up with him. He is married with 2 kids
and does not hook up with groupies, but shedidn’t know that because she
hadn
’t been talking to him all night like some people. I see her sitting at
the blackjack table and decide to go talk to her as I am walking that
way anyway. We have been drinking a lot of beers at the casino and are
still on the red bull high crazy drunk level. It was one of the
drunkest nights I had while not getting insane, it was perfect and I
think theRedbul had a lot to do with that. Also the fact that student
means more than just hot skimpy dressed girls it also means cheep
drinks, and I make too much money no tot take advantage of that. Plus,
for some reason,al the 20 people that came wanted to buy me drinks.
What can I say, I’m a popular guy.
Back to the girl, I ask her if I can kiss her cause I’m really good.
She says yes. I give her a small kiss, and then throw my tongue down
her throat. She was pretty hot from what I remember and I think her
name was Jessica, but I can’t remember if she told me before or after.
Anyway, what was I doing, I had a seat next to Vanilla Ice with a pile
of chips that Brenton was loosing so I had to go back and salvage what
was going on.
Back at the roulette table there is more chilling
with Vanilla, who refused our offer to buy him a drink about 100 times.
At 4:30 am he looked at his watch and realized he had to wake up in 4
hours to head to his next show so he went to cash out. He cashed out
for 120 pounds. I cashed out for 350. I won! While cashing out I asked
if I could take a picture with me and him. He agreed and just then
Brenton returned from the bathroom with his camera phone to take the
picture of me and Vanilla Ice. I apparently had my real camera in my
pocket, but I had forgotten 
Brenton was very upset that I cashed out as he wasn’t
finished loosing my money so we lost about 100 pounds and took a cab
home, tipping the door bouncer 20 pounds on the way out, cause Ididn’t
get thrown out.
What an amazing night. Like I said, playing HORSE with MJ is the only
comparison I can come up with. It was truly amazing, that’s the only
word I can think of to use.
I
woke up at 9 am like I was shot out of a Cannon, I might have slept for
about 3 hours and I was wide awake and still steaming drunk. I’m
already late for work, which my manager should have expected as he saw
me the night before. I shower then get in the car and head to work. I
stop for gas and almost puke. Get to work and walk right into the back
room where I am now writing this. I will not accomplish much today
either, hope the stock pricedoesen’t notice.
O and yea, I got this email from the high up manager today.
Rick and Brenton,
Thank
you for arranging a surreal but very entertaining night out. Had a
great time. Thank you for inviting me. I am looking forward to Rick's
dancing onYouTube
While the dancing won’t be on youtube. I’m
going to try and post some of the video of the performance. Its pretty
dark, but you can hear the music and I actually like it a lot, but
then
again he did sell 20 million albums, so he must have talent.
Anyway,
that was my Monday night, what a start to the week. Next weeks edition
DJ Jazzy Jeff brings Summertime to Aberdeen in winter???? Who knows,
I’m just going to keep walking around with a smile n my face for
another couple of days.
By the way, coming off a Redbull and Vodka drunk sucks. It happened at
lunch in about 20 minutes from being drunk to being ill and exhausted.
I think I’m over it now and might be able to drive home. But I do have
a little work to do first.

me and Vanilla Ice at the casino, yes it really did happen


Ice at the Casino in the background with Brenton in front


Random girl that didn't want to hook up with me


The Man at work

Me and Brenton before the show in antisapation of the grateness that would be Monday night

I figured this was how Vanilla would sit in a big chair

Rick hits 52 week high

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=RICK

A coworker showed me this today. With a name like that how can they loose. Follow me as I go to the top!

I'm not a nice person

Ok, I promise this one will be much shorter. O and thanks for all the responses to the last post…… did anyone read it?
Anyway…..Hiking in Scotland is awesome, but will it last? Mel is leaving in 2 weeks and I am working for the next 2 weeks so will I get another trip in before winter? Is it winter already? These are the questions that only time will answer. I did have a great time I have to thank Andrew and Ali for the book that got it all started. P.S. When Lonely Planet say difficult, you will be in pain the next day!!!

Part 2. Ok, don't read this if you are easily offended, but I think this need sto be shared. I recently found out about this thing called Craig’s list. It is the most hilarious thing I have ever read. First off, the posts about looking for someone to come screw them are amazing. Like http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/w4m/424082728.html I mean seriously if your not going to sell us with your picture at least sell us with the writing. Or is this good enough??? Or what about this one http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/w4m/422431285.html a car, job, and a country song are all you need to have a chance, damn, that’s like half the country. http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/w4m/420230839.html would be pure confusion. How do I know is the shoe will even fit? The whole cindreli thing online doesen’t really work.

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/w4m/424681611.html This one did make me feel a little better because I had come to the conclusion that a girl could pull anytime she went out no matter what. But this makes me think maybe they can’t!
Only nice men welcome http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/w4m/424156819.html well of course. Dressed like that and carrying your luggage you wouldn’t want to move in with a mean guy!

Ok, enough being mean. Do I think maybe I could find a girl on craigslist that I would like to go out with? Sure http://calgary.craigslist.org/w4m/390254652.html there’s one. But I know nothing about you. What do you like? What do you hate? What if you hate, great looking, smart intelligent guys, who are great natural athletes and amazing people in general that save babies on there days off. If you hate guys like that I should just save both of us the time.
I’, thinking of putting an ad up, maybe in a few different cities and seeing what comes back my way for the pure comedy aspect of course. Anyway, hope that didn’t offend anyone, not like anyone reads this but yea, just thought that was something that needed to be shared.

Longest blog ever

Ok, so 9 months in Aberdeen and this kid is not a happy camper. Why not, well there are many reasons. Some I know, some are a mystery even to me, but these are not important, what is important is what am I going to do about it!
This plan was not hatched in 1 day and I am sure it will not be final either (actually, I’m writing this so its not a lot of random thoughts in my head but an actual plan) So first I need a place. Thinking logically I have lived in 4 places that I remember. Washington D.C, Kingson, Ontario, Liberty, Texas and Aberdeen Scotland. While I liked all of them at times I also disliked all of them at times for different reasons. In order to move forwards with an effective future I think the past needs to be analyzed to make the best future possible.
So let’s go in order.
Why did I live in Washington. Well that’s easy, I was 10, and mom lived there and I lived with Mom…
What did I like about it? Lots to do (Museums, restaurants, bars, pubs) some really good friends from high school. Lots of Family (extended family). The Townhouse is awesome. Like the hardwood floors. Like my big shower and big bedroom. Safe place to live. Gym at the corner. Pool for swimming of lazing around during the summer.

What did I not like? Bad water pressure (Ok so this is apparently going to get detailed, but that’s the best way to ensure a better tomorrow right?) 45 mins drive to School. Lived in a neighborhood just too far away to walk anywhere. Was the only person my age in neighborhood.

Ok On to Kingston
What did I like?
Great friends. House was always busy with someone doing something. Did not get bored. Walked everywhere. Places to go out when I wanted to and people to go out with. Intramurals.

What did I not like?
Walked everywhere in bad weather (Cold snow and rain)

Liberty
What I liked? Big apartment. ShinerBach beer. Had my truck and my operators and my my tools (Its called a cell system if your in Schlumberger) No traffic. Airports close by with direct flights everywhere. Houston has everything you could want. (Baseball, football, huge mall, beach, great food) . Great Winter weather. Loved the convertible!

What I didn’t like? Had to drive everywhere. Stopped being challenged at work. Thought being only a USLand engineer would make me less well rounded. To humid in summer.

Aberdeen
What I like?
$$$ most I have ever made, Great downtown with food bars, pubs etc. Lots of people to work with makes sure that I get along very well with at least some of them. Always people to go out with.. Always see the sun in Summer. Gas Stove

What I don’t like?
Apartment is small with too many doors. Never see the sun in Winter. Carpet has no padding. People talk weird. Girls dress stupidly. I work too much. I drink too much. I gamble too much. I have a lifetime ban from my casino (Is that a good thing?)


So now we come to the important thing. What am I looking for in my future to make me happy.

First, a little analysis. Good things over all. Friends are important, not a boring place, able to walk around, places to go out for a meal or a drink, big enough place to live with soft carpet and hardwood floors in a city with a major airport and some kind of local sports team to back and a good “local” brew and the ability to play sports myself.

So this list other than the first statement is not difficult to find. San Diego has all of this and great weather. I’ve heard great things about San Antonio and Denver. But If I found a city that has all of the above with my best friends there, wouldn’t that be better? Yes it would….. I think.. So not all my best friends live in 1 place. But 2 of them do!
Now here is the rub on that. (And I am talking about Calgary if anyone hasn’t figured that out yet) Would it be as good as I think it would be? It would not be like Queens for many reasons, the simplest being all my friends that were “single” at Queens are not single anymore.

***** Ok I wrote this whole thing yesterday and am board of reading now So I amgoing to post the whole thing without reading the rest. It may suck. This is your warning*****

Now this is both a good thing and a bad thing. Luckily the people they are not single with are fun people so I quickly double the number of people I know, but it does mean I have to share and I am an only child for all intensive purposes and am not very good at sharing. I have also not really experienced a Canadian Winter in 3 years, and while Aberdeen does have sucky winter weather I was offshore for most of it, and we do our best to stay inside away from the wind and the cold, but more importantly it doesn’t snow more than 1 inch offshore. And what I hated most about the snow was how it got the bottom of your pants wet when you walked in it. Calgary would have that problem.
So if I did move to Calgary where would I live to satisfy all my desires. Well while writing this I spent several hours looking at Calgary real-estate and there is tons out there. What really caught my eye were the Luxury condo’s downtown. They have hardwood floors, Granite Kitchens, Gas stoves, and from the looks of it soft carpet  They also have huge price tags.
This may be a good place to discuss the possible ways of moving to Calgary. They way I see it there are 3 ways. Quit Schlumberger and get a job with a company in Calgary. Is this possible? I am pretty sure I am hirable with most majors, and I do interview very well. Plus 3 years of looking at logs would make me a half decent petrophysisit, but would I enjoy that? Who knows, maybe a topic for a future blog, and it would be a pretty serious pay cut I am sure. How much would this affect my ability to buy a luxury condo, again I’m not sure but research will have to be done. Second, I could stay with Schlumberger and ask for a transfer to Calgary. Now there are basically 3 things I can do with big Blue in Calgary. Sales or DCS in downtown, or instructor at Airdre. Again all of these would be drastic pay cuts, but again for a normal life is it worth it. While Sales or DCS would take me out of operations and therefore management in the short term and maybe forever, instructor is often a stepping stone to FSM or Ops manager positions and doesn’t everyone want to be a manager, I mean you don’t actually work anymore. Your job is to get other people to work and isn’t that the American dream. (Interesting that this American is thinking of moving to be happy in a country that is not America, again another blog??) Anyway, back to this blog. Third and this is an option that makes sense on so many levels except the common sense one. Go work in a Schlumberger SHL (Shit hole location) Now these SHLs have special rules like work 6 weeks here and we will let you go take 3 weeks off anywhere you want and still let you make good money. Or work in a slightly bigger SHL for 4 weeks and go take 4 weeks of anywhere you want for less, but still good money. So while I would not be living full time in Calgary I would have a home base there and with that I would be able to come back to a home. Also, and this is where I will need some help from the local community, but If I had a 2 bedroom nice apartment downtown living there only 3 out of every 9 weeks isn’t in conceivable that someone would wan to live there too. Like having a roommate that could pay half the bills and half the mortgage. Not a bad plan, at least in the short term.
So I guess that about sums up this blog. I think it has left me with more questions than answers. One question being how did I manage to be 25 with such poor writing skills? Others like what would it be like living in Calgary full time. It would not be like a vacation. Where are the good parts of downtown to live? Do I really want to live downtown? Do I need a stupidly overpriced apartment to live in? (I do remember buying a sweet car and every time I drove it I had a smile on my face and maybe a sweet apartment would do the same thing which would be good)
It has also answered some things for me, and answers are always good. If this is the right thing to do it shows me that I will have to start preparing now my doing a better job of saving. I will start this by setting some goals, first of which is establishing a budget and living by it. Apparently this is normal for people, but I have never done this in my life. Even when I had no money and was driving around the Midwest with a Jeep full of food and enough money for gas I just lived on what I had. Now I have more and I live on more. So budget here I come. If anyone has any kind of excel budget sheet that they find helpful, or even better if someone has some free time and wants to make me up a budget please do it.
I also need to figure out how much money I need in the bank when/if I come to Calgary. This would be a goal or as I like to think of it a challenge, and I think everyone knows how competitive I am when it come to challenges. I think the other thing that really nees to happen is to test the job waters in Calgary. Now I have done this before with some success, but actually committing and not talking to friends Dad’s who know people up there may be a better way to go. So I can do this both inside and outside of SLB. Inside is defiantly easier with my next (and final) field promotion coming up before the end of the year (I really need to start working on this). I get a carrier Orientation Review where I can say what I want to do and where I want to go in the future. (Again, I will need to figure that out before then, but I really do think writing this has helped that).
So there I am. Some questions worked out, many more found but I have some goal like things to reach for in the next little while and it only took 1,898 words!


Please Please comment on this. Is this a terrible idea that will ruin my life. I need to know other people’s thoughts.