Oil Spill? Really?: Archive

So...

Hotel internet sucks. Video and pictures will be uploaded soon Or when I get home.

Dec 11th

12-8-10 Big Shrimpin'

So, I found out today that if you put me on a 100 foot, 100 ton vessel in seas greater than five feet high and feed me nothing but fried food for two days, I get sea sick. Still, its better than flying on a plane. But really, the off-shore work isn’t that bad. I’m paired off with guys from AIS, a fish observing group, and we do trawls. I pick through for oil while they pick through for different...

Dec 11th

Shrimp Trawl 12-4-10

Today, woke up at 9A, had no idea what time it was. The bunk on the boat is really dark. And a lot smaller than my hotel room was, mainly because its four bunks in the size of the bathroom in the hotel. But it’s an experience. My supervisor sounded jealous when I checked in that I arrived at my boat last night. And I don’t have to check in with her every day, just Danielle and Dad, but satellite...

Dec 11th

Watch

Bridgeside

Dec 2nd

Back Down

So, I am back in Louisiana, this time there are like, 12 of us? Yeah it makes me feel better when I’m one of the few that are left. Anyways, I got in at 1 AM, with a wake up for 5A, luckily one of my company’s other divisions had a van and were driving all the samplers to our location, so I got to catch up on sleep… And once we got to the boat launch, they canceled us due to...

Nov 30th

Beach party, say what?

So, I got moved to this new project, along with 8 other of the “awesome core group of samplers” that’s coming from my coordinator. We’re on a heavily oiled beach collecting samples of oil and sediment. They are doing a research project to clean up the spill and we’re doing pre- and post- clean up collection. But since we need to move fast there are nine of us, and its...

Oct 10th

I guess I'm good at my job

So, yeah. I took a rest in place. It feels like I’ve been down here forever. Between rests in place, stand down days last week and just knowing I’m like 12 days from going home. Anyway. I was doing the SWACO sand cleaning stuff, kind of B.S. if you ask me, because the sand that was being clean was already labeled as “fine for human use” by DEQ, but hey, it gave me things to do. I also did a few...

Oct 7th

Sep 24th

Back in Houma again

So, back in Louisiana, wonderful. Seemed like it would be the same ole same ole, but when I showed up to the command center it was… deserted. The parking lot was half empty and the guard shacks were gone. They combined anyone working not in a hot zone that was a responder from our teams, FRAT, RAT, QRF, Hot Shot, into a generic “response” team. So, my first day was stand down, I got to review all...

Sep 24th

End Rotation 2

So, I’m writing this from the plane and I’ll copy and paste it to tumblr when I get to wifi. Anyways, I’m heading back to Providence after my second deployment. It was a good trip. Started out rough with the whole 5 hotels in 6 days, then eased out with one hotel in five days. And I just switched from numbers to letters. Anyway, after I left Cameron and seemed to take the impromptu team...

Sep 4th

So, I need a camera

Yeah, I realized I don’t have Danielle’s camera, so I can’t put a picture of the big BP Houma Command Center, which has a lot of trapped little lab rat people in it. And thats about it, because I’m in Sulphur, LA which lets me run back and forth to Cameron Parish. Which was where I was working before. Its nice though, because I finally have one hotel to stay in for more...

Aug 30th

Relax

So, Its day Seven, Hotel six. I’m in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Finally with some time to relax. I hate driving, but this job is kind of awesome. I get to hang out with people and play at the beach or in the dirt. And get paid. A lot. But today I’m Hot Shotting, and that means I’m on the in-office rotation and I get to relax and do… not much of anything unless something...

Aug 27th

Back Again

So, Friday I flew back down to the Gulf, to Houma. I got off the plane in New Orleans and drove the hour to the command center. It’s a big building with a lot of people not doing much of anything aside from eating and existing in air conditioning… must be nice. Anyway. I finally was able to put faces with names for some people, like my supervisor and the data coordinator, so that was nice. They...

Aug 25th

Last Day, Rotation1

So, today is my last day in Port Arthur. It was a fun two weeks. Got to meet some Cajun hicks who were pretty cool guys, granted I had more teeth in a quarter of my mouth than the whole company of them. Anyways, I also learned a lot down here, from the guy, Mark, I was working with my first trip And it was totally cool to see the Gulf of Mexico, too bad its too flat to surf, because the Bayou is...

Aug 6th

Aug 5th

Aug 4th

Free Boat Ride

Yeah, today Paul and I were sent out on a boat, because they thought there was floating oil. There wasn’t. So, not samples to send in, but I got a free boat ride! I haven’t been on a boat for any length of time since MERL, and I thought I’d be on them all the time down here. But they figured that we’d be more useful on the ATVs. I wish I rode the boat more. We saw...

Aug 4th

Aug 3rd

Change-over

So, today was the first day with my new co-worker. It was nice having Mark, he was fun and had experience. Taught me a lot about the oil industry and field collection jobs and how I don’t need a super high GPS because I have other skills. Plus he just had a whole lot of new ideas to share. He gave me a hardhat and a traffic vest and gloves, useful stuff that Entrix didn’t send me? Now...

Jul 31st

Jul 28th

The Bayou

So, the past two days, I’ve been driving over to Grand Chenier, LA. Its a town that seems like it has less in it than Adams. A whole lot of flat ground, people with no teeth and a bus that doubles as a library (I’ll get a picture tomorrow). You have to take a ferry out there and drive for about an hour through marshland before you see anything worth something. Like today, at the gas...

Jul 27th

Jul 26th

Bonnie is a Big Meanie who Doesn't Show up for a...

Yep. That Tropical Storm/Depression really did want me to do work it seems. She was threatening the Gulf and my company called a stand-down, which isn’t really productive. So, I sat around my hotel Saturday, and will be doing the same today. Its kind of like being in a dorm room, but I can’t have Danielle over, because she’s in RI. Anyways, I’m lazy and just started unpacking. At least I found out...

Jul 25th

Flight Day

So, today was my mobilization day. Waking up at 4AM to leave Danielle for two weeks was NOT FUN. Nope. My first time being away from our apartment for any real length of time without her, or Brody, or Reese. Made it to the airport in Providence at around 4:50, checked in and went through security. As much fun as that was, I still don’t like flying. Sat around for an hour, waiting for the plane to...

Jul 24th

Ship Out Information

So Today, after about two weeks of the most boring unemployment of my life, Entrix called. I mobilize for Texas on the 23rd. Danielle and I went and bought me the typical toiletries, and a backpack! I haven’t bought one in like… 9 years? Maybe? Anyways, I’m just waiting on flight information, but I should be flying from PVD to IAH on the 23rd, with a return on the 7th. This...

Jul 21st