Suicide 63 (Canadventure Day 10)
Mar. 20th, 2010 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
astillarThis week I've been 'commuting' from the lodge to Fort McMurray everyday for training. It's a two-hour drive along 'Suicide 63', one of the deadliest highways in Canada. On the previous phase of this job, Exxon-Mobil was losing an average of one employee each month due to fatality on this road. That's why they fly us in from Calgary now, rather than asking us to drive up.
But since I have training to do, I've been driving back and forth. It keeps me on my toes. Way too much traffic on an undivided highway. From what I've seen, I don't think they install turn signals in Canadian cars. My vehicle has them, but it must just be a fluke. There's a lot of high-speed tailgating and cutting people off. It's intense.
In good news, I'm finishing up my week+ of training today. Basically all week was just a continuous cram session. The funnest part was using the rescue gear for toxic environments. Once I put on the air tank I felt like the Rocketeer, then when I put on the air mask I sounded like Darth Vader. But I couldn't play around because this was serious business. I hope I never have to use this stuff and as frightening as the possibilities are, I feel more comfortable being knowledgeable about it rather than completely ignorant.
And before I left the Fort, I stopped at the northernmost Wal-Mart in the province and FINALLY got all the little things that I've been needing for the past week. Like soda (or as they call it, pop). My caffeine withdrawal was starting to get pretty bad, yup. ;)
I'll have some idle time this weekend before the drillers start up on Monday.
I figured if I could keep my camera hidden, like while I was driving, I could sneak a few pictures out. I hope my boss can get me a permit for photography, otherwise you'll never see a photo that includes a human being.
Here's a pic of (part of) our lodge. It's a lot better on the inside than it looks on the outside. Essentially it' a lot of modular units stacked on top of each other and connected together into these large wings that extend from the main lobby. I'm in wing 6, or as I call it, Pod 6. That instantly makes it cooler.
Here's a pic of an existing mine similar to the one we're building. Everything stinks of rotten eggs within 10 kilometers of this place, due to the gases in the geologic formation. That detention pond in the foreground is lovingly called 'Cancer Lake'. Basically if you fall in, you'd rather be shot on the spot than survive. The mine has positioned sound cannons all around the pond to keep waterfowl away, otherwise it'd be littered with bird carcasses. It might sound like this is destructive work, but in truth, the larger oil companies hold themselves to pretty high standards and there are plans in place to reclaim and restore the land decades from now when all the mining's done. Right now it's in the ugly industrial phase.
But since I have training to do, I've been driving back and forth. It keeps me on my toes. Way too much traffic on an undivided highway. From what I've seen, I don't think they install turn signals in Canadian cars. My vehicle has them, but it must just be a fluke. There's a lot of high-speed tailgating and cutting people off. It's intense.
In good news, I'm finishing up my week+ of training today. Basically all week was just a continuous cram session. The funnest part was using the rescue gear for toxic environments. Once I put on the air tank I felt like the Rocketeer, then when I put on the air mask I sounded like Darth Vader. But I couldn't play around because this was serious business. I hope I never have to use this stuff and as frightening as the possibilities are, I feel more comfortable being knowledgeable about it rather than completely ignorant.
And before I left the Fort, I stopped at the northernmost Wal-Mart in the province and FINALLY got all the little things that I've been needing for the past week. Like soda (or as they call it, pop). My caffeine withdrawal was starting to get pretty bad, yup. ;)
I'll have some idle time this weekend before the drillers start up on Monday.
I figured if I could keep my camera hidden, like while I was driving, I could sneak a few pictures out. I hope my boss can get me a permit for photography, otherwise you'll never see a photo that includes a human being.
Here's a pic of (part of) our lodge. It's a lot better on the inside than it looks on the outside. Essentially it' a lot of modular units stacked on top of each other and connected together into these large wings that extend from the main lobby. I'm in wing 6, or as I call it, Pod 6. That instantly makes it cooler.
Here's a pic of an existing mine similar to the one we're building. Everything stinks of rotten eggs within 10 kilometers of this place, due to the gases in the geologic formation. That detention pond in the foreground is lovingly called 'Cancer Lake'. Basically if you fall in, you'd rather be shot on the spot than survive. The mine has positioned sound cannons all around the pond to keep waterfowl away, otherwise it'd be littered with bird carcasses. It might sound like this is destructive work, but in truth, the larger oil companies hold themselves to pretty high standards and there are plans in place to reclaim and restore the land decades from now when all the mining's done. Right now it's in the ugly industrial phase.
