The Goldfish's Logbook

Here we go. The last "week" of drilling. Two weeks of work to be crammed into the next ten days. I know it's going to be a stressful, hectic, and chaotic Hell Week, but one way or another I've got to get through it so that I can finally go home. I'm so tired of being here.
I've just . . . gotta do it.

"Uh . . . okay," I replied. The mechanic gave me the round. "Whoa," I said. "That's pretty big."

Yeah, I got a flat tire while driving around today. Out on the airport property, there's spent bullets and casings and all other sorts of evidence that indicate that all of this land once belonged to the Army Base next door. Since there's nothing but sand dunes out there, I never would've imagined getting a flat tire out there, but I did. Hmm. The novelty of the situation was almost worth the hour of downtime.

Today's gonna be a crappy day, I just know it. The crap's been on a slow boil all weekend and as soon as all the bosses get back in this morning, that's when it's gonna hit the fan. I don't like waiting. I know I'm gonna take my share of responsibility for this, but I take some assurance in believing that this mess will finally get the attention of the higher-ups and they'll straighten things out.
I was looking at the mega-map of the job and counting. If the drill rigs would just get their acts together, there'd only be 11 days of drilling left. If they could just drill without anymore break-downs or injuries or access conflicts, there'd be less than two weeks of work remaining. But they've been averaging a woeful 60% productivity, which means they're taking roughly twice as much time as expected. At least we're past the halfway point, which is encouraging, but I'm frustrated by the frequent delays and I'm losing patience for trying to execute an unrealistic schedule in the face of all these ridiculous handicaps.
Like I said, the one good thing that should come out of today is that some answers will be forged and hopefully we'll find some way to continue work. I just wish it hadn't taken a fiasco to get attention and help.

I dunno, it must be because I'm wearing these brown pants and dusty boots, but I feel like doing some reckless, Indiana Jones-y stuff. Like being dragged beneath a speeding Nazi cargo truck or fight snakes with a torch. Yeah . . . I guess this get-up just has me feeling abnormally macho. And back when I was a kid in Boy Scouts, my nickname was Daredevil because I'd do all sorts of stupid stuff when the adults weren't looking. Whitewater rafting? Boo. Whitewater swimming? Yay! Roasting marshmellows? Yawn. Throwing gas cans in the fire? Wee! etc. It's a good thing I'm stuck at work today or else I probably would be doing something dumb.
Hmm. I just remembered, I never managed to climb Mt. Franklin here in El Paso. Last time the cops chased me off the mountain with that stupid helicopter and it's stupid spotlight. Stupid cops.

Hmmm . . . .

Oh, what a tough week. Made more onerous perhaps by the knowledge that I won't be seeing home for another week yet. Most days I'm worn out by noon, but still have to drag myself through another six hours or more of work. Tuesday and Wednesday were especially tough. I was so stressed and irritable that I was GROWLING at people and cursing everytime my phone rang and I almost snapped when the cops showed up at our jobsite Tuesday morning.
I think that once I get used to this level of stress, it won't be so exhausting. But this job really asks alot of me in areas where I'm weak. Don't ask an ADD kid to multi-task. There are so many people I have to communicate with and satisfy, so many immediate concerns to take care of, while at the same time planning ahead to meet their ridiculous schedule when we're already two weeks behind . . . it's maddening. It seems I only get any real work done after 5 pm, when enough of our mercenary corp of engineers have gone home for the day that the interruptions cease. But still, my To-Do list snowballs and rolls over from day to day.
The only reason I have enough time and energy to write an LJ post is because my bosses have left for the weekend. I dropped the last one off this afternoon and before his plane had even left the ground, I was already back at my hotel, in bed. I'll be working Saturday and Sunday, so it's not like I'll be playing hooky or anything while they're. But the prospect that my phone will be silent and I'll be left alone to work is reward enough. Hopefully I'll be able to get enough work done this weekend to put me a couple strides ahead of this scheduling juggernaut. If I could do that, the days would become much more bearable.

I don't like writing completely negative entries, so let me dig for a few nuggets; bright spots of this past week.
Well today, after finally getting lunch, I was driving through the big empty sand dunes of Fort Bliss. I had my mp3 player going. I got out to look at some things and noticed my black boots had turned yellow, from the pollen of the sage brush, which was in bloom following the recent rains. I was still comfortably cool from the truck's A/C so I could enjoy the bright sun and warmth. While I'm walking down the dirt road, "The Sunny Side of the Street" starts playing and I had to laugh. "In El Paso, everywhere is the sunny side of the street," I thought. Because yeah, there's an assload of sun here. It's like we're on the sun's front porch. It's like RIGHT there, all the time, in yo face. Yeah, everyone turns brown here.
Last night my boss treated some of us to dinner. He took us to a nice place where the cheapest entree was 17.99. I didn't know who was paying and I'm still in the red from that surprise trip back to Austin, so I ordered the most modest meal there. Everyone else had steak, since apparently they'd been informed that it was on the boss's dime. D'oh. I got cheesecake at least. I'd rather have spent those two hours talking with my girlfriend, or catching up on sleep, but it was refreshing to relax and be sociable with my superiors.

Yeah, it's been a tough week, but this weekend should provide a respite, making next week easier in comparison. Plus, next week I'll have an Austin weekend to look forward to, and that's one helluva carrot.