Saturday, April 28, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Earth Day 2012
This blog is broken, I don't particularly care to fix it, sorry!
A small collection of photos I've taken of the amazing rock that we live on.
Sevier Lake, Utah
Hidden Arch, Utah
Crescent City, California
Mt. Timpanogos, Utah
Grand Tetons, Wyoming
Lassen National Forest, California
Goblin Valley, Utah
Jenny Lake, Wyoming
Crater Lake, Oregon
Klamath River, Oregon
Great Basin & Notch Peak, Utah
Unnamed Glacial-cut Valley, Idaho
Mt. Shasta, California
Delicate Arch, Utah
Mt. McLaughlin, Oregon
Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah
San Andreas Fault, California
Balanced Rock, Utah
Wellsville Mountains, Utah
Mojave Desert, Nevada
Redwood Forest, California
Yeah, we live here. How amazing is that?
Happy Earth Day everyone.
Sevier Lake, Utah
Hidden Arch, Utah
Crescent City, California
Mt. Timpanogos, Utah
Grand Tetons, Wyoming
Lassen National Forest, California
Goblin Valley, Utah
Jenny Lake, Wyoming
Crater Lake, Oregon
Klamath River, Oregon
Great Basin & Notch Peak, Utah
Unnamed Glacial-cut Valley, Idaho
Mt. Shasta, California
Delicate Arch, Utah
Mt. McLaughlin, Oregon
Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah
San Andreas Fault, California
Balanced Rock, Utah
Wellsville Mountains, Utah
Mojave Desert, Nevada
Redwood Forest, California
Yeah, we live here. How amazing is that?
Happy Earth Day everyone.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
I did it!
Sevier Lake field project? Complete.
27 of the last 31 days of my life were spent out at Sevier Lake, but that's not where it began. I'm going to tell you all about my first real geologic field experience, beginning in August, and you're more than welcome to read :)
It started on August 1st. I went out to Sevier Lake with my project manager, Larry, and met the field supervisor, Alex. Through all of August I was at Sevier Lake. In fact I spent 18 days of the month there, worked roughly 200 hours, and in an indirect way set up my new boy/girl-type relationship for failure. I spent all of this time training with the field supervisor on both the direct push and mini-sonic rigs that the client had out there. We rode 40 year old snowcats around the dry lake bed at around 4 mph. They were constantly breaking down. One day we had to walk two miles back to shore through mud.
Late september and all of October the job went on hiatus while I worked in the office and the client got permitting taken care of for the federal land leases.
November began with more Sevier Lake field work. I went out there and met up with Alex and a civil engineer from Denver, Orion. At this point the client had invested some money in ATVs to use on the lake bed for faster transportation. There were three drill rigs. I was put in charge of the Direct Push 1 rig. It was a track mounted Geoprobe and we drilled 45 holes. I logged and photographed each one. This lasted for two and a half shifts, or about 25 days. Approximately 300 hours were spent working at Sevier Lake during this time. We finished all the drilling on the dry parts of the lake bed and had to take a break while the client figured out how drilling on the parts of the lake bed covered in water would play out.
It was late December when the client got things squared away. There would once again be three drill rigs. A direct push, mounted on an airboat. A mini-sonic mounted on a tracked cargo buggy and a truck mounted full size sonic. The mini-sonic would be mine. Alex had left for another project at this time, so Norwest brought in a new guy to be the field supervisor. I forget his name, and he isn't important because he quit 10 days later. This left just Orion and I. During the remainder of the time the deep-sonic rig was active I was out there while the mini-sonic rig was having mechanical issues the whole time.
January came around and Orion was replaced by an interesting older geologist named Jon. Jon's truck broke and him and I commuted to and from the site together for most of the shift before Enterprise finally replaced it with a working one. The mini-sonic rig broke off and on throughout the whole month and continued doing so into February. This translated into a lot of down time for me. During this time I worked another 200 hours at Sevier Lake. The direct push program wrapped up and this left me as the only Norwest employee at Sevier Lake and it unofficially became "my project" according to my project manager.
During late February the program was changed to drill clusters of wells to test for transmissivity, or how well the water moves through the sediments. I would go for a day or two, log a well, and go back to my office duties. This lasted into mid March and I was fine with this. I worked at Sevier Lake for roughly 75 hours during this phase.
During mid-March it was decided that not enough sonic wells were being put in at far enough intervals to accurately define the base of the resource. This meant 9 more sonic wells were added and this is when I spent 27 of 31 days at Sevier Lake, almost to the point where Delta became home. During this time I spent roughly 350 hours out there. I became good friends with the two Boart-Longyear drillers, Dairus and Ty. We sort of began to resent the marine "specialists" whose sole purpose on the job was to supply us with well construction supplies, which they never did in an efficient manner and left us with countless downtime sitting around chatting while they took their sweet time.
In all, not counting office support hours, I spent 925 hours on or around Sevier Lake. That's roughly 23 normal work weeks spent there. After my first day I was afraid I wouldn't be able to even finish one. I feel quite proud of myself for this. I've really shown myself that I can do some pretty hard stuff when I try... and... when you offer me enough money to do so...
Don't believe it was hard?
Temperatures during the time I was at Sevier Lake ranged from -6 degrees to 103 degrees. The average January high was 24. The average August high was 92. With no mountains around to stop them, winds consistently blow at 20 mph, easily gusting upwards of 50. During the summer the monsoon caused frequent thunderstorms over the Sevier Lake. This is a 30x10 mile flat lake bed where the tallest thing as far as I could see was the drill rig. After that was our mechanic and after that was me.
When we were drilling on the water the airboat I had to ride on was one of the most terrifying things I've been on in my life. It was a boat, with an airplane propeller attached to a 350cc V8 engine that consistently ran at 4000 RPM's and speeds over 40 mph across water that was sometimes no more than 2 inches deep and usually well below freezing; the high salt content allowed for the 20 degree water to stay liquid. The boat had broken welds and it was normal to jump in the boat and hear *splash* The barge that I spent most of 2012 on had no shelter, no bathroom and no way to the shores, which were usually 5+ miles away, other than the airboats. During extremely bad weather, when the airboats wouldn't run we had to ride in on a tracked machine called a Marsh Master which had a top speed of about 5 mph.
Delta, the forsaken town I was staying in, was anywhere from a 50-70 mile drive from our various staging points. This caused for a long commute on top of a 10-12 hour work day. I was paid for the commute, but still, when you work 14 hours in one day and have to go home and do paperwork, life is not happy. Delta had nine restaurants when I first began working there. Three were Mexican and two were pizza. Three of them closed during the eight month span. I had no kitchen, just a microwave and a refrigerator. Lunch was a sandwich, cookies/crackers, chips and an orange, every day. Milford, the town I stayed in from Late August-January, had three restaurants. One made me sick each time I ate there.
Know what though? I did it. I made a shit-ton of money doing it and even more importantly gained invaluable experience. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Now comes the fun part. Taking 8 months of data and making a report out of it. I bet you envy my life so much right now :)
Also of note:
Vehicles I drove during the project:
Ford F150, Dodge Durango, two Chevy Silverados, multiple Dodge Rams, Toyota Rav4, Jeep Liberty, Ford Escape, an 8x8 Argo, a snowcat and multiple 6wd Rangers.
Towns visited that I'd never been to before:
Delta, Milford, Minersville, Hinckley, Eureka, Leemington, Lyndyll, Fillmore.
Weird food I ate:
Alligator, lamb, jambalaya
Total number of holes logged by me:
74
Approximate number of photos taken by me:
3,800
27 of the last 31 days of my life were spent out at Sevier Lake, but that's not where it began. I'm going to tell you all about my first real geologic field experience, beginning in August, and you're more than welcome to read :)
It started on August 1st. I went out to Sevier Lake with my project manager, Larry, and met the field supervisor, Alex. Through all of August I was at Sevier Lake. In fact I spent 18 days of the month there, worked roughly 200 hours, and in an indirect way set up my new boy/girl-type relationship for failure. I spent all of this time training with the field supervisor on both the direct push and mini-sonic rigs that the client had out there. We rode 40 year old snowcats around the dry lake bed at around 4 mph. They were constantly breaking down. One day we had to walk two miles back to shore through mud.
Late september and all of October the job went on hiatus while I worked in the office and the client got permitting taken care of for the federal land leases.
November began with more Sevier Lake field work. I went out there and met up with Alex and a civil engineer from Denver, Orion. At this point the client had invested some money in ATVs to use on the lake bed for faster transportation. There were three drill rigs. I was put in charge of the Direct Push 1 rig. It was a track mounted Geoprobe and we drilled 45 holes. I logged and photographed each one. This lasted for two and a half shifts, or about 25 days. Approximately 300 hours were spent working at Sevier Lake during this time. We finished all the drilling on the dry parts of the lake bed and had to take a break while the client figured out how drilling on the parts of the lake bed covered in water would play out.
It was late December when the client got things squared away. There would once again be three drill rigs. A direct push, mounted on an airboat. A mini-sonic mounted on a tracked cargo buggy and a truck mounted full size sonic. The mini-sonic would be mine. Alex had left for another project at this time, so Norwest brought in a new guy to be the field supervisor. I forget his name, and he isn't important because he quit 10 days later. This left just Orion and I. During the remainder of the time the deep-sonic rig was active I was out there while the mini-sonic rig was having mechanical issues the whole time.
January came around and Orion was replaced by an interesting older geologist named Jon. Jon's truck broke and him and I commuted to and from the site together for most of the shift before Enterprise finally replaced it with a working one. The mini-sonic rig broke off and on throughout the whole month and continued doing so into February. This translated into a lot of down time for me. During this time I worked another 200 hours at Sevier Lake. The direct push program wrapped up and this left me as the only Norwest employee at Sevier Lake and it unofficially became "my project" according to my project manager.
During late February the program was changed to drill clusters of wells to test for transmissivity, or how well the water moves through the sediments. I would go for a day or two, log a well, and go back to my office duties. This lasted into mid March and I was fine with this. I worked at Sevier Lake for roughly 75 hours during this phase.
During mid-March it was decided that not enough sonic wells were being put in at far enough intervals to accurately define the base of the resource. This meant 9 more sonic wells were added and this is when I spent 27 of 31 days at Sevier Lake, almost to the point where Delta became home. During this time I spent roughly 350 hours out there. I became good friends with the two Boart-Longyear drillers, Dairus and Ty. We sort of began to resent the marine "specialists" whose sole purpose on the job was to supply us with well construction supplies, which they never did in an efficient manner and left us with countless downtime sitting around chatting while they took their sweet time.
In all, not counting office support hours, I spent 925 hours on or around Sevier Lake. That's roughly 23 normal work weeks spent there. After my first day I was afraid I wouldn't be able to even finish one. I feel quite proud of myself for this. I've really shown myself that I can do some pretty hard stuff when I try... and... when you offer me enough money to do so...
Don't believe it was hard?
Temperatures during the time I was at Sevier Lake ranged from -6 degrees to 103 degrees. The average January high was 24. The average August high was 92. With no mountains around to stop them, winds consistently blow at 20 mph, easily gusting upwards of 50. During the summer the monsoon caused frequent thunderstorms over the Sevier Lake. This is a 30x10 mile flat lake bed where the tallest thing as far as I could see was the drill rig. After that was our mechanic and after that was me.
When we were drilling on the water the airboat I had to ride on was one of the most terrifying things I've been on in my life. It was a boat, with an airplane propeller attached to a 350cc V8 engine that consistently ran at 4000 RPM's and speeds over 40 mph across water that was sometimes no more than 2 inches deep and usually well below freezing; the high salt content allowed for the 20 degree water to stay liquid. The boat had broken welds and it was normal to jump in the boat and hear *splash* The barge that I spent most of 2012 on had no shelter, no bathroom and no way to the shores, which were usually 5+ miles away, other than the airboats. During extremely bad weather, when the airboats wouldn't run we had to ride in on a tracked machine called a Marsh Master which had a top speed of about 5 mph.
Delta, the forsaken town I was staying in, was anywhere from a 50-70 mile drive from our various staging points. This caused for a long commute on top of a 10-12 hour work day. I was paid for the commute, but still, when you work 14 hours in one day and have to go home and do paperwork, life is not happy. Delta had nine restaurants when I first began working there. Three were Mexican and two were pizza. Three of them closed during the eight month span. I had no kitchen, just a microwave and a refrigerator. Lunch was a sandwich, cookies/crackers, chips and an orange, every day. Milford, the town I stayed in from Late August-January, had three restaurants. One made me sick each time I ate there.
Know what though? I did it. I made a shit-ton of money doing it and even more importantly gained invaluable experience. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Now comes the fun part. Taking 8 months of data and making a report out of it. I bet you envy my life so much right now :)
Also of note:
Vehicles I drove during the project:
Ford F150, Dodge Durango, two Chevy Silverados, multiple Dodge Rams, Toyota Rav4, Jeep Liberty, Ford Escape, an 8x8 Argo, a snowcat and multiple 6wd Rangers.
Towns visited that I'd never been to before:
Delta, Milford, Minersville, Hinckley, Eureka, Leemington, Lyndyll, Fillmore.
Weird food I ate:
Alligator, lamb, jambalaya
Total number of holes logged by me:
74
Approximate number of photos taken by me:
3,800
Saturday, March 31, 2012
The Benefits of a College Diploma
So recently I've noticed the benefits of having a college diploma. They are rather significant actually. I would have never expected this when I was younger. College may seem hard, but in the end you finish because you are lazy.
Let me paint a picture of the group I work with when I'm on field assignment at Sevier Lake. There are a whole bunch of field hands. One is an older master mechanic, another mechanic in his 30's, an airboat driver/generic helper and four people from an aquatic diving center that are contracted to be here that range from 30 to 70 years old. Then there is a neurotic barge driver from Louisiana, a driller, the driller's helper and myself. With the exception of the air boat driver and a couple of the aquatic laborers, each one of them has considerably more experience and knowledge with their respective chosen career than I do. Each one of them is older than I am. There are occasionally others out here. Other geologists who sample the water, a technician who helps me sample the mud, the project manager visits occasionally.
I'm 26, I look like I'm 21, I have 8 months of experience which makes me relatively new, I have no idea how to run a drill rig, a barge or an airboat. Yet what makes me special is that I have a piece of paper that says "You went to school for 4 years longer than everyone else here." That paper means people trust your judgment more than they would otherwise. If you ask me, that's pretty damn cool. If you ask them, that's pretty damn annoying. However, they had every opportunity to go to college that I had. Most of them do have vocational training of some sort. Yet training isn't the same as taking random useless classes that you'll never need along with a handful of classes that you will use daily and keeping at that for four years. In the end that means my trusted judgment allows me to make decisions on when we have situations that must be taken care of before we can continue or when we have to stop altogether.
Another benefit? The pay. I'm not really one to flaunt what I make. In my office I would bet that I'm one of the lower paid people, but they're all college graduates too and most of them have more experience than me. However with the field crew I've been working with, I've overheard conversations between people working out here about money. Despite having significantly more experience, none of them make what I do (well the other geologists and project manager probably do, if not more, but they also have degrees). In fact some of them don't even make half of what I make despite working longer hours. I almost always get there last and go home first.
The final benefit, the work. My job, in the field, isn't too difficult. I grab samples and take smaller representative samples of the bulk sample for analysis. After that I write down geologic observations based on the scope of the project and take photographs. I communicate with my supervisor on occasion what I did the last few days and make sure everyone stays on task. Now could anyone do this? Probably not, but anyone with a geology degree from a good university certainly could. The point is that for me, it's easy. Everyone else spends most of the day lifting heavy stuff, moving heavy stuff, driving and operating heavy equipment and going down into the lake to fix, fetch or find things. I don't have to do any of that stuff and if I did I would likely have quit months ago as I am not capable, nor do I have any desire do those things. Occasionally I will help lift stuff that need to be moved, so I don't look lazy and because I really do like to help, but that's not my function out here. My function is to take samples, notes and photos.
Like I said earlier, going to college may seem like hard work, but in the end you graduate college because you're lazy and you want to fully take advantage of opportunities to exemplify your laziness. You probably don't feel lazy while you are staying the night in the geology building because you fell asleep working on a project or when you are sneaking out of your bed, at 3am, while you have a beautiful woman asleep in it, because you have an assignment that you have to finish before the next morning but that doesn't mean you aren't.
In the end you get a diploma. Then you get to be the one who doesn't have to struggle to find jobs, or work 2+ jobs just to pay your bills. You get to sit back and take notes and samples while everyone else does the more monotonous (and harder, in my opinion) work. You get to make the decisions on when you shut down work because of protocol. You don't get those benefits because you are more experienced and have more knowledge. No, you get them because you cheated, you took a shortcut and sat through 4-6 years of classes. Best choice ever.
Let me paint a picture of the group I work with when I'm on field assignment at Sevier Lake. There are a whole bunch of field hands. One is an older master mechanic, another mechanic in his 30's, an airboat driver/generic helper and four people from an aquatic diving center that are contracted to be here that range from 30 to 70 years old. Then there is a neurotic barge driver from Louisiana, a driller, the driller's helper and myself. With the exception of the air boat driver and a couple of the aquatic laborers, each one of them has considerably more experience and knowledge with their respective chosen career than I do. Each one of them is older than I am. There are occasionally others out here. Other geologists who sample the water, a technician who helps me sample the mud, the project manager visits occasionally.
I'm 26, I look like I'm 21, I have 8 months of experience which makes me relatively new, I have no idea how to run a drill rig, a barge or an airboat. Yet what makes me special is that I have a piece of paper that says "You went to school for 4 years longer than everyone else here." That paper means people trust your judgment more than they would otherwise. If you ask me, that's pretty damn cool. If you ask them, that's pretty damn annoying. However, they had every opportunity to go to college that I had. Most of them do have vocational training of some sort. Yet training isn't the same as taking random useless classes that you'll never need along with a handful of classes that you will use daily and keeping at that for four years. In the end that means my trusted judgment allows me to make decisions on when we have situations that must be taken care of before we can continue or when we have to stop altogether.
Another benefit? The pay. I'm not really one to flaunt what I make. In my office I would bet that I'm one of the lower paid people, but they're all college graduates too and most of them have more experience than me. However with the field crew I've been working with, I've overheard conversations between people working out here about money. Despite having significantly more experience, none of them make what I do (well the other geologists and project manager probably do, if not more, but they also have degrees). In fact some of them don't even make half of what I make despite working longer hours. I almost always get there last and go home first.
The final benefit, the work. My job, in the field, isn't too difficult. I grab samples and take smaller representative samples of the bulk sample for analysis. After that I write down geologic observations based on the scope of the project and take photographs. I communicate with my supervisor on occasion what I did the last few days and make sure everyone stays on task. Now could anyone do this? Probably not, but anyone with a geology degree from a good university certainly could. The point is that for me, it's easy. Everyone else spends most of the day lifting heavy stuff, moving heavy stuff, driving and operating heavy equipment and going down into the lake to fix, fetch or find things. I don't have to do any of that stuff and if I did I would likely have quit months ago as I am not capable, nor do I have any desire do those things. Occasionally I will help lift stuff that need to be moved, so I don't look lazy and because I really do like to help, but that's not my function out here. My function is to take samples, notes and photos.
Like I said earlier, going to college may seem like hard work, but in the end you graduate college because you're lazy and you want to fully take advantage of opportunities to exemplify your laziness. You probably don't feel lazy while you are staying the night in the geology building because you fell asleep working on a project or when you are sneaking out of your bed, at 3am, while you have a beautiful woman asleep in it, because you have an assignment that you have to finish before the next morning but that doesn't mean you aren't.
In the end you get a diploma. Then you get to be the one who doesn't have to struggle to find jobs, or work 2+ jobs just to pay your bills. You get to sit back and take notes and samples while everyone else does the more monotonous (and harder, in my opinion) work. You get to make the decisions on when you shut down work because of protocol. You don't get those benefits because you are more experienced and have more knowledge. No, you get them because you cheated, you took a shortcut and sat through 4-6 years of classes. Best choice ever.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Jazz Game
My office has 4 season tickets to Jazz games. For most of the home games a drawing is held to see what two employees win a pair of the tickets for the night. I had been signing up for the drawing every game that I was home for. This was probably the 5th-ish time I had signed up for it, but this time I was determined to win as the Jazz were playing a team that I would argue is the best team in the NBA and has a legitimate shot at winning the title, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
After sending my email expressing interest I got a phone call about an hour later (I had the day off, so I wasn't in the office) telling me I had won and that I could come pick them up whenever. I was out the door in about 2 minutes and headed to go get my tickets. A girl I have been going on dates here and there with lately, Amanda, is a basketball fan so on my way to the office I called her to see if she'd want to come with me. She was more than happy to do so.
I picked her up at around 7:30 and we headed to Radium Stadium for the game. The place is actually named after a company that buries hazardous waste in the west desert, but I prefer "Radium Stadium" over "Energy Solutions Arena." We went in and got our seats. This was the first time I had been to a Jazz game in over 10 years. We had decent seats. They were in the upper deck, but they were row 2 of the upper deck. The tickets said they were $62 a piece. There is no way in hell they should have been $62 seats. I would pay maybe $20 for a seat there, haha. NBA games are ridiculously priced.
The intro to the game was great. They shut the lights off and introduce the starting lineup with a cool laser show and everyone was excited to see the Jazz. It was strange not turning my back when they introduced the Thunder though. There were even a significant number of people who cheered for Durant (the OKC star), that was quite strange to me. At tip off it was loud..ish, but as soon as the ball was tipped the arena went silent, despite the fact that OKC had the ball. This was very odd to me. It remained silent for the entire rest of the game. The only time any noise was made was when the Thunder were shooting free throws and when the Bear was doing something silly. I'm serious, more people would cheer for the mascot or for crazy halftime show antics than would cheer for fast break dunks by the team they were there to support. NBA spectating sucks. "Oh the Jazz, they're all right, but that silly Jazz Bear, now he's the real how!!" Fail. However it seems the Jazz are aware of this and because of it they have added another Jazz bear. Yes, there is a Bear and a Half Bear who is apparently a dwarf in a bear mascot suit.
The guy who had the other set of tickets that sat next to me was pretty cool. We talked a bit about basketball and how good the Thunder were. Amanda was interesting, she spent the majority of the game complaining about how the NBA was rigged and that's why the Jazz were losing. Amanda and I also discussed at length about how foreign of a place this was compared to the college venue we were used to watching sports in, which granted is arguably the loudest venue in all of college sports, but still.
In the end the Jazz gave a good game for 3 quarters, gave up in the 4th and ended up losing by about 10. The game was fun, certainly more fast paced, but not as technical as college basketball. The shooting was pretty bad, the defense was just too good on anything that wasn't a fast break, which is where most of the points came. There were about 4 alley oop dunks on each end of the ball which was impressive to me, but I guess when the "short" guy on the team is 6'4 that is to be expected.
I liked my Jazz game. It was a lot of fun, however I would never spend $62 on one moderately decent ticket and if I was going to spend $20 on a ticket, I'd much rather just go to a college game or a soccer game.
After sending my email expressing interest I got a phone call about an hour later (I had the day off, so I wasn't in the office) telling me I had won and that I could come pick them up whenever. I was out the door in about 2 minutes and headed to go get my tickets. A girl I have been going on dates here and there with lately, Amanda, is a basketball fan so on my way to the office I called her to see if she'd want to come with me. She was more than happy to do so.
I picked her up at around 7:30 and we headed to Radium Stadium for the game. The place is actually named after a company that buries hazardous waste in the west desert, but I prefer "Radium Stadium" over "Energy Solutions Arena." We went in and got our seats. This was the first time I had been to a Jazz game in over 10 years. We had decent seats. They were in the upper deck, but they were row 2 of the upper deck. The tickets said they were $62 a piece. There is no way in hell they should have been $62 seats. I would pay maybe $20 for a seat there, haha. NBA games are ridiculously priced.
The intro to the game was great. They shut the lights off and introduce the starting lineup with a cool laser show and everyone was excited to see the Jazz. It was strange not turning my back when they introduced the Thunder though. There were even a significant number of people who cheered for Durant (the OKC star), that was quite strange to me. At tip off it was loud..ish, but as soon as the ball was tipped the arena went silent, despite the fact that OKC had the ball. This was very odd to me. It remained silent for the entire rest of the game. The only time any noise was made was when the Thunder were shooting free throws and when the Bear was doing something silly. I'm serious, more people would cheer for the mascot or for crazy halftime show antics than would cheer for fast break dunks by the team they were there to support. NBA spectating sucks. "Oh the Jazz, they're all right, but that silly Jazz Bear, now he's the real how!!" Fail. However it seems the Jazz are aware of this and because of it they have added another Jazz bear. Yes, there is a Bear and a Half Bear who is apparently a dwarf in a bear mascot suit.
The guy who had the other set of tickets that sat next to me was pretty cool. We talked a bit about basketball and how good the Thunder were. Amanda was interesting, she spent the majority of the game complaining about how the NBA was rigged and that's why the Jazz were losing. Amanda and I also discussed at length about how foreign of a place this was compared to the college venue we were used to watching sports in, which granted is arguably the loudest venue in all of college sports, but still.
In the end the Jazz gave a good game for 3 quarters, gave up in the 4th and ended up losing by about 10. The game was fun, certainly more fast paced, but not as technical as college basketball. The shooting was pretty bad, the defense was just too good on anything that wasn't a fast break, which is where most of the points came. There were about 4 alley oop dunks on each end of the ball which was impressive to me, but I guess when the "short" guy on the team is 6'4 that is to be expected.
I liked my Jazz game. It was a lot of fun, however I would never spend $62 on one moderately decent ticket and if I was going to spend $20 on a ticket, I'd much rather just go to a college game or a soccer game.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
2011 Summary
Sigh, 2011. What a long year. I feel like the beginning of 2011 was two years ago. I don't even remember what the hell I did in January.
January - I remember it was an exceptionally snowy year. I remember walking to my guitar class in the mornings being absolutely freezing and not being able to feel my hand that I carried my guitar with by the time I got there, despite wearing gloves. I learned to play guitar that last semester of school. I took only needed 3 classes to graduate, but I threw in guitar for fun (and because a cute girl was taking it) and a weekend camping course so I could bump things up to 12 credits.
February - was a rather depressing month. I spent most of my February on campus researching some potential oil play in the Barrent's Sea. In my free time I played a lot of video games alone in my room. I was ready to graduate. I went to my last Aggie basketball game as a student in February. They played 5 more games after that, but the last one in Logan was late February. For Valentine's Day I recall sitting around the kitchen table with Ryan talking about how screwed up our dating lives, or lack there-of, were. Trisha had recently written me a letter saying "I hate you because I think you're hot and I want you every time we hang out." That's not actually what it said, but when summarized into one sentence that's about it. February was a rather poor month.
March - was much the same as February. Still bitter cold, still just concentrated way too much on my classes and basically had given up on bothering meeting anyone new since I knew I was leaving Logan in just over a month. I found out that SOU accepted me for their field camp. That was cool. I met Alyssa towards the end of March. I want to say it may have even been St. Patricks Day, because I recall I'd had two mixed drinks and that's why I was being sociable and wanted to go hot tubbing. I don't think she ever knew I was tipsy when we met, haha.
April - was a little better because I could see the light at the end of the long long tunnel of college. My relative, who is a mining engineer, called me one night while I was at Alyssa's and started asking me what I wanted to do career wise. We talked about it for a while and then he asked me to send him my resume. I did. Afterward Alyssa told me all about the house we were going to buy, the kids we were going to have, the life that was in our future... it kinda freaked me out... It reminded me of that part in Wedding Crashers where Vince Vaughn sleeps with that crazy virgin and then that happens to him. Yeahhh, that was her. I registered for graduation, bought a cap and gown. It was happy. My friends and I all had a celebration dinner at Cafe Sabor for the end of the year, about 20 people came. My roommates gave a toast to me being someone they looked up to and a cool roommate. That night was truly one of the high points of my life. Also of note, I was sick for the entire month of April.
May - I graduated. I didn't get my diploma because I still had one more class, but it was a nice ceremony. Some guy that I'll never remember the name of gave a commencement speech about not letting what you learned in college go to waste. It was a good speech. My school hosted the regional GSA meeting and I volunteered at it. I spent the week at Alyssa's apartment. None of her roommates had moved in yet, so we had the place to ourselves. I was basically using it as a test drive for what our "future" would be like. Honestly I think I spent more time worrying if she was pregnant than trying to see if I could tolerate living with her. Regardless, it was a long week. I was more than happy to get out of there when Friday rolled around. She wasn't pregnant, freaking drama queen... "Oh no, I'm going to get up at random times in the mornings and go vomit and then complain about cramps all day... btw, wanna do it like 5 times today?!?" There really is a huge difference between 25 year olds and 18 year olds. As May came to an end she made airline reservations to come visit me in Oregon.
June - she cancelled those reservations, haha. We broke up. I spent the two weeks before going to Oregon being inside as much as I could since I knew it wouldn't happen much in the future. A guy from the company my cousin worked at called me and asked if I would have time to come in for an interview. I scheduled it 4 days before I left for Oregon. I had to go buy a shirt for it, but the interview went very well. I think I impressed them at least a little. The day I left for Oregon was actually a night. I went and had burgers with my friends before heading out for the long drive. I drove through the night and made it there the next morning then slept most of the day, got yogurt with my e-friend from Ashland and met some geology students that night at dinner. The one ended up being my favorite friend from there. Really nice girl. The rest of the month from the 20th onward consisted of field work.
July - consisted of a lot more waking up in the mornings, throwing on some junky clothes, hopping in an 11 passenger van and driving to random places to do mapping, stream gauging or sitting around chatting with friends about geologies. We'd get home around 5, dump our junk in our rooms, go eat, meet again to work on our maps and then fall asleep, hopefully before midnight so we could wake up and do it all again. It was strange. I made some of the best friends I have ever had on that trip, but will likely never see any of them again. Almost sad, but that's life. I also got an email from the place I interviewed with saying they were offering me a temporary position and stating the temporarily awesome rate that I would be paid. I celebrated by taking a break from a report I was finishing up, calling my family and letting them know. I left Oregon in late July and came back to Utah.
August - 1st was my first actual day of work. I was really broke and really ready to go work. I met my boss, Larry, who drove out to Sevier Lake where we met the field supervisor, Alex. I learned how to "log core" (take notes and pictures of what gets pulled out of the ground by the drills) and how to really miss field work in Oregon where instead of being 100 degrees, it typically maxed out around 80. I spent the majority of August in Millard and Beaver Counties working. I traded in my 2003 Tiburon on my 2010 WRX. I would have kept the Tiburon longer, but when I realized how much I needed fixed to pass registration, I figured 7 years was long enough to own the vehicle. I believe I also started dating Kelley at some point in this month. My time reference on that is pretty hazy.
September - came and went much like August. I wasn't doing field work so I spent a lot more time with the girly I was dating. She also asked me what kind of house I wanted to live in with her. At this point, having a real job and being done with school, it was at least feasible, but I was still not into things enough to justify it with an answer. She broke up with me a few days later. I made a quick trip to Vernal and did some field works there for a few days before driving home in a cargo van full of rocks.
October - came along with a quarter life crisis. The newness of my job which I loved so much suddenly wore off. I realized that I was 25, making more money than most 55 year olds, and still living at home. I began to become more socially awkward than usual since it had really been about 4 months since I had hung out with non-geology people. For Halloween I went to a party in Provo with Katie. It was nice to get out. We saw Paranormal Activity 3. I got carded twice. After leaving her apartment I went to In N Out burger where I ordered, went to my car, and sat for about two hours thinking of all the things in my life I regretted. I spent the majority of October doing office work at my job, which mostly consists of creating geologic models of potential mines.
November - was better. Nothing much changed, but my outlook on life became less crappy. I really have nothing to say about November. It was too dull and too recent. I did a bunch more office work, I feel like I'm almost getting a grasp on the programs they've been teaching me and am getting to the point where I can do a lot of stuff on my own even. Thanksgiving was nice. I went to my Grandpa's house where we had it with family.
December - This month hasn't really been my favorite. Honestly not much has changed from October to December in life. I got a Christmas bonus at my job which has kept me well beyond the temporary dates on my original contract. First bonus I ever got and it was really nice too. I went on a date with some girl, who has apparently also been out with two of my old roommates this month too. Oh well, random meaningless hookups ftw.. I guess.. (Not really, if it were up to me I'd never have a meaningless one again.) Christmas was nice. My grandpa came over for Christmas Eve and I went with him to his girlfriends house for Christmas. Yes, my grandpa is awesome like that. A few nights later I ran into Shelley. I dislike her much. Tonight I ran into Amber. I dislike her much. This, along with my meaningless hookup, has made me come to the conclusion that :
My resolution for this year is going to be to not have random meaningless relationships or sex. It just isn't worth it, at all.
Best month of the year: July
Worst month of the year: February
Happiest moment: A random September afternoon when I received my diploma in the mail. I waited until no one was around before opening it. It was just a paper signifying something I'd already achieved and had already been using, but having a tangible thing showing that my last 4 years were worth something really made me happy beyond words.
Crappiest moment: Pretty much the entire month of February. Specifically probably any night I spent alone or with a couple people in the geology building until midnight putting together a presentation before walking home in the sub-freezing weather and falling asleep in my clothes because I didn't care enough to change.
Biggest regret of the year: Never asking Caytie out because I was afraid I wasn't religious enough for her tastes.
Most unexpected event of the year: The email I had stating I'd been offered a job that was way beyond anything I'd expected.
Best movie of the year: Cowboys and Aliens
Best song of the year: Egypt Central - White Rabbit
Best make-out of the year: I really should take this off here since I've not answered it in 3 years now, but this year certainly had more variety than the prior two ;)
Best new t-shirt of the year: Mario Kart Turtles, no question.
January - I remember it was an exceptionally snowy year. I remember walking to my guitar class in the mornings being absolutely freezing and not being able to feel my hand that I carried my guitar with by the time I got there, despite wearing gloves. I learned to play guitar that last semester of school. I took only needed 3 classes to graduate, but I threw in guitar for fun (and because a cute girl was taking it) and a weekend camping course so I could bump things up to 12 credits.
February - was a rather depressing month. I spent most of my February on campus researching some potential oil play in the Barrent's Sea. In my free time I played a lot of video games alone in my room. I was ready to graduate. I went to my last Aggie basketball game as a student in February. They played 5 more games after that, but the last one in Logan was late February. For Valentine's Day I recall sitting around the kitchen table with Ryan talking about how screwed up our dating lives, or lack there-of, were. Trisha had recently written me a letter saying "I hate you because I think you're hot and I want you every time we hang out." That's not actually what it said, but when summarized into one sentence that's about it. February was a rather poor month.
March - was much the same as February. Still bitter cold, still just concentrated way too much on my classes and basically had given up on bothering meeting anyone new since I knew I was leaving Logan in just over a month. I found out that SOU accepted me for their field camp. That was cool. I met Alyssa towards the end of March. I want to say it may have even been St. Patricks Day, because I recall I'd had two mixed drinks and that's why I was being sociable and wanted to go hot tubbing. I don't think she ever knew I was tipsy when we met, haha.
April - was a little better because I could see the light at the end of the long long tunnel of college. My relative, who is a mining engineer, called me one night while I was at Alyssa's and started asking me what I wanted to do career wise. We talked about it for a while and then he asked me to send him my resume. I did. Afterward Alyssa told me all about the house we were going to buy, the kids we were going to have, the life that was in our future... it kinda freaked me out... It reminded me of that part in Wedding Crashers where Vince Vaughn sleeps with that crazy virgin and then that happens to him. Yeahhh, that was her. I registered for graduation, bought a cap and gown. It was happy. My friends and I all had a celebration dinner at Cafe Sabor for the end of the year, about 20 people came. My roommates gave a toast to me being someone they looked up to and a cool roommate. That night was truly one of the high points of my life. Also of note, I was sick for the entire month of April.
May - I graduated. I didn't get my diploma because I still had one more class, but it was a nice ceremony. Some guy that I'll never remember the name of gave a commencement speech about not letting what you learned in college go to waste. It was a good speech. My school hosted the regional GSA meeting and I volunteered at it. I spent the week at Alyssa's apartment. None of her roommates had moved in yet, so we had the place to ourselves. I was basically using it as a test drive for what our "future" would be like. Honestly I think I spent more time worrying if she was pregnant than trying to see if I could tolerate living with her. Regardless, it was a long week. I was more than happy to get out of there when Friday rolled around. She wasn't pregnant, freaking drama queen... "Oh no, I'm going to get up at random times in the mornings and go vomit and then complain about cramps all day... btw, wanna do it like 5 times today?!?" There really is a huge difference between 25 year olds and 18 year olds. As May came to an end she made airline reservations to come visit me in Oregon.
June - she cancelled those reservations, haha. We broke up. I spent the two weeks before going to Oregon being inside as much as I could since I knew it wouldn't happen much in the future. A guy from the company my cousin worked at called me and asked if I would have time to come in for an interview. I scheduled it 4 days before I left for Oregon. I had to go buy a shirt for it, but the interview went very well. I think I impressed them at least a little. The day I left for Oregon was actually a night. I went and had burgers with my friends before heading out for the long drive. I drove through the night and made it there the next morning then slept most of the day, got yogurt with my e-friend from Ashland and met some geology students that night at dinner. The one ended up being my favorite friend from there. Really nice girl. The rest of the month from the 20th onward consisted of field work.
July - consisted of a lot more waking up in the mornings, throwing on some junky clothes, hopping in an 11 passenger van and driving to random places to do mapping, stream gauging or sitting around chatting with friends about geologies. We'd get home around 5, dump our junk in our rooms, go eat, meet again to work on our maps and then fall asleep, hopefully before midnight so we could wake up and do it all again. It was strange. I made some of the best friends I have ever had on that trip, but will likely never see any of them again. Almost sad, but that's life. I also got an email from the place I interviewed with saying they were offering me a temporary position and stating the temporarily awesome rate that I would be paid. I celebrated by taking a break from a report I was finishing up, calling my family and letting them know. I left Oregon in late July and came back to Utah.
August - 1st was my first actual day of work. I was really broke and really ready to go work. I met my boss, Larry, who drove out to Sevier Lake where we met the field supervisor, Alex. I learned how to "log core" (take notes and pictures of what gets pulled out of the ground by the drills) and how to really miss field work in Oregon where instead of being 100 degrees, it typically maxed out around 80. I spent the majority of August in Millard and Beaver Counties working. I traded in my 2003 Tiburon on my 2010 WRX. I would have kept the Tiburon longer, but when I realized how much I needed fixed to pass registration, I figured 7 years was long enough to own the vehicle. I believe I also started dating Kelley at some point in this month. My time reference on that is pretty hazy.
September - came and went much like August. I wasn't doing field work so I spent a lot more time with the girly I was dating. She also asked me what kind of house I wanted to live in with her. At this point, having a real job and being done with school, it was at least feasible, but I was still not into things enough to justify it with an answer. She broke up with me a few days later. I made a quick trip to Vernal and did some field works there for a few days before driving home in a cargo van full of rocks.
October - came along with a quarter life crisis. The newness of my job which I loved so much suddenly wore off. I realized that I was 25, making more money than most 55 year olds, and still living at home. I began to become more socially awkward than usual since it had really been about 4 months since I had hung out with non-geology people. For Halloween I went to a party in Provo with Katie. It was nice to get out. We saw Paranormal Activity 3. I got carded twice. After leaving her apartment I went to In N Out burger where I ordered, went to my car, and sat for about two hours thinking of all the things in my life I regretted. I spent the majority of October doing office work at my job, which mostly consists of creating geologic models of potential mines.
November - was better. Nothing much changed, but my outlook on life became less crappy. I really have nothing to say about November. It was too dull and too recent. I did a bunch more office work, I feel like I'm almost getting a grasp on the programs they've been teaching me and am getting to the point where I can do a lot of stuff on my own even. Thanksgiving was nice. I went to my Grandpa's house where we had it with family.
December - This month hasn't really been my favorite. Honestly not much has changed from October to December in life. I got a Christmas bonus at my job which has kept me well beyond the temporary dates on my original contract. First bonus I ever got and it was really nice too. I went on a date with some girl, who has apparently also been out with two of my old roommates this month too. Oh well, random meaningless hookups ftw.. I guess.. (Not really, if it were up to me I'd never have a meaningless one again.) Christmas was nice. My grandpa came over for Christmas Eve and I went with him to his girlfriends house for Christmas. Yes, my grandpa is awesome like that. A few nights later I ran into Shelley. I dislike her much. Tonight I ran into Amber. I dislike her much. This, along with my meaningless hookup, has made me come to the conclusion that :
My resolution for this year is going to be to not have random meaningless relationships or sex. It just isn't worth it, at all.
Best month of the year: July
Worst month of the year: February
Happiest moment: A random September afternoon when I received my diploma in the mail. I waited until no one was around before opening it. It was just a paper signifying something I'd already achieved and had already been using, but having a tangible thing showing that my last 4 years were worth something really made me happy beyond words.
Crappiest moment: Pretty much the entire month of February. Specifically probably any night I spent alone or with a couple people in the geology building until midnight putting together a presentation before walking home in the sub-freezing weather and falling asleep in my clothes because I didn't care enough to change.
Biggest regret of the year: Never asking Caytie out because I was afraid I wasn't religious enough for her tastes.
Most unexpected event of the year: The email I had stating I'd been offered a job that was way beyond anything I'd expected.
Best movie of the year: Cowboys and Aliens
Best song of the year: Egypt Central - White Rabbit
Best make-out of the year: I really should take this off here since I've not answered it in 3 years now, but this year certainly had more variety than the prior two ;)
Best new t-shirt of the year: Mario Kart Turtles, no question.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Where the term Aggie comes from
Someone on the ESPN message board posed the question of "What is an Aggie?" I've always had a basic understanding that it came from the schools agricultural roots and was kind of just a remnant of this, but out of curiosity, and due to having the day off, I put a little research into this question and found quite a lot of information on what led to students and alumni of Utah State University being known as Aggies and if possible became even a little more proud of the title.
USU was originally founded as the Agricultural College of Utah back in 1888 and they were known as "Aggies." Lots of schools in the late 1800's and early 1900's were known as the Aggies. Oregon State, Nevada, Colorado State and Wyoming to name a few. Most of them changed their names to what they currently are now. The iconic "Old Main" building on campus still wears the original designation of "Agricultural College of Utah" above its doors.
In the 1940's the teams from Utah Agricultural College (slight name update) were called the Farmers and their mascot was a dude in overalls, but many locals still kept referring to us as Aggies and to the school as "The Agricultural College." In 1957 when UAC changed its name to Utah State University they officially adopted Aggies as their mascot, but kept the farmer around for a while.
During 1969, due to concern by administration of not being known for anything special by people outside of Utah, a movement was made to change the mascot to the Highlanders due to the ideological tie of the school's setting being on top of a hill in a mountain valley and the Scotsman song which was a popular tradition among students. During a football game at halftime it was officially announced that the name would be changed to the Highlanders and the student body and alumni alike booed for the remainder of the second half. That idea was quickly bailed on and we remained Aggies. The Scotsman song remains popular with Aggies.
In 1975 the bull first appeared at Utah State. It was actually a live white bull which they painted blue. It was kept around for a while, but despite rubber boots it still occasionally caused damage to the brand new Dee Glen Smith Spectrum's floor. This and the high level of upkeep for a bull which gets painted blue multiple times a month led to it being replaced with a guy in a bull cartoon suit in 1987, but there is a huge statue of the bull on campus which has a student tradition of being ridden naked to earn the title of Ultimate Aggie (yes, I am one.)
Apparently we really like being Aggies. I wouldn't accept being called anything else, even if there isn't much sagebrush left in the valley.
Go Aggies!!
USU was originally founded as the Agricultural College of Utah back in 1888 and they were known as "Aggies." Lots of schools in the late 1800's and early 1900's were known as the Aggies. Oregon State, Nevada, Colorado State and Wyoming to name a few. Most of them changed their names to what they currently are now. The iconic "Old Main" building on campus still wears the original designation of "Agricultural College of Utah" above its doors.
In the 1940's the teams from Utah Agricultural College (slight name update) were called the Farmers and their mascot was a dude in overalls, but many locals still kept referring to us as Aggies and to the school as "The Agricultural College." In 1957 when UAC changed its name to Utah State University they officially adopted Aggies as their mascot, but kept the farmer around for a while.
During 1969, due to concern by administration of not being known for anything special by people outside of Utah, a movement was made to change the mascot to the Highlanders due to the ideological tie of the school's setting being on top of a hill in a mountain valley and the Scotsman song which was a popular tradition among students. During a football game at halftime it was officially announced that the name would be changed to the Highlanders and the student body and alumni alike booed for the remainder of the second half. That idea was quickly bailed on and we remained Aggies. The Scotsman song remains popular with Aggies.
In 1975 the bull first appeared at Utah State. It was actually a live white bull which they painted blue. It was kept around for a while, but despite rubber boots it still occasionally caused damage to the brand new Dee Glen Smith Spectrum's floor. This and the high level of upkeep for a bull which gets painted blue multiple times a month led to it being replaced with a guy in a bull cartoon suit in 1987, but there is a huge statue of the bull on campus which has a student tradition of being ridden naked to earn the title of Ultimate Aggie (yes, I am one.)
Apparently we really like being Aggies. I wouldn't accept being called anything else, even if there isn't much sagebrush left in the valley.
Go Aggies!!
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