Road trip back to Midland

Once my course in Houston finished, it was time to drive back to Midland. Brianna flew down to Houston and joined me for the trip, on the first weekend of March.

On the last day of my course, Friday, the "Check Engine" light in my car lit up. So instead of heading out Saturday morning, the car spent a large part of Saturday in the garage to get the timing belt and water pump replaced, while Brianna and I visited the Galleria Mall and watched "The Adjustment Bureau." In the late afternoon, the car was ready, and we drove to San Antonio, about halfway to Midland.

Sunday we visited the Alamo and the San Antonio River Walk. There was a Re-enactment going on that weekend, so there were a lot of people walking around in period costume, which was pretty interesting.

After touring San Antonio a little bit, we continued on to Midland, and Brianna got to meet my roommate and check out my apartment. (She thought the decorations were very "corporate apartment").

On Monday we went to Carlsbad Caverns, which I think is the most impressive feature within 500 miles of Midland. This was my third visit to the Caverns, and it was a lot of fun to see Brianna experiencing and reacting to the incredible rock formations.

And Tuesday morning I brought Brianna to the Midland airport, where we had to say good-bye, until the next visit!


As usual, there are a few more pictures here.

Valentine's

I didn't have classes this weekend (thankfully) so I was able to fly up to Colorado for a 31-hour visit to celebrate Valentine's day early with Brianna. We had a "fancy date" - dressed to the nines, dinner at a nice restaurant followed by the symphony.

(I had a really great time)

Production Technology and Solutions

I am in Houston for the next four weeks for my third technical course with Schlumberger: "Production Technology and Solutions." Per the course description: 

The Production Technology School is designed to give petroleum engineers a very strong introduction to the Schlumberger Production Optimization workflows and software applications required to successfully identify enhancement opportunities and determine the optimal solution, from a client point of view, to enhance under-performing wells, taking risk and economics into account. The course does not detail all aspects of production technology but rather provides very practical bases in the key areas of candidate recognition and single well performance analysis and optimization. It is the intention, that for detailed design of solutions (detailed frac design and pumping sequences for instance), the production engineer will work with the appropriate segments’ engineers, or will attend further detailed advanced training or Cross-training.

The drive over from Midland was pretty smooth. Eight hours of actual driving time. Gotta love the 80 mph speed limit in most of West Texas. I'm staying at the Doubletree, about a mile away from the Schlumberger office. It's definitely a nice hotel suite, with a kitchen, sitting area and bedroom, but I suspect I'll be tired of it after four weeks.

Unrest in Egypt

Absolutely crazy. I was there a few months ago.

Egyptian special forces secure the main floor inside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo on Monday, Jan. 31. Would-be looters broke into the famed museum on Saturday ripping the heads off two mummies and damaging some artifacts before being caught and detained by army soldiers, Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said the prized collection is secure from thieves and under military guard. (Tara Todras-Whitehill/Associated Press)#

More photos from Egypt (via the Boston Globe).

My experience in Egypt.

Birthday in Midland

I am 25 years old. A quarter century. Can't wait to see what the next 25 years bring!

I went out to dinner with some fellow Schlumberger engineers. Someone ratted me out to the wait staff, and I wound up sitting on a saddle mounted on a saw horse, shouting "Yee-Haw!"

Here's a shot of the group:

Vail, Colorado

I took a four-day weekend and met up with some friends to go skiing in Vail, Colorado. I had a great time re-uniting with my college friends Charlie and Brianna, and getting to know Brianna's cousin Nancy. We rendezvoused at Brianna's place and drove up to Vail on Thursday afternoon, where we had rented the bottom floor of a "Bavarian Chalet" - it was a very nice place, and I'd definitely like to go there again.

Vail was absolutely gorgeous, even if the second day had low visibility. The runs were extremely long, so we only took a couple trips on the ski lifts each day. We definitely all had a good time.

I went on a short black diamond run during my last trip down the mountain. I took quite a few tumbles, but hey: I made it!

That's me in the circle.

During the drive back we had a small accident - fishtailed on some black ice, and hit the center concrete barrier at low speed. No one was hurt, and we quickly had the car back in drive-able condition. However, further down the road we smelled burning oil. We pulled off at a gas station and called a tow truck - finally got back to Brianna's place after 2 in the morning.

Even with the accident on the drive back it was a terrific trip, and it was difficult to leave and head back to Midland.

There are a few more photos on my Picasa page.

Biking

Sunrise in Texas

Christmas and New Year's

The holidays were fantastic, if only because I got out of Texas for a while and left my company laptop behind (on purpose - accidentally leaving it behind would have been bad).

I spent nearly two weeks with my parents up near Seattle, Washington. Having actual scenery again was amazing.

I spent a lot of time relaxing and reconnecting with family and friends. Mostly I just took it easy, including a re-read of "Towers of Midnight", going for a long drive with Mom and Dad, and learning how to ski. Dad and I even went up to visit a Petroleum Refinery near Birch Bay, Washington. We got a very personal tour, and learned a few things. The size of the plant and the production volume were impressive. Even more impressive was how even "waste" products were turned into salable goods. 

Celebrating Christmas was as much fun as always. This year was a little unusual, as Michelle and Simeon flew out to spend Christmas with Simeon's family. Because of this, we exchanged presents earlier in the week and kept the two of them in our thoughts.

Celebrating with the extended Medema family on Christmas Eve at Grandma's is always fantastic. It's great to reconnect with cousins, aunts, uncles and Grandma. That's especially true for me and the others who live out-of-state. Definitely one of my favorite times of the year.

Update: Thanks for the picture Karla!

On Christmas Day, Dad, Mom and I had our traditional breakfast of homemade crêpes (Michelle and Simeon missed out) and then went for a long drive. The primary goal was to visit Snoqualmie Falls but it turned into an extended tour of the area. It was great to see so much green in such a small amount of time. In the evening we had Grandma, Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy over for dinner. It turned out to be a really nice day.

Note Dad's newly clean-shaven face. Mom and I completely missed it.

On the 30th, Dad, Mom and I drove down to visit Mom's side of the family. Michelle and Simeon met us there on their return flight. It was another very enjoyable day of reconnecting with family with lots of good food, talk and laughter.

On the morning of the 31st, I left Washington and flew down to visit the Bultema family in Colorado. Once again they were very generous hosts and I had a great time with the whole family. While there I went skiing at Monarch Mountain with Brianna and her dad. I had taken a couple lessons at Stevens Pass in Washington, so I was able to do passably well on some blue slopes. It was bitter cold up on the mountain, though. The car thermometer read 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and a lift operator told us it was -13 at the top of the mountain.

As usual, there are more photos and additional comments on my Picasa page.

Kinda cool - Here's the photos from this trip in Google Maps:

View Christmas 2010 in a larger map

Colorado Springs

I was in Colorado again this week. However, this time I actually made it outside the Denver Airport.

It was fantastic to see some actual mountains again. Actually, seeing something besides flat brown plains was fantastic all by itself. The mountains really were gorgeous, though.

The Bultema family was gracious enough to host me while I was in Colorado. Their daughter Brianna and I attended Calvin College together in the Engineering Program.

Part of the extended Bultema family.

Colorado Springs is a very athletic city, which was very impressive considering how thin the air was. I was rather glad I had "forgotten" my running shoes when I packed. However, I did get out for several walks, a couple of yoga sessions, and ice skating:

Didn't fall down once!

The Bultemas have three adopted Chinese daughters, who are all sharp and a lot of fun. Here's the youngest daughter, Sophia, "playing" the cornucopia:

Oh, and one more thing: the Bultemas have a lot of pets. By my count there were four dogs, a cat and a turtle. Amazingly, I didn't take any allergy drugs and didn't sneeze once. I'm not sure what happened to my allergies, but this bodes well for putting up with my sister's new cat when I'm home for Christmas!