My Category: Serial Killer...

What do you look like when you get your picture taken? Do you consider yourself photogenic? I did...not so sure now. I just got my picture taken as part of a New-hire profile for ConocoPhillips. The guy took a few pictures and then showed me the best one. Now I don't know exactly what a serial killer should look like but if I had to guess it was the mug staring at me in the camera's digital display (a Canon PowerShot S2 IS...nice). I'm sure most of you can imagine the look; wide eyes, creepy smile, an "I'm going to kill you" aura. Wow, I'm going to be popular here.

So what are the categories of picture-ees? I've taken my fair share of pictures over the past couple years and I've definitely noticed some distinct groups:

The Blind Person - ALWAYS has their eyes close. I mean frick! Just keep them open will ya'?

The Owl - most people's pupils contract with the flash. Others become a black hole resulting in major red eye.

The Nobody's Home - drunk or not...you look absolutely wasted. Lot's of these in Thailand.

The Miss Universe - I know you're probably sincere but that smile looks as fake as European money.

The Goof - I've definitely fallen into this category before. Can't take a serious picture. Thinks making faces is hilarious...haha, not laughing.

The Chandler - makes a good effort to smile nice but looks like a 'tard anyway.

The Minx - a girl with photo talent! You can't take just one picture.

The President - even in candid photos you seem to be posing. The good 'ol chin up, turn in, slight tilt and *snap* right here! (click) Good.

The Non-smile - wouldn't show your teeth to the camera for a million dollars. Even getting you to turn up the edges of your mouth is a victory.

...and of course...

The Finger - LUKE!! You fall into this category if more than 10% of your friend's pictures shows you fingering him.

There's probably a few categories I'm missing but this covers a good range.Maybe someday later I'll post some pictures I have as examples. I know I have many for each. So...which one are you?

Calendar Quality...

As you may have learned from the comments on my past entry I was out at the Columbia Ice Fields last Friday for a company trip. It was so amazing that I just wanted to tell a bit about the place and show a few pictures (pictures might take a while, need a new computer).

It's about a 3 hour drive out to the Ice Fields but the trip is part of the fun. The mountains and scenery along the Banff/Jasper highway are breathtaking. I was running on 4 hours of sleep but wasn't tired at all (partly due to the view and partly the coffee). There are a few turnouts along the way that are worth a stop and a couple pictures.

Once at the Ice Fields you park at the visitor center, take a shuttle bus up to the edge of the Athabasca Glacier, and then board the ice crawler. The crawler is a pretty neat machine. Has six huge wheels that are $5,000 a piece and can to up and down pretty incredible grades. They take you out on the ice as far as it's safe and let you out to walk around. We took some company group photos and I played super-professional-photographer with my mom's awesome Canon Rebel. I sure do need some photography courses.

I've been to the Ice Field before with my family but we just parked at the base of the glacier and looked up. This trip was quite different for a couple reasons. In addition to getting you closer to the top of the ice, the crawler drivers provide some commentary on the history and geology of the area. That, plus my EAS class last year in university, gave me a new perspective of what I was seeing. I took pictures of the lateral and terminal moraines, the beautiful blue tarn lake filled with rock flour, and the variety of crevasses higher up on the ice. I was also fortunate enough to witness an avalanche. They'd had an overnight snowfall and one of the adjacent peaks had a shelf of snow break off and fall over the 1000ft cliff. Luckily I had the camera out and was quickly taking pictures as the snow billowed from the fall and impact. The image reminded me of the World Trade Centers falling.

On the way home we stopped at Peyto Lake. This is one of those "calendar quality" lakes that you don't really believe is real. The rock flour (finely ground rock dust) from the glacier gives it the intense blue colour. I think it looks like some chemical was added. Beautiful. The Ice Fields are a bit of a trek out of Calgary but Peyto is just past Lake Louise and definitely worth a day trip sometime. I think a hike for next summer is in order.

Does Engineering Suck?

Of course not...at least not right now. But what if it starts to suck? Let me explain what brought around this thought. Every morning I get up at 5:45am. I shower, dress, eat breakfast, watch Sports Center, leave the house at 6:35am and arrive in my office around 6:55am. Really it's not that bad. I do enjoy the sleep but deep down I'm a morning person. I prefer sunrises to sunsets. I try to plan photo opportunities to happen in the morning when the light is better....but I digress. I'm also staying later. Most days I can get out by 4:30pm or 5:00pm but my coworkers here often stay until 6:00pm. As I take more control of my rigs...I'M going to be doing that.

So...what happens on the day that I wake up and I just don't want to do this anymore? What happens when I'd rather watch the sun come up, drinking coffee on the porch with my wife? What if I want to drop my kids off at school? What if I want to be home in time to make a meal? For a second I actually had the thought "screw this, I'm out" but then I took some time to think about it and also talked to Jeff, a person of incredible insight who I really should talk to more about these things.

As long as I'm in drilling that's pretty much going to be my routine. It's just what the job requires. If I don't want to always get up at 5:45am I don't have to stop being an engineer...just a drilling engineer. Don't think that I hate the job. This company rules and I love what I do here everyday. It's just that later in life there's going to be other things I love more. And...being me...I always start thinking of these things years before I should be.

Possible career changes for when Mike snaps:

- other oil and gas departments (development, reservoir)
- stay at home dad (with own company run from the house)
- video editing (it's somthing I love and can spend hours doing)
- and of course...the NHL

I also don't want to live IN the city my whole life. Going to move to a somewhat more rural setting eventually, even if it's just outside the city limits and I still drive downtown. But that's another story.

Direct from...my phone?

This is an incredible breakthrough...especially for me. I finally got my first work phone ever. A Blackberry 8700r (look it up) and I haven't been able to do ANY work since. I've so far sent a few emails, called Jeff, and now I'm writing this post. Sure it takes longer but damn is it cool!

Other news: the party in Nanton this past weekend was a success. Watched a Tupelo Honey concert on Friday. They're still awesome! Going to see the Columbia Ice Fields this Friday. Also might go to Edmonton this weekend but newest news is that that might change.

Ok, my thumbs are blistering. Will have to build up my tiny-typing-tolerance.

Let's Go Eskimos!

They're not dead yet...although I didn't really know how they were doing to begin with. Apparently the Edmonton CFL team hasn't been having the greatest summer. Oh well, I was in Thailand and that was enough of a distraction that I've lost interest in the current season. The Oilers signed Lupul though, I'm really looking forward to that season. Really, when you look at the players and the line combinations...we have a kick ass team.

So, last weekend. Even though the Esks are hurting the pulled out an exciting win over the Stampeders. Ray passed in a touchdown with 9 seconds on the clock to pull ahead by 3 points (including the extra point). Then just to rub it in, we sacked their QB first play after the kick return, picked up the fumble, and ran it in for a 35-26 win.

Saturday was good too. Jeff and I got together and cleaned out Terry's new car. That's right, I sold him the Grand Am and I'm officially car-less. Of course after all that work we decided it was our right to borrow it for the weekend. Terry had to go to work in the Le Sabre. Saturday night Terry, Nevin, Kyla, me, and some of Kyla's friends went out for a night of two-stepping at Cook County. Rocky was supposed to come too but elected to stay at home and guard the 4th floor porch. No one was coming near him, I'm sure of it. It really is nice going out dancing with girls that love to two-step, especially ones you've danced with before. You skip the awkward learning stage and get right into the fun stuff. Might have to go back up soon.

Beautiful weekend...this week...not so good. It's raining outside the office now. I'm waiting for a phone call and my engineers are in meetings. I somehow ground myself to a hault when I should be stupid busy. Once I get a few things answered I could easily stay until 8:00 tonight working. I'll just enjoy my break.

Look out world, I have a RIG!!!

I guess this means I'm a real drilling engineer now...or at least an engineer in training. Today I sat down with the manager of another area and he told me they needed help. I said sure, should have some spare time. That was it. I'm going to be running a Precision drilling rig up in NorthEast BC (west of Grande Prairie). That's just to start too. In a month they may be giving me another rig to manage. Looks like no more free nights. I almost feel like camping out in my office just to get it all done.

Not today though! I'm leaving right away to go up to Edmonton. Watching the Eskimos rematch game against the Stampeders tonight and then who knows what tomorrow. Probably Matt's house-warming kegger. I'm psyched!

A World Traveller...Yummy...

I've still got the world travelling "bug" in my blood. I sure miss Thailand and don't have any big travelling plans in the near future...so I'm doing the next best thing. Eating food. Today I went for lunch at Extreme Pita in the food court. Not exactly foreign food but I tried a little something called the "Taste of Japan". Tasted good, could have been Japanese-ish, but I'm sure it's nothing like the real thing. That got me thinking...have I ever had the real thing? A year ago I would have said yes but not after this summer.

Anyone ever had Thai food in Canada? Good stuff? It is...and it's very similar to what we were eating on our trip but it's not the real stuff. To experience "real" Thai food I think you "really" have to go to Thailand. It's not just about the taste either. It's the ingredients (they have different oils, spices, and questionable meats), the arrangement (they do some cool stuff on the plate), and the cheap, little plastic chairs that you sit on. In Canada you rarely get to enjoy the experience of ordering food off the street that you're sure will make you sick but eat anyway because it didn't imediately drop the guy in line in front of you. Eating food (even McDonald's) in Thailand was one of the best things I did there.

I have a list of countries I want to visit and now I think I'm going to augment that list to include foods I want to eat. I want to have sushi in Japan, shark in Australia, perogies in the Ukraine, and beer in Germany. Speaking of alcohol, what's so good about Russian vodka? Well, I want to find out. The pinto beans and rice that they serve in Costa Rica. Amazing. Crepes in France. Terrible for you but incredibly tastey.

When I do get the chance to travel again I'm not going to shy away from any of the local foods. I'm going to live by the code that if "they" can eat it, so can I. I can't decide where to go first. My world map has turned into a menu and I can't decide. At least the waiter won't be coming around until at least next spring. Until then I'll just pile up on the local greats here at home: Double Bacon Burgers from Sweet Queen.

I've been traded to the Leafs...

I can't believe it. After being a faithful Oilers fan for years I will have to lace up for an Eastern team this winter. I'm playing for the Leafs. Before you boo and throw Alberta Beef steaks at my head let me explain. I signed up for the ConocoPhillips hockey league. Instead of a draft it was just an unfortunate draw that will have me wearing white and blue. Oh well. My first game is against the Senators next Monday and the Oilers the week after.

Other news: what a kick-ass long weekend. On Saturday my friends Amy and Clayton got married down in Nanton. Beautiful ceremony out at the Bozyk house. So many familiar faces I haven't seen in years. The reception at the community center was great too. Loonie bar!! I think I only spent $3 though. People kept putting beers in my hand all night. Danced up a storm and closed the place down with my bro, Jeff.

Sunday, after a brief morning-recovery period. Jeff and I took the boat out to Pine Coulee for some wakeboarding. Nevin and Kyla made it down from Calgary and Erin and JD Kindt came out too. Amazing day. Blue sky, almost no wind. I managed to top up my tan that's been wasting away since leaving Thailand. Still can't land a backflip but I do a nice front flip off the bridge.

Other big news, I'm pretty much all moved in to the condo with Jeff, Nevin, and Dan. Set up my desk and computer last night, have new IKEA dresser and night stand, played some guitar, and chatted with Marie in London. (Skype rules by the way) It's time to really start living in Calgary now!

Looking for Strengths

Time to dust off the cobwebs and get this blog back on track. Quick update on my life:

- graduated from the U of A with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering
- travelled with Luke and Nevin for 3 months in Thailand
- currently living in Calgary with my brother, Jeff, and Nevin and Dan
- working downtown for ConocoPhillips in the Foothills Drilling department

I'm two weeks into my new job and the excitement level is still high even if I haven't done much yet. My boss has been on vacation the whole time but he has given me one task already. Find my strengths. I'm reading a book his secretary gave me called "Now, Discover Your Strengths". It's a good read, gets you to think a bit about what you do best and actually makes you eager to work on them to improve your life. We'll see what comes of it when I finish the book and tell him what I've found. Here's a list I'm putting together of what I think my "talents" are...not strengths. The book defines strengths as a combination of talent, knowledge, and skill. The first step is to identify talents and then you can work on the knowledge and skill part after.

Quickly learning
- Can remember facts after only hearing once (trouble with multiple instructions)
-- Comes through when writing tests, don't have to study much, I remember almost everything that was said during the whole course
- Photographic memory
-- Often picture in my mind the page in the book where a certain piece of information was written when I learned it
- Especially good with mental visualization
-- Can picture physical things and actions in my mind
-- Can also add physics to mental images (ex. How would gravity/friction/wind affect the process?)
- Learned to listen to my intuition/gut feelings
-- Found this when I was a lifeguard (I would get a weird feeling from something that I saw out of the corner of my eye/heard amongst the noise that was just out of place. Couple times let me act on a rescue before the person was really in trouble.)
-- Now I can enter a room, feel something is out of place, and then quickly identify what that is.
- Very observant
-- Often catch "errors" in movies where something small was changed from scene to scene. (Again kind of a gut feeling thing.)
Computer programs
- Finding out how they work
- Learning shortcuts
- Customizing (new reports, ways of organizing data)
- Good at aesthetics (good looking documents, graphs, presentations)
- Examples:
-- Excel
-- WellView
-- Business Objects
Other computer talents
- Video editing
- Creating webpages (my blogs)
- Quickly organizing files/folders
Teaching
- Others have often commented on my lessons
- Can relate to different audiences and their frustrations
- Like to use analogies, can think of them quickly
- Best at teaching math, computer, engineering topics
Athletics (not professional level)
- Pick up new sports quickly
- Begin to see strategy early
- Very determined to stay in good shape (allows me to do more)

I'm not saying that this list is complete or even accurate. They are just some things that I think I do well and that might be able to help me a lot in the work place. It's good to be back people.