Could have been an astronaut...

Okay, one of the best days in Houston ever. Considering it's a Saturday maybe it isn't that surprising but today was awesome. I want to thank Kay Burns for all her work organising the last week and today...amazing.

Anyway, woke up, had breakfast, and got on the bus. Long drive to Galveston but we got there around 9:30. Our first stop was to tour the Ocean Star. It was an offshore rig that used to drill exploration wells in the Gulf of Mexico but it has since been changed into a museum in Galveston's harbour. I've been on land rigs before but this is definitely different right from the start. You really see how you take for granted all of the room we have in Alberta. Here you need to have everything you might need on hand and in a smaller space. The inside has lots of models of other types of rigs, ships, and production towers. It's unbelievable how big some of them are.

Next stop was NASA. Yay says the engineer in me. We started off with lunch at their tourist center with a very special guest speaker. Charlie Bolden. He's a pilot with NASA and flew 4 shuttle missions back in the 80's and 90's. He's the one that flew the Hubble Telescope up into orbit. Very cool guy. I ended up asking a few questions at lunch. Next we jumped back on the bus to go to a few of the other buildings on the Johnson Space Center. One was the Sonny Carter training center. This is where they have the gigantic pool with all of the space station mock ups for neutral buoyancy practice. Closest thing we have to weightlessness on Earth. We also visited mission control and the other training center where they have the complete "to scale" space station. We also got to see the Canada Arm practice center. I was bragging about the strength of a Canadian arm to some of the Americans. Charlie came with us on the bus and through these other buildings. Seriously cool stories.

A quick bus ride took us to our last event of the evening. A nice, relaxing boat tour around Clear Lake and some of the Gulf. Or at least that's what we thought it was going to be but Kay had something much better planned. Apparently the DJ from the previous night's casino party (I wasn't there, went on a different dinner) was so good that she asked him to come back for the boat. Great idea. The food was pretty good, the beer was cold (and free), but the music was by far the best. I only had a few drinks tonight but I dance for hours. He had games, two-stepping, battle-of-the-sexes....the whole package. I managed to grab the spotlight for a bit by putting on a country dance demonstration with Sonya. Really impressed the rest of the ladies. No one said no to a dance after that (not that any of them said no before). The only problem was that as the night went on the wind died and it got super hot. Worse than a high school gym. I was a little sweaty by the end. For anyone that things that a bunch of engineers from all different parts of the world wouldn't be able to have a great party together...I have photographic proof that you're wrong. Maybe even a couple of videos too. That's all for now. Have to be up early for a golf game with Nevin.

Peace y'all.

Ol' 55...

That's the name of a Tom Waits song but it can also be my dad's nickname for the next year. Today he hits the big 5 5! So, happy birthday dad. Forgot to tell you on the phone today that I managed to find a present for you last weekend down in Galveston that will be very appropriate.

So Mike, how is Houston? Truthfully, it's awesome. Houston is incredibly spread out but they make up for that by having a highway/freeway system. Some are toll roads but for the most part you can cruise around Houston pretty freely. Haven't had to contend with rush hour yet.

The Northwest Forest Conference Center is a very cool place to hold a school like this. Many different buildings, a lake with running path, bar, class rooms, cabins and condos...kind of like a camp. I'll try to post some pictures of the place and my room soon but so far I just haven't had time to take any pictures. My time after classes is taken up by social events or sleeping to recover from social events. Only so much a guy can take.

Very cool tour of the Hughes drill bit manufacturing facility yesterday. One of the highlights. Also have had some nice suppers. Carrabas was an italian restaurant we visited Wednesday. Great food and turned into a very interesting night. Last night I ventured out on my own and stopped at a place called Husky's. Think of Red's from West Edmonton Mall. Subs, wraps, and burgers in one half and a games area in the other. One cool thing there was how they notified you of your food. When you purchase it at the counter they give you an electronic coaster. When your food is ready you coaster starts to vibrate and flash colours. Apparently that's very common here in Texas but I've never seen it before.

Another interesting note is that I have a "different" Canadian accent. The Texans here were pointing out that some of the other Canadians have a strong accent but that mine is different and they often think I'm a fellow Texan. News to me. Probably just my adaptability coming into play and I'm emulating the rest of them.

Lots of different people here. 14 Canadians, 6 from New Mexico, 6 from Indonesia, one from China, and the rest are from here in Houston (although some might originally be from Oklahoma, Montana, Mexico, or even on from Nigeria). So lots of visiting and learning lots aside from engineering. Even learned how to greet people in Indonesian. Semanet Pai Gee...I have absolutely no idea on the spelling.

Well have to get back for the afternoon session. Hope the rest of you have a great weekend (especially those at PV Fest! Kyla...let me know how well my brothers behave.)

Add one to the list...

I've added another city to my list of travels. Houston. Arrived late last night (well technically this morning) after watching the most intense lightnight storm I've seen in my life. There was never a moment without lightning. Amazing.

Anyway, got through the airport, rented my car, and made it over to Nevin's hotel. This morning we were on the road before noon to head down to Galveston. It's a town on the Gulf Coast and is actually on an island. Walked up and down the sidewalk along the beach until we started to burn (which was about 5 minutes). Enjoyed margaritas and calamari at Willy G's. It's not quite the ocean view you might imagine though. This is the area where many of the offshore rigs get towed in to have maintenance done. There were jack up rigs and ships and even an older rig that has been turned into a museum.

I was able to get in contact with a couple of other Conoco people that are down for the same course as me. We met in town at the Minute Maid Stadium for an Astros game. They beat the Seattle Mariners 9-4. Great game, only had the traffic leave the stadium to complain about.

Can't say much more. Got home and soaked in the hot tub so I'm completely worn out and need another solid sleep. Looking forward to the next two weeks.