Hanging out in Port Arthur, Texas
Well, it's another 3 days in Port Arthur this week for me. It's tough being away from my girls, but I enjoy being out in the field, so it's a give and take. I'm out here a few days a week now, and that may increase before it goes down. We're demolishing, designing, and re-building part of an aromatics and olefins plant that burned up last April. It's a great job for a young engineer like myself; most people go their whole career without getting to work on a fire re-build, so I'm fortunate to get this experience so early on.
Yesterday was a brutal day for me. I woke up with a headache and my body ached all over. These symptoms lasted all day, and by the evening my headache had only worsened. After work, I checked into the La Quina, went to CVS and bought Advil, Gatorade and water, went back to the hotel and crashed. I woke up today feeling great. I was afraid I was coming down with the flu, but maybe it was just a 24-hour bug. I was miserable though yesterday. When you feel like that, you just want to be home. You don't want to be in some stinky hotel room like I was. That sucked.
Tonight I hit up Chili's for dinner. I went stag so I sent a bunch of text messages while I ate. I probably sent 6 out and got a 50% reply rate - not too bad. Prior to dinner I stopped by Academy and picked up a black stocking cap. The weather we have blowing through southeast Texas is too cold for a bald or balding head.
Tomorrow at work I've got to try to get some RFIs (requests for information) answered. When construction has a question for the engineers back in the office in Baton Rouge, I help get the questions answered so that construction knows how to proceed. One of the RFIs I'm working on involves the adhesive to be used to secure anchor bolts into existing concrete. Engineering specified one type of epoxy; construction wants to use a different type that is easier to use. I have to do some research and figure out if they are equivalent in terms of load capacity, etc.
I'm heading back to Houston tomorrow afternoon. I need to get home soon enough for us to leave for Oklahoma at a reasonable time. Two hours of driving from PA to Houston, 1 hour driving from my office to my house, then 7 hours driving to Oklahoma City: it's going to be a long day.
Next week I'll be back in PA for Monday and Tuesday. Then it's off to Oklahoma and Kansas for Thanksgiving. After that, back to Port Arthur for at least Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Exciting times in PA, exciting times...
Yesterday was a brutal day for me. I woke up with a headache and my body ached all over. These symptoms lasted all day, and by the evening my headache had only worsened. After work, I checked into the La Quina, went to CVS and bought Advil, Gatorade and water, went back to the hotel and crashed. I woke up today feeling great. I was afraid I was coming down with the flu, but maybe it was just a 24-hour bug. I was miserable though yesterday. When you feel like that, you just want to be home. You don't want to be in some stinky hotel room like I was. That sucked.
Tonight I hit up Chili's for dinner. I went stag so I sent a bunch of text messages while I ate. I probably sent 6 out and got a 50% reply rate - not too bad. Prior to dinner I stopped by Academy and picked up a black stocking cap. The weather we have blowing through southeast Texas is too cold for a bald or balding head.
Tomorrow at work I've got to try to get some RFIs (requests for information) answered. When construction has a question for the engineers back in the office in Baton Rouge, I help get the questions answered so that construction knows how to proceed. One of the RFIs I'm working on involves the adhesive to be used to secure anchor bolts into existing concrete. Engineering specified one type of epoxy; construction wants to use a different type that is easier to use. I have to do some research and figure out if they are equivalent in terms of load capacity, etc.
I'm heading back to Houston tomorrow afternoon. I need to get home soon enough for us to leave for Oklahoma at a reasonable time. Two hours of driving from PA to Houston, 1 hour driving from my office to my house, then 7 hours driving to Oklahoma City: it's going to be a long day.
Next week I'll be back in PA for Monday and Tuesday. Then it's off to Oklahoma and Kansas for Thanksgiving. After that, back to Port Arthur for at least Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Exciting times in PA, exciting times...
posted by lonestar hill country at 6:27 PM
2 Comments:
Hmmm...we buy a lot (I mean a lot) of fuel out of PA. Not sure what an "aromatics and olefins plant" is exactly, but sound pretty cool (if you're an engineer geek like yourself). Spent the last few hours listening to Ryan (Ryne) talk about load capacities of something or other (whatever). Hey, if you ever want to get in the biodiesel refining business, let me know, I got some contacts down your way who would love some more engineers.
thanks, gerken. aromatics and olefins: light gasses, i'm told. but what's a light gas? good question.
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