The OFR - Permian Edition

I've been meaning to get back into the writing saddle, but suffice it to say I haven't had copious amounts of time to do so.

On the other hand, I've had plenty of time to think about what I could potentially put on paper.

I NOW LIVE IN THE PERMIAN BASIN>

Today is my first legitimate day off of work in just about 60 days.

Within those 60 days, there have been countless hours of reflection, frustration, desperation, exhaustion, contemplation, and many other emotions.

At the forefront of my thoughts has been an overwhelming sense of gratitude; gratitude for the broken road that got me to where I am today, and for those I've loved along the way.

As I finally have a moment to sit down and slow my thoughts, I find myself missing my friends and family back home.  That's not to say I'm wishing I were still there, but that I deeply appreciate the lessons I learned and the experience gained side by side with them.

Teresa is 7 months along with Curious George (that's how we refer to our little boy on the way).  We are so excited to have him come along and bless our lives.  So far, he seems pretty rambunctious.  He's been keeping his momma busy with his kicks and rolls and stretches. '

I presently work for NGL Energy Partners LP, Water Solutions division.  We operate a large number of salt water disposals across Texas, Colorado, and North Dakota.  I also recently opened up a solids waste facility (mud plant) just south of the New Mexico border.  I received a substantial raise in pay upon moving to Texas, but I have more than earned it over the last couple months. We are building a couple new facilities almost every month.

Texas has some of the best BBQ in the entire world. KD's BBQ pit is definitely one of the best joints in west Texas. 

Here, they charge you by the pound for your meat.  Ya'll gotta come check this place out if you ever get a chance to come down here!




On the next post, I'll get more into the details about the interesting new relationships I've made down here, as well as some of the more important lessons I've learned thus far into my new Texas adventure.

With love,

THE OFR

Blog Moratorium

For an undetermined period of time, there will be no new posts on the OFR. Thanks for reading.

What you didn't know.

What you didn't know, is that while I was up in North Dakota, I went through a short period of depression.

You didn't know that at some point, I started drinking lots of alcohol, smoking cigarettes (mostly), and chewing tobacco.

You didn't know that part of the reason I was coming back to Utah was to get away from that lifestyle.

If you knew that, you probably didn't know that another reason I came home was to try to fix things with a certain girl, and that 6 days before I got home, that girl got engaged.

In the last three months, I've been able to get back to the right path. It's been rough at times, but it's been great.

It hasn't been easy to let go of some things from the past, but I've done it. Old friends and new friends have been a great help and support during the transition.  Honestly, the buzz from a Marlboro Red might be something that will always haunt me from time to time.

You probably didn't know that I have a girlfriend now. She's pretty amazing.  If you don't already know her, well, I'm not going to introduce her here.  She's been an inspiration and a great motivation to get me right with God. I appreciate that immensely.

I'm glad I came home. It was important that I did so. I'm glad that my reasons got me here, even though not everything panned out as planned. I appreciate what got me here, even if it hurt like hell.  Decisions were made, and we all have to live with the consequences, good or bad. Isn't that what life is about? Being responsible for your own future, your own choices?

I choose to be happy. I choose let the past stay in the past, and look forward to a bright and wonderful future.

I apologize to anyone and everyone that I may have, at some point, hurt or offended. It's not in my nature to want to hurt anyone. This was never my intention.

I'm a chemical guy now.  I pump chemicals into oil wells to make them produce more oil, and to protect the equipment and personnel in the field from deadly gasses. Well, the field techs do all this. I mostly manage the field techs, our equipment, and represent our company in the the corporate offices of our customers.

From time to time, I still get to put my boots on and take huge chemical containers to the field, pump them into wherever people need them, be it a holding tank or a drilling rig mud pit.

It will take time to recover from the wild party/miserable mess/amazing experience/good time that was North Dakota.  But now, I'm back in Utah, and things are and will ever be totally different. The only constant, really, is that I'm still in the oilfield.

I think we all expected this. 

I'll be writing again soon. I promise.

The Oilfield Romantic  

The OFR Volume 2: To hell with surrender. Ride or die.

 

I’m a good man with a good heart

Had a tough time, got a rough start

But I finally learned to let it go

Now I’m right here, and I’m right now

And I’m hoping, knowing somehow

That my shadow days are over

My shadow days are over now

I feel like giving up on the blog would be like throwing up my hands in surrender to the challenges I've been faced with lately. All I have to say to that is,

To hell with surrendering.

Now, I'm not sure how many people will actually stop to read this thing, but at the moment, I don't really give a damn.  I don't write it so much for you as I do for myself.  Kind of like playing the piano, in that regard.  There will always be someone who can play, or write better than I can.  The difference is, I play and write from the heart.  

I'm starting a new chapter in my life, in a new (old) place, but everything is different this time, especially me. It will be interesting to face the old challenges with a new perspective, and the new challenges in an old setting.  

However it might sound or read, it will be honest. I believe that's the most important thing about all this; honesty. 

I'm currently on the side of the road, hood up, shut down, and overheated.  I've been pushing the truck pretty hard since last night over mountains and through canyons, and unfortunately the thermostat just won't take it anymore.  

Am I discouraged? Not really. I'm more annoyed at the fact that I'm not sure when I'll make it to Denver tonight, as I have a BBQ I need to make, and a date I need to meet there. But, seeing as I had some down time, I figured I'd come out and say this.

Tough times don't last, tough people do.

I'm ready. I'm ready for life to throw at me whatever it has in store. I'm ready to be kicked and punched, and shot and stabbed by it.  I'm ready to work my hands raw to achieve my goals, and to conquer my giants.  

I'm ready to fall in love again, and to have my heart broken again, if that what it comes down to. I will never let the fear of failure stop me from trying over and over and over, because one of these times, I'll have success.  I'll find the right girl and make the right deal, and I'll get everything I ever wanted in my life.  

Until then, stay strong, Romantics.  And read on, if you care to.

The Oilfield Romantic

The sun will rise.

The sun will rise, the world will turn.

The flares and the fuel will continue to burn.

The pumps will pump, the trucks will roll,

and a broken heart will take no toll.

The rigs will drill, the fracs will frac,

and my friends and family will have my back.

The generators will hum, and the sirens will sound,  

and the Oilfield Romantic will never back down.

Watford City, Keene, Mandaree, Kildeer, Williston, Tioga, Epping, Grenora, Bowbells, Stanley, Sidney, Epping, Newtown, Arnegard, Alexander, Glenburn, Minot, Bismarck, Ray, Ross, White Earth, Williston. 

I will miss hearing these names everyday, seeing these towns every day.

I will miss seeing the trucks roll in and out of the yard, the drivers waving and nodding at me, the clear nights and all the shooting stars, and the amazing North Dakota sunsets and sunrises.

I'll miss living out of the K&G and the Cenex, the Food Pride and the Black Gold Suites.

I'll miss my friends, my family here.  I'll miss the rigs, the fracs, the flax fields, and the sunflowers.

North Dakota has been a wonderful and challenging stage of my life.

I'll never, ever forget you.

I feel like I'm in the last week of  my mission.  When you've put so much of yourself into a place, bled for it, sweat for it, cried for it; That place becomes a permanent part of who you are.  You beg to God that you can someday return. You hope and pray that the people there are taken care of, and protected from harm.

Pieces of my heart have been left in many different places- Denver, Grand Junction, Brundage Canyon, Concepcion, Temuco, Victoria, Talcahuano, Gorbea, Canete, Carahue, Camilo, Wamsutter, Neola, Roosevelt, and now, the peace garden state.  

A large part of my heart will always be here, just as a big part of it will always be in Chile.

Someday, and I know that day will come, the parts of my heart that are left over will be given to a very special girl.

Until then, I'll always have the oilfield.

It might take my life someday, but it will never break my heart.

The Oilfield Romantic

I'm not sure how much longer the blog will continue, or if it will continue at all.  This has been an amazing journey into my own heart and soul, and I appreciate everyone who ever took a minute to read through it.  

Thank you all for sharing in this experience.  I love you all.

Gregory George Page II

This is dedicated to North Dakota.

So... I'm sitting at SLC INT...   I missed my 6:00 AM flight, which is super lame, because being the 5th of July, everything else is totally full, and I have to be on standby for both of my flights.Who knows when I'll finally get back to the land of Scandinavians and endless green rolling hills.

Let's sit down and talk. By the way, thanks for reading this. You are a wonderful person.

I'm going to miss North Dakota. I might just be the first and only person you ever hear saying this, but I love North Dakota.  It has truly changed my life in ways that might be difficult to put into words.

I went up there about 8 months ago, partly to try to start a business, partly to run away from heartbreak, and partly just to say I did it.  I've made some money working there, lost a lot of money working there, and have had some crazy experiences along the way.

It's not just the scenery that I'm going to miss (although, that is definitely part of it).
Mostly, I'm going to miss the people that I associate with the very thought of this out of the way, forgotten place.

I might just give credit to those whom I think will actually read and appreciate this little blog of mine.

I've spent most of my time up there in a little town called Tioga. I've been renting a little shack in a town called Minot, but because of work, Tioga has been more like home to me up there.

When I got up there initially in November, the only places I had heard of were Williston (because of the oil boom) and Bismarck (the state capital).

Now, I'll talk about some of the awesome people I've met and have come to love, respect, and admire.

Rex Short.

Rex is a crazy red neck Texan who refers to Texas as "his country". He worked in Iraq for 7.5 years as a logistics manager of sorts for KBR.  Basically, he was in charge of 1500 people who built cities in the desert for the US armed forces.  When he was there, he had some long nasty hair to go along with his gnarly goatee. Imagine lieutenant Dan. In fact, he showed me a picture of him with Gary Sinise, who was there visiting soldiers and touring around with USO.  It was a very ironic photograph.

Well, after doing some heavy duty logistics in the Middle East, dispatching frac fuel for Western Petroleum is just a walk in the park for him.  While other dispatchers are constantly flipping out and losing their minds trying to make everything fit together, Rex just sits back and takes the calls, sets up the fuel transports, and talks to his wife on the phone.  All the while, we BS all night with the drivers and other people that work with us. We have a great time.

From Rex, I've learned to not sweat the small stuff. Everything gets taken care of, and his most quotable saying, "You can only do what you can with the resources you're given."

I've translated this attitude into pretty much every part of my life.

This guy is making peanuts compared to what he should get paid. He performs logistics miracles on a nightly basis, without ever breaking a sweat or losing his composure.  It's unreal.  I'm proud to say he's one of my all time heroes.

Jason Watts.

Jason is General Manager of the WP terminal in Tioga.  He arrived sometime in March, as the old GM was being transferred to Canton, Ohio.

Jason is a straight up cowboy from Colorado.  He has a hot head, and can get really worked up when people don't do their jobs, but he's done some awesome things with the terminal, as far as I can tell.

What I'll remember him saying most, and it was quoted in an earlier post,

"There are good days, and there are bad days."

What I take from this, is basically that you take things as they come.  You work through the hard times and make the best of it.  I've seen him deal with some pretty messed up situations in a very cool way.

Even when he chewed my ass hardcore for screwing around too much at night, he quickly talked to me again and explained why he had been so hard on me. He built up my confidence in a great way.   He is an awesome manager.

Andriana Pucciani.

Her last name is spelled Puchany, although it should be Pucciani. Apparently, back in the day, someone changed that. The Italian spelling is much cooler.

She's an Italian/German girl with dark olive skin and pretty green eyes. She was born and raised in Tioga.

I met Andi a 8 days ago. Let me rephrase that. I actually met her a month or two back, when she started working for the summer as a daytime dispatch assistant/administrative assistant.

9 days ago, she agreed to get some breakfast with me, which turned into her making me breakfast at her house.  We didn't know each other from a hole in the ground, but we became fast friends.

She made me an awesome dinner the next night, before I had to make the long haul back to Utah.

I call her Bambina. She has an awesome outlook on life, and a very positive attitude. I love that about her. I think I found the coolest person in Tioga. We talk about...everything and nothing. I'm going to help her with her piano/guitar skills, and she's going to help me with my fishing skills, or lack thereof.

Ramanda and Micheal Nash (and Madse, Mae Mae, Mikey, Ashley, Halley, and Han Solo).

I love these people. They live in Glenburn, just north of Minot. I'm related to them by marriage, but I consider them close family. They let us crash in their basement the first week we were in ND.  Every time we went up there it felt like home.  Ramanda is an excellent cook! She's like another big sis, and Mike is like a big bro I never had.

Gary Conlee

Gary is a Chicago native who ended up in ND with the air force; he found a girl in Tioga and married her. He's been there ever since, and he is a fellow "logistics manager" at WP. We really rag on each other pretty much all the time while we're working. It's great fun, and we're pretty good buddies. He tells me all his crazy air force travel stories, and gives cool insights on life as well.

He's convinced that I'll end up stuck in Tioga for the rest of my life.  He keeps telling me that some girl will get me to stay there forever. I keep telling him he's full of crap, but he doesn't ever let down. It's so funny.

Mark, Skyler, Ethan, and the Jimmy John's crew.

These guys. These guys are crazy. They live in my house in Minot, and take care of it while I'm gone (which is always).

I love these guys.  They are so hilarious.  We have great times when I'm home, and they welcome me every time with a sort of party.





We get into all sorts of mischief together. It's a party.







Lucas Medelez

Lucas is a recent convert to the church, has a huge heart, and is pretty much just hard core awesome.  He's always there when you need him with a smile and a good attitude.  Pretty much a brother from another mother.  He's another gun toting air force dude who's good to have on your side.  Pretty sure he's one of the best guys I've ever met.




I will miss the sunrises, the sunsets, the crazy oilfield traffic, and the bright lights of all the drilling rigs dotting the landscape at night.

I'll miss the great friends I made up there, and the good (and hard) times we had up there.

North Dakota has made me a better person. I love more, laugh more, smile more, and live more because of this forgotten wonderful place.

Here's to you, North Dakota.

The Oilfield Romantic

A circle of trust, and a windy airstrip.

Much like Robert DeNiro in a certain dumb/funny movie, I have a circle of trust.

Lately, there have been a few new people added to that circle. That makes me happy.

There are also a few people who are no longer in my circle of trust.  It doesn't make me sad as much as it disappoints me.

I give people just enough trust to prove themselves, but not enough to have anything over on me.  At least, not in the beginning.

I can count on one hand the number of people who know all my deepest, darkest secrets, insecurities, fears, ambitions, and dreams.  They might not each know all of them, but collectively, they do. This is more of the "inner" circle.

The "outer" circle isn't making me very proud. 

Otherwise, things are good. I'm stranded somewhere in southern Wyoming, I'm starving and sleep deprived, but there is an upside to everything.  This airstrip has wifi, and my dad has a plane and is currently flying over here to pick me up.

My dad is kind of awesome.

Gotta see the positives. 

What was I supposed to do, curl up in a ball and start crying?

This isn't the worst thing that's happened to me. Not by a long shot.

So on a terrible day, just imagine, that you could be stranded at an airstrip in Dixon, Wyoming after 30 hours without sleep and 300 dollars spent in diesel.

As I set my trusty Halliburton back on the ground against a giant loader bucket, laid out my jacket and my vest on the ground to lay on, I looked up at the sky at a cloud shaped like an old man's face. He seemed to be smiling at me as if to say, "You crazy kid. You'll look back on this one day and laugh."  Moments later, the old man was gone.

I think I'll just laugh about it today and get it over with.

The Oilfield Romantic

P.S: North Dakota just got a whole lot better. I'm suddenly hating the idea of leaving.

In the very first post I talked about looking for the perfect North Dakota sunset. 

The one last night must have been pretty close.