First things first: THE PICKS!  Please join!  All are welcome.  You just need a Yahoo! ID.

NFL (13th year in a row!): ID=10217 pw=sylmar
College: ID=6802 pw=sylmar

It should be fun, please sign up!



Well, this is something.  What a way to start my first full-time job.  I worked 86.5 hours last week, not including the 8 hours I was credited with by working through a holiday (Pioneer Day… it’s a LDS/Utah thing).  I’m back to civilization this week but I’m back in the field on Friday.



Here is my life and home in the field.  I live in the trailer (called the Hideout) on the right, and work at the rig on the left.


My main job is looking at what comes out of the machine called the shaker.  I concentrate on the a’a, rather than the pahoehoe.




This is the hole in the ground.  You can look at it, but it’ll cost ya.



At the end of drilling, we have chip trays which act as our stratigraphic column.  With the help of geophysics gizmos, we pick the best layers for water.



This is the end of my first hole, ‘triple completion’ as they say in the biz.  That means we put three wells in the hole screened at different depths, to get a look at the different strata within the aquifer.  This site has a strong upward gradient, meaning the deepest well in screen is shallowest in water and the water moves from deep to shallow.



It can be a very dirty, sweaty, muddy, hot job at times.



Geologists are not at all immune.



As I said before, this is a hotly debated issue.  I saw a bumper sticker that said “Remember Owens Valley.”  I had to get that one, even though I am impartial as a scientist.  Nevada state law says that groundwater is the property of the state’s residents as a whole, and it is to be allocated as needed.  The question is, can they do it without disruption of livelihoods and federally-protected areas like Fish Springs NWR and Great Basin NP.



Speaking of Great Basin NP, I have been several times now when I have free times for rig breaks and transitions.  This is the Wheeler Peak cirque.  I bet you’d never guess that Nevada, the driest and one of the hottest states in the US, has an active glacier!



The other big attractions are the Bristlecone Pines and Lehman Caves.  Both are worth seeing.




On the job site, you do get lonely, so it’s always nice to have visitors. In my trailor, none of these have made an appearance, but bugs a plenty.





That’s my geologist.



Whenever I feel low and tired in the field, I usually think, at least I’m not in the Pink Palace. That’s the other trailer… a 1961 model with no A/C, no fridge, no toilet, no CD player, no water system, and no hope.  If someone wants to come by and implode it with their own mindpower, please, do us all a favor and do it.  Since the start, we now have a third trailer called the Scamper.  It is OK, but my trailer is better.

A story with trailers…

My boss is a bike enthusiast.  He left to drive to another site one day and left his bike resting on the front of the trailer.  After he left, his bike slipped so that the handlebars had come into contacts with the terminals of the battery for the trailer.  The melted everything nonmetal on the bike: cables, breaks, gear shifters, and helmet, which turned into a flaming pile of plastic. Luckily, a driller saw it and put it out before the trailer burned.  What are the odds?

Unfortunately, this has been a microcosm for the project.  Many more things have gone wrong, chiefly the depth-to-bedrock gravity model.  This has escalated cost and messed with our scientific process.

All and all, it is a good job.  I am challenged daily, and I am learning a ton.  The field season will probably be done by the end of August.



One of the things that makes it all worth while is the area.  It is stunning in places.  This is NP material for sure.  The picture above is my new favorite mountain, Notch Peak of the House Range (famous for Trilobites).  It is a 2000′ drop at the top, and I’d really like to hike up there to see that.

P.S. Doesn’t the cloud in the first pic look like a ship?

Well, I went out in the field to see my future field sites.  Turns out, my field area in the valley next to Great Basin National Park.



There it is.  So, if anyone wants to see it, come on by.



I also saw something that I had not seen in about 5 years, and frankly, wished I would never see again.  Anyone remember a certain carbonate that is heavily faulted with extensive lateral-facies changes?



It also has certain wormy fossils…

That’s right, it’s the dreaded Guilmette!  In fact, it is thought to be the main bedrock aquifer in the area.  Damn, I hate that formation, but I’ll have to learn to love it.  At least I’ll be piercing it with a drill.



We also have other summer field players like the Joana limestone…



…and Pilot shale… just like old times.

I’ll be in the field starting July 5th, returning at some point a week or so later.  It’s really up to the drillers.  It should be fun, and profitable for me, but I will be away from internet for extended periods of time.  That also means I get long streches of break time where I can finish putting Mallytown together.

Last weekend I went to Cedar City to 1) accompany Aly on her business weekend 2) visit the in-laws.  It was very fun!  Carl had his first road trip.  He’s up to 1100+ miles!  What growing, young boy.

There were two big events in Cedar this weekend.  First, there was a folk/country/blues/bluegrass (~CBGB) music festival.  There were pretty good bands, but I wished there was more bluegrass.  My favorite part was the Gyros, really good and chicken, not lamb.

The other big event was the Rodeo.  It featured the #1 bull in the world.

It was sponsered by a former employer, and thus Aly and her younger brothers helped out.  the funniest thing about the Rodeo was how ‘patriotic’ they tried to be.  Over and over the said how this was ‘America’s best sport’ and “g-d bless America,’ and yet they talked over the song “g-d bless America” and had a flag up in the dark.  I hate fake patriotism.

All in all, it was a great weekend.  Everyone had lots of fun, and even though tthis was a business trip for Aly, we still had lots of great time together.

This week, I’m working hard on my new well project.  I leave tomorrow morning for a two-day reconnasaince trip.  Next thursady, the fifth, I leave for the start of the extensive drilling project.  I will be gone for at least 10 days (including the Warped Tour…. Damn!), back for a few, then out again.  This will happen again and again until about September at the least.  I’ll try to share as many field pics as I can!

First of all, buy buy buy!  Sell Sell Sell!  Be the first to take advantage of this first information first!

That outta keep ‘em busy.

Sorry for the delay in this post, but I just got internet today.  I was like a fuckin’ caveman without it… Mmmm… Fantasy Baseball…

So, a lot of firsts.

First of all, I moved into my first house in a ritzy neighborhood in my first master bedroom.  I’m sure they’ll kick us out soon, we’re not of this social class.

Firstly, I’ll have my first dog soon.

I’m going to my first rodeo this weekend in Cedar City.

I did my first day of my first professional job in my first porfessional setting as a professional, first of all.

And first, but not first, I got my first love.

Not many of you may know this, but I’ve wanted an extended cab truck since I was in short pants.  It really has been a dream of mine for a very, very long time.  Well, after signing my name a thousand times and staring at $_ _, _ _ _ (which is quite scary), I got it.

Meet Carl, my extended cab Tacoma.

Oh yeah, that’s hot.

Not only that, but I got to put the first 10 miles on it.  I’m up to 311 miles with still over a 1/4 tank left.  30 mpg, power, style, and class.  What more could you want first?

From before, just the house part unprotected:

In other news, here’s my new house.  I just signed a lease via Craig’s List on a 3bd/3bth in a very ritzy neighborhood in the foothills of the SLC.  The rent is cheap ($1100/mo total).  The only downside: far from everything.  It’s a good thing I’ll be bying a truck within the fortnight.  The other roommates are Steph and Garret.

Some other highlights (check the link for others):

The livingroom, with fireplace.

Very geo-nerdy stairs (and wall decor), complete with mafic granitoids, slate, travertine, limestone, serpentinites, and porphyoblastic gneiss (my favorite).

The highlight by far is the large backyard, complete with laissez-fair landlord.  You can’t imagine how hard it is when we may have as many as 5 dogs total.  I forgot to mention, the basement is another apartment, and she has a dog too.  Aly and I will take our deaf sweetie LuLu and bring her here, and Steph has 2 dogs, and Garret has one.

Here’s the kitchen.  My lifelong dream of having a fridge-door water dispencer will have to wait, though.  It doesn’t work.

This is a little hallway alcove next to the master bedroom (that Aly and I will take).  It is great spot for Legotown, don’t you think?

So, we will move in by the end of the month.  I hate to move out of my cool place I live now, but the no pet policy is too much, so we just gotta move.  Plus, the house is not an unreinforced-mansonry structure like my current house and 90% of everything else in this valley.  That way, we will be safer if an earthquake happens, though we still are only a few miles from the fault, on the hanging wall.

The only thing this place does not have is a washer and dryer. We got a nice laudry room with hookups, it’s just the appliances themselves. So if anyone has an extra one they want to give away, feel free to let me know.

You all are invited to the housewarming party!  Not sure when yet, but I’ll let you know.

I turned some of my recent posts to protected for safe keeping.

Message boarders: get a fucking LIFE and leave me the fuck alone!

Go fuck yourselves,

Mark

(By the way, if you don’t know what protected is, and you would like to be part of this little club, let me know).

Click here for details on my conclusion to student teaching!  It is protected, so if you want to see it and can’t, email me and I’ll tell you how.

Well, just to update me before I get to the latest on Legotown…

I have myself a job interview for Friday, thus setting up the official
end to any chance of my teaching any time soon.  Teaching is just not
for me… I think the main problem is, I am not mean enough.

The company is a consulting firm for oil companies.  Now all my Geo schooling can pay off.

OK, now to Legos.

This is the new fact to legotown.  The biggest differnces: college
(foreground), new street (on the right side), and bigger train loop
around it all.

This is the college, MIST (Mallytown Institute of Science and
Technology). Go Waves!  Yeah, we’re the waves.  MIST Waves, get it?
 The upper left is the lecture hall.  The upper right is the
admin/signature building, the giant wave picture carved into a tall
building, fashioned to look like a rocky shoreline.  I’ve yet to build
the Union and the dorms, but they will come soon.

Some other new buildings:

Burger stand, convienently located next to the campus.  He must be putting his kids through college.  Open late for stoners… uh, I mean, students who study hard!

The zen garden.

The grocery store.  Special on blue!

Aly’s castle is new and improved, after an unfortunate giant monster attack by an unnamed blue-healer puppy.

City bond measure C2 passed, so we uppeed the train system, with new RxR crossing gates, and…

…several train stations.  This ought to help with Lego traffic congestion and road rage.

Our new thing is building real people and situations for them.  This is Andrew’s house, with his two dogs, gun, chewin’ tobaccy, stars and bars, big truck, shed, junk pile (Ian on top until his house is built), and a heightend law enforcement presance.

Here’s where me and the misses are living, near the college and the mine.  That’s Aly in her smartcar, me in my compact pickup, with rocks in te front yard.

And yes, it’s Lego me.  Uncanny, it’s like looking into a mirror.  I’m complete with a backpack and a rock hammer.  If anyone can find Lego headphones, you know what to get me for my birthday.

To show we’re not soft on Lego terrorism, we beefed up airport security (with only the minor expense of cancelling K12 education and health care).  Now you two can relive the fun of standing in line, taking off your shoes, and being frustrated over and over!

OK, that’s it for now.  Sorry about the infrequent posts and the overlooking of other posts… it will all be back to normal in less than 4 weeks.  March 23….March 23….March 23….

-Matt

After weeks, months, years, no months, my dilagence has finally paid off. Yahoo! Answers has finally enabled subcategory leaderboards, allowing yours truely to be #1 in the Earth Science & Geology Category.

Yeah… Now I’m on the trolly.

Welcome to the third annual Frozen Fatty Fried Fingerfood Fiesta and Fiasco.  Not as big as previous years, but still fun.

Only 5 of us, but we still enjoied ourselves.

AND we just got a hand me down 30′ TV.  Yeah, jealous?

I am sorry to say that we had veggies.  Please forgive me.

By the way, I’ve never been a big fan of Evanescence, but they do a cover of Mozart’s Lacrymosa from the Requium on their latest album… Amazing!