My biggest takeaway thus far is that Louisiana is flat. It is the flattest place that I have ever been to in my life. And I know lots of people keep saying go to great plains here or cornfields in Iowa or Texas, but I feel like it's not much different that here. Just fields instead of marshes. They are all still ridiculously flat. The only time to road changed in elevation was when we went on bridges over rivers and bayous. Bayous!
There is also water everywhere. Even in between the lanes of traffic there are sometimes canals. The fountain in front of the main building I'm in has Alligator Territory warning signs (they won't let me take a picture). And not that it gets cold here, but pretty much all of their bridges have warning signs that they may ice over in cold weather. We don't even have many of those signs in New England!
Anyway, because there's a tropical storm brewing in the Gulf, we're not going out on boats this week, so I'm in the airport right now, waiting for a flight home. They had a few odd jobs here and there, which means I still got to log lots of hours this week, but the full 2 weeks would have been nice. Oh well. One day I got to log like 16 hours because my hotel is an hour away and we had to pick up samples from a boat super late and I didn't get back till around 12:30, exhausted. At least I didn't have to drive. Another field tech and I went and he drove this GIGANTIC Ryder refrigerated truck. I figured you'd have to have a license to drive something that big, but apparently not... We had delicious Po'boy sandwiches though, mine with sausage and his with shrimp and a house special sauce.
One night I also went out with a few people because it was another coworker's birthday and I had gumbo for the first time! Chicken and sausage, cause I'm not a big seafood person. They also ordered fried pickles, which I'd never heard of before, nevermind eaten. They were actually pretty good though! And another po'boy that night too. I had way too much food.
And because the boats didn't go out they put us in a hotel back by New Orleans (over an hour from where we were supposed to be working). The first night we were up there a bunch of us went out to Bourbon street - crazy! I mean, they all said it was crazy, and I was sort of just like, ok, sure, I've seen strips where every building is a bar or whatever. But this was PACKED with people! On a Wednesday night at like 11pm! And the music was great and there were live bands in every other bar! I also found a local beer I really like and I am very, very sad it's local only. it was such a funny group of people too: me, a girl who just graduated from college, an early 30s woman, a late 30s man and probably a late 40s early 50s man. Great people though. Off course the next morning we had to get up and drive back to where we're based and unload the crazy refrigerated truck, but we still had a lot of fun.
Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures because I was working so much I wasn't carrying my camera with me ever... which I regret a lot now. Next time I will remember to bring my camera to more places. However, I probably won't post much (if anything) until I get sent back down. So until then!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Long story short...
The boats never went out because of a storm. I've been doing miscellaneous things since then. I will post when I can, but I will probably be coming home earlier than expected and then back down here and out.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Ohh boy!
I'm here!
Lots of craziness happened...
1) My flight got delayed by 2 hours in DC (already wrote about that)
2) They didn't have a "car" for me, so I have a monstrous SUV instead (luckily I drive one anyway)
3) I got lost on the way to the hotel, had to ask 2 police officers standing outside in a McDonald's parking lot for directions: "You a long way from Savanne road baby."
4) I got to the hotel and they didn't have me registered as staying there.
5) Girl making hotel arrangements asked why I hadn't received the e-mail she sent (checked later, she did not send it to either of my e-mail accounts)
6) Got directions to new place to stay and had to call them because I wasn't quite lost on the way there, but I hadn't gone far enough and the road ended. Apparently it continued by taking a right and a left.
7) Finally got to the bed and breakfast I'm staying at safe and sound and stayed up (too late) talking to another employee and the hosts.
8) Got up early to shower and eat breakfast and go to an orientation at 8am
9) Got to main location and they didn't want to give us ID badges because we're "field technicians" and won't be at the main location - apparently we can get arrested if we're on or off site in specific locations without proper ID, as in their badges.
10) There's no further orientation or training or, well, anything, as far as I can tell for new hires. I'm still highly unsure of payroll things.
11) I had to resend a bunch of info, but got to fill out I9s, and finally got my e-mail address (which has nothing in it even though several people have said they've sent stuff to it).
12) I made sure they had booked me at the B&B for tonight as well, got back and the host said that someone else had told her earlier that I wasn't staying there and shouldn't have been there last night either. Recalled and I am staying here, just either rooming with someone or on a sofabed - I don't really care as long as I don't have to sleep in the car.
Awesomeness
1) Food is delicious
2) It is warm (hot and humid at points) and sunny out most of the time
3) The B&B is quaint and the hosts are sweet
4) EVERYONE is nice that I've met so far and from all over - though mostly California and Florida it seems, at least with the group I'm working for.
That's all for now - more training stuff to read.
Lots of craziness happened...
1) My flight got delayed by 2 hours in DC (already wrote about that)
2) They didn't have a "car" for me, so I have a monstrous SUV instead (luckily I drive one anyway)
3) I got lost on the way to the hotel, had to ask 2 police officers standing outside in a McDonald's parking lot for directions: "You a long way from Savanne road baby."
4) I got to the hotel and they didn't have me registered as staying there.
5) Girl making hotel arrangements asked why I hadn't received the e-mail she sent (checked later, she did not send it to either of my e-mail accounts)
6) Got directions to new place to stay and had to call them because I wasn't quite lost on the way there, but I hadn't gone far enough and the road ended. Apparently it continued by taking a right and a left.
7) Finally got to the bed and breakfast I'm staying at safe and sound and stayed up (too late) talking to another employee and the hosts.
8) Got up early to shower and eat breakfast and go to an orientation at 8am
9) Got to main location and they didn't want to give us ID badges because we're "field technicians" and won't be at the main location - apparently we can get arrested if we're on or off site in specific locations without proper ID, as in their badges.
10) There's no further orientation or training or, well, anything, as far as I can tell for new hires. I'm still highly unsure of payroll things.
11) I had to resend a bunch of info, but got to fill out I9s, and finally got my e-mail address (which has nothing in it even though several people have said they've sent stuff to it).
12) I made sure they had booked me at the B&B for tonight as well, got back and the host said that someone else had told her earlier that I wasn't staying there and shouldn't have been there last night either. Recalled and I am staying here, just either rooming with someone or on a sofabed - I don't really care as long as I don't have to sleep in the car.
Awesomeness
1) Food is delicious
2) It is warm (hot and humid at points) and sunny out most of the time
3) The B&B is quaint and the hosts are sweet
4) EVERYONE is nice that I've met so far and from all over - though mostly California and Florida it seems, at least with the group I'm working for.
That's all for now - more training stuff to read.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Delays...
My first flight down and already I've been delayed and moved to another gate. At least it's sunny in Baltimore!
So about my first assignment... After reading more about the next couple of weeks, I'll be spending a couple of days in Houma, LA (about an hour south of New Orleans) doing orientation stuff. Then I'll be spending a week on a research vessel doing water sampling and quality testing. I'm very excited for it! The week after that I'm not sure sure of what I'll be doign down there, but I'm not scheduled to be back in New England until July 5th.
Southwest is interesting... it's not just grouped seating, they have you line up by number like you're in kindergarten to get on. while childish, it is nice as people no longer seem to fight their way through to try to get the best seat.
I also had to buy steel-toed shoes. I've never owned steel toed shoes before. In the men's section, everything is a boot. When you look at women's though (online at least) they suddenly have sneakers with steel toes! Could not find them at shoe stores anywhere though after going to and calling several places and was starting to get a little worried about it. Luckily I finally found a shop (Bob's Stores) that had them, even had the sneakers, so that initial crisis was averted.
Going to run out of internet soon... until next time!
So about my first assignment... After reading more about the next couple of weeks, I'll be spending a couple of days in Houma, LA (about an hour south of New Orleans) doing orientation stuff. Then I'll be spending a week on a research vessel doing water sampling and quality testing. I'm very excited for it! The week after that I'm not sure sure of what I'll be doign down there, but I'm not scheduled to be back in New England until July 5th.
Southwest is interesting... it's not just grouped seating, they have you line up by number like you're in kindergarten to get on. while childish, it is nice as people no longer seem to fight their way through to try to get the best seat.
I also had to buy steel-toed shoes. I've never owned steel toed shoes before. In the men's section, everything is a boot. When you look at women's though (online at least) they suddenly have sneakers with steel toes! Could not find them at shoe stores anywhere though after going to and calling several places and was starting to get a little worried about it. Luckily I finally found a shop (Bob's Stores) that had them, even had the sneakers, so that initial crisis was averted.
Going to run out of internet soon... until next time!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Finally!
After a week+ of waiting and hearing absolutely nothing, they called me back / e-mailed me and I'll be flying down the New Orleans on Monday afternoon! I'll be staying in Houma for a couple of nights and then out on a boat for a week doing water sampling and back to Houma! I'm very excited to finally be going. Very excited to be finally doing something other than job applications.
I'm not expecting I'll be able to use it much, but yes I will bring a camera. And I also have no idea of how much internet access or time I'll have down there, but hopefully I can write a blurb here and there.
I'm not expecting I'll be able to use it much, but yes I will bring a camera. And I also have no idea of how much internet access or time I'll have down there, but hopefully I can write a blurb here and there.
Friday, June 11, 2010
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