PLC

If my mission is to learn as much as possible about the world, to study broadly if not deeply, then the oil field is a good place for me. Programmable Logic Controllers are the new monitoring devices installed to measure flow and pressure and temperature. Computer Savvy folks like the person I pretended to be at the interview are given the task of installing and maintaining these devices. But as long as I accept no conservative measures will save humanity from our fate then the details of PLC and SCADA and pressure and flow are more trivia to gnaw on as though life were a giant video game. I wonder how this was accomplished 30 years ago but it makes no difference. Certain methods are better buried with the dinosaurs. Oil men have short memories and move ever forward.

Hats Off For Boston

Worn But Never Beaten

Last Picture Show

Spinach Festival

It's not the smallest town in Texas but it's small. Crystal City is between La Pryor (even smaller) and Carrizo Springs (not much bigger)

Accident Investigation

Maybe I should go into the investigation of oil field electrocution accidents. I read a story about one where a guy turned off a light generator. The torque crew yelled, "Hey, we're using that power." so he turns it back on and is immediately hit with 480V and isn't killed but his heart got microwaved.

Why?

It all traced back to the equipment yard where forklift operators were lifting the lighting rig by the boom and not using the lift brackets. The forklift arms wore out the insulation on the wiring harness, the bare wire touched the lighting pole and became a ticking bomb for whoever turned the lights on and off again. Solution: inspect all the lighting poles from that yard and remove from service 12 of them with similar damage. Fire the $9/hr forklift jockey operator. Retrain the new guys.

Summary: I'm doomed if I work in the oil field.

Tragic

I'm troubled by the news from Boston. The heroics of innocent bystanders and the victimization of children moved me emotionally so maybe I'm not completely disillusioned with humanity. My condolences are sort of redundant and self serving but I offer them anyway. Several mass killings this past year hardly got my attention. Even Hurricane Sandy, which displaced tens of thousands became a piece of selfish ammunition in my climate change propaganda arsenal. I don't know if I identified with anyone or empathized with any victims. Remember the Newton school shooting? That happened right around the time my career got cut short in the oil field and I was nearly crippled by pain of accumulated trauma. I didn't want to dwell on a tragedy that had no closure...no easily explained motive or plan, no satisfying cause and effect, preferring to mourn my own self image.*

My initial reaction is to either look too closely at a mysteriously awful event or not look close enough. It's almost like poisonous Media addiction has created pundits of everyone...but it's all a defense mechanism for associated social problems we are afraid to confront. Stop reading here if you want to grieve.