Gearing Up

I am working on a project in a California refinery as a safety supervisor. This just means that I advise the workers and management on working safely and following OSHA rules. I go around doing job audits most of the day and correcting anything that is out of compliance. The other part of the day is spent sorting and filing forms and other paperwork that may be needed if there is a safety investigation. The job itself is pretty good, I get to travel pretty frequently, see new places, meet a lot of people and watch craftsman build some pretty amazing pieces of equipment. My work is project based so I'll typically work for 3-6 weeks on a project, have a week or two of downtime, then start on another project. I usually work 7 days a week for 10-12 hours per day. I really like being able to make a nice chunk of money in a short time period and then have a week or so to spend at home doing nothing. Being in one place for too long drives me crazy and I start to feel like a working stiff that's getting nowhere.
The project that I'm starting right now is an upgrade to a coker unit. The coker unit in a refinery is basically the last stop in the production process of crude oil. The oil gets all of the useful products pulled out of it along the line and the stuff left over is called coke, it looks like black porous rocks or black gravel. The coker unit I'm working in has four coke drums, about 100 feet high and the unit operators have to manually dump the coke out of the bottom of the drum into a pit by using a pneumatic wrench(similar to what is used in auto shops to loosen lug nuts, just bigger) to take all the studs out of the bottom flange, slide the bottom head off, wheel a chute into place over a hole in the floor and let the coke fall into the pit. This is very time consuming and labor intensive. What the project is going to do is automate this process by replacing these bottom heads with gigantic valves that open and close by the push of a button, thus eliminating the need to move these heads on and off every 10 hours. I've worked on a project similar to this before and the process is pretty cool. They will use a "water laser" which shoots a 35,000 psi water stream to cut off the bottom of the drum which is made from thick steel, weld a new piece on that will fit the valve, then use an enormous crane to lift these enormous valves into place(the valves themselves are probably around 15-20 feet long). The crew I'm with will hook up all the electrical components to make the valve work and all of this will be done in about 30 days. There will be 1000 workers total working day and night to get this done. It's really neat to watch this from beginning to end.
Refinery work isn't for everyone though, there is a lot of money in the construction side of the oil business but the long hours and traveling are too much for some people to take. I meet a lot of interesting characters as well, I'll probably talk about some of them in the future.

Summertime

I can't wait for this summer to start. I had become accustomed to working long hours and away from home for the past few years and I was really burnt out by the end of 2009. The economy had canceled a lot of refinery construction projects that I had planned on working and I was beginning to get nervous about finding work. I accepted a position on a long term electrical project at a refinery in last April, working 4 days a week, 10 hours a day at a refinery in Northern California, about 15 minutes from home. I'm used to working 60-84 hours a week so I wasn't too excited about the smaller paychecks I would get from a shorter work week, but I felt lucky to have steady work for several months. Three days off every week was so killer. My wife and I bought a 2 1/2 foot deep blow up pool and started barbecuing 4-5 times a week. I'd come home from work and my wife and the dog would be sitting outside in the camp chairs, the coals had just been lit, Tecate in fridge and we always had fresh salsa ready. We would barbecue and eat dinner outside and just enjoy the nice weather. I always had plenty of time to get all my chores done on the weekend and still relax in the sun.

This summer is gonna be a little busier, I start a busy project in mid may that will last about a month. OFC will playing shows and then we leave for tour in late July, 2 weeks in the UK and 1 week on the east coast. I come home for about 3 weeks before my wife and I fly to Spain for my cousin's wedding at the end of August. In between all of that, I'll be barbecuing, hanging out at the Russian River in Northern California, possibly lounging on the beach in Southern California and chilling in the pool in the back yard. I've got so much fun stuff planned for this summer, after this work project is finished, it's gonna be the best summer I've had.

The Old Firm Casuals

Here is a band I'm playing drums in, there's an interview here. Casey from Look Back and Laugh/Never Healed/No Tolerance is playing bass and Lars from Rancid/The Bastards is on guitar and vocals. We've got a 7" coming up on Oi! the boat records and some other releases coming up. Most news comes from the facebook page if you're interested. New releases and tour info coming soon.