Friday, May 28, 2010

Successes and Failures

Been an interesting week of success, breakage, and fear...

My self-built wheel survived it's first two rides. The wheel is stiff and spoke tension stayed spot on. But... the Powertap hub stopped transmitting. Dead. Off to Saris for O/H. I'm powerless for the next few weeks.

It's a tough time for me career wise. Working in the offshore oil field has it's ups and downs. But with the spill in the Gulf, everyone is unsure of the future. I've never seen people more worried and down. Even post-Katrina.

This whole event has really opened my eyes to how clueless our society is, and how poor the news media is. The misinformation is like an avalanche overwhelming a very rapid and solid response by the USCG, MMS, and BP. There are many stories of heroism, innovation, and ingenuity happening daily for this event going completely unreported.

The news media and politicos are more invested in creating sensationalism, fostering a diaster mentality, and working to create villians, rather than trying to inform. It's painful to see co-workers maligned. It's even more painful to see people mislead.

I hear over and over really stupid stuff at work, on the radio, facebook, via email, etc. Educated, otherwise intelligent adults are spreading stupid rumors of stuff like a bunch of 5th graders. And suddenly everyone's a drilling and subsea expert, despite never having set foot on a drill floor or in an ROV shack. "They've heard all about it on CNN."

From an inside view it's frightening. I realize that the entire future of offshore production has turned into political spectacle. The direction of our future will be determined by the loudest special-interest groups. Politicians and protestors who appear totally clueless about the industry will be in charge; rather than engineers and scientists that are familiar with the risks, methods used to mitigate them, and proper well construction techinques.

So... this extended weekend is about shedding it all and getting into the training groove. No TV, no radio, no FB. Me, a special friend, and my bikes. And hopefully a cheery return to work on Tuesday...

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