Things I see and do

I thought I should start taking pictures of my day-to-day life up here, to give anyone who might be interested a taste of what I see.  Well, I hate to disappoint you all, but I haven't done a very good job.  Here are a few crummy photos I've taken out of obligation.

My room

Above is a picture of my room.  As you can see it's.. well... small. I like it though.  The bed is comfortable, it has all the storage I need, it's quiet, and I even have a rather nice little view of the forest out my window.  The guys on the other side have to either look at the trailer next then them or at the parking lot.  I get the sunrise reflected off the silvery-white bark of the birch trees.  It's rather nice.

Suncor

I went for a drive on Sunday night.  Highway 63 is the main highway around here, and it leads to two of the main oil sands plants: Suncor and Syncrude.  Our company works for one of them, but I won't say which.  Above is probably the only half decent photo I got while I was on my trip.  I had to stick to the main roads and stay in my truck because I didn't have the proper PPE (personal protective equipment) or authorization to get out, walk around and get better pictures. 

Syncrude looked like a desert.  Oil SANDS no kidding! Seriously, though, there was white sand for miles and miles.  I don't recommend playing beach volleyball on it though.  The main plant is huge.  There are multiple flare stacks (basically giant pipes in the air with huge flames coming out where they burn off all the excess gas) throughout the plant and a gross haze of pollution surrounding the area.  You can smell it from miles away.  

Suncor was very much the same.  Although I didn't show any flare stacks in the picture above, you can get an idea how much crap they're pumping into the air 24/7.  But anyways, the purpose of today's blog is not to crituque the oil sands business. 



Cat 777 (I think)



Here is a terrible, blurry picture (taken from the inside of my car, windows rolled up) of one of the rock trucks I saw at Suncor at an area they call Steepbank.  The area is exactly what it's named for - it's a steep bank with a switchback road and these HUGE, fully loaded rock trucks zipping up and down.  I don't think I can really explain exactly how giantic these things are.  I recommend googling Cat 777 and seeing if you can find an image of one of them with a person standing next to it.  That'll give you an idea of scale.  They stack the spare tires on their sides three- or four-high near the work area which creates this massive wall.  It was really interesting. 

Well, I think that's about all I have to say for now.  I think I'll be heading home in about a week for my break.  I understand they can't allow you to work more than 24 consecutive days without taking 4 days off, by Alberta laws.  I left home 17 days ago.