Holy cow, you guys. What an eventful few days! Here’s the play-by-play:

Wednesday: meet at 6:20 am to fly to Houston on the company jet. Arrive at the Houston complex (in Katy) around 10 am. Get guidelines for our major presentation, eat lunch, and tour the amazing workout facilities. Hang out with the CIO, meet some old new hires, drive to “Uptown Houston” and check in at the Hotel Zaza for two nights. Delicious dinner downstairs in the conspiracy room. Shower then pass out in my king-sized bed.

Thursday: this begins the first of a two day series on the exploration & production sector of the oil & gas value chain with world famous Dr. Norman J. Hyne. He’s taught over 3,500 people (at about $1600 per person) and gave a thorough explanation (and massive PowerPoint compilation of 600 slides) over everything you’d ever need to know about oil & natural gas. We also attended the Houston Museum of Natural History and explored the energy exhibit. Delicious breakfast & lunch on the Zaza with a mighty night of Italian food for dinner. A mysterious and lengthy hunt for an elusively non-existent Walgreen’s with 4 new guy friends ended awkwardly back at the hotel with checked beer. End of evening found me showered & passed out in my king sized bed.

Friday: began with a 4:30 wake up call & exploration of the hotel gym. Burned 500 calories before meeting downstairs for Zaza breakfast & the second part of Dr. Hyne’s short course. Luggage packed & checked, we wondered back to the museum for the impressive and rather astounding butterfly & paleontology exhibits. A butterfly landed on my hand; a dinosaur thankfully did not. Then the road to Galveston and the Tremont Hotel had me exhausted, then a delicious and well plated dinner had me feeling rather worn out, however, everyone met on the roof bar at the hotel & then hit the club. We found a club where we could dance awhile and BOY(!) do I love to dance! This was initial step one of the group bonding experience, I’d say. The night ended yet again with a shower & passing out in my hotel bed.

Saturday: an eventful day! First we walked to the OceanStar offshore oil rig museum & learned a little more about what Dr. Hyne had taught us. We then watched birds dive into the sea awhile before deciding to go eat. The groups split & some of us went to eat delicious gumbo at some gumbo joint near the strand. Quick walk back to the hotel & a group of new hires & I went to a pirate museum, a haunted house, a street market, and a dolphin tour before napping and going to dinner at a Mexican food joint. Pictures on the beach before Ben & Jerry’s started us off, then karaoke in the van got us back to the hotel. Again, we met on the rooftop before going dancing, this time at an actual dancing lounge, and we stayed out until 2. That’s right; I stayed out until 2! Needless to say…

Sunday: I slept in, packed up, checked out, met some people for lunch, and headed to take some Old Tyme Photos. I look pretty awesome in a saloon wielding a gun, if I do say so myself. Then we drove to Beeville where we ate a greasy dinner & checked into the Best Western. I was issued my fire resistant suit, hard hat, and other related protective gear, showered, and passed out in my king sized bed.

Monday: 4:15 wake up call to hit the hotel gym, shower, pack, get geared up in my FRCs, and check out. An hour and a half can ride landed us on a horizontal drilling oil rig where we got to tour and asked questions about the on-site drilling process. Lunch & a quick change had us back in the van for the 4(ish) hour drive to Houston. I caught up with some old friends & otherwise ran down my battery looking at tattoos on pinterest before checking into my last hotel here at the Embassy Suites. We have a couple hours before dinner, so naturally I’m going to shower & pass out in my king sized bed.

More exciting details to come!