Refinery Complexities
I can only imagine how many of the random few who come across my blog realize how another week in a compound will give rise to yet another blog and potentially another reason many of you have grown sick of my rambling, but I argue that this lifestyle challenges me to be..blah blah blah…I tried to be positive and offer some words of wisdom, but nothing about a refinery compound is all that glamorous. This blog will just be another brief window into a refinery compound and the daily routine that constitutes my life for another few weeks. Honestly, I’d apologize if I had anything else interesting to talk about but I don’t, and unfortunately for you, this is what your going to get. When I’m stuck in ANOTHER complex (yes, engineers often call this a refinery complex, hence the title) that revolves around the refining of crude oil then my sanity, however questionable it may be, succumbs to the monotony of daily compound life…again.
With that being said, I have to mention that this week is technically “Fall Break” for the University of Co, but as it just so happens, taking online classes really doesn’t provide you with any breaks. Sure, I could take the week off and not do anything, but that doesn’t help out the deadline of my paper, which I’m struggling to find the motivation to do. I guess since taking online classes allows me ample opportunity to explore a lot of different locations while traveling, it also forces you to be self motivated in order to get everything accomplished on time. Fortunately I’ve never had a problem with getting my school work done, but since this is my last semester of classes before my capstone class, I seem to be running on fumes. I need to recharge my batteries before my final hurdle to graduation…If I could fine some turkey for Thanksgiving, that might just be the ticket for finishing off the semester.
I’m guessing this Thanksgiving, compared to last years, will be a little disappointing. Last year we were in India and, granted they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, they did provide a turkey meal out by the pool which satisfied my craving for a “traditional” Thanksgiving meal. Nope, this year I’m expecting my wife to be working away at the refinery and I’m going to enjoy a nice can of tuna fish and maybe some prawn flavored potato chips. Oh well, not much we can do about it except for trying to get out of here ASAP.
So, the only thing even relatively interesting to happen this past week was our trip into town where we mistakingly thought that we’d find some good food. Apparently, the Taiwanese think that all American’s like Fried Chicken. While I don’t dislike it, I just think it’s funny that they stereotype all of us based on one food; however, it’s not like we don’t think that all Asians enjoy rice at every meal. Like Dave Chappelle has said before, “We have stereotypes for a reason” (and if he didn’t say it, then I did)…I mean come on, what would Rick James think about this? We walked into a typical “Taiwanese” hot pot restaurant and the first thing the young lady said, who spoke pretty good English, was “They serve fried chicken across the street”. I couldn’t help but laugh and make a rude comment that’s not acceptable to post on here. Believe it or not, as determined as I was to find something decent to eat, we ended up across the street, eating fried chicken, all the while I stared across the street at this young lady thinking to myself “it’s a good thing you know martial arts, because I wouldn’t normally stand for this.”
Other than another encounter with stereotypes, I haven’t had too much fun around here. I’ve been doing some workouts on the 1980’s style home gym and trying to not flip out when the fire alarm starts going off, it’s gone off twice today already. Hopefully everyone has a nice Thanksgiving and a good encounter with a Turkey and some Triptophan, maybe take back a few beers and watch the Lions loose another game.
Click Here Now…Just to Get Ready For Thanksgiving!!!
