Howdy Y’all,

I am currently sitting in the apartment in Minot; North Dakota provided to me by Ameritest, the company I drove up here to toil away at.

I got up here early Friday morning 2 Jun 17 (this will be posting in late June… I schedule out articles, so there is always something coming rather than an article every day for a week and then nothing for a month. If anything important comes up, it will post the next day, but this is just a general update).

It is now 4 June.

I got a hotel to sleep for a while after arriving in Minot and outside of the new Taco John’s building and the Hula Grill taking up the building the old Taco John’s was at it didn’t look like much had changed.

Boy, was I wrong!

Just kidding, it’s Minot… that is really about it upon seeing it again in the daylight.

I woke up and got ready on Friday and went to my new workplace.

My point of contact (POC) was not currently there, so I bullshitted with a buddy of mine from back in my Cameron days.

He was working on getting a package together with two cats from The People’s Republic of Commiefornia who turned out to be pretty good guys too.

Young bastards but cool.

The POC showed up and come to find out, they had a job come up, and he had to go to the field and had not the time to get me lined out, so he handed me a key to the apartment and told me to hang out for a couple of days.

So where do I go for my first meal back in Minot?!

That’s right, Denny’s!

Fuck you; I wanted breakfast.

I learned something while I was at Denny’s.

I learned that they have a Cake Batter milkshake.

I also learned that it is fucking phenomenal.

Thank you, Denny’s.

After Denny’s I went to my old stomping grounds, Cameron (now a Schlumberger company), and saw some of my friends who are still there. I have missed all of them something fierce and need to go see some more who are not there but still in NODAK.

I missed seeing some of my old Flowback friends because they were all in the yard and I did not see them as I passed, so I ended up meeting them for lunch on Saturday at one of my favorite spots in Minot, Ebeneezer’s Eatery & Irish Pub.

We hung out and ate, I missed that place a lot and the excellent waitress who always seemed to be working the three years I was up here before was still there.

I found out that my new company is not one of the higher paid Flowback companies out here, but everyone I have met in it seems cool as fuck, so I will see how it goes.

In trying to save money until I start getting paid, I came back to the apartment after lunch and decided to work on Chop’s Guide and MOAZ tees rather than meander around town giving myself opportunities to spend some money.

While sitting at the apartment, there came a tapping,
as of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

One of the guys was getting back from days off, so I no longer had the apartment to myself, but luckily he seems like a good dude… lets me know that we have to go get a drill out package ready on Sunday for Monday.

No more Minot vacation for me.

I went to dinner at the Hula Grill with my brother and his family which turned out to be superb, even if their fried rice has Spam in it.

I hope I make it back in there one day because, with 24-hour notice, they will make Poi… which is a traditional Hawaiian dish and even though I hear it is kind of horrible, I really want to try it.

Also, the mixed chicken/beef teriyaki in a bowl of Hawaiian fried rice was pretty fantastic.

I came back home, watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and went to bed, preparing myself to carry 3″ pipe again and down because I haven’t gotten to speak to Angelina nearly enough.

This morning, I wake up and almost immediately got a call from my girl which made my day start off much better than I expected.

Got ready for work and headed that way after picking up breakfast and water from the gas station.

Cody and I are the only ones not on days off or in the field, and he says we need around 200ft of pipe for the package, which isn’t terrible, less terrible if we use the forklift.

Then he gets a call.

My original POC has quit, he has to go on a job tonight, so we are going back to the apartment.

Right before we leave another guy shows up from days off, so we all head to the abode to figure out what is going on.

Cody tells me that he just got word that I am going to the job with him.

SWEET!

But I have absolutely no PPE.

Steel-toed boots… that is the extent of my protection.

Cody makes a call… I am no longer going on this job.

Damn, more shop work…

But I may be going on a job Tuesday or Wednesday, and this will give me a chance to get all my PPE lined out tomorrow.

So tonight I am hanging out alone again in the apartment about to watch a movie and relax.

I finally cracked open my Russian Lemonade I got when traveling through Tennessee recently.

Come to find out, it is sparkling lemonade.

It isn’t bad, though I doubt I would buy it again, it almost tastes like it had a hint of alcohol in it.

More alcoholic and syrupy than I like… I still have a Strawberry Lemonade one to try too.

If by some chance you pay attention to Chop’s Guide, you may notice a few articles missing about my past.

I took these down to help preserve my future, Angelina reads Chop’s Guide and the posts that are specific to girls I have been with before her make her feel like she is the next in a long line of women.

They upset her a little and even though she did not nor would she ever ask me to do so, I removed all of the ones I could find that were directly related to a girl from my past from Chop’s Guide.

I told myself that I would not do this, but at the time I assumed I would be forever alone and she is more important to me than my stubborn pride.

I will talk to you all soon, thank you for reading.

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