"dear sir, I cannot but will try..."

"dear sir, I cannot but will try..."

paraphrased from a daily paper, sorry...

I could have had a "free uni education" after high school. [true]

I could have got into a okay job with that degree. [also true]

I took time out of the Oil patch for a pretty good reason. [true]

I put up with jibes [or 'those' looks] of chickening out [maybe true].

I took time to raise kids without a partner at the tax payers expense [true] so that four future taxpayers would contribute to the nations' GDP after a good education. [hope it comes true]

Now these days to get a job, you need to be at least 15yrs old to leave home to get a job stacking shelves, or pouring someones else's coffee for a buck. This is all that's left these days! No real trade teaching until 17 or 18! If you can get it, or if you do, can hack it!

If you do stay on to finish high school, job opportunities are nearly the same as above. If an apprenticeship comes up, it may not "pay well enough" to keep the phablet generation going- the pub and friends are pretty insistent on company, and the job could be lost due to lack of interest or funds available to afford the newest phone, as there is still a government support scheme... Or was.

No manufacturing cars, socks, pants, shirts or even stainless steel plant jobs are around for the growing  population of phablet holders - X gen or Y gen or whatever comes next.  It is cheaper to move that stuff overseas according to the boardroom boys and girls and the ever venerated bottom line. Or until their own GDP rises and their kids are left to pour coffee...

Of course further education can be found, the cheap end for plumbers or high end for lawyers. [we always need those two people- true?]

Really?

But now because the tightass end of town, the [Wall St?] "failures" have to keep their Mcmansions of course, lowered government incomes [less of the population paying tax as unemployment goes up and pay rates down for the rest] that held the purses for the cheap further education has actually tightened up the disbursements to that end, so that the kiddies get put on "the drip" to pay any further education costs back, once the threshold income has been attained... Once it was practically free...

Which also that means the lower end of the pay-scale people cannot afford the low end education, or even the middle class education type - accountants, philosophers, nurses and other professionals are being imported- meaning there are brain drains around the world. To here...

The point being "dear sir, I cannot but will try..." letters are being posted. 

Lots apparently.

Yes. The pollies are sick and tired of paying out dole money, and sick and tired of bailing out car  and shirt makers, and wont pay a paramedic or train driver to stick around all day waiting for customers... 

Apparently "the people" are sick and tired of those things too. 

And some are tired of the tide of migrants coming in to take "our kids' job". 

Hmm. Never give a sucker a chance, mon.  Hope the whingers are not second or third or twentieth generation descendents of immigrants either...

Share the loot mon, c'mon!

Betchya heaps they are Not, especially if they have teen aged kids to support and educate.

The notion that there are heaps of jobs out there is flawed. These days.

The notion that education will get you a job is flawed too. These days.

Certain pollies thinks [PS- WILL BE MAKING] that 250,000 odd kids (15-24) SHOULD BE applying forty times a month for jobs [they probably cannot fit into] AND THAT IT cannot be too hard, AND I think it will be a fact soon. Read the paper. As this is only an opinion, and having been there and done that, there are probably a bit more than that out there that cannot afford a ticket to even get a forklift licence let alone afford a bar keepers ticket to serve beer. poor bastards

And some company owners and pollies [both types that that have been silver spoon fed and breast fed til they left uni, in my opinion] think there are heaps of jobs. In the desert. Along the roadside.  Down at the rubbish dump.

If you are keen and can go without the phablet and telly and don't want to buy a house with cash [not in five years now but ten instead, mind], because sacrificing time from family like they could a few years ago is what they will have to do. That is, if they can afford a partner!

Maybe that is where HR comes in. A conspiracy theory - sure. They get to read the lots and lots of job applications and sort out the cans and cannots and would nots from the cretins and "no way man!" types, and maintain a certain percentage of success in catching the right fish for the job. 

Until the computers with artificial intelligence replaces THEM. Soon I reckon. Who need people skills anymore? Really.

productivity

computers

robotics 

I think I dislike that first word. How  long does it take to make a spear or tyre or a list? 'Cos the second word joined with the third means that one person can do a lot of other peoples' jobs, meaning the unemployed pool tide rises and productivity by less involved goes up... Ah, maybe that's the secret?

Oh dear, ranting to the converted or the naive? Or the spell bound? My current job aint writing for a living- research means I would never get pen to paper! Then, my job is one of those that is like the naomi campbell fashion model type jobs, if it aint paying that much mate, then I am not getting out of bed that week. 

Which is a bit tough. or rough? I had to accept the rate, I need to put the gels into a better school before something happens at the government school... And the rate is soooo much better than the previous day job or even the last self employed but government subsidized jobby. 

So back to the "dear sir, I cannot but will try..." and the forty job letters and associated CVs PER MONTH that the poor bastards have to do now just to get some government handout in this employment environment where there really is bugger all jobs... there are local government landscaping jobs. Even road improvements. But no manufacturing- for example, public transport, most vehicles will be imported, the rails imported, the software is imported... 

maybe it is a postal conspiracy, "dear sir, I cannot but will try..."
BTW- I saw a dpco on Gre Vidal th eother night- boy, is he into conspiracy theories!!

Woopie trails in the desert and old music compilation cassettes

Woopie trails in the desert and old music compilation cassettes

Before the last job started I found and put in the van old music compilation cassettes. Thus, I was in a travelling time machine, as each was played once through in the van. At least eight tapes I think- it was a eight hour trek to the Other Littler Big Smoke. That was a few weeks ago. "A Wednesday in September". The tapes were all from the eighties, late night recordings of favorite album songs back then, after a night out with Tarn or the boys and sleep was too far away. Tracks from Men At Work, Spit Enz, Beach Boys, Talking Heads... In other words, a few. Trouble was, being tapes, no fast forward...

The woopie we are using to get to the desert and back has radio and a CD player with no MP3 connection. And no auto fridge [for the beer cold drinks.] The trip up and around the desert was not that boring, my friend Doug has a history in the oilpatch going back a long way, so many tales are etched in the back of my mind.

September. That's a long while ago, and the kids have missed me. Really? #2Son has nearly finished last year of high school and last exams, telling me "I am studying", other people worrying that it does not look like it. Even If I Was Home, I am more than sure he would be telling me that same thing anyway, whether he had or not. Being a teenager once, I remember that.

And I am up here, for now, or longer? There was much to-ingand fro-ing on progress the last few days, will this be done or that. One choice was an sxtra ten days- not taken finally. Whew.

I have been at the desert job for so long now, I am getting used to the sub-luxurious living conditions and a the far off life of being the dependable single dad is fading away... Wow, more than that now, the Melbourne Cup is on as I write. Weird life. Not  a housework thang to do. Nice. In a small way.

ciggies, medictns

Ready For Offshore Work Now

Ready For Offshore Work Now

This week, completed another medical in order to get a certificate to get offshore work, IE a Huet!

Helicopter Underwater Escape Traing

aka

BOISET which includes

•  Safety Induction 
• Helicopter Safety & Escape (Including EBS)
• Sea Survival
• Firefighting and Self Rescue

yay me, and for small fee, with like, no pain, no gain.

Thanks to support team there and those others out there or back here who look after me like Pete n Loise, Diana, without them, hard to get back into it.

Statoil Campaign Southern Georgina Basin 2014

Statoil Campaign Southern Georgina Basin 2014

Tony Ford Geo Con PL Contract with Stat nearly finished

Well Well Well Well Well

Yes, five wells in the Georgina as a basic Wellsite Geologist is done for the moment, final invoices awaiting.

The campaign, as it was called, required a geology degree person or two for five wells in the Southern Georgina Basin for Statoil, of Norway, to monitor the various services required for obtaining new information about the basin: mudlogging, cores, drill cuttings, wireline data. Descriptions. Measuring. Photographing. Reports. All that gear. And Packing the core, taking some core for specialty analysis. And all that stuff too.

The drilling engineer team and other support people were good, some were contract people like myself that I had worked with before, some Adelaide office/Canadian/US and Norwegian. My off sider, Mike, was new to this area, whereas I had been up the way many years before- I think That Counts As Prior Knowledge Of The Area. Maybe. Mike and I took turns spudding and completing the wells to share the load as the schedule was pretty tight. Stat runs a tight ship, their personnel were obviously professional and the job undertaken with a degree of seriousness that meant business- no prisoners taken! My/our OpsGeo was good, dang good, old Griff had been doing work up that way even before I started there! I was glad at times that he was on the other end of the phone, along with Linn and Rolf above him.

The campaign, five wells, during the second quarter 2014, ended with a heap of nice cuttings and cores, logs and other data for the town office exploration geos to pore over, and make at last a case for something to produce something from in the Southern Georgina Basin.

As usual, cannot be specific about anything remember! And no pics, sorry, of Anything allowed.

The service company guys were all great to work with: Geoservices, Corepro and Weatherford Logging. Anything that needed to be done for us was done, I cannot thank them enough for being supportive to practically a newbie! The Drilling company EDA and the rig EDA2 were not a bad lot, and the catering crew, sometime were Superb in the dinner and lunch offerings. I sort of like the camp structure- all on wheels nearly, but I think that cabins on wheels may rock the place too much when using the stair access. One thing I will have to get used to is the Schramm style single drilling mast, great at drilling, but like watching paint dry while tripping I tell you. Anyway- as I said, everybody did a fine job overall, and I think Stat should be happy with the job done in the time allotted.

Myself, I think I managed time, people, information, travelling and reports rather well- the OpsGeo might slightly disagree there though- always suggesting that that might be better as this sort of thing- as they all do! Spelling, order, time of deposition- Think Tony Think. Yeah- carbonates from the Cambrian are not what I was used to at all, but, now, No Worries Mate. And the bank account for my new company Tony Ford Geo Con PL, is brimming, so I better thank Fendley Consultants for putting my company on their books.

Here's hoping that my performance as a basic wellsite geologist on the Statoil Campaign Southern Georgina Basin 2014 will get me in the front door next time they start up a campaign here in Oz!

Statoil Campaign Southern Georgina Basin 2014