ramblings about nothing in particular

old friend of mine suggested to me in an email that i become part of the facebook nation. i've resisted for some reason. why? who knows but i have a couple deep, dark, secret thoughts on how facebook is permanently warping the minds of the young in to gray mush. i've been asked several times by other people to do the same but i haven't.

what i do do is twitter. it's simple, quick, and easy. i read somewhere once that someone described twitter as, "the ability to text the world." responses are short and curt and the ability to put in pics or videos. actually very simple to do. i can even send a "tweet" from my cell phone. that in itself is neat because i have an antiquated cell phone that doesn't allow me to do a whole hell of a lot.

kind of like blogging like i do here. something to do, something i like. if only i could make some money doing it, it'd be more worthwhile. i KNOW i could find things to blog about. i can type pretty well even though i don't ike using the caps button. it's just an extra step to take to type. I GUESS IT BEATS HAVING TO TYPE LIKE THIS IN ALL CAPS. then i'll get "yelled at" because my typing in call caps likens it to yelling. gee whiz,...

somehow i found hubpages. kind of a neat way of blogging. basically people go on there and blog about one thing or another but the premise is to put down something as a guide or instruction manual for others to read. you get "fans" who can leave comments or whatever. anyone can search the database to find an article about something in particular. mine is kind of intriguing (to me). i have 10 or so articles i've typed up and published on hubpages. the majority of them are about cooking. i can see how many times my "hubs" have been looked at and some of my cooking ones are all alone at the top; i mean none of the others are any where close when it comes to page views. it's like a 3 : 1 ratio. my one for making gumbo and roast pork loin are #1 and #2. well, i do like to cook,...

i could easily be a computer nut who sits in front of one all day. i can also see my ass getting twice the size it currently is if that happens. i can type about mindless things all day long and read what others have written. my add would be worse than ever if that happened. i'd be one of those who would have to have 6 monitors so i could look at 6 different topics all at the same time. i'd be frazzled in less than 30 minutes.

talked to a guy here at work yesterday about how things used to be before cell phones. what a pain. here's one; on the docks in long beach, ca prepping the adriatic iv (drilling rig) to go from there to singapore on a dry tow. i was in charge of all the supplies we were getting trucked in and putting them on the rig. pallet after pallet after shipping container full of things for working in singapore and the north sea. spent a week on the docks getting things put on the rig.

the crane operator was up in his crane, about 150 ft above me. i couldn't yell at him and robert was a little guy and he couldn't yell at me. he had a big vioce but with all the other dock noises it made it impossible. we both had our cell phones. he lived in lakeland, fl at the time and me back in indiana. we communicated using our phones. it seemed odd that we were so close but were using phones from indiana and florida to communicate in california. but it worked and we got things done. mind you, there are days i want to take my phone and pitch it on the highway for it to get crushed.

off i go back to the real world. enough blogging for now to the loyal handful who read my babbling posts. maybe this week i'll win the lottery and be able to blog all the time about all the wineries and beaches i'll be visiting, the blackjack tables at the casinos i'll be losing money to, and the races i'll be going to wearing only my cut off bibs and straw hat (don't have either, don't worry).

little people getting sucked dry

For many years I worked offshore on drilling rigs. I worked all over the world for 14 years. I loved that job and would go back tomorrow if I could. I loved traveling the world and someone else paying for it. now let’s dissect it a little, shall we?

The oil producers (ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil,…) basically “rent” a rig to drill a well for them. They come to the drillers and say, “hey, I want to drill an oil or gas well here (point finger on a map). Can we rent your rig?” they sign a contract and the producer pays the driller a set rate per day. Out of that pay the driller furnishes the rig, all the rig’s personnel, and some supplies. Depending on the size of the rig the rate may be larger or smaller as well as where in the world it’s located.

Producers typically make a lot of money. They pay a lot for the rigs as well as the pipelines and production facilities to get the oil and gas out of the ground, to a refinery, and then ultimately to us, the consumers. When I was offshore I liked seeing high prices at the pump. It meant job security for me. I knew that as the producers made more money they’d pump more money back in to their e & p (exploration and production) budgets which hopefully would keep me working. It always did.

Now that I am home and not making that kind of money anymore I scrutinize the money they make. I can remember one gas well we drilled in Trinidad for bp. It cost a little over 9 mn to drill, case, complete, and tie back to the platform. It paid for itself in less than 12 hours. It was, at that time, the largest producing natural gas well in the world for bp. They were thrilled, obviously. Wells like that kept us working; huge money-makers.

Rates trickle down. As the producers pay the higher rates because of supply and demand, the suppliers jack up their rates. The rig owners bump up their rates and increase salaries to get the best people and win the best long term contracts. The suppliers who sell their wares and supplies to the rigs bump up their costs too. The producers, in order to make money, jack up the cost of oil and gas they sell to offset the increases in cost for drilling and producing a well. So our “at the pump” cost increases too. They make money.

Read an article today about a local insurance company jacking their rates for some cali people by 39% when they profited over 2 bn last qtr. Wow! Gas is one thing but healthcare is another. Everything in California is more expensive. Their salaries are also higher to help make up for that. But gee whiz, is healthcare that expensive out there? I take someone to the hospital in our ambulance and you’ll get a bill for about 4 – 600 bucks, depending on what I do to you (drugs, IV, nothing,…). It all depends. I smile each time I get an EOB (explanation of benefits) statement from our insurance company on how much the provider charged, how much the insurer would pay, and how much was written off. It’s a sham. At time the provider writes off 50% of the cost because it won’t be paid by the insurer. And yet they still want to charge more money for services.

Healthcare is one of those things that will always be needed for everyone. We’re not all bionic just yet so we’ll have to be taken care of. there will be a need for people like me who transport the sick and injured to the hospitals. There will be a need for doctors as they take care of those people and other sickies. But holy cow the rates have skyrocketed. Wife’s gonna have her gallbladder removed tomorrow and I shudder at what it’ll cost us out of pocket or even the insurance company. Her “cath” last year cost over 22k, excluding labs, x-rays, and other associated fees. WOW!

It’s hard to see companies and corporations profiting so largely in times like these. The economy sucks. People everywhere are out of work. There’s little overtime or extra money to be had. Money isn’t being spent as freely as it used to be even two years ago. I’m worried about paying taxes this year. Just trying to keep heads above water is a daily struggle for a lot of people. It’s tough with no end in sight for anyone.

So why do these companies continue to make such ghastly profits? Are they taking advantage of the consumer? Is it supply and demand? Is it greed? Probably all of the above. Part of it, like I said, comes from the trickle down effect that the big name corps pay their suppliers and vendors who jack their rates up. Sometimes it’s a wash and other times we, the consumer, gets taken to the cleaners. A lot of the time it’s just not fair. We try and work hard to get ahead and make things easier for ourselves and BAM! Something happens or we’re slapped with another fee or tax to take away what we worked for. My honest opinion? It’s bullshit, pure and simple.

it's been over a month???

wow, i guess it has. here i thought i'd become the next blogging champion and post something daily. guess that hasn't happened. today's a "snow day" at work and i just finished catching up on some old work that needed done. so now i get to type a little bit for myself.

gee whiz,... the playoffs are over. a disappointing end to a disappointing season. how to sum it up? one of the local sports anchors opsted a picture of peyton walking off the field with his head down and captioned, "this sums it up." one disappointment after another.

hey, no worries. they got to the superbowl. they dominated, eh, sort of, during the regular season. they perfected how to comeback and win a game. they did it 7 times during the season. they just couldn't do it the eighth time, when it counted. they ran a 14-0 record in the ground. they finished at 14-2. they missed perfection.

some good things i saw;
1.) addai came to run during the game. he had some terrific runs from the line in the first half. it was refreshing to see that the one dimensional game went away, if at least for a half.
2.) the o line actually made holes for addai to run in.
3.) the injuries to wayne and freeney weren't too bad as freeney played quite a bit. although the injuries must've hurt reggie 'cause he couldn't catch the damn ball when he needed to.
4.) collie showed why he was a terrific rookie. during the year he got his bell rung a couple times and dropped some passes but they all do. he has been terrific all season. what worries me now is, with next season and gonzalez coming back (hopefully), who will take a back seat? we have three terrific starters this year and next year will have four. wow, that's a great predictament to be in!
5.) the play of the game, for me, had to be freeney's sack. one armed, left-handed, THROW DOWN of brees was truly a gem of a sack. determination and pure strength and muscle allowed that to happen. it had to be one of the best sacks i've ever seen.

so now what? do i get tickets next year? probably not since i really couldn't afford the ones i had this year. got taxes to pay along with other things that take priority (it's called "family") so i doubt it. i'll go back to being an armchair quarterback and swearing in the front room instead of my seat in section 422. i can at least say that i was able to be a part of a great season. i got to see some awesome games like the comeback against the patriots and how loud lucas oil stadium got that night. i got to see addai throw a halfback option to wayne in the south endzone for a touchdown. i got to see edge get a standing "o" from the whole stadium when he wa introduced as an honorary captain and when the seahawks came to play. i got to see a lot and enjoyed most every part of it. it's something i'll never forget and hope i can do it again someday after i win the lottery. it was worth it. i got a lot of great memories going to the games with my best friend. we had a blast.

now it's on to racing season as next week's the daytona 500. junior's on the front row and hoepfully this will be a season where he turns things from mediocre to greatness. he has to. his team is funded by rick hendrick, the man who spares no expense when it comes to racing and winning. he's got the best equipment and engines. if he doesn't make the chase this year then i won't be surprised if he finds another home next year.

i've swapped brickyard tickets for talladega tickets. this will be the third year i've gone there and it's a fantastic place to watch a race. where we sit i can see the whole track. i love the drafting and speeds that come with that huge 2.66 mile track. the sights, sounds, everything is well worth it. got to see jr. push tony stewart a couple times last year and he did the same to ryan newman. fun to watch, great to listen to, fantastic to be there. i'll always say that being there is better than tv. just the atmosphere of a race and being a part of a crowd that boasts 100,000 people is fun.

so off i go back in to sports oblivion. football's done and now it's on to the draft. the boilers are back in the top 10 which means nothing. they need to do well in march for rankings to mean squat. they're good enough if they play like they are capable of playing to win it all. the pacers? another crappy season. poor danny granger. an all star on a horrible team. the nfl draft will be coming up soon. racing season is here. baseball is back very soon (which i care nothing about anymore). here's to spring and summer now that football's finally over for the year. bring it on!