Tuesday, October 31, 2006

AARRRHH, Matey

Happy Halloween!!! I'm starting to think I work for one of the few groups that likes to have fun. Today is Halloween, and one of the charitable groups of the company decided to have a lasagna lunch complete with pumpkin carving and costume contest. Our group decided to go as Pirates, "Land Lubers" to be accurate. There was only one other group entry (they were the different candidates for the state's gubnatorial election, and they actually won the contest). There were some other individual entries but ours was only one of two with group entries. Well, below is a picture of me and a friend from work! Aaarrrrhh!

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Amazing Iced Pumpkin Cookies


Cookies
2.5 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/5 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1.5 cups white sugar (you can also substitute brown sugar)
1 can panned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract (I usually use about 2 tsp.)

Icing
2 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)
3 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to butter mixture, and beat till creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork. Enjoy!

To make icing
Combine confectioner's sugar, milk, melted butter, and vanilla. Add additional milk as needed to achieve drizzling consistency.


The end of a busy week

Its Sunday which really means a new week is about to start...but in reality, the new week is likely to be less busy than this past one. Last weekend I was in Golden, enjoying a relaxing three day weekend. Didn't really do anything exciting but it was great to get away from H-town and work.

The beginning of the week seemed to be off to a rather slow start when I decided to do something about it and help out a co-worker who has a lot of things happening. Well that added to my workload but its good to be helping out and have something to contribute. I guess what really added to the week's activities is the past few days....it all started Thursday night when I went to a professional organization's Executive Night. It was pretty cool. I got to see a lot of people from school and work. I also met our EVP for North and South America. Then Friday, I spent the afternoon helping out at a charity golf tournament. It was a lot of fun, driving around the links selling beer to the golfers. I am reminded how many people in this industry in particular play golf....perhaps I need to take it up? Well as much fun as it was...yesterday was more fun. I was invited to another industry org.'s picnic. It was a lot of fun basically spend the morning/afternoon playing games, eating bbq, and socializing. Another plus was that my pumpkin cookies (see the recipe posted) were the hit of the picnic. Then yesterday evening I had dinner with a friend from Mines who just moved here. It was nice to catch up.

Well apart from all the social group/professional org. activities of this past week, things are going well and I have been keeping myself busy with a new book I bought for the plane ride from Denver. Its called "The Historian" and it is amazing. Its about Dracula. I would recomend it to anyone looking for something good to read, particularly with Halloween around the corner. It is a mix of fact and fiction, with various character's stories intertwined in a race through Eastern Europe and Turkey on a quest to find the location of Dracula and his tomb.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Clear Plastic Bags Make a Safety Difference

Ok. I know its all the in the name of safety and national security (and therefore we cant argue) but really, if my liquid/gel is not in a one quart sized clear ziplock plastic bag is it that much more dangerous! Perhaps we are to feel safer since we have to jump through a bunch of hoops to fly these days but clear plastic bags....not making me feel safer. What would make me feel safer is catching Osama Bin Laden. Novel Idea!

In case you are unaware of what I am talking about, among the ever growing list of safety rules surrounding carrying bagage into an airplane cabin, there is the new rule that any liquids and gels must be under 3 ounces (I can live with that) and MUST be carried in a clear one quart sized ziplock bag. Even if you only have one liquid/gel it must be in a bag. And if you dont have a bag its getting thrown away.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

DRACULA


On Saturday I went to the Ballet again, this time for Dracula. It was amazing. Very dark, and haunting. Dracula had a huge cape and all the "brides" danced in white flowing gowns. The vampire dancers flew through the air during parts of the dance and at the end Dracula was killed by bursting into flame (fireworks) once the sunlight was let in. The music was classical but also fit well with the darkness and Eastern European theme.

Other than that, I have been busy hanging out with some friends from work (yes there are a few young people at oil companies, athough not many). We are trying to have some get togethers (ie. movie nights, happy hours, etc.) since so many of us are new to Houston.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Paris


Just thought I would spice things up a little and put in some pictures. Here is one of the Eiffle Tower taken last year while we were in Paris.

Things happening

As Jess reminded me in an email this week my last post was from April and I really need to update my blog. So.....Houston has been very busy recently. Don is back at Mines, so the weekend trips to Denver have started back. Also I have a much expanded area at work and am no longer the "new girl". Since we have had so many people quit recently and we have a new hire start in August, I have been given an area that I am responsible for. Its not too active from an internal perspective (we aren't drilling a lot there) but I get loads of requests from outside parties so I spend a lot of time dealing with other parties. In addition to having more responsibilities and having my own area, effective Sept. 1 I got a promotion and 10% raise . Its pretty exciting considering I have only been here for 9 months.

This past week, for Labor Day weekend I went to Colorado to visit Don. We went to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, and the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder. It was a lot of fun. Of course we also spent some time in Golden hanging out.

Tuesday, I was in OKC to testify before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission for work. It was pretty nerve-racking. I had to get sworn in and establish credentials, but pretty cool since now I can say I'm an expert witness.

This weekend, tonight actually, Don is here in Houston and we are going to the Symphony...its Opening Night so it should be pretty fun. The performance is from Carmen and other Spanish/Gypsy type music. I am so glad that it is once again theatre season and there are all kinds of things going on here. I am going to try to get tickets to the Opera, Ballet, and some plays (musicals of course). Well that about catches you up on what is going on here, its pretty boring outside work, which is where I spend the majority of my time right now. I'll try to be better keeping this blog up so ya'll can know whats happening.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Astros!

Well I was sitting in my office at about 4 pm on tuesday when one of the supervisors stoped by to see if I was interested in 4 tickets to that nights Astro's game. Sure, I thought, it beats sitting at home. So I gathered up some co-workers and headed out to see the Astros vs. the Dodgers at Minute Maid Field. Luckily I went with an Astro's fan, and she explained all the intricacies of the game. We had a foul ball land right in front of our seats, but someone else caught it. We saw George Bush Sr. and Barbara, although not upclose...they were about four sections away and in the first row behind home plate. That was the excitement for this week.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Its been a while...

Well I know its been quite a while since I have updated this blog. Since the last post I have done a few things....Don and I went to the Symphony. It was really good, music from Russia. We also watched some movies "V for Vendetta" and "Tsotsi" . Both were excellent. The first stars Natelie Portman and has a great message about government, the second is a South African film about life and redemption in SOWETO.

As some of you know Don and I drove to Oklahoma and Colorado this past weekend to visit mom and grandma and also to take the mustang to Denver. I have driving through Kansas, but I did sleep for quite a portion of the time. Unlucky for Don. I was supprised at the brownness of the region. Oklahoma and Colorado both seem like they havent gotten rain in quite a long time. It doesnt bode well for the summer.

Once I got back to Houston I learned that we had record heat here and the electric companies had to initiate rolling power outages, so Monday my apartment was without power for about 10 minutes. Also doesnt bode well for the summer. I cant believe that summer is around the corner. Yikes!!

Other than these things not much exciting has been happening... I am headed to Dallas for a one day conference on Monday. It should be pretty interesting but its a work thing. I am getting more of a role at work because the work load is starting to pick up and so far all our wells have been successful. Hopefully the rest of the year is the same way.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

New Car

Okay, so although most of you already know... this past Friday I bought a new car. I dont think its quite sank in yet but it is pretty cool. So of course now you want to know about it so...

Its a Toyota Highlander Hybrid (SUV) 2006 Limited
Its metallic blue outside and gray inside.
It has leather interior, heated seats, sunroof, navigation system, 6 disc CD player.
It was owned by the dealership before I bought it so instead of the MSRP of 42,000 I got it for $37,000. Which is quite a bit of money but considering it is 2006 Hybrid, its not too bad. In comparision with a brand new hybrid without any of the extras is 36,000. A Highlander Limited without the Hybrid system and with all the extras is $39,000. So for about 9,000 miles on the car I got a decked out Hybrid with everything I wanted for much less on the price. Also I got awsome security and safety systems and a 7 year- 100000 mile warenty.

I love it and am glad to have bought the Hybrid version. I looked at Prius, the hybrid car but it was hard to see out the back and had some really bad blind spots on the sides. Plus its nice to have the space of the SUV. I know I should publish a picture and I will once I take some. But for now you can see a similar version on Toyota's website.

RODEO!

Well, although this post is about a week late...last weekend Don and I went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It was a lot of fun. Basically there was the livestock show which was similar to the Tulsa State Fair but on a much grander scale. It lasts about 3 weeks!! We saw the cattle, pigs, sheep, rabbits, and goats. We skiped the horses because they were in a whole seperate arena. There were a lot of booths selling western clothing, hats, boots, saddles, and other stuff. Plus there were lots of food concession stands. Its was pretty impressive because the foods booths were not just the regular Fair food. For the most part it was restruants that had boots like Pappadoux and Goode Company bbq. In addition to the livestock there was a carnival but mainly rides for little kids. Then there was the main attraction, the rodeo. We went on finals night so we actually saw the winners of the different events. It was pretty impressive. Apparently, unlike most rodeos, the Houston Rodeo has all the events every night so you can go any night and see a little of each event. So the finals night was the final competition of the best of the rodeo contestants. Really cool. I think my favorite was the bull riding because the guy who won was the only cowboy to stay on the bull for 4 nights. It does make you realize that some people are really crazy, although the winners made more than I do in a year. After the rodeo every night there is a concert. So for the finals night they had Brooks & Dunn play. It was awsome. I liked it because they played a lot of great songs, particularly some of their older stuff. I guess I wasn't the only person who like them because the Finals Night broke the record for rodeo attendence, 72,867 people. Anyway it was great fun.

You can check out more about it at www.hlsr.com

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Comments

Okay guys, I think I have fixed the comments to allow for non members to post. Actually I tried to fix it so that it works that way but there I did get an error message about something so someone test it out and tell me if it works or not. Not much new for now...some rumors about the move (mainly that the Panhandle group may be in Houston) but nothing confirmed. More to come......

Monday, March 06, 2006

Swan Lake

Saturday I went to see the Houston Ballet of Swan Lake. It was really good, even though one of the guys fell in the beginning. I sat in the balcony, and was actually pretty far up. It was good because I got a great view of the ensemble dances, like all the swans etc. but I would have prefered something closer to see the individual dances. The scenery and costumes were pretty good (from my uneducated view). Although I was a little confused as to why there was a dragon at the end because it didnt really seem to serve a purpose in terms of plot, as far as in this version.

Its nice to be in a big enough city and have the time (and money) to attend cool theater stuff. Did you know..."The Houston Theater District is ranked second in the nation for the number of theater seats in a concentrated downtown area and is one of only five cities with permanent professional resident companies in all of the major performing arts disciplines of opera, ballet, music, and theater. " Who would have thought that Texas and culture could mix :).

The ballet was my highlight for last week. Other than that I have been recovering from a cold I caught in Colorado. No new move announcements. Keeping my fingers crossed for now. Work is going well but nothing out of the ordinary. Well, Thats all for Now.......

Sunday, February 26, 2006

The Week in Review

Well, I am currently enjoying a relaxing weekend in beautiful Colorado. Lucky for me, although I don’t have any vacation this year, ConocoPhillips has a flexible work schedule called 19/30 where if you work 30 minutes extra each day you can take one day off a month. So I am taking Monday this month and therefore have a 3 day weekend.

The flight here was uneventful except for the beginning. As we were boarding the power went off in the plane so everyone had to find their seats using only the emergency lighting. I guess I never realized that planes run off a sort of generator while on the ground and rely on the power from the engine while in the air. We took a drive into the mountains yesterday and stopped in Idaho Springs. It is a quaint little mining town (with a gold mine you can take a tour of). They had a neat little Celtic/Irish store that we looked in before continuing our journey. We also stopped in Georgetown, were there was a Colorado wine tasting place. They had some nice wines (I liked the "Late Harvest Chardonnay" which is an ice wine). While we were there we saw the strangest thing....one a (frozen) lake at the edge of town the locals had set up yellow cones and were having ice races in jeeps and other 4x4's. Anyway, we soon left and headed towards Vail. Of course, because of all the snow in the mountains and it being a weekend Vail was packed full of people so we decided not to stay. We headed back to Golden, where we had dinner at Ali Baba's (excellent Middle Eastern food, always reminds me of Edgeware Road). Well today will likely be a similar style day, primarily enjoying the nice weather and exploring Denver. I imagine Don will do some school work also.

The past week has been good. We got a new announcement at work that the Mid-continent region will be headquartered out of Midland but still don’t know if that means we will have to move there. I hope not, but we will have to wait and see. Maybe I will be in a different area by then (since I am supposed to do 8-9 month rotations through different areas). My apartment in Houston is finally coming together. It has taken a while but I have made some major progress (like finally getting brass rubbings from 2002 put up). I will try to put some pictures in eventually, once I figure out how. Not much really exciting happening actually. I spend most of the day at work and then come home to relax before going to sleep and starting over again. Well, that’s all for now!

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Life in Houston

Okay. So I've been in H-town for about two months now and am starting to get the hang of life in the big city. For one this town is soooooo spread out and the traffic is pretty bad so it takes 1-2 hours to get across the city. Plus, I am always getting lost, particularly near downtown and the Galleria. Work is good, and thankfully within walking distance from my apartment. Everyone is worried about the possibility of having to move to Midland or Farmington, New Mexico once the acquistion gets finalized. I try not to think about it much because I dont really want to move (well not to Midland or Farmington at least). Outside of work, life is good. I am keeping busy with arranging my apartment and reading. I am going to start French class again (I guess after being there for 8 months its a "you cant live with them you cant live without them" kinda thing). As far as that goes I cant wait to get back to Europe. Luckily with a company the size of ConocoPhillips that may be possible. So for now I am trying to learn all I can and be as useful as possible. Nothing really eventful is going on here...we got a cold front so its like 60 instead of the 75 degrees it has been for the past few weeks. I am finally getting all the pictures I bought in Paris framed and hung up so that is good. I never realized how expensive frames were. Its amazing, I think the frames cost more than the pictures. Its good that I have some wall space in the apartment so I can hang them all up. Also I was thinking of framing all the theatre books, I thought it might be a nice way to display them...any thoughts?? It is nice to not have to worry about school work on the weekend, although I do have a paper to write....my reasearch paper from France is going to be published in a journal (if I get it revised and shortened). That is going to be pretty cool...me, published! Speaking of I guess I had better go and do that...I will try to keep up with posting on this website at least once a week but we'll see what happens.