Twiddling my Thumbs

I'm bored.
I'm really, really, really bored. I've been bored for days, and the prospects don't look to be improving anytime soon. We're currently drilling, and at this rate, we expect to be drilling for another day and a half before they pull everything out of the hole. And then, we might just go right back in again! That means more boredom. DAYS MORE.

Typically my default plan for passing the day involves reading all the internet newspapers and magazines I can get my hands on, but I am so SICK of hearing about the economic stimulus plan, I have decided a media blackout might be necessary for my sanity. I tried ignoring just the stimulus-related coverage, but skimming the headlines is even worse than reading the articles, and so I am done with it. I am done with it all.

I have dozens of eBooks I can download, but I'm currently stuck in the middle of one that is simultaneously insipid and aggravating, and yet I suffer from the inability to put it down and pick up another, more entertaining title.

I'm getting RSI from all the computer solitaire I've been playing. I even sneakily watched a few episodes of TV yesterday from a disc that I accidentally left in my CD-ROM drive when I came out to the rig. I had been conscientiously avoiding watching them, but yesterday I broke. There's only one episode left that I haven't seen yet. I don't think I'm going to last long.

I have a large number of online training courses I need to complete in order to keep my work certifications up to date. I've been trying, but the satellite internet out here is shoddy enough that despite the hours I have spent on them while out here, I have yet to complete a certification quiz and submit it successfully without my connection resetting itself.

I am COMPLETELY up-to-date on the job's End Of Well report. This is a series of documents that are not submitted to the client until the completion of drilling operations. It is incumbent on the engineers currently working on the job, however, to update all of those documents continuously throughout the run, so as to minimize the amount of preparation time necessary to complete it once its due. No one is ever completely up-to-date on End Of Well. THAT is how bored I am.