I apologize for the bad title, but this post will be a summary of this past week, which was not boring at all. One of the questions that I get asked frequently is how can I get away from my job for 8 weeks to spend the time at the BLR. The answer is because I work in the oil and gas industry on a project basis and my last project came to a close in January. Currently there's nothing lined up immediately, so I decided that 8 weeks fit my schedule and budget.
Please don't worry about me because I will be fine. I am currently in between projects and will be working soon. I have multiple "irons in the fire" and besides, have you noticed the price of oil lately? The high price of oil means there will be new projects coming online shortly which means multiple opportunities for me.
There is a ministry at a church in the Houston area called Between Jobs Ministry (BJM) for those people who are between jobs. I went through the ministry the last time I was between projects and I highly recommend it. They meet every Wednesday morning and last week I went back again as a "first-timer." Some of the church members like to bake items for the BJM and one of the local bakeries brings over some items as well.
Years ago when I was in the office full time we had people that would bring food in every Friday morning. It was enough food for a meal so I didn't eat breakfast at my house and would eat the food at the office. I now realize what a bad decision that was. I could have eaten a better breakfast at my house as I did every other day and saved the calories from the office food. When I went to BJM last week, I didn't realize there would be food, so I ate breakfast at my house. When I arrived at the church, I wasn't tempted by the food there. I noticed they had fruit as an option, but I didn't take any because I was full from my breakfast at home.
On Thursday of last week I had a job interview- kinda. This was a preliminary interview because the company will have some upcoming needs and wanted to discuss my career path and where I would be a good fit in the upcoming projects. There was one project briefly discussed in Canada. The person on the other side of the desk said there would be hunting and fishing opportunities. Hunting and fishing aren't my hobbies, so without thinking about it, I asked about hiking trails. He said he didn't know, but assumed there would be hiking opportunities. I was thinking about this on the way home because in my old life, if I didn't want to hunt or fish, I probably would have stayed in my room and watched movies or television shows on my laptop. The new me asked about hiking trails on a job interview. What a change.
Over the weekend, my family went to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Illinois. Since I knew about this trip, I planned it for the 10% rule. I had a few conversations with my sister-in-law about menu planning before making the trip and we were able to have a plan for each meal. Oh I did go off the reservation a little, but nothing like before. Rather than having a few drinks in one sitting, I decided to have half of a glass per sitting.
I assumed the breakfast at the hotel would be carb loaded with options like waffles and pastries and I was correct. The only thing remotely healthy was the oatmeal, but it was instant oatmeal and already flavored. There was skim milk which I had. I also planned for this by having eggs and whole wheat bread at the house where my brother and sister-in-law live. Also, I brought my own snacks for the trip. Overall it wasn't perfect, but it was better than before my time at the BLR.
Also while we were there, the family made a short trip to the Lincoln Museum. There wasn't a whole lot of original artifacts in the museum, but it was still an awesome day. I guess my baseline for comparison is tainted because I recently visited the Reagan Museum and have previously visit the LBJ Museum. The Reagan and LBJ Museums have a lot more artifacts, but they were recently president. The focus of the museum is on the life of Lincoln and his family and the hard life they lived.
On the way out of town, we visited the gravesite of Lincoln and his family. The monument built over the tomb is huge and I have not seen anyone else in the USA have a tomb or monument this big over their burial chamber. However, it is fitting because Lincoln managed to hold the country together during the civil war. There is a movie coming out this month about the plan to assassinate Lincoln and the arrest, trial and execution of those involved. I will be seeing it on opening day.
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