Time just flies....

     Holy smokes, time does fly. I arrived back at camp (in my running shoes and a hoodie) to -20 degrees (celcius) and 6 inches of snow on the ground. Finally found the car, which had my coat and boots in it, and drove back to camp, with the temp dropping all the way. My room here was FREEZING cold....and even though I cranked my baseboard heater it took days to get it even semi-warmed up.
     Since getting back, I've started in my new role as Guest Services Supervisor. The department is not fully up and running yet, but I've been assuming some of the duties, anyway. I spend a lot more time on my feet, and running around checking room status, which is a good thing. I was spending too much time sitting on my butt!! Now I can have that extra cookie and not feel guilty. Shell was passing out pedometers, and I took one, and the first day I logged about 3 miles from lunchtime to the end of my day at 6 pm, and a couple of days I actually surpassed 7 miles. And stairs!!! I refuse to take the elevators, unless I have to because my hands are full, and I have been up and down stairs so many times I can't even begin to count. Also, the flooring is still underway and some corridors are blocked off. When I got back, the 3rd floor corridors were blocked off, so if I had to check rooms on 3rd floors in different dorms in each pod, I would have to go up and down the stairs for each dorm, rather than going to the 3rd floor and checking all the 3rd floor rooms. I am counting on having buns of steel in a few months! Oh, and in my role of managing the room status, I've started enforcing the camp policy (i.e. you must check out or put your room on hold when you leave) and locking out people who are on the "No Sleep" list. I lock the rooms out and put a reminder memo that they must put their rooms on hold before going on days off. It just means that when they get back, they have to go to the front desk and get their key re-activated. Well, turns out I locked out some Very Important People. When I got the phone calls the evening that some of them returned, and asked an explanation, I said...they left on days off and didn't put their rooms on hold. I have to admit, I was a little nervous going in to work the next day, wondering if someone was going to be looking for my head on a platter, but so far...they all seem to have gotten over it. I mean, rules are rules, right?
     Anyway, I'm almost at the end of this rotation, heading home Friday night to a whirlwind week off. I will be spending Christmas at camp this year, but home for New Year's. Last year it was the other way around, I was home for Christmas and at camp for New Year's.
     The weather got above freezing for a day or two, but is back to snow again today.

Random musings...

     Things at Albian have been hopping this last couple of weeks. The winter drilling program is starting to get ramped up, and although it won't be fully underway until the ground freezing, preparation is beginning and of course, occupancy is increasing. The winter drillers go into the muskeg to drill, and they can't get equipment on the land until it's frozen, as it's like swampland when it's not frozen. The beaver dams were blown up and the Athabaska River has carried all the occupants of the now defunct lake into the new lake. I'm sorry, I don't have the names of these lakes, but the beaver dam was the last relocation. The second floor arctic corridors are now open for A pod and B pod, and closed for C pod. I did some room checks this week, and forgot about the C pod 2nd floor closure, so that required lots of climbing up and down stairs, since I couldn't move from dorm to dorm along the corridor. In order to do the second floor rooms, I had to either go up to third or down to first to move over. Good exercise though! I managed to get in two Zumba classes and I hope I'll be able to make 3 times per week when I get back from vacation.
     Now for the pictures...at one of the other camps that is about 35 min driving distance from here, someone showed up for work at their job trailer (I think it was Thursday morning) and discovered a black bear had decided to try an office job. Looks like he was checking the paper stock, taking inventory of the supplies, and maybe trying to fax or copy a letter, it's hard to see. Oh, and the last picture looks like he's just on his break, or overwhelmed with the duties. No word on how they got him out of there.
     So I am off to San Francisco today. The weather looks like it will be decent, around 14-15 degrees most days (mid-high 50's) and very little precipitation for the days we'll be there. Last day there looks very nice, about 16 and full sun. I don't expect I'll be coming back with a tan, but sounds great compared to Calgary here, where they had their first snowfall (that accumulated) yesterday morning. When the plane was coming in, all I could see from the air was a nice white blanket. I visited with Aimee here in Calgary last night, and am flying out this afternoon.
     When I get back to camp, my role at work will be changing, but I will post those details on my return when I see how the department is progressing. I am not sure I'll have internet access but will try to get pics up when I can.