A Roughneck Does What?
0:00 Welcome to another episode of Energy 101. Today we have on the man, the myth, and our boss - Frax lab, he's not my boss - Frax lab.
0:17 Welcome to energy 101. Are you excited to be here? Stoked. Yeah. You sound like it. Yeah. No, I am. I love the show. I've actually, I have never listened to a digital all catters podcast
0:29 before y'all's. Really? And I've listened to two of them. I will say he laughs every time he watches. Are they funny? They're funny. I like when Joel's is like, if Colin's listening, don't
0:39 fire me. Yeah. I'm like, Colin, if you're listening, I promise I still do my job. No, it did It's like putting this on your end year being. Our 101, one on one, Joel's remember in episode 23
0:50 when you said, I got that shit on camera. Okay.
0:54 So today, so for those of you who don't know, Colin worked on a rig for four years, five years? I mean, well, I mean, like as a rough neck. A rough neck for a couple of years. Okay. But I
1:07 was worked on rigs and wire line. I liked 10. Yeah, for the better part of the decade So we brought him on to talk about what is a rough neck. like story real quick. So being from Midland, you
1:21 just know what a rough neck is. I never questioned it. I just always like heard the term, whatever. The first time that I knew that it was like, not a normal thing was when I moved to Houston and
1:32 a friend of mine was asking about Colin and like what he did. And I was like, oh yeah, he was a rough neck. And they were like, what's that? And they were like touching their neck. And I was
1:44 like, am I supposed to know that term? Am I rough or smoosh? I was like, seriously dumbfounded. I was like, what do you mean you don't know what it is? Like it just didn't occur to me that
1:54 people aren't, don't know anything about oiling gas. I see doesn't know. I never heard of a red. I don't know what it is. Just found out to me to go miss, he doesn't know. Okay, so let's get
2:03 into it. Colin, what is a rough neck? Hard hitting dumb question.
2:09 So a rough neck is someone who works on a drilling rig So, drilling rig is. What drills and oil will I'll have probably seen videos on my TikTok, but they're these big tall, 120 foot tower looking
2:24 things. And so on a drilling rig, you have typically five people that actually work. You have your floor hands. So when you first start on a rig, you
2:37 start in a warmth's corner. So you're called a worm. A worm? A worm. Yeah. That's what they call a you I do have that actually originated, but you start off in worms corner and have you all seen
2:52 that video I did on TikTok of like the rough neck? He's like throwing chain. It's got the tongs. Yeah, that's a that's a floor hand. So you have two of those. And they're the ones that are like
3:01 responsible for all the bitch work. And so
3:04 you make up your connections of your drill pipe. And when you're not doing that, you're doing tasks around the rig. Like you are scrubbing the rig You have a scrub brush and some soap in. and
3:15 you're scrubbing and cleaning the rig, you're picking up trash, you're cleaning up the
3:21 dog house and you're helping the Derek hand mix mud. So you are literally just there for muscle and labor purposes. Like that's all you're good for. Then you move up to Motorman and Motorman is
3:36 responsible for the rough necks. So usually that's like your first like leadership position. Now you got new two little worms over there that you get to boss around - So you just weren't - Yeah.
3:47 And you're responsible for all the motors on the rig. So on like a traditional rig, you have a couple of generator sets and then you have a couple of diesel generators that run your mud pumps. And
3:59 so you're responsible for the maintenance on those changing off filters, changing out the oil. If something on the rig breaks, you're responsible for going around and fixing that. Then the next
4:11 position is Derek hand. So, Derek Ann has two primary responsibilities. One, you help control the drilling mud system. So, when you drill a well, you use drilling mud. And that drilling mud is
4:25 used for a few different things. So, one, it's used to cool off the bit. It's used to bring your cuttings back up. So, when you have a drill bit down hole, it's chewing up rock, and you gotta
4:35 get all those cuttings back up to surface. So, you pump mud down your drill pipe, and then it comes out, and it brings the cuttings up And then it's used to have hydrostatic pressure to keep gas
4:47 down. That way you don't have a blowout. I've also probably seen some of my videos where rigs are on fire and shit, that's because your mud weight wasn't heavy enough. And so, gas was able to
4:56 push all your mud out of the hole, and you lose control of the well. So, Derek Ann does that, and then they go all the way up the Derek to trip pipe. And they're the ones that actually pull the
5:08 pipe out of the hole. Then, like the top position on The rig crew is the driller. So the driller's head honcho for the crew. He's the one that actually drills the well. And so you go out to these
5:21 new top drive rigs and it's like really high tech. Like inside the dog house, they got this big chair with like joy sticks and all these computer screens. On the rigs, I started working on,
5:32 there's nowhere near as cool. You just have this like steel brake handle and you sit, you could stand outside and control it and you look at your weight indicator. So those are the five people And
5:41 then after that, you move up to tool pusher and you get to sit in your shack all day in your trailer and just yell at people. So those are the five positions on a drilling rig. Super labor
5:55 intensive job, super dangerous job - How do they, like, how do you know, like if you're gonna get hired on to be a rough neck or a dare at hand, you're not, they don't teach someone how to be a
6:07 rough neck hollers - That's exactly what I was gonna add So how do you - How did you learn the technical side of it - Yeah, you've learned when you get out there.
6:17 You know, I remember when I got hard on, we had to go do this physical and they'd have you, like we went to, it was like this like physical therapy place and they would have us lift up like these
6:28 big 80 pound lifting subs and like, okay, pick this up and put it up on that shelf and you'd have to do that to show that you could physically pick up 80 pounds under pounds - There's like requires
6:38 - Yeah, and then once I passed that, you know, I'll tell my story personally, like, you know, I was young kid, 19, 20, however old I was and
6:48 I didn't know shit. I didn't even know what a piper inch was, much less how to use one. And
6:55 this company that I worked for, Savannah Drilling, they came down to West Texas and they didn't like hands from Texas, so they wanted new people that had no experience that they could train up
7:05 their own way. So that's how I got hired, 'cause I actually got hired during a downturn from the late downturn. And so there were a lot of people sitting at home without jobs. And here they hired
7:14 me, this young kid, green, but they're like, yeah, we can train you up our way. And so I walk into the guy's office. He's like, yeah, usually someone gets run off for quits every week. So
7:24 we'll hire you, but it'll probably be like one or two weeks before you actually go out on a rig. And it's like, OK, cool. And then a few hours later, he calls me. He's like, hey, someone just
7:34 got fired. You start tonight on Night Tower Here's the rig, be there at 5 PM. And so I remember pulling up, and I parked my truck on the side of the rig. Well, first I got lost. I couldn't find
7:45 the rig. And then I finally get out there, and I pull up on the side. And I just sit on the tailgate of my truck. I'm scared of shit. It's loud. The first sign of someone that's never been on a
7:59 drilling rig before is they go out there, and they just look up to the top of the drilling rig so you can spot a new person right away because they're just like kind of. It's dumbfounded by this
8:10 operation - Yeah, and so,
8:14 me honest, this is a really intimidating place - I was gonna say, 'cause if you fuck up, essentially, it can blow up, right - No, I mean, you can die, your coworkers can die - Yeah - And so,
8:26 it's really important, or really critical to have a crew that's knowledgeable and is looking out for you and has an interest in actually teaching you And so, the problem with drilling rigs is you
8:39 get a lot of churn and a lot of people that just come out there, and crews may not be interested in training them because they're like, This guy's not gonna last. And so, as long as you have a
8:49 attitude where you wanna learn, people teach you. But what's kind of scary is, if you don't know any better, you are essentially trusting, you're putting your life in these people's hands - Yeah,
8:60 really, yeah - I have a story that's probably too gruesome for this podcast, but there was a story about this kid his driller told him to go up. and clean the derrick and they send them up on a
9:11 winch line up the derrick and they're still drilling and so You have rotating equipment. They're drilling the hole but you never go up in the derrick on a on a winch line when they're drilling the
9:20 hole and He ended up getting wrapped in the drill and it was so bad that the fire department had to cut him in pieces to get him down
9:29 So but he he didn't know any he didn't know any better and so but he just listened Yeah,
9:38 and so that's a scary part now Fortunately the oil field has changed a lot since I first started in 2010 and so safety is a huge thing. There's a material change and Level of professionalism out
9:54 there and so you have a lot of good hands out there now that are very safety oriented and watching out But yeah, you just go out there and they scream at you. They haze you
10:06 through the rassels to you and you just You pick up one thing at a time. I remember going home from one of my first days of rough necking and talking to my grandma and my uncle. And I was just like,
10:19 yeah, these guys are like crazy because like one, they're like rednecks, but they're so smart. It's like they can fix anything out there with limited resources, like they're like mechanics. Then
10:29 they're also like engineers. They know what's going on two miles underground. And so this is super unique type of person that I've never ran across before, that they're just super rough, but also
10:42 extremely smart. And so yeah, it's just a job where you learn on the fly. And there is no rough neck school. Like you don't go to school, but learn how to do it. School of our knocks. Yeah,
10:55 school of our knocks. A funny story is like one thing that people aren't used to when they go on drilling rigs is that they're so loud. You really get used to reading people's lips like that's.
11:06 huge for human communication. Actually, I think we all learned this during COVID. Like it's hard to like understand someone without being able to see their lips and 10x that on the drilling rig.
11:16 And remember this, Derek, he kept telling me to go do something and I couldn't hear him. And I was like too embarrassed to tell him like, like keep asking like what, what, what? So I'd go and
11:25 do a task. And it was always the wrong thing. And finally one day he's like, Hey, are you fucking stupid? Or why do you not do what I ask you to? And I was like, Hey man, I'm gonna be honest
11:34 Like I can't hear anything out here. So - I was just guessing - Yeah, I was just guessing. I'm just like trying to be busy - So I have a kind of two-part question. Can you explain what tripping
11:46 pipe is? And do you remember the first time you tripped pipe and how you were taught to do it? 'Cause I know that you say like, there's no rush next school, but they have to teach you how to like
11:56 throw the, whatever you throw - Yeah - Yeah, like are you shadowing somebody until you - No, you're not shadowing anyone and just like, this is how you do it.
12:07 Yeah, the drawers out here - They're literally like yelling at you. Like there's no one to shout out - Wait, there's a way what tripping pipe is - Yeah, so tripping pipe is just when you are
12:15 bringing pipe out of the ground or putting pipe in the ground. And so when you're actually drilling the well, you just drill section by section. You put a section of pipe in, you drill, and then
12:26 you put another section of pipe in. Well, sometimes your drill bit may wear out. So you have to change the drill bit. So you have to trip all your pipe out, change the drill bit, and then trip
12:35 all your pipe back in and then go back to tripping. Or if you're done drilling that section of the hole, and it's time to run casing, you trip all of your pipe out, and then you run casing in,
12:45 and then you trip your drill pipe back in, and you start drilling the next section. So that's all tripping is, is when you're pulling every stand or every joint of pipe out of the hole or in the
12:55 hole.
12:57 The first time I had a trip pipe, like, again, I was scared because all I, I remember like my first two or three days, I remember telling my stepdad, like, oh yeah, it's not that bad.
13:09 It's not as hard as I thought it was going to be. He's like, yeah, wait till you have to trip pipe. Like everyone told me, wait till you have to trip pipe. So remember the first night I had a
13:18 trip pipe or driving to the rig and like, oh, damn, we have to trip pipe. I was like, fuck, we got a trip pipe. Like, man, I make it. And
13:27 I don't actually remember how I learned how to use tongs. Like I don't remember how, like, it's not a natural thing I mean, these things are - How heavy are they? They're pretty heavy. They're
13:38 probably about half the size of this table. And it's like a big pipe wrench, except like big steel. And they have these handles on them. And they're suspended by a line. And you have to like grab
13:49 them and throw them over. And then it's called make them bite. Like if you can't make your tongs bite, like make them bite worm. Like, it's like ingrained in my mind. And so you have to like
14:01 latch them on and get them on. I do remember like one of the first times we tripped, there's this, sometimes when you run your pipe back and hold, there's this term called YouTubing, and it's
14:14 when you have pressure differential and your fluid and it comes out of the pipe as you're running in. So all this water will come out of the top of the pipe and the pipe's like, you know, 30 to 90
14:25 feet in the air. And I'm standing in the corner and for like two hours, every stand is just like, I mean, just raining down on me Like fucking waterfall. And this is all like nasty water. I'm
14:36 just standing there, finally after my two hours, my daughter's like, you know you can move, right?
14:42 And I'm like, honestly I didn't know I can move. Like I
14:47 probably yell at my ass if I'm moving - Yeah, back up a little bit. So tongs are what is unscrewing the each connection from each other, right - Yeah, and so now you have different, so this is
14:59 also important to note is that We have completely different drilling technology. today than when I started 10 years ago. So the rigs that I worked on
15:10 were just called Rotary Rigs and - or Kelly Rigs. And the rigs I worked on looked like the rigs from the early 1900s. Like, nothing had changed. Like, nothing at all. And then when we started
15:25 drilling horizontal wells, we actually developed what's called Top Drive technology. And so Top Drives, it's actually kind of like a big drill, like a big screw. Like, you can actually spin it
15:35 from the top. And so where Kelly Rigs, your table actually had a rotary. And it would turn down here. And so on Rotary Rigs, yeah, if we put our tongs on and the tongs would break the pipe apart.
15:48 And then you put on your pipe spinner and spin it out. And so you still use tongs today, but they actually have - we're called Iron Roughnecks, their ST80s. And it's like this big machine. And
16:01 they move it over there. Sometimes as an automated arm, sometimes you have to swing it and it can clamp on both to the top pipe and to the bottom pipe and the rough neck has hydraulic joysticks that
16:11 you can undo it. So they call them puff necks today. All of
16:16 you. They don't have to do as much work. So yeah, but that's how we use tongs back in the day. Do you know the history of the term rough neck? I actually don't know the history. You heard it
16:28 here first The fracks up doesn't know everything.
16:34 No, I have a question. Like a day in the life of a rough neck. How it obviously sounds like in a very, very exhausting job. Yeah. So like what were your hours like? Are you tripping pipe for 12
16:46 hours straight? I mean, some days. Yeah, some days.
16:51 So our rig, you worked 12 hour towers and it was usually a drive an hour drive there and an hour drive back to the rig So I'd wake up at four o'clock. every morning and then leave by 415 or 430.
17:06 And then we had to be at the rig at 530 for a crew change. And so those were like 14 hour days, all in all, with drive time. And we worked four weeks straight with two weeks off.
17:21 I used to work like - I went like five months without a day off. Just I worked every single day because I liked stacking bread So
17:32 that's like the typical day. Some days you are tripping pipe all day. Sometimes you get stuck in the hole and you have to fish. And so you're doing fishing operations all day. Some days you're
17:46 slow drilling. And you don't really have slow drilling as much anymore in shale.
17:52 They kind of burn through these wells now. It's crazy how fast we drill wells now. But back in the day, we had lots of slow drilling and you're never just sitting on your ass. All right, slow
18:01 drilling. We'll go grab some paint and paint handrails or, you know, go tear down a pump than one of the mud pumps and fix it. So
18:12 days can differ on what you're actually doing on an activity basis. And then, you know, the thing about drilling rigs is that you're out in the elements. So it doesn't matter if it's 120 degrees
18:23 or if it's negative 20 degrees. You're out there in the elements and you don't have a lot of protection So now I was just talking to one of my guys or one of my friends up in Wyoming. It was like
18:35 negative 50 there last month. And it's funny. Yeah. He sent me a video of his rig and instantly I knew it was a Canadian rig because all the Canadian rigs have the same layout. It looked just like
18:46 the one I worked on. All these guys have are like some canvas wind walls to block the wind, but that's it. I mean, they're out there in the elements and drilling rigs don't shut down. They run
18:55 247 because you can't just stop drilling a hole in the middle of doing it. You're out there in the elements and kind of give you some context of like how much physical work it is. I went out there
19:10 weighing like 165 pounds, I think, and like super lean muscle. They got to have any fat and I lost 30 pounds my first month working. I want to put the picture of you like that. You know, I don't
19:25 know. That's not even the worst. Yeah I want to put that on the thumbnail because it was on me. Yeah. I definitely look like a psycho there. Um, and that was like when I was running wire line
19:35 and when I ran wire line. Yeah, I was on a wire line truck there and wire line. We worked like a hundred to 120 hours a week out in the field doing that. But yeah, rough making was harder
19:46 physical work. Um, wire line was longer, longer hours. So what is your biggest? Actually, let me ask you this way
19:56 Do you have to have a very strong work ethic to be a or did being a rough net give you a very strong work ethic - Uh, that's a good question - That is a good question. That was deep - That is, that
20:09 was -
20:11 I think you have to have a hard work ethic to make it out there. Like there's no,
20:17 there's no slack out there. Like you're a five person crew. And I think like one of the biggest things I learned from a rig is like always put a hand on something. Like I can't just sit and watch
20:28 someone struggle and do something without helping them. Like you do that on a rig, they'll run you off. Like you're expected to help wherever you can. And so, you know, most people don't make it
20:41 on a rig. Can't tell you how many people I saw start and quit a week or two later. So I think that you have to have a hard work ethic. And I think like when you grow up on drilling rig, it
20:52 probably boldens that work ethic and makes it deeper. So essentially when you said earlier, your life. literally depends on it. Yeah. And other people's lives. It makes you very mentally tough
21:05 too. I will say just watching you during those years of especially the 12 hour nights, you would work 12 hours but then the drive was, you were home for maybe five hours but would sleep the entire
21:20 time. Like there was no life outside of it. Yeah And it makes you not only mentally tough but it like that also kind of waterfalls to family life. And I'm sure other oil filled families can relate.
21:35 Yeah. Relate. Yeah. You have to be just like he's learning to be resourceful out on the field in the field. It's like I had to learn to be resourceful without, I don't mean to make this about
21:47 like you being your husband But it's true. Like I had to do a lot of things alone and learn that. Yeah. I mean, well filled families. I mean, like I said on drilling rig. Remember this one
21:59 Christmas specifically, because we were at a point in the well. Like once you run casing and seem at a well, you can actually, like at that point, you don't have open hole and you can take a
22:12 break if you want. And we were at that point and it was Christmas Day. And the oil company that we were drilling for said, Hey, give the pull up and give the guys Christmas day off so they can be
22:25 with their families and our drilling super intended for our company said, fuck those guys. They can work. And so we had to work on Christmas Day. I'm sure because his family was like back in
22:35 Canada. Yeah, probably so. Yeah. Yeah. He's like, I'll be here there. A thousand percent what the issue was. And so, um, yeah, you know, I think that one, I appreciate people that work
22:50 out on the field. It's funny. Like when you work out on the field, everyone in the office be like, Oh, We appreciate our fill, guys. in your field, and you're like, man, these fucking corn
22:57 balls. Like, why are they so easy? Like, just out here doing it, but now that I'm out of the field, I really have a respect for people that are out there. And what's cool is like, I was gonna
23:06 say guys out there, but like you get on TikTok and there's girls that are rough-necking and making hands-on work over rigs. And it's pretty badass to see that because you didn't really see that back
23:17 when I started - That's like a goal I have in life. Just like, I want one day as a rough-neck just because I wanna see what it feels like - Jealousy, I'll do some fingers - I'll be the super-virus
23:29 - I don't wanna be driven by it - I'll see if I - But I want it to be like, where the mud comes all over you. Like, I want the dirty, like old-school feeling, not like better automated - Watch
23:41 what you asked for - I'm never in - 'Cause I feel like frack-slapped will make it happen - I want it to happen - This is the first time I've ever - I heard someone be like, yeah, I want to be
23:48 covered in mud - I don't got this - This is like oil-based mud, like it's nasty shit - I know, I used to see you try to scrub it off - We used to drill with brine water and it's just really heavy
24:02 salt water, essentially. And so, if you look at like your fluids, we'll get a little technical here. So fresh water weighs 83 pounds per gallon and then your brine water can weigh, you know, 9
24:15 to 10 pounds and then you have drilling mud where you can get it super heavy, you know, 13 pounds or so. And we used to drill part of our sessions with brine water and when we would trip it, you
24:25 just get covered in salt water. Like to the point where you take off your pants and they would stand straight up because they had so much salt in them. But it's not just salty, they're like,
24:35 there's like radiation and all kinds of like nasty shit. And so,
24:42 I'll have to say, I'm probably gonna die a painful death I've like missed the, missed the leoma of like inhaling. Silica from Jilling Mud and Frank Sand and that's what happens when you work in an
24:53 industrial setting. Are you sure you still want to go? I really do. I have such a love for the field that I'm like, I just want to like experience it one time. You want to hear a funny story? It
25:04 would be cool to go on a rig. One time, Julie brought me lunch to a rig and like I'm on the rig floor and I can see her out. Like, you know, oil lease is out in midland like it's wide open Like
25:14 you can see for fucking miles and I can see her truck and she's like, I don't know how to get there. And I'm like, what do you mean? I can see like, can you see her a race check? Yeah, I can
25:22 see the rig. But I'm not going to get there and it ended up like she wouldn't go through the cattle guard because it said no trespassing. Even though
25:31 it's like a lease road and so like this sign is like keeping her from going through it. I was actually a cattle. She's practicing her. What the hell are you doing? Like just keep falling on the
25:40 road. No, that was honestly the moment I see She's like, I can't design this, I'll try this.
25:46 Good thing it's our
25:51 big strength - It's 100
25:54 that was a good situation - That's me in a nutshell - You rule following it - It's intimidating though, like driving up to a rig and for me, I was probably super anxious and I look stupid right now
26:03 - Well to be fair, I mean, I went on a non-oil lease road one time that said no trespassing and the rancher came out with a shotgun - Okay yeah, I'm not trying to get shot - They're hyper
26:14 aggressive - I take my seat back here - I'd take my seat back here - I would've been a role player - Okay, before we head into rapid fire, 'cause we have to wrap this up, I'm gonna read the
26:22 definition of a rough neck and where it comes from, 'cause I think it's hilarious. Okay, so the term comes from Texas and is used to refer to a rugged individual. Then it was a word used for
26:33 someone who worked on an oil rig, but now a rough neck is someone, usually a big man, who's tough, crude, and ready to fight.
26:43 Rhett and I are the opposite of my old mannered people - What the fuck - I just feel like they're - What the fuck are you reading - Are you reading Urban Dix - Yeah, that's not like Urban Dix - Hold
26:51 on, let me read - I thought we were actually gonna get some history
26:55 of where - No, it wasn't real history. No, it's actually vocabularycom - So I've actually looked up where the term ruff net comes from before and it's undetermined on how that name was actually -
27:04 Oh no, somebody entered in. Undetermined, yeah - It's on your own, like no one knows. So, let's go to rapid - All right, rapid fire, here we go Number one misconception about the oil and gas
27:15 industry -
27:17 Number one misconception is that it's just a bunch of redneck digging holes in the ground and discovering oil when it's actually one of the most complex operations in the world and pushing the
27:30 boundaries of physics. Super tiny - Two, why should we care about the oil and gas industry? Because we don't know anything about it - Speak to Gen Z years. in their language - You should care
27:44 about the oil and gas industry because the last 15 to 20 years has been one of the most prosperous times in humankind. And that has been
27:55 enabled by cheap and reliable energy in the United States, AKA fossil fuels. So all of this prosperity that we've had in the United States since 2009, 2010, which we have all benefited from, was
28:10 a direct result of oil and gas and the Shell Revolution in the United States. So that's why we should care about it - Colin, I was really hoping you would take that time to use your new vocabulary -
28:22 Your oil and gas is a Rizzly Bear -
28:27 Oil and gas is full of Rizzly Bear, so -
28:31 All right, frack slaps - Is that all the rapid fire - No, last one - Okay - Your most embarrassing story in your career. I feel like you have maybe a few - Oh. Sometimes I'm just kidding - Okay,
28:43 so most embarrassing story. I have two. So one, like I told you, you get hazed when you got onto a drilling rig and when I started working, so I graduated high school weighing 135 pounds. Like I
28:58 was super skinny. And then I was like, do fuck this, I don't wanna be skinny. So all I did all day was pull ups and just drink a shit ton of protein. And I gained like a ton of weight. It was
29:07 all muscular, filling myself And I got to this drilling rig and I like how much do you bench press? And I don't remember what I told them. And I like, I bet you can't bench press a bag of mud.
29:18 And a bag of mud is 100 pounds. So I fuck out, I can bench press that. And so we go down there and they'll like, okay, let's see this. And so I like start ripping it out. But I'm like, no, no,
29:29 no, no, no. I'm like, do a shoulder press. I'm like, okay. And so I take this sack of mud and I press it over my shoulders And when I do that, they take a knife and they cut the Yeah, and all
29:42 the drilling mud goes all over - It jokes on you - Yeah, and so - 'Cause I can do it for being a meathead - Yeah, so that was my initiation. And
29:50 then, I don't have a lot of embarrassing stories. Like I don't get embarrassed by my kids. Like I want my kids to act up on public. That's the only thing that embarrasses me - He gets real
29:59 embarrassed. He'll just leave us. He'll leave us - Just for Julie and me - He's not embarrassed - Those are her kids - My kids.
30:11 I think like another. So, like coming up in the world, I feel like I have a baby face. Like, you know, it doesn't look like it now 'cause I can grow a beard. But like I couldn't grow a beard
30:21 five years ago. And so imagine when I'm like 20 to 24 years old, like I look like I am like a teenager. And I took this job at adventure and I'm managing all these millions of dollars of drilling
30:35 and completions projects Then I go and run this one job. I believe it was for a hill course. And we have a meeting in a Hillcope's boardroom. So there's like 10 people in there. And then they also
30:49 videoed in the field office from Pennsylvania. So there's like, I don't know, 10 people on that call. And they started off, I'm giving a presentation on what we're going to do on this operation.
30:59 And they start off the meeting. One guy in the room's like, all right, everyone. He's like, you know, you may be watching through that video screen. And yeah, Colin looks like he's 14 years
31:08 old, but he knows what he's talking about So just give him a chance. And that's like, you motherfucker - So that he had to point that out - Yeah, thanks. Thanks. And so - This guy is legit -
31:19 Yeah - There's a couple of times where like I was just like punked on in front of everyone. That's like my villain story. That's why I have so much hate in my heart - You also get really mad when
31:28 people are like, oh, that guy looks like he's 12. You are like, you get really, you get triggered - It triggers me - Well today, Julie's like, were you born in 2003? I'm like, girl, I was
31:39 born in the 90s.
31:43 Yeah, I would just try to do this - I do - I have one more rapid fire because I think it pertains to your time in the field. What is the scariest moment from lack of sleep you had? Like driving
31:54 home, I'm sure there was a lot - I've had a few - I know, it's a scariest - So I can't tell all of them - If you want - You don't want all my war stories - Yes - How much time will you have - Well,
32:04 actually you just have a country twang right there - Oh yeah, it's hot in your field accent - I can bring out my field accent -
32:13 I know it's in your song - No, so let's talk about like long hours and safety because I remember this was the coldest winter I've ever experienced in Midland and it was like negative 10 degrees. And
32:26 we would spend all night just thawing out things like our rig had frozen completely. So we're just out there with like weed torches and thawing things out and we could not wait to get in the truck
32:38 and drive home because it was just like so warm. And so I was carpooling with one of my friends, Alex, one of my coworkers, obviously, and we were driving on I-20 and he almost, he was driving
32:50 and he almost ran into this car, like into the back of it, and I had to take the wheel and swerve. And I was like, Dude, are you all right? And his eyes are wide open. He's like, Yeah, man,
32:59 I'm just dodging all of these hoses in the middle of the road. And he was sleeping with his eyes open, driving. Yeah - It's our strength - And another scary time was, this wasn't really that scary
33:10 for me, because I was on a semi-truck. I'm driving the semi and I'm on I-20. And it's like 430 in the morning, and a truck comes from the other side of the road through the median and almost hits
33:21 me head on. It was a F-150 - It was like snowing, right - No - No. Sorry -
33:27 He's got a, at least toxic trade is like - Interrupting - Interrupting is being completely off base. And
33:34 anyways, he ended up hitting a guardrail, thankfully not hitting me. And so driving on - Wilfer roads is really dangerous because lack of sleep and heavy equipment and there's lots of two lane
33:46 roads. And so we have a lot of head on collisions - And the mountain light, right - Yeah, and so it's actually like driving is the most dangerous part of working in the Wilfer. Actually driving is
33:57 the most dangerous part of everyone's life - Yeah - We just don't realize it, but especially dangerous on the Wilfield - Yeah - So - So it's scary - Yeah - So do you all know what a rough neck is now
34:08 - We'd accomplish the job - We do - Okay, so what's a rough neck? A rough neck is someone who works on a drilling rig - Yeah, there we go - Dumbing it down for all of our listeners -
34:20 All right, awesome. Thank you, frack slap for coming on and teaching us. This is actually where the show originated, calling around a whiteboard, teaching all of us. Oh yes - All about whaling
34:33 gas - Right - You know, yeah, mapping it out So thank you. about the use of for content for our onboarding for new employees in Unconfront Energy - I think that we should do a part two on like
34:45 onshore versus offshore - Yeah - Oh, I prefer, yeah, 'cause you've been offshore it as well. That would be actually very, very interesting - Really quick. Which do you prefer - Yeah,
34:57 I prefer, so deep water drilling is like a cake walk. Like you get to eat good, great accommodations, all the rough necks out there are fattish shit because they don't actually work And so
35:08 everything's automated on those rigs, like completely automated - It was like that 10 years ago too - Yeah, it's been like that for a long time. Deep water drilling rigs are some of the most
35:17 advanced pieces of machinery in the world. So I prefer, I don't know, just straight up cowboy in it on land rigs is pretty fun. So I prefer that type of work then - Stay tuned for part two of Frax
35:36 Lab Travels
35:42 I'm sorry, what just came out of that - Cratch it up -
35:47 I don't even know what else it is.
35:51 Oh my gosh - All right, let's get out of here. So announcements, I think, will this come out before Wine Night - It will come out on the day of Wine Night. Wine Night is tonight - Wine Night is
36:02 tonight - Six pm. drift in the heights. Come hang out with us, have a glass of wine - For free - For free - And then Energy Tech Night, February 9th, the
36:15 Heights Theater, and Empower is coming up. Anything else - Coming up -
36:22 That's all I got - Y'all have the longest endings ever - Well, we can never end it. You wanna hear already? Y'all ready? Three, two, one - Bye - Bye.
