hey smitha what is your shell email? i tried @shell.com and @shell.co.nz - neither worked. if u dont wanna it post on a public blog (i wouldnt) email me from your work address at my address given on that list we put together end of last year

Last day of my holiday ahh!!

Well I am savouring every minute of today (using the early hours of the morning to update blogs), before I start work tomorrow! eeek! All your work woes sound very interesting after my 3 month holiday of non-C&M-thinking. Moved down to NP a few weeks ago, but haven't actually spent a lot of time there yet, went to Wellington 7's, and ran into Joe, dressed as a "Chinese Baby" (unfortunately don't have a pic so you'll have to just imagine...). Caught up with Roz and Dave too. Smi and I are on the big house hunt, which is going ok... and once we get a place you will all have to come down for our flat-warming! ...well haven't talked to Smi about that yet...

Howdy Doody

How's everyone? Sorry for the looong as silence. My blogging fervour seems to have died :(
I'm just so tired out nowadays....gone were the days where I'd rather post rubbish online and upload nonsensical photos whilst procastinating my Part. Tech assignment or PD essay or Biotech report..etc. etc....

Still I'm glad you guys are keeping this blog alive!

Working is ....erm...well...I'd rather give examples of what's happened to me while I worked here....
i. Got myself stuck in an old oxidation pond up to my knees
ii. Had diluted poo water splashed into my eye & face (for the eye, you only get a blurry vision which lasts approx. 3 hours, the face splash results in pimples.)
iii. Almost lost a piece of handheld equipment that costs $7000

Yea...that's about it. Nothing too exciting happens in a treatment plant. No collapsing columns, no explosions, no oversized flesh eating bacteria...ho hum

Melbourne

Hi Guys
Well I've finally worked out how to post stuff on here. And engineers are supposed to be good with technology... that's scary.
Anyway, as most of you know I've been working for Beca in Melbourne for the summer. The office is really nice, the people are really nice, the city is really nice.... but I've been given a total of about 1 weeks worth of work to do while I'm here... so I'm bored out of my skull and cant wait to get home! And by the way if anyone knows of anyone looking for a flatmate in Auckland I'm looking for somewhere to stay!
I have managed to get out and see a bit of the country though which was nice - even went and spent Christmas and New Years in Queensland, I highly recommend the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, Fraser Island and the Whitsundays. And Noosa if you don't mind things being a bit commercialised. My wildlife spotting skills have improved recently, having seen wild kangaroos, koalas, echineas (ok not sure of the name but the things with the long snouts and the spikes like a porcupine) , and a personal favourite - the Huntsman spider! No snakes unfortunately though, but there is still time... And I went to a croc farm where they had over 3000 crocs, awesome. I had my photo taken holding one but it didn't turn out (sniff).
Not a lot else to report, hopefully I'll see most of you when I get back in 2 weeks!
Hope your various jobs are more exciting than mine,
Stacey
PS What they say about the shopping in Melbourne is totally true - the mall closest to where I live has not one, but two KFC's (a dream come true), just to give you an indication of the size. I have way too much stuff to get back to NZ now...

teknolagy

hi all,
i've finally noved out of my temporary accomodation with the crazy 50+ yr old german dude and into a more normal flat witha 23yr old dairy farmer and his farm dog 'jet'. For the first time in 2 months i have a phone AND a microwave (hence this blog) -wow, dinner no longer takes 2 hours to heat in the oven (i'm not kidding, go try it if u dont beleive me)

anyway, works good, into my 2nd month there so poeple are giving me actual serious work, not just inductions etc - i have soooo much stuff thats my problem when it doesnt work! - i see now why they pay well.... Already i have 4 distillation towers, 16 furnaces, 10 catalytic reactors, infinite pumps and heat exchangers and a few large compressors in my 'command' (what i'm actaully allowed to do is at the discretion of the ops guys). Alas, no steam turbines in my units, even tho there's 4 waste heat boilers. And soon i get the whole effluent water treatment unit too...oh crap, my brain hurts! Its like a design assignment from hell coz all my projects actually have to work! The refinery is so f*%&kn massive, i can actually get lost amonst 26" pipes labelled 'hydrogen ex K7501" and stuff like that. Kinda scary when u know that there's 160 bar inside that line, and hydrogen aint friendly!

Anyway, soon, or already, most of us will be in this situation so these gripes will seem pretty lame.

Catch u all at graduation - looking foward to hearing some of your stories!. And claire, does the name Fadi Akkawi ring a bell? hehe......

Charles