to the National Groundwater Association Ground Water Expo in Las Vegas (www.ngwa.org/2008expo)! It's a 3-day event in early December and, every year, I get to hear about how much fun it is from my drillers...but I can't get my company to pay me to go...WAAHHH.

Oh well...I guess I'll have to learn about the Applications of Dual Rotary Drilling elsewhere...

But..a few of the courses they are hosting sound like they could be interesting to you guys, too: "DOT Roadside Inspections", "Update on DOT Proposals and Activities", "Preparing for a DOT Audit" and "The Cost of Doing Business"...continuing education credit maybe? I have to have so many each year to maintain my professional geologist license/registration in Texas....my company only likes to send me to the less elaborate events....boohoohoo

 

Sorry to hear that.
Maybe you can check out some pumpjacks in the area, and smell that fresh Texas Tea.

 

The only "Texas Tea" that I ever get to smell is that which has leaked out of an underground storage tank and gotten into the soil or groundwater (environmental work)...but I would like to be on the other end, that's for sure! I have tried to jump ship from env to O&G but I'm probably only qualified as a mudlogger. Also, what they tell me is...they can get the new college graduates that already know all the computer programs and such for much cheaper than they can get me (and they would still have to train me). I guess that's the breaks...it sucks getting old!!

 

Tlhere's a term that has been use for many years to describe what you're up against...

OVER-QUALIFIED

I once told an interviewer that I can eat hangerger, and don't need roasts and steaks.
Those young people from school also have a longer work-life and have a chance to stay with the company longer. They look at that too, but that comes under the heading of "AGE DISCRIMINATION", and they are not allowed to bring that up. So, that is something they will not tell you about. It will be coming to the trucking industry some time in the future too.