Day 3–We Have a Winner At Dinner!

I visited the “Cardio Gym” tonight for a run on the treadmill. No pictures though, no one wants me taking pictures of them working out. 

 

I needed to run. I think I’ve been overdoing it with the cookies in my lunch, and the sausage rolls, and the pastries, and more cookies.

Dinner

Wooooo! I ate light after my workout, just some vegetables and roast potatoes with caesar salad. The salad had a prepackaged dressing from Kraft, so nothing really special. The vegetables were actually pretty good, and it looks like they were prepared fresh, not cooked from frozen. There were squash strips in the mix as well as 2 different kinds of string beans. The potatoes were outstanding! Perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned, not too greasy, not too soft, not too hard…just perfect!

 

Laundry Night

Doing laundry is easier than bringing extra clothes. Tonight it was do-or-die, if I didn’t do laundry tonight I wouldn’t have gonch for tomorrow. 

Each floor has 5 washers and 5 dryers. They’re actually quite nice, they look fairly new. If you’re coming up to site, set a timer on the dryer, don’t go for the preset dry time. 

 

Fort McMurray Trip: First Hiccup

A remote, isolated work camp can feel like a gulag. To try to make work camps more livable, a number of activities are available in the evenings. I was looking forward to yoga classes, but I just found out the yoga teacher is off to Hawaii for a yoga workshop! I will be yoga-less for the week. Arrrgghhhhh!

Off to Fort McMurray!

One of my colleagues works at the Kearl Lake oilsands project for Imperial Oil Resources Ltd. He’s taking a vacation. I’m covering his shift. This is my story.

My Kearl Lake ID card. Striking, isn’t it? Note the tastefully done camouflage lanyard.

Huh?

Have you ever wondered what life on an oilsands construction project is like? Have you ever wondered if there’s any shred of truth to the XtraNormal cartoons about Fort McMurray? I’ll try to shed a bit of light on this over the next 10 days.

Dining

I will be staying in Camp Wapasu, a work camp specifically designed to house workers on the Kearl Lake project. When at camp, all your meals are provided. You have to pack your own lunch and snacks, but all the food is provided. Camp food can range from mildly unacceptable to Iron Chef quality. While camp culinary staff make an effort to provide healthy choices, people don’t always make those choices. To track some sort of measurable figure, I recorded my weight this morning. I will also take my weight on my return to see if I’ve gained, or lost weight.

Weight as of May 27/13: 178 lbs (80.7 kg)