Four weeks into my new job, I’m now in charge of a routine drilling programme, making sure a drilling contractor and its crew are safe, take them out into the desert and tell them to drill here or there, make sure that they leave the area as they found it. Also I plan and liase with a bunch of departments to co-ordinate the next locations for the drill programme, and go with the archaelogists to clear a route as to not trample over an ancient site (some evidence of human activities are over 1.5 million years old).
Now, this requires a lot of strategic thinking and planning ahead and figuring out logistics over a vast area. It’s great fun as I like tackling problems and keeps me busy from 7am to 10pm, 7 days a week.
Now, with that explained, not once has my plan (A) nor plan (B) has worked out as it should. Something always go wrong, a flat tyre, a broken drill bit, an AWOL driver, getting stuck in deep sand, slopes too steep to drive up/down, sheer cliff face, incorrect co-ordinates, incorrect reference numbers, lunch not provided, cultery AWOL, drivers venturing off the cleared tracks, winds disturbing seismic instruments, sunburn, too cold, etc, etc, etc.
It’s good fun, as long you don’t expect your plans to be executed with military precision.
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