First post

Picture: nail polish and grease

It's weird writing the first post of a blog no one knows exists yet. Who am I talking to? I'd pretend that this is my diary, but then I would start writing as if you know me. You don't know me.

My name is Rachel. (See, if you were my diary you'd already know that) I grew up in Maryland and later went to an ivy league school where I majored in geological engineering. I graduated in 2009 and began working in October for a large oilfield services company. I am currently on an oil rig.

I lived in Lafayette, Louisiana and worked on offshore rigs until very recently. I was working offshore 60 miles away from the Horizon when it exploded. After the ban on offshore drilling, I was relocated temporarily(?) to work on land rigs in Conway, Arkansas where I am now and have been for the past month and a half.

I enjoy writing so I was encouraged by more than a few people to start this blog. I haven't told anyone about it yet, mainly because I haven't decided what kind of blog this is going to be. I don't know what people will find interesting. But I guess most people don't know someone that works on an oil rig, so I've got that going for me.

This is going to be a blog about a lot of things, like adjusting to life in the South, starting a new job, and being the only girl on a rig full of men. I hope I can talk about some important stuff, like the oil industry and the people in it. But to be honest, I'm probably going to talk a lot about some of my less intellectual interests, which includes an embarrassing amount of reality TV. Just a heads up.