43 - Thunderbirds are Go

Monday, 22 January 2024

Things were busy at the office as everyone is trying to get some of the equipment ready to run later this week. I managed to scratch a few things off my list but remain unclear as to how I should proceed regarding the work permit; I doubt I can say just anything on the application and still be in the clear...

I meant to take lunch at Carine's but it was full so I ate at a nearby restaurants, Les Forges, where the café comes with a small cannelle

Dinner at El Meson featuring padrones peppers as my starter. I guess it's possible the farmers in Spain arrived at the twin of the shishito pepper via independent cultivation, but padrones taste exactly like shishito peppers

The dessert faite maison was a small cake made from kumquat. Tasty but I had limonene stuck on my palette for several hours.

Tuesday, 23 January 2024

A quiet day at work. I feel like I'd been pretty productive and making meaningful contributions to the project effort, even if it was everyone else being busy in the field trying to get pumps and valves to move solvent in the system.

The weather during the day was really nice: fairly warm temps with sun! I'm hoping that warm weather trend continues through the weekend; I'm more than content to keep all my cold weather for my return to the US.

Swung by Carine's for lunch today, it was basically full again today. Fortunately, I only needed to take a walk around the block till a table would open up for me. Good for them that they're getting tons of business, but we'll have see how many more lunch breaks I can manage to eat there.

Sunset leaving work today; the pleasant scent of pine was really strong right here

Went out to dinner with some of the guys from AIGP, returning to Monsieur Mouette. Part of the conversation was about how route to dinner had tons of trucks and traffic: turns out the farmers are holding a protest (manifestation) and using tractors and hay bales to block two of the major highways here, the A63 and A64. Too bad it's impossible to get close via car, a tractor blockade could've been a nice addition to my list of authentic French experiences!

The port at Capbreton; I feel like there's more lights than the last time we ate here

La lotte (monkfish)

Wednesday, 24 January 2024

Things are "GO" for the equipment test tomorrow, which means I've got the 5AM shift tomorrow. The rest of the work day was spent closing out various action items, prepping for tomorrow, and putting together a document to help introduce my coworker (the plan is to arrive Feb. 5) to the project and site; though quickly I found myself spending less time writing about the project details and more time writing about places to visit and restaurants 😅. Oh, and the flight to the US will put me in JFK on February 8 in the evening; I'll take a 10AM departure over a 6AM departure if it only means riding home from JFK.

Still no real word about how to proceed on the work permit; rather, I'm pretty sure how to proceed but I'd prefer confirmation from HR that they will write the corresponding info on their work permit application as my own visa application.

It was an early night for me. I spent the night in cooking txistorra and leeks (I don't think it's a real combo, but I still enjoyed it).

Thursday, 25 January 2024

Well, the 12 hour shift to kick off the startup could have gone better. I'd hoped to be watching temperatures & pressures while asking to adjust flowrates but instead we spent the day just getting off the ground; I suppose it should have been expected, startups never, ever go to plan. The day went by quickly but I'm a little disappointed in myself that I wasn't quick enough to find the one weird trick to pull adequately deep vacuum (engineers hate him). Instead, I chased a couple wild geese searching for a way to push/pull the last of the leftover solvent out of the equipment; I'd like to think that the guy who figured out what we needed to do put 2+2 together based on a couple of the changes I made, but I can admit that it was a team effort and that he pulled out MVP today.

I got quite frazzled from rapidly switching between speaking & reading French and English. Fortunately, most people would repeat the question/statement to me when my initial response was a blank stare followed by blinking 😅. BUT I did learn a neat new expression: I was asked to sit down since my standing was blocking the monitor for someone else. In English we might say "you make a better door than a window", apparently the French have the expression "ton pere n'est pas vitrier" (your dad isn't a glazier / glass worker)

Another night in, dinner was a couple of mushroom pies from l'atelier bouchier and some bread with that tasty, tasty piment d'Esplette butter. The bread was also exceptional, purchased from a bakery I've just started trying: its crusty on the outside but springy and chewy on the inside. mmm

Good luck to the guys who'll actually be finding operating conditions tonight, I'll be seeing them tomorrow at 5AM and I'm crossing my fingers for good news.

Friday, 26 January 2024

I'm glad I checked my work phone this morning. I about to walk out the door to the car at 4:15 when I checked the phone to put it into my pocket. It seems things hadn't gone according to plan and the night shift called the test off a little after midnight. Yesterday's MVP wasn't as fortunate as me: he put his phone into airplane mode to sleep and didn't get the news until he arrived at 5am 😅

With my extra couple hours of sleep, I spent the day sifting through the previous 24 hours of data and we had a couple meetings to discuss path forward. I also had a call with my colleague who will be coming from Newark to briefly confirm her travel plans, I'll need to spend more time next week bringing her up to speed on who's who in the team and keep her current on equipment status.

My work day came to an abrupt end at 18:00 when I needed to shutdown my computer for an update. I guess I'd better start enjoying the weekend so that my batteries are refreshed for Monday.

Enroute to dinner in Dax, I stopped by a déchetterie (waste station where people can sort out glass, plastic, and paper). While depositing some of the plastic, I felt my hand come up against some wet brushes covering the opening and immediately knew I was going to regret that. A quick sniff later was confirmation 🤮 good thing there were public toilettes with working sinks nearby otherwise I would've had to go home first.

Dinner was at a place new to me: Chez Les Garçons. There were a lot of people at the bar but getting a table to have dinner was easy. I'd noticed that the stadium lights were on while driving into town and the poster at the entrance helped put 2+2 together: a rugby game happened tonight and that could explain why it was easy to secure a table. I wonder which city won tonight 🤔

The "filet mignon" of pork, it was tender but I found all the flavor was in the caramelized onions and mushrooms.