male-female ratio

Sorry about the long silence - I've had lousy internet service during my travels. Back to your usual programming...

I've worked in areas where the male:female geologist ratio is approaching 50:50, and where the majority of environmental science/engineering students coming out of college are female. But I've also worked in areas where female geologists are still a rarity, and drillers/subcontractors can refuse to work with women and not commit career suicide. Those areas aren't nearly as far south (in the US) as one might think.

So I'm wondering: what percentage of working geologists in your area are female? Are you seeing the number of women increase over time?

I don't stay up at night worrying about exact male:female ratios, but I've worked in places where female geologists are essentially unheard of, and they've been lonely and discouraging. I don't have the personality to be a pioneer, I guess.

clothing change

I'm usually a little behind when the seasons change, but this week has been cold enough to convince me to switch into winter gear. The lightweight hiking pants have been put away, and I've dragged out the shapeless sweaters, the 2-layer wool long underwear, the silk long underwear, the wool hats, and the carhartts.

Taking out the carhartts reminded me of a particular winter day a couple years ago, when I was working in the middle of nowhere with a subcontractor. We were wearing the same carhartts (obviously different sizes, but same color), and when I pointed this out, he was actually sort of horrified. He never wore those pants again.

Dude! Carhartts only come in about five colors! And carhartts are worn by about 90% of field people! Seriously, if you find a photograph of a geologist, they'll most likely be wearing the distinctively orangey-brown standard carhartts. If you're offended that you end up wearing the same ones as someone else, you need to buy some fancier field pants.

office decor

We all tend to personalize our office. Pictures of families, hobbies, and random stuff end up taking over the odd corners of our desks. Geologists tend to collect rocks.

I'm not a big fan of rocks in general. I'm a dirt and contamination person. Sure, if I'm coring rock or I pick up something cool in the field, I'll take it along. But many times, the interesting rocks don't make it all the way to my office.

So I don't have a rock collection. What I do have is a drilling detritus graveyard.

It started when we (the driller) destroyed a roller bit (example from wikipedia below) in some particularly difficult terrain.

The driller chucked the bit in my direction and said "why don't you take it?"

So I did. I ended up as sort of a broken bit magpie. When something shears off or wears down to uselessness and can't be repaired, I'll take it back to the office as a sort of trophy of a difficult (and expensive!) day. The more mangled, the better.

The problem is that my collection makes for some heavy (and occasionally greasy) paperweights. Next time I move, maybe I'll donate my collection to the next enthusiastic newbie who chirps, "hey, what does this do?"

drilling expectations

I can rant about this sort of thing for days...

As my long-term readers know, I was pretty shy when I started working in consulting. It was hard for me to speak up when I wanted something done differently. So what often happened was that I would let something go for way too long, and then I'd surprise the driller in the middle of whatever and say, "we need to change/add this." This leads to a lot of aggravation.

Now, when a drilling company first arrives at a site, I make an effort to have a truly comprehensive site briefing. This is after I've called the office to make sure we're on the same page. Why are we doing this, what are we looking for, and what are the specific things that I need? Then, when we're ready to start doing whatever, I'll remind the driller again.

Most of the time, all this is overkill. But I'd rather go through everything and make sure that we have everything we need and that there are no surprises. If I've written or reviewed the drilling specification, then I know it should cover everything I need. But the probability that the guy actually doing the work has actually read the thing is fairly low.

It sounds simple. But I can't tell you how many time we've arrived at a site and the driller says "I had no idea we needed mud mats/a steam cleaner/to cut through thickets/to get water four miles away" and it turns out to be a colossal pain in the ass and we all start out cranky.

drilling respect 2

I got a good bunch of comments on my last post.

Just to clarify, 99% of the drillers I've worked with have been fine to work with.

I'm perhaps pickier than many geologists when I'm watching a rig, but I'm generally following a long list of procedures that were designed to prevent safety issues, collect a good sample, and/or construct a well that will "behave" as well as possible over the long term. And I haven't met a driller who did every single thing I wanted the first time.

That's fine. And I will bend on certain things, and I'm amenable to suggestions. I'm not going to make the mistake of telling the driller exactly what to do, because that gets into the whole "well, then you do it" argument.

But I have had bad experiences, with drillers who won't take any direction, who are unable to keep a lid on their racist/sexist/horrifically off-color commentary (trust me, this is more than your standard salty language), and who generally make life miserable. And whom I've been completely unable to compel to behave.

In this sort of situation, appeals to a higher authority (i.e. the drilling company management) tend to work only if you're presenting an ultimatum, i.e. get me a new driller or I'm shutting this job down. Maybe I'm just a wimp, but I've never escalated things that far.

how to chill?

FSP has a post today about dealing with disrespectful students. Do you respond coldly? Do you get all worked up? Appeal to a higher authority? Or do you ignore the offenders?

I had a similar problem with disrespectful drillers. When a driller says something offensive, how should I react? None of my usual reactions (calling them out on it, pointedly ignoring it) worked. My problem was, if I ignored it, they would continue. If I got angry, they knew they'd gotten a rise out of me, and they'd keep saying it. And calling in someone else wasn't going to help the underlying lack of respect.

I had more problems with mouthy drillers when I had more experience rather than less. When I first started overseeing drillers, I think it was clear that I was overwhelmed, so they tiptoed around me. With more experience, I had more control over what the drillers were actually doing, and that's when I had more problems with drillers teasing me or saying things to piss me off.

My sweetie says that my problem is that I'm "too adorable". I'd like a solution that doesn't entail waiting another 10 years in the hopes of aging into a little more gravitas.

stress dream

I need to be in the field the next day. It supposedly requires only a few items, but there’s a possibility we’re doing more, which will require more rental equipment. Fine, I think. I’ll just rent what I know I need now.

The car rental place and the equipment rental place are in the same town, so it’s technically possible to get everything together. I start calling around, getting my hotel reservation and the equipment and vehicle reserved, and trying to get directions. But my phone isn’t working well, and I have to run out to get stuff all across town. One of my friends from grad school is supposed to be helping, but she took off in a snit for some reason.

It’s getting close to closing time for all the businesses I need stuff from. And I can’t stay late in my office, which is in one of the facilities I used to do environmental work at. I manage to get out with my stuff, and I find that my rental car is some sort of convertible supercar with about 4 cubic inches of storage space. Also, the driver’s seat is on the right side. And the brakes work by hitting a button on the key fob.

The site is on an island, naturally, and during part of my frantic preparations earlier I got a ferry schedule. So I head out to catch the last ferry. I get there and the parking lot is 2/3 handicapped parking, so I have to park a ridiculous distance away. Also, I apparently didn’t pack any of my field gear, as the trunk (such as it is) is empty. I run up to the office and the guy tells me that the boat leaves in 10 minutes, but it’s oversold. I’ll have to come back in the morning.

…then I wake up. I hate starting the day like this.