Start of a new rotation

Just come to the end of the first week of my eighth visit to Qatar. Five weeks to go! There has been a few people leave site this week. Our good friend Mohamed, from Egypt, pictured on the left, has left after about one year on site. He is going back to Honeywell office in Kuwait. If you are reading this blog, Good luck Mohamed, it was a pleasure working with you. Keep reading this blog. I will try to make it interesting (activities allowing). Lead engineer Sudhakaran also left this week, going back to India. He is third from the right on the right hand photo. Also leaving are Ahmed from India (middle of right hand picture, at the back) and Leigh Hanson from Australia (not in photo, he said goodbye then disappeared quickly). Good luck for the future to all of them. Good luck also to Jan Van Berlo from Amsterdam (left of picture). He has just taken on the role of site supervisor, joining Joe Tennant from the US (right in the picture). I travel to work each day, in the truck with Joe and Jan, and Vish (the person taking this picture, and leaving for India next week). He can be in the picture next week. I just realized that I am the only Uk person in the picture! Well I am now going to take a rest after my workout this morning, as my legs are aching, and it is extremely humid outside today - although it was nice by the pool this morning! See you all later.

Home for a break in one week

I will be flying home early next Thursday morning, for a well deserved two week break, after 7 weeks in the heat. This will be the end of my seventh trip out here; five six-week trips and two seven-week trips. It has been an interesting week, with a variety of problems to resolve, and questions to answer. I also had to do a couple of presentations to a group of Honeywell DCS engineers, along with my IPS counterpart (for IPS engineers). C10 Lead and Site Supervisor Wissam Al-Nassari, left site for the last time, this week. He occationally reads this blog, so if you are reading this, "thanks for your support, when ever I had an issue, and I wish you the very best of luck". The pictures are of Wissam's leaving drink at the new 5o5 club. Wissam is the guy in the maroon t-shirt. Well one more week for me, and I can also head off to the UK, but just for a couple of weeks, before returning here. In the mean-time, I'm off to lunch at the JK camp.

The Last Phoenix BBQ

After months of hard work and using his room as a beer cellar, Joe (in the red t-shirt) has finally decided to close the Phoenix bar. We thank him for all his efforts and hospitality. John Cunnel, who cooked an excellent green curry last week, has volunteered to open his room at five past five in the evening, until six-thirty, and thus naming it the 5o5 club. All the beer etc. and the bench have been moved to John's room. I joined them for the opening evening of this new bar. The images show the final Phoenix bar BBQ, where Craig White (the big "Scott" in the light blue t-shirt) , who is leaving site in a few weeks, cooked up some great food. I have had a busy week implementing a new Asset model and Scope of Responsibility for the entire system, I will continue with this next week. I have also taken an extra week on call, but still no calls. What a shame! Next week will also be the last week for Wissam Al-Nassari, site supervisor and also over sees the Technical Expertise group (well duo, as there is only two of us at the moment, one DCS and one IPS). Wissam has been a great support, and we wish him good luck when he goes back to his home in Wales. Well time to rest after an active Friday morning off. Getting a Sun tan is hard work!

Starting and Leaving site.

This week was the last week for Sethu. Pictured on the left, the very popular Sethu worked in Newhouse on Shell GTL and has been on site for almost a year. He will be going back to India, and we wish him the best of luck. On the right is Janos and Manos. Janos has been on site for a long time, and is resident in Qatar. Manos (who some will know, I worked with in the UK), I think, has just completed his first rotation, and is currently on vacation. I have been supporting both of them in the simulation room. I have been to the gym as usual this morning. After which I had a swim, then laid by the pool for half an hour. I have just been to lunch at the JK camp, and now it's time to chill for the afternoon, before attending a BBQ at the Phoenix club. I may not drink, as I am on call again this week, although up to now I have never been called. So time to put my feet up once more.

One Year on site

Time really does fly when you are having fun in the Middle East (well during your two weeks off anyway!). Today I will have been on site one year. The time really has flown by. There is work for me here until March 2012, so I may not be returning to the UK until April next year year. Monday evening was Phoenix club member John Cunnel's birhtday, so he cooked up a couple of curry's. The Green Thai curry was one of the best I have had, really spicy and very nice. That was washed down with half a dozen bottles of Tiger beer. I also tried the Beef Thai Curry, which was less spicy, but still nice. All this while watching the England cricket matrch, live on Sky. Well now taking a post gym shower, before going to lunch, on camp. Later!

Back in the heat.

Did you miss me? Just finished my second week (of my seventh visit) back in Qatar. Not too much to report. My bathroom has been tiled, and my garden fence replaced, so I am slowly getting things sorterd out back home. The heat is returning, not quite the peak of summer, but just above 40 deg. C most days. So far not too humid either. I have been catching up with my work list, now I've got some assistance from Adrian Thomas, my list is coming down. I have been on Call Out in the evenings this week, but lucky for me, no calls. Technically it has been an interesting two weeks. I have had some questions regarding functionality of PID, Ratio and Split Range Controllers, so I have had an interesting time simulating these and confirming certain functionality. As you can see in the picture, Jatener is having a relaxing time, puting his feet up. Not really! He has been working very hard over the last couple of weeks, heading up the C6K team during shutdown, poor guy!. I had a good session in the gym this morning, to knock off some of that "two week break" weight. It's one of the Phoenix bar's members Birthday on Monday, so we will be having a Thai Curry and a few drinks at the Phoenix. I'll update you after the celebrations. Bye for now.

Almost break time.

Almost on my way, but before I go, just one more BBQ. This time celebrating Keith Burton's birthday. A good evening, with more than enough to eat (and drink). I will be flying back to the UK 01:45 Thursday Qatari time, hopefully arriving home about 08:00 UK time. Plenty of work around the house to plan. Have got somebody coming around to tile the bathroom, and somebody to replace a fence in the back garden. I think three of the Ozzies are coming back for one rotation, to help out. One, Adrian Thomas may be covering for me while I am away. Anyway, Looking forward to some time off.

One more week to go.

Just finished week 5 of rotation 6. One more week to go before I take a two week break from Qatari activities. Time has flown by this rotation. Perhaps because I have been very busy in my new role, with more responsibilities. John Cunningham has just asked me if I could do some call-out DCS support, so I could be even busier soon. Picture shows my new desk, now I've moved from the Hot desk area. The desk has my usual setup; three screens. Other pictures show myself and good friend Sethu, from Honeywell India, heading for the control room. Still a lot of road works etc., going on, on-route. Over did it at the gym again today, so I will be resting my legs, after lunch, while watch the Royal Wedding, from my room.

Another leaver, another BBQ

This week our Foundation Fieldbus team leader, Dominic, left site. so, we had to have another BBQ, this time outside of the Phoenix Bar (Joe's room). The rain has now gone, so we were safe. BBQ, beer and Manchester United vs Manchester city, live, a true lads night out! There was more than enough food (not to mention a room full of drink), inluding four to five inch Tiger Prawns. Lovely. I have had a really busy week, trying to support several different people. I am on my own in the Technical Expertise group, DCS side, at the moment; I took over from Serkan, but nobody has taken over from me! I guess things will just take a little longer to sort out. Well the weekly workout is working. I am now down to 76kg. I was 84kg when I first came here. It is a lovely hot day here on JK Camp today, so I am now going for a walk, buy a tin of giant Cashews, before going of to lunch. I might watch a movie on my Laptop this afternoon.

New Responsibilities

We attempted to have a BBQ for Serkan's leaving the project, but the weather had other ideas. We managed to cook several skewers of meat while watching lightning storms slowly approaching our party. Then suddenly, the heavens opened up. We ran for cover, taking the BBQ with us, but strong winds meant the rain came down at a steep angle and we all got drenched. After retiring to one of the cabins and eating the meat that was cooked, we decided to change into some dry clothes and hit the camp bar instead. Now that Serkan has left, I have been given the role of Lead DCS Controls Engineer. Serkan's hand-over has helped me get into the role, so now I am looking forward to challenges that it brings. Wish me luck! We all wish Serkan the best of luck. We have had quite a lot of rain over recent days, so I am hopiong that it starts to get warmer and drier again. I will be off to lunch at the JK Camp soon, and after lunch, resting my legs, after over doing it at the gym again this morning.

Its Getting Warm Again

So hot that my finger caught on fire. Well almost!
After a few months of warm (but not hot) days, and cool nights, the temperature is starting to rise again. It is mild when going to breakfast and high twenties by lunch time. The site flag changed from Green (safe) to Orange (low risk warning) this week. The first Black (danger) flag happened in May last year, so we will just have to wait and see what this year brings. We have had a lot of leavers recently. Most of the Ozzies have now gone and several Indians have gone back to India. Blair Trainor (our network guy) left last Wedesday and my colleague Serkan Yusuf is leaving this week. I have had a busy week, getting up to speed with Serkan's resposibilities, so that I can pick them up when he leaves. I have also been working on some PID control logic that we will need to implement on one of the systems. This was quite ineteresting. Anyway, lets get on with week 3.

Return to the desert

Already been back in Qatar for one week of a six week rotation. The first sour gas has just started coming into the plant from one of the two offshore platforms. The picture shows some of the gas 'flaring from the phase-one stack. Had a pretty un-eventful week. I was invited out for an Indian evening meal in Doha on Wednesday, sponsored by Shell. But I declined, as I had just arrived back on site, and needed a few days to catch up on some sleep. Also, I had already been to this restaurant. I have been working on a VB application this week, for Fast-Trending Data storage. I have also been supporting our "Steam System" modelling guys, and also the "Startup Team". Our BMA expert (Hao You) is back on site for a couple of weeks, so I may be supporting him. Also I will be working closely with Serkan, as he will be leaving in two weeks. Been to the gym as usual this morning for a couple of hours, then nipped to the bank to get a few hundred Riyals of cash out. I will be going to lunch soon, on the JK Camp, then resting for the afternoon.

Not so good a week.

Friday lunch time just over a week ago, I was starting to get a sore throat. So I went to the JK camp medical centre, and was given some throat Strepsils. The next day, things got worse, and the site medical centre gave me some more medication, and told me to come back Sunday if things got worse. Sunday morning I went back to the site medical centre, where I was sent to the Al-Madina hospital. They diagnosed me with very sore tonsils, flu and a fever, and gave me tons of medication. So in order to recover and not spread it around, I decided to go back to the camp. I pretty much stayed in bed for a week, just getting up for lunch, and topping up my medical supplies from the camp medical centre. Anyway, I went back to site this Saturday, but still not fully recovered, still got a cold, but the fever has gone. The picture shows a fraction of the total medication I have taken. On another subject, David Cameron visited the site, the week before last. I did not see him, but I did see an entourage of high-flyers, and a guy with a sholder camera with a few other officials, in the control room. Well now in to my final week for this rotation, and looking forward to going home on Wednesday night.

Interesting times in the Middle East

With uprisings taking place throughout the Middle East, and history being made, it is an interesting time to be here (for those of us that are safe). Qatar is not really affected, but there are demonstrations in every direction around Qatar). The nearest trouble to us is in Bahrain, just to the north of us, and also in Yemen, to the south. Here on the camp, had a few drinks and games of Pool at the bar with a few Phoeninx members last Thursday evening, followed by a long lay in on the Friday. I have been very busy over the last couple of weeks, as there are problems with the Steam system. So a team has been put together to simulate the Steam control on the OTS system, and correct the problems on the plant. This is very high profile, so the pressure is on! I have another two weeks here before having a two week break, so I am looking forward to that. Several people are leaving over the next few weeks, including another three of the Ozzies, and a few Indians. Serkan is on leave at the moment (another reason I am so busy), then comes back on March 5th, for his final rotation. Martin Brown has recently joined us, after 8 years at Honeywell in New Zealand. I will be going to lunch soon, followed by puting my feet up and resting, after another good session in the gym.

Rotation 5, End of Week 3

Another week gone by very quickly. Been very busy this week with some VB and Windows Scripting, for a Fast Trend application. Wednesday evening we (the C10 team, site management and some important Shell guys) went to the Al-Mourjan Lebanese restauraunt in Doha, to celabrate completing all Phase 1 and 2 integrations. The food was very good, and there was more than enough of it! So thanks to Wissam for arranging the meal. I over did my session on the exercise bike this morning, knocking up 82km, and my bad left knee did not thank me for that! Just come back from a brunch at the Phoenix bar. Had a bit of a fry up and a nice cup of tea to wash it down. Now resting my legs for the afternoon.

Barbeque At the Phoenix Bar

This Tuesday the Phoenix Club decided to have a barbeque (and a few beers) outside of the Phoenix Bar. Photo on the left shows Gerard supervising the barbeque, keeping it safe from intruders. At the barbeque, are Kevin Fegan, Dave Robson, Bill (non-Honeywell), Michael O'hare, Mike Langan, Daren Brown, Julian Cox, Norman Belton Gerard Brennan and myself. There has been a few rain showers here in January, and the rain did try to ruin our barbeque, but we persisted, and won out in the end. Already the end of my second week, five weeks to go, as this rotation I am doing seven weeks. This week I have been looking closely at OPC links, setting them up on my laptops and VMware systems. It has been quite interesting, not to mention challenging, but I have learned a lot about OPC interfacing, so it was worth going through the process. Just made my weekly trip to the gym for a two hour session on the bike. This afternoon I will put my feet up and watch "Knocked Up" on DVD.

Back in Qatar after 2 week break

Arrived back in Qatar last Saturday evening, 22-Jan-2011. Went to the Phoenix Bar (Joe Wegener's room) for a barbeque Sunday evening, with a few other Phoenix Bar members (basically, anybody who has donated some beer). There were a few mosquito's about, and one of them got me. I went to the site medical the next day, for some cream. They sent me to the Al-Madinah medical centre near the JK camp, just in case the swelling was not an insect bite. After three visits, the swelling had gone down, and I was given the all-clear. Kept busy at work this week, with a few issues to resolve. Went to the gym this morning, for a couple of hours. Off to lunch soon, and later this afternoon, another visit to the Phoenix bar, for a barbeque and beer, with the guys. Back to work tomorrow morning. This visit to Qatar (my fifth rotation) is for seven weeks, as there was always a four day period when neither myself, or serkan was on site. Our good friend Jeff Ng left site for good this week, back to the Uk for a couple of months break, before heading back to Australia for the foreseeable future. We wish him the best of luck.

New years eve in Qatar

We spent new years eve on the JK camp, at one of bars. We had a great night, seeing the new year in. Everybody was great. Most of us have new years day off, so we have some time to recover. Back to work on Sunday and then back to the Uk on Thursday 6th January, which I am looking forward to. See you later, and a very happy new year to you all.

Brunch in Doha with the Ozzies

Had an "All you can eat and drink" afternoon, 12:30 to 16:30, at the Hayatt hotel in Doha, with the guys: Martin Turner, Jeff Ng, Neale Rogers and Adrian Thomas from Australia, Stefan Petrov from Romania and Joe Wegener from London. The food was amazing and the waiters just kept topping the drinks up all afternoon. After that we walked to the Admirals bar (right picture, from left to right - Martin, Neale, Jeff, Rob, Stefan, Adrian, Joe) where we stayed until 19:00 - the drinks were really flowing there too! After that, the bus picked us up and took us back to camp, where we had another few drinks at the bar, to round off the day. A long afternoon and evening, but really great fun.

Christmas Indian meal out in doha

About 50 Honeywell people, who are working in Qatar over Christmas, took a bus ride to the Ramada Hotel in doha for a Christmas meal out. It was a great night with a great variety of really great food, and a generous amount of drink. Left picture, Vipul, Jatender and myself, taking a photo opportunity. The right picture, is Jatender and our new commissioning manager, Anguel, cutting the Christmas cake. I am about to go out on an afternoon Brunch at the Hyatt Hotel, Doha, arranged by the Ozzies. So Merry Christmas to All, and a Happy New Year.

Christmas in the Middle East

Well, another week gone and Christmas is fast approaching. We have been told that we will have Christmas day and New Years day off, so that's a bonus! The Camp is getting into the Christmas spirit, by putting up a small Christmas tree in the middle of the mess hall. A lot of people are lucky enough to be going home for the festive season, but myself and a few others will not be enjoying a white Christmas; unless there is some freak of nature snow storm out here. Yeah right! Anyway, I will not be seeing any cold weather until 6th Jan 2011 (unless I watch Sky news, in my room). Day off Friday, so I will be in the gym as usual, and after that I will start planning what jobs I need to get done in my house, when I get home in January. My goal is to get the bathroom tiled, during my two weeks off. But a bit of prep work first, like removing the old plumbing, sink and toilet. I have been keeping myself quite busy this week, with some SQL and windows scripting for database backups and DSA analysys. Right, time to put my feet up and check out the latest movies, online. Bye for now.

It's a camel's life!

It seems as if I have just flown in to Qatar, and already the end of week two is over. Things are cooling off a bit, but it is still very warm in the afternoons, around 26 deg. C, not bad for winter. I am still recovering from the gym, after spending 2 1/4 hours on an exercise bike. My legs feel totally worn out. Still, myself, Jan and two new guys from Honeywell in China, Lee and Wong (left photo) managed to go for a drive around the desert, for the afternoon. We stopped off to say hello to some camels living in the wild. Next we headed towards Doha, but stopped off, on the way, at a camel race course. There was no race on, but we saw lots of groups of locals riding around on their camels. We then had a drive around Doha, to show Lee and Wong the impressive sights, before heading back to camp. Now, time to embark on my third week. Later!

Back in the Sunshine

Completed the first week of my fourth visit to Qatar, and missed the freezing Uk weather by a day. I just got back from the gym. I have managed to keep myself quite busy this week. We have recently been joined by my good friend Vipul, from the Bracknell office (right picture). He seems quite happy to be here. We were also joined by Sandy Roberts, from the Aberdeen office, who I had not seen for about eight years, and who I also worked with at Phillips Bacton Gas Terminal about twelve years ago. Our safety representitive fainted and collapsed to the floor yesterday. He was assisted by one person, while I went for help. I got a first-Aider, and the medics were called. I wondered why one of the people was smilling when I asked for her help. It turned out to be a drill, which her and the safety rep were in on. So I felt a bit silly, but we were told that we responded well, and the medics were on the scene within ten minutes of the incident. On a lighter note, I had a productive two weeks off. I managed to get my central heating pump and three-way valve replaced - central heating is now working perfectly. I also got my bathroom walls re-plastered. But best of all, I got my new carpets put in the bedrooms, landing, stairs and downstairs hallway (left picture). The transformation is just amazing. It now looks and feels so warm, and beats walking on floorbaords. Also got my new car - Red BMW 1 series coupe, lovely car, but nothing but hassle - Suppliers forgot to deliver it, until I phoned up at 17:15 and reminded them. It took four fuel cards before I got the correct one (three of them for my old car). The wrong car was entered on the Car fuel card mileage website, which took nearly a dozen emails to correct. Then I was unable to enter my end of month mileage. Next the Fleet Logistics website had the wrong fuel card number. I finally managed to get all these things sorted out yesterday. Now I cannot wait to get back home again (January 6th) to enjoy my new car; hassle-free, I hope. See you all soon.

First storm of the year

I was woken up at 04:00 Sunday by an horrendous rain storm with thunder and lightning. This is the first time I have seen it rain here in Qatar, since comming here in June. The storm left large puddles of rain water laying aroung the camp site and parts of the Shell Plant. Rain and loud thunder storms also woke people up the following two mornings.The picture on the left is of us driving through about a foot of water, after about an hour of rain. The picture on the right is a Dolphin plant shutdown, probably as a result of the storm. Wednesday was a nice hot day again, and a some of the water has evaporated. I am now ready to go to Doha for my early Thursday morning flight back to London. Time to go!

One more week to go

Just one more week before I take my well-earned (third) two-week break. I'm not sure that I am looking forward to the cold weather awaiting me back in the uk, but it will be nice to be home. Time to see about getting some new carpets installed at home, I'm getting fed up with walking on floor boards. The kitchen and bathroom will have to wait; maybe next year! I've had quite a busy week, setting up "fast" test Trends for Compressor Anti-surge testing, and a couple of other small jobs. Had an intense workout at the gym this morning, so aching a bit now. The pool was quite quiet this morning, and the clouds kept encroaching upon my tanning space. Now we are in November, there are a few more clouds around, but it is still mainly sunny. Tomorrow I should be supporting some more off-shore testing (from on-shore). This should last two days. I don't know what Monday will bring, but I will be counting down the days before my flight home at 02:15 Thursday. I should be home by 08:00, and not returning until 27th November.

Health check

The end of another interesting week, and two more to go before my next two week break. The BMA guy, Hao You, has gone back to Bracknell, before heading off to Sweeden. Most of his work is finished, but I have a few outstanding items to look into. After my gym and swimming pool session this morning, and a good lunch, I went to the camp medical center for a general health check. All seems ok; my weight is down 7 kg since I first came here, my blood sugar level is also well down (it was within the healthy range, but on the high side of it), and my cholesterol is low, so, good result. I will take another health check on my next return here, at the end of November. Not much more to report about this week; the weather is getting cooler now (max 35 Deg C at mid day), some early mornings there is dense fog, until the Sun evaporates it, and the evenings are cooling down. In mid winter I will be starting and finishing work in the dark.

Meal out in Doha

This has been a good, interesting week, supporting Hao You, the BMA (Blending Movement Automation) engineer all week, and working on Safeview, to add in the BMA application and graphics. The week has really flown by, probably because I have been kept busy. I did get a chance to book the flights for my 4th rotation, commencing 27th November, and get the associated expenses out of the way, entered into Concur, although I am still waiting for Citi Bank charge details to come through. Monday evening, Wissam (C10 Lead Engineer) took the C10 team out for a meal at the Royal Tandoor Indian restaurant in Doha. We had a good eveing, and a lot to eat. The waiters really struggled to cope with our order, as there were 22 of us. Well, week four is about to begin, so not long before my next two week break. This week I will continue supporting Hao You, who fly's back to the UK on Thursday, before commissioning another BMA system in Sweeden. Well time to put my feet up and watch a bit of tv, before going to bed.