Cool candle

Cool candle
Originally uploaded by wally_baloo

Zucchini!

Zucchini!
Originally uploaded by wally_baloo

I've been occasionally trying to upload on this thing. Turns out my flickr
works only sparingly.... anyways, had a BBQ with one of my friends from
work and his wife who also works for Norwest. This was just one part of
their delicious spread.

Woodward's building.

Woodward's building.
Originally uploaded by wally_baloo

Oil sand

Oil sand
Originally uploaded by wally_baloo

Here's what a chunk of oil sand looks like. It looks a lot like fresh asphalt. I learned something new about how Shell Canada Energy processes their oil sand. Basically all petroleum products (propane, butane, all those "ane" words) are organic compounds. The mine I work at frequently in Fort McMurray mines a petroleum product called "bitumen", a heavier crude oil (as opposed to conventional stuff they can pump out of the ground), which is a concoction of all different kinds of these complex and simple carbon chains. They take this "bitumen", heat it up, and add a solvent to get rid of the sand, silt, and clay that come with this here chunk of oil sand. They then add hydrogen to this solvent+bitumen mixture and send it in a pipeline to the Scotford refinery in Edmonton, Alberta where its turned into gasoline, butane, propane, diesel fuel, jet fuel, etc...

Ensign Peak!

Tonight I took a hike up Ensign Peak, its just north of the Utah Capitol building.  Really quick hike, basically straight uphill.  This is where Bringham Young and his mormon pioneer friends decided they would make a city.  They thought the great Salt Lake was the pacific ocean, but it was really a huge, lifeless (except for sea monkeys...) body of really salty water.  The Great Salt Lake is to the right of me, behind that ridge that pokes up.  Its a beautiful place to watch a sunset, as you can see!  Tomorrow I start my first day at Kennecott Utah Copper, probably lots of riveting safety and new miner training.  In other words, lots of "this is what happens when you don't look both ways" (and with 340 ton haul trucks running around, theres a good reason for that), "heres where you find so and so", "don't get on even a step ladder without the proper fall-protection-equipment", and hopefully coffee.  Not that I'm a cynic, but safety is very important in mining!  Anyways, I hope to have lots more pictures like this one this summer.  Enjoy!  Love you all!

-Walter B.