Last week (get the ambiguity?)

And so the end is nigh. Or pretty much. I am very close to being finished with my summer contract at Nexen/OPTI, and than have a week off to look forward to before I head down to the US and become a World Banker. Pretty exciting, although it feels somewhat anti-climactic to be combining a new beginning with a tapered-out ending - I suppose that is the way of things in any case.

The trip up to the oil sands on Friday was amazing - we flew in a tiny corporate jet (smallest plane I have ever flown in - capacity 20), had gourmet meals and fantastic coffee the entire way, and then got to spend the day touring the Long Lake facilities. It was immensely satisfying to actually see the physical results of the project I have been contributing to for 4 months. One thing, however; I was able to reaffirm my conviction that I would never be able to stand living in Fort MacMurray. It is so incredibly far away from everything else that it frightens me. It is in the middle of thousands of kilometres of muskeg (basically, swamp-marsh-nastiness), and it has the worst insect infestation I have ever seen in my life. We had been standing outside of the airport for 5 minutes before the cloud of mosquitoes enveloping our group became so dense that we had trouble seeing each other, let alone breathing without the undesired protein snack.

Anyway, who am I to complain? It was a fantastic day. The rest of the weekend was pretty chill; I got a couple of suits on a great deal, spent half a thousand dollars on contacts for next year on a not-so-great deal, and went to Wildwood pub with Eoin last night for some brotherly bonding. I'm going to have to make sure I pay my dues at that place before I leave and subject myself to the horrors of American "beer".