10 things I Learned Working Geophysics

Right after high school I worked for a year in Nevada in the field of geophysics. Here is the top 10 bits of wisdom I collected during my time in the desert.

1. A Beeramid is a work of art and takes way more skill than one would assume.  The more drunk you get the harder it is to build.  Yes, in battle mountain Nevada the most constructive use of your off time is trying to build the worlds biggest beeramid.  Its also the best way to waste time and stay out of the local jail for being a hippy.  BTW if you tip the cleaning staff they will leave your creation so you have time to finish it.
2. Shoot first then ask questions.  When your out in the middle of BM Nevada at your work campsite this is the correct rule to live by.
3. Jack rabbit truck bingo is not only a real game but can be a very fun use of your time.
4. If you ever find yourself working in the snow and have to stand there waiting for readings for an hour at a time DO NOT make your self an emergency survival blanket sleeping bag to keep warm in IF your working in the hills.  An emergency survival blanket sleeping bag is something I invented in Elko Nv.  You take two emergency survival blankets and duck tape them into a sleeping bag.  Here is the trick, once you get into the bag you can not kick yourself free and they are slippery and you WILL find yourself flying down the hill at top speed trapped inside.
5. Hills can block radio signals.  This is a very important lesson when you decide to try to get an all over tan while waiting for readings.  When your boss comes over the hill and finds you mostly naked reading a book its not a thing your going to be able to live down.  If you decide to get an all over tan BRING enough sun screen!
6. If you hear birds at sunset in the desert and shadows are starting to seem to move around you, RUN!  This is an especially important lesson if your scare of large spiders and its tarantula mating season and your standing in their mating grounds.  Also Mina NV is not a good place to go if you hate spiders, heck isn’t not a good place to go even if you do like spiders.
7. Pulling high voltage wires and building electrodes in the desert in a thunder storm is NEVER a good idea.  On the plus side is I now know the taste and smell of electricity.
8. If your boss is a di@k and degrades you constantly tell them to shove it in their glory hole but only do so once you have gotten back to town and their pay check has cleared the bank.  It is never a good idea to tell them off in the middle of the desert when they are armed and there are no witnesses.
9. Milford UT in Beaver county is a great place to work especially when the girl to guy ratio is 10 to 1 and your a teen age guy.  I highly recommend it!  One fun game to play is to try to date all non blonds which is tricky in UT.
10. When working on a uranium project if you ever pull wires into a creek bed and all of a sudden the knee high sage brush is now towering above your head upholster your gun.  Be on the look out for over sized desert rats (ugly scrappy jack rabbits) or anaconda sized rattle snakes.   Not that I saw any but I swear they are there some where.

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