Calgary Jeep Association

General Forums => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: cLAY on March 14, 2011, 09:39:58 PM

Title: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: cLAY on March 14, 2011, 09:39:58 PM
I'm going to work in Fort McMurray! Got the call last Friday and put my notice in at the airport today. Lots of long faces there! It was nice to see I'll be missed but after 10.5 years it was time for a change.

Anyone from here working up there? Particularly the CNRL/Horizon site?
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: JackstandJohnny on March 14, 2011, 09:57:09 PM
congrats Clay. you got on with a great company.

my sis is an audit accountant and is up there on occassion......  the perks of CNRL are well worth the travel and stuff. 


Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: YoungFluff03TJ on March 14, 2011, 11:39:43 PM
congrats man. Just Giv'r eh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iZqfzQmruI&feature=related
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: apeman on March 15, 2011, 05:11:09 AM
not a fan of CNRL...standards are a bit on the low side,but spent a few years welding for Suncor at both Voyageur and Firebag...interesting to say the least..the scale of operations is amazing..good luck, and stay safe up there.
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: w squared on March 15, 2011, 09:01:51 PM
I spent the last three weeks on the CNRL Horizon site.

It's currently much smaller than the other Fort Mac "base plant" sites, but it's still a big operation, and they just finished signing off on 1.2 billion worth of expansion (in addition to the 400 million that they're spending on the rebuild and opportune maintenance after the coker fire)

Are you headed there working directly for CNRL, or for a contractor? If a contractor, which one?

Hopefully they offered you a rotation that makes sense and crew changes via flights from the Horizon airstrip. They fly 737's in and out of there for crew changes  :)

Just make sure that you bring shower sandals and your own towel and laundry detergent. The camps up there are something less than luxurious.
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: Immortal on March 15, 2011, 11:16:33 PM
Take your own pillow too. The one thing you want from home is a nice pillow... aside from all the other things from home.
Yeehoo!! First week is all classroom training.
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: cLAY on March 16, 2011, 10:20:14 AM
I will be working for a contractor, Alcor. My bro-in-law in there now working for the same company. We'll be on teh same shift, same camp, same flights, etc. Yes they pay for the flights, 7 up, 7 down, fly both ways directly to the site.

I figured about the shower sandels and pillow but didn't think of the laundry detergent, thanks. M brother-in-law is coming over tonight so I'll grill him then.
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: w squared on March 16, 2011, 02:56:36 PM
I will be working for a contractor, Alcor. My bro-in-law in there now working for the same company. We'll be on teh same shift, same camp, same flights, etc. Yes they pay for the flights, 7 up, 7 down, fly both ways directly to the site.

I figured about the shower sandels and pillow but didn't think of the laundry detergent, thanks. M brother-in-law is coming over tonight so I'll grill him then.

Sounds good. Alcor seems to be the facility (camp/shack/building) maintenance contractor. I saw a lot of their folks while I was up there.

Just don't forget your towel...the store in camp will charge you $10 for the world's crappiest little blue towel.
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: Asia on March 18, 2011, 12:12:31 AM
Good luck with the new job Clay, we'll have to get out for a run one of these times when you're back.
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: Marco on March 19, 2011, 08:50:09 AM
Im in the area but on drilling site ,not plant work. i wish i could have 7 and 7!  have fun you will love the mac  ::)
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: cLAY on March 19, 2011, 10:57:53 AM
I just found the CNRL site on a map and realized how funny it is for me to say that I'm going to the Mac. The site is an hour north of Fort McMurray and since I'll being flying in and out of the CNRL airfield I probably won't even get into Fort McMurray!
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: w squared on March 19, 2011, 08:29:48 PM
I just found the CNRL site on a map and realized how funny it is for me to say that I'm going to the Mac. The site is an hour north of Fort McMurray and since I'll being flying in and out of the CNRL airfield I probably won't even get into Fort McMurray!

You're not missing much, Clay. Fort Mac's infrastructure, gas stations, restaurants, coffee shops...and everything else....lags so far behind it's transient population level that it's not even funny. I'd much rather be out in camp on site.

I'll actually be up at the Horizon site again through until Wednesday. When do you fly up?
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: cLAY on March 19, 2011, 09:21:53 PM
Not till April 5th.
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: w squared on March 20, 2011, 11:53:23 AM
 ;D
Not till April 5th.

April? Up here? Bring yer gum boots!
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: Matt4x4 on March 24, 2011, 06:31:22 PM
I've always wanted to work up in Ft Mac.

How does a good hard worker/laborer get on with a company up there?
I do not have a trade, but they seem to hire tons of foreign workers.

Thanks
Matt
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: w squared on March 25, 2011, 03:55:25 PM
I've always wanted to work up in Ft Mac.

How does a good hard worker/laborer get on with a company up there?
I do not have a trade, but they seem to hire tons of foreign workers.

Thanks
Matt

From what I've seen on the Horizon site, 90% of the tradesmen and labourers up there are all union. If that's really what you want to do, get into one of the unions.

To be honest though...I'm not sure why you'd want to work there instead of somewhere else in the patch. It's the same work...just really, really crowded.
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: parabs on March 25, 2011, 05:31:58 PM
I've always wanted to work up in Ft Mac.

How does a good hard worker/laborer get on with a company up there?
I do not have a trade, but they seem to hire tons of foreign workers.

Thanks
Matt

Hard work is good.  Safe, productive work is better.  You roll into an interview and say that you are commited to being productive while always keeping an eye on safety, someone will hire you.

W squared, what do you do up here?  I just put in 83 days since Jan 1 at Fireskag.
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: cLAY on March 25, 2011, 06:18:01 PM
No union for the position I'm in. Not sure about the rest of the place. When my brother-in-law was first trying to get a job up there he had to join a union and tehn the union assigned him jobs. Was kinda weird actually, the company told the union they need "X" number of guys and then the union supplied them.

Everybody drug tests so if you have a problem with that you may want to look elsewhere.
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: w squared on March 25, 2011, 09:09:05 PM
W squared, what do you do up here?  I just put in 83 days since Jan 1 at Fireskag.

You poor ba$terd.  :o

I've spent a bunch of time at the Horizon site lately, but I actually work in our Airdrie office. I'm a manager for an industrial safety company. You may just see us on site when Firebag goes into turnaround this year...
Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: parabs on March 25, 2011, 11:29:58 PM
Im a gypsy, I wont be back until next winter, if I come back to this project at all. 

Memo to "W squared" if you receive/hear/or see a resume from one Timothy Toth from who has experience on Firebahg while working for TallRig, please do yourself a favor and look to the next resume.

*Disclaimer - If you are of know of one Timothy Toth, and the Tim Toth you know has a head shaped like a pear, I apologize to you should you find this to be offensive, however I will not retract my statement.

Title: Re: I'm going to the Mac!
Post by: w squared on March 26, 2011, 09:05:33 AM
My desk probably wouldn't see his resume if he worked for TallRig - I'm more on the specialized industrial safety side (shared services and technical equipment instead of NCSO's). I have a counterpart who's division handles helping clients implement their general safety program on site, so it'd be his desk that the resume would hit. What I can say is that if he's worked for TallRig, there's already one red flag up. We've taken over programs from clients after they've run TallRig off, and the mess they left behind was obscene.