First four years of my career I worked in seismic oil exploration. I worked in Sudan for about 18 months, then Nigeria for about the same. Also worked in Tanzan

First four years of my career I worked in seismic oil exploration. I worked in Sudan for about 18 months, then Nigeria for about the same. Also worked in Tanzania. In Nigeria we lived on house boats. In Sudan aircon trailers. In Tanzania we slept in tents besides crocodile infested rivers and lakes. Mostly I drove a LandCruiser through all kinds of conditions, checking cables and geophones and swapping out telemetry boxes. Occasionally I would get a week or two in the "Veribo" - which was an air-conditioned room full of automated test equipment. There were long sessions of component level troubleshooting, swapping out components like voltage regulators and power transistors and so on. I became a Senior Observer and moved to the "DogBox" where the main telemtry system was and operated and troubleshot from there - it was much less fun than "running line". In the rainy season in Sudan we were flown to work every day (and returned home) by an Vietnam Vet who I'm pretty convinced thought the war was still on - attack take offs, landing in clearings with only a few inches between rotors and trees. It was my first job out of Polytechnic, back in 1984. It was a HELL of a lot of fun. Some great friends made, and sadly lost, in those years.