Marine Engineer

On this week's episode, I have a very special guest, I’m talking with my best friend and husband, Corey. Corey is a merchant mariner, working as an engineer on an oil rig. If you’ve listened since the beginning of this series, you might remember that the original idea behind this podcast came from a desire to help guide our children as they thought about their own careers and how work would fit into a fulfilling and joyful life. Corey has been my biggest supporter throughout this project (and I’m lucky to say I have many others competing for that title) and so I’m thrilled to be able to share this interview with you all. If you’ve ever considered a job in engineering or in the maritime industry, this would be a great episode for you. You might also like my interview with my Dad, a captain of schooners, tugboats, and ferries, and Ed, who works on tugboats and captains a charter fishing boat in his off time.

Charter Fishing and Tugboats: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/charter-fishing-and-tugboats/id1673653251?i=1000642768864

Captain, Tugboats, Schooners, and Ferries: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/captain-tugboats-schooners-and-ferries/id1673653251?i=1000618604052

If you like the show, please rate and review on iTunes and Spotify  (linked below) and please share with a friend! You can also follow the podcast on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Tiktok. And if you’d like to be interviewed here, or there is a particular job you’d like to learn about, please reach out at realworkreallife@gmail.com.

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/real-work-real-life/id1673653251

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1Cp0w2BjOtS8NWfj0NhmIg?si=ece5b6ad45274b73

Transcripts are now available here: www.realworkreallife.com

Transcript

Corey Engineer

[00:00:00] Welcome to real work, real life, where I talk to real people about what they do for work and what that means for their lives. Today. I have a very special guest I'm talking with my best friend and husband Corey. Corey is a merchant Mariner working as an engineer on an oil rig. If you've listened since the beginning of this series, you might remember that the original idea behind this podcast came from a desire to help guide our children as they thought about their own careers and how work would fit into a fulfilling and joyful life.

Corey has been my biggest supporter throughout this project. And that's saying something because I'm lucky to say have many others competing for that title. So I'm thrilled to be able to share this interview with you all. If you've ever considered a job in engineering or in the maritime industry, this would be a great episode for you. Also for parents of young kids, please note that I edited out no fewer than five interruptions from our wonderful children who are up many hours past their bedtimes. 

So let's get into it.

Emily: Thanks for being here.

Corey: I'm [00:01:00] excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

Emily: So, I know what you do for work, but will you tell us, what do you do

Corey: so broadly um, what is referred to as a merchant Mariner? Most people know that those people are someone who works on the ocean, on a vessel or a ship. Usually that means on a tanker or a container ship or even a tugboat, but most people don't realize that. The industry is really big and you could choose many different avenues and my particular career.

I work in a drill ship and. Within the Merchant Marine, you kind of specialize, so you could be a DECI or an engineer, and I am the latter. Specifically, I'm a senior maintenance engineer for a drilling contractor in the oil and gas industry. So, I work for an international drilling contractor, and I work on drill ships, or MODUs as they're known, mobile offshore drilling units, and we drill oil and gas wells for oil companies.

Emily: Pretty much, would you say just like Armageddon or like a little bit like [00:02:00] Armageddon?

Corey: Yeah, it's like the, the one with Bruce Willis. I'm basically Bruce Willis.

Emily: yes, yes. Okay. Can you give like a little bit more of an elevator pitch of what you actually do or someone in your role actually does on the drill ship? Like what systems are you managing? Stuff like that.

Corey: Yeah, so as mentioned, I'm an engineer. So there's a whole section of people known as deckies are in this particular situation in this vessel, their DPOs dynamically positioned or dynamic positioned operators, right? So this vessel doesn't really move around like. Other vessels, it's in fact, it's not a good thing if we're moving around.

So when we're latched up to the wellhead, which is on the ocean floor it's connected by a B. O. P. and a bunch of riser risers, like 90 foot joints of this really heavy pipe. And then all of the drill string has to go through that to drill the actual hole. Right? So we're locked in. And if. You know, just thinking about dynamic. [00:03:00] Environments like the ocean, everything else is moving and he's got all sorts of these forces around that's trying to push us off location. So back in the day, these vessels used to be more. So they just put big anchors out. Right? Well, that's not always ideal either. So, probably back in early 2000s, they started making them dynamically positioned.

So basically, there are centers on the ocean floor and then through GPS and other motion reference units. They let us know what the waves are doing with the wind and all this stuff. And then the, system will basically use our propulsion, which are thrusters.

And they holds us in place. So the drilling crew can go about their business and drill the oil wells. But to answer your question, what I'm in charge of is essentially power management. So main engines, we run 11 KB switchboard. So that's 11, 000 volts, all the switch gear, all the thrusters. So propulsion, all that stuff's my responsibility.

Purifiers, fuel, make [00:04:00] sure everyone's got water, electricity, all the stuff that you don't really think about. When you're living on a vessel, that's what I'm in charge of. Make sure all the toilets work, all that stuff.

Emily: I remember when you first started out, it seemed like you were doing a lot more work on marine heads than I ever imagined you

Corey: A 

lot. Yeah. And that was that was the old style, which is a semi submersible and the design was a little bit different there. But yes, a lot of work on toilets and some unpleasant things for sure.

Emily: So what interested you about it? How did you find yourself in this field?

Corey: Well, I think initially I didn't know I was going to go in to, drilling. I didn't even know if I was going to honestly be a merchant marine. I went to school when I was a little bit later, as you know. So early on, I, tried my. you know, hand at different college courses and this and that.

And then I, I was spending a lot of money and realized you better come up with a better plan. So I went and worked at a shipyard, Navy shipyard. And of course my dad has worked there his almost [00:05:00] his entire career. And I started working there and, you know, worked in a shipyard, Navy shipyard, building destroyers.

And then, you know, Maine Maritime I started knowing guys that had gone there or were affiliated with people that had gone there. And so I went up to made Maritime Academy.

And I spent 4 years up there when you kind of, when you're, starting to build your kind of reputation and kind of see what's going on, you know, maritime's a, an interesting place because you get to know people in the fields, you know, in that field, but also the sub industries like, so drilling was something that interests me because the schedule is really nice.

You know, we work 28 or 21 day rotations. And of course, when I graduated drilling was really, you know, lucrative field to get into. And I knew some guys that were shipping and those shipping guys make great money, but they're gone for 75 or 90 days at a time. So, you know, I had a mentor to from the academy that really helps get me into the field and.

You know, once you're in it, you [00:06:00] kind of specialize no matter what you're doing. You know, if you're an LNG, that's kind of your specialty. I happen to be in the drilling field and that's kind of what, what my bag is these days. But what initially interested me was I had this license coming out of school and I liked the rotation and the money was good.

And they offered me a pretty good gig. I went to Singapore right off the bat and uh, worked there for a little while.

Emily: Yeah. So going back to Maine Maritime a little bit, you start, did you start when you were 27

Corey: I went to Maine Maritime when I was 26. Um, um, You know, there's always like 10 percent of you know, their incoming classes, usually, you know, ex military or nontraditional students is what they call us, which is a really nice way of saying that people are reevaluating their lives. Yeah,

Emily: because at the time I'm sure you felt it felt old, but now saying it. It seems so young now, like, 15 years later, 20 years

Corey: You're right. But also like it took me a couple of years. I'd started thinking about it when I was like 23, [00:07:00] 24 and you know, cause they have rolling missions, but they, you only really start because it's like pseudo military. It's a, it's an academy. Right? So they only started in, August, you have to go and do RPT, which is like the initial, month of.

not terribly fun stuff, but you've got a lot of stuff going on. so I made my mind up. And then when I was 25, I actually sent it in. And then I went to fall. I worked 1 more year. And then I went when I was 20, I was 26.

Emily: it's a four year college degree. You, which it's hard to do much faster because you have to do three summer work requirements. Two of which are a cruise on their training, cruise on their vessel. And one is cadetship, like a work experience, which a lot of people end up seeming like they get a job out of, right.

And you, you have to take a. It's a multi day exam at the end, right, for your license. Is it five, how many, I can't remember how many components it is,

Corey: 7 separate right. And you spend a lot of time preparing for that. Everyone at the school does. It's kind of a [00:08:00] fun taking Coastie exams.

Emily: It's kind of a fun experience getting ready

Corey: Yeah. so, you know, just to back that up, you know, for, for people that aren't familiar with the, the academy. You know, kind of situation that we have, there's 6 state academies and then 1 federal account. I mean, that's King's Point.

So Maine Maritime, Mass Maritime, Texas A& M, there's Cal Maritime, there's SUNY, and then there's Great Lakes. Those are the state academies. And then the federal academies, King's Point. And so you're required through federal law to go out and get so much see time. If you go to 1 of these academies, if you're going to be in the Coast Guard program.

So I hold an unlimited license. You come out of school with a 4 year degree and either. In Maine, if you want to be a decade, you're going to be going to marine transportation operations. And if you want to be an unlimited license. A guy for engineering, you're going to go into 1 of 3 programs for marine engineering. so when you come out of school, you have a degree. I can tell you most companies don't care about the degree. It's the license that is valuable. So, as you mentioned, [00:09:00] you know, your freshman year, you after your freshman year, you go on your 1st cruise and that cruise rotates on, like, a 5 year rotation.

So I went to Bermuda Canary islands. We did a shell back and then I think Portland. And then the 2nd, 1, it was a European cruise. So I went to France and Germany and England. And somewhere else in there, but you take a ship, a train ship, and you go to these ports throughout the world and you get to go and get off, you know, 2 or 3 days,

Emily: It's most of your class at school, so it's like 

Corey: It's, yeah, no, 

it can be. But, you know, just like military, like, you know, those, those times when you struggle together with a group really binds you together and. Because of that Maine Maritime and all the academies, but Maine Maritime you get to know these people on a different level and, you know, some of the guys I haven't talked for the years, but I can see them somewhere.

And it's like. Nothing's changed, you know, and so what you're buying partly is you know, a [00:10:00] deep, deep alumni base, and you're buying you know, these, internships. cadet shipping is a big deal and you work, you know, 70 or 80 days and they pay you for it. And, you know, sometimes not very good.

I think cadet shipping minimum is, is quite low, but some of these guys are going to like, you know, China on a cable layer are going to be on a heavy lift or you might be on a tank or LNG you go drill. I mean, we have cadets that go for us to make 000 dollars in the summer, if before your college and you don't maybe not know what you want to do uh, an academy is a really good thing to look at, especially if you like a little bit more structure within, you know, learning. I didn't necessarily want that when I was younger, but as I got older, I saw the value of that.

And if you really got your stuff, you really got yourself locked in and you can get to King's point you know, that's on another level because you go to college for free. In fact, they pay you. I mean, they're you say free. You're paying for it with your with your time later, but it puts you in a really, really good [00:11:00] situation as an adult.

So if you want to give yourself a really good you know, future gift go to 1 of the uh, federal academies.

Emily: Well, am I remembering right? Did you graduate with like 40, 000 in debt for Maine Maritime? because it's an in state college. So if you're getting in state tuition, I remember that being, it felt pretty reasonable for the, the four 

Corey: Yeah, no, you're right. It was less than 50, but the. Reality is I didn't have to pay for a room and board either. I mean, I paid for that going along, so I didn't have to pay. I just paid for tuition. But yeah, it was, I think, you know, talking with some of the thirds that are coming out, most of these guys are coming up with about a hundred thousand, but I

mean, you know, they're 22 to 23 years old.

And um, they're doing very well for themselves. And so they can usually pay that pretty quick.

Emily: Yeah. It's an interesting college experience going someplace. Where everybody's getting up or most of the school is getting up at seven in the morning and has to have shaved and short hair and is in uniforms all day. And I mean, there's plenty of shenanigans that [00:12:00] go on up there,

but that that does bring a different sort of different vibe to it, which is interesting.

Corey: Sure. Oh, yeah. 720 in the field house. You got to be there uh, information, you know, people rolling in with all sorts of. The silliness, but, yeah, I mean, there's 1000 of us every morning on information,

Emily: Yeah.

Corey: You know, getting ready for our day, 

Emily: Which is like the whole town, the whole population. 

so what kind of personality do you think does well kind of as a general mariner? 

Corey: I think. 

Emily: specifically.

Corey: inclined and what I mean by that is like, if you like to tinker, you're someone that likes to work on cars or you can read manuals. You like reading manuals and then you can go and work on something. That's really, really helpful. It's a valuable skill. If you can look at a drawing and it makes sense to you.

 maybe you've never seen a drive, frankly, like, you might not know what a schematic is or P and ideas or general arrangement is these academies will show you. In fact, you start, you know, when you start your drawing. you know, general arrangement [00:13:00] of, of engine rooms, you're like, okay, you know, you're learning the shapes of, what's in these drawings, valves, different types of valves, motors, pumps, all this other stuff.

And, you know, you start learning, you know, different things and gaining your, skills. Right. And I think people that are naturally curious. That are interested in you know, mechanical stuff. If you, you know, when you were a kid, where you're taking stuff apart, you know, I can't tell you how many radios and, you know, all phones I take apart in my house, you know, and I didn't know this is what I was going to do, but I always thought the, you know, shifts are cool.

And you know, someone that can get along with people, I tell you, I say it all the time to the, to the guys that come in. give me someone that works hard, has a good work ethic. That can get along with people and that's reliable and I will say, if you're not technically inclined, it's okay.

We can train that. if you can get along with people and people like working with you. That's such a big deal, because the industry is big, but you would not believe how small it is reputation. It means everything what people think about [00:14:00] you and and I mean, I have not.

Ever really had to search for work. it's always been there if I wanted or I knew some people that I could call. And you know, because of that. it puts you in a really nice place professionally.

Emily: Yeah, absolutely. That being a good shipmate, I think is so important and any kind of close quarters environment, but 

Corey: Yeah. Consideration for the, for others. And, you know, when they drill ship, there's almost 200 people on board and people are sleeping all the time. And, if you're the type of person to just be, you know, kind of keep yourself, you go on and do your hours and then, you know, most of the time, if I'm off, most people don't even know I'm off, they would only know, oh, he's not working right now.

You know what I mean? It's because you're not up there, you know, being loud and all that stuff. , but you're absolutely right. Be a good shipmate, be considerate of others. I think just in general are, are good rules in life.

Emily: so let's talk a little bit about kind of compensation. maybe if you could provide kind of a range of a new [00:15:00] grad starting out right now in a drill ship, what might they make? And like a chief 

Corey: we're operational engineers, right? And so we're required by U. S. Coast Guard and flag, right? We're not U. S. flagged, we're flagged in the Marshall Islands and some of the other companies I work for are Panamanian flagged and Liberian flagged.

So you have to hold you know, a big boy license. So a Coast Guard license kind of supersedes, right? All of them. So if, as long as you have of that or one from the EU, you can pretty much go, you know, they'll, they'll give it to you somewhere else. But if you come out of the academy and you've passed your, you know, your exams.

All right, so those are the exams you're talking about earlier. Everyone is getting that 3rd engineer unlimited license. So you've got that. You've got your ticket. You graduated. Right now, they're going to give you an offer about 120, 000, 130, 000 dollars a year, somewhere in that range and. the 1st year, you'll make more than that just because you've got so much [00:16:00] training and all that stuff.

But 120 to start. And it takes a couple of years for you to get see time. You need 360 days to upgrade your to your 2nd license. And just because you got your license doesn't mean they're going to pay you for it.

You got to get promoted. Right? So sometimes it takes between 2 and 3, 4 years or whatever. Once you make your 2nd license, you're going to be somewhere between. 30 and 150, 000 your base salary, and then your next 1 to your next step is going to be your 1st engineer's license, but you have to retest. So you have to test for chief unlimited.

So that's kind of a big deal. So you need C time. You need another 360 days and then tests and that'll give you your 1st license. But again, you could be, it could be a 2nd for, like, 4 or 5 years is usually normal. So you've spent, you know, maybe 7 years in the engine room and you're probably making at that point between, you know, somewhere around 170 to 200, 000.

And most of the companies now, before you make 1st, they want you to go in, [00:17:00] you know, because the engine room is just 1 part of the rig. They want you to go top side, or they want you to go subsea. top side means you're gonna be working on the drill floor, and that's a whole new ball game. That's not what we're trained for.

 Or you'll go to sub C, which is what I did. I spent six years in sub C. So with that, you're running the BOP, you're working all hydraulic systems, you're out of the engine room, right? You're, you're still in the technical department, but you're, you're doing something for drilling.

That is a whole new ball game. You're not using your license anymore really. So it's important to kind of have already tested for your first and got that outta the way. once you've kind of been a first, your tenured first, again, you're gonna be making somewhere, your base salary's gonna be like, you know, depending on who you work for, like 170 to 200, somewhere in there.

And then once you make chief, you're somewhere again, this is. You know, just the range, and depending who you work for is 200 to 250, 000 and. Again, that's, you know, your base, your base salary. So depending on, performance bonuses and, you know, they have [00:18:00] different incentives for the higher you go, you have different performance bonuses.

And, and, and that's just in drilling. I mean, I know guys that are in deep water that work for container ships or chiefs and they make 350, 000 a year, But they're, they're also gone. You know, their rotations are 90 day rotations. And so, you know. there's even less people that want to do that.

Right? So the license is really important. And there's people that want to do that. And then there's people that go into, you know, these other niches, like, heavy lifts and stuff like that. And once you start getting more and more experience. You become even more valuable to the industry, so they're willing to pay you more money.

And there's just less and less people like in the drilling industry. There's just not that many people that have 15 or 20 years that have. engine room experience, subsea experience, topside experience. And so they're like, okay, well you know, we'll, we'll have to, we'll have to pay you accordingly.

So,

Emily: Yeah. The, the pay, it seems like from knowing other people in the industry, it's like, obviously as your license and your role goes up, you make more, but then [00:19:00] it's like. The bigger the boat, the longer the rotation, the riskier the job, the more specialized the job. Those are the kind of things that come with more money.

So you kind of have to decide with each 1. is it really worth it for you to get that? You know, to go from 200 to 250 or whatever. So

Most of these. are either they're unionized that comes with pretty good union benefits, or in your case, you're like a, you know, a full time employee for a company and kind of in our experience, but with you working for those companies, healthcare has been really good, really good retirement matching short term long term disability, you know, all the kind of typical benefits package that comes with And a lot of different salary jobs, but sometimes kind of like a jump up in goodness, I guess I would say.

do you kind of feel that that's pretty standard across the industry?

Corey: Yeah. You know, if you're going deep sea, if you're on blue water, you're going to have to be most likely it's the best choices to [00:20:00] go in the union. So there's. Like, 3 main unions, and most engineers are going to be in meba. And, you know, that's where the the best billets are. And then, you know, you're going to have to do, like, 6 years before your class 1.

Of C time, they require all sorts of C time. You know, so you'll start coming out of school. You're going to get the kind of the worst billets and then you're going to get. I don't actually think it takes that much to get your, second class, but you know, it takes time and you need to get your seniority and you're learning and all this stuff.

But the guys that are going out right now are making killer money if you get three or four years of experience and you start off as. The class three, you're going to make, 150, 000 in very short amount of time, like, you know, six months, you're going to make 150 grand.

And so drilling's a little bit different in that, you know, like I tell the young guys just go and ship, you know, because drilling, drilling will always be there, but. You know, there's an opportunity cost to starting in tankers or container ships and trying to cross over to, you know the guys that come out of school and they start right off, you know, that you could be making 250 grand by the time you're [00:21:00] 30, you know what I mean?

And part of that is, you know, where, where you landed in the you know, oil cyclical, right? So if you happen to come out of school at a good time and all the. Companies are hiring blowing and going, then, you're probably going to luck out. And, you know, if it's a downturn, like it was in 2016, 17, 18 those aren't great times.

you're kind of a captive audience at that point. So they might, they might chip away at maybe retirement a little bit or wages a little bit. But, if you're a licensed engineer in the drilling. Industry, you're going to make 130 grand a year.

otherwise they'll just. People leave and not come back and because we're required on so many different levels by the clients, by regulation, regulatory bodies by. Flag by class. You know, we're necessary evil. They got to have us. I'm sure they would love to not not be in that situation. But you know, it's it's a good position to be in professionally for sure.

Emily: Yeah. I, so I usually ask people about location and, you know, in our time together, most of [00:22:00] the time you're flying from our home to New Orleans or. Have you always flown to New Orleans or did you fly to Houston some too?

Corey: Crew change is almost always been if I've been outside, it's been in out of normal.

Emily: Yeah. So you fly to New Orleans, which typically the company pays for, and then they take you out on helicopter to the ship, which that is something I found people that don't have a lot of experience with the maritime industry are surprised to know that you take a helicopter out you know, for 30 minutes to two hours, however far away it is where are the other kind of.

Are there other big locations for drilling that someone might work out of still?

Corey: Out of the Gulf.

Emily: Well, there's the Gulf, but then are people still working out of Africa and Guyana and

Corey: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Guyana is a huge field. South America. That's a massive field. You know, Gulf of Mexico is huge. It's 1 of the biggest oil reservoirs in the world. Africa, different you know, Sierra Leone, Angola, Nigeria Southeast Asia has got all sorts of oil fields, Australia, a lot of oil [00:23:00] there, North Sea and North Sea. Up near England and also Newfoundland. But the biggest areas that they focus on right now Brazil, of course, is, is a huge reservoir, but right now Guyana and Gulf of Mexico and Australia are huge in drilling right now.

Emily: yeah. And two, two cool things that you've done in your career or shipyard times, what with them being built and getting to spend like a considerable amount of time in Korea and Singapore and like, get to, you know, for someone kind of looking to explore a little bit in their professional life, I thought those were pretty cool opportunities.

Corey: Yeah, the trial parts been fun. You know, if you can believe it, they don't always allow oil rigs to go in the nicest places in the world.

Emily: So

Corey: You know, it is cool. It is. It is cool. I've got friends that the ones that that are on, like, cable layers and, like, the South China Sea or Southeast Asia. Those guys go all over the place.

I'm talking like Bali and Australia, New Zealand and. Ross was in Uganda like a [00:24:00] month ago, 

pulling a rope out of a thruster he goes all over the place. Of course, you know, you want that excitement, then you're going to be willing to work 110 day hitches too, right? So but yeah, I've been, I've literally sailed across the world twice.

On new builds, I spent a bunch of time in Korea and Singapore and shipyards and saw some of the biggest shipyards in the world and did a bunch of commissioning for a couple of different new builds, which is really, nice to see a lot of people don't even get to do 1 new build.

And I was able to do it too. So that was, that was a good thing to see my career. And I did a little bit of drilling in South America and, I will say the Gulf of Mexico is a nice trade because it's so close. I can be, I can leave New England and be down in the Gulf the next day. And then something should happen.

I need to be home. I can be home in 1 day, which is really nice.

Emily: Well, yeah, I think when our second child was born, I'm pretty sure you came home that day and we had the baby the next day, right? That next morning. It's there's a lot of, I think there's a lot of missed babies and weddings and illnesses and stuff when you're further away and [00:25:00] when

Corey: Oh, yeah.

No joke. the sea, it certainly happens all the time.

Oh, for sure.

Emily: Can you talk a little bit about hours on the rig and also rotations, what they look like?

Corey: Yeah. So. In the Gulf of Mexico, you're going to be. Most likely you're going to be on a 21 or 21 or 28 and 28 day rotation. So it's not actually matched time because your travel days come out of your time, right? So you got to work 28 days, but then you're traveling too.

So realistically it's like a 29 and 26 or something like that. But in theory you get half the year off. And so when I'm on the rig. You got to work 12 hours unless you're a 3rd party contractor. You're going to be everyone has to work a 12 hour shift throughout the day. And so I owe the company 28.

I work at 2028. so I owe them 20 12 hour shifts. And because I'm a supervisor, I often work over. So I have a lot of, you know, 13, 14 hour days when I'm out to work and, you know, I got to keep my, [00:26:00] my crew going, make sure they're, kind of aligned with what we're doing and, you know I jump back and forth, depending on what the chiefs want me to do.

Sometimes, like, we just had a big overhaul. 1 of the engines we had to put a new crankshaft in so that there was a bunch of other extra people on the rig. And so they wanted me to be on days for that 6a to 6p because there's meetings and stuff like that. But often when I come on, I'll just say, hey, you know, what ship do you want me to work?

And they'll be like, you know, it's work opposite me. So I'm, I'm, I'm opposite the chief. So if something should come up, you know, on the floor or whatever, they can call me up and make sure they get the resources they need up top.

Emily: Yeah. can you tell me about your average day on the. On the rig, this is actually one that I have a pretty good idea about, but I think it's probably one that I'll be the most surprised to know about.

Corey: Really? Do you want to tell me what you think I do? 

Emily: I don't, I don't understand when you eat. I'm not clear on that, but 

Emily: I think when you work. [00:27:00] Days, you, you get up and have breakfast first, and then, and then you work all day doing things.

Corey: you get up and you just work. And then when you've done your

Emily: You tell the thirds what to 

Corey: working. 

Emily: and then, 

I 

assume, 

Corey: I know why you guys think I have such a good gig.

Emily: hey, I said work, I know that you work really, really hard. I, I have no doubt that you, I mean, I, I think one thing I've thought about when I've talked to different people is like, there's a lot of jobs that are underpaid, but I will say jobs that are really highly paid almost always. It's like, there's a reason why it's because they, you get, you know, you're gone.

There's the risk and you were, I mean, seven days a week, 12 hour, at least days, it's no joke. But so I, I'm assuming you're doing rounds on the engines and making sure everything works, fixing things that are broken or telling people to fix things that are [00:28:00] broken. I'm not sure when you have lunch, I don't understand that.

But then I think you have dinner when you get done and then you either go walk or read. Or do schoolwork if you need to and then you sleep for like six hours, five or six hours and then get up and do it again. How did I do?

Corey: Yeah, that's not that's not that far off, you know, so, we have a what's called a free tower meeting. So, as I mentioned, there's a couple 100 people on board, but it's a 24 hour operation. So not all those people are on at the same time. So, if I'm working days, there's probably like 100. And 20 people on on tower on days.

So nights is a lot quieter. So often it's a preferred shift. If you don't get the choice in it, you just got to work days. And there's, there's often more oversight with safety and there's just a lot more more eyes. Right? And that's not to say that actively being unsafe. It's just, there's a lot of people whose jobs it is to, you know, [00:29:00] kind of.

Be involved in your business. There's just more and more of that,

right? But yeah, well, 

you wouldn't believe the, you know, there's some people who's like sole job is, is not to annoy you per se, but like, they're not, they're not, they're not actively helping me.

I can tell you 

Emily: not easy to be the safety person. I just would like, 

I don't think 

Corey: no. It's a thank job. 

Emily: on an oil rig. I think that would be a really hard job,

Corey: Yeah. Especially, especially if we're fixing to do some stuff that's not safe. 

You know, get outta here, man. You don't wanna see this. I'm telling you. You don't wanna see this. Right. So I get up, you know, pretty early. If you're expected to be on tower at six, your turnover's at six.

So I get a pre-tour at five 30. And so you're curious about my, my food situation. 

So I usually go and eat. 

Emily: think that's worth noting.

Corey: Oh, it is, Yeah, we have a full galley. You know, I don't do laundry or any of that stuff. We have a very good crew. so. [00:30:00] I'll go into the galley and I'll eat and I'm going to have a laundry room, go get my, my coveralls and all that stuff, get that sorted. And then I usually make a call back to the engine room to see if there's anything that's come up in the last, you know, a couple hours that I need to address that might not have been on the PowerPoint.

So PowerPoint gets flashed up to everyone in pre tower. We have this big cinema, so everyone kind of comes in and then you know, all the supervisors have. Yeah. Yeah. , 30 seconds to a minute to be like, Hey, this is what we're doing today. yeah, we're doing you know, a 5,000 hour service on Main Engine five.

It'll be down at this time to this time. Hopefully we'll get it done by the end of Tower based on weather or operations. We'll be taking it down at, you know, eight o'clock. And if anyone wants to be involved with the. permit to work or any of that stuff. Come on down. At 6 30, we'll go over all the risks and all that stuff.

 so everyone kind of does that. They make any announcements or flash announcements from the fleet. If you need to know about that, And then we all. Go to our respective areas, I go down [00:31:00] and so at that point, my 2nd work a split shift. So I get 6 hours with each 2nd.

So when I go down there, I have 2 fresh 3rds. 3rd engineers, and then I have a 2nd on tower with me, so I go down and I do turn over with them and I look at the plant. I make sure the plants. All healthy, ready to rock and roll for the day. And then usually from the previous day, I have a pretty good idea of what is going to be transpiring.

I try to keep you know, we have a couple of different software programs that we use for communication in between departments and inter departmentally, you know, so we have. I've just the engineers with me, but we also have a whole fleet of electricians and mechanics and senior mechanics and all that stuff.

So, you know, when I go down into the engine room, I'm kind of just mainly concerned with what we're going to be doing for the day. And then I usually. We'll turn over for 15 or 20 minutes, and then I'll make a couple phone calls to, you know, the chief and maybe the captain and see [00:32:00] if they've got, you know, they got anything.

Usually they'll tell me anyways, and if they need something addressed such as toilets or, you know, potable water is not acting right or HVAC or something like that. And then I usually will do around. I like switching my. Day to 

day I'll usually do a round of the engine spaces I'll go up to the forward a MR and that's the. The forward auxiliary machine room. so a lot of our forward machinery is up there I'll go do a round there and then usually I'll switch every other day because the thirds are really, they do the big round, those are our inspection guys, and then they let me know if something's, you know, leaking or needs to be addressed or whatever.

So usually when I get on, then I hold watch for 12 hours. So I'm the officer in charge of the watch. While I'm on. And so, you know, if something should happen, alarms come in or, you know, power management's a big concern. You know, make sure thrusters are all acting right. We have six thrusters, six main engines.

So we put out about 65, 000 horsepower. [00:33:00] And, you know, I'm in conversation with the, nav guys on the bridge regularly, you know, throughout the day and even the drillers, they'll call now and say, you know, hey, we need a salt water pump turned on or this or that. And, you know, you just respond to the plant.

The plants, you know, going a lot of it's autonomous, you know, so, you know, if we start getting bilge alarms or whatever You know, start addressing that. Hey, go see if the pipes leaking or whatever. And then on top of all that, we have a whole bunch of preventative maintenance stuff that has to be addressed.

That's our safety management system, which is required by law. So you have to basically have a management system for your, machines and equipment and make sure that all that stuff, you know, is aligned with the. Okay. OEM recommendations for maintenance and all that good stuff. So we have a system that does that.

So 1 of my biggest jobs is making sure that that stuff's being addressed. And then at the same time, the corrective maintenance that's coming in all the time, there's work orders and all that stuff. And then the parts that are needed for all these jobs are, you know, ordered. you know, it's not ideal to have parts [00:34:00] sitting on the shelf.

It's really expensive to just have, couple million dollars worth of 

Emily: Right. 

Corey: sitting on the shelf. So it's, it's ideal to order it just before you need it. And if you can believe it, it's not actually that easy to balance that. And especially if you're in, you know, if you're in like Guyana or Africa or whatever, you know, try to go get a part from Granger, like, that's going to be a month out.

And most of these rigs were built in Korea. So a lot of our parts come from Korea. Thanks so much. I mean, just crankshaft took, like, 3 months to come over by boat. Right? So, you know, there's, there's some considerations that people don't quite appreciate if you're on an ocean going vessel, and you're going back for support, it's actually not that hard to get stuff because you're going and you may like, okay, well, I'm going to be in, you know I'm going to, I'm going to be in Karachi and, 3 days I'll pick it up there.

But instead it's. We're kind of static. So you, kind of have to plan ahead a lot for this stuff. So because of that, a lot of like Hyundai, who are make our main engines, those guys have a, a headquarters in Houston. So a lot of a lot of our business units are based out of Houston [00:35:00] or New Orleans.

 you know, and building relationships with people like that are important, like, Hey, you know, I've got some guys that, I never thought I'd be, I got a valve guy, but I got a guy that 

he can 

get 

me any valve 

I do. And he can get me a valve, any valve I want in the world.

He can have it to me in like two weeks, you know, it's not gonna be cheap, but I can, I can get anything I need from, you know, as far as valves from that guy. So yeah, so day to day date wise, it's actually, pretty routine, but my days are never the same, one, it is slow.

I try to give the guys some downtime, but often there's just so much, especially in the new thirds to learn that I don't often give them much downtime. Because I, I'm a big believer in, in getting them. To learn, you know, even if they, if they have a good grasp of the engine room, there's stuff up top side that they don't get any exposure to.

So I try to, I try to make it interesting for them. And, you know, I reward hard work with maybe some downtime or some other, maybe preferred jobs. yeah, so that's my day in a nutshell.

Emily: So, a lot of a lot of like wiping things down with shammy cloths and a lot of wrenching, [00:36:00] I'm assuming with giant wrenches,

Corey: yeah. yeah. Well, I didn't even mention. So, yeah, so we, We have lunch. So, you know, we kind of rotate out. So I usually have lunch around noon and then,

um, 

Emily: is what you're saying.

Corey: you want a box lunch. I'll give it to you. I just call. I call up. So if I'm going to be late, I just call the gal and be like, hey, make me a box lunch, whatever.

And then, and then dinner's at 6 PM. So every like, 6 hours, there's a meal 24 hours a day. And um,

Right as far as eating and then so I get off usually between once the my 2nd comes on board. I'm sorry. The other 3rds come come down. We do turnovers again. I tell them what they're going to be doing for the night.

And then I get off at, you know, usually 630 quarter 7 and then I go eat 1 last time. I'll talk to the family and then I usually we'll do my extracurricular, whatever that may be working out or I go up to hell deck and walk read, whatever it may be. And then usually I go to bed by 930 10 o'clock and I'm up at 4.

Emily: Yeah, that's another thing I think that surprises people sometimes that you have internet out there. So we talk and text and talk [00:37:00] on video call, you know, every day, every once in a while, I'll be surprised that someone is really shocked to hear that, that I have been like pretty constant communication with you.

It's not like it was back, you 

Corey: yeah, 

Emily: when my dad was starting to work on the water and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah.

Corey: yeah. It's been interesting to see because when I, if you remember, right, when we first, when we first started this, the internet wasn't very good. So 

just recently, like in the last couple of years, when we have Starlink on that rig, 

and so that, that, has been really a big game changer for us.

So I've been able to 

like actually, FaceTime, which is really nice

Emily: . You've mentioned some really good things about this field, but do you have anything that you would add, especially if it's something that you think people might find surprising that you love about your work?

Corey: well, This might be surprising a lot of rigs I can fish off and so I've, I've got some some pretty awesome yellowfin tuna. I think is a, total mess for some of the, some of the rigs. They don't allow it, you know, mostly because of the clients, [00:38:00] but a lot of the rings you can actually fish off of, which is pretty cool.

I 

like doing that. the schedule is just really, really nice. So when I'm home, I get like concentrated time off to do whatever, you know, and so many people are like, well, I've got five weeks of vacation a year or whatever. And, you I've worked for companies that. early on the shipyard.

I mean, they give me two or three weeks of vacation a year. I'm like, I can't imagine going back to like I have three weeks of vacation. Are you kidding? but you know, that's for the course. You know, if you want to work short side these days to start you know, so I get a lot of time off to do what I please.

Emily: Yeah, almost half the year and kind of no emails, no, you know, it's just off time. 

Corey: Yeah,

I have a back to back that's on the rig. And when he's there, I don't think about it. And when I'm there, he can go about his business and he doesn't worry about it. You know, once in a while we'll text. But like we all have reliefs for that reason. And so when I'm home, I'm really unplugged and I get to do, the things that I really enjoy and recharge.

I like to, you know, power sports and hunt and fish and all that good stuff. [00:39:00] Spend time with the family and I get to do all that. so course you got to pay the piper and how I pay the piper is on crew change day. I go and, when I, when you're on the rig for the 1st hour, he just flew in on the helicopter and you're like, oh, man, here we go.

I got a boat a month right now, you know, but, that's part of the deal when you go down this career path. And, you know, I've mentioned the other, the other schedule, some of the guys, yeah. you know, we got some friends that they were on OSVs, which are offshore supply vessels.

Those are the boats that help supply, the stuff that we need. And, I mean, some of those guys are work 4 weeks on, 2 weeks off, right? So they work 9 months a year, for the same, you know, money really. And some guys, if you go deep sea, you're going to be working 75 to 90 day rotations, right?

Now, that's match time still but it takes a, it takes a person that, Has got some fortitude to be able to deal with that kitchen and hitch out and, and, on top of that, find yourself a partner. That's okay with that. Right?

 You know, because not everyone's made to be like, what I got to do this with with you know, [00:40:00] the kids for 75 days that I would whack.

Um, but, you know, that being said, I know guys that are my age. 

Yeah. So that's one of the downsides, obviously, but you know, one of the upsides is I know guys that went to the Academy coming out of high school and they're retired already. They're my age and have 20 years with the union and they're, collecting a pension at my age right now.

So, there's some real. Benefits to starting young in this field because you can actually have a whole other career outside of it, imagine being 42 years old, 43 years old, collecting a pension and then do another 20 years somewhere, do something interesting that you really are kind of you know, interested in.

So I think that's really cool. And, and, you know, while you're doing it, you're making great money. I mean, the guy I'm talking about specifically, he. I mean, he was a chief for Hapag Lloyd or one of them. Anyways, he was making 300 plus thousand, paid his house off, put a bunch of money in retirement and, and, and he's getting a pension, which we don't get a pension, but the union you do.

so yeah, he's done very well for himself. I will say a difficult part of the job [00:41:00] is, you know, work down the South. And so working with some folks that might not necessarily share You know, same social and cultural beliefs and, you know, can be tough at times. And, and frankly, you know, I, I work with those guys, you know, I live with them more than I live with my family.

And that's really tough, you know? So when I'm home, I don't always feel like. You know, being with other groups all the time and, I um, you know, know myself well enough these days that if I've had enough, you know, we'll just do something else and but as a whole, I like the, the work life balance that provides and you know, it's interesting and, I'm pretty well in line with, you know, my, my skills and abilities and all that stuff So I'm fortunate about that.

Emily: Yeah, I think the thinking about the time off the schedule to like, you know, we have little kids. I work full time also. And I think sometimes people can not so much where we live because there's more people that do are in your kind of line of work. But [00:42:00] I think people can sometimes hear it and be like, Oh my gosh, that sounds really.

Hard, but when you're home, you're home. So it's like, you know, the sick days and the school vacations and the bus pickups, like you have a lot more flexibility than our, our friends that have two full time working families. Of course, a lot of people in the maritime industry, it seems like the. You know, it's often the wife will stay home at least when the kids are a little bit you know, we're lucky to have such supportive family that makes it happen for us.

But that other side of like, when you're, when you're gone, it's hard, but when you're home, it's such a relief. And I, I wonder sometimes for people that are everyone's home all the time, . Everything has a trade off, right? Like I get the time that you're fully home all the time, and a lot of people don't, don't get that side of it.

So it is interesting too, that it adds a real cyclical nature to our lives. Like the month that you're home, the month that it's the four of us and the month that it's the three of us are, [00:43:00] have such distinct qualities,

Corey: They had different flavors for sure.

Yeah. 

Emily: flavors for sure. 

Corey: Yeah. You know, and for me as well, you know,

there's, 

you've seen my room on the, on the ship and some, some ships are, you know, the rooms are nice or whatever, but, you know, unfortunately I don't have to share any longer. You know, and, and I mean, I guess that's 1 of the things is, you know, I've done a tremendous amount of physical labor.

I've had a license, but, you know, a lot of stuff has to get done. It's going to be some years. Of when you're getting into the industry of just like a lot of it's just hard work. It's just a lot of hard work. And if you don't like that, then. it's it's probably not for you. Now it gets easier over time, you become, you know, supervisor and then, I get to pick and choose what I do.

I'm still I'm a working, supervisor. I like to do some of that down there, work with the guys, but I get to pick and choose. Which is, which is nice. And, and everyone earns that ability. You know, when, when you get 10 years in there, you can tell like, yeah, go and do this [00:44:00] and I want it done.

Hopefully by this time lemme know if you need any support. And they, you know, they go out and do it and, you know, that's part of their learning experience as well, right? So a lot of this is you get the license, but you know, they don't know what they're doing with it. So a lot of it in my role is making sure that they're getting.

exposure to, rebuild and purifiers and engine services and all this stuff. So they, you know, so they're, they're working to better their career position as well. So, it's actually 1 of the more rewarding things I think is, Finding a guy that when you when you meet him, you're like, oh, geez.

And then, like, you know, you work with him for 6 months or a year, and it's become a long way. This 1 guy who, you know, I guess he's been in the engine room for a couple of years now. And You know, when I first met him, I'm just like, Oh, my goodness, or maybe we should have have you considered a career in retail or something? And uh, but, you know, I took him up, I took him up while we had to rebuild uh, a guide head for a top drive racker for a pipe racker up on the [00:45:00] drill floor for the last 10 to well, and, and I took him up there and, you know, we spent a day just like rebuilding this thing and he did a really good job.

I was really proud of him. And that builds confidence and that confidence turns into desire. To get better. And so it's really important to kind of find out what these guys. what their skills are and what they want and, really try to give them opportunities to do those things.

Cause I think, people rise up and, you know, rise to the occasion or they won't. And I think most of these guys, if you give them the opportunity and things that they really want to do, they'll rise up and they'll do a really good job for you. And they appreciate being challenged.

I think most people do. So I really enjoy that part of the job.

Emily: yeah, I think that's such a, you have to kind of find the joy and supervisory management kind of type of work or else he really shouldn't do it because it is a 

Corey: yeah, yeah, I mean, I say it all the time, you know, I can do fix equipment, but I can't fix people. It's uh, it's tough. And, you know, unfortunately, they don't always you know, these companies. You know, just tenure will often get you to a supervisor spot, but [00:46:00] tenure doesn't make you a leader of people. some people belong as technical engineers.

Those are the guys who want turning wrenches. Like, why are we going to put them in a supervisor spot? But , they want those tenure people in the supervisor spots, even though they might not even want to do that. And so

you do get people in the field that are, maybe, especially on the drill floor, you know, they've been drilling for 20 or 25 years and that are just like, have no business being a supervisor at all.

And I think that. 

Emily: long enough,

Corey: Yeah, I mean, most of these guys up there, there's no degree or a license. You don't have to have that.

Right? So often it just takes, you know, if you got 25 years, you just outlasted everybody else. You're going to be the, you're going to be the boss. And then, Let's just say, like, you don't get a you know, an open mind for those types of people all the time. that part can be a challenge working with kind of a wide range of people and how they, how they manage problems and solutions and people and all that stuff.

Emily: Yeah.

I was thinking too, as you were talking about that, that [00:47:00] one thing I've noticed in your field over the years is that you have to be someone that can kind of like shake off near misses or mistakes and move on. And that's true. I think that's probably really true in medicine. I bet that's true.

Anything that's like. Has some serious danger implications because if you let your confidence take a hit, then you become more dangerous and you get more likely to make, and I've, that's just one thing I've noticed where I'm like, if you're really thinking about this field, I would give that some serious consideration.

What happens if you get in a serious accident or you have a serious mess up? Are you able to fight through that and, and start again tomorrow? Yeah. 

Corey: yeah, and, you know, something else I'll add to that too is you know, how you handle stressful situations. You know what I mean? wasn't subsea. We take a kick on the well. And, that's some serious stuff. And there's real implications. people's lives and rig, you know, all that stuff.

I mean, people know about the horizon. And [00:48:00] more, unstable formations that we've drilled into. And, and so that's always, you know, it's a, it's a dangerous job. They're, they're, they're not paying us, you know, super well.

There's everyone, everyone on the rig makes six figures, every person on the rig. They're not doing that because they want to I've been, you know, incidents, you know, just involved in because my. Place on the rig and those times aren't always fun but not getting too excited and really trying to use your head. that's when you get paid. You get paid to do the tough stuff, not the easy stuff.

Emily: Yeah I mean, that's the truth. So no like, screaming, crying, hiding, that's not, that's you can, but you're probably going to earn a probably heard a helicopter ride home the next day, put that 

Just 

Corey: evaluation

Emily: It's just weeping under your safety glasses 

Corey: or he cries too much. 

Emily: year. 

Corey: asked that the other day. 1 of the 1 of the you ever made anybody cry? No, I don't know. [00:49:00] 

Emily: It

was funny. It was funny when our, our daughter, the other day heard you've mentioned that you cried about something deeply emotional and she was like. You cried tears out of your eyes,

Corey: Yeah, no, she said water in your eyes.

Emily: you cried actual water

in your eyes. you actually had water in your eyes? 

Corey: I don't know how else to cry. I'm going to try to not, have water in my eyes next time I cry.

Emily: you ever made anyone cry, I mean, listen, if it 

Corey: Well, 

Emily: Crying is an emotional reaction 

Corey: it is, you know. 

It is. It's stressful. And, that was my favorite dog that died. I was really sad.

Emily: It's not, Oh my gosh, yeah, it's true.

Corey: We're at like dinner the other day and she brought it up. She told like a waitress, like dad, dad cried, cried when the dog died. It's like, yeah, that'd be, that was like 10 years. You weren't even alive. Yeah. Yeah. Water in his eyes.

Emily: He had real water in his eyes. Can you believe it? So. This is the last question [00:50:00] I have for you. What is one piece of advice generally about work that you would give your younger self?

Corey: Well, I have more than one piece of advice. I said, I don't know if I should share it all now.

Emily: It doesn't have to be just one.

Corey: so here it is. I have several pieces of advice for the younger generation specifically. So the 1st part is to try. To live your life a little like a business. And what I mean by that is, like, when you're considering going into a career path, look at the initial investment, look at the time to pay it off, look at the return on investment, look at that path that you may want to go down and see if there's a competitive advantage. So we talked about my license, but there's a bunch of other careers, like doctors and other health care workers. Pilots, engineers, lawyers, CPA,

um, those all require a license or certification, and what that does is it [00:51:00] builds a natural restriction on the supply side. So in business, that's a barrier to entry. And therefore you can get not only more money, but more flexibility and you can get more concession from the market that wants those, those skills. The reason why physical laborers. In general, like, in construction, don't make that much money because there's an abundance of people in that market in that field.

And so that's not to say, you know, you need to have a particular license, but it certainly does. Kind of help in the knowledge, skills and abilities. It restricts how many people can be in that field, which is really A nice place to be professionally.

So when you start designing what you want your future to look like, think about these things and think about your income in real binary terms again, like a business. I have this much coming in. I have this much going out. And I see, especially in the oil field, they call it being oil field rich. I see guys that are driving a hundred thousand dollar [00:52:00] trucks, you know, they're in debt and that is a crazy position to put yourself into, in which business would you ever want to spend all your money?

Emily: Right.

Corey: Very few, Right. It doesn't make sense. So if you think. About your life is kind of a small, you know, a small business. You probably wouldn't be inclined to make maybe as many impulsive purchases. And maybe look at risk a little bit differently. And maybe be a little bit more conservative with your decisions.

And I think when compounded over 30 or 40 years, those, those little decisions. Compounded over the long term makes such a huge difference in your life. And you don't quite appreciate that when you're younger. So 

I think. 

I think if you can do that, you'll be ahead of. Nearly everyone in your peer group, and I don't like comparing to peer groups, let's just say this.

I think you'd be in a really awesome early on every career has its headaches. You have to choose a path [00:53:00] 

don't believe you should be chasing passions for a career.

I think you should like it abilities and knowledge and skills should be aligned with that career. But once you start deriving an income from an activity, especially one that you love, then I think you'll very quickly stop loving it. And to me, that would just be a travesty because it would take out some of the fun of life.

you you know, love something so much and now you don't because you have to pay for groceries with it or, you know, you're paying a 

truck payment for it or whatever. So my advice there is to find something that you enjoy, but. That fits with your, skills, abilities, and offers you a good balance of money and flexibility.

So that you can shut that part of your life off, you know, you don't want to be plugged into your work life all the time. I don't know many people that do. And if, if you are that type of person, frankly, I think. You know, you need to reevaluate [00:54:00] your life but that's for another podcast.

Um, But you want to be able to shut that part off. You know, when I come home, I want to be unplugged and enjoy the really fun parts of life, which are family and friend time and enjoy my hobbies and that balance. I think is incredibly important for your long term health, physically, emotionally and financially.

And the earlier you develop those good habits, you know, balancing life and work. With all 3 of those, the better off you'll be in your life as you get older, I think, in terms of general overall happiness. And my last bit of advice, I can go on and on, so I'll keep this one short. But I think it's the most important, so I saved it for last, and that's to pick the right life partner. sure you're aligned with them with the important stuff, money, raising the family, religion, all that stuff. it's imperative that you have fun with them.

Emily: Hopefully 

Corey: Right? 

Emily: it right the next time.

Corey: Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. Well, you know, [00:55:00] if you're not having fun with them when you're, when you're dating, then you should really just say your goodbyes because it's only going to get more difficult. And like, if you're not tied together financially, what do you get to argue about? There's not a whole, you don't got kids, you don't got, there's nothing to argue about. What are you doing? Get out of there. So there's plenty of great people out there. Go pick a winner for you. You know, pick someone that you, that you just love hanging out with.

You picked the right partner. It'll make all the difference in the world and your long term happiness and your, and your, financial, like it'll supercharge your finances. All the good stuff in my life is because I met you. And, I'm really fortunate about that. So for me, it's made all the difference and I encourage everyone to go find their own Emily.

Emily: Thanks, honey. I totally agree.

Well, it's hard to follow that up. That, that was some really, really good advice. And I think that's probably, you know, the kind of same things I would, I would want our girls to hear someday. So hopefully they'll still be podcasts around when they get to get around to listening to it.

Well, that is all I had for you. I just really appreciate [00:56:00] you taking the time to talk with me. And I can't wait to, to share this one.

Corey: It's been fun.

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