Landman stories, practical field guides, oilfield humor, industry rants, events, and dispatches from the road.https://www.landmanlife.com/https://www.landmanlife.com/2-lessons-from-nape/https://www.landmanlife.com/2-lessons-from-nape/Jack learns a couple of lessons at NAPE about screwing over a shark…long story short, it’s never a good idea.Fri, 21 Feb 2020 02:11:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/2020-lookback/https://www.landmanlife.com/2020-lookback/The Intern's year-end tally from an unidentified airport: laid off, screaming into the void on Twitter, and somehow a founding Landbro.Thu, 31 Dec 2020 10:52:27 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/2021-christmas-gift-guide/https://www.landmanlife.com/2021-christmas-gift-guide/Don’t know what to get for your friends, family, or yourself this Christmas? We’ve got you covered with a list of some of our favorite gear this year!Fri, 26 Nov 2021 14:42:27 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/2023-a-year-of-growth-gratitude-and-looking-forward-to-2024/https://www.landmanlife.com/2023-a-year-of-growth-gratitude-and-looking-forward-to-2024/The Intern on gratitude, Seneca, and a year of growth, plus the title that both El Jefe and ChatGPT said was wrong. He kept it anyway.Sat, 30 Dec 2023 11:53:32 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/2023-unwrapped-a-year-of-unforgettable-fun-in-the-landman-life/https://www.landmanlife.com/2023-unwrapped-a-year-of-unforgettable-fun-in-the-landman-life/New #EFT friends in Houston and Dallas, a growing client list, letting go of the negativity, and still blasting Avi Mirman about the money.Sun, 31 Dec 2023 13:17:57 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/3rd-annual-nape-kickoff-happy-hour/https://www.landmanlife.com/3rd-annual-nape-kickoff-happy-hour/The 3rd Annual NAPE Kickoff Happy Hour at Reserve 101, hosted with Holmes Law. Register first so check-in does not eat your drinking time.Fri, 27 Jan 2023 15:03:10 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/4th-annual-nape-kickoff-happy-hour-presented-by-landmanlife/https://www.landmanlife.com/4th-annual-nape-kickoff-happy-hour-presented-by-landmanlife/Dust off the roundtoes and get the sport coat back from the cleaners. Year four of the NAPE Kickoff Happy Hour, with a changed menu.Sun, 04 Feb 2024 19:35:36 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/a-better-eft/https://www.landmanlife.com/a-better-eft/The arguments took sides, got personal, and dragged in people ten dominos away. What #EFT is actually for, and how to be better at it.Fri, 25 Jun 2021 17:04:14 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/a-farewell-to-shale-part-1-ft-aanddbadboy/https://www.landmanlife.com/a-farewell-to-shale-part-1-ft-aanddbadboy/Part one with @AandDBadBoy, on the old guest authors, the shitpost that drew cease and desist letters, and where shale went from there.Fri, 27 Mar 2020 01:47:03 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/a-landman-walks-into-a-crawfish-boil/https://www.landmanlife.com/a-landman-walks-into-a-crawfish-boil/The wives noted that me and LandmanWife's cousin are 3-0 on getting kicked out of restaurants after crawfish boils. Friday was booked anyway.Mon, 26 Apr 2021 16:33:52 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/a-preview-of-more-things-to-come/https://www.landmanlife.com/a-preview-of-more-things-to-come/November 2010, one of the first posts ever: a warning that this blog would be all over the place, and a promise to get to Gasland eventually.Tue, 09 Nov 2010 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/a-regular-tuesday-night/https://www.landmanlife.com/a-regular-tuesday-night/November 2010: the office mapper starts drinking at noon and does not stop. A regular Tuesday night in rural Pennsylvania, recorded live.Tue, 09 Nov 2010 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/a-toast-to-sba-the-impermanence-of-life-and-the-value-of-eft/https://www.landmanlife.com/a-toast-to-sba-the-impermanence-of-life-and-the-value-of-eft/The #EFT community lost @SadBillAckman. A silent toast, a trip to Soluna for chispas, and what this strange internet community is worth.Mon, 12 Jun 2023 21:40:53 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/aapl-modern-day-royal-order-of-the-water-buffalo-archives-repost-from-november-25-2012-titlenazi/https://www.landmanlife.com/aapl-modern-day-royal-order-of-the-water-buffalo-archives-repost-from-november-25-2012-titlenazi/The TitleNazi’s rant about the AAPL in all its glory. “AAPL – modern day Royal Order of the Water Buffalo.” This is a repost from November 25, 2012.Wed, 06 May 2020 19:49:34 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/an-industry-of-waste-repost-from-july-16-2014-archives/https://www.landmanlife.com/an-industry-of-waste-repost-from-july-16-2014-archives/A 2014 post I have no memory of writing, on overspending in oil and gas. Invoking the younger, dumber landman clause on this one.Thu, 14 May 2020 19:28:46 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/and-a-bottle-of-rum-book-review/https://www.landmanlife.com/and-a-bottle-of-rum-book-review/A book review with a Cuba Libre in hand. Wayne Curtis on rum, the New World it helped found, and why Patton always kept a bottle close.Fri, 25 Aug 2023 19:20:55 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/another-day-another-dollar-but-always-the-same-bullshit/https://www.landmanlife.com/another-day-another-dollar-but-always-the-same-bullshit/November 2010: courthouse deadlines, an empty Red Bull can in every room of the house, and the same bullshit as the day before.Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/avi-mirmans-battalion-oil-bid-for-450-million-a-personal-perspective-on-his-unpaid-debt-to-me/https://www.landmanlife.com/avi-mirmans-battalion-oil-bid-for-450-million-a-personal-perspective-on-his-unpaid-debt-to-me/Avi Mirman is reportedly buying Battalion Oil for $450 million. He still owes me for land services. Both facts belong in the same post.Fri, 22 Dec 2023 16:28:15 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/before-the-sun/https://www.landmanlife.com/before-the-sun/Sunrise over south Texas from the driver's seat, dew and fog in the pastures, on a drive done a thousand times and still worth the early alarm.Thu, 03 Aug 2023 19:36:18 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/being-original-and-owning-an-idea/https://www.landmanlife.com/being-original-and-owning-an-idea/Somebody in Alberta turned up with his own OnlyRigs logo. On being first to market, owning an idea, and why neither means much anymore.Tue, 15 Aug 2023 10:34:12 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/books-that-stand-the-test-of-time-my-all-time-favorites/https://www.landmanlife.com/books-that-stand-the-test-of-time-my-all-time-favorites/All-time favorites across fiction, non-fiction, oil, and business, from The Rum Diary and Chocolate Lizards to The Frackers and Oilfield Trash.Thu, 31 Aug 2023 14:57:20 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/burn-it-down-and-salt-the-ground/https://www.landmanlife.com/burn-it-down-and-salt-the-ground/A reader's unedited response to the broken-broker rants: the Disillusioned are everywhere, the pigs are running the show, burn it down.Fri, 25 Aug 2023 10:27:19 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/career-regrets-not-a-career-of-regret/https://www.landmanlife.com/career-regrets-not-a-career-of-regret/2020 laid off a fuck ton of my friends. On the difference between having career regrets and living a career made of them.Tue, 20 Oct 2020 22:08:57 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/christmas-giveaway/https://www.landmanlife.com/christmas-giveaway/Closing out 2021 with a giveaway, a shit ton of ways to enter, and ten percent of every order going to Oilfield Helping Hands.Thu, 09 Dec 2021 12:46:28 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/cigars-booze-enjoy-the-finer-things-in-life/https://www.landmanlife.com/cigars-booze-enjoy-the-finer-things-in-life/A summer relapse into cigars: a new humidor, more sticks than anybody needs, the bourbon to pair with them, and Texas heat ruining it.Thu, 10 Aug 2023 21:02:02 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/clients-or-friends/https://www.landmanlife.com/clients-or-friends/You can have both, but not carelessly. Friendships turn into clients and clients into friends, and either one can wreck the other.Sat, 05 Aug 2023 23:26:34 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/debut-of-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-tb-1/https://www.landmanlife.com/debut-of-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-tb-1/TB-1, the debut of TejanoBrown on the Ground: a video series shot where the work actually happens, by the hand doing the work.Thu, 03 Jun 2021 15:05:36 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/define-good-landman-archives-repost-from-november-27-2012/https://www.landmanlife.com/define-good-landman-archives-repost-from-november-27-2012/Define “good landman” because according to this definition for a “good lease man” I must not know any good landmen!Wed, 06 May 2020 19:43:48 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/developing-curiosity-thinking-like-a-landman-can-change-your-life/https://www.landmanlife.com/developing-curiosity-thinking-like-a-landman-can-change-your-life/A real landman gathers information the way investigative journalists used to. Who owns the minerals is a question that trains the whole brain.Sat, 29 Apr 2023 10:10:52 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/different-types-of-financial-backing-in-oil-and-gas/https://www.landmanlife.com/different-types-of-financial-backing-in-oil-and-gas/A landbro conversation about the big PE shops, written from behind a landman's eyes: who funds what, and how it changes the work.Wed, 09 Aug 2023 14:57:41 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/downturn-survival-guide-part-1-diet-tips-for-the-struggling-landman/https://www.landmanlife.com/downturn-survival-guide-part-1-diet-tips-for-the-struggling-landman/Diet tips for a struggling out of work landmanThu, 16 Jul 2020 21:27:54 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/downturn-survival-guide-part-2-good-grief/https://www.landmanlife.com/downturn-survival-guide-part-2-good-grief/How do you process the emotions when your career gets flushed down the drain by careless managers? Part 2 of the Downturn Survival Guid – Good Grief – By JoadsCukesFri, 17 Jul 2020 11:57:38 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/eft-caption-contest-giveaway/https://www.landmanlife.com/eft-caption-contest-giveaway/Another weekend, another giveaway. Like, retweet, and caption it. Multiple judges, multiple ways to win, stickers to hats on the line.Sat, 02 May 2020 16:46:52 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/eft-caption-contest-giveaway-winners/https://www.landmanlife.com/eft-caption-contest-giveaway-winners/Caption contest results, one or two entries nobody has recovered from, and confirmation that none of you read the fucking instructions.Sun, 03 May 2020 21:09:13 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/enjoy-the-journey-not-the-destination/https://www.landmanlife.com/enjoy-the-journey-not-the-destination/Paycheck to paycheck, one small town to the next, Monday through Sunday in a haze. Why the Roadtrip to Nowhere is the point, not the stop.Tue, 01 Aug 2023 20:57:14 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/ep-1-ovv-investor-relations/https://www.landmanlife.com/ep-1-ovv-investor-relations/Taking a look at the OVV 2Q20 Conference Call Slides with a breakdown of where the juicy bits are from Doug ShittlesWed, 29 Jul 2020 14:26:16 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/ep-2-lpi-slide-deck-breakdown/https://www.landmanlife.com/ep-2-lpi-slide-deck-breakdown/Episode 2 of the slide deck breakdowns, working through the LPI investor presentation one slide at a time.Thu, 06 Aug 2020 16:04:35 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/ep-3-slide-deck-breakdown/https://www.landmanlife.com/ep-3-slide-deck-breakdown/Mr. Shittles returns for EOG Resources, where Premium showed up over fifty times and Double Premium was clearly next quarter's move.Tue, 11 Aug 2020 07:11:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/episode-10-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-tb-10-wireline-logging/https://www.landmanlife.com/episode-10-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-tb-10-wireline-logging/TB-10: our wireline expert is back on how logging works, what the controllers watch for, and how cement, casing, and formations get logged.Thu, 07 Oct 2021 13:55:28 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/episode-4-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-tb-4-junk-baskets/https://www.landmanlife.com/episode-4-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-tb-4-junk-baskets/On Episode 4 of On the Ground with TejanoBrown, he’s showing us how junk baskets work for cleaning out debris that may be in old wells before re-working.Thu, 24 Jun 2021 16:03:10 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/episode-5-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-depth-control/https://www.landmanlife.com/episode-5-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-depth-control/On Episode 5 of TejanoBrown on the Ground our wireline expert is explaining how a geo-log measuring head works to maintain depth control during wireline operations.Thu, 01 Jul 2021 15:58:23 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/episode-6-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-specialty-perf-guns/https://www.landmanlife.com/episode-6-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-specialty-perf-guns/TB-6: TejanoBrown on specialty perf guns, what they do downhole, and why the shape of the charge matters more than you would think.Thu, 08 Jul 2021 17:51:07 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/episode-7-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-addressable-switches/https://www.landmanlife.com/episode-7-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-addressable-switches/TB-7: how addressable switches work and why they beat the older EB switches, with sources if you want to go deeper than the video.Thu, 15 Jul 2021 16:20:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/episode-8-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-zero-degree-phasing/https://www.landmanlife.com/episode-8-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-zero-degree-phasing/our wireline expert is showing us how zero degree phasing works.Thu, 29 Jul 2021 16:09:57 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/episode-9-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-bridge-plugs/https://www.landmanlife.com/episode-9-tejanobrown-on-the-ground-bridge-plugs/On Episode 9 of TejanoBrown on the Ground we’re learning about how bridge plugs work.Thu, 12 Aug 2021 16:00:52 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/falling-feels-life-flying/https://www.landmanlife.com/falling-feels-life-flying/Until you hit the ground, as Stapleton put it. On riding the high, the crash after it, and learning to weather the ebb and flow.Fri, 04 Aug 2023 23:37:07 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/fartin-in-the-deed-room-archives-repost-from-february-8-2015-metal-head/https://www.landmanlife.com/fartin-in-the-deed-room-archives-repost-from-february-8-2015-metal-head/Fartin’ in the Deed Room by Metal Head initially appeared on February 8, 2015 before it was lost to the wold in a disastrous server update, which resulted in years of downtime for LandmanLife.comThu, 07 May 2020 18:37:19 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/finding-the-words/https://www.landmanlife.com/finding-the-words/A week into posting every day and already wondering what is left to say. That question turns into one about keeping up with your comms.Sun, 06 Aug 2023 21:35:23 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/forklift-frank-new-release-from-landmanradio/https://www.landmanlife.com/forklift-frank-new-release-from-landmanradio/The legend of Forklift Frank finally got the song it deserved, courtesy of @LandmanRadio. Next level shit from a months-old dumb joke.Tue, 09 Jun 2020 21:17:58 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/going-independent/https://www.landmanlife.com/going-independent/There are two kinds of landman: the in-house bro in the polo, and the independent. What going independent actually takes, and costs.Fri, 08 May 2020 19:10:40 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/having-fun-with-the-business-side-of-things/https://www.landmanlife.com/having-fun-with-the-business-side-of-things/The LandmanLife store is a product of #EFT. A decade of support from the oil patch, and permission to have fun with the business side.Tue, 25 May 2021 22:19:59 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/how-landmen-are-made-the-interns-origin-story/https://www.landmanlife.com/how-landmen-are-made-the-interns-origin-story/The Intern's origin story: an Energy Management student at Tulsa in 2010, ten years in the game, still convinced he is the rookie.Tue, 22 Aug 2023 09:35:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/how-landmen-have-changed-the-badass-motherfuckers-before-us/https://www.landmanlife.com/how-landmen-have-changed-the-badass-motherfuckers-before-us/Landmen used to be the one-man show at the center of great oil discoveries. On specialization, dilution, and the badasses before us.Wed, 30 Aug 2023 15:16:34 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/how-the-shale-boom-ruined-landmen/https://www.landmanlife.com/how-the-shale-boom-ruined-landmen/The boom made warm bodies out of landmen, then the crash washed them out. Crews of 100 became 20, and the brokerages never recovered.Tue, 22 Aug 2023 20:29:37 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/how-to-find-your-voice-in-a-broken-system/https://www.landmanlife.com/how-to-find-your-voice-in-a-broken-system/It took well over a decade to find my voice here, most of it spent voicing dissent from behind an anonymous account. On saying it out loud.Wed, 23 Aug 2023 11:18:35 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/i-mean-i-had-to-get-rid-of-that-oil-meme/https://www.landmanlife.com/i-mean-i-had-to-get-rid-of-that-oil-meme/A meme from the spring of 2020, when the price went negative and nobody had anywhere left to put the stuff.Sun, 03 May 2020 18:40:46 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/kick-off-happy-hour-wrap-up/https://www.landmanlife.com/kick-off-happy-hour-wrap-up/Thanks to Tommy Holmes for pulling it together on short notice, to the sponsors, and to everyone who showed up and hopefully got home.Sat, 12 Feb 2022 17:31:09 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/kindle-paperwhite-signature-edition-2022-review/https://www.landmanlife.com/kindle-paperwhite-signature-edition-2022-review/The Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition is the best e-reader available, check out the full review hereSat, 26 Nov 2022 13:40:26 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/land-work-in-the-grand-scheme-of-the-oil-and-gas-industry-repost-archives/https://www.landmanlife.com/land-work-in-the-grand-scheme-of-the-oil-and-gas-industry-repost-archives/From June 2014: what do you say when somebody asks what you do for a living, and where land work actually sits in the industry.Fri, 18 Sep 2020 17:26:49 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/landman-day-rates-stagnant-twenty-years/https://www.landmanlife.com/landman-day-rates-stagnant-twenty-years/I went quiet for two years. Landman day rates did not move while I was gone, and AAPL's own surveys say they have barely moved in twenty. Here are their numbers.Mon, 10 Aug 2026 21:40:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/landman-log-april-17-2023-practicing-gratitude-adopting-a-growth-mindset-and-being-a-better-person/https://www.landmanlife.com/landman-log-april-17-2023-practicing-gratitude-adopting-a-growth-mindset-and-being-a-better-person/A Landman Log entry on practicing gratitude, adopting a growth mindset, and the work of being a better person than you were last year.Mon, 17 Apr 2023 18:41:53 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/landman-log-april-21-2023-life-is-what-you-make-it-appreciate-the-journey/https://www.landmanlife.com/landman-log-april-21-2023-life-is-what-you-make-it-appreciate-the-journey/Life is about as hard as you make it. A Landman Log entry on grinding less, reading the horizon honestly, and appreciating the trip.Fri, 21 Apr 2023 19:54:40 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/landman-log-january-10-2023-ignore-the-gatekeepers/https://www.landmanlife.com/landman-log-january-10-2023-ignore-the-gatekeepers/Reading 50 Cent on hustle produced one genuinely useful idea: stop burning your day on the gatekeepers between you and the meeting.Tue, 10 Jan 2023 19:32:05 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/landman-log-january-12-burning-bridges/https://www.landmanlife.com/landman-log-january-12-burning-bridges/Somebody screwed you on a deal and the first reaction is fuck that guy. Sometimes that is correct. Usually it costs more than it pays.Thu, 12 Jan 2023 17:10:10 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/landman-log-january-13-creative-inspiration/https://www.landmanlife.com/landman-log-january-13-creative-inspiration/Thirteen years of shady shit, too many beers, and a master mechanic in Gonzales whose stories only start flowing after the second round.Fri, 13 Jan 2023 11:26:43 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/landman-log-january-26-small-minded-middle-managers/https://www.landmanlife.com/landman-log-january-26-small-minded-middle-managers/The entrenched middle manager who wanted power and never learned to lead. Frustrating in private companies, dangerous in public ones.Thu, 26 Jan 2023 21:13:46 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/landmanlife-has-a-new-facebook-page/https://www.landmanlife.com/landmanlife-has-a-new-facebook-page/Facebook deleted the only admin account on the old page years ago. After exhausting every other option, LandmanLife moved to a new one.Tue, 08 Jun 2021 12:16:47 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/landmanlife-is-11-years-old/https://www.landmanlife.com/landmanlife-is-11-years-old/Eleven years since a drunk, bored landman started a blog in rural Pennsylvania. Many authors, several hosts, and a lot of beer later.Tue, 09 Nov 2021 15:33:37 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/leaning-in-the-power-behind-the-eft-community/https://www.landmanlife.com/leaning-in-the-power-behind-the-eft-community/Art Berman memes and behave-or-be-blocked are the only constants. What the #EFT melting pot has actually given me, and why I lean in.Sat, 10 Feb 2024 12:12:46 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/letting-yourself-down-and-overcoming-failure-to-find-redemption/https://www.landmanlife.com/letting-yourself-down-and-overcoming-failure-to-find-redemption/The post-every-day-in-August streak died at the ranch. On failing yourself, which is the only person who was ever keeping score.Mon, 14 Aug 2023 19:48:42 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/life-comes-at-you-fast/https://www.landmanlife.com/life-comes-at-you-fast/Sixteen posts in nineteen days, against 110 total since the 2019 reboot. What that math says about how fast a year can get away.Sat, 19 Aug 2023 12:13:07 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/life-on-the-road-in-2023-gear-guide-part-1-business-essentials/https://www.landmanlife.com/life-on-the-road-in-2023-gear-guide-part-1-business-essentials/Part one of the gear guide: the business essentials that actually earn their space in the truck, from somebody no longer living out of it.Fri, 21 Apr 2023 20:10:44 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/looking-back-august-in-review/https://www.landmanlife.com/looking-back-august-in-review/Twenty-eight posts in thirty-one days, almost twenty percent of everything on the site. What posting daily for a month actually taught me.Sat, 02 Sep 2023 11:07:31 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/loyalty-demanded-but-not-returned/https://www.landmanlife.com/loyalty-demanded-but-not-returned/Brokers demand your eight hours, nickel and dime what they are worth, and pocket the difference. Some will turn you in to the AAPL for it.Tue, 29 Aug 2023 16:52:48 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/moral-dilemma-stuck-in-the-middle/https://www.landmanlife.com/moral-dilemma-stuck-in-the-middle/The surface landman is paid by the client to keep the landowner happy. What happens when those two jobs stop pointing the same direction.Mon, 06 Apr 2020 13:03:41 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/on-the-road-to-becoming-an-independent-landman/https://www.landmanlife.com/on-the-road-to-becoming-an-independent-landman/It is not all Shiner Bocks and rose. Balancing client work against finding the next client, and the time management that saves both.Thu, 06 Apr 2023 19:24:29 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/on-the-rocks-ep-4/https://www.landmanlife.com/on-the-rocks-ep-4/Episode 4 of On the Rocks with Colin Moody has us looking at places where surface geology resembles the subsurface structures for an oil trapThu, 19 Aug 2021 15:45:58 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/on-the-rocks-ep-5/https://www.landmanlife.com/on-the-rocks-ep-5/On Episode 5 of On the Rocks with Colin Moody he’s showing us around the top of a tank battery connected to some Big Horn Basin Wells.Fri, 10 Sep 2021 15:29:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/on-the-rocks-ep-6/https://www.landmanlife.com/on-the-rocks-ep-6/On the Rocks Episode 6: Colin Moody reads a 1950s Richfield Oil plat of the Oregon Basin in Park County, Wyoming, and what it still shows.Tue, 02 Nov 2021 17:07:31 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/ontherocks-ep1/https://www.landmanlife.com/ontherocks-ep1/On Episode 1 of On the Rocks with Colin Moody, he’s walking us through the water disposal system on some of the wells up in the Bighorn Basin.Wed, 21 Jul 2021 17:12:52 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/ontherocks-ep2/https://www.landmanlife.com/ontherocks-ep2/On the Rocks Episode 2: Colin Moody walks a heater treater setup and how heat splits oil, gas, and water before the tanks and sales line.Wed, 28 Jul 2021 10:04:06 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/ontherocks-ep3/https://www.landmanlife.com/ontherocks-ep3/Episode 3 of On the Rocks with Colin Moody gives you a walkthrough of the anatomy of a well location in the Big Horn BasinThu, 05 Aug 2021 17:44:23 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/overnight-millionaires-archives-repost-from-july-10-2013/https://www.landmanlife.com/overnight-millionaires-archives-repost-from-july-10-2013/From 2013: for every family that strikes it rich off minerals, plenty do not. On oil money, old wealth, and the ones who missed it.Wed, 20 May 2020 21:58:16 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/peak-oil-and-the-cult-of-renewables/https://www.landmanlife.com/peak-oil-and-the-cult-of-renewables/Pulled out of an old drafts folder at the right moment: peak oil has been wrong for a century, and the cult of renewables is just newer.Tue, 24 Jan 2023 15:28:38 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/permanent-record-by-edward-snowden-book-review/https://www.landmanlife.com/permanent-record-by-edward-snowden-book-review/Snowden in his own words: traitor to some, whistleblower to others, and a better read than either narrative gives him credit for.Mon, 10 Apr 2023 19:30:43 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/quit-your-bitching/https://www.landmanlife.com/quit-your-bitching/The creator broke the warranty clause when he made me. On the landmen who still give a fuck, and the ShaleCo hands who quit caring.Fri, 15 May 2020 18:33:17 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/realignment/https://www.landmanlife.com/realignment/Realignment killed the Pac-12 and rebuilt the Big 12. What a Baylor grad who still remembers the Southwest Conference makes of it.Mon, 07 Aug 2023 20:55:41 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/repost-the-future-of-landmen-with-lowering-oil-prices/https://www.landmanlife.com/repost-the-future-of-landmen-with-lowering-oil-prices/Written at the end of 2014 with oil sliding down from $105: if you still have a job right now, keep it, because the bottom is not here yet.Mon, 16 Mar 2020 22:08:56 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/scratching-the-surface-working-as-a-surface-landman/https://www.landmanlife.com/scratching-the-surface-working-as-a-surface-landman/Field landmen own most of the pie and in-house landmen think they are the only ones. Where surface work fits, and what it demands.Fri, 28 Apr 2023 09:49:17 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/seismic-permitting/https://www.landmanlife.com/seismic-permitting/A 2013 repost by TheNutShale on urban seismic permitting: good pay, plenty of walking, flexible hours, and the people you meet doing it.Wed, 02 Sep 2020 21:02:21 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/shoes-on-a-wire/https://www.landmanlife.com/shoes-on-a-wire/A pair of shoes hung over a county road outside Dilley, Texas, and the evening I finally stopped to photograph them instead of driving on.Fri, 09 Dec 2022 14:43:58 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/slowing-down-to-explore-life/https://www.landmanlife.com/slowing-down-to-explore-life/Dive bars in Crested Butte, a first title job in Dubois, Pennsylvania, and the mid-twenties regret of never stopping long enough.Wed, 02 Aug 2023 20:59:58 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/state-of-the-industry-intro-to-the-downturn-survival-guide/https://www.landmanlife.com/state-of-the-industry-intro-to-the-downturn-survival-guide/The intro to the Downturn Survival Guide: where the industry actually stood, and what the rest of the series was going to cover.Tue, 07 Jul 2020 21:16:19 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/store-closing-reminder/https://www.landmanlife.com/store-closing-reminder/One more reminder that the store closes at the end of the year, and why the site is going back to writing and photography instead.Wed, 21 Dec 2022 11:06:52 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/summer-reading-oil-and-gas-books/https://www.landmanlife.com/summer-reading-oil-and-gas-books/A summer reading list built from your requests: beginner guides, technical deep cuts, oil history, and geopolitics worth the shelf space.Sun, 19 Sep 2021 15:28:27 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/summertime-madness/https://www.landmanlife.com/summertime-madness/A whirlwind year at LandmanLife HQ: the NAPE kickoff, the giveaways, and the ongoing problem of how to give back to the people who show up.Fri, 03 Sep 2021 15:43:21 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/tejanobrown-on-the-ground-tb-2/https://www.landmanlife.com/tejanobrown-on-the-ground-tb-2/TB-2: inside a perf gun. The charge carrier, the jet charges, the through wire and primer cord, and what happens when the current hits.Thu, 10 Jun 2021 04:01:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/tejanobrown-on-the-ground-tb-3/https://www.landmanlife.com/tejanobrown-on-the-ground-tb-3/On Episode 3 of On the Ground with TejanoBrown, he’s showing us how the pressure control works for wireline operations.Thu, 17 Jun 2021 16:01:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-biggest-announcement-in-the-history-of-landmanlife-announcements/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-biggest-announcement-in-the-history-of-landmanlife-announcements/A press release from the storage closet the intern calls an office, announcing two partnerships and our claim to be #EFT's top slingers of swag.Fri, 28 May 2021 14:27:26 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-broken-system-time-to-burn-it-down/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-broken-system-time-to-burn-it-down/The system works fine for the generation that built it. We are just stuck with it. It is just business is bullshit, so quit being pieces of shit.Thu, 24 Aug 2023 21:34:44 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-challenges-of-becoming-an-independent-landman/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-challenges-of-becoming-an-independent-landman/Five real hurdles: breaking out on your own, staying current, building a network, establishing credibility, and finding actual clients.Mon, 03 Apr 2023 15:59:57 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-circle-of-landman-life-how-landmen-are-made/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-circle-of-landman-life-how-landmen-are-made/Only a vampire can create a vampire, and only a landman can make a landman. How the trade gets handed down, birth until death.Mon, 21 Aug 2023 15:55:38 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-cow-the-lease-road-and-the-sheriff-part-1/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-cow-the-lease-road-and-the-sheriff-part-1/A dead cow within sight of a lease road, 5:15 on a Friday, one beer into happy hour. Part one of the education that followed.Fri, 06 Jan 2023 12:03:49 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-digital-roadtrip-to-nowhere/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-digital-roadtrip-to-nowhere/A generation of landmen is starting out on a digital version of the roadtrip. What that costs them, from somebody who drove the original.Thu, 15 Dec 2022 16:25:06 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-eft-community-meetups-and-katy-trail-ice-house-tonight/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-eft-community-meetups-and-katy-trail-ice-house-tonight/A 24-hour trip to Dallas for an #EFT meetup at Katy Trail Ice House, arranged as last minute as everything else around here.Mon, 20 Nov 2023 15:32:03 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-hard-truth/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-hard-truth/A rollercoaster year: a long-awaited first child in December, and the lows that came with the highs. The part I had not told many people.Mon, 17 Oct 2022 10:58:31 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-landmans-worst-enemy/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-landmans-worst-enemy/You think it is the jackass landowner or the micromanaging office. It is complacency, and it shows up right after the job gets comfortable.Fri, 30 Dec 2022 11:11:56 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-legend-of-jim-malloy/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-legend-of-jim-malloy/He billed ten days per day and got 200 leases signed before lunch. The ballad of Jim Malloy started as a joke and then got away from us.Fri, 21 Feb 2020 18:50:23 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-most-wasteful-inefficient-industry-you-could-ever-imagine/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-most-wasteful-inefficient-industry-you-could-ever-imagine/November 2010: hundreds of pages of runsheets printed, thrown out, and printed again. An early look at how much this business wastes.Tue, 09 Nov 2010 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-oil-and-gas-road/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-oil-and-gas-road/A submission from the former author known as The NutShale on the O&G Road: dirtier, dustier, greedier, and more native than the Silk Road.Mon, 18 Oct 2021 13:38:52 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-poker-game-part-1/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-poker-game-part-1/Part one: a year living in a South Texas Best Western on the company's dime, and the poker game that brought the whole thing down.Thu, 03 Sep 2020 09:49:30 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-poker-game-part-2/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-poker-game-part-2/Part two: waking up half drunk to a disturbing phone call, the company owner in town, and coworkers who will not answer their phones.Fri, 18 Sep 2020 17:49:40 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-poker-game-part-3/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-poker-game-part-3/Part three: the owner drove over four hours to chew us out, and I still had no idea what had actually happened the night before.Thu, 25 Mar 2021 22:07:42 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-post-apocalyptic-landman/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-post-apocalyptic-landman/Remember networking, handshakes, and running title without a mask. On the new norm, the customs it broke, and what comes back.Tue, 21 Jul 2020 09:25:41 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-roadtrip-to-nowhere-and-why-im-still-here/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-roadtrip-to-nowhere-and-why-im-still-here/A buddy asked what my plan was for LandmanLife and I had no answer for him. Years later, here is why the roadtrip is still running.Sat, 03 Feb 2024 22:37:19 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-shitco-suck/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-shitco-suck/A reader email printed in its original form: the endless just-this-once asks, the longer hours, and the holidays a Shitco expects of you.Thu, 04 Nov 2021 16:02:59 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-value-of-a-professional-image/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-value-of-a-professional-image/AAPL membership was a marketing gimmick and the LLC was a liability gimmick. We all still do both. On what a professional image is worth.Fri, 18 Aug 2023 09:50:02 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-value-of-geriatric-landmen-evolution-by-passing-down-experience/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-value-of-geriatric-landmen-evolution-by-passing-down-experience/A young landman emailed after one happy hour, and it turned into a case for the old hands and everything they still have to hand down.Sun, 21 Jul 2024 10:01:48 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/the-weight/https://www.landmanlife.com/the-weight/I hate saying things like this, and it weighs on me when I do not. A somber one, with something uplifting at the end if you make it there.Sat, 28 Oct 2023 00:46:28 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/too-big-to-fail/https://www.landmanlife.com/too-big-to-fail/There is a market for parody gear outside EnergyFinTwit. On bank logos, a creative problem, and seeing every mark as something on fire.Wed, 19 Aug 2020 14:15:41 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/unpaid-and-undeterred-my-ongoing-battle-with-ruckus-energy-ceo-avi-mirman/https://www.landmanlife.com/unpaid-and-undeterred-my-ongoing-battle-with-ruckus-energy-ceo-avi-mirman/Ruckus Energy still owes us for land services rendered in 2022. Its CEO would prefer I stop posting about it, which is not how this works.Sat, 13 Apr 2024 18:48:52 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/unplug-and-unwind-why-disconnecting-is-essential/https://www.landmanlife.com/unplug-and-unwind-why-disconnecting-is-essential/Notifications, texts, DMs, and the dopamine loop that keeps you checking. Everybody knows it is bad for us and here we all still are.Tue, 08 Aug 2023 21:04:26 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/unproductivityness/https://www.landmanlife.com/unproductivityness/November 2010: a crew meeting called for ten because earlier felt too formal, then rebranded as shooting the shit. Nobody had work anyway.Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:00:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/weekend-sale-to-celebrate-efttattoo/https://www.landmanlife.com/weekend-sale-to-celebrate-efttattoo/@TejanoBrown got an actual LandmanLife #EFT #RollCall tattoo, which makes him family for life. A weekend sale to mark the occasion.Fri, 04 Jun 2021 14:37:24 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/welcome-to-the-party-motorboats-origin-story/https://www.landmanlife.com/welcome-to-the-party-motorboats-origin-story/Motorboat sent in his own origin story: two Coors Lights, the Cowboys game, and the loudest man in every bar in DuBois, Pennsylvania.Fri, 25 Aug 2023 10:42:23 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/what-does-a-landman-actually-do/https://www.landmanlife.com/what-does-a-landman-actually-do/What Does a Landman Actually Do? Excellent question! If I had to encompass all the roles landmen can have in the industry, I think the best way to summarize would be “landmen fill the gaps.”Thu, 14 May 2020 17:25:26 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/what-does-a-landman-do-surface-landman/https://www.landmanlife.com/what-does-a-landman-do-surface-landman/A deeper dive into surface work: the relationships, the legal side, and the technical detail that make a surface landman worth having.Wed, 16 Jun 2021 18:34:33 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/what-happens-when-you-hit-a-career-dead-end-the-last-landman/https://www.landmanlife.com/what-happens-when-you-hit-a-career-dead-end-the-last-landman/It is 2030 and landmen are extinct. No new ones born since 2016. A grim little thought experiment about the career dead end.Sun, 20 Aug 2023 14:48:22 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/what-is-a-landman/https://www.landmanlife.com/what-is-a-landman/What is a landman? Fuck…there are a lot of answers to that question.Thu, 30 Apr 2020 18:36:58 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/what-is-a-mineral-title-runsheet/https://www.landmanlife.com/what-is-a-mineral-title-runsheet/There is no such thing as a mineral title runsheet. There is a limited title runsheet, and it is the evidence behind every Mineral Ownership Report anybody hands you.Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/what-is-landmanlife/https://www.landmanlife.com/what-is-landmanlife/How it started: a Texas boy running title in rural Pennsylvania, a Blogspot account, and Motorboat ordering two kewrs lighs at the bar.Wed, 09 Nov 2022 20:31:26 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/whats-on-my-kindle-reading-list-for-may-2023/https://www.landmanlife.com/whats-on-my-kindle-reading-list-for-may-2023/What is on the Kindle in May 2023, from somebody who is always two to four books deep and has shared the receipts before.Thu, 04 May 2023 20:15:51 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/whats-the-best-hazy-ipa-electric-jellyfish/https://www.landmanlife.com/whats-the-best-hazy-ipa-electric-jellyfish/Electric Jellyfish rearranged every beer decision I had made before it. A hazy IPA verdict, courtesy of the market research team.Thu, 17 Aug 2023 15:46:21 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/whats-the-rush-live-your-life/https://www.landmanlife.com/whats-the-rush-live-your-life/I used to take two hours over a ninety minute drive. Then came the conference calls, the meetings, and a fuck ton more email.Wed, 16 Aug 2023 21:41:05 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/winner-of-the-chuck90-caption-contest/https://www.landmanlife.com/winner-of-the-chuck90-caption-contest/The Chuck90 caption contest winner, judged by @Landmannery and @LandmanNotes, with a bottle of wine on the line if it was actually funny.Tue, 04 Aug 2020 22:42:23 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/winners-of-the-reverse-caption-contest-1st-place-moar_drilling/https://www.landmanlife.com/winners-of-the-reverse-caption-contest-1st-place-moar_drilling/The reverse caption contest results, decided by a panel of Landbros with 7,000 combined years of experience. Sleeveless took first.Mon, 11 May 2020 18:56:45 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/winter-reading-guide/https://www.landmanlife.com/winter-reading-guide/The winter list expands the summer one with reader suggestions, including Yergin's The Map, which goes down easier on Audible.Fri, 26 Nov 2021 14:38:32 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/with-all-the-time-in-the-world-how-important-is-health/https://www.landmanlife.com/with-all-the-time-in-the-world-how-important-is-health/We spend more time talking about taking care of ourselves than doing it. On resolutions, gym etiquette lectures, and actual health.Thu, 05 Jan 2023 16:14:20 GMThttps://www.landmanlife.com/youre-a-businessman-first-and-a-landman-second/https://www.landmanlife.com/youre-a-businessman-first-and-a-landman-second/Summer of 2014, an E&P office in Oklahoma City, oil over $100, and one line from a mentor that took years to actually understand.Thu, 30 Apr 2020 19:50:38 GMT