cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Lloyd and Luana Warner, Diane Cluff, and Maxine Shirts.
"I had a good week. Hopefully everyone else's week was as productive as mine. It was NAPE (The North American Prospect Expo, see ../9851.html, ../9904.html, ../9905.html, ../0020.html, ../0105.html, ../0126.html, ../0135.html, and ../0151.html). My week started last Sunday, after Andrea proofed and helped me to edit the Thoughtlet, she offhandedly said, `That was funny how you referred to not closing new business even though you wore your new Christmas necktie.' I thought it was funny, she thought it was funny. So I got thinking about neckties, and am going to use them for a theme.
So yesterday I took all of the neckties in my closet out and
put them on the livingroom floor. I ordered them by when I
think they were purchased (click on the images for full sized images):
To the left I show the neckties looking from the past,
referenced as `A. from the left' in image above;
or to the right looking back from the present, referenced as `B. from the right' in image above:
.
So here is what I can
remember about the 28 ties currently in my closet:
I find it fascinating how many ways our lives can be written about. Who would have thought there is so much history and so much emotion tied up in neckties. I remember as a youth thinking neckties were dumb. I remember reading a psychology book about the relationship of men and apes, and specifically the comments about the man in a little red convertable sports car, or those who wear bright red ties, and how these were nothing but phallic symbols. I don't remember much about neckties while I was on my mission. I guess the wearing of them just became kind of second nature over those two years. I don't remember ever throwing a necktie away (sort of like pictures). However, I'm sure there were many so soiled they were thrown away for me. I don't mind wearing a necktie. I prefer not to. I think the more relaxed dress code we often find today is an improvement over wearing a necktie. I'm not sure why neckties are part of the `Priesthood look.' And it is ok with me. I do think there are many little things about our lives, like neckties, which we kind of take for granted, and never stop to think about. At the same time, I'm not sure how much benefit is gained by exercising nurons over neckties.
Joseph Smith didn't wear neckties. Brigham Young wore something between a bolo tie and a bow tie. And today, when we get dressed up, we wear a necktie. Andrea tells me she likes neckties. And I guess that is a good enough reason to wear one, at least when we are getting dressed up to go out someplace together or to go to church.
In terms of my week, it was all tied up around NAPE. I had put together the proposal to get someone to fund Dynamic Resources going to NAPE and APPEX London. It didn't fly. Too short of time frame was the main comment I got back from folks who were looking for the cash. Oh well! It took most of Monday and Tuesday to finish up the AAPG presentation on the Infinite Grid(SM) mentioned last week (http://www.walden3d.com/aapg). I ended up creating 83 web pages, and the folks at Petris were suitably impressed with the results. Tuesday at noon I went down to Sam LeRoy's and put the results on a CD so they could be transferred to the Spotfire portable PC I've been using. Spotfire called and they are going to take this computer back this coming Tuesday. Matt is disappointed as he has been playing computer games on it on Saturdays and some evenings after school.
Tuesday afternoon I went to the International Session at NAPE. Very interesting. The deals folks are selling don't seem to be put together much better than what we have done over this last year. The biggest difference is that most of the deals have the land tied up. And that is a big difference. It is expensive to purchase mineral rights, and can cost up to several hundred dollars per acre to do this. When you talk about plays that cover thousands or tens of thousands of acres, this adds up to real money. In the evening they had an icebreaker. It was good to see friends. Scott Sechrist has recovered from his hurt leg, and he introduced me to one of the principals at Huber. I saw several other friends. I lost my voice, maybe an allergic reaction to one of the hors d'oeuvre sandwiches. So I was standing in a drink line to get a glass of orange juice and introduced myself to the geologist next to me. He ended up inviting me to talk at the SIPES meeting in February in Corpus Christi and expressed interest in having us work up leads for two counties near Corpus using the Prospect Machine.
Then I was talking to another friend, Dan Morris with e-Seis, when Herbert Hunt walked by. Herbert and his brother Bunker Hunt are famous because of their attempt to manipulate the silver market. They lost their family fortune in the process. When I was at Mobil, and frustrated to death because they wouldn't listen to me about the importance of interactive 3-D interpretation, I gave up and answered an advertisement from the Hunts. I interviewed for a job with the Chief Geophysicist, whose name I believe was Campbell. He took me upstairs to meet Herbert. This was in 1978, before I went into field operations. I mentioned this in my thoughtlet on Job Interviews (see ../9735.html). He took me upstairs to meet Bunker, who was talking to one of his horse racing buddies. I still remember feeling like a stock show calf being paraded in front of these guys. Anyway, I excused myself, walked over to him and introduced myself. He said, `Hi, I'm Herb Hunt.' I responded, `I know, I turned down a job offer from you in 1978, and I have often wondered what my life would have been like if I would have taken that job offer.' We had a nice conversation. I told him about the 5 billion barrell oil field opportunity Sam LeRoy and his office mates have in Paraguay. He asked me to come by the booth, and told me he wished I had not turned down his job offer. When I got home and was telling Andrea about the evening, I noticed his business card reads:
I worked until 11:30, and then got up early Tuesday and
worked some more, sending out a couple of e-mails to
folks I met at the ice breaker, and preparing a new
brochure, and doing several other things. It was 12:30
by the time I got to NAPE. There was no parking, and I
had to walk from the building where II&T used to have
their office. I went right to the Petro-Hunt's booth,
and it was an hour later before I was able to corner
Herbert alone. I don't feel the conversation went
very well, although his Chief Geologist, Bill Fairhurst,
said that the two of them would fly down to Houston
next week to look at the opportunity. I have business
cards from 37 folks from Tuesday, Wednesday, and
Thursday. I could write about each of them, and I won't,
since most of you would not be interested. I will point
out I wore my new blue necktie each of these days. And
although I didn't close any business, I made great
contacts. I would have made 5 or 10 times more contacts
with the booths. Oh well! Hopefully we will close
some of these contacts right away.
Thursday evening I went out on missionary splits with Elder Taylor. We had a good evening. We spent most of the time with Sister Lumbrearas teaching her 7 year old grandson Patrick the first discussion. Elder Taylor has about 4 more weeks until he returns to Cedar City, and then goes back to college in Idaho. He seems like a good kid. He told me Audrey and his friend called him when they were on a date.
Friday was the big presentation to the AAPG at PETRIS. It went well, although one of the attendees said, `I'm completely overwhelmed' as he left for another meeting. Sam and I spent from 11:30 to 2:30 with Mike Forrest. He did a detailed reveiw of our standard presentation, and has sent two e-mails since then making suggestions about how to repackage it to better sell it to clients. Friday evening and Saturday morning was spent reworking the presentation. Mark Roulston picked up the PC and is going to write the 975MB of presentation files I have on that computer to CD's so I will still be able to give presentations after Spotfire takes their computer back. Saturday afternoon Andrea and I went to see `I Am Sam.' Good movie. Reminds me of what an unfit father I have been in too many ways. Too busy. Too demanding. Trying too hard to make up for preceived lack in others. Oh well! I encourage each of you to see this movie. After the movie I shredded three garbage bags of Fairfield seismic sections, as per Marc Lawrence's instructions, while Andrea and I watched `From Russia with Love' while switching back and forth to `The General's Daughter.' Rachel was out with her friends. Matt spent the afternoon helping with the school play and was playing video games upstairs in the evening.
Today was nice. I did notice that all of the men were wearing a necktie. Good Fast & Testimony meeting. Marion Pickerd does a very good job with the Gospel Doctrine lesson. Jeff Jurinak taught a wonderful priesthood lesson on reverence. He started with a metronome going slow and discussing his Grandfather's lifestyle, then speeded it up to discuss his Father's lifestyle, and then really speeded it up to discuss his lifestyle. It reminded me of a stanza from Prime Words:
It also reminded me of a scirpture I discovered in The
Book of Moromon (II Nephi 19:18), which is cross-
referenced to the Old Testiment (Malachi 4:1), both of
which are respectively quoted below, so you don't need
to look them up:
Particulary nice today was talking to Roice, Sara, Ben, Jared, Melanie, Mom, Kate, and Paul (the conversations occurred in that order). I think I'm going to like having these free weekend minutes. And Heather and Audrey, I might even learn how to talk on the phone. I do know that heart felt conversation does not require a necktie."