cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Diane Cluff, and Maxine Shirts
"Hope everyone else had a good week. Mine was good, even though Andrea was gone for a couple of days to spend time with and help Melanie and Colby Cade (0218.html). As those of you who read these Thoughtlets know, finances have kind of had front burner the last few months, and we started the process of refinancing the house this week. This will allow Andrea to be on the house note (a good life insurance step for any married couple, unless you plan to go bankrupt), will allow us to pay off all of our outstanding debts, including Ben's car, which I have been driving the last year and a half, and leave us with a little cash. No bills but a house payment by the end of June. Been a while since I've been there.
Shell sent a couple of notes, and I expect to do the first, and to date only, authorized project for them by the end of the month. MKS sent me a note saying they have drafted a response to my proposed Heads-of-Agreement, and just need to pass it by the other partner. Arnie Vedlitz from Texas A&M's Bush School sent a note saying he was out of town for the week and will get with me next week about the Infinite Grid(SM) proof-of-concept project for Harris County (http://www.walden3d.com/H/sample. Dick Coons and I signed an agreement, which provides Dynamic with a 10% finders fee on the work he is doing for a major independent I introduced to him. He expects they will purchase at least five blocks in the August Texas Federal Waters Lease sale. For each block the independent purchases Dynamic will receive $5,000. of the $50,000. Dick gets. Then, and most importantly, if there are discoveries (recognize Dick has already identified what we anticipate is in excess of 200 BCFE [billion cubic feet of gas equivalent] in the study area), Dick gets a 3.5% ORRI (Over Riding Royalty Interest) and Dynamic will get 10% of this ORRI. Being an explorer and an optimist, I will show how the numbers work if there is 200 BCFE discovered (Note 200 BCFE = 200,000,000 MCFE, where MCFE = 1,000 cubic feet of gas in oil company terms):
Of course, payments will be spread over at least 10 years, once
and if the discovery actually happens. However, I'm pretty
confident that $140,000. will allow Andrea and I to serve
another mission, only this time together, and that this is a
pretty reasonable approach for having `retirement funds,' even
if I intend to never retire, especially after all of the
financial ups and downs of the last few years.
Of course, everything this week was not rosy. Chris Dale of EVP (Energy Virtual Partners, Bob Peebler's new company) told me they will not be ready to use any of Dynamic's services for a couple of months. At least they are talking about future work and we are hopefully looking at the first stages of a pipeline of work. I had to go downtown and get a registered copy of the divorce decree for the house note. It really hurts anytime I have to do something like this, and face the permanent failure society has recorded on this most important part of my life.
Then there was jury duty on Tuesday. I was down at the Jury Selection Room on Congress at 8:00. There were probably 2,000 people in the room. They have cleaned up the selection process a lot since last time I was called to serve on a jury. They post the numbers, and you go get in your `panel.' We went downstairs to the yellow area and were put in order by our number, and given a new number. Then they took us by tunnels to the county courthouse, took us through metal detectors, and gave us a 30 minute bathroom break. A neighbor I know who lives on Kingsland was on the same panel. I was #13 and she was # 9 in a panel of 60 jurors to listen to a case where the state wanted to take away custody of a 2 year old child from a man named Crawford. The first thing they did was shuffle the jury, which involved taking all 60 jurors out in the hall and then giving us a new number. My new number was #13 (same as my old number) and Sandi's was about #25. After the judge explained what the case was about, the prosecution lawyers, representing Child Protective Services, asked a bunch of inane questions. We were told the trial would last through Friday, and after the first round of jury questions we were dismissed for lunch. It looked like it was a guranteed waste of a week. So I walked a block to The Blue Dolphin and ate a shrimp platter. When we got back, the first thing that happened is the lawyers approached the bench, and then the judge said they had come to an agreement over lunch, and the case was dismissed.
I left downtown at 1:00, returned some phone calls, stopped at Continuum's old office and was finally given the Landmark Documentation they have held hostage for the last several months, and made it to the Washington Mutual Office to discuss refinancing the house by about 4:00. I got back to the house wiped out and Andrea was ready to leave for the James E. Taylor High School Choir Spring Choir Awards Banquet, which started at 7:00 Tuesday evening in the Taylor High School Commons. I took a half-hour nap, and Andrea went over to help set up. Then I took Rachel and Matt over and drove back home to pick up the digital camera.
The Taylor High Choir is really impressive. I expect this is largely due to Gail Land and Dorothy Wilson the two directors. Andrea and I participated in the Senior Parent's skit, and had a brief run through before dinner. Andrea and I banged on tambourines and bamboo respectively, I had on my leather camping hat, while some other parents gave 10 points about Taylor High Choir. Matt didn't think to use the digital camera to capture the moment. Good! Dinner was very nice. It was provided by Carrabbas, and there was some cheesecake for dessert. There was a video of the trip to Washington D.C. There was a video the senior kids put together to describe their year. Rachel was very prominent in this video. I captured some of the better moments with the digital camera. There was a senior salute. Mrs. Wilson was very kind in her words to Rachel. Rachel was recognized by her peers as the outstanding member of the JV Choir. It was a nice evening, and there are 22 digital photos and movies to for any of you interested to download at: www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/09_Rachel/TaylorHighChoir. Everyone's favorite will probably be 14_Chicken.mpg, although it should be 09_Wilson1.mpg and 10_Wilson2.mpg, from Mrs. Wilson's Salute to Rachel. It was really interesting when she was called up and listening to everyone in the audience break into applause and whistling and not stopping for a long time. I'm glad for my role in Rachel being able to have this experience. We didn't get home until almost 10:00 Tuesday evening.
Andrea left first thing Wednesday morning for Vidor. I cooked hamburgers for dinner. While Matt and Rachel were at Young Men's and Young Women's I went over and visited with Norbert Schmidt. He is really depressed about not being in his own home, and about his health. Hopefully we cheered him up a little bit. I borrowed the Schmidt's scanner to scan some photos for Rachel's Senior Talk. Thursday I continued to work on cleaning out the office. Matt had to be picked up at 2:30 and taken to tutoring. Then I picked up Rachel at the house and took her to work in Katy, by the old church. Then I picked up Matt from tutoring. Then I cooked spaghetti for dinner, and thought the sauce turned out pretty good, even though it was made from scratch. It was ready when I got back from picking up Rachel from work. It is amazing how much running around Andrea does each week, which I just accept and don't think about since she does it. Things definitely run a lot smoother and a lot more interesting with two than they did when I was in this house alone. It was good to have her back Thursday evening, even after dinner.
Friday morning I did some system work, including making walden3d.com e-mail addresses for Uncle Tony, Sara and Des, Diane Cluff, Mom (Maxine), and Ethan. I received the following later in the day from Sarah:
Friday afternoon Ken Turner came over to borrow the canoe
Roice, III and his scout troop built. The garage door
came off of the hinge, and turned out to be a pretty big
problem. After Rachel got home from trying out for solo
parts in the last Taylor High Choir concert next Tuesday
and after Matt's makeup soccer game, I was attempting to
rehang the garage door, with Rachel and Andrea outside
holding up one end, when I pried off the cable. The door
snapped down, and took off a big piece of my chin and gave
me some deep scratches on my left index finger. When the
expert came and looked at the door on Saturday, he said I
was lucky I didn't have a broken jaw. There is over 300
pounds of torque on those cables, and he has seen folks
with a couple of dozen stiches across their forehead who
did what I attempted to do. It left a nice sized furrow
in my chin. Not anything which can be sown up. Oh well!
After cleaning up the blood and putting on a bandage we went to see Spiderman, the movie. I've always liked Spiderman. I remember buying Marvel Compics back in 1960's every Thursday when I would ride with Dad to Hurricane and St. George to deliver meat on Thursdays. And I was not at all disappointed in the movie. Great special effects, and I'm sure there will be a sequel, which will allow me to talk about my self-association with Spiderman, and to give a Thoughtlet the title Spiderman (see ../????.html). This week it seems right to focus comments on Taylor High Choir.
Saturday morning I slept in. Andrea had already cleaned out enough of the garage so she could get the lawn mower out the back door for Matt. After calling a garage door place, I went over to the Schmidts. Norbert and Laurie were moving into their own apartment. The Missionaries were over there to help them. After talking to the garage door man, we went to Matt's soccer game. We left at the half to go to a play down at the Alley titled `House.' It was typical of most plays I've seen at The Alley, focused on infidelity, alcohol, homosexuality, and innuendo. I hope we make a lot of money so I could give a nice big endowment to The Alley Theatre, with strings that they have to do one play regularly with none of these themes in the play. The claim the `extensive educational and community outreach programs available at the Alley are ddeply rooted in the tradition born of the founding vision of Nina Vance of making the art of theatre available to the widest possible audience,' and that the Alley's strength has `been built on its ongoing relationshp with the growing and diverse comunities of greater Houston.' Every time I go to one of their plays I get more of the feeling Houston must be made up more and more of perverts. I enjoy theater, and good acting, and I'm sure this modern stuff is simply a reflection of modern society. It seems pretty sick to me. Oh well!
After the play we drove to Westheimer and Wilcrest and went to the Nara Japanese Resturant. It was a nice evening, and the food was too good. I ate too much. Matt and Rachel seemed to enjoy the the time together. When we got home I spent the evening doing a backup of the Sun system. It takes 10 8mm tapes to back it up now, with 250 MB, 474 MB, 140 MB, 451 MB, 6,181 MB (2 tapes), 1,594 MB, 1,716 MB, 1,917 MB, and 1,896 MB files sizes. I was back and forth watching a movie with Andrea and then one with Rachel while doing the backups. I also helped Rachel put together her Senior Talk PowerPoint presentation. It starts with the video clip taken of her at the Taylor High Spring Banquet doing the chicken. In cleaning up my e-mail, there was one sick/funny note I will include for Des, Sara, Bridget, and others with Irish ties:
Church was nice today. Aubrey Vance is going on a
mission to Florida. Good talks. I wrote out two stanzas
for possible inclusion in Prime Words:
Our Priesthood Lesson was #9 in Teachings of President
Harold B. Lee, `Heeding the True Messenger of Jesus
Christ.' Brother Greg Branning was teaching, and at
one point he asked whether anyone knew if Brigham
Young was the senior member of the Quorum of the 12
Apostles when he was selected as the Prophet after
Joseph Smith's martyrdom. I explained:
I don't think I have every seen Bishop Feil laugh this
much before. When we got home Andrea fixed a nice
meal and Matt complained about always eating chicken.
Happy Mother's Day. Then Rachel decided she doesn't
want to go on the youth temple trip in a week. Happy
Mother's Day again. And so I retreated into the office
and wrote out this week's Thoughtlet. I haven't posted
last week's Thoughtlet yet, and I guess the reason is
Andrea's comments about my outspoken letter. Oh well!
As she said when she returned from visiting Melanie,
Jared, and Colby Cade, `you claim you are open about
everything,' so I guess I will post it and hope those
who read can see where my heart was and is. I guess
the conversation in Vidor included a good laugh about
another of my social foopahs, which I have not shared
in this forum. When I accepted that I was divorced
and was going to be alone, I started to look and see
if there was anyone I would be interested in. I read
a couple of books by an LDS author who was single,
and felt like she might be interested in me. I was
wrong. The books were the biographies of Ezra Taft
Benson and Gordon B. Hinckley, and the author is Sheri
L. Dew, who was just released as a counselor in the
General Church Relief Society Presidency, and is the
new President of Deseret Books. I called a couple of
times, went by her office to attempt to meet her, and
wrote a couple of `outspoken' letters. Never did
meet her, and only talked to her once.
I recall my Mission President saying that each Mission President filled out cards about missionaries which were used by the General Authorities to assist in callings as time passed. I've often wondered what is written on my card, especially since when President Belnap had a mission conference and asked everyone to sustain one of his things, I was the only Elder to raise my hand as not sustaining his proposal. It doesn't matter that he was later disfellowshipped, if he wrote something that says I'm a troublemaker on that blue card. And when I was getting the recommend to marry Andrea in the St. George Temple, both Bishop Daniels and President Jones mentioned that church security called to check up on me prior to President Hinckley coming to speak at the Regional Conference in Houston that Sara and Rob went to with me (../9839.html). So there is probably a file in Salt Lake City that a descendent can look up under some future `freedom of information act' and figure out how my outspoken letters have affected my life in way's I don't know.
It suprised me when Andrea said, `Roice, you're too high of maintainance for someone like Sheri Dew.' I recall when Paul came home he told me his Mission President advised him to get a Maytag wife, one that did not require any maintenance. I've never considered myself high maintenance. And yet I can see Andrea's point, especially regarding finances, which is an area I tend to avoid because of emotional reactions to how finances were `discussed' when I was growing up. Oh well! Andrea is certainly capable of providing the needed maintenance, and I'm certainly glad we found each other. After all, if we wouldn't of found each other, I would not have had the opportunity to experience the 2001-2002 Taylor High Choir."