cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, and Maxine Shirts
"Busy week. Good week. Hope each of you had something close to as nice of a week as I did. Saturday evening at Brett Allen's farewell at George Schultz' house, Andrea and I were talking to Jeff Jurinak, and I described one of the guys I worked with at Nelson Meat Packing Plant (../9721.html). Gerald Black was about 6'2" and a big man. I've already written about his vocabulary (../0028), or should I say lack there of. I don't recall where or how I saw him after the meat packing plant was shut down in 1969. However, I recall that after I received my mission call, he suprised me by telling me he had served a mission, and that his mission home was 60/64 Princes Gate, i.e. he served in the same mission I was going to serve in. I recall my shock in learning he had served a mission. I also recall his reaction to my shock. He said, `Roice, a mission is like an innoculation, sometimes they work, and sometimes they don't. I also recall realizing this is what must have happened to coach Jack Sawyer, owner of the movie theater and never one of my heros after he kicked me off of the Cedar City High School football team because I missed practices to make my annual income at the Cedar City Livestock Show. Andrea's reaction was, `So that was your preparation for your mission?'
Last Sunday I taught the Deacon's quorum for the second time, while Glen Jones was on vacation. The lesson was on tithing, a topic I can talk about with passion. Sara stopped by for lunch and to show us the new car the William's gave her. At Andrea's suggestion she is considering naming it `The Phantom.' There were several things I learned in my Sunday phone calls which the rest of you might be interested in. Ben and Sarah went to Boston this week for a CERA meeting. CERA stands for Cambridge Energy Research Associates, and Ben is representing TXU on one of CERA's long range studies. CERA is where Daniel Yergin works, who wrote `The Prize' (../9716.html, ../9916.html, and 0136.html) and `Commanding Heights.' I recommended Ben and Sarah go over to Walden Pond and Concord, which are just outside of Boston. Paul's summer job has taken a turn. Now he has to ride 4-Wheeler's in the Utah mountains, instead of just drive trucks with GPS units in them. I asked if I could get a real job working for the Forest Service. He said `Probably.' Melanie is quite serious about the business she wants to start. She wants to record baby sounds on chips and sell them to folks to put in scrapbooks. If she gets a prototype together by October she is going to show it at a convention in Las Vegas. Maybe Heather, Audrey, Rachel, and Bridget can all get together with her if she comes up to Utah then. Roice is also becoming an entrepreneur. He has written a solar system program and wants to put it on the web as freeware (hopefully people send money if they like the software).
Monday morning I was going for my run and Linda Burgerner passed me about like I pass someone who is walking. She said, `Isn't this fun?' I replied, `It would be if I could keep up.' Seems like I have spent my whole trying to keep up with the Burgerners. For some people it is the Jones. I spent the day working on the Emerald Energy Resources Limited web pages I am putting together for Nigeria. As mentioned last week (0229.html), it has come together pretty well. It is all behind password, and so if you have any interest in this stuff you will have to call me and convince me I can trust you with the password. Tuesday was more of the same. Although about 1:00 Bob Horner and company finished getting some data loaded, and so I went down to II&T until it was time for an interview. Joe Roberts had set up an interview with Rodi Drexion (sp?), the president of ADS. Rodi wants me to sell his PC clusters and 3-D migration software to my contacts in the industry. I don't consider myself a salesman, and I went to the interview anyway. Last time I talked to Rodi was when we asked him to invest in Dynamic (../0105.html). This was quite different. He showed me around. He just sold ADS to Core Labs, and Joe says he pocketed about $20 million. I remember when Rode was working for Teledyne and a Yugoslavian immigrant, maybe about 20 years ago. Their computers are very impressive. They have direct application to the Infinite Grid(SM) and some of the stuff I have been working on. I didn't tell him details, because I wouldn't trust him with my passwords. He made some comments about not having to work anymore. I got him to talk about what he wants to do now. He was very open. He said, `I don't have to worry about spending the money. I have an American wife. You know. You've had a couple of them. The other day I wanted $10,000. for something, and she said to me, I don't think we can afford it. She has spent everything already in her mind and has it all planned out.' I smiled and went on with the interview. His COO was very interested in my ideas about the potential use of the PC clusters in medical and GIS markets. We'll see where it goes.
I left their offices at San Felipe and Voss and met Andrea at the temple for our ward temple night. Andrea rode out to the temple with Kathleen Keller. In the dressing room I saw Ron Burgner. A couple of weeks ago he had confided he lost his job. I asked how he was doing. He said, `I'm happy.' I said `What about work?' He said, `I have a job. It is in Austin.' I said, `I didn't realize you and Linda missed Tyler that much.' He laughed. After the session Gary Jones mentioned he wanted to talk about some parts of the Endowment he has trouble with. So we talked right then. A brother from Corwin Slack's ward overherd us and joined the conversation. It was a neat experience. Maybe sometime when hopefully each of you go to the temple with me, we can have a similar conversation about sacred things. As Andrea and I drove home, and talked about our day, I was still absorbing the news that my personal benchmark in what a good Mormon family is, Ron and Linda Burgerner, were moving to Austin as soon as they can sell their house. Maybe, even though I paid to have all of those paintings made which incorporated 1307 Emerald Green, I will sell this house and move away someday.
Wednesday morning I went over to Dick Coons and cut a CD of all of the data I have put on the web for Jude. Dick had his co-worker from Meridian, James Edwards, there. James said he is pretty sure they have over 200 BCFE (billion cubic feet of gas equivalent) in the prospects they have been pursuing. Recall Dick gets a fee and an override on everything they bid on and win, and we get 10% of what Dick gets. So if next month Meridian buys 5 blocks, and earns $250,000, we get $25,000. And at $2/MCF (MCF=1,000 cubic feet of gas), 200 BCFE is worth $400 million. Dick's 3.5% is worth $14 million, and my 10% of this is worth $1.4 million, paid out over 10 years. We will see. Jude and his team were suitably impressed with the work I have done, and Jude gave me my first check from VRMT for the work I have been doing on the Ogedeh 3-D seismic survey. I went from Jude's shop to II&T and worked on the seismic interpretation until it was time to go to the Ward Party. The July 24th picnic was a real success. I counted 80 folks, and others said there were over 100 in attendance. There were 120 hamburgers and 60 hot dogs cooked. I made 4 dutch oven cobblers. It seemed like everyone had a good time. Matt seemed to enjoy it. Rachel even joined us on the cell phone, concerned about money for college, and after some comforting words was able to talk to several of her friends. We got home at about 9:00, and I worked until about 11:00 on Nigerian stuff.
Thursday was more of the same. At 9:30 I had an hour and a half teleconference with the folks at Texas A&M. It turns out Arnie Vedletz is one of 11 Texas administrators on the task force to get a $200 million grant to become the nation's university center for homeland security. The team he had assembled for the teleconference was blown away with what I had to show them and the answers to the questions they asked. Arnie said he is going to his boss, the Vice-President of Research, and is going to have me come up and give some presentations to them. I remain optimistic the Infinite Grid(SM) will become the GIS system for Homeland Security, and all other aspects of mapping for the next few decades. Time will tell. Sort of like an e-mail from Haden Hudson on Thursday, with two stories I believe are worth sharing:
Time always has a way of bringing out the best, or the worst,
in each of us. Some of us never get past trauma's in our youth,
like high school, and hopefully most of us are able to put the
negative events of the past behind us and get on with our own
lives. I look forward to when each of you kids, and those who
don't read these words right now, put the negative past behind
you, and remembering your heritage march off into the future.
After the teleconference on Thursday morning, I went to VRMT
(Vison Reservoir Management Tecnology: Jude's company), for a
follow-up meeting with Johnny Kopecky of MKS concerning funding
of Emerald's OPL-229. Good meeting. I learned how all of the
Nigerian scams have impacted Jude and his business efforts.
The more I learn the more impressed I am with Dr. Jude O.
Amaefule. From there I went to II&T and worked until 7:00
when Tony Traweek came in and needed the OpenWork's license
to do data loading.
Friday morning I was at II&T at 7:30. Left at 11:30 for a lunch with two Phillips and a Total-Elf geoscientists. Interesting lunch. I'm sure there will be follow-up conversations. From here I went up the tollroad to 290, and out to Telge Road and VRMT's office. Jude, Emmanuel O. Udegbunam, Ph.D., and Vince O. Eleri, Ph.D., were all suitably impressed with the results to date. I was back at II&T by 5:00 and worked until about 9:00 when Tony needed the license again.
Saturday morning I was back at II&T at 8:00, and worked until about 3:30 Sunday morning. Good results. Interesting work. Andrea fixed a nice lunch for me. Matt let me take the fan in his room. It gets very hot when they turn the air conditioner off at 2:00 in the afternoon. At 7:00 in the evening I took a two hour break to come home and go to Brett Allen's farewell at George Schultz's house. Brett's parents are good Methodists, and a few years ago when he would come to early morning seminary they got very upset with him. As my Sister Sara said when Bridget got married in the Salt Lake Temple, there are worse ways of rebelling than this. And although Brett's parents are still upset, he said they are much more accepting of his choices and what he is doing than they were in those days.
Sacrament meeting was excellent. It was Brett Allen's Farewell. Laurie Schultz bore a very strong testimony about the impact Brett Allen's conversion had had on her. How she does not just take the church for granted like she used to. She mentioned how if you believe in the church you have to put some science aside, and when I questioned her about this after Gospel Doctrine, I realized there needs to be a reasonable response to evolution and geologic age written for kids in the church. I'll add this to my project list. Maybe this type of effort could be of benefit for Roice, and others who intellectulize themselves out of the church. Brother Schultz talked about trying to talk about the gospel with his brother Phil Schultz, a famous geophysicist whom I have known for years. I told George we need to have a bar-b-que at our house for him and Becky, and for Phillip and his wife. And then there was Brett's talk. He is excited about going to Chile. He sounded like he had been a member of the church his whole life. What a fine young man. His parents, who are excellent scouters, obviously raised a first class eagle scout. I could not help but think of the Scout Oath:
And so despite a very busy week, the events were overshadowed by
Brett Allen's Farewell."