cc: file, Andrea, Tony Hafen, Sara and Des Penny, & Maxine Shirts
"The last Thoughtlet I sent was on June 2nd. This was for the week ending May 17th. Oh well! Guess it is time to get after catching up. It has been nice to have several of you ask about the status. It was also funny for Uncle Des to `confess' he doesn't read all of my epistles. He just looks at the highlights. `But Sara reads them all, and catches me up with all that is going on!' So where to start? Guess the Covey way is to start with the end in mind. So here the titles of Thoughtlets coming your way soon:
The titles tell me the whole story of the last two months. However, you were not all with me, and so some of them, like Fandangle, probably don't mean much. So guess that means you need to read them, if you want to catch up. And it is kind of ironic this series of catch-up writing starts with a Thoughtlet about work and ends with a thoughtlet about my new church calling as of today (13 July 2003): The Ward Employment Specialist. Everyone who has heard it starts off by saying, `Does this mean you are going to get a real job?' See, Aunt Sara, you were a prophet and just didn't know it! Paul laughed when I told him, and he said `That's funny, you don't even have a job!'
One of the key reasons I am so far behind in writing the Thoughtlets is the fact I have been very busy with real work (and a lot of speculative work). I must admit, as I have realized how far behind I have got, the thought has crossed my mind wondering how busy I was with work over the months and years since I started writing Thoughtlets (the 38th week of 1996). I think the writing is a lot like paying tithing. If you pay tithing before any of the bills, you usually don't miss it. And if I do the writing before any of the work, there has always been enough time. One of the issues is travel. The week of #0322 Andrea and I drove to Dallas. The week of #0323 Andrea, Sara, Audrey, and I went to London, and were there the week of #0324 and the beginning of #0325. The week of #0326 Andrea, Rachel, and I drove 6 hours north-northwest to Albany, Texas. The week of $0327 Andrea and I were in Cedar City. And the week of #0328 Andrea, Rachel, Sara, Roice, Matt, and I were in Austin. At least, travel is my excuse, and I'm sticking with it! Although there is one other excuse. I asked Andrea, Audrey, and Sara to send their summary of our trip to London, like Ben and Brian did on their trip to China. They are not here yet, so I obviously can not write #2003.24 yet. Or maybe I can, and will just include what the three of you send when you send it.
When I was looking for a topic for this week, #2003.23, I realized I have never written about work. I have often said and written `my Dad taught me to work and my Mom taught me to think.' Thanks to Dad's example and training I have always worked harder than any of my co-workers. I remember whenever I would go home to visit Mom and Dad, there would always be a project. A field to plow, a sprinkler line to move, a fence to repair, or something else. And it always amazed me how tired I would get, and how my Dad would just keep going and going and going. The original `everready battery.'
You each seem to have learned to work. And you seem to work harder than your peers. I do worry about Rob and Matt, and hope they will each recognize the value of doing more than watching TV or playing computer games. I do hope one of the legacies I leave you is a desire and willingness to do a full day's work, whether or not you receive a full day's pay. We just plain feel better at the end of the day after we have worked hard. And it is good for us to work hard.
There are unexpected benefits which come from working hard. For instance, I was going to attach an article which was published about me in The Leading Edge, one of the geophysical professional magazines (however, it 3.58MB and so those interested can download it from http://www.walden3d.com/resumes/tle_hrn.pdf or ask me to mail you a copy). Dolores Proubasta has been threatening to write this article since she interviewed me at the SEG in Calgary a few years ago (../0033.html). She interviewed me again, taking more photos, last year in Salt Lake (../0241.html). And for the last few months Dolores and I have been passing the article back and forth editing and reediting it. I think it turned out pretty good. Recognition by one's peers is one of those successes in life that helps compensate for failure in the home (and the more time I spend with Andrea, the more I am convinced our marriage will demonstrate we actually did not fail in our homes - for failure is more than divorce and children who choose to not pray and find God in their youth). When one works hard to make the world a better place for our children and our grandchildren: (1) there are successes along the way which make the effort feel worthwhile; and (2) the example will carry on and probably be picked up by grandchildren or great grandchildren. At least that's my story, and, for now, I'm sticking to it!
Work comes in many forms. For example, because words are not my natural medium, writing Thoughtlets is real work for me. The week in question, I wrote three Thoughtlets on Sunday the 18th (0315.html, 0316.html, and 0317.html), and two Thoughtlets on Saturday the 24th of May (0318.html and 0319.html). Maybe as some of you attempt to summarize a trip with me, or keep up a weekly e-mail conversation (journal) for years, you will come to recognize the work involved in one who does not have words for emotions attempting to tell each and all of you how much I love you by using a foreign emotional language made up of words.
I've been told many times there are easy and there are hard ways to do things. Maybe because I learned to work in my youth, I do not consider the ways others call hard to be hard. I enjoy the process. I enjoy work. And when simple ways are known, I enjoy taking advantage of them. These words are brought to mind by a stanza written on Sunday:
This was written based on a talk by John Evans of the Katy Stake High Council on the 18th of May 2003 in reference to the curing of leprosy by Elisha by having Naaman bathe in the River Jordon seven times as described in II Kings 5 or Luke 4:27.
Monday morning I had a meeting with Bob Tippe, the editor of the Oil & Gas Journal. He is interested in the work I am doing. He called back last week with a proposal to have me and my NetWork provide a series of seminars or schools which The Oil & Gas Journal will market to the industry. I pointed him to http://www.walden3d.com/courses. It will be interesting to see where this work goes.
Tuesday Dennis McMullin called up and wanted to talk about how to do a University Program for several different companies. He came over to the house and I think he caught the vision of how the Knowledge Backbone(SM) and the Infinite Grid(SM) indexing systems provide a mechanism for this type of shared research. It will be interesting to see where this work goes.
Tuesday I also signed a disclosure with NASA. One of their scientists has patented a process for defining subsurface geomorphology from space. They are going to have me review the work and see if there is application in the oil and gas industry. It will be interesting to see where this work goes.
I spent quite a bit of time this week working on the expert witness work having to do with the $100 million lawsuit which I am now involved in. It will be interesting to see where this work goes.
Tuesday evening was Ward Temple Night, and Andrea and I went. I had been asked by one of the families Home Teach to resolve a dispute with another member of the ward. There was an opportunity to bring this up in the dressing room of the temple. I felt it was safe there, or at least that I wouldn't get decked. It seems to have all been worked out, and it has been interesting to see this work evolve.
Wednesday I sent a proposal to Ajay Kalsi concerning the Phoenix exploration project. He accepted it, and this project was the reason I was able to justify taking Andrea, Audrey, and Sara to London for a week vacation (0324.html). It will be interesting to see where this work goes.
Wednesday I retrieved data from ConocoPhillips for meetings which Diamond Bank had requested Emerald set up. Diamond Bank holds the $20 million loan on Jude's OPL-229 in Nigeria. The meetings were on Thursday and Friday. Vince Eleri and myself were the representatives. The visitor was Mr. Pali Walia from London, who is talking about taking over the note from Diamond Bank and cutting Emerald out of their property. I do not see that Jude has much choice. Yet he refused to pass data to Mr. Walia, and Mr. Walia had a facsimile from Cecilia saying he could have copies of all of the data. It will be interesting to see where this work goes.
There were radio and newspaper articles on Wednesday about a single case of Mad Cow Disease in Canada. All imports of Canadian Beef to the USA were halted. Recent articles had said the cow originally came from the U.S. It will be interesting to see where this work goes.
John Benard contacted me about working his projects in the Ft. Worth Basin. It will be interesting to see where this work goes.
Ajay approved my proposal, and by Thursday and and Friday evening Tony Traweek and I were busy getting the 2-D seismic data loaded on the Landmark workstation at II&T. It was a lot of work. And there was a lot of work put in on this project over the next week. I already pointed out it will be interesting to see where this work goes.
Saturday morning after my run I edged the lawns. I have always enjoyed working in the yard. With the financial pressures of the last couple of years it has been a little too easy to feel like I can not take time to do this type of work. Some types of work are therapeutic. Hopefully things will stabilize and there will be more time for this type of work.
Sunday evening Andrea went Home Teaching with me because Scott was not able to go. Home Teaching is also therapeutic work for me. I always seem to get more than I give when I do this kind of service. I wrote two possible Prime Word Stanzas on this Sunday, and they both relate to this concept of work:
I hope you each recognize the value of good,
honest, hard work. And as you do, I promise you
will find great blessings on the other side of
the rainbow from the sweat of your brow and
accompanying your work."