cc: file, Andrea, Tony Hafen, Sara and Des Penny, & Maxine Shirts
"As near as I can determine from a few word searches through past Thoughtlets, I stopped using deodorant the week ending 28 April 2002. This was the was the week I went to Christus Hospital to teach Norbert Schmidt with the missionaries as recorded in Thoughtlet #0217. As we were leaving, Michelle Schmidt came in, and we stopped and talked briefly. She talked about Norbert's Alzheimer's and how hard it was to help take care of him. Then she said, offhandedly, `You know, Doctors think Alzheimer's is caused by access aluminum, and one of the main sources of aluminum is deodorant.' It was a minuscule statement. Something which could easily have been passed over. It was never recorded in my diary, my journal, nor these Thoughtlets. And yet, this little `thoughtlet' has resulted in a major change in my personal grooming, and thus in my life.
I went home and read the ingredients on my Old Spice High Endurance Anti-Perspirant Original Scent. The same deodorant stick is sitting next to my sink. It says:
Over the previous six months, on 3 different occasions,
I had a boil type swelling in my armpit, and on two of
the occasions there was a trail of swelling going to
the boil, which looked to me like my body trying to get
rid of cancer or some other terrible thing. I couldn't
(and sadly still can't) afford to go to the Doctor and
get it checked out, and so I was receptive to the
information content of Michelle's comment. Over the
year and a half since this experience, there have been
several things which confirmed the truth of this advice.
First, the boils went away, and never have came back since I stopped using deodorant. Second, you have each spent some time with me in the last year and a half, and none of you have rejected me because I no longer use deodorant (of course, now that you know, maybe you will choose to reject me?). Third, I walked in to the living room one day when she was working on Sara's cross-stitch while watching Oprah, and Andrew Weil was the guest. He wrote the book `Eating Well for Optimum Health,' which I really liked, and which encourages eating salmon and omega-3 fatty acids. He was talking about the issues with deodorants and why it is important to not use them. Then he said, the main cause of odor is bacteria. Just splash some rubbing alcohol under your arms each morning, and this will kill the bacteria. So I started doing this, and then putting on the Old Spice after shave to cover up the hospital smell on my hands. And fourth, there have been several articles in journals and the newspaper which support this decision. For instance, this week I was filing some of my newspaper articles, and came across this published in the Houston Chronicle on 20Aug2003 p15A:
Boy, if Sara thinks actually finds it tough work
in Benin with a high percentage of AIDS victims,
imagine what it will be for all of you and for
your children if there are millions of folks
who can not take care of themselves because they
have lost their ability to remember! As I
contemplate your generation, my heart goes out
to you, because the challenges will certainly
be much bigger than proving the source of a stain
on a blue dress, which seems to be the focus of
my generation.
The week of September 29th to October 5th was another hard week for me. Several of us had worked very hard to get ready for meetings with John Benard the 15th of September. He got ill and didn't come. His geologist, Frank Lott, came. John's visit was rescheduled for Monday the 29th of September. He came, we talked, and he left. He did not bring any new projects. He did not write the expected $30,000, or even $25,000, check we were expecting. He just kind of left us hanging. Dave Agerwal, Les Denham, and Bob Horner were expecting this check to help cover their rent and ongoing expenses. Gary Jones was expecting this check to be his first income after being laid off. We had $200. in the checkbook, and I was expecting this was the beginning of a long and fruitful business relationship. Nothing. He was in a rush, and we did not bring any closure to our discussions. I was more than quite upset. I can equate this to finding out someone you love has become offensive to you because they stopped using deodorant.
Right after John left on Monday, I pulled out my lists and started calling contacts. This time it was not for consulting work, it was for a real job (../0037.html), or anything else which could make ends meet. I had been talking to a company in San Diego about their new 3-D visualization technologies named Sunreyes. It turned out one of their principals was on his way to Houston on Monday. We connected, and made arrangements to have dinner together at Benihana's. I had my resume and a lot of supporting documentation. Chris Weller, who was about 30, was only interested in my resume. We had a very nice discussion, and once they are funded, he told me I was a prime candidate for their Vice-President of Petroleum. Once they are funded! Auuuuuuuuuuuuugh!!!!!!!!! I've talked to them several times since then, and they hope to close funding by the end of the month. I needed some deodorant.
I was pretty disillusioned at my ability to pick business partners. There were a couple of e-mail's and phone calls with John Benard, and there were not answers to my hard questions. It was hard to talk to Andrea about what had just happened, yet again. It is pretty obvious the issue keeps happening, and thus it is my issue, and now I have got to figure out how to change my modus operandi. Deodorant?
At 10:00 on Tuesday, Gary Jones had set up a meeting for me with an old friend, Don Vossler. I had not seen Don since the infamous soccer game Ben was in where Don was the referee whom Ben's coach and team taunted all through the game. A search in past Thoughtlets does not show up any hits under Vossler nor umpire. So let me digress from my discussion about deodorant, and describe what happened back in about 1989.
Roger Anderson (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University in New York City) and Larry Cathles (Cornell University in Ithica, NY) were visiting Houston for the GBRN (Global Basin Research Network, see ../9821.html, ../9916.html, ../0120.html, and 0320.html). The three of us had started this consortium to study dynamic replenishment of oil fields, focused on studying Eugene Island 330. Ben had a soccer game, and I have always attempted to attend the activities you kids were involved in, at least when I was in town. Roger and Larry met me at the soccer field. The game was out of control. A large part of the responsibility was the head referee, and a large part of the responsibility was Ben's coach, who was encouraging the kids to attack the referee's calls. It was embarrassing to have two of the most renounced earth scientists on earth watching this display of poor sportsmanship.
At the end of the game, the teams walked past each other and hit hands, and everyone started to leave. I signaled Ben that I wanted him to come with me. I took him over to introduce him to Don. The other two refs were standing like guards, and Don gave them permission for Ben and I to go past them. I sat Ben down next to Don and said something like:
Maybe I have Alzheimer's, and, Ben, you will
correct my memory. I do remember, Don shaking
my hand and saying `Thanks Roice.' And I do
remember describing what happened to Roger and
to Larry, and having them tell me this was one
of the best teaching moments they had seen.
As I mentioned, I had not seen Don Vossler since the above soccer event had happened. The first thing we each did was to recall that hot Saturday afternoon, of over 10 years earlier, and tell Gary Jones about it. Don has developed a new way to look at seismic bright spots, and he proceeded to give Gary and I a demonstration of his process. It was interesting, even though he did not disclose the details of the process. He did not want to sell the software, rather to provide it as a service. I recommended he contact David Kessler and Wulf Massell. Dave Agarwal sat in with us, and said he is interested in providing it as a service through II&T. I told him I would contact John Benard and get permission for him to use his Casey Ranch 3-D survey to test his algorithm on. I did. John gave permission. Confidentiality agreements were signed. Don ran the process. It is two weeks later, and I stayed up until 4:00 AM this morning getting Don's 36 leads and 2 prospects, Seminole and Cherokee, on the web for John Benard to review prior to his visit with me on Monday, October 13th (later posponed to the 20th, see 0343.html). This is a pretty dramatic demonstration how relationships built at a soccer game (or any other part of our lives) can come back to our benefit, or our harm, in an hour of need years later.
There were a lot of phone calls the week of September 29th to October 4th. There were a lot of new and several old leads which were rekindled. On Monday, II&T gave me a check for over $2,000., which I was not expecting. On Tuesday an outstanding invoice for the expert witness consulting came in, and it was for over $2,000. We have lived on manna for several years now, and hopefully it will not be 40 years before things come together and some of my ideas start to generate some fruit. After all, `by their fruit ye shall know them,' and for too long, I have not been generating fruit worth emulating. Unless it is how to endure problems without using deodorant.
Friday evening Andrea and I went to see Luther. It appears historically accurate, and from that standpoint, each of you should go see it. The restoration would not have happened without the bravery and initiatives of Martin Luther. Then we went to a football game with Mayde Creek at Rhodes Stadium. Taylor walked all over them, and won something like 28 to 0. Not a bad way to end a work week. There was not that much excitement, and certainly no need for deodorant."