cc: file, Andrea, Tony Hafen, Sara and Des Penny, & Maxine Shirts
"I mentioned in the previous Thoughtlet the birthday party on Sunday the 2nd of November (0344.html). The 75 candles were 21 for Rob and 54 for me. Rob had a nice present for me. It was a book called `tuesdays with Morrie an old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson' by Mitch Albom. It is 192 pages, and I completed it by Tuesday night.
It is an interesting book. It is some of the better philosophy of the world. It talks about feeling sorry for yourself, about regrets, about death, about family, about emotions, about the fear of aging, about money, about our culture, about forgiveness, and about the perfect day. There is nothing that caught my attention enough that as I write this a couple of weeks later I have any interest in passing on long passages. At the same time it is a worthwhile read, it is in the family library, and any of you interested in borrowing it are welcome to.
I gave Rob a hand made card (I didn't think about it before Sunday and did not want to go to the store on Sunday). My present was the card about `well intentioned books that will probably just be annoying, and a piece of useable paper' (a check) and two Books: `Cutoffs' and `The Miracle of Forgiveness.' Roice called and wanted to be conferenced into Sara when she called. Melanie never made it home so she could be conferenced in, but Sara never called. Oh well! I didn't write the two outstanding thoughtlets.
Monday I took Dave Agarwal up to VRMT with me to meet with Jude. Jude spent most of the meeting telling me I was in the wrong about the $55,000 invoice. I don't handle this kind of stuff very well, and did not have a response for him. When I got thinking about it later, I realized he was saying I do not know how to price my work, but VRMT had bid on the job for the Marginal Field operators and I was obliged to work within the bid they had submitted. I wrote Jude an e-mail to this effect later in the week. He did give partial payment on an outstanding invoice, and so we have sufficient cash flow for a few days. VRMT has hired a young Nigerian physicist who just graduated from UT Austin when Sara did named Chieze. Sara, I wonder if you ever met her.
Monday Grandma Shirts gave me a check and a card for my birthday. Ben and Sara sent a nice note:
Tuesday was was the day Grandma Shirts returned to Cedar
and was also election day. The only thing on our ballot
was Metro's new initiative to build 27 more miles of
rail in Houston. I tried to get Metro to use the Katy
Railroad back when I did the project at Maudeen Marks
place. I believe rail is inevitable for Houston. I
think their plan is too expensive, and yet I'm sure
there are professionals coming up with the best plan they
know how to. Bottom line is I voted for it and it passed
by about 51.5%. Sometimes it seems like our votes don't
mean much. And yet it is so important. I noticed Melanie
and Paul and Rob are still listed to vote in our precinct,
and encourage you to get registered to vote where you
live. I finished the book `tuesday's with Morrie' when I
got back to the house from voting.
Wednesday morning Andrea and I had breakfast with Eddie Rogers to talk about outstanding bills I'm owed. We came up with a plan and have been executing against that plan since then, with some success. Wednesday at 11:00 I went to yet another meeting with Mike Dunn at Geophysical Development Corporation (../9945.html, ../0009.html, ../0012.html, ../0014.html, ../0015.html, ../0046.html, 0050.html, ../0051.html, ../0052.html, ../0209.html, 0212.html, 0215.html, 0236.html, and 0341.html). Roger Anderson was there. It was good to see him. We met with Mike Dunn and with David Johnson, the new President of Geokinetics, the parent company of GDC. It was fun to review all that has happened since Roger and I started working together in about 1987. The conversation was interesting. Lunch was better than I remembered before. Roger had to leave. I demonstrated the Infinite GridSM through the Texas Shelf and the Colorado County projects. They committed to hire me to take their lithology database for the Gulf of Mexico and convert it to the Infinite GridSM. This is going to take about a month of work and will provide us with some cash flow. Also they tell me they want this to turn into a real job. So sister Sara, maybe I am finally going to be following your advice of over three years ago (../0037.html).
Wednesday evening Andrea and I went to talk to the Bishop. He was worried about us and just wanted to see how we were doing. It was a nice visit, and he showed real concern. I must admit, this is not something I have really experienced before. I have always felt very much alone when there hasn't been enough money or there has been some other problem in the past. It was a nice visit, sort of like `tuesdays with Morrie.'
Thursday there was a long conversation with Swede. Andrea got involved in part of this conversation on the speaker phone. Having just read `tuesdays with Morrie,' I could not help but compare my relationship with Swede as my mentor with Mitch Albom's relationship with his professor Morrie Schwartz. Mentor. Friend. Confidant. Source of advice. Surrogate parent. Each of these are relevant terms.
Friday I had a nice call from Rachel, who wanted to wish me a Happy Birthday. Thanks Rachel. I feel so bad to hear the stress you are feeling with too many classes, work, and room mate stuff. Hopefully I have been able to demonstrate there is always life on the otherside of the thunderstorms. And as I think about it, this was what the book `tuesdays with Morrie' was about.
Saturday evening Melanie and Colby came to visit. Melanie had Regional Young Women's Training at the Hafer Road Stake Center. We got to babysit Colby. What an even tempered pleasant young man. We had a good time. I was working on some stuff for Swede Nelson with his Iraq project. Colby would come in and get me, and we would go and play for a while. Andrea took him for a walk. Matt played with him a lot. It was a fun evening. Andrea had rented `The RM' and after Melanie got back we watched it until we were all too tired and could not keep our eyes open. It was really nice to have Melanie at church with us. It was fun to hear her comments in Sunday School, and even a week later folks were telling me about comments she made in Relief Society and how proud I must be of her and her choices. Gary Jones (a) made a comment in Gospel Doctrine I captured as a possible stanza for Prime Words:
Roice and Rob both came over for lunch with Melanie and Colby. Guess this was our unexpected early Thanksgiving. I gave Roice a Sunday made card, two books (`Cut Offs' and `Time Wars') and a check for his birthday. Being the duty bound son, he took the books and said he was going to wait until his birthday on the 21st to open them. Colby fell down the stairs and gave us all a bit of a scare. He had a really big bump come up on his head, and it went down very quickly. Melanie handled it better than any of us. Colby didn't hardly even cry. It was sad to see them leave. I waited out in the driveway and Colby and I waved to each other until they were out of sight.
Tim Gebauer our Home Teacher came over in the evening. His companion wasn't with him, and we had a nice long talk. I think he helped give some good perspective on some of the things we have been worried about. I guess it is too easy to get caught up in worrying about things we don't have much control over. It kind of reminded me of a passage I had read earlier in the week:
Pages 177-178, `tuesdays with Morrie: an old man, a young man, and life's greatest lesson' by Mitch Albom."