20 Nov 2005 #0547.html

Working with Don Vossler

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Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome to this week's "Thoughtlet."

These words are my personal diary and a weekly review of ideas, beliefs, thoughts, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you: my children, my family, and my friends.

"Well, here we are again! The bad news for me is it is the 5th of February 2006, and I am starting to catch up on a Thoughtlet for the week ending the 20th of November 2005. The good news is

  1. I have outlined all 12 Thoughtlets I am behind on,
  2. since my memory is going, they won't be as long as they would have been had I written them when they happened, and
  3. it gives me an opportunity to reflect on all of the wonderful times with you kids and your kids over the last 12 weeks.
The bad news is I have a lot of writing to do, and Melanie tells me she enjoys them, so I better get busy. To give you a preview of what is coming up:

One more thing before start catching up, we received a note from Matt at Boot Camp in South Carolina this week, and I want to quote it in it's entirety for those of you who read these writings of a father/step-father who cares (note that "(sic)" is a historians way of writing "I'm quoting what was written, and I know it is actually spelled or grammatically different than what was written.):

`Hey Mom and Roice, Jan. 29, 2006 I recived (sic) ya'lls package this week. Thanks for the books. However, be careful when sending a package. I almost had to turn it in. Also those books are free every Sunday at church here on the post. How's everything back home and whats (sic) new in the outside world? I'm not able to have access to a radio, T.V., newspaper, or internet (sic). I am having a heck of a time here, and just so you know we got our pictures for our platoon taken, so be sure to look for me in them when I sent them home. I unfortunantly (sic) have a position in the platoon, so I can't stay hidden from the drill sergants (sic). So far we've done pugile fighting, bayonet course, victory tower, and land navigation. This upcoming week we should be doing gas chamber and other ... stuff. I guess tell everyone else, cause I don't have their addresses (family) that I'm fine and give them the adress (sic) they can reach me at and I'll write back whoever rights (sic) me. To ya'll, "deep in the Heart of Texas." Matthew C. Nielson [Turn over] P.S. Mom see if you can mail me key world events newspaper clipings (sic) and mail me my needle shot record (or a copy of it).'

For those who have not looked at the address list in a while, Matt's address is:

` PV2 Matthew C. Nielson C CO. 2-39 INF 4th PLT Regulators Ft. Jackson, S.C. 29207 on back of envelope put 4th'

So here we go, jumping back into a time warp some 12 weeks ago. I recall I was attempting to get this Thoughtlet posted before Andrea and I left for China over Thanksgiving (0548.html. As is normal on a trip across the water, I stayed up all night, and just ran out of time before it was time to pack, and drive up to Intercontinental Airport. Anyway, back to the past.

On Monday Lynn and Dave Johnson, Rob and Paul (who was in town working for Boeing in Clear Lake), Jialin Yan, Lisa & Les and Les' brother John Denham, Andrea, and myself had a party. I wanted to do something for Jialin, who was in Houston for the SEG. I also promised Les that we would get together with John, who was visiting from Australia. And so it all came together, and we had a party on Monday night. The Johnson's were the first to arrive. I've referred to Dave Johnson, the President and CEO of Geokinetics, Inc., the owner of GDC, in about 30 Thoughtlets since the fall of 2003. The Johnson's are Evangelical Christians, and so I welcomed them, and said to Lynn, `I'm pleased you would come to our house, even though we are not Christians.' She looked at Dave and said, `That didn't take long.' After a couple of other similar cracks, with the paintings of Christ on the wall, Lynn said, `OK Roice, let it go.' So I did.

I cooked hamburgers on the grill, dutch oven potatoes, and cobbler. It was good to catch up with John Denham. John has lost part of his right ear to cancer. Otherwise he seems in good spirits and seems to be doing well. I think Jialin had a good evening. Rob played some of his songs, and his music made the evening for me. I felt very good about having the Johnson's over, and I would like to have more evenings like this.

On Tuesday and Wednesday there was a lot of work to be done to get ready to leave for China the following Monday (0548.html). I also wrote an e-mail to the Abbott's about my conversations with Ajay Kalsi:

`Ward and Fern, Ajay Kalsi of Phoenix Hydrocarbons showed up at the SEG. He mentioned in passing that they have given the stratigraphic interpretation contract to Robertson Research. I am disappointed. I have learned a lesson. Specifically, I will not approach Ward about doing a project until I have the cash in my hands and know that I will be able to deliver the project. Not sure if you heard about Bob and Ramona Sneider, and so I've included a memorial notice below. Both died of cancer within two weeks of each other. Hope everything is going well in Washington. Not sure when we will be back home next. Probably in the spring at Rachel's graduation from SUU. Hopefully we will be able to see you when we are next up there. Best Regards, Roice'

One day at lunch I slipped over the MicroCenter to purchase a new power chord for my PC. Turns out to be a big issue. It has to be able to handle 135 watts, they did not have it, and it needs to be ordered. Obviously would not be ready before we left for China. So I spent an evening putting a splint on the worn out part with popsicle sticks and safety pins, and wrapping it with electrical tape. The split seems to have worked just fine, and I did not have to go through the hassle of finding and ordering a power supply.

Thursday there was a review of the status of Frank's work at GDC. There is no question about the fact he has worked hard. There is also no question about the fact he is not trusted, and it is feared he might have taken technology from GDC. I hope not. I expect time will tell. I have a note about Passport and Visa's. Maybe this was the day Andrea got her visa back. I don't remember. I also had to arrange to get some money for Jialin, and as is always the case this turned into a big problem. However, we finally solved everything.

It seemed like there was too much happening on Thursday. I was attempting to get some interpretation work done. And it was Robert M. and Ramona Sneider's Memorial Mass. And the big meeting with Dave Johnson and Rick Zimmerman and his team happened. I made hard calls, and did the best I could.

I felt a strong obligation to go to the Sneider Memorial Service. I did a search on `Sneider' and it looks like I have not written much about him. Bob is the only person to ever fire me from a business relationship. I learned about Bob when I was working for Landmark. His eulogy gives a summary of his accomplishments, and so I will type it out:

`Robert Morton Sneider was born in Long Branch, NJ on March 2, 1929 to William J. Sneider and Rose Marmorstein. He lived with his parents and sisters in the beach community of Asbury Park, NJ. He was active in sports during his youth and was a beach lifeguard. He received his B.S. degree from Rutger's University. After Rutgers, Bob served as an army combat engineer during the Korean War. He was honorably discharged from the army as a First Lieutenant and entered graduate school at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He received a Ph.D. in geology and mining engineering. During this period he met an elementary school teacher, Ramona Meyer. Ramona and Bob were married on Sep 1, 1956. His 48-year career began in 1957 at Shell Oil Company where he worked for nearly 18 years. During the Shell years, the family moved often settling in Houston in 1967. In 1974, Bob started Sneider and Meckel Associates, Inc. with Larry Meckel. He formed Robert M. Sneider Exploration, Inc. in 1981. Bob was involved in worldwide exploration, production, property acquisition, research, training and management. During Bob's career, he and his associates strove to add value to companies by finding new opportunities through the application of integrated geological-geophysical-petrophysical and petroleum engineering techniques working in both frontier and mature areas. He led the industry in cataloging geological, petrophysical, and engineering properties of reservoir, seals, and flow barrier rock types from around the world. Bob actively participated in many professional societies receiving numerous professional accolades and was a distinguished lecturer for the AAPG, PESA and SPE. In 2000, he became a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He was an honorary member of the AAPG and named the 2001 recipient of the Sidney Powers Medal, AAPG's highest award. Bob and Ramona were full partners in life. Bob often acknowledged that his success was due to the steadfast support and assistance of his wife. They raised a family of three children. They were enthusiastic grandparents. After their children were grown, Bob and Ramona enjoyed time together, much of it traveling the world and seeing friends. On Oct 29, 2005, Bob passed away in his Houston home, as was his wish. He lived his life with the highest standards of integrity. He has left a long legacy to his field of science. Bob was preceded in death by his parents and his wife of 49 years, Ramona A. Sneider. he is survived by his daughter, Linda A. Reid and husband, Charles, of Katy, TX; son, Timothy J. Sneider, and wife, June, of Clear Lake Shores, TX; son, John S. Sneider, and his wife, Dorothy Ballentine, of Kemah, TX; grandson, C.C. "Chris" Reid; granddaughter, A.C. "Catie" Reid; sister, Lois S. Tarshes, of Indianapolis, IN; sister, Lee. S. Sager, Miami Beach, FL; sister-in-law, Elayne Donahue, of St. Paul, NM; sister-in-law, Ethel Ann Marshall, and husband, Paul, of Woodbury, MN; brother-in-law, Raymond N. Meyer, and wife, Sheila, of St. Paul, MN; and numerous nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, a memorial donation can be made to one of the following charities. Gustavus E. Archie Memorial Grant or Gustavus E. Archie Memorial International Grant - AAPG Foundation, P.O. Box 979, Tulsa, OK 74101-0979 USA. Museum Fund - Anne Lucke, Director of Development, College of Letters and Science, University of Wisconsin Foundation, 1848 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53726.'

Bob is super impressive. However impressive Bob's life was, I must admit I prefer my eulogy (../9846.html). Bob was brilliant. After he left Shell, he helped Canadian Hunter discover the Elmworth Field, which is a gas field that is continually recharging and covers a large portion of the Canadian province of Alberta. It had thousands of wells drilled through it, and it was a tight gas sand that had not been recognized with the petrophysical analysis. At one point I heard that Bob had ORRI (Overriding Royalty Income) on 5,500 wells. In a meeting I had with Bob and an executive at Pennzoil, he flat out stated his net worth as $3 billion. I remember mentioning this to Mike Pickerd, who is a banker, and Mike said `That is impossible. I would know of this man if he had those kind of assets.' Bob was paranoid, and I expect his statement was true. He was just very quiet about his assets.

One of the main positive reasons I left Landmark Graphics was the opportunity to work with Bob Sneider. We used my Landmark licenses to do interpretation work for one of his clients. He had a geophysicist named Bonnie Creasey, a tough guy with a big handlebar mustache, and a geologist named Leon Wells, whom I worked with on this project. We moved these guys from the world of paper to the world of workstations in about 1992. It was a fun and exciting project.

Bob and I put together a proposal for working with CNPC (Chinese National Petroleum Corporation), which is still the basis for discussions which I have with the Chinese. He was very much an engineer. Interested in the facts, and only the facts. At one point we were looking to start a new oil company (Bob started several) and were looking for an engineer. I set up a dinner meeting with Paul Sullivan, a friend from church. Paul was at Shell, and was looking for a career move. Dinner was at the Crowne Plaza at Highway 6 and I-10. After the meal, Bob looked at Paul and told him he had asked some questions of friends at Shell, and it was his conclusion that Paul was a mediocre engineer but a reasonable manager. He told him he would have a better career staying at Shell than by taking the risk and coming out to work in a new oil company. Paul was devastated, and I think it still bothers Paul. The good news is Paul stayed at Shell, was put in charge of one of the most expensive deepwater platforms out of the New Orleans office, I think it was Mars. He did exceptional, was promoted, moved back to Houston, promoted again and moved back to New Orleans, and then he became the Director of Research for all of Shell out of The Hague. Paul helped me get the consulting job on Knowledge Management with Shell when things were very tight financially (0349.html and 0350.html). Karen confided how much Bob's comments hurt. I know I was surprised, and embarrassed, and I had Bob on such a pedestal, I assumed he knew what he was doing. Upon reflection I think I was wrong to not tell Bob he was out of line and to stop working with him. If someone treats your friend like that in front of you, they will probably do the same thing to you.

That is certainly what happened. By this time, HyperMedia had been closed down, and I was sharing offices with Scott Bowman of Marco Polo Software. We were on the same floor, the 3rd floor, as Sneider in the 11,767 Katy Freeway Building. We were able to run the Internet into Scott's office. Then we figured out how to run the cables through the ceiling and to run the Internet down the hall into Bob's office. Bob did not like the idea of a wire being into his main office, and asked me to have the cable disconnected. John Amason was doing all of my system work in those days. I told him, he did. Then on a day Bob was having a private business meeting and John was testing the printer, he connected it back up, and printed a page on the printer in Bob's office from HMC's offices. Bob went ballistic. He told me I lied to him, and he could never trust me again. Then we took a two week vacation, rented a travel home, and visited church history sites from New York to Pennsylvania, to Ohio, to Illinois, and Missouri. When we got back from our trip, there was a letter from Bob telling me that we were not going to be working together anymore. Just like that. Just like his conversation with Paul Sullivan. I was devastated. It hurt more than having Bill Rollwitz drive HyperMedia into the ground. Bob had told me I would have ORRI on wells I helped locate, and that I would earn well over a million dollars in the next few years. Then he decided he could not trust me, and all bets were off. I guess the `could not trust' was what really hurt, as integrity has always been a key value for me.

I have had several meetings with Bob since then. Always they were cordial. He did all of the work on the National Core Repository, and because of my work with Christian Singfield I felt this was very important. Bob did not think digital images were a worthwhile component. Once I mentioned to him that he was the only person who has ever fired me, and he shrugged his shoulders and said, `I didn't fire you.' His Dad was alcoholic, and I'm sure a lot of how he has treated his partners, and there were many of them, none of which lasted, is related to issues he carried with him to his death. Oh well! I still have tremendous respect for Bob Sneider. In fact, when one of my big projects actually happens and there is some real cash in hand, I intend to donate to a university or research project and to have the building or school or research project named in honor of Robert M. and Ramona A. Sneider. It is the thing I'm interested in donating for. Any and all other money will be reinvested in pursuing other Walden 3-D projects.

It was impressive to see the people who had flown in from Calgary, London, Dallas, and other oil places to participate in Bob's Memorial Mass. I stayed in the background, and I still overheard people talking, and recognized many names from their significant contributions to the oil and gas exploration community. I asked Bob's son John, who has worked closely with him since he got his Ph.D. at Rice, shortly after I was dismissed, what the status of the Core Repository was. John said that $50 million has been donated to UT Austin and the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG), and that the first repository is on track and being put together by Tom Tinker. The first reading in the Mass had been by Tom Tinker, but not the Tom Tinker I know, so it must have been the Dad of the Director of BEG. After the question I slipped off. There was a meal at Carmelo's across the street, but I had a meeting downtown and was stressed out about all that needed to be done before I left for China.

Dave and I met with Rick Zimmerman and his team at lunch. They were very positive about the work we have done for them with Don Vossler's NRG seismic attribute. I left the meeting convinced GDC was going to enter into a big contract with Texas Independent within the next few of weeks. Nothing has happened since that meeting, and it is very disappointing for me and for Don. I stayed after the meeting to do some detailed work with the technical folks. Rick has hired back a visualization guy, who was there when I worked with Rick several years ago. I don't remember his name, and I don't trust him (see, I'm like Sneider). His partner is Craig Limbaugh, who is Bob Limbaugh's son. Within a day of this meeting Craig was on the phone wanting a copy of my agreement with Landmark so his Dad could get the same agreement. I did fax it to Bob. And if Rick ever asks me again if I can work with these two jokers, my answer will be more upfront, i.e. `No Thank you!'

Thursday evening Dick Edwards called, and suggested that I give Shiv Dasgupta a call in New York City. I did, and we had an excellent conversation about FSI. Shiv seems interested, and yet he is not convinced there is a need to correlate stratigraphic layers in wells in Saudi Arabia by means of image analysis of cuttings. Oh well! Someday people will recognize the importance of Chris' innovations.

Friday morning when I got to the office, there were new maps waiting for Texas Independent from Don Vossler. I had so much to do there was not time to take them downtown. We tried to coordinate with some of Rick's technical folks. However, it was left for them to call Don and for him to come and pick up the maps and take them downtown while I was in China. I worked late, getting everything needed from GDC ready to take to China. Friday, just after I got home, there was an unexpected call from Jeff Winston in Boulder, Colorado. Scott Bartlett and his family had moved into their ward, and he wanted to call and tell me and find out what is happening. It was so neat to have this conversation. During the conversation, Jeff told me about a $500 software package called Sketch-Up which he said I should get for some of my project planning. One of the things I did Sunday night, in addition to working on catching up Thoughtlets, was to download all of the Sketch-Up tutorials to look at while in China (0549.html and 0550.html).

Saturday I read the paper, worked on Thoughtlets, mowed the lawn, and spent 5 hours at the office getting ready for the trip to China. Don Vossler called me and I had to tell him that the planned meetings on Friday were a bust. Rick and John Jacobson were not available when I was. Oh well! I told him the data are all with Dave Johnson to go over with Rick, or for him to pick up and take downtown when Rick called. Then while I was working on Saturday Rick called. He sounded very interested in GDC technologies, and the results we have been able to generate in a week working with Don Vossler. He said he will arrange for Don to do a technical review with Steven Alverez (geophysicist, and Sara Ellyn's old boss) and with John Jacobson (geologist). Rick will also arrange for a private meeting with Dave Johnson to start talking about how the companies can work together. None of this ever happened. Oh well!

Dave called me a little while later, and was quite excited when I reviewed the opportunities with him. There was a question on Friday as to whether it was appropriate for me to put Andrea's $114 co-pay for travel to Washington D.C. on my expenses or not. Since Andrea's and my tickets were much less than a normal single coach ticket, it was not an issue. I guess there is a reason accountants are paid to ask this kind of question.

I got back to the house just in time to go to Roice and Sarah Elizabeth's shower in Fulsher (../2006/0602.html). On the way there I remembered a directory I forgot to copy over onto the PC to take to China. I called Carlos and he downloaded the files and e-mailed them to me while we were at the wedding shower. Neat! The shower was exceptional. Beautiful house. Very nice people. Absolutely excellent food. Too much talk about booze and making margarita's for my liking. And it hurts more than I have words to describe to see you, my children drinking alcohol after all of my efforts to teach you better than this. Especially the one that flouted it, and the importance of going to a movie Sunday afternoon, rather than spending any time with Andrea and me. Oh well! One doesn't have to look very far, only in the mirror, to see people who have fallen way short of their potential, and Heavenly Father and Jesus still love each of us. So, at this stage in life, all I can do is love you kids, and just be here when the inevitable consequences of your choices come back to haunt you. Hopefully I will be dead, and will not have to watch your suffering in this life. And maybe that is what my parents said about me. Oh well!

Sunday morning I taught my primary class. I don't remember much else. I know I did not do my Home Teaching for December, and so there must have been something I was working on rather than fulfill this important responsibility. I think one of the things I did (can't tell for sure because the clock on the Sun is off because it was shutdown for several days during the hurricane, 0539.html.), was respond to an e-mail from Paul:

`Dad and Terry, I have a question for y'all. I have been having good religion discussion with a friend from work, but he is hung up on a scripture from the old testament and I don't fully understand it. I was wondering if you could help me understand what this verse is saying. I have pasted below the section from Psalms 110. In verse one it says "the LORD said unto my Lord". I am trying to figure out which lord is which. In the bible dictionary LORD is referred to as Christ, but here it seems to be saying that Elohim is saying unto Jehovah. There are several references (footnotes) to new testament scriptures that reference this one in Psalms. My friend believes strongly in the trinity and hence the origin of this discussion. It has been a very healthy discussion and fortunately this has not turned into a bible bash. He seems genuinely interested in understanding what we believe, but is trying to come to terms with our belief in the Godhead. Any thoughts or insights would be appreciated. If you know about the original Hebrew name for LORD that would help shed light on this scripture for me as well. Thanks, Paul'

I responded with:

`Paul, The scripture you refer to is one I have used at times to demonstrate the Old Testament teaching about the separation of the Godhead. An interesting exercise is to take all Old Testament attributes of Jehovah, and all New Testament attributes of Jesus and line them up next to each other in a spread-sheet. I have a pre-spread-sheet version from my mission which I included as reference 2.d in the Prologue to Prime Words: Jehovah is Savior, Redeemer, Judge, Creator, Holy One of Israel, First and Last, Life's Value, I Am, and Rock compares directly with, Jesus is Savior, etc. Andrea looked it up in the Doctrinal New Testament Commentary Volume I by Bruce R. McConkie, where it says on pages 611-612: `Jesus' common practice had been to court queries as to his Messiahship, thus affording him opportunity to testify, again and again and again, of his divine Sonship. But now as his ministry drew to its end and climax, his detractors having been so often silenced, no man dares ask: "Who art thou?" Hence, on his own initiative he becomes the interrogator, applies one of the great Messianic prophecies to himself, and leaves his hearers to ponder how their concept of a mere temporal Messiah squared with David's inspired declaration that his Messiah-Son was also his Messiah-Lord. David's Messianic utterance, "The Lord said unto my Lord" (Psalms 110:1), is here interpreted by Jesus to mean: One God said to another, that is, the Father said to the Son, that, as Paul was later to express it, the "Son" should sit "down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." (Hebrews 1:1-4)' Also, for what it is worth, Eliohim is a plural form of El. El refers to God the Father, and Eliohim to the Council of Gods, the heads of the seven dispensations: Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Joseph. In Hebrew Eliohim is used to denote plenitude of might. In Genesis 1:1 it is described as "indicating that God comprehends and unifies all the forces of eternity and infinity" The Pentateuch and Haftorahs, 1929, page 3. For what it is worth, your Mom joined the church because the LDS description of The Godhead fit the New Testament better than any other church she could find. Hope this helps. Love, Dad'

I did stay up all Sunday night working on catching up the Thoughtlets. And this one is the only one outstanding that I did not get sent off to Paul and Melanie, and convert to html pages, before we left. And it has turned out to be writing about a lot of things in addition to working with Don Vossler."

Since the 38th week of 1996 I have written a weekly "Thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me). Until the 43rd week of 2004 I sent these out as an e-mail. They were intended to be big thoughts which mean a lot to me. Over time the process evolved into a personal diary. These notes were shared with my family because I know how important the written word can be. Concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life, I thought this was a good way to reach those I love. It no longer feels right to send out an e-mail and "force" my kids and my family to be aware of my life and struggles.

Everyone has their own life to lead, and their own struggles to work through. I will continue this effort, and will continue to make my notes publicly accessible (unless I learn of misuse by someone who finds out about them, and then will aggressively pursue a legal remedy to copyright infringement and I will put the Thoughtlets behind a password).

The index to download any of these Thoughtlets is at http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets, or you can e-mail me with questions or requests at rnelson@walden3d.com (note if you are not on my e-mail "whitelist" you must send 2 e-mails within 24 hours of each other in order for your e-mail to not be trashed).

With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)

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Copyright © 2005 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.