"Well, once again I am behind on Thoughtlets. At least this time it is only being behind 5 Thoughtlets: this one about arranging for and taking Des and Justin to Beijing; 0725.html about the rest of the trip to China, and going to St. Louis for Dallin Spencer Nelson's blessing; 0726.html about my week alone in Houston and then going to Salt Lake for Bobbie Sophia Waldron's Blessing; 0727.html about our week in Calgary with Ben, Sarah, and Ethan; and 0728.html about our return to Houston and some overflowing anger and hurt. I've had the computer set up all week at Ben and Sarah's and have kept up with that week's Thoughtlet and I finished it and the next one prior to writing this one. I did pull notes off of my swallow sheets and from e-mails prior to leaving to go to Salt Lake and Calgary, and so hopefully I'll catch back up and will not fall several months behind, like I did last summer.
My notes for Monday, the 11th of June, are dominated by numerous e-mails to and from Justin and Des regarding setting up their trip to Beijing. There were visas to obtain (Marueen got mine, Andrea got Des', and Justin got his own), Justin and I had to get new passports, there were questions about access to the Internet, questions about hotels, questions about transportation like: Where are we meeting in San Francisco?, How do we get to the hotel?, and How do we get around Beijing?, etc. As with too many parts of my job at Geokinetics these days, I had a bad attitude about the trip. I wanted to stay home and spend the time with Colby and Taylor and Halle and Melanie and Jared. I figured the trip was going to be a waste of time and money and that I would not be able to make much progress on collecting cash. I'm writing this after the fact, and this is in fact what didn't happen, so maybe I wasn't as sure of this going into the trip as I thought. Anyway, the opportunity to take Des and Justin did make up for having to make the trip, and so by Monday evening I was settling into all of the stuff which needed to be done to make a trip like this work on such short notice.
Monday, Les and I received notification our paper accepted for SEG in San Antonio was accepted. It will be given on Wednesday, 26 September 2007, (0739.html), and is titled "3D data volumes from well logs." I expect the idea of creating seismic volumes of geophysical rock properties will prove to be one of my major contributions to Geokinetics, when we look back on my time working for them. It is interesting how a small idea like this can slowing take on a life of its own, and grow to be a major business aspect. While the idea is growing it takes someone like Les to nurture it, and to turn the idea from a concept into software which can generate the product, which in this case is sand percent volumes, Vp Sand volumes, Vp Shale volumes, etc. And even after the idea becomes a viable product and the company starts to make real money from it, the origin of the idea tends to be forgotten and discarded. Oh well! I recognize I do need to work on having a more positive attitude, and to be more thankful that Geokinetics allowed us to stop the financial hemorrhaging accompanying my efforts to start Dynamic Resources Corporation with insufficient capital.
On Monday I also received a nice note from Matt Reynolds. Matt had asked me to be a sponsor of his final school project, basically to mentor his ideas and to give him feedback on the project at various stages. Matt wrote:
I responded with:
Mike had wanted me to leave for China the previous Friday. Because I needed to get a new Passport (mine expired in September and the Chinese will not issue a Visa unless the passport is good for at least 6 months), and a 12 month multi-entry visa, it was not possible to leave before Wednesday. I ended up getting my passport back on Tuesday just a few minutes before I left the office the evening before catching the plane. However, the main reason I postponed leaving until Wednesday morning was because I had set up a meeting with Dr. Jory Pacht. Jory was an early supporter of the HyperEdge Expert Association. A couple of years ago he formed a partnership with some financial types and they got some investment money to purchase oil fields and enhance the production of these fields. They were very successful, and I read about their getting $30 million for a new round of field purchases in The Houston Business Journal. I considered contacting the company that invested in Energy Quest Resources, Quantum Energy Partners (http://www.quantumep.com), and decided it would be better, based on the run at Pine Brook Road Partners, to start with someone that knows me before going to the investment source. So I put together some web pages for Jory (see http://www.walden3d.com/dynamic/EnergyQuestResources), set up a lunch, and sent him the pages to review. Jory was on vacation the previous week, and so this Tuesday was the first time we had a chance to have lunch together. Tuesday morning I received the following e-mail from Jory:
Tuesday I also sent and received 9 e-mails about cashless Geokinetics stock option sale. I ended up deciding to wait until after the travel to make the next step in deciding whether to sell our Geokinetics stop options or not. They have all vested now, and it is pretty hard to believe they will increase in value very much over the next few months or years, and it would be nice to finally be out of debt again, and to have enough money to do some of the things that need to be done around the house.
I'm not sure when I used up the last of the antibiotics Dr. Solis gave me to take to China before. And it seemed appropriate to get a new batch before this trip with Des and Justin to Beijing. Robin, the nurse, would not prescribe them over the phone this time and so I ended up making an appointment for 3:30 on Tuesday afternoon. It had been over a year since I was last at the Doctors office, and so I knew they would want to take a blood sample. The bottom line, is my "lunch" with Jory Pacht turned into a discussion at his desk. He did go get some grapes at one point, but because I was fasting in order to get the blood test, we did not go out to eat. Jory made it very clear there was not place for his company working with the examples I put together for him on the web site. Oh well! However, we had an interesting conversation about what he wants to do after this next round. His Dad is encouraging him to give back to society and to teach at a University for $1/year. We talked about SUU, and how much he loves it there. He is worried because his wife needs a large Jewish community for support. We talked about my water projects, and my recent interest in extracting water from clays. I anticipate our friendship is going to continue for many years and we will end up doing some interesting work together over the coming years. Since we talked for about an hour and a half, there was time to go back by the office before my Doctor's appointment. Also I needed to get my passport and my new Chinese Visa.
When I got back to the office, I met with Brian Schulte, who had put together a summary of the Tuha processing report. There were some formating problems with it, and we finally got it sorted out just as my Passport and Chinese Visa arrived at the office. There were also several e-mails back and forth with Paradigm regarding griding the Top Salt interpretation I had done. When everything was put together, I packed up and headed for Dr. Solis' office. Needless to say, I was there right at 3:30, and ended up waiting 45 minutes before I was able to get in to see him. In the waiting room I read an interesting article about cognitive behavioral theory. This is a new positive thought feedback approach to psychological analysis. It seems like all 10 of my kids, as well as Andrea and I, could use some sessions with practitioners of this approach. Dr. Solis is very nice to me, and I think he genuinely enjoys seeing me and talking to me. He told me some antibacterial soap to purchase to get rid of the zits on my thighs and legs, and gave me some prescriptions in case I get sick in China. I was back at the house about 6:00 PM by the time I had filled the prescriptions and run some other errands. I remember being able to play with Colby, Taylor, and Halle in the evening, and I stayed up most of the night getting stuff ready for the trip with Des and Justin to Beijing.
I was at IAH airport first thing Wednesday morning, June 13th. There were no particular problems at the airport. I was the first one to the boarding area in San Francisco. I did not have a boarding pass, and they would not give me one. Justin was the next to arrive. He did not have a boarding pass either. About the time they started boarding, Des wandered up. He did have a boarding pass, and so he went ahead and got on board. Finally they called Justin up, he got his boarding pass, and got on, and then I got my boarding pass. I got a seat with an exit right in front of me, and so there was plenty of room to stretch my legs out. I don't remember much about the flight. However, my notes specify a possible stanza for Prime Words written from one of the three movies I noted watching:
I also watched 'Bridge to Tarabithia' and 'Wild Hoggs.' All three movies are pretty good. I liked 'The Painted Veil' best. 'The Bridge to Tarabithia' is a good movie for older kids, although it is sad how there is an unexpected death in the movie. 'Wild Hoggs' is about mid-life crisis coping, and is mostly just slapstick humor. Des, Justin, and I were sitting in different sections of the plane, and did not see each other, except when I went and took a photo of them. There are 111 photos and 17 movies from taking Des and Justin to Beijing at http://www.walden3d.com/photos/China/070612-21_Des_Justin_Beijing/. But once again I get ahead of myself. Jialin was waiting for us at the airport when we arrived Thursday afternoon, and he drove us to the hotel. He gave us an hour to change and get cleaned up, then met us in the lobby, and took us to look for suits. Traffic was terrible. We did not go that far, only down by the Forbidden City. Jialin thought he knew where a famous suit place was, and he didn't. We finally found a suit place, and it was really expensive. I bought three silicon ghosts, which when you throw them on a window or a table, are squished by the force of the throw, and grow back to a ball, like a ghost coming out of the surface. They are fun. We did not purchase any suits. We had a nice dinner with Jialin Thursday evening. The conversation was very frank, hitting all of the major topics one is not to talk about. We were surprised to hear Jialin say he is willing to go into the service and go to war to fight for Taiwan. We talked about the one-child policy. We talked about Hong Kong. We talked about the massacre. Des and Justin were fascinated with the conversation and the openness of Jialin to talk about all of these different things. I was falling asleep by the time we got back to the Kunlun Hotel. However, I still hooked up the computer and read e-mail. The best note was an e-mail from Ethan:
Friday Justin and Des went to the Forbidden City and walked around the back alleys on the other side. I spent the day with Jialin and Geo. It was a long day, with lots of argument and recriminations on both sides. Oh well! They did give me a list of things needed for the Tarim Report. One of the biggest issues was the need for a PowerPoint file. We also set up Fred's presentation to be about July 18 (0729.html). This gives him 2-3 weeks to prepare what to turn in, and then for Jialin to translate the report into Chinese, to create a PowerPoint, to get the rest of the required data volumes, etc. Jialin went on about needing help, about how Geo not helping, and about the cost. Jialin stressed the importance of looking at Da Qing technical contract in detail, and how we will still have to do the report 2-3 times in order to get the report correct to their satisfaction. There is a big penalty in the contract for being late. Jialin was optimistic Geokinetics would be paid1-2 weeks after the final report, and it will take 1-2 weeks after this for Geo to transfer the money. There was an old Chinese consultant there, who was giving advise to Geo. The whole experience was surreal. I was glad when we finally left and I was able to go back to the hotel and talk to Justin and Des about their first day in Beijing.
Both Justin and Des were very positive about their first day in Beijing. Jialin had set up a dinner with his parents. This was the first time I had seen Yan Dunshi in a long time. It was a nice dinner. Des had brought all kinds of interesting presents. They were all wrapped. We learned that when a Chinese gets a wrapped present, they hide it, and open it in secret. So we never were able to explain what the various presents were, nor answer questions, nor see their reactions. Guess it is better not to wrap presents if you want to see any response. It was a nice evening, and I think the digital photo to the left summarizes the feelings of the evening. We did not play guitar and sing, which I found disappointing. Oh well! We got back to the hotel about 10:00 PM, and at 11:30 PM Jialin showed up with two young girls whom he had hired to take Justin and Des to The Great Wall. I was going to go, and after the meeting with Geo, I decided to stay at the hotel and to turn the Tarim word report into the required Tarim PowerPoint files. Oh well!
So Saturday, the 16th of June, I spent the day sitting in front of the computer building extensive PowerPoint files. I think I did an exceptional job, and, of course, no one at Geokinetics will ever realize what I accomplished on this Saturday. Guess that doesn't matter. Even though I had to leave home while Melanie, Colby, Taylor, and Halle were staying at our house, I was able to bring Des and Justin to Beijing. Saturday there was an e-mail from Marc Roulston, whom I had go by the house because the Linux system had shutdown during a thunderstorm and power outage, and Andrea could not get it restarted:
Des and Justin and I went to the Chinese Acrobatics Saturday evening. It was as good as usual. And they are making a lot of progress on improving the facilities. I don't remember what we did for dinner that night, and I did not take any photos of it, so my memory is gone the way of old age. Oh well!
Sunday morning, the 17th of June, Justin and I got up and went to church. It was good to see friends, and most of the folks I know had left on vacation. There were two new members of the Branch Presidency. Mack Coleman was released as the Elder's Quorum President. His wife said he is off trying to save the world. Reminded me of someone else I know. There were two guys from Utah at church: Robert Waits and Dan Owen from H2Oil Recovery Services Salt Lake. They have ways to clean up dirty water from oil and gas wells. Interesting connection. I had to leave church after Sacrament meeting in order to get the airport in time to catch the plane to Uramuchi City. When I got back to the room, I did not have much time to pack and to get out the door. I felt like I intimidated Des. Justin later reported he really enjoyed talking to professional folks at church, lawyers who work in international business and who are doing what he sees as an option for his career future. There was a lot more interaction with Des and Justin in Beijing the next week. However, since I caught the plane to Urumuchi, and was gone Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, I will write about the rest of our adventures in the next Thoughtlet (0725.html). However, I will include the two reports Des and Justin sent me about Beijing here. Justin sent me the following on Thursday, July 5th, and since I have not finished up this Thoughtlet yet, this seems like the place to post it:
Uncle Des sent me the following about a week later:
As mentioned above, I left the Kunlun Hotel about noon and went to the airport to fly to Urumuchi City. I will write about my adventures in Western China, and about the rest of Des and Justin's trip to Beijing in the next Thoughtlet (0725.html)."