Bride Wars
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.
It was a quiet week. Roice made 24 chess moves, or an average of 3 per day. Rob and Colby each made 3 chess moves. I find it interesting that Roice felt intimidated by Paul, who moved almost immediately when he moved, and now I find Roice doing the same to me. And of course he always beats me. Oh well! I tell myself it is good to be humbled, and who better to humble you than your oldest child.
The one thing not quiet was my sister sent a troubling e-mail regarding our cousing Jeff Hafen:
<![CDATA["Dear Roice,
I just got off the phone with Juliann. Jeff will be at the hospital for 4 to 6 weeks. The phone is
801-408-1100. They have Glenn and Linda coming in daily and other family so she's feeling like they
have it under control as well as possible. There are six other St. George people from the same
neighborhood who are there as well. It seemed to hit a bunch at once.
Love,
Sara "]]>
Andrea's friend Carol Hulet has a relative in High School who came down with a 106o temperature, was lifeflighted to Salt Lake, the Doctors initially thought it was lukemia, and they have decided it is a previously unknow disease. They are not sure if he will live or not. What if the next killer disease like AIDS comes from mutated virus/bacteria which entered the ecosystem at the site of nuclear test fallout?
Monday I sent an e-mail to Ben wishing him a happy birthday. Ben, as I mentioned in that e-mail, I could not find your phone number. I guess this is one of the real disadvantages of not calling every Sunday. On the other hand, I received a birthday card from Andrea's Mom. It had got lost in the mail. It was nice to receive the nice note and a check. Hopefully the good way I felt is how you kids fill when you get a birthday card from us. It has been over a year, and no one as said they miss my Sunday night calls,. Those who are interested in talking to me tend to call. I continue to believe my previous conclusion, namely that relationships can not be forced, is correct.
I was at Layton Energy from 9:30-4:30 on Monday, from 10:00-5:30 on Tuesday, and from 8-6:00 on Wednesday, with a half-hour off to eat some soup on Wednesday. On Wednesday there was a note from Jialin asking if Geokinetics had tranaferred the funds yet. They had, and there was a note to this effect later in the week from John Gillooley. In fact, there were e-mails all week from Jialin, Jiafeng, and John Gillooley regarding the Da Qing and Tarim payment, a bonus check to me for helping get the bill paid, lunch to discuss a seismic acquisition opportunity, and my double booking lunch on Monday because of POPS. There was an especially interesting note from Jia Feng regarding the Tarim payment. Looks like they did not have permission to send the data to Geokinetics, and it could be trouble for Geo. Hopefully Jiafeng will get the last of the money to Geokinetics.
Gareth Doran sent a note with a new e-mail address. I sent him a response early Wednesday morning, and then that evening, sent a more detailed response introducing Dynamic Measurement, LLC. He never responded, so it was probably not a good idea to introduce DML and ask if he was interested in investing. Oh Well! There were several e-mails back and forth with Les Denham about the lineation software he developed for the Precuyano project and the presentation he is preparing to introduce this software to potential customers. I think it has quite a bit of potential to help explore fractured reservoirs. Maybe someday I'll work another fractured reservoir prospect and be able to use the software. Time will tell. There was also a nice note from Heather with links to the home page of the team she rides for (http://www.colavitaracing-norcal.com/) and her blog (http://www.heatherscycleworld.blogspot.com/). It was very nice to receive this note and to see how well Heather is doing. Communication is nice.
On Thursday I worked from 9:30-5:30. It is nice to be able to access W3D e-mail (rnelson@walden3d.com), g-mail (roicenelson@gmail.com), and Layton Energy e-mail (rnelson@laytonenergy.net) from work. I received a note from David Devor and forwarded it to Andrea Thursday afternoon, which I think is worth copying here:
<![CDATA["Fighters' Jewish Spirit Returns
Tevet 19, 5769, 15 January 09 11:53
by IsraelNN Staff (IsraelNN.com)
An IDF rabbi shared this personal testimony...
I had the privilege this week [the week before the ground offensive into Gaza - ed.] of accompanying
the Golani Brigade's Regiment 12 soldiers. I am the regiment's rabbi, in reserves, and I was called up
to serve just like the all the rest, to "aid Israel at its time of tribulation. "
As a long-time ba'al-teshuvah [returnee to observant Judaism], a rabbi in a yeshiva who usually walks
around wearing a jacket and hat, I now had a major change of atmosphere: my black "uniform "
became one of dusty dark green, the hubbub of the Torah study hall was replaced by not-so-pleasing
army slang, and my wife's delicious food was given up for the "delicacies " of the mess hall.
We spent most of the week in wet tents, with the terrible cold preventing me from sleeping at night.
(I apparently wasn't working as hard as the other soldiers, because they fell asleep the second they hit
the pillow.)
My work, as an official of the Army Rabbinate, was to give encouragement and strength to the soldiers,
give out Books of Psalms [Tehillim] and distribute special prayers for those who go out to battle.
Psalms for All
And what did I discover down there in southern Israel? My brothers! The Golanchiks (Golani Brigade
soldiers), about to go out to war, want to hold on to the Rock of Israel! There wasn't a soldier there
who didn't equip himself with a Tehillim in his pocket or combat vest - but the big surprise we had
was when we gave out tzitzit [four-cornered shirt with the required ritual fringes attached]. Usually
only the yeshiva guys take them, but this time, every soldier there seemed to want one!
"Rabbi, bring me some tzitzit, my whole tent wants. " "Hey, achi [my brother], take one of! these,
it's better than the ceramic vest! " These were the types of calls we kept hearing over and over.
Every package of tzizit that we opened was snatched up within seconds.
There was one young fighter who came to the synagogue whose face fell when he heard that there were
no tzitzit left. He was totally bereft, until one of the officers who wasn't going out to battle took off his
own tzitzit and gave it to him, saying, "Take it, achi (in the Golani you can't say something without achi),
you need it now more than I do. "
The Ma'ariv evening prayer of Friday night, Parashat Vayigash, was simply unbelievable. The Rabbinate
realized that the synagogue was too small to fit all the hundreds of soldiers, and so it turned the soccer
field into an impromptu synagogue, with prayerbooks, Holy Ark, and everything else.
Whoever did not take part in that Kabbalat Shabbat [Sabbath Welcoming] service, is like one who never
took part in a Kabbalat Shabbat service in his life! Almost the entire Golani Brigade, officers and soldiers,
yelling out the Kaddish and Tehillim prayers. If it wasn't for the uniform I was wearing, I could have
almost thought that I was at a Yom Kippur service in one of the large yeshivot!
No Questions Asked
Our loving Father, too, was there, enjoying every minute of His sons gathering around Him. Our Father
doesn't ask, "Where have you been until now? Why do you remember Me just when you go out to war? "
He welcomes all His children and embraces them with love.
After the Sabbath meal, held in an atmosphere of a great "high, " we were privileged to be able to hold
an Oneg Shabbat for the soldiers. Chief IDF Rabbi Avi Ronsky was with us the whole Sabbath, and
he warmed our hearts with stories of the Nation of Israel, on compassion, on brotherly love, and more.
We sat outside with cake and sunflower seeds in the cold, but inside our hearts it was warm.
During the Sabbath, we had to travel to the places from where the soldiers would leave for Gaza.
We arrived and the soldiers were imbued with combat spirit, getting ready, trying to get in a last cigarette.
Many soldiers tried very hard not to smoke that Sabbath, after I explained to them the importance of
observing the Sabbath. They would come up to me every five minutes and ask if the Sabbath had ended yet.
We prayed Ma'ariv there, recited Havdalah [the Sabbath-ending blessing] over grape juice, a lighter
[instead of a candle] and an orange [in place of spices]. And then it was time to go in. The Regiment
Commander gathered everyone for last-minute words of strength, and explained to them about the
"corrective experience " we were about to impart to the enemy.
When he finished, the Deputy Commander read aloud the prayer before going out to battle. "Repeat
after me, " he ordered, and a whole regiment of hundreds of soldiers yelled out, "Ana Hashem hoshiana!
Ana Hashem hatzlicha na! [O G-d, save us! O G-d, grant us success!] " After the prayer, the Deputy
Commander asked me to blow the Shofar, just as thousands of years ago when we conquered the Holy Land.
Perfect Coordination
Though I've blown the Shofar in public before, this particular time was something that will remain with
me my whole life. And then, as if I and the Israel Air Force were in perfect coordination, the very second
that I finished blowing the Shofar, our planes bombed the enemy area, as if it were a signal to begin the
ground offensive.
The soldiers lined up in two columns, and as I parted from them with handshakes, I thought to myself,
"What a special nation we have! This is how a Jewish army looks as it goes out to war – not with boastful
'We will win' stickers, but rather 'We will win with G-d's help.' "]]>
On the way home Thursday night Luis Viertel called and told me he is laid off from Geokinetics. I think he was relieved. However, he must find another job and get a new visa within 90 days or he has to leave the country. In the evening, during Smallville I captured a possible stanza for Prime Words:
<![CDATA["Destiny: Our destiny is not written
In some book in the future
We write it ourselves every day (a)
The question is what do we write next (b)
(a) Lana Liang, Smallville, 15 Jan 2009
(b) Clark Kent, Smallville, 15 Jan 2009 "]]>
Friday morning was spent working with Steve Kratky. He is the geophysicist on a prospect in Liberty County, which an engineer brought in to us a couple of week ago. When I went out to the lobby to get him, I said, "I know you!" He said, "Yes, I've met you a couple of times. Are you still Dave Reeves neighbor?" Turns out he was Dave Reeves boss for several years and coached football with Dave for several years before that. It is always surprising and interesting how small the world really is. I finished up what I was working on about 2:30, and went home early because I have exceeded my hours for the month of January by quite a bit.
Since I got home early, Andrea and I decided to use some more of our Christmas present from Jared and Melanie, and went to see "Bride Wars." It was kind of a silly movie. Definitely a chick flick. It reminded of something Sara Ellyn had said when she visited at Christmas time regarding "Bridezilla." I guess it says something about the week, that this was the most memorable event I could think of to name the Thoughtlet after. There were other things that happened, and yet somehow "Bride Wards" rose to the top of my consciousness.
Sara Ellyn had some trouble sending some images to the Ceiva using her gmail account. So I sent a photo from my gmail account, which had no problem. Turns out she put text in the message, which must have bounced the image back to her. When she resent the images after my test we got them. I also took a photo of Andrea's quilt hung up in my office with my cell phone and forwarded it. Easy to do, once it is set up. And we do enjoy looking at the photos everytime we walk past the Ceiva. Thanks to everyone who has sent and who continues to send us photos.
Saturday morning we went for a walk around the block. Over the week there were 6 e-mails from Bob Savely and 3 e-mails from Shaun Tinoco at NASA regarding my requested license for Robonaut. Among other things, I had to cancel my existing application through HyperMedia, and then had to reapply through Walden 3-D, Inc. I ended up spending most of Saturday filling out the Robonaut application and the required supporting documentation. It is a good idea to do a Balance Sheet and an Income Statement fairly regularly to see where things stand. Andrea does a good job of keeping the Quick-Books up for Walden 3-D, and so it was pretty straight forward to create these documents for the application. However, it is very frustrating doing anything with the government, and bureaucracy gone wild. It is no wonder our country is in such a terrible state of affairs these days.
On Saturday afternoon, I visited 3 kids in my Sunday School Class who have not been attending and invited them to join us on Sunday. None of them joined us on Sunday. Oh well! While I was out, Andrea forwarded me two e-mails which I think are worth sharing. The first claimed to have originated with a Chicago Police Officer, and included the question: "Anyone out there have any mugshots of people wearing an Bush or McCain shirts? Didn't think so!! " The attached image to the right can be expanded on by clicking on it.
The second e-mail claims to have originated from David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. and Professor of Economics at the University of Georga. It is an interesting analog explaining tax cuts:
<![CDATA[Because it's the election season, let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement
until one day the owner threw them a curved ball (or is that a curved beer!).
"Because you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost
of your daily beer by $20."
Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first
four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the
other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall
so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that
from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up
being paid to drink his beer.
So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by
roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four Continued to drink for free. But once
outside the restaurant the men began to compare their savings.
"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, "but he got $10!"
Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar too. It's unfair that he got ten times
more than I!"
"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The
wealthy get all the breaks!"
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system
exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth man and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn't show up
for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they
discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of
the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our Tax System works. The people
who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them
for being wealthy and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas
where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia"]]>
There was an article in the Chronicle about Conoco having major layoffs. I sent a note to Jeff to see if it affected him and his project. Probably not. However, he will select his new employees first from internal to ConocoPhillips, which means I probably won't be doing consulting work in Abu Dhabi any time soon. Too often things just don't turn out like I think they will. Oh well!
Sunday morning there was an e-mail from Katie Cloward saying Choir started. We went, and it is a nice song. Sacrament Meeting was the Sunday School leadership speaking. I only had 4 kids in my Sunday School Class. Oh well! I sang The Prophets (http://www.walden3d.com/songs/The_Prophets.html). Brother Flowers taught the Priesthood lesson. I came home, read next week's lesson and worked on this Thoughtlet. In the evening I watched a church movie with Andrea called "Return with Honor." Little too close to home on the negative parts, and the positive parts depicted in the movie did not happen for me. Oh well! Had a nice call from Melanie, and talked to Colby, Hallie, and Taylor. Taylor is very shy on the phone. We finally got the list of wedding invitees to Rachel in a format she could read. Andrea sent them, and then I sent three times in different formats. If there would not have been a nice e-mail on Monday from Rachel explaining she could read the first formats we sent on her computer at work, I might have felt like I was actually living through bride wars."
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.)