cc: file, Andrea, Tony Hafen, Sara and Des Penny, & Maxine Shirts
"There were several milestones this week.
Roice asked Sarah Nemec to marry him, and she accepted. They spent the week with Sarah, Ben, and Ethan in California. Roice sounds very happy. He was going to measure distance and time for my Grandkidlets on physics for Ethan (http://www.walden3d.com/grandkidlets). Haven't seen any results yet. We will see.
Dick Coons gave a presentation to GDC's senior management on Tuesday about the AVO (Amplitude Vs Offset) work he has been doing in South Texas. They like it, and are going to do an audit of the opportunities Dick has come up with while we are in China. If the audit goes like I expect, they are going to take it to their investors and form a new oil company. I will get a piece of any discoveries through Dick Coons, and if it works out like I have in my mind, I will also get a piece from the investors. We will see.
Roger Anderson visited GDC on Thursday. There was bad news and good news. The bad news is that when Boeing came under investigation by congress, the President resigned and the former President came back in to run the company. On his first day on the job he stopped the last five years work Roger has been doing to get Boeing into the offshore oil and gas facilities business. I would have had a piece of that, but not now. Oh well! The good news is that there is a pretty good chance that GDC will be working with Roger. Looks like I will be going to New York the 10th-12th of May. We will see.
Paul will be in Beijing on the 8th and 9th of May with a class he is taking. So he will not be at Heather's graduation at SUU, which is on the 8th. Heather, maybe you would like to go to New York with me, as you have not expressed any interest in going to Vienna with us this summer? Ben, Sarah, and Ethan, maybe you would like to come up to Cedar City for Heather's graduation on the 8th. We will see.
It looks like there will not be a Roice and Andrea reunion in Cedar on the 4th of July. Rachel will be down here, and we do not have the money to fly her back. There is a reasonable possibility I will be in Paris from June 5th to June 12th representing GDC at the EAGE (European Association of Exploration Geoscientists). Andrea would like to go with me, and I hear Audrey would like to use her free travel to go to Paris. I'd like to go to Benin and see Sara, and I have no idea if this can be worked out. Then Andrea and I plan to be at the Hedberg Conference in Vienna from the 11th to the 14th of July. Heather is invited as her graduation present to go to Vienna or Paris with us if she so chooses. Matt is planning on doing summer school in June, and he has expressed a willingness to go to EFY (Especially for Youth) i n San Antonio if we can still get him registered. We learned this morning that Wesley Staheli will be at EFY in San Antonio. Then Andrea's brother Robert has invited all of the Shirts family to Idaho for the Shirts' reunion. This will possibly take place around the first of July. Ben, Sarah, and Ethan will be here the end of July. Grant is expecting a little sister the first of July, and Kate would love to have Andrea come and help like she did with Grant. Anyway, it does not look like there will be a Roice and Andrea Nelson reunion this summer. Oh well!. We will see.
There was a mix-up at work and the paperwork for my check was not processed. Friday I told the big boss I was not going to China unless they cut me a check that afternoon. They did, and he wrote on the back of the check stub:
GDC does seem very pleased with what I have done for them.
They are excited about this China trip. Although I have been
there more than I want, I'm excited about this trip also.
Geo-XN has become very enamored with working with Core Labs.
Core Labs Geophysical Division, whom we have been working
with through Joe Roberts, is being sold off, and they are
in direct competition with GDC. GDC will not work with
a company that is also working with Core Labs, although their
current agent represents both companies. So on the bad news
side there is a lot of politics tied up in this two weeks in
China. However, on the good news side, Geo-XN tells me that
they have agreement for the first VRT (Virtual Reality
Technology) project with Sheng Li Oil Field. This will
involve development interpretation of 400 square kilometers
of oil field (Ethan, if you are doing your Grandkidlet
home work, you can translate this into square miles for your
Mom and Dad). We will see.
However, after considering all of the things that have happened this week, the key thing to name the Thoughtlet after must be related to a Priesthood activity, Taylor Robbyn Wright's blessing. Andrea and I got up early last Sunday, and drove to Vidor. There was a really heavy rain storm as we approached Beaumont, and we got to the church at 8:59. The Bishopric was standing up to make the announcements as we slid into our seats on the front row and Melanie said, `Dad, I forgot to ask you, but will you stand in the circle when Taylor is blessed?' Of course, I said, `Of course.'
I was sitting next to Marti and she said `Congratulations!' My automatic response was `What for?' reacting to thinking she was being sarcastic about me taking a job with GDC. Oh well! Maybe someday I will be able to get past all of the stuff that happened in my past. We will see.
Jared did a first class job of giving Taylor Robbyn Wright a blessing. As he said the words, I thought back over each of the blessings given to each of my six kids, and imagined the blessings given to my four step-kids. I thought about how healthy all of you are. About how bright you each are. About how hard working most of you are. About Andrea's and my hopes and fears for each of you. It was like one of those moments on television or in the movies where time stands still as superman flashes past and flips the speeding bullet away from it's intended target. And again, my faith and hope in the power of priesthood blessings was restored. Again I found myself feeling joy and power in the priesthood and hope for me and for my posterity, both now and through all eternity, which is something I really can't comprehend.
I did have a flashback to when Melanie was named as the name Robbyn was said. I had a girl friend my second year of college named Robin Baker. When Melanie's middle name was chosen, there was question as to whether it was for Robin Baker or Grandma Robbye Cloe Lewellyn Sharp Jackson soon to be something else. Melaine, in case you didn't know, your middle name comes from your Mom's Mom and only from her.
Andrea and I went to Gospel Doctrine and then she went to Relief Society and I went to High Priest Quorum meeting with Jackie Wright. The hard rainstorm reached the church by the time Sacrament meeting was out, and it was still coming down after church. It took a while to get everyone to the cars. I had brought a change of pants, and changed in the car because my new suit was wet. Oh well.
The Wright's like to party. It was too wet for getting everyone outside at the pavilion. However, Sister Wright's Mom, Nanna, had everyone come over to her house. There were probably 60 people there, and everyone brought something. Andrea brought potato salad. The party was for Taylor Robbyn Wright's blessing. However, she slept through the party. The more I am around the Wright's, the more I realize they have built the social side of the mini-arcologies, or the three-dimensional cities I have been writing and talking about for the last 34 years. I am so pleased for Melanie. She has such a wonderful support network built into her in-laws interactions. Sister Wright talked about how the little kids don't seem to know who their Dad is. They each have a whole bunch of Dad's. In fact, Nanna was at the temple on Saturday when we went, and she told Andrea that Melanie and Colby came in to her house and Colby looked up, saw Jared, and said, `Hi Jared." I thoroughly enjoy it each time we go to Vidor and participate in one of these family get to gathers. It reminds me of when all of the Nelson cousins would get together at Grandma Nelson's house, or when all of the Hafen's would get together in St. George for Easter. I guess I want to have a Roice and Andrea Nelson reunion to provide that same kind of forum for you kids. Oh well! We will see what happens.
Yesterday Andrea and I went to the temple, because I am leaving in a few minutes and we had not gone yet this month. We did not realize how busy the temple is on Saturdays. Every parking slot was full, and we ended up parking against a curb. We were there about 10:45 for the 11:00 session, and it was full. We were able to get in the 12:00 session. Since we had an hour to wait, we decided to do initiatory work. This was the first time in maybe 15 years that I have done vicarious Melchezedic Priesthood ordinations, washings, and annointings. I did this work for James Daniel Nelson, whose father was Ben Nelson and who was born in Mississippi in 1823. I also did the work for Wiley Hunt, Albert Hunt, and James Daniel Nelson who was born in 1882, probably a grandson or a great-grandson. When I met Andrea for the endowment session we went through, she basically quoted a scripture from the New Testament to me (I Peter 3:1, 8-11):
This led later to a nice discussion, a discussion which was
good for us, considering the financial stress of the last
few months and my allergy to commuting and politics at work.
This conversation also tied into part of our Priesthood
lesson today. Quoting from the Teachings of Heber J. Grant:
All in all it has been a good week. At church today Jeff
Jurinak asked me about the status of the wells in Shackelford
County. I told him we have not heard anything from John
Benard since he ran the geochem test, and that I have taken
a regular job. His reaction surprised me. It was, well,
Roice, if you are willing to go back into the workforce,
would you consider a job offer from Conoco-Phillips? We
will see what happens.
The one thing I am sure of, is that one very special little girl, even though she has a cold and has a lot of extra mucus right now, has started out her life on the right track. I'm glad I could be at and participate in Taylor Robbyn Wright's blessing."