30 Sep 2007 #0739.html

Will Sing for Retainer

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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.

Monday morning was, once again, the first day of the rest of my life. It was going to be a big week, mostly because the SEG was in San Antonio, and I was going to use this convention as launch for pulling Dynamic Resources out of mothballs, and to get some consulting jobs through Walden 3-D, Inc. I figured it would be a good week when the first e-mail I opened, which arrived at 2:39 AM read:

"Roice, I'm very sorry to hear the bad news that you and David and Mike fired by Geok. However, I appreciate your last message very much. As discussed with Mike before he left Beijing last time, I will help Geok complete the outstanding Daqing and Tarim Projects, and by the end of November of this year, the projects will be finished and money transferred safely to Geok. Based on my reasonable estimation, these can be done. I did not change my judgment, also I am still working on them, particularly Daqing project. Therefore there are about two months left. And my remaining duty and responsibility to Geok, to my understanding, are: to help Geok complete the projects, and; to transfer money to Geok. For Daqing project, it is only me alone here in term of tech related works. For Tarim project, to prepare the final data package up to the oilfield's requirement for Geok is Geo's job that Geok paid for or would pay for. By all means, I would do my best to help them. Daqing project: After the Oct. 1-7, which is the China's National Day long holidy, I will bring the data and report in Chinese to Daqing. I will take on plane or train to Daqing on Oct. 8th. If the report and data had any problems, I believe that those would be minor, which I could make changes in Daqing Oilfield. Therefore I believe that we will go to next step of transfer money right a way. Tarim project: I do not know how the remaining technical problems that Geo specified be solved? And when Geo is ready to Tarim Oilfield to do the presentation and turn the final data package? By all means, I will do whatever I can to help Geok. Regarding Geok's new management's decision, for example to let lawyer/s to get involved directly, I think that you are right, Roice, nobody wants to go that way. However, if Geok's lawyer wants to talk to me anytime, I am right here with my own lawyer ready to help. For the remaining expenses that not sent to Geok, I am preparing them lately. For the expenses on Daqing remaining work, payment to those helpers, trips to Daqing, I will find money myself. I fully understand that Geok spent lot of money and lost money here, it is a shame to me. So the reasonable time to discuss this, I feel, is after we get critical improvement on Daqing or Tarim project. So, Roice, we need only a little more patience. And I guess that your appearance in Beijing at this time will not do much help on Geo. Jiafeng did not talk to you when you were here last time, Jiafeng did not talk to Mike when Mike and Fred were here, Jifeng did not take part in the conference call after Mike go back to Houston. If you have any suggestions, Roice, just tell response to me, please, I would appreciate you very much! If you think this message speaks enough, please let me know, I will resend to you and cc to everybody in Geok. BTW: To cut down expenses here, I have stopped renting the car since Mike left Beijing. Cellphone often be turned off. Best regards, Jialin"

The fact Jialin had disappeared and would not pick up his phone or otherwise contact us was certainly part of the reason I was laid off. There was also the issue of my not letting Geokinetics keep using my Landmark license for no payment. And, since I am writing this in January and can look back, the big issue was probably how I stuck up for Dave Johnson with the new boss, Dick Miles, the first day after Dave was fired. Oh well! I sent the following note to Jerry Schuster (a University of Utah professor) at 6:33 AM:

"Jerry, Hopefully it is not too late to sign up for the lunch. Even if it is, I plan to stop by to say hello. I was not going to come to the SEG, and things changed for me the end of last week. I am now a consultant again, and I'm looking for interesting projects to help with. As you know, I have ties to Salt Lake, and am interested to know if there is anything I can help you with which would give me a chance to come home and see the kids, as well as earn some money. Thanks and Best Regards, Roice"

On Saturday and Sunday after church I had made new business cards, a new resume, a description of the type of retainer I was seeking, a folder with hand-out material and a presentation of my Colorado County opportunity, and the image to the right:

So I loaded my guitar, my new computer, with the new computer bag Andrea had bought me, all of my marketing materials, my clothes, and my shaving materials into the Prius and headed off into west, attempting to beat the sunrise and to be the early bird that gets the worm. The convention went much as I expected. It was good to see old friends, and it was nice to hear their encouragement and supporting words. I really do have a lot of friends in this industry. I am very well known. My reputation is good. And so there should be nothing to fear in looking to the future. Consider my thoughts about the following 27 names, which represent cards I picked up at the convention on Monday:

Anyway, the above list gives a little bit of a feel for how the SEG Convention went for a guitar player who will sing for a retainer. And these contacts and feelings were only part of what happened on Monday. They were only the part I made notes about. For instance, I think Jerry Schuester's consortium meeting was at noon on Monday, and I went to that. That is where I sat by Peter and was invited to his jam session. I stayed at a Marriott Hotel several blocks from the convention center. However, the trolley came right by the hotel, and so it worked out just fine. It was about midnight when I left the Mangor Hotel and headed back. A cute young girl who looked like she was on drugs came up to me and asked me for help. I asked her why she wasn't home with her family, and she just looked down. It broke my heart. Oh well! I made it back to the Marriott on the trolley safely.

Tuesday was another exciting day. I did not take near as many notes. There were a lot more serious discussions. I enjoyed catching up with Sharon Crawford of Marathon and Roger Turpening who is now at Michigan Tech. This was the day of the University of Utah luncheon. It was nice to catch up with friends there. When it was time to go and get my guitar I went and sat by the trolley stop. Turns out I was sitting under a sign for "The Comedy Club" when Dr. Tom Davis from Colorado School of Mines walked by. He laughed at me sitting under the sign, and then said "That's a compliment." He also invited me to come to his consortium meeting and attend the Board of Advisor's meeting. I was not able to go to Golden, and he has already invited me to the next meeting. We'll see.

In the evening I went back to Peter's guitar party. This time I had a copy of my sign saying I will sing for a retainer, and ended up putting it in Leon Thompson's cowboy hat on the table. He even threw $10 in the hat. There were probably 30 people in the room, and there was a lot of laughter and joking about it. Then Lee and Susan Bell walked into the room. Lee looked at the sign, laughed, and said, "What is this all about Roice?" I smiled and said, "I expect you know." I had brought copies of the Nottingham Country Ward sing along songs with me, and we ended up going through most of them. Then we migrated to Peter Duncan's favorite songs, with Lee Bell looking up the words on his cell phone and singing at the top of his voice. It was a fun evening. Again I left about midnight, and took the trolley back to the Marriott.

Wednesday morning I went to listen to Les present our paper on creating SEG-Y volumes from geophysical rock properties. I thought he did a good job. Some of the folks there told me how it could have been improved. Guess that always happens when one will sing for a retainer. I think I drove back to Houston on Wednesday evening. It was a good convention.

There was definitely a surprise waiting for me when I got home. Andrea and Marc had pulled everything out of the office, set up the computers in the hallway, and there was a new beautiful tile floor in the office. Needless to say, for the next several weeks the office was a mess, while Andrea did all of the cabinetts and cupboards, re-wallpapered, and turned the office into a wonderful work environment (../0802.html).

From my notes and e-mails I know that on Thursday at 1:46 PM I received the following from Mike Dunn:

"Roice,I heard things went well for you at the SEG. Lets keep in touch. Mike"

I responded with:

"Mike, Any more specifics on what you heard? It did in fact go quite well, and this is largely because I was well prepared by Monday morning. Hopefully I will have funding for my exploration project within the next few weeks. Do you have any interest in taking a piece? Best Regards, Roice"

And he replied:

"Let me know how things turn out on the exploration I may be interested. Mike "

Remembering I am writing this several weeks after the fact, Mike and I had lunch last week (../0803.html), and we are still discussing his helping me raise money for my exploration activities. I do not expect anything to happen. My notes also say that on Thursday I installed AVG virus protection software on my PC.

On Friday at 12:27 AM the following note arrive, which was because Doug Harless talked to him:

"Royce, I have spoken to my friend regarding your project; he is aware of how the Cockrell family has greatly benefited from the EI 330 phenomena. He is traveling and we hope to meet next week; in any event, let's you and I plan to at least meet one another sometime next week. Please call me Tuesday or Wednesday. I am intrigued with your work. Jerald"

Sent this response at 6:09 AM:

"Jerald, Thanks for your note. I apologize for spelling your name with a "G" in my previous e-mails. A couple of updates. First, Geokinetics has changed, and I am no longer there. Because of wet weather, and because 97% of income now comes from seismic acquisition, 2nd quarter earnings did not meet projections, the stock went from $34.50 to $17.50, and several of us are no longer employed at Geokinetics. I am in good company, as the President of Geokinetics, Dave Johnson, and the Vice-President of New Business Development, Mike Dunn, were also asked to leave. Also, the President of GDC, Lee Bell, formerly my third boss, was moved to a staff position. Geokinetics is planning to have processing and interpretation follow behind seismic crews, and I agree this is not a good fit for me. Second, I went to the SEG (Society of Exploration Geophysicists) Convention in San Antonio this week. Because of starting Landmark, receiving the Enterprise Award, and being a "good guy," I am reasonably well known. Although I only found out I would be a consultant again a week ago yesterday, I was able to put together some reasonable material, and I am very pleased with the interest in my plans. I have started to rework my web pages (www.walden3d.com), and have several groups talking to me about (1) funding exploration using geopressure pods to high-grade a leasing and drilling program (Dynamic Resources Corporation), (2) knowledge management using my Knowledge Backbone(SM) and Infinite Grid(SM) (HyperMedia Corporation), as well as (3) consulting with my lifetime Landmark licenses and some of my other innovations (Walden 3-D, Inc.). These are the three corporations I own, and which have kept in mothballs for several years. Needless to say, I will focus where the first serious investment is made. My preference is DRC, and so I very much look forward to meeting with you. Since I have been talking to you for some time, do you want to fund the initial test and patenting phase 100%, or, if you decide to invest, do you want partners to spread the risk? Your answer will impact words in my e-mails following up from the SEG visits later today and Monday. I've been told one of my characteristics is to share too much information. I hope you see this as a positive, and something which will help us to work well together. I very much look forward to meeting with you, and will keep Tuesday and Wednesday next week open for the meeting. Best Regards, Roice H. Roice Nelson, Jr. President / Finder Dynamic Resources Corporation"

Dick Coons called me. He called from Devon, where he has been consulting for several months. Guess he heard about my exploits at the SEG. He is still interested in pursuing opportunities in Cabinda. So am I. I went over to Merril Littlewood's office and had a meeting about the $1.3 million tax loss carry forward from HyperMedia Corporation, as well as to catch him up on the things I am doing. He asked me if Roice has ever run across Ian Mouton in the Austin software development world. I keep forgetting to ask.

On Saturday I sent the following to Sara Ellyn:

"Sara, I expect you are still interested in Benin, and so I thought I would forward this e-mail about the church in Benin. Love, Dad FIRST INSTITUTE CLASS HELD IN BENIN See:

Link

Each program implemented in a country where the Church is relatively new becomes a pioneer event. Enthusiastic young adults in the West African state of Benin sat in their first institute class earlier this year, nine years after the first citizen of Benin was baptized."

Saturday was busy. I sent an e-mail requesting a meeting with Greg Link next Thursday or Friday (he never responded), sent the edited CSEG interview to Satinder Chopra and Penny Colton in Calgary, sent a copy and a note about employment changes to Roger Anderson, Albert Boulanger, and Steve Joseph, and sent a similar note to Christian Singfield. And I did this with the computer in the hall.

Sunday, 30 September 2007,was Fast and Testimony Meeting because of General Conference the next week. From Bishop Vaughn Camp's testimony I wrote the following possible stanza for Prime Words:

"Think of the pressures of life Think about what freaks us out Remember the Lord's support through strife Be glad and do not doubt"

From Rachel Williams' testimony I wrote another possible stanza:

"When I have trials in my life I can go to my Heavenly Father And I can goto the scriptures This is enough, enjoying others"

We practiced Primary Program during Primary, and so there was no lesson. Good thing as I have been a bit busy. Also, the next week there was no lesson next week because of General Conference, and because we will be at Andrea's missionary reunion (0740.html. And there was no lesson the week after that because of another Primary Program practice. The program will be the week after that. I play guitar while my class sings:

"I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain. And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again. I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain. I want to be the best I can and live with God again. I know when I am baptized my wrongs are washed away. And I can be forgiven and improve myself each day. I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain. I want to be the best I can and live with God again."

The practice reminded me that I will sing for a retainer."

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 © 2007 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.