Contract work for 19 months for Oxy in Permian Basin getting to do all their single "one-off" wells and any well that is out of the norm. Actually did an Intercept well and became Oxy's Intercept expert in the Permian. Authored through the second draft of the DRILLERS INTERCEPT MANUAL which has about 50 pages. There is nothing else like it on the market. Need to finish it for Oxy, then re-write it for publication as either an SPE paper or figure out some other way to sell it. RRC now requires operators to Intercept to P&A junked holes instead of doing sub-standard plugging. Publication would allow me to set up shop at premium rates and sell subcontractors time as well.
For some reason, everything I did at Oxy turned to gold. Found huge savings on most wells I drilled, had a third of the problems anyone else had, and the really tricky wells I designed ran like Swiss clocks. I'm not that good of a drilling engineer. I think I just out worked everybody.
Took off December to take care of my wife of 27 years. She died Jan. 10th after a 3-1/2 year battle with breast cancer. Lost a son over 5 years ago which probably sparked her breast cancer. I have a 31 yo and 26 yo daughters and 5 grand kids. I was not the grieving widower very long. My wife was one of God's special people to be protected at all costs, and I did, for about 20 years longer than I really should have. She had a problem with money. Long story short, after 30 years and several $xMM income, I have $60k in IRA's and a nine yo vehicle, and a motor home.
You ask if I've been busy and I lay all this on you. Sorry. I'm through grieving for my wife, but not through grieving for my losses. A funny story, at least I hope you see some humor in it. Last Thursday I had my first date with a lady I thought was a medical doctor. Turns out she's a Psychiatrist. How did I possibly set up a date with the one person who could see through any smoke screens I put up, right? She asks pointed questions and pulls all this out of me. She puts names to everything, tells me the hell I've been living through, explains motivations, etcetera. Really late at night so she stays here with me, no hanky panky of course. The next morning she starts telling me how almost the exact same thing happened to her. She starts going psycho nuts about how I took advantage of her without full disclosure and started ranting like she was testifying in court. Later on the phone she tells me she sworn off all men. Throughout all this I feel like I'm talking her off the ledge. I keep texting her every few hours until she calmed down.
So welcome to your new life Tommyboy. Tell me, do you think the last three paragraphs tell an interesting story about humans, or do I embarrass myself by telling so much personal info to someone that I've actually never met? If you believe God has a plan, you must also know he's got a strong sense of humor. I figured the unnaturally long list of super successes at Oxy was a bone God gave me for taking care of my wife until he was ready for her. A guy calls out of the blue asking if I would commit to putting together an Arkansas presence for them in exchange for my usual daily fee plus a five figure sign on bonus (or a piece of the action). My prospects actually look really strong for someone who doesn't even have a job.
And how in the world did I draw a psycho Psychi as my second date in 29 years. The dude's got a sense of humor. I did talk to my baby sister about most of this. And can't forget about my shrink time. I didn't decide to send all this to you. It just unfolded on paper as I work my way through it one more time. It felt good to put it on paper and feels really good knowing another intelligent human being is going to know just a little of what I went through.
So, to answer your question, I've stayed really busy since we spoke last. Take care.
Thanks....
Tom White
Psycho Basher
P.S. Looking through this I don't see anything that is not true or even exaggerated. But you might wonder how the Psycho Psychi came to be my date. From Match.com I had a number of prospects to ask out. One lady who seemed to be a doctor from her profile and seemed very intelligent and fun sent me maybe 3 emails that served to push her up in the list. She had a lot of confidence and it was much easier for me to pick her than going down a list of prospects that had no skin in the game. So Tom meets psycho Psychi. The five hours we talked was fascinating to me even though she was a poor listener.
From: Whitney Fessler via LinkedIn <
member@linkedin.com>
To: "Tom White, PMP, B.S.- Petroleum Engineering" <
tompetrol@yahoo.com>
Sent: Tue, February 5, 2013 5:38:38 PM
Subject: RE: You look Happy...
LinkedIn Whitney Fessler has sent you a message. Date: 2/05/2013 Subject: RE: You look Happy... Hi Tom. Good to hear from you. Yes, I started acupuncture school in 2008 - it's a 4-year program, but knowing how the oil/gas field works, I thought having a backup plan might be a good idea. Now, I have my own acupuncture clinic & it's been really successful. I'm always up for regulatory side jobs, though! I hope you are well, too. Have you been staying busy? Whitney On 02/05/13 8:19 AM, Tom White, PMP, B.S.- Petroleum Engineering wrote: -------------------- So now you get paid to stick needles in people. That is so cool. I saw Acupuncturist in my network so I had to find out who it was. Hope life is going as well as you look, because it looks like life agrees with you very well. No need to respond. Just wanted to say hi. Tom View/reply to this message Don't want to receive e-mail notifications? Adjust your message settings. | | This email was intended for Tom White, PMP, B.S.- Petroleum Engineering (Drilling Consultant at Oxy). Learn why we included this. © 2013, LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct. Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | | |