Career ChoicesDear HGS Bulletin Editor: It was with a semi-heavy heart that I read a reminder in a recent HGS Bulletin that the particular issue would be the last for members who hadn’t paid their 2004-2005 dues. The comment reminded me that next year will mark my own last issue, since I’m in the process of dropping most memberships in oil and gas related organizations now that I’m one of those 60+ year-old geophysicists/geologists who has been nudged into retirement and/or new careers by company downsizings. I may not get much sympathy, since I have now moved from Houston back to Western Colorado, where my grandchildren represent the sixth generation of our family to have continuously lived and worked in the county. I, also, now have an interesting, low-paying, government job.I stayed in Houston a little longer than I should have, since I thought anyone should be able to sell a 300 BCF prospect that was simple to understand and was documented in numerous industry and academic publications – even without the 3-D survey. How wrong I was – probably due to underestimating the negative impact of the relatively large $3-4MM drilling costs and the probability of minor (if there is such a thing) amounts of CO2 and H2S. The inability to get access to the 3-D dataset again and the generally poor market for wildcat prospects probably didn’t help either, even though the majority of the acreage was available.I would like to offer a couple of comments and bits of advice from my biased, but distant, perspective. First, give yourself no more than two years to remain in the pool of prospect promoters/consultants if you know you would really prefer to live in another part of the country. Move back there and start something new, particularly, if you haven’t made something equivalent to six months of your previous salary or sold half your prospect within that two-year period of time. Second, become active in the local and national professional societies. Looking back from the outside via recent articles in the Bulletin, Explorer, and The Leading Edge, it’s my opinion that officers and volunteers are trying about everything that can possibly be tried with the time and resources available – look at the attempts to reorganize society operations to become more efficient, put everything on the internet, etc. The first volunteer job is the hardest to commit to – the rest come almost too easily, until you’re president of something. For example, the 75th Annual SEG Convention will be held in Houston next fall, and you’ll find the times set for those committee meetings fit most schedules better than do the times for most Luncheon and Technical meetings. The last time I volunteered to work on the OTC, I got in free and got free parking.Right now, I plan to retire my 70-page report of maps and displays along with the package of detail logs to the basement (for those of you in Houston and New Orleans, that’s a big hole in the ground under your house where you put the kids’ bedrooms and store stuff) while I wait for the next boom.Jim Wood1390 East 3rd StreetDelta, Colorado 81416Phone: 970-874-5036E-mail: jawood04@msn.comE-mail-2: jawood.63@alum.mines.edu Mr. Berman, As a person who has lost a work companion (his wife, aunty and uncle also died), I am disgusted in you smug article of how you ‘could have told us it was going to happen’ or ‘that it should not have been a surprise.Someday when you loose a friend or family member (in a motor vehicle accident) and someone tells you – I could have predicted they would die in a road accident, don’t you read the statistics – I am sure you will be understanding and laugh it off.You really must be a jerk.If you want to continue such article or follow this matter further, you have my e-mail address, I can assure you I will forward all such articles and communications to the appropriate people within the oil and gas industry.Thank you for nothing.David RichardsPrincipal ConsultantAustralian Industry Training Providers Pty Ltd Mr. Arthur E. BermanEditorHouston Geological Society Bulletin Dear Mr. Editor,My learned friend, Dr. István Bérczi, President of the Hungarian Geological Society has relayed to me your article "The Northern Sumatra Earthquake of 2004" published in the latest number of your Bulletin. The article is an exceptionally well written presentation of the scientific background of this unprecedented cataclysm. Please accept the warm congratulations of a layman who witnessed this tragic event from the direct neighbourhood (Java). I wonder, whether you would consent to this article being circulated among top Indonesian decision makers and foreign diplomats based in Jakarta, for a more profound understanding of what really happened. I would be honored if my Embassy could disseminate your article, truly a gem of science made comprehensible to the un-initiated. The current international summit on infrastructure development under way in Jakarta, attended by most Government ministers and top businessmen of Indonesia, would be an exceptionally good setting to distribute your article, in, let's say, 50-100 copies. If you consent to my idea, my Embassy is ready to do the job. This unorthodox approach might be useful as the people I mentioned would rarely have the opportunity to reach your website or obtain your publication. I hope I am not overtly intrusive with my approach.Seeking your indulgence, I remain, Sir, most respectfully, Dr. György Busztin Ambassador of Hungary in Jakarta Sir: I, too, made the 100th anniversary field trip to Spindletop, led by Mike Halbouty.What was not mentioned in the recent HGS articles, however, is the fact that Mr. Halbouty also led the 50th anniversary field trip to Spindletop.Truly remarkable! Respectfully,Bil KalilHGS Member #3587Dear Art:I would like to congratulate you to your HGS Editor's Letters. They are well written, extremely lucid and to the point. Most importantly, they address very relevant issues. I can hardly wait for the next one to arrive.