On the concept of “discovery,” Sir Issac Newton was quoted to say that, “If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention than to any other talent.”
“Patient attention” is a good description to my personal early summer activities.
This year, a group of moms and dads formed the first official “all-girls” Little League Baseball team in Tulsa. The girls, all aged six to seven, selected pink and blue-gray uniforms and then decided that all the coaches should wear hot pink T-shirts.
Because it is a “first,” the team has drawn some attention from the Tulsa media, and during their last game the local CBS affiliate did a special interest story and filmed part of the game.
I know they say that TV puts weight on you, but since I was dressed in a hot pink T-shirt it added about 250 pounds on me. I also get a lot of stares in the parking lot.
It has been great fun and I have discovered a lot about my daughter. The “Lady Cougars” have developed a following – now the bleachers are full of fans in hot pink.
Discovery is a great process!
During June, I spent some “discovery time” visiting members. Traveling and visiting with members is one of the best parts of my job.
♦ First, I visited Texas for the Houston House of Delegates year-end dinner and gave an update on AAPG activities for the past year at the invitation of Martin Cassidy, chair of the Houston HoD delegates.
This is a dedicated group of members that meets each month (except for summer) to review new member applications. AAPG has one of the strongest peer review systems of professional societies and I always enjoy watching the process work. We appreciate all of those dedicated members who help with the membership process.
♦ Immediately after the HoD meeting I made a trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and on to New Delhi, India, with then-AAPG President Lee Billingsley and his wife (and AAPG’s “first lady”), Joanne.
Both of these countries have a high number of new and potentially new AAPG members, and the primary purpose of the trip was to build relationships and establish the foundation for new services.
In Kuala Lumpur we met with representatives from the Geological Society of Malaysia (GSM). The new president of GSM is Director General Yunus Abdul Razak, who is the head of the Mineral and Geoscience Department of Malaysia. We also met with the past president of GSM, Lee Chai Peng.
This is a very active group of geoscientists that represent government, academia and industry.
We also met with several Petronas geoscientists to discuss AAPG services.
While in Kuala Lumpur we attended the first committee meeting for the International Petroleum Technology Conference, which will be held for the first time in Malaysia in December 2008.
This will be the first joint meeting in Southeast Asia among AAPG, EAGE, SEG and SPE. SPE is the organizer of the conference.
♦ From Kuala Lumpur, we flew directly to New Delhi and received a warm welcome from representatives of the Association of Petroleum Geologists (APG) in India. This is an active growing group of geoscientists.
Dr. James Peters, GM-Basin Manager with ONGC was our host in India, along with Dr. P.N. Kapoor.
On our last day in India, Lee, Joanne and I had the opportunity to make presentations to the APG and APG ’s patron director D.K. Pande with ONGC. Before the presentations we had the privilege of meeting with the board of APG led by APG President Dr. Jokhan Ram, also with ONGC.
We discussed joint ventures including workshops, Hedberg conferences and a potential new GEO conference.
It was a very productive meeting and we look forward to working with APG and ONGC in the future. We especially thank Director Pande for his vision of how APG and AAPG can work together.
Albert Camus, a French author and philosopher, said that “You cannot create experience – you must undergo it!”
Certainly, this is true of AAPG and our industry. The people and networking part of our profession is the essence to discovery and future growth.