Mark F. Barnes

That is exactly what happened!

Tiger, he's referring to the S&L Crisis and the Bush's not the Oil Crisis. Neil Bush was at the head of Silverado, that cost the taxpayers almost a billion and a half dollars. But it was just a drop in the bucket of all the failures going on, but his dad being V.P. at the time, made him a lightning rod for all the media fallout. Besides dad did pull a few strings to keep him out of prison.

In July 1986 the oil priced dropped to $9.85 per bbl, the impact was felt immediately, and by 1987, banks all over BCS were closing and changing hands, and like I said, 10,000 people in Brazos County lost their jobs. In 1985 Oil was still over $30 per bbl, and not too bad, 1981 was a peak time for Oil prices, near $40.00, and spending was pretty frivolous back then. In 1982 things started trending down, but the bottom fell out in July 1886. By 1987 Bass Boats and Harley's were for sale everywhere. Repo's were a dime a dozen. I was Expat at the time, and didn't feel it like a lot of the locals did then. I had a lot of friends that lost everything

And to the second part of your question, being from the area, 1987 was devastating to BCS. Hundreds of Oil based jobs vanished overnight, literally. About ten thousand people in Brazos County, lost their jobs. Banks closed all over town, things were tough. But as Niche said earlier, The oil crash was a mere ripple on the pond, as to what is going on now.

Screw them and their Valet Only Parking Policy! Make the drive over to Sasaki.....it's worth it. Wesrhiemer at Fondren

Jim they ran the limited sportsman up until 1982 when it became the Busch Series, as far as I know.

You being a geologist you really can't go wrong with Exxon, Shell or El Paso. I would pass on Devon, because of some serious financial issues they are having currently, and sometimes it seems they make moves like their decision making process involves a Ouija board. At Exxon you would be working for a personal friend named Mike Zimmerman, really a nice guy, great rock man and very low keyed. He's been with Exxon for close to 30 years lives near me over on Lake Conroe. If you take a job at El Paso, you would be working for Rene Decou, (Pronounced Renny Day-Coo), and you could not work for a finer man on earth, I've know Rene for about 30 years. He is one of they best Rock guys I have ever had the pleasure to work with. Now when it comes to bells and whistles, in the rock department, Shell is it hands down. They have all the cool toys, Virtual Geo 4D, Virtual Source Monitoring, and many multi axis visual aids, Some very sharp people to work with, Jorge Lopez, Albena Mateeva, Audrey Bakulin and Rodney Calvert are some of the best out there, and a low key atmosphere to work in. They also are big on continued education and push for you to keep going in school. Weigh out your offers and pick your flavor.

This has almost become laughable, when you start comparing The Houston Tunnel Complex to the Dallas tunnels. It's like comparing the NYC Subway system or the Chicago "EL" train to the kiddie choo choo that goes around Herman Zoo. It''s no comparison at all. The Houston Tunnel is highly functional and serves a great purpose to those that work downtown. If people have a problem with it, don't use it. But to those that love it, it provides a great service. If you work downtown for any length of time, and learn the system, it's a great asset, and to those that don't work downtown, it's just another thing to gripe and whine about. Let it go, it's here to stay, move on and go gripe about the never ending nightmare of the Katy Freeway.....................

All the years I spent downtown, the tunnels were the best asset by far.

Obama is no real threat to the Oil Industry from where I dwell. He's already doing a 180 from all the election rhetoric. A Lot of people are on a wait and see what he does mode. A lot of this "Change" that was the entire theme of his run at the White House, is now taking shape as the Clinton Administration less Bill Clinton. 36 of his current 41 appointments are former Clintonites. So it is still yet to be seen where things are headed. One thing I think he will find out or is finding out, is pulling out of Iraq pre-maturely will be crushing to our economy, because OPEC will shut the valves on us, and run the cost of Oil up higher than we've ever seen. The Saudi Royal Family, is waiting to see what direction he takes, because believe me when I tell you, pulling out of Iraq early and leaving behind a vacuum to be filled by Iran, would be disastrous to the region. All this talk of the US becoming Energy Independent is a pipe dream, and anyone who bought that line, really needs to get a clue. We are far too over indulgent to ever be fully independent. I mean look at the hypocrisy behind Mr. Green Jeans Al Gore. He achieved what he was after. He vindicated his failed attempt at a Presidency, by Buying a Pulitzer Prize, Sold a few million books, and has been the self appointed Green god of salvation, and by some bazaar method, been atoned the utmost authority on Global Warming. All the time flying Coast to Coast and World Wide in his not so Environmentally Friendly G5, arriving in Limos, not Hybrids, and is still a huge stockholder in Oxy, a far from Environmentally friendly, oil company. This Banking fiasco has dealt a blow to a large part of the industry. About 80% of the upstream industry deals in credit and investors. The days of the Wildcatter that invests his own money on an idea or dream, are long gone. These days there are few cash and carry companies, that have the liquidity to operate on cash. Most ventures are on one of two things, short terms loans and investors. A lot of the time these investors are individuals that are investing money that is borrowed against other investments, most of these are short term loans also. Right now things are in limbo waiting on the bounce. AFE's (Authorization for Expenditure) are being put on hold, either waiting on money or unable to get it under the current financial conditions. Banks are really watching the paper right now. About 50% of the paper is out of the Market right now, waiting on stability. People have cashed out during the panic and slow to get back in, very understandable. It's going to take some time to get volumes up in the Market, and it's also going to take time for the banks to recover their faith in lending. For those that are curious what I am talking about, in describing these AFE's. Here's a basic scenario. Widget Exploration finds available lease land, they get their Landman to do the ground work, they have their geologists put together the potential reserves available on said leases. The Drilling Engineers put together a drilling prognosis and cost to get at these reserves. The production Engineers do the same for getting it from the well-site to the sales pipeline. Then the bean counters put together the potential financial gains there, after drilling and production work. The Upstream VP for Widget Exploration, puts on his best suit and tie, meets with the board and sells them on the idea. This board is usually made up of members that hold purse strings with capital sources. Sometimes they just bring in the bankers, if they are going at it alone, asked for say 20 billion on a 4 year note, (This time varies based on the size of the field or prospect), show them the numbers, they say yeah or nay. If it's approved, then the Upstream VP is budgeted the money, His Superintendents put together AFE's for each individual well, they are signed off on by the VP, and it's off to the races. If Widget is doing this off of investors, they romance them and sell them on the deal and the money is approved, and as I said before some of these investors are investing on the short term notes on other investment, stock holdings, and sometimes properties, or whatever. Whatever the case most of all of this involves banks and lending, all of which is at a virtual standstill right now, except in the best case, low risk scenarios. Oil ventures are always risky to some extent or in some way, so money has dried up some. Of course there is a lot of stuff still ongoing because this money has long since been approved, and is in the works, so right now there is just a few ripples on the pond. But the longer this crisis drags out the bigger the ripple gets. If we see this thing resolve in the next couple of years, the ripple will have very little domestic effect. In one case it will be a blessing, because we can get some house cleaning done, and get rid of some dead weight. What I mean by this, with the off the chart prices that have been around for the past few years, every Tom Dick and Harry has tried to get in on the boom, and there is a lot of dead weight out there, and short timers that jumped on the band wagon to make a quick buck. We can weed all that riff raff out and get the industry back on a more solid standard. This is something I will welcome with open arms, as will any oil person that's worth their sand and has spent any years in this business. Also on the other end, their is a lot of dead weight of hangers on that are way past their prime, and have managed to hang on much longer than they should have been allowed to. The are mostly old and outdated, but are still in play because people have been so desperate to get anyone experienced in place. So a bunch of these old washed up hands, dusted off their old outdated resumes, and got back in the game, that they were banished from back in the late 80's and early 90's, when the out lived their usefulness. So this could be some long need house cleaning.

Living in the area, during this time of year, these people infiltrate our local spots for a month. Gives the town a special flavor, and always acts as a reminder that the holidays are just around the corner. I use to collect the Steins from ever season, I have 15 or 16 of them. But once my kids were grown up and gone, we quit going. My kids use to volunteer down there, they loved the get ups and craziness. My twins were quit a hit there for a few years.

Another from Sparky

I have to agree Sparky came up with a really sensational one there. She's suppose to be sending me more pretty soon, will get them up ASAP.

You know I asked nicely for this not to turn into a flame war, I wanted some honest input, both opinions and facts. Al this personal stuff needs to be taken to the schoolyard. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE try and play nicely. I really don't want this thread closed. There is info from both sides that needs to be heard.

I find this part, in light of all that's going on around us, comical to say the least. Who are they going to put in charge of this, Barney Frank? Or how about a former CEO of Pfizer? Would this be governed by a committee put together in the House or Senate? The bigger problem would be to find enough people beyond reproach, with impeccable credibility, in Washington DC.

I posted this for Sparky The picture you are seeing is of my sister, in front of the "Slap the Axis" joint at Playland in the mid-forties during WW11. If you hit one of them, Hirohito, Mussolini, or Hitler, they would turn around and go the other way. They ran on an oval track that went in the back part of the joint and then came out on the other side and ran across the front as shown in the picture. I will try to scan a few of the others and send them to you. Thanks a lot, (Sparky)

I strongly sugget you read the Bio of Michael DeBakey, he not only cared for Duke of Windsor, the Shah of Iran, King Hussein of Jordan, President Turgut Ozal of Turkey, a Nicaraguan leader, Violetta Chamorro, Boris Yeltsin, Aristotle Onassis. I'm betting that out of those 60K plus surgeries, they weren't all heads of states and celebrates. He did tireless Pro Bo-no work. And that's just his work, what about all the other high end specialists in the US? It's those high paying clients that offset the charity cases that can't pay.

Then explain this: Obama (as quoted by the Wall Street Journal, Aug. 19): If I were designing a system from scratch, I would probably go ahead with a single-payer system. ... [M]y attitude is let

Okay Mem answer me this, if the Socialized medicine is so great everywhere else and ours is so bad, why when it comes to highly specialized surgeries, and treatment, do they flock from all over the world to come here and get it? Remember like I said, before you answer, my question is quality of care in the highly specialized medicine, we are not talking flu shots and basic wellness. If you try and regulate highly specialized medicine, they will go elsewhere to practice, where they can command top dollar for what they do. And if for some reason they cardio specialists and vascular surgeons that do stick around, are not going to be the A-Team players, you are then setting for second best. Is this what you want? Because that's the way I see it playing out. What is the incentive for these top of the line specialists to stick around? Not their Hippocratic oath I can tell you that. The almighty dollar is the only thing that will keep them around, and their free ability to charge it and collect it. So address that directly and not generalize it with some obscure article about how good it is in Canada and England, yet people from all over the world come here for the top end treatments.

Since I am so tired of all the Politics over who's going to be President, and baiting, name calling, I wanted to start a topic, that does involve politics, because it will have to be voted in through Congress. The President cannot just wave a magic wand and make it happen. However this is something I want discussed seriously, because there is a possibility of it being approached by the next possible administration. Even though we've had Democratic Presidents before, it still hasn't happened yet, and I honestly don't think it ever will, but it's always used as a way to sway electoral votes, ad it's never delivered. But for arguments sake want ear your Pros and Cons of a Socialized Medical System as the Democrats are always claiming they will deliver. I personally see no upside to it. I personally believe you get what you pay for. You want top quality mechanic work, you hire the best money can buy. You want the best heart surgeon, up until a few months ago you hired DeBakey. NOW whoever the top gun is, you hire him or her. There have been several HAIF members, call for a system like Canada has. Some have called for others. I personally think it will bring the quality of care down. Stump speeches are always bringing up other countries and how good it is. Well I can tell you from traveling all over the world, and socialized health care has a severe downside when it comes to quality of care. The only reason you see someone go outside the US for health-care, is because they are getting treatments for something that the treatments aren't legal here in the US for whatever reason. I can tell you right now if Emir Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has to have a specialized heart surgery, he will be flown to Houston, and it will be done there. Why, because it is known around the world as the foremost center for heart surgery, period. I will ask him Monday when I speak with him if you like, but I already know the answer to the question, because when his father had to have work done, DeBakey himself performed the surgery. Think about my point before you answer, what do you think will happen to highly specialized medicine, if the government takes over the system and sets their own rates and regulations? It will move elsewhere, where they can practice without the regulations, that's what. If you think not then explain what will keep them from it. I just think if it was ever put in place the way Obama wants it, we would lose quality of care. That's my main concern. I don't want to talk about taxes, or Marxism, or anything but Socialized Medicine. Anything else take it to another thread. Thanks

Take a drive up here to Montgomery and go to Phil's Roadhouse, great great CFS and it's as big as a large platter will hold. Also outside Plantersville the Relay Station use to be good grub, haven't been there in a year or so, but it still looks the same.

The wife and I went to see the first one that was in Dallas, and it was just a bit weird for us. I can see the complexity unique process that was done, but it just wasn't our cup of tea.

Sam's Drive-In on Texas Ave, Best burger in town for many many years. Rest in Peace Sam Urso, you were a heck of a guy.

Austin is a better bet than Killeen