Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bexar who wrote (24355)	8/1/2000 10:59:45 PM
From: Solid	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

KW, Be careful, after your mention of heavy nuts to Grace, those questions sound like a pass from Bexar. <g>

To: Bexar who wrote (24355)	8/2/2000 1:48:01 AM
From: KW Wingman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

OT Are you a tech now? How old are you? Do you still live in L.A.? In 1974, I got a job working as a ET on a dynamically positioned ship named "Hughes Glomar Explorer". Later, I supervised electricians,engineers,technicians and operators on other dynamically positioned offshore drilling ships and rigs. I was only unemployed one week between my first job out of the Navy until I retired from Schlumberger in 1996. I am 57. I don't live in LA, my family and I moved out of LA in 1976. I was working in worldwide operations mostly on a 4 weeks on 4 weeks off schedule. I could live about anywhere in the world that I wanted. I traveled on my time off but the company paid for travel expenses. I had some long commutes to work <g>, worked off the NW coast of Austrailia for two year. If I were to gone to work and returned home immediately it would have taken five days. The people I worked with lived all over the world. The company I had been working for was bought out by Schlumberger in 1984. The headquarters of the division I worked for was moved to Paris in about 1986. This was during a slowdown in the oil business. The fear of loosing my job and not being able to pay for the mansion I was living prompted me to go into business in 1987. It turned out that I was lucky in addition to my technical skills. I was one of the few Americans who's head did not roll in the streets of Paris. I don't know the exact number but I suspect the number of Americans working for the drilling division was less than 5% of the total by the time I retired. My background in the military and drilling industry helps explain why I am the way I am (a nut to some). Day rates (rental) on a high tech drilling rig are high even at their low point in the drilling cycle. As high as 185K per day on a rig I worked on in 1983. At that high cost per minute, The oil company and drilling contractor will not tolerate downtime or other screwups. There were no unions. If someone told his boss that he couldn't do a job he had better have a damn good reason for it. If not, his boss was likely to find someone who could do the job. I don't want to hear any excuses when it is not a safety issue. I hate whining and excuses. I don't want to hear that something can't be done when I know that it can be done.