Dear Cody, 07/07/2011

Hello son. First, let me apologize for not writing in the past 2-3 weeks. Work has exploded and I am back to the late night and early morning conference calls with Asia (Manila and Singapore), late night and early morning conference calls on the Qatar opportunity, my normal work day, and eye issues then filling in the gaps on house work since our live in house dude joined the Air Force. Have I mentioned that your contribution to keeping the house in order is extremely obvious since you launched? If I have mentioned it I am sure that I also mentioned that I will never admit to this in public. For the sake of my pride and status of my man card please destroy this letter once you have read it to eliminate record of what I have said.

Your mom is doing awesome at work as usual though she has decided that she is sick of auditing. She misses her old firm and being able to work audit, tax, tax planning, marketing, etc, etc, etc…… She is at a stage in her career where she enjoys a broad range of Counting Mutant stuff. I think the Qatar opportunity will be a good move for her once things firm up. Of course I will be in the dog house because she will probably be the one to deal with getting the house emptied, all of our crap dealt with, getting all of the accounts moved to new addresses and getting our cars sold while I am in Qatar getting started in the new job. But, nothing a trip to the gold suq for a shiny bauble shouldn’t take care of.

I had a telephone interview with the Qatar client this AM. It went fairly well. Not the best interview I have ever had but not the worst either. I should have an offer in hand by early next week if the client decides that I am acceptable.. The client (Shell) wants me there pronto but my boss is hesitant to release me until my replacement is hired and I pass down my current project. An interesting part about the interview is that they asked me how old I am. I have never had that happen before. Labor laws are different internationally so it was not a big deal but it was unusual enough that it made an impression on me. I told them I am 47 (years of manly perfection) which should indicate that my extensive resume is backed by actual experience but that I am young and spry enough to deliver on the field work that they are expecting. Get ready kid, after months of hiking up and down the ladders and stairs of the world’s largest NGL plant in the 120+ degree desert heat my ass should get skinny enough to keep up with you on a Deepa Telescope Peak hike.

We told you about my eye surgery during our last telephone call. I was amazed at how little pain I have had. At worst it was uncomfortable. I will say that the blurry vision and halo effect at night is driving me nuts but I am sleeping much better and the pain is gone. I hope that you never have to deal with this eye erosion thing that your mom and I have struggled with. To borrow a Deepa-ism “it pulls about a 10 inch ” vacuum” or in other words …. IT SUCKS!

Your comments the other night while your mom and I were out for sushi put smiles on both of our faces. The fact that you are “doing your thing” and obviously enjoying it makes us truly happy. We are proud of you and of the effort you are making to keep up with your studies and integrate in to your job and the USAF. We both have the “Proud USAF Parent” license plate frames on our cars. Yep, we are continuing our life time efforts to be as embarrassing as we can be to you my son. Ha! Keep this in mind. If you do 20 years you and I will retire at about the same time. Just think. We can both retire and get bossed around by your Deema and your mom. A retirement of sifting dirt and moving rocks. Who wouldn't love that?

Gotta get to work Kid-Oh. I have a bunch of stuff to deliver to Manila this week and am still 16 people short on my staff so much like the current house keeping at home … I have to do this myself though at home your mom does help … a little bit.

Make sure you call your mom. I would also recommend a call to your Deema and Deepa occasionally unless you want to make them “come down there”.

I would not mind a call occasionally myself.

I love you son.

Dad.