Quito, Cotopaxi and the Galapagos Islands

Alison and I had a fantastic time exploring some of the treasures that Ecuador has to offer. We flew down to Quito, the capital of Ecuador on Feb 24. Our first full day at 9,400 ft was spent exploring the old colonial part of Quito. The second full day was spent about 2 hrs southwest of Quito at Cotopaxi National Park where we climbed a bit of Cotopaxi mountain. Who knew that it could sleet on you at 15,000 ft at the equator!! Our final day before flying to the Galapagos Islands was spent walking around Quito and catching all that we missed on the first day there.

Then Sunday Feb 28 we flew from Quito to Guayaquil which is a short 30 min flight. In Guayaquil we picked up some more people travelling to the Galapagos Islands. The flight from Guayaquil to San Cristobal was about 1 hr 30 min. We landed in paradise just after 12:30 pm mainland time.

From Feb 28 to Mar 7 we spent our time hiking, snorkeling and enjoying our adventure on 9 different islands in the Galapagos. We met 17 amazing and wonderful people that I will always remember fondly.

Here are a few great shots and you can find the rest at: http://picasaweb.google.com/mtwildflower

Trip to Seattle

We had a great trip to Seattle. Aislin very much enjoyed our time at tha park as evident by these pictures. She is getting soooo big.

April Field Training in South Carolina

Sorry it's been a while since my last blog. A lot has happened since San Antonio. One big event was my recent training field trip to South Carolina. Here are just a few pictures of what field work and field trips are like for a geologist working in the oil industry. Not a bad life if I say so myself.



Scraping the walls smooth in a trench that we just dug. We are looking at the wave formed sand dunes along the beach.



























Here with my new friend Tom after our intense mud fight that left mud in places mud should never be... i.e. ears, teeth... well you get the picture.






















Stewart, Emily and me posing with one of the drowned trees.























My new gang of geology friends: Stewart, Natasha, Tom, Me, and Emily after our mud fight.



















Digging a trench.. see geologists do actual hard physical labor while they are on field trips... ok, it was the only physical labor we did all week.

A quick day trip to San Antonio

Last weekend I had a wonderful visit with Uncle Richard and cousin Diane. Richard was in San Antonio for a Medical Conference and had asked Diane and I if we could come down to San Antonio for a quick visit. I picked Richard up at his hotel on Saturday and we heading down town towards the Alamo and the River walk. Below are pictures from our day.


























Richard in front of the Alamo.


























Security guards keeping cool under a tree.





















Just a cool building that became our point of reference.





















Group shot after dinner along the River walk.

Stop Obama's Tax Increases on Oil and Gas Industry

US Treasury secretary attacks oil, gas tax breaks

By Tom Doggett

WASHINGTON, March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. oil and natural gas producing companies should not receive federal subsidies in the form of tax breaks because their businesses contribute to global warming, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress on Wednesday.

It was one of the sharpest attacks yet on the oil and gas industry by a top Obama administration official, reinforcing the White House stance that new U.S. energy policy will focus on promoting renewable energy sources like wind and solar power and rely less on traditional fossil fuels like oil as America tackles climate change.

"We don't believe it makes sense to significantly subsidize the production and use of sources of energy (like oil and gas) that are dramatically going to add to our climate change (problem). We don't think that's good economic policy and we think changing those incentives is good for the country," Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee at a hearing on the White House's proposed budget for the 2010 spending year.

The Obama administration's budget would levy an excise tax on oil and natural gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico, raising $5.3 billion in revenue from 2011 to 2019.

This new 13 percent tax on all oil and gas production in the Gulf would only affect those companies enjoying a loophole that allows them to avoid paying royalties on the energy supplies they drill. Companies already paying royalties would get a tax credit.

Obama's budget would also place a $4 per acre annual fee on energy leases in the Gulf that are designated as nonproducing. The budget proposal projects the fee would generate $1.2 billion from 2010 to 2019.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas criticized the tax increases, saying they would hurt independent energy companies that provide a large share of U.S. oil and gas supplies.

"My view is that higher taxes on small and independent producers here in America will make us more dependent on imported oil and gas while we transition to cleaner energy alternatives, a goal we all share," said Cornyn. "And it will also hurt job retention and job creation in the energy sector, which provides an awful lot of jobs in this country."

Geithner said the additional taxes "can be absorbed" by the oil and gas companies, given the billions of dollars they have earned from high energy prices.

"The impact of these subsidies are very small relative to revenues produced by U.S. oil and gas producers," he said. (Reporting by Tom Doggett; editing by Jim Marshall)


If you would like to sign this petition visit this link:
Stop Obama's Tax Increases on Oil and Gas Industry