Mediation

I may have mentioned before, but I like books, especially novels, especially, especially Legal novels. That and historical fiction top my list.

In my career, I have been involved in a couple of lawsuits. I have been deposed a couple of times when an angry S. Texas royalty owner thought that we should have drilled more wells on his side of the fence.

Well, over the last several weeks, I have been the "principle" in a mediation concerning our minority owners in our Russia JV. Now this has nothing to do with Russia, these are Americans suing Americans - it just happens to be a Russian JV. In any kind of disagreement between parties, there are three main ways to proceed through "dispute resolution". You can have 1) a trial (typically in front of a judge & jury), 2) arbitration - in which an arbitrator listens to both sides and decides who's got the better claim, and 3) a mediation, in which a third party attempts to find a common middle ground that both parties can ultimately agree on. My recent Russia partnership went through the third process ; a Mediation.

Both parties got to plead their case (or the weakness of opposing case) in front of each other, and then we went to separate rooms. From there the Mediator, an old retired judge in our case practiced "shuttle diplomacy" going back and forth until a settlement is reached or the parties decide they cannot go any further. In our case one plaintiff was scheduled for arbitration in July, while the other was scheduled to go to trial in state court. My company and the two plaintiffs decided to try the mediation before pursuing the more expensive and less predictable arbitrations and trials.

The mediation is one of those things that you schedule with the agreement that you will stay until you're done. In this case we went all day June 11th and then from 4:00 PM until 1:00 AM last Monday. Whew! What a long and frustrating couple of days. In the end we made a deal just after 1:00 AM. neither party liked the settlement, but I guess it was better than the trials. Anyway, it didn't go the way it was supposed to in the latest Grisham novel - I guess you can't believe everything you read!

Dave Campbell's Texas Football - Is it getting to be that time again?

I am going through a drought. Not the Wimberley kind of drought, or the one that seems to plague farmers all over the country - but a College Football drought. Sure, College basketball is fun. I even enjoy the hockey and NBA finals. Astros - maybe yes, maybe no.

But that time between Spring football (at least the OU variety) and the NCAA football season - now that's a drought! I really don't even have a gripe with the BCS, I just miss the games!

Life in China

I just got back to my hotel at 8:15 PM. My head hurts from what I have had to drink tonight, all in a good cause...(I hope).

We have been meeting with our partners and the Chinese government to talk about expanding our operations here by adding one or two more platforms to our field. Each new platform will cost ~500 MM$, and with oil prices what they are it will be hard for us to approve. Part of what makes my job difficult is that I am not really worried about today's oil prices. Even if we were to approve the project today, it would be late 2012 before production begins. Consider that oil prices have gone from $80 a year ago, to a peak of $140/bo in July, and down to $40 today. With that in mind, try to predict what they will be in 2012! So after a successful presentation with the government today (it's a good sign that they came down from Beijing to see us, instead of us having to go to Beijing), I present to the partners tomorrow.

So, on to tonight's diner. It included:
* Some kind of soup, like won ton
* Then a plate full of raw fish. The salmon was good, the others, not so much
* Then the bad stuff... fish bladders (what fish use to stay buoyant)
* There were "chicken elbows", octopus, and a slimy white thing called sea cucumbers
* We then had goose claws (I swear I couldn't get any meat if I wanted to)
* Kale (actually not bad)
* It was all washed down with this clear vile concoction called Mou-tai, very potent
* At least desert was tame - watermelon slices and sweet tea.

I actually have become good at chopsticks, which works to my disadvantage here, because I have to eat more.....

Note to self: fumble with the chopstix

I better go to sleep. I have to do it again tomorrow with the partners! Just wanted you to know what I do for a living... Love to all, Chuck

Bad hair day - no problem

From Baku (June 17, 2009): Today is the day we're having our layoffs in my office. Four people in my group will get notified today. I'm looking for anything to brighten my day.

Here's one: I love my new haircut! When I got done with my meetings today, I went for a workout and a swim. After swimming, I had to go over to the tax office for a Houston teleconf - but I didn't have to "do anything" to fix my hair. I just toweled off, got into dress clothes and walked over! I didn't even need to comb (or comb-over) my hair!