Pay Gap?

There is back and forth on both sides about women earn less than men.

I can only speak from personal experience in the jobs I've had over the last twenty plus years. It's not true. In every position I've been in, women have been paid equal to or more than I have. Equal when we have the same experience or less. I've seen women start at the same level as me and broken barriers for workers, men and women, in how high they rise in the corporation.

It used to be accepted that when you started off in the position I hired into, you could expect to not rise more than one level into management. That barrier was broken...by a woman. As for pay, we all started at the same rate and progressed through the same pay scale. Once we hit management levels, we are pitted against each other for ranking and rating. Highest rank, which has been a woman, gets the biggest raise and so on down the line. Highest rated gets largest raise while lowest rated hopes to keep a job. It's vicious and it's hard but it is also fair.Women and men get scrutinized through the same lens.

Sex, race, sexual orientation, nationality or any other identity you want to insert has no bearing. If you are in place where such things matter then either you need to fight the system and prove why you are worth others are or move onto a place that treats everyone as equals and better than your current situation.

Nighty Night Sleep tight - Random Edition

Vampire Bats Feeding on humans in Brazil. Get that garlic out.

Bikers for Trump in Florida make their way to D.C. for the inauguration.

Bordering on Insecurity from the Texas Tribune: Headless Body Leads to Border Patrol Agent

Is Eagle Ford making a comeback? Higher oil prices leads to an increase of rig counts. (It's behind Houston Chronicle pay wall. Hint:Google entire title and you can read it for free.)

San Antonio Spurs fans are not some of God's brighter creatures. Super Spurs Fan paints butt on nose.

Kids take 31 years ago found, mother arrested. You'd think they are adults by now?

HEB CEO to spend $100 million on training for state educators. 

Happy New Years! 2017 New Year Resolutons

Greetings all. I hope everyone had a great holiday season.

After taking ten days away from the job, I've returned more focused than ever.  I don't just mean focused on my job but on my personal life too.

Without revealing to much, here a just a couple of my new year resolutions:

• Be more organized at work and home
• Pay more attention to my wife and her needs
• Pay more attention to things that need to be done around the house
• Get the hell out of debt
• More physical activity and more attention to my health

Those are just a few. I also hope to return to blogging on a regular basis. I flushed the website because once I got married it became to much. But at least I hope to get some blogging time in this year.

Unkle Monkee

Shaun King - Race Baiting Fear Monger

This past election cycle awoke this blog.

We had probably the two worst candidates since I became of voting age in 1987. As per my usual vote, I went with Libertarian Party. I didn't vote straight ticket but majority of my votes went third party.

Now before anyone blames me for Hillary Clinton's loss, I voted in a state where it wouldn't have made a difference. Trump won in Texas that it was a foregone conclusion before the election started. Also I had to vote my conscience and my conscience wouldn't let me vote for Trump or Clinton.

For all the cries of bigotry and alt right propaganda, the left wing hijacked the Democratic Party and pushed moderates away. The far left fractured the party with issues that the mainstream does not care about. Gender and identity politics, demands for higher minimum wages, free university tuition and cries of oppression by the privileged white alienated most voters who could careless about those issues.

The issues that most voters care about are good paying jobs, being able to put food on the table and a roof over one's family and a strong economy. Secondary to those issues are immigration reform/deportation (another issue for another day), strong military and foreign relations, law and order along with civil peace and security.

By pushing those issues to the back burner and letting the alt left high jack the party, the Democrats lost their way and lost the elections.

News from the Energy Sector

It's been a while since I opined on anything. Life and such gets in the way but today I found interesting news via twitter that I want to read.  So I thought I'd post those articles here for later reference.  My twitter handle is @jctrux

Obama administration expected to reject Keystone XL

More Oil Companies Could Join Exxon Mobil as Focus of Climate Investigations

Obama Rejects Construction of Keystone XL Oil Pipeline

Keystone Pipeline May Be Big, but This Is Bigger

Experts Say That Battle on Keystone Pipeline Is Over Politics, Not Facts

Marathon Oil Shedding 200 Jobs

Other News

U.S. to Put New Requirements on Accreditors

Appeals Court Backs Ethics Commission Over Activist

Agency reviews rules for psych evaluations of potential officers

At Precinct 344, lousy wiring and the hard-won right to vote

Analysis: Texas Racing Pines for Political Fix

Affects of Low Gas Prices in the Oil Industry

I work in the oil industry.  As such I get questions all the time about the industry and economic effects of current trends.  Lately the most I get asked is how does the falling price of oil affect my end of the oil business.

To better frame an answer, a few terms about the oil industry need defining.  The petroleum industry is generally broken into three sectors: upstream, midstream and downstream.

Upstream is the exploration and recovery side of the oil industry.  Once exploration is complete, it also involves estimating a potential find and determining whether or not it is worth drilling.  After the initial evaluations are made, then the wells are drilled and the crude is moved to the refineries.

Midstream is a term I rarely hear used since I've been working in the oil industry.  Midstream involves transporting, storing and wholesale marketing of petroleum and getting the crude to the refineries.

Downstream is the final step of refining the crude into various products.  At the downstream section, the crude is turned into various products like gasoline, diesel, lubes, plastics and raw materials for other industrial uses.

So how exactly does the falling prices help and/or hurt the industry?

The upstream sector will take the brunt of the price fall.  It is basic economics.  There becomes a price point where looking for oil and drilling it out of the ground becomes unprofitable.  As oil prices continue to drop, exploration companies are calling off exploration and recovery operations.  Drilling operations that aren't complete will cease or slow down.  These companies will then lay off employees.  It then sets off a chain reaction of lay offs and shutdowns in support industries such as maintenance crews, drilling supplies, piping and other related crafts as well.  Communities, especially ones where fracking took off, will also suffer as people leave to find jobs else where and the money poured in from the workers dries up.

Tax revenues where exploration and test wells are drilled also dries up. 

In the midstream business, if no oil is flowing, there is no need for new pipelines to be built.  Nor are truck drivers needed to get the crude to storage or market.  As existing fields slow down and no new wells come online, those support industries wither up too.

Now is it all gloom and doom?  Not at all. 

Crude oil is a commodity and raw material for the downstream side. 

Refining crude is a capital intense business.  There are costs that vary some but do not affect operations drastically.  Wages and maintenance costs are among the "fixed" costs.  One of the costs that affect refining though is the price of energy.  With falling prices oil, energy prices fall too and thereby one of the costs of operating a refinery falls. 

Also the cheaper oil means refiners pay cheaper price for the main raw material.  One of the misconceptions of the oil industry is that companies make a huge profit on gas.  That simply is not true.  The real money is made further downstream.  Jet fuels, diesel and much further down the line on the chemical side is where the profits roll in. 

While the price of the final product comes down, they won't fall as much as the price of oil except for gasoline.  Notice that diesel hasn't fallen as much as gas prices.  Fixed prices stay the same but operating costs go down and final product price falls but not far.  Sounds like a good mixture for increased profits.

I'm not economist but that in a nutshell is why the oil industry will survive the latest down turn. 

I hate that good hardworking people will lose jobs in the other sectors of the oil industry but they will survive and our economy will keep churning.

Terror Strikes Home - Paris and Belgium

Last week brought home the terror Islamist terror attacks to the Western World's doorsteps.  Twelve people were killed in Paris because some small minded Islamists were insulted and offended by satirical cartoons drawn by Charlie Hebdo artists.

This whackadoo Islamist wish to bring their brand of Islam and terror to the world.  Because they are so up close and personal with Allah and Mohamed they know what God and the Prophet want and are offended by.  If Islamist want to rule by terror in their lands, so be it.  If the people they rule won't rise up against the slaughter and terror, so be it.

When the terror comes to our lands and our homes, we must continue to defend and fight for our way of life.  Islamist are adamant about insults to their religion and way of life.  We, as freedom loving people, must also be equally offended by their hatred of our way of life and acceptance of diversity. 

What do we do next? Again take the war to their lands?  An argument can be made for destruction of their whole society.  Do they really want to make it a war of West vs. Islamist?  If the West fully mobilized and aimed to root out the Islamist, the West wins.  When I say root out Islamists, I mean the whole destruction of society from top down.  Eliminate all fighters, men and potential fighters.  They want a blood bath on our shores, take the fight to their homes and destroy everything they hold dear.

Nazi Germany posed a real threat to the destruction of the free world and the free world armed up and fought back.  The price was  heavy on both sides but the threat has been eliminated.  Nazi Germany nor allies will ever threaten again.  Same with thing happened with Imperial Japan.  A total war of destruction without mercy stopped a society hell bent on domination.  In ending the Pacific theatre of operations, the United States resorted to the only wartime use of nuclear arms.  Again, total war, total destruction and total victory.

Does the rest of the world need to continuously keep vigilant against terror groups?  Yes.  Can the West entirely eliminate terror groups?  No.  Should the West mobilize to destroy and annihilate societies that support extremism?  Yes.  How?  Arm to the teeth, invade and destroy all strongholds of the enemy.  Completely destroy societies if it means massacre of the people.  This is no different than the World War II fire bombings of Dresden and Tokyo.  You don't just break and destroy the infrastructure, you break and destroy the will of the people.

And when the blood letting is done, we remind Muslims they are free to practice their religion in their countries and lands but they must police themselves against extremists.  If they don't the price will be heavy....all Muslims will pay with death and total annihilation of their religion.  And the first place the massacre will start will be the nuclear bombing of their holy sites.

Will it ever happen?  Of course not.  The West, including the United States, don't have the stomach or the will to take such extreme measures.  But it is a price we must pay if we wish not to live in constant fear.  Instead, the alternative, is much cleaner. No one wants to send their sons and daughters into battle.  Again, look at the price the West and Allies paid to destroy a global threat.  I doubt we'd pay such a heavy price again but one would be paid to achieve out goals. 

Instead our governments wish to adhere to our ideas of justice and not impose our will on our enemies.  We should instead, adhere to our enemies ideas of justice and impose it on them for the crimes the commit against our societies.