Saudi Arabia, Russia, the US, and now, the US Gulf Coast. Making America great again. Data points:
- 4x expansion
- 2017: one VLCC loading at a gulf coast port every six days
- 2018: four VLCC's every six days -- one word -- wow! One phrase: making America great.
- 2019: 53 VLCC over 77 days, which comes out to about 4 VLCC's every six days;
- buyers?
- South Korea: now #1 of US oil
- China
- Canada
- How big a deal? Right now, as we speak --
- 50 million bbls of US crude moving east
- 23 VLCCs
- 3 Suezmax tankers
- US gulf coast ports
- only one can currently handle VLCCs directly: the LOOP
- Ingleside, Texas, has been expanded, and soon able to handle VLCCs directly
- another project, COLT, a larger one, is in the planning stage in Texas
- $800 million
- awaiting regulatory approval (thank goodness Trump is president, and not Obama -- that's not political; that's reality)
- seven more export terminal expansion projects planned
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Metroplex Dining
Our favorite restaurants:
- Sushi: Kura in Plano; May could go every day; I could go two or three times/week, but on any given day, it's also my favorite and go-to restaurant; thank goodness it's a 20-minute freeway drive, otherwise it would be a daily lunch destination
- Brio: Italian in Southlake, TX -- once a week if I didn't feel so guilty about the "cost"; so, once every two weeks
- Copeland's: New Orleans/Creole fare, also in Southlake, TX, at Hilton's -- at least once a month, but probably not the Sunday buffett
- Cheesecake factory: not for me; everyone in the family loves it; for cheesecake, I prefer Copeland's
- Hopdoddy's: only place I will go for "hamburgers"; I get the sushi-grade tuna burger
- the one place I won't go: Applebee's -- amazing how they haven't figured out the "service" thing
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Apple
It's a long story and an embarrassing story, but bottom line is I needed a new keyboard for an older Apple laptop.
I brought it to the Apple store in Southlake on Monday, two days ago. In less than ten minutes, I was seen, and given a quote. I gave them the computer and was told it would be "serviced off-site." I expected two weeks turnaround time.
Today, at noon, I got an e-mail alerting me the computer was ready to be picked up; less than 48 hours from time of drop-off. The Apple person said they would notify me if anything needed fixing other than the agreed-upon quote.
No notification. It turns out they don't return a computer unless every item is checked out and every item that needs "fixing" is corrected. And they don't charge more than the original quote.
Wow, they returned a practically new computer, including a new keyboard (my only concern) along with a new logic board, and a new aluminum case (I had dropped it years ago and it had a small ding in it -- never caused any operational problem).
Yes, it was expensive, but it was the agreed-upon estimate. Maybe it would have been better to put the money toward a new computer, but for half the price, I got a brand new computer as far as I was concerned.
Yes, again, I paid top dollar for the "fix" and I doubt most people would have been happy, but I was thrilled. We're talking a dollar a day for a year. I have never been disappointed with Apple. But it is expensive.
[By the way, I didn't need the computer. I have a new laptop and an old laptop. The latter meets my needs but the new laptop is so cool. So now, Sophia has a computer she can call her own.
What a great country.
On another note, it's "fun" to observe the personalities of the Apple staff. The more "challenging" the problem, the more "qualified" the Apple associate. I dealt with four different Apple associates over the past four days and they were all incredibly good and I could tell they were at their particular "station" because they had the right skill set.
By the way: I'm so glad everything was backed up.
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