Locator: 50732B.
Comment: I'm a military vet, 30-year career. I often get a lot of "thank you for your service" comments when folks find out I was in the service. It pleases me that folks take the time to say that; they would not have to.
Having said that, I didn't remain in the service after my four-year commitment because I felt some commitment or calling. I did it for a lot of reasons, mostly for my family. It was more than bittersweet when I was forced to retire due to the 30-year rule. i would have stayed on had they let me. So I departed with not much emotion. It was time to go, so I left. Didn't think much about it, I just moved on. Really no emotion.
But now, the longer I'm away from the military and the more I fill in the pieces with regard to my own dad in WWII (three+ years) and my father-in-law who also served 30 years as an enlisted man, the more I appreciate and respect and all the other words one could insert here for those who serve/served honorably in the military for whatever reason and for whatever length of time.
Today I had a life-altering emotional event when I learned a whole lot more about my father-in-law and his time in the Korean War. Twenty-some years old at that time, his first tour, and the amazing things he did for his family and for the US Army despite barely having a high school education and a father who was returned to Mexico because he was an illegal immigrant when he (my father-in-law) was still not old enough to go to kindergarten.
Just a rambling thought I had. I'll leave it at that.
Investing: somewhere on the blog I wrote that the market terrifies me. [Oh, see below.]
I mentioned that in an e-mail sidebar to a reader, that the market terrified me. It's now been about four hours since I wrote that note, but all of a sudden a switch switched. I am no longer terrified of the market. I haven't listened to CNBC for about six weeks, but after that "the market terrifies me" remark, I spent a couple of hours watching CNBC.
I no longer feel terrified. I think I understand more now having listened to the CNBC talking heads. I feel re-energized for some reason and will continue to invest, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. Maybe the switch switched after listening to talking heads on CNBC or maybe it was due to thinking about my father-in-law when he was fighting in the Korean War. And even after Korea, he stayed with the US Army for the next 26+ years. I assume there were moments when he was terrified and he pressed on. Certainly if he could survive the Korean War and raise a family, I can survive whatever the market throws at me.
California, gasoline: California’s fuel watchdog has issued subpoenas to gasoline stations across the state that are charging anomalously high prices and not cooperating with agency requests. How many times has the state done this?
Trump / Iran / nuclear: Trump says Iran has agreed not to have nuclear weapons. Iran has always said they were enriching uranium for peaceful purposes suggesting nothing new is being offered. Iran needs to agree to let in UN inspectors to begin the "validating" process.
COSTCO: April sales increase 13% y/y. It certainly appears the consumer is doing well.
The market terrifies me: I had a sidebar discussion with a reader. Idle chatter but it helps to articulate some concerns. Maybe more later.
Oh, give me a break: comparing prices from ten years ago! I don't even want to hear about it. It gets tedious. Have you had a McDouble lately? They're incredible. I wonder what the customers would be willing to pay? Ten years ago, a first-class stamp cost 47 cents; today? Seventy-eight cents and likely to go up again this year.
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Back to the Bakken
WTI: $95.78.
Active rigs: 24.
Six new permits, #42903 - #42908, inclusive --
- Operator: XTO Energy (6)
- Field: Lost Bridge (Dunn County)
- Comments:
- XTO Energy has permits for six Warthog Federal wells, SWSE 9-148-96,
- to be sited 367/403 FSL and 1760/1936 FEL.
Two producing wells (DUCs) reported completed:
- 41552, n/d, XTO Energy, HBU Baptiste Federal 34X-11G, Williams County;
- 41554, n/d, XTO Energy, HBU Baptiste Federal 34X-11H, Williams County;
