|
Christmas is coming. The temp outside (at 5 pm, about sunset)
is 68° and gas is going for $0.959/gallon. Really nice outside,
especially compared with last year. On the dark side, it looks
like we will lose the headquarters of Phillips Petroleum as they
merge with Conoco, who moved from nearby Ponca City to Houston a
few years ago. Seems some stock analyst convinced the CEO that
stock is $1 to $3 lower per share because of Phillips being
headquartered here (since its founding in 1917). They have also
cited the lack of international flights from here, however you can
drive to Tulsa and fly to Houston about as quick as you can get from
most parts of Houston to the Intercontinental airport. Atlanta or
Miami would take longer but connections to international flights
are probably better than Houston. Phillips now has 2400 employees
here, down from the 8-9000 at their peak, in a town of 35000. They
claim that they will still have about 2000 here after the moving of
corporate hq, but there are a lot of houses in the 400K-1M range that
are occupied by the 400 folks who will leave. Should be even better
real estate bargains than I got when I came home in 1998. Sure glad
I'm not sweating a job. I'm where I want to be.
Volvos run well in this climate and with today's weather it is
great to work on them too. So, you ask, why am I sitting here
typing at the computer when I could be out in the garage???
Good question!
I'm just hoping that HE doesn't take all this nice weather back out
of our hide in the next couple of months, although He would be
completely within His rights to do so! Meanwhile, y'all come and
buy some cheap gas!
|
