Presidential Column

Welcome back! What started out as a slow start to summer weather turned out to be not too bad. Although we have a few warm days left, the days are getting just a little shorter with each passing day. And a sure sign that summer is nearly over is the increased commuter traffic in the city as people wind up their holidays.

As I write this column, the financial markets are in turmoil, and rumours of a return to recessionary times are rampant on Wall Street. Hopefully by publication time everything has settled in to a routine again and global economic woes have stabilized, although I suspect we might be in for a protracted economic slump while various countries struggle to get their financial houses in order.

We’re in our new office! As we roll out of the summer months, our committees are slowly but surely reactivating and our Society’s wheels are turning once again. Some volunteers and staff have been busy over the summer putting processes in place and getting ready for the rush of fall activity. Our new office is taking shape and other than a few items, Jim and Sheryl are ready to show off their new digs in the Roslyn building (5th floor, 400 5th Ave SW). Keep tuned – rumour has it that an open house to celebrate our new home is in the planning phases.

Geoconvention news: When you visit our new office, you will see two new faces there as well – please welcome our newly hired Convention Operator staff Shauna Carson as Convention Manager and Alyssa Middleton as Assistant Convention Manager. Your vice-president Rob Kendall will no doubt have more news in the near future about the joint three-society Geoconvention and how the CSEG is operating this year. Next year’s theme is “Vision”; Satinder Chopra (CSEG), who is co-chairing the event with John Cody (CSPG) and Roy Benteau (CWLS) held their first coordinating meeting in August. John Fernando will be the CSEG technical co-chair, Nathan Bruder, the CSPG technical co-chair and Nabil Al-Adani, the CWLS technical co-chair. We are very excited to have such experienced managers at the helm of the convention “ship” and look forward to another successful convention next year.

SEG Meeting in San Antonio: The annual meeting of the Society of Exploration Geophysics takes place in San Antonio in the third week of September this year. Hopefully you will have made your reservations for the event and maybe already attended by the time this goes to press. Our society’s executive will be sending three representatives to the Council meeting and will report on the topics of discussion in the next issue of the RECORDER.

We never broke up – we just took a 12 year vacation! Plagiarizing the immortal words of Eagle’s front man Glenn Fry after they returned to the limelight together as a group after a long break (remember their “Hell Freezes Over” tour?), please welcome back our very own CSEG journal – the Canadian Journal of Exploration Geophysics after a 12 year hiatus. This online publication of peer-reviewed papers (http://www.cseg.ca/publications/journal.cfm) has regained its rightful place as a cornerstone of our Society’s technical contribution to the profession. Congratulations to all those volunteers who made it happen – in particular Larry Lines, Satinder Chopra, Corey Hooge and Cheran Mangat - and to those technical writers who can now publish their works in our journal. Look for Larry and Satinder’s article on the CJEG elsewhere in this issue of the RECORDER.

Next month: Social events and committees. I promised in June that I would discuss our Society’s social committees and events in this issue, but I simply didn’t do enough research over the summer. There is so much rich history of these events I want to make sure I get it right. I will rectify the situation and have a report next issue on the Doodlebug golf tournament, the Doodlespiel curling bonspiel, the Ski Spree, the T-Wave golf tournament and a make host of other social events that take place every year, and the people behind the scenes that them all come together.

On a related note... Reminder – Doodlespiel Memories. In preparation for next year’s 40th annual Doodlespiel, this year’s committee is looking for information about previous events, particularly those that occurred in the 70s 80s and early 90s. If you were a past Chair of the committee, or have some interesting anecdotes to share, please contact Roger Edgecombe at rogere@boydpetro.com with your scoop. Don’t put this off – get in touch with Roger or one of the other committee members to share your recollections to help them build a keepsake document of our colorful past.

Next Month: Our various Social Committees and events. Until then, stay safe. For those traveling to San Antonio, I hope you experience an interesting and rewarding convention.