Tracing the Industry

CBS Bone Marrow Registry

Memory Marshall, a fellow geologist and our CSPG Executive Programs Director has been undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy for a rare and aggressive form of cancer called “G.T.N”. She developed the cancer this past September, just 8 weeks after her first child “Diamond” was born. Recently the cancer has spread again into her lungs and she is currently undergoing “High Dose Chemo”. One of the many side effects of this treatment is that her red blood cells will be seriously harmed and she will require a Bone Marrow Transplant in the next 4-8 weeks. On behalf of Memory, her family and the CSPG Executive, we'd like to encourage you to consider registering with the Unrelated Bone Marrow Registry in hopes that she can find a bone marrow match to save her life.

To register, please go to www.bloodservices.ca and follow the links to the Bone Marrow Registry.

ON THE MOVE...

Sam Johnston, of Johnston Seismic Consulting Ltd., would like to inform his Calgary clients and colleagues that he will be working on an interpretation and integration project in Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela for all of 2006. During the weekends he and his wife Lindsay will be snorkeling, diving and boating in the Caribbean or biking, birding or exploring inland. For travel tips or possible contracts in 2007 he can still be reached at johnstos@shaw.ca.

Marc Rajotte – Marc has been hired on to a contract position with Esprit Energy to work with the Berry group. Also this past month he signed another contract for life by tying the knot with his fiancee. Marc can be reached at 213-3670.

Gabriel Solano would like to know all his colleagues and friends that he has joined Shell Canada. Gabriel graduated from the University of Alberta in 2004 with a master in geophysics where he worked with Dr. Doug Schmitt. He can be reached at 1-403-691.36.37 or gabriel.solano@shell.com.

Nick Henderson has joined Shell Canada at a Staff Geophysicist in the Foothills Processing Group. You can reach Nick at Nicholas.henderson@shell.com or 691-4740.

Susan Eaton, P. Geoph., P. Geol., has recently joined Darian Resources Ltd. as the Vice President of Exploration. Darian is a privately-held, junior oil and gas company with a production base of approximately 100 boepd. Darian is actively seeking joint venture partners to explore the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. Susan can be reached at Darian at (403)216-8571 or by celluar at (403)605-0159.

Barbara Wingate would like friends and colleagues to know that she has joined Shell Canada and will work in the Frontier Processing and Special Applications team. You can reach Barbara at 691-4625 or barbara.wingate@shell.com.

Cherene Crawford would like to let everyone know that she has moved over to Key Seismic. She can be reached at 290-3477 or by email cherene@keyseismic.com.

Ace Explosives ETI Ltd. Would like to welcome Roger Bilger to their team, Roger has been with Ace for just over 9 months as a Seismic Sales Representative. Roger has made a decision to change careers after being in the Food and Beverage sector for the past 20 years hoping to spend a little more time with his wife Rigel and twin boys Kyle and Gage at 10 yrs. old…little did he know this is the real food and beverage business!. The past year has been an exciting one for Roger meeting a lot of people in the seismic business and he looks forward to meeting a lot more of you. He has been in and out of the field since his commencement at Ace learning the basics of a Geophysical Field Operation and has recently completed successfully the GFOS course offered at Enform. We wish Roger and his family (& his liver) all the best in his transition into seismic.

Roger Bilger can be reached at (403) 291 4300 or emailed at rbilger@aceexplosives.com.

Whatever Happened to...?

No one has sent in an announcement for this portion of the column for a long time. It is great to catch up with Norm Kalmanovitch and find out what he is up to. The readers want to know where you are and what you are doing so please drop me a line. CS

Norm Kalmanovitch retired from Penn West at the end of June 2005 and is currently “wilfully unemployed” with some former colleagues attempting to break his will (so far unsuccessfully). Norm has taken this opportunity to try and advance his “cycling career” by seriously training to try and win a medal at the World Masters Track Championships in Manchester in September. The immediate future will probably be working at a reduced workload interspersed with a lot of travelling.

Norm’s e-mail is normkalm@yahoo.ca – Phone (403) 242-7587.

How we got involved in geophysics...

This portion of the Tracing the Industry column is where people share how they became involved in this strange industry. Geophysics seems to be an “accidental” profession. Not many seem to start out with the goal of becoming a geophysicist. Each month I like to have someone trace their pathway into geophysics. This month is a little different as it is the story of two geophysicists that met and got married! If you would like to share your story, please let me know! CS

Marzena Feuchtwanger, Geo-X Systems Ltd. & David Feuchtwanger, Aguila Explorations.

I knew at an early age that I (Marzena) wanted to work within the earth sciences. By grade eight, I had decided that geology would be my future career and I pictured myself working on top of roaring volcanoes and identifying epicenters after an earthquake. I collected rocks and fossils, and enjoyed spending my time in the mountains playing amateur geologist by guessing how certain mountains were formed. When it came time to pick my direction of study for university, I felt pretty confident with my decision in geology. I started my studies at Mount Royal College (MRC) and was enrolled in the University Transfer Program. A few years went by and soon I would be making my transition to university. In one of our geology classes in my final year at MRC, we had a guest lecturer come in and talk about the future of the oil and gas industry. He was a geophysicist and I liked what he was describing. He captured my interest and so before I made my transfer to the University of Calgary, I switched from geology to geophysics.

At the same time that I began my studies at MRC, Dave began his post-secondary studies at the University of Calgary. He took several different courses from many different faculties to see what grabbed his interest the most. For a while, he even traded in his pencils and books for a rifle and army gear and joined the army reserves for two years. Eventually he merged his strong interest in the outdoors together with his ability for math and physics, and so he declared geophysics as his major at UofC.

In September of 2000, both of us began our geophysics degrees at the University of Calgary. We didn’t know each other at the time, but on one warm September afternoon, all that changed. I wish we could describe a more romantic initial meeting, but Dave and I met in physics class while being taught the topic of…magnetism. It soon turned out that we would have almost every class together for the next three years and to the amusement of our friends and some professors, we became ‘joined at the hip’.

After many, many late and intense nights (occupied by studying, of-course!), we graduated together from the UofC in April 2003 and went traveling. We backpacked through Europe for four months that year, and finally, I traded in my maiden name for Feuchtwanger in May of 2004. Together we enjoy traveling, outdoor photography, and spending time in the mountains, but we have also gotten used to spending our days apart-Dave currently works for Aguila Exploration, and I’m processing away at Geo-X Systems Ltd.