An oil well in Texas.

Hi everyone,

It's late tonight (after midnight), and I have a hearing tomorrow, but I did want to share one story from today.  It's about an oil well.

The day itself has been quiet.  Just standard work.  Productive, and rewarding, but unexciting.  Another late night at the office (left at 10pm) and wound up buying dinner from Hungry Jacks on the corner of Bourke and Russell Streets (picture).  I could almost hear Tim McGraw singing about "another supper, from a sack / a 99-cent heart attack".  Although right now I have some Norah Jones on the iPod and it makes me think of Joni and Grace and Rachel and a drive we took through the Yarra Valley on 13 February last year, when the girls were in front-facing car seats for the first time, and I miss them.

Where was I?  Oh yeah, well, the story I mentioned took the form of a phone call I got on my mobile at about 2:30 this afternoon from a gentleman who told me he was calling from Dallas, Texas.  The conversation went something like this -

Him - "So, Mr Tuck, I understand you've recently spoken to one of our representatives concerning oil wells in Texas and Louisiana"
Me (not remembering any such conversation in the last few months but thinking it was possible) - "Er, yes"
Him - "Well, I'm not ringing up seeking money or to talk about stocks and bonds, but to ask if I can send you information about a partnership with Energex Global Inc to capitalise on the recent rise in energy prices"
Me (suspecting this is dodgy but not being in the right frame of mind to be abusive) - "Er, sure.  Is email good?"

So the email in question arrived a couple of hours later, by which time a few other questions had begun to come to mind (for example, if you're seriously seeking investors, do you usually call when it's mid-evening at your own local time?  Then again, in these recessionary times, maybe you do).  A little bit of googling later told me that several of my brethren in the Land of the Long White Cloud had been offered a similar "opportunity".  Now, maybe this company and the investment opportunity is completely legitimate.  But to be sure, if they call again, I'll explain that I'd be interested in investing as long as my preferred currency arrangements are acceptable: any dividends are paid in Australian dollars, and I'm allowed to make any investment using brass Razoos.

See you tomorrow.