What a great and blessed week! Things got moving in a very big way for both Lake Truck Lines and South Texas Oilfield Services in both the vendor and client areas.

Signed two contracts in the same day for Lake, one for Baroid that will increase our business by 60% percent overnight and the other with a client (unnamed for now) that we did business with over a decade ago but favored us over a much, much larger competitor with their new facility in Eagle Pass Texas. That contact will require 5-7 units be in place by Feb. 1, 2012.

STOS just made its very first sale (thanks Jerry), a Gallegos pneumatic triple pod trailer. To top it off, we have two of the Gallegos personnel meeting us next week to go over the designs of our next two products to offer, bulk barite tanks and frac tanks. Our clients have assured us that as soon as we have designs and pricing in place, they will be ready to place substantial orders.

We want to welcome our newest employee, Donna Daniel. She will be in charge of all invoicing and accounts receivables. She has shown to us she truly is an expert in our software program we use and we look forward to getting all the glitches fixed in the upcoming weeks.

So we are down to the last week of the year, the biggest year that Lake has ever had. I think I will actually take a day off tomorrow (Christmas Day) and enjoy my family and what the day means to us. Then back to work on Monday!

To all of my readers (all three of you), thank you for following us on this journey. Next week’s blog will be more definitive of what is in store in 2012. 2012, wow, it’s hard to imagine how fast this year has flown by.

Merry Christmas to all of you and God Bless You

An exciting week, but what to bring to print? Sometimes the most mundane things will take on the sheen of importance with the seasoning of time. What I am looking at, all the deals that came across my desk this week. Not just one deal, but multiple deals. Not just on one day but most every day last week. Folks, mark down this week; for starting now the feeding frenzy got started.

I am in the middle of brokering a deal for frac sand. On one side is a client of mine and on the other is the grandson of a past U.S. President (who happened to be an old friend of my late father). Brought to me by my architect, it is amazing to me the people that come into my life.

I fielded a phone call where two complete strangers want me to haul oil from tanks at the rig sites. Better than that: I tried to give the business to my dear old friend Rich Atwell, and he just said, ’Doug, that’s not what we do, but I have 5 oil tankers you are welcome to use for free’. Makes you wonder about serendipity.
Later, I am contacted by a very old friend of mine, (nicknamed Frog) who asks if I have a source for frac sand and can I haul oil from rig sites? Now I don’t know about you but having two identical deals from two different people come in at the same time, is just a bit too coincidental.

There is more to write but right now it’s too mundane, I think I will give the subjects some time….to get the sheen of importance.

Until next week
Doug

Good Morning: Sorry I took a week off but there was something I was waiting to happen before I wrote about it in the blog. Well it is official now and I want to share this most important news.
South Texas Oilfield Services Inc. was formed last week with Douglas S. Cain as President, Lisa Cain as Vice President, and Jerry Santos as Sec./Treasurer. We will have a website built by the end of January and print media ready by then as well.

To start with we will be selling cement batch mixing equipment for the oilfield and leasing/selling bulk barite tanks, bulk barite silos, and frac tanks. We should have our first prototype ready for field testing by March 1st, 2012.

Now to me an even more important event happened on Thursday. I had a visit from one of my most respected friends in the world, Richard Atwell, President of Coastal Transport. Coastal has been around almost as long as Lake and is widely considered the most professional transportation company in the industry. It is a company I look to emulate as we grow and evolve. Seeing Rich and listening and learning from him was the highlight to my year.

What do these two events, one of them old and one of them new, mean? Well heck maybe nothing at all. But just like it was no coincidence that the Lady Bears of Baylor just happened to be in NYC the very same day that RG3 won the Heisman and they were there to cheer him on, well maybe there is a deeper meaning to it all. To me, there are no coincidences; there is always a divine planning. So I have been looking closely at what it means that two unrelated events that happened at identical times mean.

I think it means as I look to the future, I need to review and study the past. What made us successful in the past can have a profound impact on what will help us succeed in the future. By looking at what Joe Sr. did 60 years ago, that got him through rough times and take advantage of circumstances during the good times, I can learn a lot without having to pay a gillion dollars in consulting fees. We are Lake Truck Lines and STOS, not General Motors. I will get good counsel and learn new ideas and plan, but I will never abandon the lessons of the past.

What does the future of 2012 hold in store for Lake, STOS, and all our associates?  Check in next week for a peek into the future.

Until next week……

Douglas Cain