Today I woke up feeling really good for some reason. I’ve been exercising again and I feel better as a result. My blood sugar is way down from last week. As a result, I put in one big multi-tasking day at work, then put together a Bible study for tonight’s Lifegroup, and began to work on my two Sunday classes. What a nice way to finish my week!
I’m so happy when I can spend time with my family. Being embroiled in a project, as I am now, makes me realize how much I miss them. I have two healthy, happy, well-adjusted kids and a wife who loves me! When this project is over, I’m definitely spending more time with them. Conversely, I don’t like the end of projects, but I do enjoy finishing them… perhaps because of a cessation of pain, and because I can see my family again.
Today, Yahoo news announced that one of the last chips my partner and I worked on is now product of the year! Too bad the chip belongs to that company that let us go. Both of us were instrumental in creating this chip (along with a third layout person). Hundreds of hours were put into it, and we were all working 12-16 hour days, six days a week the last month of the project… and then they let us go. They get all the credit and accolades; my friend and I get a new job. It’s bittersweet at best.
It was an absolute layout marathon at home today – lots of hours put in, but I’m not as far as I would like to be. Still, I’m a lot further than I was yesterday.
Yeah, for once, I have a free evening. Perhaps I could do more layout, or maybe prep for those two classes I’m supposed to teach on Sunday?
My boss is off to China. Party for the rest of us! Kidding – we have a ton of work to do. By my estimate, we have 3.5 weeks remaining to go and 5 weeks of work. My simple math says that we should be working 60 hour weeks right now.
Tonight, I learn about SBA loans. Yeah!
My weekend went by fast. I was told that Saturday was a beautiful day. I stayed in the office until 4PM, working all day on finances and a Sunday School class for tomorrow. That evening, my wife and I went out to our church’s annual youth dinner/event. The food and entertainment was good and we set a new record for the auction.
My class went very well on Sunday (two more weeks to go!). After church, it was all about the Super Bowl. I went to my friend Jeff’s house for this event. After the game was over, I went home and reviewed all the commercials and the half-time entertainment with my family (my daughter has an assignment to comment on all the commercials; Madonna’s half-time show was worth watching again). I don’t know that I ate dinner, but lunch sort of dragged on for several hours.
Today at work, we hired our eighth person. We now have US sales covered, and perhaps more of Asia too. We might have two more employees arriving soon as well; one for Asia sales, and one for Finance. The finance guy also wants to do Operations (as do I, and I’m more qualified to do it). Currently, my boss is doing all the Operations, since he set everything up before I came on board, but he was going to hand it off to me at some point. I don’t see him giving it up all that easily to tell you the truth, so there could very well be three of us vying for the same position.
My daughter wants to give out our address and phone number on an online game. She even wants to invite people to an outdoor event (these people could be anywhere on the planet!). Should I be scared? Yes, yes I should. The girl means well, but sometimes her innocence works against her. Having said that, her innocence is also one of those things that makes her so special. I guess I should buy a gun so future suitors can help me clean it.
Even though John and I are going very quickly on layout now, it may be a case of too little too late. Bob is still designing and has yet to create two blocks. If it takes him two weeks to finish those blocks, we won’t have time to lay them out. Still, we’ll give it our best shot and see if we can just make it in under the wire.
I just finished one consulting job, and next week, I start another. In talking with job #1, it appears that they have two more chips in the pipe for me. I view this as good news – it keeps the cash flowing. Maybe I can send a little work (and cash) John’s way as well.
The home schedule has been a little different this week. I have more meetings this week and so does my wife. We also have more kids in the home more often because other people also have more meetings this week. Tonight, I’ll be providing taxi services and food for three youth… and then I’ll go to band practice as I always do on Thursdays.
A banner day for layout – it’s amazing how much work you can get done when you aren’t interrupted all the time. I love working at home!
Tonight starts the new call committee. Wish them luck! They need to really hit the ground running so Bery and I will be there tonight to help them. Our goal is to help and then get out of the way so they can do the work for which they have been commissioned.
The Linkedin folks keep rolling in. Updating this was a good thing.
All my vendors (with one exception) called me today, which is also a good thing. Most of them owe me information or work. I like it when I don’t have to hunt them down.
Right now, we have a few kids at home – typical for a Tuesday – but more are on the way. The place will be packed by 6, and then empty at 6:30 after we shuttle them to various places. Gee, and I was going to use this evening to do work, but I too have a meeting at 6:30. I guess I’ll need to start work early tomorrow.
On Saturday morning, I updated my Linkedin and added around 20 colleagues. This tool is becoming more and more important to me as we look for round two funding. For the rest of the day, my wife and I went on a date – lunch, shopping, dinner, shopping & more shopping. It was actually a lot of fun to spend this much quality time together, and we brought home a bunch of food I can eat!
Sunday was the usual church and football. On the football front, we’re quickly running out of games. This week was the Pro Bowl, next week is the Super Bowl.
Today, we were all the model of efficiency. All of us have large, single tasks to perform right now, keeping us all quiet and focused. Still, we did break for lunch and chat a bit. While we have no money donor yet, we have about four different options on the table right now. Something is bound to happen! I just hope it’s the right one.
As of today, I am back to full health. Darn! Now I’ll have to get back on the elliptical.
Wednesday starts a new call committee at church (round two of our pastor search). I’m not on this committee (yeah!), but I am the adviser for them, having been on the most recent call committee, and two previous ones. I think, beyond the obvious need for a smooth transition, there is a specific reason God has placed me as an adviser to this committee: should we go the Seminary route (and I believe we might), I am the most qualified person to help — I went there to interview Pastor Nate (and others) years ago, and I know how it works. I could teach someone how to “succeed,” and I am quite available to go, should the committee want that. Truth is, I love that Seminary, and have considered attending there myself from time to time.
