Year of the Startup

I worked at least part of the day on adding some components to an existing layout.  Just before leaving the office for the day, our designer asked what kind of voltage these parts worked at.  I sat there completely dumbfounded – I was using 5V (at best!) components on what would be (potentially) 20 volts.  It did not even occur to me to check what kind of voltage I was working with.  What a rookie mistake!  I’ll have to totally rethink this circuit.

Hey, at least band practice was great.  For the Bible lesson, we watched a video from “The Skit Guys” on how not to pray.  It’s a powerful video, and some of us were getting a bit teary and a lot convicted to pray “better.”

Long day on the job.

My free tools are slow and clunky.

No one is responding to my emails.

Yet still I push on.

What a nice, long weekend.  My family had a great time without me, going to the river park that they like so much twice in three days!  Meanwhile, I worked part-time two of the three days and went to church the other day.  I watched a heck of a lot of TV and Movies after 1PM.  Actually, we had friends over Sunday night as well, which was great.

Today, my buddy John joined me at work.  Like me, he’ll be working for free for a while, but it is exciting work that hopefully, eventually, will lead to regular salaries.  He liked the free tool that I have been using, KLayout, and we’re working on all kinds of plans to make sure our next chip successful.  We also had lunch with our friend Kevin today.  All of us were in such a good mood; quite a change from our time at the old job!  We’re all so stress-free now.

Let’s just say that today was a good day.

A friend had a fire sale on some of his equipment, and I was the beneficiary of it (or will be).  The thing is, to get this awesome deal, I must drive almost seven hours down to Irvine to pick it up.  It’s totally worth it.  The cost savings are enormous!  I’m also on the hook for some pro bono services should my friend need it (Since I will have his stuff and he won’t be able to do it himself.).  Sometime next week, I’m on a road trip.

OK, so I missed most of this week.  I have a good excuse: I used the time I would usually blog to practice guitar.  I practiced a lot!  Right around Monday, our electric player in the church band became unavailable, and so after a bit of shuffling, I wound up becoming the electric guitarist this week.  The thing is, these songs were WAY beyond my ability (and even more beyond the other guy’s ability, so why were the songs chosen?); especially “Reaching For You” by Lincoln Brewster.  I could either complain and get the songs changed, or try to learn these “impossible” songs.  I chose the latter.

I have spent the last three days practicing 3-4 hours a night.  I got three songs down quicker than I would have guessed, but the really hard song took much longer. In order to figure it out, I had to look at several you-tube videos of others playing the song – trying to figure out how they did it.  Tabs were useless for the solo – too many notes!  Fortunately, there was some sort of “create your own lead” contest with this song and so I had hundreds of you-tube entrants to look at (Yeah!).  I finally found a video of some 14 year old Korean kid who slowed things down so I could see what was being done on the song.  The song is still impossible, but I could at least create a simplified version with his chord structure.

Tonight is rehersal, and I feel reasonably good about the songs.  Guess I should get to practicing again so I can succeed tonight!

My day began by making a metal/silicon company logo for ASD so I could put it on all the chips we will be making moving forward.  We have a selection of parts that work right now, and they are headed to production soon, so they all got new die IDs today and the nifty new logo.  I also had to make improvements to roughly half the chips.

And that was pretty much my day.

Since the girls were out today, Barbara at a teacher meeting and Courtney at a “web meeting” (not the computer web; she has been selected to lead incoming 7^th graders around campus and into their first class this coming Monday – she’s an orientation leader!), Jeffrey and I decided to go out for lunch and run a few errands before we got there.  We got: prescriptions filled, cash into and out of the bank, “foreign” beer (British half bottles of cream ale for tomorrow’s preseason game) and Taco Bell in just over an hour.

The evening isn’t here yet, but it will include gymnastics for Courtney and later, Lifegroup for all of us.  There is a “Laugh Your Way” marriage seminar in the big gym at church tonight, so the kids won’t be able to play in the gym.  They’ll probably play outside instead – disturbing the nearby AA group (though hopefully not too much).  It will be good to see our clan of Bible enthusiasts again at Lifegroup! (I think we’re still in Chronicles II, though I’m not entirely sure – it’s been six weeks!)

I was sad to hear that Sears in Mt. View, CA was torn down yesterday.  I worked there back in the ‘80s; eight years in Hardware/Lawn & Garden/Paints and almost two years in Sporting goods.  It’s where I first learned how to manage large groups of people and where I learned about profit/loss statements and inventory.  It helped get me through college.  Sigh.

As if that weren’t bad enough, the company I went to after that (for 12 years) is now gone and the building it resided in is scheduled for demolition early next year.  All I can say is “watch out <former company, where I worked for nine years>, my wake of destruction will get you next!”  I am entropy!

Aside from that, it was an educational day: I downloaded the latest version of KLayout and learned about its new and improved features.  The tool keeps getting better and better… and it’s free!

Today was sort of a mix of food and work.

The day started off with a hefty Omega breakfast, as it always does on Wednesdays, with Bery and Culley (actually, it started by me blowing past a newly-installed metering light that had been placed at the top of the on ramp while I was on vacation.  What a STUPID place to put a red light – right before the freeway merge at the top of a long hill!  Now, no one will be able to get up to speed before hitting the freeway.).  Anyway… Bery and I had some great discussions and even stayed late.  Good thing too, I was able to say “Hi” to Pastor Dan when he came in.  Dan is now retired so he shows up later on Wednesdays.  It sounds like things are going great for him.  He’s now a teacher (in retirement) at a local Christian college and he’s raising up the next generation of leaders at his former church with a series of Bible Studies.

When I got home, the kids were up (I’m working at home the rest of this week Because Barbara is back to school today, but the kids don’t start school until Monday).  Soon, more kids arrived.  I guess word had gotten out that I was at home and so another teacher with kids dropped hers off at my house.

Soon, it was time for an early lunch.  I would meet with John today, a former employee of mine who had just been layed-off from our former company.  He had put out a few feelers for work already and had gotten a few bites.  I put my pitch in as well for the startup company.  I think he might join us, and that would be great.  Hey, I’m getting the band back together!

After that, it was back to work until late.  I now have actual layout work to do!  Up to this point, I have been a layout person with very little actual layout work to do.  I’m glad to have had a break, but now I’m ready for a challenge.

The evening was spent practicing bass and playing with the kids.

Nothing much to write about: I worked; I went home.

Barb and I did go to church to lead a prayer meeting in the evening… except no one else came, so we prayed and talked.  Without prayer, how are we going to get a next pastor?

The weekend was fun!  On Saturday, I got certified in CPR/AED, then wrote up a study on Luther and Lutheranism.  On Sunday, I taught that class.  My son, Jeffrey, played bass in the “home” church band for the first time and did really well.  The afternoon was pizza, football, TV, and listening to a very squeaky elliptical machine.  I tried to lubricate it and tighten it, but I guess I’m going to have to disassemble it and reassemble it.  That squeak is more annoying than small noisy children!  The evening was spent with Brandi – first doing some stick-shift practice (she drove on some streets tonight and didn’t get us killed – I’m so proud!), then she looked through our family vacation photos.

Today was a long work day, but a good day.  I learned many new “simulation” skills.  I’m not a designer, so I was a little (a lot) past my level of competence but by the end of the day, I had output.  God was also good to me: I drove as fast as I wanted to on the way home during the peak of rush hour, and every lane change decision I made was the correct one.  How often does that happen?  Tonight: final discussion and prayer on our pastor candidates.  This Sunday, we recommend a pastor to the congregation, and hope they call him… and then we hope he comes!