Year of the Startup

Big tourism day today; we got up early to drive to an authentic plantation called Drayton House.  We got there a bit early so we had to wait at the gate.  Courtney entertained herself with a dead squirrel.  Once we got in, we went almost immediately on a house tour.  Our guide was very informative and we learned a bit about Palladian architecture and plantation life.  The house was 11K square feet, which was pretty big for its day.  Heck, it’s pretty good for today!  The house tour was followed by a talk on the slave trade and how it applied to the plantations.  It too was interesting, but I found my mind wondering.  It was almost 90 degrees already, though not muggy.  It would reach 100 today.

Stop two was lunch.  We opted for a Hardees.  It has the Carl’s Jr. Star symbol, so we figured it was the east coast version.  Though there were similarities on the menu, most of it was different and better.  The “thick steak burgers” were indeed thick and yummy.  Neither kid could finish lunch.  We then headed downtown.

Greta got me really, really lost on the way to downtown Charleston, a place I had found easily last night (thanks to Greta giving me incorrect directions).  After several round turns and loops and bridge crossings (the same bridge each time), we found the downtown.

The trolley tour of the downtown was the highlight of the trip so far (Jeffrey liked it better than Disney World!).  Our guide, Dustin, was entertaining and informative.  Apparently, he had to deal with a run-away horse yesterday that almost killed his cart-load of tourists.  Fun times.  Today, he had Steve, a horse that rarely spooks.  We did not get killed.  Instead, we learned about Charleston.

Dustin, Steve and the kids

It was severely hot after the tour so of course we went shopping in some covered structures that actually held in heat.  Courtney got some great gifts.  We then spent as much on smoothies as we had on lunch, but they were totally worth it.

We did not get lost on the way to the boat tour across the major bridge.  This boat took us to Fort Sumter.  This is where the Civil War started.  The talk was OK, and the grounds were interesting.  The kids liked the place.  I liked the fort at St. Augustine better.  Still, worth the trip.

Jeffrey fools around at Ft. Sumter

The kids were not hungry, but they did want to swim so we dropped them off at the hotel then Barb and I went out on a date to ZuZu’s, a “fancy” experimental Greek-type restaurant.  It was highly rated and cheap.  The food was outstanding.

So early!  Still in so much pain!

We tried saying good-bye to my parents but they were asleep.  All we accomplished was waking up Mindy.

We got out of the condo complex by 7:30AM.  We still hit some traffic in Orlando, but not much.  Once we got free of the morning commute, we sought out a Steak ‘n Shake.  Our breakfast was filling and wonderful.  We moved on.  At 11ish, we hit St. Augustine.  First, we went to the Spanish Fort.  The talk that was given by the park ranger was amazing.  I learned so much about wool!  Afterwards, we went to the old town (again, wonderful) to get some bread and “fresh-squeezed” orange juice before we left Florida.

Barb & Ranger Jeff

Georgia was a blur.  We only stopped to get gas.  South Carolina seemed welcoming, though their drivers were absolute maniacs.  They were routinely exceeding the speed limit by 25MPH.  The Florida drivers were super selfish and aggressive, but at least they were closer to the speed limit.  I’m beginning to see that each region has different driving rules.  I set the cruise control at 79MPH today… ticking off many people who wanted to go much faster in mostly 60MPH speed zones.

Our hotel was unimpressive.

We decided to go out to eat then (pre)tour the old downtown by car.  Our Garmin (Greta) had different ideas.  Her route to the restaurant took us across a bridge, then back across the same bridge because it didn’t know about the road that went under the bridge.  We would have gone five miles to go to a restaurant one mile away.  Alas, I didn’t know what she was doing until I got on the bridge entrance, and then it was too late.  Since we found ourselves on the wrong side of the bridge, we toured the old downtown.  Back across the bridge, Greta took us to the wrong restaurant.  What she (and we) didn’t know was that there were two restaurants with the same address on the same street separated by four miles.  I don’t know how this is possible, but I guess it is.  The authentic Southern Cooking we experienced at Paige’s Okra Grill was pretty darn good, but I can see why so many Southerners are absolutely fat.  We especially liked the fried green tomatoes and the okra salad.

We drove a mile back to our hotel.  The kids went swimming and  Barb and I rested.  That eight hour drive put a big kink in my back.

Everybody was so achy from yesterday’s “magic” marathon.  My feet were killing me.  We woke up late and eventually got to Blizzard Beach to drop the kids off.  Today was the first day that particular park was opened since we had been here.  Overnight, Tropical Storm Debbie had picked up speed and had moved off land.  It was muggy but rain-free today.  Amazingly, there was no parking fee today – saving us $14.

Barbara and I went back to Hollywood Studios and went slowly around the park.  We saw everything we had missed yesterday and we went on a number of fun rides.  This park was practically empty today!  A text from Mindy confirmed that everybody was once again at Magic Kingdom where they were.

Cool, they changed the Star Tours ride.  I liked the addition of the three “new” Star Wars Movies (unlike Jack Sparrow’s additions to “Pirates” yesterday).  Kevin & Kelly offered to take our kids home because their family went to Blizzard Beach.  This left Barb and I free!  We got out of the park a little early, had lunch at a Lebanese place, bought groceries for our car trip and for tonight’s dinner, then went home.  My brother Allen had arrived, so he came to our room.  Allen brought a case of champagne and wine for tonight’s festivities.

Allen, Dad & Me

We started drinking early while talking and between the two of us, we downed a bottle of champagne.  Eventually, the kids got home.  Jeffrey cooked his special garlic-cheese bread while Barbara cooked 1/3^rd of the spaghetti (which was distributed between the condos due to the size of the pots they had given us) and then we all went downstairs to Kevin’s condo for a family dinner and the main event: Our parent’s 50th wedding anniversary!

Dinner was good.  More wine was drunk, and mostly by our recently 21 kids (grandkids/nieces).  My sister Holly was still not used to her three children drinking, yet all of them are of age now.  Afterwards, we got into our “uniforms” (white shirt and jeans) then went out to a playground to take family pictures.  That turned out to be pretty fun.

The evening’s entertainment was mini-golf.  Since there were 18 of us, we divided up into two groups of nine to play the two courses (then switch – we played 36 holes).  We were behind the Decker/Adams’ and they were very, very slow, though they all scored better than my family.  We were just quicker to hit… and maybe that was our problem.  By hole 30, I couldn’t stand anymore – my feet were in so much pain.  Fortunately, I had Motrin, which allowed me to walk, but it was so painful!  I’m actually looking forward to an all-day drive tomorrow to give my feet some rest!

We said good-bye to most everybody at the put-put course because we were leaving very early the next morning.  Those who missed us at the course came to our condo to say good-bye.  We packed until midnight.

We got a late start this morning.  Everybody did.  I guess we were tired from Epcot.  Hey, at least my cold seemed to have disappeared!

We went to Disney Hollywood Studios today to ride two thrill rides.  We got a fast pass for Tower of Terror then went on the Rock ‘n Roll Coaster.  We probably should have gotten the pass for this ride instead (since the wait time was longer), but we didn’t.  While waiting in line, we saw a group behind us get absolutely drenched by a sudden tropical downpour (we were under cover).  That was fun.  We then saw the Decker/Adams’ get in the “singles” line.  They got to ride in under half an hour, though one person at a time as seats needed to be filled.  We waited 85 minutes.  Unfortunately, Ashley saw how fast the ride was and freaked-out (she is eight).  Mindy had to take her out the exit.  I felt sad for my sister.  Once out of the ride, we went on Tower of Terror.  Even with the fast pass, it took us half an hour.

On the way out of the park, we got caught in a downpour so we got under some canopies and watched people get wet.  It was fun.  The sun came out as fast as the rain had come and now it was muggy.  We exited the Disney complex and had lunch at a nearby Steak ‘n Shake (excellent food and service!).

Courtney in the rain

By 5PM, we were inside the Magic Kingdom park and it was crowded!  Kevin’s family went left, my parents went straight to meet up with Chelsey at It’s a Small World, and my family went right to get a fast pass for Space Mountain.  We got ours for 9:15PM.

We decided to go on a ride with a 40 minute wait, except that it was 65 minutes because the ride kept breaking down.  It broke down twice while we were on the ride.  The whole time we were in line, we had to listen to a family who could not have been very bright.  The mom was obsessed with line jumpers and asked everybody around her to stay in order so she could spot the line jumpers.  She also swore that the fast pass people were line jumpers.  Her husband tried to explain to her about the fast passes, but he didn’t get it either.  Actually, they weren’t the only unintelligent people I met at the park today.  They seemed to be all around me!  Maybe all the smart people, realizing that everybody would be at the Magic Kingdom today went somewhere else; maybe they only go to Epcot; maybe there was a TED convention nearby.  Whatever it was, the smart people were not here today.  I hadn’t got the memo, but I had no doubt that the park would be packed because it had rained all day yesterday so people had stayed home.  Today was the only day we could go to this park, so we had no choice.

Anyway… by way of Karmic balancing, the lines for the Haunted House and for Pirates of the Caribbean were both shorter than advertised.  Haunted House broke down while we were on the ride.  We didn’t care; it was air-conditioned.  They had made several changes to “Pirates” to incorporate the movies.  I did NOT like the changes.  There were three Jack Sparrow sightings and a lot of the dialog had been changed to fit the movies.  It was cheesy and I thought it detracted from the original concept.

We rode a few more rides to fill the time, and then went to Space Mountain.  When we got there, the fast pass line was way out the door.  Someone had dropped something important on the ride, so they had to stop the ride, hold the lines, turn on the lights, and find the object.  Once the fast pass line started moving, it kept moving, but it still took us half an hour to get on the ride.  The non-fast pass line was more than two hours long.  Those people were not happy.

I have decided that I do not like the fast pass system.  It only benefits savvy, English-speaking people.  It’s not fair to foreigners or stupid people, and there were a lot of those here today (Disney is very international, which I enjoy very much.  The stupid people… not so much.  It makes me extremely glad that I live in Silicon Valley).

Our plan was to exit the park before the fireworks went off.  It worked too – the first firework went off just as we were at the exit (after plowing through a sea of humanity).  We watched the fireworks from the monorail on our way to the parking lot.

We were up early so we could have breakfast at Dunkin Doughnuts (our East Coast favorite from last year).  It seems they have expanded their menu since last time we were here.  The food was very good.  After that, we went to a Win Dixie and got cereal, milk, sunblock and toothpaste.

Today was Epcot day.  It did not matter that there was a deluge outside and someone somewhere must have been building an arc.  We figured, the harder it rained, the fewer people would be at Epcot.  Early on, we were right.

Knitters in the rain

The kids decided to hang out with the Decker cousins today, so Barbara and I went with Kevin’s family.  Things were going great, though we did miss a few big-time rides early on.  I guess we should have gone on them when we had the chance.  The rain stopped, and people started pouring into the place.  By lunchtime, there were no short lines anywhere.

Barbara wanted Fish ‘n Chips in the England exhibit.  Everyone else wanted Brats and Beer at the Germany exhibit, so we parted company.  Our kids were already at the Germany pavilion, but wanted Fish ‘n Chips, so we told them to go counter-clockwise around the lake and meet us.  When they didn’t arrive, Barbara went to look for them.  I needed to rest because I was lacking food, and because I was coming down with a cold.  While I was waiting, a big gust of wind knocked over many of the contents of a kiosk across the way.  The gal was picking up pens, but I had seen that a whole bunch of staples had been strewn across the walkway.  I quickly picked them up before somebody stepped on them.  I then sat down again.  Barbara couldn’t find the kids.  They had apparently walked clockwise.  Barb picked me up, and we went to England to meet the kids.  Yelp had rated this place 4.5 stars; I could now see why – this was just about the best Fish ‘n Chips I have ever had – and I’ve been to England!

After lunch, Barb wanted to slowly shop though the “World.”  The kids did not, so they took off.  We had a great time taking our time (today’s our anniversary!).  Alas, when we got back to the science area, it had begun to rain again.  Now everybody was seeking shelter in the lines of the rides.  The one ride we really wanted to do had a two hour plus waiting time.  We went on a couple of OK rides instead.  We were about o go to our favorite ride again just before meeting up with everyone when we spotted our kids.  Turns out the “plant” ride was their favorite too, so we all went together.  After that, we met up with most of our group.  The winds were so severe (Thanks Debbie!) that umbrellas were being bent backwards and strollers were flying.  I had a hard time standing straight and my hair was everywhere (though not as bad as the kids’ hair though!).

We left the park and went to a highly recommended Italian restaurant.  The food was outstanding!  After that, the kids went swimming and the adults went to their respective bungalows.

What a day.  I’m still damp from all that rain.  And thank God for Motrin – I would not have lasted the day without it.

Well that was early; I got a wake-up call from Orbitz at 3AM.  My alarm was set for 3:20, but I was out of bed before that.  I had slept maybe three hours last night.  Boy am I going to be tired today!

Rosa came right on time at 4AM and took us to SFO.  We had packed light – carrying only one bag each, so we were able to avoid the very long line at the counter for ticketing and stowed bags.  We walked straight to security instead.  It was funny to see Courtney so bubbly about the body scan.  She was absolutely giddy.

We paid $60 extra dollars to get priority boarding and “better” seats.  Well, priority seating might give you 30 extra seconds on AirTran, so it’s not worth the money.  When we got to our seats, they had no cushions.  We were told to move to the bulkhead seats just behind first class… except that we couldn’t get there with people coming in.  The stewardesses eventually had to halt the line so we could move forward.  Fortunately, there was still overhead space.  I would have been pissed if it were not so – having paid extra money to get a good seat and overhead space.  The seats we got weren’t great because you couldn’t lift up the arms – our trays were in them.  This meant that I had a cramped flight.  And as per usual when I am cramped, I get this terrible odor from having my fat legs too close together for too long (this is a relatively new odor for me, but it has started to appear over the last few international flights.  I guess when you get to a certain weight, you might get this issue.  So far, I have not managed a way to solve this issue.).

The flight went without incident and we landed in Atlanta.  We had pre-planned having lunch at Popeyes, except that Popeyes was now closed.  We had very expensive deli sandwiches instead.  When we got on our next plane, someone else was in our seats.  They had been given our seats and ours had been reassigned, except that no one knew where our seats were so we hung out in the back of the plane for a while.  We got good seats, but once again, we had to move against the current of humanity.   We got the last of the overhead bins once we got to our seats.

This flight was so short that I don’t think the crew finished serving drinks before it was time to land.  The landing was rough because it was pouring and windy; we had just flown into Hurricane Debbie.

We had our pick of National’s fullsize cars, thanks to a deal I had found.  The Nissan Altima seemed like the nicest one, so that’s the one we drove off the lot.  It’s pretty quick.

We met just about everybody at the condos – there were 18 of us for this family reunion/50^th wedding anniversary for my parents.  The condo was pretty incredible – nicely furnished and everyone got a King-sized bed.  Our room had a Jacuzzi.

We all went out to Mediterranean food for dinner.  Most of us got a deal off of Groupon, but only one of us could use theirs.  That sucked.  Three of us will need to get refunds.

We pretty much went to bed after that, wiped-out from our trip.

I must say I had a great weekend.  I did just about nothing on Saturday and I was treated very well for Father’s Day on Sunday.  The family took me out to BJ’s.  I’ve wanted to go there because I own stock in the company, plus I like steak and beer.  Well, the food was excellent and the beer was fair to excellent (I had the 8 beer sampler).  In the evening, we watched a “classic” movie (Kindergarten Cop).

Today was supposed to be a day of tying up loose ends for my now former company; however, I didn’t have all the data I needed to do the job.  Alas, I will need to go back to the office one last time to get the proper data.  I really don’t want to go.  I cleaned-up, backed-up and defragmented my two computers instead.

I had a nice chat with my mom in the afternoon, or it was nice until she mentioned that one of my sisters is not coming to the reunion.  We started the planning for this event (my parent’s 50^th wedding anniversary) two years ago with the reunion dates chosen specifically to fit my sister’s family’s needs at the expense of other’s needs.  I could understand if it was merely the price of the tickets, which are expensive, but she has decided, without telling anyone, that she and her family are going to Hawaii instead; at the same time as the family reunion.  Now, I don’t care what the circumstances are, that’s just plain selfish and it dishonors our parents.  It’s a real slap in the face.  I’m mad, and it makes me sad for my parents, and for my siblings who worked so hard to put this event together.  I was really looking forward to seeing her and her family again.  It has been five years since last seeing her (at the last family reunion – in Hawaii), and it was 17 years before that.

Today we met with a guy who has all kinds of startup experience to see if he might be interested in starting something new.  He is definitely interested in starting something new, as is our sales guy.  The rest of us are sort of burnt-out at the moment, but a little R & R may change our mindset.  I wouldn’t mind having a job on the side even if I get a regular job or go back to consulting.  The thing is, it has to be well-funded, well-defined, it has to make money, and most of us will not be able to come back to it immediately (unless it’s really, really well-funded).  We’ll see where this goes.

Our sales guy has set up another meeting with another interested person next week.  I’m beginning to get the sense that there are a lot of unemployed people around here who are looking to start something new.  Where were they last year?

What was fun about today’s meeting was that my daughter came with me.  She sat in our discussion.  Afterwards, she and I went to my favorite Italian place in Campbell (maybe for the last time… sigh) along with Julius.

I still had a few things left in the office, so I took the last remaining remnants home today.  It’s unlikely I’ll ever go back to that office in Campbell unless we actually do start something new and that’s the place we choose to reside in (it is cheap).  I’m not a fan of the place – too old, too noisy and too far for a commute.

Our (now former) ASD team got together today to see if we could work together as a new entity.  The answer is “no;” at least not with our designer.  He’s going to do his own thing, likely forming a company in a different market area for which the rest of us are not suited.  We don’t fit into his new plans.  So be it, at least it was great to see him again.  He looked so happy and relaxed after his vacation.  The rest of us may or may not do something together as a new company – we’ll see.  Most of us (me included) need cash, so forming a new company wouldn’t help our current circumstances and would only aid in making us poorer.

Tonight (an hour from now) is my daughter’s graduation from middle school.  I must admit that I’m not big on graduation ceremonies, but I haven’t missed one yet and don’t intend to.  Hey, at least there’s dinner afterwards – sushi!

OK, so even though I said I’d do no job hunting until after vacation, I still managed to have lunch with one very well-connected friend, who is going to have me talk to another person on Friday, I set up an appointment with the old ASD team to decide if we’re going to do anything new together, and I talked shop with my current consulting job (I put in another hour’s work for them today) to see if they had any leads.  The current consulting job might just be looking for people like me about the time I get back.  I’m not holding my breath, but it’s a possibility I would consider should it materialize.  I enjoy working with those guys.  The guy I talked to also reminded me that one of my former bosses now runs a small consulting “empire” that I could easily work at.  They’re right! – I have options!  If I go with my former boss, I’d also be working on a process I know, with people I know, and I’d finally get a chance to really learn Cadence EDA tools, something I’ve managed to avoid since 1992 (after taking three Cadence classes… then dropping Cadence tools in favor of Mentor tools).

The kids are at youth group now, and for only the second time in a year, Barb and I are home alone on a Tuesday.  What to do?  What to do?