Sneaky. The police on 880 now have unmarked Mustangs. That will make the commute a little more interesting.
Work was fun. So much to do, and in so many areas!
Tonight, we move the band setup to the gym for a Family Worship on Sunday. I’ll get my exercise for sure.
Still tired from reading my book past midnight (three days in a row); great book!
I spent today revising a semiconductor presentation so I could present a “this is semiconductors” lecture to middle schoolers (the middle school brings in professionals every month to tell the middle schoolers what they do, and how they got there. I get invited every year because my wife runs this — I’m the backup in case someone can’t show.) The presentation was fun, and now I have something I can also give to investors as well, should they want to know what a semiconductor is and how it is made. It’s win-win!
In the late afternoon, my son and I went to a free movie preview: Wrath of the Titans. It was NOT worth standing in line for three hours; maybe an hour and a half, but not three. Hey, at least I got to read a quarter of my book (Hunger Games trilogy, book 2 of 3). That same book has kept me up past midnight the last couple of nights. Maybe I should go see that movie.
Our EDA software is beginning to show its limitations. The tools we have chosen cannot be our long-term solution. The draw tool is fine, but verification is not up to par with the rest of the industry. It’s too bad that the rest of the industry charges 10x. For now, we’ll use the cheap tools.
I thought I would have time to make dinner for the kids at my house, but our man in China called and we talked for about a half an hour. Dinner was take-out pizza, and I didn’t have time to eat it because I had to get to a meeting at church. Hopefully, there will be some left over when I get home.
OK, so while the weekend was busy, it was a ton of fun and it was very rewarding. The Respite event was wonderful – we had 16 kids there and around 35 adults. One of our neighboring churches sent some people over to see how we do it; now they may start it at their place! Sunday’s Ghana training was a lot of fun. One of the short-term missionaries I was training even gave me a kiss on the cheek at the end of the session – I think she liked the training! That same afternoon, I did some confirmation makeup work with a student (so our youth director, out on maternity leave, wouldn’t have to come in). She was such a good student that we finished early. We were able to grab a bite to eat before the “real” confirmation meeting that night as a result. The evening confirmation class went well, and it too ran short. At the end of the evening, I wasn’t tired at all; I was, in fact, invigorated!
Today at work was sort of a reserved affair. Anytime our marketing guy is away (really, he’s our boss, but he doesn’t like us to call him that), I get to run the place. I opted to skip our Monday meeting to get to the task of getting this chip out the door. There were many software crashes today so we weren’t as effective as we could have been. My computer was down for three hours so I read a couple of chapters on Logistics Management (a real page turner!) and ordered some Operations Management books. At the end of this chip, I will begin the transition from Layout to Operations. There is definitely a learning curve, but I’m very excited about the challenge… provided it doesn’t kill the company.
Well, my wife’s away tonight so I gotta go cook. Actually, I’m cooking all week so you can pretty much guarantee that there will be a lot of meat & potatoes and few veggies.
What a rewarding day! I didn’t get a great deal of work done, but I definitely progressed the company, progressed the chip and smoothed over any bad feelings that might have occurred from the last three days of meetings… which were a little rough in places. I also helped send our marketing guy to China. He’ll be gone next week, hopefully making us more successful. Finally, my layout guy and I simply had fun the majority of the day. How often can the average employee say that while at work?
Tonight is Lifegroup. We’re enjoying Ezra right now, and we might finish it tonight… or not. Tomorrow is a Respite event (taking care of disabled children so their parents can do whatever they want for five hours) and prep for Sunday’s Ghana training. Somewhere in there I also have to help my daughter get caught up on her confirmation. All of her waking hours this week centered on homework and projects. You would think that she was done, now that the weekend is here, but she has a long-term science competition thing to do mid-day Saturday. Sunday will be: Sunday School, Band/Church, Ghana Training, Two hours of Confirmation makeup with another student, then Confirmation. By the end of Sunday, I’ll be looking forward to work… where I can rest.
More meetings; thank goodness they end today. This board stuff is exhausting. I think I did maybe half an hour of chip layout. Now at home, it’s practice for tonight’s rehearsal. The house is very quiet right now – all the girls are away. My son makes little noise. Life is good.
Well, today was odd. Usually, I work at home on Wednesdays, but today, I was called into the office for a special meeting (board level stuff). By the time I got home, I didn’t have much time to work on the chip – an hour maybe – and then I ate a very late 2:30 lunch and then went to the dentist to get shiny teeth. Now I’m at home, somewhat hungry and exhausted – time to help my daughter with her homework (she’s writing a position paper on death row inmates. Her position: save the tax payers money, kill the criminals right after the initial trial! Avoid the appeals process! I really hope she doesn’t become a judge.). Somewhere in the evening, I must fit in guitar practice. My son and I have two new songs to learn. I may just collapse after that… except my book is so good that I’ll probably read ‘til midnight!
Blah! A long day with lots of meetings. Good thing I’m home now where I can rest… no, strike that, I have to be at church in 45minutes! Blah! No rest!
I just took the week off from blogging. Did anyone notice? I thought not.
I didn’t intend not to write, but I was exceedingly busy. I finally got a couple days off from church and I spent it working on my chip! I even worked on Sunday after church and I never do that (I wouldn’t have had my family been home, but they were not). Now here it is Monday, and I’m tired from my weekend. Tonight, I’ll spend time with the family.
Today was fun because I had lunch with an old friend. He is interested in joining our company, but he can’t afford to unfortunately — he needs cash right now. Too bad, I would have really enjoyed working with him again.
I spent most of Saturday cooking for Sunday’s potluck. My aunt’s lasagna recipe takes forever (the sauce takes about six hours to simmer down), but it always tastes good. The whole family did a simply fantastic job of cleaning up – it’s the best I’ve seen our house look in years! Too bad my son then cooked fajitas for dinner – we had another mess to clean up in the evening… but oh so good!
Sunday went very well – all had a good time at the dinner. Everybody brought top-notch cuisine, and the conversation flowed nicely. Amazing but true, my family once again cleaned up after the dinner was over and we all went to bed with a very clean house! My kids are getting so responsible – especially my son (AMAZING job on the traditionally dirty bathroom).
Today was another work day. We’re now on the top level of the chip so we can see the end in sight. This is my favorite part of the project.
Our possible Chinese investor probably won’t help us financially – he’s just about to build a factory so he needs all of his capitol – but wants to be someone who can help us in China. We’ll gladly have him help us! Our friends who set up the meeting might have another investor for us as well. Somewhere, somehow, we’ll get funding.
Tonight is a mission meeting. You know… I figured out today that my next day off from evening church activities is Friday. I have been at church for something every day now for four days already (and I’ve only missed one day in the last nine), and I have four more days to go. I believe I am seriously over-committed… but I love it!
