Yeah, tonight is Lifegroup! We’re studying Ezra right now, and I’m finding it really interesting to teach. It’s nice to see how those who were not Jewish were influenced by God in order to help His chosen people.
Our Lifegroup is also setting up for craft day tomorrow (a monthly occurrence for us – we now set up 42 tables and over 100 chairs for this event… in about 15 minutes). We are also having a potluck at our house on Sunday. We’ve invited our interim pastor and wife to dinner!
Lots of layout today; band tonight; what more can I say!
This evening, a friend of mine is going to talk to a Chinese investor about my company. Maybe he will be intrigued enough to invest. I hope so!
Today was a very solid work-at-home day. I put in 11 hours and got a lot accomplished. My day ended with a customer calling me an idiot. In my mind, he is using put-down tactics to hide his own incompetence. It’s sort of sad really: I delivered a proper job, he demanded two major (incorrect) changes (which I did), and then he decided to go back to the original job I had submitted because the second two versions were incorrect. And he calls me an idiot for not understanding the project.
During dinner, my daughter was telling me what she learned in school recently: Hitler was a friend to the Jews, wanting to help usher them into heaven – immediately – out of compassion. He did all this while donning his “mustache of peace.” Talk about revisionist history! What are they teaching my children! I tried to explain that Hitler was a bad man, but she liked her story better. She even wrote her version in an essay today (major cringe!). She also mentioned that YouTube had video proof that Hitler used mermaids during WWII to blow up American ships. Of course, with everything on YouTube being true, I simply had to believe her. She said that she didn’t entirely believe the video because it said that Hitler created the mermaids to do this. She believes that the mermaids already existed.
Yeah, our youth group person had her baby: Welcome to the world baby Micah!
I’m finally getting back into layout – yeah! Only half a day spent on management today.
After work, I rushed over to the theater to stand in line for a free movie preview. Every so often, my buddy Ray scores free tickets for me. Today, it was my buddy Culley (Thanks Culley!) who supplied the tickets.
The wait was a little over three hours, but the time went quickly; I brought “Hunger Games,” with me (that movie comes out in three weeks!). It’s a book that I simply can’t put down right now. Tonight, we went to see another book adaptation: John Carter. The movie started a bit slow but once it started moving, it never stopped. Two hours and twenty minutes later, we were ready for book two of this five book series by Edgar Rice Borrows.
The ride/race home was filled with speedy and suicidal riders. I attempted to be one of them but I had the wrong car tonight. My buddy Ray almost ran a red light while waiving to me as I made my left turn towards home.
On Saturday, I spent much of my day being an “alternate” for an all day confirmation class. The youth leader is nine months pregnant and could possibly have a baby any day. She did not on this day, so I mostly just observed this group of 10 middle schoolers. When I got home, I rested by doing bills.
Occasionally, our friends will ask us to walk to some place for exercise. Last week it was to soup (3.5 miles). On Saturday evening, we walked to a school and back (4 miles). I was pretty wiped-out after that, feeling very old.
Sunday was church (great music! great adult ed. class!) followed by… nothing. It felt good to take a complete rest day, though I must admit, I got bored. I watched day one of the bicycle race “Paris-Nice” then I did some stock portfolio management. At least for the moment, I know which five stocks I would buy right now (out of the 330 that I’m tracking) IF I had any money. I do not, so I sort of wonder why I spent three hours going through the exercise. I guess sometimes I just like to play with a spreadsheet.
Today, I was determined to do nothing but layout. It didn’t work out. My boss had many important, though non-layout-related, tasks to do. When I got home, my contract company called. The customer wanted something for no apparent reason. The thing is, nobody could explain what it was, other than the fix was political rather than based on engineering or science or reason. I still have no idea what to do, but I must do it quickly.
My boss and I secured a bank loan today (the start of the process really, but it looks like a slam-dunk). This will help our Operations immensely. We also got more orders from our distributor in China. Things are looking up! Now if we can only find a major investor…
This evening was “Girl’s night out,” so my wife and other Lifegroup ladies went out, ate and played games. This also meant that at my house it was “Men’s night in… and babysitting.” We watched a “Man Movie” – From Russia with Love. I did not realize that it came out the year I was born. I so love that movie; it’s my favorite James Bond. Istanbul and Venice are two of my favorite cities… and I’ve been to both! Secretly, one of my life goals is to visit every James Bond site before I die. Last time I counted, I have been to 23 James Bond sites.
For some reason, my wife didn’t get home until 11:30. After the men and children left or went to bed, I read until 1:30 – very out of character for me. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a pretty exciting book. I’m trying to finish it before the movie based on the book comes out (March 23).
Work was work. Too many meetings, not enough chip work. Still, better than no work.
I really like the new song we’re doing for rehearsal tonight. It’s by the band “Fee” – Glory to God Forever. I also liked our Bible Study.
Leap Year!
My work-at-home day went very long. Still, I don’t feel like I accomplished a great deal, though we did have a nice, big meeting between three companies on two continents. That was pretty cool, and a lot got solved. Layout continues to languish for me. I still need more data before I can proceed, though I’m closer now to re-engaging. I have also been given the task of upgrading our company’s investor sales pitch presentation (I asked for the assignment – what was I thinking!). My boss would like it in three days. This might very well delay layout… though now layout is delayed by a month anyway by the fab.
My wife and I agree – we’re both ready for a vacation now!
Today was all about meetings and setting up for more meetings. A lot of good stuff happened. I was happy about my day until the discovery that the next wafer run is scheduled for four weeks later than planned. A month delay!? That’s really going to hurt our company, and we can’t really afford the wait.
Tax day did not go well – way too much work for our tax person. I do believe she was getting mad at me for selling so much stock this year! The taxes are also not complete. Just like the last three years, someone, somewhere didn’t get a 1099 or K-1 to me in time. Grrr. On the plus side, it doesn’t look like I’ll owe a ton of money, like I thought I would. Praise God!
With the girls gone on Sunday, my son and I spent some quality time together blowing up and/or shooting stuff on X-Box. My wrists and elbows hurt by evening time. Who knew working the controls were that difficult. Still, a great time was had by all.
Today, work was a little overwhelming – so much management stuff to do, and in the meantime, I’m dead in the water on layout until I can get some ESD structures. Still, I got a lot of “stuff” done today, making it a very satisfying day. I would like nothing better than to vegetate in front of the TV right now. I won’t though – too much stuff to do. When I got home, my son was saying “man, what a long day; and it’s only Monday.” My sentiments exactly.
