Gardens grow nicely with sun and thunderstorms and some more sun. Even if I forget to water them. Fig tree is viciously leafing all over the place and its neighbor the pumpkin (that I hosed off the concrete patio) is occupying an area greater than my living room. Beautyberry has flowers and soon berries. One tomato progressing so far. And lawn is staying dry so not a lot of growth there.
And speaking of growth, had a nice "company" meeting (that is in quotes because the company is four of us at the moment) where they laid out budgets and plans for us. Wife will be at least part time through 2012, making more than she has in several years. This might move to full time which would make her salary close to what I made as a teacher. I am under contract through the end of the month, but got a huge thumbs up from the CEO who said I was saving him lots of work, and today the COO told me I had done a super job on the 40 page Phase 2 proposal. Hooray for unasked for praise. If some of these jobs are awarded, I will go full time through 2012 as well (giving 18 months to land even more business) at a decent salary. With both of us working full time we would bring home more than I did during my best year in NYC.
Father's Day, actually the day before, we went to a "safari" park about an hour away. Huge tracts of land with free roaming emus, ostriches, buffalo, gnus, llamas, deer and antelope, horses and donkeys. For a fee you get tubs of feed and the animals will come right up and sometimes even stick their heads in the window. Daughter got to hold a baby kangaroo and feed carrots to a giraffe. We found shed peacock tail feathers (bonus!) and had a generally fun day, especially since the storms held off, although the tornado siren test at noon spooked us a bit, as lightning was illuminating the horizon.
My car is in the shop, should be released in 2 weeks in time for inspection. Fun.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
A big week
Yeah yeah, I haven't been typing on here in a while. Motivation low, but overall outlook has been up. Job is working out fine, I just hope a contract hits soon so I can be actually hired rather than on contract for June. Lots of wordsmithing (think grant writing), but also a lot of thinking and discussing ideas that may or may not work out.
On the non-work front, had an excellent but way too short visit with a super friend on Tuesday. It is friends like this that make your sense of time and space warp, so that a six hour drive across the state for a one day visit is not actual insanity, but a normal natural thing to do.
The final stages of bamboo removal, which involves sneaking (well, not really, the fence is basically down, it is the six feet from the fence to the neighbor's house) into the neighbor's yard to pry up bamboo before/as it grows. I am not in the shape I was even 2 years ago, which wasn't top shape, so I can only do it for 15 minutes at a time. Slow progress, but steady.
Trivia semi-finals. Fun, but a disaster in a lot of ways. We choked badly on the back half, and a couple I could have over-ridden but I tend to defer to others. We had plenty of answers pulled out of the air, but just couldn't redeem. During the contest a huge storm blew through, enough wind to force rain through the air conditioner above us and shower us with water. Then upon leaving, I was parked in by a truck that stuck past the end of the parking space by 3 to 4 feet. No way to maneuver either direction, so ended up taking a hit on the drivers side, from the driver's door to the gas cap. I think some buffing will take a bit of the ugliness away, but there a couple spots where paint flaked and one good impression at the back end. Ugh.
Oh, and Saturday morning, with our Groupon in hand (paid $40 for $200 credit), we went to Mattress Firm and got a new mattress, first in 10 years or more. Since Queen was the same price as Full (Our bed frame/headboard is full) we finally (!) upgraded and just left the headboard standing alone (it is a sort of bookcase thing that can stand on its own). Daughter got the old mattress as a hand-me-down and everybody is happy and sleeping soundly.
And yesterday went to see Super 8. I had no expectations and didn't let the wife and daughter know anything about it, so everybody was pleased. Excellent place setting and nostalgia for me...small town in 1979. Little bits that were snuck in for atmosphere really hit home.
On the non-work front, had an excellent but way too short visit with a super friend on Tuesday. It is friends like this that make your sense of time and space warp, so that a six hour drive across the state for a one day visit is not actual insanity, but a normal natural thing to do.
The final stages of bamboo removal, which involves sneaking (well, not really, the fence is basically down, it is the six feet from the fence to the neighbor's house) into the neighbor's yard to pry up bamboo before/as it grows. I am not in the shape I was even 2 years ago, which wasn't top shape, so I can only do it for 15 minutes at a time. Slow progress, but steady.
Trivia semi-finals. Fun, but a disaster in a lot of ways. We choked badly on the back half, and a couple I could have over-ridden but I tend to defer to others. We had plenty of answers pulled out of the air, but just couldn't redeem. During the contest a huge storm blew through, enough wind to force rain through the air conditioner above us and shower us with water. Then upon leaving, I was parked in by a truck that stuck past the end of the parking space by 3 to 4 feet. No way to maneuver either direction, so ended up taking a hit on the drivers side, from the driver's door to the gas cap. I think some buffing will take a bit of the ugliness away, but there a couple spots where paint flaked and one good impression at the back end. Ugh.
Oh, and Saturday morning, with our Groupon in hand (paid $40 for $200 credit), we went to Mattress Firm and got a new mattress, first in 10 years or more. Since Queen was the same price as Full (Our bed frame/headboard is full) we finally (!) upgraded and just left the headboard standing alone (it is a sort of bookcase thing that can stand on its own). Daughter got the old mattress as a hand-me-down and everybody is happy and sleeping soundly.
And yesterday went to see Super 8. I had no expectations and didn't let the wife and daughter know anything about it, so everybody was pleased. Excellent place setting and nostalgia for me...small town in 1979. Little bits that were snuck in for atmosphere really hit home.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Slowly Unwinding
The rest of the week went a lot better. Wednesday we won our trivia night, and felt better, especially listening to the two teachers who were in the classroom all day, closing out for the year.
The new job is pretty good. It is kind of hard to describe, but in short I am the right-hand-man for a guy who is basically a consultant. His field is computer AI, training/programming computers to interpret various inputs and act on them. He jokes that his PhD dissertation was SkyNet. We both speak nerd and that is a good thing. The business could be described as a think tank, if there were more people. Friday we brought in three other doctorates (professors) from U of Memphis to talk about some of the proposals we are writing - that is the business end of things. We write proposals for SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) funding, usually from a branch of the government. Phase 1 is the starting point - proposing a solution to a problem, and showing you have expertise to further research a solution. If granted, you get a small grant, usually $70,000 to $100,000, and an invitation to submit for Phase 2, where you do the research and create a limited model, if approved. We are submitting a Phase 2 in a hurry - Phase 1 was approved a month ago (we should have been told a year ago). Plus 4 other Phase 1 write-ups...one is entirely my own, the others I am organizing but will have lots of input from the people who will do the research. Relaxed atmosphere, I know what to do and have no problems with asking questions, bouncing things off of others, etc. And I feel valued for my intellect, even if I have fewer letters after my name than everybody else (one or more PhDs for all involved, except myself, with a lowly Masters). I am contracted for June, and hopefully some funding will come in that will allow me to be put on full time (fingers crossed). Government money is funny that way - it can be "discovered" near the end of a fiscal period and need to be spent in a short amount of time (as happened to the company last year), which means money gets tossed around, computers and other hardware are purchased, etc.
Also this past Saturday I finished my GRE/GMAT sessions, which were sparsely attended but well received. Another time when I can let my nerd flag fly and not worry about sounding smart.
Hot as hell here lately. Air not moving, so ozone alerts all the time, which means the backyard is growing tall from not mowing. I am managing to water the garden plants daily, though, so things are looking good. Fig tree is waist high and thriving. New trees are doing OK now that I have prevented the dog from jumping on them. Wild pumpkin (we had one from last year dissolve, and I hosed it off the concrete, where it is now growing wildly), tomatoes, raspberry are all showing good growth. And the blueberry bush that usually gets picked over by birds has a bumper crop, with plenty of ripe fruit not claimed by avian scavengers.
Each day I relax a little bit more. It is a slow process, and I work at not stressing myself over things, and so far it is working. I am spending more time reading, and plan to get back to some sort of exercise program soon. Happy is in the forecast.
The new job is pretty good. It is kind of hard to describe, but in short I am the right-hand-man for a guy who is basically a consultant. His field is computer AI, training/programming computers to interpret various inputs and act on them. He jokes that his PhD dissertation was SkyNet. We both speak nerd and that is a good thing. The business could be described as a think tank, if there were more people. Friday we brought in three other doctorates (professors) from U of Memphis to talk about some of the proposals we are writing - that is the business end of things. We write proposals for SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) funding, usually from a branch of the government. Phase 1 is the starting point - proposing a solution to a problem, and showing you have expertise to further research a solution. If granted, you get a small grant, usually $70,000 to $100,000, and an invitation to submit for Phase 2, where you do the research and create a limited model, if approved. We are submitting a Phase 2 in a hurry - Phase 1 was approved a month ago (we should have been told a year ago). Plus 4 other Phase 1 write-ups...one is entirely my own, the others I am organizing but will have lots of input from the people who will do the research. Relaxed atmosphere, I know what to do and have no problems with asking questions, bouncing things off of others, etc. And I feel valued for my intellect, even if I have fewer letters after my name than everybody else (one or more PhDs for all involved, except myself, with a lowly Masters). I am contracted for June, and hopefully some funding will come in that will allow me to be put on full time (fingers crossed). Government money is funny that way - it can be "discovered" near the end of a fiscal period and need to be spent in a short amount of time (as happened to the company last year), which means money gets tossed around, computers and other hardware are purchased, etc.
Also this past Saturday I finished my GRE/GMAT sessions, which were sparsely attended but well received. Another time when I can let my nerd flag fly and not worry about sounding smart.
Hot as hell here lately. Air not moving, so ozone alerts all the time, which means the backyard is growing tall from not mowing. I am managing to water the garden plants daily, though, so things are looking good. Fig tree is waist high and thriving. New trees are doing OK now that I have prevented the dog from jumping on them. Wild pumpkin (we had one from last year dissolve, and I hosed it off the concrete, where it is now growing wildly), tomatoes, raspberry are all showing good growth. And the blueberry bush that usually gets picked over by birds has a bumper crop, with plenty of ripe fruit not claimed by avian scavengers.
Each day I relax a little bit more. It is a slow process, and I work at not stressing myself over things, and so far it is working. I am spending more time reading, and plan to get back to some sort of exercise program soon. Happy is in the forecast.
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