3rd round interview

So, my repeated, nagging, follow-up to the company I've interviewed with twice now finally resulted in a third interview. I met today with the controller and CEO, so I've met all the most important people except for the COO, who was supposed to be there today but was unavailable.

The interview went quite well. I spent a pleasant two hours discussing my background, the challenges facing the company, industry trends, etc. I felt pretty comfortable, like I could actually say what I thought and have substance to back it up and not have to blow smoke for two hours. Either I'm overconfident now or maybe, just maybe, I'm actually getting grown up enough that I have useful skills to contribute to running a small and growing operation.

The thought of working for a smaller company as general counsel has long appealed to me, so this is a great opportunity. And, if I had to guess, I'd wager that they'll offer me the job. I'm leaning towards accepting, although I have to see their financials and pro formas first. The risk is huge--their cash flow situation is still tenuous--but so is the reward. They could easily 5-10X the size of the company in the next 18 months. My reward in case of a sale or IPO in a couple of years would make the effort worth it, and more importantly, I'd be getting an interesting job and the chance to prove I could be part of the senior management team of a dynamic young company.

The other fly in the ointment is I still don't know the salary they will (hopefully) offer. I have a comfortable income and big-company security and benefits now; some of that would probably go away. In any case, I should know within the next few days, and then I'll have a decision to make. My gut is that I'll get an offer, but of course I don't really know, and I've historically not been great at predicting which interviews will lead to offers. Stay tuned, and thanks to those of you who have kept me in your thoughts and prayers.

RJ update

RJ had another bad night last night, but he seems a little bit better. His coughs sound awful, but at least he can get enough oxygen to cough now. Hopefully, he's over the worst of it and can recover in time for the family to enjoy Thanksgiving, even if it's just staying home with our little family. But it will probably take a while for him to get back to normal, and I anticipate another bad night or two, sleep-wise, for H and myself.

Oh, croop!

Little R got croop over the weekend. He had a rough night on Saturday, and neither he nor his parents slept well. Last night, he got worse, and H and I took him to the ER around 8:00. Despite a fairly full waiting room, they took him right in. His stat was at 85, meaning his blood oxygen was fairly low, so they gave him oxygen and a steroid shot. When we left, the reassuring nurse was kind enough to tell us the last child she saw whose breathing sounded like that, "didn't make it."

I didn't get home until about 2:00 and didn't sleep great after that, so I'm pretty tired today. Fortunately, R is doing somewhat better. It does mean, unfortunately, that our trip to Seattle to visit H's brother is out. They have three pre-K children, so we're not going to expose them to our germs--plus, who wants to travel with a baby in that condition?

Go Irish

A classmate of mine from my MBA days at the University of Notre Dame sent me a link to the latest Business Week rankings. While I realize there are serious shortcomings in rankings and believe rankings should not be the predominant factor in selecting a business school, I was pleased to see that Notre Dame has cracked the top 20 in the rankings. At the time I applied to Notre Dame, the school was investing heavily to try to build the MBA brand, in part due to a generous gift from the Mendoza family. I took a gamble, as it were, to go there on full scholarship over more highly ranked schools, and I'm pleased to see that the commitment the school has made to the program has translated into external respect and improved job prospects for my fellow alumni. I freely admit, however, that my decision was based on a feeling it was the place I was supposed to be, rather than a rational conclusion that the school was under-ranked, but would improve.

Outside counsel interview

My interview with outside counsel for the tech company went well, except for a couple of quirks. The company had called me the day before asking about the fact that I live an hour away and asking if that is a problem. I don't even know if that question is legal, but the outside counsel raised it again yesterday. Umm, I know where the job is, and I wouldn't have applied if that was a problem. Thanks, next question.

The next question the outside counsel asked was, "Are you married?" What?? Isn't this guy an attorney? Everyone, especially every attorney, knows that that is an illegal question to ask in a job interview. He described the CEO and CFO as working "24/7." I guess he was trying to tell me that the combination of the commute and the likely hours at first merit reflection before accepting for a family man like myself. But that is not legal!

What do you do in a situation like that? If you are interested in the job, you keep your mouth shut, because if you complain you probably don't get the job, as there are plenty of legitimate reasons they could hire someone else for this job. It didn't bother me much, but attorneys especially should know better.

Other than that, the interview went well. We had a good rapport, and I could see myself working with him as outside counsel if I took the job. I am concerned about the hours and also the risk involved, though. The attorney was frank in his assessment of this position as high risk, but the rewards are also potentially very high. If I take the job, I will have to rely on the strength of my resume to get me another job if this one doesn't work out. All things considered, though, I'm inclined to take the job if it is offered and a compensation package is structured such that the risk is balanced by a significant potential financial upside. If I'm offered merely a salary or token equity/incentive compensation, it's probably not worth the risk right now, given the current economic situation. I still also need to meet with the CEO and see their financials before I can make that determination, though.

A few thoughts on Prop 8

I admit, I am disturbed by the many protests and acts of intimidation and even violence against supporters of the recent Proposition 8 in California. In some cases, people have even lost their employment over support of the measure. While I respect the opinions of people who support gay marriage, I find the nature of some responses troubling and ironic. The LDS church and the State of Utah have been particularly targeted, the latter for boycotts, strange since (1) the measure passed by a larger margin than the number of LDS voters in California, and (2) the State of California, where the measure was passed, has not been targeted for any boycotts, while Utah has been targeted and even labeled a "hate state" by some.

In my opinion, the issue of gay marriage is not about constitutional or fundamental rights or the ability to express sexual love. It is about state recognition of a social arrangement society has deemed beneficial and therefore worthy of promotion. Studies have shown that children do best as measured by objective outcomes (education, income, crime) when raised in an environment where a mother and father are present and involved in a supportive relationship.

To promote this beneficial social contract, historically marriages were often arranged by, and for the benefit of, the extended family, community or nation (in cases of royal families), with little regard for the wishes of the couple to be married. In our culture people are free to chose their own mates, but the societal goal of marriage remains the same. The state has an interest in providing an environment in which members of the opposite sex can form stable lifelong relationships and raise children who will be good citizens.

I heard an analogy where marriage was compared to the military. Joining the military is not a natural right; only those who meet the physical and other requirements are allowed to wear the uniform, with its concomitant obligations and responsibilities. Similarly, the prerequisites to marriage are being of a certain age and finding someone of the opposite sex of a certain age who accepts joint responsibility to create a family. I believe it within the scope of public policy to decide which parties should be eligible to be recognized by the state as taking upon themselves those responsibilities. Just as society is best served by not allowing children to marry, society benefits when marriage is limited to one man and one woman.

Unfortunately, many enter into marriage without taking the marriage contract or covenant seriously, just as many take upon themselves the obligation of parenting without being married. But these failures should not detract from the ideal or policies that strengthen families and promote the fulfillment of the responsibilities taken by married couples and unintended parents. Changing the definition of marriage to mean a social arrangement of any two (or more) people who happen to be in love undermines the family, and by extension, the basis of our civilization. Such a definition erroneously focuses on the benefits received to the exclusion of the responsibilities involved.

I do not believe society should mandate whether or how consenting adults may express intimate feelings for one another, regardless of sexual orientation. This should be protected by the constitutional freedoms of assembly and association. Neither do I condone hate or intolerance based on sexual orientation. However, I do not believe that marriage should be recognized by society simply because two individuals wish to call their relationship by that name. In my opinion, turning a blind eye to the differences between such unions and traditional marriage is neither fair nor expressive of tolerance.

I would ask anyone who comments on this post to refrain from hateful or bigoted remarks directed towards the LDS Church, gays or lesbians, or any other group, as well as profanity or crude language.

Testing the waters again

I have a second interview in a couple of days, but this is a different type of opportunity than what I've considered. This is with a small company, financed by the skin of their teeth, but that has huge potential opportunity. They have significant pilot projects of their technology with many of the big customers in their space, and are close to sealing a blockbuster deal with a household name. This position would be as their first real general counsel. I've already met with the CFO and will meet with outside counsel this time around.

It's the kind of opportunity that could either spell riches or rags in a year or two, so it's scary to contemplate. However, it won't get any easier to pursue such opportunities later as I become more entrenched in a large corporation and stare down college, mission, and wedding costs for my kids. This would probably be a real inflection point in my career, but an inflection can go up or down...

Underwater?

Here's an article from the NY Times about a city in CA where 90% of homeowners are underwater. The housing crisis has sure hit California hard. Still, it's hard to feel too sorry for some of the people:

"He has cut his DVD buying from 50 a month to perhaps one, and is waiting until the Christmas sales to buy a high-definition television. He does not indulge much anymore in his hobbies of scuba diving and flying. “Best to wait for a better price, or do without,” Mr. Rogers, 52, said."

Wow, what hardship. I'm sure your personal choices have nothing to do with your household balance sheet. 50 DVDs a month...?

Celluloid Brass

I didn't give a report on my wife's last concert. It was a lot of fun. They played selections from several movie scores, arranged for brass band. Behind the band, the film played silently with the dialogue displayed via closed caption. The conductor did a good job of discussing the pieces and how they fit into the films, as well as discussing generally the process of film scoring, which I found interesting. He threw in little tidbits, like, "In this next scene, notice how the tempo of the music is set by the hoof beats of the good guy's horse as he gallops across the prairie."

All of the kids except for the youngest were there, and they all enjoyed it. Three of the five selections were cartoons, including the scene from Dumbo where Dumbo and the mouse become drunk, a Coyote and Roadrunner cartoon, and Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny condensing Wagner's epic Ring of the Nibelung cycle (14.5 hours) into about five minutes as only Warner Bros. could do. My kids don't really know the classic Warner Bros. cartoons--they'd never seen Wile E. Coyote in action--but they thought it was hilarious, particularly my older son. I'm not sure if those cartoons aren't widely available because of licensing issues, excessive violence, or something else, but today's kids are missing out with the crappy cartoons they watch. My brother and I imagined many times the cool stuff that we could do with an Acme catalog in the days before we heard of the Consumer Products Safety Commission.

Pig Kissing

On Saturday, the family went to a local corn maze / pumpkin patch. They had games, hay rides, a petting zoo, and other activities you might expect at such a place. Two of our kids also got to participate in a piglet-catching contest. Little LM was so cute running around the pen trying to catch a pig. She nearly succeeded, too, but was a little too timid to hang on to the pig for the required time.

SE did better. She beat out the other kids in her age group to catch--and kiss--a piglet. Her prize was two tickets to come back to the haunted forest attraction at night. She'd been wanting to go to a haunted house, and we'd been putting her off, so she was very excited to win. So, I guess that means I'll be taking her and probably a friend back for a few scares sometime this week.

Three year-olds

This morning I was eating breakfast while LM did a puzzle on the floor next to me. Her older sister came in and said, "Dad, don't make me a sandwich today. I'm having a bagel." After she left the room, LM turned to me and asked in a puzzled voice, "SE is having a baby?"

Just a couple of minutes later, I went downstairs to roust JW out of bed. When I came back, LM asked why I left her alone, because she is little. I said, "I thought you said you were big." Repeating something she'd said yesterday, she replied, "I'm big in the morning and little at night," then added, "and it's still a little dark outside, so I'm little!" How could I argue with that?

On second thought

That video interview? Not so fast. I got a call the afternoon before the interview saying it was canceled. They said they still like me, etc. and want to finish my interviews, but the position has been "put on hold" until after the end of their fiscal year, that they expected to call me in a couple of months, but that I should call them in the meantime if I get another offer or close to one with another company. Realistically, there's a decent chance that translates to, "With the current credit crisis, we don't know if we'll have this position or the cash to afford to hire you. We would like to keep you in our back pocket just in case, though."

And with the DJIA down over 10% in the last 48 hours, I can't say that prospects to work in the financial sector are looking up today.

On the rather bright side, I found out today I'll receive a raise after all for my recent promotion. In fact, my rather modest expectations were exceeded a bit. When combined with my annual raise, I'm even a little ahead of inflation--for this year, at least. Given the number of people looking for work or underemployed, it could be much worse.

So, with the market like this, am I better off buying "undervalued" stocks or guns and wheat? I suppose it's been alternating fat and lean years since before Joseph interpreted Pharoah's dream, which is why we'd all do well to follow the wise counsel to build a substantial, safe reserve over time as our means allow--even at the expense of that desperately-needed bedroom set or trip to Disneyland.

Shameless plug

The Utah Premiere Brass (which my wife plays in) kicks off their fall/winter concert schedule next Friday night with a concert at Temple Square, followed by a cool "celluloid" concert the following week at the Covey Center in Provo where they will play music scored for accompanying cartoons and films. Other concert venues this season include the DeJong Concert Hall at BYU, the Cathedral of the Madeline, and the Rose Wagner Center. Some concerts are free, while others carry a modest fee. For more info, visit http://www.upb.org.

The quality of the music is excellent; please pass this along to anyone you may know who enjoys good brass music.

Amazing wife

Some of you may know, but we've listed our house on the MLS recently. We've had a feeling we're to move to SLC and even have a particular house in mind if it is still available. Anyway, we're trying to test the waters and exercise faith that if we're supposed to be there, the house and job situation will resolve itself. Today I got a call from the bank I interviewed with a while back, before Wall St. had completely melted down. They want to schedule another interview with me--my fourth!!--next week.

Anyway, that's not the point of this post. The point was that someone called today and wanted to see the house in about 20 minutes, so H had to scramble to get things in order very quickly. Then, she somehow managed to make 27 pans of cinnamon rolls for all of the Primary workers, write short notes for each one, and (with my delivery assistance) deliver them all around the ward as a thank you to all of her Primary workers. 27 pans in one day. She said she 6X-ed the recipe. Crazy, but that's her. She has a very big heart.

Gallows humor

My brother made the statement that we may look at retirement in 20 years as a quaint relic that will only belong to the uber-rich or those no longer physically capable of working. I logged on to check my 401(k) balance and found out that because of losses, it's now only a 201(k), so maybe there's something to that.

Marriage retreat

Tomorrow night, H and I are going to a marriage retreat at Aspen Grove. My thoughtful parents offered to watch the kids and send us there for our birthday presents this year. I'm not sure about H, but I'm really looking forward to it. The foliage should be beautiful, and the weather isn't too cold yet, and a night away from the kids will be nice, too. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Facebook Scrabble

I'm not much of a Facebook user. But I love Scrabble. Actually, I love games generally. But Scrabble is one of my favorite classic games. Now that I've discovered you can play asynchronous games of Scrabble through Facebook, I'll be using the site a bit more. In law school, I had three friends with whom I often enjoyed a lunchtime of Literati (Scrabble-like game) on Yahoo Games. Two of them are on Facebook, and we just finished our first game in a long time. Did I enjoy it more because I won? I don't know, but it was fun.

I've been "promoted"

I found out today that the promotion my manager recommended me for was approved--sort of. I am getting the better title, and my bonus potential will increase by an additional 3% of my salary. However, the recommended salary increase was not granted by HR. There's a freeze of some sort on raises outside the normal salary planning process. So, my immediate salary hasn't changed, but I might get a better Christmas bonus, and I'll be in a better position to argue for a bigger raise next spring, since I won't be penetrated very far into my band. Unless I've left for greener pastures by then. I like my job and the people I work with, but it is frustrating to see my real salary decreasing as my raises fail to keep up with inflation. Good thing my home and 401k plan aren't decreasing in value at the same time, or anything :-(

Battle of the foliage II

My brother who runs an inn in Vermont took umbrage at my comment about fall foliage. In his defense, he posted some photos that are, without question, spectacular. And the shot of the river that runs through his back yard makes the lovely, treed horse pasture behind mine look like the city dump.

So, here are a few shots of the fall foliage along the Wasatch range. Note that I won't be posting anything with our churches or bridges as a backdrop. As great as our canyons and mountains are, I'll concede that the beauty is more ubiquitous in New England, where poor urban planning and the super-saturation of big box stores and chain restaurants isn't pervasive.






So, you decide. Is Utah foliage, at its best, as good as the vibrant fall colors at every turn in New England, or am I seeing through Zionist glasses? Either way, I'm looking forward to this weekend, when my wife and I are going to an overnight marriage retreat at Aspen Grove, up Provo Canyon--but I'd rather be spending the weekend at my brother's inn. Hopefully, the golden aspens will be in full swing.

Artistry

My three-year old is at the age where she likes to draw people that look like Pacman ghosts. Her figures are getting more realistic faces, but the limbs are sticks that protrude from the head with no torso, as is common at that age.

My wife was trying to help her see this and began to draw a simple figure. She had only drawn the face, which was little better than smiley-face quality, when L interrupted her and cried, "Mom, that looks fantastic!" H was proud of her drawing skills, but I was happier with her new and correct use of a big word. I guess she's the product of both of us.

Fall colors

Yesterday, we went for a drive on the Nebo loop, a scenic byway that reaches 9400 feet on the sides of Mount Nebo, the nearly 12,000-foot peak that is the highest in the Wasatch Range. I'd only been past Payson Lakes on that road once before, on bicycle with my father. That time we'd headed to Nephi, but this time we drove up to the Devil's Kitchen, a geologic site that is described as being a mini Bryce Canyon. Bryce Canyon it wasn't, but it was still an interesting geologic formation with hoodoo-like spires a couple of hundred feet high. It was interesting to see the contrast of the red rock conglomerate spires with the surrounding aspen and pine. Truthfully, though, after hearing the feature compared to Bryce, I'd expected a little more.

Not so the drive to get to Devil's Kitchen. Although only a few of the aspens had changed to blazing yellow, the fall colors were amazing. Some of the maples were so bright red they looked like rose bushes in their coloring. Others were brilliant orange. At one lookout near the summit, we saw a narrow canyon or ravine on the side of Mount Nebo where the colors had fully changed. The afternoon sun was hitting the ravine just right, and I literally stopped the car in the middle of the road to gape for ten seconds. The blazing colors surrounded by the green pines and aspens that had not yet turned, below the towering summit devoid of trees near the top was at least equal to the fall foliage I've seen anywhere, including the more famous Alpine Loop and falls spent in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The drive also afforded plenty of views across canyons and into valleys, including one lookout to Utah Lake in the distance. With apologies to my brother in Vermont, I'd stack the best of Utah foliage against new England's also-spectacular brilliance.

Called to serve (good food)

Man, I haven't blogged much for a while. It's not because I haven't had anything going on. Rather, I've had so much going on that the combination of busyness and paralysis of where to begin has kept me from blogging.

This weekend, for instance, H's parents are staying with us. They go into the MTC tomorrow in preparation for their 18-month mission in northern Missouri. They'll be assigned to two branches to work with less-active and part-member families.

Last night, we took S out to dinner at a local Thai place for her birthday. I can't believe she's 10 already--it seems like she's growing up so fast and has reached the milestone my older sister always called "double digits." I remember well reaching that milestone myself. Anyway, we went to this Thai place and invited both sets of grandparents. None of them were familiar with Thai food, but S loves it. I ordered half a dozen entrees and some appetizers and we passed the food around family style. I tried to stay mainstream with dishes like peanut satays, pad thai, and mild curries. I don't think either grandfather liked it too much. My dad dislikes both noodles and rice generally, and my father-in-law is a self-proclaimed meat and potatoes guy, but they both gamely tried almost everything and seemed to do okay. I made sure not to get anything too spicy, either, since my dad is very sensitive to many spices. It was enjoyable, and H and I enjoyed introducing our parents to some new dishes and trying a couple of new things ourselves.

Go, world!

I admit it, I'm an Olympics junkie. I've been watching the games every single night, and it's been great. Every time I watch the swimmers, though, I remember that I owe my sister $20 from a bet I made around the '84 Olympics when I was a county-wide champion in my junior age bracket. I bet her that I would swim in the Olympics someday. I was good on a local level at least, but I lost interest in swimming a few years later and didn't swim competitively in high school. I guess I liked to talk too much--plus, I couldn't see anything in the pool with my bad vision.

Time capsule

For family night tonight we created a little time capsule. We've been doing work on the bathroom, and there was a space behind the new tub created by a change in configuration of the plumbing, so we decided to put in a nod to a future occupant of the house by putting in a mini time capsule. My contribution was $1, because, hey, who doesn't dream of finding money hidden in the walls of their home? I also whipped up this little poem for whoever finds the capsule:

If you read this Carr family rhyme
You must have our capsule of time
We’ll put treasures inside it
In the bathroom we’ll hide it
And leave it to age and to slime.

We’ll tell you a bit about us
Now you’ve got our old house full of rust
And we hope you are happy
And don’t think it’s too crappy
Like life in a Volkswagen bus.

Of children our family has four
We’re middle-class, not rich or poor
Our mom plays the trumpet
Our father likes crumpets
And all think that laundry’s a chore.

A lawyer, musician, four kids
(Thank goodness none died of SIDS)
From age one to ten
They make quite a din—
Like banging a hundred pot lids

You must be remodeling now
We wish we could tell you just how
To paint and to grout
But you’ll figure it out
For we’ve done the same stuff, somehow.

To God we give thanks for our place
And hope it brings smiles to your face
It’s given us pleasure
And been quite a treasure
Enjoy it, whate’er your life’s race.

Wind power

Look, here's a technology that's available to power vehicles solely by wind. Best of all, the technology is market-tested and ready for deployment today:

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/reports-of-sail-freights-demise-have-been-mildly-exaggerated/

Here's a more likely widespread use of the technology in practice:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7205217.stm

I'm not quite there yet with my own vehicles, though with four babies, there have been times where the back seat of the minivan could have been referred to as the poop deck.

A better stimulus program

Instead of sending out checks so Americans could spend $100B or so more at Wal-Mart on non-durables from China, we could repair our entire bridge infrastructure for a mere $140B. Not only would that provide a much more lasting benefit to our economy, but the money would be spent primarily on domestic labor and materials. Granted, such a stimulus program would take years to put in effect, so there wouldn't be a huge short-term stimulus at all, but with our nation so much in hock, is this really the most efficient use of funds? Yes, in the long term I'd like to see taxes reduced and more money returned to the taxpayers, but infrastructure is pretty important to the long-term economic health of the country, and we don't seem to be doing well on rail, road, or air networks these days.

MoTab and the Osmonds

On Friday night, I took my eight-year old to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform with the Osmonds in the LDS Conference Center. I'm a little young to remember first-hand the Osmonds in their heyday; my best memory of them was seeing Donny as Joseph of Technicolor Dreamcoat fame when the Broadway touring company came to our city. I have to say, though, that the concert was very enjoyable. My son liked the music and seeing footage of the Osmonds in the 60's and 70's. His favorite was footage from the old Osmond's Saturday morning cartoon, which I had never heard of. Anyway, I had a great time with my son and sister, and the MoTab and accompanying orchestra were as good as ever.

Maybe you have me confused with 911

I've been working to get a license agreement renewed with one of the world's largest tech companies--you would all know them. Their license agreement has expired, but we've been supporting them in good faith, particularly since we do a lot with them not just as our customer but also as a partner.

They've been promising for weeks to get a proposed amendment to me for review. Understand that this is all being driven by them, because all I really need is one paragraph that says that the agreement is renewed for xx years. Finally, yesterday afternoon they sent me something. Our sales guy, who has also been calling me every single day to see if they had sent me something he hadn't seen yet, was on the phone within minutes. I ignored his call but got multiple IMs immediately thereafter, despite my status showing I was busy.

I explained to this individual that yes, I had seen the email, but no I hadn't read it yet so I didn't know what it contained (lots of ugly stuff, as it turned out). He of course then wanted to know when I would have a response back. I told him again that I hadn't read it, that I couldn't make an estimate of when I would respond until I read it, and that I wasn't going to read it that day because I had lots of other stuff going on. He seemed dumbfounded that I wasn't just waiting by my inbox and phone like a 911 dispatcher waiting for something from him. Never mind that he is just one of many people I work with, most of whom have quarter-end demands and regular business going on.

Naturally, I got a call from his director early this morning asking the same thing (sales guys are so predictable). I informed the director that I had seen it, that it was ugly, that Big Customer had taken weeks to get a response to me, and that I hoped to have a response out by sometime Monday. It was indeed an ugly document, but I made it a priority and just got a response out, so I exceeded the expectations I set.

I've learned the hard way how important expectations are in this job. Sometimes, I've told people that I expected to have a deliverable ready by a certain date. Then, a four-alarm fire from somewhere else unexpectedly kept me from being done. At that point, these sales guys, who seem unable to close favorable deals with our customers without massive concessions, become the master of pressure tactics and escalating you up the chain of their management and your management. It's not a fun situation, so I often avoid giving response times at all and lead them to believe I'm always incredibly busy so that any quick response would be a miracle. It doesn't stop their jerky behavior, but it limits the escalation a bit.

Working with my own company's sales guys is definitely the worst three things about this job, which is otherwise pretty good.

Thanks, Microsoft

It's great to be negotiating an agreement where you hope to replace Microsoft. This morning, I was on a call with an attorney from a company you would all know. We were just starting to go through the redline document I had provided, when I heard "Oh no!!" and a series of beeps in the background. My counterpart cried out in what I take as an Eastern European accent, "I've just gotten a blue screen!" followed by, "What is a 'complete dump of physical memory?'" In spite of my sympathy, I had to push mute while I laughed out loud.

So, the call is rescheduled for a bit later while he tries to get his machine back online. My experience so far has been that Vista is about 20x more prone to crashes than was XP, which itself was only so-so. There is not one thing about Vista that is superior from an end-user standpoint.

Humorous inspiration

While H and I were trying to decide whether to accept the offer to go back to my old firm, we prayed for inspiration. The scripture Mosiah 4:17 came into my head. When I read it, I actually started laughing. It was exactly what I had been afraid would happen if I went back:

"Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery..."

Or perhaps we'll avoid that job and see if there isn't a better match out there.

Keeping wanderlust at bay

I've decided not to return to my former firm. I don't think they had the appetite to invest the resources in developing the kind of corporate practice I want. After I met with them and asked a lot of hard questions, I had decided to decline the offer, and I think they basically reached the same conclusion, that they want me, but that they're not willing to make big changes for me. And, frankly, I can't blame them. I'm one mid-level associate and they are a firm that has been around over a hundred years and is generating plenty of coin for the partners. In the end, it just wasn't a great fit, which is how I ended up here in the first place.

I'm still open to discussions with other firms, and I've found a couple of firms with big offices locally that have great opportunities; the opportunities just happen to be in their offices in other states. I don't think I'm ready for something so drastic.

Financial Literacy

I read a post on financial literacy, or the lack thereof, on the Freakonomics blog today and posted the comment below. I used to think people who got in financial trouble (absent job loss, medical emergency, etc.) were just idiots, but I can see now that I took for granted that other people knew what my parents had been trying to teach me for years. I've reduced my estimate of willful idiocy proportionally, though there's still plenty of that.
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I was lucky to have a father who had himself learned the hard way as a young man. He often regaled me with tales of how he had wasted his paper route money and implored me not to do the same. For a time, my father oversaw the Sunday School programs in our congregation. When a teacher failed to show up, my dad would always teach lessons on the Rule of 72 or, ironic title aside, The Richest Man in Babylon. That book is still a classic and is written on a level that most high school kids can comprehend. It was the first financial book I ever read.

I have no revolving debt and save 15% towards retirement, so it must have had some positive effect. I can also still recite the beginning of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Middle English, but that bit of knowledge has, to date, proven to be quite a bit less helpful. I think basic financial education should be required at the K-12 and college levels.
***

Thanks Mom and Dad!

Bathroom update

The tile and grout in the shower surround are done. The vanity is in place, but we discovered we have the wrong sized supply lines, so yet another trip to Home Depot is required. We're just about ready to start tiling the floor, so hopefully by next week at this time, we'll have a bathroom again.

H is in St. George playing in a concert, and J went with her, but the other kids and I took a break to go to Bridal Veil Falls this afternoon. Baby R loved splashing in the very shallow water, despite its frigid temperature, and would struggle to get out of my arms and back onto the rocks. Or rather, to get all of those smooth rocks back into his mouth at every opportunity.

Bathroom remodel

Maybe I haven't mentioned this before, but we're in the middle of a bathroom remodel. Our master bath had only a tub and not a shower, which is a pain for living and a big knock for resale value. So, we decided to put in a shower.

Only, we had a jetted tub that was rounded, so a shower wouldn't go well there. So, we decided to replace the tub. At the same time, our vanity top had been damaged when we had to remove an overhang above the toilet, so we decided to get a new top for the vanity.

Only, the vanity size was irregular, so we had to special order granite. For that price, we could almost get a new vanity. And with the tub also being a different size, we needed new tile for the floor.

Once all that was done, there was nothing to do but to replace the light fixture, too. So, what we're left with is a toilet that I installed last year or early 2007 and the mirror. The toilet had to be removed for the demo work, so everything will be replaced but the mirror.

Where are we now? We've removed everything, and we got a plumber in to hook up the tub and shower. Code changes required a more expensive solution than we had anticipated, but it will look nice. We've got the tile in on the shower walls--H did it herself--and H and I are doing the grout tonight. We'll probably get in the vanity tomorrow, so we'll be down to the floor tile, vanity splash surround, the light fixture, and re-installing the toilet. With any luck, in another week or so, we'll have a fully functional bathroom and basement (the new carpet is ordered).

Recruiting follow-up

So, my day yesterday went pretty much as expected.

I started out visiting with the head of the corporate and tax group at a firm that had previously told me they liked me but didn't have any openings for someone at my level right now. Through persistence, I got an interview, but he pretty much told me the same thing, but that he'd like to keep in touch if I don't end up going somewhere else right away. He did say that he thought I might also be a good match for a position in their IP group and that he would circulate my resume there. That would be a possibility if I could develop from that and do transactional work with a technology focus.

The meeting with my old firm was interesting. They have moved into new offices since I was there, and they are exceptionally nice, as nice as any in the state right now, at the top of a high-rise with great views of the city and valley. Nevertheless, I don't think that going back there is the right thing to do. They want to build their corporate and technology practice, but their strengths are not in that area, and I worry that my presence would not do enough to change that such that they would get lots more clients with the sort of work I want. They've going to make a formal proposal to me, but as of this moment, it seems unlikely.

At the third firm, my friend was unable to do much as far as setting up meetings, but we did discuss a soft IP/technology position that would be a good fit--that's the job in Portland. I'm not yet ready to move my family to another state, so that's probably off the table for now, but he's going to talk with the appropriate partner in the local office and see whether they may have a similar opening locally. That's something I would look at under the right circumstances.

The house I looked at was in crappy shape and the realtor told me that the bank needs to cut the approved price by about 100k--it's a short sale--to move it.

Bottom line, no big change, but I'm at least planting seeds that may come to fruition later. I've got to admit, part of me would be relieved if no good offers were forthcoming, because I could then stay in a job I still like without making any difficult decisions. I know that people with my skillset and a couple more years experience are in good demand at many corporations, so there will be many more opportunities for new adventures even if I never go back to a law firm.

Wanderlust strikes again?

Lately, I've gotten the ?stupid? idea that maybe I should go back to a law firm. I like my work here, and it's less stressful than being at a big firm, but I also wish I could develop a broader range of transactional/corporate expertise than I'm getting here. So, I started sending out feelers. One of these was to have lunch with a partner friend at my former firm with the intent to ask if he knew of anyone hiring.

Imagine my thoughts when he instead offered me a job to come back. My first thought was, "Isn't this like dating your ex-wife?" He made a decent pitch that they are trying to increase their corporate practice and that I could be a big part of it. However, my due diligence with other members of the firm has revealed that the actual work available right now is little changed from when I was there. So, I doubt I'll take it, but I have agreed to meet with them. The issue is that they are a decent firm, but their practice is mostly litigation, so I don't know that I'd achieve my goals by going there. I could end up with more work, more stress, worse work, and either worse housing or a longer commute. Where do I sign up? ;-)

At the same time, I've tried to set up meetings with other firms, with a little success. So, my schedule for today looks like this:

12:30 meet with the head of the corporate and tax section at another large firm in the area

1:30 meet with the board and maybe other members at my old firm

3:00 meet with a friend at a big regional firm and hopefully get introduced to some of their corporate people. Also, this firm has an opening for an IP associate of the kind of stuff I've been doing--licensing, trademark, copyright--and I'll get my friend's take on that, since he's an IP lawyer. The one (big) catch is that the job is in the Northwest--a beautiful area, sure, but I don't know that it's the right time for us to relocate out of state. Mostly I'm hoping for more contacts for corporate work in my own market.

4:30 walk through a house for sale in the city to get a better handle on what is available in the market for someone who doesn't want to go back to long commutes.

~5:00 nightmarish commute back home in rush hour traffic.

So, there you have it. If anyone gets this message and wants to say a prayer for me, I wouldn't be upset in the least. If none of this works out, my boss is pushing hard to get me a promotion by the end of the fiscal year in a few months, so the worst-case scenario is not that I stay here, but that I fail to understand or follow revelation, give this up, and make a disastrous career mistake.

J's Baptism

Well, we got all of the water cleaned up, but we had to rip out all of the carpet to do so. I sucked up over 300 gallons of water with the shop vac, mostly from the ducts, which run under the floor and acted as a sort of catch basin for the water. That probably spared the drywall. But we'll survive and move on. The in-laws moved their bed to the living room for the rest of the week.

The highlight of last week was J's baptism. He is a good boy, and he was clearly happy to be getting baptized. H and I played a two cornet arrangement H had done of "I'll Seek the Lord Early," which was nice. J bore his testimony on Sunday and said that when he came out of the water he felt warm inside, and that he had a feeling like all of his sins had been washed away. After that, an older child in the ward who lives across the street stood up and said she felt the Holy Ghost while he was speaking and remembered how good she felt when she was baptized.

Anyway, I'm just proud of the person he's becoming and that he is usually kind and helpful. He can sometimes seem distracted or inattentive, but he also asks very thoughtful philosophical questions that show he's thinking about more than just the next computer game or bike ride. I hope he'll continue to be both good and pensive as he ages.

(un)finished basement

So, our basement has no carpet. There was so much water in the carpet, and the pad underneath was a sponge. We had to rip up the carpet to prevent the water from spreading to the drywall and woodwork. We've got 4 commercial-grade fans and 10 household fans spread around the basement to dry it out as quickly as possible. We have to run those for a few days as moisture continues to wick out of the concrete, or else we'll risk mold in the walls.

Well, it's not the worst thing that's happened to us. We've been through at least two other floods and a hurricane that destroyed a car. I guess water just doesn't like us. And we thought that the creek side of the street was the side that was a flood risk...

Another soggy Fourth

No, not rain, just water. I was awakened at 3:00 am by my mother-in-law, who is staying with us this week. Our basement carpets were soaked with water. The source appears to be my neighbor, who just irrigated for the first time in many years. The water appears to be going underground and then percolating through the foundation. Luckily, we have floor ducts in the basement and they took much of the water; I've drained a 16-gallon wet vac 20 times so far and am taking a brief break. I was fortunate that a contractor friend had left the vac at my house after doing some work on our bathroom.

It's a sad coincidence that the major flood we had in our last home was three years ago exactly. It was the weekend of the Fourth, and July 2 or 3, as I recall.

Also, about two years ago when my in-laws came to visit, the A/C went out and a heat wave struck just as they arrived, so I conclude that both they and the Fourth are bad luck. Having both together is just like playing ring around the rosies with a black cat under a ladder on Friday the 13th.

Sigh. Back to work.

Don't I have enough to worry about?

Word on the street is that a new super-collider in Europe has a nonzero chance of creating a black hole that could destroy the earth. One critic filing a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the operation of the project believes there is "a significant risk that ... operation of the Collider may have unintended consequences which could ultimately result in the destruction of our planet."

Well, I'll just have to add that to killer asteroids and every other cataclysm waiting to happen to the list of reasons I always seem to have trouble falling asleep at night. Fortunately, though, I don't have to spend many cycles on this issue, as there are many closer catastrophes that are a lot more likely to occur, like a global food shortage or oil shock. Oops, guess we're already there...

Another concert + inlaws

I got to play with my wife's band again last night. It was blazing hot during the concert; the sun came from behind the clouds shortly before it started and went back behind the clouds as we were playing our encore ("Stars and Stripes Forever;" what else did you expect for a brass band at this time of year?). Nevertheless, it was fun to be able to play in another concert. I may have a chance to play later in July at a concert in southern Utah, but I'm not sure if we can work out the logistics with kids and an unfamiliar setting. We've been fortunate to have my parents at the two concerts I played in, as well as my wife's parents last night, but we probably would be on our own this time around, so I may not get another chance. Once the fall concerts start, they'll have better musicians to sub, plus our kids don't really allow us to both attend rehearsals every Saturday morning. But I'm hopeful I can sub again next summer.

As I mentioned, my wife's parents are in town, but they haven't been staying with us. They've been at my wife's great-uncle's home about 15 miles away since Friday evening. Sometime today, they'll hit our place and be there the rest of the week. Fortunately, I get along with them pretty well, but guests are always a bit stressful under the best of circumstances, so I hope all goes well.

Not intended for use at the speed of light

Today, a colleague got a markup of one of our agreements whereby the customer asked for a license to use the software "anywhere in the universe." Our boss told him he should push back that we would cover the Milky Way, but that negotiations were still under way with Andromeda. Since our software excludes aircraft, nuclear, and missile applications, among others, it would be rather difficult to reach other points in the universe, but I told him that we should accept it with exclusions, such as, "Software not tested in zero gravity or black hole conditions," or "Any use of this product at the speed of light voids all warranties herein."

Playing the trumpet

So, I finally got to play with my wife's band on Sunday. I was happily pushed back a week, which gave me more time to practice and get my embouchure back. There were several hundred people at the park, which was nice to see.

Playing in the band was great. I didn't know if I'd ever get a chance to play in a real ensemble again, and this was the finest group of musicians I've ever played with. I only know of one other who didn't have at least a BA in music, and he was also subbing. He's a guy H and I actually used to play with in our college marching band, and he's also better than I am. Luckily for me, the summer concert series is a bit easier, with so much music to perform in such a short time, so with a fair bit of practice, I was just able to keep up. I only had to fake a few measures.

H played the repiano trumpet part for this concert, which is a lot more exposed and difficult than the second cornet part I played, and she did a great job. She got compliments from the band director and the usual repiano player.

Also at the concert, it happened to be baby R's first birthday. We ended up playing "Happy Birthday" for a couple of sponsors at the concert, and right during the song, R, who was sitting with the other kids and their grandparents on the front row, stood up and started walking for the first time! He had taken one or two steps a couple of times, but this time he took six or seven. I guess he was just waiting for a grand stage and his birthday celebration. He is certainly a cute kid, and every concert now total strangers have taken his picture, once for the arts commission and twice just people who wanted to email us cute pictures of him.

Well, I have lot more going on that's kept me from posting, but it's not all bloggable now, so hopefully I have more to report soon.

Hymn collaboration

I have a piece of cool non-work news. I am collaborating with an LDS composer and former professor and mentor of my wife's on a piece that could end up being performed at the BYU faculty/staff conference in a couple of months. It's based on Psalm 36:5-10, which is the theme of the conference. I've been working on a series of texts about the Psalms for some time, so it's gratifying to see something possibly germinating from this effort. I'll post whether anything comes of it.

Lord, whose mercy vast as heaven,
And thy faithfulness a cloud,
May thy righteousness, as leaven,
Lift our souls to praise aloud.

Chorus:
Wellspring unto life eternal,
Fountain pure and day star bright,
In thy law is joy supernal,
In thy light shall we see light.

Who can all thy judgments measure?
Who can all thy praises sing?
At the river of thy pleasure,
Shelter us beneath thy wing.

Oh, bestow thy lovingkindness
Unto those who know thee, Lord.
May we wander not in blindness--
To the upright send thy word.

Carnival

"It's a city carnival ride. How bad can it be?" I thought, ignoring the ominous yellow sign stating, "WARNING: This is a thrill ride producing in excess of 2Gs of force," and warning young kids, pregnant women, people with heart problems, and anyone with common sense not to ride it. After all, my 8- and 9-year-olds had just gotten off, and they seemed to have suffered no adverse effects. I thought my 8-year-old might have had a look of terror on his face during the actual ride, but I couldn't be sure--he was spinning too fast to get a good look at his face--so I decided it must be okay. Besides, my wife wanted to ride.

Yes, it's city festival days again, the time when you trust your life to guys who put large spinning machines together in two days. Sure, most of them look like you wouldn't trust them with your lunch, let alone your life, guys to which every parent with a teenage daughter would bar the door, but that's all part of the fun, right? Luckily, the operator of this ride looked older than the doesn't-look-older-than-13 operator of one of the other rides.

As the ride began to spin, my wife told me how much she used to enjoy this ride as a kid. I, too, enjoyed a similar ride, but as we pick up speed, it seems to go faster than the one did when I was a kid. Not likely, as it's old enough to be the same ride. One of the nearby rides is called "Starship 2000," offering, um, a glimpse of what space travel was like in the recent past? Add the fact that the bolts holding this thing together are 40 years old to my list of worries. As the spinning accelerates and we lift off of the ground, my wife notes, "I'd forgotten what 2Gs feels like." I'm just hoping our unit doesn't detach and fly across the street. Still the spinning gets faster, and I begin wondering how long the ride is and whether I will throw up before or after the ride ends. Something about our inner ear changes as we age, and I find it much harder than I used to to go on rides like this without getting sick. I don't remember feeling queasy at the carnival when I was my son's age.

Mercifully, the ride soon ends, and I stagger off, not quite upright. Happily, I don't throw up, but I feel a little woozy for about 30 minutes afterwards and don't ride another ride the rest of the night. My kids, however, loved it, and my wife seemed fine, too, though I notice she decides not to ride the Zipper with our daughter, after all. Later, we see a teenager with his girlfriend who we remember as a young child from a previous Church ward. He apparently doesn't remember us, but that doesn't stop us from talking to him and telling him how we remember him was he was this small, holding up hands somewhere below our waists.

With my wallet $52 dollars lighter, we head home, and we remind the kids that it's late and they need to get straight to bed. I read my son a quick story from a magazine my mom used to read to me and head to bed early myself. It seems I've turned into my parents earlier than I ever would have imagined.

Hooray, IRS?

In an odd coincidence, I also got my stimulus payment today. Yes, it's a good day for this taxpayer. I do think that the stimulus program is a terrible idea and wonder how much it's costing to send out these payments, but as long as the entitlement has been created, I want my share. We'll be saving much of our money, but we're allocating some for my wife to spend and some for spending money on our family trips this year. And some to the Saudis for the privilege of filling up my gas tank, of course.

Tax studies finally paying off

My best grades in law school were in tax. I got the highest grade in the class both semesters of federal tax. I also enjoyed tax as an undergrad accounting major. I just didn't think I would love doing other people's taxes as a living.

So, it's with some joy that I report that I've just received word from the IRS that they are accepting my position on an audit of my 2006 return. The issues are complex, and some of them are governed by a confidential agreement, so I can't expound, but I had thousands of dollars at risk, so I'm very happy to report that the final result will be I will pay $25 to the IRS and we'll be done with it. Due to the IRS' slow response time, it's been months in the resolution.

What will I do with the money? Nothing. I've been keeping earmarked funds in CDs and other liquid accounts for a couple of years because I knew there was some ambiguity in the tax law that could possibly lead to an audit, which is always a crap shoot. Luckily, I also prevailed in my argument, so I really don't have to pay anything. So, the money will just stay in my emergency fund. With the economic environment we're in, it's not really a time to be out shopping for bling. Maybe I'll add a few hundred pounds of grains to my food storage in case we really hit TEOTWAWKI.

What's in a nerd?

After reading this article from the New York Times, I'm not sure whether I'm a nerd, a geek, or neither. I certainly played D&D as a youth and was one of the first ones in my city to have a modem. I work for a technology company. On the other hand, I'm an attorney and MBA and have worked in finance and corporate law. I have a BlackBerry, but I only use it to keep up on my email. I like technology that improves my life, and I read a lot about technology, but I no longer like to use gee-whiz devices for their own sake if they don't fill an actual need I have.

What's in a word?

My daughter recently had to prepare a book report, which consisted of two parts: an oral report and one the students were supposed to "write." Hoping to help her develop a theme and practice editing skills, I suggested she use the computer. I actually helped her type part of what she wanted to say.

The next day, she told me that her teacher had accepted her work, but that she had not written it, because it was done on the computer (Why he didn't want work typed was never explained). Rather, he maintained she had "composed" the work. He cited a dictionary definition of write as the process of inscribing characters on a fixed medium. Unfortunately, this denotation omits the other nineteen meanings of the word in the dictionary I looked in. I wrote a detailed response to the teacher and pointed out that it would be pretty silly to say that I do not write legal agreements or my brother does not write books because we do our work primarily on a computer. I told him that composing was the process of creation, just as it is for my wife when she composes music. Writing is the process of putting that composition into a fixed medium.

The teacher emailed me, conceding the point, but complaining that the modern usage of some words has become so broad that, because they mean everything, they mean nothing. I suppose he didn't think he should have to specify handwrite to the students. I disagree with the example used to prove the rule--the word write clearly can include typing electronically, and this is probably the most common usage of the word now--but I agree in principle.

Most people who care about such things agree that the average vocabulary of Americans has gradually shrunk over the past decades. Television and movies cater to the mass market, so they of necessity use a limited word set. Furthermore, people read fewer books than fifty years ago. As a result, the "classics" in English like Shakespeare and Milton are becoming ever less accessible to the general reader. Some of this is undoubtedly due to the change is what vocabulary is necessary to function in society, i.e., a shift in what words we know, rather than how many. Not many people need to know what a halyard or a epaulette is in this day and age, but you're probably familiar with the terms "flash drive" and "microprocessor," which obviously didn't exist in 17th-century England. Still, I do believe that there has been a general deterioration in vocabulary, syntax, and grammar over the past decades. The deterioration of grammar in particular has accelerated with the advent of email, and even more so with instant messaging and text messaging.

I love finding just the right word for what I'm feeling, but a word is no use if your intended audience doesn't know what it means. For instance, many people confuse the terms hoi polloi and hoity toity, which makes using either term in conversation problematic. If I say I'm just part of the hoi polloi and you think I'm stuck up, my word choice doesn't help either of us. And no politician better attempt to use the word niggardly, even if they know that the etymology is not related to that other "n" word. To quote:

"It was while giving a speech in Washington, to a very international audience, about the British theft of the Elgin marbles from the Parthenon. I described the attitude of the current British authorities as 'niggardly.' Nobody said anything, but I privately resolved—having felt the word hanging in the air a bit—to say 'parsimonious' from then on." [Christopher Hitchens, "The Pernicious Effects of Banning Words," Slate.com, Dec. 4, 2006]

I worry that we'll all eventually end up in a world where all comparatives and superlatives are reduced to "very," "VERY," or "[expletive]," and the language has morphed so much that people will need to read the King James Bible or King Lear in dual-column translation to understand it any more than they understand Beowulf (Old English) without translation today.

So, there's my rant. Yes, I write contracts for a living. I think about subtle differences in the meaning of words and consider how a judge would interpret them. With such a rich language, why be niggardly with your usage of it?

Pull out the trumpet

My wife's concert on Sunday went great. The weather was nice, and it was good to be in the park listening to good music.

With the summer season, plenty of the musicians will be gone for one concert or another. My wife told me that she has arranged for me to be a substitute in a couple of weeks. Gulp. I love trumpet; I played in a British brass band in college. But at my best, I was barely good enough to keep up with the worst musicians in this group. Now, after barely touching my horn during the past 10+ years, I'm going to be playing in a concert surrounded by good musicians? And if I screw up, it makes my wife look bad for getting me as a sub. Oh, did I mention that they don't rehearse in the summer, so I've basically got a few days to figure out this music on my own, with only a little help from my wife? I'll be playing with the ensemble for the first time at the performance. Gulp, indeed.

On the bright side, the summer Sunday concerts are free, so people will get what they paid for if I ruin everything. Oh, and I love playing music (doesn't everyone with any musical talent dream of playing in a band?), so that part will be really cool. I could say no, after all. Great and dreadful, that's what it is.

On sleeping babies

My brother had an amusing post on his blog about babies sleeping (or not) through the night. My wife and I have joked about this as we've waited for my sister, who is expecting to adopt a baby in the imminent future. I quipped that with the first baby, you have a baby monitor so you can know when s/he is fussy and attend to the baby's every need. While we were too poor at the time to afford a baby monitor, I remember waking our first daughter up in the night to change her wet diaper because the nurse told us she should be changed every few hours. Everything must be carefully sanitized before baby touches it, and every evening is spent talking or reading to baby and complimenting your spouse on what a gifted and beautiful offspring s/he produced and making parenting plans for how your child will get into CalTech/Julliard/West Point and eventually change the free world.

By the fourth baby, my brother and I at least both run the fan at night because we know the little one is crying and we don't want to be bothered. Diapers are okay unless leaking or smelly, the "changing table" is whatever spot is near at hand, and the ten second rule is well in play for anything baby might stick in his mouth (including, last week, the live snail that crawled across his path). Story time is as likely to be done by older siblings as by you, you're feeling good if all of your kids are dressed when they leave the house, and when you consider his cognitive development, you proudly proclaim that your child is not in the left tail of the bell curve.

Meanwhile, our oldest is trying at the same time to grow up (she's been calling herself 10 for months now, though it's not her birthday yet) and enjoy the easy life of kid-dom. On the other hand, my wife and I are trying at the same time to maintain her childhood and encourage her to be more responsible and help out more with family chores, so we're all in the same boat. Now where did I put that parenting manual they gave us when she was born? Oh, yes, here it is.

More (free) UPB Concerts

My wife's brass band has a series of free concerts in the park beginning this Sunday and continuing every Sunday evening in June. The concerts will be held at North Park in Provo, at 500 N. 500 W. and begin at 7:00 pm. If you like brass music and live nearby, come hear what is arguably the best brass ensemble in this part of the country for free.

How not to get a job

We've been interviewing candidates for an opening on our team, and I've participated in some of the interviews. I was almost sad I didn't meet with one guy yesterday, though, as he showed up to the interview with mismatched shoes--one black and one burgundy. Now, lest you think this was some, "Pursuit of Happyness" moment, the guy is a gainfully-employed attorney who was otherwise dressed just fine. He just happened to wear mismatched shoes, one slip-on and one lace-up, no less.

My only question had I interviewed him would be, "Why should I think that you'll pay more attention to to the language you put in our contracts than to the clothes you wore to this interview?" I don't think I'm vain or brand-conscious when it comes to clothes, but come on.

Of course, this guy was no worse than the other candidate yesterday, who had no idea what the job actually entails and seemed genuinely confused whether this was a sales job or a legal position. Luckily, we've already seen several strong candidates, so it's more a matter of narrowing the list at this point. And that's something to keep in mind when you interview for a job: most of the time, there are several good candidates on paper, and they're looking for a reason to exclude you, not to hire you.

An uncle again

My sister called last night with the very happy news that a birth mother has picked them to adopt her child. The woman is due on June 1, but she doesn't know yet if it will be a boy or a girl, since she hasn't had much prenatal care.

Anyway, I was so excited for them, and I'll be thrilled with either a niece or a nephew, as will they, I'm certain. I was happily yelling out to everyone in the family while I was still on the phone with her. So now we all have a few weeks of anxious waiting and praying to see that everything goes well and the birth mother stays with her commitment. I'm sure they will be good parents, and I truly believe this woman is making the right decision, based on the little I know about her circumstances.

UPB Concert

My wife had her season finale concert last night. She plays in a British brass band, and they are quite good. Last night's concert also featured a (bag)pipe band playing with the band on some of the numbers, as well as some Irish dancers. The total performance was outstanding. For a Scots-blooded brass lover like me, it was one of the best concerts I've ever attended. I was particularly moved by the arrangement of Amazing Grace with the pipes and band together. I don't care how "evangelical" that hymn is. I think it belongs in the LDS hymnal.

I'm really glad my wife gets a chance to play in a high-level ensemble again after taking so many years off while we struggled with money and schooling.

Nephew

I'm happy to report my nephew is doing better and checked out of the hospital this afternoon. Still, he ended up staying here with my brother while his wife flew home with the rest of the family. He simply was not in good enough shape to make the trip.

Sick nephew

My brother is finishing up his visit to Utah. He's had a lot going on, but it has been nice to see him. It made me wish he would move his family back to Utah. I'm sure our kids would all enjoy seeing more of their cousins, too.

Unfortunately, his two-year-old has come down with some pretty serious flu-like symptoms. He got sick while they were at Zion National Park. They're back at my parents' house now, but little L is in the hospital with dehydration and fever. My brother has had to change his flight to stay with L while the rest of the family prepares to fly home.

That also means that only my oldest nephew, E, will be coming to my wife's brass band concert tonight. She plays in a British brass band, and they have their last concert of the fall-winter season tonight. E plays trumpet in middle school, so he should enjoy hearing a semi-professional brass ensemble, but it's too bad the rest of the family will miss it. I'm really looking forward to it myself. I'm happy my wife is playing her trumpet again after taking so much time off as we had babies and struggled through school.

Major transaction

Well, I've made it through another quarter-end. When you support sales at a public corporation, the quarterly ebb and flow is huge, and our quarter just ended. Every quarter, I worry that I'll get down to the last week or two and have a huge deal pending, and that's just what happened this time. We had very high-level executive involvement, a high deal value, and a very complicated agreement all coming to a head with just days left in the quarter. In fact, this thing went down to the very last day before it got signed and we got a purchase order. I don't want to be a tipster in violation of insider trading laws, so I don't want to talk about the deal specifics, but it was a big deal for me. It's probably not material to the company, since the revenue is mostly deferred, but it was very strategic and should really raise my profile here. It's also a good argument to my manager that the time is right to promote me from my current band to the next band, which would be the highest level I could go in the organization without having a director- or assistant GC-level title (essentially the top of the "staff" ranks).

I was discussing my deal with a colleague the other day, and we agreed that it's good to work on some--but not too many--of these deals. If there were never high-visibility, high-pressure deals, my job could get old after a while, and we would feel unfulfilled and leave. On the other hand, this has been draining, and I've had some tense late evening and early morning meetings. If I had to do this every quarter, I would probably get burned out and leave--or at least, it would take a lot more money to make me do this all the time.

My irrational fears

My sister had a funny post on her ten irrational fears, so I thought I'd see if I could list a few of mine. A couple of them are the same:

1. Having the garbage disposal turn on through a freak electrical surge at the moment I'm fishing something out of it with my hand.

2. Falling from a cliff or ledge with no railing, even though I'm standing ten feet from it.

3. Plugging up a toilet at someone else's house when they have no plunger in the bathroom. Okay, maybe this isn't irrational. It happened to me once. Brace yourselves: I successfully improvised with a very long screwdriver that happened to be there, no water contact required.

4. My car exploding because I have too much static electricity when I go to pump gas.

5. Running out of money through a series of disastrous expenses that all come due at once; being forced into bankruptcy; finding I owe a huge debt I was unaware of.

6. Backing over a child who races behind the car despite my checking and asking a nearby adult just seconds before.

7. Running out of gas without the low-fuel warning light coming on sufficiently soon to enable me to find a gas station.

8. Being late for anything; getting a flat tire and missing my flight.

9. Getting cancer from my cell phone.

10. Being fired after accidentally clicking on a link, mistyping a URL, or having a pop-up appear that has objectionable content.

Not on my list: speaking in public, dying, being in an accident while not wearing clean underwear.

Family get-together

We had the entire extended family on my side together for the first time since my sister's wedding reception last night. Everyone went to my older sister's house for dinner and a family picture. Unfortunately, we didn't have too much time to visit, because our kids had school today, so we had to get them back home before it got too late.

During dinner, I ignited a firestorm by mentioning that a friend at a big firm had just called about an in-house job at the extended family business. It is one of the largest companies in the state, and my mom's brother is the CEO, but I got no traction in my inquiries about essentially the same position last year. The position is still open, so there was a big discussion over whether I should contact my uncle again about the job, attempt to go through other channels, or let it be and continue to make my own way. It's a family legacy, so I would be interested in working there, but I'm not interested in slamming my head against a brick wall if I won't get serious consideration. All I want is to be treated on equal footing with other applicants, and the fact that the job has been open so long suggests that perhaps they haven't gotten the kind of applicants they want, at least not at the price they have been willing to pay. The flip side of my having somewhat less experience than some candidates is they can actually afford me. Plus--and this is where I disagreed with my uncle last year--I think the kind of legal experience I have would transfer quite well to the most significant aspect of the company's business, contract drafting and negotiation.

Back from Arches

The trip to Arches went great. The only downside was that my wife decided to stay home with our baby. While that made things a lot easier, and we were able to maintain a more rigorous pace, I missed having her there to share the sights.

My kids had a great time with their cousins, who seemed quite taken by the stark contrast between the scenery in Arches and what is found in their native Vermont. My own kids also thought it was pretty cool, and they did pretty well on the hike to Delicate Arch, which was the most challenging hike we attempted. I did carry my three-year old a good part of the way, but she also walked a number of miles on the different hikes.

Her favorite was Sand Dune Arch, which is carved in a narrow area between two high rock fins. The result is that part of the area was shaded, and the adults could rest against the sheer rock wall and put their feed in the cool sand while the kids played in the sand and ran up and down the short hill to the arch. My son preferred Delicate Arch, and my oldest enjoyed North and South Windows. It's hard for me to single out a favorite, but it would probably have to be Delicate Arch.

We also visited Dead Horse Point on the trip. I still remember the trauma my dad caused me by pretending to throw me over Dead Horse Point, which drops 2000 feet nearly straight down to the Colorado River. It was a very impressive sight, lessened only slightly by a series of large evaporative pools on the valley floor used in a potash mining operation that utilizes water from the Colorado. Anyway, I made sure not to pretend to throw any of my kids over, but I still awoke several times that night from a half-sleep, imagining one of my kids or I was falling from a cliff.

A wonderful surprise on this trip was the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands. None of us had ever been to Canyonlands, but we decided to go there after visiting Dead Horse Point and finding ourselves only a few miles away. In my mind, Canyonlands is nearly as impressive as the Grand Canyon. True, the Grand Canyon drops twice as far, but when you're talking 2000 or 4000 feet, it's all pretty impressive. Because we were only there a few hours, we didn't have time to do too many hikes, but the ones we did were awesome. We hiked Mesa Arch, which is an easy, meandering trail to an arch that looks nice in itself, but is made spectacular by the fact that it sits on a sheer precipice. Seeing 1500 feet of empty space below the arch is pretty cool.

FLDS thoughts

I found this excellent summary of the raid on the FLDS YFZ Ranch posted, of all places, on a BYU sports message board:

Prelude- A TX community is suspicious of their strange FLDS neighbors occupying a large and productive piece of land. Said community, predominantly evangelical in religious practice, consider the ranch and its strange inhabitants an eyesore and an abomination. Worse, community leaders feel the ranch residents are becoming too numerous and could increase in their influence politically in the county.
1. A sheriff's office and local CPS office draw up a pre-prepared ranch raid plan in case they ever need it. (sources-the Sheriff and CPS Director)
2. A sheriff's office has an informant who "escaped" from the ranch and helped the sheriff put together his raid plan. (source-the Sheriff)
3. The sheriff's office informant possessed no knowledge of any widespread abuse or sexual relations with minors, her assistance to the sheriff was largely for tactical purposes, i.e. locations of buildings, predicted response from ranch residents, etc. (Source-the Sheriff)
4. An anonymous caller claiming to be a 16 year old girl alleges that one man at the ranch, Mr. Barlow, abused her, beat her, and forced her to have sex. (source-Sheriff's affidavit in support of search warrant)
5. Despite having no evidence of widespread abuse of minors at the ranch, and without corroborrating the whereabouts of the accused Mr. Barlow during Easter weekend when he allegedly beat the anonymous girl (he had not reported in person to his probation officer in AZ that weekend), the TX judge issues a search warrant including the entire ranch property and all buildings, including houses of worship, for the anonymous complainant who needed "rescuing." (sources-affidavit for search warrant, search warrant, news intervie of Barlow's probation officer)
6. The Sheriff's office executes the warrant, utilizing AT&F agents, SWAT teams, armored police personnel carriers, and dogs. (source- Sheriff press conference)
7. While executing search warrant for evidence of a crime against one alleged 16 year-old anonymous victim, sheriff observes a small number of girls appearing to be approximately 16 who are either pregnant or holding babies, or both. Assuming one of these could be the anonymous complainant, all such girls taken into custody and questioned regarding the babies and their pregnany status.(source-Sheriff press conference)
8.FLDS mothers gather up their children in fear of the raid, and when questioned by law enforcement and CPS workers, decline to respond to demands to identify which children belonged with which parents. Without any documented evidence that any children currently at the ranch were in danger other than the alleged complainant, CPS determined that the home environment itself (i.e. polygamy), was a form of abuse, and ordered that all the children be rounded up and removed from parental custody. (Source: CPS press conference, Sheriff Press conference, FLDS mothers letter to Governor Perry)
9. Within minutes, buses owned and operated by local evangelical churches, with those churches' logos emblazoned thereon, rolled onto the ranch and 416 FLDS children were loaded onto them for transport to a "safer" environment in foster care or in government established shelters. (source-Sheriff's press conference, CPS press conference, multiple media reports)
10. Sheriff's officials continue to search for anonymous caller among children removed, with no success. Sheriff and CPS Director then claim finding anonymous caller unnecessary for case to keep children in state custody perhaps permanently. (source-CPS press statement yesterday)
***

How is this constitutional? What if one of my neighbors got angry at me and placed an anonymous call pretending to be one of my children and alleging abuse? Would the state have the right to take all of my children indefinitely? Is communal religious living justification to take children away from their families? To me, this has troubling parallels to the early history of the LDS Church.

I don't like polygamy and I'm glad the LDS Church no longer practices it, but this is unconstitutional. If a crime has been committed, e.g., statutory rape, that should be prosecuted severely. I have no patience for people who commit crimes against children. But taking 400+ children away from their parents based on one anonymous phone call is neither right not legal.

Off to Arches

I'm working this morning, then heading off to Arches in the afternoon, where I'll meet my brother's family and my sister (her husband just started a new job and won't be there). The weather has been unseasonably cold here, but it's starting to warm up, and I'm hopeful that it will be a bit warmer in Moab than it is here.

Planning a trip to Moab is tricky, weather-wise. If you go too early in the spring, you may get snowed on, and I hate winter camping. I could get a motel, of course, but I want my kids to have the camping experience (and I'm cheap). On the other hand, if you go late in the spring, you may get summer-like weather, which could mean 95 degrees. When I first planned the trip, I was more worried about early summer than late winter, so that shows what I know.

One of the sales guys I'm working with on a big deal seemed miffed when I reminded him I'll be gone. The sales guys have no problem taking off a week at a time, which sometimes creates the time pressure we feel when they suddenly panic and realize it's almost quarter-end. The customer, too, on this deal, has been taking their sweet time. But he is aghast that I would take off one day so close to quarter-end when we expect a response from the customer today. Well, we expected a response from the customer yesterday, too, but that hasn't happened. They'll just have to wait a day for me as well.

Normally, I wouldn't take off time this close to quarter-end, either, but it's only a day plus a few hours, and I haven't seen my brother for 18 months. My boss has okayed it, and some other people in my department took time for spring break, so sales will just have to deal with it.

Seniority!

My team has very low turnover. I guess we all like working with each other, despite the dysfunctional things the company does. So, two years in, I've still been the newest contract negotiator in the group. That will soon change, as my colleague Brian is leaving to take a similar job at another company. More money, probably. So now, I'll only be #9 of 10 in terms of tenure. Even though I think my performance is good and would save me from the chopping block if it came to that, seniority at a company with flat sales and marginal profitability is also a good thing.

Spring

Weird weather we've been having. It was in the 70's yesterday, but it snowed today. I'm hoping it warms up this week for the trip to Arches. My kids don't have a lot of camping experience, so I hope they don't have this one ruined by cold weather. I've been getting stuff together tonight to get ready. I told a sales guy I'm working with on a huge deal that I won't be there on Friday and am leaving early on Thursday. He was none too pleased, but I don't care. I scheduled this time off about two months ago, and it's not like I'll be gone for a week. This deal has gotten the attention of some very high-level folks in the company, but I'm still entitled to a weekend with my brother. Besides, I don't expect much to happen on those days.

On another note, I still don't have a refund of my Expedia booking fee. But I did learn about Kayak.com, a cool Google of travel sites, which further diminishes the usefulness of Expedia.

Thanks, Chase

I'm happy to report that my credit card company, Chase, has been easy to work with in getting my money refunded. I don't have a refund of my $44.99 Expedia booking and ticket fee yet, but Chase has managed to return more than a hundred times that much for the 5 worthless tickets I bought and the 5 worthless tickets I didn't buy. So, in contrast to Expedia, I'm happy to recommend Chase. We've had this card for many years and have never had any major problems with it.

My brother is headed out here next week from Vermont, when we'll meet him at Arches National Park. I hope our boys have as much fun hiking and hunting lizards together as we did when we went there as kids.

I'm happy to see a major warming trend for next week, as it was snowing this morning when I woke up. That's not unheard of in April here, but we've had a very cold and moderately wet spring so far, and I'm ready to put away the skis and get out the bikes and hiking shoes. Unfortunately, I only got to ski twice this year. I may try to squeeze in one more day of spring skiing, but there aren't a lot of days available with my vacation time pretty much booked and my Saturdays pretty busy, too.

Beware Expedia.com

This post is a special shout-out to Expedia. Or, rather, it is my attempt to broadcast to as wide of an audience as possible my discontent with Expedia.

I recently booked tickets for a family vacation to Hawaii some months from now. Shortly thereafter, I received an email from Expedia telling me that due to an error, I had been sent two sets of tickets, and would I please send one back. Don't worry, though, they assured me, I had not been charged twice for the tickets.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I opened my credit card statement to find I had in fact been charged twice for the tickets. I called Expedia to ask that the charge be reversed, and after a lengthy wait, they told me that I needed to mail back the duplicate tickets first. Now, as an attorney, I know that this is illegal, but I agreed to send the tickets back.

Two weeks later, I still had not been credited, so I called Expedia again. After waiting for over thirty minutes, I was told that I should call the airline and ask them for a refund. They followed up with this snippity email:

We have been notified from our billing department that the tickets you sent to us were voided, that means that the amount you were charged for those tickets will automatically get back to you, most of the time for voided tickets, there is a hold on the money back then it is released after 72 hours, meaning you will not see on your statement that there is a refund.
>
> Besides that there is no control over voided tickets from expedia but from the airline( validating carrier ATA IBNQZE, res 800 225-2995), and if the charges are still on your statement the only one who has control when to refund that is the airline and they can provide more info about it.
>
> Thank you for your patience and choosing expedia.

In other words, they would do nothing for me. I wrote back a very snippety email of my own.

Then, a few days later, I got an email stating that the carrier for the international leg of our flight, ATA, had declared bankruptcy, that they could do nothing for me, and that I should file a dispute with my credit card company. To their credit, pun unintended, my credit card company has been easy to deal with and will be giving me a refund of both sets of tickets, but Expedia has been so utterly unhelpful through several emails and phone calls that I am following through on my threat to never use them again and to advise everyone I know of my experience with Expedia. There are simply too many travel services offering similar pricing for me to use one that treats its customers so poorly.

Psalm 48

I've always loved the idea* of the holy city "set on a hill" where all live in equality and peace, whether called Augustine's City of God, Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Orderville, or Zion. This is my attempt to set this Zionist psalm to English meter and rhyme (as always, I recommend reading the texts together).

*Sadly, the ideal is usually better than the implementation, and as a believer in free and open global markets, I think the traditional implementation of the the United Order would be hard to pull off in the 21st century--but one can love the ideal and the principles and look for more modest ways to apply them according to circumstances.

Psalm 48

Great is the Lord and the city of God:
Beautiful mountain and refuge of earth.
Marveling rulers make haste from her rod,
Trembling in pain as a mother in birth.

Chaff is the value of their riches still;
Tarshish is naught when compared to her spires.
Thy lovingkindness, from temple’s bright hill
Beckons to all who do humbly aspire.

Praise ye our God to the ends of the earth.
Righteousness still is the fruit of thy hand.
Daughters of Judah in Zion, have mirth,
Stablished forever in this chosen land.

Mark ye her bulwarks and walk round each side,
Yea, till the last generation shall come.
Ever and ever our God is our guide,
Even to death when he welcomes us home.

Sales guys

Maybe I should start a series on crazy things sales guys say. I'm working on a very large potential deal, and the sales guys have just been unbelievable. This particular team is the worst in the company. They try to steamroll you like crazy, then call you "buddy" every time you call. I want to tell them I'm not their buddy and don't even like them.

I had an IM that went like this:

Sales: "[My name spelled wrong] we OK to send to Acme tonight?"

Me: R is looking at it, and N said he's going to look at it today and let me know. I have left messages for K but I haven't heard anything from him yet. Have you or [your minion] called him?

Sales: (long pause) Yeah, I think C called him before lunch.
[I'd told them in writing several times that it was THEIR job to track down these approvals. I was just the gatekeeper for this]

Me: Other than that and the ones who have promised responses, we're good to go. I've chased down the rest. [doing their job for them]

Sales: so- we are good to send this evening to Acme?

Me: If R and N respond and depending on K's response. [What did I just say? Not yet.]

Sales: It MUST go this evening...

Me: Then you or [minion] should call N. [Like I've been saying all along].

...
(Later)

Sales: K he was supposed to review with the auditors-- HE HAS NOT DONE THAT??????

Me: Did you see RS's message? He and M can't agree on... How can we put this in front of Acme if we aren't agreed internally on what we're willing to give them??

Sales: We will work it out..the proposal goes out....

Me: I'm not putting something in front of TD that RS is unwilling to do.

Sales : RS is NOT a decision maker

Me: [Oh yes he is, and you know it]

Sales: this company has to many peple who can veto stuff- and add NO value- like RS- amazing.

And so it continued. They'll say anything to get me to believe everyone has signed off and we should send the contract to the customer, even when this is very clearly not the case, as demonstrated by multiple email messages that very day that he was copied on.

Team building and memories

Last week, my entire team drove several hours to Arches National Park for a team-building exercise. Some of them had flown in from the East Coast for a series of meetings last week--theme: "Achieving New Heights." It made for a long day, driving down, doing a couple of hikes, and driving back in the same day, especially since we'd spent a couple of hours at an indoor rock climbing place the night before. It was fun, but it sort of reminded me of an episode of The Office, minus the fire walking.

Excessive driving aside, I was reminded how beautiful the rural Southwest can be. My colleague from Boston was amazed at the vast open spaces. Except for driving through Moab, I hadn't been to Arches for decades, but my family used to go there when I was young. It was interesting to see a couple of places I couldn't remember in detail, but which were immediately familiar when I saw them. At the Devil's Garden campground where we ate lunch, when I looked up and saw the red rock formations above the picnic area, I recognized the place as matching a memory I had of climbing around with my brother on rocks above a camping site. I had a clear memory of the event, but I hadn't known where that memory occurred until I saw the formation again.

Interestingly enough, my brother is coming out for a visit and we're going to Arches together for the first time in 25 years or so. It will be fun to reminisce and see what memories get dredged up. I'm excited for our kids to make some of the same memories together. My younger sister will also be there. My memory of her in that park is of being in a baby carrier I've now inherited from my parents and will likely be using to carry one of my own children.