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.
***
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.