Tag: efi

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Vital Statistics

Aches & pains: left foot arch

Current reading: Fahrenheit 451

Recent listening: Harry Nilsson, Billy Holiday, Green Day, The Zombies, The Clash, Matisyahu, Concrete Blonde

Recent viewing: Warehouse 13, Real Time with Bill Maher, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, Louie, Falling Skies, Leverage, Stargate SG-1, Columbo, The Benson Interruption, H.R. Punfnstuf, The God Who Wasn’t There

Recent playing: DropZap, Words with Friends, Mondo Solitaire

Recently accomplished: Bug fixing for new job, bug fixing for old job, lawn care

Imperative To Do: Clean garage, clean gutters, new shelves for stereo, bark dust, doctor appointments

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An Extra Day in Milwaukee

I spent most of last week in Milwaukee (actually Menomonee Falls), Wisconsin, searching for the cause of a crash in our software that is adversely affecting a client. I flew into Milwaukee on Monday, spent three days on the client site and planned to fly back home Thursday evening. Thursday morning I glanced at my Google Calendar on my iPhone for my departure time. This is what I saw:
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The moon is in a phase and I guess that I am too

Last night Graham and Thomas had their final orchestra concert of the year. In anticipation of the event, several months ago I invited my mother to visit us at this time so that she could attend. Graham’s fourth grade orchestra was the first to play and they did a very nice job of showing how much they had improved during the year. After they took their bow, they all started off stage to make room for the fifth grade orchestra. As Graham stood near the edge of the stage waiting for the rest of the kids to move, he chatted and laughed with his nearby friends. I looked away for a second to talk to Tina and then we heard a crash in front of the stage followed by a gasp from the audience. Somebody fell. Tina asked, “Who fell?” Scanning the group near the commotion, I realized Graham was no longer on stage. “It’s Graham!” I told her as she stood and then rushed down the stairs to the stage.

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Transoceanic depth in this earth in this cenotaph

It’s been three weeks since Tina’s surgery and she is still recovering. Her mom, Jan, stayed with us for a couple of weeks and was a tremendous help, but we’re on our own again now. We’ve all gotten into a routine since she left, but we’ll be glad when Tina is back to full strength again. She’s frustrated with the speed of her recovery but glad that she already feels better now than she did before the surgery. She’s looking forward to an active spring and summer with our family.

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Peeping from behind every window pane

I find myself in Foster City once again at EFI headquarters. I’ve been moved to another team again so I’m here familiarizing myself with the tool set and meeting the other team members. I’ll be here until Friday night.

Working from home has been better than I expected. Even though I’ve been very busy, I get to choose the times when I work and the times that I don’t. That means when I feel like doing a couple of hours in the evening, it’s no big deal. Or if I have to run some errand in the afternoon. So far I feel like I’ve been pretty productive and my new office feels like a cockpit controlling my working world and it has to do with the decoration I put on it, including windows with motorized blinds so I can control it from everywhere I’m with my phone. I’m sure I’ll write more on this later. I bought Hunter Douglas honeycomb shades and saved a ton of money on my electric bill right away.

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Vital Statistics

Bike odometer: 2500
Van odometer: 154003
Weight lost (in pounds): 0
Aches & pains: left shin (scab gone), lower back, all my muscles
Current reading: My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk, Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy
Recent listening: The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Box), News from Lake Wobegon, Science Friday, Coverville, DrugMusic
Recent viewing: Olympics, Democratic National Convention, Republican National Convention, The O’Reilly Factor
Recent playing: Chain Factor, Spaceward Ho!
Recently accomplished: Upgraded DSL, cleaned cat boxes, setup VPN access for work, office cleaning, office moving, office remodeling, cardboard recycling
Imperative To Do: Craigslist items for Thomas/Graham, install Tina’s bike computer, get rid of office junk, freecycle, activate new Tivo, oil change for van, weeds, clean garage, moss

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And the sun shines on the bay

I had to get up early this morning for another trip to EFI HQ in Foster City, CA. The 7:30 flight translates into a 5:00 am wake up time and I failed to get to bed before midnight. I’ll probably “nap” on the 2 hour flight but it will likely make no difference today. I’ll be attending a series of meetings today and tomorrow welcoming and orientating me and a colleague to our new team at EFI. You can bet that I’ll be hitting the free espresso machine whenever I get a chance this afternoon.
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We could have all three, she said

My employment situation has been resolved. As I reported earlier, EFI has decided to close the Vancouver office after this month but they have offered some of the engineers the opportunity to continue to support the Splash product while working from home. I was lucky enough to receive one of those offers and decided to accept it after investigating a couple of non-EFI opportunities. In addition to continuing at my current salary, EFI has generously offered to pay for my home office expenses including a cell phone and a faster internet connection. When the office closes, I’ll also have my pick of computer equipment. EFI has structured a bonus program for me to encourage me to stay until next July, but I have been assured that my employment could continue well past that.

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Better not get up or you might lose your seat

Yesterday, during the quarterly company wide conference call, EFI announced that they are closing their Vancouver office. While the Splash product continues to be profitable for the company, our OEM isn’t introducing any new products for at least 18 months. Our office will be open through August and the team will be wrapping up operations during that time. EFI is providing everyone with a very generous severance package, even for the guy that’s only been there since January.

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Forcin’ a light into all those stony faces left stranded on this warm July

After a busy day cooking and cleaning on Independence Day, we’ve been a lazy bunch around here. We really enjoyed ourselves on the 4th, though, and were happy to have the company of so many people. The fireworks were fun and I think everybody was entertained. Next year I need to buy fewer ground blooms and more mortars.

Last week I started out the week by traveling to Foster City, CA, for some training at EFI headquarters. Because of the Northern California wildfires, my direct flight was cancelled and I was forced to take a flight through Seattle. By the time I arrived in Seattle, the connecting flight had been delayed and I didn’t arrive in San Francisco until 1:30. Unfortunately, my luggage (a change of clothes and my CPAP) was on another flight which did not arrive until quite later in the day. After waiting in line for at least an hour at the United luggage service counter, I left them orders to deliver the bag to my hotel after it arrived. It was eventually delivered to my hotel while I was at dinner that night.

I was glad to join my friend, Rob, for dinner both nights that I was in California. On the second night, we ate at a nice French restaurant before Rob dropped me off at SFO for my late evening flight home. There were no complications this time and the plane was only half full making it almost enjoyable.

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