Frustrated?

This is just funny!
Go here and go to “Punch”. Let me know your favourite.

Since I last wrote I’ve spoken to many of you but my writing and phone calls have been somewhat sparse.

This would have something to do with the hectic pace of work, Mon through Fri, and the weekends being full of catching up around the house and exploring the area as a family.

Family

Janine and the boys arrived October 10th. Not a moment too soon. It was pretty lonely around here and having no furniture was no treat either.

I had finally bought a TV just before they got here so the 4 of us had: a futon, a DiskMan, about 20 CD’s, a lawn chair (pink), a clock radio, a (very) few dishes, and a TV.

It was pretty dismally furnished, but the place was happy. The day after they arrived we drove through a canyon that runs through the foothills, about 15 minutes to the east of us. There’s a couple of wineries up there so we stopped to taste.

In subsequent weekends the exploring took us: on a drive down the coastal highway with a stop a a beach I visited on my February trip (Janine took an unintentional swim), a sportscar race at the Laguna Seca racetrack in Monterey (Wow), and a trip to San Francisco (the BART, Chinatown, Lombard Street, Coit tower and of course, Cable Cars).

The boys have settled into school. They’re making friends of course but it was pretty unsettling to them, to arrive, be all excited about being here, then realize they knew no one.

But they’ve pretty much sorted that out. David has made several friends and is off to the movies today with one or two of them. Ryley has a few friends that he went to a play with last night, and he has joined the wrestling team at his school.

Just a word on the wrestling team: the school has 1700-1800 students; there are 55 team members and 7 coaches. Holy cow! I wish there had been that kind of interest and support at my school. I guess that’s why they’re undefeated in the last 3 years.

Janine has just had a visit from a friend from London. Tash was down here at a conference and came to stay for a few days. Great for Janine and all of us to have a visitor. Janine is nicely settled in and has accomplished plenty toward getting us settled in. Her next move is to meet some people around here, but she has a plan. No doubt… I can’t imagine Janine without friends… for long anyway.

Work

Just before the family came down I had been in Philly. Not even two weeks at the job here I had the opportunity to go and assist with the first Beta install of a version of a product I am responsible for.

The pace was wicked of course. Early morning to late night but it all went well.

Work in general has been quite hectic. The company really needed the help that came with the formation of the Sevvice Engineering group I work with. The really terrific projects they were producing were never really taken any further than a state of “almost done”.

It reminds me of the basement everyone’s Dad refinishes but never gets to putting on the baseboards before that lazy-boy and TV get moved in. Then it’s called finished.

I’m getting the baseboards put on for several products, all of which are viewing stations for Radiologists and Technicians to view: CaT scans, MRI, X-rays and Ultrasound. Very gratifying work. I just had a second product go into Beta and I went out to Stanford for a (nearly) flawless install.

The people I work with: great! It’s sort of like working with all of you. They have a good time and work their asses off. Everybody wants the best and knows there is room for improvement; they will accept change eagerly! Quite a change from the Bell environment.

Most mornings I work at home until between 8:30 and 10:30. They gave me a laptop to do my work at home which helps. (For those of you who care: Pent, 133, MMX, PCI bus, 48M RAM, 1.33 G HD, 10X CDROM, 12″ screen.) Then I drive in when the traffic has thinned a little. The drive takes 25 minutes if there is no traffic, but has taken over an hour and a quarter in bad traffic. So there is real value in working at home for a while.

Toys

Yeah, we gots toys…

We got rid of a lot of stuff when we left Raywood so we’ve had some fun replacing it.

A couple of new TV’s and a VCR, but the most fun is the VW Cabriolet. It’s 6 years old but really fun to drive through the hills in the California sun… top down.

Weather

I won’t really get into detail. It’d make you mad.

Synopsis is: Winter is here with a vengeance! It goes down to about 48F some nights and I had to wear a sweater to work yesterday. On the other hand with the rain (about an hour or two every two to three days) the grass in the hills is really starting to get green.

In the last two weeks, we’ve hardly ever been able to get the top down on the car. 🙂

***

Miss you all.

I’m going outside for a coffee.

JD

Well. As most of you know by now, I’ve started working at Cemax-Icon in the fine state of California.

As I write this, it’s 6:55 pm and I’ve been here since shortly after 7 this morning so I hope I’m not too long winded because I’d like to get home.

Working here is great. The people are super to work with. Rather like working with all of you that I left back in Ontario.

In the morning I drive through downtown Pleasanton which is really beautiful and looks like this…

My job is taking form now and I’ve been asked to tell you more about it. How about I wait until I know more about it myself.

Keep looking for News.

BYE FOR NOW,
JD

• Look at some Recent Dilbert Strips. They crack me up!

• Visit SpeedCenteror just read their IndyCar News.

• Some friends and family with pages.

• I’ve been fascinated for the past couple of years with Black holes and Stellar Physics. Here are a few links.

• The boys have had a great time at Discovery Western over the past few years. Check them out!

Martin de Lasa has a pretty good handle on HTML and getting better. I fugire Martin will be hanging some Java stuff, some graphics and probably some sound. Let’s see.

My friend Rob Corless has a page that will give you insights into the interests of a mathematician. Do you like MAPLE? He wrote the book! (Essential Maple, Robert Corless, Springer-Verlag, 1995)

My friends Emmanuel, Olivier and Patrick are exchange students from Marseille, France. Visit their homepage, The Philosophy Machine has a lot of insights into his character. Take a look. Very cool.

Happy Yuletide Greetings!!!

Join Being Earnest as they celebrate the season.

Watch out for that mistletoe!!

See Being Earnest play your Christmas Favorites!!

Hey! Did someone say Door prizes?

That’s right…there will be some sort of give-a-way! (dammit…it’s not a car.)

So come out to the cheesiest gig yet, and get into the Holiday spirit with

BEING EARNEST

LIVE AT “THE OTHER SIDE”
120 York St.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11th, 1997
Tenish pm

http://publish.uwo.ca/~jlittle2/Being_Earnest