I started the year with a very positive attitude.  The previous summer I had left Avaya with a severance package and had been looking for a new job in the fall.  In January, I felt very positive about my opportunities and by February I was hotly pursuing 3 opportunities.  I took a position at a startup in San Mateo called Gemini Mobile as Director of Engineering managing their Multimedia Messaging server product for Cellular Providers.

One of the projects that I had taken on the previous Fall was to manage the theater renovation for The Kings Academy on-site theater.  This would be the first year they would be using that theater for 9 years. And with the drama department having grown so much along with the quality of theaters we had been in, our goal was to try to bring the theater up to a similar level.  I did some of the work and project managed the rest.

Additionally, I was doing the sound for the show which involved getting wireless microphones, coordinating with the set designer, costume committee and the various other directors at the show. Setting up for tech week (dress rehearsals prior to the show) took about 18 hours of work.  By then, I had a full time job at a startup so this was a very busy time for me.  However, it was all worth it as the show was fantastic. (Ask anyone who saw it and they'll agree!)

With no vacation to speak of and because Lynda abandoned us (just kidding, we had to practically make her go without us), I spent most of June working with occasional breaks to "bond" with the boys.  I won't tell you what we did but suffice it to say it was a lot of manly stuff that Lynda wouldn't have enjoyed had she been here.

In August, we squeezed out a short vacation to the "historic" Priest Station Motel. As you can tell from the picture, it's history was long and not very well maintained!  Still we had fun on the boat with the Misson's.

By early Fall, things at my job were getting weird and so we negotiated my departure for the end of October.  I was home again!  Given that this was familiar territory, I fell back into the groove of working on the 2nd phase of the theater renovation, working on some improvements in the sound at PBCC (where I manage the sound ministry), and a bunch of projects around the house.

With some help from the boys, I replaced the roof over the garage (we had left this to be done later when we finished the big remodel in 1997 so we decided it was now "later"), replaced the garage side door (where the dog had destroyed it trying to get inside), replaced the front steps with build-in lights for easier entry and a bunch of other small jobs too boring to enumerate (as if anyone is still reading this drivel).

Currently, I am toying with a prototype of a software product and working with some people to see if there is any possibility we could start up a company.  I'm also looking for other opportunities.  Meanwhile, it looks like the funding for the theater remodel will come through.  If this happens, I have said I would project manage this. Note that this year's remodel is an order of magnitude bigger than last years.  So, this will keep me quite busy for the next couple of months.