Whole lotta shakin' going on...

I started this by saying I wasn't a believer in the whole blogging thing to begin with, but I'd give it a try. Take it easy on me if I've not been vigilant in posting frequently 8-) I've actually been out of the country more than I've been in the country for the last month, so I've not been around much. Job is going ok - I still wake up every morning wondering if I've made a good decision. As with any company, there are good things and there are things that concern me. With so many issues, it can be boiled down to simply making sure that the expectations from all parties involved are clearly understood, communicated, and agreed upon. As we're effectively rebuilding the company in the US, the main issue as I see it is that there's an organizational lack of expectation setting/communication. What does that mean for me? I'm not sure I'm doing what is expected of me 8-) I'm not sure they understand what's expected of me...

I told my wife I think I'm having my midlife crisis. I only plan to live until 72 anyway, and this year I turned 35 so I'm only a year ahead of schedule. We have a family friend whose parents run their own business in the medical field. It's routine work, but consistent and steady, and part of me thinks that boy, wouldn't it be nice to have something that's low stress, where I can stay home with my family all the time, and theres a fair level of security. Perhaps I should buy that from him - he's got no one in his family to take over the biz and is nearing that point in his life where decisions need to be made. The pay would likely be less than what I'm making now, but much of what one values isn't measured in dollar signs, and would I value such a lifestyle more than I value the current state? Perhaps - but would I get bored with it and have to deal with intellectual stagnation? My father in law owns his own pipe organ building and repair company - there are no heir apparents, so perhaps thats an option. But I hate pipe organs. Perhaps I'd grow to love them? But that's what I thought about our cat when we got it 8 years ago too...

Kirsten is still in China, and I think it's been quite an experience for her. After 3 days there I talked with her on the phone, and she said she's "hungry" 8-) We'd watched a Beijing travelogue before she left, and it focused on what it said was traditional foods - I think it was put out by someone who competes with China for tourists, because it appeared to have gone out of it's way to convince the viewer that routine Chinese food was the most bizarre, unappetizing thing you'd ever want to put in your mouth. Exibit A - a bowl of boiled snake penises. Seriously. And you thought your job was bad - how'd you like to the that butcher...better than being that snake I reckon...

Her impression thus far is that urban Chinese life is very dirty (sanitation standards are quite different from what she's experienced thus far...) and that everyone yells and pushes everywhere. As with any major city, gotta be on the lookout for scam artists and people trying to make the quick buck (or yen...). Her digicam broke after a few days, but she's taking pics with her phone now. I told her just to buy a camera there since they're all made there anyway, but she didn't want one that was in Chinese...she comes back this Saturday, and I leave this Saturday again for another week - when alls said and done we won't have seen each other for 3 weeks straight!

Sarah's at her grandparents house during this time. I stopped by after I returned from France and took them out to dinner. It was a very long day for me - we had dinner at 8 pm which felt like 2 am to me, and by the time we finished it was 3 hours later, so I was shot. Grandma say's shes "exhausted" 8-) I think Sarah's ready to come home too.

Here's a link to a movie I made this winter. I'd been talking of making a rocket sled for years, this year I made the first version. A second one will follow, it will have 2 stages and much bigger rockets on both stages. The plan had been to build in an ignition system so I could start going down the hill and then fire it once I was moving. However, since I'm not an electrical engineer, I didn't put enough batteries into the switch to fire off my igniters (i made them myself, which is probably part of the problem). Solution? Field strip the ignition box and use Josh's car (red one in background) and jumper cables to fire it off. It worked, but I didn't get going as fast as I'd hoped because I had to start from a standstill. Wait until next time 8-) A colleague said I should put it to top gun music, so here it is...i'm sure theres a way to put the movie on this page, but I don't have the time to figgure that out.. here's the link instead. You'll need apple's quicktime to view it if you don't already have it.