Is it spring yet?

Just got back from our Sunday walk with P & Bailey. A beautiful day today: partly cloudy, low 50's. A number of bushes are starting show their buds. Spring can't be too far? Next Wednesday is Groundhogs day afterall. Paula Fritchie's birthday. I haven't seen her since we left Michigan 50 years ago, but I've never forgotten that her birthday is on Groundhogs Day. Funny what sort of things get imprinted on your mind when you're four years old.

It was only a matter of time before this became the subject of academic inquiry: Click Here.
Thanks to Scripting News for the link.

My boss has given notice. He's found another job within the parent company. He has three week before he has to report to work in Texas. There goes my buffer. I don't know if his boss will be able to replace him. I'm going to have to train someone regardless: what I do and why it is important to the well being of the company. Have to make sure someone in authority knows. I'm the one in between Engineering and Manufacturing, trying to make sure that they each know what the other needs, that the information transfer is orderly, authorized and complete. Getting a brand new boss will depend on what sort of progress the engineers make on improving the latest tool. Consensus says we have 6 to 8 weeks to come up with something to show the (one particular) customer that we do know what we are doing and can come through with a machine that meets their needs. In the mean time, my engineering change work load has dropped off (but it will pick up as soon as the engineering experiments yield positive results.) It's not like I no longer have anything to do.... all those second and third tier tasks are finally making their way to the top of my To-Do list. Can't ignore them any longer!

Now, just because I can, I'm putting in a picture of one of my pens. It's one of my current favorites: a Pelikan 150 with a medium nib ground down to a .06mm stub. This means that it's a little like a nib used for caligraphy. Depending on the way you hold it and the direction of the stroke you will get a wider or narrower line. I have a journal I write in almost daily. This is the pen I've been using most for that task as of late.


pelikan 150

In future posts I will include pictures of some of my other pens. Hopefully I will get better an the display, presentation and photography of them. Just another trail on the path of discovery....

Two weeks ago, Troy slipped on some snow and rebroke the arm he broke last September. The doctor put a plate in his arm back then to facilitate the healing of the bone. Troy bent the plate when he fell this time. The doctor had to replace the plate. Here is why:


Here's another picture of it with a quarter so you can get some idea just how big this thing is. I was supprised how small it was. I mean, it was holding an adults arm bone together, for goodness sakes.




Eric, Troys son, got to take it to school for Show and Tell. Pretty neat show and tell item! Troys arm is in a split cast until tomorrow. The swelling will be down by then and he will get a hard cast to last the next eight weeks.

Winter

It's a good thing its a weekend, thats all I have to say.
We are experiencing a wet warm front moving in from the south and a cold front coming down from the north. They are meeting in our little section of the world. The rain from the warm front is falling through the cold front and if not freezing on the way down, freezing as soon as it hit the ground that is at or below 32 degrees. There's a nice coat of ice on just about everything. I darn near fell on my butt just getting the paper at the end of the driveway! Even the squirrels are having a hard time because the feeders are coated too. The roads are skating rinks. Lots of accidents. By the way, the US National Skating Championships are being held in Portland this week with the finals this weekend. More than a coincidence????

I'm happy to report that Troy underwent surgery this past Wednesday and all went well. He'd bent the metal plate put in when he broke his arm in September. The doctor had to remove the bent plate, set the broken bone and put a new plate in. Troy is home, feeling much better. If the weather permits he may even go to work early next week.

In other news, the company I work for announced a new program Tuesday: The Talent Mobility Program. Apparently this is something Intel does. When a design project winds down to completion the Engineers on the project are given 60 days to find work elsewhere in the company or be terminated. Well, Wednesday, 25 to 30 people were placed in this program. They have two weeks to decide if they want to go into the Talent Mobility Pool or terminate voluntarily. The company is counting on everyone to be "professional" and work to smooth the transition of duties and responsibilities to the remaining regular employees. If they decide to leave at the end of the two weeks they get a nice severance package: two months pay plus two weeks pay for every year they'd been with the company. If they decide to go into the Talent Mobility Pool they have the company resources: their workspace, computer and email access for the 60 days, to look for jobs elsewhere in the company. If they can't find anything suitable or if they do but aren't chosen for position they've applied for, they will be terminated with the same package: two months plus two weeks for every year of service. They just get it 60 days later.

I'm happy to report that I am still among the regular employees, but there are darn few of us left. Apparently they put the lone documentation person in Hayward on this program. I'm trying to find out what management has in mind for supporting the 30 or so R & D engineers left down there. What, if anything, I might be expected to do.

May we live in interesting times, eh?

Back to work......

I survived the first work week of the new year. Seemed like it was touch and go there for a while until I finally caught up on my sleep around Wednesday.... back into the routine. Start of the new year, lots of report to write, lots of numbers to compile, lots of charts to create.

The state sent me a reminder that my birthday is next month. It's time to renew my drivers license. I didn't realize how old I will be until this reminder informed me that I can not simpley renew by mail, as I have done ever since I got my license in this state some 28 years ago. NOOooooooo. I have to actually go into a DMV office and take a vision test!
Now, granted, I do need a little help with the fine print these days, but for distance, I can see just as good as or better than most. I guess its just that I've gotten to the age where society feels the need to make sure that I'm OK for some activities. It's kind of like when you get to the "Greater Than 35" age bracket for auto insurance, except in reverse. I will be getting a brand new license, with a new picture too. Have to get a hair cut this weekend. That always makes me look younger...

In other, more somber news: Troy slipped on some snow out side a grocery store last night, fell on the wrist/arm he broke about 4 months ago. He has a metal plate in that arm used to keep the bones aligned while they grew back together. The doctor just left it in rather than do a second surgery. Apparently Troy fell on the same arm and the x-rays show that the arm is broken again and the metal plate is bent. I don't know how much. The doctor who initially put the plate in is on vacation until Monday. Troy's going to have to wait until then to see about getting it fixed. It's going to take more surgery and probably replacing the metal plate. In the mean time he's got some GOOD drugs.

2005, The Year of the ?

Happy New Year! Hope it will be safe and prosperous for all. And eventful and interesting....

Once again the neighborhood outdid itself last night. There were some fireworks in our cul de sac but the cul de sac behind us REALLY did it up good. We have a tri-level house, the deck off the dining room has a nice view over most of the houses in the area. It was almost better than the Fourth of July display they put on last summer. And there was some one in the distance who had a bunch of M-80's (equal to a quarter stick of dynamite). VERY loud booms. Bailey stuck to us like glue the whole time. And no such celebration would be complete without the sounds of the fire truck sirens. There is a fire station about a mile away from our house. We can hear them any time they are called out. They were called out a couple of times last night.

One of the thing I did recently that wasn't reported here is the fishing trip I took after Thanksgiving with Randy, my brother-in-law. He is an avid fisherman. It was the first time I've gone fishing in the 20-some years I've been in Oregon. Oh yes, there was that ill-fated deep sea fishing expedition. I don't count that as I was toooooo seasick to even hold a fishing pole. We drove a couple hundred miles to the coastal town of Port Orford the Friday after Thanksgiving. Saturday we were up at 4:30 to meet Vernon, the guide at the Sixes River at 6 am, well before daylight. Apparently you cannot start fishing until there is a certain amount of daylight. And when it does get light, you want to be at your spot, ready to go. Vernon had a light on his hat, like a miner, to keep us off the banks and shallow spots as we made our way down the river. We were in a 15' rowboat, Randy and I in seats in the front, Vernon had the oars and all the rest of the gear behind us. It was about 35 degrees with a bit of wind. Kind of cool. I had on sweats and coats and rain gear and gloves and a couple pair of socks to keep me warm and dry. At least it kept me dry. We got to the spot we were heading for, a bend in the river about 7. There were up to 35 other fishermen in the same area through out the day. Some in a couple of boats but nearly all of them were fishing off the bank or in the river using waders. There were a number of fly fishermen (as opposed to lures and bait) and even one fly fisherwoman. Because the river was low, we were "bobber fishing" as opposed to "trolling". This mean that we anchored the boat, plunked our bait into a pool right at the bend in the river, sat back and watched the bobbers, waiting for them to disappear. There were fish all over that pool, roiling the water, jumping out of the water, catching the line on their fins as they swam by (the bait (fresh salmon eggs) was just above the bottom of the river.) We sat there, feeding the fish nearly the whole day. There were guys not more than 30 feet away from us catching so many that they had to pick and choose which ones (limit two per day) to keep. We got one strike around noon. The fish played with us for about 30 seconds before throwing the hook (he kept the bait....) We sat there.... through the morning mist, some early sunshine, clouds, rain, more wind, more sunshine, more rain. You get the picture. It wasn't until after three when I hooked one. It took a while to land, they tell me. It had a lot of fight in it. Very exhilarating. I think it was worth the eight hours of wind and rain and cold, don't you think?

A nice example of a Chinook Salmon.

That's Pat's brother Randy with me. He taught me all I know about fishing.......

Vernon and Randy pointed out that there should be a second fin on it's back. That means that it came from one of the hatcheries (where the fin was clipped) and released into the wild. I must have caught it on its way back upstream to spawn. The Vernon estimated it to be about 25 lbs. Not bad for a first fish! And, as it turned out, the only fish of the day for us. We got caught in a down pour on the way back. Got thoroughly drenched. So, I've got a lot of salmon in the freezer right now. Tabetha's significant other has a smoker. We'll turn the fish over to them to smoke it. We're negotiating how much salmon it will cost us for this service.... The whole experience was pretty much fun, but would have been better if it had been warmer. I caught a nice head cold too that weekend. The next time I go fishing, it will be warmer, if nothing else.