Dad in Santa Cruz

Eight days ago, my dad was flown out from the Rehabilitation Hospital of Southern New Mexico (in Las Cruces, NM) to Santa Cruz. He flew via AirMed, a sort of air ambulance, which made it much easier on us, as his mobility is quite limited. Medicare will cover some of the cost of this, since he was being discharged from an acute care hospital to a skilled nursing facility.

It's great that he is here in town, now, and Candice, Juliet, KB, and I have all been visiting him. However, this is a particularly busy time of year for us, since we just celebrated Juliet's fifth birthday weekend before last. He was pretty worn out for a while, and just wanted to rest, but now he seems to be perking up a bit. We're hoping he'll be up to coming over for Christmas dinner.

Now we're in the home stretch to Christmas. I'm off work for a couple of days, and Candice is focussed on preparing the Christmas feast.

The Downside of Working

Of course, I'm glad to have a job again. As the sole breadwinner and head of a household, losing your job is like having the rug pulled out from under you. So getting a job with benefits and all the trimmings is great, especially in the worst economic environment we've seen since the '70s, or maybe even the '30s. So, don't get me wrong....

But, I leave home early in the morning, often dropping Juliet off at school, and don't usually return until 7pm, which is her bedtime. So I see very little of her. And I only see Candice for a few hours in the evening, when she is usually exhausted. As Candice said, "it's an adjustment" from being around all the time.

It will be easier when I can work at home more often, since then I can at least be at home for an hour or two in the evening before Juliet goes to bed.

First week at Linden Lab

Started my new job at Linden Lab, makers of Second Life. I think I'm really going to enjoy working there. It's got a very unusual and compelling work culture that emphasizes personal responsibility and communication. And they have a very cool product, Second Life, a virtual world--for many people, THE virtual world--that continues to be very profitable even in these dark times.

I have been consistently impressed with the intelligence and friendliness of the people at LL. Having been around the Valley a lot, I've seen plenty of smart, motivated people in tech, but all too often they are arrogant jerks. Not so at LL...as a general rule, the people are very nice, yet smart and efficient. How refreshing!