Sooner or later...

Well, some of you may know, and some may not. Yesterday (25-Feb), I was laid off from Freescale. It's just one of those things: I'm not harboring any ill feelings. In fact, I was in a good mood yesterday after it happened. Today, I woke up with a headache (come on, Advil!), but generally I'm doing alright. In fact, yesterday I was trying to console my managers who were laying me off. They have a tough job, given they have to do so repeatedly. Anyway, the severance package was very generous, and I'm set for a good while. It's a blessing as another local semiconductor company had layoffs and nobody received a severance package. It could have been much worse. It can always be worse, right? And how can I complain that they paid for my graduate degree? We had a good dance, and now it's time for something new.

So the wonderful thing here is I get to put door64.com to the test. I've spent 16 months building this community of 4000 for the purpose of networking between members. Within hours of mentioning my layoff, one friend of mine got my resume in front of five different directors at another local semiconductor company. What will come of it? Not sure. But so far, so good. I always have kept my resume up-to-date, so I'm hitting the ground running. I have heard that keeping in a routine is a good idea, and so I shall establish a new one. One of them NEEDs to be the gym/exercise. Need to get back in shape. Too much sitting in one place for the past eleven years.

I have some good friends in the entrepreneur community, and in particular some friends at a local start-up incubator. They've offered me office space to work during the day, and connect up with local entrepreneurs. In fact, one of the incubator founders just sent me a congratulatory email about the layoff! He was a few years back, and that's how he got his start in start-ups. I have to admit that I gravitate towards that area for a number of reasons, but of course the issue is always income. Let's see what happens.

I have a couple conferences coming up in March that I'll be speaking at, and who knows what that exposure will lead to. And then there's SXSW Interactive in March. Right now, I have much more time to devote to door64 and some initiatives that can bring in some more money. We'll see...

So that's the news from Austin. Hope you all are doing well!

Matt
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Hello friends,

We have winter break this week. Who exactly gets a break? Teachers and kids but certainly not stay at home moms! I am thankful though that the weather has been so good. At least we can get outside. On Monday the girls and I went out back and we alternated between sledding and playing in the sand box. The snow has melted down far enough to see the top of the sand box cover and Anna was stomping to show that she really wanted to jump in! I dug out the rest of the box and plopped her down. Then I took turns with Anna and Jane sledding down the hill, and pulling them back up. We ALL took a nap that day!

We are expecting more snow tonight but Spring is certainly coming... some time. We have an estimated 13 weeks before we are frost free. Almost time to start perennial flowers, herbs and onions from seed! It's so encouraging to see green sprouts in March. I'm reading a book called "Animal Vegetable Miracle" about a family who tries to eat locally for a year. Some of it is a bit much. I start to think I shouldn't eat anything, nothing is safe. But some of it is funny, interesting and useful. I'm also researching my far off dream of Sheep! Just a few sheep grazing in the apple orchard would be a dream come true for me. I just want the wool, by the way, no lambs unless they are here to stay. Does anyone know if it is oak tree or poisonous oak that are toxic to sheep? I'd hate to have to cut down our single oak tree.

Heather, we were thinking of you and your family when we heard about the plane crash. Did you know the people involved? I'm sure you know the neighborhood where it happened.

Hm. Jane is very quiet. I'd best go check.. Talk to you Hunnies later. Have a blessed day!

Pregnant!

Hi Hunnies! It's a bit early on, but I've decided to come clean. If, God forbid, anything happens, I don't mind you knowing.

So, with that aside, I am pregnant! I'm due sometime in October. This time around it's very, very different. With Noah I felt wonderful and happy. This time, I feel lousy. My head just aches, and I feel ill. (Although nothing like you, Karen!) My thought it that it's a girl this time, as I don't really handle estrogen too well. (I know, I'll miss it later in life, but to be honest, it's hard to imagine that right now.) Just a completely non-medical-professional thought. We'll see if my hunch is right.