elgeeko’s blog

My first update from Austin finds me well, engaged, in good health, and in high spirits.

Ten days ago, as I frantically packed the dregs of my Bay Area presence, I occasionally broke away to burn the next sampling of my digital music collection to CD. I am never alone with music, and I sought to accompany my journey with the best. The two-thousand mile drive to Austin was not as daunting as I had anticipated; I actually found the journey to be calming and meditative. My relaxation is in spite of my car stereo’s inability to play any of the more than fifty discs I burned. Friends saved me again: Natasha De Lange for leaving me with a collection of anthem and vocal trance; Halla Mohammad Siddiqui for John Mayer’s, “Continuum”; Philippe Hartley and Loren Nielsen for a KCRW sampling of popular and world music. These gifted albums were industry cut and readable by my car stereo and lasted just short of the duration of my trip; what remained was welcome meditation.

During the drive, California Highway Patrol nailed me for a speeding ticket as I climbed the Tejon Pass into Southern California, an infraction of which I am embarrassed only because I knew this pass to be the most likely place to be nabbed. It’s like the Bermuda Triangle: many will enter, few will pass ticket-free. My high school history teacher once shared her life mantra of “choosing easy”: the easiest choices, while not obvious, are those that ease your life in the long-term. Perhaps she meant I should have acted on my premonition to purchase a radar detector?

On arrival I found a clean apartment in a well-established and comfortable development community. What the community lacks in diversity and character it recovers in amenity and convenience, which I consider more important for a short-term rental. I will hang artwork on Sunday, which is when this place will truly be my own. (At the pinnacle of my art collection is a pair of macro photographs by Alex Bain, the first of which is a remnant of an art gallery we hosted, the second a kind gift on my departure). Austinites have been kind, helpful, and have made me feel welcome in Texas.

My work with National Instruments began with a bang. No tour of the land. No human resources meetings. No orientation. Just hit the ground running. As I walked with my hiring manager to my third meeting of my first day, she turned towards her desk and said “this meeting is all you, I’m not walking you through all of your meetings or anything, so go be independent.” Music to my ears! My colleagues were prepared for my arrival, familiar with my background and job role, and driven to work towards our common goal of marketing an impressive product line to the academic community. Game on!

While I am away from the familiar, and establishing a network in Austin, I think a good use of my free time will be to improve my cooking skills. I’ve always wanted to be a good cook, have never been one (despite having attended cooking school), and now is my chance. I broke from my norm of stocking my kitchen with bachelor food such as simple pasta and bolognaise, peanut butter and bread, and TV dinners, and will instead stock one recipe at a time by stopping by a food mart every night and picking up only what I need for the night’s recipe. Tonight’s recipe was a peppered beef top round roast. It was a bit dry, despite cooking only until the core reached 140 Fahrenheit and letting it rest for ten minutes before carving. Any suggestions?

I left UC Berkeley on a note of success, having completed the first version of the Tunneling Ball Device, a success realized last-minute and only through the help of colleagues and professors. This completed the last of my primary research goals, but more importantly, I feel that I held true to my commitment to the research team that made every effort to enable my success. The project has been handed to a highly qualified team who will continue research in model-based design and code generation for cyber-physical systems.

I left the Bay Area after a rocking night out with the many wonderful people who have made my life there so fulfilling and so enjoyable. You are the reason the Bay Area is my home, and why I will return in short order. I am a lucky man to have such an incredible and challenging job that accommodates my need to be with friends and family in California.

In the local vernacular, y’all are the best. Much love from Austin, come visit soon.

Yours,

Jeff