I QUIT!

Steve posting on his blog again has inspired me to finish my thought.

The hollywood version of quitting is so cool - you barge into your boss's office and yell I QUIT! and say something clever or nasty about shoving something somewhere and then maybe throw something or kick something and go storming off in victory and usually there's some appropriate music playing in the background. I should have put "damn it feels good to be a gangsta" on my iPod - hmm maybe I'll have to save that for the last day of work. (If you don't get it, go watch office space - I mean it - I'll wait
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Ok now that we all want a red stapler - moving on).

My version involved emailing my boss who was out of town and then talking to someone in HR so that at least someone would know that I had given notice. Then telling the people I worked with was a bit awkward and a little sad. I didn't even get to throw a pen or say anything clever and mean. Oh well.

As you read this you might think, gee David doesn't strike me as the kind of person that just decides to quit his job. Maybe you think I'm too responsible for that, or maybe just too greedy. Or maybe I've actually told everyone who reads this what's been going on so you know why I quit. Or maybe you are a bot crawling for a search engine that's just thinking - keywords are: job, quit, David (it's probably funnier if you read that last part in a robotic voice). Well, in any of those cases you're right (well maybe not the responsible part, and to the bot there are probably a few other good keywords on the page).

I think I already mentioned meeting up with Eric (fraternity brother). Well, I interviewed at the company he is working for, Cameron Health and got the job. I'm pretty excited. They are a small bio-tech start up in San Clemente (yes Nixon lived there at one point, and for those of us that didn't know he died in 1994 so no we won't be neighbors). Cameron Health is designing a new type of implantable defibrillator. I would warn you that the link describing implantable defibrillators is gross, but I'm retraining myself to not find that stuff gross, so the last link is NOT gross, definitely, definitely, NOT gross. The downside to this job is that I'll have to move from a small beach town to a bit bigger, bit more interesting beach town. Life's tough. And yet again, I have chosen good weather over my friends. Maybe one day my friends will learn to chose good weather too and we can actually live near each other.

Now you might say to yourself, what the crap does David know about biology? And, didn't David bump up against the edge of what could be considered cheating by coaxing the biology problem set answers out of Jason? Well the answers are nothing, and yes (but the problem sets were only worth 10% and half cheating on 10% is only 5% so it's pretty much negligible). So what is David doing working for a biotech startup? Well, implantable defibrillators sense electrical signals from the heart to decide when to send out a huge electric signal/storm to the heart. (I should have kept that sign about 10,000 volts implying that you shouldn't touch stuff on my desk, from when I was building that laser that I never finished.) So there is actually a lot of analog circuitry going on.

Next question - why change jobs? Well, it was time for a change. Mostly this seems like a particularly good time to try a small company. It should be a bit more exciting and fast pace. Also there is an element of risk, but with no dependents and not being a homeowner, if I show up one day and everything is shutdown then oh well. In addition, not to feel too special, but I think it will be cool that when I go to work each day I'll be working to making something that will save people's lives. Just a bit more meaningful than automatic test equipment.

Big Sur

This past weekend I headed up to Big Sur with Eric and Jess to meet up with my parents. It's quite the area. If you want to lay on sandy beaches and get in the ocean definitely head to SoCal rather than the central coast, but if you're looking for great views of hills ending at the ocean and cool rock formations in the ocean (wow, I'm such a poet I can make one of the coolest landscapes sound about as exciting as a field of grass) then the central coast is the place to be.

We did some hiking around in the woods and along the coast, went into Monterey and Carmel to see the little towns, and had some good eats with some good views.

In addition to seeing the sites and stretching our legs we all discussed our plans as the whole family seems to be in transition at almost the same time (for more on my transition see the next post which will probably have to wait until I leave work, or if I already posted it by time you read this think back to the last post you read).

A few random thoughts

So my first comment is for all the restaurant hosts/hostests in the world. If someone comes in and asks for a table it's one thing to say: for how many? or for one? but to say just one? or just for one? is just mean. If someone is eating alone the person knows it and there's no need to point it out further.

Next thought - I think I figured out the secret to driving in LA freeway traffic:
1. Drive about a mile
2. If traffic is reasonable (or at least not horrible) goto 1
3. If in a rush goto 8
4. Get off the freeway
5. Find the nearest movie theater
6. See whatever is playing at the time
7. Goto 1
8. People on the west coast aren't in a rush - learn to relax or move back to the east coast

I've only waited out rush hour(s) by seeing a movie twice but both times it worked well.

I actually talked about the literature class I took in college in an interview. It was my answer to the question: what was your worst class in college. At some point while I was describing why it was my worst class the interviewer said something like "typical engineer" - although, he is an engineer so I think it was meant in a good way.

Since I brought up interviewing - I'd rather see if I get the job or not before I discuss it further with "the world". If you're interested feel free to ask me directly.