NJT

Somewhere in the first months of parenthood, my wife and I were exhausted. And there were some arguments that would pop up, most of which I can't remember, and may of which we couldn't solve. And as tired as we were, the harder we tried, the worse it got. So, we came up with NJT.

NJT is the acronym we came up with for "No Judgment Timeout."

My wife and I were together for 7 years before the birth of our first kid. We were used to a certain level of communication. For years, when something didn't work, we could talk it out. We both knew the relationship was good, that the other person was indelibly on our side, and so those crappy arguments were really confusing. We really wanted to resolve them, becuase we knew it would make everyone feel better.. we just couldn't get there from where we were. We were exhausted, and the harder we tried, the worse it got. We realized this eventually, and came up with NJT

NJT means: I love you, and you know it. You love me, and I know it. And the harder we try to resolve the argument, the worse it's getting for both of us. And the best thing we can do for each other is to just stop. We're not going to resolve this.* It will suck less for all involved to just blow the whistle, go to separate spaces, and get over it.

Note: NJT was for small, day to day stuff, not big, serious issues. Those bigger things we knew to leave alone until a later date. NJT is for stuff like "I thought you had all the bottles washed," or other things that suck SO MUCH in the moment, but won't burn the house down.

8-25-2023 What's up now?

So, it's now the end of August 2023. I've had this particular blog up since 2014, because I had previously been maintaining a woodworking blog, which had gotten some traction. Not huge, but even now, 9 years later, it still gets 500-1000 views on a monthly basis, so clearly it's still useful to a few people. But there's a difference between writing in an authoritative tone about a topic, and just blogging about what's up, what's on your mind, and I had a bunch of posts up here that felt like me trying to quasi-authoritatively offer information on... well, nothing, really. And I didn't want to use it to just meaninglessly blab, so every time I grabbed a hobby, I'd try writing about it. But never really had any commitment to it. 

At this point, I think I'm just going to use it to babble about me, what I've done, where I am, and so on. I've done a few things in the past 9 years, and there are a few things I keep telling people I'll write about, and this is as good a place as any. 

And now, the news...

As of tonight, I'm registered to start classes at WPI, working towards an MBA that specializes in engineering. I'm hoping it takes me someplace good. More as it happens.

Random Update, December 2021: I got into the BU LEAP program

I've been accepted into BU, starting in January. I'll have 2 or 3 semesters of prep classes, before jumping into 2 semesters of masters level work. 

I'm excited. I still don't fully have a handle on what I'll be specializing in, but the basic idea behind going back in the first place was that it was hard to watch Terrafugia crash as hard as it did, after so long. So many people worked so hard, but moving from proof of concept to actual production readiness is a HUGE jump, and they just weren't ready, on various levels. So, having watched that happen, I want to position myself to help other robotic or aerospace startups to make that jump, because it's a big jump. I think people are used to hearing about and reading about software startup mentalities, where you can patch certain things as you move along, and physical infrastructure isn't such a consideration. You can't adapt your design so easily once the tooling has been built.

Anyway, I'll expound later, I'm currently procrastinating, when I should be focused on getting ready for my Cal 3 final. I do have some things to say on all of the topics I've just hinted at, but this isn't the time. 

So, that just happened...

It's been an eventful few days.

Prologue: I got a random email from a recruiter for a staffing company a few months ago. He said he might have some interesting work coming up, and asked if I was interested. I didn't really think much of it, said sure, I'd take a look if he had something interesting. Worst-case scenario, I end up continuing to work at Aflac like I've been doing.

Fast forward to this past wednesday, I got a request from for a current résumé, there was a really cool job coming up, etc. Most of the postings forwarded to me by this company haven't been fantastic, but I send along an updated résumé anyway, and they send me a list of required and desired skills for the potential job.

Friday morning they called while I was on my way to work, to ask if I could interview Monday. Apparently the prospective employer really liked my résumé. I say ok, and let my boss know, when I got to work.

When I got back to my desk, my phone rang. Apparently Monday wasn't fast enough:
 "Could you come by at 10:30 or 11?" (It was 9:30)

I said sure, I guess. Yeah, I can make that happen.

"Great. Here's the name of the company you'll be interviewing with. You might want to do some research about them before you have the interview..."

Seriously? I'm at work, I have to finish up this thing, then leave for an interview, drive to the new place, and read about the new company when?

I get to the place at 11. It's a company that makes flying cars.

Flying cars? Good thing I'm flying blind into the interview.

Anyway... long story short, the interview was almost an hour and a half. And another hour and a half later, I got a call to ask when I could start.

SO... in a couple of weeks, I'll start working on making flying cars.

I don't know how the hell this kind of thing even happens, but I'm a little delirious about it.

More as it happens.