Bobby G's footblog
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boyle
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Re: Bobby G's footblog
Sounds like a good week up ahead. I liked the part of the story where everyone ate pies. Did you kick with Matt Baker at all? I think the guys in Sydney were able to get him out for a few kicks last year.
Re: Bobby G's footblog
Matt came by around half way through the session just to hang out At some stage Dustin Rhodes was playing around with trying to learn eclipse which lead to many of us trying hopovers. Matt's lone shred was a hopover performed in a pair of flip flops. I also hit my first hopover since the turn of the century. 
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boyle
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Re: Bobby G's footblog
Very Aussie!
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LinoSphere
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Re: Bobby G's footblog
on the berlin photo: guy on the right is antonio fritsch, freestyler at that time, then converted to the dark side, now injured. asmus is right about yves. boy, did we look terrible back then. 18 and ugly 
but a nice way to be reminded of your visit, didn't remember at all. it's been quite a while...!
but a nice way to be reminded of your visit, didn't remember at all. it's been quite a while...!
Matthias Lino Schmidt
Re: Bobby G's footblog
Nice, thanks for the information Matthias. Though I certainly remembered meeting up with you guys, I have no memory of this photo being taken. It is nice to have the history filled in a bit.
USO Vacation week days 1 and 2 are in the books. Getting ready to head out for day 3 Stanford session now. Vlog for day 1 is below:
USO Vacation week days 1 and 2 are in the books. Getting ready to head out for day 3 Stanford session now. Vlog for day 1 is below:
Re: Bobby G's footblog
My entire summer vacation week is in the books now. What a great week! Had a great time showing Kevin around for a few days before having an epic road trip to and a great time at USO.
The prior video entry shows some of the sites we saw on day 1, which did not involve any footbag. Day 2 we stayed locally and got in a fun shred at a park near my place. I convinced Bear to do some tree climbing in order to setup my camera prior to the shred.
The camera was basically wedged into a crevice on the tree and was not really fastened to anything. I got footage from about the first 25 minutes of the shred, but then lost the rest of it from there. Highlights below.
The prior video entry shows some of the sites we saw on day 1, which did not involve any footbag. Day 2 we stayed locally and got in a fun shred at a park near my place. I convinced Bear to do some tree climbing in order to setup my camera prior to the shred.
The camera was basically wedged into a crevice on the tree and was not really fastened to anything. I got footage from about the first 25 minutes of the shred, but then lost the rest of it from there. Highlights below.
Re: Bobby G's footblog
Here is a photo of Kevin and Piper killin it. At least that's what I understand the kids say these days.
Kevin if you would like to use this photo to woo the ladies, please let me know and I can send you the original.
Day 3 highlight of the vacation adventure was the Stanford Tuesday shred. We had a nice time playing four square, then Brian, Kevin, and I kicked for a while. Here are some of the shred highlights:
Kevin if you would like to use this photo to woo the ladies, please let me know and I can send you the original.
Day 3 highlight of the vacation adventure was the Stanford Tuesday shred. We had a nice time playing four square, then Brian, Kevin, and I kicked for a while. Here are some of the shred highlights:
Re: Bobby G's footblog
On day 4 we took a day trip down to Big Sur, then had a shred poolside at my house in the evening. I was happy to get in a few nice warmup sessions that week as I had not been able to shred when I was traveling for business the week prior.
I did not manage to capture day 4 shred highlights, but if you are into scenery here are some of the things we saw during the day trip.
Day 5 was the start of the trip to USO wherein we collected Derek and SkyLon. That video, which contains a lot of nice shred and nice scenery, will be posted tomorrow.
I did not manage to capture day 4 shred highlights, but if you are into scenery here are some of the things we saw during the day trip.
Day 5 was the start of the trip to USO wherein we collected Derek and SkyLon. That video, which contains a lot of nice shred and nice scenery, will be posted tomorrow.
Re: Bobby G's footblog
Aw man. haven't read it yet, but i'm pumped for this writeup and video highlights. 
hahaKevin if you would like to use this photo to woo the ladies, please let me know and I can send you the original.
Re: Bobby G's footblog
Thanks Kyle, I hope you enjoy the ongoing videos and writeup.
Day 5 of my vacation was the first day of the roadtrip to USO. Kevin and I hit the road around 8:45, which was 45 minutes later than I had planned and totally my fault. We made great time to Derek's though and still got there about when I had originally hoped. Met Derek's parents very briefly and also got to see the back patio. Always kind of cool to see a shred spot that you recognize from someone's videos.
From there we headed to Grass Valley and met up with Skyler. We hung out a few minutes at his house while Lon got his last few items packed for the road trip. Here is a photo I took of a really cool tree he had in his front yard.
After Lon finished packing, we left my car at his place and he drove us up to a spot at the Yuba river where there is a bridge that at some point was deemed to small or unsafe for car traffic and is now just used for foot traffic. On the way up to the shred/swim spot, we did stop on one of the pull outs and captured this view.
When we got to the spot, we shredded on top of the bridge for a while and then took a very refreshing swim in the river afterward. Derek mentioned it in his blog too, but there were even blackberry bushes at the river that we got to sample from.
Here is a video of the shenanigans from the Bridge. I think of the videos I've released so far, this one has the nicest combination of shred and scenery. Hope you enjoy.
After the shred, we headed back to Lon's house, collected my car, and then drove another hour or two to Tahoe. Managed to finally find a place to get some pizza, then to the cabin where hangouts and drinking games ensued. I'm pretty sure I went to bed around midnight to get some good sleep before the drive from Tahoe to Boise the next morning.
Day 5 of my vacation was the first day of the roadtrip to USO. Kevin and I hit the road around 8:45, which was 45 minutes later than I had planned and totally my fault. We made great time to Derek's though and still got there about when I had originally hoped. Met Derek's parents very briefly and also got to see the back patio. Always kind of cool to see a shred spot that you recognize from someone's videos.
From there we headed to Grass Valley and met up with Skyler. We hung out a few minutes at his house while Lon got his last few items packed for the road trip. Here is a photo I took of a really cool tree he had in his front yard.
After Lon finished packing, we left my car at his place and he drove us up to a spot at the Yuba river where there is a bridge that at some point was deemed to small or unsafe for car traffic and is now just used for foot traffic. On the way up to the shred/swim spot, we did stop on one of the pull outs and captured this view.
When we got to the spot, we shredded on top of the bridge for a while and then took a very refreshing swim in the river afterward. Derek mentioned it in his blog too, but there were even blackberry bushes at the river that we got to sample from.
Here is a video of the shenanigans from the Bridge. I think of the videos I've released so far, this one has the nicest combination of shred and scenery. Hope you enjoy.
After the shred, we headed back to Lon's house, collected my car, and then drove another hour or two to Tahoe. Managed to finally find a place to get some pizza, then to the cabin where hangouts and drinking games ensued. I'm pretty sure I went to bed around midnight to get some good sleep before the drive from Tahoe to Boise the next morning.
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boyle
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Re: Bobby G's footblog
That place with the bridge looked just awesome. How refreshing. Awesome you are doing this video series.
Re: Bobby G's footblog
Yes, that bridge is pretty freaking epic as a shred spot! I don’t have like a top 5 list or anything, but if I did I’m sure that would be in it. I asked Lon if I could bring my family up with me later in the summer. They would swim while he and I kick, and then we would join them. He was down for that, so I’ll try to figure out some timing on that, probably for August. If it stretches into September, I might try to get McLittlefield into that action as well.
I haven’t had a chance to edit anymore footage since last weekend. I really unplugged from work pretty well during USO week, so I’m putting in some pretty long days at work to try and move stuff forward. I’m also gearing up for 8 days of travel that start tomorrow, so I couldn’t motivate to edit footage today. That means the last couple videos of my USO series may be a couple of weeks out at this point. So far I haven’t posted anywhere but here. When they are all done, I will probably create a playlist and post that to the Facebook group and let folks know which ones have footbag and who they feature.
Did get in a good shred with the Stanford crew today. I kicked twice during the week in new shoes; low energy both days. Today when I kicked I had a lot of energy and was wearing my old shoes which are still easier to play in than the new ones. Couple of highlights for me:
strong smear and both PLOs in one run
pixie muted clipper > drifter BS. This was new on one side
spinning rubber knee to flying clipper > string. I gotta get better at and do more of this stuff. So fresh.
Flying to Boston tomorrow. Planning to kick with BSC at 7:00 pm Monday night at Boston Common. Probably my only social calendar this week as I expect work to be pretty heavy.
Friday when I leave I will fly straight to Portland. My wife will have gotten there a day or two before me. We have several friends and family in Portland, so we get there every year or two. At the moment we have a friend going through chemo so there was some urgency to make a visit there. I believe Larry Workman will also be there helping care for his daughter who is also going through chemo. I’ve thought about reaching out, but am still trying to determine whether I will have any free time in my schedule. Flying in Friday and home Sunday, so a very short trip. Hopefully I get an idea in the next couple of days.
I can’t quite manage a video every post like Ken does, but I do try to use a lot of photos. In absence of a video for the Tahoe to Boise leg, here is a photo from our meal at Taco John’s.
Taco John’s is a mexican fast food restaurant chain I think mostly in the western United States. I wasn’t surprised that Hogan had never heard of it, but I don’t think that Derek or Lon had either (which I did find surprising). My family thinks Taco Bell is gross but likes Taco John's. I think both are fast food which I think means that both taste alright but are probably a little gross. Hah!
Also, one last photo with a story. On the drive from Tahoe to Boise, somewhere in either Nevada or Oregon, Lon announced that he wanted to stop for a swim in a river. I kind of blew that off thinking he wasn’t serious, then as we drove over this bridge he shouts, “this is where I wanted to stop!!!”. Shit he was serious! So, I swerve to the shoulder and manage to make a stop that wasn't so safe. Then Lon scampers off to go for a swim. Kevin and Derek also scampered off to do whatever it is that guys on footbag road trips scamper off to do, and I stayed in the car. At some point I notice a little friend had joined me, and I took this photo. Managed to get him to climb onto a spoon and release her to the outside before the gentlemen ever arrived back.
I’m pretty impressed with the quality of photos you can get with an iPhone camera.
I haven’t had a chance to edit anymore footage since last weekend. I really unplugged from work pretty well during USO week, so I’m putting in some pretty long days at work to try and move stuff forward. I’m also gearing up for 8 days of travel that start tomorrow, so I couldn’t motivate to edit footage today. That means the last couple videos of my USO series may be a couple of weeks out at this point. So far I haven’t posted anywhere but here. When they are all done, I will probably create a playlist and post that to the Facebook group and let folks know which ones have footbag and who they feature.
Did get in a good shred with the Stanford crew today. I kicked twice during the week in new shoes; low energy both days. Today when I kicked I had a lot of energy and was wearing my old shoes which are still easier to play in than the new ones. Couple of highlights for me:
strong smear and both PLOs in one run
pixie muted clipper > drifter BS. This was new on one side
spinning rubber knee to flying clipper > string. I gotta get better at and do more of this stuff. So fresh.
Flying to Boston tomorrow. Planning to kick with BSC at 7:00 pm Monday night at Boston Common. Probably my only social calendar this week as I expect work to be pretty heavy.
Friday when I leave I will fly straight to Portland. My wife will have gotten there a day or two before me. We have several friends and family in Portland, so we get there every year or two. At the moment we have a friend going through chemo so there was some urgency to make a visit there. I believe Larry Workman will also be there helping care for his daughter who is also going through chemo. I’ve thought about reaching out, but am still trying to determine whether I will have any free time in my schedule. Flying in Friday and home Sunday, so a very short trip. Hopefully I get an idea in the next couple of days.
I can’t quite manage a video every post like Ken does, but I do try to use a lot of photos. In absence of a video for the Tahoe to Boise leg, here is a photo from our meal at Taco John’s.
Taco John’s is a mexican fast food restaurant chain I think mostly in the western United States. I wasn’t surprised that Hogan had never heard of it, but I don’t think that Derek or Lon had either (which I did find surprising). My family thinks Taco Bell is gross but likes Taco John's. I think both are fast food which I think means that both taste alright but are probably a little gross. Hah!
Also, one last photo with a story. On the drive from Tahoe to Boise, somewhere in either Nevada or Oregon, Lon announced that he wanted to stop for a swim in a river. I kind of blew that off thinking he wasn’t serious, then as we drove over this bridge he shouts, “this is where I wanted to stop!!!”. Shit he was serious! So, I swerve to the shoulder and manage to make a stop that wasn't so safe. Then Lon scampers off to go for a swim. Kevin and Derek also scampered off to do whatever it is that guys on footbag road trips scamper off to do, and I stayed in the car. At some point I notice a little friend had joined me, and I took this photo. Managed to get him to climb onto a spoon and release her to the outside before the gentlemen ever arrived back.
I’m pretty impressed with the quality of photos you can get with an iPhone camera.
Re: Bobby G's footblog
Only one session in the last week. BSC session last Monday with Pete, Ben, and Kevin. Really fun time. This crazy drug addled park goer was spectating and later playing with us. Could come up with some humorous stories from that, but rushed for time. Everyone played pretty well. My highlight of the night was probably pixie muted clipper > muted ducking far squeeze > far clipper. So a couple of driftery looking tricks with a ducking squeeze in the middle.
Stayed in Boston through Thursday night and flew to Portland, OR Friday morning. My wife had gotten there two nights earlier. We planned the PDX trip a couple of months back before I knew I had a work week in Boston. Visiting a couple sets of long time mutual friends as well as my Uncle. Our friend Lou has cancer now and is undergoing chemotherapy so we were trying to get up for a visit while he is still healthy. Really, really good visits all around. Super packed weekend; too busy to look Larry up. Looks like he got on the news kicking in Pioneer Square on Saturday. That is where I became interested in footbag, and I had also walked by there earlier in the day. Would have been fun to bump into him and at least say hi.
Back to San Jose from PDX last night. One day in the office, and now red eye to Baltimore tomorrow. I wasn’t quite expecting the timing of this trip, though I knew the work would be coming. Looks like I’ll be in that area for the rest of the week and possibly into next week. Might get a chance to shred with Polini.
Have not had time yet to get back to editing the footage from USO week.
Stayed in Boston through Thursday night and flew to Portland, OR Friday morning. My wife had gotten there two nights earlier. We planned the PDX trip a couple of months back before I knew I had a work week in Boston. Visiting a couple sets of long time mutual friends as well as my Uncle. Our friend Lou has cancer now and is undergoing chemotherapy so we were trying to get up for a visit while he is still healthy. Really, really good visits all around. Super packed weekend; too busy to look Larry up. Looks like he got on the news kicking in Pioneer Square on Saturday. That is where I became interested in footbag, and I had also walked by there earlier in the day. Would have been fun to bump into him and at least say hi.
Back to San Jose from PDX last night. One day in the office, and now red eye to Baltimore tomorrow. I wasn’t quite expecting the timing of this trip, though I knew the work would be coming. Looks like I’ll be in that area for the rest of the week and possibly into next week. Might get a chance to shred with Polini.
Have not had time yet to get back to editing the footage from USO week.
Re: Bobby G's footblog
Got to kick with Nick twice. First session was a Thursday evening post-work session. It was fun, but I'd have to admit we both played a little rough relative to our respective abilities. Second session was a Saturday session with Nick and Zach Hoffa's budding footbag club. In all, including myself there were nine of us. Really fun session. I definitely played much better, and from what I saw of Nick it seemed like he did too. I'd met Nick, Zach and Bonslaver before but everyone else who attended was brand new for me. Got to meet Nathan's friend Carter, but I was bad about switching up circles so I think he is the only one I didn't kick with....I screwed up on that one.
Also, Zach Hoffa is a really nice guy. I had met him twice before but didn't REALLY talk with him for any length during those times. I had sort of just assumed we might not have a lot to chat about, but when I got to talking with him during that Saturday shred I found him very interesting to talk to.
I've been extremely busy with work since USO got over. I was back home the latter half of this week after traveling for 2.5 weeks straight, and finally got in a solo session on Friday evening. Played Saturday and Sunday as well, so it was nice to have a slight streak. Just stuck to a few simple core drills, but it felt good to just put in some reps and shake off the rust a little bit.
Will be home all this week, then next weekend I'll fly to Boston again for another week there. Hoping to get in a session with BSC. I'm lucky to have the Stanford Crew to kick with, but I have to admit I really miss those guys.
Tomorrow makes one year since we flew to California to move here. I hope to make a full post reflecting on the last year....that will be a mostly positive post I think.
Also, Zach Hoffa is a really nice guy. I had met him twice before but didn't REALLY talk with him for any length during those times. I had sort of just assumed we might not have a lot to chat about, but when I got to talking with him during that Saturday shred I found him very interesting to talk to.
I've been extremely busy with work since USO got over. I was back home the latter half of this week after traveling for 2.5 weeks straight, and finally got in a solo session on Friday evening. Played Saturday and Sunday as well, so it was nice to have a slight streak. Just stuck to a few simple core drills, but it felt good to just put in some reps and shake off the rust a little bit.
Will be home all this week, then next weekend I'll fly to Boston again for another week there. Hoping to get in a session with BSC. I'm lucky to have the Stanford Crew to kick with, but I have to admit I really miss those guys.
Tomorrow makes one year since we flew to California to move here. I hope to make a full post reflecting on the last year....that will be a mostly positive post I think.
Re: Bobby G's footblog
Work travel has been unusually high for the last 5 weeks. In that timeframe I've been in Massachusetts for two working weeks and in Maryland for about 1.5 weeks. Flying home from Boston right now, and I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. I expect the next two weeks to continue bringing crazy working hours, but hopefully no travel.
This week I arrived in Boston on Sunday. Got checked into my airbnb, and an hour later I was at the common shredding with BSC next to the Tremont Street Fountain. Pete, Ben, and Kevin were all able to make it out and we had a really long, really fun session. I meant to blog about it earlier but was too busy and at this point I'm a little fuzzy on the actual shred highlights, but I recall that all 4 of us played pretty well.
We had an interesting interaction with a very pleasant crackhead. I realize I'm a sarcastic bastard and that sounds like sarcasm, but I'm actually being 100% serious. There were a lot of people around, including this discheveled looking lady who looked like she has seen better days. At some point "all the way up" comes on the playlist and she starts smiling and dancing/twerking. We just continue doing our thing playing while she continues her thing dancing off to the side. Song gets over and she asks if we can replay it. Ben Little tells her no thinking we were listening to a streaming service, but it turns out it actually was on an actual playlist so Kevin replayed the song for her. She continues dancing, then near Pete and me says something like, "That's how I like to get when I smoke rock. I don't use those little ones, I go all the way up!". After the second play got over she thanked us for playing it again and went along her way. She really honestly was a very friendly lady, so although her state in life is very sad I'm glad we had a pleasant interaction with her.
After shred Kevin had to run, but I had a chance to grab a bite with Pete and Ben which was also nice.
I have not played since due to time constraints. I'll be working over the weekend and I'll skip the drive to Steve's for Stanford shred, but I WILL carve out an hour to play at home just for sanity sake.
Last weekend I hit 7 contacts of duck clip > osis > osis > rpt drill. That is pretty good for me. Also BSOSed duck clip > osis > pdx mirage > butterfly I'm pretty sure. If not BSOS, definitely BS. Most of that week was focused on tiltless toe drills, so nothing exciting to report but I do feel like it helps a lot with consistency.
I'll try to bring back some spice to the ol' blog soon with either photos or videos and I'll definitely get back to some proper highlight reporting.
This week I arrived in Boston on Sunday. Got checked into my airbnb, and an hour later I was at the common shredding with BSC next to the Tremont Street Fountain. Pete, Ben, and Kevin were all able to make it out and we had a really long, really fun session. I meant to blog about it earlier but was too busy and at this point I'm a little fuzzy on the actual shred highlights, but I recall that all 4 of us played pretty well.
We had an interesting interaction with a very pleasant crackhead. I realize I'm a sarcastic bastard and that sounds like sarcasm, but I'm actually being 100% serious. There were a lot of people around, including this discheveled looking lady who looked like she has seen better days. At some point "all the way up" comes on the playlist and she starts smiling and dancing/twerking. We just continue doing our thing playing while she continues her thing dancing off to the side. Song gets over and she asks if we can replay it. Ben Little tells her no thinking we were listening to a streaming service, but it turns out it actually was on an actual playlist so Kevin replayed the song for her. She continues dancing, then near Pete and me says something like, "That's how I like to get when I smoke rock. I don't use those little ones, I go all the way up!". After the second play got over she thanked us for playing it again and went along her way. She really honestly was a very friendly lady, so although her state in life is very sad I'm glad we had a pleasant interaction with her.
After shred Kevin had to run, but I had a chance to grab a bite with Pete and Ben which was also nice.
I have not played since due to time constraints. I'll be working over the weekend and I'll skip the drive to Steve's for Stanford shred, but I WILL carve out an hour to play at home just for sanity sake.
Last weekend I hit 7 contacts of duck clip > osis > osis > rpt drill. That is pretty good for me. Also BSOSed duck clip > osis > pdx mirage > butterfly I'm pretty sure. If not BSOS, definitely BS. Most of that week was focused on tiltless toe drills, so nothing exciting to report but I do feel like it helps a lot with consistency.
I'll try to bring back some spice to the ol' blog soon with either photos or videos and I'll definitely get back to some proper highlight reporting.
Re: Bobby G's footblog
Work/Life Shizzle:
I told Kristin earlier this week that I need a vacation. Then I laughed about it when I realized I just had a full week off for USO 2 months ago. Work has continued to be nuts with fairly consistent work weeks in the 70+ hr range and a pretty rough travel load the last couple of months. The project deadline we've been pushing so hard for looms near, so the good news is that things should lighten up a bit sometime this week.
At this point in my career I've worked in two huge companies and in two startups. I started out in a big company and after 5 years went to a startup, switching from big pharma to analytical instrument development in the process. That company was successful and got bought by another big company, and I stayed there for another few years until work became boring. A big focus at big company #2 was on manufacturing efficiency and, not so much on new product develpment. The latter is what is more exciting for me, so it was time to move on. Just over 3 years ago I joined a new startup founded by folks from the first startup I worked at. Same familiar faces as before, but working with a completely different analytical technology that I'd never worked with before. Gotta keep it fresh, yo!
I came across this image a couple of years back, and in my experience it is pretty accurate.
Large companies want predictability so they can get hit their numbers each quarter to keep their shareholders happy and to not have their stock slip. As a result, they are risk averse and tend more to follow the status quo. Brand new technologies are often just purchased from a smaller company that has already proven the technology and developed an initial market instead of having the technology and market development home-grown. There can be many lines of management required to weigh in and make a decision in a big company. This necessitates a lot of time spent in meetings, which takes away from time required to get shit done.
In the beginning, startups have no product and are just burning investor cash to keep the lights on, buy necessary equipment for development, and pay the employees. They have to get a product to market and start selling it quickly, or they will fizzle out. In my experience there is at most one layer of management required to make important decisions so there is much less time spent in meetings at a startup. All of your time is spent getting shit done.
Things I've liked better at the big guys:
Better work life balance
More options within the company, and generally a better support structure, to allow employees to branch out into different types of jobs. This hasn't been a big factor for me, but I've seen other people make pretty big switches in their job function without having to swap companies.
Things I've liked better with the little guys:
I have almost complete autonomy in my job. The responsibility this comes with is stressful, but it is infinitely better than being micromanaged.
I love my team! I'm not going through stretches like the current one working crazy hours because someone is forcing me to. I'm working that hard because the rest of my team is pushing really hard too, and I don't want to let them down. And to clarify, when I say 'my team' I don't mean people who report to me. I mean people who are my peers, above and below me in the formal heirarchy, that I genuinely consider to be my teammates.
To the last point, formal heirarchy is much less of a big deal in the smaller companies I've worked at. Big pharma, in contrast, was super hung up on heirarchy and academic pedigree. I have an MS from a small state school in Idaho and not a PhD from a prestigious university. That has never been a limitation in the startups that I've worked at, but big pharma seemed to be pretty hung up on titles and such.
We work on really cool shit. I still get to publish a paper here and there or present at a conference, but honestly I don't do too much pure science these days. What is cool is that I get to take technology that has been proven by someone else in a laboratory setting and help commercialize it into something real people (i.e., not just scientists) use. Whereas we are using components of pre-existing technology, we are integrating them and making brand new products that that no one else has ever made before. That work is very satisfying. Developing this stuff is technically very risky, which is why I think it is hard to get momentum to work on it in a big company given their risk aversion.
What I think is neutral:
Job security. I bring this up because a lot of people believe that you have more job security at a big company. I used to think that too, but I call total bullshit on that now. I've seen big companies lay off some of their best and brightest because some directive from upper management was made when the numbers were missed one quarter. At a startup if you've got a good technology with decent market potential, you make your job security by busting your ass and becoming indispensable to the team. In that scenario, your job is safe so long as the future of the company is safe. It is a bit dog eat dog though...if you are dead wood, your job is not safe.
Also, on the work/life balance thing, Donald Trump is a douchebag. I think he is in general, but that is beside the point. When he got into the flame war with the gold star parents of the Muslim soldier who was killed in action just after the DNC, he said that his sacrifice was that he works very, very hard. Working hard is stressful and tiring, I agree. But do you know who suffers when I work as much as I have been the last two months? My family. My family sacrifices a lot for my job. I can only assume that he has supports in place that help to make him successful.
Sorry for the length brain dump on that one. I feel like my blog has been a bit complainy lately, and I just wanted to get it out there to say that despite the stress it sometimes brings that I do love my job and feel happy to have it. I left the hampster wheel having been through this before and fully knowing I'd be trying to push rocks up hill.
Saw this little fellow in the office a few times last week. I think he is the California office mascot now.
Footbag Shizzle:
I played footbag with the Stanford Crew yesterday. It was me, Steve, Alex, and some other guy that showed up who used to play a lot with the crew before my time in California. He shows a lot of potential....warmed up with a lot of tiltless to knock off the rust after not playing in more than a year, but settled into things and was hitting nice strings including saucing tricks like janiwalker, alpine blurry whirl, foodprocessor, and a lot more. My string length was pretty poor, but I was pleased with the overall density and variety of what I was hitting.
The last time I had seen David was in 2005 or so in New Jersey in the back of a bead store owned by this guy Jack that was kicking with Jon Schneider a lot back then. It would be disingenuous to say we were buddies then, but we had met a handfull of times and I had gotten to watch him advance from a tiltless player to one just starting to break out with a solid game. Was really cool to meet him now, > 10 years later as an adult and learn more about what he does with his days.
One of the little quirks I noticed about playing with him was when Alex or I would hit something notable for us, you would hear an "Ok" or an "Ok, then" which was a form of props I'd never seen before but quite enjoyed. Anyway, it was great energy and a really fun circle. It is a bit of a hike to Steve's from the part of San Francisco that he lives in, but it sounds like he is interested in continuing to play with us at least once a month or so. Boy oh boy, do I hope that happens! I intentionally left my camera at home since I knew he would be rusty, but if he gets back into it I'll get some film from time to time to share with y'all.
I told Kristin earlier this week that I need a vacation. Then I laughed about it when I realized I just had a full week off for USO 2 months ago. Work has continued to be nuts with fairly consistent work weeks in the 70+ hr range and a pretty rough travel load the last couple of months. The project deadline we've been pushing so hard for looms near, so the good news is that things should lighten up a bit sometime this week.
At this point in my career I've worked in two huge companies and in two startups. I started out in a big company and after 5 years went to a startup, switching from big pharma to analytical instrument development in the process. That company was successful and got bought by another big company, and I stayed there for another few years until work became boring. A big focus at big company #2 was on manufacturing efficiency and, not so much on new product develpment. The latter is what is more exciting for me, so it was time to move on. Just over 3 years ago I joined a new startup founded by folks from the first startup I worked at. Same familiar faces as before, but working with a completely different analytical technology that I'd never worked with before. Gotta keep it fresh, yo!
I came across this image a couple of years back, and in my experience it is pretty accurate.
Large companies want predictability so they can get hit their numbers each quarter to keep their shareholders happy and to not have their stock slip. As a result, they are risk averse and tend more to follow the status quo. Brand new technologies are often just purchased from a smaller company that has already proven the technology and developed an initial market instead of having the technology and market development home-grown. There can be many lines of management required to weigh in and make a decision in a big company. This necessitates a lot of time spent in meetings, which takes away from time required to get shit done.
In the beginning, startups have no product and are just burning investor cash to keep the lights on, buy necessary equipment for development, and pay the employees. They have to get a product to market and start selling it quickly, or they will fizzle out. In my experience there is at most one layer of management required to make important decisions so there is much less time spent in meetings at a startup. All of your time is spent getting shit done.
Things I've liked better at the big guys:
Better work life balance More options within the company, and generally a better support structure, to allow employees to branch out into different types of jobs. This hasn't been a big factor for me, but I've seen other people make pretty big switches in their job function without having to swap companies.Things I've liked better with the little guys:
I have almost complete autonomy in my job. The responsibility this comes with is stressful, but it is infinitely better than being micromanaged. I love my team! I'm not going through stretches like the current one working crazy hours because someone is forcing me to. I'm working that hard because the rest of my team is pushing really hard too, and I don't want to let them down. And to clarify, when I say 'my team' I don't mean people who report to me. I mean people who are my peers, above and below me in the formal heirarchy, that I genuinely consider to be my teammates. To the last point, formal heirarchy is much less of a big deal in the smaller companies I've worked at. Big pharma, in contrast, was super hung up on heirarchy and academic pedigree. I have an MS from a small state school in Idaho and not a PhD from a prestigious university. That has never been a limitation in the startups that I've worked at, but big pharma seemed to be pretty hung up on titles and such. We work on really cool shit. I still get to publish a paper here and there or present at a conference, but honestly I don't do too much pure science these days. What is cool is that I get to take technology that has been proven by someone else in a laboratory setting and help commercialize it into something real people (i.e., not just scientists) use. Whereas we are using components of pre-existing technology, we are integrating them and making brand new products that that no one else has ever made before. That work is very satisfying. Developing this stuff is technically very risky, which is why I think it is hard to get momentum to work on it in a big company given their risk aversion.What I think is neutral:
Job security. I bring this up because a lot of people believe that you have more job security at a big company. I used to think that too, but I call total bullshit on that now. I've seen big companies lay off some of their best and brightest because some directive from upper management was made when the numbers were missed one quarter. At a startup if you've got a good technology with decent market potential, you make your job security by busting your ass and becoming indispensable to the team. In that scenario, your job is safe so long as the future of the company is safe. It is a bit dog eat dog though...if you are dead wood, your job is not safe.Also, on the work/life balance thing, Donald Trump is a douchebag. I think he is in general, but that is beside the point. When he got into the flame war with the gold star parents of the Muslim soldier who was killed in action just after the DNC, he said that his sacrifice was that he works very, very hard. Working hard is stressful and tiring, I agree. But do you know who suffers when I work as much as I have been the last two months? My family. My family sacrifices a lot for my job. I can only assume that he has supports in place that help to make him successful.
Sorry for the length brain dump on that one. I feel like my blog has been a bit complainy lately, and I just wanted to get it out there to say that despite the stress it sometimes brings that I do love my job and feel happy to have it. I left the hampster wheel having been through this before and fully knowing I'd be trying to push rocks up hill.
Saw this little fellow in the office a few times last week. I think he is the California office mascot now.
Footbag Shizzle:
I played footbag with the Stanford Crew yesterday. It was me, Steve, Alex, and some other guy that showed up who used to play a lot with the crew before my time in California. He shows a lot of potential....warmed up with a lot of tiltless to knock off the rust after not playing in more than a year, but settled into things and was hitting nice strings including saucing tricks like janiwalker, alpine blurry whirl, foodprocessor, and a lot more. My string length was pretty poor, but I was pleased with the overall density and variety of what I was hitting.
The last time I had seen David was in 2005 or so in New Jersey in the back of a bead store owned by this guy Jack that was kicking with Jon Schneider a lot back then. It would be disingenuous to say we were buddies then, but we had met a handfull of times and I had gotten to watch him advance from a tiltless player to one just starting to break out with a solid game. Was really cool to meet him now, > 10 years later as an adult and learn more about what he does with his days.
One of the little quirks I noticed about playing with him was when Alex or I would hit something notable for us, you would hear an "Ok" or an "Ok, then" which was a form of props I'd never seen before but quite enjoyed. Anyway, it was great energy and a really fun circle. It is a bit of a hike to Steve's from the part of San Francisco that he lives in, but it sounds like he is interested in continuing to play with us at least once a month or so. Boy oh boy, do I hope that happens! I intentionally left my camera at home since I knew he would be rusty, but if he gets back into it I'll get some film from time to time to share with y'all.
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boyle
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Re: Bobby G's footblog
Good that Dave is back in action. I think the job security is right, as long as the startup is up amd running. At the beginning the job security is close to zero.
Re: Bobby G's footblog
Yes, that is a good assessment….if the business fails, you are up a creek without a paddle no matter what.boyle wrote:I think the job security is right, as long as the startup is up amd running. At the beginning the job security is close to zero.
As anticipated/desired, work load slowly dissipated over the week and at least as of this writing things feel ’normal’. I didn’t work this weekend for the first time since USO vacation, and it felt great. I have still to finish videos/vlogs from the rest of USO week, but I gave myself the weekend off even from that just so I could be lazy. I did make a trip up to Sacramento to visit my sister and got some much needed projects done around the house, so I didn’t just watch netflix all weekend. I’m only two episodes in on Stranger Things for anyone following that.
I’ve managed to play footbag 7 of the last 10 days, which feels really, really good. The last two days I felt pretty strong, so I hope that continues. In my current lineup for practice this week I have some longer tiltless drills and also a handful of shorter guiltless drills. I was reasonably inactive the last couple of months and had some poor dietary decisions during late night work binges, so I’m hoping to maintain a little more activity for the next little while.
A close family friend from my childhood was buried on Thursday. I mostly knew her as a little girl (the daughter of my Mom’s best friend and lil sis of one of my buddies), but I did have a couple of chances to get to know her as an adult a handful of times during visits home. She is good people and as far as anything I know she was loved by everyone who came across her path. This photo is from the front of her procession, ahead of all of the cars and such, and although it makes me sad it also made me smile too. She was proud of her heritage and recognized as a warrior by her tribe in 2005 for military service (Iraq) and in the photo you can see the Montana State Flag, the American Flag, and the Assiniboine Flag as well as the riderless horse is to honor her. It is terrible she is having a sendoff, but it is a good sendoff I think she would have been happy with.
Next entry I promise will be less serious and more just footbag stuff. I’ll work to get the next video entry of the USO road trip done. That should pick up on the road trip from Tahoe to Boise, so I imagine there should be some good times in there.
Re: Bobby G's footblog
I continued a pretty good footbag streak through the end of last week. Over the weekend I supported a regional hazmat training that our company was invited to participate in. We had 6 teams/day from different cities rotate through each scenario. We were involved with two scenarios, but I was assigned to the same one both days. Each scenario lasted 2 hours, so it made for pretty long days but it was also great to see our equipment be used in real world scenarios. I grabbed the image below off of the Alameda County Fire Department’s Facebook page since I know that it acceptable to share it publicly. This shows a bunch of photos from the scenario that I was supporting.
Following the long weekend I took it easy Monday, had a solo session Tuesday, took it easy Wednesday again, and then took the day off on Thursday and drove up to Sacramento to play with Ken and Derek. Unfortunately, I never got into a rhythm and had one of my poorest sessions of the entire year. I tried not to wear that on my sleeve too much as I wanted to minimize how much my poor playing might impact their session. Hopefully I didn’t act too outwardly frustrated. I know they ended up doing some cool stuff, and I’m sure you will have a chance to read about and/or see that in their blogs.
After footbag, we hit Trader Joes to grab some food and beer and went back to the hotel that Ken was staying at. Got in some hot tub time, some grub, a beer, and a few hours of great conversation. Whereas I was really disappointed with how I played, I’d say the hangout afterward still made the trip worthwhile.
During the conversation, one of the guys asked how much I am playing. I explained it is pretty work dependent and that I seem to go in streaks where I’m playing pretty frequently, then that will get interrupted by work and I will play a lot less. I actually keep notes of my sessions, so this evening I got curious I tallied it up. So far through the end of August I’ve averaged playing 11.75 days per month in 2016. I didn’t make a tally in 2015, but in my end of year summary for 2014 I averaged right around 14 days per month. That might not sound like a huge difference, but if the trend continues over the course of the entire year it would be a difference in 27 playing days throughout the year. Looking through my notes, I can tell that in addition to playing less in 2016 I’ve been having a lot less focused sessions and have not been pushing new consecutives records and new tricks near as much.
After my poor showing yesterday, I think it is time to buckle down and start training more effectively. I want to focus on the following:
Solo sessions that are goal oriented. I need to flush this out a bit, but I’m unhappy with my consistency so I need to start pushing some of my consecutive records again and I also need to pick a certain number of contacts and force myself to hit that many contacts at least n times per session. The goal will be to increase the number of contacts and/or the number of times/session that I hit that many contacts over time.
Play a minimum of 10 times per month, even when work is busy. This is somewhat arbitrary, but 10x per month was the least I played in all of 2014. This year I've had a few busy months where I only played 8 times.
This is really related to being more goal oriented, but I want to get back to hitting at least one new thing (consecutive record, new trick, new combo, or whatever) at least once per week.
Get back to eating healthier and drop some weight. I’ve allowed myself to slip and gain about 18 lbs since my lowest weight in 2014. I still feel reasonably healthy, but I can tell my stamina is not as good as it should be. As part of this goal, I will likely start doing some kind of secondary exercise like bicycling or more frequent walking.
Figure out why my left toe stall has gotten shitty over the last year. I literally feel like when I get fatigued that I lose the ability to curl my toes up and my foot kind of goes lame and points down which makes me drop a lot more and make it more difficult to set properly for the next trick. I’m due for an annual checkup, so maybe I’ll ask the doctor about exercises I might consider.
No Brian or Derek at Steve’s house tomorrow, which means that it would most likely be a “squares only" session. I do like foursquare, but it is a long drive for no freestyle. I think I’ll skip the drive/travel time for this weekend, and just stay home so I can get a good focused solo session in while I am well rested. I almost always play best on the weekends, so it is a waste of a day to not get a freestyle session in. Avoiding the driving time may also give me some more time to get back to the USO footage.
Following the long weekend I took it easy Monday, had a solo session Tuesday, took it easy Wednesday again, and then took the day off on Thursday and drove up to Sacramento to play with Ken and Derek. Unfortunately, I never got into a rhythm and had one of my poorest sessions of the entire year. I tried not to wear that on my sleeve too much as I wanted to minimize how much my poor playing might impact their session. Hopefully I didn’t act too outwardly frustrated. I know they ended up doing some cool stuff, and I’m sure you will have a chance to read about and/or see that in their blogs.
After footbag, we hit Trader Joes to grab some food and beer and went back to the hotel that Ken was staying at. Got in some hot tub time, some grub, a beer, and a few hours of great conversation. Whereas I was really disappointed with how I played, I’d say the hangout afterward still made the trip worthwhile.
During the conversation, one of the guys asked how much I am playing. I explained it is pretty work dependent and that I seem to go in streaks where I’m playing pretty frequently, then that will get interrupted by work and I will play a lot less. I actually keep notes of my sessions, so this evening I got curious I tallied it up. So far through the end of August I’ve averaged playing 11.75 days per month in 2016. I didn’t make a tally in 2015, but in my end of year summary for 2014 I averaged right around 14 days per month. That might not sound like a huge difference, but if the trend continues over the course of the entire year it would be a difference in 27 playing days throughout the year. Looking through my notes, I can tell that in addition to playing less in 2016 I’ve been having a lot less focused sessions and have not been pushing new consecutives records and new tricks near as much.
After my poor showing yesterday, I think it is time to buckle down and start training more effectively. I want to focus on the following:
Solo sessions that are goal oriented. I need to flush this out a bit, but I’m unhappy with my consistency so I need to start pushing some of my consecutive records again and I also need to pick a certain number of contacts and force myself to hit that many contacts at least n times per session. The goal will be to increase the number of contacts and/or the number of times/session that I hit that many contacts over time. Play a minimum of 10 times per month, even when work is busy. This is somewhat arbitrary, but 10x per month was the least I played in all of 2014. This year I've had a few busy months where I only played 8 times. This is really related to being more goal oriented, but I want to get back to hitting at least one new thing (consecutive record, new trick, new combo, or whatever) at least once per week. Get back to eating healthier and drop some weight. I’ve allowed myself to slip and gain about 18 lbs since my lowest weight in 2014. I still feel reasonably healthy, but I can tell my stamina is not as good as it should be. As part of this goal, I will likely start doing some kind of secondary exercise like bicycling or more frequent walking. Figure out why my left toe stall has gotten shitty over the last year. I literally feel like when I get fatigued that I lose the ability to curl my toes up and my foot kind of goes lame and points down which makes me drop a lot more and make it more difficult to set properly for the next trick. I’m due for an annual checkup, so maybe I’ll ask the doctor about exercises I might consider.No Brian or Derek at Steve’s house tomorrow, which means that it would most likely be a “squares only" session. I do like foursquare, but it is a long drive for no freestyle. I think I’ll skip the drive/travel time for this weekend, and just stay home so I can get a good focused solo session in while I am well rested. I almost always play best on the weekends, so it is a waste of a day to not get a freestyle session in. Avoiding the driving time may also give me some more time to get back to the USO footage.
Re: Bobby G's footblog
My last post was a little over 5 weeks ago. At that time I was a little frustrated with my recent playing, and I outlined a couple of loose goals. I'd say for now this is my progress on them.
Focused Goal Oriented Sessions:
Self evaluation = A
All of my recent solo sessions have been goal oriented with some aspects focused on string length and other aspects focused on getting better at certain tricks/components. I'm pleased with how I've focused my training efforts.
Play minimum of 10x/month even when work is busy
Self evaluation = B
Over the last 5 weeks, I've averaged 3.76 sessions per week which is in excess of the goal. When not traveling for work, I've gotten into a nice rhythm of sessions on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Giving myself a B instead of an A because with the exception of one Hogan session in Salem I've done a crappy job of playing while traveling. I've mostly bumped my numbers by trying to get in extra sessions at home immediately before or after a work trip.
Hit at least one new thing per week
Self Evaluation = C
Shit, I forgot until now this was even a goal and I haven't been tracking it closely. I know I've hit some new stuff in the last month, but it hasn't been weekly for sure.
Eat healthier and drop some weight
Self evaluation = D
Basically I did pretty well on this for 2 weeks or so. Got in the habit of packing work lunches instead of buying them (which mostly helps with portion control not to mention saving money), and and also started hitting the farmers market on Sunday to get lots of fruits/veg for the week. Then I had a travel heavy schedule for a couple of weeks and fell off the wagon a bit. Need to get back on that.
Figure out and fix shitty left toe stall
Not sure how to evaluate this one. I'm trying to work on it when I play, but it still feels much more problematic than it ever has. I have not yet scheduled my annual checkup, so no medical input.
All in all, except for my dietary willpower I'm pretty happy with how things are going. String length is up, which is one of the main goals that I've had. Been pushing consecutive clipper drills each session as well as trying to get all basic L, I, M, and/or, P in a single string every session. All basic mirage drill is the easiest for me, but I've also been getting all basic pickups pretty regularly too an more recently been getting all basic legovers. I've had a couple of sessions where I get all basic L, M, and P as separate strings in the same day and most sessions I'm getting through at least two of them. An all basic illusions drill is mostly theoretical at the moment as my same illusions and near illusions are not very consistent. Been trying to fix that with specific illusion drills. I'd like to do something like all basic mirage > all basic pickup (e.g. minimum 24 contacts including the clipper sets), but so far I've only gotten like 6/8 through the second set in a single string.
Recent Stanford Saturday sessions haven't been an every weekend thing, but I'd say when we have had sessions that the turnout has been pretty good. Looking forward to that trend continuing.
I was starting to plan for a visit this weekend to Sacramento to get a session in with Littlefoot and to visit my family, but my boss just hit me up tonight and asked me to go to Boston next week. I don't want to miss Halloween, so I'm gonna do trick or treating Monday night with Ruari, and then hop on a red eye afterward. Derek is cool and was amenable to me re-scheduling for a couple of weeks out so I'm not gone all day Saturday just before being away from my family for the week. I haven't yet had a 1:1 Sacramento session with Derek, so I'm looking forward to that.
Planning to go to Twin Falls, Idaho for all of Thanksgiving week and visit my in-laws. I'd like to take a day trip to Boise to visit my Uncle and shred with Penske and co if they are available, so I need to get to coordinating that. There is another Idaho shredder from back in the day named Ryan Burt who I re-met at USO this year, and he lives in Twin Falls so I may hit him up too.
Focused Goal Oriented Sessions: Self evaluation = A
All of my recent solo sessions have been goal oriented with some aspects focused on string length and other aspects focused on getting better at certain tricks/components. I'm pleased with how I've focused my training efforts.
Play minimum of 10x/month even when work is busySelf evaluation = B
Over the last 5 weeks, I've averaged 3.76 sessions per week which is in excess of the goal. When not traveling for work, I've gotten into a nice rhythm of sessions on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Giving myself a B instead of an A because with the exception of one Hogan session in Salem I've done a crappy job of playing while traveling. I've mostly bumped my numbers by trying to get in extra sessions at home immediately before or after a work trip.
Hit at least one new thing per weekSelf Evaluation = C
Shit, I forgot until now this was even a goal and I haven't been tracking it closely. I know I've hit some new stuff in the last month, but it hasn't been weekly for sure.
Eat healthier and drop some weightSelf evaluation = D
Basically I did pretty well on this for 2 weeks or so. Got in the habit of packing work lunches instead of buying them (which mostly helps with portion control not to mention saving money), and and also started hitting the farmers market on Sunday to get lots of fruits/veg for the week. Then I had a travel heavy schedule for a couple of weeks and fell off the wagon a bit. Need to get back on that.
Figure out and fix shitty left toe stallNot sure how to evaluate this one. I'm trying to work on it when I play, but it still feels much more problematic than it ever has. I have not yet scheduled my annual checkup, so no medical input.
All in all, except for my dietary willpower I'm pretty happy with how things are going. String length is up, which is one of the main goals that I've had. Been pushing consecutive clipper drills each session as well as trying to get all basic L, I, M, and/or, P in a single string every session. All basic mirage drill is the easiest for me, but I've also been getting all basic pickups pretty regularly too an more recently been getting all basic legovers. I've had a couple of sessions where I get all basic L, M, and P as separate strings in the same day and most sessions I'm getting through at least two of them. An all basic illusions drill is mostly theoretical at the moment as my same illusions and near illusions are not very consistent. Been trying to fix that with specific illusion drills. I'd like to do something like all basic mirage > all basic pickup (e.g. minimum 24 contacts including the clipper sets), but so far I've only gotten like 6/8 through the second set in a single string.
Recent Stanford Saturday sessions haven't been an every weekend thing, but I'd say when we have had sessions that the turnout has been pretty good. Looking forward to that trend continuing.
I was starting to plan for a visit this weekend to Sacramento to get a session in with Littlefoot and to visit my family, but my boss just hit me up tonight and asked me to go to Boston next week. I don't want to miss Halloween, so I'm gonna do trick or treating Monday night with Ruari, and then hop on a red eye afterward. Derek is cool and was amenable to me re-scheduling for a couple of weeks out so I'm not gone all day Saturday just before being away from my family for the week. I haven't yet had a 1:1 Sacramento session with Derek, so I'm looking forward to that.
Planning to go to Twin Falls, Idaho for all of Thanksgiving week and visit my in-laws. I'd like to take a day trip to Boise to visit my Uncle and shred with Penske and co if they are available, so I need to get to coordinating that. There is another Idaho shredder from back in the day named Ryan Burt who I re-met at USO this year, and he lives in Twin Falls so I may hit him up too.