Julie reaches the ripe, old age of one month tomorrow. So far, so good. She's sleeping in longer stretches and she can stay awake for long periods of time as well. She can even be content lying on her own without crying; she doesn't need to be held and coddled every second that she's awake. She has become a bit more fussy lately but she will still settle down fairly quickly. Ying's been making sure that she's well fed so when she cries due to hunger, it doesn't last long. Ying's mom has been doing a fantastic job taking care of Ying and Julie which lets me make sure there's bread on the table and the house is in reasonable order; expect for the cleaning which Ying's mom is also doing.
On the work front, everything is going well. We've been a little slow of late but so has the whole industry and it is usual for a little summer lull. I did write my first useful Python production program though. Following a few examples by Marc, I wrote a time-variant AGC which Rob and Jon wanted. Since the gate length must be recalculated for almost every sample on every trace, it runs very slowly and there are few shortcuts which can be made. I was able to cut down the run time by 70% from my original version as I looked and found some good optimizations. Marc's our Python guru and he had lots of valuable insights as well. Last time I talked with him about it, he was just looking for a little more speed and cleaning up a few minor elements in the program; for example I wrote 1000000 instead of using 1.0e6. I really enjoyed writing that little program and I'm hoping I have the opportunity to do some more. If I had more time away from depth imaging and was using that time for programming, I think I've mentioned before that the job in the company I'd like to be able to do the most is Dale's. He is a TBI founder and owner but he seems to be lining himself up for an early retirement. If he does decide to check out, I'd love to be the Cocoa developer but I don't have the skills; it's a huge step down from Dale's Cocoa and application development abilities to mine. Those with most of the skills inside the company don't know Cocoa and don't really wish to learn. I don't think I'd hire me right now as a software developer but I'll keep reading my books at home for fun just incase.
In other work news, my former company has partially closed their doors. It appears that 4/7ths of the Calgary staff has been laid off. One more seems to have been given one month to finish off some work for the Houston company. That leaves the centre manager and secretary. It seems odd to leave the last two if the company is indeed pulling out of Calgary and not just cleaning house. I was glad to leave there and my experiences at TBI have only made me happier I landed where I did. I became increasingly embarrassed of the product I was sending out from there and my limited experience and limitations of management prevented any real improvement. The technical knowledge around TBI is astounding as is their desire to put in place a system which streamlines the delivery of a quality product. We've got a new accounts manager who'll constantly be shaking the trees for more work. I won't mind being busier; especially if the profit-sharing bonus starts to flow for all of us.
