Hello from sunny San Francisco! I flew up this morning for a full day of SemiCon West in, well, the heart of the silicon valley. I'm here to scout out potential customers (and do a little competitive analysis) on behalf of a Richmond-area silicon processing company I recently began consulting for. It is a world I never even knew about two months ago, but I am already comfy with the nerdy vernacular and can maintain a conversation with any of 'em. The company president flew out with me and we'll spend the day shaking hands and lining up business for the coming months to get this company off the ground.

Joining up in the company's infancy has been very helpful- I am able to help with the design/marketing/sales/I.T. aspects from the start, and don't have to waste time or money on fixing or tweaking everything. My client is already experienced with the technical/supply/administrative aspects, so we actually are a really good match to cover all the bases of business. Since I understand the risks and rewards of entrepeneurism already, I've done what needs to be done to cover myself, but I'll know by the end of the day here at SemiCon if there is a more permanent future.

On the home front, things are going well- my grandfather's coming home soon from more than a month in the hospital. This is the longest time in 63 years of marriage that he and my grandmother have been apart. It makes me really happy to know that he'll be home soon and back to the routine that they enjoy. No doubt, my folks will be relieved to have them home and healthy before moving to their new house.

Their house looks great too- I haven't been down to see it for a few weeks, but when I was last there to check on it, I installed surround sound panels for the upstairs and basement levels for Dad. It should be great, and will be a lot cleaner than running wires everywhere. It's one of the great advantages to working on a house while under construction. They hope to move out the very week that their current house sells.

I'm sure I'll have more to blog about soon, but I need to get going. It's going to be a very long day, and there are people to see, things to learn...