My Project Is My Roommate

Time To Move On

What The New Day Brings

Friday things totally flipped for me.

This past Friday I was still on an awesome high from turning in the $27.5MM grant application for the biorefinery company the night before. I have been living and breathing that grant for months now. I can't tell ya how good to have that completely done with six days to spare and I thought that I might have a couple of days to catch my breath. Well it all changed. I was in my normal rotation of Thurs/Fri back at the private equity firm expecting to get ready for the next grant for the compressed air energy storage company that is building its first asset in OH, when I had a planned tag up with the VP that I work with the most. There was no bad news....just different news.

Turns out the next grant has come out and it is due end of August. They are pulling me from the biorefinery company entirely back to the fund. Full court press from here on to have this company apply for funding. I have a leg up in that I have been through this and also in that they have hired somebody to help me out. We can certainly get this done on a short fuse with the man power being thrown at it.

I guess the thing that really threw me is being pulled from the other company. I have grown close to those guys as well as the project so that makes it tough to leave. I am not really sure if I will go back their either as some of the feedback seems to indicate that although they needed my skills for that project, I am probably not a long term fit. One door closes, another door opens.

So much for summer being a laid back time but that is more than fine if this is what I have to do. The alternative of where I was a year ago is still really fresh in my mind.

Tracking Skydives, June 2009

Final Push

It's getting down to the final hour (although it's a couple weeks out) with my grant application. It seems like this thing is pretty much consuming me and my work. I need this win for my current career with the company as well as for the broader picture of my career. This would be a huge win for the company if we are successful in securing funding for this particular project. Even more, this is a company and technology that I really believe in. I think that we are really on to something and it would be good to say to those that doubt the value of ARRA/Stimulus funding that it 1. provided a job for me and 2. the funding was used to help capitalize a company that had an immediate economic impact to a city and state economy.

There is a lot of capital at risk here, and I really need to deliver.

Summer Summer

Well the Texas heat is here and that certainly means that Summer time has arrived. I have always enjoyed the long days that Summer brings, giving you a chance to get things done after a days work. I can't help but want to do something outdoors these days since the weather has been so good here with low humidity. It's kinda funny how your memories of Summer change as you get older. For me growing up it was always about being on my bike or in the pool swimming. I could never get enough of the water and would swim so hard that I always fell asleep in the car leaving the pool. Good times.

I could not help but contrast that a couple of days ago with the Summer the kids at Texas Children's face ahead. As I was volunteering recently I could not help but think these kids should be outside playing or looking forward to some kind of summer plans. But unfortunately it's different for them as many of them probably did not have much of a school year. Would love to see if we can bring some aspect of Summer to the unit this year. We will see.

Work continues to go well for me this month as we prepare to get a grant application in for one of the projects. Can't say that I have absolute certainty that things will continue past the middle of July, but I prayerfully continue to hope that conversation will come soon. I think that it will. I can say that my days are pretty busy, but good for the most part and weekends come as a welcome reward. Wow, I suppose that it was not that long ago that Fridays were the worst for me because the weekend were not really something to be looked forward to....it's like I did not earn a weekend. Those Fridays were the worst when I was looking for a job but let's hope that is all in the rear view mirror.

All growth depends on activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work. Work is not a curse; it is the perogative of intelligence the only menas to adulthood, and the measure of civilization. - Calvin Coolidge