The beat goes on

For those of you that don't know, I got involved with starting a company shortly after graduating. That was April 2007. The current name of our company is NVH Technologies. NVH stands for "Noise Vibration and Harshness" (you can check us out here) There have been lots of ups and downs along the way, but recently things have really started to take off and I wanted to share with you one of the cooler things that has happened. Forbes magazine contacted BYU to see if they had any exciting start up companies worth talking about. BYU provided them with a list of all their licensees and out of all of them, we were selected to be interviewed. Our CTO traveled to New York, and they interviewed him for a few hours and put together the following video:

http://video.forbes.com/fvn/breakout/sound-no-more

We're pretty excited that people are begining to take note of our work and the potential we have.

That's it. I just wanted to toot my horn a little bit and see if I can't get a little more publicity out of the video.

Fire Butt Soup!

You read that right. Fire Butt Soup.

About two weeks ago, as I sat in the Dr's office pretending to be patient and failing miserably, I picked up a Rachel Ray Magazine thinking I'd find some interesting recipe ideas. Boy was I right. But one recipe out shone all the others, "Mexican Chicken Lime Soup." Here is the Recipe:

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Onion finely chopped
6 Cloves garlic thinly sliced
5 Skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 Canned Chipotle Chiles in adobo sauce, finely chopped, plus 2 tablespoons adobo sauce.
6 Cups Chicken broth
1/2 Cup chopped fresh Cilantro
Juice of 2 limes
salt and pepper

1. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the Onion and the Garlic, lower heat to medium and cook until the onion begins to brown, about 7 minutes. Increase the heat to high, push the veggies to the side of the pan, add the chicken and cook, stirring until golden, about 5 mins. Stir in the Chipotles and adobo sauce, then stir in the chicken broth. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes skimming any foam. Stir in the cilantro and lime juice; season with salt and pepper.

2. Place 2 avacado slices in a bowl, pout in the soup and top with tortilla chips.

(if you aren't salivating at the idea of this recipe, you and I can't be friends.)

Because of my preferences and a few key mis-understandings I made some changes to the recipe. Here is what I did:

I replaced the chicken thighs with canned chicken (patted dry) so that as it cooked it burned / caramelized the edges to give it extra texture.

I didn't have 6 cups chicken broth (and didn't think to use builla base to make it) so I only used 4

I added a can of black beans (drained), and a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles. (i figured the juice from the tomatoes would compensate...

All of these actions were intentional changes to the recipe

This was my accidental change and ironically enough the reason for the soups alias.

Instead of two canned chipotle chiles, I thought I read 2 cans of chipotle chiles... Turns out there are about 15 chiles in a can. Luckily I mis-read the recipe before shopping and only purchased one can of chiles.

(At this point the recipe is FUBAR)

Anyways, I also failed to chop the chiles and just threw them in whole.

By the time the soup was done simmering, the spicy-ness of it permeated the air. My mother-in-law was ready to have an apopeptic fit at the idea of me eating the soup,

I was commited!

My first bowl (served for lunch) was delicious and spicy. Probably the spiciest thing I've ever eaten. As proof of that, by the time I was done, my face was flushed, sweat glistened off my forehead, and I felt like I'd been through a rigorous workout at the gym...

Again, at this point pride rose up within me and I put the soup in the fridge to be finished at a later date. The rest of the day passed pleasantly and without incident.

The following evening (last night) I reached for the soup for dinner, having spurned the brocolli laden dish prepared for, and generally disliked by all. Apparently that 24 hour period gave the soup time to ferment...

Again I went through the process of cleaning every pore on my face by exuding copius amounts of sweat. Again my body felt slightly betrayed at my prideful behavior, and as I lay down to sleep I began to have second thoughts about storing the soup for future consumption.

Eight hours later I knew the course I must take... After my second trip to the bathroom I was left with a bitter reminder of my pride as my sphinctor burned with a fire I have never known before.

Nor do I wish to know it again.

Securities and Exchange Commission - Regulator or Enabelor?

So today, I read an article about a federal judge overturning the SEC's settlement of the whole Merrill Lynch / Bank of America executive bonus scandal. (Article)The article also brings up a past SEC failing during the worldcom accounting fraud business. So that got me to thinking. What the hell is the SEC actually doing? Apparently not trying to protect the investors from unscrupulous businesses. They're definately not acting on any of the complaints over the last umpteen years of Bernie Maddoff and his now spectacular ponzie scheme. So what are they doing? I looked them up on Wikipedia and it appears as though they spend their time enforcing seven primary laws. Five of which were passed before the 1940's were finished. I say they spend their time enforcing the seven laws, but i would question their efficacy, and even their ambition in doing so. Part of me wonders how closely tied the SEC is to the major players, and whether or not they can be trusted. When President Obama promises to change things, I say go get 'em tiger. Institutions like the SEC, and others that are closely linked to big business must be shaken up periodically to ensure the honesty of those participating.

Babies, the Final Frontier.

So here's the story: Two weeks ago, the Dr. had us go through another ultrasound to check on the amniotic fluid levels. We were at the very bottom end of safe, and the Dr. had amber commit to periodic bed rest throughout the day, and plenty of fluids. For two weeks, we tried this and had to go through ultrasounds twice a week. This last Tuesday we went in for another test and we were even lower on fluids. The Dr. said come back on Thursday and if things aren't better we'll talk about inducing you. Things were not better.

So at 12:00 PM Thursday September 10, Amber was admitted and began taking a drug called Cervadil. The purpose of the drug was to "ripen" Amber's Cervix in anticipation of the delivery. 12 hours later, they started us on Pitocen (the labor inducing drug). Amber and I slept through most of the night. Around 7:00 AM they checked her dilation, and she was only at a 2. So they bumped up the Pitocen a little bit, and we had to start the waiting game.

Around 11:00 AM the Dr. broke Amber's water, and she received her epidural shortly thereafter. Within the hour, Amber's contractions started getting really strong, and Baby Ru started reacting poorly to them. Her heart rate would plummet from 130 bpm, to 60 bpm during each contraction. That required some quick action on the part of the nurses but they got everything stabilized and we had to slow down the dilation so that it wouldn't stress Ruby out too much.

By 4:00 PM she was dilated to a 10, but the Dr. wanted her to "rest and descend." That's a fancy way of saying let nature take its course and get as far as possible without actively pushing. By 5:10, they wanted to start pushing. Amber was a real champ and never once cried or stopped pushing before they told her to. She pushed and pushed for all she was worth. The tip of Ruby's head was visible almost from the beginning of the pushing but we couldn't get her any farther, so after an hour and change the Dr. came in and proposed using forceps. I have to confess he didn't seem to be very gentle, and watching him pull her out was bizarre. After 4 contractions Ruby's head was out, and the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice! When he turned her over, her poor little face was so blue it looked purple. I freaked out at that. The Dr. slipped the cord off and started pumping and in less than 20 seconds she was breathing and crying. Shortly thereafter, the Dr. handed me a pair of scissors. (I had no idea what he was getting at until he explained it to me) So in the end I cut the umbilical cord, it felt like I was cutting through a mushy ruber hose. (not romantic but that was what I thought. Sue me) The pictures show you what happened after that.

As I write these words, Amber is cuddling and cooing baby Ru.

She's here to stay.

A beacon of Hope

Last night we watched Seabiscuit. This movie has particular importance to me as it is the first DVD i purchased and the story of heart overcoming breeding is particularly powerful. After having researched the matter a little more, i discovered that the breeding / heart argument plot line is not really that powerful, both War Admiral and Seabiscuit share the ancestry of Man o' War, who was apparently voted as the most prestigious race horse of the 20th century.

Regardless, the story of Seabiscuit also tells of something else. A hero (an icon) rising up from obscurity to give hope and optimism to a people that are otherwise depressed about life. I know it is not accurate to compare today's society with the great depression era, but at the same time things are tough right now for a lot of people.

In situations like this people need a beacon of hope. Part of me wonders if that is not why Obama gathered so much popular support. His whole campaign was focused on providing hope for America. Lets hope he can deliver.

This would never happen in Utah

So last night, Amber decided I needed a pair of swim trunks for the family reunion even though my foot is not 100% healed. I agreed and off we went to marshals. It took us about 15 minutes to find and buy a pair of swim trunks, but her Mom and Dad were still browsing so Amber decided to continue browsing herself.

Needing to take a break and get the weight off my foot, I sat down near the door to wait.

There were three seats near the door. On the far right, sat a hispanic fellow who was obviously waiting for his wife. I sat on the far left in order to observe the inter-galactic law of "don't-get-too-close-to-any-other-dude-unless-you-absolutely-have-to." Five minutes later, a cute, old, asian lady came and sat down between us. She was joined by another elderly asian lady, with a black (maybe polynesian) baby girl in tow. The two ladies were waiting for the mother of the baby at the register, the mother was also asian, so I believe the baby to have been adopted. A white lady with a baby girl of the same age was at the next register over, and as the two mothers checked out, the two toddlers set up an impromptu play date by the door.

White and Black toddlers playing, while a Latino, a white guy, and two older asian ladies watched; all of us smiling.

California catches a lot of grief over a lot of issues, but you have to give credit where credit is due. The cultural mixing and acceptance that has been achieved here is not something that you would ever see in Utah or many other places in the US.

Kudos to you California.

P.S. The above photograph is of twin girls from Australia. The mother was black, and the father white, apparently the chances of twins with such different complexions is a million to one according to the Dr.'s

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article68181.ece

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, it appears as though it's been over a month since I last posted. A lot has happened so I've decided to create a chronological picture update.

May 14 - We found out our little monkey, aka Boris, was really a Boris-a. It was decided by unanimous vote that Boris-a was no longer a feasible name, The switch was made to Ruby.


May 22ish

In

Enough said.

May 29ish

You can call me FrankinFoot - Surgery to repair ligaments in my right ankle. Surgery went well, but a week later I started to have an alergic reaction to something, and the ankle became infected. Problem solved with antibiotics and copious amounts of Bennydryl (SP?)


June 19 - Birthday. Amber surprised me with tickets to see the Blueman group. We sat in the poncho zone. The performance in Las Vegas was every bit as good as the traveling show. Different but still awesome! The group here was spectacular in their awkwardness. I snapped a picture of Amber and I after the show with one of the blue men, then failed to save the photo. (yes I'm a dummy). On the other hand, we purchased some artwork, made in-show, and they gave me a pair of used drumb sticks when they found out it was my birthday! Pictures to follow of the artwork.