I have a patent!!!

I have a patent... Na na na na na.... Carter did a Google search on me (Why? I don't know... He just does every once in a while)... It used to be that my various DSP papers would show up first and then some other random stuff on me when I was at the University of Kentucky (like IEEE meeting minutes, project, etc). But now, the first hit is my patent!!! (Incidentally, my blogger profile is the 3rd hit, and my actual blog is the 5th hit). The title is "Techniques for editing circuit design files to be compatible with a new programmable IC". I know, I know. That's a crazy mouthful and the 1st time I saw it I was like they named it that??? Count on those lawyers to do something like that...

But basically to summarize, it's just a fancy way of saying that Irene and I (and Subianto - who's also on the patent) were the first ones to come up with a method of converting Xilinx FPGA designs to designs that were compatible with the Altera software. Haha... Yes, I was helping convert designs from Xilinx (the company dear hubby works for which now helps pay for all our kid's diapers) to Altera, their arch rival. I know, how very scandalous. Unfortunately, since I left the company before the patent was issued, I lost some mucho moolah out of the deal but I at least get to say I have a patent. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Have you Googled yourself lately? (no, not oogled yourself... Googled). Try it, you might be surprised what you find.

Great Customer Service

Okay, so Pottery Barn has got to have some of the best customer service I've ever experienced. A while back (and I mean a while), we ordered this gorgeous Modine Bar from them. This was sometime in June/July. We were so thrilled and we put our entire alcohol stash in it (including the moonshine - oh did I say moonshine? No, I meant vodka) and arranged it by type (bourbon, mixes, wine, etc... you get the idea). Then about 2 days into it, a part of the lock fell off.

Opps. So, I call Pottery Barn to get this thing fixed. Long story short, they couldn't get anyone in the area to fix it so they offered to replace the entire bar. Cool. Except that the item was backordered. So, Janet (the customer service rep) offered to credit us the cost of the bar for now, until we get the replacement in then she would charge us again (I guess this is useful for people who don't pay off their credit cards straight away which we don't do so it really didn't matter - whatever).

Anyway, this thing is backordered for like forever (till September is what the letter we got from them said)... Meanwhile, they've come to pick up the old bar and my kitchen counter is full of wine glasses and this big huge thing of Costco sized Makers Mark and all my alcohol is in plastic bins in the garage... So we wait and we wait and finally, Janet calls me and says that the item is still going to be here next week and that they will send it out as soon as it comes in. She apologizes for it taking so long and then she does the most wonderful thing. Wait for it... Wait for it...

She tells me that I can pick anything I want out of the Pottery Barn catalog up to $100 to make up for my inconvenience. Wow!!! Now, most customer service reps will not bother call you back when you have a problem but Janet was nice enough to give me her direct extension (try getting somebody from the phone company to do that), and called me repeatedly to give me updates and follow ups, and now, the biggest kahuna of all, $100 to spend how I like!!! Legen-dary.... Legen-Wait for it!-dary! Christmas came early for me this year.

So now my bar is here, and all my alcohol is safely stashed away from prying hands plus I have the following items on the way via UPS....

PB Classic Wine Glass

Emma Serving Platter - Round and Large Oval in White

I am one happy Pottery Barn customer. :)

The Fence Is Done!!!!

OMG Yay!!! The fence is finally stained... Hooray!!! I'm doing cartwheels inside (doing them physically would be a really bad idea). Anyway, I'm so thrilled that I can finally move on to something else. One project down, another one to go...

Sing Sweet Mekayla

Mekayla sang all of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star while we were in the car on the way to Costco to great cheering and applause. She even had the hand movements to match. All in all, she did it once with 2 encores today including one for Daddy when he got home.

She also did a bit of Row Row Row Your Boat in the car, and has been known to do a bit of "Sing sweet nightingale" from Cinderella in the bath. That one is hard to catch coz it kind of sounds more like "Swing swing a dale, swing swing a dale." She is probably not going to be belting out ballads anytime soon but we are so very, very proud of her.

Now the big challenge... Getting it on video.