Updating progress

I think that the occasional rain evaporates as steam when it reaches the ground, enhancing the humidity rather than drawing moisture from the air.  Under the circumstances, it's hard to get a lot of drive behind any task except soaking in a pool or sitting in the shade.  Nonetheless, life moves on...

The first-phase job hunt is winding up: I think that I've talked to most of the people in the company that I need to, and have bits of motion in some interesting areas.  Echoing TH, several folks asked me to answer the question "What job are you looking for?":

  Ideally, an entrepreneurial position in medical devices / diagnostics / medical informatics where I can lead a talented group creating a new business opportunity.

  Our company is a mature, technology-based, global business that grows by partnering with innovative startups having effective methods for disease management.  We can offer established strengths in clinical trial management, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, and branding, but first need to establish their market potential and technical feasibility, organize a business team, and create an evidence portfolio.

  My interests and demonstrated experience lie in bringing them through those first steps.

  There are clear advantages to doing this preliminary work in Europe: its peripheral to competitor's awareness, demands significantly less time and cost, and draws on established technical talent and clinical networks.  My Dutch work visa is good through 2009, and I'm flexible to relocate to work with a new team.

  Attractive areas to develop include spinning new therapies out from research centers, collaborating on diagnostic sensors and classification algorithms, demonstrating the impact of telemedicine, or mining risk stratification strategies from clinical study data.

I haven't pulled the trigger on talking to other European companies yet, but if there's no movement, I may have no alternative.  There is still the possibility of combining several small-company opportunities under a single consulting umbrella, but the requirements for establishing working residency here with my own business seem very steep.

I need to decide whether to step left and stay with the company or right to go elsewhere within the next few weeks, based on whether I can find an opportunity in the time that I have.  So it's still a critical time.

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My son is half way through Basic Training, and it appears to be going well.  He's made a few 3-minute calls home, and sounds like he's adjusted to being yelled at by drill sergeants instead of parents.  He has almost met his physical fitness qualifications, he is doing well on the tests and assignments, he has a job cleaning the outside of the dorm instead of the bathrooms or showers.  They don't get much news (they didn't know about Hurricane Dolly until they were herded into a basement to wait it out), but he sounds happy and healthy.

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My daughter is staying out all night and seems to be having an obnoxious phase prior to pushing off to college.  it's too bad; she was always the nice and sensible one.  With three weeks left before she's gone, I hate for her to leave the house in the middle of a fight, so I've been on the phone nights trying to get everyone to settle down and play nice.

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They are trading out the Mondeo car for something else tomorrow.  It's not war and peace, it's not life and death, but I'm tired of filling it up every week to support a car big enough for a whole football team.  I borrowed a bike from a friend and plan to start riding to work in any case next week, heat or no heat...

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