Once upon a time, there was this:
And then, along came this:
Leading (this morning) to this!
Yes, that’s right. After almost two decades of being laid off every eighteen months from dying startups, I have finally won the Silicon Valley Lottery! Google just bought Skybox Imaging, the startup I work for – and at a price that makes my stock options worth actual money!
(Well, almost. “Subject to regulatory approval” means that nothing’s final until the respective agencies grind their way through the paperwork, so it will be two to four months before the deal is actually final.)
The curious can read our press release, the Associated Press article, or the (slightly longer and better) analysis in The Atlantic for more information on the acquisition.
Alas, this does not mean that I can quit my job and go sailing around the world on a yacht (with husband, loom, two cats, and two hundred pounds of yarn, of course 😉 ). It does, however, mean that I’ll get a nicer-than-usual salary for the next couple of years, as my stock options vest. It also means that, in a year or so, I can probably afford a jacquard loom. So I am starting serious research into my options, and may go to Convergence to check out the TC-2 jacquard loom. (The other brand, the AVL Jacq3G, is manufactured only about 200 miles from me, so I can check it out any time.) Super excited about that!
Meanwhile, in an attempt to keep some sort of creative discipline, I have finished winding both warps for the shadow-weave fabric. 2800 threads, in only about 5-6 hours – but then, I was winding from ten cones at once! Now I have to tie off the warps to separate the color changes, figure out the color mixes, and paint them with dye. Hopefully I can do that this week, and then start getting it onto the loom! I should have free time this week, as Mike will be away visiting family.
Before he can fly to Chicago to visit family, though, Mike needs to finish packing his luggage. And isn’t it handy that there are cats around to help? Tigress in particular is very good about guarding luggage:
It is a trifle difficult when you actually want to put something into the luggage she’s guarding, but it’s a small price for knowing your socks and underwear are safe. Especially when you’re heading into the wilds of Chicago. Who knows what could happen?
Bravo!!! I am so very happy for you! I can understand the feeling – I spent 30 years working for startups (and loving it) but sadly, I could wallpaper my house with worthless stock options – and now I work in a cubicle at a large corporation. 🙂 It’s always cool to hear somebody reach the pinnacle! I’m just looking forward to retiring in another year and finally getting time to weave. 🙂
Can’t wait to read about your jacquard adventures!
Like you and like Deanna, I also worked for a startup (yeah, the DC area has technology startups, but you don’t hear much about them). It was a small software development company whose product was brought out under the IBM logo. I was the tech writer on the team (note use of “the”: I was the ONLY tech writer in the company). It was a terrible grind, and I learned two things on that job: 1. software development is a young person’s occupation (the hours & deadlines were killers*); and 2. the tech writer earns less than a member of the cleaning crew that rolls into the office at night and is treated somewhat worse than cleaning crew members.
I left before they got themselves acquired by Honeywell, but they did buy out my stock options when I left (for not much money–certainly not Jacquard-loom level money). Who the hell would want to work for Honeywell anyhow? Not me. Google, maybe, but not Honeywell.
* The manuals (yes, we had real, physical, paper manuals in those days) were due at IBM six weeks before the program updates were due. Do you know how many changes software engineers can make to a program in six weeks? That’s why IBM software always had new page-inserts in their manuals almost before the next software update is announced.
I just took a Rozome class in Montreal. Small class so got a lot of things worked out. One of the other students was Louise Berube who teaches on Jacquard loom and software. She a very considerate person, one I hope to keep in touch with. She teaches in Montreal. Perhaps a class on it first would help. Here is a link to her sight. http://www.lemieuxberube.com/english/teaching/
HUZZAH!
Great news, just imagine what you’ll be able to do with a Jacquard loom, and when I saw the headline ‘Google to buy Skybox Imaging’ in the technology section of our newspaper here in Melbourne Australia, I just thought, I already knew that from Tien’s weaving blog. It’s an interesting world
Thanks everyone! I am just over the moon!
And thanks Cindi for the link!
Congrats! Look forward to watching your jacquard adventures from here.
And while I’m writing — always glad to see pictures of the cats. They are both beautiful…and oh so entertaining.
congrats–can’t wait to see what you do once you acquire the jacquard loom!