Happy Holidays

Random thoughts from 2010...

I continue to remain bullish on the economic prospects for Charleston, at least... From where I sit, I am still seeing tech businesses willing to spend money on R&D and there continues to be many opportunities for myself and Jacobian. For that I am very thankful.

This fall was extremely busy and I wasn't able to even think about taking on more work. With the project load relieved for the time being, I am taking a little R&R and gearing up for what I hope will be a busy 2011.

Debt. Why is it that most families spend what they make? Get a raise, buy a new car. Get a bonus, new golf clubs, etc. The list goes on. My family has been no different. Lately I have been thinking about this and we have taken the initiative to not do this anymore. We have made the commitment to live on 75% of our family income. We are paying off debt and have eliminated credit cards from our wallets. It won't be easy and there are some difficult decisions to be made (ie. "Do we really need this big of a house?"), but in the end it will turn out to be a good turn for us. Its funny how people think you are crazy when you discuss this.... I say "crazy...like a fox"

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year

Economic Recovery? Get ready!

I have recently become very bullish on our economic prospects. Here's why: I have had many inquiries recently for projects coming from a variety of customers serving different industries, and...

On a more local note, the Charleston SC economy is poised for explosive growth, in my opinion. We have the following coming online: a Boeing 787 production plant, a wind turbine research facility, a new port facility, numerous warehousing facilities, many offshoot businesses, the only deep water port in the SE capable of handling the new freight ships, and the panama canal opening to these ships in 2014. Driving home from Summerville today, I noticed the Cummins plant constructing an addition, and the Daimler Sprinter van assembly plant with its parking lot full of vans. A year ago the lot was empty.

Strap you seatbelts on, its going to get busy soon. Of course, thats my opinion :)

10 Years...Already?!

February 2010 will mark a very significant milestone in our history, 10 years in business!

Way back in 2000 I made the difficult decision to leave comfy corporate life for business ownership. In hindsight, I felt pretty clueless about running a business then, but I felt very confident in my abilities. Its been a fun ride, with many "peaks and valleys" as we metrologists like to say.

For this milestone, I am planning a "re-branding" of the business, including an overhaul of jacobiantech.com to better reflect our current offerings.

I think what has resulted in Jacobian's success has been my mix of experience, including being a plant engineer, manager, project engineer, trainer, etc. I think this allows me to anticipate and understand what customers want, because I was in their shoes. This, and knowing that my reputation as a business owner and engineer is everything. A good reputation is very difficult to earn, but very easy to lose.

I'm looking forward to the future, and even 10 years later, I love my job and still find it fun. I am very grateful to all my customers that have put their faith in my abilities. Thank you!

Fall in the Lowcountry

Fall in coastal South Carolina is a great time of year. Weather is warm and sunny with "Carolina Blue" skies. The fish in the coastal marshes are biting aggressively, snagging the last bits of bait in the estuaries to fatten up for the winter. I'm guilty of taking the occasional day of playing hookie to go fishing in the fall. My family and I just got back from a camping weekend in the Blue Ridge mountains and my sons and I tried our hand at flyfishing in the trout streams. We did pretty good, with me getting a rainbow and my youngest son a brook trout. Anyway, I digress...


Business has been good, which is great, but its delaying my iPhone app development studies! That's OK because the studies are going well when I can find the time.

Thanksgiving is upcoming. Many have suffered greatly in 2009, with layoffs and general economic swine flu, but I have been very fortunate so for that I am thankful, along with the health and love of my family.

My best wishes to all my present and past customers this season...

Recession Ending?

After a slow Summer (business-wise, anyway), my phone has begun ringing again. Indicators from the media suggest we have hit the bottom of the recession. Hopefully these are all signs of economic recovery...we'll see...

I've been keeping busy, improving my iPhone development skills. I hope to have an app for sale on iTunes by the end of the year, and soon after to "hang my shingle" as an iPhone developer.

On that note, you should check out the iPhone apps created by my friend and colleague, Bruce Truax (www.DLD-LLC.com). He has a unique and cool app called "Vibration" that uses the accelerometer in the iPhone to measure vibration! I have been doing some beta testing on his latest app which I think will be a big success.

Recent happenings

I recently did some work for a new customer, ASCO valve, in Aiken, SC. It was nice to visit a "local" customer, within easy driving distance ~ 2 hrs. I decided to travel there by the back roads, and it was great to see some of the out-of-the-way towns in SC, such as Barnwell and Bamberg. Its beautiful farmland and big homes in small towns. People walking down the street will just wave, random chickens roaming the streets, etc :).

Also just got done upgrading another interferometer to full phase measuring capability at Sydor Optics in Rochester, NY. The system turned out well, and they now have double capacity for measuring their parts.

Looking forward to returning home and spending the weekend at Edisto!

"The ACE Basin is not God's country, its where he spends his vacation"

Back from Optifab

Last week's Optifab show was...well...small. But, its a small world in the optical fabrication community. I was pleasantly surprised to see many faces that I had met or worked with at some point in the 18 years of my career. Wow, has it been that long? Anyway, many of these familar faces have worked for a few different companies between the one they used to work for when I met them and now. Still really good to get caught up.

I attended a few papers as well, and found a wide range of quality there. A few very good papers, a few very bad papers (or, rather, papers that described fairly routine lab metrology in great detail), and some that were blatant commercials rather than novel research. I guess you can't blame folks for trying new sales angles in this economy...

The outlook seemed to be cautious optimism, overall. Folks are worried, but hopeful.

Zygo was busy all week. Lots of interest in the new MetroPro, written in C#.NET. It is very visually appealing. I'm going to be on the team of beta testers for the new software, which I am looking forward to.

Also got to see some old friends from college who live in the Rochester area. Also great to catch up with them.

Its a cold day in Summerville today, seems like late winter instead of mid May!