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My giant bucket of personal stuff.

2025

Another year of flux.

The highlight was simply having the boy home for the summer. Dull routine was never more appreciated.

I had some time between jobs and was able to catch up on a lot of things.

Programming stack: it's grown dramatically from my old Visual Basic days (where everything was in one box).
ISO-19650 - BIM standards. A year ago I was still kind of thinking "core" civil design workflow. Now I'm all about The Revolution: JeffMartinPE.com
Pulled out the hang glider, Pacific Windcraft Vision, for the first time in twenty years. To my delight, it is still airworthy. To my despair, I am not. Seventy pounds on the ground is a bit too much to handle without straining something (well, everything).

The past couple of years Leigh and I have had the pleasure of spending a week on Mike's catamaran, and we're planning to do it again this year. I'm tired of being mostly ballast, so I'll be picking up sailing again (the last time we sailed by ourselves was when Leigh was pregnant. Easy stuff on Sail Bay.)

Volleyball still lives but it's tailing off. Pickleball and hiking seem to be the "athletic" outlets at this point.

2024

Another pivotal year.

Mom passed (MomMartin.com and Call Your Mom).

I had to evaluate what I wanted to do professionally. Even this late in my career, I found I want to do Growth (vs Core). I'm pursing that focus as part of a team vs independently (it surprised me that I found joining a big corp advantageous). Interestingly, I'm with the company that I worked with when Dash was a baby.

It was great to have Dash home for the whole summer.

He's back at school now. It's been a lot easier as he's living on campus with three roommates he chose. Sending us frequent photos of the meals he and his roommates cook...

2023b

The year 2023 must be broken in two. A huge life milestone for Leigh and me and Dash as Dash gets his second address ever. He's now at Cal Poly SLO as an Industrial Engineering Major.

Empty Nest.

A milestone in my life unlike any other. The great joy and pride with each of his accomplishments (sweet!) is accompanied, apparently forever, by the melancholy of his absence. Sweetancholy ("bittersweet" is wrong (sweet is first, and it's not a bitter ache)).

But "Launch a bird, gain a flock". The Cal Poly Mustang Parents group on Facebook kept me sane. An amazingly supportive group. I've got excerpts of my posts here: JeffPen.net/launch (Note: the responses were the best part, but they belong to the responders, not to me.)

2023a

2023a - Dash At Home - was highlighted by the capstone of Dash's amazing two-year volleyball career. Leading his UCHS Indoor Volleyball team. He was expected to carry the team, but he great exceeded the high expectations.

(Eighteen months later, these memories remain very moving. I think it's because once he started driving, we just didn't see that much of him. But we knew where he'd be during volleyball matches).

He finished the season with 61 Aces (1st in the League) and 357 Kills (2nd in the League).

Goodies at UCVolley.com
Dash highlights at UCVolley.com/dash

2023 Coach's Remarks and Awards

2022

A great indoor High School Volleyball Season:

2022 VB Junior Nationals

More 2022

Christmas 2021: Christmas-2021

August 27, 2021

For the first time in two years, UCHS had a Sand Volleyball Match. Then, Dash was a new player paired with a new player. Way down in the JV pecking order.

This year, he and his friend Trevor started the our first match as our Varsity #1 Team. They swept Parker's #1 Team in true Dash fashion, by the scantest of margins (by 3 and by 2).

full-story: Sand VB v Parker 210827