Sunday, February 15, 2009
Thursday, February 05, 2009
SKA IS DEAD tour stop in Los Gatos
This is for Emily*** *** naught seven*** poor aj*** trouble in paradise*** deal's gone bad*** toasters*** voodoo glow skulls*** *** Monday, 2/2/2009*** ***
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Carving square bowl corner to curly locks
Saturday afternoon January 31, 2009 Lake Cunningham Regional Skatepark your daddy is a pork chop! This didn't quite turn out as I had envisioned. Inspired by sounds and comments at this great podcast by Cloverdale Dave -- SONGS STUCK IN MY HEAD. http://dlaurice.podomatic.com
Monday, January 19, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Jack Gifford gone
The founder and recently retired CEO of the company I work for, died of a heart attack on Monday. He made a difference. A few notes from employees follow.
zzz bbb
Faith, generosity, baseball
Some years ago I was in charge of Branham Hills Little League's "Handicapped" baseball team...our first year offering a team experience to special needs kids. We were operating on a bare-bones budget which did not include team shirts.
Somehow Mr. Gifford heard about my efforts to raise money for team shirts for the kids and their on-the-field helpers. He stopped by my desk, asked "How much to get shirts for everyone?", and handed me the cash!
I asked if he wanted to know more about the program before making such a generous donation but he said, "No, kid, if it's good enough for you, it's good enough for me." I know for a fact that many kids slept in those shirts!
I've never forgotten his faith in me or his generosity!
Thanks, Jack, for everything!
xxx
A letter to Jack
Dear Jack,
It's difficult to describe the hollow feeling in my heart after hearing the shocking news Monday morning.
All of Maxim owes so much to you.
I, as many of my colleagues, joined Maxim because of you. I am sure you didn't notice me in the audience when you made your pitch about Maxim to this tiny, failed start-up company that you were planning to acquire. The passion, the business savvy and the sheer energy that you projected made up my mind for me. I knew then that you would always stand out in any crowd and that you would do the same for Maxim.
Throughout the years, you coaxed, harangued, lectured and inspired us to help you build a great company. I learned a tremendous amount from you. Thank you for that great experience.
Together, we went through many ups and downs over the years (fortunately they were mostly ups). Even in bad times, you always had a place in your heart, not just for me, but for every Maxim employee.
Jack, I miss you and I know that many, many other Maximites do as well. You will always have a special place in my heart.
Goodbye,
yyy
Generosity
Shortly after I began working for Maxim, our office lost an employee to cancer at a very young age. The employee left behind a wife and young children. Jack's response was very eye-opening for me. He provided the widow with both financial support and assistance with medical benefits for five years. I'm not sure if he'd even met the employee or his spouse, but it did not seem to matter. He understood the hardships his widow would be facing and did not hesitate to help in any way. I will never forget this extremely generous gesture. Nobody was too small, too far away or too insignificant to Jack. We have truly lost a great man who did not hesitate to make a personal connection with the employees whenever he could.
God's Helper
Thank you Mr. Gifford for what you have done in your 68 years of life. You are someone I have always looked up to and admired even though I always had a terrible time comprehending why you would always turn down our requisitions with so many questions, but each year whenever our annual bonuses arrives, I would realized why you did what you did. I remember your words of wisdom "spend the company's money like its your own..." I know you were not so much penny-pinching, rather you probably just wanted us to have more at the end of each day. My heartfelt gratitude to you for setting up good examples for all of us. Your vision has helped many of us realized our dreams.
I know that GOD has called you now because you have finally accomplished everything that you were set out to do here on earth. He probably needs another visionary to help him build another Maxim Integrated Products up there in heaven. Or perhaps a great baseball coach for a team HE is building.
So long Mr. Gifford, until we meet again...
Thank You.
jack, a great leader in financial management
Jack was a great leader in financial management. If you look at the current state of economy, we have debt problems at every level (federal government, state government, city government, corporation, consumer). Jack built a company with no debt and did not employ any leverage. If we follow Jack's style of financial management, our nation would be in much better shape today.
I remembered in October 2000, Maxim stock dropped sixteen dollars in one day because Jack told the analyst that Maxim bookings exceeded real market consumption. He was the first chip executive to predict a downturn in chip sales. His insight prevented Maxim expanded too fast and fooled by unrealistic and unsustainable numbers.
aaa
Monday, January 05, 2009
Sunday, January 04, 2009
20090102 000 comb Street Light
I had a great time. Streetlight was great but short. Reel Big Fish was super fun. The crowd was really into both bands and almost everyone knew all the words. I like feeling the floor move when everyone jumps up and down. There weren't any assholes dancing down front, just lots of good natured shoving and thrashing. I lost several pounds in sweat. It was terribly expensive. $6.50 for a decent beer in a plastic cup! And then my van got towed from Safeway. $15 cab ride and then $370 to get it out of the yard. There were 2 other groups who also got towed who were at the show. FUDGE! additional reflections I had mucho fun dancing last night. I didn't get knocked down at all, but my forearms are all bruised. I skanked hard. A cute girl told me I was "fucking awesome" (for my age!). sonicliving.com/event/1043986 www.bayareaska.com/SKABoard/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4495
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Blog title...
I had mucho fun dancing last night. I didn't get knocked down at all, but my forearms are all bruised. I skanked hard. A cute girl told me I was "fucking awesome" (for my age!). Then today I made a 5-0 stall and spine transfer at CSP for the first time in over 6 months. I'm on a roll!
Thursday, January 01, 2009
ska in spain
New York Ska Jazz Ensemble were in Valencia, Spain.
So was Kiyoko, or so she says!
Did she see them?
So was Kiyoko, or so she says!
Did she see them?
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
podcast
Hi everyone, I thought you might enjoy this episode from Skate and enjoy! ROCKSTEADY .
Click this link to check it out:
Skate mix 20081122 (#02)
Click this link to check it out:
Skate mix 20081122 (#02)
Saturday, December 13, 2008
20081129 02 Nickle city FLIP THE SWITCH
FTS rocks and rolls. Their show at Gilman with Chris Murray, Monkey, Whiskey Avengers should be great on Friday 1/9/2009 $0.05 misspelled to rime with pickle on purpose I think this song is "first time skanker"
Friday, December 12, 2008
lunch today
I had a stressful morning, but was able to get out of the office for a couple of hours and get a good hour of skating in. The weather at the Lake Cunningham park was perfect today and there were only between 0 and 3 other skaters in the whole huge park. I felt really good, even though I didn't skate great. I decided I wanted to do an over-turned frontside kick turn into revert with my hand down on a flat bank. It should be easy, but I must of tried 50 times before I got one right. I didn't fall hard ever, but when I got back to work I could barely get out of my car!
I guess after I cooled down all the twisting I had done came back to haunt me. This growing old stuff kinda sucks.
I guess after I cooled down all the twisting I had done came back to haunt me. This growing old stuff kinda sucks.
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