Gus's New Throne

Voice Model

From 2001 - 2006 I worked at a start-up company called Acoustic Technologies as a marketing engineer. It was the most fun (and stressful) job ever with amazing people and Jim was the best boss I'll ever have. I left in 2006 for a little more stability since the start-up environment was getting scary. Amazingly, they are still in business although who knows for how long. They just updated their website to be much cooler and added demos. The thing I loved the most about working at a small company was that you had to wear so many hats and do whatever needs done. I wrote business plans, datasheets, press releases, powerpoint presentations. I bought tons of cellphones from ebay and even learned to hack the locked phones. At one point I even purchased a punching dummy for our anechoic chamber because the human body actually reflects echo. I recorded many audio files that the team used for testing their algorithms for echo cancellation and nosie reduction. One of them was our "father-daughter" converstaion and it's live on their web now. So I'm officially a professional voice model - add that to my resume! I told Jim I'd send him an invoice for my royalties :) You can hear me:
http://www.acoustictech.com/applications/headsets.aspx
http://www.acoustictech.com/applications/gps.aspx
I miss working with such amazing people and I am glad they are still my friends. Hopefully someday we will work together again.

Backyard Oasis

Interesting Article

A great article from Salon.com on the GenX response to Obama framed as a letter to the baby boomers: Click here

Housewarming

We had our housewarming party this weekend and were honored to have all of our friends and family over. Ben's family was all there and my nieces looked beautiful in their party dresses. Tyler and my aunt, uncle, and cousins were there. We had co-workers there from past and present jobs. Old friends and new neighbors. It was perfect! I feel blessed with friendship.

This I Believe

President Obama. Wow. I love the sound of that. My faith in humanity and our country is restored. Tyler & Kevin came over to watch the returns and celebrate with us.

It's been a rough couple of weeks leading up to the election. I can't stand to hear the lies that all of the crazy republicans at my work talk over the cubicle walls. Sometimes I felt like the only democrat or liberal on the planet. I called my parents crying one night just to hear a voice that thought like me.

So I decided to write down what I believe. Please tell me what you believe in the comments.

This I believe…
That as members of this great society we have a responsibility to take care of one another
We need to renew our international reputation and America’s standing as a global citizen not a bully
People are good, kind and full of strength
Woman should always have the right to choose an abortion and birth control for their own bodies
Equal rights for everyone
Same sex marriage
That it’s not right to try to use fear to get a vote
People want to work hard and have that work rewarded
Everyone deserves access to health care that is high quality and affordable and it can’t always be tied to your job
Our public schools are our greatest asset and teachers should get paid more
We should work together with our allies to end poverty, genocide, terrorism and global warming
Being a democrat doesn’t mean I want to take from the rich and give to the poor; nor does it mean I’m a socialist
The rich and the corporations need to pay their fair share of the tax burden
We need to invest in our country’s infrastructure and schools, not spend billions on another war
That we need to fix the root cause of the immigration problem, not punish the poor, hard working people who are trying to provide for their families
Home schooling should be illegal – our children need to learn how to interact with others
I believe firmly in the separation of church and state
We need to balance the budget – today each US citizen owes $30,000 toward our debt and it grows every day
We need to invest in stem cell research to find cures for cancer, Parkinson’s and other diseases
Kids need access to medically accurate sex education in the schools
We need regulations in place to protect against corporate greed and economic meltdowns
Democrats are the party who work to support the middle class working people
Sometimes you do need to go to war to protect your country but only when diplomacy fails
Less guns and violence would make the world a better place
We need to get creative to find alternative renewable energy sources to decrease our dependency on oil
Although we are many, we are one
It’s important to do what you say you're going to do
Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them

Yes we can