and high achieving children. Switching schools was a difficult decision but was made easier when one of her best girlfriends, whose parents are both teachers, decided to send their daughter there. Along with the change in schools Caroline also advanced a full year. She seems to be flourishing and continues to keep me on my toes with questions that keep getting harder to answer. My most frequent response is, “Better ask your Mother.”
Ben is growing up quickly and will be five in December. Every so often he’ll surprise us by doing something new and it gives us hope for his future. Maggie has unbelievable patience and understanding with him but it takes its toll on her. Too often, I’ll wake up in the middle of the night to hear her sobbing in bed. Coping is an everyday challenge but Maggie and I are committed to making Ben’s life as complete and happy as possible.
I’m continually amazed at the companies that present their business plans to Rogers Schmidt. A case in point is a company we saw in the spring. There was an event that occurred in January when the first computer virus called “brain” was released, by accident, and infected and disabled computers around the world. The presentation we saw was in response to the threat of the computer virus. The company saw this as a staggering problem going forward and is close to developingsecurity programs that will rid computers of a virus. If they’re right about this being a significant problem, the solution could be huge.
There really shouldn’t be much of a difference between being thirty-four and thirty-five but for some reason I feel more middle aged—now. I keep saying I need to get back to the gym but there doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day. I’ve bought some crazy exercise equipment off TV but after trying them once they end up in a corner of the garage. The days of playing hoops with the guys are over so I’m going to start running and try to get back in shape. I’ll have to run early in the morning but I need to do it.
We took our first family road trip in July. We rented a motor home and drove to Yosemite and Lake Tahoe. We thought it would be easier to drive than fly. It’s just so damn hard to know what’s going on with Ben. I want so much to be able to do so many simple fun things with him. It just sucks. I try to be strong but there are times I’m just overwhelmed and breakdown in tears. Perhaps that’s what makes thirty-five so difficult. Sorry for the tone of this letter but, as always, hope you’re well and prospering.
Hi Tess,
I hope you remember my old Stanford friend, Jeff, the nerd genius. He worked at the Palo Alto Research Center, a division of Xerox until last year when he decided to start his own company. Now he’s invented a new way to speed up the connectivity between computers and he recently gave a presentation at our office. The technology had most of us baffled but our resident techie at Rogers Schmidt thinks it’s brilliant.
At our partner meeting I was the primary advocate for investing in Jeff’s three man firm, but first we had to get a legal opinion from our attorneys and make sure there would be no claims from Xerox that the technology was developed while Jeff was employed by them. Our law firm interviewed Jeff, reviewed all his paperwork and concluded there was no conflict. That’s the okay we needed and Rogers Schmidt agreed to invest $1.2 million in Jeff’s company paid in three equal amounts uponthe completion of specified milestones. Because of my relationship with Jeff I’m more excited about this deal than any other we’ve ever done at the firm.
It’s always so easy to write about Caroline but always much more difficult to write about Ben. This past year Maggie and I made a conscious effort to get much more proactive in dealing with the challenges of autism. First, we’re going weekly to a parent’s autism awareness group organized by Ben’s school. At the meetings, run by a
Ben is growing up quickly and will be five in December. Every so often he’ll surprise us by doing something new and it gives us hope for his future. Maggie has unbelievable patience and understanding with him but it takes its toll on her. Too often, I’ll wake up in the middle of the night to hear her sobbing in bed. Coping is an everyday challenge but Maggie and I are committed to making Ben’s life as complete and happy as possible.
I’m continually amazed at the companies that present their business plans to Rogers Schmidt. A case in point is a company we saw in the spring. There was an event that occurred in January when the first computer virus called “brain” was released, by accident, and infected and disabled computers around the world. The presentation we saw was in response to the threat of the computer virus. The company saw this as a staggering problem going forward and is close to developingsecurity programs that will rid computers of a virus. If they’re right about this being a significant problem, the solution could be huge.
There really shouldn’t be much of a difference between being thirty-four and thirty-five but for some reason I feel more middle aged—now. I keep saying I need to get back to the gym but there doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day. I’ve bought some crazy exercise equipment off TV but after trying them once they end up in a corner of the garage. The days of playing hoops with the guys are over so I’m going to start running and try to get back in shape. I’ll have to run early in the morning but I need to do it.
We took our first family road trip in July. We rented a motor home and drove to Yosemite and Lake Tahoe. We thought it would be easier to drive than fly. It’s just so damn hard to know what’s going on with Ben. I want so much to be able to do so many simple fun things with him. It just sucks. I try to be strong but there are times I’m just overwhelmed and breakdown in tears. Perhaps that’s what makes thirty-five so difficult. Sorry for the tone of this letter but, as always, hope you’re well and prospering.
Hi Tess,
I hope you remember my old Stanford friend, Jeff, the nerd genius. He worked at the Palo Alto Research Center, a division of Xerox until last year when he decided to start his own company. Now he’s invented a new way to speed up the connectivity between computers and he recently gave a presentation at our office. The technology had most of us baffled but our resident techie at Rogers Schmidt thinks it’s brilliant.
At our partner meeting I was the primary advocate for investing in Jeff’s three man firm, but first we had to get a legal opinion from our attorneys and make sure there would be no claims from Xerox that the technology was developed while Jeff was employed by them. Our law firm interviewed Jeff, reviewed all his paperwork and concluded there was no conflict. That’s the okay we needed and Rogers Schmidt agreed to invest $1.2 million in Jeff’s company paid in three equal amounts uponthe completion of specified milestones. Because of my relationship with Jeff I’m more excited about this deal than any other we’ve ever done at the firm.
It’s always so easy to write about Caroline but always much more difficult to write about Ben. This past year Maggie and I made a conscious effort to get much more proactive in dealing with the challenges of autism. First, we’re going weekly to a parent’s autism awareness group organized by Ben’s school. At the meetings, run by a
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