Chase

I saw a good bit less of the kids this week than I normally do. Evan was with Jo visiting her Aunt Jo in Arizona till Saturday and then Vivian and Evan went with Jo to Nicolle's for Memorial Day. So I read The Great Gatsby and caught up with a friend who I hadn't seen in the last couple of years.

Many of my friends' kids are in college. I often wonder that one morning I'll wake up and Evan and Vivian will be off to college and how quickly time will have passed.

Soon after we started Neonyoyo in 1999, I made a pitch at one the the labs at the engineering school at the university with the hope of attracting bright young research talent. After I had finished and we were into questions and answers another student joined us with an apology for running late - his long hair still dripping wet from an obviously very recent shower. About thirty minutes later I had hired this young lad on a hunch.

He worked at Neonyoyo and then after being bought out, for Interwoven. Later he returned back to graduate school and finished his Masters (I think I was associated in some official capacity with his Master's report). I recall thinking at that time that there was at least an even chance that he would leave graduate school without his PhD and lose himself and his soul deep in a corporate dungeon. But he finished his PhD and then surprised a lot of people by going off to medical school. Last year he moved back to Austin for his internship and in a couple of weeks he's off to  Indianapolis for his residency in radiology, following his dad's footsteps.

I had dinner with Chase yesterday. Dr. K has matured into, well - a doctor. I have always regarded him as one of the brightest people I have worked with, but it felt like he wasn't in the right place. That he was looking for where he needed to be. I'm glad he kept searching. I think he's found it. Congratulations and good luck, my friend.