Henry's Web Log

In a company meeting on Monday, Lisa and I first met with Dale, Laureen and Angela. Dale has been running MatWeb since its inception in 1996. Laureen has managed our commercial operations since we started offering web design and development commercially (besides the military) in 1998. I got an immediate sense that they weren't too afraid to step into more of a leadership role when I opened it up to questions. One of the first questions was, "What will you change your telephone message to?" OK, good question. Easy fix.
So Dale will continue to run MatWeb, Laureen runs commercial, and Angela continues as our CFO but with perhaps a bit more leadership. Lisa will review major expenses, salary, etc. and Chip Warren will visit the monthly advisory committee meeting, probably once a quarter.
We've added two external advisors to our steering committee to make the advisory board: Dr. Dick Daugherty, from the CRC Business Technology Center, and John Phillips, from Premier Transfer. Both have been with me in the VTKW President's Council. Dick has consulted with us on MatWeb before, and John has done both economic development for Va Tech as well as running a services business while deployed. Great people to have on our team, and maybe the deployment was just an excuse to get them involved!

Last weekend, we told the boys about the deployment. Why the wait? Well, school started Wednesday, and we wanted to let them adjust a little. Eric, our new teenager, took the news quietly and thought on it a while. It wasn't until Monday that he started asking me some questions, as I walked him up to his bus stop. That in itself was a big deal: it's not cool to be seen at the bus with your parents. So we talked.
Ethan took the news to heart immediately. He's more emotional than his brother. In fact, they're pretty close to polar opposites. It was a big help to assure him that I'd be in touch with email, phone calls, maybe even a webcam. And especially that this was an important mission for our country. Ethan's a big fan of the Military Channel, so his view of war is certainly dramatic, if not a little too premature for a 9 year old. I recommend an adult be with anyone under 13 who watches the Military Channel.
Lisa has had some trouble sleeping, and her mind is full of gotta-do events. She's a fantastic organizer (yet the military wants me for Logistics!). Lisa can't go to church without a small notebook: she makes great plans in the form of 20 to 30 item to-do lists, and juggles it all with a smile: Cub Scouts, Pool Manager, Red Cross Instructor, Reflections chairperson (fine arts contest), Lego team coach, substitute teacher, recreation center child-fitness instructor, and the lists go on...