(By reading you obviously know this already but) I am very happy to see the blog finally in lights! It took some doing, a few blind emails to the godaddy customer support, lots of clicking and menu surfing, but finally as of this AM, we have a TRIMEMS blog.

Unfortunately, there isn't much to say. This week has been choppy due to the start of Spring Break and the Easter holiday. MEMSCAP was closed on Good Friday, a concept completely foreign to my friends in California who nevertheless celebrated Cesar Chavez Day with school being out one week before. I spent a few days in the Bay Area last week visiting family with our daughter and attending a wedding so I didn't talk much MEMS though I did get the kinds of questions that reinforce my belief that we need to do a better job of promoting MEMS such as "Is the new, really small Intel (processor) a MEMS?".

Usually, I only get those kinds of questions from my mother but this time there were several others asking similar questions. I hate saying "You've heard of Nanotechnology, MEMS is a little bigger!" but that's the best way to communicate it in a cocktail party type of setting. Unfortunately, once you get past the "sexy" applications(DLP, Inkjet, Airbags, implantable sensors) and start talking more about the mechanical nature or how it works, eyes start rolling (or wives start looking for their husbands, as in the case of the wedding reception/cocktail party).

So what is the best way to communicate the definition of MEMS to a lay audience? It's something I struggle with regularly since I'm not an engineer by-trade, yet I kind of play one in front of people who expect me to talk technical. It's usually no problem in that setting but trying to explain it to others can be a challenge. I welcome your feedback on that.

SIDE NOTE: As you've probably figured out by now(all two of you who read this!), this blog is going to be more than just a discussion of technical MEMS yadayadayada. I think it's important to link the technology to our personal lives, beyond a job, thesis, or research project. There is great value in sharing the underbelly of the industry from everyone's perspective. And I consider myself a humorist too so my entries will look for opportunities to entertain as well. I will do my best to contain these comments to the Side Note section.

Being in the Bay Area for a long weekend also reinforced my belief that our blind move to Raleigh in 1996 was the best move we ever made. Visions of concrete, trashy roads, rude people, and stories of people "scraping by" on a six-figure Silicon Valley salary were enough to convince me once again that there's way more to life than good weather. Incidentally, it was the same temperature as we were having here so...

By the way, when I use the word "our" when referring to family, I'm talking about my wife of 12 years, Gillian; our 7-year old daughter, Eliza; and our 1+ year old son, Kacher.

Out for now.
-BH