Subject: Weekend Update: Spetember 11-17
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 10:42:38 -0400

Some of you on my weekly distribution list have never been on a
"business" trip and some of you have.  Those who have and go often,
tend to complain about such things as airline food, cramped spaces,
airport delays, and being away from the home base.  Those who have not
see all the perks of a change of scenery from the day-to-day grind, an
exciting plane ride, rental cars, hotels, and restaurants, all on the
company tab.  Both perspectives are correct.  My new position has had
me traipsing across the country about every 6-8 weeks or so, holding
the company together all by myself, no doubt.  (Actually, as a
first-line manager, I probably do the least amount of management
travel of any organization that has offices around the world.

This past week, I was in San Jose at a Cadence User Group convention
where customers who use Cadence tools gather to leanr about what's on
the horizon and other such matters.  Cadence has a significant
presence there as you might imagine, even though the User's Group is
independent of Cadence.  I'll attach a couple of pictures, the first
of which shows me at work, demostrating some software, and the second
demonstrating how I felt by the end of the day.

I caught an earlier flight home on Thursday than was originally
scheduled.  I had to change planes and terminals in Chicago and had a
scarce few minutes in which to do so.  I did my pre-Nicole
O.J. Simpson impression of running through the airport, barely making
my connecting flight and narrowly escaping cardiac arrest.  To miss it
would have put my on my original (later schedule).

Travel does wipe you out for a few days. It could be all that rich
food.  Spaghetti looks good by the time I get home.  It could be the
3-hour time differential; waking up at 4AM on the West Coast all week
and come back in time to have just adjusted.  It could be the hours
and hours sitting in a narrow chair inside a tube with wings.
Whatever it is, it isn't quite vacation like some of you think, but it
isn't all that tough to take, I admit.

Back on the home front, Joy is getting into the swing of her
Tenderheart Treasure busy season; Christmas isn't all that far away
and the early shoppers are booking parties already.  I worked late
Friday night so by the time I got home, Joy was gone.  In addition, I
went into work on Saturday to try and catch up for the upcoming
release.  We finally connected in the garden that afternoon, picking
our penultimate pile of blueberries and other crops.  The grapes are
about to come in.  And we pulled up the corn stalks to bind for our
Fall display.  We also had a very nice Sunday afternoon with the
Hedlunds in between services.

The teen district mountain climb was postponed until the approaching
Saturday because of rain.  Pastor White said that ths mountain climb
was the longest continuing activity in the whole of the Church of the
Nazarene.

Our prayers are with Pastor White and Rev. Juan Rivera; tomorrow
(Tuesday), Pastor White donates one of his kidneys to
Rev. Rivera. (Some of you on my list don't know that!)  We thought
that food baskets and dinner deliveries ought to contain chili with
kidney beans and steak & kidney pie and other such related items.
("You wouldn't kidney, would ya?")  If you get the Boston Globe, check
out tomorrow's paper for the story.

Mark
--
+---_-----------+ Mark Metcalfe, metcalfe@cadence.com
| c a d e n c e | Cadence Design Systems, Inc.    Phone: (978) 446-6451
+---------------+ PCB Systems Division, Technical Communications Manager