August 9th Read Free

convince me even more how much I love Maggie. I can’t help but question my judgment and how I could let things go that far. For obvious reasons I didn’t make the party.
    Speaking of Maggie, she’s getting her Masters at Cal and we found a cool apartment between the two schools in San Mateo. We’re really closer to Stanford but it seemed like a better option than living in Hayward or Fremont. More importantly, we’ll be living together for the first time. Actually, neither of us has lived with anyone before other than in the dorms. We’ve spent plenty of weekends and sleepovers together but I’m really excited to start our real life together. Of course I missed the sex last year but even more I missed her friendship.
    I’m surprised it’s not more awkward to write about Maggie in a letter to you but I can’t escape how easy writing to you remains. Hopefully my writing skills are improving and I thank you for being part of such an everlasting memory.

Hi Tess,
    After 19 years of schooling I’m finished unless I want to go back for a Doctorate which doesn’t sound inviting.
    Another graduation, another celebration and guess what, I’ve got a job. Can you believe it? I’ve got my first real job making real money and actually started two weeks ago.
    My parents flew up for my graduation weekend. My dad, Carl, ever the engineer, always regretted not being able to get his Masters primarily because I was on the way and he needed to support a family. He seemed prouder than I’ve ever seen him and we shared our warmest hug ever. He also enjoyed interacting with my electrical engineering buddy and former neighbor Jeff. He actually understood Jeff’s language which impressed the hell out of me. Of course my mom, Laura, and Maggie have always had a wonderful relationshipwith me being their favorite topic which can be awkward at times.
    I think I mentioned Stanford’s highly regarded career interviewing process. Now, after going through it, I can’t praise it enough. It was interesting, compelling, challenging and exciting, especially when the companies would talk about who they were, what they did and where they were going. Choosing my prospective employer from the list of a half dozen companies that made me offers was difficult. Although I’m a numbers guy it ultimately came down to people. Who did I want to work for and with? In the end I narrowed the choice to two very different and very new companies, Atari and Kleiner Perkins. Atari invents video games and is just introducing a game called Pong. I got to play it at their new office, in Sunnyvale, and it’s so cool, sort of an electronic ping pong game. Kleiner Perkins is this new Venture Capital firm. They fund other companies, primarily tech start-ups. The fascinating part of their business model is that they get to pick and choose between many new companies on the very cutting edge of new ideas.
    Before I made my decision one of my professors recommended I meet with another company. Only it wasn’t really a company, just yet. And, they really didn’t have an office, just yet. In fact, they’re still trying to decide what to call the company. This is a start-up in the truest sense of the word. Three Stanford engineering students, who never graduated, are working out of a garage in one of their parents’ homes. They desperately need a businessguy to help them with their finances including raising money. It’s a little too far out for me but this type of situation is not that uncommon up here. I did have second thoughts about not trying to find out exactly what they’re working on when I heard the professor who told me about them had joined their team.
    In the end, I chose the company with the actual product, Atari. I think Pong could be the start of a new entertainment market. Their offices are only about 10 miles from Stanford which means Maggie and I have been able to stay in our apartment in San Mateo. Speaking of Maggie, she absolutely loves Cal and I