After 2-3 months of pretty intense work, our group finally "kinda" finished the RTL for this particular functional unit. I am sure there are more verification to be done, more bugs to be found and fixed. It's won't be done until testchip is back and running. Anyway, we are not allowed to disclose what it is until Marvell publicly announces it. The potential customer is a big name in tech industry and the success (or failure) of this particular project is of utmost influence to Marvell profitabitity in the near future. Indeed the importance of this project exempted us from the christmas/new year company shutdown. In other words, i have been working throughout this holiday season. Heck I was spending my Christmas debugging waveform in office! But in a way it's better than staying home all lonely and pity by myself in this holiday season right?

That's the notebook I have recently applied so that I can work from home, yes! Looks good from the picture? In reality it's a very crappy notebook with extremely limited capabilites. Almost all the functions are disabled. Can you imagine a PC that doesn't allow "my computer" access? It's at best a machine capable of remote terminal login so that i can redirect the output from company server and work on that.

To sum it up, I pretty much spent all my time working throughout this holiday season. It's actually not that bad, at least it shows that I still have my job secured amid the current laid-off craze in the US. Marvell in fact has recently laid off some employees although it's not made public. Regarding the underwater company stock price, Marvell offered to convert our options to RSU at certain ratio depending on your strike price. Of course the RSUs are again subjected to vesting period over 3 yrs:( My option price is $16.90 which is more than double the current price so the RSU converting plan is not too bad afterall.

I don't know what the yardstick is but in general 2008 has been a good year. I guess as long as my family and I were blessed with good health then it's considered good enough. What can be more important than that:) A 2008 recap not in chronological order:

1) Grandfather passed away. This is probably the most disheartening event of the year.
2) Got my M1 license and bought myself a Suzuki SV650S. I was looking through some old photos and guess what I found. Oh memory.

3) Completed Half-marathon in San Jose. I should start planning for SF run this year.
4) Business trip to ARM in the UK. Obtained Isreal visa but the trip was canceled. Will there be any future business trip?
5) Travel in the US to Texas and Florida with my mother and 2nd sister. Visited Sequoia National Park and Grand Canyon National Park, Las Vegas, Santa Cruz, and various hiking trip around bay area.
6) Got myself a DSLR. So far I still not be able to take any good photo:( Is it because my lack of skill or lens problem?

7) Investment failure. My portfolio depreciated quite a bit because of the damn economy. Did I learn anything?
8) became a facebook addict? haha... no more friendster:)

It's a fresh beginning of 2009 now. Can't think of any resolutions to be frank. Is that a sign of losing the purpose of life? Anyhow happy new year!