Daniel Nenni

One of my favorite diversions is walking the Iron Horse trail in Danville, California. Rain or shine it’s a peaceful experience, almost magical. The trail is the former railroad tracks that connected counties, cities, and communities.

Walking partners are key since 2 hour strolls several times a week can get stale. My college age sons are great to walk with when they are home which is rare, my teenage daughters have homework and FaceBook commitments, so my regular walking partners are a good friend and his two Great Danes. We walk the Iron Horse Trail from Starbucks to Starbucks and pass the same trail people on a regular basis. Other dogs, squirrels, bikes, roller blades, double strollers, all potential hazards for two overly affectionate 135lb doggies, bringing new experiences most days.

INTERESTING TRAIL LESSONS:

(1) The smaller the dog the more vicious they act around the Danes. It reminds me of small EDA companies barking at the Big Three (Synopsys, Mentor, Cadence). For some reason the owners think it is funny, while we strain to keep the Danes from eating them. We call the cute ones snacks and the more annoying ones footballs. Of course we would never punt one for fear of ending up on YouTube. In the current economic recession/depression you can bet that the Big Three will be less restrained. The strong will get stronger, the weak will get punted, so I strongly suggest the weaker EDA companies get muzzles until the turnaround.

(2) Two men walking dogs on a regular basis must be life partners, not that there is anything wrong with that! The majority of the people on the trail are women, which is part of the magic I suppose. On a solo walk one day I met up with a couple of trail regulars at Starbucks. They asked where my “partner” was and kept asking questions until it was obvious they thought we were life partners. Sorry no clever business analogy, just a funny story. At least our wives had a good laugh. The next time we saw the trail girls I told my friend it would be funny if we held hands as we passed them, he did not agree. I guess you had to be there.

(3) Squirrels are faster than Great Danes, Great Danes chasing squirrels are faster than I am. Retractable leashes help but you really have to be constantly aware of your surroundings or risk a dislocated body part. The economic downturn caught many people by surprise but it shouldn’t have. Consumerism (the equation of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions) is the underlying current we got caught up in, which in turn created a false economy (economic bubble). Since a majority of those material possessions contain semiconductor devices, semiconductor manufacturing is my personal economic bell weather. In Taiwan, manufacturing utilization is currently at 35-45%, increasing to 65-75% capacity over the next 1-2 years, and not expected back at 100% utilization anytime soon. Welcome to the new economy, just my opinion of course.