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Two jobs

Stephane BoucherDecember 5, 201223 comments

For those of you following closely embeddedrelated and the other related sites, you might have noticed that I have been less active for the last couple of months, and I will use this blog post to explain why. The main reason is that I got myself involved into a project that ended up using a better part of my cpu than I originally thought it would.

edit - video of the event:

I currently have two jobs: one as an electrical/dsp engineer recycled as a web publisher and the other as a parent of three kids. My job as a web publisher affords me a lot of flexibility with my schedule, which I am really thankful for as it helps me do a much better job as a parent.

Last year I decided to join the after-class program of the school attended by my daughters to teach, as a volunteer, a basic gymnastic class to a group of 15 kids (including my daughters - of course). I used to be a gymnast myself, so it made sense to me to share my love of this sport with a group of children.

When I introduced the class to the kids, I said we would try to put together a small show at the end of the school year, to be presented in front of the whole school, so their friends could see how much they improved.

Then spring came, and although the gymnasts-to-be had improved quite a bit considering the limited means and time that we had, they were not really good enough to come up with a gymnastics-only show that would impress their friends.

So my wife and I started to think about how we could do some kind of show with the kids, that could use some of their newly acquired gymnastics abilities, but without making gymnastics the focus. And that's how we came up with the idea of doing a clown show.

So we started practicing some funny routines with the kids and my wife shopped tirelessly to find costumes for all the 15 little clowns.

We did the show in front of the whole school last June and it was a success. So much that the school principal asked us to consider doing it again in the fall. The kids were very enthusiastic at the idea of performing again and we liked the idea of improving the show, creating some decors, and maybe raising some money for a good cause?

We jumped and decided to go for a couple of presentations on November the 17th. We printed 800 tickets and started to sell them to friends and families. All the profits would go to the local hospital and the fight against cancer.

We managed to sell more than 700 tickets, for a profit of $2,700 that went to the Tree of Hope.

Everything went smoothly and it seems like everybody who bought a ticket had a good time (except maybe for one baby who kept crying during the second show - maybe I scared her a bit with my clown outfit).

Now that we are done with this project, you will start hearing from me again on a more regular basis - as I plan to launch many new sections/features for the *related sites in the near future.

Here are a few photos of the event.


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Comment by MortenDDecember 5, 2012
Nice to see that you are involved in such an important thing as makeing children happy and also collecting money for charity. No matter how important we consider electronics and SW to be, all the technology we are surrounded by are worthless compared to kids, people in general and our environment. Keep on the good work!
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Comment by treasurehoundJanuary 16, 2013
Your CV might list Master of EE, but I can see that you have also Mastered in Humanity. Good on you.
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Comment by RoshDecember 5, 2012
it's really wonderful ... nice idea to help the suffering people...
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Comment by December 5, 2012
Wonderful blog - looks like it was a great show for a worthy cause!
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Comment by CryptomanDecember 6, 2012
This is by far the most "colourful" blog I have read on EmbeddedRelated.com and I really enjoyed it. It looks like it has been a fun event and all your effort and time was well spent. Great job and a great cause Stephane!
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Comment by hssathyaDecember 8, 2012
Wonderful Stephane! Do share a video link if you have.
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Comment by stephanebJanuary 14, 2013
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Comment by jkvasanDecember 19, 2012
Worthy cause served nicely with the little ones. What more one could ask? Great Job Stephane.
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Comment by sivapriyanDecember 20, 2012
its an instance...... another role in an engineer's life........ hats off.......
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Comment by larry2122001@gmaJanuary 14, 2013
I am sure you had a lot of fun. It was a show of talent.Nice job Stephen.
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Comment by mr indeginousJanuary 14, 2013
hi
it was so long since i heard last from you ,it was so good to see your mail in my inbox.u are enjoying life definitly :) .greatttt.
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Comment by genebrenJanuary 14, 2013
What a wonderful and meaningful way to support your children and your community! Your are a great role model as to how engineers can give back to others without needing a soldering iron, table of graph paper or a calculator.

Way to go!
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Comment by mbv.pullaraoJanuary 15, 2013
Fantastic...
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Comment by dspicloverJanuary 15, 2013
i loved this blog, full of emotions and reality. I especially loved the clown show, it was totally wonderful. i wish i had seen this live..
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Comment by myers4638January 15, 2013
AWESOME ... !!!
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Comment by mfarazJanuary 20, 2013
you are blessed to be soft hearted alongside of intellectual mind. Great activity for a noble cause. Good work Stephane
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Comment by suryaprasadpFebruary 20, 2013
Very nice
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Comment by felixFebruary 20, 2013
wonderful !!
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Comment by eanwahmFebruary 20, 2013
I myself is a father of two lovely kids and I absolutely agree with you on the time we should "invest" in the upbringing of our children.
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Comment by gauravbias1February 21, 2013
Great & Inspiring!!!
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Comment by ashaheinFebruary 21, 2013
Thanks Stephane for sharing that with all of us. Despite that your work is inspiring for my technical background, I believe it might be the same for my personal life as well. Appreciation for your invaluable efforts.
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Comment by ogechiFebruary 23, 2013
Great job. U are showing a good example to the kids. Thanks for the efforts.
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Comment by sagar_kempeFebruary 27, 2013
I'm jealous to you because I'm still looking for only a job :)

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