Well, I have successfully reincarnated myself in Northern =
California! My furniture arrives today - my mom arrived from =
Chicago yesterday to help me settle in. My new contact =
information is:
Ernest N. Prabhakar, Ph.D.
20800 Valley Green Dr., #431
Cupertino CA 95014
Work: 408/974-3075
Home: 408/873-8113
Fax: 408/873-8112
Car: 408/218-8624
ernest@alumni.caltech.edu
www.alumni.caltech.edu/~ernest
For those of you who missed the earlier chapters of this saga...
Last month, after nine years in Pasadena =
(http://pasadena.citysearch.com/entry/start.html), I came up north =
to work for Apple Computer (www.apple.com). Apple is in Cupertino =
(three blocks from my apartment), in the heart of the high-tech =
mecca known as Silicon Valley (www.sjmercury.com/gmsv/).
I am one of two Product Marketing Managers working on Rhapsody =
(macos.apple.com/macos/releases/rhapsody/index.html - I wrote this =
page:), Apple's new high-end operating system. Rhapsody is =
largely based on NeXTSTEP =
(www.alumni.caltech.edu/~ernest/NEXTSTEP.htmld/index.html), a =
technology I worked on and talked a lot about during graduate =
school, so it is a dream come true for me to be able to help shape =
its future. =20
Product Marketing involves talking with the engineers, customers, =
and sales channel to ensure that that product we build will meet =
real needs. The nice part of the job is that I get to practice a =
lot of my communication and cross-cultural listening skills - =
Apple is a fascinating patchwork of many unique subcultures. The =
difficult part is the high turnover and uncertainty, particularly =
at the higher levels of the company. For the most part, though, =
I'm learning to enjoy the chaos, which is essential to being happy =
at Apple!
Outside Apple, I am working on joining Calvary Baptist Church of =
Los Gatos (www.calvarylosgatos.com). I really like their focus =
and diversity of ministries, though I am slightly ambivalent about =
taking my first plunge into Baptist-hood (pun intended). I got =
involved at Calvary through Impact =
(http://www-students.biola.edu/~gary/impact.html), their young =
adults group, via a friend of mine from LA who came up here a year =
ago.
I also have two Christian friends at work, Jordan Dea-Mattson - a =
Caucasian who's planting an Asian church, and Ted Leung - an Asian =
who's planting a Caucasian church. Well, sort of. Ted is an old =
friend from MIT, as are a few other people in the Bay Area. There =
are also some Pasadenans up here, including my close friend David =
Huffman (www.inference.com/support/) who is married and living a =
couple hours north of me. I am also trying to expand my social =
circle by meeting people online (www.christian.email.net), but it =
is unclear whether anything will come of that.
There have been the usual complications and dislocations =
associated with moving - as well as a few unusual ones. Overall, =
though, I am really enjoying myself, though I often wish I could =
get more sleep! =20
I am planning on renting my condo in Pasadena to a friend from =
Lake Avenue Church (www.lakeave.org), so I'll still have ties to =
Southern California. It is possible I may go back there in a =
couple of years, but I may stay here or end up someplace =
completely different. God only knows.
Most importantly, though, I really feel that God has placed me =
here, in this job, church, and apartment. I am not entirely sure =
how things will turn out - probably different than I expect - but =
I have faith God has something wonderful in store for me here.
I pray God will guide you in all the roads you travel. Thanks for =
being a part of my life.
Yours truly,
Ernie Prabhakar
Servant
II Corinthians 4:5=