We’ve had warm weather before now, but it was interrupted by an unfortunate bout of snow.
Thankfully, that all melted away fairly quickly and we’ve been enjoying warmer temperatures this past week. We had a high near 80 degrees last Sunday and the high will be around 86 degrees today. In-between we’ve had highs between 60 and 76 degrees.
Last weekend my customer, Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, upgraded their Production system from Epic’s Summer 05 release to Epic’s Spring 07 release. They became our first customer to use Spring 07 for billing. Most of my week at work was spent helping them overcome upgrade issues that weren’t identified during their pre-upgrade testing.
Friday night was Epic’s annual anniversary dinner — Epic’s 28th year! Christine and I weren’t able to attend, because we underestimated the difficulty of finding a baby sitter. We won’t make that same mistake next year. We already know that date and we can start planning early!
Saturday we cut our grass for the first time in 2007. All of those months of snow paid off as our grass looks green and healthy. For dinner we invited James and Liz over. Christine marinated chicken in greek seasoning, then I grilled it. I think I’ve finally caught on to the whole “grilling thing” as the chicken was perfectly cooked and nicely browned. Now that I know what I’m doing, I think I’m going to really enjoy grilling this summer.
Mike Ivy wrote a good overview of Epic in the Capital Times, a few years back. If you’ve been wondering about Epic’s culture, history, or philosophy, it’s worth a read. Excerpts:
But precious little is really known about Epic Systems Corp. or its enigmatic founder, Judy Faulkner, a computer mastermind who developed one of the world’s first databases organized around an individual patient.
Launched in 1979 with $70,000 in cash and a $70,000 bank loan, Epic Systems has quietly emerged as one of the leading medical software companies in the world. Its recent growth has been astronomical: from 172 employees in 1996 to over 1,600 today. Sales topped $285 million last year, up 30 percent from 2003.
While many technology companies churn out press releases almost daily touting their latest product or sales deal in an effort to excite investors, Epic has chosen to fly well below the radar screen.
The company remains privately held by its employees – shares are repurchased when anyone leaves – and maintains it has no intention of ever making a public stock offering. The share price has gone from $14 in 1996 to over $100 today, making Faulkner one of the most successful, if not wealthiest, businesswomen in the state.
For snacking, coffee, tea, cocoa, milk, fruit juice, mineral water and microwave popcorn are free. Employees can bring in their pets on weekends. Epic also makes an annual donation in employees’ names to a charity of their choice.
“Culture eats strategy every time,” Faulkner told the Madison Club crowd, in explaining her Zen-tinged business philosophy.
Yesterday was beautiful. The temperature climbed up the mid-60’s and the sun shone all day long. I decided to take a half day and was home by 1:30pm. After eating a quick lunch, Christine, Esther, and I hit the road for the Johnson Creek Premium Outlet Mall. We spent the afternoon browsing through the various stores and walking around the complex. Esther was cheerful the entire time and I enjoyed playing with her while Mommy checked out the merchandise.
We left for Madison around 7pm (driving into the sun the entire way) and had dinner at Abuelo’s around 8pm. The food was delicious and we can both highly recommend the restaurant. Esther wanted to taste the food too, but Mommy said her digestive system wasn’t ready for that yet.
