The 2005 Andy Fusso Xmas Letter

Happy Christmas Eve, Everybody!

Seems like a good time to start the annual Xmas letter, eh? All the shops in Union Square are closed (I just checked) so I guess that means I'm finished shopping.

Contemplating life while driving down from Mt. Fusi this afternoon, I unfortunately became painfully aware I had thus far failed to produce my usual masterpiece of Xmas card and Xmas letter revelry.

A short time and motion study conducted last year revealed the major bottleneck in this production process is the actual, physical printing, and stuffing of envelopes. Further benchmarking current Xmas card manufacturing standards among my peer group, I could not help but notice that this year, for the first time since record keeping began, the number of friends who sent me virtual cards (via email and web sites) exceeded the number who sent actual physical cards!

So tonight, I faced two choices: to pass on the whole thing entirely, running the risk that specious rumors concerning my personal person would run rampant; or to fire up Photoshop and Dreamweaver and just go for it. As you can see, I picked the latter course of action. And I'm in good company, it seems. Email greetings are even at this moment still showing up in my inbox as I write! I love my people!

Maybe I'll try again for the physical Xmas card thing next year. Have to start around September, I guess. Ho, ho, ho! So here goes...

And in work news...

I'm not. Any more. At the moment.

Key dates: Dolby went public February 17. The lockup period for selling stock ended September 5. My last day working was November 16.

Before November 16, life this year was, pretty much, uh, just work.

I always said Dolby was about as good as it gets, for cubicle land. And except for minor cracks around the edges, that still was true the day I left. Unfortunately, it was in fact still cubicle land. Moving forward to its own 5.1 channel tune, spawning more and more (yet strangely shrinking, smaller and smaller) cubicles.

Short accounting synopsis: when I started the first time around in 1987, there were 80 people and the company did $36 million a year. One time, a certain V.P. hired a stripper for an office party. When I came back in 2000, there were 450 people, $180 million, and no more strippers. Okay, I thought, that was fine. I'm not really so much into strippers.

And now there's about 800 people, $328 million in revenue. In short, it's a much bigger thing than it used to be. Which in the corporate world, seems an inevitable path to less fun, and strange decision making - whatever.

After a month away, I only miss work a little. I miss the free coffee, and most of all, the free parking. Thinking harder - I guess I also miss the stripper. Or more accurately, the spirit behind hiring her, which exists rarely now. For a company in startup mode, that spirit is just as important as great technology. I had to face up to it, Dolby's way past startup mode (sigh...).

I don't miss Sarbanes-Oxley, the accounting equivalent of airport security. You know, spending millions of dollars to see if invoices have the right signatures. A make work project, designed to enrich the very people who got business into this big mess to begin with. Turning fear into profit, generating lots of jobs for former Arthur Anderson auditors. Please take off your shoes, let's see if you're hiding vouchers there...

Here's what I think: if you want honest financials, hire honest executives. Don't let them take home more than they can spend, let's say 100 times what their cheapest employee makes. If they really need more, that's fine, keep the ratio, make sure everyone else gets more, too, that way the business grows. More better. Don't let executives take junkets with Rumsfield - he's a crook and a mass murderer. In fact, don't hire any Republicans at all, they're either crooks or insanely deluded. There. I can fix all corporate governance problems just like that, and hardly charge anything for it.

Caveat: SOX staff and consultants were very nice people. It's the law that's pretty much useless. Sorry, it's true.

Despite the above curmudgeonry, my reason for leaving wasn't really Dolby, although it was a little bit. Truthfully, I have many fond memories and wish everyone great success (hey, I still have stock). They'll be fine without me. I left everything in good order and trained my replacement. What it was, was the predictable personal existential catharsis, that I'm so good at having every few years or so. I can schedule them now, I've had so many.

I like that about me. Catharsis is life-giving and fulfilling! This time it took five years to build up, what with stock options stringing it out. But yay, it happened!

I left a bit exhausted. Huge amounts or work are involved in taking a company public, and actually I did some of it. Fortunately I don't mind huge amounts of work, and hey, let's face it, I do feel adequately (financially) compensated. I am profoundly proud of my sanity, no matter how weather beaten it is. Onward!

Year in review: Third place in the Manzanillo Sand Castle Contest!

That was the only trip I could take this year before I quit, in March to Costa Rica. Signed many papers in Spanish, I think it means I own part of a beach now. Tried to make the monkeys pay rent, but no dice. At any rate, we had a great time. This is our third place-winning entry in the annual Sand Castle Contest. Shark swimming towards a fat guy (I have no idea who the model for the fat guy was). Credit must be given to my amazing and amusing friend and land partner Joegh Bullock for conceptual design.

Clearing brush on our land was good for the soul. Even though Joegh did say "there's nothing scarier than an accountant with a machete"...

We're going back on January 12...anyone want to join us?

More pictures here. (There is an advantage to an online Xmas letter...)

And now...Casa de Muchos Fussos!

Right after Thanksgiving I jetted down to Texas and closed escrow on this house...which I'm renting to my son Noel and his lovely family. Beyond the real estate deal, it was a great trip. I love those guys, and I'm very happy I was able to do this. I'll diversify more Dolby stock in due time...but this was the number one priority.

More here.

What's next??? Hmmmm...

I took this picture December 23. Mt. Fusi is a pretty sweet place.

On Tuesday I'm headed for British Columbia for a six day World Dharma meditation retreat with Alan Clements, and then a bit of skiing at Whistler, since I'm there. I'm not a new age kinda guy, really I'm not. And I haven't seen Alan for years. Doing a Vipassana week with him over New Year's 1992 was a major change for the better for me, though. So why not do it again? Some things the same, some different. Maybe I need quiet more than I thought?

My catharsis philosophy, developed over time, has been only to make change moving forward into the future, never away from the past. My Dolby chapter, like my houseboat chapter before, has ended. I'm planning travel - always a good move, in my experience. After I'm back from Canada, I'll trade my ski pants for shorts and head back down to Costa Rica with my partners. But then...???

I'd thought of going to the World Social Forum in Caracas, then Carnival in Bahia, then up through Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Galapagos, one big trip. But the renter I thought I had for Mt. Fusi fell through, so now I'm not so sure. I may just ski Mt. Shasta February and March and do some separate trips after that. Hmm...I think I'll meditate on that. Stay tuned for updates on the fusso.com home page, and if I'm at Mt. Fusi, give a call if you'd like to come up and visit!

While finances are currently reasonably cushy, I'm not retired yet. I'll need new work, and cubicles are best avoided. I have several highly proprietary (read: half-baked) ideas, I figure I'll need to move seriously on them this summer. Simple goals: do well, and do good. There's mind-boggling amounts of opportunity out there.

My advice for this year: make only flexible plans, as plans of course are truly amusements for God to laugh at, assuming your God is the good kind, the kind that laughs with you. Don't torture people, or vote for anyone who does, or approves. If your God says torture is fine, that means your God is screwed up, you should dump her along with all such dangerous delusions, then go out and find yourself a real God (free clue: one that laughs). Peace is success, war is failure, and I'll go for success every day of the week.

Bush is still an idiot. God agrees with me, we had a chat about it. Eventually, the law of karma prevails. Let's hope sooner rather than later.

I thought of saying "Merry Christmas", but what the hell: Happy holidays, y'all!

Peace, love and flowers,

Andy