Dave's Retirement Adventure

My review of the new documentary, Free Solo – Five Stars! How are we to think about a young man who climbs a 3000 ft shear rock face, El Capitan, alone, with no safety rope? The words that might come to mind first include, crazy, death wish, thrill-seeker, adrenaline junkie, publicity hound. We have a tendency to want to categorize and compartmentalize people, and yet, we are frequently presented with examples of people who appear to be completely unique. If you immerse yourself into the world of Alex Honnold through the new documentary, Free Solo , you will find yet another example of the amazing diversity that represents the human race. You will also find knots in your stomach as you see amazing video of him, alone and unequipped—a human fly on the side of a beautiful and massive mountain. His free solo ascent of El Cap follows by seven years his previously unimaginable free solo of Half Dome, a 2000 ft wonder at the other end of Yosemite valley. We have often seen that whe...

Nashville Transit, where do we go from here? The 64/36% margin by which the Nashville Transit Referendum failed was very surprising to me, including the fact that it passed in only 5 of 35 metro council districts. I overlaid the transit map with the Tennessean's voting results map here. Clearly one big factor was how far away a voter lived from a planned route. While the plan promoters emphasized that this system would be expanded to other areas later, there was no indication of when or how that expansion would be paid for. Promoters also believed that new development along the routes would increase the households benefitting but that is a hard sell to current voters. Where we go from here will clearly depend on who becomes mayor and what his/her priorities are, including transit. It would be a shame to lose all the work done and data collected analyzing and designing transit in the area and the enthusiasm of the people who clearly want to see new and better transportat...

No going back now! I guess it's official since the Nashville Business Journal says it is. Nice of them to do this . Luminary of Nashville's tech scene announces retirement JOE BUGLEWICZ | FOR THE NASHVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL By Joel Stinnett – Reporter, Nashville Business Journal an hour ago In the early days of Dalcon Communications, a Yellow Pages salesperson came to David Condra’s office to sell him ad space. It was 1979, and the sales rep had an intriguing offer for the tech-startup founder. “He told me we could be one of the first businesses under a new category they were offering,” Condra said. “Computers.” Thirty nine years later, Condra is stepping down as executive chairman of Amplion Clinical Communications, formally Dalcon Communications, effective May 1. Condra will remain a board member to provide “historical context.” Marty Jackson will become chairman of the board, he said. His retirement signals the end of a career that included Condra’s founding of the N...

My Analysis of the Nashville Transit Plan--David Condra Nashville is in the final days of a referendum campaign to fund a massive mass transit system.  I spent a substantial part of my first two weeks of retirement studying this plan and talking with folks to inform my vote and support.  Please take this vote seriously. It is a major, long-term commitment for our city and it's likely that it will be decided by a very small number of voters. You should be one. Analysis Summary This is a major decision for Nashville. It either commits us to a large, long-term transit investment or risks missing a chance to act on a critical need for Nashville. Before my research I was truly undecided. On one hand I am very pro-economic development, pro-improved transit, and pro-business in Nashville. I took comfort in the fact that trusted organizations like the Chamber and CVB, as well as numerous corporations and Vanderbilt are supporting the plan, so that alone would h...

April Fool's Day 2018, my first day of official retirement. While I've experimented with retirement-like phases in my life, today is the first time I have not been an employee of any company since the day I graduated Vanderbilt  June 1, 1969, took off my cap and gown, loaded up my old Jag, and drove to Carrollton, Georgia to start my employed life as an electrical engineer at Southwire . I started this blog to journal my experience in this new adventure, often referred to as retirement. I made the decision to let my baby, Amplion Clinical Communications, (formerly Dalcon), go because it was time for it to fly completely on its own, with a talented team under the leadership of a strong board and CEO, Frank Grant. I remain on the board there and a committed investor and as positive as ever that it serves a critical need for patients in hospitals. After 45 years together, with me at an office every day, Estelle and I are excited about the new space in our lives this opens u...