SubscribeThank goodness for Montana! That’s what I have to say on the subject. Think about it. If GigaBeam’s CTO, Doug Lockie, had not graduated from the University of Montana, and if Jim Rasmussen had not taken a one year sabbatical to refinish a small cabin in the Montana woods, the two may never have met and GigaBeam would be without it’s Engineering Associate, come magician, (aka “The Happy Hippie”) Jim Rasmussen. What a loss that would be.
You see Jim is key to our making sure everything works in engineering development and is the final test and assembly supervisor in manufacturing. He comes to us with a wealth of experience. Jim got his first electronics experience the hard way–in the Navy–then having had a taste for hard work and discipline (or maybe just being a glutton for punishment. . .) went on to work over the course of the next 12 years for several small start up microwave radio companies, including Racon, Innova-Stratex Networks and Vectrad Networks, as an engineering and manufacturing final test technician and supervisor. Eventually, Jim decided to take a year off to live in the woods. I could say it was something of a Thoreau experience but I think it was more likely a Jerry Garcia experience. . . After about a year or so of quiet living, Jim decided he rather liked working and earning money. He happened to pick up a trade magazine, only to find an article about a Montana native son, Doug Lockie, involved in yet another start-up company, this one called GigaBeam. Jim took a look at the website and noted that Doug was GigaBeam’s Chief Technology Officer and had graduated from the University of Montana. That was enough for him to pick up the phone–he figured he had an opening line: “Hey I live in Montana and I see you graduated from U of Montana . . . . “
“Of course,” Jim says, “the Montana connection alone might not have been strong enough to seal the deal, but after I met Doug, we both realized we were a couple of ‘nut bags’ (i.e. “colorful” high energy people). And, well, after you’ve worked in this industry long enough you appreciate the ‘nutty’ types. We got along great.” [I suppose there’s another Doug Lockie story in there . . . but we’ll save that for another day.]
What GigaBeam needed was another industry experienced person who could help to ensure a product becoming a fully tested, easily manufactured, cost effective reality–a feat that had not yet been accomplished in the industry. Jim came on at the end of 2004. In a couple of months, GigaBeam successfully manufactured, tested, and produced it’s first and the industry’s first commercial 70/80 GHz radio (the WiFiber II). By the end of 2005 GigaBeam had completely designed/developed/produced and was selling/shipping it’s 2nd generation radio (the G1.25–now, several generations later, known as the Gi-CORE), in good part because Jim rolled up his sleeves and helped the team make it happen. He does recall many long stretches of working every day without a break while the record breaking project was in process–wonder if he longed for that cabin in the woods then . . .
Okay so Jim’s a great Engineering Associate and one of those people who ensures that GigaBeam has an outstanding product. If we have sold it, Jim probably has touched it. But who is this guy anyway?
I can tell you here at GigaBeam, we often think of him as our own quintessential “Happy Hippie”–he even owns a Happy Hippie T-shirt, but most days he wears tie dye, which makes me smile. Glancing at his signature tie dyed shoelaces, I asked him what the tie dye was all about. He said one day after getting out of the service, he was invited to an Allman Brothers concert and saw all these carefree open-minded people there and really loved the music and the crowd. (He says “I felt like I was just like them . . .except I had a job and liked to shower.”) He said he bought his first tie dye then and hasn’t stopped going to concerts or buying tie dye since. Jim has been to over 250 concerts since 1990 and still counting, over 100 of them have been Allman Brothers with a dozen or so Grateful Dead sprinkled in for good measure. Music, tie dye, and a magician like ability to get things working–that’s Jim in a nutshell–or should I say nut bag?
So, I introduce you all to Jim Rasmussen: our down to earth, reliable, highly experienced tech savvy “Happy Hippie,” who makes GigaBeam more colorful for his very presence.
Signed a grateful colleague and closet flower child,
Marijke
