With my move to Cypress, the tradition continues...

Though I often view myself as the way my wife sees me (to ensure I am a decent husband and father), I sometimes define myself by what I do. What I do is tightly coupled to the company I work for. Over the years, this has been reflected in my choice of personalized license plates for my vehicles.

• When I worked for Océ Reprographic Technologies (developing software for an online plan room) in Scottsdale, Arizona, I had this personal plate for my Lexus IS300 (that I bought, used, from my wife's brother-in-law):

• When I left Océ to Autodesk, but still in Arizona, I switched to this plate:

The Smart Car was great for Alameda. It got wonderful gas mileage. I would drive it around town where the speed limit was 25 mph. I did drive it to the Autodesk San Rafael office and to Napa where I would travel at 90 mph. It may have gone even faster, but I was afraid of getting a speeding ticket. The Smart Car goes fast, but it takes a while to build up speed. Driving in Texas includes a lot more freeway onramps, so I felt that I needed more horsepower. Also, this part of Houston (Cypress) is somewhat rural, and my neighboring street, Boudreaux Road, floods when it rains, so I needed something like an X5 that sits higher up. When is the city going to add drainage?

The tradition continues.