#116🚀 Memories, Dreams, and a Little Olive

Living, Working and Parenting in the US

👋 Hello Amigos! Dr. Molina here 👨‍🔧

Disclaimer:
Electronics topics at the end

Last Thursday, I was playing with my daughter Marta at home, and we put on Disney’s Moana. She was thrilled to see Hawaii on screen, as we had been there during Christmas. We danced to the songs, and at one point, a particular song triggered a deep emotion within me.

The song is called We Know the Way, and it says:

"We read the wind and the sky when the sun is high
We sail the length of the seas on the ocean breeze
At night, we name every star
We know where we are
We know who we are, who we are"

Suddenly, my eyes filled with tears.
My dear Pablito came to my mind, along with my ancestors, my family, the land where I grew up… Memories of my grandfather’s butcher shop, playing soccer on dirt fields. All these moments appeared in my mind like atoms that have built who I am, like a Lego set made of memories.

And I asked myself: Who are we?

Working with my father in the fields meant moments of physical effort, but also moments of philosophy. We talked about life, about God, about politics. I won’t say I enjoyed it at the time, but now I’m glad it happened. I remember the deep conversations with my mother by the heater.

I think of my grandparents, who worked tirelessly in their humble yet proud lives. I remember my grandmother picking up a single olive that had fallen from a cart carrying 500 kg of them. Millions of olives, yet she didn’t want to lose even one. Everything counts. Every detail, every olive.

Still emotional, I write these lines because we are beings who feel.

I am far from my origins and family, yet so close to my dreams of changing the electronics industry. So many contradictions—perhaps fitting for a Gemini.

I’m 38 years old and, I realize I have already traveled a long way.

I remember dreaming as a child, imagining a chip factory in my hometown, Fuenteálamo (Albacete, Spain). Years later, I told my PhD friends about it, and they burst into laughter.

When I met Natalia, I was so sure of my dreams, but my only expectation was to have fun. I told her I wanted to go to the U.S., that I was passionate about electronics, and that the best products were made there. These memories make me breathe deeply, smile, and fully appreciate every moment I live.

I believe that not having high expectations for the future has helped me enjoy the journey. Everything that has happened has already exceeded anything I imagined as a child. I have already achieved more than I once thought possible. And life has gifted me an infinite new source of energy to keep building stories—my little Marta.

How can I bottle up all these stories and save them so that one day Marta can listen to them and laugh at the crazy ideas her father once had?

I felt like sharing these reflections with you.

Electronics!!

We've spent the last two months developing an AI companion for electrical engineers, and I’m really excited about the first versions and initial user feedback.

If you want to learn more, I host an online webinar every Wednesday, and in 10 days, we’re holding an in-person event on Power Architecture Design, featuring my friend John DeFiore as a speaker.

Engineers from Apple, Tesla, Google, Lucid Motors, Rivian, and Silicon Valley startups are attending—don’t miss out! Register here with my discount code PE50.

This event is an evolution of the one I announced in my last NL and we needed to delay for external reasons.