This isn't a writing from the past, but a recollection of a time past. This might help some of you learn a bit more about what makes me tick; about what makes me seek what I seek from life.
And I'm throwing in some music, too.
A Story From My Past.
I always knew I wanted to travel. Even as a child, I wanted to go places. I can remember looking at images of far away places on our Earth and day dreaming about being there. What it must be like, what the people do, what foods they eat; really, everything about experiencing a place. Someone recently asked me where I would most want to travel to, and my answer was, “Saturn.” Yeah, I know I can’t LAND on the planet, but I want to see it with my own eyes, up close.
Or at least from a few hundred thousand miles away.
In my early professional career I only had two opportunities to travel for work. Both were into the New England area for customer visits and workshops. I flew to Boston for one visit and rented a car, the other trip was in the dead of winter to Concord, New Hampshire. I insisted I take my truck – big, four-wheel drive – I’m glad I did. An ice storm hit while I was there. The town very much came to a grinding halt, but I kept on with my schedule.
That is what I do. When the going gets rough, I keep going. Similarly, I was stuck in Louisville in an ice storm in the winter of 2009. The streets were closed, and not plowed. I couldn’t even get my car from the hotel parking ramp. I grabbed my gear and made the fourteen block trek through knee deep ice and slush to get to the hospital I had to work at. I walked in the door and they asked me why I was there and how I got there. I said, “I walked, and I’m here to do my job.” I put in a twelve hour day and hiked back to the hotel.
But that was another time...
It was Sunday, December 2, 2001, just into the afternoon. I was settling into my customary spot in a chair in front of the television to watch the Patriots vs. the Jets. Knowing the Bills were playing in San Francisco later that afternoon and the game would most likely be a disaster, I was looking forward to a game that had relevance to the playoff race. The game was just getting underway when the phone rang.
Isn’t that always what happens? Just as the game starts, someone calls. Grudgingly I answered it. I was surprised to hear the voice of a friend and colleague from Florida, David. He was calling to offer me a job. At that point I was in the process of exiting a contract and David and I had discussed opportunities with his company previously, but he just wasn’t sure where I would fit. Until this moment.
His company was a network installer and contractor for AT&T Broadband. AT&T was in the process of purchasing Excite Broadband when a bankruptcy judge sped up the transaction and told AT&T they had only a certain number of days to get the services merged, converted and working. So David asked me if I would be interested in coming on board to help him with these network conversions. Of course I said I would be happy to.
He asked me if I would be willing to travel for a week, maybe more, in order to do on-site work.
I responded, absolutely. That would be great.
He said he was glad I was on-board. A ticket to Dallas-Fort Worth would be waiting for me at Buffalo International; my flight was at 4PM.
That day.
I had less than 3 hours to pack, shower and get on a plane.
And there it started: my absolute love affair with traveling, being on the road, being on the go and always being under the gun.
I remember being a bit nervous about the flight. Only three months past the events of 9/11/2001, security at the airport was tight, people were on edge, the airline industry was still suffering the affects of a new distrust of airline travel and airport security made the entire process less than pleasurable.
Now, I’m the kind of person that walks through life playing out all kinds of scenarios in my head.
What if the guy with the golf bag is a terrorist and the bag is full of guns?
What if someone comes bursting out of that service entrance with an Uzi?
What if that umbrella is a spear-gun?
What if that old woman has a switch-blade in her babushka?
I’m always looking for the counter attack, the move to survive until I can turn the tables, where to dive, where to hide, what I can use as a combative weapon.
Yes, my life is always a lot more interesting in my own mind. This is why I need a soundtrack playing everywhere I go.
But since 9/11 was so fresh in mind, my paranoia was on overdrive. The entire trip to DFW was a stressful, nerve wracking experience.
Once in Dallas, I had instructions to go to Budget Rental and there would be a white pick-up truck waiting for me. David was very specific to only accept a white pick-up truck. Since we were cable contractors, we had to look the part. Not that we would be hauling ladders, or needed a flashing yellow light to stop on the side of the road; it was more for appearance sake so when we got to job sites there were less reasons to question who we actually were.
I met David and other technicians in the hotel lobby after checking in. David gave us all contractor shirts we needed to wear for the week and we discussed strategies. He paired me up with Phil, his VP of operations being pulled into field duty for the size of this job. There were two other teams to cover the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and teams in Denver. It was quite the operation.
Phil and I grabbed a map and a list of customer accounts. Yes, this was before the days of having GPS units and Google Maps, so we did it the old-fashioned way: a road map from Triple-A, looking up addresses and plotting routes over cold beers and bar food.
The next day we were up at 6AM and on the road. I drove, Phil navigated. We had our maps, and we started the process of visiting customers, introducing ourselves, connecting to routers, testing line signals, programming network addresses and security settings, and replacing routers if required. Good times!
Halfway through our day, we decided to stop at a Hooters for lunch. Hey, it’s what guys do. Although I hadn’t really eaten at a Hooters up to that point in my life, after perusing the menu I settled on the chicken Philly cheese-steak sandwich. Seemed like a safe bet, and if you know my stories, you know this became a late-night travel staple for me. Phil got a fish sandwich. When he ordered it, I think I said, “Fish? Really? At Hooters?” He insisted it would be alright, tartar sauce and all.
The next morning, Phil didn’t meet me in the lobby. I went to his room to see if he was awake. I was greeted by Phil, looking like he had just been beaten by the ugly stick and his room reeked of vomit. I returned to the tech teams and David was worried I would be out on my own – a safety consideration. I told him I would be fine and would call him if I needed help with anything. So I set out for the day, and what would be the rest of the week, on my own with no navigator, in an unfamiliar city, no one to bounce technical questions off of – I had to do it all. I had to be there for myself. I had never really been in that situation before…
…and I loved it.
I had thought ahead and brought a wallet of CD’s with me. I put in Big Wreck, In Loving Memory Of, a CD I had just purchased and wanted to get to know better. Still, to this day, when I listen to this CD it reminds me of this trip.
The rest of the week went well. We didn’t have an expense budget on meals, but I rarely ate, opting instead to work long days and cover as much ground as I could. I completed far above the expected number of customer calls and exceeded the expectations of the job.
That’s what I do when I am doing work I enjoy, and get to call my own shots.
Not that the whole week went smoothly. I locked my keys in my truck one day, and lost hours waiting for Triple-A. I lost my Discover card at a Best Buy getting something I needed and lost time trying to track-down and ultimately canceling my lost card. The things that happen on your first roll-outs on the road. Situations I made sure to avoid in the future when I traveled more extensively.
We closed out the week at DFW discussing everything that went on and how to do it better next time. Ultimately, David’s business went under just a few months down the road. I only worked for him for about six months. The experience I gained is what allowed me to launch Aspire Technology Solutions, become successful in what I did with my own company – especially the work with our subcontract, traveling the world, providing technical services and project management. I have that opportunity to thank for buoying my success initially.
Life is made up of a lot of experiencing building upon each other. We learn, we live, we learn more. Each experience becomes a lesson, if we learn from them.
I’m still learning. Every day. Still learning.
Enjoy the song I included. If you don’t know Big Wreck, get to know them. Great band. Take in new music, enjoy art, and revel in the diversity of human kind….