Trust Issues

Sorry for the long pause, but it’s been a busy week!  Next week I am flying out to visit 5 places.  Two of these places are one in the same, so in actuality I will only be visiting 3 places.  It’s Sunday afternoon and I have no idea what exactly it is that my boss wants me to do.  He said we would talk about it in the morning and two mornings came and went and no discussion.  I don’t leave until Tuesday, so there is some hope that I may be able to get some information out of him.

This trip is clearly a test.  I am going alone, which is both good and bad.  Good for privacy but bad because I’ve never flown commercial before.  I have talked with lots of people and everyone tells me it will be just fine.

Now you would think knowing that I have never ever been to these places that my rental car would have to have GPS.  No, the lady that booked the reservations thought because I am a man that I can navigate.  Yeah, in my own area but in a place far from home that I have never been, no way.  So I had to call the rental car company and modify the reservation to ensure that I had GPS in my car.  I was told oh, just ask for a GPS when you get there.  I don’t roll like that.  I have to have everything planned out and nailed down well before I ever set foot on the trip.

They also didn’t book any hotels for me.  I was told oh, when you see a place you would like to stay, just pull over and check in.  Yeah, and what if there is a convention in town and all of the hotels are booked, what then.  Oh, someone didn’t think of that.  So I spent the weekend finding places to stay.  I leave on Tuesday as I said and I won’t be back home until Friday evening.  I have 3 different hotels to stay at.  I booked a King Size bed, suite at two of the places and the 3rd place I just got a regular room with a King Size Bed.  Hotel reservations will cost them some serious money.  Then figure in the plane and car and your talking well over $1,100.00 and that doesn’t allow for gas or food, both of which they pay for. 

I can clearly see that this whole trip is a test.  To see how I will perform, perhaps with vague instructions and bare bones reservations.  I think not only my character but my ability to spend money are being put to the test.  Well, I am spending very freely, I mean no one told me that there were any limits.  I will also have to work very hard to manage what little time I have. 

Tuesday it’s 45 minutes from the airport to the office.  Wednesday it’s around 3 and a 1/2 hours to the next office and Thursday it’s 1 hour and 18 minutes to the following office.  Then Friday I have to drive 4 hours back to the airport.  I will be so glad when this is over with.  However in my last post I said I would be traveling the 2nd week of July, nope make that June.  That’s right I get back and it will be time to leave for a different office.  Of course I have no information on reservations or when I am leaving for that trip.  Right now I am taking it 1 week at a time.

So we have an office that was something that we acquired, they have their own e-mail.  However, there spam filtering expired so being proactive I spoke with a vendor about a solution.  I got an answer back and forwarded it on to my boss.  Today I got a response that it was okay to proceed but he wanted to know the costs.  I was also advised that any correspondence with a 3rd party has to have him and his secretary copied in.  So in other words I am not trusted.  He didn’t say that, what he said was so that they are kept in the loop.  Funny thing was his actions say I am not trusted.  However, we had a conversation last week and he was telling me that I am part of the family and he trusts me.  The long term plans are to have me take over everything, but it will be done in baby steps.  I am okay with that but there is one or two areas where I will need help and won’t want to be totally alone.

As for the wireless upgrade, well I am getting bids and having conference calls.  Looks like I have to tell the vendors I am working with that they have to copy these extra parties in now.  How embarrassing!  It’s like he is undermining what little authority and credibility that I have.  I know that once he finds out what is involved from the number of people that are needed, the equipment and labor costs he is going to just flip.  Just to give you an idea…. best practice is to have a site survey done so you know what is floating in the air and can see where it’s best to place your access points.  That survey is around $2 to $3 thousand dollars per site.  Then you have to hire a cable contractor to run the wire, which won’t be cheap.  Then you have to purchase the equipment and at one place you are talking a need for a minimum of 10 access points at $300 to $400 each.  Finally, you have to pay for me to travel back to these places and do the actual install and test to ensure that things are working.  It won’t be a one day job, probably more like a week per office.  So this project can easily go 50 to 100 thousand dollars.  I know they probably really don’t want to spend that kind of money.  However, it’s the cost of doing business if you want wireless.  The idea is to do this and then make all of the other offices look the exact same, so we can ensure seamless performance.  This should be interesting to see how it pans out.

I had to rush order a laptop so I would be all set for the road.  I have spent the better part of the weekend configuring the machine as best as I can from home.  There are still some final touches that I need to put on it tomorrow.  I have a training class to attend tomorrow, which I think is two or three hours.  Boring!  Then I have a conference call about the wireless project and have to squeeze in time for my laptop, dealing with my large in box and needs of others as well as any problems that crop up.  Finally take time for lunch, which may just turn into a working lunch for time sake.  Monday will be here and gone before I know it.  Plus I still have to have a meeting about my trip.  Argh, I am already pulling my hair out and the day hasn’t even started.  1 2 3 4 Pressure!

So on to my Bankruptcy.  Friday went okay.  I was there long before my attorney.  They actually called my case but took an extension because my attorney was not present.  I told him about it, I was just a little ticked in the fact that I was paying for his services and he couldn’t even be on time, but I was preached at that I had to be on time.  WTF!  Anyway, I had to watch a 2 hour video to get a set of 6 codes to prove I watched the DVD.  You could start it but couldn’t stop it.  Pause was fine but if you stopped it, the disc started over from the beginning.  Wouldn’t you know that I fell asleep and missed one of the codes.  Thankfully with the power of Google I was able to get the codes off the net, but figured since they were posted it could be a trick.  I found a way with my computer to hack the DVD and manually fast forward so that I could see the codes.  Got what I needed and filled out the paperwork.  Then I had to ink a check for $15 and my partner will take the junk back to them on Monday.  Phew, I am done for all intense and purposes.  In about 60 days I should get a discharge, provided that there are no objections from creditors or other stumbling blocks that come up.  Regardless, it may just drag the time out but I am told that nothing further is required on my part, which is good news.  I also figured out why they never asked for a statement from the 3rd savings account that I have.  The paralegal the did the paperwork listed it as a retirement account, which it is not.  I didn’t know that until after I was home.  If I am questioned about it, I plan on playing dumb as if I never bothered to review the petition in detail.  That is something that we should have reviewed before I signed.  They just told me where to sign and to verify that all of my creditors were listed.  Wow, these people just make my blood boil.  Thankfully I am at the end.  Come on discharge!

I was told that it’s best to wait until I get a discharge before I attempt to reapply for any type of credit.  I would like to try now but will hold off a little longer, I mean 60 days is nothing.

My brother called me yesterday evening and told me that one of our uncles passed away.  Funny thing is over the course of the last two months I was thinking about him a lot.  We lost touch and I wanted to reconnect, but being unemployed and then finding work, that process just got lost in the shuffle.  He died at a hospital close to my home on Thursday evening.  I didn’t know he was a Veteran, nor that he taught English to Vietnamese Folks.  The wake/viewing is on Monday evening, which I plan on dropping by after work.  The funeral is Tuesday and well I would like to go because he meant a lot to me.  However, I have to be on a jet plane and become a traveling man.  It could be the perfect excuse to postpone this trip but my employer requires a copy of the Death Certificate, and proof that I actually attended the Funeral.  Rather than go through all of that, I will just skip the funeral.  I think showing up at the wake is enough.  I feel pretty sad over this and just hope that I can keep it together.  My mom wanted to go but since I am leaving town there is no way I will have time to get her and return her, plus eat supper and pack.  So she will miss out too.  He was only 68, which is way too young.  His death is a total shock to me and I am interested to find out more.  It’s odd but he was married once before, his 1st wife died from Lung Cancer and never smoked a day in her life.  She was the sweetest thing and always took good care of me.  She wasn’t dead 24 hours and everyone was bad mouthing her.  She wasn’t listed in his obit, but he did remarry and his 2nd and present wife was listed.  He didn’t have any children, but his life was far from boring.

Well time to clean up the house, prepare for Monday and put some final touches on my laptop.  What an evening!  Oh I almost forgot that Friday I went to Urgent Care for my foot.  They couldn’t find anything wrong with it.  My problem is an inflammation of the joint.  Ibuprofen in large amounts for 7 days, plus Tylenol if I need it to help with pain.  If that doesn’t do the trick then I should see a foot doctor to have a custom orthotic made.  Yeah, who has time for that.  Ibuprofen tares my stomach up after a couple days of taking it.  So I guess I will just have to put up with the pain.  My glasses are still driving me crazy.  I am some what used to them but it still feels like I am wearing a mask.  They don’t make different arms so if this pair doesn’t bother me then I will have to get a replacement or have lens put in my 2nd pair that I got years ago when they were only for the computer.  Ah, growing old is such a pain.

I hope that all is well in your world.  Not sure how much free time I will have on my hands this week when I am on the road, but I may well be able to squeeze in some surfing to various sites from my hotel room.  Because activity can be tracked, I will remote in to my machine at home from my laptop, so that is as far as anyone will be able to trace me.  Then I will be free to do what I want and go where I want to go without any worries. 

Take care and provided I make it through the trip, you should see another update here next week or weekend at the latest.  Talk with you peeps later!