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I am writing this from the usual 20,000 feet or so, having just completed the North Dakota contract and heading home for Christmas. The view from the airplane (as they call it in the US) is incredible. I have just flown out of Fargo en route to Dallas via Minneapolis, it is a clear day, temperature 0 degrees centigrade, with an amazing, white blanket of snow as far as the eye can see. The flat countryside means that you can see for miles, and the square pattern of roads leading to the farms with the smoking chimneys and white crusted trees is real pretty. Don’t know if you are getting the picture, but I am doing my best. Then we flew through the clouds into the sunlight, over the puffy whiteness. Maybe I should write a poem or something!

The job is going real well, which is a first since our move to the US, I was recently ranked in a weekly company newsletter as No. 3 amongst the 300 consults which was a real boost. The job I just finished I “expanded” an extra 6 days, which will help to maintain the ranking. I was informed today that I have been promoted to the next level, that of Project Director, as of Tuesday. now flying over a gap in the clouds and below is the more hilly, 10,000 lakes state of Minnesota, once again covered in a blanket of snow - OOPS, gone again, back to the cotton wool!

As I was saying, the promotion means that I travel MORE, still get home most weekends (last weekend I chose rather to visit my sister and family (Prof. Nic was on sabbatical at Waterloo University) in Toronto and also saw Alan Blignaut (ex Jhb. / Rhodes), AND we went to Niagara Falls, which I did not manage to get to during the 1984 trip. But I digress - what the job entails is analyzing what the client needs and then preparing the project for the consultant to continue and run. If there are problems, I go back to fix. If not, I open some more. I have to call every day to ensure the project is in good shape, and keep about six running at one time. The main benefit is financial - which was why we decided to go this route in the first place, we need to make up some ground! It should take about two years from there to head office....

Later... Now writing from Omaha Nebraska - quite pleasant, has some hills, but hear the summers are the same sweltering hot, and some snow in winter. Opened a nice project with two cousins who run a trucking / warehousing show, one of them played squash so we fitted in a few games - GREAT! So far so good, although had to work today (Saturday 13th January) which is unusual for the more senior position, but I needed the overtime to pay for William’s dental work. Yes, we are into that next phase of parenthood, William had a cavity at almost 6 years old, had to have the tooth pulled, and another filled, plus other to go. the dentist recommended capping them all - $4,000.

You can guess what my answer was.

Anyway, William handled it relatively well - and so did Dee, for that matter, snot ‘n trane all round. He has to go back for another filling, the cost so far ... $300 - about a Saturday’s work!!! Reading back I see that I have not filled you in on the projects that I have running thus far - there are 4 which are going well, only one is looking doubtful, so I go back there Monday to try to salvage it. The first was a construction company in Cleveland Ohio, the second a machinery shop 2 hours south of Memphis, Tennessee, the next the one in Detroit which needs attention, and the current one in Omaha.

My evaluation of the promotion thus far: An even bigger challenge than I had before! Not only am I responsible for clearing up what is often confusion left by the salesman about what we can do, but whatever consultants I am given for the projects, I have to work with and make the most of. They come in all shapes and sizes with all different experience, and I have to allocate parts of the project to them, teach them how to meet the client expectations and not “bomb” the project. By that I mean the client has the right to close the project on any given day, if I can’t get at least a 70% average I am demoted back to consultant! So far so good, but there are some variables outside of my control, so just pray that the Lord sends the viable projects within my skills and experience in my direction!

The travel is doubled, and arriving at your destination at 5 a.m. in the morning and getting up at 7 a.m. to get to the client’s site at 8 a.m. is not uncommon! The company has a management style which strangely enough is evident in many consulting firms - they call it management by intimidation - which I find amusing, really, those of you reading this who know me well will know I do not intimidate easily. The result is they are rather confused as to how to manage me. I work hard, do my best, keep my nose clean and when they push me beyond what I deem reasonable I simply tell them and so far I have got home more than any consultants that I know!!!

Many weeks later - and a year older - St. Patrick’s Day is quite a big deal over here we have discovered! Still coping but been through some rough patches, and the travel over the past few weeks averages 4 cities a week - home Saturdays, leave Sundays, on one occasion when I had to work a Saturday I flew home on a Friday night, collected the family and drove to the client 6 hours away, worked Saturday, drove Sunday to Corpus Christi and let the kids run on the beach for an hour and then drove back to fly out that evening! And YES, the paychecks are now beginning to make it pay off.

We have reached the 6 month time limit that we gave to make it work, and to summarize, I hit the top consultant ranks on two occasions in 3 months and I have similarly hit the top project directors ranks twice in 3 months. I enjoy what I am doing, I am obviously good at it, I don’t mind the hectic travel - I DO mind being away from the family. We do need the paycheck to get us ahead, and every month completed looks better on the resume. So, if that all makes sense to you, that’s why I am still doing it! I did get a 10% pay raise after six weeks as a project director, which also helped, and the powers that be know of my desire to move to San Jose (year round weather, mountains, sea - YAY!), but feel they want to train me properly through their office (the main HQ) before posting me where they have less control. Ideally I would like to move before William starts First Grade (August), will have to wait and see.

Otherwise Dee is enjoying the freedom of a bit of extra time, she was able to give up her teaching position, and now has to use that time in administrating the amount of paperwork that I generate what with accounts to be paid, expense vouchers to file, frequent flier miles to tally and try to make sure that as far as possible, when I get home, I am HOME!

I had a call from Ashley and Lynn Proctor who are moving over after his second Mercedes was stolen in a year, and was reminded how comfortably we live. We occasionally forget to lock the house, leave the garage doors open and when we come back - nothings missing!? The price we do pay is the “work ethic” - 12 hour days and Saturdays are considered a “norm”, public holidays are about 4 a year, and two weeks leave is a maximum. Tonight I am flying in a DC-10 - jumbo size, from Indianapolis to Minnesota before driving 4 hours to Bemidji. The point is, flying is so commonplace as part of your work that I have about 400 companions tonite!!!

For those of you that take the time to write, we thank you, it is great to hear from you, I hear the second storey to our house in Sandton finally happened, I am awaiting photo’s!