Chapter 11: Business and Pleasure

May 6, 1986, Los Angeles, California

When Julia and I walked off the plane at LAX, it was the first time I'd been in Los Angeles since 1971, when my parents had moved our family to Tucson, Arizona, where we stayed less than a year before moving to Ohio. As we were only staying a single night, neither Julia nor I had checked a bag, which allowed us to walk straight out of the terminal and get in line for a taxi into the city. Just under an hour later, we got out of the taxi and walked into the InterContinental Hotel to check into our rooms.

"I'm going to take a quick shower and put on my suit. We have just enough time for lunch before our 1:00pm meeting."

"Sounds like a plan!" Julia agreed.

We went up to our adjoining rooms, showered, dressed, and were back down in the lobby twenty-five minutes later. We opted to eat in the hotel restaurant, which had glass walls and offered a view of the new building for the Museum of Contemporary Art, which was being built just in front of the hotel. We had our lunch and then walked out the doors onto California Plaza. We stopped for a few minutes to watch the water show in the gorgeous fountain and pool that graced the plaza.

"We need to come check this out tonight," I said. "According to the sign, there's a light and water show that runs continuously. We can eat here, too, at that sidewalk café."

"Very romantic!" Julia teased. "Should I call my husband and you call your wives for permission?"

I laughed, "Dave might be OK with the fact that we were together BEFORE you guys married, but there is no way he's going to give you permission! Not to mention the fact that you work for me! Or I work for you. Or however you want to frame it!"

She smiled, "Oh, I know. Kara told me I should tease you while we're here, but I decided to go easy on you."

"I'll deal with her when we get home!" I chuckled. "Let's go make a lot of money!"

We went into the California Plaza and found the law firm's name on the board. Reception for Ford, Jackson, and Finch was in suite 4100. We found the correct elevator bank and rode up to the 41st floor. The elevator doors opened to a large reception area with three young women who were greeting guests and answering phones. Julia presented our business cards and signed the logbook, and then we sat down to wait.

Promptly at 1:00pm a gorgeous, tanned blonde wearing a very short, very tight dress escorted us to a conference room, and offered us water, coffee, or soft drinks. Julia and I both opted for water, and she brought a pitcher of ice water and two crystal glasses. She asked if we needed anything else, and when we said that we didn't, she said that the managing partner and the Executive Committee would arrive in a couple of minutes.

"I think I'm going to raise the price!" Julia whispered as we looked around the room.

I had no doubt that the cherry conference table and the custom leather chairs in the room cost more than all the furniture I had in my house. The artwork on the wall was probably worth enough to put a score of kids through college, if not more, and the hardwood paneling probably cost several years of salary for an average worker.

"One lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns!" I said, in my best Don Corleone impression, which wasn't very good.

"I heard that!" a very well dressed man in his fifties said jovially, coming into the room. "I see you're a fan of The Godfather!"

I chuckled, "Yes, Sir, I am. Sorry if I caused any offense."

"No offense at all. I suppose next, though, you'll be quoting Shakespeare!" he grinned.

"The 'kill all the lawyers' quote? No, Sir, because the context is how to go about setting up a dictatorship! Dick the Butcher was a follower of Jack Cade, who wanted to set up an autocratic system. In order to do that, they had to overthrow the law, thus Dick suggested killing all the lawyers."

"I never knew that!" he chuckled. "I'm Ben Jackson, managing partner. You must be Steve and," he said, turning to Julia, "you must be Julia.

"Those four men who just walked into the room are the rest of the Executive Committee. Please, have a seat and we'll introduce everyone."

He proceeded to introduce the other partners, and the gorgeous blonde came back to set coffee, water, or a soft drink in front of each of the lawyers. They were all wearing very expensive suits, so I was glad I was wearing the tailored suit that Don Joseph had bought for me, and realized that I probably needed to get a couple more.

"Thank you all for inviting us," I said. "If you don't mind, I'd like to let Julia Kallas make our presentation. Usually, our head of Marketing and Sales, Cindi Spanos, sorry, Eggert — she just got married — would be here with Julia, but she's on her honeymoon. I'm pinch-hitting."

"Aren't you the President, Mr. Adams?" one of the lawyers asked.

"I am. But I hired Julia and Cindi to do their jobs because they're very, very good. I'm a far better programmer than a businessman, so I hired people who I knew were better than me. I certainly wouldn't try to defend myself in court, even though law is a hobby of mine. I leave that to the people who truly know it."

There were nods around the room. That advice that Scott had given me seemed to resonate with them. I sat down and Julia stood up. She started with a description of our company and our products, and once she'd covered that, she walked over to the IBM PC that had been set up in the room for us to use. It was connected to a projector, so that what appeared on the CRT also appeared on a screen on the wall. She ran through a demo of the software, answering questions as they came up. About an hour after we'd started, the presentation was over. Julia thanked everyone and sat down.

"Do you have a proposed contract and pricing structure for us?" Mr. Jackson asked.

Julia handed him five copies of our standard contract as well as a pricing sheet that broke out the costs for the next five years, just as they had asked.

"As you can see, we've applied a significant discount to our normal pricing structure, as well as some price guarantees for the term of the contract."

"And you're comfortable that you can support a client this large in California?" he asked.

"Yes," Julia said. "The installation charge covers not just installation, but a week's worth of training, and a second week of on-site support to ensure that everything is working. Our telephone support will be available during your normal business hours and there is a schedule for extended support hours if you want them. And we will be able to use a modem to access the Novell server to fix issues with the database if they arise."

"We would be your biggest client, if I understand you correctly. Are you sure you can support a firm this large?"

"Absolutely," I said. "Our long-term plan would be to have a small sales and support office here in Los Angeles, assuming we have enough customers on the West Coast, which we are confident we will. For now, we'll support you from Chicago, just as we're doing for Purina Mills. That's a different class of customer, of course, but the principle is the same."

"What about customization or new functions?" one of the other lawyers asked.

"If the new functions apply to all clients, then they would be included in some future update," Julia said. "If you needed it sooner, or they're specific to you, then we'd negotiate a price based on the amount of work necessary and how quickly you needed the changes. The rates for that are listed in the contract. Customization is part of the installation process."

"I think that covers everything we need," Mr. Jackson said. "Thank you both for flying all the way to California to make this presentation. We'll have a decision for you by the end of the week."

Julia and I stood up, and she thanked everyone, and then I thanked them. We all shook hands, and as if by magic, the gorgeous blonde appeared at the door and escorted us to the elevators. As we rode down, I asked Julia what she thought.

"They liked what they saw," she said. "I think we'll get the deal."

I nodded, "That was my impression as well. They also liked that we flew out here, on our own dime, which let them evaluate us face-to-face. Who are we going to send out here to do the installation and training?"

"I'll leave that decision to Cindi, but I suspect that she'll send Mario. You realize that we need to hire another person to do support, right?"

I nodded, "Yes. But we don't need a college graduate. Just someone who's articulate and smart, and can learn our software. Let's talk to Elyse when we get back. Even after Debbie Jones starts, we have one slot to hire before we have to go back to the Board."

"Waukesha is going to chew up a ton of resources," Julia said. "Granted, we make money by using them, but I'm not sure that you and Penny can do all the coding and bug fixing for two major packages. Dave and I won't be able to help much, and Charlie is going to be spending at least some time on Purina Mills. I think we should propose to the board hiring another programmer if we get this deal."

I sighed, "I guess you have to spend money to make money. That said, our finances are in really good shape, even after you and Dave start receiving your regular salaries in July. According to Elyse, our reserves are almost what they were when we started, and we're profitable now."

"We wouldn't hire anyone until we actually have signed contracts in hand. Also, you heard Mario yesterday — he has leads in Milwaukee, Rockford, and Gary. And you know that Cindi has several deals she's working on in the Loop. The real concern is the two of them having time to sell the medical software once you get it into shape later this Summer."

"I guess that's a good problem to have," I said as the elevator reached the ground floor. "You know, I should have Mario or Cindi call my friend Ben van Hoek in Cincinnati. He's an attorney with a decent-sized firm there. I bet we could get in the door."

"Tell Mario when we get back," Julia said. "So what now? We have a couple of hours before dinner."

"Disneyland is too far away, and we'd need a car," I chuckled. "And I didn't bring a bathing suit because I didn't think we'd have a lot of downtime. If it's cool with you, I'd like to get my book and read here on the plaza. There's some nice shade, and the fountain is pretty cool."

"That sounds like a great plan. Meet you back here in twenty minutes in shorts and t-shirts?"

"You got it!" I said.

May 7, 1986, Chicago, Illinois

"That was quite the whirlwind trip," Julia said, as we walked out of Terminal 3 at O'Hare.

"Flying this direction sucks, though," I said. "We lost two hours because of time zones. So even with catching an 8:00am flight, the entire day is blown."

We were back in Hyde Park about an hour later, because traffic was very heavy from the airport to downtown. It had opened up once we were past the Circle Interchange.

"How'd it go?" Dave asked when we walked into the attic room.

"I'd say really well," Julia said. "Steve agrees. We're supposed to hear by the end of the week."

Dave smiled, "Mr. Jackson called about an hour ago. He asked that you call him."

Julia went to her desk and dialed the number in Los Angeles, and asked for Ben Jackson. About two minutes later, he came on the line. After a bit of small talk, Julia smiled and gave us all a thumbs-up. She thanked him, and after making several notes, she hung up.

"We got it! They want to talk to Jamie about some contract modifications, but they agreed to the price!"

"All right!" I said. "That's awesome! Give Jamie a call and let's start planning for this. You should probably page Mario, because the status board says he's out until Friday at customer sites."

"I'll take care of it!" Julia said.

"And let's get with Elyse to figure out a salary for a support person."

"Support person?" Charlie asked.

"We're going to need someone who can be in the office and do support, because Tom and the new programmer will be out of the office in Waukesha, and Dave will be there quite a bit as well. You and I can't support all our customers and still get other work done."

"Another CS grad?" she asked.

"Not necessarily," I said. "Just someone smart who can learn our software and do phone support. Having someone to answer the phones full-time will be a big help just by itself. A receptionist is an extravagance for us at this point."

Julia put in a call to Jamie and I went to find Elyse to talk to her about working up a salary for a support person and making sure that it would fit into the budget. She promised to have something by Thursday.

May 9, 1986, Chicago, Illinois

Julia, Dave, and I met in my office on Friday morning.

"I called the Tribune and our ad for a support technician will run on Sunday," Julia said. "I had Doctor Dalton review the job description, and he suggested that title."

"I talked to my dad and Joyce last night and filled them in. Obviously, they're happy."

"Jamie said he talked to someone at Ford, Jackson, and Finch and he and they agreed on the minor changes to the contract. They asked for a rider that gave them the right to cancel the contract within ninety days if the software doesn't perform substantially, as advertised."

"That sounds reasonable," I said.

"I agree," Julia said. "I told Jamie I was OK with it if he was."

"Do they have a proposed installation date?" I asked.

"Their Novell network installation will be complete on June 13th. They asked for us to be there on June 24th. I checked with Mario and he can be in California for two weeks starting on the 24th. That gives us nearly two months before the installation is complete, which is plenty of time to get someone hired and trained to support the software."

"We should probably get in touch with their Novell network guys just to touch base, given they'll be supporting the PCs and network on which our software will be running."

"Good point," Julia said. "I'll have Mario call and get that contact information. Before I forget, did you tell Penny about Casey?"

"No, I haven't had the chance. I'll be in Indianapolis this weekend, so I won't see her in the morning. You can let her know, though I'm sure that Charlie will tell her if you don't."

"OK. Mario and I need to make a presentation this afternoon," Julia said. "This filling in for Cindi takes a lot of time!"

"It does. You and I spent about nine hours on two planes to make a two-hour presentation."

"At least the hotel was nice, and we had time to catch some rays!" she said with a smile.

"Nothing like that tan you had when you came back from Hawaiߴi!" I teased.

"Very true!" Dave said with a big grin.

We went back to work and at lunchtime, I ate quickly and then got Jesse from Beverly so that I could take him for a walk. I headed for Washington Park, pushing Jesse in his buggy. In the last week, I'd been able to adjust it so that he was in more of a sitting position, and he had started babbling and smiling when the girls paid attention to him. He had taken a serious liking to Carol and her two kids — Frankie and Francesca. He reserved his biggest smiles for them, and he babbled incessantly when he saw Francesca.

Jesse had also started attracting attention from college girls, and rewarded them with smiles as well. Several of them had flirted with me, but I gently deflected them, pointing out that I was married. That had, for the most part, kept the flirting at a reasonable level, though Carol continued to flirt with me as she had the first time I met her. She was married, and despite the fact that I found her cute, that made her off limits.

After about an hour, I brought Jesse back to the coach house and handed him off to Beverly. Stephanie would take care of Jesse from the time Beverly left until Josie and Jennifer arrived home because Kara and I were heading to Indianapolis as soon as she arrived home from class. I headed back to the attic to finish the work day.

May 9, 1986, Indianapolis, Indiana

"How was your week, Babe?" I asked as the three of us cuddled together in Jessica's small bed.

"Tiring. I can't wait for the 23rd! It'll be nice to have two weeks in Chicago!"

"Are you coming up next weekend? Elyse is throwing a graduation party for Charlie and George and their friends."

"Probably not. I have to write up my evaluations and prep for the oral exam at the end of this Clerkship. I think we can survive one weekend, don't you?"

"I suppose," I said. "I'm guessing you were pretty tired on Monday after the crazy weekend?"

"I was, but it was fun! I really enjoyed it. You seem to be getting serious about the Orthodox Church."

"To a point, yes. I brought some books for you to read. Kara read them and thought they were helpful. Obviously, our relationship creates some serious impediments, as Father Basil noted, but I really do enjoy the rituals. And the world view has a lot in common with mine."