Chapter 37: Moves and Counter-Moves

November 29, 1996, Chicago, Illinois

Friday was going to be organized chaos at the house with Paul and Nancy, as well as Elyse’s parents visiting, not to mention Jake and Joyce and their kids. I left the house early because I had to take a computer and printer with me to DePaul for the first trial run of the tournament software I’d written.

“Good morning, Kyōshi Steve!” Ailea said when I walked into the field house pulling a cart with my Mac and the printer.

“Good morning!”

“I have the power strip you asked for. You can set up on the desk next to me. I have the diskette with all the names entered, along with their rank and dojo.”

“Excellent. And the paper score sheets in case the program collapses into a stinking pile of electronic bits?”

“In that box over there,” she laughed. “Along with the large bracket sheets we’ll post on the walls for tomorrow.”

“Good. Remember that we need to enter the match results into the computer, as well as fill out the smaller bracket sheets by hand. Just in case.”

“You aren’t filling me with a lot of confidence!”

I chuckled, “I know I’m an excellent programmer, and I also know that no matter how much testing I do, there is ALWAYS one more bug! Not to mention the computer could have some kind of hardware fault and refuse to run. One of our up-and-coming consulting offerings is ‘disaster recovery’ and ‘business continuity’. Basically, when everything turns to shit, we turn it back to gold, or at least silver or bronze, so the company can continue to function. Imagine a doctor’s office without patient records or a lawyer without client records! Most of them keep paper backups in case of disaster.”

“I’d sure hate to write my papers, or heaven forbid, a legal brief, without a computer!”

“You do know that it wasn’t that long ago that only typewriters existed!”

“Oh, I know; some of my classmates use typewriters. I am SO glad my grandfather took your advice and bought me a Mac before I started at UIC!”

“I hate to say it, but you’ll most likely need a Windows computer once you start writing legal briefs which are filed with the courts - WordPerfect for DOS is basically the standard in law firms. But we’ll worry about that in the future. Let me get this set up.”

I set up my Power Macintosh 9500/150, along with my HP LaserJet 5P, powered everything up, then started the tournament program. I inserted the 3.5” floppy disk Ailea had brought with her and clicked ‘Load’. A couple of minutes later, when I had a screen showing all the participant information, I clicked on ‘Generate’ and a short time later the laser printer spat out the first round matchups.

“It worked?”

“Maybe,” I replied. “Let’s look these over and see if we find any issues - wrong matchups, duplicate names, or missing names.”

“You are paranoid!”

“‘Measure twice, cut once’ applies to computers, too! We’ll mark things off on these sheets and I’ll print fresh ones once we’re sure they’re OK.”

We spent the next ten minutes reviewing the matchups and found everything to be correct, so I printed fresh matchup sheets and a set of recording sheets we’d use to do data entry. As each match completed, we’d transfer the results from the score sheets to the recording sheets, and then Ailea or Elliot, who had offered to help, would enter the data into the computer.

A few minutes after we finished, Sensei Ichirou arrived, and shortly after him, contestants, judges, referees, scorekeepers, and spectators began arriving. Elliot arrived just before the opening matches, and helped us distribute the papers to the scorekeepers. To my surprise, everything went smoothly, and I had the chance to watch the first matches involving members of the Hyde Park and Racine dojos.

“Well, that was easy,” I chuckled fifteen minutes later.

“Easy for you to say standing there, Mr. Tournament Official!” Molly replied. “You weren’t sweating those matches!”

“In case you didn’t notice, I never sweated any of Marcia’s matches, except that one when she totally lost her concentration because of her mom.”

“I never understood how you stayed so calm.”

“It is one of the precepts, or to put it in American business terms - ‘cool under fire’.”

“You’ve never had to sweat an IRS audit!”

“Oh, I have, but not the way you mean. I was confident their fishing expedition would find exactly nothing. And they didn’t, minus one clerical error for $400 which cost us around $100 in extra taxes.”

“Unreal!”

“‘If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.‘ Or perhaps, ‘He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks.‘ Or, maybe ‘He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.‘“

“Very nice, Sensei Sun Tzu!”

“Well, then you should know these yourself: ‘Calamity springs from carelessness.‘ ‘Make adjustments according to your opponent.‘ ‘Be constantly mindful, diligent, and resourceful, in your pursuit of the Way.‘“

“All penned by Shōtō, or Funakoshi Gichin, the founder of Shōtōkan Karate-Do.”

“If you know that, then why does the IRS worry you? Remember, ‘Karate goes beyond the dojo.‘“

“Yes, Kyōshi.”

“In the immortal words of Brad from Fast Times at Ridgemont High - ‘Learn it. Know it. Live it.’”

“Somehow I think ‘No shirt, no shoes, no dice’ isn’t one of the precepts!”

“It’s not,” I grinned. “Sorry, but I need to go check on how the data entry is going in the computer for the next round.”

I hurried back to the front where Elliot and Ailea were double-checking the data they had entered. A minute later, they were happy, so Ailea clicked ‘generate’ and I was pleased to see the next set of matchups appear on the printer. We quickly checked them, then posted copies on the board for everyone to see. The rest of the day went relatively smoothly, though there were a couple of hiccups with the program which I managed to fix, and by the end of Friday we had our sixteen finalists for the single-elimination rounds in each of the three classes.

Marcia, Jolene, and Hannah had all made it, as had Ted and Marissa from Molly’s dojo. With two black belts and three brown belts, we had a very good chance of winning a trophy or two on Saturday. I congratulated all of them, and then Ailea and Elliot helped me pack up my computer and load it into my BMW. I thanked them, then headed home.

“Sorry I missed the day at home,” I said as we sat down to dinner with my family and our guests.

“You weren’t here?” Joyce asked with a smirk. “Who knew?”

“You know, I can get this kind of abuse just about anywhere!”

“Because it’s so well deserved!” she retorted.

“Play nice, children,” Jake said with a grin.

“Those two haven’t played nice since they first met when my brother was fourteen!” Stephanie added, stirring the pot.

“Did anyone ask you, Squirt?” I asked testily, but winked at her.

At that point, the conversation moved to being pleasant and I heard from the kids what they’d done during the day. When we finished eating, Joyce and I went to my study to share a glass of Sambuca.

“«Salute»!” I said, and we raised our glasses to the photo of Don Joseph.

We drained our glasses and sat down.

“What can I do for you?” I asked.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Don Anthony needs a favor.”

I chuckled, “Anthony is a friend. What favor can I do for him?”

“I swear, when you two reconciled I was ready to shoot YOU!”

“But you made your peace with them, too, and now he’s in a sustainable business that doesn’t involve any street work at all. The black and Hispanic gangs don’t bother him over in Kentucky, and he caters to a class of clientele which isn’t going to turn stool pigeon on him. What does he need?”

“Actually, it’s not for him, it’s his older sister,” Joyce said.

“I didn’t know he had an older sister!”

“She was actually Sarah’s friend, and I don’t recall her being at Grandfather’s house when you were there. She went off to college a year after you did.”

“So how can I help?”

“Have you heard of the complete disaster Oregon is facing with their attempt to automate their Department of Motor Vehicles?”

“Yes. Barbara and I talked about it. We declined to bid on the consulting project to analyze whether the project could be saved because we didn’t want to be associated with the complete failure of the project, even if we were the ones calling it a failure! Charlie actually met with them late last year and it was her analysis that led us to ‘no bid’ the project.”

“Anthony’s sister works for DMR Group; they were responsible for the software engineering. There’s a full-scale audit in process, and the project was put on temporary hold. She’s looking for a way out.”

“That was an IBM mainframe project and we don’t do any mainframe work at all. Except for our Unix consulting business and the small amount of Macintosh work we do, you know we’re a Windows shop, much to my chagrin.”

“But you considered bidding?”

“Analyzing why an IT project failed doesn’t require knowing everything about the systems being used.”

“Good point. Will you talk with her?” Joyce asked.

“I’m out of the hiring loop for good, as of about two weeks ago,” I said. “With the exception of C-level people or approving promotions at the director level and above.”

“Wait! What?!”

“Part of reinventing my role at NIKA, and doing my best to adapt to the growth we’re experiencing. I can talk to her, but she’s going to have to talk to Julia, Terry, or Charlie. And I don’t have any influence on hiring at the engineering level other than setting general hiring criteria.”

“You gave up your ‘veto’?! That’s a HUGE change! When did you plan to tell us?”

“I just told you,” I replied with a grin. “I talked to my dad earlier in the week. If you think about it, with a full-time, professional, independent ‘Director of Human Resources’, which you’ll recall the Board approved, and my sister taking over as CEO in just over a year, this makes sense. If you have a résumé, I’ll be happy to give it a look-see.”

“I do. So what IS your role going to be?”

“Programmer. You know that’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I’ll also be the guardian of the NIKA culture - we are NOT going to corporatize or bureaucratize MY company while I draw breath! I’ll do that with my own set of close advisors - Eve, Deborah, Kimmy, Charlie, and Elyse. I meet regularly with them as a group and as individuals. I’m not going to attend any operational meetings unless Stephanie specifically invites me and then only for whatever specific purpose she needs. She’s going to have a free hand on operations, but I’m going to make sure we stay on course.”

“Why not call her COO?”

“Because then people will STILL come to me. She’s CEO. I’m President. You’re Chairman. That puts you and my sister as the face of NIKA from a corporate standpoint. I’m the «kami».”

“The what?”

“It’s a Japanese word for spirit.”

“And those girls? Why them?”

I chuckled, “Do you have to ask?”

“Jesus Christ, Steve! If you’re fucking any of them now...”

“I’m not. But with the exception of Deborah, I have a VERY close relationship with each of them. Deborah and I are still figuring out our relationship since she’s both NIKA’s in-house counsel as well as my personal legal advisor. As for Eve, you’re one of the few who knows about WHY there’s a close relationship. And you have to keep that to yourself.”

“Do you know Connie about peed her pants?”

“Oh, I’m sure. She was all ‘tough as nails’ but I knew it was fear speaking. Staring at the business-end of a .357 with Black Talon rounds will make just about anyone piss themselves if they have ANY sense of self-preservation. Connie does, as we both know.”

“So you’re running a shadow government, so to speak?”

“Only in the sense that I’m not going to let anyone fuck up the best company in the world. I do believe that’s in ALL of our best interests.”

“And Stephanie is on board with this?”

“Absolutely. She doesn’t want the culture of the company to change any more than I do. We have the right division of labor to double the current value of your shares, at least, with the attendant increase in dividends. I do believe your grandfather’s investment is paying off.”

“More than anything else we’re doing. I think we’ve turned the corner, though. We decided to buy some franchises and early next year I’ll have a pair of McDonald’s restaurants and three 7-Eleven stores in our portfolio.”

“Wow! I wouldn’t have suspected THAT!”

“It was pretty much the only thing that made sense. The chains are killing ‘Mom and Pop’ stores. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! We’re looking at other franchise opportunities as well. The really nice thing is that between Jake’s salary and the NIKA dividends, I don’t need to take any income out of the corporation my grandfather created to hold the assets he passed on to me.”

“That’s good. With Jessica’s salary, we’re basically saving or investing everything Kara and I make, and you know I don’t take a huge salary because NIKA is my biggest, most important investment, and I want to reinvest as much as possible. And you saw Cindi and Charlie’s expansion plans, as well as the growth projections for our IT security consulting. I was just telling someone today that our new ‘Disaster Recovery’ and ‘Business Continuity’ consulting is starting to take off.”

“And your concerns about getting ‘too big’?” Joyce asked.

“Oh, I still have those, but we’re at a place where I either have to jam on the brakes or push the accelerator to the floorboards. Which would you prefer?”

“The one that makes me the most money, obviously! But I know YOU better than that. You need to be happy.”

“And that’s what that time in Ohio was about - getting my head on straight. I think I have it now. Bill Ivarstad basically broke it down for me and pointed out the issues which were causing my struggles. Once he did that, it was simply a matter of formulating a way forward.”

“How the FUCK do you do that? Does ANYTHING faze you?”

“Bad Joyce did,” I smirked. “But I got over it pretty quickly and WOW!”

“Seventeen fucking years later and you’re STILL incorrigible!”

“Damn straight!” I grinned. “Are we good?”

“I got it out of my system when you were at the house. It was just all that history, you know?”

“Oh, I know. I’ve had to deal with it myself.”

“And you STILL haven’t taken my advice.”

“Given that I married two women, it’s kind of tough to find one woman and stick to her.”

“You’re still playing around, too. That cute little Cuban thing?”

“A medical student we’re mentoring,” I replied.

“Oh I’m SURE you’re mentoring her!”

“Let’s not have this argument again, please.”

“Sorry,” Joyce said, chagrined. “There is one other thing I need to ask you, also on behalf of Anthony.”

“Go on...”

November 30, 1996, Chicago, Illinois

“Well crap,” I said. “I don’t think I can fix this bug while we’re sitting here.”

“So what do we do?” Ailea asked.

“We have the brackets, so we just do it manually. That’s the simple part. I’ll need to fix this bug and then we can do the updated Elo numbers and publish them later. They don’t matter for determining the champions in each of the three groups. I know what’s wrong; I just can’t fix it and test it in a few minutes. This isn’t like the minor issue yesterday with generating the printouts. In this one, it’s generating wrong data.”

“You seem to think this is normal,” Elliot said.

I nodded, “You know how you can lose a single motion that upends your case? Consider this like that.”

“Don’t remind me,” he sighed. “That actually happened two weeks ago. A slam dunk case where we lost one motion and suddenly we had nothing. And nobody saw it coming. We’re appealing, but to be honest, it’s not a reversible error because the judge acted within his discretion, even if both sides were shocked by his ruling.”

“Which is why nearly all my lawyer friends, except criminal defense, want nothing to do with courtrooms! They’re crapshoots. And the criminal defense lawyers want them because that’s the way to actually get away with murder, as it were.”

“Ailea says you’re friends with Melanie Spencer.”

“That’s one way to put it,” I chuckled. “Another way to put it is that she was my on-again/off-again girlfriend in Junior High and High School.”

“I saw her in action the other day in court,” Elliot said, shaking his head. “I thought the JUDGE was going to cry.”

“Welcome to Melanie’s world where EVERYONE in the courtroom, except her clients, is ready to cry!”

“We have a civil litigator who is like that, though he doesn’t make judges cry, just the other side.”

“Enough shop talk!” Ailea declared. “We have work to do!”

“Ā sō desu ka?” I grinned.

“Oh shut up!” Ailea laughed.

“What did he say?”

“That’s Japanese for ‘Oh, is that so?’ And he’s just being a smart ass!”

“Well, at least part of me is smart,” I grinned. “So I have that going for me, which is nice!”

Elliot laughed, “Caddyshack, right?”

“Exactly. Shall we?”

The tournament went off without a hitch despite the minor computer problems, and the school of Hisakawa Hiro comported itself quite well. Jolene and Hannah had to face each other in the semi-finals, and Jolene won, only to lose to a black belt from Michigan. Marcia beat Ted and Marissa in successive matches, but lost the final by a single point over three rounds, finishing second. Her score in the kata, though, was sufficient to put her just past her opponent for overall champion.

“Next year is going to be tough,” Marcia said after I congratulated her.

“The black belt competition is fierce,” I said. “Jolene came very close, but she had to face a 5th Dan in the finals. He was just enough better to beat her. I think she can beat him in the Spring. Well, assuming she can get past Hannah who fought her very close.”

“How can we improve Marcia’s techniques, Sensei?” Will asked.

I was SO tempted to give a VERY off-color remark, but I simply couldn’t.