Chapter 6: It Just Keeps Getting Better

I had this picture in my mind of Naomi Schaefer. She was a nerd for sure, so she’d be dressed a bit dumpy with horned rim glasses, straight hair, and an arm full of books about programming or coding or whatever. But, it was an opportunity to get extra credits for my first year of college and I wasn’t going to pass that up. I had already been guaranteed the three credits for my community involvement work; i.e: helping the kids on the short bus. This was worth five credits I was told and had to be completed by the end of the spring semester. I sure hoped I was up to the task.

Mr. Conradi had arranged for me to meet with Ms. Schaefer in his classroom after school and I was looking forward to finding out just what my role was going to be. I had been pretty up front with Conradi about my very limited computer skills and experience but he seemed to think my role in this project was within my capabilities, so I’d have to take his word for it ... for now.

I was a couple of minutes late getting to his room that afternoon thanks to a pit stop in the men’s washroom, but I didn’t think I was that late. I walked in, looking around, and noticed that Conradi had someone else with him and I was too early. I was about to turn around and excuse myself until Ms. Schaefer arrived when he called to me.

“Joel, Come over here and let me introduce you,” he said.

That vision of the dumpy female computer nerd vanished in an instant when I first laid eyes on my future partner. For a few seconds I thought maybe Uma Thurman had dropped in for a visit. This woman was spectacular. Tall, built, blonde, sexy as hell, and a smile that could melt icebergs in Greenland. I probably looked like a zombie for a few seconds until my mind clicked into gear.

“Joel Timmins, this is Naomi Schaefer, the person you will partner with in her project,” Conradi said with a hint of a smile.

I was overwhelmed by the amazing beauty that stood before me, wearing a knowing smile as she held out her hand. I took it gently, and said “Hello ... nice to meet you.” And that was the sum total of conversation that my mind could produce. Being near this woman was going to take a lot of getting used to.

“Nice to meet you too, Joel,” she said in a voice that as sexy as any I’d ever heard. “I hope you will enjoy working with me on my project. Marcus has told me about your excellent work with your father’s company last summer. You must be very proud of what you achieved,” she said, her smile nearly paralyzing me.

“Uhm ... er ... thank you. But I don’t think it can compare with what a serious developer can accomplish,” I finally managed.

“Perhaps not,” she smiled, “but for someone so inexperienced, you put a working program in place in two months and as I understand it, it is still functioning just as you created it.”

“Well ... yes, it is ... but it was a pretty simple program,” I said once more.

“Doesn’t matter, does it? It works and that’s what counts. The people in this development discipline far too often come up with great, complex ideas that can’t easily be translated into working programs. If you’re saying that you haven’t had to tweak the program since you installed in in late August, that is a significant achievement. Sometimes, simple is the best solution. I’ll be talking to your father’s IT person to see just what you created and why it works so well,” she said.

“Uhm ... well ... there is no IT person at East Cascade. They don’t really need one. All their programs are quite simple off-the-shelf items that we were able to connect to quite easily. We didn’t have to reinvent the entire system, just expand it,” I explained.

“Excellent!” she said clapping her hands together. “That’s exactly what I’m looking for in my project. I think we’re going to get along very well, Joel.”

“Well, as soon as I know what you want me to do, we can get started,” I said.

“I want you to be my policeman,” she said. “I want to you stop me from creating a monster when it isn’t necessary. Your job is to keep me from overcomplicating this project. It’s a bad habit of mine and I need someone like you to break me of it.”

“I hope I can help you but until I know what you want to accomplish, I don’t know what I can contribute,” I admitted.

“Can we meet tomorrow evening at Crook County College and discuss the project in full?” she asked.

“Yes, I can do that,” I agreed.

“Good!” she said clapping her hands together once again. “Seven o’clock in the front entrance. I’ve confirmed there will be night classes and we should be able to find an empty classroom without difficulty. The college knows I’m working on a project that will involve them.”

“Okay, seven o’clock it is then,” I said, wondering how the college was involved.

We spent some time on small talk before I left Mr. Conradi and Ms. Schaefer and headed for the bus home.

“I don’t know what the project is yet, Dad. I just know Mr. Conradi, my computer science teacher, said I was the best person to help this woman with her project. I’ve met her but I’ve only said a few words to her before I had to go to catch the bus. Anyway, I’m supposed to be the practical application guy while she’s the product developer. I don’t know how this is going to work but I’m going to give it my best effort. Some of work will be done on the weekend and some will be done in the evening during the week, provided my regular homework does not interfere.”

“So is this woman a student?” Dad guessed.

“Yes. She’s in first year at Crook County College, but she’s taking some second year courses. I can earn some serious extra credits if we pull this off,” I said.

“Is she an older girl?” my mother asked.

“Not really. She was a student in Mr. Conradi’s class just like me but tested out early. She had a bunch of credits built up and is pretty much taking second year courses there. I’d guess she’s only a year or two older than me,” I said.

“What does she look like?” Mom asked.

“Okay ... let’s see, she’s blonde, blue eyes, about six feet tall, a killer body, and very friendly,” I said with a grin.

“Just your type, right Joel,” Dad chuckled.

“I wish,” I said with a sigh. “I think she’s out of my league. Way out.”

“Oh, I don’t know, Joel,” Mom interjected. “You showed me that picture of your date on Saturday and she was certainly something special. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re a good looking young guy with a good future and a nice personality.”

“So, you think I’ve might have a chance with an older woman?” I kidded.

“You never know, young man. You just never know,” Mom insisted.

“Okay, Miss Schaefer, please explain just what you want me to do,” I began politely as we sat down for our first formal meeting.

“First of all, please call me Naomi. We’re going to be working together for some time and I’m too used to people using my first name,” she smiled.

That smile was enough for me. I don’t think she had any idea of how powerful it was – at least for me.

“Okay, Naomi. But back to my original question. What can I do to contribute? You’re probably a genius at creating programs but I’m just a high school kid who has a tiny bit of knowledge about computers. I’m still doubtful I can help.”

“You may be right, Joel but I had a long sit-down with Marcus Conradi and he was pretty bold with his praise for what you had accomplished last summer. What impressed him wasn’t just the time constraint of your work but how practical and simple you kept the framework. I’m more likely to over-complicate things if given a free reign to charge off and do whatever pops into my cluttered brain,” she grinned.

“Anyway,” she continued, “here’s an outline of the project. Like your project, it has a here-and-now practical application for the specific user. In this case, it’s this campus. The college is new and right now, quite small; barely thirty-five hundred students. They need a better scheduling system that works for both the staff and the students. Currently it’s done manually on a standard scheduling plot board and subject to all kinds of potential problems and complications. They don’t have a big budget to bring in consultants and implementation people, so they’re trying to find a simple and workable solution. You’re a student like me. We know the frustrations of poor scheduling. Our project is to take those frustrations into account and then see what we can do to reduce or eliminate them. Is that clear enough?”