Chapter 12

After Dr. Zurcher left, I measured the room by stepping it off and it was about 15 x 15 feet. The metal desk looked like a government issue and the chair had seen better days. I took the letter and walked over to the facilities. There was a woman at the desk when I walked in. I stood until she looked up from her typewriter.

“Hello, May I help you?”

“Hi, My name’s Nick and I was just given an office to help start a new course for the school and I was sent over here to get some furnishings and make the place look more professional and inviting.”

She looked me up and down before taking the letter from my hand. She read it and looked at the department header and signature. “What are you looking for?”

“Right now it is all metal and looks like it came from an army surplus store. I would like something with more wood and leather, someplace to be comfortable, to discuss ideas, or theories. I’ll want a couple chalkboards on the walls to show designs or concepts. I’ll need some lamps for lighting and tables to put them on. I’d like a small refrigerator if you have them.”

“You sound like the head of the department and not a teaching assistant.”

“I can either get it though you or buy it on my own. If I get it through you, there won’t be any problem with delivery or when I finish and vacate the office. I also see that you’re using an old typewriter. I could get you one of the new word processors and have all the order forms and requisition papers saved to make your life easier.”

“Using the sugar instead of vinegar approach.”

“It normally works better.”

“The president of King’s College just remodeled his office and we have the whole suite. Would that work for you?”

“If you are serious, I’d like to see it first. It may be too much. I would guess that his office is bigger than mine.”

Smiling, she got up and waved for me to follow her. “We have it in the warehouse. A few others have hinted that they may want it but none have come out and asked for it.”

Mahogany and leather were the two main components in the furniture and the club chairs looked and felt great when I sat in them. I took the couch, four club chairs, a coffee table, an end table, the desk and a large desk chair. Three lamps, two rugs and a bookcase looked like they would all fit. There was a small conference tale and some other chairs that I passed on. I’d have to get my own fridge but there was a place for it in the lower part of the bookcase.

“I’ll have the room set up in a couple hours if you toss in a few bucks for beers for the delivery guys. You should be there to tell them where you want the chalk boards and furniture.”

“I’ll have your word processor here next week and if you want to come by my office, I’ll help you with the forms. Just bring them with you.”

We shook hands and she said, “Good doing business with you, Nick.”

“Good doing business with you, Gretchen.”

She raised her eyebrow since she hadn’t told me her name. “It was on the nameplate on your desk.” She nodded.

The guys must have been nearby, because I was only in the new office for about a half hour when the guys came and knocked on the door. They looked around and then grabbed the desk and started to walk out. I grabbed the chair and followed them. They made quick work of the move and I was there to help with some of the smaller items. They even hung the chalkboards and gave me some chalk and erasers. I handed them five, twenty-pound notes. “Take your wives or girlfriends out somewhere nice. I appreciate the service this late on a Friday.”

The taller one said, “We appreciate you pitching in and helping us finish sooner. Thanks for the tip.” As they took one last look around and gathered their tools before heading down the elevator.

Andy was in his room when I got back to mine and I asked him about getting a word processor. He looked at me. “We get them through you or Adam and have a hundred or so in the warehouse in London. Do you need one?”

“I do. I can pay you for it or have Adam issue you a credit. Either way will work.”

“We have a team delivering them tomorrow for the writing lab. We’re using a couple drivers from the liquor side and paying them on the side. They make some more money this week and we get the delivery on Saturday. I’ll have them put a couple extra on the truck in case one isn’t working correctly and one for you.”

“I’ll need two. One for a deal I made and one for my office.”

“You have an office?”

“As of today, I do. I don’t even know what my schedule is but I have to teach some classes and write a textbook this term.”

“You are always surprising me. I’m looking forward to the big food convention in a month. I almost feel like school should be put on hold so we can get ready.”

“You can do both. Don’t slack off in one area. Just step up and do both well. Like Rugby and school. You can do them both.”

“I’m still a kid. It’s my nature to slack off whenever possible.”

“You work for your dad but if you and he doesn’t produce, you’ll be one of a couple distributors or the one’s that lost the job. I want you to have exclusive distribution so work hard now and slack when everything is running like a well oiled machine.”

“I hear you.”

We had dinner and shot a few games of pool. Andy had called his dad to add to the order and we all met the truck the next morning as the machines were offloaded and set up at the different office locations. I noted that Facilities wasn’t one of the locations. I took one of the boxes and set it on Gretchen’s desk with a note to meet me at my office on Monday afternoon. I told her to bring some forms but not the word processor.

The campus was alive as everyone returned from break. Both Hakim and William were noticeably missing. I stopped by Lisa’s place and she told me that somehow the Saudi’s were let in on the Russian plan and William was sent off to answer for his sins. Hakim was pulled in and would be attending school in one of the Saudi universities. We had two new people living across the hall and someone on our side reclaimed both word processors. The whole reason I’d been sent to Cambridge had either succeeded or failed depending on which way you looked at it. I wasn’t sure what would happen to Lisa or me now that we didn’t have any targets on campus.

Monday morning, the girls showed up to work out before school and I was there early to get in my own workout. After that I showered, dressed and went to my Linear Algebra class. I’d read ahead a couple chapters and listened to the teacher as she went through the syllabus and started on chapter one.

When I showed up for American Literature, I was told that I’d been dropped from the class. There were a few laughs as I walked out complaining about buying the book. A kid offered to buy it from me and followed me out into the hall. I gave him a great deal. Biology was the same thing but I didn’t sell my book. I walked into my office at noon. There was a knock on my door about twenty-minutes later.

It was Dr. Zurcher. He was very surprised to see the furniture. “I don’t think my office is decorated this nicely and you had it done so soon.”

“You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Or so they say. They had it laying around so I helped them find a home for it. I got kicked out of my American Lit and Biology classes.”

“We got you out of Japanese as well. You’ll have computer Networking tomorrow.”

“I can live with that. What do I have to do to graduate in two or three years instead of four?”

“Write the text book, that’s the equivalent of a doctoral thesis. Teach some classes to show that you have a handle on the materials and can stand up to questioning. Then we’ll have a few other professors have a discussion about different topics and if they and I sign off, you can be on your way. I’ll get co-authorship on the book and teach the classes after you are gone.”

“I think that’s a pretty good deal. I may make Adam a co-author with you. I’m sure I’ll call him once or twice and have him review the text.”

Nodding he said, “Your first talk will be in the big auditorium next Tuesday. Maybe we can get together on Thursday and discuss what you are going to say.”

“I’ll start on it today.”

“That’s all I had to cover. Do you have anything else?”

“No. Thanks for stopping by.”

The Dr. had been gone about fifteen minutes when there was another knock. It was Gretchen. “Please come in.”

Looking around, she commented, “I like the space and I liked the box on my desk but I don’t know how to use it yet.”

The box was on my floor so I opened it up and plugged it in. I had her pull up a chair beside me and showered her how to set it up. I said, “There are files in here and there are discs that you can insert into the side. They’ll store all of your files. I would make a Master copy and never use it except to make copies that you can use to fill in forms.”

“I don’t know what you just said.”

“Think of a copy machine. If you have a clean copy of a form and then fill it in like you do now, that’s easier than typing the whole form. But if you accidentally type on the last clean copy then you don’t have a blank form to make more copies. The master is the blank form.”

“Got it.”

I spent a few minutes showing her how to work the word processor and then typed the first form that she’d brought with her. When I finished it, we printed and reviewed it. We fixed a couple mistakes and then I showed her how to save the master, then save a copy. I wrote on them what they were and then put the copy in and loaded it into the machine. I then filled it in and hit print. I didn’t save it but when she was happy with it we printed out a final document and then put the disc in a container for future use. I told her to keep the masters in the safe and the copies somewhere handy. She liked it and could see how it would save her time after she typed up all the forms.

“When it comes time to change the master, you won’t have to type it from scratch, just use the copy and make changes then save a new master.”

“That will save a lot of time and work as well. There’s always someone wanting to add or change a form.”

She left with the master and copy of the first form and she was a happy lady. I looked around my office and appreciated the nice furniture. It could use some artwork and some music. There still wasn’t a fridge but it would be something I would pick up soon.

There was no one else that I was expecting so I started to write an outline for my talk and the textbook. Since my first talk would be about the overall concept, I thought that the outline of the book could be similar to the outline of my first talk.

A knock on the door surprised me. I called out to enter and Dr. Zurcher walked in. I wasn’t at the desk but sitting in a club chair with a pad and pen in hand. “You’re working late tonight.”

“I wasn’t paying attention. I only have my Linear Algebra class and didn’t have any homework the first night. I’ve outlined the book and the talk I’m going to give. I’ve started on the details of the speech.”

Holding out his hand as if to ask if he could see what I had, I handed him the book outline and he read through it. “Do you think that you’ll have enough information to build out each of these as chapters?”

“Some could be two or three chapters. One or two may be short chapters. I’m not really worried about filling it in. We’ve spent hours, days and weeks on each section for different projects.”

“It’s amazing what different lives we all live and how we can learn from each other.”

“There are times it feels like I’ve lived multiple lives already. I plan to use a number of stories in the book to add depth and show that it’s all real and practical. It won’t be a classic textbook. All the parts will be there but just a little more.”

“The idea sounds interesting. We’ll see how it turns out. Don’t stay too late.”

Nodding, I went back to writing. I had a flow going with my thoughts. It was almost 10pm when my stomach growled at me and reminded me I needed food. I put away my work and then went a few blocks off campus to find a restaurant that was still open. I walked in to find Maggie manning the door. She smiled at me and let me know that they were just about to close but if I didn’t mind sitting at the bar, I could get some food.

I told the bartender, “Just tell the kitchen that there’s a hungry guy out here and wants whatever is easiest and doesn’t mess up their closing of the kitchen.”

She smiled at me and went back to talk to the kitchen. She came back and poured me a beer and soon after a burger and chips (fries), arrived. Maggie came by to say goodnight, as she had to get home because we were working out in the morning. I waved at her as she left.

Sleep came easy and I was up in time to run over to the boathouse weight room. It was amazing to see how much Tucker had grown in such a short time. It was also interesting to see how well Maggie and Olivia were doing with their workouts. Olivia said that the first day of practice had gone well and the coach commented on their improvement. They both worked hard and even were doing more pushups and sit-ups after just a couple weeks.

Computer networking wasn’t something I had a lot of practical application with. Whenever things had been set up or installed, I sat back and let the IT people take care of it. However, after reading ahead a few chapters in the book, it didn’t seem that hard. Not much different than an electrical circuit we learned about in physics or physical science.

Back in the office, I started my work. First I read ahead in my networking class book. Then I started to dig deeper into the topics that I’d laid out. The speech was coming together in my head and the book was laying itself out on paper. With only two classes, I poured myself into my work, still putting in long days. Friday afternoon there was a knock on my office door and Dr. Zurcher came in. “How’s your speech coming along?”

“It’s going well. This is focused on being an overview of some of the work we did but taking the time to add some humor and some real life facts that you have to take into account.”

“Do you want to give me your talk or do you want to surprise me and either succeed or fail?”

“You’ve seen the outline. If you want me to give you the meat I can but I’m fine just getting up and going through it on stage.”

“Alright. Tuesday at 11am in the big auditorium.”

Saturday was cold but the sun was out. I did my workout. The weight room was much less crowded but the girls were there. I was proud of their hard work. After the workout they wanted me to help them with their serves so we went over to the gym and pounded some balls. I showed them that if they hit the ball with no spin, it tended to flutter and move in unexpected ways. I also showed them how to put a lot of spin by hitting on one side of the ball and actually making it curve.

The concepts were easy; practicing enough to have confidence to use it in a game was something totally different. Both got the idea and promised to stay after practice to get in some extra work. It was late when I got out of the shower. Andy heard me and asked if I wanted to get a late lunch.

He was full of information about the upcoming convention. The show was four days long starting on Thursday afternoon and going through Sunday. The show wasn’t being held in London but in a larger venue near Birmingham, the National Exhibit Center or NEC. There were a lot of moving parts but they should be ready in two weeks when the convention starts.

Sunday night there was a soft knock on my door and Julie slipped in. She was without a guy and needed some loving. It was so different from her sister as there was no growling or competition, just slow loving and good orgasms. She kissed my cheek when she was satisfied and then got dressed and went back to her place.

When Tuesday came around, I had my outline and all that I had planned to say. It was very straightforward and factual. I wanted to have some funny things but it was a college lecture so I didn’t want to go overboard. Dr. Zurcher came up to me before we went out and said, “This class we’re creating will be a requirement for all future graduating classes. I’ve invited all of the people in or interested in the computer science program to attend. This is like a commercial for the class.”

As most students are always running late, the place was empty fifteen minutes before the talk and people flowed in for the last five. It was almost full. I was standing off to the side waiting to be introduced. I thought about being nervous but then didn’t see the point and just would talk to the wall or some smiling face in the crowd. We were just about to start when I saw something and it changed my whole demeanor and my talk.

I was introduced as someone in the software industry and also a student on campus. I walked out to some courtesy claps. I jumped right in. “Hi, I’m Nick. Most of you have never heard of me but most have heard of D&B software that’s run by Adam Buckley. How many of you have heard or read about Adam?”

Over three quarters of the packed house raised their hands. “I know Adam and am going to talk about how he made his way in this new and growing industry. Like all good things, necessity is the mother of invention. I went to high school with Adam at a boarding school back in the states. When I came in as a freshman, he was a senior but through certain circumstances we ended up being put together as roommates. He was also the RA for the floor so he could write me up if I did anything wrong. I remember him telling me that he was a senior and I was a freshman and I needed to show him respect.

“Then one day he was whining about having to work on a couple different big projects. When I asked he told me that one was for statistics and the other was for computer programming. I told him to quit bitching and just do one project and write a program for one and a report for the other. That was when the whole thing started. He ended up writing a program that could help determine the best time to buy or sell a stock. First there was a need and then the solution.

“In this industry, you can write a lot of programs. The question you should first ask is ‘Why’. Is it for you? for businesses? for the general public? for fun? If you want someone to buy it there has to be a value to them to part with their money.

“That program and another one was written and sold to one company. Those two programs still make a lot of money for D & B. The brokerage that bought them is happy they control the software and are pleased with the results. The huge investment sets them apart and brings in more customers.

“His next big release was a word processor. He donated a hundred to our writing labs here at school to help you students with your school papers. This took many hours of development. He had teams of people designing and coding the work. Let’s just say it took fifty thousand man-hours to get it designed, built, tested and released. If the average cost was $10/hour, then that’s a half a million dollars.

“Any single person or company wouldn’t pay that to speed up typing. But if you can sell a million or two million units and make a $50 profit on them then you can do the math. But someone had to invest in the idea and pay for the creation before the work could be sold on the back end.

“Adam had the money from his first work and the faith in the word processor to make the investment. There have been spreadsheets and operating systems that he’s been a part of. All of it is based on the risk and reward model. This is why planning and developing a business strategy is so important before you start designing and coding the programs.

“Computers will continue to get smaller, faster and have more memory. With that comes new applications that open new doors for you and your peers. All of you know that the computer you owned two years ago is all but obsolete. I don’t see this slowing down. Plan for smaller, faster and alternative uses for your programming. I know that Adam is and I am. He’s the one that’s taken my ideas and built the programs that have done well for both of us. I try to look ahead and see where the future is and be there ready to fill a void.

“Two more things. First is that the people in business today have no clue about how technology can help them. They see problems and look back in their personal history to come up with a solution. They don’t think about computers, software or technology as the solution. This means that you can come up with solutions and fix problems in ways that the high paid executives haven’t thought or even dreamed of. Now is the best time in the world to be in the field that you are getting into. Just ask Adam.

“Speaking of that, I saw my old RA and the guy that made me sleep on the sidewalk while he flew home for thanksgiving slip in right before I started speaking. If he’ll come down, then we will both answer questions for a few minutes. Please welcome Adam Buckley.”

There was a louder applause than when I walked in. Adam smiled and came jogging down to the front. I had the one and only microphone. He took it and said, “Hello Cambridge. I’m really not the ass that Nick made me out to be. He glossed over a lot of things but most of what he said and all of what he said looking into the future is spot on.”

A few hands went up and Adam pointed to a girl. “Did he really make you sleep on the sidewalk?”

Adam started to answer but I took the mic, “She asked me the question. Adam was given charge of signing me out of school. I didn’t go home for Thanksgiving, an American holiday in November. He told me that he was flying home to spend time with his family but I had to stay out on the sidewalk. Isn’t that true Adam?”

I held the microphone for him. “Yes, but...”

Moving the mic back to my mouth I said, “See, next question.”

There was a lot of laughter. “Adam, how did you sell your first program to start the money coming in to fund the rest?”

Before handing him the mic, I said, “I set up a meeting for him.”

Adam took the mic. “Nick is correct again. He set up the meeting. One thing I’ve found is that you can do the best work but you have to have a way to let the people that need it, get to see it. Nick knew the daughter of one of the men at the company. He arranged a meeting with the father and he kind of went along to help out a friend of the daughter. Knowing the right people can go a long way.”

Another kid asked, “How do you find the right people if you don’t know the daughter?”

Taking the mic back, I said, “Adam is now engaged to the daughter so I hope you don’t know her or know her well.” Both Adam and the kid blushed as the rest laughed. I continued, “Dr Zurcher is working on helping with that by having time set aside to talk with me this year and others in the future. Create the idea, run it by someone, come up with next steps and he’ll send you out to conquer the world.”