From May of 1998 until November of 1999, I was one of those much-discussed, often maligned Y2K consultants. Yep, I was out there making the world safe for the rest of you (You're welcome!). As you now undoubtedly know, the big calamity wasn't. I hope you didn't invest heavily in a compound in Idaho where you could fend off the crazed masses who were unprepared for the collapse of civilization.
Anyway, there were some potential problems, most of which had been identified early and were thoroughly fixed and tested long before there was any real threat. My job, primarily, was to visit the manufacturing facilities of our clients and go through their critical manufacturing systems to identify any components that may present a Y2K risk, then research said components to see if any problems had been identified by the manufacturer or by our own organization. I there was a problem with the component, I told them that they ought to do something about it, then went on to the next plant.
For nine months, I spent about 40% of my time in small towns and cities in the US and Canada where my client company had their plants--places like Brighton, Michigan; Bracebridge, Ontario; Oshkosh, Wisconsin; Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Chatham, Ontario. There were a few places with more life, too--places like Houston, Texas; Asheville, North Carolina and even Troy, Michigan which is a suburb of Detroit.
About the time that work with this client was winding down, I was asked if I would be willing to take an assignment with a client who had operations in Asia. Originally, I was to relocate for a period of four to six months to some central location where I could fly out to the various client sites as needed to assist with the assessment of the plants for this client. That continued to be scaled back over the next month or so until it became several extended trips moving from one country to another until it was time to come home again.
It turned out to be three trips, with a combined duration of about thirteen weeks. As the project moved along, it seemed that planning became worse instead of better on the part of our client. Here's the overview of the trips:
| Trip One: Lead time 6 weeks | Trip Two: Lead time 2 weeks | Trip Three: Lead time: 3days |
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Trip two originally included Auckland, New Zealand instead of China, but a call to me in Japan changed that, which meant that I had to get my Chinese visa in Australia, which took most of my stay in Sydney. Of course, if I couldn't get my passport back, I'd have to stay longer in Australia(!). Trip three was also supposed to include Taipei, Taiwan and Bangkok, Thailand, but things at home and other considerations caused me to pass those two stops off to a colleague instead.
Parts of these trips were documented at the time via e-mails to the folks at home. I've included these here to give you a bit more of the flavor of the various locations.
Trip One:
Trip Two:
Trip Three:
I always travel with a camera or two as well, and I have a few photos included. This is a small percentage of the photos I took on these trips. You can begin anywhere you like, and continue through all of the photos. The photos will open a new window. Close it when you're finished viewing the show.