This has not been a calm or easy winter. In fact, I don't have much recollection of calm or easy anything for a long time back, but I digress. I came here today to try to find some good things to talk about in the midst of difficulty, and there are a few.
For the last few weeks, we've had consultants in house at the Knocking Shit Down Company (hereinafter "KSDCo"), evaluating our systems so we can be leaner, meaner and better organized through the next phase of explosive growth than we have been through this one. It's a smart move, and it needed doing, but it's really cut into my remarkable ability to multi-task seamlessly and have a little online life in addition to the administrative services I provide to my beloved employers. At first there were two consultants, but the obnoxious and arrogant pedant has gone away and we are left with one very nice fellow watching everything we do and kindly explaining to us why it needs to be done differently. In the course of this exercise, I have been asked to describe exactly what I do at the KSDCo, and to my surprise I have discovered that my tasks have been so frequently changing that I really don't have a clue what is actually expected of me, and it's all made me wonder what I'm doing here and whether or not there is any future in this for me. I have committed to keep an open mind and, while there isn't much discussing of goals and aspirations that goes on here, I have resolved (at least to myself) that, whatever happens, I won't leave them in the lurch in the event that I find myself with an opportunity to leave them at all, as long as they continue to be fair (or relatively fair) to me.
Also, we've had what feels like some movement in the realm of our patents and the Licensee with which we have such a terribly adversarial relationship. We were aware of the fact that our Licensee was in litigation with another party, a company that holds patents that are related to ours and with whom we share two patents (liars, scoundrels and cybersquatting, patent-stealing thieves that they are, hereinafter "The Bad Guys") and it appears that this litigation has been resolved and our Licensee has severed all ties to The Bad Guys (it's about time), but this litigation was causing our Licensee to suspend their sales efforts related to the product(s), which aforementioned efforts have supposedly now been resumed. We are hopeful that, with a little bit of luck, in a few months our royalties will pick back up again. We still do not know what The Bad Guys are doing, where (or if) they intend to purchase products related to their patents, products that either need to be protected by our independent patents or be subject to litigation by us for infringing on them, but we have won one round, and that's something that hadn't happened in a long while. Why do I feel eyes glazing over?
We have also had a string of small victories in The Matter About Which I Cannot Speak (hereinafter "The Matter"). After the judge ruled in our favor in the Summary Judgment hearing in January, the Other Party agreed, finally, to provide us with financial data we had been requesting (for years), data that was necessary in order for us to determine damages, and it's a nice number (*Sophmom jumps for joy*). We are on the judge's calendar for May, starting with a pre-trial hearing and a court-ordered mediation. We have also learned that the Other Party is trying to consummate an important merger and are hoping that this may motivate them to come to a speedy resolution of The Matter. Frankly, and I suppose that this happens in many matters such as ours, while the amount that we are seeking is based on a formula derived from the perceived damages, the amount that would be required for us to settle this case is now determined as much by our attorneys, what they've spent and the hours they've put into this over the years, as it is by the actual value of the damages caused to us by what the Other Party did. Anyway, we think that what we are asking for is modest, when you consider what we could be asking for given the data, and there is suddenly some kind of light at the end of this seemingly endless tunnel. I suppose when and if we get there, we shall see exactly how that particular light shines or does not shine, on us.
My children are well and happy and that is all that matters. We're trying to get the oldest through his last semester at UNC-Wilmington, whose basketball team just won the conference (Colonial Athletic Association) and is guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament that's coming up, so we're prepared to Feel The Teal one last time and I'm trying to figure out how to fund the family's trip up (over) there for his graduation, which, by the way, happens to be scheduled on his birthday. Loyolason's grades are good, meaning he gets to keep his scholarship(s) and he seems very happy to be back in New Orleans, even if he's broke and the city is broken (talk about knocking shit down), where they continue to find bodies of Katrina victims amidst the rubble (10 since mid-February according to the Times-Picayune). He's looking for a "real" job to carry him through the late spring and summer and for a place to live next year that's closer to school because he's discovered that it's hard to study in a house full of guys, none of whom seem to be as, er, academically inclined as he is. He wants to be nearer the library. Where did he come from? It must be some kind of genetic anomaly. The youngest survived his trip to Mardi Gras to visit his brother and has settled back into school and back at his job, as baseball season is starting up again, both as a player and as a Little League Umpire.
We've had a beautiful week of spring-like weather. While I continue to pull and push and juggle to try to make the darn ends meet without much success, I feel hopeful and grateful and happy to be alive. Now if I can just get a few things on a better track, all would be right with my world. Ok, maybe not all, but most.
Peace. Out.
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