Drawing to a close

This week is gonna be it. I am currently working on winning 2 govt projects and the culmination of all effort to get both of them will be all this week. I actually allowed both presentations to be scheduled on the same day... only realized this Friday and so I had to call people to move mountains and reschedule 1 of them.

Tomorrow morning, I am meeting Managers from Agency X to try to convince them to allow us to only show 20-30% of a particular process for our POC. I dont really know why they would allow us to do that, them being ok with us waiting to finish what we have to. The issue here is really vendor B (which is who we are carrying in this POC) really badly needs this to close by year-end. Probably to hit some 4th quarter quota or something. In fact, they need this so bad that the local guy called his boss in Singapore, who then called my boss in Singapore to push buttons and inquire about why this thing was taking this long. I did initially tell them we could probably finish this by end of November... but that was before we really got a look at the details and what we really had to do. My faithful engineer then tells me 6 weeks. And I've worked with him before to know that this guy works really fast, and is really good. So what else can I do about it?

They're trying to pressure us to put more resources into it. Statistically speaking of course, if we put 1 more engineer into it, then it would cut the time in half, etc. But we didnt really have that option right now. Ergo, the move to try to convince the evaluating committee to only 20%. We are then supposed to present this on Friday, and my boss including my faithful engineer will both be flying in from Singapore for this event. I guess it's really ok as far as timing goes, since Project Y bid will have to be presented on Thursday now, and they can be there and show our commitment there also.

I am sitting in a cafe downloading huge Fix Packs for another try at installing the fucking problematic software on our POC server tomorrow. We are actually gonna do a remote access installation. Hopefully, they'll give us proper rights to do this inside their network so Singapore can monitor the installation. If not, then either they just cut the install image into a DVD and Fedex over, or they will have to fly in earlier to prepare everything. I feel like a useless fuck! I wish I could be of more help. What can I do? I dont know the crappy software from Vendor B really works. But then... everybody I've talked to has told me how difficult and extremely buggy it is to install the damn thing. Like I always say... you look at these big vendors and think how exciting it must be to work with them and their software... and then you actually do and all you can say is "Fucking Crap!"

I was working on designing the remote architecture diagram for Project Y the other night and when I finished 2 or 3 hours later.... I was so shocked at what little work I was able to accomplish. I used to fly through these things when the going was tough... now I'm like a fucking amateur. Too much slack time these last months...

My mom is flying in from Vegas this week. I dont really know how I can accomodate her this week with all the activities. At least I'll have more time after this week. Project Y bid would've been already in... and my engineer would be in Manila to help out on site for Project X. I guess I'm really out of shape... I used to be in worse predicaments and I handled them. Oh well...

I start at my new job on Dec 15. Luckily, my shift is on US East Coast time which is basically graveyard shift here in Manila. I've already told them to give me a bit of leniency in the first months or so but all I really want is to be able to ride this out and continue to work for my current company till maybe end of January. My Singaporean boss called me a few days ago telling me about possibly extending my tenure and letting me manage this 2 upcoming Projects. Of course, I didn't assure him of anything... but I didn't tell him NO either. I'll work it out with them soon enough.

I guess they'll all find out soon enough.. as soon as we know if we won the bid or not. I can probably help them hire a new Project Manager... but I am no longer interested in handling these 2 myself... I'll be fine with the fat commission