Mundane Tasks

Working Behind A Desk And Sri Lanka

2009-05-18T22:03:00.000-07:00

I've actually got work in the last few days. I had thought that the global recession will do greatly for my time to do this work. Apparently for some, recession means more work. I won't get into that. I'm not going to bore you with this.

The recession is the beginning as is the swine flu if my information is correct. No, I'm not talking about the "New World Order". There is no such thing. Maybe on the dollar bill. What we're seeing is a struggle between various geopolitical groups that are beginning to seek the decline of old world powers.

It's not China versus the US. Dollar versus a basket of currencies but an attempt to decentralize control of political and economic power. By who or what, I haven't been able to ascertain. How do I know this?

As I've said before, I have limited skills insofar as the Internet, computer programming and scripting, and "Googling" for information. But I have a network. Some knowingly work for me while others simply find the tasks I assigned (or pay) them challenging.

But my focus has been trying to get a family out of Sri Lanka. The war has ended. But the humanitarian effort has just begun. One of our client's son, let's call him "Peter", left the comfort of his colonial style estate to travel the world "seeking his meaning to life". I met him before. Many times in fact. At professional baseball and hockey games.

Make no mistake about Peter, he is not a spoiled rich kid. I'm not rich and I'm closer to a rich spoiled kid than he ever was. But he was in trouble. No one has heard from him in weeks and his father was beginning to worry. Why did I involve myself in this?

Peter has a brother, "Venom". Their father is mere years from retiring and he will pass the company along to his sons, Peter, Venom, and "Rodney". Rodney is into the New York art crowd, not the business type. Peter would be perfect. He has the same temperament as his father but has the smarts to survive in today's global business environment. Not to mention the fact that if I can find a way to rescue him, he'd "owe me one". A big one.

However, Venom would be bad. The brute has a killer instinct. In fact, he'd do a better job as the company head. But the guy has no sense of what the greater good is. Sense of responsibility. It's all about him and what others can do for him. It'll only be about growing the "empire" (I've heard him referred to his family business using that word) at all cost. And I'll probably do Carl a favor. Venom would drop him the second after he takes over at the helm of the company. It's about doing this different from his father.

We cater to clients all over the world. We've got twenty or so Fortune 100 companies as clients. Hundreds of clients. Many of them have operations in India as well as South Asia.

First I had to search and find out where Peter's last known location was. That was no small matter. Credit cards. Airline tickets. The amount of cash he was carrying. Not an easy task.

I'll get to that someone day soon. I ended up hiring a team of mercenaries. Their leader was a former major in the US Army. A former officer who kept his commanding officer from wiping out a village of scared Afghans who were forced by the Taliban to help them ambush his platoon. I don't have the details. I have a way to get a hold of the classified mission files but I don't want to waste time and resources to do it.

His actions earned him court-martial. However, at the risk of a major public hearing, it was decided he would simply be discharged. I had set up an offer from a global logistics company. One of Carl's competitors in France. The man fought with distinction and honor. His dishonorable discharge was not deserved and he's the very reason why I do what I do.

And from time to time, I provide him with a mission of humanitarian nature. This one involved extracting Peter out of Sri Lanka.

Back to work. Really, who would have thought a recession meant more meetings, reports, and kissing clients' behinds?

Note: I got a warning. Remember I said someone was out there? Here's the warning: You're leaking a trail.

Methods

2009-05-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

Simple deduction. Police work. Holmesian methods.

I'm not a super genius. I don't think Sherlock Holmes or any of the great detectives (real or fiction) were born the way they ended up. Sherlock Holmes, for all his great adventures, could never have solved all those "problems" unless he was logically inclined in the ways he approach live.

For myself, I simply work at it. Habits. Practices in detective work. A good example is Batman. He dedicated his earlier life to become a detective. At the risk of mockery, I only say that I have had some successes in this practice.

And with the wealth of tools and information available on the Internet, my tasks are made easier. Google Maps, Twitter, Facebook, search engines, and Wikipedia are among those that are a few keystrokes away.

I have to confess I'm not alone in my work. Some people know and are willing soldiers where others, I'm afraid to say, I manipulate into doing what I need them to do. It doesn't always work out as you can imagine. I'm a desk jock, not a professional soldier or operative.

Readers, there is something I haven't quite put my finger on. There is someone out there who has a similar task as I do but I can't say if he, she, or it has a friend disposition.

Watch out for it, will you?

I'm Willard...Mundane

2009-05-08T10:29:00.001-07:00

Hi, I'm Willard. Willy if you like. My boss calls me Mr. Mundane even though we're very good friends. The names I call him, well, nevermind.

You'll get to know me throughout my entries. I don't know how to describe what I do. I make a difference in whatever possible way I can.

I'm a cubicle drone. So what do I do? Our company facilitate trades. Cargo, containers, air freight shipments. You looking to move things around, our firm knows the layouts of the global trading routes. Carl's business, which was his dad and uncle's business, has been serving small and medium size businesses, sometimes large ones too, for over fifty years. So we know our stuff.

My job here is to do whatever Carl tells me to do. The guy is brilliant. Steve Jobs brilliant but knows nothing about the day-to-day stuff. His job is to pleasure in business - golfing, nightclubs, and sometimes, presentations. You can say I'm his right-hand man.

He's got VPs and managers who have been there longer but I get along with them fine. They're good people. Some egos but nothing that gets in the way of the work. I usually start off by "hey, you want me to make your life easier?" And I never take credit. It's not why I agreed to work for Carl.

This is why I agreed to work for Carl. I need his company's network and resources. And I know how to be discrete about using it. Maybe Carl knows what I'm up to. Maybe not.

Right now, I'm tracking down the source of the H1N1. Something bugs me big time. No, I didn't get sick from it. That's not what I mean by "bug".

What "bothers" me is the fluidity by which it was able to travel. So I started mapping out the epicenter of the outbreak. If you wanted to create one, you make it happen near a major international hub. In this instance, I concurn with WHO it was Mexico City.

Here's what we know about the strain. It's relatively a light-weight compared to the common influenza. No where nearly as potent as SARS or the bird flu.

I decided to check with a mentor of mine, Dr. Pravus Green. A formerly renouned biochemist and genecist who fell out of academia providence due to his "increasingly radical views" on the environment and nature". He wrote a book called "EcoWar" which was never published.

I'll be back later with what we discussed. You'll want to read this first from MSNBC.