One night a week and a half before the wedding, I got a text from my son, asking if I would do a toast at the reception. Included was a picture:
So now the pressure was on.
Fortunately, I am comfortable speaking in large groups. No worries there.
I didn’t want to use notes….I wanted it to be more from the heart.
Plenty of people weighed in….
be profound
don’t be profound
they’ll find their way
you will always guide them
Obviously the broader community wasn’t aligning….although there is consensus, “Be as happy in your marriage as you are today,” is overused.
I did research on the internet.
Everything seemed so….sterile:
Let me honor the bride and groom for a moment. To my son, (Groom). Your giving spirit and your love have earned you most a special gift, your bride (Bride). Cherish her. (Bride), you are indeed a gift from heaven and we welcome you into our family with all our hearts, and we rejoice in (Groom)’s good fortune that he found you, and you him.
Or, I couldn’t use this, since I do cry
I never cry, but I’ll admit I was tearing up during today’s ceremony. How about the rest of you? Wasn’t it beautiful? Let’s toast to the joy, health and long life of the bride and groom!
(this commercial guarantees tears)
As I drove to the wedding….a simple theme crystallized in my mind.
What do I wish for them? “The Best.”
I do believe in my heart they are “the best” for each other. And I certainly want “the best” for them in their shared life together.
Getting married in a severe economic climate shows a desire to be together against all odds.
So here’s my recollection of what I said:
“I realize I am standing between you and dinner so I’ll be brief. The first time I had inkling this was the real deal was when Leland was moving out of his college apartment. He wasn’t quite finished packing, and April and I found ourselves together in the kitchen cleaning.
I remember thinking, “My Son is a private person, and he’s comfortable enough with April to have her help with a crappy job. And she’s happy enough with him to do a crappy job. There must be something here.
So (raising my glass), on this night we wish you the best. You are the best for each other, and we wish you nothing but the best as you go forward together.”
In a recent post, the case was made for companies with modest data center needs to explore co-location.
We made our case and the executive team agreed. Having an agreed upon direction, it was now time to do something. And the client was stumped.
“Let’s go visit them,” the enthusiastic client espoused.
We would recommend visiting a couple to ground yourself in some of the various dimensions…and then would quickly go back to a conference room to understand requirements.
“Our systems are important. We need to put everything in a Tier 4 data center.”
The ANSI/TIA-942 standard defines the concept of Tiering, as a way to distinguish design considerations. The standard is quite lengthy, and is summarized below. You’ll see “N” mentioned. “N” stands for NEED….and is always debated since everything else drives from it.
Tier 1
Tier 2
Tier 3
Tier 4
Delivery Paths
One
One
One Active
One Alternate
Two Active
Capacity Components of Support
N
N+1
N+1
N after any failure
Points of Failure
Many + Human Error
Many + Human Error
Some + Human Error
Fire, EPO & Human Error
Yearly Downtime
28.8 Hours
22.0 Hours
1.6 Hours
0.8 Hours
Site Availability
99.67%
99.75%
99.98%
99.99%
While there are some commercially available Tier 4 co-location facilities, unless there is a specific business requirement, we find most co-location facilities at a Tier 3 level provide the kind of availability one would expect for a paid service. The yearly projected downtime between a Tier 2 and a Tier 3 is substantial (don’t assume the “yearly downtime” happens once a year. For example, what if it worked out the 22 hours (Tier 2) was spread over a year in weekly increments? While the facility would be hitting its uptime goal, your systems outage time (quiescing applications, database, and systems, rebooting, then bringing up systems, databases and applications) could add to hours each week!)
With a good understanding of the capabilities available and your business needs, a Request for Proposal (RFP) can be put together.
Putting together an RFP can be a fun task, or maddening. The key to the RFP process is using the development period to driving alignment of the company parties.
At the most basic level, the RFP should cover:
Company Background (don’t assume people know your company)
Stated Requirements (high level)
Growth considerations (this is the hard part….and often drives initial buildout costs)
Key Questions (on how delivery is provided)
Response format (similar response formats make comparisons easier)
Any specific legal topics (such as a need for background checks)
There is a fine balance in writing RFPs. Companies need to be specific enough deliverable solutions can be proposed, yet broad enough to allow creativity.
For example, one area driving costs in RFPs is around power/cooling. The company needs to identify what the heat load is of the equipment envisioned to be placed, in kilowatts (kW).
If the company is running a dense environment, it is tempting to express this in watts per square foot (W/SF)
When W/SF are used, some providers may be automatically “disqualified.” How? A data center designed for 50W/SF can indeed support 100W/SF….it just takes twice the space and appropriate chilled air distribution!
So smart companies analyze their needs, and let the co-location providers respond.
Philosophically, we prefer shorter RFPs to longer ones. Providers need to have time to put together responses. If the RFP is “too big, too heavy,” some providers may not respond at all or will respond generically with their capabilities, while not answering the underlying questions in the RFP.
Once the RFPs hit the street, you need to put a cone of silence on vendor conversation at ALL levels.
Next week, we’ll talk about how to analyze the responses.
Have a favorite RFP story? Share it with the community. We’d suggest masking company names…
139 Lakeside Avenue (Rt 20) Marlborough, MA (508) 485-4300
The email was innocuous:
Just finished reading Gary Kelley’s review of Tomasso. Sad that we were not mentioned as an alternative, being right down the road from them. Maybe he’d like to review us? Jameson Mello, Allora
The answer was simple. Via I-495, Allora is 9 mins or 7.37 miles from Tomasso. While there are back roads to get there, anytime I hop on I-495 I might as well head to Boston.
Irrational? Perhaps. But it sounds more reasoned than, “Hmm, I haven’t been to Allora in a while.”
I have been to Allora a few times before, including back in 2007 when they opened. What I’ve always liked about Allora is the outside deck Where are you? Marlborough MAoverlooking Williams Lake in Marlborough. Loving the water, it’s hard to find a better local restaurant overlooking a lake (I miss Foggy’s overlooking Lake Chauncy, but I digress.)
So I added Allora to my “must review” list and headed over after work one evening. A former coworker and good friend Cindy agreed to attend with only minimal arm twisting.
We got to the restaurant as the sun was beginning to set, and the temperature was a falling 65 degrees. Hmm, not a good night to sit on the deck.
Entering the restaurant, we were immediately hit with the scent of fresh paint and carpet. In fact, some benches located just inside the door were sporting “wet paint” signs.
We were quickly seated and greeted by our server Deanna, a delightful young woman well equipped to walk us through the menu. She’s one of these people we were comfortable having a nice conversation with about the restaurant.
They are doing a modest renovation, and the paint and carpet are the first signs. Everything was clean and bright….even in the windowless main dining room.
We learned the email writer, Jameson Mello, is the Executive Chef, and a bit of a “food nerd,” in a very positive way. He has passion for his food, and Deanna let it drop Jameson is going to be more cheese aging onsite.
The Allora menu is extensive in Italian and Mediterranean, although Deanna was very persuasive in “sharing” the specials.
We started with an appetizer of the Duck Bruschetta. Duck is prepared as a “prosciutto.” This is placed on homemade mozzarella with peppers on a crostini. The duck didn’t taste ducky, and wasn’t salty…in other words the appetizer was very good.
Our entrees were each unique and very enjoyable.
The generous portion of (pork) Osso Buco was presented over saffron risotto milanese with parsley, lemon and roasted tomato gremolata. While the meat was prepared to perfection, the risotto could have been an entrée onto itself.
Cindy’s “Fruitti Di Mare” was made with shrimp, scallops, calamari, clams, mussels, spicy cherry peppers in marinara with linguini. Cindy was particularly pleased with the texture of the scallops.
There were plenty of each entrée for take home, and lunch the next day.
Two decaf cappuccinos were a perfect nightcap, and were presented in a manner Starbucks (Fourbucks?) could emulate.
We split a crème brule for desert. While everything else had been excellent, the desert was simply “OK.”
Prices were a bit high for Marlborough, with Osso Buco coming in at $33, and Fruttie Di Mare priced at $35. The total bill for two was $133.88 including some adult beverages.
Overall, we wouldn’t compare Allora to Tomasso. We would compare Allora to the North End of Boston, without the drive. Since you still get on a freeway, you can even get the Boston drive feel, only going two exits to route 20 and then heading east. Allora is on the left.
The food was great, the new paint/carpet was fresh, and Deanna is delightful. A perfect evening.
By the way, Cindy insisted on pictures of our food, included with the review. I have not been including food pictures, as I find the pictures don’t fairly represent the food (I’m not a food stylist.) Please let me know if you would like to see more food pictures.
When the topic turns to Facebook when parents get together, there is often one question everyone asks, “Are you friends with your kids on Facebook?”
Facebook owns their logo, not me. I plopped it here for visual interest.When you are friends with your kids on Facebook, there are a series of operating norms you must abide by. One is overarching and universal:
DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, COMMENT ON ANYTHING YOU SEE.
Some children use Facebook to manage their public persona. While they may not yet be fully comfortable in their own skin, on Facebook they can party harder, drive faster, and imbibe more than they actually do.
In some cases, they may actually be using humor…there’s even a website of phrases, Texts from Last Night, which actually has some really funny phrases.
Whether in Facebook, or in person, if you are Facebook friends with your kids you can never make a comment. Making a comment is the quickest way to be “unfriended.”
My kids will tolerate a “Like” on a picture, provided the picture is of something they are proud of….
By the way, the same can be said of some of my adult friends. I asked my friend what had provoked the following post expecting to hear how a teenager had pushed some buttons:
MY PROMISE TO MY CHILDREN I am your parent 1st - your friend 2nd! I will stalk you, flip out on you, lecture you, drive you insane, be your worst nightmare and hunt you down like a bloodhound when needed because I LOVE YOU! When you understand this, I will know you are a responsible adult. You will NEVER find someone who loves, cares and worries about you more than I do! If you don’t hate me once in your life, I am not doing my job properly.
She laughed and said it just struck her as something she would say, and nothing specifically prompted the note.
You can’t expect your kids to read what you post. Post something about them, and inevitably they’ll hear about it. Post something innocuous, and they’ll never see it. Don’t assume all your sage Facebook posts get read.
One unexpected thing about being Facebook friends is often their friends will want to friend you. I’m always touched with this happens. When my kids grew up, they often had friends over to the house. You get to know their friends. As everyone goes off to college, Facebook is a nice way to stay in touch. Now, some are buying houses, contemplating their own families, and it is fun to watch their continued growth.
If you are not Facebook friends, or get “unfriended,” in my experience it’s a matter of time before your status changes. I would rather be Facebook friends than not, because it is another connection point. Not being “friended” isn’t the end of the world. You can’t use Facebook to pry or strongly intervene in their life.
Some on Facebook will put out a post, “This day is the worst ever,” not wanting a fix…only wanting to share. No need for an intervention!
Facebook is an interesting tool, and anthropologists will have strong debates as to the usefulness to our society. There is no question the younger generations use it widely, and understanding how they use it will help keep you “Facebook Friends.”
What have you found to be the secrets of Facebook friends?
As a “migrant white collar worker” IT consultant, we spend a lot of time with our clients. In fact, I like to say if we are in the office, we’re not doing our jobs. How do we do it?
When we founded Harvard Partners, it would have been easy for us to bring all the heavy lifting in-house, and spend a lot of time building our environments. We didn’t, and it’s one of the reasons our overhead structure is minimal.
1. Email – Exchange
For our email, we debated Exchange vs. Gmail. We went with Exchange from Intermedia, and haven’t looked back. We wanted complete interoperability with our clients, and so far every single client we have uses Exchange. For our travelling consultants, we either use Exchange or a (less expensive) POP email, based solely on need.
We also use Intermedia for secured document storage. We use SharePoint, and while everyone in the company knows how to use it, everyone feels it is a compromise.
For telephony, we wanted a VoIP solution. We chose a hosted VoIP (asterisk) system from dao Consulting. Our hosted solution allows hardphone access (I happen to use a Polycom phone), or softphone. Our voice mails are “sent” to email (and thus the handheld).
We use this system for internal conference calls, too, with InterCall as the (somewhat pricey) backup when quality is important (i.e. client conferences.)
While we all travel, we do try to stay in touch. Skype offers free point to point video, and a paid group video for up to 10 people. We all use Skype, and find its presence and text messaging capability very convenient.
4. Desktops/Laptops/Smartphone – Bring your own technology
As technologists, we all find we like to use different technology. While for years in larger companies we advocated standardization, in our own business we are accommodating whatever technology people want to bring.
For PCs, some use Apple PCs, some buy higher end laptops, others buy the cheapest laptop they can and then “turbocharge” components. We have company standards on virus protection and encryption; beyond that people can bring their own. We do insist on the Microsoft Office suite for interoperability, and are surprised to find even now the Apples can struggle with 100% interoperability.
Everyone chooses to use a so-called smartphone, and we have one of everything. Intermedia supports all our handheld devices, whether the venerable BlackBerry, the delightful iPhone, or the scrappy Droid.
5. WAN connectivity
We’ve become adroit at establishing connections at our clients. We never, ever use a client’s wired network. Some clients have guest wireless, and we’re surprised how unreliable these systems are in practice. If we can’t secure a solid wireless connection, we’ll either use a MiFi connection (through a mobile hotspot “card” or the Droid), or will tether to the smartphone. It’s my personal experience having various connection types is important (I carry a Verizon MiFi hotspot and when it can’t connect, will tether using my AT&T BlackBerry.) Using two vendors has always assured me a connection, and we know McDonalds, Starbucks (aka Fourbucks), and Staples have free wireless in a pinch.
We’ve tried USB wireless modems, and frankly they don’t seem to work nearly as well as the HotSpots, and are useless if more than one consultant is at a client.
So, as strategic IT consultants, we’ve outsourced all our systems. This allows us to use “commercial grade” systems housed in high tier secured data centers. We’re able to focus on our clients, and not on our technology.
What have we missed? Are there other technologies you use?
A regular reader dropped me a line, “How about reviews of the Chinese restaurants in the area. Are they interchangeable? Is there a reason to drive past one to go to another? Someone has to figure that out.”
Ahh. A challenge, always a good thing. “Do you have any faves?”
“No. Not at all. What happens to me — I leave work… a bit late, so Chinese is the default choice. I don’t really love any of them. If I’m on my own, I probably go home and get a bowl of cereal. “
How to go about a review of all the Chinese restaurants in Westborough….
Being from Cleveland, I grew up with the notion of Chinese food being out of a La Choy box. After all, “La Choy makes Chinese food swing American.”
Having spent time in Beijing and Hong Kong, I realized Americanized Chinese food often isn’t as good as the real deal. You can get some respectable Chinese food at Chinatown in Boston, although that’s not going to be of much help to our late night worker.
Thinking reinforcements would be helpful, Paggy was pressed into duty. Paggy is a local whose family has owned Japanese and Chinese restaurants. With reinforcements, we struck out to go to ALL the Chinese restaurants in Westborough in one night. Not since the immortal breakfast drive-thru review has so much been accomplished in one night. We used Yahoo to tell us where the Chinese restaurants are in Westborough, although one new restaurant wasn’t on Yahoo yet.
We rated each restaurant on five attributes, food quality, ambiance, cost, hours and service. Suffice to say none of the local restaurants had any service we’d characterize as special. While the wait staff tended to us acceptably, and we would encourage local Chinese restaurateurs to take basic service up a notch.
When the dust settled, we ranked the restaurants in order of preference. Here are our choices:
Hidden behind a tree on West Main Street is Three Gorges III. Nothing special to look at from the outside, this 24 seat restaurant was even less appealing on the inside.
It doesn’t matter. You can pick up at the restaurant, and they deliver.
And deliver they do, achieving the only perfect score of 10 on the food attribute. We had a combination shrimp and veggie plate, with pork fried rice and chicken fingers. My notes say, “fresh, fresh, fresh.” The veggies were cooked to perfection, with a crisp snap indicating freshness as we ate them.
To our reader requesting a late night spot to pick up Chinese, the clear winner is Three Gorges III, with a GREEN LIGHT on the RAG scale.
The venerable ChengDu looked closed as we arrived at 9:23PM. For a place open until 10, it wasn’t very inviting.
Entering the restaurant past the koi pond, one can see they are doing some internal renovations and the place had a construction site feel to it. Obviously renovating Chinese restaurants, a trend started by the Mandarin, is catching on.
We were quickly ushered into the bar area, which was “normal.” The menu highlights a number of new offerings we were surprised to see on the menu, like Mini Cumin Lamb Kabobs, and Foie Gras. Kudos for branching out, ChengDu!
We ordered the tender orange chicken. I was concerned as a late entry into the restaurant our food might suffer, but my worries were quickly dismissed. The food was excellent (an 8 on our scale.)
Sunday – Thursday 11:30AM to 9:45PM Friday- Saturday 11:30AM to 10:45PM
The Mandarin was always my go to Chinese takeout place at their former East Main St location. While the food was good, the open air restaurant failed to excite.
By far, the new location (in the former Rotisserie Grill/Boston Market) location is the nicest Chinese restaurant in Westborough in terms of ambiance. The Asian feel is throughout.
They clearly pulled out all the stops on the remodel and it shows in the place. Tastefully decorated, with comfortably sized “rooms” completely erases any memories of the old place.
The food was disappointing on our visit. We had beef with peppers and onions. The beef was tough, and a disappointment for a place with such high expectations. The peppers and onions were good, yet lacked the freshness factor of Three Gorges III.
We’d still give the Mandarin a GREEN LIGHT on the RAG scale.
Across the parking lot from the Mandarin was the Chef Sun.
From the moment we pulled up, we felt this place was barely hanging on. The front light wasn’t completely working, and the restaurant was empty.
We ordered General Gau’s chicken on the premise every Chinese food restaurant has to do this well for their American clientele. We were presented with an overly breaded piece of tasteless chicken, the rice had an odd (and not tasty) taste to it, and the vegetable roll, while made with crisp vegetables, was over-prepared.
We know people who swear by Chef Sun, and this wasn’t one of their shining times. They may do well in the shadow of the Mandarin if the Mandarin is oversold; standalone they may remain empty.
We’ve generously given Chef Sun an AMBER light on the RAG scale.
Tenka is a new restaurant located in behind Harry’s Restaurant and beneath Boston Interiors (think Canyon Café or Harrys Two.)
Tenka was the location not on Yahoo’s list. While new, we openly began pondering whether the Yahoo people were trying to send us a message.
Unlike Canyon Café, who generally kept the Harry’s Two layout intact, Tenka has moved the bar (with extensive drink menu) and made the space generally more workable.
The restaurant failed miserably for us in our visit.
We had “Appetizer B”, Crab Rangoons, Chicken Fingers, Beef Skewers, and an egg roll.
At this point a note on how we ordered through the night. Paggy did the ordering at each of the locations. For me, it prevented me from eating a wide range of fried foods or meats which I tend to lean towards.
So I wasn’t paying attention until the food was delivered. While I recognized the Crab Rangoons, I honestly didn’t know what I was eating when sampling the chicken fingers. Paggy commented the beef skewers were “kinda awful” like beef jerky, and I think beef jerky would be offended by the comparison.
Tenka has potential, and a nice feel to it. They have the right pieces for success. Alas, a very weak kitchen garners Tenka a RED on the RAG scale.
My thanks to Paggy for participating in the craziness of 5 restaurants in one evening.
For those keeping score, the ranking was:
Green Light
Three Gorges III
ChengDu and Madarin Westborough statistically tied
I am very happy you have gone to college. College was very fun for a couple reasons; you learn how to learn and you fully develop as a person.
It really is a 50:50 proposition. I hope you spend as much time on social as academic activities. The friendships you forge in college will last you a lifetime. Strike the balance for your well rounded development.
When you are at college, you are out of sight and not out of mind. While I may not know where you are every minute, I know you are at your job. I experimented in college, and am sure you will too. Please be careful.
When you come home on break, please let me know what you are doing just so I don’t worry.
You see, when you are away at college your extended family of friends (be it other academic friends, fraternal friends, club friends, sport friends) keep an eye out for you.
When you are home, I want to know what you are doing. You may think this is controlling, and let me explain it’s not.
If you are going to spend a night at a friend’s, let me know so I don’t worry. If you are going to be really late, let me know so I don’t worry.
I’m not looking for a moment by moment accounting. In fact, far from it. You have your life to lead. I just want to know you are safe.
It may seem odd, but I had an experience like this a number of years ago. I had relocated to New England, and due to the school schedule you were going to follow a month or two later. Good friends insisted I stay with them. On my first night, I worked a little later and got a call from my friends, “Are you coming home? We’re holding dinner for you.”
We hadn’t talked about dinner, and I felt terrible about impacting the family dinner they had so kindly prepared.
Had I just let them know I’d be working late, they would have known. Obviously, they were not controlling me. Quite the contrary, they were being nice to me.
Just let me know generally what you are doing so everyone is clear on expectations. It’s great having you home.
At their simplest level, data centers are refrigerators. There are walls, a ceiling and floor, multiple racks, a couple doors and anything hot inside gets cooled.
How you lay out the contents of a refrigerator is determined by the manufacturer. Similarly, how you lay out the contents of a data center is often determined by the architect and/or Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) firm.
Changes to your refrigerator layout are generally rarely performed, and when they do happen you take anecdotal measures for success (i.e.: did the milk spoil quickly, did the soda freeze.)
We advise clients to be a bit more analytical when making changes in the air cooled data centers. Some organizations have IP-based temperature probes throughout the data center, providing a precise view of the data center. Often, we see less sophisticated organizations making layout changes to extend the data center life without much more than a “hope” the changes are positive.
What’s a simple way to measure the impact of changes?
We advocate use of a simple temperature strip attached to the input (cold aisle) side of racks:
This will immediately give a visual indication of inlet temperature, in a simple unobtrusive manner.
Ready to make changes?
A simple Post-it can be used for recording temps before, and then after changes. Record the starting point, and once the room stabilizes (in a matter of an hour), record the ending point.
We believe in KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Metrics are a must, and even a simple approach is preferred over no approach. While we do believe a number of data center managers can use their body as a thermometer, a bit more science is generally preferred.
How hot should the data center be in practice? 64-81 °F or 18-27 °C ambient temperature, according to TIA/ANSI standard 942. At the limits, there can be issues (freezing in direct expansion air conditioning under 68°F or increased device fan noise approaching 81°F.) In a hot aisle/cold aisle orientation, the hot aisle can be significantly warmer (it’s called the “hot aisle” for a reason) without issue to the equipment.
So why do some data center managers keep it cool? Often fear. If a computer room air conditioning unit fails or is taken offline for maintenance, the air flow (distribution) may be insufficient. Paying attention to the design intention of the space is imperative when making changes and accommodating maintenance.
With appropriate air distribution, data center managers can raise the ambient temperature of the data center and realize lower cooling costs.
During the week, it’s always rush-rush-rush out the door. Regular readers know my regular weekday Chet’s has that diner feel we likebreakfast is at a drive-thru. On the weekends, I want to slow down, enjoy a breakfast, maybe read the paper (on my BlackBerry – I’m sure everyone thinks I’m playing a game.)
My preference is a good diner; the kind of place where they greet everyone when you come in, and you can sit at the counter and watch the action.
For me, a trip over to Northborough fills the bill…at a place on Rt 20 called Chet’s Diner.
I sat with Jessica Fidrych, the high energy 24 year old who is marking the end of her 1st year of Chet’s Diner ownership as the restaurant enters its 81st year of operation.
Why would someone from Westborough come all the way over to Northborough on a Saturday morning for bacon and eggs? Without hesitation, Jess gestured around the restaurant and said, “It’s the Chet’s experience, and that’s hard to describe. It’s a show and a family. You’ll be part of the family when you walk in.”
Owner Jess Fydrich dishes it outI can vouch for that. During the 15 minutes of our conversation sitting at a table, Jessica acknowledged customers entering the restaurant 8 times….and gracefully dealt with 6 additional customer interruptions.
The restaurant was opened by Chet Warren in 1931, and some short time later was sold to Paul Strassero. On October 10, 1960 the business was purchased by her grandparents, James and Nancy Pantazis. Jess took over ownership last year, making her the third generation.
What’s been your biggest surprise? “How much work running a business is; I’m an amazing multi-tasker and there’s a lot to do cooking and cleaning. Even though I have been in the restaurant business my entire life, I never saw the other side…payroll, quarterly tax filings, keeping the books (and keeping funds available for the inevitable surprises.) My mom (Ann Pantazis) is a big help with the books and cooking on Saturdays.”
The most popular items on the menu are the hash & eggs and the blueberry pancakes.
Jessica is a boisterous personality, one of those people where their personality fills the room. When I first tried Chet’s Diner, I asked what a “one time” visitor simply had to have. “The hashish…,” was Jess’ conspiratorial stage whispered reply. “I’ll cook it a little longer just for you, so you’ll have crisp hashish.”
I was a little scared, but what the heck, right? Well, the corned beef hash was really quite excellent,The Battered Fish is a Fish Fry, run by friends complimented with eggs of my choice (dropped) and toast. Jess tends to call things a little differently, and you’ll come to love Pumpersnickel over the more traditional Pumpernickel.
Chet’s Diner really is a diner, from the Worcester Lunch Cart Company, “the longest one built on site,” beams Jessica. Jessica is quick to point out there is a conception all diners had to be on tracks. As with many diners, the original shell has been augmented many times with additions. Yet, there’s no mistaking the diner feel. Knowing a good thing, Jess doesn’t plan to do any major changes beyond a fresh coat of paint, new tables, and a flat screen television (in the full bar.)
Chet’s hours have a decidedly breakfast feel to them:
Hours:
Mon-Fri 5:30 am - 11:00 am Fri 4:30 pm - 8:00 pm (Battered Fish: FishFry & bar) Sat 6:00 am - 11:00 am
Bring cash, as no credit cards are accepted.
With fiancé David back safely from Afghanistan, they are looking at opening on Saturday nights, and Sunday’s for breakfast. They are training additional staff for the extra hours.
Jess’ late dad, hometown baseball star Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, pitched his entire professional career for the Detroit Tigers (1976–1980). The “Chet’s Family” continues his memory with events like the first annual “Make Your Mark” softball tournament benefiting The Mark Fidrych Children’s Fund and The Genesis Fund. You’ll see a number of mementos around the restaurant from the whole family.
At this point, I’ve been back to Chet’s Diner many times, and always find the place welcoming. There’s a healthy banter between the staff and customers, always bringing a smile to everyone’s face.
The hash is very good, and Saturday’s bring special menu items (like a Caprese Omelet). I especially like the breakfast potatoes, prepared freshly on the grill in small batches. You will have to watch your coffee intake, the staff at Chet’s chafes if a cup goes empty.
What more could you ask for from a breakfast place?
There are two 9/11 stories in my mind. The first is the one we’ve all sadly shared, documented so well by the popular press. The other is my story, and one I haven’t shared as it seems so trivial compared to the “event.” I don’t want to take away from the first, as it is something we can never forget; by telling my story I hope to add to the memories.
“A plane just hit one of the World Trade Center towers,” Kevin announced as he ran into my office. I remember thinking how odd, given what a nice day it was outside. Working for Fidelity Investments in downtown Boston, we had a television in the break room. Entering the room, 20 or so people had already gathered.
“Even if I had a passed out as a pilot, I can’t imagine the odds of my plane hitting a skyscraper. This seems like something else,” I said aloud to nobody in particular. A few minutes later, the second plane flew into the World Trade Center. A colleague looked at me and said, “You’re right.”
Westborough was a sleepy town. We had combined two households in a (new to us) five bedroom home. We felt fortunate, the Westborough schools are great, and each child had their own room. With the summer over, all four kids were back to school, and each of us was working to pay for the house and associated lifestyle accoutrements. One of us was in Boston, the other in MetroWest.
“I need a status! I need a status!” Bob shouted over the phone. Bob was a tough as nails manager, one of those guys where you need your asbestos suit when going to see him. Over prior years of working together, I discovered Bob is actually a sweetheart, and you simply need to look past the amplification to get to the real message. Bob helped businesses recover after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and spent his career preaching about readiness. He was no stranger to this.
Yet, Bob was in another building in his bosses’ staff meeting, and was beginning to get pages (yes, this was the pager era) on something happening. Bob was looking for answers he could give his peers and boss….in a time when there were no answers.
I had moved to our “war room” (since quietly renamed the “crisis room”), the room we used to “manage an event” when there was a big issue. Having responsibility for disaster recovery and business continuity for FMR (Fidelity Management and Research – the funds management part of Fidelity,) it was logical for Bob to call me looking for updates. Of course, the war room had a TV, silently providing a window to the rest of the world, New York in particular.
“Bob, all our systems are fine, and we are operating normally. Both World Trade Centers have had planes fly into them, the Pentagon had a plane fly into it, and there’s word of another plane heading for the White House.,” I then continued in a hushed voice one would use to whisper to a friend, “Bob, it looks like the country is under attack. We’re fine, but the people at the other end of the wires are not.” All Bob could say is, “You’re kidding, right? Holy cow.” But he didn’t say cow.
How can I reach the kids? How do I make sure they are safe? I don’t carry much cash, I need to get to an ATM and get some money out. What’s going on in Westborough? Can you believe this?
How are Mom and Dad in Cleveland? Do they know? Is Cleveland OK? Has Cleveland been a target?
“Gary, get everyone together. We need to get a status. Call me back in 15 minutes, or if something else happens,” Bob was still talking. He brought me back to my conscious mind.
People gravitated to the war room because it was simply what we did when there was an issue. Nobody had to be told. It’s just what we did automatically. I turned around, and saw a dozen or so very frightened people. And then I saw Wayne, a matter of fact, engineering-minded manager with tears running down his face as he said nothing, staring at the TV.
“Everyone, take 10 minutes, do what you have to do, call who you need to call, then get back here. Bob wants answers, and once you’re set personally, we’ll get back to Bob.”
At Fidelity, we had nothing but the best, and our pagers could send AND receive messages. I was able to send emails from my pager.
Text from my pager: “Have you seen what is going on? Have you heard from the kids? Need to get some money.” Response, “Yes, haven’t heard from kids. Will find them.”
The kids were split between the High School and the Middle School. What is the school system doing? When John F. Kennedy was shot, my elementary school had a fire drill and they told the students nothing. Are our kids standing outside their schools wondering what is going on? Are the teachers in tears like they were when JFK got shot? Are the kids safe?
Business continuity plans are set up to accommodate a variety of operational issues including loss of a building. The issues are typically things like fire, loss of power, loss of facility, etc. Fidelity had a predefined assembly point where everyone would meet if something happened in a building. Nothing was wrong with our buildings; our plans didn’t call for moving to the assembly point when the country was attacked. Our plans didn’t anticipate war.
“Gary, we need to move Abby. Would you come get her?” Bob said in his best “in command” voice. Abby is Abigail Johnson, daughter of Edward C (Ned) Johnson III, and with Ned own 49% of Fidelity. Everyone knew Abby’s net worth was more than Ned’s through estate planning, although it was never talked about. She was the 18th wealthiest person on the Forbes 400 list in the year 2000.
Text from my pager: “You have to get to the kids. Please get cash.” At a time like this, you have a crystal clear perspective on what should be done, however no sense of what the other person is facing. Phone calls wouldn’t go through, yet pages would. Boston was gridlocked, certainly MetroWest must be fine. MetroWest is closer to Westborough; it must be easy to get home. Response, “Will when I can, big issues here.” Oh God, MetroWest must be under attack. Where are the kids?
What do you say to someone you’ve first met when the country is under attack? “How is your day going, nice weather, how’s your afternoon looking?” somehow didn’t fill the bill. I’d seen Abby in presentations and company meetings, and had never met her. Abby is a polite woman, with young kids of her own. She’s been told to follow me, and she is. For some reason, I begin telling her what we are doing. “We’re going to go here, and then you’ll be fine.” I wonder if she believed or even heard me. Planes are falling from the sky, yet I sound like Kevin Bacon in Animal House, “Remain Calm, All is Well.”
We get to the appropriate executive command center, however Fidelity Security is blocking the door. Now, Fidelity Security always seemed to be an outstanding paramilitary organization. I made it a point to be friendly with them in an attempt to make sure they didn’t pull out their Uzis and summarily execute me for something like not bringing my ID to work. “I’ve got Abby with me,” I said in a low, firm voice to the overly zealous security type. “Ned is already in there, nobody gets in,” quietly responded the suddenly very human guard whose pleading eyes said, “I don’t know where she should go but it’s not here.”
Where are my kids? Did we get money out? What is happening in NY, the Pentagon, and did the White House? Where else have we been attacked?
Cleveland has steel, I heard something about Pennsylvania. Is the Midwest under attack?
Getting off the elevator with Abby on “my” floor, the departmental admin Dottie met me with silent tears running down her face. “Gary, what can I do? I need to do something,” asked Dottie knowing and not particularly caring who I had in tow. Dottie and I had a bond where we helped each other, and Dottie needed something to do, something where she could help, and something where she could fight back. “Dottie, please get food. We’re going to be here a while, and I have to believe places are going to close. Thanks.”
“Kids are home safely.” I don’t have the pager any longer. If I did, “Kids are home safely,” would be the only page I would ever need to see on it. I’d take the pager to the Art and Frame Emporium and have Ed Turner frame it with just that page on the screen. I would hang it over my mantel.
“Are you OK?” was my reply. “I can’t think right now,” was the hurried response.
Abby’s new conference room had a huge 9’ screen playing the events. Abby’s staff quickly got word of her location, and began assembling with her. The head of equity trading was on the phone to New York. “People are jumping out of the Trade Center,” he announced loudly slapping the table, “and hitting the ground.” A shudder went through the room, as if the televised coverage wasn’t enough.
And then the South Tower collapsed. The room went silent. Abby watched with the same disbelief we all had. Abby, with her own family worries and all her wealth, shared the same moment as the rest of us.
Text from my pager, “Did you see that?” Reply, “Some of the people on the planes were from TJX and we knew people there. I have people in my office in tears. Can’t talk.” Some of the people were from TJX? Hold it, there were passengers on those planes?
You’d never know the Johnson family was related based on day to day public interactions… they respect each other in a well-choreographed manner. And you know never to create a situation where they were at odds with each other publicly; conflict is avoided at all costs.
Ned entered the room via a back stair. He made eye contact with Abby, and immediately made a fatherly sigh of relief, otherwise not acknowledging his daughter over anyone else in the room. Ned wasn’t fully up to speed on the collapse of both World Trade Center towers, and didn’t seem to comprehend when told both towers had collapsed…. who could comprehend this? As if on cue, CNN replayed both collapses, as the room turned to silence again allowing Ned to take it all in.
When the replay had finished, Ned turned to the room, and without skipping a beat or hesitating, said, “Within our business, how can we help those people? What can we do?”
And in that moment, Ned defined the Fidelity response in a way our Business Continuity Plans had not anticipated…..”How can we help those people? What can we do?”
At this point, the two stories of 9/11 begin converging. The kids were more resilient than I. My 17 year old son went to his after school job monitoring a large retailer’s web site. I started to object, and was reminded the parents on the team were home with their families. Yet, I wanted him with me, behind my locked front door.
The other children continued their studies quickly, enduring family conferences talking about “assembly points.” (Yes, we use the mailbox as our assembly point if the house catches fire. If there are issues while you are at school and you can’t get home go to the Catholic Church, it’s walkable and stone construction.)
We watched CNN every night, expecting Larry King at any moment to expose a sensible explanation by watching countless reruns of plans hitting buildings from multiple angles. We eventually, simply had to turn off the television.
Fidelity didn’t stop until every person had been accounted for, including new hires not yet started and where contact information had not been collected. Fidelity opened the money market funds so people could take money out. That was a big deal; the official prospectus for the funds said withdrawals could only be made on day when the New York Stock Exchange was operating. “The regulators are going to have a problem with this,” the attorney’s commented. “The prospectus wasn’t written assuming an attack; this is the right thing for our customers. After all, it is the customer’s money.” I don’t work for Fidelity any more, and for me this was Fidelity’s shining moment….where humanity came through.
We did take the kids to New York City to see the World Trade Center area, so they would never forget.
Shortly after 9/11, I asked a friend of mine who grew up in London enduring IRA bombings if things get back to normal and if you ever get over the fear. He paused and said “it diminishes, yet never goes away.”
It’s like my memory of 9/11. It diminishes, yet never goes away. I can never forget.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 8:00AM 
