Deal is Done - Good-Bye Bond

The deal was officially closed today. Here are Travis and Don shaking hands by the Bond Medical Group sign.



Don got a cake to celebrate the event. The Icing (or Frosting if from Iowa) was sugary and delicious.


The Bond crew enjoying a beautiful Tampa sunny day.

March 14th would have been my 3 year anniversary with Bond Technologies. Today, I have had so many memories flooding through me. I can't even imagine what it is like for Travis and Lisa who have lived this for 5 years. Some of the thoughts...

• Sending my resume to Bond after seeing them in the AC Group results


• Getting a call the next day from Sharon and flying to Tampa for an interview


• Talking to Mike about actually living in the same city as the kids and how exciting it would be to work for someone who "got it" after beating my head against the wall for so many years


• Turning in my notice at Misys after asking to work remotely and being told that Jason didn't like remote employees and then having Misys offer me a remote position


• Having one hell of a good-bye party at Michael Dean's in Raleigh


• Having so much stuff that it took 2 moving trucks to get to Tampa


• The movers got stuck in Atlanta and then couldn't drive becuase it had been too long or something. Then, when they got to our house, they couldn't find any of the hardware to put together the bunk beds. (We later found them taped to the inside of a small trash can that was in the garage - this was many months later)


• When I dropped Morgan in her new class, she whispered in my ear, "Mom, please don't leave me here." I left in tears. That afternoon, I waited at the bus stop. She never came. I called Mike in a panic, and he said the school had just called him. Morgan had gotten off at the wrong bus stop at the other end of the neighborhood. I frantically go try to find her. What I found out later is the bus stop they gave me didn't exist yet. It was going into effect the next Monday, and they gave it out to me early. So, the bus driver told Morgan that she had to get off because it was the last stop (we had a nice chat about that later). Morgan just started walking through the neighborhood looking for our house. Thankfully, there was a little girl who told her Mom that Morgan was lost and was new. She called the school who called Mike.


• My first day at Bond, I have a mild panic attack. After working in a larger company for a while, it was quite a shock to sit in this room with two Indians and a young guy. Hmm.... where is development? I knew that the software was mostly offshore, but I didn't know it was ALL offshore. :) I got a login to the software and started to figure it out. By the end of the day, I was feeling a little better. I came up with a plan, and Travis was all excited. I knew then that it would be a great fit.


• The project manager who was there was let go shortly after.


• The marketing graphics guy got moved to development (huh?).


• The only developer on staff had no access to the code and didn't want to be a developer. :)


• The young guy kept falling asleep at his desk.


• The Indian who was the offshore company's representative kept telling me that nurses couldn't do anything. (That went over really well as you can imagine). :)


• We had a great time creating processes, creating demo databases (up all night cramming the data in before TEPR), Courtney getting engaged at TEPR, Yusuff, What the Hell?


• Many, many walks around the building


• Designing most things at the outside table while smoking a pack of Malboro reds


• Getting dinged on my review for safety (I had tripped in the dev lab while wearing a dress!!)
  
• "Let me be frank with you" coming from my bff Vinayak
• My buddy Mohit coming here and taking 10 years off my life


• Me screaming at too many offshore developers to count


• Morgan helping with QA


• Falling asleep with my laptop on my lap and it shattering on the tile floor


• Mark coming to manage support (me telling Mark that he shouldn't move here while mildly intoxicated after he had already turned in his notice)


• Tony coming to manage the developers. Travis talking to Tony over the phone and allowing me to hire him without meeting him


• Sarathy coming to do design work and then us realizing he was a great developer. We learned about hotfixes in our environment. HOT
• Banu coming on as our first QA - and as a volunteer!!!!


• Brian and Tom with their pages and pages of Questions prior to accepting the job


• Interviewing at the Marriott


• Hiring Bill and Steve at Pri-med in Boston over drinks and an all meat meal - PM in 6 months? NO PROBLEM!
  
• Phil accepting the job while his wife was in surgery


• Shaheen finally starting after 9,001 emails and phone calls :)


• Michael going to "NextGen" when he moved to Philly


• Millie realizing how big Clinician was as she started testing
• Amanda coming for QA - Amanda starting with immunization entry.


• Peanut butter and jelly Clyde
• Luke joining the group and adding his style to the mix


• Diane coming for templates and learning about reading email more than once a day


• Lee and ScubaMark being desk co-joined twins for a while
• Pete, Warren, Jerry, Mike coming on at different times but each bringing their unique skills


• Liz coming to work because of David and then David leaving...:)


• Abhijeet coming because he tried to put his mark on the software by trying drag and drop which was pretty hot in ASP.NET at the time


• Me agreeing to take on Implementation over jack and coke on the plane (remind me not to drink around Travis)


• Hiring Heather C while getting a massage


• Julie in Atlanta telling me how she felt and me knowing at that time that she would make it


• ScubaMark brought in Kim by bringing her to the Bond movie. We knew she was a good fit when she ordered the company against the wall :)


• Fiesta party and team building


• Amanda and her marshmallows


• Bill and Steve riding the kids jeeps around Travis and Lisa's driveway


• Poor Shaheen being the driver for Bill and Steve


• Mad Dog finishing the scotch


• Phil and his trainwreck screens


• Rock Solid


• That's HOT


• Jeff City, Missouri


• Lisa and her wonderful rhymes
• How hard can it be?
• The Christmas Parties at Cheval - and the after party of each one (hint, don't leave your purse next to Josh and don't let Steve pick the after party spot)


• demouser - who can remember that?


• I'm an internalist


• No, really, there was a wreck involving a Bond employee? Flying aligators?

Of course, I could go on and on and on. The past three years have been some of the greatest memories in my life. We have certainly poured our lives into this company, product, and each other. I am proud to be a part of it.

Of course, the end of the Bond era is a little sad. However, as one door closes, another one opens. Here's to the next three years being as great as the last. Thanks for the nice welcome to MediNotes Don. CLINICIAN ROCKS!!! That's HOT. :) Don, thanks for trying so hard to make the transition smooth and for making such an effort to make us all feel wanted. :)

F.R.E.A.K.S and Cheer

HOLY COW...I haven't seen freaks like this in a long time. It actually isn't fair of me to put this picture in because this guy was probably one of the most normal there. There was some convention in Orlando for sci fi costume dresser upper people. I know, I know. Highly scientific term. They apparently form some types of clubs in different areas, and then the companies that make the costumes are also there. I think the name of it was MegaCon. Very odd. Quote of the trip by one of them..."Man, it is getting crazy, I might have to armor up." LOL



The trip to Orlando was good overall. We had a good time hanging at the Embassy Suites Jamaican Court. They had a good happy hour each day, and they have a great breakfast to heal you in the morning. The lobby is nice with the glass elevators, and the rooms are nice too. The kids had fun swimming in the heated pool and getting in the hot tub. The cheer competition was at Disney Wide World of Sports on Saturday, and then they were at MGM on Sunday. This cheer stuff really is crazy expensive. You have to get the hotel, drive there (gas prices now make this crazy even when it is in Orlando), and buy tickets (this one was $25 a person on Saturday and $48 a person on Sunday). Of course, this is in addition to the money paid for Morgan to compete. To add insult to injury, the competition included a ticket to the theme parks for 2 days for the kids, but the coaches had the kids tickets somewere so we couldn't even do fast pass on Sunday at MGM. Bummer. On Saturday, the team did really well in their routine, but they dropped two stunts (Morgan had her first fall from a stunt in a competition - she was really upset). Sunday, the team did really, really awesome. However, it wasn't enough to move them up, so they got 5th. There was another team, Infinity, who had really rough luck and just fell apart on the stage. Unfortunately, the judges didn't judge fairly and didn't give them a low score. I really don't understand how a team can not even get a pyramid up and can still get a good score. I always understand it when our team has falls (see Saturday), but I don't understand it when it doesn't seem to be the same for others. I haven't seen anything that blatant at any of the other cheer competitions yet. Amazing. The girls handled it pretty well though. I think they were just happy to do well after Saturday. The coaches took them outside to practice in the cold windy weather immediately after they competed. When some of the girls were not acting happy, one of the coaches asked if they thought the coaches were being too hard on them. My child raised her hand. I am not sure why, but I am proud of this. Not becuase I think the coaches were being too hard. Not because I want her to complain. But, most of her life, she would have stood there quietly. She actually was in the minority (I think only 3 girls raised their hands from what I heard), and she voiced her opinion. I think she felt horrible about dropping in the stunt and that influenced her, but I am still proud that she did what she felt even though everyone else didn't. She is growing up!

After the came out of practice, Morgan was upset about the stunt falling. A group of girls came over and gave her a big hug, and she got a grin from ear to ear. It was great to see.

The Kims picture - they are both Tennessee girls! GO BIG ORANGE! I can't believe that I can actually pick the Vols to win the tourney without everyone thinking I have lost my mind. :)


The girls picking up Alice and Kelly laughing.
It stinks to be the youngest!

The girls chilling on the car. As you can tell, they hate having their picture made. :)

I love the look on Morgan's face. It looks like she is growling. Maybe she was practicing a cheer face? By the way, she is getting really good at those.
The ride picture. I LOVED the Tower of Terror and the Rock and Roller Coster. They were great rides.

Nice group shot. The girls really get along well.

To see Video highlights from the competition, go here and search for Florida Wildcats. The Youth Level 3 team is hers.

http://www.varsity.com/vwired/08nascc.asp?page=webcast#set

Even though Mike tried hard to involve the kids during this crazy weekend, his ex is mad. I don't think there is anything we can do to make her happy. It really is unbelievable. We got two rooms at the hotel so that everyone would have enough room. We had a kids +Matthew (Mike's brother) room and a room for us. Morgan stayed with her team on Saturday night, but she was with the kids Friday night. Just a couple of weeks ago, the ex commented that Mike doesn't ever take the kids to a hotel because he always stays with friends and family (not sure WHY this is a BAD thing, but anyway). Now, she is complaining because we took them to a hotel where freaking people were dressed in costumes. Like we have any control over the cheer competition being in Orlando (a very family friendly place) the same week as this nutty sci fi thing. Like the kids were talking to them. Come on. Mike drove over with them on Friday so they could go to the pool and such. We went to a nice dinner at Kobe on Friday night ($270 - whoa). Mike got up early and drove Katie and Michael back to Tampa for baseball and softball). He then drove back that evening. Of course, he missed the cheer competition which upset Morgan. Of course, as always, I try to explain that there are two of us and four kids. Then, he takes them to putt putt on Sunday and drives back because they are all tired. I guess that wasn't enough for Ms. Throw Stones because she thinks it is unfair that Morgan got to go to MGM. Give me a break. She was a IN a competition and she had NEVER been there before. It was pretty expensive to also buy 5 more tickets to MGM ($250). Of course Morgan would have loved to have them there, and I had to explain why they couldn't be there. I expect all of that from kids. Not from adults. Insane. I could go on and on, but I have typed enough. If you are getting a divorce, go for full custody. Trust me.

I love the travel cheer competitions because I always get to meet parents and kids that I didn't really know before. This weekend was no different. This cheer stuff is crazy expensive and pretty nuts in general (I am sure those Megacon people are talking about the cheer freaks at the hotel. :) , but I really think it is a pretty cool sport. The kids are in awesome physical shape, they learn the art of working hard for goals, they learn how to win and lose (what other sport starts off announcing the lowest team like In 19th place, we have the x team, In 18th place, we have the y team...ouch - who wants to be 19th!), and they have a great time with friends and their family. Pretty cool.

This is a picture from a week ago, but I thought I put it on then. This is Morgan's friend Katie and she got Awesome Athlete!!! Congrats Katie!

What a day

Today, I had a great example of why healthcare software is a tough business. Recently, regulations changed and claims for medications that are administered required additional information to be sent with the claim. For example, the NDC number, the quantity and unit of measure, and the cost have to be sent along with the CPT code that tells what the charge was. Seems fairly straightforward, right? Well, when we were implementing it, we studied the requirements for the standard specifications, and then we read many implementation guides. Then, we looked at several different states guides. Hmmm... the instructions for paper claims were pretty clear, but there was some debate on the cost portion for electronic. Some say to enter $0.00 if the cost is unknown which makes it not seem very important. Some say that they will not even accept claims with the cost. Others state that the quanity associated with the unit of measure (e.g. 5 ml) times the cost must equal the charge. Where this becomes complicated is if you are giving multiple units of the 5 ml. So, then you would think that you would use units * cost = charge. But, that doesn't work for the quantity * cost. Bummer. Even when you ask the different payers, they say that they don't even know their own requirements. THAT is what makes healthcare transactions frustrating. There is no definitive answer. EVER.

This acquisition stuff is pretty crazy. My staff have had more concerns, thoughts, ideas, questions, and everything in between over the last week than they have over the last 3 years combined. Of course, I want everyone to feel comfortable, so I keep trying to address all of the items. At the same time, there is some sentimental portion of me that is not ready for this change. Silly things like my email address, my scrubs, etc - not sure I am ready for those to change. Little things like the email software we use that may change because they use a different one. Of course, all of this is extra stuff. We still have the processes, software, and the rest of the company to get through. Should make for an interesting ride. :)

More and more software companies seem to be asking employees to sign non-compete agreements. I put a poll to the right to ask whether you have a non-compete. I will be interested to see the results.

The Science Project From Hell

I promised the story, so here it is. Morgan's teacher had told us that the science projects would be due on March 21st. Then, on Feb 18th, she finds out that the date was wrong and it is really due on Feb 29th. WHAT? Of course, I was leaving to go out of town on the 24th. YIKES.

Mike says that it is no problem. He will help her over the weekend while I am gone. Friday night, Mike took the kids on the boy scout camping trip. The were rained out late on Saturday. Mike's parents and brother are staying with us for a while, and they had a big cookout on Sunday. Needless to say, the science project wasn't worked on.

When I find out on Monday that it hadn't been worked on, I am panicking. Mike is in Orlando with me Monday and Tuesday night as he is also at HIMSS. That leaves two days. Additionally, she doesn't get home from cheer until 8 on Wednesday and 9 on Thursday. Oops. Thankfully, her coach says she can miss most of Wednesday's practice. They finished the experiment and started on the workbook Wed. I get home Thursday night exhausted from HIMSS and just want to watch LOST and go to bed. So, she works on finishing the book, printing out headings, typing up the info for the board, and we go to print the pictures Mike took during the experiment. Oops. Printer is out of ink. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING. So, off Mike and I go to Walgreens at 2am. Love it. This kind young girl prints the pictures (Thank you 24 hour Walgreens). 2:20am, the board is done. Whew.

Of course, a couple of days later, it slips from Morgan's mouth that the actual science board (not the experiment or the workbook) were OPTIONAL. Did I mention that I love my daughter? Good thing. :) My favorite was in the workbook, it asked for the parent sponsor who helped you. Morgan wrote, "My mom and my dad, but my dad helped more." I thought that was hysterical. :) I still can't believe that it was finished before school the next day. Thanks to Mike for "helping more."

9 Months Smoke Free

Wow...my quit counter popped up today and congratulated me on 9 months of no smoking! I still can't believe it. :) I do have to say that the last week has been pretty stressful, and I was actually out having a good time with friends when I reached for the pack of smokes without even thinking about it. Thankfully, my brain told me it was not right before my hand even hit the pack, but it was creepy the way that those actions are just so embedded. Crazy. I am very proud. It was rather fitting that we went to see Alice in the hospital (she has had pneumonia), and this guy walked out the front door pushing his IV cart as we walked in. Mike looked at me and said that used to be me trying to figure out how to get a smoke whenever I could. To all the smokers out there, I have to say that life is so much better when you aren't contantly feeling that way. I never in a million years thought I would say that, but if you give up on it forever, the pains of it do go away. I seriously do not ever want one now. I occassionally have a "by habit" feeling or action that starts to occur but my brain will usually quickly correct it now.

We went to the parent team practice tonight (the Silver Cats). It was really, really fun. I wasn't sure what it was going to be like, but we stunted and jumped and giggled. It was way more fun that I thought it would be, and it was good exercise too!

I have to say that this last week has been pretty stressful on me. Having your company purchased, even when you know it is going to happen and are involved in it pre-sale, is a stressful and hard thing to deal with. Some of it is emotional like realizing that the name that you have worked so hard to build up will go away. Some of it is practical like trying to determine who will do what. Some of it is just annoying because it is. Hopefully, we will do a better job of it than some of the companies that have done it recently.

HIGH POINT

Morgan had a cheer competition at the Tropicana Field yesterday. It was the 20th annual Gasperilla Classic. Both teams got first place, and her Youth L3 team got High Point! They got the highest point total of all of the level 3 teams - even the juniors and seniors (high school kids). Woo Hoo! The mini team is undefeated now, and the Youth team finally hit all their stunts! :) It was a fantastic day. We went to dinner with Mara and Kraig and the kids at the Las Vallartas mexican restaurant. Then, we went to Denise's house. It was a lot of fun. :)

More HIMSS Updates

For some reason in the days before HIMSS, Misys called and invited Travis and I to their reception that was on Tuesday night. The marketing person who spoke to them said that they could add us to the guest list but that she wasn't sure we could go. At HIMSS, Vern personally asked Travis if we were coming. At the last minute, on Tuesday at the end of the show, Travis calls me and wants me to meet him out front where the cabs are. Of course, I had told Mike I would meet at the Onbase booth/bar, so I asked Tony to let him know. I rushed to where Travis was, and I ran through the pouring rain to get into the cab. Lovely. Wet poodle look for the reception - just what I was wanting. :)

The reception was very nice. There were a few people there from my Misys days, and there were many who I didn't recognize. We did get to meet the new head of "solutions" which appears to be Mike Pritts old job. He came from GE. It will be interesting to see how he does. We had a few yummy treats like Filet in pastry and shrimp with a quick cocktail and then we were on our way out. We had good timing as we ran into Vern (the only reason we went was to say hi to Vern since he had asked us to come). It was good to chat with him for a few minutes. We left and went to the hotel to meet the team for dinner.

The next day, I run into a friend who used to be at Misys and hear that the rumor is that we crashed the Misys reception. I just want to make sure it is known that we went because we were asked TWICE. We certainly wouldn't crash a reception. I noticed that none of the Misys crew was at the Histalk reception. Interesting....