April 1, 2003 Newsletter
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Tall Building Prevarication
Those of you that regularly travel the North Loop here in Houston have probably observed the construction of the twenty-one story PM Solutions Tower over the last 14 months.

Well, the landscapers just put the finishing touches on the Verdome Water Gardens and we open for business today.

The Old Man (see next story) hinted that our Grand Opening would be pretty spectacular, so when a helicopter landed on the roof (who even knew there was a helipad??), and two figures parachuted 21 stories to the plaza below where our 1,200 employees had gathered, we knew it would be a special day.

But it wasn’t the Chairman and the CEO like we expected. It was Eli and Mary Elizabeth, the Old Man’s youngest grandkids.

About then, a fleet of Segways enter the plaza with the Chairman in the lead of another dozen of the grandkids. Turns out we’ll have the new Human Transporters for getting around campus, which is pretty cool.

And speaking of cool…The Old Man never acclimated to the furnace known as August here in Texas. You know, that burning blast that hits you as you exit your car, even in a covered parking lot.

So the PM Solutions Tower boasts the second-largest air-conditioned parking garage in the world! (The largest is in Belize).

Other companies might have provided this perk for senior executives only, but that’s not the way the Old Man thinks. He might be the one person on this planet that hates the heat more than me.

The new Tower isn’t particularly opulent, but is certainly state-of-the-art. (I’ve already gotten stuck in the stairwell without my electronic card key).

There are a few things that set this skyscraper apart. We mentioned the Verdome Water Gardens, a two-acre retreat in a remote corner of the campus.

And don’t miss the 50,000 gallon Hugo Du Bois Saltwater Aquarium in our lobby (open to the public on weekends). See the first Great White Shark ever born in captivity! (Keep your hands out of the tank).

Give us a call if you want a tour. There’s a lot more to see.

The Old Man
He started this enterprise out of a home office. But if he longs for those simpler times, he does a damn good job of hiding it.

He can be extravagant and frugal at the same time. He sprang for an air-conditioned parking lot, but will only allow black-and-white photos on our Web site because full color costs extra. (You also might save thousands of dollars a year if all the photos on your site were converted to B&W).

As a frequent traveler to the Yukon, he was the first to discover that the native Aleutians had an innate, almost genetic ability to design and develop project management databases. Now they take up most of the 20th Floor of the Tower, just one level down from his office. He likes them close by.

He’s an interesting guy. We’ll drop by his office when you take your tour. Call any time.

Celestial Bodies, Tiny Minds
It hasn’t made the front page of the Houston Chronicle’s Sports section yet, but we’re afraid that it will, in spite of our best intentions.

We’re one of a few local companies that put a proposal together to sponsor the new Houston Comets Arena. After all, we like women’s basketball; it would be good for the community, and good for business. It’s a win-win-win.

Of course, as corporate sponsors, we expect to have our name on the building, so it will be called Project Management Solutions Arena, Home of the Houston Comets.

Well, the politically-correct crackpots are at it again. They’re convinced that in this world of expediency, an abbreviation of our company initials is inevitable, resulting in an unfortunate acronym.

Where others see problems, we see opportunity. Certain sponsors would line up to get a piece of this action. It’s a natural.

We’re reminded of what Butch Cassidy said: “I got vision, and the rest of the world wears bifocals.”

No foolin’, Butch.

Be well, do good work and keep in touch.

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