For the past five years, I have been conducting Quality Management System audits in the aerospace sector for a company called DNV. In the best of times, it’s a demanding job with frequent travel, long hours, and short weekends. The past two years have been especially challenging, given the worldwide pandemic and DNV’s overnight transition to conducting remote audits. Because of travel restrictions, we lost most of our billable travel time, and DNV informed us that if we had more than 4 hours of non-billable time in a week, we would need to use Personal Time Off – or take on an approved “project.” What DNV has never understood is the amount of time it takes on the front end to prepare for an audit, and on the back end to manage findings to closure – if they’re done right. Consequently, fulltime auditors work 7 days a week while DNV gripes that we have too much free time – because they don’t see it in our timecards – by design.
But I soldiered on, taking on special projects like editing and proofreading the Aerospace Auditors’ Handbook; hosting the popular webinar, “Root Cause and Corrective Action: First Pass Success”; and mentoring the new class of Aerospace Auditors In Training – all of which should have been the job of Chuck, my useless Manager. In addition, I passed my ANAB Witness Audit with zero findings and a raft of accolades. Given all that, when Chuck conducted my annual performance review from his home office in a ratty t-shirt with seemingly no preparation, he acknowledged none of my accomplishments, mumbled something about how “they” raised the bar on us, and gave me an Average rating. I decided then and there that it was time to leave DNV.
Then all hell broke loose. My former manager Ronda, her manager Sherif, and Chuck’s manager Marta all called to try to talk me out of leaving. It was flattering, but none of them committed to getting rid of Chuck, offering timecard relief, or advancing my career. So I stood firm. Then my clients started calling. And emailing. And texting. They had all started receiving notifications from Scheduling that I would not be conducting their future audits, and they wanted to know why. The outpouring of appreciation was gratifying. Several of them even offered to hire me as a consultant.
But Cristek Interconnects, a Boston-area manufacturer of aerospace cables and harnesses, went a step further – inviting me to join them as their fulltime Quality Manager. I had audited Cristek several times in the past, starting in 2018, when I wrote major findings against issues that no one else had uncovered. They were upset at first, but by the time the audit was over, they were thanking me for helping them to find and fix real problems. I set them on an improvement path that led to their decision, in 2020, to relocate from a rotting warehouse in Lowell to a gleaming new space in North Billerica. When I performed their Special Audit in January to certify their relocation, I was impressed with the new space – and I could envision myself in one of their empty offices.
After a couple of Teams meetings with the General Manager and the President, they quickly made an offer, which I just as quickly accepted. Suddenly I had just four weeks to orchestrate a cross-country move for myself, my two cats, and Kurt, who decided to join me on this adventure.
I hired the same moving company that had handled several of my past local moves. Turns out they were hopelessly unqualified to handle a long-distance move. They arrived late in a truck that was too small and not certified for long-distance moves, which they discovered halfway through the day. After a series of escalating negotiations, they decided to transfer all the items into a new, certified truck the following morning, before attaching my car to an auto transport to drag it across the country. So we lost a day to poor planning, and the cats sat in their cages for 12 hours, before we finally checked into a pet-friendly hotel, which if nothing else proved an excellent test of their resilience, plus the value of Gabapentin.
The cats and I were scheduled to fly on Alaska Airlines from San Diego to Boston on Thursday, April 22, with Kurt driving us to the airport before embarking on his own cross-country drive. In the meantime, we had a few more things to accomplish. Tuesday morning at 9am, I needed to deliver my car to the movers who were busy transferring all my items to a certified truck. By 9:15 I needed to be at the condo to let in the cleaning crew to ready the condo for sale. By 9:45 I needed to be at CVS for yet another COVID-19 test, because Massachusetts required a 10-day self-quarantine upon arrival, unless you could show a negative COVID result within 72 hours of arrival.
On Wednesday at 9am we got our hair cut one last time from our favorite stylist, then at 10am we met the realtor at the condo to hand over the keys and clickers and to allow him to take photos for the listing, which was scheduled to go live on Thursday. We took the opportunity to clean the garage, which the cleaning crew did not touch because it was had been stuffed with leftover items until near the end of the day. In the process we bumped one of the sensors, causing the garage door opener to fail – because we couldn’t have enough things going wrong! The realtor agreed to fix it, as we did not have time.
On Thursday morning we rose at 4am to tranquilize the cats and head to San Diego airport. The part I was most nervous about, meeting all the requirements to place the cats successfully onto the plane, turned out to be a breeze. Alaska Airlines personnel were great and made the process seamless and pleasant. Nora traveled in the cargo hold and Neely sat under the seat in front of me. The only problem I encountered was at Security, when I placed Neely’s carrier onto the conveyor belt, as prescribed, and carried her through the scanner, which promptly went off. Since I always use TSA PreCheck, I do not normally need to remove my jacket, belt, or shoes. But TSA asked me to remove my jacket and belt before passing through the scanner again. Imagine trying to do that while holding a cat! It wasn’t easy, but I succeeded in passing the screening on my third attempt. I promptly shoved Neely back into her carrier and raced off to gate, leaving my belt behind – a small sacrifice to keep this process moving.
The flight was uneventful and, due to tailwinds, ended a half hour earlier than scheduled, a godsend. I collected my bags, located Nora outside the Oversized Baggage door, and made contact with a Cristek employee who volunteered to pick us up and drive us to the car rental counter – saving me the trouble of loading two cat carriers and all my travel bags on to a shuttle bus. I drove the rental car to a pet-friendly hotel in Waltham, about halfway between Boston and Billerica, to wait for the arrival of my furniture and car.
On Friday morning I drove up to Billerica to receive the keys from the rental office and to tour my new apartment for the first time. It was breathtaking! I took a six-month lease, to give me sufficient time to settle into my new job and hunt for a house. Then I met with a local realtor, who informed me that housing inventory was at historic lows due to COVID and other factors, as people were fleeing cities like Boston to the relative space of suburbs, and suburbanites were sheltering in place with no intention of moving. Horror stories abounded of buyers offering $100K above asking price, waiving inspection – and still losing out on properties they loved.
Then I met with an insurance broker to initiate the process of transferring my driver’s license, auto insurance and registration from California to Massachusetts. The helpful broker completed all the necessary forms for me and scheduled an appearance at the Lawrence Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) for the following Thursday at 10:30am. Then I bought a new belt at Burlington Coat Factory.
On Sunday morning, the day the movers promised to arrive, I drove up early from the Waltham hotel to the Billerica apartment. And waited. And waited. I slept on the carpet while I waited. Finally the lead mover texted me that they would arrive at 1:30pm. They did not actually arrive until 3:00pm. And when they did, my car looked like it had been through a mud bath. The unload dragged on until 1:00am. The poor cats must have felt abandoned!
On Monday morning I checked out of the Waltham hotel, moved the cats into the Billerica apartment, returned the rental car to the Waltham Enterprise location, and took an Uber back to Billerica. Then I began the long, methodical, occasionally painful process of unpacking and arranging just enough stuff to function. The entire dining room remained filled with boxes that would not be opened until I moved again, to a house. That evening, Kurt arrived from his cross-country drive, and I got him situated.
On May 3rd, I started my new job as the Quality Manager for Cristek Interconnects – Massachusetts Division. I hit the ground running, as so much had been neglected or delayed without a Quality Manager in place. I have a staff of six, responsible for Inspection, Test, Material Review Board, and First Article Inspection reports. I am directly responsible for Internal Audits, Nonconforming Material Reports, Root Cause Corrective Action, and Quality Management System improvements. I have my own office and parking space, luxuries not afforded to me by either DNV or Boeing. From the start I felt welcome and needed.
Meanwhile, there were 35 showings of my Murrieta condo, resulting in five offers, four of them above asking. We accepted the highest offer, which conveniently came with no contingencies. While I waited for sale to go through, I started house hunting. I figured that the further north of Boston I went, the better my odds. I worked my way north to the charming town of Haverhill, near the New Hampshire border, where I discovered a lovingly renovated 3-bedroom Colonial with a deck, a finished basement, and a partially finished attic. The seller did not want to close until the end of July, because she was not yet ready to move out. This was a sticking point for some of the other bidders, but not for me! I had just survived the move from hell, so I was happy to chill for a few months while I settled into my job, tied up my remaining loose ends, and planned my next move at a sensible pace. I ended up winning this bid without waiving any contingencies, and took ownership on July 26.
The move from the Billerica apartment to the Haverhill house went much more smoothly – although it threatened to go south before sunrise, as the 20-foot truck I rented from U-Haul, and confirmed twice, was not available when I went to pick it up. I settled for a 15-foot truck, which meant making three trips back and forth instead of two, adding time and cost to the move. But we got it done thanks to a competent team of movers and Kurt at the wheel. Despite heading into rush hour traffic on the third and final trip, we were able to complete the move in time to return the truck to U-Haul before 8pm. While Kurt returned the truck, the movers reassembled the beds and I started unboxing things. Six months later, I feel like I’m still unboxing things. But the house is mostly settled and I’m delighted with my purchase.
Beyond work, I have rarely ventured out since moving into my house, due to lack of time and fear of COVID – even though I am fully vaccinated and always wear a mask. Every day during my commute to and from work, I listen to Boston’s local NPR station on the radio, where one day I learned that Haverhill has a Museum of Printing. It is only open on Saturdays, other than special events. A few years ago I visited the Druckmuseum in Mainz, Germany, so I was excited to visit our local museum. It did not disappoint. They have a vast collection, from the origin of the printing press and moveable type to the digital revolution and desktop publishing. I became a member and plan to attend their next special event on the history of phototypesetting in December.
About 90 miles north of Haverhill, Massachusetts is Haverhill, New Hampshire, the birthplace of Bob Montana, the artist who designed the Archie Comics characters and drew the Archie newspaper strip from 1946 until his death in 1975. In the neighboring town of Meredith, where Bob Montana lived for most of his productive years, an Archie statue has been erected in his honor. Kurt and I drove up there in the pouring rain to visit the statue and take some photos.
Halloween is big around here, due to the history of Salem and its role in the witch trials. We visited Salem in early October, before things got too crazy, and took a personalized ghost tour. On Halloween night we served up Ziploc bags filled with candy and comic books to the neighborhood kids, which was also my first opportunity to meet many of the neighbors.
On October 13th my mother celebrated her 95th birthday. I could not attend in person due to COVID and time constraints, but my brothers took her out to lunch and texted me photos.
While they were celebrating, I was busy preparing Cristek for its AS9100 Recertification audit, which occurs every three years. My knowledge of the AS9100 Standard and its application was a big reason Cristek wanted to hire me. So I’m relieved to report that we concluded our audit with zero findings, a first for the division.
In November I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner in my new dining room, a small affair catered by Hello Fresh and served on a folding table draped with a festive tablecloth. Yesterday I pulled my pencil tree out of the attic and stuck it in the front window. I contemplated buying a real tree this year, since I finally have the room for it. But due to supply chain issues, trees are scarce and needlessly expensive, along with heating oil and natural gas. This morning we woke up to our first dusting of snow. And so we are bundling up for the long winter ahead – we’re not in California anymore.
