My first real acquisition trip

For four weeks, I get to participate in acquisitions activities as we now own Regional Steel, thereby increasing our presence in the West region. They have locations in four cities (two states) so it be a busy time as we transition them from their old systems to the CMC system and also to the CMC way.

This week I've been in Claremont, California. I have never been to this area before and the last time we were in LA was for Tuan's wedding years ago. I have been so pleasantly surprised by how nice it is here. People are friendly; homes are lovely (and varied, not all cookie cutter); plenty of colleges in town; mountains all around. Really nice. We come back here and to closeby Fontana mid-September but before that time, Sonia will join me and the rest of the IT team to travel to Las Vegas and then to Tracy (CA), which is near the San Jose area. I'm hoping I get to see Tuan and his family as they would be only 1.5 hours from Tracy.

So back to the acquisition. I get to go over some IT policies with people as they come on to the CMC network. We talk about the resources available to them and I even get to promote our computer skills training program. I've already got requests to come back here and also to Fontana for Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. Nice. I love it when people want to learn. We try to focus on all the positive things about being a part of a much bigger family now---like 24-hour Help Desk, free computer training on-site or at least nearby, things like that. I know if I was in their position, I'd want to know what to expect. Good kickoff. And very exciting, too, to be invited to the celebration dinner. ;) Lots of speeches and good food and drink (see below). And then to bed so that we could hit the ground running this morning.



Speaking of bed, I'm going to go call my honey and get to bed myself. I will fly out tomorrow and head home! Yeah!