Chaz Cone's Memoir

Stories From My Life

Today I am years old.

Book 3 - (1985 - 1999)

1985
Eighteen months into the "grow it, sell it, get rich" two-year plan, Wendy's corporate decided to buy Restaurant Systems. They wanted those 36 very profitable stores back. This sort of thing happens all the time. Corporate wants to own all the stores, no franchisees. No! They want to own no stores, only franchisees. No! They want... At any rate, Wendy's didn't want the software company. Jim had decided to jump to another company, Mediphis, as their president. I decided to try to put together a plan to buy Restaurant Systems Technology, Inc. myself.

You learn a lot trying to make that kind of a move. I'd arranged the financing and submitted what I believe was the high bid -- and, somehow, the company was sold to Jim Clutter (Mike Bodnar's long-time friend).
So here I was, late in 1985, with no job for the first time in my working life.
I had three choices as I saw it:

I could go to IBM, hat in hand, and ask for a job.

I could interview for other jobs

I could try to make a real business out of OPMS

I didn't want to go back to IBM even if I could (and I was told I was re-hirable). The company had changed so much in the 20+ years I was there, and not for the better in my opinion.
I went on three VP Sales interviews and got three offers. But in my heart I knew I was no longer that guy on stage with the striped blazer, boater and cane any more.

I'm a developer, dammit!
So with a bit of trepidation (and Gael's full-hearted support) Dick Clark and I went into the basement of our home and started making OPMS my life-work.

"I'll take take Door #3, Bob!"

1986

Into the basement...
Jim, Gerry and I had formed a Subchapter S corporation called Software Manufacturing Group. This was the entity the developed our product OPMS. The basement in our home became international headquarters for SMG/OPMS.

Just me and Dick:

...in the basement. I had a desk down there and we bought a hollow-core door and made a table out of it for Dick. Our first purchase was a HP Laser Printer. It took all of our spare cash.
On Day One we had sixteen clients to support and the need for many more to grow this venture.
Dick made sales calls and handled support (when in town) while I wrote code, did support and worried about $$$. Three months in, it became clear we needed another set of hands. Our first hire was a friend of Dick's, Leigh Goldman. Her history was as a hostess at Red Lobster but Dick vouched for her. She took on the first line of support freeing Dick to focus on sales and me on development. And now there are three of us in the basement.

The AAO
The orthodontists of the world gather annually for the American Association of Orthodontists convention and regionally at smaller shows. We needed to attended all we could afford; this was the best place to sell OPMS.
The national convention in 1986 was in May in Chicago and we'd booked space which we could ill afford (we're bootstrapping as you know). We'd purchased a backdrop-style pop-up booth and Dick and I drove to Chicago; Gael flew. Gael and I were in the convention hotel and Dick had found a discount hotel coupon book and booked a double room for him and Jim Whitmire who was flying in separately. Their hotel was on ♫ "..the southside of Chicago.." ♫.. Remember "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown?"
We arrived on Thursday and went to the hall to set up our booth: It was an easy-setup and we were done in a half hour.

As we were surveying our handiwork and congratulating ourselves on how nice it looked, we were approached by a rough-looking man.

He told us that we were not allowed to set up our booth; that the hall was a union operation and we'd have to pay for two workers to erect the booth -- two hour minimum. Also, since the booth had lights, we'd have to employ a union electrician to (literally) plug the cord into a wall socket.
I had a fit. This was my first experience with feather-bedding and union rules.
The exhibitor in the next booth advised us that if we didn't comply, our booth would be kindling by the morning -- and no one would know anything. I was ready to pack up, blow off the convention and go home! Robbery!
Dick convinced me to pay. I'm angry about it to this day! I never go to Chicago because of this...

Jim arrived at O'Hare and took a limo to the hotel where Dick and he were to share a room. Jim has a flattop haircut (even today) and was wearing a suit and tie. When the limo pulled up to the hotel, the pimps and pushers rushed out of the hotel to be seen with who they assumed was a playa. When Jim got out of the limo they figured he was a narc and scattered. That's the kind of neighborhood Dick had booked them into!
Later that night, they swear that a bullet came through the walls of their room.
After a poor start, the show went well for us. We had competitors there and this was our first time to see how we were positioned. Pretty well, we thought. We gave demo after demo after demo.

Dr. Willis
On Saturday a woman approached us and said that she represented an orthodonist in southern Illinois. She worked in the office and was on the mission to choose a computer system. We must have done a good job because she came back several times with good questions.
Remember we only had 18 clients at this time. She asked for the name and number of the one farthest from Atlanta. She wanted to call and get an assessment of how well our support worked over long distance. I gave her his name (Larry Chambles in Santa Fe, New Mexico).
She took his info and left the hall to find a pay phone (1986 remember...) She was back very soon. She said, "I called and asked for him; his receptionist said he was about to put braces on a new patient but could talk (since it was to another orthodontist) for a minute. He came on the phone and I asked what he thought about his OPMS experience. He said,"These are the best people with whom I've done business in my life. Next question?"
That was enough for Sandra Willis. She and her husband Alan bought OPMS on the spot; she was more than "somone who worked in the office".
When asking about installation and training, she said they wanted to get started ASAP. Thinking quickly, I volunteered that I would sell our demo machine and that Dick and I would drive it down to their office in Mt. Vernon, install it and train their staff -- on the way home to Atlanta from Chicago. SOLD!
There's a tiny bit more to the story. The demo machine (now the Willis' machine) was a Compaq portable:

... with a soft case covering it. I didn't know that Gael had stashed tampons in the pockets of the case. When we removed the cover in the Willis' office, tampons flew everywhere.

The staff had a good laugh at our blushing faces.
It soon became clear that, to survive, we needed more sales and that meant a full-time outside sales rep. We interviewed and hired Bud Allen:

At Resturant Systems I had hired Bud so I knew he could sell. When Restaurant Systems was sold, Bud lost his job there which is why he was available. We sent him out on the road with a (new) Compaq "portable" PC. The word "portable" was accurate, I suppose, but the damned thing weighed 28 pounds. It was like hauling around a sewing machine or a pair of bowling balls.
With Bud, it was clear that even while Dick and Bud were often out of the office, we had outgrown my basement.

We outgrew the basement
A multi-building office condo complex had been built right behind our subdivision. We fought like tigers to oppose it but, as usual, the county put revenue above homeowners' wishes and it was built. They were three-story "Williamsburg-looking" office buildings.

My dentist, Dr. Dan Hardy, co-owned one of those buildings and I arranged to rent 1/3rd of a floor from him to be the home of Software Manufacturing Group. It was just two rooms with Leigh in the back room and Bud in the front while Dick and I stayed home in the basement.
We ended 1986 with 32 OPMS clients and carried on like that until spring of 1987.

1987
Now there were four of us (Dick, Leigh, Bud and me) in two locations. Not very efficient but we're watching pennies closely.
In Janury 1986 we installed Client #17, Dr. Harley Smith in Tucker GA; his front office person was Beth Foley. Late in 1986, we learned that Beth was going to resign and so I asked Dr. Smith if he would mind if I interviewed Beth for a job with OPMS. He agreed, but cautioned me:

"Don't put her in a position where she would be interacting with people!"

He couldn't have been more wrong about Beth! She joined us in March 1987 and joined Dick and me in the basement. Her experience as an office manager provided sorely needed skills in organizing the admin part of our operation.
This is getting ridiculous space-wise. I contacted Dr. Hardy and arranged to take over 1/2 of the bottom floor of his building while retaining the present main-floor space.
After our AAO Chicago experience, it was clear that we were on the ground floor when it came to computerizing orthodontic offices. The US was too big for Bud to cover full time and Dick to cover part time. We needed another Sales Rep.
I had challenged Beth with getting us a deal on a copier. She called several companies and recommended we go with a recon copier from Xerox. And she really liked the salesman, Brett Smith. She introduced us and I liked his style right away and I offered him a sales job. Elsewhere in this document you may recall learning about the IBM commission plan. Xerox' was similar. Brett saw the potential of OPMS and decided to join us in May.

And now the support load was such that we needed to add another fulltime support rep. In my previous life working for Restaurant Systems I was impressed with one of their support team, Ward Swain. I tracked him down and he joined us in August.

Kristyn and College
It was Kristyn's Junior year at Westminster High School and it became time to review and visit potential colleges and to make appropriate applications. Her mom was determined that Kristyn be exposed to Northern schools. She reasoned that Kristyn had spent all her time in the South (yay!) and needed a broader perspective (nay!) so we agreed that Gael would take her on a Northeastern tour and I'd do the Southern tour. Gael got to go first. She made appointments and then flew north to visit Brandeis, Boston University, Fairleigh-Dickinson and Drew University. Kristyn was unimpressed. Her only qualifications were: 1) big city and 2) good football program.
Then it was my turn. We scheduled SMU (Dallas) and University of Texas(Austin); first stop, Dallas.
We flew into DFW, rented a car and headed off to SMU. Here we were; a pretty smart dad and a really smart daughter -- and we couldn't find the campus. No, really. We had a map -- AND an early GPS -- AND SMU is in downtown Dallas -- and we couldn't find it. We drove around it (apparently a lot) laughing our butts off at our incompetence. When we finally found it, we drove onto the campus and Kristyn declared, "I'm home!". And that was that.

We cancelled the rest of the trip and flew home.
She applied to SMU and was accepted.

Debbie is admitted to the Georgia Bar
Yet another opportunity to be proud of daughter Debbie. She had attended college at Purdue University and then law school at Georgtown University in Washington DC.
The next highlight was passing the Georgia Bar Exam and being admitted to the Bar. I went to to the ceremony and was overcome with two thoughts:

I'm so proud of her and,

Does Atlanta really need another 180 lawyers?!?

We ended 1987 with a total of 71 OPMS clients more than doubling the client base!

1988
With that many clients we were struggling to keep up. In 1988 we hired three more folks: Chris Bentson in sales:

Laura Kurt in client support/training:

Laurie Smith (now Cooney) in client support/training:

... bringing our headcount to twelve. We've again outgrown our space.
Bud Allen...

... didn't work out and I let him go in the Fall after he decided to go home in the middle of the Southern Association of Orthodontists meeting in Asheville!

Runing out of space (again)
Running out of space (again), I found two floors in another building in the complex. I thanked Dr. Hardy and moved the entire operation three buildings up the street. We'll never need more space than this! (Riiiight....)
We added 58 more clients to our client list bringing us to 129!

Granddaughter Heather is born
It seems that Debbie and Jay can't muster up an "Y" chromosome. My first granddaughter, Heather Marie, is born on August 18th. Bright red hair. That may be partially my fault as I had red hair until about age three:

Me at 3yrs old
It's not ALL my fault. Debbie's uncle Jon is a redhead...

Heather in 2026

1989
Meanwhile back at OPMS, we added only one new team member in 1989; Todd Blankenbecler in sales:

... and we added 79 more clients to our client list bringing us to 208!

Our AAO Investment Grows
By now, we felt that we had to show a bigger presence at the AAO show each year.

Business shows are expen$ive. You have to buy/manufacture a suitable booth, buy floor space, take a dozen or more employees to a far-away city and house and feed them -- it's really expensive.
But, at the same time, it's the best way to get exposure to hundreds of orthodontists in short amount of time. As the #2 or #3 ortho software company, we had to look like it. Part of the booth (we called it "the big tent") was a wall with an embedded 40" monitor and a podium. I stood there and pitched OPMS to folks who came to watch:

Though the cost was high, it helped to dramatically accelerate our growth.

Kristyn gets her Dream Car
On Fathers' Day the summer before Kristyn matriculated to SMU we were at a party at friends Dick & Marlene Otonicar's where the frozen margaritas flowed like the Colorado River. Gael, Kristyn and I were among the party guests. Sometime after my fourth frozen margarita, and during a lull in the conversation, I said, "Kristyn! If you make the Dean's List your freshman year at SMU, I'll buy you any car you want!"
A hush fell over the assembled multitude. Kristyn asked, "Daddy? What did you say?!" I repeated myself. Gael looked at me as if I'd lost any sense of time and place. Shortly, they dragged me home.
The next morning, now sober, I was reminded of what now is recorded as a "promise". Fearfully, I asked her what she would want, should her performance warrant that gift. She had obviously thought about it and said...

"A black Mazda RX-7 Convertible, please."

I had some time to work this out. Hey, maybe she won't make Dean's List? Who are you kidding? I used my friend Lester Pazol to locate the car and arranged the lease. The day before she was due home for summer vacation I picked up the car and placed it in a neighbor's garage.
When she reached home I took her aside and told her that because of unforseen cash requirements at the company I was unable to keep my promise. "I'm so sorry..." She took it (pretty) well...
The next morning she went to take GrandMommy out for breakfast. A bunch of friends came over and we set up balloons and other party stuff in the garage. I retrieved the RX-7, added the prestige tag...

...and had it waiting (outfitted with balloons) at the top of the street.
As she came up the street with GrandMommy, she spotted all of us -- and the car. I'm told she may have peed her pants!

But she was happy...

1990
Employee headcount at year end was 13 and the client count was 286!

1991
If you've read the Corvette stories here, you know I've owned and loved several over the years. When I sold my '67 in 1980 that started an eleven-year break in Corvette ownership. In May, my father died and left me a fairly substantial amount of money. Responsibly, I spent a hunk of that by pre-paying Kristyn's tuition for all four years of SMU at a significant discount; it never occurred to me that she might not attend SMU the full four years. Thankfully, she did!
And then I decided it was time for another Corvette. I did a search online and found a 1990 Torch Red convertible for sale right here in Atlanta. As we picked it up, I told Gael that Dad would have wanted me to have it. She scoffed (correctly).

OPMS employee headcount at year end was 15 and the client count was 382!

1992

Granddaughter Chelsea is born
Adding the final daughter to the Craytor family, granddaughter Chelsea is born on November 30th. She's a Sagittarius, just missing the best sign Scorpio (that's me).

Chelsea in 2026

The World Wide Web
The internet's predecessor was ARPANET which was funded by the US Government DARPA and implemented in 1969. The goal was to connect mainframe computers at different universities to share computing power. SInce it was a collaborative effort, developers shared ideas on how to make this work. In the 1970s, different computer networks existed, but they couldn't talk to each other because they used different languages. Computer scientists Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn solved this by developing TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol).
On January 1, 1983, ARPANET officially adopted TCP/IP. Because the protocol was free and open, any private network, university, or regional network could adopt it without paying royalties, effectively sewing the patchwork of independent networks into a singular "Internet."
While the internet (the physical network infrastructure) existed in the 1980s, it was text-heavy and difficult for the general public to use. That changed when British scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research). He created HTML, HTTP, and the first web browser to link documents across the network via hyperlinks.
The decision to make all this open source and available to the public ensured that web services and domains could operate freely without royalties to anyone This kicked off commercial interest by companies to establish a presence on the Web (for short). Websites started to blossom and bloom in 1993.
I built the OPMS website in 1996. For perspective, there were about 100,000 websites when the OPMS website debuted. Today there are 1.43 Billion!

Click the image to see it larger and again to see it larger still.
My point is that I've been building websites writing in HTML for a very long time. This one you're looking at is one example but I've built scores of them since 1997.
Employee headcount at year end was 16 and the client count was 465!

1993
Around mid-year we achieved a great benchmark: OPMS Client #500! We had t-shirts made and took the whole company to the client's office for photo op:

Employee headcount at year end was 22 and the client count was 551!

1994
It looks like we've outgrown our space once again and there's nowhere to grow here. We started looking for space. It took awhile but we found a building (with space to grow) in a complex on Roswell Road. A one-floor operation was soon built out for us. Yes, it lengthened my commute from six minutes to thirteen but, hey, sometimes sacrifices have to be made!

Employee headcount at year end was 24 and the client count was 658!

1995
In August Microsoft announced Windows 95.

It was so well-received that I saw the handwriting on the wall. We would have to develop a Windows version of OPMS or be left in the dust. Our DOS offering had been doing so well -- but when it became clear that Windows was inevitable, I kicked off a development project to re-create OPMS for Windows. I gave the project to Ken Swinney who did a very good job. But when the market got wind of this, demand for the DOS program fell off a cliff and we were at least a year away from delivering a Windows product.
This did not bode well for us as a major portion of our revenue was new account sales and many decided to wait for Windows. Any revenue from OPMS for Windows was some distance away.
It became obvious that this was the time to entertain selling the company in order to protect the clients and the employees. One of the things they don't tell you about being an entrepreneur is that the weight of the responsibility for the employees and their families becomes harder and harder to bear. One error and you can negatively effect the lives of so many people.
I contacted Jim Whitmire and asked him to join me as President of SMG with the mission of finding a buyer for SMG/OPMS. Ironically, I used to work for Jim (at Restaurant Systems Technology) and now he worked for me!
I don't know if it was the stress of this major change, but my back which had been hurting me for some time got more and more painful.
Employee headcount at year end was 28 and the client count was 757!

1996
More back pain as we struggled through the issues surrounding DOS sales declining and Windows not being ready. I finally made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. He recommend several courses of treatment to put off eventual surgery.
About this time we were contacted by a company in Australia (two guys, really) who wanted to sell and support OPMS in OZ. They (Murray and Greg)...

Murray Shipp Greg Middleton

... came to Atlanta and we liked each other instantly. The only downside is that Australian accounting, currency and more are different. To do business with them, we'd either have to create an "Australian" version (troublesome for maintenance) or to add "Australian switches" into the base product. And we'd have to incorporate Australian switches in both DOS version AND a Windows version. And the market is small there. Nevertheless we were hungry enough take it on. We made a plan to visit soon to help them get started at their country-wide ortho show.

Visiting in OZ
When we made the deal with Murry and Greg they invited me to Australia to help them introduce OPMS to the Australian Association of Orthodontists in Melbourne. The graciously invited Gael to come along so we headed off for a month in OZ. If you visit Australia plan at least a month. It'll take that long to appreciate this enormous country.
We flew into Melbourne for the ortho show. We were struck at once by how much Melbourne felt like the States in the 50s and 60s. No one in Australia came at us with "attitude".
Melbourne is an older city with European-style architecture. We had a lovely time there.

Sydney
After a day or so in Melbourne we flew to Sydney. Sydney was a more modern metropolis. Our flight landed at dusk and we took a cab to our hotel. The cab driver, ever so friendly, asked if this was our first visit to Sidney. We said that it was. He said in that case he had a surprise for us. I admit that I was nervous. If that happened in NYC...
As we approached downtown, he pointed out our hotel off to the left but turned right under a bridge. At the bottom of the road he told us to close our eyes (still nervous, here), rolled right at the corner and stopped and said:

"Open your eyes!"

WOW!
The Sydney Opera House is amazing. The next day we walked over for a tour and found that their symphony orchestra was performing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony that night. We bought tickets:

... but, that close to concert time, they were awful seats -- top row in the highest balcony. If we were an inch farther from the stage we'd have been outside.
We'd heard that the acoustics in the Opera House were the best in the world; we'd soon find out from our lofty perch.
The maestro came out and began to speak to the audience. We could hear him clearly, unamplified. His name was Edo de Waart. He'd just returned from a sabbatical and, while he was in Germany, he visited Beethoven's birthplace in Bonn. In his home they had on display the original chart for the Fifth Symphony penned in his hand.
Reading the chart, de Waart discovered that the symphony was written for only forty-five musicians. The Sydney Symphony Orchestra, like most modern symphony orchesters, consists of 100+ players! He said that he and every other orchestra he'd been with had been playing it wrong -- all his life.
When he finished speaking, he turned and dismissed fifty-five musicians and announced that tonight he'd play the Fifth the way it was originally written.

Well, it was simply gorgeous that way -- and the acoustics were (as advertised) outstanding.

I spent time going on sales calls with the boys which went quite well. When we'd made the scheduled calls after a few days we were invited to move about 50 miles up the coast to Woolongong (the town where Murray and Greg lived).

The plan was to spend the time training the boys on OPMS and working with me on the changes we'd have to make for the Aussie version.
We did have some time to go on side trips to see a bit of the country. One such trip was to a wildlife park to see koalas, kangaroos and wallabies. The animals were in a fenced area and they just let us tourists in to walk among them.

I'm wandering about and I hear Gael calling me softly. I turned around and a wallaby was standing on her foot. Must have been her jewelry.

This is how we found that koalas are so laid back because they are always stoned on eucalyptus leaves!

Best Lunch Ever!
On another outing we stopped for lunch at a restaurant at a country club. I saw on the menu a sauteed chicken liver dish (I love chicken livers). The dish was the best lunch I'd had in my life.

Gael asked the server if the chef could come out for praise. He did and we did. Gael told him the chicken liver dish was the best I'd ever had. She asked if he would share the recipe.
He resoundingly replied, "NO! I do not share my recipies!" Gael explained that we lived more than 9,000 miles away are were not likely to compete with him. He still refused.
So she deconstructed the dish and I get to have it often. It's good to be married to a talented cook!

Back to the States..

The Four Freshmen Society
One of my passions (in addition to Gael, Corvette and Ham Radio) is the singing quartet The Four Freshmen. From their first professional engagement on September 20, 1948, the Freshmen have been continously performing their unique jazz harmonies even now (writing in 2026).
The Freshmen "sound" is immediately recognizable. One key to their sound is that the lead voice is at the top of the chord unlike other quartets. And, in addition to singing their part, each member of the Freshmen plays one or more instruments accompanying themselves.

Take a listen..
Back in 1998 Fans of the Freshmen started a fan club called the Four Freshmen Appreciation Society which morphed into the Four Freshmen Society -- FFS for short. You can read all about The Four Freshmen on these websites:

FourFreshmen.com

FourFreshmenSociety.com

Wikipedia

Somehow we just discovered that the Four Freshmen had this fan club. We joined at once! Who knew that there were thousands of Freshmen fans world-wide?
A little history: Starting back in 1988 the Four Freshmen Society began holding an annual convention in a different city each year.

1988 Las Vegas NV

1989 Toledo OH

1990 Springfield OH
1991 Oshkosh WI

1992 Columbus OH

1993 Columbus OH

1994 Oshkash WI

1995 Huron OH

At these conventions fans could hang out with the Freshmen themselves, hear road stories, participate in sing-alongs and have two Freshmen concerts.
We learned that this year the FFS convention would be in Lincolnshire IL (a suburb of Chicago) so we went (along with 500 of our new best friends). Over the years, as men left the group and were replaced with a new player, the Four Freshmen group number changed. For example, when I first heard the Freshmen in 1958 it was Group#3. Now, in 1996 at the convention, we were witness to a change from Group #19 to Group #20 as Alan MacIntosh left and was replaced by Brian Eichenberger. Thankfully, even with many personnel changes over the years, the Freshmen "sound" has stayed exactly the same.
The music was terrific and we met a lot of folks with whom we developed long friendships over the years -- including the Freshmen themselves.

Back to the OPMS chronology
Now we're getting close to releasing OPMS for Windows...
Back in the early-eighties I was a second-line manager at IBM in charge of the technical writers who were charged with creating the user documentation to go with the six applications we were building for the IBM PC. If you don't remember, check HERE.
Based on that experience I decided to rent time in a local independent Human Factors lab and put OPMS for Windows through the same kind of usability tests we used at IBM. It was pricey but effective and the product improved.
These usability tests are organized by defining the audience and challenging the Lab owners to find test subjects that match. One of our test subject requirements was a working orthodontist. Believe it or not, you can ask the Lab for anyone and they'll find matching subjects. The orthodontist test subject they found was Dr. Mark Sanchez. It turns out that his motivation for volunteering was to check out the competition (us). He was developing an orthodontic software program for the Mac! A decade later in life he hired me to work for his orthodontic software company TOPS!
We shipped our first OPMS for Windows system in May.
In December I started going to a chiropractor for my back; didn't help.
Employee headcount at year end was 34 and the client count was 814!

1997

Selling SMG/OPMS
In January, Jim Whitmire found a buyer for SMG/OPMS. A healthcare service provider, HALIS, Inc., bought SMG/OPMS. That experience confirmed something I've always thought:

I cannot think of a single instance where a small company is acquired by another company and the clients and employees wound up better off. Not one.

The other thing I learned is that when you sell your company, ALWAYS sell for cash. NEVER sell for stock in the acquiring company. Betting that their stock will be worth anything when you are able to execute a stock sale is a sucker bet. Don't do it. Don't!!
Their pitch was that "nothing would change" and that their philosophy was "let Bubba be Bubba." Riiiight...
They later re-sold to a company named InfoCure in 1998 who kept me on for a couple of years before firing me (by cellphone) while I was on the road delivering a '58 Corvette to Arizona. Classy.

My Back
In February, while at our time-share on Hilton Head Island, the pain got so bad I could only get relief by lying flat on the floor. Some vacation...
We drove back to Atlanta I was able get an appointment with a neurologist I knew. He arranged for an MRI and discovered the disk between L4 and L5 was herniated and was pressing on a spinal nerve. Not good.
The next step was an epidural; an anesthetic block done by a large needle flooding the L4/L5 disk with steroids. This wasn't a plan to fix anything, but it did relieve the pain - a lot.
I returned for another a couple of weeks later. It worked, too, but not as well as the first. And a month later I got a third and it didn't help much at all.
I was able to work the AAO meeting in Philadelphia but the drive to visit a client and the plane back was hell.
In May, still trying to avoid surgery, I scheduled a Vax-D procedure for the week after Memorial Day. This where you lie face down on a table and the table stretches you to take pressure off...

...Sounds medieval but I'm told it helps. I never got a chance to find out because...
Over Memorial Day weekend, my back finally went out for good. Gael was off at a wedding in Virginia; I didn't feel up to the trip. I could only get out of bed by sliding out and crawling to the bathroom and back. When Gael came home on Sunday, she took one look and called an ambulance to take me to Piedmont Hospital.
The next day I had an L4/L5 laminectomy...

...performed by Dr. Carl Fackler of Peachtree Orthopaedics. It went well and my first hospital stay of my life ended successfully. Now, rehab...
Two funny things happened during my hospital visit. The first was the morning just before surgery. I was on a gurney in a waiting area (surgeries start when the Doctor is ready; nothing to do with the patient) and had just talked with the anesthesiologist. It was cold (where is it NOT cold in a hospital?) and I found that shaking my legs made me more comfortable.

I was doing that a while when someone noticed and scrambled a team. They thought I was having a seizure! I was not, of course, and apologized profusely.
The second funny thing was a day or two later while recovering in the hospital. I was watching the Colonial Open Golf tournament alone in my room. David Frost was putting out on the 18th green to win all the cheese. The ball was rolling right up to the cup...

I yelled, "FALL! FALL! FALL!", encouraging the ball. Nurses vaulted the nursing station desk; apparently it's not a good practice to yell "FALL!" on an orthopaedic floor...
While recovering from my back surgery. I checked out the new 5th generation Corvette (called the "C5") It debuted in the fall and I thought "I have to have one!". I started a dialog with a salesman at Central Chevrolet. He said I could order a 1997 coupe for $10K over MSRP (gasp) but I could order a 1998 for MSRP. What? $10K vs. a wait when I already had a Corvette (the '90 convertible). I decided to wait.
Employee headcount at year end was 34 and the client count was 880!

1998
Halis sold their OPMS unit to a startup called InfoCure. This company was run by two fellows whose idea was to aquire all the significant players in a vertical market (like orthodontics) and then create a new common product with all the features of the acquired companies and sell it to the consolidated client list. Looked good on paper but I told them that merging software products is virtually impossible and, even if pulled off, creates a nightmare for the merged support organizations. I was [start sarcasm] thanked for my input [end sarcasm]...
The good news was that they owned the OPMS client list and that was (by then) 1,100 practices that depended on me for maintenance. I'm secure for now.

The Big Remodel
Meanwhile, when most folks our age are thinking about downsizing, Gael decided we needed a bigger dining room. I suggested that we simply entertain less. Frozen stare. So we began what became a year+ long project that ended with a larger dining room, an enormous kitchen, a huge "Great room", a large deck with hot tub and an 800 sq ft garage.

I thought I might get back on the air. I'd moved away from Ham Radio a while back but while the backhoe was here I thought I might as well dig the hole for a self-supporting tower. I did the research and decided on a 72' tower from US Tower. I ordered the tower, the base construction plans and mounting plate and had the base installed.

That base is 4' x 4' x 8' deep with rebar. The tower would be here in a few weeks.
Sure enough...

The tower came on a flatbed and the operator brought it to the tower base on a forklift.

Fortunately, the next door neighbor had no fence separating our lots.

Turn the crank a lot of turns...

And it's UP!
As delivered, the tower stood 23' high. There's an electric motor that will extend the tower to 72' in two minutes. I tested it and then left it nested. No need to be high without an antenna...
And there it stood for more than FIVE years...
You can read all about the remodel project HERE.

The Black 1998 C5
While construction continued, I reasoned that, now that I'll have more room for Corvettes, I should order the '98. I ordered and took delivery of my Black 1998 C5 Coupe bringing my collection to two ('90 & '98).

If you are a 'Vette person, the BBS wheels were added later...
I discovered there was a fan group called the C5 Registry which planned events (meals, cruises, track events) so I joined. It was created by two Florida State Farm Insurance agents, Dan Adavasio and Jake Drennon. They always had a presence at NCM events. Great guys, great organization.
Gael and I particpated in many events arranged by the C5 Registery -- not the least of which was taking our Black Coupe to Europe for the 24 Heurs du Le Mans. You'll get a chance to read about that wonderful advenutre in Book 3.

The Silver 1964 C2
My friend and fraternity brother Rich Wolf and his bride Ina moved from Atlanta to La Jolla CA. As they drove around La Jolla and San Diego learning the city, Rich noted a classic car dealership which had a silver 1964 Corvette sitting by the curb in front. Rich knew about my love for Corvettes (which reached back to my 1960 Roadster when we were at Georgia Tech together). He also knew that I'd whined (often) about selling my 1967 Roadster nearly 20 years ago. He thought I might have some interest in this beauty:

He sent me a photo (the one above) and put me in touch with the dealer. The dealer and I established a phone dialog and we made a tentative deal for the car -- but I wanted to see it "live" so I scheduled a trip to San Diego for Gael and me. The car had belonged to a chap in TX who passed away shortly after having a minor restoration done and, sadly, never drove it. The car came with a soft top and a removable hard top; unusual. We closed the deal on the spot and arranged for an enclosed truck delivery.

This car took the Corvette scuderia (look it up) at the Cone household to three. Fortunately after the remodel we had room for four (two stacked on each of two lifts). No problem!
Suddenly I had a Corvette collection ('64, '90, '98).

1999

The C5 Registry and Le Mans
I introduced you to the C5 Registry in 1998. As I mentioned, they organized a bunch of events throughout the year. Gael and I were at the NCM Birthday Bash in 1999 when Dan and Jake floated the idea of taking twenty couples and their C5s to Europe for LeMans 2000. There was enthusiastic support for the idea so Dan and Jake got to work. More about this in Book 3!

The Yellow 1958 Corvette? Not to be...
My dream Corvette had always been the 1958 painted Panama Yellow. It was different from all preceding and following Corvettes because it had many, many chrome accents. It looked like a jewel box. Here's what one looks like:

I figured that since I now have three Corvettes, why not try to find a '58 in Panama Yellow? How hard could it be? There were only 455 built...
By mid-1999 I'd located a guy who would build me a 1958 Panama Yellow Corvette for $15K. I suspected the prices would rise during the project.
I suspected that the fellow I found (we'll call him "Shorty") might be insane. As the project moved forward my suspicion proved accurate. A co-worker at InfoCure also wanted a '58 and he found a donor car, hooked up with Shorty and I agreed to haul it out to AZ (where Shorty lived) and to visit my project which was "almost done". Friend Bill Donovan (who owned a trailer company) and I were on the road when I got a phone call from one of the InfoCure principals informing me that my services would no longer be needed. Fired by cell phone. Classy...
Bill and I finally reached AZ, dropped off the trailered '58 project, and I met Shorty face-to-face for the first time. I also saw "my" '58 project which was months away from restoration. We agreed to close the project and he (thankfully) returned my money.

What about Y2K and OPMS?
When I got back, I was called into InfoCure for an exit interview to turn over the OPMS source code. It seems that they were unaware that 2000 was just around the corner and I'm the only person on the planet who could make the Y2K changes needed for OPMS DOS to survive the transition to 2000. After all, it's only 1,100 OPMS clients at risk....
Negotiation principle: "Always negotiate from a position of strength".
When the color returned to their faces, they asked what I would charge (as an outside consultant) to complete the Y2K changes. We agreed on $15K and three months to accomplish it.
It took me two weeks...

The NCM Labor Day Caravan
Every five years, since it's inception in 1994, the National Corvette Museum (NCM) in Bowling Green KY organizes a nationwide caravan near Labor Day. Each state has a manager who herds thousands of Corvettes from all over the country to converge on Bowling Green.
This was the first such event since the founding; of course, we'd be a part of that.
Our Georgia contingent joined the Tennessee group in Chattanooga on Friday and drove to Nashville to spend the night. We'd all roll into Bowling Green on Saturday morning.
As we entered the parking lot at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville you can imagine the chaos with hundreds of Corvettes trying to find a parking place. Gael suggested that she would walk to the hotel to register thereby getting a jump on all these people. Good idea.
We're in a barely-moving line so I stopped and she got out. I thought she'd wait as I rolled by but instead she walked in front of the car. My attention was elsewhere, I guess, so I hit her (gently) and she went down. The impact with the 100° macadam was not gentle...

This is the International Symbol
for knocking your wife on her ass...

It's on the bumper of the Corvette.
(Hover your mouse for a second over this image..)
Read about this adventure (?) HERE.

Installing my first garage lift
As part of the big home remodel project, I decide to install two free-standing lifts on one side of our 400 sq.ft garage. That allows me to park four Corvettes in space that would normally allow only two. Click HERE for that story.

Installing my second garage lift
It was alwasys the plan to have two lifts in the garage. Here's the story of the second one: Click HERE for that story.

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