Brandon & Alicia Beck

It is another case of consultant starts new client, consultant meets girl at client, girl falls madly in love with consultant (of course the falling in love part took a long time).  In Late April / Early May of 2006 I started working on a new client – CMS/Consumers Energy in Jackson, Michigan.  Luckily the city is booming with lots of restaurant's and fun stuff to do after work.  (Just kidding) 

Actually, there are NO decent restaurants and one gets tired of eating Subway everyday for BOTH Lunch and Dinner.  As a result, I would generally go running during lunch and grab Subway to eat at my desk.  Since there was nothing to do after work besides go back to the hotel, I decided to stay at work every night until late.  Luckily, there was girl across from my cube (Alicia) who made work interesting.  Even though she claimed she despised me and was a cocky jerk, I could see the sparkle in her eye. 

It only took about 2 months before it finally got too cold to run outside anymore and Alicia told me about the "gym" at Consumers (which consisted only of a weight machine, free weights, two stationary bikes, an elliptical and ONE treadmill).  Thus, we started going to the gym after work at least 3 times a week. 

While I gracefully ran on the treadmill, Alicia kept falling of the elliptical (I knew it was because she was staring at me while I was running, but she would never admit to this fact).  Finally, after several months of running, I finally got up the courage to ask her to dinner.  After four months of running together after work and four weeks of asking her dinner, she finally succumbed to my charm and we had dinner together (of course just a casually dinner that she REFUSED to call an actual date).

In early 2006, I was assigned to a special project at my employer, Consumers Energy. Our team would be working closely with a group of external consultants (for approximately 18 months) to install a new accounting system, called PowerPlant.

Since we are a relatively “young“ team (within the average age being about 30), I was thrilled to see that our consulting team was equally youthful.  I firmly believed that the similarity in age would mean similar interests, comparable backgrounds, and better team communication, etc.

However, I was greatly disappointed when I realized that my consultant counterpart (Brandon) was a complete jerk!  He had an enormous ego and an unbearable “I AM SUPERIOR” demeanor.  At one point, I actually asked the project lead if my desk could be moved so that I wouldn’t have to listen to his impolite and egocentric chatter… REQUEST DENIED.

But as the months passed, the tension began to ease.  To relieve stress, I had been attending Yoga and Belly Dancing classes at a local dance studio near Consumers Energy.  After my sessions, I would go elliptical-running at the company facility until all of my frustration subsided.

Since Brandon had been whining that he wasn’t able to go running outside (and that the local YMCA was too crowded), I decided to be NICE and tell him about the company’s gym. Clearly it was not an elaborate facility, but it was never busy and was free of charge.  Since the gym was right next to my dance studio, and the roads were covered in snow/ice, I agreed to drop him off on my way to class one night.  And so the saga began… 

Over time, Brandon became my running partner and, eventually, my friend.  The “defective personality” slowly started to disappear, and the REAL Brandon finally started peeking through…