Transit Day 8 – Positively Rememberable Experiences

Most successful companies have an underlying "Mission Statement" that guides their actions on a daily basis.  ELUS is no different as our Mission is:

“To deliver a Reliable, Repeatable and Positively Rememberable launch service, one customer at a time utilizing a lean, efficient, sustainable, and cost effective organization that maximizes profitability for our company” K. D. Pysher

Today’s focus is on ”Positively Rememberable.”  Okay I know there is a debate out there as to whether “Rememberable” is an actual word or not but if I just used “memorable” then I would not have the 3-“R’s” for a successful launch service company… Reliable, Repeatable and positively Rememberable.  Either way the intent is for every person that takes this voyage to the launch site to return home with only positive memories of their experience.  That includes customers, contractors, government personel, and employees or more simply put…Everyone. 

The ELUS Chief Systems Engineer representative for this mission, John Riedman, shares the following positively Rememberable experience:

Birthday on the boat.

After the long day yesterday, today was pretty quiet. This may have been foreshadowed by the spectacular rainbow last night.  I mean there were the typical 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM meetings, but mostly we were just reviewing the results of the rehearsal, making some small tweaks to documentation, and getting ready for launch site operations (still 2 days away.) 

But today is my birthday.  Aww now don’t feel sorry for me.  There are 223 people on this ship.  It is  likely that someone is having a birthday.  My birthday was announced at the very first meeting of the day.  Through-out the day, I was greeted by yells of “Happy Birthday” as well as comments about my green pants.  To make a long story short – Green means Go.  In the in the launch business Go is good.  I have a red uniform but no one wants to see me wear that. J

Some may think that celebrating a birthday far from family and friends is difficult.  My family has been very understanding of the time that launches take me away from them.  I received gifts and cards before I left.  I know they love me where-ever I am.  My son’s card didn’t get finished in time – he wants my wife to send it by mail boat.  An “E-“mail boat will have to do. 

Daddy's little girl...

 

John & the green pants waiting for the mail boat to arrive

  

With e-mail, Facebook, and Google+; I received birthday wishes from my friends and family in Colorado, Hawaii, Texas, Oregon, …  I feel very lucky to have such good communications out here that I can stay in touch so easily, thanks Semco.  I raised an Italian beer and toasted all my friends and family this evening.

Though I’ve previously been misunderstood and so woefully misquoted in the past (see Boeing Employee Times June 2009 re: “smartest guy in the room”);I definitely feel like one of the luckiest people.  I like to take this opportunity to say that I am humbled by the support of my teammates.  Let me give you an example: Suzanne Romero, the Executive Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer, colluded with Elvie Lago on the ACS here to stash some Haagen-Daz ice cream and deliver it to me today.  A well appreciated gift in the middle of the tropics.  I am lucky to be able to celebrate my birthday with teammates like these.  With 222 teammates – I wonder whose birthday it is tomorrow?

-John

 

John has been with the Sea Launch program nearly from the beginning and is a valuable asset for me personally and the company as a whole… John is correct that in the launch business “Green” is good and represents “Go”.  But in my opinion, it would be “Good” if the fluorescent green pants that he refers to above would just “Go” if you know what I mean…   Thanks John for sharing your positively rememberable experience.

 

The Catering Team Delivering a Reliable, Repeatable & Positively Rememberable Experience

Most people who work in the satellite and launch service business get extreme reward just from their work.  I think a lot of that comes from the fact that you get to take an idea, put it to paper, turn the paper into hardware and physically deliver it into space.  You get to experience the full lifecycle of the project over a short timeframe and reap in the reward for your endeavors  by witnessing a successful launch. The Eutelsat mission was approximately 12 months of dedicated work between ELUS, Eutelsat, Astrium, Sea Launch and many of our contractors.  Tonight we took time to recognize those folks that have worked closely together to make this mission happen by inviting them to experience a gourmet meal prepared by the ELUS catering team in the VIP dining room.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves as to it being a positively Rememberable Experience…

 

The Table

The Team

The Menu

The Chef - Geir Haugen

The Soup

The Prep Line - Howell Bagabaldo & Michael Cabal

The Sweet Green Asparagus

The 1st Cook - Peter Navarro

The Surf & Turf Main Course

The Baker - Celestino Buladaco Jr.

The Kitchens version of  "Main Engine Ignition"

The Dessert

The ACS Iron Chefs: Ronwald Christian David, Howell Bagabaldo, Peter Navarro,

and Celestino Buladaco Jr.

The Catering Team - Bunny Oeseo, Ove Rosenberg, Ediezen Ortiz and Marcelo Montero

 

The ACS Catering Team delivers a positively Rememberable dining experience... Do you agree?  Lets us know by sharing a comment below...Thank You!