Globex Corporation Newsletter

As I walk up the hallway after getting off of the elevator every day at work, I see a photo. I see a number of photos, actually, and maybe because there were so many there, this one particular photo didn't strike me until after I'd walked past it for a couple of weeks. In a way, it's sort of like seeing a photo of an old girlfriend, happy and smiling with her new man. It's over between the two of you, you've moved on, but it's still weird when you stumble across the photo.

The photo I see daily when I get off of the elevator is of a facility that The Empire calls the "Midwest Uplink Facility" or MWUF, a collection and uplink facility for the Midwest region of the United States, rebroadcasting local TV stations into the homes of people who subscribe to The Empire's satellite service. In a previous life, though, it was the home of a seperate company known as USSB, and was a facility that I worked at from early 1997 until the middle of 1999 when The Empire's purchase purchase of USSB was final. That started my first stint with The Empire. Being hired by USSB started my career in the world of multi-channel television.

Multi-channel had a different meaning then, at our height, USSB uplinked 28 channels on 5 transponders. Today, there are multiple orbital slots and over 1600 channels are handled by the service. In 1997, that number was simply inconceivable. Today it's become commonplace.

I look at the photo and think. I see the radome for the uplink dishes, the parking lot that was the site of many a a late night basketball game. The three point line (yes, we had one) is gone now, former employees have moved on to other pursuits. Some are undoubtedly out of the business, most are out of this end of the business. Only a six of us moved on to California with the sale. And with that, "Blind Orange" Julius has divulged his secret identity, I am, in reality, Foster Fitz from Newtown, ND.

OK, I'm not really, but it does narrow it down some...

BOJ