For a few years, Edward was leading a team developing a new product for the company Tech Impact where he was working. For years, they worked on a project to develop a new product that could make billions for the company. After years of hard work and research, they finally succeeded and created a prototype. Creating the prototype was a huge success for him and for the members of his team but he still had to convince the company that the product was worth billions and that was not an easy task. The board members were more concerned about political influence inside and outside of the company, they weren’t interested in the products the company made, but still the product was worth a lot of money so that gave him some hope that they will listen to him.
Edward spent a month preparing the presentation of the prototype for the board members of the company. This success could mean a promotion for him, bigger pay, maybe an office of his own or even more challenging projects in the future. The presentation had to be perfect.
The day before the presentation Edward was rehearsing his speech in front of his team. All of the team members told him his speech was perfect, that he doesn’t have to worry about anything and that he’ll knock the board members of their feet. That made him felt a bit better but he rehearsed his speech a few more times to himself until he was sure he was ready for tomorrow. Eight board members would be there listening to him, the sheer thought of that made chills run down the spine. He printed presentation materials for all of the board members and made an extra two copies, one for himself to make notes if they have questions and one as a reserve if someone wanted to take it to another colleague. Putting all of his notes, the prototype, and the presentation materials into his briefcase, he went home.
In the morning, the alarm clock didn’t ring. Edward woke up 15 minutes late. ‘What happened? Why didn’t my alarm go off?’ Looking around hurrying to get dressed. He saw that the alarm clock was off. The whole apartment didn’t have electricity. He got dressed as fast as he could, picked up his briefcase, took his car keys and left. Of all days in the world, it had to be this day that he overslept. The company Tech Impact was just 25 minutes away by car from his home, but he usually took the metro that took a bit longer, because the traffic in the city could sometimes become chaotic. This time he had to go by car so he wouldn’t be late for the presentation. Looking at his watch, he thought ‘If I hurry I can still make it 30 minutes before the presentation and set everything up.’ He drove onto the main street that had four lanes hoping the traffic will move faster with so many lanes. He was wrong. The main street was in chaos, the cars weren't moving as far as the eye could see. Searching for a way off the main street, thinking the backstreets could be a faster option, he started to push his way through the lanes. Finally, he reached a side street and started driving through the backstreets, looking at his watch again, he thought ‘I lost a lot of time. I better hurry if I want to make it in time for the presentation.’
A weird sound started to come from the engine of his car, first a gurgling sound, then a quiet sound of an explosion and his car stopped. Turning the key just caused more gurgling sounds in the engine, so Edward got out of the car, pushed it to the side of the road and ran to the nearest metro station. That was his only option now to get to work. If he catches the fast train, he could still make it in time. Running down the stairs to the platform, he saw that the fast train was arriving in one minute.
He ran to the train platform as if his life depended on it and barely made it into the train as the doors of the train were closing. It was rush hour so the train was full of people. Still catching his breath, from all the running, he took a deep breath he almost fainted. In the crowd of people, he was pressed against a huge sweaty man that looked like he was wearing a sheet instead of a shirt, the man held onto the bar above him with his hand exposing his sweaty armpit right in front of Edwards's face. Edward's face turned pale, he thought he was going to be sick.
The train was two stops away from the stop Edward usually got off the train, so Edward started pushing through the crowd of people towards the doors, away from the huge sweaty man. As soon as he got out of the train, he took a deep breath. The city always smelled awful, like garbage and sewer, to him but now, he could swear on his life, it smelled like a new car or the way your home smells after you've been away. Looking at his watch again, he snapped out of what just happened and hurried out of the metro station.
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On his way out of the metro station, not looking where he was going, Edward tripped over something. His briefcase fell on the floor, opened and one of the presentation materials fell into a puddle of water. As he was getting up, collecting his things, he started to turn around and said impatiently “Hey, pal! Watch where you are goin...” As he turned around, he saw a blind man with a cane. He tripped over a blind man's cane and asked a blind man to watch where he is going. He fell into a hole of shame and immediately said, “I’m sorry sir. It was my fault! I was distracted. I wasn’t watching where I was going. Are you ok?”
“Yes. I’m ok.” The blind man answered. “It was just an accident. Are you ok?”
“Yes. I’m sorry for my words earlier, I’m late for a meeting so I have to go. Once again I’m really sorry.” Edward saw that one of his presentation materials was ruined by the puddle of water, but it didn't matter, he still had enough for all the board members and one for himself. He hurried to the building across the street where the Tech Impact company offices were and looked at his watch ‘Good. I still have 10 minutes.’
On his way to the presentation room, an intern, holding a cup of coffee, bumped into him. She spilled coffee on his shirt and started to apologize. Edward tried to calm her down, he told that it’s ok that it was just an accident. ‘I’ll just button up my jacket so the stain won’t be visible. Men, can this day get any worse.’ He immediately regretted thinking that thought.
All these “accidents” this morning costed him too much time. Edward looked at his watch, he had five minutes before the start of the presentation, he better hurry. He buttoned up his jacket and went straight to the presentation room hoping no more of these “accidents” awaited him on his way there. As he entered the presentation room the board members were already there, there were nine of them. The ninth person was an external partner of the company.
“Hello, Mr. Edward Murphy. We are waiting and as you know, our time is scarce. Let us hurry this up a bit. ” One of the board members said.
“Yes, sir.” Edward said as he put his briefcase on the table and opened it. He took out the nine presentation materials and distributed to the board members and the company partner. He took his laptop out of the briefcase and went to plug it into a power socket. The socket sparked and burned frying the power cord of his laptop. His laptop was in sleep mode all night and had only forty percent battery, he hoped that that would be enough for the presentation. He needed a win this morning, even a small one would do. He connected his laptop to the projector, took out the prototype out of the briefcase and started the presentation.
Edward presented the new product that they developed. It was an aerogel that is made by extracting all the liquid from a gel. As a result, the aerogel is biodegradable, so it doesn’t have a negative impact on the environment, and it has pores that are so small, between 20 and 50 nanometers, that gas molecules cannot squeeze through. The result is that it cannot transport heat, making it a material with incredible insulating properties. It can be used as insulation for various things like refrigerators, mobile phones, aircrafts, satellites, space shuttles and many more. He ended his presentation saying, “The limit in using its incredible insulation powers is only human imagination. Human imagination is also the only limit to its worth. Imagine a material like this on every space ship, on every space station, on every refrigerator, car and mobile phone. Imagine billions and billions of devices, appliances, machines and space equipment. Billions of other companies buying your product for insulation.”
He gave the board members the prototype so they can see and feel it up close. As they looked at the prototype and heard him repeat the word billion, in their faces he saw that their brains translated his word billion into the words billions of dollars. The board members asked him a few questions about production costs, production capacity and such. He answered them that large-scale production is possible at low cost, lower than other insulation materials, the board members congratulated him and left happy.
He got a promotion, a bigger pay, a company car, better benefits and his own office with his name, Mr. Edward Murphy, and his new job title, Project supervisor, engraved on a plaque on his door. ‘Looks like my streak of “accidents” is finally over.’ Lost in thought, happy, he sat at his desk on the thirty-sixth floor in his new office looking out of his window. A duck flew straight into the window leaving blood all over the window. ‘Well, I guess not...’ Edward sighed.