Rick Zahniser - UBSC

Jonesy,

We corresponded a little bit in the past, and for some reason, I never looked at the reunion pix on your GREAT website!!

I'm writing a thriller about Belize. The book is tentatively called Right Now, Gringo and I'll let you know when it's out. I'll send you a copy if I get a bunch.

It's Feb 2000. The hero, Tommy Conklin is a SW project manager finishing up a Y2K project for Consolidated Banks of Colorado (CBC) and his project is winding down. He gets a call from his sister-in-law (former girlfriend) that his brother is laying in a coma in a hospital in Belize. So he says goodbye to his team, (some of whom you might recognize) and goes down to Belize.

Right after he gets there, the bad guys kidnap his brother (still in a coma) from the hospital and take him back up to Corozal (my home town in Belize) and hide him in the Jungle. Tommy, defending himself against one of the kidnappers, hurts the guy and gets thrown in jail.

The old team from the Bank rally together and come down to rescue him! And, more -- they start a bank in Belize in their spare time!!

So, anyway, I started doing a little research on UBC and instantly ran into your website. What a great resource!!

The book has not been published yet -- I'm still looking for an agent!! But, you can read the first few chapters on my website, and you could put a link to that on your website.

    http://www.belizenorth.com/a_belizean_thriller.htm

I can also send you a description of "Jonathan Constantine" -- A chapter that's a loose compendium of facts and traits of one of my old IBM Salesmen and UBSC's founder.

I can send a draft of the whole book, either by CD or email, if anyone has the time to read it. It is full of characters that old UBSC'ers will recognize. "Fahrly Farquar" -- the garbage programmer -- is patterned on Stan Michaels. (Actually, I am in the process of rewriting the book, and will probably stall any one who wants to read it right now.)

It was great fun to write, and your website was a help when I was trying to recall what it was like working at UBSC. Surely, that was an adventure for me, as it was for you, and it's fun to share with others.

Anyway, thanks for the labor of love you put in on the site. It makes my job a little easier.

Rick Z.