It’s been a while since I have posted pictures from my IBM travels. This first picture doesn’t do justice of the gorgeous skies flying into Chicago early on August 24. I was making a connection to Raleigh for an event there and it was about 7:00 am as we circled the city and flew over Wrigley Field. I had to capture this shot using my iPhone. My only regret was that I didn’t have my good camera with me to get a better picture of the approach into O’Hare. Oh well. You can get an idea of what a great start this trip was.

The picture of froggy gives you and idea of what it’s like to have a worldwide role. My boss and much of our team was in Dublin, Ireland. They were holding an important planning session. I woke up at 2:30 am for a 3:00 am start. This little guy greeted me when the call started. It’s like he’s saying, “what are you doing up at this hour?” The meeting was good but it was tough to answer his question.

San Francisco

You’re probably saying, these trips don’t sound too exotic. My next trip was to San Francisco, one of my favorite places to visit in the US. We just acquired a new company and this trip was to welcome the team and put together a plan for success. You know, the thing I learned most from this trip is that you never stop learning. This little company in San Mateo, CA had a lot to each this 100+ year old company. Bringing in new talent and ideas through acquisitions is a great way to breath vitality into this old company.

That shot of O’Hare in the morning is from the Hilton O’Hare very early in the morning. When you fly back from SFO, you arrive at midnight in Chicago. So, your option is drive home in the morning or pay double for the airfare. This is my reward for saving IBM some money.

Ireland

My most recent international trip was to Ireland. We had a customer event where customers from Europe, Australia, and the US gathered to hear about our products. It was great to interact with clients from all over the globe. This was my first trip to the “homeland” and it was not disappointing at all.

My expectation was that it would be rainy and cold the whole week. Turned out, as you can see from the pictures, that the weather was perfect for October in Dublin. I stayed at the Hilton Dublin, which was right on a canal about 900 meters from the Doubletree where we held our customer event. So, I walked back and forth a couple times a day. The first two pictures gives you a glimpse of the path I walked.

Funny story: as you walk along the walk path, packs of bikers would buzz by full speed. You had to watch yourself because if you accidentally stepped into their path, there is no way they could slow down fast enough to avoid you.

Our customer dinner on Wednesday evening was at the Guinness Factory downtown Dublin. The third picture shows you the view we had from high atop the factory, which must be the tallest building in Dublin, where they have a bar called Gravity Bar. Nice view of the city!

The last evening, one of my team members took us to have dinner in parts of the city that were less touristy. The last picture was our final stop of the night at O’Donoghue’s, where they had authentic Irish music. We had to wait a while to get in because it was so jammed packed with people they weren’t letting anyone in. We finally made it in about a half hour before last call at 11:30. Check! I’ve been to the homeland.