I am a mid-western guy who was born and raised in Peoria, IL. Over the years my job has taken me across the country and the world. While Peoria is my Center of the Universe, I genuinely enjoy visiting new and interesting places around the world, documenting my observations, and gaining new appreciation for the world's diversity.
I took a new job in November 2014. My new job is a Worldwide role, which means I now have responsibility for a piece of business globally. On the day I was offered the job, I was asked to fly to Australia – possibly the longest trip I can make from Peoria. Get ready – GO! Then, we decided to go through one of the biggest reorganizations in IBM’s history. That explains why I haven’t updated my web site in a while.
The good news about this new job is that I am now traveling around the globe, quite literally. So, I will have lots of pictures and stories to share. The bad news is that my updates will likely be sporadic. My plan is to post short segments here on this page. Continue reading MY First WW Trips→
Deb and I visited Ryan in Chicago in late October 2014. I took the opportunity to capture the sights with my camera.
I must say, the weather cooperated quite nicely and I was able to capture some stunning shots of the city both at night and during the day. Check out the pics on the Chicago 2014 link. Continue reading Chicago October 2014→
We have an annual Hursley lab event where we take customers to meet our best and brightest in Hursley, UK. This year, Amir Mesri and I took a couple extra days to visit the country side. Thanks, Amir, for the great time! Continue reading Hursley 2014 – Roman Bath→
After a great day in Bath, we headed toward Oxford. On Amir’s advice, we took a more scenic route from Bath to Oxford. That gave us a chance to see the beautiful countryside of rural England.
It didn’t take long before we noticed a picturesque field that we thought would be good for a couple shots. We decided to pull over at what looked like a farm lane. As Amir turned into the farm lane, the road disappeared from under us and Amir says, “Oh Shit!” Next thing we saw was hedges on both sides of a very narrow, steep, one-way farm lane. All I could think of is whether we missed the no trespassing sign at the top of the hill. Fortunately, about half way down the hill, Amir found a path he was able to squeeze the car into so we could get out and take a few shots. Continue reading Hursley 2014 – Road to Oxford→
After finding our way out of the queues at Blenheim Palace grounds, we scurried over to Oxford to check out the sites. We did have to wait a while to escape the grounds because everyone decided to leave around the same time. It reminded me of the concert we went to in Tinley Park. The difference is that the Brits had a plan and executed it. We only waited about 30 minutes before moving along. It was lunch time when we arrived in Oxford, so we had to find a pub for a couple pints and some food at The Cape of Good Hope. My cousin Teesi gives it a thumbs up, so it must be good. I would recommend it to anyone lunching in Oxford.
Walking down the street in Oxford, you see these very old buildings that seem like they’ve been here forever.
We were not allowed into any of the colleges because it was freshman orientation day; school is beginning. But they let us take a couple shots from the doorway.
Who else remembers Boyle’s Law? Only those who took science in college.
Deb and I took a dream vacation to Europe this in late September 2013. After our fabulous experience, we will be returning soon. This post is just one of five posts sharing the stories and images from our trip.
Rome, Italy – Saturday, September 28
Its Saturday 10:00PM Rome time and we finally arrived. We lost a day because we started on Friday mid-day. Even if we account for the 7 hour difference, it shouldn’t take 25+ hours to get to Rome from Peoria. Some of that is my fault because we flew through Heathrow before flying into Rome. The other part is on Alitalia. I was warned that Alitalia was notoriously late. True to form our 4:25 PM departure from London became 6:30 PM. Our driver must have been frustrated by the 2 hour delay too because he drove 100-110 km/h into Rome. Here we are in the back of a Mercedes racing through the busy streets of Rome at a high rate of speed. I thought I was going to die like Diana. But hey, we are here in Rome. Deb has returned to the mother land. Continue reading European Vacation Fall 2013 – Rome→
This is post two of five from our European Vacation in Fall 2013. This page is from our day in Vatican City and the trip to Florence.
Vatican City – Monday, September 30
People, people, people every where. What a genius move it was to sign up in advance for a skip the line tour of the Vatican. As we stepped out of the cab in the front entrance of Vatican City, we noticed what had to be over 10,000 people lined up outside the gates. We asked for directions to our tour starting point and learned we had to be on the other side of the city at the museum entrance. The atmosphere was like a World Series pregame where you had to dodge scalpers hocking their skip the line tickets every 50 yards or so. “No thanks. I’m good. No. I have tickets.” Well, I sure hoped our tickets will get us around all these people. As we maneuvered to the rear entrance, even more people waited in a line completely encircling the tall walls of the city state. We found our tour group in time and happily slid through the awaiting humanity into the Vatican. Thanks italyvacations.com! Continue reading European Vacation Fall 2013 – Vatican City→
The third of five posts from our fall vacation to Europe, this entry captures our wonderful day in Tuscany. We could not have dreamed of a better day to explore the Tuscan country side. On Tuesday, we took in the Tuscan cities of San Gimignano, Chianti, Siena, and Moneriggiani from our base in Florence. Italyvacations.com set us up on a full-day bus tour of the Tuscan countryside and these historic cities. Continue reading European Vacation Fall 2013 – Tuscany→
This is the fourth of five posts from our fall vacation to Europe. This entry captures our last day in Italy, exploring the historic city of Florence.
Wednesday turned out to be a day Dickens would appreciate because it was one of those best of times, worst of times days. OK, that might be a bit dramatic but we certainly went through an unexpected set of emotions.
We started the morning with a walking tour of Florence where we were given an art history lesson of Medieval and Renaissance art. No, that wasn’t what I thought we were getting but, hey, go with it. Right? Our guide, Mario, must be an art history teacher. Within minutes, he was calling out our names and quizzing us on the lessons he had imparted upon us. Kidding aside, his lessons made the sights of Florence more meaningful and a richer experience. We have all heard that the Renaissance was born in Florence but probably couldn’t explain or identify the differences, or understand what precipitated the change. Apparently it was the Black Plague that is believed to have influenced the change in art. Continue reading European Vacation Fall 2013 – Florence→
This is the view from the executive lounge of the Hilton London Tower Bridge. Toto, we’re not in Italy any more.
This is the last of five posts from our trip to Europe in the fall of 2013. I already mentioned how long we stood in London customs. What a contrast to entering Italy. Italy was like, “come on in. Stay a while. Spend your money.” We had already been through London customs on Saturday, so we knew it wasn’t that loose but today was special. The line halted when we reached the mid point. Suddenly, there were only two agents checking people through and one guy was clearly struggling with his answers. Almost an hour later, more agents were active but that guy was still ineffectively trying to gain UK access with the customs agent next to ours. As our agent passed us through, I heard the disheartened agent say in her English understated tone “Trap door, trap door, where is my trap door.” Once we emerged from customs, we found our driver who informed us he was going to give us just another 10 minutes before leaving. Knowing we were tourists, he gave us a mini tour around Hyde Park, by Buckingham Palace, through Trafalgar Square, then up the River Thames by the IBM building, the Tower of London, over Tower Bridge, and finally our fifth hotel of the week, the Hilton Tower Bridge. After checking in, London weather gave us a London welcome. We had been on the go for nearly a week, so we decided to stay in and rest up for our final marathon day. Continue reading European Vacation Fall 2013 – London→
