Category: Travels

New York state of mind.

Central Park.

We had another full day today at the THINK Forum.   Today’s speakers included the President of the Philippines, President of Costa Rica, CEOs or Chief Scientists from Dupont, Royal Dutch Shell, Dow Chemical, Bharti, ICICI Bank, Mars (chocolate company, not the planet), the head of the World Trade Organization, Charlie Rose the TV guy, Tom Friedman the Foreign Affairs columnist for the New York Times… to name a few.

After the last session I decided to walk, and I took a detour through Central Park.   By the time I got close to my hotel they had several blocks completely closed to car and pedestrian traffic.  They had 2 large garbage trucks pulled across each of the the intersections to prevent someone from driving a car through the barricades.   Apparently, Obama was leaving his hotel, which is right across the street from my hotel.   I couldn’t get anywhere near my hotel for another 30 minutes or so.  I also learned from our doorman that the President of Iran – Ahmadinejad – is in the hotel cate-corner to mine.   Tough neighborhood.

Anyway, I eventually got back to my hotel in time to shower, shampoo and shine and get ready to head to the Rose Hall, the Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center for a special, one time performance in honor of the IBM Centennial.  Kind of funny to see all my fellow IBMers dressed in black tie and formal gowns.  The performance was commissioned by IBM especially to celebrate this occasion.   It was AWESOME.   Morgan Freeman was the emcee, and performers included the Julliard Orchestra, singer Jessye Norman, modern dance performers, violinist Joshua Bell, Steve Martin, and Patty LaBelle.  Here’s a shot of the troupe on stage after the finale.

IBM Centennial Performance.

The current and last 2 CEOs (and i’m pretty sure the next one) were in the audience, as were the grandkids of TJ Watson.   Afterwards, we had dinner at the Opera House.   I’m back in the hotel now, and am very tired, but inspired, and a little spoiled. 🙂

THINK.

Lincoln Center.

I’m in Manhattan for the rest of the week, attending a forum on leadership with colleagues and clients – the THINK Forum.  It’s held at the Lincoln Center, which I’ve never visited all the other times I’ve been in NYC.   I love this vantage point of Lincoln Center, the iconic view that is typically the one shown in most movies.  The sun was going down so the light wasn’t great.   I opted to walk back to the hotel from the Center after the event.  Passed by Central Park and down Broadway.   The UN is in session this week so traffic is terrible.  I think the President is staying at the hotel across the street, given the barricades and block-long string of black SUVs and police cars, and people standing around with little things in their ears.  I guess I’ll just mosey along….

The forum is pretty incredible — focused on talking about the kind of extraordinary leadership and leaders that will be required for the future given the short-term and long-term challenges that business, governments and communities face.   IBM has brought in leaders from industry, heads of state, and various and sundry other intellectual giants to come speak.   This is a shot of His Majesty, King Abdullah of Jordan addressing our group.   The president of Mexico also spoke, CEOs of Boeing, JP Morgan Chase, Sony, international think tank researchers, etc.  Guess it’s time to raise my game.

This was day 1 of 2.  Looking forward to tomorrow.

No place like home…

Giant Gibsons.

We had a leisurely morning getting ready to check out.  Breakfast at Jacks.  Then we stopped at the store — the home base for the family.  Got in one last visit and said goodbye to Uncle Raymond, Judy, Gary, David, Marla, Lauren, Laken, Bryan and Dorothy.

We had no problems on our flights.   We were able to package the power tools that Monte bought and send as checked baggage.

We had a wonderful time at the reunion, but no matter where you’ve been or how great it’s been, there’s always that special feeling when you’re back home.   This is a picture of the giant Gibson guitars that decorated downtown Austin for a long time.  Several are now on display at the airport.

We came home to the uninterrupted drought.  I hope we can catch up on watering enough to keep things alive.  I took a long walk around the neighborhood before dark, and monte is still out in the shop, playing with his new toy, I imagine.

I can’t wait for the next big reunion – Lanny & Mica will be hosting in 2013!

Apr 3, 2011

Walla Walla.

The rain has let up again today.  But it is very overcast and cooold.

This is the ferry from Bremerton headed to Seattle.  I’ve ridden that boat more times than I can remember.

 

 

Mar 25, 2011

Clouds.

I’m enroute to Seattle.   I’m going to work from there for a couple weeks, while getting a chance to visit with my mom.  My window on the plane was dirty, and the sun was setting, so this isn’t a very remarkable shot but it was pretty to see from the plane.

As I was looking out at the clouds, Joni Mitchell’s song “Both Sides Now” popped into my head:

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I’ve looked at clouds * that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now

From up and down, and still somehow
It’s cloud illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all….

If you, too, would like to have this stuck song in your head, just take a listen here.

Alaska Airlines has in-flight entertainment in the form of a small, portable DVR pre-recorded with a bunch of movies that you can watch at your seat.   I watched Black Swan (very weird) and then watched part of a movie called Hereafter.   I didn’t get to finish it, but I’m mentioning it because the opening scene is of a tsunami hitting a small resort town from the perspective of one of the main characters.  She gets swept up into the raging waters.   WOW.   Very powerful scene to watch given the very recent Japan tsunami.   Anyway, i’ll have to make sure to catch the rest of that one on my way home.  It looked good.

Mar 8, 2011

Happy 1st blogoversary!

Today is the 1 year anniversary of my starting this blog.   To mark the occasion, I made a collage using all 365 of the moments that I’ve posted here.

I can recall taking each one.   🙂

I started this in early March last year, in time to capture the signs of Spring, and into the Summer as things began to warm up and as we spend so much time on the lake… then through the changes in Fall and Winter when we spend more of our time on projects and playing with friends on land.  I’ve come full circle, and am looking forward all the moments from the coming year.

Happy Mardi Gras!   and  HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lori and to Mary!

Mar 7, 2011

Day #365!!!

Today’s post makes the 365th moment that I have shared with you.  This is a shot of one of the geraniums I planted yesterday that I took today during a break between conference calls.

I’m very pleased that I have stuck with this post-a-photo-per-day-for-a-year project.  There were some days that I found it difficult to see something worth sharing.   But I have to say that most days I looked forward to toting my camera around with me, and was usually pleased to find a moment that was either a photo that I liked or at least made for a nice story to share.

Wow, a year.   365 moments.   It goes by fast.

I look forward to keeping my blog going.  I don’t know that I will be posting something every day, but I am definitely looking forward to posting more moments worth sharing.

A colleague of mine passed away over the weekend after a fight with cancer.  He was only 51.

I can only hope that you all have many more years left on this earth to share with your friends and family.   But since we never know when our time will be up, we have to take the time to enjoy and be thankful for each and every day that we get to spend with them.   I have done that for a year.   And I hope to from here on out…

Dec 14, 2010

Quick trip.

I’m headed up to Seattle for a few days.  I thought I’d get in a quick visit before Christmas.

I’m lovin’ the AUS-SEA non-stop on Alaska Airlines!

Nov 19, 2010

Chachkies

Since today is Macro Friday I was looking for a good closeup shot to take.

When I travel to a new country,  I like to pick up a little trinket for myself to remind me of the visit.  This is a small porcelain jewelry box from Scotland with a hand-carved celtic pewter medallion.

Sep 30, 2010

The long way home

We spent the morning in Port Aransas and headed back home around noon.  We weren’t in much of a hurry so we stopped at just about any place that caught our eye.  We hit several antique stores along the way.   Stopped in Goliad to see several historical sites from the fight for Texas’ independance.  I don’t know how many times we’ve driven by these places and never stopped in – a fort and a mission from the 1800’s.   We also stopped in Gonzales and Cuero.  It was a great day to take a lot of side trips, with temps in the low 80s and a clear, beautiful day.

This is a shot from the restored Mission Espiritu Santo historic site outside of Goliad.

Sep 28, 2010

Shrimpers

Today is our anniversary.   We had a fabulous day.  This is a shot of the shrimp boats right outside the restaurant where we had dinner.   I’m eating my fair share of shrimp while I’m down here.

Sep 27, 2010

Vacation!!!

We’re taking a week of work, FINALLY!  We packed up the car this morning and headed for the coast.  First stop Rockport.  Nice breezes, nice views, fishing and crabbing.

This is a shot of one of the palms outside the hotel.

Sep 23, 2010

Tulips

I did not bring the camera with me this morning, and I’m kicking myself, because the scenery in the Westchester area is so pretty.   I’ll settle for a photo of a picture hanging in my hotel room.   I may have mentioned before that I love tulips, so I especially liked this print.  The artist is Debra Jackson, and I googled her and found her website, with a bunch of other nice prints.

Sep 9, 2010

Around the world

Woo wee.  I’ve had meetings today with people on 5 different continents – and I haven’t left my chair!