WMDs?

Umm.... Nope..... None here.

Lost in Translation

Our flight is about 20 minutes from landing in Tokyo. The “fasten seatbelts” sign is illuminated. A woman wearing a paper hospital face mask walks over to the lavatory and has some difficulty opening the door. She looks ill and passes out on the floor. This was a scary moment, but she gets help and is able to go back to her seat. She seems just fine.

A few minutes later after we landed, we see a huge team of medical staff that are waiting at the gate. We overhear a conversation with the flight crew. Apparently, in the message that was sent to Narita airport “passed out” was changed to “passed away”.

silicon valley part II

You know that Museum of Technology that I mentioned in my last post? Tuesday's class finished at 3:30 and the museum closed at 5:00. With transportation time, I had just about an hour to explore the museum.

They had some cool stuff. A lot of it reminded me of OMSI, only larger and more elaborate.

Me on a Segway.

I got to ride a Segway for about 5 minutes. It was crazy neato! When you first get on the Segway, your first reaction is to try to balance yourself on it. The Segway balances itself, so as you're moving your feet forward and backward to balance, it kind of jumps around a little bit. One of the museum employees is there to help you out as you learn.

Once you're on and feel comfortable on it, it's incredibly simple. You go forward and backward by moving your weight on your feet. If you want to move forward, you move your weight to your toes. If you want to go backward, you move your weight to your heals. There is a left and right turn control on the left handle. It's AMAZING! I could actually use one of those to get to and from work every day. Hmm.. Too bad I'm too cheap to shell out 5k (at a minimum) for one of those things.

silicon valley

I just finished my first day in the Silicon Valley. We've been to the bay area many times before, but I've never gone to this southern part of the area. What brings me here, you might be wondering? I'm taking a class on telecom datamarts. This class is doubly cool because I love both telecom stuff and datamarts. Yay!

The parts of San Jose that I've seen seem very suburban. There are many office parks, and shopping centers, but I haven't seen many residential communities. Of course, I've only been here for a day. Their either hidden, or in a different district.

One of the things that I like to do whenever I visit a new city is seek out the things that make it unique. It's becoming increasing difficult with globalization. It seems that no matter what city you go to in the world, you'll always find a McDonalds and The Gap. Who cares about those places when you're traveling?!!? The fun of travel is in experiencing the new. Here are two of the coolest things that I've seen in the 24 hours that I've been here. I have to go home tomorrow night right after class, so this is pretty much it.

eBay Home Office

I just happened to drive by the eBay headquarters and had to stop. eBay brought eCommerce to the masses. I love them. I also drive by Cisco, but didn't take a picture. Granted, eBay wouldn't be much without all that Cisco equipment making it all possible.

The Whinchester House

The Winchester House was really cool and really bizarre at the same time. This is a HUGE house that was built by the very eccentric heir to the Winchester fortune. Think, Winchester rifle. Here are just a few of it's oddities.

• Stairways that go up to nowhere.
• Doors that open to nothing.
• Doors that open to deadly drops.
• Cabinets that are a half inch deep.
• Long zig-zaging maze stairways that may have only needed 3 or 4 steps.
• Expensive stained glass windows with a wall behind them.

The amount of money that went into this bizarre place boggles the mind. Aparently, she was trying to make her house confusing to spirits who had been killed by Winchester rifles, so that they wouldn't get her. If you're ever in San Jose, it's worth seeing.

San Jose also has a Technology Museum, but it closes early and it's open on Mondays. Perhaps next time. :-)

what's wrong with this picture

Something really weird has happened to our kitchen and bathrooms. Can any of you see what's wrong with these pictures?

Kitchen

Bathroom

The Other Bathroom

And Another Bathroom

Give up? We have no countertops! We demolished them two weeks ago and have been patiently waiting for the new ones to be fabricated. They will be installed on Thursday, so stay tuned for pictures.

Want to know something funny about not having counter tops? You don't have to open drawers! It was actually kind of funny the first few days after we had removed them, because habit tells you that you need to open the drawer to get a spoon. Then you think "Why did I just do that?"

It's a good time. Only two more mornings of doing dishes and washing hands in the bath tub.

two weeks and all is well

I'm sorry I haven't kept up with people very well over the last few weeks. I have many friend and family phone calls that are over due and I haven't posted anything in weeks.

As you all know, I started my gig at The Expat Group a few weeks ago. I've heard that job changes can be one of the most stressful things that I person can go through. So far, it's true. My stress level has been significantly elevated. I've been getting head-aches and am really tired when I get home. Fortunately for me and everyone around me, it's good stress. I LOVE my new job.

The last few weeks have been some of the most exciting weeks that I'd had in a very long time, both personally and professionally. Personally, I've reconnected with old friends and met lots of new friends at The Expat Group. I haven't seen some of the old ones in 10+ years. Professionally, I'm surrounded by lots of friendly faces with brilliant minds, and lots possibilities for my team. How great is that?

Here are some of the things that I love about my new job at The Expat Group, in no particular order.

• The quick ride to and from the office on Tri-met (10 minutes)
  
• The Tri-met pass that The Expat Group pays for (Way cool!)
  
• The Expat Group cafe, which is 33% off for "healthy" selections
  
• All the friendly, some times familiar, welcoming people
  
• A great view from our top floor window
  
• A great team with a diverse set of skill sets and backgrounds
  
• A management team that one normally only dreams about
  
• Amazing opportunities for my team to raise the bar in our customers satisfaction. I mean that seriously. These aren't the BS "opportunities" that are just things nobody else wants to do. It's the real deal.
  
• All the people that have worked for The Expat Group for many, many years and stay there because they're really happy.
  
• A company-wide work week that is a few hours under 40, though I haven't experienced that perk just yet.
  
• Will works 8 blocks away. Can you say "lunch"?
  
• The Expat Group is not publicly traded, making it unaffected by the whims of stock holders.
  
• The Expat Group publicly recognizes the tyranny of our industry and is working hard to change it. Wow, amazing!
  
• Most of the people that I've worked with so far are in my building and I can talk to them face-to-face.
  
• Lotus Sametime

Here are some of the things that I miss about InsuriCare, in no particular order.

• My friends from InsuriCare, especially Leo (he left too), Peter,
  Rhonda, and Edd!
  
• Free swill aka coffee. The Expat Cafe charges a buck, no big deal.
  
• Hot water for tea. The Expat Group hot water isn't quite hot enough.
  
• A lunch room that is on our floor. I have to take the elevator 4
  floors down at Expat.
  
• Driving my Prius to work. The Prius is lonely!
  
• The very lucrative Employee Stock Purchase Program.
  
• MS-Outlook
  
• Cisco VoIP

family visit

Last week I flew out to visit my sister and Lyndsey. This was a very special trip because my dad and step-mother were also in town. Yay!

I haven't seen dad and Pat in a while, so it was great to hang with them and see them as grandparent for the first time. We also had a great breakfast at their hotel with some fantastic time pool-side.

Lyndsey is definately bigger than she was when I saw her last month. At two-months of age, she's getting to be more fun to play with. She's connecting with her environment in a way that she wasn't before. Here are a few of the fun activities..

• Lyndsey grabbed a hold of my little fingers so that I could help her learn a little go-go dance. She's a great go-go dancer!


• Lyndsey is a great walking mate. Of course, she can't walk. However, she can tag along thanks to her Baby Bjorn knock-off.


• Lyndsey and I watched monchhichi videos on the internet.


• Lyndsey now knows "eye-winker, tom-tinker", but she's still too young to fully appreciate it.


• Lyndsey met herself in the bathroom mirror while I brushed my teeth.

I brought my camera, but had left it on and ran down the battery. Ugh. I had no charger either, so we used Erin and Dad's cameras for photos. Here are just a few..

Is she not the cutest baby ever? Del and Erin really know how to whip up a rockin' little girl. I'm looking forward to seeing those folks again soon. Perhaps in October?

ikea closets

Ikea has created one of the coolest ad-sites I have ever seen. It's an incredible interactive multi-media experience about closets. I know it sounds weird, but check it out.

Are we watching a commercial?
Is this a build your own adventure game?
Are we playing "The Sims"?

All the above!

Ikea really outdid themselves. To think that I once thought their old kitchen ad-site was cool. Sheesh!

Does anyone know what's wrong with the pants and t-shirts in closet number 5? The guy seems pretty disguested by them. Perhaps someone who knows Swedish can help us out.