I’m just packing up to leave the hotel and wanted to get a quick post in before I do. I don’t know how the next 24 hours is going to work.. I take off from here On Friday at 2:30PM and get home at Friday at 10:20 PM .. but I have to go through yesterday to do it.. Or tomorrow.. or something like that.  

It looks like a good day for 20 hours  of flying. .I don’t feel up to doing much else. . I have some sort of stomach/body flu I went to bed with a stomach bug (let’s just leave it at that).. and woke up happily no longer throwing up.. but with a pretty high fever.. I had a conference call at 6:30 this morning.. I’m sure I sounded *great* :-%    With enough water and aspirin in me I should be able to get through the trip OK.

   Gosh.. what to say at the end of such a long and eventful trip ? The cool thing about doing this blog is that I’ve already recorded most of the things I’ve done.. I guess that’s good and bad.. I won’t have much new stuff to tell someone if they’ve been reading along.

At a personal level, this trip has been both long and lonely.. and at the same time it’s been very peaceful and rewarding. I’ve missed my family something fierce.. Thanks to the wonders of email and VOIP phone calls I’ve been able to talk to my family nearly every day.. so that’s helped a bunch. I’ve had more quiet and  thinking   time than I have since Sam died.. and I’m happy  of the way I’ve used the time.. I’m  happy and thankful that I’m  feeling ‘peaceful’ at this point in my life.

   The work part of the trip has been fun. I enjoy being an ambassador of sorts for IBM.   It has been a little tough taking all the late (eg. 2AM) and early (eg. 6AM) calls that it has taken to keep up with my day job at home.I’ve also loved traveling with my friends from the IBM Academy.. When you travel all over with the same folks for as long as we’ve been doing it’s really like family.. we all are getting to know each other’s families, each other’s quirks.. and each others family’s quirks J /  E..g Glenn , Liesel and Leisel’s family have almost adopted me during my stay here.. It’s been so wonderful.  I had dinner over at Liesel’s mom Mary’s house last night and met Mary’s twin sister, and three of her kids and a spouse or two.. It was great ! ..

 

I’ve loved getting to know more about Australia and China..  I’ve been both places before.. but haven’t experienced them as deeply as this trip. In some ways recording the blog makes me want to get out and experience more stuff. I also feel like I’m doing this travel not just for myself but for Sam too.. does that make sense ?

   Australia has been a wonderful place to visit.. sunny, warm and beautiful.. And that’s just the people !.. Actually the people here are so positive and optimistic it might make you queasy if they all weren’t so darn likableI found a quote by Rudyard Kipling on the sidewalk of all places that sums the place up pretty nicely….

 

.. Bill Bryson’s wonderful book ‘In a Sunberned Country’ told me that Australia has more slot machines per cpaita than any other country.. and more types of poisonous snakes.. What’s not to like ? 

I can sum up my feelings as:

     I did feel well enough to walk down to the Opera house one more time this morning and toss my last SamStone into Sydney harbor.. I really find this SamStone thing to be a good way of honoring Sam while I travel..

Well.. It’s getting on time to leave.. I have a whole bunch of stuff to cram into two little bags.  I can’t wait to see my Family.. Sam.. you’re coming with me.

-jc

ps… I just got a picture of my sister and brother-in-law’s new baby John “Jake” Samuel Liddicoat..   Here he his at one minute old !