Not much to report today… I spent the day in meetings with people I really like.. It’s times like this make me really glad I work for a company like IBM. There are so many different types of people, so many countries, so any interests, so many stories. Yesterday I was in a room with 90 folks from my company and I was the only American. It made me realize what it must feel like working for a predominantly US company and being from another country.. Actually.. I just heard that there are now more folks working for IBM outside of the US than in.. The world is flat.. and so is the beer here. Here are a couple of scenes from my day at work.. not too exciting.. but that’s why they call it work.

We worked until about 6 then walked over to Darling Harbor for dinner… (doesn’t that just sound cute.) I have to confess that I was not in much of a mood to socialize. I find that I often get sad around sunset.. my inclination was to go off an be by myself but I let myself be swept along with the group.. and I’m glad I did. Dinner was really nice.. Again I was surrounded by friends who have been with me at least in spirit since Sam died.. That’s been four months tomorrow.. Simply unbelievable.
I think I mentioned before that I’ve been reading a book Diane gave me called ‘True Love’ by Thich Nhat Hanh.. One of the things it’s teaching me is how to use meditation to channel some of the sadness that comes up over me .. and even some of the anger .. into love for Sam. Myself and my family.. it’s a weird kind of emotional judo.. but it’s getting me through this trip.

After dinner my friend Glenn and I took a long walk through the city back to the ferry he has to catch for home It was really great talking to him again.. we talked about our families, about Sam.. about work.. just a little.. and then more about our families.. I spent a lot of time talking about how my family I doing and how were managing to move forward.. and about the things that are so very hard for us.. There’s not much anyone can say that helps.. but it sure helps when people will listen.. and Glenn is a good listener..

Our walk took us through some parts of Sydney I hadn’t seen yet.. it is such a cool and livable city. Well.. it’s livable to look at but it was really wicked hot tonight.. as hot as a mid summer night in Burlington.. I cease to function over 70 degrees.. so I was like a wet rag by the time I got home . Here are a few more pictures I got of this wonderful city

And . here’s a map to let you know where things are around here

Ooops. It’s about 1AM and I need to get on a work call. I’m sending out love to my family, frinds and to Sam.. Gnite all

I’m at my friends Glenn and Lisles in Syydney.. nice day here.. I’m using their computer to add pictures from my earlier post.. more on today later tonight.
-jc

I’m writing write now from somewhere over the pacific ocean… no actually.. I think we’re already over Australia ! . I was sorry to leave Shanghai.. It’s such a cool and lively place. It’s hard getting on a plane that isn’t heading home.

   As I said last night, It’s a 10 hour flight.. it passed incredibly quickly. I fell asleep through the movie ‘Borat’  twice.. I’ll bet I’m the only person who’s ever broke down at that movie.. There’s a scene where Borat is on his knees crying about something… it just triggered something..   Anyway.. I’m looking forward to being back in Australia… Tonight we’re going to see some sort of amazing fireworks display at the 75^th celebration of the Sydney bay bridge.. I’ll let you all know how it goes..

      Well.. back to yesterday. Our last day in Shangahi was great.    I  did a very fast walkabout through the city with my friends Mandy, Takeo-san, Karl-Hienz, Deb and Philipe. We began at the Old Town which is architecturally beautiful if a little touristy. We all did a bit of  shopping for home. At the center of the Old Town is the beautiful YuYu gardens.. They are part of a 400 year old manor house. It was so cool to walk out of one of the worlds biggest cities into a quiet, green oasis. Occasionally you’d get a view of a modern skyscraper peeking over a quiet waterfall or hear a train going by.. but for the most part, it was a different planet.  Here are some pictures of the Old Town and Yu Yu gardens

   After the park we went back to the crazy cafeteria again. I had fried square things, fried thing with eyes and tails.. a tentacle thing bigger than my head.. nothing had names.. no one spoke English.. it was ordering blind. It was wild.. What’s even funnier is to see the names of some of the dishes we didn’t get.. (I hope)   Enjoy the food

It was just after lunch so we walked across to the French concession. It was the centre of a French colonial presence here for many years. Evidently in the early 20^th century it was called ‘the Paris of the East’. It had nice architecture…full of upscale. Shops and restaurants. It could have been anywhere.. It was not for me.

At that point my friends and I headed back to my hotel. They jumped on a subway and I ran up to the north part of town and got some more fancy multi-color LED’s.. The streets were PACKED on this saturday !

I went back to one of the stalls Hua Pin had helped me negotiate. The same people were there.. but this time, no interpreter ! Then I discovered the ultimate negotiation tool . I complimented their beautiful children.. I got what I was looking for at less that half the price of my first visit. For what it’s worth, the things I bought are less than 25 % of the price  I could buy them in the states.   On the way home I wandered through a market that had mechanical tools, lathes, milling machines, welders… Oh for a bigger shopping bag ! All three of my boys would love this place.  Max and Gabe.. you have got to come here with me sometime.

 I didn’t need to leave the hotel until 5:30 so I took my time getting back to the hotel.. Even so.. I got back there in plenty of time.. or so I thought !.. My cell phone time was still one hour off !!!  We had to jump in a cab for the airport  the moment I got there.

(Not before I put a SamStone in one of the plants in the lobby)

I had the cab drop me off at the Shanghai Maglev Train station. This is one of the worlds only 2 trains that instead of ridding on wheels, it floats on a magnetic field created by super cold superconducting magnets.. It makes the 35Km trip from Pudong to the airport in 7 minutes (!)..compared to the hour it took me to drive it last time.  It has a top speed of 430KM/hr  (over 250MPH)/.. but today we only went 300km/hour.. that’s about 190mph.. and it was silent !

I got to the airport in plenty of time.. I uploaded my pictures to my laptop.. but didn’t have the bandwidth to upload them to MySpace.  As I was looking at my pictures, I noticed another theme… I call it lost in translation.. For your watching pleasure.. here are a few of my favorite near misses on translation.

OK folks.. I think we’re landing soon.  I’m looking forward to meeting up with my friends in Sydney in a couple of hours.. More from there…

I love you all… G’day Diane, Max, Gabe and Sam.

-jc

ps.    This is what I always do right before I check out of a hotel

Folks…
    I just got to the gate in time to board. the flight to Sydney.. S I found someone’s free wirelessJust want to say a quick hi before getting on the plane . I just learned that it’s a 10 hour flight ! So much for it being in the same neighborhood !
   I had a geat day walking around Shanghai wiht a few of my firends. I think I took 150 pictures.. unfortunately.. I don’t have the time or bandwidth to upload them now.
    Ooooops they’re boarding now !  Gotta run.. Let me just relate one quick story I just heard from home. Our buddy Scott just told me that he was bringing in wood to the house.. as he picked up the wood from the pile he found a completely preserved hershey bar.. Sam stacked that wood.. Must have been his 🙂
   OK.. I’ll write more from down under !  I love you all..  I miss you Diane, Gabe and Max.. you too Sam.
-jc

o much for it being in the same neighborhood !. )

Today was my last full day in Shanghai. It’s been a really nice visit. At the same time it’s been incredibly hard to be this far away from family and home….harder than I actually imagined.  It has been a good time to think. At night it’s only Sam and me in this hotel room. It’s also hard knowing that I won’t be home until almost a week from now. I’ll be OK though.. I’m sure of it.

   Shanghai has been a total hoot. This place is unlike anywhere else in the world. There are  between 11 and 15 million folks .. depending on how you count..  all heading in a million directions at once. The city is full of contrasts: in some sections it’s sparkling and new .. in others it’s gritty and falling apart. But no matter where you go, you can feel the dynamism and optimism. Everyone seems to have an upbeat view of the place and of the future.. and it’s no act. You would never know that this shining, flashing vibrant place is part of the grim and totalitarian China we were taught about as kids.   When I see the growth here, the amount of money being generated and spent.. and how hard everyone here works.. I have no doubt that this will be a center .. if not the center… of world commerce and technology within the next 25 years.   (I think I need to learn Chinese.. But then again, that won’t be necessary because everyone here in high tech speaks flawless English. )

 Not only have I loved the city, but I’ve loved the people I’ve met here and the people I’m traveling with. I’ve found the IBM folks here to be  incredibly competent and hard working. On top of that they’ve been so warm and friendly. Every day here someone has asked me about my button with Sam’s picture. When I tell them the story of Sam they all want to know more about him and about how we’re doing.  My buddies from the IBM Academy have also been great to travel with as always. They’ve been so supportive of me over the last four months.  I feel privileged to hang to  with all of them.. Here are some pictures of the friends I’ve been working with over this past week.

  Our big work activity today was to go an visit one of our customers.. A large commercial bank. We drove to their beautiful new building on the outskirts of town. The meeting was  very formal. The company was justifiably proud of the systems they had built. The VP of their computer division gave us an overview of the company. At a dramatic point in his presentation  he pushed a button and a wall of the conference room slid back revealing a a huge room full of people staring at screens and a giant wall sized screen behind them with status of all their systems. .. It looked right out of James Bond. I reached for my camera and was almost wrestled to the ground (just kidding) ‘No pictures allowed!’

 We got back to the IBM building in time for going away party with a beautiful cake that topped off another day of wonderful food.

After work we all took the elevator up to the 88^th floor of the Jin Mao building at 88 floors.. the view was simply breathtaking   We got up there at just the right time to watch the day turn to night.  The view was unforgetable.

We walked back to the hotel, freshened up and a group of us headed back across the river by subway. We spent about 45 minutes walking up the famous Nanjing shopping plaza.. What a riot of people, lights, sounds and smells.

And Sam…..

After that, we had a very nice dinner on the 40^th floor of the  Marriot where I’d eaten 2 years ago with my friend Glenn We spent time talking about IBM and how good it had been to all of us I related all the caring  things the company and my management have  done for us since Sam died.  I will always be grateful for that.  We wondered back to the subway and then to the hotel    I have to get to sleep now. I have a conference call at 2:30 AM.. then tomorrow I leave for Sydney where I’ll see the rest of my good friends. Should be good,

Goodbye Shanghai
I miss all of you at home.. I love you all… Tze tian Sam.

-jc

ps. All my love to My folks, Dianes folks, and my seester and brothers family.. A special  hello to John Samuel Liddicoat age 3 days