Freinds..
DIane and I have just coem back from the big dinner party that ends the IBM Corporate Technical Recognition Event.. It’s been a wonderful and relaxing day.. lots of things happened.. but I’m way too sleepy to capture them now.. I’ll do the best I can until I konk out..
The day started at 6:30 with a breakfast of all the IBM fellows. It’s a funny group. I’ve never met a more intelligent, diverse or pleasantly quirky group of people.. Today was a particularly poient meeting since our group guru, Nick had announced that he’ll be retiring in October. All of us.. and I believe there are 70 of us now.. look to Nick as the g-dfather of technical people in IBM. hes’ helped all of us so much in our work and careers. it’s hard to imagine IBM without him.. It was tough to say goodbye.
Areound 8 I met up with Diane and we went in to the main ballroom for the beginning od the meeting. Before the show started, I went up and met ‘Mole’ .. the husband of my good friend Marylou. I’ve heard so much about Mole.. he’s an ex rock and role sound guy.. now doing freelance work for shows like CTRE. He’s a really nice and funny guy. Here he is on the right with his freind.. who’s name I’m spacing on.
He placed a samstone up on the mixer board ..
When the main session started, they played some video clips of coupls together.. the IBM award person was thanking his/her spouse for their support. We were one of the first ones.. There I was up on the screen telling folks how much I love Diane.. pretty cool !
They had some great speakers today.. including Dr. Hawass. the director of Antiquities at the Cairo museum.. He gave us a whirlwind tour of the state of tomb exploration. mummy identification preservation, etc. It was fascinating.
We then heard form Angelique Kidjo.. a wonderful world music singer from benin.. and a crusader for kids and girls in emerging africa. She was incredibly inspiring..
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We then listened to a number of additional IBm awards.. including the class of 70 new IBM Distinguished engineers.
After the session, we ate a quick lunch then met back at the busses for our river trip. We drove about 45 minutes to the Salt River.
It was a nice bus with a bathroom… which had a very descriptive sign inside….
We got a boat with Brynn and Carl..
Here’s Gerog and his wife Heidi.. Georg co-won the 1987 Nobel Prize in Physics for high temperature superconducting material.. He’s a very nice and modest guy.. you’d never know he’d won the award unless you asked him.
Here’s our river guide Tim
We came upon a small group of with houses on the Native American reservation side…
Paul and Heidi were in the bow ..
It was a beautiful 7 mile float. great scenery.. lots of cool facts.. I tossed a SamStone into the water near a cluster of islands.
We passed a bald eagles nest.. See the Eagle ? He’s in the mid right of this picture.
Here’s an old abandoned eagle’s nest.
After the boat ride.. we came back to the hotel. I had a few work meetings.. then we went up to Lisle and Glenn’s to meet their baby Sam short for .. Samantha.. She’s named in part after our Sam. It was wonderful holding her.
At that point I realized I had 20 minutes to get back to my room. showered and dress before I needed to be back for a reception.. I managed to make it !.
I went down to the lobby and saw my friend Kerry with his beautiful wife and Ginny R.
After soing a bit more movie clips for the fellow interviews.. I went back out into the reception and grabbed Diane.. then we made our way over to dinner. Diane and I were hosting a table… here wre our table mates.
Dinner was fun.. I managed to find a guy wearing the exact Garcia tie that I was !
The big name performer of the evening was Leann Rhymes. I’d bever heard her music.. but I really liked it. We hug out for a good while.. then decided we had to sleep.. And we do ! I
It’s been a wonder 3 days out here with Diane.. I miss the kids and doge.. I’m glad were’ going back tomorrow !
OK.. that all for now.. .. gnite all.. gnite Sam !
-me
