Monthly Archives: May 2010

Wednesday night – cinco del mayo

It’s been quite a week.. yesterday I was in vegas,,, which was very interesting and productive. Staying on the outskirts of town gave me a whole new perspective on the  place. It’s actually quite beutiful when you are looking out..

Last night I traveled to Dallas .. plane was late so I didn’t get to bed until nearly 2.. then up around 6 to do 2 talks for IBM audiences on The Colony. I was trying to apply lessons form the Colony experience to both groups of IBM-ers.. both were facing challenges at work..   One of my  main messages to them was .. don’t worry so much about mistakes.. I appeared naked on 6 million TVs and it didn’t mess up my career or life too much.. .. 🙂

It was so good seeing my coworkers for both of these talks.. our lack of travel is really taking much of the fun out of work.. human contact is so ery important.. at least to me…

Here’s one of the younger workers.. 11 year old Nathan…

..and the organizers of the second event..

Latte this afternoon I got another plane to New Orleans.. ancestral home of much of my dad’s family.. here’s the mighty Mississippi…looking kinda lazy

And some of the marshland that s currently under threat from the oil spill..

New Orleans is a wonderful city. it has real character// more than most cities.. you know you’re hear the moment you step off the plane..    Hot sauce everywhere !

I had a nice dinner with friend Jarrod.. then tracked down some other friends at a wild CInco del Mayo party down down..

What a cool city !  

OK.. it’s late and I gotta sleep.. more tomorrow.. night folks, night sam
-me

Tuesday eveing – leaving las vegas

Ah.. just got to the gate and they’re boarding my plane. I’m  doing my best Cheryl Crowe  immatation and leaving las vegas.. bound for Dallas.. It’s been an good, interesting and thought provoking trip, .. Guess.. no time to discuss.. now.. We’re boarding.. I guess I need to go  more tomorrow…

nite folks.. nite same
-me

“Leaving Las Vegas”

Life springs eternal

On a gaudy neon street

Not that I care at all

I spent the best part of my losing streak

In an Army Jeep

For what I can’t recall

Oh I’m banging on my TV set

And I check the odds

And I place my bet

I pour a drink

And I pull the blind

And I wonder what I’ll find

Chorus

I’m Leaving Las Vegas

Lights so bright

Palm sweat, blackjack

On a Saturday night

Leaving Las Vegas

Leaving for good, for good

I’m leaving for good

I’m leaving for good

Used to be I could drive up to

Barstow for the night

Find some crossroad trucker

To demonstrate his might

But these days it seems

Nowhere is far enough away

So I’m leaving Las Vegas today

Chorus

I’m standing in the middle of the desert

Waiting for my ship to come in

But now no joker, no jack, no king

Can take this loser hand

And make it win

Chorus

I quit my job as a dancer

At the Lido Des Girls

Dealing blackjack until one or two

Such a muddy line between

The things you want

And the things you have to do

Chorus

I’m leaving Las Vegas

And I won’t be back

No I won’t be back

Not this time

Monday night – barefoot

Greetings from the nice side of Las Vegas. I’m in the northeast of the city.. and have to say.. it’s actually pretty nice up here.. I’m about 10 miles form the ‘strip’ which suits me fine !

So.. I’m really liking this book ‘born to run’ that Diane recommended . one of the author’s  ideas is that many of the aches and pains we associate with running are actually a result of wearing shoes. He advocates running eoither barefoot or in very thin shoes.. nothing like the sophisticated creations we currently  wear.. I’ve always loved being barefoot.. so today I went out for a 2.5 mile run barefoot . I was runnign on a trail that skirts around a very beautiful golf course right in front of the hotel.. The3 trail is perfectly smooth asphalt with very fires rocks cracks or trash.. a perfect place to try this out. I have to say I loved it.. it felt so good and light running at a good speed and feeling the path .It was like running naked… but without the risk of getting thrown in jail ! . I’m going to try again tomorrow..

One thing that was cool as I ran just after 7 this morning is that the golf course was covered with rabbits.. these pictures don’t really show the density of bunnys .. there were hundereds of them.. I had to run through small groups of them at several points..

Well, it’s a hare (ugh)  before 11 Time for sleep.. Night everyone

Nite Sam

-me

Sunday night – Born to Run

Greetings from Las Vegas.. I’m out here for a work conference and customer meetings.. it was a long, peaceful flight out here.. 6 hours and I didn’t say a word to anyone.. it’s fun being an instant introvert.   I love the non-time on the plane.. I don’t think of anythin.. and mostly attend to mechanical things like clearing my in box. Today I did somethign I reavely get to do. I completly emptied my in box.. It was a wonderful feeling.. (though I had 88 emails waiting for me by the time I landed 🙁  ).


I got to LV and out of the airport by about 1.. and had a meeting in north west vegas at 2.. that left me plenty of time 🙂 to go visit my buddies Jeff and Michelle..  Jeff and I are work freinds.. as well as burning man friends..   hey are truly amazing people. Jeff’s son was there.. as was his friend Jay.

Now.. it turns out that Jay was wearing the same ultra light weight running shoes that I’ve been running into for the last several days.. the women in front of me in the airport screening line had them too. The reason this is so crazy is that Diane has been trying to get me to read  a book called ‘Born to Run’ by Chris McDougall.. its about runners of all types… I haven’t gotten to this part yet.. but there ‘s a big section that advocates barefoot or near barefoot running using thin soled, ultra light weight shows like Jays.  It was the fith cooincidental sighting of this kind of runnign I’v eseen this week. Itook it as a sign.   I downloaded the book just before taking off in Burlington.. and just started  reading it  before landing in LV>. It’s really, really good.. I think you don’t have to be interested in running to enjoy this book.

It’s so cool how things pop up everywhere in your life

Now I’m back in my hotel room..   here’s the view from there…

I’m really really sleepy… only 3 -4 hours of sleep last night.. . so that’s it for this evening.. more tomorrow..

GNite everyone.. nite Sam
-me