first of all.. we heard from gabe.. and he’s having a blast in Buenas Aires.. he told me he’s learning the tango ! It’s so cool he’s down there.. Here he is with the other two kids in his class..

Further north, it was another great day in mexico city.. two university visits and one work lunch.. then dinner with javier and diane.. a very full day.. about 3 hours of it spent driving across this very huge and wonderful city.. The driving time gave me an opportunity to learn more about my hosts javier and selene which was really great…
I really love this town, this country and the people.. The three universities I’ve visited have all impressed me too !.. Today we started with Monterrey Tech.. My talk wasn’t the smoothest.. but the audience had fun.. many of them were first year engineering students on only their second day of class.. It was so much fun hanging out and taking pictures with the students after my talk. I was so impressed with the students and the profs…
My hosts then treated me to a tour of some of the very cool labs that the students get to use.. they had advances fabrication labs like the one I’m trying to help get started at U of Vermont.. so it was well worthwhile seeing.. We also got a great demo of a scanning electron microscope/xray spectrography setup.. they showed me a microscopic MEMS (micromechanical) rack and pinion that blew my mind..

this afternoon I went to ITAM.. another great university.. it was packed.. many of the folks in the audience were business majors .. why they would want to hear a geek speak I have no idea. This talk went pretty well too.. Again.. it was so awesome hanging out with the students.. we were there about 30 minutes talking , laughing and taking a ton of pictures . Again the students were so great.. they asked wodnerful questions .. and i was very,very impressed.. !

I took so many pictures of us taking pictures that I decided it was better to squish them all in a single slide show.. hope that’s ok.. Here’s my day in a slide show.

Javier and I got back to the hotel around 7PM.. grabbed diane and headed back to the zona rosa for dinner.. the three of us had a great light meal at a mexican style sushi place.. (smoked salmon and cream cheese sushi wrapped in spinach and covered with chipotle sauce)

tomorrow I’m taking vacation and we’re going to go explore the city a bit.. more on that then

for now

buenas noches todos, buenas noches sam
-me

I have learned the secrete of FUA .. it’s the most popular word here in Mexico City..it’s kind of the Mexican equivalent of “double rainbow”.. it means.. … … well.. it means.. I don’t know what it means.. but I do know when to say it.. . it kind of means ‘go for it’.. or ‘guts’.. or ‘cahones’.. or ‘gombate’.. or soemthing like that. I do know that after they broadcast this drunk guy sayign the word.. #FUA became the top trending topic on all of mexico..

So america.. ti’s time to FUA !!!!

Another good day down here.. We left early for IBM..

I gave a tlak to a group of folks here at one of the Mexico city offices.. a nice group of folks.. .. Very differnt from the large crowd at Gudalarara.. but  that’s ‘s what makes our company so interesting.. no two places are the same..What was fun for me today is that all the talks (except mine) were in spanish.. and I was actually able to understand most of what was being said .   I’m still al long way away from being able to speak intelligently, though.. Hope that comes back by the end of the trip.

 

 

around noon Fransisco and I took fof for UNAM Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México .. one of the largest public universities in the world..

the mexico city traffic was nasty.. but it gave me time to talk to Fransisco (great guy, great host, great tour guide ) .. and see the city.

 

I wasn’t feeling all that hot.. Fransisco pointed out that we’re over 2200 meters above sea level.. . and I was feeling it.. dull headache, etc.. Diane felt it too..

 

Fransisco took me to a nice cafe on capus .. El Azul y Oro.. which had soem great regional stuff. We got stuff to share.. I got Squash flower soup..Fransisco got cilantro soup..

Then I ordered Huitlacoche enchiladas Huitlacoche is a fungas that grows on corn .. really wierd and really yummy !

 

Fransisco got encaladas made frm Jamica flowers.. also wierd and good… in fact.. the whoe day was weird and good..

From lunch we went over to the engineering building.. today was just the second day of classes for most of the students.. We had a decent sized crowd..

I was a little worried abotu giving my talk in english.. (I don’t really have a choice..:-).. but the students seemed to stay with me. (they laughed at all ther ight places.. adn answered all questions I through out.. ). I think it’s so cool that the rest of the world is bilingual or greater.. why aren’t’ we ?

 

I had a nice time talkign witht he students after my talk.. I love seeing folks coming into engineering now.. especially in growth areas like Mexico.. i kwo that they are goign to have really interesting careers. I was really impressed with this bunch.

 

Fransisco got me back to the hotel around 6.. Diane had a great quiet day at the hotel.. It’ so very nice having her with me. She took me on a tour of our floor. We went over to the gym where they were serving clorofila.. a green drink that tastes like  ag reen drink.. ewwwww.. but kind of bad in a good way..

 

We wlaked out down Reforma Buelevard and did a little people watching.. great place..   Again.. it is so nice having diane here with me.. I do so much travelign alone.. it’s wonderful to be able to share the time with her.. what a sweetie..

 

in honor of Diane.. they set up a sculpture of the huntress Diana just down the street from us.. How they knew we were coming is still a mystery to me.. though.. 🙂

 

we wondered down to the zona rosa and had a great early dinner of cheese stuffed poblano peppers.. really delicious.

 

then walked back home through the growing dark..

very happy to be here..

 

Also.. we heard form Gabe today. he seems to be enjoying Argentina..  i think he and I are goign through the same language shock… it will eb cool to swap stores when we see him

 

ok.. more tomorrow..

buenas noches everyone.. buenas noches sam

-me