Greetings form the city that spans continents.. Once again I’m up too late trying to do a full day of work here and a full day of work at home. Last night I ended up working late at ibm then taking the subway back to the hotel . I ended up going to a grocery store and buying stuff to eat in my room so I could work.. it was delicious !
It was a very good day today ..I was so happy to wake up to the news of the election. I know that you’re not supposed to discuss religion or politics publicly.. but I’m very happy with the result.
It was also a very good work day. I gave a talk and had interviews and talked to clients…. I got to meet some absolutely awesome folks. The Turkish people are so warm and friendly and fun.. and this city is really beautiful . The meeting today was in a cool rebuilt palace of one of the sultans.. It was right on the Bosporus and looked out over the river with a view of the Asian continent right across the water. The castle burned down in the early 20th century.. but was rebuild in th 80’s.. only the ornate marble Turkish baths survived (pictures in here somewhere) .
After the meeting we went to a great fish restaurant on the river with a gorgeous view of the bridge..
As beautiful as this place is.. the Turkish internet providers are blocking the photobucket site I use to post pictures.. I’m going to try and post them from my phone.. but if that doesn’t work.. I’ll have to upload them tomorrow..
Happy election day. I’m thousands of miles away and waiting like anyone to hear how things are will come out
I got in some crazy politics discussion on the flight over.. and even here.. the whole world is watching.
I had a good and busy day here.. Stayed up late last night working on my day job stuff.. then went to IBM Istanbul.. from there we drove across the Bosporus to Özyeğin University..
It was so cool driving from europe to asia in minutes. I chucked a samstone off the bridge.
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I loved the folks at Özyeğin .. the students and faculty were wonderful. they took me down to see their robotics club workroom.
on the cab back I saw collection box in the cab.. it’s fa religious charity. it’s funny the word Sadaka is just like the hebrew word Tzedakah ( צדקה ) or arabic صدقة there’s ‘s a little bit of arabic in turkish.. those are the only words that i even vaguely recognize.. the rest is impenetrable to me .
Then back to IBM for another talk… it was a great crowd. I love being able to meet folks around the company
my talk went well.
ok.. heading back tot eh hotel now.. its already pretty late..
Hello from Istanbul. I have been here since early this evening. I already really like the place, although I’ve spent most of the evening in my hotel room working/programming. I did take an hour and a half fast walk down town to check out the scene. Wouldn’t you know that the Turkish gov is into censoring .. and i can’t even reach my own photobucket albums to share my pics. I’m trying another way.. not sure this will work.. but it’s a beautiful city filled with very nice and accommodating people…
some of them happen to be holding signs and other of them happen to be in full riot gear with tear gas rifles… not sure what was going on, but I came back to the hotel.. not because i was scared, but because I had code to write.
Off again, sitting on a bus between terminals at Newark . Hoping I get to the gate in time for my plane. Air travel and everything else is still disrupted because of sandy . I keep seeing pictures of the destruction. My heart goes out to all of those who’s lives are effected by the storm.
One insight For today . I realized that in being preoccupied about my coming travel I wasn’t really ‘present’ at home for a good part of the day. It was like I was already gone on my trip. I gotta watch that. I’m gone enough without adding to the time away.
More from the road
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