Crazy. crazy day..A bunch of us from IBM  marched  in the Munich Pride Parade . It was so much fun. My good friend  Mirek  organized a group in support (and celebration)  of LGBT  rights..   There were about 15 of us. Men, Women, Gay,Straight, Young (Kids) , Old German, Czech. Romanian, Bulgarian, English , American, Chinese .. We were the 95th slot.. and we were more or less in the middle of the pack..  just ahead of a great group from Google and just behind a nice group of corporate lawyers .. The roads were absolutely packed. 10’s of thousands of folks.. maybe even more..  lots of great cosutmes, great music.. and lots of fun and interesting  people.. as diverse as you could possibly imagine. 

 

 

 

here’s my good freind luisa just post sparkling 

 

Mirek and Peter.. our ferless leaders !  Check out the IBM official Pride shirts !

 

babbette !

the folks in front of us gave em a rainbow duck.. i balanced it on my head the entire walk.. not as easy as it sounds ! 

 

my friend Diana from Bulgaria,

 

 

 

we braught food.. (sort of).. and gin and tonics.. quite refined.. 

 

we ran into our friend Suntri just watching the  parade.. 

 

some of the cosutumes were wilder than others !

 

miriam and I held a set of flags .. and soem folks from the crowd took that as an invitation to Limbo !

 

really some crazy custumes !

 

we had helium filled IBM balloons.. 

 

 

 

ooops.. M got away !

 

 

the parade lasted about 4 hours (!!!) .. we walked clear around downtown.. .. it was a hike !.

saw this interesting mannequin as we all headed for home

 

i ended up hanging out for the rest of the day with good freinds Andy and Diana.. thy are GBS folsk from  the 24th floor. 

 

 

one of them had the great idea to go body surfing in the Ishar river courses in the english garden .. We all went to our respective homes.. then met back at the Universitat ubahn station around 6:15 pm.. and walked to  the river..

 

 

Andy brought a dry sack.. so we put our clothes and valuables in there.. and jumbed in the very cold water… for a really fun float down in the strong current..   My knees got baknged up.. and I lost my duck.. but it was so much fun !!!!!!!

 

then the three of us walked aroudn looking for a resturant.. found a  great thai place.. andate there..

 

finally we ended up at Diana’s dringing ‘Pimm’s.. Andy.. whps english was very happy with that.. 

 

around 11 I had to go .. too sleepy to stay awake..

Got to talk to Diane on my walk hime which was fun..   .

now I see it’s 2 AM.. better get some sleep..   lots going on tomorrow (sunday) at work !

nite all. nite sam

-me

 

 

 Woke up after about 3 1/2 hours sleep this morning to go do a talk at the creative morning of that we were hosting at hilight tower. I had never heard about creative morning… But it was a blast. It’s a worldwide monthly event where groups of creative people… Mostly designers I think… Get together to discuss   A specific topic. This months topic was “the quality”… And I was the host. We had at least 130 people there today… Including some friends of mine from town. My challenge was to give a talk on why technology in general… And Internet of things specifically… Either supported or did not support equality. A tough assignment!

 I split my thesis into two topics… three ways the technology/iot supported  equality… and three ways that technology might erode equality.

somehow it all came together… I really enjoyed talking to the audience. But the rest of the day working with my team and prepping for meetings next week

then had dinner with my friend wei and some new friends.

 

.nite all, night Sam

– me

Just looked up and realized its 3am. I’ve been doing some recreational coding so i don’t lose my mind

guess it’s too late for that . 

I need to make much more time for hands on stuff.. 

gotta sleep. nite all, nite sam

-me

 

FInally made it to Munich after a 38 hour travel odyssey

Got to work.. starving and went to a fun client meeting.. I was famished.. so I looked t the food.. thre were (no kidding) 7 different types of Wurst Salat (Sausage salad)… 

being a vegetarian in Germany requires creativity 🙂 

 

 

nite  all, nite sam

here’s the cview from my room at abotu 10;30.. amazing how late it stays light here. 

 

nite  all, nite sam

-mc