I made up a German word tonight.. Lächelnchmertz.. I don’t thik it really exists.. but  if it did, it would mean soemthing like smiling so much your face hurts :-).. thats what happened tonight when a bunch of us went to Oktoberfest (aka Wiesn) here in Munich.. 

 

I dragged out my 39 (!) year old lederhosen that my lovely host family, the Erols had made for me in 1979. I may look very different, but at least my pants from college still fit 🙂 

Here I am on the elevator at work with my friend Tobias.

I’m wearing the rainbow coat becuase it’s friggin’ freezing here.. and I have no other coat.. kinda covers the fact that my lederhosen are soooo short. loook like hotpants !

 

we all took the subway down to the Wiesn and met up there 

many good friends here ! SOme from here .. and soem from far away !

 

here’s what we’re here to do.. you only got 2 beers.. but they were a liter each. Dn’t tell anyone.. but I only had one.. I’ve had had so much partying this week at the Me conference I really couldn’t think of drinking any more beer .. it was so fun being the designated sober person in a hall of several thousand very not sober people..

 

ahh.. three good friends.. Lousia, babbette and sherri !

 

i finally got a chance to put my freind serge (from france) and my freind ollie (from here) together .. I and many others think they look like brothers.. maybe not so much in this picture.. 

ahh. here’s my good buddy  tyrone.. the only person who drank less beer than I did.. 

 

 

i had my glasses with me.. I know I need to make some new toys  but folks do seem to love them 

 

actually I had two pairs.. the other ones modeled by my freind Brendan

 

klaudia !

 

johanes shooting champaign all ver everyone 

 

lousia !

 

up close to the band !

 

then my phoen died.. which was a good thing.. because I needed both hands to dance !

i was home by midnight.. and … i think.. i was the only sober person on the subway coming home..

 

this city loves to party.. and i love this city

nite all, nite sam

-me

Geez.. I can’t beelive it.. I fell asleep before blogging again. No big wonder.. the Me Convention in Frankfurt was both wonderfully surprising and exhausting. The programs during the day were’ fascinating.. from AI, to HR, to on demand commerce, the rise of chatbots,  to cyborgs, space exploration, Ad hoc community building, to leadership, To human  rights  to Microdosing with LSD.. Not whatI expected from an industry conference. Daimler was bold and insightful for partner with SXSW to put this on. It really showed them both as forward thinking. Deep, deep kudos to the folks who curated the speakers, topics , space and schedule.

What  was exhausting and most fun were the nights.. Endless parties and endless streams of really fascinating and wonderful people. I met so many folks there that I want to (need to ) keep as friends … Connections from so many parts of my life.. work. art, hobbies, burning man  , universities.

my talk was midday yesterday .. It went well.. I could tell that folks ‘got’ the message on the importance of Play i was tryign to get out. I got good feedback and helpful critique from many folks afterwards..

I also got a chance to run around inside the International Auto show a but with friend Miriam.. nice to see all the new technology..   Aroudn 4:30 I headed to the Train station … and randomly ra into my friend Simone and her family from Stutgart.. and my new friend Jeff..   and old friend Colja.. It’s getting to be a really small world

 

heres Rana… i sat next to her collaborator ‘Cookie’.. a freind of Hannah and Daves;; on a plane the other day.. totally random 

 

ibm crew.. miriam, sven and mark 

 

my talk and friend davids running side be side.. as viewed by jeff at the back of the divide between them 

 

 few pics of my talk.. . ‘

 

a talk from the plane (OK>. I know I need to create some different bling) 

 

A$AP Rocky closing interview.. he was inspiring.. 

 

my very good freind simone and her family.. whata funny chance meeting. 

 

jeff .. totally randomly walked into the train station lookign for soemthign to eat..   he baight us all chocolate !

 

Colja and I were on the same train back to munich.. great spending time catching up with him !

 

Tamer]s freind Ravi was IN Munich for 1 nitght.. i met him for a late night beer… . He works in our education area.. great guy.. he’d just come back from Oktoberfest . 

 

the night got so late that i came back and sat on the bed to begin writing my blog.. and the next thing I knew.. it was morning !…   good nights sleep though

\

ok.. off to work

nite all, nite sam (good morning too !) 

-me

Greetings again from the Me Convention here in Frankfurt. It’s a 3 day conference  jointly sponsored by Mercedez Benz and SXSW. THis conference has been such an amazing surprise to me.. I didn’t really know what to expect.. but what I’ found here is such a crazy and wonderful mix of stuff.. that i could not have expected it all anyway.. it’s a wonderfully currated mix of artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, politicians, activists, slackers, digital nomads ( a new term for me) .. , All  ages, stages and beliefs.. .. all temperaments. and interests..   .. my hat… if I had one.. is off to the organizers. the conference venue and schedule  been so wonderfully thought out. I’ve made several new friends..and run into quite a few folks I know from elsewhere just by accident. I’m so pleasantly overwhelmed by it all..  Once again.. I’m awake too late to record it all here.. but will try to do that on the train tomorrow.. For now.. Here are some pics. 

here’s the main hall

 

yesterday I saw Buz Aldrin speak

 

today I heard Barrack Obamas sister give a wonderful talk on getting beyond poverty in africa . 

 

great panel lead by my new friend Alexis 

 

firends in elevators.. The woman in the back left is one of the Sr Execs at Lyft. she told how they did a simple ’round up’ campaing and raised more than a million dollars for storm relief for Houston in only a few days. 

 

 

great panelists on demand driven business models.  Check out SkyHi .. the guy on the left invented it.. for a flat monthly rate of $199 you can fly between specific cites (all less that 1500 miles) for only $35 

there was a great speakers reception  tonight at a really nice bar 

david and gil 

Hans on the right gave a talk (which sadly I missed ) on curation.. Max (next to me … ) and Hans work together seemlesly to make a 24 hour team.. they overlap for a few hours a day.. and max does all the production from hans’s curation overnight.. it’s such a  cool arraignment !

 

Jeff and sohie .. 

quick falafal burger for dinner 

after party party at techno club.. didn’t stay long.. but was fun !

such a wonderfully full couple of days. 

ok.. I need to give a talk tomorrow…. (wish me luck !!!!)

 so heading to sleep

nite all, nite sam

-me

 

LOL… How did this happen again? It’s almost 3 AM and I just woke up with my fingers on the keyboard. I must of been asleep for almost 2 hours.

So I’ll make this brief… This conference I’m attending is really amazing. Such an interesting collection of people. So interesting to see the intersecting circles that bring us all together here.

Saw several good talks today and got a fair bit of day job work done. Met up with good friends from work for dinner number one…… Then walked across town for dinner number two

Met so many interesting new people… Several burners, a block chain entrepreneur, folks from everywhere and anywhere,

Conf extends for the next two days…… I need to get some sleep.

Night all , at night Sam,
-me