Saturday night – Buenos Dias !

Leave a comment

Gabe and I are having fun here in Buenos Aires. We decided o spend another day here in the city before heading north.. .  We’d had a late night last night… just walking around and eventually eating .. We found a good sushi place around 11pm.    It was great to have something other than cheese to eat..

We both managed to sleep until almost afternoon… It was a a mix of clouds and sun.. and pretty cool.. maybe in the mid 40’s.. We put on shorts and sweatsirts and headed out for a run.. I managed to loose my glases (!@#% !) soon after we started.. I have an old spare pare.. but basically I’m pretty dependent on them.. I can’t read at all . without them..   with these old ones.. I can sort of read.. but… it’s just making things more interesting..

 

Gabe took me on a tour of this part of the town on our run.. we hit several cool old buildings then walked through two street fairs.. Eventually we ended up at La Ricoletta Cemetery.. what an AMAZING place.. our pics from that trip are on Gabe’s camera… and that’s formatted for a MAC.. so I’ll post those pictures when we get back.. We did place a few samstones… pictures of that coming soon
We came back to the hotel and both fell asleep for a couple of more hours.. Eventually we headed back out for dinner.. we found a great thai fast food place.. . then brought that stuff back to the room. For old times sake we set out the food on an ironing board.. Gabe and I remember doing that oen day when he was a little kid.. We got stuck in Washington DC on the way back from Florida.. and ended up making a feats in a hotel an and set it up on an  ironing board..

 

Now we’re watching ‘shark week’ on Discovery.. Oh, speaking of Discovery.. I just found these dubbed versions of the colony videos on Tu Discovery.. very cool

 

OK.. more from the road tomorrow..

nite all, nite sam…

-mc

 

 

Friday evening – Obrigado Sao Paulo. !

1 Comment

At the Sao Paulo Airport headed back to Buenos Aires.. I’m going to meet up with Gabe tonight and that will start our vacation. I’m really looking forward to hanging out with him.

I’ve really enjoyed my visit to Sao Paulo.. I can’t explain it really.. its a huge and busy city.. but somehow it radiates warmth.. .. Obrigado Sao Paulo. !. I’ll come back soon !

I woke today around 5 AM .. unable to sleep for some reason.. I think it was the 2 tons of cheese I’d had as part of my great dinner. with friends duarte, wilson , julie and liggy. .

 

I dozed a bit.. but around 7 I dragged myself out of bed and went for a run.
I ran through a spaghetti of overpasses and underpasses to get to a footbridge which lead to Ibirapuera park.. a huge green oasis in the city.

 

 

I was amazed to see the place packed with runners, walkers and cyclists at 7am. There wer eall sorts of folks there.. lots of runners my age and older, kids, running teams, dog runners.. it felt like a party..

 

though the day was gray and warm/hot (high 70’s ?) ,, the place was full of bright flowers.. It felt so good to get some exercise. I put two samstones in the park… one in the mouth of a lion sculpture and anoth in one of the three lakes in the park.. I know that my freind Wilson had placed one in one of these lakes a few years ago…

 

after placing the stones.. I headed back to work.. . My freind Duarte picked us up at the hotel and took us the short 15 minutes to IBM. I spent the day meeting wit friends about work..

 

here is Duarte and Luana

We grabbed a good lunch.. I was pleased to see they even had a word for vegitarian here.. even more pleased that they had food for them 🙂

 

 

.. Around 1 I gave my last talk of the trip…  then took the long ride back to the airport.. It was cool seeing Sao Paulo by daylight ..

 

 

Over the past two weeks, I’ve visited 4 ibm sites in 4 cities, , given 5 IBM talks, 5 university talks (about 1000 student toal, I think) and one customer visit.. All my talks but one went pretty well.. I’m happy and tired.. and eager to goof of with Gabe.. My flight leaves for Bueonos Aires in an hour.. I may be offline for a couple of days..It’ll be nice to slow down…

 

OK.. we’re boarding soon.. More from Argentina tomorrow

Nite all, nite sam

-me

Thursday night – calor humano

Leave a comment

Hello from Sao Palo.. one of the worlds largest… and (in my opinion) friendliest cities.. I really have fallen in love with brazil.. the people here are so warm and genuine..  I remember my freind Andy coming back from here talking about ‘calor humano’ .. ‘human heat’.. it’s evident everywhere , everyone is hugging and kissing all the time.   Even my breakfast was smiling !

 

 

My day started with a big ibm meeting….I just love these types of event.. I got to meet many folks from all over the country.. they were here to network and exchange stories.. Events like this are what make our company great..   My talk went very well..

 

From there I took off to visit one of the local customers.. getting driven through the streets of this giant city was an adventure in itself.Heres a scene of folks learning brazilian kic boxing..

Id’ liek to say my customer meeting went great.. but it didn’t.. .. not sure why.. but perhaps it was because I wasn’t nervous before

Luckily .. things turned around went to visit  Senac.University.. I was nervous ( a good sign. I think).. because I had to give my tlak via simultaneos translation. I gave a talk on science careers and my time on the colony.. it went great… which put me in a better mood.. despite the tranation, the whole group stayed with me and then hung out after for talking and pictures..   I won’t put all the pictures here.. but here are a few…

I won’t go into it here.. but I was feelign a bit down

 

Around Wilson, Julie, Duarte and lLggy met for a really great dinner.. .. great conversation, great food …

OK.. gotta sleep now more tomorrow..

thanks for everything brazil !

nite all, nite sam

-jc

 

Wednesday night – Maniac

2 Comments

Actually Manioc.. as in .. what I had for dinner..   I’m in Sao Paulo, one of the worlds biggest cities.. and so far I really like it.

I spent the mornign in BA working .. it was great to have that time to catch up. One cool surprise was to see this guy come by the window (on the 18th floor).. What a job !!!

 

around 11 I went out for a short run.. it was a little gritty out there… but lots to see…

 

Around 1 I walked over to the IBM site to meet up with Julie S who’s also heading to Brazil.. we shared a cab to the airport..

I got to Sao Paulo about 7..  It’s a HUGE city.. so far I really like the people .. and the scenery.. it’s pretty nice here.. very warm and spring like..

as I imagined.. they didn’t have much for vegetarians at the hotel resturant.. but I did get to try Manioc.. it’s a bit like potatoes.. so they were fried like french fries.. yummy.. but… fried.. still wodnering why I ate them.. but they were very tasty..

 

now watching crazy Brazilian tv.. I better turn it off and get some sleep…

so.. more tomorrow..

nite all, nite sam

-me