3AM and I’m still on a phone call. trying to multitask and get these photos posted.

good productive day here in Turkey. got to spend more time with the IBM team which is always good. Did have some email connectivity trouble, which made for the late night…

I got a nice run in after an 8 AM meeting… did the hills around the beautiful residential section near the hotel.. what a climb !

had a great Lunch meeting with my friend Esra.. It was very good catching up with her. .. she’s awesome.. she used to work on traffic (like me) but now has a new job in the area I’m working on..  we had our meeting while walking around the modern art museum and ate there..  it had an amazing view of the bosphoros.

 

when I got to the IBM site i was surprised to see riot police with water canon watching a protest.. evidently a long standing one. in front of a nearby business. They hadn’t paid heir employees in 2 years.. pretty tense.. .

I spent the rest of the day working in the busy 19th floor open office where Nihal and Esra work.. the setting is really nice.. but I could NEVER work in an open office setting like this..i am way too dis tractable.  i couldn’t help listening  every ones phone conversations.. (and I don’t even speak the language)  and kept looking up when new folks walked by.. I know Id drive everyone around me insane as well. I

we even had some surprise drop by visitors.. !

the place was still buzzing when I left at 7PM..

my good freind Reha came by to give me some cool new toys.. he’s given me one of his cellular sensor nodes.. he gave me an assembled one.. and a DIY one.. that’s all surface mount.. how cool is that !!!

Reha’s old boss and freind Guseli cam in to say hi, too

around 7:30 i met Zegnap , and Nihal for dinner, We picked up Viktor. (Czech Republic) . then drove down to the Genovise district.. where we met Christina (romania) , Elena (Spain), Guron (Macedonia) , Laura (Poland) for a great  Anatollian meal.

then we stopped for a Raki overlooking (you guessed it) the bosphorus..

on the way there, they showed me this resturant thats totally dark with blind waitstaff.. interesting !

now its really late.. I love this country.. i love the people..

thanks so much Turkey..

 

nite all, nite sam

-me

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..

for now.. time for sleep..

nite all, nite sam

-me