chakadrum.com

Back in Manchester

This week I’m back in Manchester, UK. It kind of came mid-last week and I jumped at the opportunity. I hardly slept on the flight over so I’m absolutely beat. A few emails and I’m going to bed. More to follow of course.

And… Happy Birthday to my mom!

• One of the most interesting aspects for me on this trip is that I’m accompanied by 4 executive level counterparts. I find satisfaction in this not from the persepctive that I can show off my skills (which is very much counter to my personality) but rather that I’ve got another incredible opportunity to observe and work with highly effective people. If I had to highlight one aspect of my career to date, I’d say that I’ve been surrounded by some really great leaders and it has truly improvement my ability to function as a high performing business operator and value creator (I told you I drank lots of kool-aid the other week).
• I went to Sainsbury’s (UK grocery) tonight to grab some dinner and snacks. I got some “mature” cheddar which I suppose is the American equivalent to “sharp” cheddar. I got some snacky foods that are good. Strongbow hard cider comes in 2L containers. I got one. I picked up some cans of Sainsbury’s-brand Red Bull for 44 pence. Speaking of pence, I think I read somewhere that that is the plural for penny. I got some crappy English beer. I must point out that English beer is crappy because it is boring. There is nothing special about it. Do I have a skewed opinion of beer because of the amazing extreme beer I’ve had? Yes. I spent 31 pounds which as of earlier this morning is around $58. Stupid exchange rate.
• Last night I went to bed incredibly early. Tonight, I’m not so tired though I’m sure I will be tomorrow.
• There is a high probability that this is one of many upcoming UK trips. Turns out I’ve got some ideas and people want me to put them in place. Once things are down on paper I’ll post more.
• The internet sucks at this Marriott and I’m going to complain tomorrow morning. By sucks, I mean that if I want to IM one of my coworkers also in the hotel, I’m better off wandering around the hotel looking for said person to give the message in person.
• I finally got my airline miles straight and I’ve got silver status with US Airways. What does that mean? As of right now, I’m not really sure. In theory I should get priority something. Will it ever get my upgraded to first class? Probably not, but it is a start.

Let’s Go State!

That’s what I’m talking about. Sure, I wanted Penn State to win by at least 21 points, but I’ll take the 38-24 win over a sharp Illinois team. I didn’t get a chance to see the first half but I understand that we struggled a little bit. All the same, a win is a win and PSU is for real. No doubt about that.

Cheers to Derrick Williams and his solid performance.

Time to get ready for Purdue and the rest of the Big Ten!

Rainy Days

I’m sitting on the outskirts of Boston listening to the song West Coast by the band Nighttiming. My brother is streaming a Wilco station from Pandora running on his iPhone. The windows are open and the sound surrounding me is best described as gray. Cars race down the wet Commonwealth Ave and a breeze rustles the tree on the edge of my periphery. Some might picture a depressing scene but in fact this is a beautiful day in its own right. It is a reality check sort of day. Not everything is sunny and puppies but that should never mean that a day isn’t a good one.

My older brother and I just spent the last 4 hours discussing the economy, politics, technology, business, alcoholism, beer, music and several other interesting topics. Maybe that doesn’t sound all that interesting, but for me it just felt very appropriate and enjoyable. I think that part of my satisfaction comes from the fact that I’ve become aware enough of the world, and drawn my own intelligent opinions on how it does/should work, to sit down and have a simulating conversation with my brother. It hasn’t always been that way.

I especially like this rainy day because it is another sign that the season of fall is upon us. I really love fall for reasons that I find it hard to describe. To me, fall is emotion. Fall is real. Fall is being alive but having a perspective on reality.

Summer is fake. Winter is depressing. Spring gets blurred between the two.

Rainy days in the season of fall are some of my favorite days.

$700 Billion

I heard a good phrase today that explains this $700 billion dollar bailout.

“Privatization of gains and socialization of losses.”

That’s not how things are supposed to operate in our free market, capitalist society. The market is supposed to fix itself… eventually.

• Will it prevent some further collapse of our economy? Maybe.
• Will it result in the banks turning profit on my tax dollar? Potentially.
• Will I see any direct, tangible benefit of this action? I really have no idea.
• Should the banks have the freedom to utilize the money as they see fit with limited or no regulation/oversight? Absolutely not!

Philly Half-marathon

Today I completed my second Philadelphia Distance Run (half-marathon). I completed it in 1:47:14. This was a personal record over 25 minutes better than when I ran it two years ago (however, I was running that one with a friend). There isn’t much more to say about it. I felt good. I ran well. It was a good morning for running. Three weeks until Steamtown.

Training Wrap-up

The training I attended last week was actually pretty good. Highlights are as follows.

• I drank a lot of the “kool-aid” and feel re-energized in my company. It is easy to loose touch when you are doing client work all the time.

• I met a bunch of interesting people. In my particular group there was a Irish-born, South African, Hong Kong-born, Canadian, American living in Miami and another person from Brazil. Quite the mix, but we all worked together quite well.

• I ate lots of food and especially lots of vegetables. I think this led to me feeling much more energized. This was a nutritional re-energizer as well.

• I ran three times along the Fox River and each time I felt really good. It felt good to feel good while running for a change.

Birthday Recap

Thanks again to everyone who said happy birthday to me. I appreciate it.

For my 26th birthday I didn’t do anything particularly special but was able to have a few nice things. The first nice thing was that they were serving gyros at dinner. This is pretty much my number 1 comfort food. In fact, after I ate one I started thinking about taking another trip back to Belgium because they had some awesome gyros. The second nice thing was that I went for a run and didn’t feel like crap. My body cooperated and it was a boost to my moral. The third and final nice thing was that I had some beers with a couple of work buddies. We also played shuffleboard which I really enjoy playing.

I’d like to thank my parents for the informal present (car maintenance) and formal presents that they mailed to me. I really enjoyed the new moisture wicking running socks.

I’d also like to think Danielle and Derrick for making me dinner and also surprising me with a football-shaped ice cream cake. For those who know me well know that I don’t really like cake all that much (with the exception of a few varieties) so an ice cream cake is pretty much my favorite alternative.

26 Reflection

I took heart to many of your comments. Once I get my sense of direction, I will put together a summary.

On a side note, today the analysts claim that people lost around 700 billion dollars on the market today. That should really mean something. I think it is a shame. But, it is important that my great great grand children read about how the early 2000′s were some very challenging years for the American people. Along those lines, do you think that the United States of American will be a world power in the year 2050?

For the record, the Dow lost 449 points today. Since Monday, the Dow has lost nearly 10% of its value.

For bonus points, who can tell me what happened in December of 1994 that sent the Dow on the aggressive upward climb which resulted in the levels we see today? I actually have no idea myself but I was just looking at a graph and that’s when it looks like it started to climb a bunch.