Nothing Else Matters...

I heard some terrible news today about a friend and former colleague.

He committed suicide a few days ago, after having his wife die suddenly in December.

I had not heard the news about his wife, so it was a double-surprise for me.

He was a good man - friendly, smart... with soft-spoken sense of humor.

One of my most vivid memories of him comes from when our work group had to repair a working relationship with Samsung in Korea. He was new in our department, but immediately volunteered to go in front of the customer and they there for two weeks. He did a great job in Seoul and, quite literally, 'took one for the team'. We all admired that.

And he always, always spoke fondly of his wife. I'm not surprised that he had trouble dealing with the loss.

Why do I write about this here? I suppose one reason is that I can't not write about it. While I'm not comfortable revealing his name, I have a need to honor him in some small way.

Another reason? I'm as guilty as anyone of focusing on all the distractions of life: weather, executive reviews, the upcoming baseball season, and the economy... 

But his situation and his reaction is a reminder to me that our greatest investment - our greatest reward, and risk - is in that thing we call love. 

VizThink 09 Highlights: Icebreaker

Connections with friends you've never met...

As a facilitator, I love to collect icebreaker activities. I enjoyed this one that was used at VizThink 09, and thought I would share it.

There was white drawing paper covering each table. We were asked to write or draw a few things about ourselves on the paper. I think we were given 3 minutes.

We then looked at our tablemates words/images (there were approx 8 people / table) and drew connection lines between any items that were the same (or where there was a connection).
For example, I drew a connection from my time in Japan to a Japanese woman across the table.

At the end of the exercise, you stand up and observe all the connections you have with people that were strangers 5 minutes ago.

Taco Time! - Alviso, California

I went to lunch yesterday in sunny Alviso, at El Taco de Oro - purveyors of the finest $1 taco in the south bay (and I'm not kidding about that - I LOVE this place).

I was there with Mike, Gary, and Bill as we caught up on all the happenings in the past month.

Anyone who spends time with me knows that they will eventually become 'blogfood' for this site. You can see that Mike is clearly thrilled by that prospect.
Gary, meanwhile, is a little more camera-friendly.

We're eating in the vegetable department of this little Mexican store, because the garage is being renovated (I'm not kidding). This is a great disappointment to me, as the unfinished, unlevel former garage has an excellent Ensenada ambiance that I hope will not disappear.

MANAGEMENT TIP OF THE WEEK
While I remember, I also wanted to point any managers out there in the direction of Dilbert.com's fabulous mission statement generator. You ought to be able to get some milage out of this...

How do you say Synchronicity in Japanese?

Strange how events align...

Yesterday, I received an email from an old friend, Megumi Tadenuma (Megurina, was our nickname for her). She's the one on the far right in the front row of the photo above.
I hadn't heard from Megurina in about 4 years, so it was a happy surprise.

Then, this morning, I received an email from Haemi Kaku (Haemi-chan is second from the left in the front row, in a powder blue yukata - a cotton summer kimono). Haemi is in Kumamoto, working with Grant (he's in the middle of the back row).

Haemi wrote to say that seeing Grant made her remember the day when this photo was taken.
Me too, as this was one of the best days I've ever had.

The day was a convergence of great weather; great friends; a fireworks (hanabi or 'fire flowers', in Japanese) show on the waterfront; a very generous supply of alcohol; pent-up expectations (Angie and I had staked out a prime spot the night before, and all of us took turns defending our desirable turf on the day of the fireworks); Haemi and Tomo's willingness to 'go native' in yukata; some slightly drunken private fireworks from our balcony (no one got hurt, though I think we all inhaled too much sparkler residue); and a lot of good fortune (Brent, Grant, and Jetsada all just happened to be in town).

It was the last time most of us were all together, and one of those days you wish you could bottle...

Monkeys and Typewriters, Airplanes and Seatmates

You've probably heard the saying - put enough monkeys in a room with typewriters, and one day you'll come out with a novel.

I feel the same way about airplane travel - throw me in enough economy seats, and eventually I'll be lucky enough to meet someone interesting.

That's not usually the case. On my flight home yesterday, for example, I had a fat Chinese man overflowing next to me. He was snoring like three simultaneous Starbucks expresso machines, and constantly jostling me.
His wife, sitting in the window seat, asks if I'd like to swap seats with her.

Right.... the only thing worse than sitting next to this guy would be getting trapped against the plane wall by him. I passed on her generous offer.

One very selfish reason I like to take Angie traveling with me, is that she provides a buffer (literally) against this possibility.

Anyway, I can't complain too much since I had a fantastic seating partner on the flight to Taiwan.

Hsiu Shih (pictured above) and I started a conversation almost immediately, because I was finishing my reading of a book on Chinese Proverbs - the very thorough "ABC Dictionary of Chinese Proverbs".

During the flight, Hsiu Shih, an English Major, helped me understand many of the proverbs by explaining where she first heard them (school, home, etc). It was very helpful for the project I'm working on.

Besides the book, we discussed her time in the US, the lack of good Chinese food in Massachusetts, my experiences in Japan, (mis)perceptions of Asian females in the US, the usual pressure Taiwanese women feel to get married and have children, and the glory that is Hsinchu.

12 hours on a plane never really goes fast, but she sure made it enjoyable.
If I can meet someone like Hsiu Shih once in every ten flights, it even makes up for the monkeys!

Checking in with an old friend...

Angie and I had dinner tonight with our good friend Jodi Chia, and her kids.

We ate at California Bistro, in the Esplanade.

Chicken sandwiches - good
Fish and chips - very good
Weather - hot
Air - humid

Seeing an old friend - priceless