Le Grand Tour D'Asia: Day 28 of 58

With Maggie Lee at the KLA-Tencor Offices

February 04, 2010

Learning Moment: Singapore

What a great day...

Why?

Well let me list the reasons:

1. Today I led a slide:ology session that was great. The audience was totally engaged, we worked on some interesting issues, and I learned a lot (even though I'm the instructor, it isn't a good session unless I learn a lot).
2. I received great support from Maggie Lee. Maggie is a member of the Singapore HR team. I'm consistently pleased and humbled by the help I get from our Asia HR teams. Maggie is great. That's her photo above.
3. Angie and I had a good dinner at The Pump at Clarke Quay. There are few better people watching spots than Clarke Quay. The fact that dinner was good was a bonus.
4. We heard a great singer - Jai - at Murphy's bar. I stopped Angie and said, "Wow, that chick can sing." Turned out 'that chick' was a guy, and that the guy - Jai - really could sing. We stopped in to hear one or two songs and stayed until midnight.
5. I got to sing with Jai. Jai saw me singing along with the songs he was playing and asked me if I wanted to sing. No, I answered, until I saw that anyone could sing with him. "Do you know 'With or Without You', I asked?" Yes he did. And yes I did - sing, that is. It was my first time on a stage in about 5 years, and yes, it felt great. Jai and I had a good time, harmonizing and improvising a bit - we extended the ending and had a few laughs. That, my friends, is what I miss about music... the improvisation.
6. Angie and I got a tri-shaw ride back to the hotel. Despite all our years and visits to Singapore, we've never had a tri-shaw ride. Well, tonight, that streak ended.

There is no recipe for an outstanding day - but I can suggest strongly that if all of the above things happened to you, it would be a great day for you as well.