“Why don’t you take off your shoes and socks?”

A very wise question from the sage hyperactive youthful Zachary! Why don’t I take off my socks and shoes when I get home? I’m pretty sure Boo has a ‘the toes – they want to be FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!’ mindset… good question, dude.

Watching Rocket chase his tail around and around and around and then fall down and look tired out – awesome!

“Zach – I think Stewie is stuck in the bathroom… oh – no – he was inside Rocket’s mouth….” says Michelle.

Watching Zach dance (to the fab songs ‘Elephant with a guitar’ and ‘Crazy Car’)… it fills me with amazement… really can’t explain his talents or his inspiration – epileptics?

So, I worked my first week at IBM. IBM – you may have heard of them. In the course of updating the org charts for the Systems and Technology Group’s Development – Modular and Blade Servers department … wow – you know how you have a few smart guys, the ‘computer guy’ at your biz? Well, seems there a reversal, and at IBM there’s a few ‘non-computer guys’ – luckily, I’m at least a useful non-tech guy, but wow – IBM. It didn’t dawn on me until Friday, when I was chatting with Doug, who’s yet ANOTHER 20+year IBMer, as they call themselves. He recalls the 90s, and the challenges IBM faced, etc. – so I’m hanging with (and had to interview) some really smart people who are really motivated and love at least the field they work in, if not the corporate master they serve. Hmmm, in a death match, who’d win – Mickey or … um, … the big Blue?

So, I chatted with the Director of IBM’s Retail System Solutions yesterday morning. I’ve worked with folks on that level before, at HLHZ, for instance. Whereas the investment Banking folks are tolerant of my presence, Sidney was somewhat excited to be talking about his history with the company. When I asked him what big changes have happened since his entrance to the Big Blue in ’84, he quickly shared that the speed with witch technology and innovations are brought to market has been revolutionary, along with standards, which in turn help fuel the speed. The trade off was that there’s actually fewer ‘in the white space’ developments, since it’s all standardized. YouTube, he mentioned, is just a place to put your files – that’s not new technology – but combined with standards – the web – and a good biz concept – use user created content to make money – vioila, a billion dollar lawsuit!

Anyways, I’m feeling good about the position, I think I’ll be able to help them with their needs (communications for a department), and it’s only about 10 miles/20 minutes away from the Hobbit House! Weeee…

Some thoughts I’ve had in the past week:
a) IBM ThinkPad keyboards ROCK!!!!! The Dell keyboard I’m using feels like a fresh piece of swiss cheese in comparison to the tactile nirvana that the ThinkyPad has. Wowsers – I failed to remember that from my first/only encounter with a T23/24 in ’99.
b) Light colored khakis are … challenging. If you happen to live in a world where there’s dirt. Of course, Michelle pointed out that dark colored khakis show dog hair.
c) The air smells different here – you can smell the weather. Makes me realize that in LA, the air might stink, but it often doesn’t have a scent. Odd I hadn’t noticed before.
d) raindrops hitting the windshield of a Prius are oval; raindrops hitting the windshield of an Element are circular.
e) wow – I’m very lucky, and I’m kinda very happy.

Ok. We sit here watching a Burton snowboard promo video, with the guys boarding up in Alaska – they had a clip where they ran up to and jumped a ramp the size of a house – I told zach to get a job like theres – where they get to play all day and still get paid!

I hope this has helped fill in the gaps of what scott’s been up to – this week was very much ‘got job – make it stick’ – and if I thought getting caught up in the Mouse’s House, or even the rolling campus of Amgen was ‘corporate’ – I didn’t have a clue.

And, I’ve made my mom proud!

peace …

:+s+:

dona nobis pacem