Here's me returning to the weekly review habit.
I had a busy week, my second in a two-week business Tokyo trip. I found, and my colleagues helped me find, plenty of time for personal fun time.
The first bit of fun I found on Sunday. I wandered through various Tokyo districts recommended to me:
A list rundown isn't necessary as all five neighborhoods were quaint, quiet, and places I can see myself living. Next trip I'll check out other options.
The biggest news has to be the trackball I found. It's made by Elecom, a company lacking a great reputation. Yet they offer what's essentially a wireless Microsoft Trackball Explorer with extra buttons!
Fixing my return flights is best described as nightmarish. Delta and SkyTeam better integrate their systems than American and the oneworld partners. Topping it off, when I stopped in at the Admirals Club at NRT they wouldn't take my Alaska Airlines Boardroom membership for lounge access. I purchased my ticket on American. I had a connecting American flight. However, according to their rules I should only gain access if I'm flying on AA metal. The lounge staff was fantastic and granted me access anyway PLUS addressed my seat assignment issue.
I cleared out my expense backlog, long overdue.
I presented my IBM Watson Summit Japan talk about hybrid SOC & cloud technology for about 60 colleagues. I presented a proposal pitch to a customer. Both proved successful and interesting (for me, anyway).
Colleagues pulled me into new customer opportunities. My "dance card" is full. That is a good state of being for a consultant.
The Security Culture Conference in Oslo was the victim of this demand. I have to return to Tokyo the same week. Hard to be in two places at once when you're not anywhere at all, let alone if they're on opposite sides of the globe. I had a whole week of vacation around the event planned.
Seated next to me on the flight to ORD was a fun 4 year old girl who slept less than her mom did. She, the girl & not the mom, talked to the videos she watched and had trouble sitting still. The poor fellow in front of the girl received the abuse of pushing-feet-on-the-seat. I enjoyed the extra elbow room.
O'Hare is a miserable airport. It reminds me of a quote from "The Silence of the Lambs" movie I'll paraphrase: "It's like the elaboration of a bad joke". It also reminds me of Zork: "You're in a maze of twisty passages, all alike". The Admirals Club lounge is old, crowded, and dirty. The staff is nice enough. The remodel cannot come quickly enough.
When I arrived in Detroit there were no Uber cars available. I took a taxi with a driver new to the city, a bad situation when dozing off constantly (me, not the driver).
Ending on a positive note, the weather is nice.
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