Autumn in Tokyo

Well back in Tokyo, it's getting cooler. This weekend has varied between about 12 degrees and 18. I washed the car this evening, and it was definitely on the cold side. We went a for ride on the bikes yesterday afternoon, and while it was not hot, it was ok as long as you stayed in the sun. Speaking of which, the sunsets are getting earlier - about 4:30pm at the moment.

I go to a new office tomorrow morning. We packed everything up on Friday, and it is being shifted over the weekend. The new office is a lot closer to home, but it will still take almost 30 minutes to get to work. The train system is such that there is no direct line from home to the office, so in the end the train trip will only be about 5 minutes shorter. And because this office is right in the city, close to the palace, I won't be able to afford to drive and park. Oh well.

Sonia is in Bangkok this week. I'm heading to HK on Thursday for some meetings, back on Friday. Then on Sunday I take off to London for next week. And a possibility of another trip to New York in the middle of December. A fair bit of travel at the moment - the bummer is that it's not all on the one airline network, so the points are not consistent! The trip to London will be Virgin Atlantic - apparently their business class ("Upper Class") is pretty good, so I will let you know.

New York, Nu Yoick

I have the pleasure of participating in a "Product Conference", which is supposed to be about product strategy. However what is turning out to be the case is that I am locked in a conference room with a bunch of actuaries who are all talking in monotones and reading their Powerpoint slides. A pretty grim situation really, especially when it runs all day, and we are only about 25% of the way through but have used almost 50% of the time.

What can I say about New York? Rude taxi drivers (honking their horns all the time), dirty streets, and lots of people. Nice to be able to visit, but I will not be itching to come back. The hotel is right on Times Square, which is nice, but the price is incredible given what you are getting. Much better quality in Japan, which I had always thought was expensive. NY is much more so.

Back from Beirut

Well I am back in Tokyo safe and sound. No war breaking out while I was in Beirut. There is certainly a level of tension in the air, as I saw on Tuesday night when out with the local manager. We walked around the centre of the city before having dinner, and a few times we were passed by mini-convoys of armoured vehicles. Filled with solders with machine guns and their fingers on the triggers. The local guys that I spoke to were all optimistic, while at the same time recognising the challenges of maintaining peace.

But other than that, it was a nice city. There is a very definite Mediterranean feel to the place, and a few times I was reminded of Athens. Bad streets, crazy driving, lots of horns honking. Great food - the best hummus I have ever had, anywhere.

Well, Sunday night I fly to Seoul for Monday/Tuesday, then Tuesday night off to New York. Fun.

Lebanon

Well the flight over was uneventful - just very long. Turkish airlines turned out to be excellent - the plane was on a par with Cathay Pacific, and the food was better.

Beirut seems nice. So far I have really only seen the hotel, and the main street that it is on. I arrived at the hotel about 1230 last night, so I have only had about an hour to walk up and down and look at the shops. Starbucks, Gloria Jean's, and a couple of other coffee places. All sandwiched between a hundred shoe -shops, tailors, and brand-name clothing shops including H&M. The roads and footpaths are a little closer to parts of India, or Athens, but there are a fair number of nice cars embedded in the traffic jam that covers the main road.

I am at the gym right now, in an attempt to stay awake until closer to 10pm (it is about 8:30 now). Walking on the treadmill and trying to write this email post without too many spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. The gym itself is really nice, with lots of treadmills, cross trainers, and bikes (both upright and reclining). Lots = 20 treadmills. All facing a wall with 17 huge flatscreen tvs. A bit different to what I assumed I would find.

Well, almost done my 30 minutes so I need to move on to weights.