Independent Consultant with a Hawaiian Shirt

I'm home in Michigan this week, but it's not without adventure. Consider what happened as I ran some errands today: 1. I went to an office supplies store (national chain; will protect its identity) to buy some paper. They were running a sale - 2 reams for $10. The price for a box of 5 reams: $29.99. (Quick math note: the reams in the box were being sold for $6 each.) So I asked an associate whether I could buy a box of 5 plus one ream for $30 total. To my surprise he said, "No," and rambled on about the difference in SKU numbers. Whatever, I thought. I then loaded ten reams from the shelf, being sure to clear all the reams from the front part of the shelves so that the associate would have to restock the shelves. (Not my best moment, but my small protest against "the man".) I then went over to the copy center at the back of the store and asked for an empty box. The lady said that there were no boxes available. Disappointed, I went to the front and paid for m...

After coming back from Australia, I went to Philadelphia after a 22-hour pit stop at home to do laundry. The short turnaround was hard on the family and harder on my body. My sleep patterns were so bad that on three separate nights I didn't sleep at all. No matter, I'm back in the swing of things having had this week to rest up at home and catch up on family time. Since it's been a slow news week, and because my dear friend Lance (Aloha Brah!) reminded me, now would be a good time to catch you up on another escapade from my time in Hawaii: -------------------------------------------------- Last Day on the Island My last day on Oahu was a bit somber. After 33 consecutive nights at the Ala Moana Hotel, I had fallen into the rhythm of the island life. I was happy to be heading home, yet at the same time I was sensing a separation anxiety. What would it be like to wake up Monday morning and not look out on the Pacific Ocean in near-perfect weather? I packed my room, ate my last...

Today was the last day of the conference. Since I had completed all my hours, I was free to attend sessions and work through some hands-on labs. It was good to connect with people and enjoy their company. After lunch I slipped across the street to the Pacific Fair, a mall with some interesting sites. While there I picked up a few souvenirs, but not too many - not much room in my luggage this time. Shopping complete, I said my goodbyes to my new "mates", boarded a bus for the airport and flew down to Sydney, where I'm spending the night. My flight leaves Saturday morning at 9:25am and arrives in Los Angeles Saturday morning at 6:15am. Yep, the "Sunday" I had slept through on the way here comes back to me. What to make of my last blog entry from Australia? I thought to share some of the phrases I learned while I was here: "G'day" = "Good morning/afternoon" "flat out" = busy --> "We've been flat out trying to get ready ...

Today I was on my feet at the convention center from 8:00am until 5:00pm with a couple of 1-hour breaks. The good part of it was the quiet moments in between helping attendees with their efforts in the lab. No, I'm not trying to knock the attendees but rather reflect on the quality conversations with other Technical Learning Guides (TLGs). As fellow instructors, the TLGs understand the challenges of the job and the thrill of helping someone learn. I have thoroughly enjoyed my interactions with the TLGs who have come here from places as far away as Italy, Canada, Holland, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and all over Australia. I look forward to keeping in touch with my newly-made acquaintances. The evening's activity was a party at DreamWorld, an amusement park located about 30 minutes from the convention center. We were bussed over there en masse, and let into the park for a private party. Dinner and refreshments were served there. I was separated from the group of TLGs be...

Once again, my body pulled me up in the middle of the night. A quick check of the alarm clock showed 4:37am. With no desire to go back to sleep, I decided to take pictures of the sunrise over Broadbeach. You can see the sequence here . At the conference, I enjoyed the interaction with the attendees. We helped them with hands-on labs tailored to give them personal time with a technology of their interest. By the time I got back to my room at 8:30pm I was exhausted. Tomorrow is a new day - back to it!

I slept in as long as I could. The sun was crawling around the edges of the heavy curtains, determined to pry my heavy eyelids open. Grudgingly, I rolled over to look at the alarm clock and see what time it was. 5:45am. Ugh, I rolled over and shielded my head with another pillow. Eventually, I could sleep no more. I glanced at the little timekeeper in the corner: 6:25am. Reluctantly, I got up and began my day. I got dressed and went out on my first mission of the day: To find a wall adapter for my laptop. (I left my universal adapter kit at home.) After trying several stores, I had luck at the "chemist" shop (what might be called a "pharmacy" elsewhere). Gleefully I returned back to the room and plugged my laptop in. By now it was 10:30am and time for me to Skype home to tuck the family into bed. We enjoyed the visit and, after a short devotional and prayer time, kissed each of them via webcam and sent them off to bed. Next, I walked over to the convention center to...

The 15-hour flight to Sydney wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My plan to beat the jetlag was to watch three movies and sleep the rest of the way. The flight was delayed by 20 minutes, so we didn't depart Los Angeles until 10:50pm Saturday night. Once airborne, I plugged in my noise-cancelling headphones (which, by the way, really do help reduce airplane fatigue) and proceeded to watch The Secret Life of Bees (Excellent movie - When was the last time you saw either Queen Latifah or Dakota Fanning in a bad movie?), Gran Torino (predictable, but still a well-told story), and Last Chance Harvey (other than watching Emma Thompson be her charming self, not really worthwhile). Dinner and a snack were both served during my mini movie marathon. Afterwards, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep as much as possible. The challenge was that I was right next to the restrooms. Every time the door opened and closed, the noise was accompanied by a blast of bright light in the dark cabin. A...

For a long time I have been enjoying a vitamin water flavor called "power-c." It is purportedly made with dragonfruit. I often wondered whether there was really such a fruit and, more importantly, what it really tasted like. After all, you can drink twenty different flavored waters and they can all seem to blend together. During my last week in Honolulu, I was delighted when I came across dragonfruit in the grocery store. Too excited to pay attention, I grabbed a good-looking one and paid for it. I didn't realize the sign said "$6.99/lb" and my fruit weighed just over a pound. Ouch. For $7.12 this had better be good. I took it back to my room and, for the next couple of days, I simply admired its appearance. After all, it is a pretty looking fruit. The red outer skin has a rubbery texture with little green curls coming up off the surface. I wasn't sure how I wanted to peel it, so I carefully sank the knife into the skin and slowly worked my way down and arou...

...but you can't take the country out of the boy." So goes the old saying. This morning when I woke up in Redmond, Washington, I decided to wear an Aloha shirt. I packed three on this trip, and decided today would be a good day for one. After all, it's been seventeen days since I left Honolulu. On the way in to the office I stopped by an Asian grocery store to pick up some fresh fruit. As I walked in I saw an entire section of groceries from Hawaii - Hawaiian Host macadamia nuts and candies, lilikoi iced tea and other Hawaiian Sun beverages, pupu plates with Portuguese sausage. It was if today was destined to be a reminder of the good times and wonderful people in Honolulu. There are some yet-to-be-told stories from my time in Honolulu. The past two weeks I did as little as possible on the computer to enjoy as much time with my wife and children. Back here on the road and over the next few days, I think I'll catch you up on a couple of those stories.