Blends With Savanna Grasses

The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman.

It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on 'donating a mammogram' for free (pink window in the middle). This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising.

Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know. http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

Labels: Thoughts

One of the most difficult things in Asia for a Westerner to get used to is the "squat toilet". What's a squat toilet, you ask?

Singapore is such an amazing city. It's unique in very many ways. It is both multi-lingual (English and Chinese are both official languages) and mutli-cultural, with Chinese, Malaysian, and India populations plus Europeans. Chinese is the majority ethnicity, but I didn't meet a single person, from cab-drivers to business people, who didn't speak English. In fact, most people watch American television programs and listen to American pop radio. (The view from the Quest Software offices at right.)



It's an extremely wealthy city with modern high-rises everywhere. (I sometimes wondered if it's wealth could be traced back in any way to its enthusiastic consumerism. In Japan, most goods are still sold in small mom & pop shops. Japan's not very consumer-oriented and its economy has been stagnant for decades. In Singapore, there's a huge mall on every other block, complete with a Gap, Benetton, Starbucks, etc. And they're packed!) Yet it is also a very tiny city-state that takes no more than 45 minutes to drive from one end of the island to the other. Basically, it's a country about the size of Nashville.



Although I was there for only a few days, I had the chance to see some really interesting things, entirely due to the effort of my colleagues at Quest to take me touring. Thanks Clara and Jo Lee! I was able to see the temple section of town where there's a big Hindu temple, an ornate Buddhist temple (notice the reverse swasticas in the earlier picture? they are still a holy symbol in the orient), and a large Christian church all in a row. It's very interesting to pass by the Hindu and Buddhist temples where people are actually making offerings and praying to their gods' idols.


As the picture at left shows, there's a right way to pray and a wrong way to pray. The right way to pray is to clasp the incense or flower offering in both hands and then raise it to your forehead while standing erect. As you repeat the prayer or go through the various elements of your prayer, you raise and lower your hands throughout. The bigger the prayer, the more incense or flowers you should be offering.




The Singaporean government controls things through prices. Don't want a lot of cars you say? How 'bout a double-the-price tarrif! A Nissan Maxima costs $80,000 there.




We had two big presentations while I was there and, I hope, brought in a lot of new leads to the sales team there in Singapore. It was great meeting the team there and I hope to go back some day.


They've already suggested that I might come back next year and also speak at our other big offices in Asia - Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Bangkok in Thailand. Well, if that happens, then I plan on taking asome vacation when I'm there!



Cheers,

-Kev

Labels: Experiences, Travel

After Sydney, I headed out to speak at Charles Sturt University in the teaming metropolis of Wagga Wagga. It's about the size of Pulaski Tennessee and in the middle of BFE, in other words, the Australian outback aka "the bush".

The airport at Wagga (they don't say it's 2nd Wagga for some reason) shown at right is about as big as a large IHOP or Shoney's and attended by the same sorts of people. In the picture at right, you can see a BOGAN kid in the foreground wearing the uniform of his favorite Aussie Rules team and the big Aussie rules football. It's a fun game to watch and, much to my surprise, I found out that even the fans don't know what the heck is going on most of the time. And I thought it was just me...

As I mentioned, Wagga is in the middle of the bush. It's pretty country out there and, being October, means it's early spring. The nights were very cold and we nearly ran over "roos" or "skippies" every night. They're a lot like deer in that the Aussies put up Roo Crossing signs to remind you to be careful not to run one of 'em over as your cruising down those lonely roads on a dark night.

There were about 200 people at the event in Wagga - 50 for the security sessions and 150+ for the SQL Server sessions. There were a couple dozen sessions and ALL of the Aussie SQL Server MVPs were there. I, personally, had two sessions - one was early on day one and the other was the very last session of day two. Consequently, I couldn't get away from the little town to do anything touristy - not that Wagga has a lot of tourist attractions.

I did enjoy the opportunity to sit in on other speaker's sessions and to learn some new things about SQL Server. I also enjoyed getting to meet a fellow named Rob Gurr. Rob showed me the ropes of rural Australia and introduced me to some fine Aussie brews, as well as an excellent Aussie candy/mint called, well, Minties. I'm bringing a bag home for the girls. I also resolved to get Emily a top quality Aussie hat called an Akubra - the keep the flies off and are incredibly durable.

I'm also very thankful to Greg Lowe and his wife Mai for organizing the event and inviting me to come speak. I didn't realize it at the time, but I turned into the celebrity speaker and, when the local TV news crew came down to report on the big IT event in their little rural town, I was the one who they interviewed, all the while trying to keep the flies from eating my head. LOL!

One thing that was interesting about Wagga was, even though it was a tiny town, it had 5-8 very active pubs with live music and big crowds. All the Aussies tell me that country life revolves around the pubs. And the pub is where most everyone goes to relax and enjoy time with other folks.

Well, it's time to run. Best regards,

-Kev

Labels: Experiences, Travel

Everyone recognizes the world famous Sydney opera house. I consider myself a lucky duck to have taken a harbor ride right next to the darned thing. The only thing that could be cooler than seeing a world famous landmark is to see a world famous landmark in the arms of someone you love. (sigh...)

Labels: Experiences, Travel

As Florida is to us Southerners, so Brisbane is to Australians. It's the fun, sunny, beach-laden place to go for a vacation. It's also hot and humid as can be.

Labels: Experiences, Travel

Labels: Experiences, Travel

Labels: Experiences, Travel

One of Emily's friends hosted a murder-mystery party where one of the guests did the "murdered" another guest and everyone at the party had to figure out who the murderer was based upon the clues that each guest brought with them.



It you haven't guessed, the party was set in the 1920's and Emily was a flapper/cigarette girl. She was also a total knock-out. Hey, Emily, do me a favor and don't look so grown up, ok?

Love ya,

-Dad

Labels: Kids

All of the kids have enjoyed having their fall break these past couple weeks. I had to work and, not being able to entertain them, had to deal with constant complaints of "I'm bored!" Anna Lynn had the funny experience of going in for an adjustment to her braces, and one of her teeth popped out. The tooth-fairy had to give her a little extra since the tooth had extra "bling" attached to it for her braces.
The girls were also really excited to get a chance to see Conner's chinchilla, Marty. It reminds me of a pikachu, a very nervous pikachu. Naturally, the girls love it and want one of their own. On the other hand, that doesn't prevent our own little pet hamster from being the cutest darn critter on the planet.

Labels: Experiences, Kids