Travels

There are 243 posts filed in Travels (this is page 12 of 25).

Veteran’s Day reflections

I’ve had plenty of reflections on Veteran’s Day but yet another revelation came to me on yesterday’s Veteran’s Day.

I work in a sales job, as a sales engineer. Success in that job (and other sales jobs) requires one to be very good at making friends and relating to all types of people. As I went about my work with a potential customer yesterday, I realized that a lot of my skill at relating to different people can be traced back to those four years I spent in the Navy.

When your home for three years is a ship only 563 feet long, you have to learn how to get along with folks. Thank you, Navy, for enriching my life in yet another, previously-unseen way.

Trial by fire

Well, I pulled off a miracle yesterday and today. At least it seems that way to me.

I’m on my first sales call with my new employer, I have been with the company all of two months, have conducted one training session with them, and have been on NO sales calls with them before. There is the sales guy and there is me, and no other technical resource onsite. In spite of all this, today I was able to conduct a technical demonstration of our product that lasted eight whole hours and I did it without once sounding like an idiot.

I had no idea when I took this gig that I would be on the front lines within two months. Judging by the product’s sophistication I would’ve thought that was sheer madness. And yet here I am after Day Two, riding high. I’ve got years of experience doing the sales engineering thing under my belt, but I was skeptical I could pull something like this off – all the way up until I actually did it. Now I feel I can handle anything!

We’ve got one more day here in Rochester before we wrap up. It’s all downhill from here for me, and I’m greatly looking forward to a relaxing weekend before things get crazy for me with my Busy Third Week Of The Month.

Think Like Chinese

I actually did something quite rare for me nowadays: I finished a book! The book in question was Think Like Chinese, by Zhang Haihua and Geoff Baker. I’d been looking for a book which went into more detail about Chinese culture and business and this fit the bill perfectly.

When I made my trip to China a few years back, I had heard that face was important to Chinese. Think Like Chinese really opened my eyes to just how important it is.

Face rules everything in Chinese life: from the smallest interactions to international relations. Now when I read about Chinese naval dustups and Google threatening to leave China I just laugh, because I know these situations could’ve been defused long before they ended badly. And now when my Chinese hosts honor me with a “spontaneous toast,” I’ll know it’s a face thing and I am expected to toast them right back.

China has a fascinating culture, especially for anyone interested in diplomacy like I am. With the right amount of kudos and back-slapping just about anything can get done and any misunderstanding smoothed out. Thanks to Think Like Chinese, all of this now makes sense to me. In fact, it seems so obvious now. The book helped me get in touch with my inner Chinese, and that”s a pretty powerful gift.

Exotic trips on the horizon

It seems my traveling life may be about to get quite interesting! There has been talk of me traveling internationally soon: Canada, Europe, India. Maybe even Africa. I’ve got to become more of an expert on the company product before I go flying somewhere but it’s pretty cool to think about. The travel was one of the coolest parts of my prior sales engineering jobs and it looks like this one will be no exception. I’ve just gotta hit the books before I’m paraded before folks as some genius!

On the road again

Tomorrow evening I board a plane for my first business trip in over two years. It will be a week full of heavy-duty training to get me up to speed on my new employer’s product. While I’m looking forward to the training I’m also looking back to the time I’ve spent not on the road. True, it has been nice not having to travel, but I really didn’t like my job. So at least now I have a job I love, and if there’s some travel (and it’s not to Portsmouth, Virginia again) then that’s a bonus.

Ticking away

I was cleaning off the hard drive of one of my old computers here and came across some photographs from our 2007 Orcas Island vacation. It amazed me to realize that was three years ago, and that we took much smaller kids with us. Boy, the time just flies.

High-altitude balloon launch

A group of friends is launching a helium balloon to the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Josh Shaffer of the News and Observer wrote a story on it in this morning’s paper.

I am not involved in the project (I’m at the beach now), which kills me because I’ve wanted to do this for a long time. The best I can do is what everyone else can do, which is track the balloon online. Those in Raleigh can see the launch at Horseshoe Farm Park at 8 AM Sunday.

Update 23 August: Success! See the results!

Rancho Relaxo

We started our vacation this morning, taking the family to Emerald Isle, NC for three days of beach. We hadn’t planned ahead for a longer trip, nor did I have the vacation time saved up to take a longer vacation. It’s a shame, really, because though I rarely take it I really like knowing it’s there. But I digress.

We arrived at my friend Shane’s beachhouse, Rancho Relaxo, around noon, under overcast skies and with a gentle breeze blowing. After stopping off at the Lowe’s Foods to pick up some groceries (and stopping at Quizno’s to get some lunch) we showed up at the beautiful Rancho.
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Smiling in passport photos

Don't dare smile

I just had two sets of passport photos taken, one at work and one at the local Costco. Both photographers told me not to smile in my photographs: that they could get rejected by the State Department’s passport processing if I were smiling. I thought that was ridiculous but to hear it from two photographers made me wonder.

Checking the Internets, I see there are differing opinions on whether this is a legitimate requirement. A few web forums say smiling is (and is not) allowed. The U.S. Consular Services in Canada office (where one would expect to find the official word) says you may smile if you wish.this is because smiling breaks the facial recognition software. Now, I would think any facial recognition software that can be defeated by the bad guy smiling isn’t worth much. I chalk it up to more security theater.

Interestingly, the Costo guy asked if my photograph was for a U.S. passport or a Canadian one. Apparently you can still smile in your Canadian passport photographs. No wonder Canadian travelers get better welcomes than Americans.

Back from Virginia

We arrived home from Virginia yesterday afternoon after spending some fun time with Kelly’s parents. Kelly took the kids up in the middle of last week, with me joining them Saturday morning. I took the train up to Fredericksburg, where Kelly met me for some food and sightseeing in town before we headed west to Warrenton. The Oskar Blues Gordon beer at the Capital Ale House was quite tasty!

Sunday, we participated in the Leesburg Independence Day parade, with the kids on bikes and dog in tow. Rocket’s tender paws didn’t enjoy the blazing asphalt we encountered on that hot day but the rest of us had fun.

Monday was spent underground at Luray Caverns in Luray, Virginia. It was quite a respite from the heat wave, where temperatures have been in the mid-to-upper 90s.

Good to be home now, though I’m already looking forward to the next holiday!