Distractions, reflections

I’ve been in Tokyo for over a week every year since 2007, so I know the city sights well.  This 2010 trip saw me serving as a tour guide for Roy (who came on the same plane as me from Toronto), as well the many of the other visiting researchers.  On the first night, Sunday, the group convened at the usual hotel near Tamachi station.  We randomly chose a pub, where we puzzled through a Japanese menu and ended up ordering a hotpot from a waiter who spoke no English.

Early Monday morning, we took the train over to the Tsukiji market.  Coming by a different route than before, we encountered a temple where businessmen were making offerings.

In mid-morning, some of the tuna were still in recognizable forms, with fishmongers rapidly creating portions with saws and knives.

On this visit, I discovered the reason that some tuna are called yellowfin.  These had a yellow fin smaller than a thumbnail.

From Tsukiji, we walked through the Ginza, and up towards Yurakucho.  We stopped by a pachinko parlour where the machines were as loud in the morning as they are in the evening.  Read more... (1223 words, 44 images, estimated 4:54 mins reading time)

While at a meeting in Tempe, Arizona, I discovered that Arizona State University has a strong contemporary American art collection.  An 1987 “Untitled Group” by Viola Frey was almost life size. Frey passed away in 2004.  While I was seeing this in Arizona, a larger collection of Frey’s work was touring New York.

The back side of the work is as detailed as the front.

The Ceramics Research Center at ASU is an open storage area in a plaza across the street from the more famous main gallery.

The lowness of the J. Russell and Bonita Nelson Fine Arts Center foreshadows the galleries underground.

From the bright Arizona sun outside, the way downstairs takes a few minutes for eyes to adjust.

At the foot of the stairs is a bubbling fountain.  Read more... (302 words, 14 images, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

The Town of Addison, Texas is a relatively compact community in north central Dallas.  If you’ve been to the Dallas area, and had dinner in on the restaurants on Belt Line Road, you’ve been there.  The town hall follows the traditional style of the area.

The back yard of the town hall has a bridge over a small stream.

Over at Addison Circle, traffic circles a roundabout, with the metal sculpture Blueprints, by artist Mel Chin.

The fountain at Bosque Park continues to flow in the evening.

In business travel, it’s often the little sights that are memorable.

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I started work at IBM on January 2, 1985.  Following a tradition of a Quarter Century Clubs in the company going back to 1924,  the beginning of 2010 marked my 25th year of service.  With a choice of venues for lunch, I made an unconventional choice with a Korean restaurant, Seoul House.  We got a private room that turned out to include karaoke, but were disinclined to sing.  We gave a few guidelines to the waitress for ordering, resulting in a sushi appetizer in a large serving that could have been more than a whole meal.

I had a cross section of friends attending over the 25-year period.  Norm was a mentor when I first started in headquarters plans and controls, and retired prior to IBM becoming a services company.  Diana and I married during my first year on the job, and she coincidentally became a  coop student at IBM during her work terms at Seneca College.  I met Greg in the days of the late 1980s in the retail branch when he was a systems engineer, and he later became my manager in IBM Consulting Group.  Anita was a colleague consultant in the early 2000s Business Consulting Services, once assigned a task of extracting a linear storyline out of my convoluted thinking to produce a report the customer might understand.  Stephen joined the company only 6 months after me, and we became friends while working together in 2008 in Industry Solution Sales.  Read more... (371 words, 3 images, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

There can be a difference between vacation photos and travel photos.  Seven days in the UK in five cities wasn’t a leisurely plan, and business called for a few more train rides than originally planned.  For a coordinated series of research meetings, I arrived at Heathrow from Finland, and Gary arrived almost the same time from the U.S.  We took the tube to Waterloo station, and dragged our luggage to our hotel along the scenic South Bank of the Thames, seeing Westminister Abbey across the river.

Having already been away from home for week, I craved Chinese cuisine.  We rode the tube to Piccadilly Circus, and wandered to find Chinatown on Gerrard Street — an easy street to remember, since the Chinatown at home bears the same name.

With the history of the Tavistock Institute at top of mind, we rode the tube up to Swiss Cottage to look at the Tavistock Clinic.  The Institute and Clinic used to be colocated, but are now independent entities.  On a late Sunday evening, the facilities were closed.

As a change from riding the London underground, we decided to return to the hotel on a double decker bus to see more of the city.  We rode from Swiss Cottage on a path including Wellington Road, to Victoria Station.

The next day, I acted as scribe while Gary conducted an interview with Sir Richard Bowlby, on the ties between the research between by John Bowlby and cybernetics.  Upon learning that the Bowlby archives are at the Wellcome Library, Gary and I decided to change our travel plans to reroute back through London for one day.

Accommodating a tight schedule, Dav and LJ met us at Paddington Station a few hours before we caught the train to Oxford.  LJ found a pub and then a restaurant nearby, after consulting Internet reviews on her mobile phone.  Read more... (974 words, 16 images, estimated 3:54 mins reading time)

With a visit to the UK and Finland planned for the same trip, summer air fares led me to fly direct from Toronto to Helsinki, with a side trip into Heathrow and back.  I arrived in Helsinki just in time for the start of SEM 2009 – Service Engineering and Management Summer School — attending for the fourth time.  The classes were scheduled for the Otaniemi campus, as usual, but the first meeting was held at the Helsinki School of Economics downtown.

I had booked a flight arriving that morning, so the introductory lecture was a big foggy.

The welcome dinner was held at a restaurant just across from Senate Square.

In a game depicting the Finnish heritage, a competition of hammering …

… and sawing preceding the drinking songs.

Besides attending the summer school lectures, I managed to squeeze in sightseeing.  Minna took me over to see the Design Factory.  Read more... (447 words, 15 images, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)