Greetings from Marbella, Spain. Just finished with 4 straight days & nights of Europe, Middle East & Africa sales & customer meetings. After a 26 hour flight due to a delay causing me to miss my 3rd flight and forcing a change in carriers and adding another city, I have yet to get rid of my jet lag. Let me summarize this trip by 3 things NOT to do on your first international trip with a new company. First, don't get hammered in front of 3 VPs on the first night and start making fun of your new boss in front of her. Stealing champagne from the bar in front of them also isn't good. Second don't over sleep, show up an hour late then fall asleep while the CEO is presenting and have everyone see you. Third, don't oversleep again and be late the 3rd day in a row on the main day when the GM is introducing the HQ staff in front as part of his opening presentation with your name on a slide calling out for you. Finally, I apparently, did not learn my lesson of not drinking orange juice with a hang over as my multiple trips out of the meetings did not go unnoticed by more than one VP. This trip can only get better. After a free night and day tommorrow, its another marathon 18+ hour trip to Singapore for another 5 days of meetings. Back in town on Monday. Hopefully still with a job. Cheers,
K

I'm off again on another junket meeting with our regional teams and customers at week long events in Marbella, Spain and Singapore. Since these events were scheduled on back to back weeks, if I flew home from one, I'd be in town for less than 24 hours, so I'm flying around the world from Spain direct to Singapore with a few days of R&R in between. For those unfamiliar with Spain, Marbella is located within the Costa del Sol in the Andulacia region in the most southern coast of Spain. I've been there once before, over 3 years ago when Tones & I did our trip to Sevilla & surrounding areas. Ironic, the two countries I went to the most with HP are my first two destinations. I get back home to work two days then am off again for two nights in Vegas. If you should need to get a hold of me, your best bet is to email on my yahoo account, as I don't have a world phone yet and not sure how often I'll be checking. Otherwise, I'll drink Rioja & Sangria for everyone. Wish me luck as once again I test my skills to combine drinking and working. Cheers,
K

Back from 4 nights & 5 days in Florida. Stuck in a hotel sitting thru presentations and smoozing with customers was not the the olden days. But I managed to stay in check and even made it through a dinner the last night sitting right next to our CEO. Thank goodness they stopped serving wine mid way thru dinner. I did get to hook up with Little Angry Schmidt, who is thankfully less angry, but almost as cocky. I did realize the true art of business is being hammered and still being able to talk about work intelligently and sound excited about it. And also that we all get paid as much as we do because we put up with doing the same thing for so long. These sound like two great additions to Tony Cantor's book, which none of you cheap bastards have bought. And who thinks Tony Cantor looks and acts like Sam from "The Apprentice"?? If you don't know him, here's a picture of him on the night before his wedding in Jognston, PA with some drunk girl at 2am.

http://photos.yahoo.com/kevin_shimamoto


Sunny and 70's in SD. House hunting year 8 starts again this weekend.

After being home for 4 days, I'm off on my first business trip with the new company. Two days of sales & customer meetings and smoozing in a resort off a beach in south florida. My goal is to not get to f'ed up. Wish me luck. I'll leave you with a sentance from a recent email from a former co-worker, our European GM, Chris Tombs, who is a great guy.

"I cannot quite believe that the defender of all of lifes good things is so embroiled in the routine existance of struggling corporate America. "

Only a Brit can make sarcasm sound so bloody good. God save the Queen.

Seasons Greetings to all. I had a great holiday. Worked 3 days, then had the entire next week off. Drove up to Sac with Sim & her two dogs to spend Xmas with my family. Stopped over in Fresno to see the Barney clan and the near completion of their remodeled kitchen. Had a nice, relaxed, although cold time despite 16 hours of driving and 3 dog poop incidents. After another 2.5 days of work, we had a nice New Year's Eve dinner party, before flying back up to Sac on New Year's day. Hung out with the folks, then took off for the So Bay to see Yasuda & his family in Sunnyvale. Had a great dinner out in Palo Alto at Laverna. Saturday was my godson, Jack Isola's christening in Palo Alto with a party at the Isola's house to follow with tons of family & old friends. Then I was off to Santana Row in San Jose for dinner at Straits with two of my old high school buddies, Steve Toves & Rob Cruz. Then a drive out to Lafeyette for a nightcap with Tony & Mona Keeler. Back to Sac in the morning for lunch with Tony Baldini and Caroline. Then back to SD. Now, its back to the grind.....for four days before I head out to Ft Lauderdale for a week of work. Hope all had a nice holiday. It was great to catch up and see so many friends & family. I'm gearing up for a busy year with lots of travel. Hoping to see everyone soon. Try to get out to SD because for sure our weather is better than yours. Best wishes to all. Here's to a fantastic 2004. Cheers