O' Canada, Good Friends

I when up to Toronto on a customer visit last week. Took the 7am Tuesday flight and came back Friday afternoon. It was a busy trip, but Wally was able to drive me around some on the way back to the airport so I could get some pictures (thanks Wally). It was an overcast day so I didn't get what I call any really good pictures, but at least I did get a pretty good shot of the CN tower and the Hockey Hall of Fame.

My last trip to to Toronto was in March of 2001. On Thursday, Larry, a retired IBM'er (42 years) invited Wally and I over for a cookout. Larry to this day is still an example of what IBM used to be full of. Men and women who lived IBM's basic beliefs: 1) Respect for the Individual 2) Best possible customer service 3) Excellence in all ways. One of the high point of my 30 year IBM career to be able to work and learn from Larry, and a real honor now to be invited to his home for a cookout.

It's funny, but one of the projects Larry, Wally, and I worked together back in our IBM days was code named BBQ. The project was so named because we were at a cookout at Dan's house here in North Carolina when we decided to take the project on. I learned a lot from Larry doing that project. Management killed the BBQ project, but a lot of what was in BBQ was used in the last project I worked on which shipped 3 releases before I retired.

Larry - Me - Wally

When I think of Canada I'll always think of people like Larry that I'm honored to know, and proud to call a friend.

How I spent my 4th of July

Mama used to point out every chance she got that if I didn't do better in school I grow up to be a ditch digger. Well I never seriously considered ditch digging as a career, which is a good thing. It's too much work! I've dug ditches from time to time over the years, but never did it for a living. I seem to do it every few years when the memory of the last one fades. So over the holiday weekend I spend about 18 hours using the business end of a pick and shovel to dig a 30 ft long ~ 12 inch deep, shovel wide drainage ditch. The ditch goes around the corner of the parking area and gives the water some place to drain off instead or washing under the parking area.


Mama with all her negative reinforcement did me a favor. She knew I was too lazy to dig ditches for a living. Thanks Mom!