Big Month

Hey peeps,

I know. It's been a while. A long while. I was chatting with Kim (@PutItAway) and Deb (@dallisonlee) last night about Blog Catharsis at a Tweetup organized by Shashi (@shashib). Kim and I were in a bit of blog entry malaise. Well, Kim got her "blog on" this morning, and now I'm sitting here at DCA's Admiral's Club on my way home [Home (n): the place where (some of) my mail is delivered and my kids occasionally visit] after 28 days straight on the road, and I'm feeling a bit reflective. Yes, you read that correctly; 28 days. So here we go...

So much has happened this month, professionally and personally. Honestly, before I left I had a picture in my mind of how the trip would play out. It was all for work, but there would be one or two days and 1/2 days where I could carve some time out to take a look around. I tried to document my travels/experiences over here, but sadly (also somewhat expected) I fell off with time and energy to do so as the month went on.

• Barcelona: Beautiful, dense, city. Gotta go back.
• Kuala Lumpur: I barely saw it. :( But I did snag a few pictures of the Petronas Towers that I'm happy to have had the opportunity to snap.
• Sydney: This was my third trip to Sydney, and the town just "fits" for me. I like it.
• Canberra: Capital of Australia. Imagine if Washington D.C. were in Kansas, no, more like Western Kentucky. I love the Australians. They're brilliant, actually - they send their politicians out in the middle of nowhere. We build beltways around ours and worship them. We're just silly.
• Brisbane: Beautiful, hilly, town. Home to great group of people doing some pioneering work. I'm honored to be able to work with them.
• Washington D.C.: See "Canberra".

It was a great trip. It really was. Much was accomplished. Much was noted for what we must do next. My industry is populated by some extremely talented and visionary people. Sure, there are exceptions, but the list of people who truly know what they're about and actually get stuff done, is pretty awesome.

In my last conversation of this trip, I was speaking with one such person. We were talking about how to move something to the next level. "We're at a rare point in time where the timing of so many things are advantageous for us to have a lasting, positive, impact in all these areas. It's up to us to screw it up." (I paraphrased the first sentence, the second sentence is an exact quote.) When he said "us", he meant the collective "us" of our industry, and it's true.

Let's do this.

As for the blog, I'll try to do better. I don't write this thing for any particular reason or for any particular audience, but I do get an e-mail or two every now and then from a few of you who actually subscribe. I appreciate that. I really do. :)

Time to button-up for that flight home. I might just throw up my arms in glee when we're wheels-down in Austin. :)