(1) the chickens are out and about

(2) the tulips are finally blooming

(3) new porch furniture—it's warm enough to move outdoors

(4) construction of Susan's new studio

Happy Spring! (I know it's almost over for some of you—we're just gearing up. And, of course, for others of you south of the Equator, winter is just around the corner in our "little" "global village.")

[Slides are here.—CM]

Speaking in Madrid today for HSM one more time. You'll find 4 PPs. One is the "Long" version of the Keynote. Next, the Main Event keynote. Then, two shorter presentations for a couple of company presentations to Ferrovial [PPT] (infrastructure—including, God help us all, Heathrow) and Starcom [PPT] (a media-creative services giant). The 28-day trip ends Tuesday, with a little help from Lufthansa. Should be fun getting questioned by Immigration. Here will be my answer to "What countries did you visit?"

Boston
United Kingdom-England
Spain
Argentina
Germany
Switzerland
Germany
Italy
Belgium-Flanders
Spain-Catalonia
Portugal
Spain
Germany
Boston

Planned to "pop into" the Prado, my favorite museum in the world—my hotel room only 50 yards away. Line when I arrived Saturday was, I'd judge, almost a quarter-mile long, and I don't think I'm exaggerating. Sunday, my last chance, was the same by about 11 a.m. So, on the advice of the concierge, adding a little of my usual conservatism, I got in the queue at 8 a.m. Sunday for a 9 a.m. opening. I'd guess I was about #150. The problem was that it was colder (about 25°F, -4°C) in Madrid than in VT; but I persisted, despite totally inadequate clothes. I'm used to Madrid at 95°F, +35°C, its summer #. Net was, it was, as always, worth it. (I once flew from SF to Madrid and back to see one picture here—Brueghel's "The Triumph of Death." I'm sure that'll draw Comments. Never done anything comparable before or since.) At any rate, above and below are a couple of crowd pics at 6 p.m. Sunday, a mix of tourists, including a ton of Japanese, but mostly locals, including a heavy youth component. Hats off to the Spanish for Museo Del Prado's just-completed renovation and for the popularity of the museum.

("Public" thanks for getting me through "all this" to, especially, Abbey Bishop, Nancy Paul, Klair Sirianna, Ivy Gustafson, the inimitable Harry "He Da Man" Rhoads; and Cathy Mosca, Erik Hansen, and Shelley Dolley for keeping the Blog up to date. A special debt of gratitude to the Interpreters here, there, and everywhere, whose job when I'm racing and colloquial, approximately always, is much harder than mine!)

Twenty-five days, nine countries, and 19 presentations into my current trip ... I'm zonked. Hence my delay in posting my Lisbon presentation. Belatedly, here it is—from Lisbon, with HSM as organizers, and pal Tom Kelley once more as my partner.

Sorry! Belated posting of my PowerPoint for Mind Consulting in Bologna. The audience was "SMEs"—folks from small and medium-sized enterprises, lots of owners. Loved it! (SME execs, worldwide, take no crap. As I said, love it!) Susan and I came to Bologna after spending my birthday in Venice. We loved Bologna, especially Saint Stephano's church; but the pictures above and below are from our magical sojourn in Venice!

In Brussels at the moment, getting ready for a speech today. (Snowed last night. Very, very light—but snow nonetheless.) I put together yet another "master"—built around a dozen Big Things "we" "gurus" typically get wrong; I called it "Guru Gaffes." It is by far the most highly annotated presentation I have ever provided—hope that meets with your satisfaction. (Let me know!) Pictures from Brussels above and below—above, World War I memorial; below typical Eurocrat office facade—the centerpiece of Brussels, home of the EU!

I am not complaining—I've enjoyed my various engagements in the past 7 days. (It's the people, stupid! Everywhere! I feed off them with what seems to be an insatiable appetite.) On the other hand, I guess I'm not surprised that I've been falling asleep in various poses, then snapping out of it a few minutes to an hour later in exactly the same position in which I faded out. In the 8 days that encompassed Saturday through Saturday last, I've given nine seminar-presentations in three countries—marked by 27 hours with the lapel mic in the "on" mode. (Plus a number of media interviews, some, well, interminable—I'll go on forever if the interviewer is well prepared, but I am a bit testy when it's clear the interviewer hasn't done any prep.) Travel was: Tupelo to Memphis to Boston to London to Madrid to Buenos Aires to Frankfurt to Zurich; it encompassed 40 hours in the air and it appears 25,000 miles ... or so. (Lufthansa, as usual, takes the honors.) And all this during the week before my 65th birthday—I think a shrink might argue that I was trying to prove something to myself. Susan would argue that I did, indeed, prove it—that I'm an idiot. I, of course, will reserve judgment. I slept in Sunday in Zurich, then enjoyed a looooong walk through and around this lovely city—zonked or not, it is a privilege of the first order to have such opportunities! (And, yes, the Swiss are tidy—I don't even think the pigeons are allowed to poop.) Now in the midst of prep for a 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. seminar ("all day" in my lingo).

(Above, a gorgeous Japanese maple on the hotel grounds—in full fall farewell plumage. Below, street vendor roasting chestnuts—Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich.)

[The link for the PPT slides is below.—CM]
FEMSA, Buenos Aires

I do love London and feel fully at home; I've been coming over here since serving a summer stint as a midshipman in the Royal Navy in 1965. I gave two speeches at the London Business Forum today, and have another two ticketed tomorrow. How I made it through, I don't know. Though still suffering bigtime from jetlag, I nonetheless stayed up, tracking every pitch in Game 4 of the World Series—Jonathan Papelbon's capper occured at 4:08 a.m. Greenwich time, just 37 minutes before my wake-up call. It's a long way from my new Kubota in Tinmouth, VT, to the shop windows of London being dressed on Sunday—see above.

Now, NMMC is stepping boldly forward with an innovative health education program aimed at children in general and childhood obesity in particular. (Our HHS secretary described it as a problem that is worse than terrorism.) Called "HealthWorks," and modeled after a pioneering program invented by Memorial Hospital of South Bend, Indiana (skip the Notre Dame football quips, please), the program aims to rock the world—and, God knows, we need it.

I am speaking to several groups here, from the medical center and the community at large, and despite the cold (Tupelo is colder than Boston today), having a great time—Southern Hospitality matched with Olympian Aspirations of Excellence.

[You can get the PPT presentations with the links below.—CM]
North Mississippi Medical Center
Excellence. Always. Tupelo, MS
Excellence. Always. Tupelo, MS, Long

Implication: Eliminate the use of terms such as "Asia"—as in "the Asian management style." Eliminate: as in zero, none, never, naught, zip.

I love Sydney. I ended my stay with a 2-hour powerwalk in one of my favorite venues anywhere in the world—the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain. Above you'll see one of the gardens' century plants in bloom—they can grow several feet in a day when they explode from their dormancy. (I thought one was an intruder years ago, when it appeared instantly outside the window of my San Francisco house.) Below "the mother of all trees."

Speaking to Taleo today—an SF-based software company that provides sophisticated stuff to abet Talent acquisition, development, productivity enhancement, and retention. E.g., it takes about $100,000 to recruit an employee, and $500,000 to find and train a replacement. (LONG and FINAL versions of slides attached.) Above and below you'll see a couple of slices of my favorite city in the world (along with London). An "Uncle Vito's" "restaurant" is as SF as the Golden Gate—though I can assure you that San Franciscans didn't name the street—see the sign—after the current resident of the shack at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Below is one of the premier reasons for my love affair with San Francisco—incredible diversity; not so many cities with dispensers of the Philippine News, I'd judge.

[Slides from the event in Nairobi, where Tom spoke to close to 500 clients comprised of CEOs and top management who are clients of KPMG Training Solutions, are available with the links below.—CM]
Excellence. Always. Section One, KPMG, Nairobi
Excellence. Always. Section Two, KPMG, Nairobi

As I headed for a long hot shower that I hoped would reduce my back pain to mere agony, I thought about home writ large, Tinmouth Mountain, Vermont, and the United States of America—and our 231st July Fourth. I/we are lucky—300 million lucky dudes—rancor shadowing Iraq notwithstanding. The Freedoms I "automatically" express and enjoy on my Farm and in my professional life are truly amazing, especially if your reference point is a scant 250 years ago—as I mentioned in a recent Post, I'm reading about the history of the idea of freedom per se. For me, born in 1942, I am also reminded on 4 July of the state of terror that existed in the world when I arrived—i.e., Holocaust and human butchery in general were in full swing.

Hence, putting the likes of Middle Eastern madness and views about this year's decisions by the Supremes aside for 24 hours, we have much to be thankful for, much to be worthy of a hot dog with catsup lathered with reckless disregard of its effect on post-July Fourth girth.

Back to the rocks ...

The upshot is that my Posts will be sporadic—and the posting of PowerPoint presentations nil. (NB: I've spent the first three very intense "days off" learning Microsoft Office 2007—which has #%$^ all in common with the '97–'03 version; I successfully side-stepped Vista, only to be fully ensnared by its cousin. Hint: I am in a very bad mood.)

Hats off to our Normandy vets, now all in their 80s, from the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, etc.—brave members of a true "coalition of the willing."

*In the past, overseas, I've observed dismay at the resident of 1600 PA Ave. But this time it's inclusive—we are all getting grief.

Alas, Memorial Day finds me on the road. Then again, there are a lot of our troops on the road today as well. My thoughts go to everyone who is serving, but especially to those in Iraq and Afghanistan. And a particularly special thought is aimed at Keith Bishop, husband of our Abbey Bishop. Thanks, Keith.

It seems odd to combine thoughts of Iraq and beautiful Mauritius. But it's where I was, and you'll see a bit of it above and below. Note the lovely (to me) old boat that also served its time, and no doubt with distinction.

As wealth grows in India and the Middle East, and as Boomer restlessness accelerates from every corner of the globe, Mauritius stands poised to become a primo travel destination. Middle Eastern investment money is already flowing in, full tilt.

(Am in Göteborg, Sweden, as I write.)

Only for an ESPN seminar could I scrap the tie and show up with a Johnny Unitas shirt and [Washington] Nats hat. Above and below, the next day re-construction, courtesy Abbey Bishop.

Tom's caption from yesterday, repeated below, was supposed to go with the photo above. Now we see what he means.

[T.T.D./Things To Do: Run like hell when the volcano pops ... a lesson from my recent visit to Pompeii.—TP]

[T.T.D./Things To Do: Run like hell when the volcano pops ... a lesson from my recent visit to Pompeii/see photo above.]