The event was the Seminarium Ecuador in Quito, short for San Francisco de Quito, the capital city. Be sure to look at google maps, wikipedia, and other websites to learn more about this fascinating place. It's in the same time zone as Boston, but worlds away.

If you attended the Seminarium, please give us your comments, and if you'd like the slides they are here.

[Get the PPT slides.—CM]

FYI, one other highlight ...

I think I'll do a new feature, TomChirps. I am not so keen on Twitter, but I am keen on short (140 characters—or so!) comments on stuff I deem important, not egocentric posts about my-life-as-tom having a secret Cinnabon at the Omaha airport.

From the Shanghai Airport [above] to my Beloved Kubota in West Tinmouth, Vermont [below]. Susan decorated the Kubota with daffodils from her garden to commemorate my return; and I've already drawn blood from my bramble cutting!

Yet for reasons beyond simple logic, I must pause and offer a big-humongous "thank you" to my hosts in Abu Dhabi. I can't measure it on any scale, but the kindness and thoughtfulness and engagement I experienced are way out on the tip of the tail of a normal distribution that encompasses all 3,000 (more or less) of my speeches.

One tiny episode is characteristic. Quite unusually (thank God), I picked up some damnable airplane bug-virus, and my voice was, almost instantaneously, cracking and unclear and sliding downhill. During the coffee time before the seminar, while croaking to one of my hosts, he suddenly turned on a dime and said, "We must get you hot water with honey and ginger." Magically, he managed to make it happen in a flash.

If you were a 100% cynic you could call it a matter of self-interest. But the genuine concern with which it was done was, well, wonderful. Throughout the croaky day, various folks told me to "calm down, save your voice." Etc. Etc.

The wee example is indeed characteristic—but the overall warmth from everyone I crossed paths with will nurture me for a long time to come.

(I think it's why I keep doing what I'm doing.)

(FYI, the honey-ginger-hot water mix was a great help.)

I returned from New Zealand sunshine to the above-below in Boston. Welcome home, Tom!

To finish NZ musings, and break a self-inflicted rule ...
Though not musical, I can say that New Zealander Hayley Westenra has one of the most pure voices I've ever heard—if you happen to be new to her, which I reluctantly admit that I was, I recommend you seek her out.

(The pictures above and below are from the "back yard," all of about 9X9, of our wee Boston abode. Above, obviously, table and chair; below, a sculpture.)

What could be a better welcome home (from Korea, Mexico, Croatia, Argentina) gift than Susan's Peonies in bloom.

But there's a catch—only in Vermont. (Or perhaps, also Nome, Alaska.) That is, I realized that this time next week the days will have begun to get shorter. Hence, I am suffering A.SAD. That is ... Anticipatory Seasonal Affective Disorder.

As I said, only in VT!

You can get the PPT here: Korea Design Forum, Seoul

Georgetown, C & O (Chesapeake & Ohio) Canal. America's Internet 2.0. (Arguably the Pony Express was Internet 1.0. Or was it pamphleteering surrounding the buildup to the Revolutionary War?)

Far end of Memorial Bridge, Seabee Memorial. "Seabee" from "CB"—U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion. Navy combat contractors, born in World War II, first notable service at Guadalcanal. Sailors recruited directly from the Union halls. Motto: "Can do." (John Wayne made a Seabee movie. Sailors in "South Pacific," subject of a current Broadway revival, were Seabees.) (Yrs truly served with them in Vietnam—I stop by, pat the marble, salute, and say hello to old friends.)

Vietnam Memorial. Over 58,000 names, listed in chron order—from 1958 to 1975. Many visitors last Saturday. Mothers of "the names"?

Waterproof book with all the names, locations. Youngster looking for name, granddad?—typical rubbing.

Names.

Recent tribute. Dozens each day. In fact, one soldier's family left his Harley at The Wall. (Gov't keeps all stuff—not available for public viewing.)

25E, 62. East 25 [each wall section is numbered], line 62 [up to you to count]. LT David C. Hall, USA. College roommate.

How many of ours died in Vietnam? One answer is: 112 "Halls" alone.

Godspeed, Dave.

(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 occurred 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