When we read that Bank of America was facing possible nationalization, Fe and I naturally thought… Bank of Obamerica!

Use of logos for purposes of satire only, not for commercial gain.

Yep, happily married… just in case any of my friends are only following my semi-dead blog! 11 months of silence, and not much before that too.

That makes 8 months that I’ve been too busy to blog. And the common factor? Must be Fe! Actually, it’s probably because Facebook is easier to do, but that’s not great news for those of you who aren’t on it. Anyway, I still tend to upload photos very regularly so you can see what I’m up to: click here or type in http://www.flickr.com/photos/camryn/sets/

Long time, no post. Since my last…

• Met Fe, seeing Fe, very happy.
• To Europe twice, once for holiday with Fe in Spain and France.
• Project in Georgia, advising on a potential spin-off.

See also: Flickr for photos, Facebook for random stuff

I deleted 1185 comments since most were spam. Sorry if I deleted any real ones.

So, since I last wrote something here I’ve been as busy as ever. The weekend after I visited one Ksusha in New York, I visited the other Ksusha in the OC. She and Ryan are expecting their baby any time now. The idea was to go down and catch up with them before they get busy with baby stuff. Photos here.

One of the things we did while I was down there was attend the 10th anniversary of a Krav Maga center in LA that Ryan has friends at. I ended up with two new hobbies. Firstly, I was impressed by Krav Maga itself (a martial art originally developed for the Israeli Defense Force) and I’ve since joined up here in SF. It’s exercise that has the additional positive benefit (besides fitness) of being useful for self defense. Also, kneeing people in the groin beats lifting weights any day. Secondly, the Krav event also had a charity auction and I picked up a an electric guitar (an G&L ASAT Special for aficionados) for only $200. Brian already had an amp and the other required gear here, so I’ve been doing my best to learn to play it. Patience, time, and effort and I’ll get there.

On the work side, my current project is coming to an end. I managed to spend <24hrs in the Seattle area, but I didn’t learn much except that it’s really nice and green up there. I’ll have to go back soon.

After JA Day, I jumped on a plane and headed over to New York to see my old friend Ksusha T (from my time in Minsk). As usual, due to flight delays, I arrived two hours late but we had some time to chat before catching some Z’s.

Saturday, we managed to squeeze in visits to the Metropolitan Museum, the Body Exhibition (real bodies, plasticized and dissected to present different views of internal organs and other structures), Wall St, the hole where the WTC used to be, South St Seaport, and a few eating and drinking establishments.

Sunday, we went to Battery Park to have a look at the Statue of Liberty from afar and some other features of the area. Then, we checked out the Museum of Natural History, Central Park and a Puerto Rican parade that was going on, Times Sq and Korean Town (which is really just a street).

It was a busy weekend, but it felt great to see Ksusha again after so long and catch each other up on life… and see a little of NYC while doing it.

Photos on Flickr

Last Friday, I did another day of volunteer elementary school teaching via Capgemini and Junior Achievement. This time, it was in a suburb of San Jose. I had 3rd grade again, but (of course) the experience was totally different as it was a different bunch of kids.

I was surprised, last time, that one kid gave their intended future profession as “Paediatrician”. I was even more surprised that it came up again. I also got five Vets and one Neurologist! I guess the kids, growing up near Silicon Valley and talking to a consultant, want to avoid anything that can be outsourced.

The kids were great to work with, and there hadn’t been any tears by lunchtime. I forgot to touch wood when mentioning this to my colleagues, and so came back to 3-4 crying 8yr olds after lunch. It seems one girl may have hit 2 or 3 others and one of those got so frustrated that she accidentally pushed another girl by mistake. As you can imagine, the actual circumstances remain unclear as it was hard to follow 3-4 crying kids all trying to make their points at once (between sobs).

Their teacher arrived a few minutes later and we brought them all inside and played dolphin sounds etc for 10 minutes while they had some personal time to calm down.

One of the exercises we did after lunch was making a class newspaper. The incident was well reported. One headline was ‘Too much drama for yo momma’ and they all automatically grasped the concept of not naming suspects or victims too early in a breaking story.

All up, a great day. Kids are smart.

if you’re reading this on Facebook, go to www.ridsel.com/blog/ - it’s better there. There are four parts you can read in order (from the bottom up).
Well, in summary, my Eurotrip was a hectic few days but extremely worthwhile. I had an amazing time at Les Fontaines - learning a lot and making some great new friends. I also felt very lucky to have made it to Mum and Bill’s special day and to have been able to participate in that with them. Any trip to England also means precious time with the english part of the family. Couldn’t ask for more, really.

After finishing training on Friday afternoon, I flew from Paris to Manchester and then caught the train to Todmorden. This time, and for the rest of the trip, my travel went much more smoothly.

I must’ve looked a bit of a wreak after training, since all my relatives kindly pointed out how tired I looked. I was whisked immediately from the train station to the pub across the street where I soon caught up with Auntie Linda, Uncle John, Mum, Tom and his girlfriend ‘Lisa, Bill, his kids John and Toni, and Les Gates (a former collegue of Bills and the younger brother of the Cameron that was born just before me in Waipu and led to the spelling of my name as Camryn).

After a good night’s sleep at Linda and John’s, the next morning was the wedding. Mum and Bill had given us all tasks… mine were ushering and photography. Apparently the theme was pink, although I wasn’t told and wore a pinkish tie simply by chance (if superb fashion sense can be called chance).

Anyway, the wedding itself followed the standard format with some roles updated for the specific occasion and modern times (e.g. Bill was “presented” by his kids). It was great to be there for such a special day and to see so much of my family in one place at one time, all dressed up. And to see the family extended and many people meeting for the first time e.g. meeting Tom’s girlfriend, and Bill’s family meeting various relatives and such.

The reception was at the Shepherd’s Rest, a local anicent pub, and much was consumed. That evening, much more was consumed (mostly liquid) in a few pubs in Tod. The speeches were all pretty good. Tom and I did a joint speak were I compared the happy couple to merging companies and he compared them to selecting the right stock for your herd at a saleyard. I guess you had to be there.

The next day Tom, Malisa, Jane and I went to Preston to see some showjumping. It wasn’t the greatest weather, compared to France anyway, but it was a fun day. The local horses seemed a bit chubby, but they got around.

That night, we all went up to the B&B where Mum and Bill were staying for Chinese takeout, and some quality family time over Trivial Pursuit and beers. I flew out the next morning. It took all of Monday. Now, I’m back in SF.

More Photos >> Wedding, Horses

So, at around 10:30pm local time I finally arrived at Les Fontaines, the Capgemini training center outside Paris. It’s a great looking facility…

Opposite the Chateau (pictured above) is a Forum with an auditorium, training rooms, reception etc. There are also several villas for accommodation and a gym with a pool. It’s all set in nice parkland with a lake. I didn’t see anyone that night. Basically, I went straight to sleep after a much needed shower.

The next morning, training kicked off. It was a consulting skills workshop that involved a mixture of in-class training and discussion followed by practical exercises in teams of six (that we stuck with all week). The whole thing was anchored around a single case study, with various consulting techniques applied to a sequence of presentations. The final case involved 8 hours of preparation on Thursday afternoon and evening, followed by presentations in full business dress the next morning. Throughout the week, the judges got tougher and the final presentations all faced differing surprise obstacles that occur frequently in the real world. We were really tested on our teamwork, consulting skills, and general preparedness.

A particularly great part of the training was the work with Capgemini’s truely distinct approaches. 90% of consulting methods are shared across firms, so it’s important to be very clear on what is truely different to be able to communicate that… to win the type of work we want and ensure we can apply the way of working that we wish to.

In addition to the training, it was an amazing fun week. We had people there from the UK, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, and France. I was the only US based perison except for one of the facilitators. The UK office had a couple of Aussies and a South African though, so I didn’t feel too unique as an Antipodean. All of these people were thrown together in the training and in socializing. The bar was open and free until midnight every night and they also organized a wine tasting, some team games, etc on various nights. When we had free time, I played petanque once or twice. The in-house chefs kept us pretty well fed with tasty French stuff as well. Souffle of this, and mousse of that.

All up, it was a great place to learn and a great place to be. I’m feeling pretty good about my company at the moment. Nothing’s ever perfect, but we have great people and a way of running the business that’s both effective and a pleasure to participate in.

I can’t wait to get back to Europe for a holiday before too long… or maybe to facilitate some training

More photos >>