Saturday, July 30, 2011

Shenandoah

I have nearly two weeks of freedom before starting the new job.  This week, we took a family vacation and camped in Shenandoah National Park.  Shenandoah is only two hours from us, so it's a convenient place to escape into the wilderness.  It's not the world's best wildlife or scenic park, but I do enjoy the view of the mountains through the haze.


There is a lot of hiking to be done, including pieces of the Appalachian Trail.  We chose to do a shorter hike to Dark Hollow Falls, which, with the kid carrier, turned into an amazing workout for me.

 Dark Hollow Falls

My favorite part of the trip occurred in two doses.  Each morning, we were treated to a half-dozen hummingbirds feverishly sucking down nectar from the blooming milkweed plants next to our campsite.

 Photo Credit: Nathan King

We didn't see any bears, but that doesn't matter.  The real mission was accomplished: introducing Alison to an amazing park and adding to the world another happy camper.

Photo Credit: Nathan King

Saturday, July 23, 2011

And Now For Something Completely Different

Monday I'll go to work, answer some questions, sametime a few friends, have a couple of meetings, then shut down my laptop and end my career at IBM.  On August 8th I will become the newest Project Manager for the Digital Media division of National Geographic.

Photo of the Day: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

I suppose it's tradition to pick apart my career at IBM and explain why I chose to leave, but I don't want to.  I wouldn't be the person I am today without my IBM experiences, both good an bad.  Instead, as I pack up to leave, I can't help but think about a few important things I learned at IBM.

The highlight of my career was my Corporate Service Corps experience in Tanzania.  You can read about my team here (Tanzania 1).  No one knew this at the time, but this was such a dangerous program to send me on.  Here, I got a taste of what it would be like if I were doing something I loved and making a difference in the world.  I got to scale Mt. Kilimanjaro with Nathan, and watch the wildebeests move in unison across the Serengeti plains.  Yes, my love of travel, culture, language, and environmental change all swirled around and met in one place.  I wish I could have found a similar opportunity within IBM when I returned, but such amazing jobs probably don't exist.  I will be forever grateful for this experience because from it I was able to hone my life goals and begin forging a career path that would make me truly happy. 

I don't think Nathan would be a Park Ranger today (his undeniably perfect career path) if it weren't for IBM's flexibility.  They allowed me to work remotely from several parks, to take days off and work weekends, to basically do whatever I wanted as long as I got my work done.  Surprisingly, with that kind of flexibility, most IBMers end up working all the time and it took me years to figure out how to create my own balance.  That is a priceless skill and one that I'll be using for a long time.  Thanks, IBM!

Finally, I had some fantastic customers and some that made me glad they were located in another state.  I've worked on highly successful projects and disastrous ones (let's just say that I know how to keep my cool when a Vice President is yelling at me).  In spite of some real trials, our team was always able to pull off the impossible.  Of everything I gained in the past six years, the most important thing was confidence.  The confidence to trust my gut, the confidence to push past daily issues, and finally the confidence to do something when I realized IBM wasn't the right spot for me anymore.

It's been an awesome six years.  I'll miss IBM a lot, but instead of "Building a Smarter Planet", I'll be "inspiring people to care about the [amazing] planet" they already have.

Friday, July 8, 2011

4th of July on the National Mall

Everyone warned me not to go to the National Mall for Independence Day. The crowds will be overwhelming, they said. You won't get home until after midnight. That baby will hate it. This is where being stubborn really pays off because they were wrong on all accounts.

I wasn't about to miss my chance to see our capital celebrate its birthday. Alison and I arrived downtown at 11:30am, just in time to snag a sweet parade-watching spot from the National Museum of Art's Sculpture Garden lawn.

 7-4-11 - National Archives

OK, so we couldn't see everything from there, but the view of the balloons, floats, and tops of the bands' heads was worth it to have some space for Alison to run around, taste leaves, and meet some other babies.  There actually seemed to be just as many foreigners downtown as US citizens.  Probably because we throw a good party.

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival was underway, celebrating Colombia, Rhythm & Blues, and the Peace Corps this year.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but the festival turned out to be a real DC gem.  There were three stages with world music complete with dance floors (have I mentioned yet that Alison dances?), a bunch of tents describing worldwide culture, crafts, music, you name it, and also delicious foods.  We sat in the Home Cooking tent for a long time, hoping to get a taste of the fish stew a Malian was teaching us to make.  I had to leave right at the end because Alison got angry.  Maybe she doesn't like fish.

 7-4-11 - Kenyan women basket-weaving

At 6pm we were admitted to the NPS VIP fireworks area.  That's right, it appears we are now true Washington Insiders since only those on the list can watch the fireworks from within a special fenced area next to the Park Ranger National Mall Offices!  The view was great, actually, except that I didn't get my coveted shot of fireworks over the Lincoln Memorial.  Trees were blocking our view of the monuments.  We could have easily snagged a spot closer to the middle of the mall and next year, I think we will.  From where we were at, however, we could clearly hear the stage and the special announcement from "Park Ranger Nathan King", as he was introduced.  Nathan was the 4th of July Public Information Officer, so he got to address thousands in the crowd and MC a skit about American freedoms (or lack thereof) throughout our history.

 7-4-11 - National Mall not super-crowded.  I can still see grass.

The fireworks display was, well, worthy of a nation that can still (for a couple more years anyway) say it's the strongest nation in the world.  Nathan was told by the director of the National Mall fireworks display that the finale would include roughly 45 fireworks shot off every second.  Check it out:

 

People cleared out quickly.  We waited to leave until 10pm and were home by 11pm.  Alison stayed awake in awe through the fireworks, then fell asleep on the way home.  We're going back next year.  Would you like to come?