Last Day of Class and last Blog

We had a private coach bus drive us 2 hours to Dublin.    Our first stop on the tour was a visit to the Dail.  This is the Republic of Ireland’s government.    We saw where the Senate meets and the Legislature.   We had one of the legislature representatives speak to us.    They served us tea and a candy bar.   They were very proud and had pictures on the wall from when Reagon, JFK, and Clinton addressed them.   This is outside of the parliament as we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside.

Then we went to Start-up Bootcamp.   This is a place that new businesses go to accelerate the start of their business.   I must say it was a bit creepy as it was an old building and they had spent little $ to fix it up.

We met the newly appointed Minister of Trade to Colorado at a local restaurant.   He shared how he plans to promote trade between the two.   

Our last meeting was with the Deputy Minister of the International Affairs and Trade.    This building was a mansion, gorgeous.    This guy has spent many years working outside of Ireland and most recently working with the European Union. 

We then got our rooms at Trinity College.   Kerry and I had dinner with her sister who is here on a 2 month study abroad.   The company and atmosphere was great, but the food was the worst we’ve had since we’ve been here.    Oh, well.    Tomorrow, I’m leaving at 9:30ish and my flight leaves at  7 pm for USA.    I can’t wait.   It has been a great trip, but I’m ready to see my family.

Goodbye Ireland!

Thursday, Last Day in Belfast

We started our day by attending an IT Conference on Cloud Computing at the Titanic Museum.   The 5th floor is a conference center that has a replica of the grand staircase which is off the public tour.   It was a thrill seeing it.   There was a speaker from Salesforce.com which was very good.  This was all about creating jobs for Northern Ireland.  I enjoyed this.


We then listened to 4 speakers over in the office building we've been working in.   The first one was William McCarter who was in a family business that created underwear for many years.   He also chaired the International Fund for Ireland, which was a pot of money that would be given to worthy causes to help build businesses, created jobs within Ireland.   

Then we heard Sr. George Quigley.    He was President of the Ulster Bank for many years before he retired  (yes the same one that out he major outage last weekend) and Chairman of the Bombardier company board.   He has been working for years to get the corporate tax in Northern Ireland lowered from 28% to something near what the Republic of Ireland has which is 12.5%.  

We then heard from Lisa Bradley who is a professor of International Studies.   She asked each of us to give us a difference we've observed in the business world since we've been here.   I said that the CEOs are much more humble and down to earth people who have been willing to spend lots of time with us.

Colm McGormick from Maildistiller then spoke.    His goal through the companies he starts is to create jobs for the local economy.   He wants to give back to his community.   

We then took a small bus to a company called Andor.   They have 350 people worldwide and about 250 in Belfast and they make cameras that help in the process of curing diseases and other scientific causes.    It was a beautiful facility and we got to tour the manufacturing floor.   The CEO Connor Walsh was extremely impressive.   He has led his company through 30% growth in only 5 years and his company is voted one of the best companies to work for.   

Bryan Keating, the investor we interviewed on Tuesday also spoke to the group.   He talked about taking risks and also that you are never to old to become an entrepreneur.

We had a team dinner at McCrackins.   I had my first Irish steak and it was delicious, I was glad I didn't miss out on that.   Tomorrow we leave at 8 am to go back to Dublin for our final day of the course.

Wednesday, Tour day

Today was a great day and a historical day.   Today the Queen shook hands with a former IRA chief, now parliament member who was involved in the death of one of her favorite relatives.    Locals say it was a milestone toward peace. 
 





























    We did the city bus tour this morning.   During the tour we saw some protestors holding an Irish flag and a big sign that said No Brit Queen.   They had policemen standing around them.   We also heard there were several small bombs go off last night.    The traffic was a bit slow due to the Queen being in town.   We saw a lot of sights including a former paramilitary mural that had been there for years and 2 days ago was painted over due to the Queen coming.  All very interesting.   We also did souvenir shopping at Carroll's.  I spent more that I would like, but may not be back. 

After the tour, we walked back to the hotel and then had to go to the same building we've been working in to meet the owner of the industrial park.    He gave us a tour of the Titanic dry and the pump house.    It was pretty incredible to be at the bottom of the dry dock.   The Dublin team joined us for the first time since we left Dublin.  

We walked to dinner at a famous pub by Victoria Square which is a big mall.   While we were eating, the heavens opened up and it poured.   Hard, hard rain, so we had to take a taxi back.  






Overall, it was a great day!

Tuesday, June 26 - Final day on the project

Today I felt much better physically.   We gave our final report-out to the CEO and our Professor.   The CEO told us we did a great job and represented our college very well.   The CEO got invited to a reception at the Titanic Museum to meet the Queen.   He is considered a success story in Belfast.

We finished up at 1:30 on that and then interviewed our subject for our Leadership Study, Bryan.

Bryan is a successful entrepreneur that was the first distributor of Apple Computer maintenance in Northern Ireland.   He sold this company 20 years ago and is now an Angel Investor for other start-ups in the Belfast area.   He was very personable to talk to and has been a mentor to the CEO we’ve been working with for many years.  Bryan started as a researcher at a university and switched to business at age 30.    

We also interviewed Leslie, who used to be a direct report of Bryan’s.   She said the Bryan is a model leader and great mentor.   She is now in HR and tries to get people to model Bryan’s leadership behaviors such as being available, giving timely feedback, and walking the talk. 

Walking back to the hotel which goes past the Titanic Movie studio where they make films, we saw a woman flying around on a crane doing acting a bit silly.    Don’t know if she was being filmed or what, but below is what we saw:

Our team planned out the work for the Leadership PowerPoint and bought our tickets to go on a city tour in the morning.

I had dinner with Patrick a co-worker of mine that I work with on the phone who lives in Belfast.   His 9 year old son joined us.   It was great seeing how 9 year olds are basically the same where ever they are.   He sat at dinner and played his DSI and ate chicken nuggets and fries while we ate Indian food.    Patrick gave me a mini tour of the city showing me all the peace walls, police stations that look like prisons, the school next to his that was hit by a rocket and a bar where to be a member you had to have been in prison fighting for the IRA.  

As I write, I am seeing the first sunset since I’ve been here.   The sky is orange, purple and teal.   It is 10:30 pm.   

7:53 AM

I got up early and went running.   Since the Queen is coming to the Titanic Quarter, the police are stopping every car and searching before entering our street.   I ran past a policeman with a machine gun.   It was a bit intimidating.   I hope there is no violence today because there are a lot of people here who don’t like the Queen or anything to do with Britain.

Monday, back to work

I was dragging a bit all day.   My fall yesterday was causing my back to hurt and just didn't feel great most of day.    However, we finished our project today.   We have a few finishing touches tomorrow morning to do, but for the most part done.    We now have to focus on our next deliverable which is the Leadership report.   We interview our designated leader tomorrow and someone who has worked for him.    

We left at 5 today which was the earliest we've finished since we started.   We met without Professor at the hotel and gave him an update.   Then we all went to dinner with him, his wife and 22 year old son who are traveling with him.  

We Boxy which is a traditional Irish meal that is a potatoes pancake with meat or veggie sauce.   While we were finishing up, two local Belfast business men joined us and were interested in talking to us about why we were hear.    They were very talkative and curious.

No new pictures today.   I am really tired and ready for bed.

Sunday night, back from Portrush

I have two words to describe how I feel.  Exhausted and sore.   Everywhere we went we hiked, up hills, down hills, to the shore, back from the shore.   My calves are screaming and to top things off, I fell in the shower tonight and now my arms and back are sore.   Oh well, it was worth it and I have wonderful memories and pictures to remember the weekend by.

It was a beautiful day, the sun shone and the wind was much calmer.   We slept in a bit and took a taxi to the Dunluce Castle.   They had a great audio/video tour that led you around and showed what it probably have looked it back in the 16th and 17th century. 

 Then we went to Castlerock.    Below are the House remains we toured where the Mussenden Temple was.    We walked through a forest for a while and the temp really rose.

Below is a picture of the temple which was actually a library right on a cliff.  It was filled with books and had a huge fireplace.   Now they use it for weddings.  It is completely empty inside.

Then we went back to Portrush and bought our train ticket to get back to Belfast.    The man said to expect delays due to a problem with the line and that we may have to take a bus along the way.     We had a nice lunch at the habour.  I had lamb with mint and dressing and it was fantastic.    We finished around 3 and I was stuffed.    We collected our bags at the B&B and then walked to the train station.   The city was packed with people since the sun was shining.   Everyone was enjoying  Portrush.

We boarded the train and at the first stop we had to change trains.   Right before we got off they said we had to get on a bus.   So we headed to the station and by then they told us that the line was clear and to get on the next train.    So the train went smoothly and there was no delays.    I slept the whole way back.

We got checked back into the Premier Inn just fine, skipped dinner and now time to get some sleep.
I saw lots of dogs today as they were enjoying the nice day too.   It made me miss everyone at home.  

Saturday, on Holiday

We had a great day today.  The weather had shown rain all day, but we avoided most of the rain.   An occasional drizzle but overall 100% better than yesterday.    We started with a very delicious homemade breakfast at the B&B with fruit, cheese, homemade jam, eggs, bacon, and toast.   After going outside we determined the wind was a bit too cool to survive without hats and scarves so we found a souvinir shop and got some winter supplies on sale.   So  I know I look ridiculous in the hat, but it kept my years warm.

Then we walked to the bus and took the bus to a national park.   Hard to describe, see below.   This bridge was set-up by salman fisherman before the salman was put on the endangered species list.    It was a very looooonnnnngg hike to and from.   But the view was gorgeous.


Then we took a tax to the Giant's Causeway.   The volcanic ash rocks look very unnatural.   And the legend is that it was a bridge and a giant crossed over from Scotland and then destroyed it on the way back.   Again, a very looooong hike to the area.

















Right down the street was the Old Bushmill's distillery.    They have been making whiskey there for over 400 years.    We took a tour and had a nice Irish comfort food lunch of Steak and McGuinnis pie and peas.   













By this point our feet were already tired, but we went back to Portrush and did some souvenir shopping and more wealking    We walked on the beach and then ate at an Italian restaurant across the street from our B&B.

 
Lots of British flags flying here in including the Queen's Jubilee flags.  More fun scheduled for tomorrow before we have to go back to Belfast.

TGIF - off to the Northern Coast

Yay, its Friday.   We worked on our project all day.   Our professor came to the office while we were giving an update to the CEO.   Both seemed please with our work, so that was good news.    Also, had a break through on finding some important information that the CEO needs at the end of the day.    He also told us the story of when his business went all the way down to 2 employees for 2 years during a very rough patch.   It was amazing to hear how he overcame this and now has brought the business back to being very profitable.   So overall good day at work.

It rained all day and the wind was blowing very strong.    We were going to be late for our train, but the CEO drove us to the train station instead of waiting for a taxi in the rain.   We made it with less than 2 minutes to spare.

We took a 1.5 hour train ride north to Portrush which is a small seaside town.   We had at a really nice restaurant that overlooked the sea at dinner.   We are staying in a Bed and Breakfast which is nice for European standards.    We have a full day of sightseeing planned for tomorrow.    We hope is doesn't rain all day.

Thursday, tour by member of the IRA

Hi - this was the best day so far.  We had a really good presentation with the CEO who liked our work so far.   Then after work we did what was called a Black Cab tour.    Our tour guide was a former IRA Catholic who was imprisoned for 10 years during the war.    He explained the war against the Protestants and Catholics.    It was fascinating.   I barely remember hearing on the news about the bombings, hunger strikes and shootings.    He really brought to life why they fought against each other.

What I didn't know is that the neighborhoods were so close together and that a huge fence went up between the communities that is still there today.   The neighborhoods still aren't integrated and today they have separate schools, separate cab companies, separate buses etc.    It wasn't a fight against religion but was totally political and was a war of people who were loyal to the British crown versus the original inhabitants of Ireland who wanted a united country instead of the 6 counties which make up Northern Ireland and the 26 counties that make up the Republic of Ireland.    Our tour guide admitted that 3 years ago he would have been nervous driving into the Protestant neighborhood that he took us.   He also said the tourists coming to Northern Ireland is also a new thing and 3-5 years ago wouldn't have been seen.

We were all so very impressed.   Here are some of the highlights:

 Above is a boarded up school with bullet holes in the walls.

 Bobby Sands died in a hunger strike in prison to obtain human rights for political prisoners.   This mural is on the side of a former IRA headquarters.

 The wall of hundreds of catholics who were murdered, including many children.

 This wall of peace that I signed is part of a 50 foot fence that still divides the catholic and protestant neighborhoods.   British flags fly in the protestant area and Irish flags fly in the catholic area.

My signature on the wall.

Tomorrow is Friday, we leave after work to go to the northern coast for a weekend off.

Wednesday, first day at the company

So today was our first day on the job at our IT Cloud Email Security firm.   It was my first experience with a small company and I mean small, everyone fit into one room, from the CEO down to the interns.    Also the whole company with the exception of the CEO is Generation Y and he is Generation X.   A very young crowd.    They are all very nice and enthusiastic and eager to help us.

We are working on a business plan for them into the U.S. market.   We made good progress today and will present our first findings tomorrow morning.    We worked from 9 to 6 and then were all starving.   We dropped off our stuff at the hotel and headed to a 300 year old restaurant called McHughes.    

We got there at 7 and they had stopped serving food.  This is normal that they don't serve any food between 7 and 8.   So we went looking elsewhere and everyone else was full so we ended up back there.  

It was 10 when we got back and I am exhausted.  

Here is the group and our dinner:

Northern Ireland - Tuesday, June 19

Today was a travel day.  We rolled out bags to the train station and took a train to Belfast.    All of us fell asleep even though there were about 20 elementary school children in our car making lots of noise.  Reminded me of home.  

We took a cab to our hotel, but it was too early to check in, so we found a deli and had a sandwich and then went to the world's largest Titanic Exhibition.   It just opened in April and was awesome.   Belfast is where the Titantic was built so it gave all the history leading up to the building of the ship and ended showing the ship at the bottom of the sea on an IMAX screen.   There was even a ride which gave you the feeling you were flying around the hull as they were putting the rivets in.     It took me 2 hours to see everything.   It was really a state-of-the-art museum.   A great experience.

Before we went into the Exhibit we met with the CEO of MailDistiller, Colm who we are going to work for while we are here.    He told us the Queen was coming to the Exhibit next Wed (while we are still here) and that he is invited to the reception.    He gave us some more info on the company and made sure we didn't have any questions.   

We walked back to the hotel and checked in.     Had dinner at the hotel and I had to be back in my room by 9 for a work conference call.   It went as good as it could have but we didn't get what we wanted so that was disappointing, especially since the team had worked so hard.   But now I don't have to think about work for another 2 weeks.

Tomorrow we start work at 9, so I need to get some rest.   

Monday, June 18 Lecture Day 1

I started the day by my phone alarm not going off and oversleeping.   My roommate, knocked on my door 15 minutes before we were suppose to leave.   I had to move fast, but I showered and got dressed quickly and made it. 

We ate at the campus cafeteria called the Buttery for breakfast.   We met in a classroom in the Arts building.   The inside was made of concrete blocks and concrete ceilings.   It was the ugliest classroom I've ever seen.   I guess the art students don't need much inspiration. 

Our professor Jan Rutherford was the first speaker and he spoke on Leadership.   Some key things that he said that stuck with me are that baby boomers, since they have to work longer, will move towards portfolio careers meaning they will work half time with a company and then have projects with other companies or non-profits.   To do this you have to have huge networks.    He also said everyone needs recognition at least once a week.

We heard Donal Cullen who is the CEO of Spanish Point Technologies which is an Irish consulting company that  builds IT solutions using Sharepoint.   They are what is called a lifestyle company in that they make money to have a good lifestyle not to accumulate wealth or please their shareholders.   One of their product launches wasn't as successful as they hoped and they attribute that to trying to solve a chronic business problem versus a critical business problem.  They have an offshoring site in Minsk, Belarus.

Ronan Loftus who is the founder of Identigen has an extremely interesting company.   He has a PHD in genetics and they came up with a way to trace the source of beef and pork through DNA.   This company was formed right after the Mad Cow Disease breakout in the UK which caused billions of Euros of loss in both the UK and Ireland.    Their customers are food retailers, packers, distributors.   They have a US headquarters in Lawrence, KS.

Alan Looney, CEO of National Chemical CEO has a company of 20 people that sells polymers and is on track to make 35 million euros this year.     He puts his people as the top priority of his company.   He has personally interviewed and selected every employee and he looks for the right attitude and people who are very energetic over skills.

Kieren Daly, CEO of Shimmer Research sells a 1 inch by 1/2 inch square device that measures body vitals.    This type of technology is allowing people in Spain to do all of their rehab after a knee replacement with these devices and a touch screen laptop.   The device tells the patient what exercises to do and measures how effective they are.    This reports back to the Dr to let them know the patient is doing what needs to be done and allows all the rehab to be done at home.    The Entertainment business is also using this to measure emotional reactions to movies.  

The whole class had a team dinner at Porterhouse Central which was a pub.   Then we got to meet 5 University of Dublin Marketing students all between the ages of 22-24.   They were all very nice.   Ireland was playing Italy in Soccer tonight and the pub was crowded with all eyes glued to the big TVs.

In summary, what I learned is that Ireland has many small high tech and medical tech companies that are doing quite well in the global market.    There is a lot of highly skilled people here and Ireland is trying to do everything to keep their graduates from leaving the country looking for jobs.   The CEOs are quite different from American CEOs in that they are humble and more low key.   The fact that Ireland is so small, start-up companies have to enter the global market within 24 months to stay alive.        

Father's Day Blog

I took a taxi into Dublin to Trinity College.   I bought a sweatshirt at the gift shop once I got to my dorm apartment.   There are two small bedrooms that share a common kitchenette and bathroom.   The building must be over 200 years old.   Below is a picture of the front of the school.

I did a guided walking tour of the college and saw the Book of Kells.   This is a 1000 year old book written by monks and is Matthew, Mark, Luke and John done in colored ink and drawings.   The book was housed in the college Old Library which is over 300 years old.   The tour went to the Long Room which was this huge, (yes long) room that housed two open stories of very old books.   The experience reminded me of something out of Harry Potter.   It was amazing and the library held the oldest harp in Ireland.   I expected the harp to be the size you see in an orchestra but instead it was only about 2 feet high.    They had a great gift shop and I thought of Zachariah and how much he loves gift shops.  Of course I can’t help think of Trinity as her name is everywhere I look.   The tour guide wore an academic robe (again a la Harry Potter) while he did the tour.    He said all students had to wear them until the 1970s.   Also learned that if you pass your tests, college is paid by the government and they only have to pay 3000 Euros a year for fees.   Nice. 

I saw Kerry while I was checking in.  She is part of my  Belfast team and my roommate.   In less than an hour we are suppose to have a check-in meeting with all the University of Colorado students.    I could really use a chiropractor right now as sleeping on a plane really hurt my neck.

I think I fried my iphone charger.    It doesn’t seem to be working so have to charge my phone through by computer.    Here are pics of my dorm room, the 2nd being the view from my window:

    

All but one of us made it to the meeting.  Amber was at the airport due to lost luggage.   The meeting was short and sweet and then we went back to the Accommodations office and got our wifi userid and password.   Following that 7 of us went to dinner.    We happen to pick the same restaurant our professor, his wife and son were eating in.    We had a good time getting to know each other better.

Tomorrow is our first day, we have lectures all day.  At this point I’m really glad I got here early and had a chance to get somewhat adjusted to the time change.  Here we are coming back to building 13 to our rooms:

Saturday's Blog

Hi - I've been off the grid for quite a while due to my phone being dead and internet at the hotel being down.   Still can't get my electronics to charge so I'm writing fast before my battery dies on my laptop.   I missed my connecting flight to Dublin in London, but was able to get on the very next one.   I only waited an hour and traveled on Aer Lingus.   I  reached my hotel around 4:30pm which was actually better since I was trying to stay awake until 8 pm.   I was going to go for a run outside but the wind was blowing 25 mph and was pretty cool, so opted to go to the hotel exercise room and use the treadmill.  

After exercising, I went to dinner in the hotel restaurant which always feels a bit awkward when you are by yourself.    I was in by 7 pm so got the Early Bird discount, 3 courses for 25 Euros.   After that I read a bit and took my Advil PM and slept for the next 14 hours.  

Woke up at 10 am and I worked out and I'm now repacking so I can get out of the room by 12 noon.   I will be taking a taxi to Trinity College to check-in to my apartment for the next 2 days.    We  have a 5 pm meeting with the professor and then tomorrow start attending lectures by several Irish leaders all day.  

Bye for now.

On my way...

I left the house at 8:45 still on a conference call at work to go to the airport.   Joe, my father-in-law drove me.    I had a non-stop flight on Southwest from Denver to Boston and slept most of the way.   The last few days at work have been super busy and stressful so fatigue had caught up with me.   I really have not been able to get excited about the trip until just now.

Once I got to Boston I had to get my bags and then check-in at American for my international flight.   I have a 4:45 hour layover so I found a quiet spot to recharge all of my electronics, do my work email, wrap up some more work.   I am now officially on vacation time and can now focus on the class.    

I realized I left my camera at home so will be reliant on my camera phone which I think that is ok.    I saw a Legal Seafood right outside of security so I plan to pack up and go back out, have a nice lobster dinner before I have to board at 9:45 pm.   No offense to the Irish, but it may be the best meal I have for 2 weeks!

So I plan to sleep on the plan and wake up as we land in London then take a one hour flight to Dublin arriving 1:25 pm.    To adjust to the time zone, I plan to go running and maybe do some walking about town to stay up as long as I can, 7 or 8ish and then get a good night sleep.    We have to check in at the Trinity college apartments around 3 on Sunday and then have our first meeting.

Bye bye to the USA!