ismael chang ghalimi

I Love Morocco

I just arrived in Marrakech, Morocco, for the AfroCIO conference organized by my good friend Abdeljawad. This is my second trip to this country, and I must say that I am as impressed as last time. Immediately after you clear customs at the Marrakech-Menara Airport, you’re greated by a couple of ATMs that will dispense the cash you need for a taxi ride to your hotel. The cab rate is fixed, and the hotel provides free Internet access over WiFi, without any login screen. Perfect! What a contrast with what I had to go through in Paris earlier in the day! No ATM, cabs don’t take credit cards, and toilets are virtually impossible to find, and when you do find them you have to pay for it. It felt like I was back in the twentieth century. And it sure looks like Morocco is moving full speed into the twenty first. Very cool…

Pushers

On my way to my first meeting of the day with my friend Sawada San, I got to experience the unbelievably crowded subway in Tokyo. So many people are trying to get onto the train that pushers are required to squeeze them in when the doors close, sometimes leaving parts of jackets or suitcases hanging out. On our first attempt, the car was simply too full, and we had to wait for the next one. When it arrived less than 5 minutes later, we were first in line, which meant that we got pressed to the back of the car, only to find ourselves scrambling to make our way out at the very next stop. Some days, I’m really glad that I can walk from home to work…

Fifth Trip to Japan

Concluding a star-shaped trip around the world, I arrived in Japan earlier today, making it my second trip here this year, and my fifth visit overall. The tour started with Singapore, followed by Brazil, then Australia and Western Europe, with stops in San Francisco at every step along the way, usually for a single night back home, and once for as little as a two-hours layover at SFO on my way from Sydney to London. In Western Europe, I visited London, Hamburg, Paris, and Geneva in just three days, making it long enough to experience some nasty jetlag, yet too short to really enjoy any of it. Life as a globe trotter…

First Trip to Brazil

Sao Paulo, Brazil is the third stop in my round-the-world trip to launch Intalio|BPMS 5.0. Contrasts between extreme wealth and utmost poverty are shocking. Discussions with a customer make me discover the danger of traveling cross country, where cars and trucks can be mugged by gangsters armed with machine guns. More discussions with a TV producer teach me that most business people living in Sao Paulo hire armed bodyguards to protect them, and usually install tens of video surveillance cameras in their homes. Different world… Fortunately, other parts of Brazil are less violent, and my friend Mauricio gives me a great list of places to visit when May and I will find some time for a much-deserved time off. Bonito comes on top. Very much looking forward to it…

First Trip to Singapore

I am in Singapore for the evening, following a presentation made to customers and partners about Intalio’s roadmap for 2008. I must say that I am very impressed by this city-state of 4 million people. Immaculate streets, outstanding service, friendly locals. The perfect place to conduct business, and certainly the best spot for us to launch our Asian operations. Good luck to Arnaud who will manage this challenging project.

Meet Me There

I will be in the following cities at the following dates:

Meet me there if you dare!

Nicolas G. Hayek Center

Wrapping up a day full of conference calls and emails, I went out for dinner in Ginza, and stumbled upon the brand new Nicolas G. Hayek Center. This incredible building was commissioned by the Swatch Group, and is home for seven boutiques devoted to the Breguet, Blancpain, Glashütte Original, Jaquet-Droz, Leon Hatot, Omega and Swatch brands. Each boutique gets its own glass elevator, turning the ground floor’s open space into a futuristic launchpad for watch aficionados. Following this serendipitous encounter, I had dinner with Masubuchi San, who is certainly one of Japan’s most passionate IT practitioners. Together with Sawada San and Jacques-Alexandre, we compared notes on the state of the IT industry in our respective countries, and enjoyed delicious Italian food. Many thanks to Masubuchi San for this exceptional dinner. I look forward to meeting you again in San Francisco for the upcoming Office 2.0 Conference.

First Business Dinner in Japan

Tonight, I attended my first business dinner in Japan, with a group of executives working for a company that is part of a large keiretsu. Business practices in Japan are quite different than those I am accustomed to in the US, and such dinners are a necessary steps toward the establishment of any business relationship. They are also a lot of fun, for good food, beer, and sake usually contribute to bring a lot of barriers down. Tonight’s dinner was a great treat, and I would like to thank Iwasaki San for his hospitality.

Back on Track

Following a two-week long trip in Europe, I spent two weeks back home and managed to catch up with a lot of activities that had been put aside in the rush of things. I am now back in Japan for a week, but an empty inbox leaves me some bandwidth that I will eagerly consume in order to resume regular posting on this channel. Welcome back!

Upcoming Trip to Europe

I will be back in Europe in late May and early June for some conferences and meetings with customers. I will be in Wroclaw, Poland, on May 30th, and in Casablanca, Morocco, on June 7th. In between, May and I will most likely spend some time in Berlin and Paris. I might also go to Dubai for a BPM seminar during the second week of June. If you live in any of these cities, let’s make sure that our paths cross each other.

Silverado

I am at the Silverado Resort in Napa, CA for a conference. This is my first trip since I started exercising on a daily basis, and following a fairly strict diet. This creates a new set of challenges that I am not totally prepared for. The place has a gym, but it does not provide the machines I am used to. The restaurant has what they call ‘alternative cuisine’, but it sounds more exotic than it is healthy. All in all, I think I will have to come up with a new set of exercising rules for when I am on the road, and bring some food with me whenever possible.

Autobahn

Question: how do you get from Metz to Bonn in less than two hours, while Michelin tells you that such a trip will take 39 more minutes? Answer: you take advantage of the amazing German highway system, combined with the perfection of German engineering as found in a Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan. While cruising on the autobahn at up to 230 km per hours (143 mph), I got there right on time, and parking was definitely easier than in Paris. I wish some highways in the US would also offer unlimited speed as well. Until then, I’ll take the airways…

The Most Annoying Parking Meter Ever

Earlier today, I was in Paris for a meeting with a customer. After driving around the block for about half an hour, I finally managed to find a spot where I could park the oversized car I was given in Frankfurt. My joy was short lived though, as I realized that the meter that would allow me to pay my parking dues would only accept pre-paid smart cards that could only be bought from a tobacconist. Problem was: no tobacco store was anywhere in sight, and I was running late for my meeting. French tobacconists are evidently suffering from a decrease in the consumption of tobacco products, therefore seek help from the government in the form of micro monopolies. They recently lost the exclusive right to sell the local equivalent of DMV tax stickers, therefore must be scrambling to find alternative sources of revenue. But as much as I would like to feel any sympathy for their struggle for survival, this parking system is utterly annoying. Note to Bertrand Delanoe: please upgrade your parking meters with models that can accept payment using good old coins. You might also want to consider giving early retirement packages to your tobacconists.

Back Home

I finally made it back home safely, right on time for Dave and Ellen’s rehearsal dinner. The flight was a little bit painful though. From my window seat, I could only see half of the TV screen. It showed kids movies for the whole duration of the flight, so I did not really miss anything, but this is telling me that I should carefully plan my next trips to Europe if I am to keep flying Lufthansa.

Frankfurt Airport

For the past year, I’ve been using London Heathrow as my primary hub for traveling in Europe, but following the recent events that took place there, I have decided to use Frankfurt Airport instead. It offers direct flights to San Francisco operated by Lufthansa (a Star Alliance partner), it is a lot smaller than London Heathrow, and all terminals are directly connected to each other. Also, the excellent and reasonably-priced & Towers">Sheraton Frankfurt Hotel & Towers is located within the airport itself, making it a lot easier to catch the 9:35AM flight back home. Good bye Heathrow! Guten Tag Frankfurt!

Déjà vu

Five years ago, an exceptional event prompted me to start writing a personal journal. This event happened on September 11, 2001. I was supposed to fly from San Francisco to New York, for a meeting with a customer. Obviously, I did not make it to New York that day.

Today, I was supposed to fly from Geneva to London Heathrow, then fly from London to San Francisco tomorrow. I did not make it to London either, and I am stuck in Geneva, trying to book another flight back home.

CNN is showing archive images of the World Trade Center just before they collapsed. Like most of us, I have tried to forget them, but they keep coming back somehow. Writing must have been a way for me to deal with these events and their impact on my psyche. Publishing fragments of my journal on this blog follows the same idea. Here is where it all began.

Davos

I was in Geneva for a meeting with a customer today. I could not find any affordable plane ticket for my return to San Francisco before Friday, so I decided to spend two more days in Switzerland, and find a calm place where I could write some long overdue white papers for work. I headed to Davos, on the other side of this small country. The five hours drive there was amazing. It felt like half of the time was spent in tunnels dug into mountains. For the whole duration of the trip, I listened to La 1ère, a station from Radio Suisse Romande. The interview of Jazz musician Michel Legrand for Paradiso was fascinating, and listening to Pipo (Philippe Rosat), a musician-farmer who was the guest of the day for C’est pas l’heure, highly refreshing. C’est vraiment sympa la Suisse…

Muji

Last month, I read about Muji in the excellent easyJet IN-FLIGHT magazine. Today, May and I shopped at one of their outlets in Paris. We bought a tiny umbrella that comes with a convenient box for dry storage in a bag after the rain, a stuffed girafe that we called Steve, and miniature replicas of Tokyo buildings made of wood. We promised ourselves that we would get other cities (New York, London, and Paris) next time we visit another Muji outlet. Later, we had dinner at L’Absinthe, a restaurant owned by Michel Rostang. The fois gras was outstanding, and the bugnes delicious. You can pass on the steak though, for the quality of the meat was not on par with the rest of the food.

Nova

If you and 8 of your friends are looking for an affordable place to stay in Paris during the Summer, you might want to consider living on a boat anchored on the Seine. A group of friends attending Hugues’ and Leticia’s wedding did just that, and at 200 euros per night for nine people, it sure beats anything else I’ve seen. The boat they rented is called Nova, and is located on the East side of Paris, near the new Pont Charles de Gaulle. The boat is equipped with the very best audio-video equipment and features a full kitchen. Just be advised that when other boats pass by, it moves a little bit more than one would expect.

easyJet

I flew from London to Geneva on easyJet yesterday, and got to discover the easyJet IN-FLIGHT magazine. I usually do not bother to read such in-flight magazines, for they tend to feature utterly boring articles and ads for useless products sold by dubious vendors, but this one is different. It’s original, edgy, and sporting a design that almost made me change my mind about easyJet’s ugly orange. I learned that I might want to make a stop to Budapest in the Summer, that I should visit a Muji outlet next time I’m in Europe, and that Dave and I should buy a subscription for VICE. Definitely worth a look.