Author: Vic Socotra

Pollo Loco

I rallied briefly on Monday to complete the paper for the Aussies, fresh off the airplane and running on fumes. The effort disrupted my body’s attempt to get back in this hemisphere. I sent it and then collapsed, barely coming out of the fog until this morning. I am not sure the travel is worth […]

The Lights Below

The Dog is a more regular fellow than I. He was happy enough to se me just after Midnight, part of a complex canine maintenance plan that spanned two oceans and two continents. He knows nothing of jet lag, and was up again this morning just after six. He was in the dark at the […]

The AustralianAmerican Monument Canberra

Gentle Readers, This is the last communication from Down Under. Winter to summer today, Canberra to Sydney, Sydney to LAX and then on to Dulles once the Immigration folks are done with me in LA. This has been painful but useful. It helps to calibrate one’s place in the universe (small, and mostly irrelevant). It […]

Channel Fever

HMAS Melbourne entering Sydney Harbor There comes a point in a cruise when they cannot keep the ship at sea any longer, since it needs repairs or parts or something that is difficult to get while underway.   Sometimes the mission is over, or someone else has been ordered to go forward and do it […]

This Old House

24 June 2007   This Old House It was cold again this morning- near freezing- but the air was dense and alive with a physical presence. The street people and I were moderately interested in the two pastel-colored hot air balloons that crossed Lake Burley Griffin and came over the downtown area around eight. The […]

Question Time Shoes

  Tony Blair is going to finally step down this week as Prime Minister of Great Britain, and consequently there are stories in the press all over the Commonwealth about his prospective legacy. There are informed accounts that say he is going to convert to the Church of Rome, be designated a UN Ambassador without […]

Robin Hood

18 June 2007   Robin Hood You find comfort in the strangest places sometimes, for some the Blimpy Burger, others the bottle, and still others the pleasure of the flesh.   I found it on ABC last night. No, not the American Broadcasting Corporation- the other one. Robin Hood was broadcast, the latest in dozens […]

LessonsLearned from the Australian Engagement

View Larger Image Overview:   In the course of business, it is important to capture critical lessons-learned to enable successful new enterprises.   A tremendously valuable positioning in an overseas market has led to the Company being selected as the prime vendor of choice for the Government Customer Down Under. In order to continue the […]

The National Museum

16 June 2007   The National Museum     The drought is over up north, and that is a good thing. Sydney got pummeled again, on its way to the wettest June in four decades. This following the awful dry; and the floods. The Portuguese training tall ship Esmerelda had to stand back out to […]

The Ministry

14 June 2007   The Ministry I see by the only connection to North America I have- the little clock in the lower right hand corner of the computer screen- that as I sit down for the first time it is late afternoon yesterday in the other Capital City I live in.   The hotel […]