I am part of an International team of 12 people participating in 4 teams of 3. Our mission will be in Santa Rosa in the Philippines.
Our Team's Client:
City Social Welfare and Development Office
 |
| Downtown Halifax. IBM Office -17th floor of Tower Top Left |
Throughout my 25 year career at IBM, I have had the opportunity to work in lots of different roles. I have been a service technician, administrator, a sales representative and have held various management positions.
My wife Annette and I have been married over 22 Years and have 2 terrific children.
Attached below is a picture of us from 2 years ago...we are either all tall or all short; you decide! :-o
Our children, Zachary and Alexandra are both attending University so we are empty nesters While I do my IBM gig, Annette is diligently working on a career in writing; she was previously a teacher. We are both the oldest children in families of 6; not many families that size nowadays! She is from the Eastern End of the Island, I am from the Western end...they said it would never work with such different cultures 200 Km's apart :-) Incidentally we started going out in Toronto.
Though I have lived back and forth between 2 places, Toronto and Halifax for my whole career I still consider myself a Prince Edward Islander because that is where I grew up and where my parents are from. For anybody reading, not from Canada, we have 10 provinces. PEI is by far the smallest in size and population.
I grew up in a village called Piusville (no it's not "Pies-ville" though that would be awesome) and I am guessing named after a pope....or maybe just some guy named Pius. I have never found that out! Population 200; more cows than people! I actually spent my first 5 years in Montreal where I managed to develop quite a French accent without learning any French(I'm bummed about that ). A tractor was pronounced "tract -teur" ... roll those "rrr's"!! Did I mention this was a farming community? :-)
My university buddy, Jeff Steffen who had been hired by IBM, suggested I come out and interview. I arrived in Toronto in 1988, armed with a business degree and high hopes. Straight off of the proverbial "turnip truck" and despite my East coast accent (they had a translator) I managed to do OK and get myself hired; I have been with IBM ever since!
I had transitioned for the move to Toronto by spending some years in Charlottetown(PEI) at University, so after going from 200 to 40,000 people, 4,000,000 was a logical transition. In Toronto you could buy pizza by the slice and Chinese Food went beyond Chicken balls and fried rice.On my first day at IBM they took me out for Dim Sum at the New World Restaurant on Vic Park! I clearly remember my boss putting what looked like a small octopus in his mouth; hey when in Rome!
I found out that PEI was not well known to my surprise. When you only have 140,000 people you don't have a lot of punching weight! Everyone thought I was from Newfoundland (not that there's anything wrong with that; I love Newfoundlanders!). Commercials for PEI potatoes (yes we are known for that) were voiced with the "Newfie" accent. "Yes we have PEI potatoes for ya B'ye!"
PEI is known for potatoes, farming, fishing, golf and Anne of Green Gables. Tourism is the # 1 industry in PEI sparked by Anne, 20 + golf courses, awesome seafood and the beautiful gentle scenery. I like it because everything is so close together and all in one small package!
I will spare you all of the details in between but long story short, 25 years have passed since I started at IBM. I have been able to work for a terrific company that has provided lots of interesting work and lot's of fun over that time. This trip to The Philippines will surely be one of the highlights and the frosting on the cake.
Looking forward very much to the challenge, learning a lot, and hopefully sharing some neat experiences with anyone who reads this!
No comments:
Post a Comment