New Company Name

I have changed the name of my company to Interactive Data Partners, LLC.  Click here to visit the web site or the blog.

Paris

I’m in Paris for a few days to teach an MBA class.  I have spent a lot of time walking around and exploring and came across a cool place called La Promenade plantée.  It is a sort of park built on top of the old viaduct system and is almost 3 miles long.  All along the walk, there are gardens, flowers, benches, etc., but it’s only about 50 feet wide the whole way.  The cool thing is that you are just 15 feet or so above all the busy streets below.  There are lots of little nooks where you can look out over the streets and buildings below.  There are some cool views and it gives you some interesting perspectives on the city.  Below are a few pictures and a few more here.

New Web Site

I just updated the web site for my business (www.bedrickconsulting.com).  My next big goal is breaking into the US market.  Wish me luck.

Note:  I re-branded in May 2010 so the new web site is now http://www.interactivedatapartners.com

Roland Garros

Spent the day in Paris at the French Open. We saw Nadal and Sharapova in the big stadium and Venus/Serena and some lesser known players on the small courts. Click here for photos.

Oxford, England

I spent a day in Oxford on my way to speak at a conference in Brighton. Just me and my camera (and a few pints along the way). It’s a really cool city. Click here for more photos.

Berlin

Maddie climbing the Berlin Wall

We went to Berlin for a few days to visit the Christmas markets and to check out what was left of the Berlin Wall. What a great time!

The markets were great and we ate lots of sausages, potatoes, and various other fried things (and bought a quite a few trinkets). There was also a sledding hill which was a blast.

We checked out the East Side Galleries where there is about a one mile section of the wall still standing. Sections of the wall were assigned to various artists to paint and it was turned into a memorial (but not after a lot of graffiti covered up the original paintings). It makes for a pretty cool scene and the picture here shows Maddie climbing the wall there. Click here to see more pictures of the city.

Thanksgiving in the Carribean

We spent Thanksgiving on a Carribean cruise on a quasi family reunion. There were 14 of us in all and we had a great time. There were lots of things to do on the boat and of course food everywhere we looked. We stopped at Aruba, Curacao, St. Maartens, and St. Thomas. On one of our beach days an iguana (shown here) visited/terrorized us for about an hour. Another day, Maddie went swimming with dolphins (click here for photos).

Every day around 6pm we met up at a pub called the Duck and Dog for a drink or two before dinner. We corrupted many of the family members by teaching them to play roulette and had a wonderful and relaxing time. Click here to see more photos.

Stonehenge

We made a side trip from Bath to see Stonehenge. It was a suitably rainy, windy, grey day, but I did not feel any sense of magic or mystery like I thought I might. Once I started thinking about how the hell they got the stones here, the engineering involved with erecting them and the cool stuff about how they were positioned to line up with solstice sunrises and sunsets, it was pretty cool. Click here for some more photos. It probably would have been more fun if there were people dressed up in fairy costumes and stuff, but it was still a nice little side trip.

Bath, England

We spent a few days in Bath and had a great time. It is a beautiful little city on the river Avon (shown in the photo here). We visited the Roman baths and saw original pipes and stonework from over 2000 years ago. We also had tea at the Pump Room, wandered around to see the sites and enjoyed speaking and shopping in English. We also made a side trip to Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and London to see Wicked.  Click here for photos

We stayed at a bed and breakfast called Badminton Villa. Steve and Heather were awesome hosts and every morning they fed us a fantastic breakfast and then gave us great tips for planning the day ahead. Their dog Tilly was fun too (she likes to climb trees).

Autumn in Belgium

We have been enjoying the autumn weather in Belgium. We rode rail bikes (little railroad cars fitted with bicycle pedals), visited the Maradsous abbey, and spent some time in the forest. Click here for more photos. I hope winter holds off a little longer.