At the same International business event was a fascinating economist from J P Morgan.  He gave a funny, detailed and revealing look into the future of world business….Gotta tell you folks…get out there and START SPENDING MONEY….hoarding under your bed, buying gold or putting it in a bank is not going to get us out of this crisis…no purchases, no products sold, no products sold, no products made, no products made no need for people, no need for people no jobs, no jobs no $$$$….is economics really that simple??

I was invited to give a talk on the challenges of International business by the Denver World Trade Center.  Three of us spoke about the beverage industry. A whisky guy, a beer guy and me.  I was surprised at how similar our experiences and advice to the audience was.  We basically agree that you had to establish good personal relationships, really know and understand your markets and accept the different cultures that you were dealing in.  We also mentioned that cultures were so different around the world that you needed a friend or close associate to help you through the cultural minefield…knowing not to bow in Japan is an important thing!

At last, the snow is beginning to melt and the green green grass of previously fertilized autumn lawns appear.  I think our gardens are beginning to resemble golf courses in the degree of chemicals and pesticides and herbicides etc that we spray on the foliage and lawns.  They look good but are not good for us.  What is wrong with that statement?  We are the mass victims of mass marketing?  A green lawn sprayed with stuff that then has a sign with a skull and crossbones on it that says “Dogs and Children keep off” stuck in the ground is good for nature?  I’m going to see what happens to my lawn if I don’t apply chemicals…I’ll keep you updated.

One of the advantages of jet lag is that you can schedule REALLY EARLY breakfast meetings.  Normally these are events that I avoid.  In fact the first time I was invited to one in 1971 when I first arrived in this country, I was horrified.  It seemed to me uncivilized to want to talk business at breakfast.  I mean the English can hardly speak until around 10am or so..its a national agreement. I have lived too long in the US though and now accept them as a matter of norm.  Not that I like them, just that I accept them.  This is sunrise in Boulder taken on my way to a 6.30 breakfast meeting!

Well that didn’t last long!!  No sooner than the Daffodils had emerged than old man winter came roaring back and dumped a load of snow on us. Colorado in March and April is a bi-polar weather state, it veers around all over the place…calm one day, insanely warm the next, insanely cold a day later.  If I was a Daffodil I’d stay under ground until at least May….

From 110F to snow packed mountains and slushy, icy roads.  Global travel is now so common that coping with these dramatic changes are just part of everyday life in the world of international business.  One element that has not changed is the ability of ones body to adjust to the sudden time changes. Known to everybody as “jet lag”.  I hope that scientists are working on a pill because I am facing a 14 hour time change and I am not looking forward to it. The older I get the faster the world seems to move. I will have a lot of time to contemplate this deeply philosophical question as I sit in my study at 2 am, wide awake, writing my blog.

This used to be the old Hong Kong on the Kowloon side.  It was raucous, always shabby, bright, tatty with ratty restaurants that served really GREAT food.  It was noisy, impolite, and everybody was out to cheat you…a gold Rolex was not a gold Rolex even when it had a $10,000 tag on it!  I used to love Hong Kong…I felt at home there.  You would land in the old Tek Song airport, (I think it was the Tek Song) Anyway, the approach was one of the most exciting moments of anyone’s life.  You would be in a 747, at a 46 Degree angle, flying sideways between two high rises before throttling down, leveling off and dropping like a stone onto the runway.  It was a RUSH.  I mean  you were looking UP at washing lines, draped with wet clothes as you flew between the buildings.  Then you hopped into a noisy red cab and within 5 minutes you were at the Golden Mile.  The whole atmosphere was fast, noisy “let’s get the $$ of this tourist and get him on his way” type of thing….very cool, caveat emptor every step of the way!