It was a bit of a shock to the system to suddenly have my nights freed up back in Charlotte and I have been using them to catch up with old friends and also spending some time with my family.  I am also taking the time to work out when I’m going to jump a plane back to the Philippines and actually take a proper vacation there!

In the past week I have been lucky enough to do a bit of traveling around NC (up to the mountains and around the local lakes) as well as back up to NY to get a few beers with people who are wondering if my weight loss is permanent (going to have to work on that one).   I am currently just pulling together my plans for next month – and more about that on another blog post.

One thing I’m really looking forward to it a return to technology, architecture, culture and collaboration – these have been the areas that I have enjoyed most in my career and my time with DevZuz and ultimately Exist allowed me to be part of a lot of diverse and exciting projects.   I look forward to bringing that energy home with me and seeing what we can do back in New York.

I had forgotten how nice sitting in the Bryant Park Cafe on a sunny afternoon with a glass of wine was, and besides the rather dodgy hotel arrangements I was able to get over to FAO Schwartz for some birthday present shopping.

Also it was a good chance to play with BrightKite a little more,  given that Manila doesn’t have any streets in Google Maps it makes for a somewhat challenging experience.  I can really start to see that over the second half of this year location aware software is going to be kicking up much more – and hopefully it’ll be an interesting way find out what is going on around me.

All I need now is iPhone 2.0 – and counting down to that too…

I often think about the power that communication and collaboration has brought into the business ecosystem,  how now teams can be distributed globally and how we are working all the time to improve and manage that.  The economics of the world has changed too, and while people may feel that it is a negative thing it is happening now and we need to look at how to make it a positive thing.

So as I sit in another airport, and wonder what time my next flight is, I find myself reflecting on another aspect of travel.  While I sit in the airports and drink the over-priced beer and ponder what unhealthy food option will best prepare me for an extending amount of time in a seat – I think about how it has become a place of contemplation.   Still in a busy airport – watching people rushing around I now find it is a calming place,  somewhere you can observe but not interact – in a world on high connections and driven around constant interaction (google talk, yahoo, facebook, twitter, e-mail, phones) it is suddenly something of a peaceful place.  Its not physically relaxing – but suddenly to disconnect you get to imagine how you want the connected world to be again and then imagine how those things that are in context might be,  without needing to respond so quickly.

So in the hectic connections and transit – I have found that between the airport and the plane I find a chance to revisit my thoughts.  Pondering if this is just a cheat on my yoga :)