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I’ve learned that they shouldn’t call this town Boca Raton - it should be Coches Costosos (expensive cars). I’ve never seen so many nice cars side-by-side in regular parking lots. And, it’s normal to see valet parking almost everywhere. There are even grocery markets with valet parking. *wow*

A nice little surprise happened to me this evening. I noticed a Panera in the shopping center next to the hotel so I walked over there tonight to grab a quick bite of food. Turns out that they’re in training and officially opening on Monday so no food. However, I walked up at the perfect time as they were handing out all of the baked goods they had made just a while earlier. I grabbed a bag of bagels and it had 3 of my favorites in it.

Then, next door to the Panera was Uncle Tai’s Chinese Restaurant where they were celebrating their 20th anniversary. I didn’t have my camera with me but they had dragon dances, kung fu demonstrations and firecrackers soon after I walked up. Fun stuff.

Now it’s just me and my bagels working in the room. We’ve had a fantastic event here in Boca but I’m looking forward to heading home tomorrow evening after we finish our last day of class.

The week has started off really well here in Boca Raton (simply translated as “rat mouth” in Spanish), Florida. My colleague, Peter, and I are doing 2 training events this week with HSMAI.

The first course is new and started today. It’s using the simulation that I programmed and everything went really well. The feedback has been extremely positive and the long hours are paying off. Wednesday we’ll start the next course which we can do in our sleep. These are both fantastic courses and the best in the industry.

They’ve had a bit of rain while we’ve been here which they desperately need. Some of the participants said that they saw the brush fires on the drive to Lynn University, where we’re holding the courses. Other than that things are smooth and normal.

Hope everyone is well!

I definitely have to brag a bit about my brother who never has to go back to school unless he chooses to. He graduated Saturday, May 5th from High Point University with honors receiving a B.S. in Computer Science, a B.S. in Mathematics and a minor in Physics. Way to go bro!

We had a wonderful time surrounded by family and friends. It drizzled but good ol’ Nido Qubein made sure there were rain ponchos for everyone at the event. We were all happy to put up with a bit of rain since only 2 guests per student could go in the gym for the ceremony if it had rained hard.

After the graduation we headed to Mom’s for the after party. More friends came by to congratulate Glenn and he racked up on graduation cash. Everyone started being really nice to him after that…

We’re all so proud of you Glenn!

Yes, you heard that right! On my previous trip, at the end of March, I had a 9-hour layover at the Singapore airport (don’t ask). I don’t know of a better airport to be in for that long. It’s absolutely gorgeous with live plants, flowers and water features. I was fortunate enough to be able to stay in the Singapore Airlines lounge so I took advantage of the food, sleeping area, internet access, and even the showers.

There is also a tourist desk in the airport that will set you up with a free tour (2 different ones to choose from) of the city if you have a layover for at least 5 hours. So I took a great 2+ hour excursion around the city (see all the photos). They handle everything for you - signup, passports, immigration, bus ride, and boat ride. Very cool!

As we (all of the tourists) were getting ready to head towards immigration to leave the airport I noticed a large group of people dressed alike. Turns out they were “Agria Swara” - the Bogor Agricultural University Student Choir from Indonesia. They were on a layover heading for Budapest, Hungary where they were going to compete in an international choir competition. We started making faces at each other (ok, I was flirting) and then eventually we were hanging out. Somehow, I’m always the white guy standing out in the group. I got to practice the few phrases I know in Bahasa Melayu (Malay) which is very similar to Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian). They seemed to get a good laugh.

The tour ended up taking us on a bit of a touristy route which was so-so but it was really wonderful to get out of the airport and enjoy the fresh air. I had a great time just hanging out with my new friends. The group and I filled up one entire bus together. A week later I received great news - they won 2 gold medals for Mixed Choir and Folklore and one conductor achievement prize. Congratulations to them! I asked them to get the gold for me and I’m sure that’s why they won…