Another "30 years ago" moment

I've written earlier about starting at IBM 30 years ago, retiring after 30 years, my father's 30 year watch from Leitz... today marks one of the inspirations for my 30 years.

Happy 30th birthday, Steff!

My Brike, and when it was called Bike to Work Week

June! I'm enjoying the weather and looking forward to enjoying the summer.

I've always enjoyed the beginning of summer, cycling has always been a part of that. And Bike to Work Week (BTWW) is one thing that's defined the beginning of summer for me for years. Toronto wasn't the first to come up with the idea however we were "early adopters" and people like Sue Zielinski were instrumental in getting the city engaged. The '80s and early '90s was a time of considerable activism in the cycling community and the Toronto City Cycling Committee was very much a part of it. I haven't heard or seen much from the TCCC in recent years; it seems that activism has moved out of city hall and into citizen groups like Advocacy for Respect for Cyclists (ARC). Back then, we were fighting to get bike parking -- those ring and posts -- as well as the first few KM of dedicated bike lanes. We've come quite a ways since then.

I was chair of the Bicycle Commuter Program in the early '90s while Andrea was a co-chair of the TCCC for a number of years in the early '90s too. I was even able to get IBM involved, something I've mentioned before, to host a muffin breakfast at the IBM Tower (no longer called that, it is part of the TD Centre at 79 Wellington St W) as well as getting them to sponsor a team for a race when there were still pro races at the Queens Park Circle.

I posted a newspaper article from May 1990 on Facebook that included this photo and it generated some interesting discussion so I thought I'd elaborate on that vehicle a little. And quite a few people I worked with who were around in the early '90s will remember this vehicle... I used to ride it to work on a regular basis and even rode it on a few Rides for Heart.

I came across this thing called a "Brike" in a pamphlet somewhere and was intrigued by it. They were fairly cheap, so I ordered one and had it shipped from the States. Originally designed as a single speed with coaster brake in the front, the steering was done by leaning and pivoting the front. This was done by a couple of pivot points under and behind the seat... really just some bolts through rubber blocks. So every turn was done by leaning into it. The handle bars were just something to hold onto to help with the leaning. I had Mike Barry of Bicyclesport and Mariposa steel bikes (and much more!) fame build up a 5 speed front wheel using a Sachs 5 speed internal hub with coaster brake. That cost more than the trike itself. He had to spread the front dropout to be able to fit the wheel, not hard to do as the frame wasn't that strong. As the trike got a few years old the front end was definitely bent from me grinding it up hills.

The rear wheels were set on an angle to help with stability however they were really hard to get aligned correctly so the tires would wear on the inside. I did flip the wheels to extend the life of the tires though, still that was one of the most challenging design aspects. With the disc covers to keep fingers out of spokes I added a standard bike child seat in back and it quickly became Kayla's seat... I'm sure she has lots of memories of going places on the back of that trike. I know I do. 

Eventually the frame broke (climbing up the DVP at York Mills on a Ride for Heart) and I never bothered to get it fixed. I still have those wheels somewhere though : ) And to add to the geek factor, that wasn't the only recumbent I owned... quite a few years later I bought a Trek R200, which had a 40 gear drive train. Trek only made that bike for a few years, they didn't sell enough to be worth it I guess.

Trek R200

The "Official" Retirement Lunch

IBM gives retiring employees a lunch, and with a limited budget it was a challenge to decide who to invite... I picked 12 to share the afternoon with, and I think we all enjoyed it. The venue was Baka which Terry had suggested based on a Summerlicious event. The scotch list was enough to confirm it, and the menu was great.

I thought a late lunch (1pm) might mean people weren't going to rush back to work and it worked out well... people stayed until at least 3, and we wrapped up a little before 4. With a delightful glass of single malt... Hector looked through the list and suggested this one. It's not old, it is rare. And it was a great choice... those of us who sampled it enjoyed it very much.

Lunch was an assortment of first course dishes, followed by some amazing mains. Steak, fish and gnocchi were the popular choices.

When it came to dessert, almost everyone picked the Grey Goose Creme Brule... and to be honest I'd have to say it was the one part of lunch that didn't live up to expectations. Somehow I felt like they rushed it, perhaps having that many ordered at the same time? Still, it was good. Not great, as the rest of the meal had been. And speaking of great, our hosts were very attentive and definitely added to the delightful experience.

Here are a few photos from around the table...
https://picasaweb.google.com/pkraiker/20110427IBMRetirementLunch#

After One Month, and One Trip

I'm sitting in my study/studio (I refuse to call it an office anymore) and knocking things off my lists, feeling good about life. A month ago today I walked out of the doors of IBM and it really has been quite an exciting month. I guess it still hasn't hit me, I have yet to find myself missing the old routines and I keep not having enough time in the days to do the things I want. And it's been a month already.  I thought there would be a "moment" around now when it would all feel real and something would shift... so far it's all just rolling along nicely. A few friendly emails from ex-co-workers (what's the right term for that? lol) and some queries about tornadoes (yes there were some in the area we were in, none that came anywhere near us) and soon a final "official" IBM event; my retirement lunch.

I've invited 10 friends, with Greg and me an even dozen, and have a room at Baka on Avenue Rd. reserved for Wed. I tried to find someone from each era of my time at IBM and I think I did ok on that front. Lots of these people span many years so it wasn't that hard to do. 
Keith and I went on the "welcome to IBM" sessions together in 1981, he's very much of my roots in IBM. Another I wish could be there is Darryl, as he is my closest friend and we've known each other since around '82. Our lives have intersected in so many ways... however the "rules" say I can only invite current IBMers or retirees and Darryl is neither. I'll see if I can sneak him in, along with Terry who is also right up there on the list of close friends. He's only wanted to do contract work and so again the rules get in the way. And he fits firmly into the early '90s and all the buzz around OS/2. Of course, Petercam was as good as it gets for our work/life intersection. John C and Denis are mentors to me, people who showed me ways to think and respond and make "it" better. Insightful and generally soft spoken, their thoughts have helped shape mine. It will be good to see them both there. One who will be missing is Mark, who left us over 10 years ago. He took SIS to places it never dreamed possible and I was amazed at riding along on that wave. The things he did, we did, SIS did and the potential that was lost when he died. I still have "Mark moments" and I can still see that smile when an idea landed in his mind.
Janice, Brad, RJC... in different ways we've been close for many years. The '90s gang, we did lots of things together and a lunch-time game of cards was a common thread. Growing up, together... nice folks to be with, I'll tell ya.
Hector (and while he won't be there, I'll include Ric O) are the very definition of "pub night" and it's been a tradition since the early '90s.
And the "newbies"... Jacqueline and Nada. Along with Joseph they make up the future hope for SIS. If the business is prepared to listen, they will be the ones who teach folks like Peter M and Yousoof about how to lead and shape the future. We'll see...

In any case, lunch on Wed. will be fun :)

Three hours of riding to get here, and almost 3000 ft of climbing

As for "one trip", I'll write that up in a separate entry. It was great, and I miss the warm weather already! Over 2000 miles of travel, 68 gallons of diesel, and lots of great rides. Stay tuned.

A Farewell Fete

It's Wednesday already, a week since Terry & Peter hosted my "Retirement" party. I struggle with that word, I'm far from retired. Only from IBM and the only difference is that I get a little health coverage provided for a few years. The real difference is that I have time now and no shortage of things to fill it with. I spent part of yesterday just adding things to lists... how time flies!

Back to the topic of the party though; March 23rd, 2011 was not a very productive work day for me. In fact, I think I may have written all of one email that day. What I did was head out for a late lunch with the architects, our usual "last Thursday of the month Architects lunch" held at a different day & time to line up with the party. The date was picked about a month earlier when I had confirmation of my leaving and I announced it at that previous lunch. The 23rd was also the day our Ottawa office (Jackie) would be in town. Terry & Peter had even reserved the back room that day.

As luck  would have it, the day started with quite a snowstorm and it kept snowing all day. I had some people tease me about my control over the weather (reminding me about the volcano last year that kept us stranded in Belgium for an extra week) and there was some question about people being able to make it. Darryl took this shot on the drive in...


Lunch was pretty relaxed, everyone was in a good mood and hungry (since it was a late lunch most of us hadn't eaten). Here's a shot of Jackie and me, with Mike  & JC.

Terry spent a little time in the back room putting up some photos and trying to get the projector to work (he gave up on it, I'm glad : ) and as a few people started to arrive we all move to the back.

The first thing everyone noticed was the collection of photos he'd put up. I knew he was collecting photos from wherever he could get them. And he had a posted printed up of many of them, including baby and childhood photos he downloaded from Picasa.




As the afternoon wore on people kept pouring in, including a few surprises. One was Ralph Jones who had retired from SIS last year with over 40 years @ IBM. He had just gotten in from Florida and made a point of coming. Another was Doug Clark, who was my first boss. I was also pleased that many of the management team made it, including Pat, Greg and Tony. There have been other parties like this where none of the sr. managers showed up.

By the time Terry got everyone's attention to make a short speech Nada had made a quick count and thought there were over 70 people there. It sank in that I guess I did have a little bit of an impact on the place after all. And of course it felt really good that so many people would come out on a day like that.

It was also great that Andrea, Kayla, Steffan & his girlfriend Catherine came. The didn't know many people there, they came to be a part of the event though. And I got to thank the two people who are "responsible" for my working at IBM. Doug (who hired me) and Steffan. He was the reason I was looking for a steady job, which lead me to take the job at IBM (Steffan will turn 30 this year).

The owner of the bar also wanted to do something special, and stocked the bar with an extra bottle of single malt for the occasion. I really enjoyed the Oban later in the evening. Thanks Billy.

And thanks Terry & Peter... that was a great party. If you want to see the full set of photos, Terry has them up on his Picasa site.
https://picasaweb.google.com/iassist/20110323KraikersRetirementParty?authkey=Gv1sRgCNeItJKqrdua6gE#

Closed the previous chapter, this one is now officially open

Well, it's really here... the Next Chapter. All thoughts of IBM and SIS are part of a previous part of the book, no going back. And to honour the transition, I'll post here what I shared with my friends and co-workers as a "parting shot". My 2nd to last email from "olc@ca.ibm.com" (that ID has been mine since 1998 when IBM switched from VM to Lotus Notes... that's another story!). I'm sure that ID will be gone in a few days. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you don't need to know the insider secrets to laugh along.

I will add a separate entry about the party, with photos. And write something about the feeling of transition... walking out the door the last time was emotional, knowing a chapter was ending and a chapter was starting. One person in particular really got me, I didn't think ahead and was surprised when the moment came; that moment, those tears, made it really clear that the next chapter was now open. Thanks Nada.

For now, here's my "good bye" email... Mike B mentioned that he didn't have a copy of his so I wanted to make a point of keeping this so I (and anyone who's interested) can look back on it years from now. I hope you enjoy reading it.

And a bonus photo of what I left behind... this is the outside of my x-cubie :)

The subject lines is 
It's 42, accept it and move ahead
 
And the story goes like this... it was sent on Thursday March 24 2011, the day after the farewell party and the day before I finished.

Thanks to everyone who came out last night, I felt very honoured that you
made the effort... I guess I may have had a small impact on this place
after-all. I promise the next party won't involve a snowstorm!

Let me cut to the chase:
blog: nextchapter.kraikerphoto.com (Start on "The Idea")
business: kraikerphoto.com

Hi... still reading?

No, it's "only" 30 years (plus 4 days)... the answer is still 42.

42: The answer to that ultimate question of... life the universe and
everything. Go do the math, maybe Watson can help?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Answer_to_the_Ultimate_Question_of_Life,_the_Universe,_and_Everything

42: "back in the day when..." when education was a part of everyone's
career in IBM, a course I took in mainframe technology was taught by
William Hardacre the 3rd and he published a set of common-sense laws. Law
#42 has always stuck and it lines up well (in my mind) with Douglas
Adams...

First say this mantra:
don't panic
take a breath, say it again.
don't panic
(it helped get me through these 30 years...)

Now google William Hardacre and find his 42nd law... good luck. It's more
obscure than Vogon poetry, not as painful though!. Law # 42 states simply:
"It depends"
His other laws are good too... worth a read (I've left them on the outside
of my cubicle)..

After you delete this email, I hope you'll think about what "it" depends
on. It's my opinion that you get to shape that space. For now, I'll wrap up
by sharing a few thoughts on what the past 30 years of "42" means to me and
you are invited to use, abuse, or ignore as you see fit.

People:
SIS has always been about the people.
This time has given me the opportunity to meet some of the most amazing
people I know, and I thank you (and big blue) for that. Wow. Having sorted
through my paper archives, I saw names like Otto, Huckfield, Hancock,
Goody, Ferrie, Koltowski, Crash, JD, Mark, Rick, and well... too many to
mention. Some have been gone longer than most of  you reading this have
been part of SIS. It's really unfortunate that this sort of history and all
the lessons learned aren't available to build on (IMHO).  Someone should
write a book on it... hmmm. At least there's a video.

People I've mentored who stepped up and took charge... I've been very proud
of seeing them grow.
People I've worked with who were dedicated without the burning ambition, oh
so very Brokerage! Anyone who's worked on a major conversion and burned out
getting the job done knows how important they were to delivering customer
sat. Merrill, Woody "Gumby", TD, there have been lots of highlights over
these past years. Perspective, yes... 42! I know it depends. I only need to
think back to the weekend we deployed trade innovator for the first time
and found that it wouldn't run on the target platform to remind myself.
That was a busy weekend as folks like Dave Witterick, Terry and Carson
worked to redeploy on some pSeries servers we "re-purposed". Of course it
was available Monday morning...
People I've grown up with as we all grew together... SIS has always had a
sense of family and community. I think there are still about 15 of us "old
timers" left, I hope you'll pick their brains while they're still there.

Places:
It really was good working downtown, being close to our customers and
interacting with them. We had a number of locations; when I started we were
in the Royal Trust Tower and then we moved into the new IBM Tower (that's
what 79 Wellington was originally called). When I started, we still did all
the printing and would pack up the reports into big leather bags for each
of the brokers. They would send staff down to pick up the bags @ 8:30 each
morning, quite a feeding frenzy. And the only time the 3rd shift crew would
need to wear a tie.
Opening up the Vancouver office was another one of those places... perhaps
there's an opportunity to win back some of those customers and open it up
again.
My favourite though was getting to work in Belgium for almost 2 years. Many
people don't know that SIS had a Professional Services division that worked
on opportunities around the world. You'll find implementations of our OMS
system in places like Milan and Amsterdam, and a variant of trade innovator
in Brussels. India, Hong Kong, and of course the States were all places SIS
was active.
Consumers Road... well let's just say I won't miss the food.

Accomplishments:
There have been a few over the years. I've mentioned being part of some
major conversions (I hope SIS can get back into that, it's exciting stuff
to bring on new customers!), and being part of the trade innovator team. I
also had the pleasure of bringing Canada's first online broker to the
internet when we released our NetAdvisor product in 1996 with TDW. Early
accomplishments include documenting the first successful DR Plan (1986) and
the one that everyone in OPS is very intimate with: Stream Split. It bought
us back hours in our batch processing window, which used to be very tight.
I expect that the idea of multiple streams will be around for a while...
And later accomplishments include building 300 servers in 6 months, with a
core team of talented folks. Too bad we never delivered the applications to
use them! (Yes, that was RVP... before nRVP, Plan B, and EVP).
Getting SIS to sponsor a "Bike to Work Week" event in 1990 was a nice
accomplishment too... thanks Ray.

the Next Chapter:
Many of you know I'm an avid cyclist and photographer. Over the past few
years I have combined those interests and started a personal business as a
photojournalist and photographer. I have been published in Velonews and
Pedal magazines, as well as a variety or websites covering bicycle races
around North America and Europe. I look forward to having the time to
devote to that and see how far I can take it. So starting in April, I'll be
traveling about in my old VW camper with a load of bikes and camera gear.
If you're interested in staying in touch and following this adventure, I'll
be posting to my blog (nextchapter.kraikerphoto.com) along the way.

I'm only retiring from IBM, I'm not the kind to sit around though... should
be fun!

So
my time here has come to an end and I'm moving ahead. Thank you for sharing
in the adventure, and I hope to keep in touch.
so long, and thanks for all the
hugs...

--
Regards, Peter Kraiker
------------------------------

-
studiofstop.com / nextchapter.kraikerphoto.com

Travel... not yet, "just" planning time

I am busy at work winding things up and down, transferring what I think is important to the people who will carry on the work I've been responsible for. I'm actually very busy with all of that, and I'm sure the next 13 days of work I have left will go by very quickly. I'm also getting a lot of lunch invites, which I'm sure will help that along!

Meanwhile, I'm working on my plans for next steps.
Step 1: get through to March 25th and complete all the tasks that need to be done.
Step 2: get a-hold of various people to see what business opportunities exist. I will start setting a schedule based on who is prepared to pay me to be "wherever". So far the best offers I have are in Europe,  perhaps Babe will get a European sibling...
Step 3: arrange to get Babe out of storage, I will want some time to drive and confirm everything is working right. So a couple of weeks of little trips while I wrap up things from IBM
Step 4: a trial run... a few days of travel, to make sure I've gotten all the kinks out. I'm sure there will be things I need to get, or want to adjust. I haven't tried packing for a trip like this since I took canoe camping seriously and that's been quite a few years.
Step 5: a multi-week trip, fit in around when I get steps 2-4 done. My target for this is May 1st. I've always had a soft spot for May Day since spending it in Oberquembach with family (Uli in particular). That's a story I should write... very very special to me.
Step 6: apply lessons learned, adjust the gear and packing as appropriate. Fix anything that isn't ready for an extended trip.
Step 7: see how step 2 is going, and get ready for something big. I imagine 3 months, perhaps longer. And that's where all thoughts of planning fall apart... I don't know yet what this step will actually be.

I have places all around Canada and the States in mind, if there's an opportunity or invitation. I do have invites to stop and visit along the way, there is something about the VW / Vanagon community that amazes me (yes, another blog entry for that on another day). Driveways to "camp" in, beers to celebrate with, suggestions on local hidden gems. I look forward to having the time to write what comes to mind and what is offered.

It will be interesting to see how this loose plan works out... I'm certainly excited at the prospect.

T - 22, the word is out

Rumours were spreading since I started telling a few people about my impending change and a couple of things were waiting for it to be "official".  Now those are set in motion.

The first being the invite email that my friends are waiting to send out. They had booked the party room at our favourite pub (Willie Stouts) the same day they heard and have been busy compiling mailing lists of people I've worked with over the years... there are a few!
The other is that I will need to get a big bin to put stuff in that I'm sure no-one else will be interested in. I have documents dating back to 1982 with names on them of people no longer with IBM and a fair number no longer with the living. I couldn't start on that without people asking so now that it's been announced I'm able to get started. I'm curious how much (or how little) will be of value to anyone but me. And I'm curious what few things I will keep as reminders.

For me, the joy of the job was the people I had the good fortune to work with. People like JDH, "Oggie" and Mark for example... all dead a number of years, all very influential in who I am now. And Denis, who is just too smart for his own good. Rick, Johns (JPC & RJC in particular), Jackie, Peters (SIS seems to have had a lot of Peter's over the years), Hec, JD, Crash,  and just too many to mention. Then there's the lunch gang who have played Hearts on and off for over a dozen years. And these are just the people directly involved in the little corner of that big multinational corporation; the early days of VM and messaging, TOOLS disks, through to the current collaboration suites has brought me in touch with folks like Chess, George G, Thorsten, Larry, Gregoire and many talented folks.

I'll leave off with that for now, just getting started thinking about people! I'll mull over this thread for a while... and look forward to seeing some of them at this party I've been invited to.