Morning all:

“I’ll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there’s evidence of any thinking going on inside it.” — Terry Pratchett

I am sooo deaf. Marcia and I just returned to our little room at the Meliá hotel in Santo Domingo after an evening of listening to a 15 piece band headlining a national celebrity – Rubby Perez. And yes I now do own two of Rubby CDs. My temporary deafness is being very, very good to me, since I am unable to hear any of the nagging about this latest acquisition.

I do love my Latin music and at regular intervals need my fix. I think that my battery was recharged this evening listening to great live Merengue music.

This week has been wonderful when it comes to spending time with newly made friends and learning their stories. How about Juan. His father was a penniless carpenter immigrant to the U.S. As a grade schooler his father made him a little box and gave him a 50 cent loan for supplies – a rag, shoe wax, and a brush. He then took him to the city center and taught him to shine shoes. More importantly he taught Juan how to negotiate the price and how to create value by snapping the polishing rag just so.

Eventually Juan became a U.S. Navy Seal. Today he manages the Latin sales for a company in my industry and sits comfortably with us as we shared a meal at a restaurant surrounded by aproned waiters and white linen table cloths. By the way, he paid his father back the original 50 cent loan.

Then I had dinner with Daniel. Daniel is a Chinese minority from an island just off the Chinese coast. He was brought to Singapore as a child and eventually he moved to the U.S. to attend school. Now, with an advanced engineering degree, and as a huge Arkansas Razorback fan, he was on the dais with me as we were waiting our turn to present our papers.

I just love meeting people. I am very thankful to having the opportunity to have met these two fantastic individuals, both, never looked back other with respect for their past, as they embrace the future.

Tomorrow morning (Saturday) at seven our little tour bus will pull up to take Marcia and I by boat to visit the Parque Nacional del Este located on a nearby island. I am told that we’ll visit and swim in a lagoon used to film the movie Blue Lagoon. Now it’s midnight, a quick run down to the lobby to upload this post ( a whole other story) and then I am done for the day.

Make it a great week. Keep opening your own doors.

Cheers,

Dirk