Cross Border Journal

End of Year Craziness

A lot is happening at the moment, and thus the blog has taken a back seat, or perhaps the trunk. After my trip to Australia, I had to conduct some training in Tokyo with almost no time for preparation and am now in Korea on business for a few days. More announcements to come later...

Absorbing Australia

I have been in Australia now almost a week, and I have really enjoyed this first trip with much gratitude and thanks to my colleagues based here and the many others who have been welcoming.

Although I made the trip to Sydney this weekend, I was in Melbourne (above and below pics) the first few days and return tomorrow.  There's much to like about both cities and I feel some urge to make comparisons to other cities I have experienced. But to do so would be to generalize too much.

The Australian people remind me of Americans in the Southwest--more laid back--and there is a sarcastic and teasing sense of humor here that closely resembles humor in the States. But at the same time, I can definitely feel the underlying European current, most strongly in Melbourne as most people here describe. The Asian influence is also strong and brings a lot of diversity to both cities.

I am looking forward to spending a lot more time in these two cities, as well as the rest of Australia!

 

On The Way to Australia

Having rolled off my project in Korea, I am on my way now to Australia with the possibility of joining a project there for a different client.

I am excited about this potential opportunity for several reasons, particularly because this would be a new country, new market and new product. So far I have primarily focused on warehouse management systems, but this project primarily involves Manhattan's transportation solutions. Because I do have some operational experience in transportation, I look forward to learning in-depth the systems side of the equation.

While I prepare, blogging will taper off a bit but will still check in regulalrly with news or commentary.

Shawn Beilfuss Manhattan Associates-Tokyo -------------------------- Sent using BlackBerry