Thursday, November 13, 2008

Almost back to Baghdad


My whirlwind tour of Iraq is almost complete and I am waiting on travel back to Baghdad and should be there by dinnertime tomorrow. I've been to 13 air bases, COBs, FOBs, or Camps, flown on Blackhawks, Chinooks, Pave Lows, and C-130s, and been in a convoy through the most dangerous city in the country. I've even had a chance to stay in a house, visit a restaurant, and walk around one of the quietest and safest cities in the country as well. I've met face-to-face with over 50 customers to give them personalized training and elicited over 25 suggestions for features to our application. At least 90% of the folks that I have met with would say that they're happy with our system, which is a pretty good success rate for such a wide range of user roles and technical capabilities.

All in all I'd like to think that my trip was a success both professionally and personally, and I'm glad that I made it through the trip safe and in good spirits. Now it's back home to Baghdad and my warm bed and office space and to welcome our new developer - and personal friend - Steve Levithan into the country this weekend and get him started on the same process I went through myself at the end of August.

The photo above is in front of the statue of a Kurdish philosopher and historian at the entrance of the Citadel in the center of Irbil.

1 comment:

Christine F. said...

Glad you're safe and almost back in Baghdad.

I'm also glad that you've had the chance to see some amazing sites, as well as taking some beautfiul pictures.

It's great that you'll have a friend there now. :)

Looking forward to seeing you in 3 months for my wedding!