After the initial euphoria of getting into the program there was radio silence for a week - at least from the people in charge. Those of us who were accepted did not wait around to get connected. Someone immediately started a Beehive which is an internal social networking site developed by IBM Research and we started pulling people in. And the conversations began - congratulations, sharing of aspirations, people learning about each others backgrounds and locations. It's all pretty amazing - the power of social networking in the hands of everyday users allowed us to instantly connect with each other. Love that technology!
Eventually we did get some more information through official channels. Those selected represent 44 different countries. Our assignments will as early as September / October 2009 through the following year and the details are still being finalized on the projects. We also learned that this will definitely be a true local experience. No fancy business travel - our lodgings were described as "...meets a baseline standard of safety with running water, private bathroom, electricity and mosquito netting where necessary". I'm sure it's not going to be like being on Survivor but I'm glad that they are not turning this into some celebrity cruise.
Finally, thank you to everyone who responded to me personally with kind words. As you can tell, I am very excited about the opportunity and eager to get underway. Some of you asked about the title of the blog. I guess it sums up the times in my life that I have enjoyed the most both personally and professionally. I like working and playing at the edges and pushing on boundaries. IBM's probably been the most mainstream place I've ever worked and even here I've managed to find something that pushes the boundaries. On a personal level, pushing boundaries and playing along the edges means doing really goofy stuff like this once upon a time:
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