9/1/2010 - The first entry

Well here goes, my first blog entry.  In fact, this is the first blog I've ever created.  Sure I've read a bunch and even provided comments to people's posts; but actually owned/managed one? Nope, I'm a newbie.

Anyway, the point of this whole thing is to journal and share my experiences in regards to my India trip coming up in a couple of weeks.  I plan to show photos, short videos, etc as well.  For those of you who don't know, I was selected to participate in a program IBM has called the "IBM Corporate Service Corps".  In a nutshell,  IBM selects, based on an application process,  individuals to work on community projects with Non-governmental Organization (NGOs) located in developing nations. More information can be found here > IBM Corporate Service Corps.  

I'll be traveling to Bangalore, India and my depart date is 9/14; returning 10/16.  The IBM team who will be going is made up of 12 employees located throughout the world (U.S., Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Germany, Spain, U.K., Denmark, and Japan).  In preparation for the trip, our team as been working together on various prework items.  We've gone through educational modules on cultural adaptability, media relations, ethics, and consultancy skills.  It's been great and going through the modules together have really bonded us as a  team even though we've never met face-to-face.  

We found out that there will be 6 projects assigned to our group, so we'll be split into groups of 2 people to address each one.  I'll be paired up with a team member from the U.K, Chris, and our project is to work with an NGO to design a more efficient knowledge management system for collecting and organizing information.  Chris and I held our first call this morning.  It was good and they were very nice.  I think we're going to work very well with their team.

So to wrap up this first, official post.... All is progressing nicely.  I received my passport via FedEx yesterday (complete with my India business visa) and this afternoon I'm going to get immunization shots.  Oh goodie.  Until the next post. ~Dan.