Aarons' Journal

Monday 7th November 2005 – Thursday 10^th November 2005

After a very long flight to get to the US, I arrive at Los Angeles to get a connector to Las Vegas. This was my first realisation of how big this place was. After clearing immigration, getting my bags and then getting through customs (by the way do not ever put punch holes in your passport so you can file them as one of the other delegates discovered 4 hours later!) I had to trek for a mile to get to my connector flight and go through all of the security again.

You know when you arrive in Vegas as within 20 metres of getting off the plane there were the first set of poker machines.  This picture below is just as I arrived at the airport.

A picture as I first entered
Las Vegas Airport from my plane

Vegas was everything I imagined it to be and more. While the central district (or the Strip as they call it) is all out of this world. More lights and casinos than you could ever imagine. My head is still ringing from all of those poker machines going off every couple of seconds. The entertainment has lots of showmanship but is very well done. Now for the work side - Las Vegas is one of Americas fastest growing cities and not on the back of tourism. Many people are shifting towards more affordable living and different opportunities that are being presented today. In this area the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association represents the majority of builders that have operations in this area.

My office in Vegas

My office at the hotel was down beside the pool as this was the only area I could get internet connection – tough life but somebody has to do it.

Friday 11th November 2005 – Saturday 19^th November

Moving on to California and getting to Palo Alto I arrive on Friday afternoon without any baggage. Saturday lunchtime came and still no bags. I am told they think they are in Los Angeles! With my meetings for the conference starting on Saturday afternoon and having nothing but the shorts, thongs and shirt I left Vegas in I had to go out and buy some clothes, only to find out that they found my bags and had them delivered to my hotel before I got back. The conference was of great value and has given me a heads up on many issues of starting to do business in the US. From tax issues, immigration, legal as well as social aspects that all impact on the ability to start to negotiate deals let alone win them. Sunday was a great networking day and met a number of quality people that had contacts within a number of circles including some large home builders. Over the days of the conference I met Hon. Alan Carpenter and his Wife Anne-Marie on a number of occasions with some one on one time to discuss specific issues our company faced.

On Tuesday I did a 5 minute pitch to approximately 140 - 150 people including Venture Capitalists, Large Technology Companies and a variety of other people. There were 26 other companies that also pitched their companies. I got very good feedback and some follow-up appointments from this pitch. Barry Hobson from Vibra Q who I got to know very well and has a wonderful medical technology won best pitch and company at the presentations. In addition to the American contacts I also made a lot of contacts with other organisations within Australia.

While it is going to take a lot of hard work to break into the US market the opportunities can be very rewarding. Not just for the company but also for our customers as we gain the ability to do more and more for each and every one of them. We are acutely aware of ensuring long term successful relationships with all of our customers and hence the move to enter the US will not be done without all of the necessary planning and resources in place to ensure this for both our Australian and potential US customers

On Wednesday I start the day off by going to a Microsoft presentation in Mountain View.  We got to speak to some of the people who are doing the core development work on some of the new technologies.  This was a very informative presentation and showed me some details of technologies that we ill look at introducing into our systems over the next year or two. 

At lunchtime I leave for Los Angeles to go to the opening of the LA office for the Department of Industry and Resources of WA.  This event is held at tehe very prestigious Bel Air Hotel.  It was a great night and provided us with thee ability to further network with a number of organizations that had links with WA and the US.  For most the night finished fairly early (apparently the norm in the US).  For myself, I took the opportunity to have a few drinks with Chris Taylor from Frasers Restaurant in Kings Park and a small group of other people.  We finished in the very early hours of the morning.

After recovering from the night before I head back to the airport to go back to Palo Alto on Thursday in readiness for a couple of meetings on the Friday.

Sunday 20th November 2005 – Monday 28^th November 2005

I went down to Santa Cruz and it was a lovely drive. The town reminded me of Busselton - lots of sea shanties and a number of flash houses in the good areas. It was definitely a place for all types lots of leather , studs and spiky hair...together with the cool surfies. The amusement park on the coast was also pretty good.

I left Palo Alto this morning and checked into central San Francisco. The city is huge. Think of Sydney compared to Perth that's San Francisco compared to Sydney. The drive up here was on a freeway that was 7 lanes wide each way and on Sunday late morning it was stop and start for 20 kms - that's some traffic!! The freeway was an unbelievable experience coming into San Francisco at times there were 4 levels of roads and ramps all going across each other and for a large stretch the road in was underneath the road out - quite an experience to drive.

Picture of San Francisco showing how dense
the population is and how big the city is

I drove past Fisherman's wharf on the way to find my hotel and it looks unbelievable. I will be going down there later today. My hotel is pretty average and in a bit of a dodgy area of town but it is clean. At least the run shuttles to different areas.

On arrival at my Hotel I was having a quick rest when I hard a lot of commotion outside.  I go outside and find that thee street has been blocked off and there are 9 fire engines around the hotel.  We get evacuated to the street and watch as a bout a dozen fire fighters laden with axes, hoses etc race into the building.  They get the ladders out and climb up to one of the windows and break in.  It was all al lot of excitement.  I later found out that all of this was due to someone trying to charge batteries with the incorrect voltage and the batteries melted on to the carpet causing lots of smoke but no actual fire.
 

Everyone was evacuated from the
Hotel and the Fire Brigade arrived.

On Monday I meet up with Mr Richard Kiwata, a contact I made at the conference the week before.  Richard spent the day showing me around San Francisco and introduced me to a number of other business associates.  He also took me for a tour of where construction was taking place in San Francisco.  Richard has many contacts and is very well respected throughout San Francisco.  In addition to this he has many contact in Japan where he helps many organisations with their US ventures and operations.  We are currently working with Richard to determine of how we can both benefit from working with each other in both the US market and the Japanese market.

Tuesday and Wednesday I spent following up other contacts from the conference and people that I had been referred to.  These days were also very productive.  I went out to a site where some homes where being built and had a look around.  Their methods of construction are a little different to ours mainly as a result of the materials used.  It was quite interesting seeing the houses being made out of wood frames and what looked like a form of chipboard for the outside walls.  These walls are then generally rendered or have slats or some other finish put on them to give the finished look.

Picture of a house under construction

Thursday is Thanksgiving and the start of a 4 day holiday weekend.  It is very big in the US

  Even in a place like San Francisco many places that are open all the time shut early on this day.  Most of the major stores are closed.  One of the most bizarre things is the way the majority of the people cook their turkeys – they deep fry them in a stockpot of boiling fat (in a Turkey Fryer)!!  Have they not heard of roasting in the oven!

I head down to Fisherman's wharf and it is very busy.  Fisherman’s wharf is a very interesting place and they have some of the best fresh seafood that can be bought ready to eat straight from the stalls.  Lots of tourists things at Fisherman's Wharf.

The Famous Fisherman's Wharf

On Friday I head out to the open road and decided I would have a look around outside of the San Francisco area.  I try to find some areas where building is being undertaken  but it is difficult to locate.  Finally after about 2 hours of driving I come across a n area that is just being built.  I get some names of builders for me to follow up with.  I head on to Napa the wine area and get stuck in a huge traffic jam going both ways.  Takes me about one and a half hours to travel 20 odd miles.  I stop in at one of the wineries for tasting.  They wine was nice but not as good as our Australian varieties.

Saturday night I head down to Stanford to see a game of College football.  There were 80,000 at this college game against Notre Dame (The Irish).  It is all glitz and glamour with the entertainment.  When the sides run out on the field

On Sunday I went and had a look at Alcatraz.  This was a very interesting tour and one I would recommend for anyone visiting San Francisco.  I also did a tour of the bay which went out past the Golden Gate bridge.

The Golden Gate bridge from the Bay 

On Monday it was time to pack up and get ready for home.  On the way to the airport I had to catch up with one of the contacts and give him some further information.  Then it was getting ready to catch the plane.  The trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles was a short flight (about an hour) but then I had to get from the terminal I landed at to the departing terminal (4 terminals away).  A bus does the collection but there were huge traffic jams and it takes a half hour before the bus arrives.  Giving me only 40 minutes to find the check in point and check in (not quite the 2 hours minimum they say).  I check in and race up to the plane area and I am the last one to board the plane.  The plane trip was 15 + hours.  I arrive at Melbourne International airport with 40 minutes to collect my bags, go through customs and check in.  I get to the check in point and it says the flight is boarding.  I manage to convince them that this was their scheduling and that they should get me on this flight.  They agree.  Once again I am the last one on the flight.

On Wednesday Afternoon I was glad to be back in WA.  It was great to see the kids and wife again.  It took me the next couple of days to get over the Jet lag.