On January 4, 2010 it will be 2 years since I quit smoking. I actually now believe I am a non-smoker!

I smoked between 3 and 5 packs of cigarettes a day for the better part of 30 years. Smoking was a part of who I was and what I did.

I used to wake up in the middle of the night just to have a cigarette and go back to bed. How screwed up is that!?!

Now, I can celebrate 2 years without a cigarette and I am very happy about that!

Thank...

This perhaps is the hardest blog for me to write. For just as much as I have enjoyed my stay in Istanbul, Cerkezkoy and the surrounding areas, I have enjoyed sharing the experience with you through these blogs. Surely I will miss both very much.

On my last day in Turkey, I transferred from the factory at Cerkezkoy back to Istanbul for the last day of my stay and the grand finale visit to the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar. Something I have looked forward to since I arrived in Turkey....

Turkish food is many things: interesting, surprising, flavorful, sweet, bitter, delightful and sometimes scary. I had the pleasure of being hosted by a native Turk, Ismail, who wanted to introduce me to as much of the Turkish cuisine as was possible during my stay.

The first night I was introduced to a Turkish delight named Kofte. This little gem is a specialty in Turkey and is made of ground Lamb, seasoned and shaped into a meatball, only it’s flat and can be round or shaped like...

I arrive at my office in Cerkezkoy Turkey to begin my work week and learn all that I can from my Turkish colleagues and the Production and Quality systems they use in their daily work. My international company is all about synergy and information sharing. We thrive on seeing other factories and possible new solutions or practices. I fully intend to take away some practices to implement in my own plant. Taking my seat at a desk in the main office, my observations now begin.

The...

TURKISH AIRLINES- Now Boarding....

As I enter my Turkish Airlines 737 at Frankfurt International airport, I get the first impression that things are about to change in a dramatic way.

The very first thing is the announcement over the PA system, first German, then English, then Turkish. A language I have had very little exposure to and something that sounds like a combination of yelling and singing. Yup, there is no chance for me to understand a single thing when I...