This is the impressive ice cream sampler dessert that landed in front of me after lunch at the Hotel Monaco today. I have to remember from now on that this is enough for 2-4 people.

- mike lee - washington, dc

...well really her second in 23 months, but this time she can walk and gets what's going on. We joined a pack of neighbors and their kids to make rounds to houses on our street. Cianna quite politely solicited her treats, even managing to say "trick or treat" a few times, but always "bye bye, see ya!" It was a challenge as always to get usable shots as she was in constant motion. Also, using my trusty X5 led flashlight made these phonecam shots viewable.

More photos on Flickr.

- mike lee - wheaton, md

1) From Friday morning: sunrise as seen from my red eye flight as it approached DCA from SFO. 2) Detail pic from my boss Mark's Halloween Party on Saturday night. 3, 4) A typical scene showing Cianna watching the Wallace and Gromit DVD. 5-7) Carving pumpkins in preparation for tomorrow night's Halloween festivities.

- mike lee - wheaton, md

Enjoying our extra hour this morning in our back yard...

- mike lee - wheaton, md

My LeapFrog Fly Pentop Computer arrived while I was out of town. I can't wait to test it out over the weekend. There's a great article on LeapFrog in the current issue of Wired. You'll be able to read it online on Nov. 3rd. And here's an old article about the core technology.

- mike lee - washington, dc

My last two days in SF were action packed...

Wednesday was the longest day of the Forum with activities planned from 8am to 9pm focusing on the psychology of risk. 1) Fog shrouded daybreak as seen from the 27th floor of the W Hotel 2) Richard "Tex" Chapelle (on stage right), poker teacher and performer, gave a lesson on card hand strategy; William Hall, improv entertainer (on stage left), facilitated an interactive body language activity 3, 4) Jimmy Carter of Effective Leaders International (not pictured-not the ex-president) led several groups of about 12 each through a team dynamics exercise. Without talking at all, and limited by time and monetary penalties, groups had to self organize to guide each other through discovering the correct foot path through an electronic sensor enabled maze mat. 5) My view of sunset happened because I decided to bail on the poker game event and dinner in favor of a nap to recharge my wiped out body. Refreshed, I had nightcap and inspiring mind meld at the hotel bar with design strategist Jim Faris.

Thursday, the last day of the forum was a half day to reflect and summarize on the last 2 1/2 days. 6) Business case discussion and Forum summation yielded some pithy insights. The forum ended with lunch. 7) Visiting the Chronicle Books store at the Sony Metreon, I note to myself to find Wallace and Gromit window stickers, which were out of stock. The Sony stores were disappointing. 8) View of SFMOMA and the uncharacteristically clear weather. My cousin Leland picked me up mid-afternoon to take me on a tour of the area around the Presidio, which is near his house. 9) Here's the Yoda fountain at the entrance to Lucasfilm's new offices in the Letterman Center for Digital Arts. 10) Obligatory shot of Golden Gate Bridge. 11) Sunset over the Pacific Ocean. 12) Dinner was at Tong Palace Seafood Restaurant with Aunt May, Uncle Stanley and their sons Leland and Fulton. 13) Taking in the night view of downtown from the top of Twin Peaks. Leland kindly dropped me off at SFO so I could catch my red eye flight back to DC.

- mike lee - sf

These is the street level archway of the San Francisco Federal Reserve building where some of our conference attendees toured the river of U.S. paper currency that flows inside. The Global Business Network, who's hosting our conference, is actually moving its offices from Emeryville to this building in the spring.

The broken link from last post was to Youth Outlook, where we enjoyed the work of 14-25-year-old journalists.

- mike lee - sf

The afternoon of the GBN Forum is a series of field trips or "learning journeys." I'm at the newsroom of

Group exercise involving mapping risks on concentric rings of organizational, market, and external domains, and pie slices for the lenses of social, technological, economic, environmental, and political (STEEP) lenses.

- mike lee - sf

After my luggage arrived at the W at 2:30am, and then finally getting a few hours sleep, I'm at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum building to begin the GBN annual forum Navigating The New Realities of Risk. That's me in the last frame with GBN's graphic recorder, Lynn Carruthers. She had just given me a great tip on using baby butt wipes to smooth pastel tones on facilitation diagrams. She said to be sure to wipe in one direction...

Eamonn Kelly introduced the day; now, after introductions around our tables (Robert Horn is two chairs away!), Rebecca Weyland and Lawrence Wilkinson are leading the day's activities.

- mike lee - san francisco