Fund for the two surviving children of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg from bombay

Posting this link for a friend who spent time with the rabbi's family while celebrating Passover in India.


www.chabadindia.org

in case you wonder why most donation amounts are in multiples of 18...

from about.com

Question: What is the significance of the number 18 in Judaism?
Answer: The word for "life" in Hebrew is "chai." The two Hebrew letters that make up the word "chai" are chet and yud. In Gematria (the numerical value of Hebrew letters), chai is equivalent to 8 and yud is equivalent to 10. So "chai", chet and yud together, equals 18. Giving money in multiples of $18 is symbolic of giving "chai" or life.

I am not in India

I received some questions. I'm not in India. My friends are safe, though people are understandably worried. Many of them knew people affected in Mumbai. Think good thoughts for India.

Destination: Arkansas!

I went from Lisbon to London, and then London to Texas, and now I am in Eureka Springs, AK, known for its--uh--I don't know. I'm here for a wedding that I'm glad to see. I think I might be looking at some antiques tomorrow.

I ended up staying in Lisbon for about two months (minus 5 days in India). I worked many, many hours. Overall, it wasn't too bad, but I was happy to send the team home. They're great peeps, though, and they made a lot of work pass quickly.

I spent a week in the London suburbs wrapping up the Portugal project and getting deeper into the India project. The UK is adorable, and everyone is nice. Maybe they just seem nice because of the accents and constant tea offers, but I really like it there (which is good since I go back on Tuesday).

From the UK, I head back to India for a few days, and then I go back to Seattle after my three weeks-into-three-months business trip.

I'm still here

I'll be home in October, really. I seem to have a lot of work to do in Lisbon, hence no posts, little email, and it's hard to keep me on IM. I can guarantee I will be back in the USA for Alicia's wedding in October. In the meantime, I'll be working here until this sucker is complete.

No, I'm not home yet.

I'm still in Lisbon. I left Seattle about a month ago. Since then I've spent a few hours in the London office, several hours in Heathrow, ridden from Mumbai to Pune, India and returned (home?) to Lisbon. I'll come home when they run out of things for me to do.

So, uh, what are you doing?
We're deploying the next version of the software in Lisbon, and I was doing work for another possible rollout in India. The India trip was brief (6 days including travel and the day in London), and we only left the hotel once to go to the customer site on the last day. However, the work parts of it were productive and interesting, and I like my coworkers.

In Lisbon I've been pursuing more or less the same schedule of 8:30-2:30 a couple in-hotel meals and most of the day in the War Suite working. I get out of the hotel for three reasons: jogging along the Rio Tejo, meetings at the customer site every day at 4:30, and a nice dinner OUT OF THE HOTEL. Generally speaking, I am very well-fed and looked after, so the long hours aren't too bad. more importantly, I very much like the team. More later on the fun bits...

"Why American is Great" by Amy

Salads.

Hey, look--I'm in Portugal

[Note: This entry is suffering from my serious sleepiness.]

So, as it turns out, India is not my only travel destination. I'm in Lisbon for two weeks to help out the Portugal deployment. Since most of my India project team is in the UK and most of my questions get answered by email anyway, it only made sense for me to come out for a couple weeks and help out when I can (the full Portugal team busted some serious abacaxi here and deserves a break). I'm here for a couple weeks, then I go to London for a day. The same night a few of us head to Mumbai, then drive to Pune for three days of meetings. After that, it's unclear if I will return to Seattle, Lisbon, or London before making a trip to Madrid. It's not as glamourous as it sounds, as it generally means lots of meetings and stuffy rooms full of tech people.

Lisbon is pleasant
We stay in the area along the river near Vasco de Gama Center. The architecture is very modern, and the area was the site of the 98 World Expo. I've spent the bulk of my time working in a suite with some of the project team and the other part at the customer site, though I have had a nice dinner every night. The hotel is nice, and I'm well cared for. Mom, stop worrying.

I hope to see the aquarium (more or less across the street, maybe catch an art museum, and visit something historic. Because the work is pretty heavy, I'm not likely to get to do much touristing, but at least I can eat well.

Now where did I put that metronidazole...

I've been back from Mumbai for several days now, but a little piece of India decided to come back with me. I don't know if it was the food at the fancy hotel or stuff I ate later in the week, but my stomach's been out-of-whack. It's getting worse daily, and I today I noticed light rash covering my body. I'm assuming whatever it is will not leave without encouragement, so I gave up on letting it run its course and popped some pills.

Mumbai was ok. I didn't do anything exciting. Josh and I hung out and had snacks. I never got proper chai masala (the tiny cups of sweetened milk tea brewed with ground cardamom and other spices), nor did I take any auto rides. Autorickshaws are simply not permitted in South Bombay (the uber-snobby, wealthy area of Mumbai). I had some nice fresh juices (mango and pomegranate, and, no, I don't think that's what made me sick) and ate panni puri and other treats at Josh's favorite chat place. We also fake-shopped for more rugs and felt smug that Josh's rug guy gives us nicer rugs at good prices.

Mumbai on Too Many Rs Per Day

I've spent most of my first three days in Mumbai in the 4-star wanna-be hotel by the airport. It was sort of like not being in India, except for the pods of obsequious staff in the hotel who tried so hard to make my experience exceptional and ended up annoying me. Nonetheless, it's been a good trip. My travel companions are upbeat, and we had several hours of productive meetings. I'm excited about the implementation, despite the fact that I couldn't get proper chai in the hotel.

I've since shifted to a smaller hotel in south Mumbai, the most expensive are in the city and possibly all of India. The staff here is trying hard but hits closer to the mark. My room isn't as schmancy (no hardwood incense burners to match the chairs ans a smaller flatscreen), but the hotel looks and feels cleaner. Unfortunately, this hotel is as pricey as a nice hotel in downtown Seattle but doesn't have the nice room.

You can take the girl out of India...

...but she just turns around and goes back. That's right--call your aunties, I'm headed to Mumbai. Chai. Autos. Proper breakfasts! MORE CHAI!

However, instead of working for The People, I'm going on behalf of an Atlas client who has a customer in India. I'll be in meetings most of the week, and then a couple friends are coming from Bangalore and Kathmandu. I come back Sunday. It's a quick trip, but with this client, I'll be traveling to India at least a couple more times, and--if I'm lucky--I may get to visit totally new countries, too.

Growing Soft

I have to say--this new client is later-stage than our usual partners. I have an office, a desk phone, a laptop, and a global cell. They provide free snacks. I never have to wonder if the lights will turn on. In fact, my office has a sensor and lights up when I enter. It's this strange, lovely world where all the bills can be paid and you get whatever equipment you need.

Of course, it's still a start-up, and that means chaos, huge workloads and nutty people, so I still feel at home.

Woo! Thanks (and feel free to keep giving!) !!

Carie exceeded her target, but don't let that discourage you if you still want to give. In fact, as Peter says, "Give until it feels good."

Everyone is awesome.

Help Carie reach her goal?

Most of you know that my friend Carie has what we call "the cancer." She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. Now, she's on her second bout at the ripe ol' age of 32 (but her 33rd birthday is this month!), and it seems to be not so much going away. In fact, it appears to be rudely persistent despite chemo and radiation and all sort of other activities that are hellish to endure.

Carie is walking in a Charity Thingy. She's going to walk five miles while having cancer and a post-chemo body. She's not met her donation target, so if you want to contribute, click this link. And I saw that lots of you (who have met Carie maybe once?) already donated (as well as having donated last year), so big thanks for being teh awesome.

!!!

No sign of the hermit crab, but I think I saw the fish this morning! He hides out in the rocks, so maybe he wasn't killed. He's probably pretty pissed off, though.

Cross your fingers. I know it's only a few animals-you-can't-even-pet, but it's so depressing when they die from something preventable.

Normally, I wouldn't ask for a mulligan

After a long-ish week of insomnia, low productivity, a busted Blackberry, snotty blog comments about Atlas, dismaying work emails and a sick favorite bee dog, I got inspired tonight when I found out that one of my saltwater fish I thought long dead was alive! I scrubbed parts and tanks, swapped out the light fixture on the saltwater tank, tidied up the surplus pumps, etc, and then made fresh saltwater. My fingernails still smell like algae, even after my shower.

After I poured the last bucket of seawater into the tank, I went to double-check the salinity and got shocked. I don't know how long electricity was running through the water, but I probably killed everything, including the little damsel fish I was so surprised and happy to see alive. At least it may explain why all three of my goldfish all died suddenly while I was in India (the light fixture was from their tank).

My life is overall really good (and seems especially so after reading the depressing stories about Myanmar), but can somebody turn off the firehouse of small, dismaying events that has been hitting this week?

"Who's hungry?"

Yesterday, I had the chance to take a tour of a production facility for a potential client. Many seed-stage start-ups consist of a server rack and maybe a coffee maker, so it's fun to go to places that can make actual "things." Plus, how many of you went home and told your roommate/spouse/parent, "I toured a rendering facility"?

The facility was interesting. Mike and I got the full tour, and they thoughtfully provided us jackets to keep the smell off our clothes. I learned all about the meat and oil recycling process and how it goes from "wasted chicken at Costco" to biodiesel input and pet food. For those among you who don't know, I have a pretty keen sniffer (a by-product of an obsessively hygienic restaurateur mother). The tour was worth the stink, though because

1) Factories are cool!
2) Evaluating companies we may invest in means learning the technology.
3) It's funny to see your partner fighting nausea.

We stood next to barrels and barrels of fat trimmings, meat scraps, fish and chicken, all getting ready to be cooked up and broken down. The facility takes truckloads of meat-waste and renders it into usable product, and they only create about one trashcan of waste per week. We got to see the massive tanks of oils and the entire line that cooks and distills meat with a full narrative of how it breaks down. Red meat turn stringy and then brakes down into a high-protein, but the chicken fibers and hollow bones get ground into a sand-like substance that's less useful. Both end up smelling really, really weird, especially with the dampness and warmth of the air (they also take out, clean, and cool the water leftover in the scraps). Apparently, you have to keep the meat-meal dry, or all manner of cooties end up growing in it (E. coli, salmonella, weird mold). We saw the meat meal in a little room in great big piles, ready to shovel into containers headed for pet food facilities in the Philippines.

Publish Post
I like the philosophical cleanliness, but it's going to be rough if I work on site. Also, I'd struggle not to constantly announce "Soylent Green..is...PEOPLE"

Clippy 2.0?

Maybe I'm feeling a little cynical today, but isn't this Microsoft presentation landing page just Clippy in human form? Make sure you see "Finance Manager Martin." He's the Clippiest.

Ain't No Party Like a Princess Party

Last night I attended a royalty-themed birthday party. The gala featured a truly fantastic female Prince impersonator, go-go dancers, a tribute to a cupcake with a Journey soundtrack, dancing adult Boy Scouts, live Jew's harp playing, Snow White dancing to REO Speedwagon, public spankings, and interpretive hula-hooping. I dressed as Princess Mia of Genobia from The Princess Diaries. The birthday girls had FANTASTIC dresses (sadly, I only stayed late enough to see three costume changes--I think more were coming).

The next round of fiestas will be for Cinco de Mayo is coming up. I may attend a party (though one had been canceled), but mainly I'm excited to see TOPH's tiny dog con sombrero! The only thing better than a theme party is dressing up a pet for a theme party. I wonder how long I could keep my cats in ponchos?

NYT fails us

Though my typing is lousy, I do appreciate when people take time to spell-check and edit text before anyone reads it, especially if you're a major global media source. I'm disappointed to see the NYT failed to catch the misuse of the word "nonplused" in this article.

Up in Waterloo, where the towering winter snowpacks finally melted this month, R.I.M. executives appear nonplused. Though they would not reveal details, R.I.M. itself is expected to unveil a new 3G phone sometime in May and deliver it to wireless carriers throughout the year.

Nonplused means confused, utterly puzzled. What the author probably meant was "unfazed," unless I'm misreading the tone of the article. The word gets misused pretty frequently, but since they're, you know, The New York Times and all, I figure they should catch that sort of thing.

I sent in feedback email to the main desk and to the author, Brad Stone. He's been writing on technology for a number of years, including a mention of an Atlas client, so let hope I didn't piss him off by emailing him the definition.

Yep. We're related.

Last week I returned to Tejas to hang out with my family and a couple friends. Texas is not as bad as you think it is. However, Plano is much, much worse. Nonetheless, I had a great time eating and observing my nigh-ridiculous niece run around. Also, I acquired this photograph from a fashion shoot The Niece did. If you know anything about my internet tastes, the photograph below will convince you The Niece and I are kin.

How many more times can the W Adminstration make us look dumb?

Seriously?

I'd like to point out that I voted for Ann.

Everybody think good thoughts for Nepal

Nepal had their elections (and the whole country's more or less shut down for the week because of them). They're what is known in political science as "a really big deal." Here's a nice NYT article, if you want to read some background.

That bold experiment will give this nation of 27 million an opportunity to cement peace and install a fully elected government, while most likely ending the monarchy that has ruled Nepal for 250 years.

Read The Himalayan Times to see what's happening daily.

Nepal has a pretty complex and troubled political history. The elections--or perhaps more accurately the power hungry--have brought out a lot of rough elements in Nepal. Transportation has been locked down, and they've had protests, bombings, and all around tense scene. However, turnout was high, and relative to what could have happened, voting day was fairly calm.

Nepal is one of the best places I have ever been, and I will definitely return some day. It made me appreciate living in a safe city and stable country--I'm counting my lucky stars and paying my taxes with a smile (now if we could just quit invading other countries...). So, when the dust settles in Kathmandu, go have yourself a great vacation.

My vacation may have been too good

I seem to be lacking my normal persistence (read: anger) on the soccer field. I still feel pretty calm about everything, and I think I might run harder when I'm mad. Then again, I'm probably a lot dumber, so it's a draw.

In terms of progress, I've been back in Seattle two weeks and played six games. Since I only have one official team, I just accept any invite to sub. I gauge speed by whom I can outrun, in the following order:

5) Nobody (current status)
4) Overweight women in knee braces
3) Overweight men in knee braces
2) In-shape women
1) Men
0) (on a good day) Slowing down the really fast guys

I'm not really supposed to be fast--which is good because no one in my family is really built for land speed--but I did a credible job of getting in the way of the opposing team. I'm actually sort of surprised that I am not worse after so long being gone. In fact, one of my teammates said I was better than he remembered me being.

If I can just force my legs to go faster--I'm convinced that speed is a function of will--I'll be more useful on the field. I'm told not kicking the ball to the opposition will help, too.

DraftGuys - Feedback from anybody?

A friend from college has produced a television show about football (the American kind). Since I compulsively promote small ventures (and because I occasionally pester him about some of my clients), I'll post the link here. I think I'll focus on this one to help me in soccer, though I don't really like Skittles that much...

Hmmm. "Diamond-like substances are a girl's best friend" might need some work...

I'm billing again, my friends! In addition to a couple internal projects for Atlas, I'm working for Zolastar (The website getting hepped up some, don't worry). I'm pretty excited about them because:

1)They have wicked cool machines
The machines add a few angstroms of diamondy-coating to anything you put in them. That fact means you can make the merely shiny sparkle and/or make an item reeeealy hard to scratch.

2) I get to use what I learned in Earth Science
This fact means that 8th grade--conventionally known as The Worst Grade EVER--has finally paid off.

3) I like thwarting De Beers and their stupid ad campaigns in any way possible.
I don't like the diamond business for a lot of reasons, but I do love shiny things.

[Warning: Nerdy text below]

They create a diamond-like coating, which means you can use something else in the middle (like, say the much-less durable CZ) that doesn't have to be mined, but coat it in something that is diamond-like in hardness and depth. It's faster and less expensive to produce than other diamond simulants (look at me with my gemology vocabulary). So, you get all the bling without De Beers.

You can get all-the-way-through-diamond gems that are lab-made, but they are still pricey (I'm not just eco-crunchy and West Coast, I'm cheap, too). Zolastar gave me a sample pair of earrings, but I probably would have bought myself a pair anyway. Feel free to buy me the matching pendant.

Where Zolastar gets more interesting is non-jewelry items where you can take advantage of other diamond properties (like a low coefficient of friction and super-high scratch resistance) for industrial and commercial purposes--airplane parts, lenses, dog toys... I'm pretty entertained by the "What Can We Put in the Zolastar Machine" game, if anyone has suggestions (note: please nothing alive).

FAQ II: Back in Se-attle, again...

Now that I am home, I'd better repeat the exercise of the first FAQ and the iFAQ. Feel free to ask more questions.

When did you get back?
How was the flight?
Feel good to be home?
Are you back for good?
Is your dad glad to have you back?
Did the cats recognize you?
How are the fish?
Have you recovered from jet lag?
How much do you weigh?
Are you working for Grameen Technology Center?
Do you have a job?
What have you been DOING?
What foods have you been getting that you missed?
How about Indian food tonight [snicker]?
Are you playing soccer?
What about those rugs?
Will you keep up the blog?


When did you get back?
Since Monday evening, March 24th. Mrs. Nelson and Mama (a.k.a. Amy-Also) fetched me from the airport.


How was the flight?
Fine. I flew from Kathmandu to Bangalore on Saturday, spent Sunday in BLR, and flew BLR-Heathrow-SEA on Monday. I read Lolita, slept, and watched movies. I sat next to some nice, very tall UW students who had been teaching and coaching in South Africa.


Feel good to be home?
Yes. I'm still finding wee ninjas that were hidden around my house, which was thoughtfully decorated in "God Bless America" style, plus at least nine teeny ninjas, gnomes, teeny horses, and a plate of Peter's Snickerdoodles.


Are you back for good?
I am, both in the sense that I will not go back to work in Bangalore, as well as opposing evil.



Is your dad glad to have you home?
You really can't tell with Dad, what with the furrowed eyebrows and somewhat stern demeanor. Chocolate chip cookies were in place, as expected. He's made these new butterscotch things that may have crack in them, near as I can tell.



Did the cats recognize you?
I don't know. They seemed uninterested in me when I arrived. Apparently they used to freak out when they heard my voice over Skype, but you wouldn't know it from my homecoming.


How are the fish?
The remaining fish seem fine. It was a hard winter, but a lot of my fish had been around for several years, so it may have just been their time. I am looking to get rid of a few aquaria, if you are interested.


Have you recovered from jet lag?
I get very sleepy midday, but I sleep through the night. I wish I could sleep less, though. I have too many nights that end up being >9 hours.


Are you working for Grameen Technology Center?
No, but I may volunteer or work on small projects, if AW needs me.


Do you have a job?
Yes, Atlas Accelerator welcomed me back with open arms. I have one project already, and I'm also working on internal projects. I'll probably have at least one more client soon, so if you want to hire me, call soon!


What are you DOING?
I spent the first week spending time with friends in a jet-lagged haze. If you saw me in the first two days, I was probably kind of stupid and might have tripped over something.

I've been meeting some Atlas clients and our new-since-I-left team. It involves a lot of food, so you know I'm into it. So far, I like all my new(-er) coworkers.

I also have a lot of logistical items like making the car start (needed a new battery), opening mail (thoughtfully and compulsively organized by Dad), starting taxes (hairy this year), cleaning up the fish tanks, and distributing India presents.


What foods have you been getting that you missed?
I ate a fair amount of Western food in Kathmandu (mainly bread!), so I was pretty well satisfied. I still need to go have some pho and a Ragin Cajun sandwich from The Other Coast Cafe in Ballard.

I had to ask Dad to stop baking for a bit while I get my eating habits back under control. I ate 3/4 of a batch of snickerdoodles and half a batch of chocolate chip in 2 days.


How about Indian food tonight [snicker]?
I never got tired of the food in India (except for mediocre Italian-like food) because if I was tired of South Indian, I ate North Indian, or Keralan, or Bengali...

Unfortunately, Seattle only has a few places I know of that serve South Indian, so Uncle Tarang and Auntie Chaithra had best dust off their sambar recipes.


Have you lost weight?
I have recovered most of the weight that I lost, so I'm only a little thinner than when I left. In fact, if anyone wants my dress I wore to the wedding in China, let me know.

I may have returned with another gastrointestinal companion, so stay tuned!


Are you playing soccer?
I've played three game so far. I'm playing the whole game and breathing as well as expected after 6-7 months in Asian cities (that's pollution you hear me coughing up), but I am s__l__o__w. I hope to be back up to my normal faster-than-she-looks-but-slower-than-most speed within a month.


What about those rugs?
OK--nobody asks about the rugs, but they are beautiful and I love showing them off.



Are you going to keep up the blog?
Well, I hadn't planned on it, but I suppose it is a useful thing, in that I don't have to repeat myself. Oh--wait. I ALWAYS repeat things. Well, we'll see what I end up doing. If nothing else, I'll blog about my clients.

"Washington my home, wherever I may roam..."

(And in your head, you should be hearing the Sicko version of the song.)

I'm home.

Nepal continues to Teh Awesome

As predicted, my posts are tardy.

Trekking Recap

I spent a couple more days in KTM planning my trek. I met another American who advised me that for a first trek in Nepal, Annapurna Circuit is the way to go. I hopped a bus to Pokhara, found a female guide, got my permits, and off we went. The trek took 13 days from Besisahar (a few hours' bus ride from POK) to Nayapul (another couple hours on a bus). The circuit has an AMZAING amount of variety. I'll spare you the day-by-day (you can read descriptions online), but I had a great time and returned filthy (some showers are hot on the trail, the bathrooms are too cold to shower, though), tired (some days I hike 30+ km), bruised (I got hit with a bucket helping at a fire in Manang), sick (some form of upper respiratory infection from which I am still recovering despite antibiotics), scratched (no idea how these happened), chapped (wind and sub-freezing AM temperatures), sore (looong stairway down the last day) and as happy as I have ever been.

It's probably time to return to work

I've been spending the remainder of my time playing super-tourist in KTM. I am a lousy tourist, though, and hope to meet with a Nepali Mifos Specialist today to talk about microfinance challenges in Nepal. However, I've seen a number of Hindu temples and Buddhist stupas, all of which have been interesting. Friday is Holi (which I may celebrate by playing, um, golf). I've been eating a little too well--ALL food in Nepal is great. Every last bit. Added bonus: I've been provided with a guest room (and washer!) at a friend's house, so I get to live outside the tourist ghetto, have unlimited hot showers, and play with a dog. The things I enjoy most are walking around the city (I tend to taxi out to a site and then walk home) and talking with Nepali people. They have a very intense political history, as well as important elections coming up in April. Despite all the tensions (and before my trek, fuel shortages) I was relatively unaffected as a tourist.

Nepal is FANTASTIC

You must all visit this country. Just go start researching now.

I spent 3 days walking and riding elephants in Royal Chitwan national Park. I did not see any tigers, but I saw rhino, a bear, two types of deer, monkeys, a garial, and crocodiles. Birds are everywhere in Chitwan, and I will never get tired of standing in the forest and listening to them. I stayed an extra day and rode out with the elephant drivers to see them harvest tree tops for the elephants to eat (roughly two trees of twigs, per elephant per day, cut by hand with a machete, amounting to about two hours of hard labor on top of all the other work the guys do). I have pictures you can see when I return. I also played volleyball with the riders, elephants watching in teh background.

Today I am in Kathmandu finding a guide (hopefully female) and will probably go towards the mountains after tomorrow.

I'm in Nepal

So far, I like Nepal a lot. I've only been here a few hours, but people are nice and the food is good. Even the salespeople don't pressure you! I'm staying in a tiny guest house on the edge of the tourist ghetto. It's not fancy, but it's cheap and I won't get bedbugs (but I have my sleepsack, just in case).

Kathmandu has fuel shortages right now (a road blockage by the Maoists), so it'll be interesting to see how I'm going to get around the country to see the sites. Tonight I saw people waiting in lines blocks long to get fuel.

You'll note that any post I may will likely be short and sloppy. The internet here is sloooow, and I am more interested in doing things to write about than tapping away at a keyboard.

I will miss many things about Bangalore, but...

..not the small shocks I get from electronics. When I get home, I'll sit next to my grounded sockets and weep at their beauty.

I will miss most Grameen Koota and my friends, an unsavoury group of entrepreneurs, VC's, and eccentrics who have made my time here MUCH more fun than it otherwise would have been. One friend is confirmed to visit Seattle for a wedding in in August, so you can meet my Bangalorean platonic life partner. Another friend will be settling in LA, so if you are there, please look after her for me.

I will also miss
the chai lady
Panni Purri
South Meals
North Meals
Easy, cheap food delivery
riding in autos (yes, really)
Indian hospitality

I'm looking forward to my Nepal trip and being home, too, though. I am compiling my list of things to do. Oh, Costco--how I missed thee...

No news is bad news

My laptop screen makes a quiet bzt and then smells of ozone. I'm hoping plugging a monitor into it will let me at least finish some work I need to do. On the bright side, Steve K brought me a SteriPen for my trip to Nepal so that I can avoid the types of illnesses I brought back from Assam. It was great to see a familiar face. Tonight I'm off to Hampi.

We had some unpleasantness with our landlady, but Liz may have worked it out. Hooray! I'm all but packed for home, and I've done a test pack for Nepal. It's a little heavier than I would like, but I'll be consuming or abandoning items along the way.

Souvenirs from Assam

Though I shook my food poisoning in a day and was able to go running Friday, something has taken residence in my body. I'm running a low-grade fever and sweating profusely, among other less pleasant symptoms. I even had to skip an afternoon tea (and it was going to feature a lovely crab curry!). I've already started my antibiotics. Some friends came in from Seattle and have brought me a Steripen so that I don't go through the same thing in Nepal.

The trip to Assam was a nice change from the city, but the work aspects of it were less than satisfying, and I had a mildly creepy experience (you can ask me about it, but I'm not posting it here). I really enjoyed the jogging, though.

Pinwheeling is NOT the fun activity it sounds like

I don't know what I ate or drank that put my body in full rejection mode, but I hope it's over with. I was awake last night a few times being violently ill, though everything I had today has stayed in. Unfortunately, I was too weak to jog this morning. Both meals I ate yesterday were in my hotel (it's close to the office and open during the bandh), so dinner tonight might be a PowerBar or some Spanish Tomato potato chips.

I've had a few good work days, though not in the areas I'd hoped. The bandh interfered with our connectivity testing (and my lunch), BSNL had an internet outage all day today (something about 100 metres of stolen cable), and I wasn't able to get as many decisive answers as I wanted.

Bandhs make things less interesting

We went to a dhaba (roadside outdoor-ish restaurant) for lunch. One of my associates ordered several dishes, only to find out later that we could only get daal, paneer, and roti because the bandh meant the market was closed. Restaurants don't carry big inventories. Instead, they send a boy to buy whatever you want (even if it's on the regular menu). Hence, no non-veg items and no vegetables. It was still good and I ate plenty, plus you can hardly complain about lunch for six for 390 Rs (about $10 US).

The roads and tons were pretty quiet. Crews were laying what I hope is cable (turns out the internet *is* a series of tubes...) bringing internet to the MFI branches. I saw a lot of people playing cricket (no school during bandhs, either), and guys squatting in a circle playing cards. Bandhs occur regularly here, so I suppose people have their routines.

Wrapping up

I and the Mifos Specialist Team head out tomorrow. I have another three-hour ride to Guwahati and six hours of flights (Guwahati-Kolkata-Hyderabad-Bangalore) to get home. I hope to relax a bit this weekend and maybe savor a few more Bangalore restaurants as part of my grand exit from India.

Ride Home from SeaTac: CHECK!

Mrs. Nelson already offered to pick me up on March 24th. She might need an HOV buddy, though.

Only two weeks of work left, followed by the month in Nepal. My how times flies.

Bandh-ed

One of the militant groups is having a bandh, so no field visit for me today. Tomorrow may be out, too. On the upside, the highway had even less traffic for my morning jog.

Return to Assam

I'm back in Assam this week. Assam is part of the Northeast States and is a bit in the boonies, even for India. I flew into Guwahati and then rode 3 hours to Tezpur. When I was here in September, the rainy season was just ending and everything was bright green, muddy, or flooded. The rivers and tributaries were well outside the banks--even for monsoon season--and we saw a lot of tenement camps along the highway while people waited for the water to recede from their villages.

This trip things are browner and drier. The temperature in the day is in the upper 60's to 70's, and the dampness is all gone. It's nice to ride around the countryside in the fresh air, and at night I can see stars. People here are mellow, they're much more fit than elsewhere in India, and all the women have beautiful skin. I'll be here working (and eating well) with IIRM until Friday

When Roughing It isn't

The last time I was in Tezpur, we stayed in a hotel the travel guide described as "A tired, soulless place..." The food was good, but the description is apt. My suite (pronounced "suit") was large but mothbally and very worn. The staff was polite but also seemed somehow weighed down and vague (a byproduct of the rains?).

This time, I'm at the lovely KF Hotel Tezpur. It's brand new with Euro-ish dark wood cabinets, a flat screen TV, and a huge fluffy comforter (and I'm not even in a deluxe room!). It has a cute little departmental store with cheap Chinese imports (Barbie Uno, anyone?) and lots of snacks. The only downside is that they serve crappy machine-made Nestea instead of brewing Assamese tea properly, and my sambar was tepid. Free breakfast or not, I may have to venture elsewhere tomorrow. I mean--seriously--how can you screw up tea or sambar in INDIA?


Just because Tezpur translates to 'blood city' is no cause to worry

I JOGGED OUTSIDE TODAY! I was able to go running for forty glorious minutes before work this morning, along the highway (size: American 2-lane) through town. It's not too dusty here compared to Bangalore, and the only motor vehicles at that hours are a few trucks, buses, and Army caravans. I jogged pass the guys with AK's, the bicycle rickshaws, and the kids waiting for school in relative safety, especially since every morning from 3-7 AM, the army sweeps the area with dogs to guards against roadside explosive devices [insert soft "whump" as Mom passes out reading that phrase].

Assam experiences frequent signs of political instability--strikes, riots, and the occasional bombing. However, I'm a) near a city (5km), and b) right down the road from the Commandant's house, so I'm pretty safe. The army "sanitizes" the highway for at least 5KM on either side of his house--perfect for a short run!

It's so much nicer when the most common vehicle is a bicycle. I got stared at a bit, but I was less of a draw than some guy net fishing. In fact, I got far more weird looks when I went running in Greece and Turkey (though I don't run in a cowboy hat here).

Schedule Recap

I have less than a month left in India. This week, I fly to Assam for 5 days to check in on a deployment. I'll be in Bangalore working until February 20th, with a short side trip to Hampi.

Nepal!
On the 21st, I fly to Nepal. I don't have a planned tour, so I'll spend a few days finding a group to trek with or hire a guide (probably female), as trekking alone is ill-advised. I'll spend 2-3 weeks hiking from tea house to tea house, and then take some time in the Kathmandu Valley site-seeing. I hope to go south to Royal Chitwan National Park, too. I return to Bangalore March 22 to say good-bye to my friends here.

Thank you, India

I arrive in Seattle on March 24th. I'll probably spend the next week recovering from jet lag, attending a couple meetings at GTC, and doing important things like turning my phones back on, finding soccer teams for spring season, and eating as much of Dad's cookie dough as possible. I plan to begin work with an as-yet unnamed Atlas client around April 1st.

Franchisetopia

Bangalore is growing and people here are making money. When you have more disposable income than your parents, what do you buy? Donuts and ice cream!

Bangalore has The Donut Baker* shops popping up all over. They look like Dunkin' Donuts but in yellow and brown instead of pink. The donuts are fine (buy the raised donuts--the cake donuts are dried out) and not too different from what you would get in the US or Canada. The shops are bright and clean and usually adjacent to another Global Franchise Architects store like Pizza Corner or The Cream and Fudge Factory.

So it's just like home?

The biggest difference you notice is that The Donut Baker--or any American-looking, shiny franchise shop--has a VERY NERVOUS staff who try desperately to fit into the corporate plan. Smile now. SMILE.

When I went to The Cream and Fudge Factory, as I read the menu board, I was offered a laminated plain-text copy of the same menu, handed a glossy printed flier, and received suggestions from the staff about what cone I should have. Instead of the order-scoop-pay process, I had a hovering young woman waiting to take my order. I tried to get one of the fancy cones with chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla, but I was told by the hovering girl and the scooper it wasn't possible (turns out the ice cream was banana and it would remove a critical component from my Cream and Fudge Factory Experience).

After taking my order, the hoverer wrote it down on a carbon copy pad and then told the ice cream scooper/topping mixer the order and told me the price. I started to pay her but realized I needed to pay at the cash register. The girl at the cash register looks at me blankly until the hoverer repeats my order and the price (at no point were any of the written items passed on directly). I pay my 99 Rs and received a register-printed receipt. They tell me I can sit upstairs (in The Donut Baker), too. Meanwhile the scooper and two other employees go off to the side to debate the size of the brownie slice that was to be mixed in my ice cream. I wait 5-7 minutes in the ice cream parlor and then my waffle cone is proudly served in a cone holder with The Cream and Fudge Factory plastic spoons and napkins.

How many people does it take to serve a donut?

After ice cream (which was ok), we went upstairs and bought some donuts. The donut line is semi-self-serve. Someone hands you a tray and some tongs and you pick the donuts off the racks (check out the image gallery) and then you slide down to the cashier who will take your money or hand off your donuts for parcel (what we call "to go" here in India). Employees seem confused, nervous, AND VERY VERY EAGER. It's quite the vibe, since The Donut Baker had FIVE employees to eagerly serve donuts. Not mixing or baking--JUST BEING EAGER. We sat down for five minutes while they placed four donuts in a box and the box in a bag. While we waited, a sixth The Donut Baker employee walked in (and number seven was mopping the stairs outside).

The by-product of all the employees, the boredom, and the nervousness is that people may stare at you to make sure you are having The Appropriate Global Franchise Experience.







* On the site, I'm not sure which phrase is funnier "innovative high quality donuts" or "proprietary dough."

Want to help Microfinance?

You people know I am not above tapping my friends to help (and thanks again to Ashlock for doing work for Grameen Koota!). Mifos 1.1 will be released in a couple months, and we could really use some extra testers (or devs or admins or tech writers). More eyes on a product are always better, and anything you can do to give the core team more time to work on other areas means more bugs get fixed and features are better, and that translates into fewer headaches and lower costs for the microfinance institutions. It's not as fun as building houses or working directly with people, but you can make a big difference in the back office. The the ability to manage large amounts of data is what allows for the scale of microfinance to increase. Also, cost savings mean that over time they can afford to have lower interest rates for the borrowers. The better Mifos is, the fewer patches and less time it will take to deploy, lowering overall IT costs.

Let me know if you are interested, and I'll find you an assignment. For those of you curious about 1.1, check out the Product Road Map or the Test Server.

One Month Left

Time flies when you're arguing with auto drivers. I finish my contract with GTC on February 20th, and my trip to Nepal will be Feb 21-March 22. I fly to the states 2 days later. If you want me to bring you something from India, you should let me know now.

General Update

My life is pretty ho-hum. With the exception of this weekend, I'm still working quite a bit. I've acquired a cold, but whatever was in my GI tract seems to have been permanently evicted. China/Singapore put some weight back on me, so you can no longer count my ribs on sight. I've undertaken some loose planning for Nepal, but essentially I'm booking a plane ticket and will figure out guides, etc when I get there. Mainly, I sit at the laptop, have conference calls, and spend any free time socializing with more local people by tagging along with a friend. I've taken to staying in the city more (availing myself of guest rooms and couches) and subsequently quelling the gossip, as spending extra time with/overnighting at any male friend(s) raises a lot of eyebrows in the wee social circles of Bangalore (both local and foreign). I've nothing spicy to report, other than some unwelcome invitations from someone I exchanged no more than 10 words with, none of which was social in nature. The pigeons left us one of their own--Liz arrived home the other day to find a dead bird on her patio.

I'll spend the last month wrapping up tasks and transitioning my work to AW, who will manage things from Seattle until my full-time replacement is hired.

The Dallas of Asia

After Beijing, we (that is me and my buddy Josh) spent a couple days in Singapore. We stayed at some friends' who have a lovely flat near Orchard Road, Singapore's main shopping district. Singapore is a large, tropical, spotlessly clean city-state devoted to commerce. It's filled with huge malls and department stores, and--more importantly--ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT FOOD COURTS.

Mmmmmmm..Doooonuts...
I replaced half the weight I lost in India on the Beijing/Singapore trip. Eating and shopping are the national pastimes in Singapore. We ate at the outdoor hawker market, inside the malls, at the house, and in the airport--donuts, chicken rice, brownies, cranberry bread, Dairy Queen (Peanut Buster Parfaits are not as good here), Burger King (our host had a craving and sent the maid out to get it while we drank), custard puff, cheese, hummus, soba noodles and juices.

Around meals, we managed to see some beautiful orchids (30 or 40 varieties) at the Botanic Gardens and did some shopping. The orchids were definitely the most enjoyable non-food activity, since I don't like shopping, especially in Asia.

"Um excuse me--do you have this in extra, extra, EXTRA large?"

Every major European, Japanese, and American fashion outlet is represented in Singapore, and the prices are about what you would pay in the US. Sadly, in addition to being an XL in India, I am positively enormous in Singapore and Beijing. The only clothing I came close to buying was a man's wool coat at the Shangri-La Beijing. To get shoes before the wedding, I had to go to three shoe stores before finding one that had had any in a size 8 (one female clerk actually got bug-eyed and laughed).

It seems my brawny, muscular frame is too much for high fashion. I sometimes couldn't even get sleeves over my arms, and if I did find the next size up, it was too baggy around the middle. Besides the sizing issue, most of the clothes available are items one wears to do more shopping, not something I would wear to work (too short, too low-cut, too gold-glittered). I pray fashion in the US has not gone to stupid as it has in Asia..

I did get some treats for myself and friends at Muji and purchased a knock-off iPod Shuffle for $20 since my actual Shuffle is dying a slow death (and no way can I work out without music here with the squeaka-squeaka of the exercise equipment). I paid $15 too much--the device is possibly the flimsiest piece of electronics I've ever had.

Relaxing
We spent the evening at the house talking, eating, and enjoying the lovely tropical night. Day two we spent buying more food and making a half-hearted attempt to camera shop before heading to the airport and returning to dusty, chaotic Bangalore.

Beijing

Beijing was impressive--clean, modern, and LARGE. I thought it would feel different and exotic, but it reminded me of home because of the 10-lane highways, cleanliness, and omnipresent sense of organization relative to India. In fact, Beijing appears to be 50-60 years ahead of Indian cities, and it's hard not to wonder if they'll ever catch up.

The buildings are ENORMOUS--Las Vegas hotels are small in comparison. The pollution is bad, though we had blue skies at least one day. Food is fantastic, though laden with far more meat and oil than I eat (either in India or the US). I ate plates and plates and bowls and bowls of food, including TWO meals at one of Beijing's famous duck restaurants, a 12-course wedding banquet, noodles, dumplings, hot pot, snacks, and juices. As an unexpected bonus, I spent the time with a great group of people in town for the wedding--an elaborate and over-the-top event. To top it off, we stayed at the Shangri La hotel where I took shamefully long hot showers, ate perfect apples, and slept as soundly as I have in years.

In case you were unaware...

Not much of old China is left in Beijing, as it's been heavily modernized AND IS PREPARING FOR THE OLYMPICS. REPEAT: THE 2008 SUMMER OLYMPICS ARE IN BEIJING. YOU MAY COMMENCE PURCHASING SOUVENIR COLLECTIBLES. BEIJING = 2008 SUMMER OLYMPICS, AND WE ARE CLEAN, PROSPEROUS AND PREPARED FOR THE 2008 BEIJING SUMMER OLYMPICS. CHAIRMAN MAO AND THE PANDAS WANT YOU TO HAVE A GOOD, CLEAN 2008 SUMMER OLYMPICS.

Beijing has Olympics all over it--tons of souvenir shops, street merchandise, a mammoth stadium, public service announcements, giant signs at The Great Wall of China, and office buildings with 40-ft flashing Olympic mascots dancing across them. Educational videos on each sport play in the very clean Beijing subways next to rows and rows of newly-installed ticket machines and booths. Spitting is out, friendly is in, and let's all give the world a big Beijing welcome...

Power Tourism

We visited every tourist site Beijing has to offer: The Great Wall of China, Tiannaman Square, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, The Lama Temple, The Temple of Earth, The Temple of Heaven, a government pearl shop, The Ming Tombs, the Beijing Zoo, beautiful parks, touristy art shops and some of the largest malls in Asia. I was freezing most of the time, having only a light jacket and layers of warm-weather shirts. Fortunately, the massive amounts of food warmed me up quickly.

We saw most sites with wedding friends, save for one day with a tour guide. Normally, paid individual tours are a great way to see the city, but unfortunately our tour guide stuck to the approved script. The temples are beautiful, mammoth and IMPOSING. China--old or new--has mastered monolithic architecture. You really need only 4-5 days in Beijing to get all the sites, although it sounds like we should have spent more time in the museums in the Forbidden City. The gardens we saw were lovely, even in winter and must be gorgeous in spring, summer, and autumn.

Our most culturally relevant experience in Beijing was lunch at KFC. The Chinese are crazy for the Colonel. It was good and clean, though certainly no where as good as Chik-Fil-A (unavailable in China, India, or Seattle).

Do Not Ever Visit the Beijing Zoo

Normally, I do not visit zoos outside the US and Canada, but Josh wanted to see some pandas (I saw them in San Diego) and we had a few hours to kill before our flight. I assumed it would be a pretty good zoo, given the global popularity of the panda. The new, modern, clean China broke down at the Beijing Zoo. Once you leave the pandas, the conditions are horrible. Cracked and broken glass, mice tunning through the exhibits, bare cages with bald bulbs, and large animals trapped in 6x12 cement enclosures smelling of urine. The exhibits--even for tropical animals--were poorly heated (Beijing was below freezing nearly the whole time we were there). It's one of the saddest and worst places I have visited, and I hope the Chinese government realizes what an appalling image it's going to give Olympic visitors and fixes the issue. It's definitely a strong reminder that most of China is not at all modern or prosperous, and you wonder who paid the price for all the Olympic polish.

Travelin'

I'm off to China tomorrow night, followed by a couple days in Singapore. China should be fun, cold, and smoggy. Singapore will be clean and full of good food. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to buy a new camera and a new MP3 player on the trip, since my Shuffle appers to be dying and my camera sucks.

After I get back, I'll return to Assam for a bit to check in on the deployment in person. I hope to squeeze in a trip to Cambodia for a weekend to see Angkor Wat in January, and I will go to Hampi (though maybe not by train) before I leave for the US.

My tentative plans for February are to finish work on the 20th and fly to Kathmandu, Nepal via Delhi a few days later. I'll spend a few days getting acclimated to the altitude and then fly to Pokhara to start my trek on the Annapurna Circuit. I'll be out on the trail for a few weeks and then back to Bangalore for a few days before flying home on March 24th. I might throw in a side trip to Bhutan. Really, though, I am likely to change my mind and switch to Laos or Japan or somewhere else--we'll just have to see.