The Josh Also Rises

Flashback - February - Man City football match

2010-10-02T14:09:00.002-04:00

I swung up through Manchester in February to visit a buddy of mine, Sunil, with a couple of classmates. We took the opportunity to go to a football match and see Manchester City. This is one of the top teams in football - definitely in the top 4-5 in England. They played Arsenal, which is another top-10 team. And we had front-row seats. We didn't even pay that much - just got lucky. The experience was great (in spite of the constant rain/sleet/snow), but the match wasn't very good. It ended in a 0-0 ("nil-nil") tie, with Arsenal back on its heels trying to play for a draw from the very beginning. I gave it a shot, and I did enjoy the World Cup, but the average football match is just going to put me to sleep.

Flashback - February - West End nightclub

2010-10-02T13:58:00.003-04:00

This is a friend of a friend who flew in from California to celebrate his birthday. And also a 2,000 GBP order of champagne with firecrackers stuck in the top. It's obscene! But not entirely untypical for the kind of thing you see in West End nightclubs. There is a lot of wealth in London due to all the finance that's based here, and people like to party hard.

Clubs are "the thing to do" on a Friday or Saturday night, if you can afford it. This one is Jalouse, I believe. If you look at the ceiling in the video, you'll see that it's covered with lights that normally light up and change with the music.

Flashback - January - MBAT

2010-09-30T12:15:00.002-04:00

In January I traveled to HSBC (just outside of Paris) for MBAT. This is an annual tournament for all the MBA schools in Europe. LBS, naturally being one of the largest schools, was a perennial winner and 5-time-running champion.

Well, until we broke the streak. But who can blame us? HSBC has started recruiting athletes, and gives academic class credit for exercise (effectively like taking a PE class in high school). I don't disagree with the idea, though - it seems to have created a shared bond within the school, a commonality for everyone to rally around. LBS is probably 4x larger but we were beaten in most of the sports we competed head-to-head in. Basketball was no exception, but it was a thriller - it came down to literally the last shot / possession.

Marrakesh - final pictures

2010-04-25T20:53:00.004-04:00

I wanted to share two final pictures from Marrakesh. The first one has a story. I passed a small arcade in a shop while I was walking around the city. Some boys were playing foosball, so we joined in. They were pretty good! One kid (probably sensing opportunity) took us under his wing and led us to the city sites. We had been lost, and in all honesty, his guidance was immensely helpful. Afterward he led us through some winding streets that functioned as a metal-working district for the city and eventually to his family's shop. They dye scarves in beautifully rich colors and then the women embroider thread into them. The kid led us to the rooftop of his house where we hung out for a bit to watch the sun set. Scarves were hung to dry on everything - even the TV antennae. This pic reminds me of that whole experience, but has beautiful colors in its own right - the rich, deep blue against the skyline and the sunset.

The final picture is of graffiti, which I love to photograph and I find to be radically different from culture to culture. The wear-and-tear on this picture just adds to its character, and the lighting is perfect. The swan-like figure is dressed, has teeth, wears a comically small hat, and shields its eyes from something - in this picture, it seems to be hiding from the light. The childish figure seems very emotive, and a bit ominous.

Marrakesh - street scenes

2010-04-25T20:38:00.003-04:00

The streets of Marrakesh have a very distinctively look to them. The colors are all muted reds and beiges, with red dust hanging in the air. The architecture recalls better times, when kings ruled and had built up palaces and giant walls in their capital city. It is slowly crumbling today and lacks the funding to be maintained.

Children are ubiquitously running about and playing games. People wear muted colors that match the buildings around them, with bright flashes of color in the occasional scarf or shoe. Women are all covered from head to toe, though a full muslim burka is a rare sight. People here are used to tourists and are very friendly, but are shrewd negotiators.

I love both of these pictures - they capture the people, and the action, that you see in every Marrakesh street. The top picture is especially beautiful, with the rays of light shining through into the alley, and vitality of the alley.

Marrakesh - Jardin Majorelle

2010-04-13T19:18:00.004-04:00

I went to Marrakesh for a weekend in January with three classmates. It was a great trip - very relaxing, warm weather, great meals, and all the prices were at a steep discount to London.

We didn't spend much time in the Jardin ("Garden") Majorelle, but the color in these pictures came out stunningly well, so I wanted to share them. It was a beautiful place - I've been to dozens of gardens, but never a tropical garden that had figured out a way to showcase bamboos and palm trees so uniquely. Interestingly it's owned/maintained by Yves Saint-Laurent (the company), and Yves Saint-Laurent (the person) chose to be buried here when he died in 2008.

The Tube

2010-03-31T04:09:00.002-04:00

The London tube. I think it's fair that this picture (dead of morning - first run of the tube) is the only time you'll ever see it this empty. During rush hour it's packed like a sardine can - and some people have body odor, let me tell you.

I used to ride the tube on occasion - maybe the weekends - but now I'm a regular commuter. I travel to work twice a week. The tube is a wonderful source of transportation; I would never own a car in the UK. But the tube lines are often delayed ("person under a train" means suicide, FYI) or shut down completely. If the tube was more reliable, and/or ran 24 hours per day (it stops at 12:30am), it would be perfect. I find that riding the tube is a good way to become proficient at iPhone games.

Europe's finest nightlife

2010-03-31T03:56:00.002-04:00

Only in Europe...

And no, I do NOT know him.

Santa pub crawl - December

2010-03-31T03:48:00.004-04:00

I realize that it's March - but! - it has been a very busy semester for me. Next semester may be even more so. Classwork has proved to be easily manageable, but my internship is a big drain on my time. I really enjoy the work so I'm not complaining. But I am a busy, busy bee.

These pictures are obviously a bit dated. But I wanted to share them anyway, because this was a blast. One of my school's biggest social traditions is the Santa pub crawl that we do right before our December exams. Hundreds of people dress up in Santa suits and walk around London - from the tube, to an amusement park, to bars and eventually a nightclub. It's chaotic! It pretty much stops traffic / pedestrians / everything as people stop and gawk at us going by. Oh, and naturally, we're singing carols.

"The Local"

2010-01-24T11:52:00.002-05:00

A common expression in England is, "my local," or "the local." It is inevitably a reference to the pub that is closest to you, generally within just a few streets, and that you patronize on a regular basis. It's cultural here that you go to the pub regularly - and almost expected that you'll support your local business.

For me it's almost too easy. The Hobgoblin is just 100 yards away. I can always find a free seat (sometimes it's downstairs) and the beer prices are fair. But the big thing - and the real reason I go so often - is the Thai food. A Thai family has set up shop downstairs and cooks fantastic food at super-cheap prices. They can bring your food upstairs to the pub or you can get it as take-away, which me and my roommate often do. At 6-7 pounds per entree, it's a price and convenience that can't be beat in my neighborhood.

Culture! Class!

2010-01-19T20:17:00.003-05:00

This is just a quick post to say, yes, I am getting my share of proper London culture in. This is a pic from a trip I made to watch the Kensington Philharmonic Orchestra play in the Chelsea old town hall. My friend Genevieve is both a Masters in Finance student at school and a musician in the orchestra, so she got a bunch of us some discounted tickets.

Even more impressive was my more recent trip to the Royal Opera House for a performance of La Boheme. I had awesome seats on the left hand side in the lowest balcony. Ok, so this is obviously a stock photo - but you get the idea. It wasn't really a "take lots of flash photography" kind of event - in fact, no pictures are allowed during the performance.

La Boheme is the most popular opera of all time. I think this is largely attributable to the fact that it is truly funny. I laughed out loud on a regular basis. And it's a little ribald, which reminded me of Shakespeare. I guess if you want to stand the test of time, you have to appeal to the masses, and to our lewdest sense of humor.

The opera was wonderful - it ran three and a half hours but felt like it ended too early. The actors/singers were amazingly talented - what else could you expect from a ROYAL opera house? I can't wait until I can go again.

The Christmas Spirit in London

2010-01-04T18:06:00.002-05:00

London gets REALLY dressed up for Christmas! Far more than Atlanta ever did. This holiday season saw a remake of Disney's A Christmas Carol, an animated movie voiced by Jim Carey. Which also happens to be modeled after a British book by Charles Dickens. So there was a natural tie-in for them to sponsor Christmas decorations all over Oxford Street, a major shopping and nightlife area in London. It was great!

But it was Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park that really put me in the Christmas spirit. It was a HUGE winter carnival. I had never heard of a winter carnival before, but it's very much like a normal carnival, except there are more bratwursts and hot chocolates and mulled wines. I had a thick hot chocolate with a shot of Bailey's in it, and enjoyed it next to a fireplace; absolute perfection on a cold day.

Strategy Exam

2009-12-29T00:00:00.004-05:00

Strategy was one of the tougher exams that I've taken, bar none. It took 12 hours. Yeah, that's right - it was a scheduled 12 hour exam. We went from 9am to 9pm.

It was also a group exam. I took it with my 7-person study group, some of whom are pictured above, celebrating the end of the exam. From left to right: Steve (Korea), Beto (Mexico), me, and Natalya (Russia). Sheena (Singapore) took the picture, and Anais (Italy) and Robustiano (Argentina) also weren't pictured.

We had the case (on Zara / H&M / the Gap) ahead of time, but didn't know the questions. Even so, we were able to do some prep work in advance. And thank goodness; we wouldn't have finished in 12 hours, otherwise. During the exam we split up the work into sections and charged ahead. We took turns editing / reviewing each other's finished sections. In the final hour we cobbled everything together. We all got along well, which was great given the stressful conditions, and our final grade was a solid A.

In the end, our school bar was full of fellow MBA 2011's ready to celebrate the end of Strategy.

Patriots-Buccaneers American Football

2009-12-28T17:20:00.004-05:00

The fact that I'm blogging about this betrays how behind I am on blogging (you could check your NFL schedule). But it's Christmas break, which should give me plenty of time to catch up.

I went to the game! This will end up being my only game of the year, and in pure football terms, it wasn't a great one. The Bucs were seriously outmatched by the Pats. The Bucs will end up winning 3-4 games this year. But it was SO good to see a football game live. It's one of my favorite things to do. I was so caught up in the moment and the excitement that I don't know if I could tell you a single play that happened. I remember that the Patriots won!

Another bonus: my roommate knew one of the Patriots players. And now I know a few, as well. We got to sit in the Patriots' team seats for free, and then we went out drinking with the team after the game. It ended up being one of my favorite - if not my absolute favorite - nights out on the town in London. The players were all great guys. R down to earth, normal people. I know that the Patriots' head coach, Bill Belichick, recruits "high character" guys. It definitely shows.

Business school speakers

2009-12-08T20:38:00.004-05:00

One of the untold value-adds of the MBA are the ton of speakers that come through. In any given week there are 4-5 speakers/companies at least. Since we're in London, which is a central hub for European business, a lot of executives are swinging by anyway. So we get access to lots of CEO's and VP's and the like, and hear what they think is the latest stuff in their given industries or companies.

Sometimes I attend because I want to go work for XYZ company. But more often than not, it's just intellectual curiosity. Last week I attended a panel of speakers on the video gaming industry - one of the speakers had sold his company the week before for $75M but STILL kept his speaking appointment at our school, and was a really sharp guy. This week I'm attending two lectures by different companies about consulting to private equity (very educational).

The pics above and below are a good example. General Mills came through school and talked us through a marketing case for one of their product lines; in this case, Old El Paso. In general, the students benefited from learning, and General Mills had the opportunity to raise awareness at our school and hopefully attract some top talent. Fascinating stuff! No, really, it was.

In a nutshell, Mexican food didn't exist in the UK about 5 years ago. And over that course of time, it has risen to be - let's call it relatively well known - to 70% of the population. And they don't have the benefit of Mexican restaurants to help raise awareness. But it didn't happen overnight - they had very flat adoption, then a huge spike after a successful new tv commercial, then flat for a while, then a huge spike after the next marketing promotion. They were really smart about it, and they could measure the impact of each incremental thing they did.

Last pic is their "afterparty" / networking session - free champagne and haagen-dazs (another General Mills brand).

New Internship, New Career?

2009-12-02T11:11:00.002-05:00

I left TRX with the objective of getting an MBA, then going back to work in the upper echelon of a technology company's management, quite possibly in travel, and quite possibly in product management, with the goal of becoming a CEO asap. And that's still in play. But I started to question my original plans, which I think is a healthy exercise now that I'm free and clear of the working world.

Is travel a good industry? It's one of the least healthy industries in the world, it's cutthroat competitive, and has tight margins. The clearest proof may be that I had to leave the industry to go for an MBA to expand my opportunities. So maybe I should reconsider travel.

What about tech companies? Well, I actually really do like high-tech stuff. I worked in two high-tech firms (telecom and software development) and enjoyed both. They were both relatively dynamic, and I embrace change and ambiguity. I follow news on cutting edge gadgets and technologies just because it all fascinates me. And good opportunities seem to go hand-in-hand with technology. So I seem at home in tech; it just suits me.

What about product management? What I've read about it still sounds quite interesting. Product managers control a product, setting marketing strategies, and recommending / requesting (depending on the degree of authority) product changes. It's basically a mini-CEO role, but over a single product within a company that has several products. Sounds great - but it turns out that those roles don't go to fresh MBA's in Europe. You have to start a few rungs lower and work into the job. So I still like the idea, but it isn't the immediate "CEO path" I thought it might be.

At school, I've learned more about management consulting. Consultants are hired by a company to give advice to senior management on its biggest issues. And since they get practice with top management issues, they are often recruited to become corporate executives (read: CEO!). So, maybe I should become a consultant? But often, and especially lately, the issues they handle are "ugly" problems - cutting costs in a warehouse, downsizing a company, etc. Imagine consulting a carpet manufacturer in a village in Eastern Europe for 6 months on how to reorganize its factory. Not my style, even if it does add a ton of value.

But then I learned about boutique consulting firms - relatively smaller firms that focus only on a specific industry - like technology, for example. And I thought, "Aha!" This might be another path to the same destination, and might be an even quicker path to the top. And maybe along the way I'll decide that I love consulting, and might just stick with that.

The big news is that I have an internship lined up with a Technology-Media-Telecom consulting firm that works exclusively on really cool strategy projects. It has a great, convenient office at an exclusive location amidst the tailors on Savile Row. I start in January. This is exceptionally rare for an MBA; I would say that in our class of 400, maybe 10 of us will be interning during the year. I couldn't be happier, and quite frankly, am way ahead of the curve for MBA's. Now back to studying - I've got finals in a couple days!

College Game Day

2009-12-01T13:02:00.002-05:00

Football! Over here, that generally means something different - "soccer." But on rare occassions, I get to view (and celebrate) the great American pastime that is real football. A couple of my friends here went to USC and they have a Huuuge alumni community here in London. Go figure, right? A bunch of people from sunny California would decide to move to cold and dreary London? But from time to time I get to join them out at Sports Cafe. We generally don't get college games on TV here, but we do get 1 NFL game per week. A couple weeks ago we had the Colts-Pats game - hopefully you caught it, because it was one of the best games I've ever seen!

Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum

2009-11-22T21:38:00.003-05:00

It was inevitable that I would go. I live less than a 5-minute walk from the legendary (and totally touristy) Madame Tussaud's was museum. It was worth the price of admission. As you walk around the crowds, you might bump into someone and apologize - only to realize they're made of wax. The figures all look quite realistic.

I also found the morbid history to be really interesting. Madame Tussaud got her start in taking "death masks" made of wax from famous people that had been beheaded during the French revolution. Those masks still exist, and are on display - including Marie Antoinette, and the actual guillotine blade that killed her.

Riding the bus

2009-10-18T18:50:00.004-04:00

I've become proficient at riding London's big red buses, which is a big step towards becoming a Londoner. Three of my friends (Lee, Molly, Mia) are pictured.

During busy hours you want to stick with the Tube (subway) because the roads have bad traffic. But otherwise, the buses are the way to go.
1. They are cheaper; 1 pound vs. 2 pounds for the tube, or 5-10 pounds for a taxi
2. You can see where you're going as the bus travels, giving you your bearings
3. Buses travel to more exact locations, places that tubes do not, so there is less walking
4. Buses run 24 hours, while the Tube closes around 11:30pm - 12:00am
5. Buses are often faster for short trips, since changing trains and all the station stops add a lot of time

Today I too a bus to meet up with someone I haven't seen since high school! Colleen seems to be doing great, she is a guru at helping out with business pitches. And we had Spanish tapas which were, at least I thought, pretty good. Though my opinion is not harmed by the three chocolate desserts that we split! Good times.

Eloquent!

2009-10-12T17:15:00.002-04:00

We had a debate in Ethics recently, and just got back some feedback. I did pretty well! The point about French was part of my rebuttal.

"...Peter French (and nice reference, by the way)... Joshua in particularly made an eloquent argument."

- Josh

London nightlife

2009-10-03T15:10:00.002-04:00

If there's one take-away I would offer you from the picture above, it's the hundreds and hundreds of people. This is how London spends its time at night. Everyone goes out to huge nightclubs, spends a fortune on cover (generally 15 - 20 pounds; about US $30 - 40), and drinks cocktails. People dance all night, primarily to house / techno music.

This is a huge contrast to the style of nightlife in Atlanta. In Atlanta it's quite rare to pay entry, and if there is a fee, it's minimal. Drinks inside are relative cheap due to competition. The biggest difference is that Atlanta is primarily a scene with bars, rather than clubs. The emphasis there is on socializing, talking, and bar games (pool, darts, foosball). Most people seem to drink beer, and there's relatively little dancing - if anything, a small area would be devoted to dancing. I'm getting more used to the London scene, but frankly, it's not my preference! I'm more of a talker than a dancer.

Trini Barbeque night

2009-10-03T14:38:00.005-04:00

London is a truly international city in a way that Atlanta never was. This night was no exception. My roommate, Mark, knew a girl from Trinidad. She invited Mark to a barbecue and I tagged along. It was south of the city - farther south than I had been before, to an area called Clapham.

The short list of things I didn't know ahead of time: absolutely everyone else was from Trinidad (of all places!), and it was a themed party (so everyone was wearing a costume that started with the letter "B"). Needless to say, I was a little out of place! But I felt welcome to be there.

Some of the better costumes included Bob the Builder, a Biker, Barack Obama, Betty Boop, and...

A Beefeater! Definitely my favorite costume. The fact that he was tending the grill (including beef sausages) was too perfect. They served some of the best chorizo I've had in London. The weather here, despite advance warnings to the contrary, has been really nice over the past couple months. I could count on one hand the number of times it has rained, with only two legitimate downpours. Most days I'm in a t-shirt and jeans. And yeah, I've been here two months - today is my anniversary!

Morris Dancers

2009-08-31T17:36:00.002-04:00

I walked out of my flat (apartment) the other night for a quick pint with my flatmate Mark. We walked just around the corner to the local (you call the bar that's nearest to you "the local") and saw a few dozen people participating in what looked like Irish dancing. It was kind of like a Lord of the Dance show, but with less spring in their step, and more hitting of large sticks together.

Apparently this is a traditional English dance called Morris dancing. And it is thoroughly entertaining to watch people with bells on their knees dancing and knocking sticks together while you grab a beer. We're thinking of hiring them for our next party. On a related note - I love that England, and especially London, is oozing with culture. I run into little surprises like this everywhere - like the Queen's uniformed guard that rides on horseback past the business school each day.

The new apartment: my bedroom

2009-08-26T12:50:00.005-04:00

Now that I'm semi-settled in my new apartment, I think I'm overdue for providing some pictures. In general, I spent three weeks looking around, and I think I finally found the "holy grail" of apartments in London. The search was painful and involved looking at tons of places. But I think it was worth it, in the end.

We'll start with my bedroom. Oh - first of all, this is a furnished apartment, which is fairly common in London. So it came more or less as-is, with the exception being that I bought the sheets in this picture (really nice ). Relatively for London this is a big bedroom, with a double bed and a good amount of extra space. In general, the furniture is fairly modern. You can see blinds in the left corner of the window; the window lets out into a very small "courtyard"-type area that is private to the apartment. Near the window is a built-in wardrobe, and when combined with the set of drawers that you can see, I've got plenty of space. The marble floors run throughout the entire apartment. Also you can't see the lighting, which I could add an entire post about, but it's dozens of Italian small lights set up on a central control for dimming (it has different light programs / settings).

To the right of my bed is the bathroom. You can just make out the black sheets of the bed in the mirror's reflection. It's a good-sized bathroom and very modern looking.

The right hand side of the bathroom has a walk-in rain shower (the water all comes down from the fixture on the ceiling). My roommate's shower is similar, but his also features a steam shower. Actually, if you look in the glass in the shower door, you can see some of the bedroom lighting that I mentioned (several smaller lights, maybe 10 - 20).

House warming party

2009-08-23T13:08:00.002-04:00

I promise, I swear, this is the last post before I start taking / adding lots of pictures to the blog.

Last night I had an open-invite housewarming party and it went off without a hitch. I would guess that we had 100 people throughout the course of the night, with maybe 75 at the peak, and we were up until the wee hours of the night. I love to host events for people and this was a great way to socialize with my new classmates.

Tomorrow is a big day. The first day of school! Ok, so there aren't any classes or work to do, and I've already met 50% of the other students. But I find out who my stream is - we're divided into smaller sections of maybe 75 people, to make it more manageable, and these are the people we take all our classes with. I hope I get a bunch of my friends! Even more exciting / intimidating is the prospect of a study group. We'll have a lot of group projects to do among a much smaller team of 6 - 7 people. Groups are randomized by nationality, prior work experience, and gender, among other factors. Getting good study group members can have a huge impact on your first year at school. So a lot is riding on tomorrow!

Be it ever so humble...

2009-08-18T08:15:00.003-04:00

So after searching high and low, I finally have a home. No pics for now as I don't have internet at the new place yet. I'm jumping online at my b-school for just a bit. But soon! And there will be an air mattress for anyone that would like to visit. And you know you do.

Living it up in London

2009-08-09T12:03:00.003-04:00

I am thoroughly enjoying London. Most of my first week here has been spent more or less as I expected - making new friends among the LBS students and going out every night. The group pictured above are actually some of my best friends here - Molly (USA), Trisha (Philippines), Hernan (Peru), Mark (Canada), and yours truly.

The bars here are similar to what you'd see in the US. You go out, chat, and have a few beers. And beer here is mostly cold, contrary to popular belief - I guess it's something that changed a few years ago. So it's a fairly familiar routine for me, but going out every night is wearing me down a little bit.

I'm a little disappointed on my progress with practical matters. I bought some socks, which was a nice baby step. But I still have some loose ends in the US, I don't have an apartment yet in London, and I don't have a bank account. This upcoming week is just going to have to be super-productive!

Adios, America

2009-08-03T17:57:00.004-04:00

I've landed safely in London. My final weekend was truly frantic - rushing around to see people on Friday and Saturday, then packing / purging my things on Sunday. I ended up moving with virtually the clothes on my back - two checked bags, one backpack, and one laptop bag. I own nothing more (ok - keep me honest - my house is still for sale).

The way my friends reacted to my departure reminded me very much of when I left for India. Certain people stepped up and wanted to see me more, while others faded away. It's a very good indicator for who will or will not put effort into keeping up a friendship going forward. And this is not a sad note, FYI - this is a happy note, in fact. Most everyone that I expected made an effort to see me, and a couple people who are relatively new friends surprised me with an exceptional effort to spend time with me.

Wow. I mean, what can I say? It made me feel good to feel loved. But it also mires me in melancholy now that I have moved away from some of those great relationships. I'm sure I will form new bonds in London, but they aren't in place yet. They will come, and I will learn to love London. But in the short-term a move is always hard.

My new MacBook Pro arrives

2009-06-26T22:28:00.003-04:00

An early step before leaving for business school. I can say without hesitation that this is the nicest piece of hardware that I've ever owned. The new MacBook Pro has only been out for about a week and I've already got it! So much about it is brilliant. Made from a single piece of aluminum in order to save weight and add strength. At brilliant, color-rich screen. A backlit keyboard. A power cord that magnetically attaches. A fast, new, Intel-based processor.

But I didn't buy it for the operating system. I'm a Windows guy. So what I've done seems pretty radical but it was actually very easy. I downloaded the RC version of Windows 7 (basically the beta version of the new version of Windows, which should release in October). Then I downloaded a trial version of VM Ware's Fusion product. And so now I'm running a beta within a trial. The result?

What you're looking at is a little window with Windows 7 in it that's sitting within Mac OS X. I'm running both at the same time, which is great, since the Mac OS is actually a little better at some things like music and pictures. I can blow Windows 7 up to take over the full screen and then toggle back and forth between the operating systems (they can share documents, pictures, etc.). You can even run Windows apps within the Mac OS, in a view called "Unity" that is pretty self-explanatory.

I'm not overly technical, so this is pretty amazing to me. And I'm super-excited to see that everything is working. Whoa.

Update

2009-06-10T01:34:00.002-04:00

I've been back in the US for quite a while. About 8 months so far. But I've been traveling a lot lately - 4 weekends away over the course of 5 weeks. This upcoming weekend is in Las Vegas. So I will put up some travel-related posts for those trips.

The big news, of course, is that I'm moving in early August to London. Which means that I'll have to get this blog up and running again. Talk to you again soon.

Last night out

2008-10-01T06:55:00.003-04:00

The guys at the office dragged me out for a final happy hour / night on the town yesterday. It was a great way to cap off the year with some fun times all around. We went to this bar called Hint - nothing special, a typical European-looking bar. We were goofing around a lot and telling stories.

One of our guys, Gordon, went over to chat up a girl at a table in the corner. To help him out, I went over to talk to the younger girl (who turned out to be a sister). It turns out that Gordon's girl is a Bollywood actress! Nicolette Bird (see pics). So I finally met someone in Bollywood - I'm surprised that it took so long, but I can finally check it off my list.

I'm all packed up. Some things I wanted to keep had to go anyway (space limits), and I'm over the weight limits - bring on those extra baggage fees! But I guess I'm almost through here. It feels like I was living in the US just a minute ago, and that this year has passed so quickly. The move is going to be a huge shock... it just hasn't hit me yet.

The Taj Mahal

2008-10-01T06:13:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago I was scheduled for another business trip to Delhi. And I thought to myself, "Self, you really need to get yourself down to Agra. Who knows when you'll be in Delhi again?" This was probably my 10th or 15th trip to Delhi. Interestingly, it would be my last! So I was fortunate swing by Agra when I did.

What a journey. It's almost 5 hours each way by car over bad roads (frequent stopping for cows / kids / etc.). That's one of the interesting things about India; all of its sights are nearly inaccessible. I ended up missing my flight back to Bangalore that night. But on the bright side, it allowed me to catch up on some R&R in a hot bath at a 5-star hotel in Delhi.

The Taj is beautiful, sure. But I think the mystique from the story behind it. At a time when most Indian kings took 100 wives, the king who built the Taj took only one. And when she died, he built this memorial to her, and never looked at another woman. The building is completely symmetrical in every aspect, and the interior has tons of semi-precious jewels around the queen's grave. They're all set into the marble to form flowers and vines, it looks wonderful.

Because of its symmetry, the Taj photographs perfectly from every angle. Every picture I took came out like a postcard. It was really hard to pick which ones to post here.

The Wadi Rum desert

2008-09-22T10:36:00.003-04:00

I drove off into the desert with my hotel's check-in guy and his buddy. It was a little intimidating to drive off into the middle of nowhere in the Middle East with two strangers. But hey, it paid off. The desert is marked by its complete absence of... well, everything. Nothing living, no movement, no sound, no water. And it's dry. I think there are times in Atlanta that are more hot because of the high humidity, but here you also have to be careful to drink a lot of water.

Brief note on the absence of posts / communication from my side! The internet at my apartment has broken. Since it would take more than a month to get the phone company to fix something, and I had a month left (now a couple weeks), I've had to do without internet. Welcome to India. I will try to squeeze a few posts in before leaving via posts from work.

Book USA

2008-08-23T16:36:00.003-04:00

I have a terrible memory. You would think this would hamstring me in life, but I have a work-around. I make myself little post-it notes about everything. If I ever forget your birthday / loan / whatever, it means that a post-it note either got thrown away too early, or went through the wash, or one of a million other things.

This evening's post-it says, "Book USA." Wild! I left the US in very early October (my initial "check things out" trip, which you may also remember, was in mid September). I am probably about six weeks from heading back to America.

Am I looking forward to it? Yes. Am I sad about leaving? I can't even begin think about that right now. All I can think about are the things I want to accomplish in my professional life before I go. There are so many things on the verge of happening, and I'm anxious to just tip them a little more and make them become a reality. I will be really disappointed if this year ends up like this: "India ALMOST achieved XYZ great thing, but after Josh left, it just kind of lost momentum."

Petra, Jordan - the Treasury

2008-08-18T03:17:00.004-04:00

You're walking through the Siq, and you can only see maybe 20 feet in front of you because of all the twists and turns. You come around a corner, and bam! Even if you know the treasury is coming up, this view will stop you in your tracks. My first reaction was, "how did it sneak up on me?" It appears so suddenly. Duly note: this picture is almost identical to the first scene of Petra in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Breathtaking. I wish I had a person in this picture so it would capture the scale. This thing is enormous; it's on a much larger scale than the Parthenon, for example. To think that this was completely forgotten by the outside world until the 1800's! Very similar to how it's portrayed in the Indiana Jones movie, the location was kept a secret and protected by the Bedouin nomads.

This is just the beginning of Petra, however. Petra goes on for 4-5 miles of caves and the like. But most tourists - on packaged bus tours - only see the the Treasury and go no further. They miss a lot! I hired a donkey guide and we set off into the city.

Petra, Jordan - the Siq

2008-08-17T15:27:00.003-04:00

The Siq is a mile-long canyon that leads to Petra. It fills with water during flash floods in the rainy season, and so it has been slowly worn away over time into very interesting shapes. At some places it is only wide enough for a couple people to pass through. This provides a natural defense for the city (it would be difficult to march an army through).

Along the sides of the Siq you can see grooves cut into the wall, and in some places, the remainder of terracotta pipes. How old are these pipes? Petra was founded in 300 BC and largely abandoned around 400 AD. So they're surprisingly old to just be sitting around! But that's everything in Petra - it's an unprotected site. Something else you should notice in my pictures - where are all the people, crowding around to see stuff? They aren't there. In the morning when I was walking through Petra, it was me, four backpackers, and the Bedouins who live there.

The pipes hint to a key part of Petra's history. Back in the BC's, the Bedouin nomads realized that they could build cisterns to catch rainwater, and then funnel those cisterns into a common, enormous cistern through the pipes. This centralized water in the desert allowed civilization to flourish, but also became a marketable commodity. As trade caravans passed through the desert, they would stop to buy some water for the journey, and to trade their goods. And thus Petra became a center for business and trade routes.

Funny moment

2008-08-12T02:39:00.002-04:00

Roopa was just cooking up lunch for me, and it was spicy. The chilli kind of gets into the air when she's cooking up something hot. She and I were sneezing simultaneously - her in the kitchen and me in my bedroom, but the timing was almost exact, every time. When she walked into my room with the food, she was giggling and I was chuckling (interrupted by coughs / sneezes). I said, "I'm guessing it's spicy?" And she said, "Sir, you like spicy!" Good times.

After-office Wii night

2008-08-06T16:56:00.003-04:00

After work, a bunch of us headed over to Suresh's house to play his new Wii. Most of the Bangalore management had never played video games, let alone a Wii. Hilarity ensued. These guys would take full-body swings. But the best moments, quite possibly, came from Wii boxing.

They blew up Bangalore!

2008-07-25T10:48:00.002-04:00

In case you haven't heard, there were seven small explosions in Bangalore today. Two people are dead, and 20 are injured, though these numbers are certainly 100% falsified (the government will keep the real, higher number out of the papers, to avoid scaring the MNC presence). I am safe and completely unharmed. But standing on my porch this evening, I was subject to a fascinating cacophony of sounds - the wail of fire trucks clashing against the Muslim call to prayer from mosques across the city. Although this is a Hindu city, it has a large Muslim population.

Terrorism has certainly worked its magic here. The majority of the day at work was spent watching the news roll in. The first three timed bombs went off just before 2pm, and afterwards, everyone was focused with rapt attention. The fourth and fifth bombs went off almost simultaneously. The sixth and seventh bombs went off some hours later, leaving everyone to imagine - is this the end, or just the beginning? When will the bombs end? Everyone is afraid - not terrified, given that only 22 people were directly hurt, but it's on everyone's mind. The phone lines were jammed all day, so some people are just checking in their families around now. And that's the point of terrorism really - not to hurt everyone, but to affect a large population. Check that box - even I've canceled my evening plans and will camp out at home. Is that a rational response? Are they really likely to bomb a bar? The probability is infinitely small, yet somehow large enough for me to have zero interest in venturing out.

I feel pretty safe in Bangalore and always have, but bombings are scary. You can't "out think" an explosion like you could a potential mugger, and it's hard to anticipate where the next bomb might be planted. Two of the bombs were within a couple miles of my office. One of them went off near where we had a department team lunch yesterday. This will certainly be on my mind for a while. In any case, I don't want anyone to worry about me - I'm ok, I'm safe, no sweat.

Paris Gay Parade

2008-07-25T08:35:00.004-04:00

I walked out of the catacombs and right into the Paris gay parade. It was happening just around the block. It was a pretty shocking change from seeing so much death to seeing people full of so much life. The parade had some really interesting characters.

Les Catacombs

2008-07-25T08:01:00.004-04:00

This was a really spooky experience. There are 6 - 7 million dead peoples' bones beneath the streets of Paris. They were placed in mass graves in the 1700's, then later reburied together in the catacombs. Finally it occurred to someone around 1850 to creatively arrange the bones - something between a tourist attraction and a way to encourage people to come and pay their respects. A section of the catacombs is still open to visitors today, but there are no brochures and it is not widely mentioned, and only some 100 people are allowed in at a time. And it is downright spooky. I was walking into the catacombs next to a woman and she had a total mental breakdown; some catacomb workers had to come and calm her down and guide her back to the surface. There are miles and miles of bones. And since it's so far underground, water is seeping in - so there's constantly a "rain" from the ceiling. Imagine having a drop of cold water hit the back of your neck in this place. I didn't know quite how to react, emotionally - it's like nothing else I've ever seen.

Rodin rocks my world

2008-07-25T07:34:00.003-04:00

The Rodin Museum was my favorite, hands down. It's set up in a garden that surrounds an old house, and his statues are scattered both inside and outside. Walking around the garden was a very casual, fun way to visit an art exhibit on a sunny day. All of the statues are incredibly expressive - faces in deep thought, or pain, or sadness. The sculpture above is the top of an enormous door called "The Gates of Hell." Notice "The Thinker" on the left? This is the original use of the thinker; as Dante, thinking about the fates of all the damned people.

Musee d'Orsay

2008-07-25T02:51:00.004-04:00

By far my favorite museum in Paris (for paintings, not sculpture!). I think its an old train station - the open layout looks wonderful. Galleries are off to each side. There were many famous pieces here; my fav's were by Seurat and Van Gogh. Van Gogh and Monet are below.

Champagne

2008-07-25T02:26:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I'm stuck in the past. These next few French events were all in early July. But I don't want to leave them out completely, so I'll add some mini blogs about them. I took a full day trip out to the Champagne region to see the cathedral at Reims (pronounced "Rantz," go figure), the Epernee region in general, and the champagne houses of Mumm and Moet. The area is stunningly gorgeous. Fields of grapes are set in perfect lines, but all at different angles, so you get interesting patterns. And no building is more than two stories. There are several rustic French villages, and as you might imagine, they're largely involved in the production of bubbly.

Palais de Tokyo

2008-07-05T21:00:00.004-04:00

The Palais de Tokyo is one of Paris's lesser known modern art museums. I was actually trying to go to the Musee National d'Art Moderne, but I just missed the closing time, so I went next door and found this museum. The place was all about large installations and modern, conceptual art. It reminded me very much of my favorite museum in Atlanta, Eyedrum.

The first picture should give you an idea of what this museum is about. They mounted about 100 Darth Vader heads on poles and fitted them all with computer processors. Then they set all the processors to generating synthesized music - the listing described it as the ultimate "dark symphony." The music was actually pretty good, and I really liked the concept.

The art gets even more crazy. This is a landfill - literally - that was transported inside the museum. You can put on a some gear for sanitation and then climb into the pipe and around the landfill, eventually emerging out of the red door. What was the message here? I don't really know; I didn't go inside.
This one was just playful, and it put a smile on my face. It's a life-size statue of an elephant standing on its trunk, and it has its own room.

Eglise (Church) de La Madeleine

2008-06-29T09:36:00.004-04:00

This church looks curiously out of place and reminded me of my (somewhat) recent trip to Athens. It's actually designed to mimic a Roman temple. The church is the erratic result of 75 years of construction, including several failed stops and starts. Each iteration has a slightly different design, which is how the charmingly eclectic church came into existence. The statue of Mary flanked by angels in the center of the church was stunning, but it was too dark to take great photographs.

Stop Touching my Food, Paris!

2008-06-28T09:41:00.002-04:00

Small gripe: people keep touching my food. For example, when you order a baguette, they pick it up with their bare hand and give it to you. So far today people have touched my baguette, my ice cream, and my chocolate cake. I think we can go on a limb and say they probably also touched my breakfast croissant. What's the deal? Put on some plastic gloves, or use tongs, or something.

Arc de Triomphe

2008-06-28T09:06:00.004-04:00

If you're done looking at the picture, then you and I have both spent about the same amount of our time with the Arc de Triomphe. I came out of a metro station and there it was, so I snapped a few pictures. It looked great, but had cars circling it. C'mon people, use your national monuments for more than decoration for a roundabout. Anyway, the color saturation with the bright blue sky looks surreal

This close-up (above) on the statuary on the Arc came out really well. If you walk south from the Arc, you're on the famous Champs Elysees. It's a tree-lined street with wide sidewalks, true. But the shops are very disappointing. The storefronts aren't very impressive, and they have the same brands that I expect to see in any high-end mall. I didn't feel compelled to go into any of them.

Lunch at Pierre Gagnaire

2008-06-27T17:35:00.004-04:00

Allow me to start this post with a list of the world's best restaurants.

1. El Bulli - Spain
2. The Fat Duck - UK
3. Pierre Gagnaire - France
4. Mugaritz - Spain
5. The French Laundry - USA
6. Per Se - USA
7. Bras - France
8. Arzak - Spain
9. Tetsuya's - Australia
10. Noma - Denmark

These are the titans of fine dining in the world. I looked at several lists, and there all contained essentially the same names. I came across one of the lists during my browsing of internet news, and that's where I got the idea to come to Pierre Gagnaire while I was in Paris. Normally you need reservations months in advance - I lucked out, and there was a cancellation for lunch. Aside from that, they were booked through August. I won't even get into the price, but it was more than I had ever paid for a meal, and we'll leave it at that.

The array of flavors was hard to describe, but I'll try to recall some of the courses. There were 12 courses, but each course had several items. The first appetizer had four parts: eel soaked in soy sauce, cream of sardines on a spear-shaped cracker, and two other forgotten items - all salty. Eel is delicious. One course had frog legs, a French tradition - they're very chewy. Lobster came out in a tangy orange sauce. One plate was a salad of red snapper cubes in a mustard sauce, with a red wine sauce poured over it when served. Dessert was five plates, each with several different desserts on them.

I had three surprises. One was that all the flavors were very subtle, and very light. French cuisine is apparently all about subtlety, and that was clearly true in this meal - meats were tender, and had only a light flavor, so that the lightly flavored sauce wasn't overwhelmed. The other big surprise was that there was no paired wine. I have become so used to this concept in the US that I am stunned to find it does not exist in France, the birthplace of wine and of haute cuisine. sommelier was relatively puzzled when I suggested he help me with this; to his point, there were too many flavors for there to be any hope of pairing the wine with even single course. The final surprise was the lack of decoration; I have been trained in the US to expect fancy food to come with a very stylized environment, but I guess that here they let the food do the talking.

One course was a disaster, and I remember it distinctly. Remember that all the other courses had subtle flavors. Out came an asparagus ice cream in a cucumber sauce, surrounded by a melon sauce. The second plate (same course) was tuna and foie gras wrapped together in a fig leaf - think of a domino shape, but the top half is foie gras, and the bottom half is tuna. It was all terrible! None of the flavors went together, and they were all overpoweringly strong. I have to think that this was an experiment by a sous chef. I took a couple bites of each and sent it back.

The waiter asked me if I would like them to make something else, and I took them up on it. They obviously wanted to make me happy; I obviously thought the last course was disgusting. The waiter promised a very special dish. And it needed to be, to make up for asparagus ice cream.

In the end, it was my favorite course. Black truffles sat on top of sea bass, which sat on a bed of tons of white truffles. A white truffle sauce was poured over the top. If you are unacquainted with truffles, these are a fungus that grows only on oak tree roots, and only rarely, and only in France/Italy. It cannot be grown artificially, and as a result of its rarity, a white truffle costs $2,000+ per pound. I was stunned to be having it for a meal. It was one heck of an apology for asparagus.

I have had truffle oil food in the US and disliked it, so I was negatively biased going into the meal. After going back and reasearching it since, I have found out that truffle oil in the US is a marketing scam. It is in fact olive oil with a chemical flavoring, and contains absolutely no truffles. And I might add, on a personal note, it has no taste in common with real truffles. Which are truly amazing. That dish will be my most lasting memory of lunch at Pierre Gagnaire.

Above: black truffles in a shop window near eglise (church) Madelline

Thoughts on Paris, Day One

2008-06-25T15:53:00.003-04:00

My original plan was to go to 12 brand-spanking-new countries this year. It looks like I'll reneg on that, and part of the reason is that I'm recycling France. I went to Paris almost 10 years ago on the nose. In general, I found France to be full of rude people, and that they especially hate Americans. And love to talk about American politics, if you can find someone that's willing to admit that they talk English. I know this is the stereotype - but I maintain that I was not influenced by the stereotypes, and that I had plenty of my own experiences.

Paris was no exception. Overall, Paris did not "wow" me. My concern has been that Paris has successfully wowed so many people, including my friends. I concluded that Paris deserved a second chance. One of the few French phrases I know is "bon chance," which actually translates to, "good luck." I'll be here for six full days.

So far, so good. I had an unbelievable, 3-hour lunch, and I'll write a separate post about that. I saw le Madeleine church, le Palais Tokyo museum, and walked the Champs Elysees. It was a pretty full day, considering that I flew in this morning, and wasn't checked in until about noon. I didn't have that many interactions with people, but no flack so far.

Anyway, I'll wrap up with some quick observations:
1. In any French cafe, have of the patrons will be teenage girls
2. I never thought I would hear 16-year-olds with a smoker's cough (gross!)
3. Everyone in Paris tries to hard to look good. But man, I feel like the fashion police need to arrest me.
4. Everyone in Paris is beautiful! This is a fact-based observation. I would not say the same thing for the following cities: Delhi, Bangalore, Athens, Male, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Atlanta. I'm not sure how Paris got all the pretty people, but they need to share. And this is unrelated to the clothing / makeup.
5. The Paris metro is wonderful. I never had to wait more than 3 minutes, and I could make three metro line changes on the same trip without speaking the language. This is the #1 weakness of Atlanta, in my opinion.
6. Sarah (my dog) would love Paris! It seems like everyone has a dog and is walking it around. And they're allowed in cafes, which is an extra bonus.

You are allowed to laugh now.

2008-06-14T14:31:00.002-04:00

This has been posted on the inside of all the stalls in my office. Some people really don't know how to use a Western toilet, and they end up breaking the seat and falling into the bowl. A traditional Indian toilet is a hole in the concrete with two yellow porcelain blocks on either side. Imagine reporting for your first day in a real corporate office, and going into a bathroom stall, and being faced with this mystifying... "toilet" thing. I got a real kick out of this sign and I hope you did too.

Singapore Night Zoo - bat cage

2008-06-13T15:01:00.003-04:00

The coolest part of the Singapore zoo, hands down, is the Bat Cave. Alright, so that might not be the official name, but I'm sticking to it. Anyway, it's a huge cage that you walk into, and it has free-flying bats. They are everywhere you look. They buzz by you and brush against you. Wild! The first one that brushed into me REALLY freaked me out. In the end they are fascinating to watch, and you can get really close (obvious from these pictures).

Singapore Night Zoo show

2008-06-13T14:46:00.003-04:00

Work sent me to Singapore in mid-May. I didn't get to see much of the country, to be honest, since I was so busy during the day. But fortunately enough, I was able to see their night zoo. Singapore has a zoo full of almost entirely nocturnal animals. Aside from being a great idea, this suits the country very well as a destination for conferences.

One of the highlights is the animal show. The animals come out and do funny tricks. Some of the more wild ones - an enormous hyena, for example - just come out long enough to wolf down a hunk of meat. This snake (below) was hidden in the audience just before the show, underneath the benches. You should've seen some peoples' reactions! Another highlight was the tram ride through the zoo. A lot of the zoo's exhibits are unfenced, so the animals are milling around the tram as you ride around. It occurred to me reach out and pet some of the more docile-looking animals. But it also occurred to me that I might draw back a bloody stump, so I held off.

Rickshaw breakdown

2008-06-01T16:01:00.002-04:00

So what happens if your ric breaks down? You pull off to the side, And flag one of your compatriots as they drive by. In the US, you might have a buddy chain you to his trailer hitch and pull your car. In Bangalore, it's a much more delicate ballet. My driver braced a foot on the back of the other rickshaw, kept the two ric's driving in parallel, and navigated both vehicles through the surrounding traffic. Wild. The foot is even more clearly documented below.

Basketball weekend

2008-06-01T15:50:00.002-04:00

I'm pretty much hobbled and may have thrown my back out, but it was a good weekend for sports. I've had a slight reprieve in work that let me get back to the basketball court. Yesterday I played for 2 and 1/2 hours, but mostly with kids. It's hard to find adults that still play basketball in India.

Today was much different. I had heard a rumor that people play at 10am (painfully early for me, since I work a night shift), so I set an alarm and headed over to the court. Sure enough, there was a five-on-five game. I got to join in for the final two games. I have been playing / practicing a lot on my own, and it paid off. There were two teams - a group of late 30-somethings, and the some early 20-somethings that just graduated from the Karnataka state team (like a European national team). In the first game, the 30/40-somethings got blown out. But then I joined their team, and we went up 13 - 4, then won in a landslide! I shut down their best player. I had a great day.

I've lost a lot of weight in India - mostly muscle mass. I'm scrawny now. But I had forgotten how weighing less can translate into jumping higher. I jumped up to block a guy's shot, and he ducked, and I landed sitting on his back. I jumped over him! Amazing. Like I said, I had a great day performance-wise, at least for me.

After the game, the team threw me in a car and took me to a restaurant that one of the players owns. We sat on the patio and had some tapas and fresh-cut fruit. A very relaxing way to end two hard-played days of basketball.

Qutab Minar - Delhi

2008-05-25T15:22:00.004-04:00

This pillar is enormous. It reminded me, conceptually, of what the tower of Babel would look like. It's 72 meters high and looks infinitely tall. It was built in 1192 - wow! Imagine the effort it must have taken. And it has survived earthquakes.

Here's a picture of the inscriptions on the side. So what is this thing? Most people assume that it's a minaret for a mosque, but it's not. The call to prayer - if given from the top of the tower - could never be heard from the bottom. Instead, it's an ENORMOUS sun dial. That's right - this was made to cast a shadow that becomes the hour hand for a gigantic clock.

This is the "iron pillar" that can never rust, and is at the same site. It has some assorted folklore associated with it, which I largely forget. I know that it's really important to India's national heritage. In any case, I really liked this picture.

Humayun's Tomb - Delhi

2008-05-25T14:16:00.005-04:00

Does this look vaguely familiar? No, it's not the Taj Mahal. Humayun's Tomb predates the Taj significantly, and the Taj was modeled after it. Indian architecture does not mind copy-catting itself. In general, I was underwhelmed. The exterior is spectacular, but the inside is very plain, and fairly run-down.

This is my GQ picture. Totally posed, but hey - probably the best picture ever taken of me.

This is the inside of Humayun's Tomb. There's a great risen ceiling, but again, fairly plain. It's hard to tell from this picture, but it's extremely dark in the room with the actual tomb. On a busy day of seeing things in Delhi, this wasn't the highlight for me. My feelings about Humayun's Tomb make me worried about my inevitable trip to the Taj Mahal - I've heard that it's quite a let-down.

Maldives! Snorkeling pics

2008-05-18T13:02:00.008-04:00

Oddly enough, I'm going farther and farther back in time with my pictures. These date back to February, but I'm putting them up anyway, because I just got them back. I dropped them off to be developed almost a month ago and basically forgot about them.

The pictures came out! I was shocked, as this was such a last-minute endeavor. My dive boat was ready to leave, and on impulse I ran back to the resort, found the gift shop, and bought a $35 (yes, they kill you that badly on the price) disposable camera. My best guess was that everything would be a blur. There's so much (lighting, focus, etc.) that goes into a photograph that I didn't expect too much from a disposable underwater picture. But - not bad!

Heh - beware the great white whale!

The moray eel was as thick as my leg and it had to be 15 feet long. I wanted to get closer for a better picture, but I figured there was a decent chance it could bite my hand off.

Ali Isa Khan Niazi's tomb - Delhi

2008-05-18T04:27:00.005-04:00

This is actually right next to Humayun's tomb, and is part of the same complex. There's nothing particularly special about it, but I was in a great mood and the weather was gorgeous, so Bettina and I hung around and posed some goofy pictures on the terrace on the tomb's roof.

You might notice that all the stone is red. And the Red Fort was also, well... red. This is a kind of sandstone that only comes from western India. It had to be brought a long way to Delhi.

Red Fort - Delhi

2008-05-16T01:39:00.006-04:00

The Red Fort is a walled complex, sure - but it's not really a fort. When I think of forts, I think of purely functional, military buildings. Like the one in Saint Augustine, Florida. But I think the most accurate description here is closer to "palace." The room I'm standing in (above) has a throne, and was for the king of the region to hold his court.

Bettina and I are sitting in the courtyard between some of the buildings. It's actually a very large complex.
This is on the corner of a wall in the most decorated, most exclusive part of the palace. It was an entertaining room for V-VIP's. It says, "If there is a heaven, it is here, it is here, it is here." Possibly sacrilegious, but I think it's a really nice saying.

Jama Masjid mosque - Delhi

2008-05-16T01:17:00.005-04:00

Ok, here's the start of some of the Delhi pictures that I promised. Jama Masjid is a massive mosque in Delhi. My fav pic is the one below. If you look at the bottom right corner, you can make out the guy praying. I was the only white guy, the only non-Muslim, and the only one with a camera. To be honest, everyone was really rude. But I suppose they probably get a lot of obnoxious tourists running around their place of worship, and are a little tired of it.

These kids came up to me and asked me for 10 rupees. I told them no way, but I wasn't mean and didn't run them off. So then we just hung out and talked for a while. They really wanted their picture taken so they could see what it looked like.

It was pigeon-mania at the mosque. This man was sweeping with a whisk / broom and spooked some pigeons. Kind of a cool picture.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

2008-04-29T02:29:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. To be honest, I haven't been doing anything picture-worthy. I have a bunch of from the weekend I spent in Delhi in early April that still have to get up here, but since then, I have been 100% focused on work. I'm heavily invested in a major sales opportunity, and the proverbial ship will come in over the next few weeks, or it won't. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Also worth mentioning - this is a tough time to travel in Asia. It is scorching hot from May through maybe July, so I'm less eager to trek around at the moment. I have Paris planned in late June, and I'll add at least another country in July. But this is a relatively boring time in my life to blog about. I've got some random cell phone pictures that I've been taking - maybe some of those 'daily life' moments would make good posts, until I'm doing fun stuff again.

Fashion show

2008-04-29T02:18:00.003-04:00

More fun work events... this time we had a "grand opening" for our office. We originally opened our doors for business back in December, but with almost no fanfare. There was a quarterly party, but it wasn't necessarily tied to anything. This time around we did it big. There was traditional dancing - sometimes just one person, at other times eight people, all beautifully choreographed. And then there was a fashion show, showing off the traditional dress of each region in India. I was part of the grand finale - I walked in with the organizer, holding an Indian flag. The crowd went wild. I was a little apprehensive at first, but I didn't anticipate how well put together the whole event would be. It was a first-class event.

Bangalore airport 2

2008-04-08T14:28:00.001-04:00

And more bad news from Bangalore's airport. Flying in India is always a little exciting.

Bangalore, April 6: As many as 160 passengers of a Coimbatore-bound JetLite aircraft had a miraculous escape, when it suffered a bird-hit a few seconds before it was to take-off at the Bangalore airport here on Sunday.

"The Boeing S2-234, which had arrived from New Delhi and was bound for Coimbatore, had taxied from the tarmac to the take-off point at the western end of the runway at about 10.55 am. It got clearance from the Air Traffic Control for take-off. As it commenced its take-off roll and was about to attain a certain speed, the pilot noticed a bird-hit and aborted the take-off at the nick of the moment. The aircraft was not airborne by then and the pilot immediately applied brakes to bring the aircraft to a halt. The impact made the tyres burst," airport sources told this newspaper.

Bangalore airport 1

2008-04-08T14:27:00.001-04:00

The Bangalore airport has been a mess lately. Here is one story (it shut down the whole airport for eight hours).

Kingfisher Plane Hits Dog on Bangalore Runway During Takeoff

By Anand Krishnamoorthy

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- A Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. aircraft hit a dog during takeoff at Bangalore's airport in southern India, causing the propeller plane's nose landing-gear to collapse.

Two of the 25 passengers also suffered sprains while evacuating the plane after the incident yesterday, the airline said in an e-mailed statement late last night. The Avions de Transport Regional ATR 72-500 was flying to Hyderabad.

``It's most unfortunate that the dog menace at airports in India still persists,'' Vijay Mallya, the airline's chairman, said in the statement.

India's airports have struggled to maintain safety and cleanliness levels as the country's air travel market grows at a rate of about 25 percent a year. The government is aiming to improve standards by selling stakes to private and overseas companies and building new facilities.

Cell phone bill

2008-04-01T04:53:00.003-04:00

I just paid my mobile (cell phone) bill for the past three months. Total bill? $28.68. That's $9.56 per month. So what costs so much in the US? I assume that the technologies are all the same.

Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix - The Race

2008-03-30T16:32:00.005-04:00

The Formula One cars are a technological wonder. They weigh about 1,300 pounds - including the driver - and would weigh less if they didn't have ballast added to the bottom of the car. What I didn't realize is how fast these things are. Yes, I read about it ahead of time, and I had seen it briefly on TV. And I read stats on the speed - they can go from 0 to 100mph to 0 in less than five seconds.
Photographing the cars was a huge challenge. I took about 300 pictures and very few have the cars in-frame and in-focus. By the time you pick up your camera, they're past you. When they pass directly in front of you, they're just a blur.

The sound was deafening. The engine makes a high-pitch whine / whir (due to revving to 18,000 rpm's, compared to a street car around 6,000 rpm) that is intolerable without earplugs. You can feel it in your chest every time they pass, and my beer can would rattle around on the seat next to me. Every shift would elicit a booming sound, like an explosion, and flames would shoot out of the back of the car. The first time I heard it, I thought there had been an accident. The cars were mind-boggling powerful. And it was awe inspiring. I can see why people are captivated by the sport. I can definitely see myself returning to the next Asian race in Singapore in September.

Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix - The Scene

2008-03-30T16:16:00.004-04:00

The crowd and the energy are a big part of seeing Formula One races live. Almost all of these people have spent a fortune to travel around the world and support their team. Many came all the way from Europe. As a result, you're looking at rabid fans. And colorful fans! F-1 teams have splashy, bright colors. Ferrari is solid red. Renault is blue and yellow. McLaren is electric orange, white, and silver.

There are some real characters at the race. This guy is a gladiatior (Italian) riding a stylized black horse (Ferrari). He kept banging his sword against the sign, which was clever play on the opposing drivers' history. Hamilton ("theif") is a McLaren driver, and last year McLaren stole some technology / spied on Ferrari. Alonso ("traitor") is a Renault driver that was on the McLaren team, but he jumped ship. It helps to know some of the F-1 history; I did a crash course in the week leading up to the race.

Batu Cave Monkeys

2008-03-30T15:56:00.003-04:00

On the steps up to the Batu Cave temple there were a lot of monkeys. And I mean a LOT of monkeys. They were very used to being around people - it's tradition to offer them bananas and peanuts. Anyway, I was able to get very close to the monkeys and take some good monkey pictures. These three are my favorite. I think their faces show very human emotions.

Batu cave interior, amazing race

2008-03-25T14:14:00.005-04:00

Apparently the Batu caves were featured on the Amazing Race (season 9). Excerpted summary from someone's blog:

"Charla and Mirna were the first to arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 4:45AM, and learned teams had to now take a train and a bus to the Batu Caves, with the catch being they had to decide which train and bus "would serve them best." The cousins received some help from locals on their plane and boarded the correct train and bus to the Batu Caves. When they arrived at the steps of the caves, Charla and Mirna spotted the clue box perched high above them requiring a long walk up a very long set of steep stairs. After reaching the top, they opened their clue and learned they had to travel 10 miles by taxi to Kampung Baru Mosque and search the nearby streets for their next clue and the first opportunity in the race for a Yield, which allows a team to slow down another team behind them but can only be used once by each team during the race.

Eric and Danielle, Dustin and Kandice and Ozzy and Danny all arrived in Malaysia at 7:25AM and used different tactics to find the best route to the Batu Caves. Eric and Danielle asked for help at the airport, Dustin and Kandice followed Charla and Mirna's idea and received help on the plane and Ozzy and Danny did research at the hotel. While they all used different routes, they all eventually arrived at the caves, with Dustin and Kandice second behind Charla and Mirna, followed by Ozzy and Danny in third and Eric and Danielle in fourth. "

This gives me a new perspective on the Amazing Race, because that description is not dissimilar from my experience. I landed at 6am, took the train to my hotel, dropped my bags, took another train to Putra, then took a taxi to Batu Caves. And you know what? IT WAS NOT HARD AT ALL!!!

Where do I begin? Everyone in Malaysia speaks decent English, so asking for help is easy. But c'mon, who needs help? Kuala Lumpur has one of the best public transportation systems I've seen - better than Athens or Atlanta, and up there with London. There are only three train lines and a monorail. And one of the train lines is the Putra line - so if you're looking for Putra, it's hard to miss. The train cost me 75 cents USD and the taxi from the train station was an extra $3.

All of which to say - I've always thought that the Amazing Race has to be easier than it looks. "For their next task, teams must book a plane ticket! And then use a well-marked public transportation system!" Wowsers.

Ok, enough about the Amazing Race. These pictures are from the inside of Batu cave. The ceiling rises a stunning 300 feet above the floor, and it's got a lot of interesting visual details because it's very craggy. It's not like other caves that I've seen that are mostly smooth and have stalagmites. The scale is hard to describe, but it's impressive. Inside there are assorted shrines to Hindu gods. They seem out of place amongst the rock features,

Batu cave temple steps

2008-03-22T07:19:00.004-04:00

The biggest cultural attraction in Kuala Lumpur is the Batu Cave temple. Several hindu shrines were built into a string of caves in the side of a mountain. Prior to 1920 the area was virtually inaccessible (there were no stairs).
Today there are 272 stairs leading up to the largest cave's mouth, and they are painful. It's a steep climb up; I had to stop several times. And it really felt like climbing - more like a ladder, or something similar, than walking up some stairs. In front of the stairs is the world's biggest statue of Lord Muruga at 130 feet high.

Me at the top - almost there!

India weight loss

2008-03-21T11:37:00.004-04:00

I just weighed myself in my hotel room for the first time since October. Keep in mind that lately I've been eating tons of potato chips and I stopped exercising (I probably added 5 pounds). I've lost 17 pounds since I've been in India. Yikes! Between not being able to lift weights (muscle loss) and a low calorie diet (fat loss), it's hard to keep weight on. But I'm doing my part - I just ordered a Black Forest Cheesecake through room service.

Awesome room in KL

2008-03-21T10:36:00.003-04:00

I'll keep referring to Kuala Lumpur as KL to save space, but I don't want to confuse anyone.

Things got started on the right foot today. I checked in at the hotel at 7am and the room was already available for me. And what a room! I have an executive suite with a huge bedroom, huge bathroom, city views through picture windows from the 32nd floor, a sitting room with couches and a big plasma screen, and a little entry area that has a 2nd bathroom. Definitely one of the nicest hotel rooms I've ever seen. I didn't think I spent too much... it looks like a dollar can still go far in Malaysia.

Nandhi temple

2008-03-18T17:27:00.004-04:00

In Nandhi village, I happened upon a temple. This temple is not in any guidebooks, which is unbelievable. The temple is huge and dates back to the 6th century. It is, without a doubt, my favorite temple in India so far. Everything inside was remarkably preserved. Normally you will see carvings that are worn down or broken off - but not here. A nice gentleman followed me around, trying to proudly show off the temple in broken English. At one point he flicked the stone sculptures... and I heard a metal ringing sound. It turns out that all the stones were picked because the metal content is very high, and so they've lasted through the years.

Towards the end of my time at the temple, I got to see something interesting. They took one of the gods out and marched it in circles around the temple, banging drums and playing horns the whole time. I was standing in the wrong place and when they went to put it back in its "home," I was nearly trampled by the procession. But I was right in the midst of everything, which was a neat experience.
You can't take pictures inside a temple, so all of this will have to stay in my memory. Outside the temple were two structures that looked like medieval war machines. They were enormous wooden structures with huge stone wheels, and they were decorated with colorful banners. I'll never know quite what they were, but they were impressive.

Nandhi Hills

2008-03-18T17:06:00.004-04:00

Two weekends ago I went to Nandhi Hills. It was billed as a day trip outside of Bangalore; just a one hour drive. It turned out to be closer to three hours each way. But I didn't mind. After being gridlocked in Bangalore traffic for five months, cruising on a nice (no potholes) road in the countryside was a welcome change.

I had hoped to find a bull temple with an enormous bull, but the Nandhi village bull is actually much smaller than the one in Mysore. The scenic views from the top of the Nandhi Hill are the real attraction. You can see off into the distance forever. Well, at least until the pollution cuts you off. The air India is poison. I assume I'm "smoking a pack a day" every day in Bangalore. Rickshaws belch fumes, poor people burn coal to stay warm and cook, and everyone burns their trash. There's a mountain range in the distance in this picture, but it's covered in smog. Anyway, I don't mean to sound too negative - the trip was great, and the view was wonderful.

The upside to pollution? Beautiful sunsets. This is actually the tail-end of the sunset from the top of the hill. There were richer red colors earlier, but I didn't break my camera out in time.

Lazy blogger

2008-03-18T16:59:00.003-04:00

I have been really lazy about blogging for the past three weeks. But no more! I am determined to return to form. I have some exciting news. Talk about spur of the moment... I just booked a flight to Malaysia - for tomorrow night! I'll fly overnight into Kuala Lumpur and land on Friday morning at 6am. I'm hoping to tour a cave temple that afternoon. Then I've got a Royal Club Suite at Le Meridian (it was on sale), which should be nice. Saturday and Sunday I will be seeing - get this - Formula 1 racing! I don't know anything about it, so I have a lot to learn. But it strikes me as a very international thing to do. I fly back early on Monday morning, and should land on time to go straight in to work. I can't wait!

The beaches of the Maldives

2008-02-27T04:01:00.002-05:00

This past weekend I went to the Maldives for four days / three nights. The Maldives are a chain of 1,000 small islands. They're so small that it's hard to find them on a map; they're southwest from India and in the Indian ocean. But they're known as having some of the best beaches in the world, and I can get to them easily from Bangalore. The water is crystal clear and the beaches are powder-white. The most amazing thing is the marine life. I took ten steps off of the beach and immediately there were fish swimming around me; blue ones, yellow ones, swimming between my legs and around me. The abundance of marine life can't be compared to anywhere I've been before. I took a day trip and snorkeled on a reef (it was about 10 - 15 feet deep), and I was in schools of hundreds of brilliant fish. What an amazing experience! I would definitely go again, maybe for a scuba trip. But on the other hand, there are so many other things in Asia that I want to see.

Mysore Palace (by night)

2008-02-19T06:39:00.003-05:00

I didn't think the picture above was worthy of a post on its own, but the hotel I stayed at was quite picturesque. My room was enormous. All told, it was a great, relaxing trip. My last night featured a return to the palace. It's lit up ("the illumination") for only one hour per week, on Sunday from 7pm to 8pm. And it takes on a very different feel for this event; it's kind of like a Disney World. Much less formal and more friendly, less touristy. Admission is free and the palace grounds are visited mostly by local people who come with their families.

Mysore Market

2008-02-19T06:06:00.004-05:00

I walked around the fruit and vegetable market in Mysore. To someone that's used to the ordered shelves and clean aisles of a Publix grocery store, this was total chaos. Stalls were stocked randomly and haphazardly, and stalls and people and fruits and vegetables and flowers were all on top of one other. But in spite of its chaos, it had a rustic charm and beauty. And prices were straight-from-the-farm: a banana cost me four cents.

One kid followed me around and asked where I was from. As soon as he heard "America," I had a supernatural glow around me. His friend assured me that I looked like Leo from Titanic. When I asked about a certain leaf that was being sold, he told me to wait and then took off running. He came back and assembled a betel nut package for me (above). Betel chewing is apparently a big tradition in India at important ceremonies like weddings. You mix lime (quicklime, not the fruit) with crushed betel pepper nut, and wrap it with a betel leaf. You chew it in the side of your mouth like dip (but its flavor is nutty, and nice). An interesting side effect is that it stains your mouth red, and it's a tradition to spit the red juices (called, interestingly, "beetle juice").

Mysore Palace (by Day)

2008-02-19T05:31:00.004-05:00

Mysore is a relatively small town (pop. less than 1M). So when I went to the palace, I wasn't expecting much. What I didn't realize is that the Kingdom of Mysore used to be enormous - it constituted almost the entire southern tip of India. It existed for 550 years. I was impressed. Most of the palace isn't open to visitors, but the level of detail was stunning. The ceilings were particularly intricate, and were often carved with five to ten different kinds of inlaid wood.

Mysore Monkeys

2008-02-18T14:44:00.006-05:00

I spent the past weekend in Mysore. It's a town located about a two-hour car ride / four-hour bus ride South. As the former capital of the kingdom of Karnataka, it's home to an enormous palace, and it features some old temples. My next few posts will probably all be pictures from Mysore - some came out really well.

Hey hey, they're the monkeys. People say they monkey around. I caught a family of four playing with some curtains at my hotel. Sure, I've seen monkeys before - in zoos. But in India they live in all the same places that people do, and you get interesting interactions. This bunch was really funny - they were obviously having a great time.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T16:15:00.004-05:00

The India office got really into the Valentine's Day spirit. There was a duet song competition, and best of all, a cubicle decoration competition. Things may have gotten a little out of hand (see above). Instead of monitoring the uptime of our company servers, they put on Valentines screen savers instead. I think I've said it before, but I'll say it again - I love the positive office atmosphere here.

Mickey's Magic Show

2008-02-14T16:03:00.002-05:00

Sorry it came out blurry - this is the best picture I could get. There are no cameras allowed inside the show. The big event in Bangalore right now is Mickey's Magic Show. I went and sat in the cheap seats. Disney did a good job and it was a lot of fun. None of the magic was amazing or ground-breaking. Actually, there weren't very many tricks - the focus was on the Disney characters interacting together. It was a good chance to be a kid again. I bought some mickey mouse ears, and now I keep them in my office.

Typical day

2008-02-11T15:04:00.000-05:00

I was writing someone an e-mail, and I realized that this is good stuff for a blog entry. This was my day today. It wasn't exciting, but it's very typical of what I do in a work day. So you can get a feel for what I'm up to.

10:15am Woke up
1pm Headed into the office
2pm - 3pm Looked at the plan for inter-company transfer pricing from India to the US. We have to bill the India employees back at cost + 20%. I figured out that the plan won't work and recommended a change.
3pm - 4pm Looked at the financial reports in our accounting system. The ones for India still aren't working.
4pm - 5pm Reviewed my US employee's work over the past two weeks; prepared feedback comments.
5pm - 6pm Prepped the head of India for a sales meeting with a potential client, a big travel agency
6pm - 7pm Sales pitch to the client
7pm - 8:30pm Feedback conference call with my US employee. Gave her new projects / goals to work on.
8:30pm Headed home
10pm - 10:30pm Followed-up with US team on the India financial reports
10:30pm - 11pm Sent out a proposal to the CFO on how to structure India for tax purposes, in order to pay the least taxes. There are risks of getting audited and owing a lot of money if we don't do this correctly. I am mostly in charge of this.
11pm - 11:30pm Followed up with the US legal team on contracts for a new India client. Followed up with US product experts to ask questions and follow up on the sales meeting that I had today at 6pm.
11:30pm - 1:00am Completed the online annual review for my US employee

IIMB Cultural Festival

2008-02-04T12:29:00.000-05:00

On Saturday my friends invited me to join them at the IIMB Cultural Festival. IIMB stands for the India Institute of Management - Bangalore, and it's the #2 business school in India. Which means it isn't just "good for a third world country" - it's REALLY good. Check out their acceptance rate: 250 people from 250,000 applicants. Wow. The top business school in the US is Harvard, which accepts 14.9% of applicants (vs. IIMB's 0.1%).

Anyway, a girl named Bettina was recently a foreign exchange student there, so she heard about this cultural festival. We met up at the auditorium and listened to a traditional singing competition. It seemed like everyone had perfect pitch - I wonder what would happen if there was a "Global Idol" instead of just the country competitions like "American Idol?" Anyway, after listening to a few performances, we went to listen to the main event - a big rock concert with a band called Strings (above). They're a Pakistani band that sings in Hindi, and out of thousands of people, I was one of maybe 5 white people in the crowd. Which, actually, was fine by me. I never felt uncomfortable, and - although I had no idea what they were saying - the energy of a rock concert translates very well. And naturally I ran up to the front of the crowd, near the stage.

After the Strings show we went across the street from the campus to buy a few beers, and then retreated to the rooftop terrace of a dorm room (Bettina pictured above, Raj / Harish / me below). It was a good chance to relax and listen to the second band, which was a mediocre jam band. And I had notably well-educated company - Bettina (IIMB), Harish (Stanford B-School), and Raj (also Standford B-School). Expats here seem to be the cream of the world's crop.

The final event of the evening (and it was getting late at this point) was, to me, the most interesting and culturally unique. IIMB often has parties in courtyard that they call the "L-Square." We heard a ruckus coming from L-Square, and so we drifted over. They had set up a projector and screen and were doing karaoke - really, one person would have a mic, but it was more of a group sing-along. The sheer number of people in such a small space (packed into stadium seating, and others sitting on the rooftops with their feet dangling over) was awesome. But not intimidating enough to discourage me from leading a rousing chorus of "Hit me baby one more time" by Britney Spears. It was a real crowd-pleaser.

Scavenger Hunt

2008-01-27T07:30:00.000-05:00

This Saturday I took part in a 20-team scavenger hunt. I have to say it was very well organized and unbelievable fun. We raced all over Bangalore searching for random objects, performing crazy tasks, and collecting clues from things like hard-to-find road signs. Pictures here are of me hugging a goat, and Christine getting a piggy-back ride from a stranger (she was still wet from jumping in a pool). I regret to say that we came in second place by 10 points (on a 2,000+ point scale). But we weren't upset about losing because it was such a great experience.

Taco-riffic

2008-01-27T07:19:00.000-05:00

Although they're open-faced for the moment (coming out of the microwave), these are about to be folded into three tacos. That's right; I can eat Mexican food at home now - with an Indian twist. They're actually ground mutton (that's a sheep, not a goat) and mainly flavored with chili powder. Shredded cheese isn't made in Bangalore, but I found a dutch grocery store that sells imported shredded swiss for $6 per bag. The end product is, surprisingly enough, delicious.

Poker night

2008-01-20T15:41:00.001-05:00

I used to host poker nights at my place back when Ryan and Getzel lived in Atlanta. And I hosted a few impromptu games this past summer. But my chances to play have been slim for a couple years, even though I love the game. I'm excited to say that I may have found a regular poker game in India.

And I played very well, coming in fourth. I bet wisely on my last hand, going all in with a pair of 2's against King-9, but Victor caught a flush on the last card. We drank Chimay beer all night which was delicious - it only arrived in Bangalore last month, and can only be bought from a single Dutch grocery store.

And I ate lamb brains. Yes, that's right - I ate brains. It wasn't necessarily on purpose. It was sitting out in the kitchen, and it looked like cheese! But it's done. I'll just put that on a list with other weird foods that I've eaten - alligator, snake, ostrich jerky, a warthog meatball sub, shark fin, and chicken ovaries. PS - don't eat brains, the texture is gross.

Happy Pongal!

2008-01-20T15:24:00.001-05:00

Another interesting holiday took the office by storm; this one celebrates a good harvest and is called Pongal. In the lobby, people were creating a painting. They sketched an outline with chalk, then were adding color by rubbing it with what looked like sand.

A second, important part of the holiday was handing out sugar cane. I was given a piece of what appears to be a stick. Apparently you can peel the outer edges and chew the inside, and it'll be very sweet. I couldn't figure it out for the life of me - and nobody could show me how to do it, either. So I stashed my sugar cane in a drawer. The people in the picture below are some of the people I work with - especially Venkat, on the right, who works in accounting.

Brunch, and the tragedy of cooks

2008-01-16T12:45:00.000-05:00

Brunch is as much of a to-do here as it is in Atlanta. I suppose it's probably a tradition that was brought over by the British. Most of the expats meet up on Sundays for a rotation through the big hotels in the area. Sometimes I don't go because of cost - it runs $30 - $50. But it's probably worth it. We end up with all you can eat and all you can drink for about four hours. I like that it's a very social event. I wish all meals could be as much of an event as Sunday brunch!

When I came back to Bangalore my apartment was covered in a layer of dirt. It's not a clean city. And my maid/cook Vijaya didn't show up that day - or the next day, or the next. So I assumed that she flew the coop, and I made other arrangements. My doorman knew a girl working nearby and set me up with Roopa, my new cook.

On Saturday Roopa showed up for work - and so did Vijaya! Apparently she had been trying to come, and the doorman had turned her away. I pretty much believed her, but I let her go. Then Vijaya's eyes got teary, and she explained that her husband was also recently out of work. But I didn't feel like I could go back on what I'd said. Roopa is also excellent in her own right - better than Vijaya, and she speaks English.

Roopa is clearly an upgrade. But I feel like I should've shown more loyalty to Vijaya, and I feel terrible about her situation.

Athens Day 3

2008-01-10T11:11:00.000-05:00

Day 3 involved a lot of sites around Athens. The Tower of the Winds. An old neighborhood with colorful, winding alleys. The archaeological museum with its gold jewelry and pottery. The temple of Zeus. A Byzantine church from the 11th century. Syntagma Square lit up at night with a carousel. I'll leave you with two pictures for the day. One is graffiti: it's nasty and ubiquitous in Athens (I suspect they clean it up for tourist season), but some of it made me smile. The other is a typical street in Greece, just so you can get a feel for it. By the way - it had significantly warmed up by this point, so I was enjoying myself more and walking around.

Day 4 in Athens involved more walking around and seeing old stuff, and some shopping. It was good old stuff, but I feel like I'm beginning to drag on a little about Athens. So my next post will be about Bangalore. I'm back!

Athens Day 2

2008-01-07T16:33:00.000-05:00

On Day 2 in Athens I knew I'd be jet-lagged, so I signed up for a 1-day tour. And I was off to Argolis. Our first stop was the theater at Epidaurus. It's a technical marvel for its acoustics. It can seat 15,000 people, but if you strike a match or whisper at the center of the stage, you can hear it as clear as day all the way in the 55th row. I had read about this, but hearing people test it out, I was still shocked that it works.
Stop #2 was Agamemnon's Palace in Mycenae. That name probably rings a bell - he was the king of Greece during the Trojan War, and he's mentioned in the Iliad and the Odyssey. The palace is largely in ruins, but the fact that it still exists from 1,600 B.C. is amazing. It's also surprising how accessible everything is in Greece - the sites aren't behind barricades, you can just walk around them. Although I suppose it's hard to do much harm, since everything is stone. The walls around the palace are massive.

The last stop of the day was the Treasury of Atreus, aka Agamemnon's tomb. This pic is from the inside looking out. I was pretty sure Indiana Jones was going to jump out from the shadows and crack his whip. The entrance was especially impressive. It turns out that the top stone is a single slab that weighs 120 tons, and literally nobody can figure out how it got there. The technology to move or create something that heavy didn't exist in 1,600 B.C. Stonehenge (earlier and ending aroud the same time) stones weighed 4 tons. The stones in the Egyptian pyramids weigh 2 tons.

Athens Day 1

2008-01-06T19:06:00.000-05:00

I made it to Athens! The long flight in economy class wasn't as bad as I thought, so I was prepared for it. But it was rough: perpetually screaming/sick children and lots of light. I had trouble sleeping. My bags made it (Atlanta - Toronto - Montreal - Athens), which I was happy about. I gave them a 50-50 shot from the outset.

As soon as I landed and dropped off my bags, I bolted for the Acropolis. Even though you can see it from anywhere in Athens (it's on top of a massive hill; you can see the view from the Acropolis in a picture below), it's not as easy as making a straight line from point A to point B. The streets of Athens are narrow alleys that zigzag back and forth, and they're often only labeled in Greek characters. Maps are only good some of the time. In any case, I eventually made it to the Acropolis with about an hour to look around, which was plenty.

First impression: it was freezing. It was a cold day in Athens at around 30 degrees, and the wind chill on the hilltop was ridiculous. On the very bright side, the unfavorable conditions meant that I had the Acropolis almost entirely to myself (and for the last 15 minutes or so, I really did have it to myself). Which was a kind of magical experience.

For the uninitiated (I knew little to nothing before arriving), the Acropolis is the name of the hilltop, and the several buildings on it have their own names. You enter through a enormous gateway called the Propylaea. In front of you and a little to the right is the legendary Parthenon (top picture with me in it). Father off to your left, you'll bump into the Erechtheion (bottom -most picture), which I had never heard of but I thought was particularly cool. It's eclecticly built in three sections and features a porch with six women ("caryatids" - picture below). It held all of the most sacred relics, and priests fed an enormous sacred snake that lived in the basement.

Dinner on my first night was the best meal of the trip. I wandered around the city around 10pm and stumbled on a taverna that was obviously having a good time. A man played piano while a woman belted out traditional tunes. Most of the audience knew the words and would sing along - throwing their hands in the air, clapping, dancing in their seats, and draining bottles of red wine. Dinner was delicious. A fried feta cheese appetizer came with two shots of Riki, complements of the house. It turns out that Riki is a grape-based drink like Ouzo, and tastes like gasoline and moonshine, but I appreciated the hospitality. Dinner was a honey-flavored pork that was perfectly cooked. Dessert was baklava and I got another complimentary drink - a sweet dessert wine. Afterwards the manager swang by and was extremely friendly.

Sorry to exhaust you with details of Day 1! I promise that the other days will be more summarized, but my first day in Athens was a very good day.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-04T18:09:00.000-05:00

It was amazing to see everyone. Bangalore has been - and will continue to be - a defining experience in my life. And I'm excited to return for more adventures. But there's no substitute for seeing my friends, and I was exceedingly happy to spend time with everyone. I can't wait to see you all again soon. And as always, let me extend an invitation for you to visit me in Bangalore. There's a warm bed waiting for you.

Sarah Bear!

2008-01-01T21:32:00.000-05:00

I made it home to Florida with no problems (I got a new camera this Christmas - some of these new pictures look great). And I got to see my family, and they're all doing well.

And I got to see Sarah! That was maybe the biggest deal, for me. I've caught up with my parents on the phone, but I couldn't speak to my dog. Sarah is obviously extremely happy. She gets to spend time with Mom and Dad all day, she has another dog to bark with and run around with, she gets brushed every day, and she gets a ton of treats.

Sarah was so happy that I was a little sad, if that makes sense. She seems like she's having a better life than she ever had with me. I don't have a way to give her that much attention when I take her back. I have to work all day, and I think she seems better off in Florida.

Trivia Night

2008-01-01T20:59:00.000-05:00

Raging Burrito trivia night and I go waaay back. We started going more than two years ago, when we realized that trivia was a great way to meet up, drink beer, and have smart fun. We went every week for more than a year, and when we stopped, it led me to become a trivia guy.

I was psyched to be in town for trivia night. From the parking guy named Michael Jackson to Sarah my favorite waitress, most of the people are the same. And our team played very well - we were in first place all the way until the final question. After trivia a few of us went across the square to the Brickstore for a final beer; another Thursday night tradition.

Skype

2007-12-29T13:53:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been in the US for a couple weeks and I haven't put my pictures onto my PC yet. I will soon. I also have a cool new camera that I got for Christmas, so expect higher-quality pictures in the future.

I also got a new Skype phone, so there's an easy way for you to get in touch with me while I'm in India. This is my new phone number (write it down!):

(678) 389-8911

You're probably wondering - what does it cost to call? Only the normal cost to call an Atlanta number. Don't worry, you won't run up an expensive international phone bill. But please be considerate of the time zone. I'm 10.5 hrs from EST. Here's a quick conversion tip: if you take the time in EST and subtract 1.5 hours, then switch the AM to PM (or vice versa), you've got it.

News From India 4

2007-12-15T02:52:00.000-05:00

Judge Sunil Kumar Singh in the eastern state of Jharkhand has issued adverts in newspapers asking the gods to "appear before the court personally". The gods have been asked to appear before the court on Tuesday, after the judge said that letters addressed to them had gone unanswered. Ram and Hanuman are among the most popular Indian Hindu gods.

Judge Singh presides in a "fast track" court - designed to resolve disputes quickly - in the city of Dhanbad. The dispute is now 20 years old and revolves around the ownership of a 1.4 acre plot of land housing two temples. The deities of Ram and Hanuman, the monkey god, are worshipped at the two temples on the land. Temple priest Manmohan Pathak claims the land belongs to him. Locals say it belongs to the two deities. The two sides first went to court in 1987.

A few years ago, the dispute was settled in favour of the locals. Then Mr Pathak challenged the verdict in a fast track court. Judge Singh sent out two notices to the deities, but they were returned as the addresses were found to be "incomplete". This prompted him to put out adverts in local newspapers summoning the gods. "You failed to appear in court despite notices sent by a peon and later through registered post. You are herby directed to appear before the court personally", Judge Singh's notice said.

News From India 3

2007-12-15T02:50:00.000-05:00

Troupes of monkeys are out of control in India's northeast, stealing mobile phones and breaking into homes to steal soft drinks from refrigerators, lawmakers in the region have complained.

"Monkeys are wreaking havoc in my constituency by taking away mobile phones, toothpastes, sipping coke after opening the refrigerators," Hiren Das told Assam state's assembly.
He said the primates were "even slapping women who try to chase them".

"It is a cause of serious concern in my area, with more than 1,000 such simians turning aggressive by the day," fumed Goneswar Das, another legislator representing Raha in eastern Assam.

Let there be pigeons

2007-12-14T04:37:00.000-05:00

I was talking to someone last night, and thought I found someone in a similar situation. She has pigeons nesting and growing up at her apartment - but that's where the similarity ends. Her pigeons are nesting on the balcony, whereas mine are nesting on the cupboard in the dining room.

I came back from my Goa trip and here they were - a family of pigeons, already nested, and with eggs laid. The mom pigeon sat dutify on the nest day and night. And somewhere in the back of my head, I have a deep respect for hard work and persistence. And I absolutely read the Seuss book "Horton Hatches the Egg" too many times as a kid. So even though logic dictates that I should evict the pigeon, I let her be.

I googled diseases and pigeons, and the only risk is around pigeon poo. So I've kept my eye out for poo. And this is when I realized a remarkable thing: my pigeons are house-trained. They only had one "accident" in the house over three weeks. Maybe they realize that we have formed a fragile, unspoken alliance. I'm probably reading too much into poop, but I'm fascinated.

Unfortunately, tomorrow is the end of the road for the pigeons. I now have two baby peeping pigeons for roommates. On top of being obnoxious, they're hideous. And I'm worried that the kids won't respect the no-poo pact. But I have a nice place picked out on my porch for the nest, and hopefully it won't be too stressful of a transition for mom.