Posts from — December 2005

I have some bottles of wine for sale if anyone’s interested. If so, just shoot me an email and I’ll send you the details. I’ll probably send out an email to some of you anyway. Basically I’m on a list where I get a certain (small) allotment. It’s great wine and it took me a while to get on the winemaker’s email list so I’m happy to buy when I get sent my notification. But it’s a pricey club/list. So even though it’s great stuff, I shouldn’t really keep the whole shipment due to budgetary concerns.

The bottles are ~$47-$50/ea depending on what kind: pinot noir, syrah, or mourvedre/grenache (50% blend) before shipping costs. I don’t want to say the vineyward in case of a later google search, but trust me, it’s good stuff.

CA friends- I can most likely drop off at your place, TX friends- I can ship, or try to bring it in person in late January if my next scehduled trip comes together.

Send me an email and I’ll send you more details.

Hrm, I found a link to a story on my HD in my India blog drafts folder.

I don’t feel like pasting what could be an offensive post, but I think I bookmarked it because of two things- 1) someone had told me something similar in Singapore (I think it was the hotel staff) and 2) an incident I saw on one of the planes or in an airport that I don’t want to repeat [for now].

But either way, I thought this was interesting-

Anyway, here’s a paragraph:

“Hong Kong was under British control for a long time, so the Chinese living in Hong Kong have at least a basic understanding of acceptable manners,” a resident of the Fragrant Harbor city tells Shukan Post. “But Chinese from the mainland don’t even know the existence of the word ‘manners.’ They have no custom of lining up. It’s a waste of breath to tell them off.”

full story

I finally got around to listening to a KUT radio program that Cory sent me the link to. It’s about Townes Van Zandt and it’s here.

That mp3 link is 58 minutes long, so download it to your computer, then listen to it later. Or, if you’re one of them ipod types, grab it in your itunes, or pod0matic and go to town.

Although I expect my Texas friends to download that link and listen to the program, I think some of you Kalifornians should too. Townes has been covered by everyone, including your Starbucks fave Norah Jones (another Texan).

That KUT page also has some other songs from Townes on it, but for some ungodly reason they’re in buffering . . . buffering real media buffering format.

As the inevitable follow-up to the first post for the movies I saw href="http://www.kenneths.org/flog/movies/air_movies.html">on the way to India, here are my notes of what I saw coming back:

The Dukes of Hazzard – *

One star for Jessica Simpson’s bikini, and an A-for-effort for Broken
Lizard’s Jay Chandrasekhar.

Goal! – *

One star because I like “soccer”. But c’mon- the whole “barrio kid” BS wears thin. And really, he got to be a Newcastle starter??? for the last three games? Whatevs. . . Actually, the best actor in this is Alessandro Nivola, because he’s American, and I had no idea until I looked up the movie. Also stars Tony Plana who gets typecast a lot, but is pretty good in just about everything he’s in. He’s like a really good 6th-man in basketball. I expected this movie to put me to sleep on the way to Hong Kong, but alas, it did not.

Holy Crap, they’re making a sequel to this??!.

The 40-Year Old Virgin – *

One star for Paul Rudd and the other guy they worked with at the
electronics store. I expected this movie to put me to sleep, and it almost did
about halfway through, but no, I could not- something about the
easily-anticipated jokes kept me up. At least it was better than all of those
stupid Vince Vaughn movies I saw on the way to India.

Sky High – ***

Ah, a kids’ movie! I’ll be able to get to sleep watching this for sure!
Nope- still can’t sleep. What the hell, this movie is actually put together
quite nicely. Nice cameos/guest stars. 2 or 3 stars…

Four Brothers – **

Wow, and people got mad at Jimmy Kimmel for his comments about Detroit?
This movie makes Detroit look like a hell hole. Actually, they had to film it
outside of Toronto for the tax breaks that Detroit wouldn’t give the
production team. Instant star for Sofia Vergara (mmmm). Terrence Howard is
good in this too. And Josh Charles does a good job of being an ass. And it’s
good to see the dude from Dirty Pretty Things again- and it took me a while to recognize him! Could I be getting tired? Will this flight ever end?!

You know what- I thought this movie was based on an old John Wayne
western, but I can’t find that movie title now. Stupid IMDB.

update: Was it The Sons of Katie Elder? Anyone?

Transporter 2 – ***

Entertaining fare from Jason Stratham. Martial Arts, chicks, car chases,
and Matthew Modine. Frank’s (Jason Stratham) Panerai watch costs more than my Honda Civic. It just goes to show how hardcore he is. I think my (kick ass) civic is keeping me from being a transporter.

note: I actually watched this 1.75 times because I didn’t realize I had the audio set to Spanish for about an hour.

Wallace and Grommit (The Curse of the Were-Rabbit) – ***

Ahhh, I finally fell asleep- but to the only decent flick on the flight. . . .

update I forgot to add a movie to my list that I saw on the way to
India

The Island – **

One star for Scarlett. Oh, and another star for Scarlett.

A lot of you asked a lot of questions about the trip. Here are my replies.

What were your hours in the office there?

I was working the 5pm-2am shift, but usually was there a bit earlier and later. It actually helped with the jet lag.

Did you like the trip?

Yes, but I’m glad I wasn’t paying for it. I had a good time. I (usually) enjoy traveling. It was very interesting. I think I can sum it up by saying the work experience was extremely frustrating (the hours, the office experience there) but outside of work it was great.

Would you go again?

Yes, although on my list of desired travel places/sites to go to, it’s come down quite a bit in the rankings. If work wants to send me again, I’d go without hesitation. If I were paying for a vacation, then there are other places ahead of India in the queue to see first.

Did you like the food? Are you sick of the food?

I like Indian food, I eat it a lot in SF. There are a ton of places in the Bay Area to choose from too. The ‘real stuff’ in India was even better. The spices seem brighter and fresher. That said- I quickly got tired of the heavier ‘gravy-type curries’ and turned to the tandoor specialties quickly. And I remembered to order the naan (if I had any) without ‘butter’. Am I sick of it? Not really, but I’m not going to have any for quite a while. As an aside- most of the food there doesn’t seem healthy at all. Another note- just because something’s vegetarian doesn’t mean it’s lighter/healthier/better. )(That goes to the tourists I overheard in the city one day) You know what though- their Hyderabad Briyani with lamb kicks ass.

How was the hotel?

Great. Almost too great. I was staying in a really nice place. But there aren’t a lot of hotels in Hyderabad so they have the foreign travelers between a rock and an expense account.

Was the pollution bad?

Holy shit yes. I thought I had been to polluted cities before but . . .On the first night after work when I was going back to the hotel in the car (at 3am) I thought- ah how nice, the temperature’s cool enough here for fog. Then I realized it wasn’t fog. Not only is there a lot of car pollution, but they’re burning stuff constantly. There are always (intentional) grass fires and trash fires. Or charcoal fires for people to huddle around because it’s so cold (68F) – like the security guards did outside a lot of the office buildings. You can see some of the grass fire smog in my pics from Golconda Fort. Oh, and I think I wrote about the other kind of trash/pollution here.

Were the chix[sic] hot?

What chicks? I only saw a few in the office. They’re all married too (which means they’re invisible to me). Otherwise I didn’t see any. I’m sure there are some hot ones around, but the whole place is like a giant gay bar (not that there’s anything wrong with that – they’re like Saudis- they (the men) hold hands, constantly touch each other)- no women around. There are some hot ones I’m sure, but in general the ladies stick together, or they’re with their husbands, or they’re stuck at home.

How were the bars/pubs/clubs?
See the above gay bar comment. The few bars I saw were like very lame gay bars (not that there’s anything wrong with that). No women. Bad drinks. Bad drink ‘specials’. Bad DJ’s who were a bit full of themselves. Dorky guys who were all wearing the same outfit really- The outfit there is dress shoes, faded jeans, untucked Kurtya or dress-shirt, goofy Bollywood sunglasses (yes at night) and of course the 3 day stubble is de rigueur. Like this guy. So basically- the bars are goofy. But then again, it beats sitting in the hotel room. But then again, who gives a shit- I’m not a big clubber/bar guy anyway.

Were there really cows on the road?

Yes, and goats too.

Why aren’t your pictures on this site?

Because I was having problems accessing the computers at my apartment (I think the power went out) and I usually organize them and then upload them to this site. So I tried to use flickr.com instead. In a way that might be better because my coworkers are always asking to see my pics. It may be better if they’re not on this site in case they stumble onto this blog and then take offense at something in one of these posts.

Disclaimer- yeah, I’m over-generalizing, so what. I’m not trying to be mean or offensive or make the US seem better, etc. I’m just trying to answer your questions.

Jim Rogers style – business ideas/thoughts (yeah right- I wish I could write as well).

re US businesses:

overhearing about Franklin Templeton in the hotel lets me know that they have a big presence in HYD. But their office seems chaotic from what I overheard. They probably don’t need their HYD office. Their Florida team seems crazy too and probably feeds into the HYD team’s problems. Note to self- never use Franklin Templeton unless I’m dealing with their Singapore office.

Overhearing GM people from the US just re-enforces what everyone knows- GM sucks and has no clue about what people want or how to run a business. I can’t believe some of the garbage they were feeding each other. And these were mostly US-based exec’s!

Overhearing Dell staff shows that Dell tech people from the US are more detail oriented than I would have guessed, and they have what seems like a tight run ship- on the other hand, they aren’t as up on the latest tech things as they should be- thinking that a sling box is brand new technology shows that they don’t know what techblogs are. . . They should hire more linux people too. They’re too Windows-focused.

re Indian businesses

the best opportunities here would be to

1) open a hotel catering to business travelers from the US and Europe, there’s a shortage and their rates are high



2) construction construction construction- wow tons of it going on



3) opening a limo service (for out of town execs) and a taxi-service has a LOT of potential. All of the offices here provide rides for their staff via cabs- especially the call centers. They aren’t efficient and there’s a need for more that can handle a medium to large size office. The ones that are here are having problems yet due to demand outweighing supply they can continue to be late dropping off their workers because the companies have no other services to turn to.



4) infrastructure problems abound though- they need better power management- (electricity, backup generator companies, etc). But then again, so does SF.



5) one big problem though- you have to pay bribes out the ass here to get anything done. You’ll have to have one Indian National to technically own the India-based office, as a separate corp/llc. You’d better really trust that person, or you’ll get burned. Oh, and then you’ll pay more bribes. See also Parties suspend Indian MPs filmed in TV “sting”

I got back to SF on Sunday night after spending two (1.5 really) days in Singapore. [I had a great time in Singapore and got to hang out with one of my buddies- one of the original CyberSoürce Cruë, Mr Jason Chang.]

Like an idiot I went straight back into work bright and shiny on Monday morning and I’ve been paying for it since- I’ve been just slightly jetlagged, but really I’m feeling more run down that anything – and of course am worried about the small cold/flu I seem to be fighting.

I have some more posts to add about India and Singapore and I’ll try to add those this weekend.

One of the posts I had already started working on was a Jim Rogers-type blurb about what investment/business observations I noted on the trip. I had written a paragraph lamenting the infrastructure in India and I think I complained about power outtages being a possible weak link in the tech offices over there.

But Sunday night in SF, I noticed the power had gone off at least once in my apartment when I was gone- and it went off again on Sunday night/Monday morning. How do you like them apples Alannis?

But it’s good to be back in my messy apartment. I just wish it weren’t so chilly! After India, and especially Singapore (85-89F & 85+% Humidty) the temp here is a bit of a downer. But as they say in my homeland, “Walk it off!”

Yesterday I did some dumb things. One was that I walked across the street at a “crosswalk”. Traffic here is nuts and for a minute I didn’t think I’d make it across the street. But I did.

Then later I went shopping. That’s not the dumb thing- well, spending more money than I planned to was, but anyway, after shopping the store owner asked how I had gotten to the store. I said I had taken an auto rickshaw and then walked across the street. He rolled his eyes at that, and laughed, then asked if I would like a ride back to the hotel. I said it wasn’t a problem as it wasn’t too far and I’d just take another rickshaw. He said- don’t worry, my boy will take you.

Quick note- everyone here has a ‘boy’. Whenever I go to a store, the owners will chat with me and say “my boy will go fetch the items”. Or in the hotel, I had some shirts to be washed so I called downstairs and the woman said “I’ll send my boy up later.” The kids at the cafe who bring the tea to The Transporter are “his boys” where his is either The Transporter or the Cafe owner depending on the sentence structure.

So back to the store story-

Anyway, I said, well, okay since you’re offering I’ll take a ride. We go outside and it’s about rush hour time, which is apparently 6am-midnight from what I can tell. The shopboy points to his…. scooter. So I hope on back- both of us sans helmets- and we proceed to go to the hotel in the rush hour traffic. It was fun, but scary fun. My knees were inches from other cars as we went along, but as I said, it was fun. A bit of a rush. In hindsight it was stupid, but oh well.

The whole time I’ve been here I haven’t worried about getting sick from food, or getting sick from mosquitos (I’ve been taking malaria meds every day for the past month)- I’ve been more worried about getting in a car wreck (even if I’m walking). But you know, you gotta go with the flow. If I had access to my personal email right now, I’d copy and paste Kevin’s email signature quotation here, because that’s what I was thinking of on the scooter.

So later in the day The Transporter took me to another store. First we went to Niloufer, the cafe in the Arab quarter, then out and about. I really liked it but didn’t buy too much. I know I’m a bit uh, can I say ‘husky’ instead of ‘chunky’? It sounds more flattering. Yeah whatever, I could stand to lose a few pounds. So shopping for clothes in a place where the prices are tempting, but the average XL is meant for a person about half of your weight (in kilos), it’s a bit tricky. Well, I had heard shoes were good buys, so that’s what I was looking for that day. Well, it turned out I had the same problem. They don’t have anything approaching sizes over 11 1/2 US [I wear a size 12-13 depending on the brand]. Arrggh so frustrating. But that’s fine.

I was also trying to keep an eye out for gifts for The Transporter. I finally took him to the music shop and said I’d get him some cassettes which he was pumped up about. Long story, but he’s hard to shop for and I didn’t want to just give him a tip (which I will anyway) when I leave so I was glad to get him excited about the music. So he carefully selected some Hindi movie soundtracks, looked in vain for some Eagles tape (while rejecting my recommendation of Creedence instead), and also selected— Crazy Frog‘s Crazy Dance Hits. Good lord. This has thoroughly changed the commute. Read that link if you don’t understand what I’m talking about. I’m pretty sure that Crazy Frog was mentioned in Dante’s Inferno.

So, I’m coming to the end of my trip. It’s Thursday/Friday now and I leave Hyderabad for Singapore on Friday night. I arrive in Singapore late Friday night (really Saturday morning) and then I’ll spend Saturday and Sunday there before leaving Singapore Sunday night. I plan on meeting up with Jason Chang, another ex-CyberSourcer for food and drinks. It should be fun. Then I’ll be back in SF on Sunday night- I don’t lose any time on the flight back from Singapore.

When I get back I’ll move the pics from flickr.com to my pic section and add captions and better descriptions. I’ll probably vent a bit about work too because despite having a lot of fun outside of work, work itself was very frustrating. But that said, I’m grateful for the opportunity to travel here. Maybe I’ll get sent back in 2006. We’ll see.