Ok, I'm back...after a hiatus of I don't even know how long. Doesn't matter though. All that matters is I'm here and I'm writing. Still alive and kicking.
Anyway, life is good. I'm just getting used to being out in the LA area. I moved out here in April and love it.
Anyway, there's not much to tell on that front, just a lot of personal drama and what not, but I ended up out here and its all good.
Ok, so last night we decided to go to a Club in LA. It's called DV8 and we have been there before, a few years ago actually. It's a pretty nice club and we liked our last visit. Kim managed to snag four free tickets to the club so we didn't have to pay the $20 cover charge (way too much), which was really nice.
When we got there, and got to the front of the line, the bouncer checked Kim's name and marked her hand and gave her a wristband. He did the same for me and then looked at Kim's sister and her husband and said, "Are you on the list?" They weren't and he said that only Kim and I could get in because we were on the list. Kim calmly explained that each person on the list could bring in one guest. The bouncer (who interestingly enough had a British accent) shook his head and said, "No." He showed her the list of the names and showed her that there was no "+1" next to our names. She peered over at the list, calmly pointed to the top of the list and read to the bouncer the line printed there that read: "All are plus one." He stared hard at the list and then at Kim and said, "Well, uhm, look at that. Ok, then." He proceeded to show the other bouncer what Kim had pointed out, they both laughed and then he gave Kim's sister and her husband wristbands and let us through.
I just had to document this story because it made me laugh really hard. I just thought it was the funniest thing that Kim had to show the bouncer how to read the guest list. Anyway, for his part the bouncer guy was really cool about it and not at all belligerent.
As for the Club, it turns out that the club is a shared space and on Friday nights it is "Club Level 3" and then on Saturday nights it is DV8. Didn't matter much to us, as the club looks the same and still plays great music on Friday. We danced and enjoyed ourselves immensely.
Anyway, if you are in the area and love Rap/Hip Hop/Dance Music then check it out.
Well, thats it for this post.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Insomnia
It is currently 4:19 am EST March 11th, 2008...and I am awake. This would not be odd were it not for the fact that I went to bed AND FELL ASLEEP at 11:59 pm EST March 10th, 2008. At about 2:40 am EST I woke up from a pretty strange dream that went something like this:
I was a teenager again, living with my Grandparents. They were fighting, as they sometimes did, and I was in the living room trying to make myself scarce. Then after the fireworks were over I was on the phone with my girlfriend (my current one, not one from when I was a teenager...yeah I know, dreams don't make sense) and I got really thirsty while playing the Video Game Battlefield 2142 (Which wasnt released until a few years ago, again not during my teenage years). So I went to the kitchen where there was a pitcher of cold water in the fridge. I began drinking directly from the pitcher, just like I used to do when I was a kid and my girlfriend started giving me crap about it. Then at about the time I was taking my last gulp and telling my girl that drinking from the pitcher was the most direct and efficient way to get the water...I woke up THIRSTY!
So, at 2:40 am EST I got up, went downstairs and stole a bottle of water from my roomate, because I'm totally out of anything to drink right now. Then after drinking I came back upstairs and tried to get back to sleep, until I decided that sleep was not gonna come to me at all, so I might as well write in my blog.
Yeah, so this sux too, cause I have work tomorrow (I have to be up in about 3.5 hours). My mind won't shut down though, I keep thinking about stuff and usually that puts me to sleep. Not tonight though. Tonight, it has been keeping me awake.
Writing about all the things I've been thinking about won't help, so I won't bother with that. Instead, I'll just finish this short post now and surf the web for a while, hopefully all the inane nonsense to be found on the web will make my mind tired...goodnight.
I was a teenager again, living with my Grandparents. They were fighting, as they sometimes did, and I was in the living room trying to make myself scarce. Then after the fireworks were over I was on the phone with my girlfriend (my current one, not one from when I was a teenager...yeah I know, dreams don't make sense) and I got really thirsty while playing the Video Game Battlefield 2142 (Which wasnt released until a few years ago, again not during my teenage years). So I went to the kitchen where there was a pitcher of cold water in the fridge. I began drinking directly from the pitcher, just like I used to do when I was a kid and my girlfriend started giving me crap about it. Then at about the time I was taking my last gulp and telling my girl that drinking from the pitcher was the most direct and efficient way to get the water...I woke up THIRSTY!
So, at 2:40 am EST I got up, went downstairs and stole a bottle of water from my roomate, because I'm totally out of anything to drink right now. Then after drinking I came back upstairs and tried to get back to sleep, until I decided that sleep was not gonna come to me at all, so I might as well write in my blog.
Yeah, so this sux too, cause I have work tomorrow (I have to be up in about 3.5 hours). My mind won't shut down though, I keep thinking about stuff and usually that puts me to sleep. Not tonight though. Tonight, it has been keeping me awake.
Writing about all the things I've been thinking about won't help, so I won't bother with that. Instead, I'll just finish this short post now and surf the web for a while, hopefully all the inane nonsense to be found on the web will make my mind tired...goodnight.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Practice Makes Perfect...or Nub-sauce Unite!
[It's RANT time! Yay! Seriously though, I'm about to go off on some little thing that probably doesn't mean squat to anyone but me and a few other people out there...so feel free to skip this one.]
Ok, so the other day I was at home and I was bored so I thought I would hop on on PS3 and play some "Rock Band." Now, for those of you who don't know what this game is...well, get a clue.
It's much like Guitar Hero (and if you don't know what that is you better hit up this link, cause I ain't about to explain it) but you have 2 guitars, a microphone, and a drum set. It's a four player game where everyone gets to pretend to be a rock band and play together. Its pretty much the funnest (and possibly funniest) pretend thing since they invented arcade sim games.
Anyway, the creators of the game realized that you won't always have four people at your house for impromptu jam sessions. As such, they put in an online multiplayer feature. That way when I wanna play, but am all by my lonesome, I can hop online and find three other players to rock out with.
So I was doing this very thing the other day. I logged on and was playing the "Bass Guitar" part of the band. Now, when the band leader selects a song, everyone gets to select what difficulty they want to play the song on. The difficulty are as follows:
Easy - Any reasonably coordinated monkey could play this setting on any instrument.
Medium - Requires some concentration and a bit of coordination, on all instruments.
Hard - If you can't connect your brain to your legs and hands independantly dont even try drums, and if you can't "WTFPWN!" Medium on the guitar, dont even try. Also, if you are a "Shower Singer" only, then please don't try the Microphone on this setting either.
Expert - OMFG we're all gonna die! If you don't belong on MTV (or at least YouTube) with your skills then please, please, leave Expert alone.
Now, having explained that, the first group of Nubs that I hooked up with started out on Medium. They did alright, but nothing special. I was playing the Bass part on Hard because I can cut that just fine. At the end of three songs they both had completion rates in the low 90's and I was averaging 98% complete.
After that song, they both decided (one playing drums and the other playing Lead Guitar) that they would switch to Hard so they could keep up with me. Idiots. About 20% into the first song they both failed out like the College rejects they are. I was left playing by myself for about 15 seconds before the crowd boo'ed us offstage.
Now at this point my rage hadn't boiled over into "Wrath of God Destruction" yet, so I figured whatever they tried it and we will go back to what was working on the next song. The leader queues up the next song and...we all choose Hard.
At this point I just sat there blinking, thinking: "WTH? Did they just do what I think they did?" And, lo and behold, they failed out again and instead of cursing at my TV I just left the band and rejoined the "Find Players" queue.
I found a new band, and we all jumped in and chose Hard on the first song. My first thought was, "Sweet, some players who have Skillzz!" When they both failed out of the song about 30 seconds later and I was left holding the fort down (until the crowd boo'ed us offstage again), my rage moved back to "Curse at the TV" zone.
So, I left that band and rejoined the "Find Players" queue AGAIN! Third time's the charm right? Wrong. In this third set, the drummer was the one with delusions of grandeur. He kept dying and the rest of the band would eventually get boo'ed offstage (because your band cannot survive without all the players who joined at the beginning). Everyone HAS to make it to the end or we ALL have to start over.
After a few more songs the drummer got the point and chose a setting he could always succeed on, thank goodness. However, this problem shouldn't exist at all.
People...PEOPLE! Come on now, get a clue! The SINGLE-PLAYER mode is for PRACTICE! The online multiplayer is for FUN! Now, while it may be "fun" for you to choose a setting and then fail miserably at it while other poeple look on, that IS NOT fun for the rest of us. So please, when you go online to play "Rock Band" and you are about to choose a setting that is out of your skill range remember this: I'm from the "Smack-a-Hoe" tribe and I WILL smack you upside the head!
Ok, rant done...'nuff said.
Ok, so the other day I was at home and I was bored so I thought I would hop on on PS3 and play some "Rock Band." Now, for those of you who don't know what this game is...well, get a clue.
It's much like Guitar Hero (and if you don't know what that is you better hit up this link, cause I ain't about to explain it) but you have 2 guitars, a microphone, and a drum set. It's a four player game where everyone gets to pretend to be a rock band and play together. Its pretty much the funnest (and possibly funniest) pretend thing since they invented arcade sim games.
Anyway, the creators of the game realized that you won't always have four people at your house for impromptu jam sessions. As such, they put in an online multiplayer feature. That way when I wanna play, but am all by my lonesome, I can hop online and find three other players to rock out with.
So I was doing this very thing the other day. I logged on and was playing the "Bass Guitar" part of the band. Now, when the band leader selects a song, everyone gets to select what difficulty they want to play the song on. The difficulty are as follows:
Easy - Any reasonably coordinated monkey could play this setting on any instrument.
Medium - Requires some concentration and a bit of coordination, on all instruments.
Hard - If you can't connect your brain to your legs and hands independantly dont even try drums, and if you can't "WTFPWN!" Medium on the guitar, dont even try. Also, if you are a "Shower Singer" only, then please don't try the Microphone on this setting either.
Expert - OMFG we're all gonna die! If you don't belong on MTV (or at least YouTube) with your skills then please, please, leave Expert alone.
Now, having explained that, the first group of Nubs that I hooked up with started out on Medium. They did alright, but nothing special. I was playing the Bass part on Hard because I can cut that just fine. At the end of three songs they both had completion rates in the low 90's and I was averaging 98% complete.
After that song, they both decided (one playing drums and the other playing Lead Guitar) that they would switch to Hard so they could keep up with me. Idiots. About 20% into the first song they both failed out like the College rejects they are. I was left playing by myself for about 15 seconds before the crowd boo'ed us offstage.
Now at this point my rage hadn't boiled over into "Wrath of God Destruction" yet, so I figured whatever they tried it and we will go back to what was working on the next song. The leader queues up the next song and...we all choose Hard.
At this point I just sat there blinking, thinking: "WTH? Did they just do what I think they did?" And, lo and behold, they failed out again and instead of cursing at my TV I just left the band and rejoined the "Find Players" queue.
I found a new band, and we all jumped in and chose Hard on the first song. My first thought was, "Sweet, some players who have Skillzz!" When they both failed out of the song about 30 seconds later and I was left holding the fort down (until the crowd boo'ed us offstage again), my rage moved back to "Curse at the TV" zone.
So, I left that band and rejoined the "Find Players" queue AGAIN! Third time's the charm right? Wrong. In this third set, the drummer was the one with delusions of grandeur. He kept dying and the rest of the band would eventually get boo'ed offstage (because your band cannot survive without all the players who joined at the beginning). Everyone HAS to make it to the end or we ALL have to start over.
After a few more songs the drummer got the point and chose a setting he could always succeed on, thank goodness. However, this problem shouldn't exist at all.
People...PEOPLE! Come on now, get a clue! The SINGLE-PLAYER mode is for PRACTICE! The online multiplayer is for FUN! Now, while it may be "fun" for you to choose a setting and then fail miserably at it while other poeple look on, that IS NOT fun for the rest of us. So please, when you go online to play "Rock Band" and you are about to choose a setting that is out of your skill range remember this: I'm from the "Smack-a-Hoe" tribe and I WILL smack you upside the head!
Ok, rant done...'nuff said.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
New Blog...
Ok, so I have a new blog dedicated to my writing. I've started a new and exciting story just for this blog too. Go check it out, I promise to bring you story updates at least once a week.
Enjoy!
Silver Siade
Enjoy!
Silver Siade
Growing Pains
You ever get that feeling that life is crushing you under its iron heel? Yeah? Well don’t worry you aren’t the only one that has had that feeling on occasion. I only write this now because I’ve been feeling that way lately (mostly because of my job). It’s been putting a strain on every other part of my life (including my writing; which is why I haven’t updated in forever).
There really isn’t any “fool proof” way out from under this crushing feeling that life gives you sometimes. None that I know of at least. I woke up this morning and prayed really hard about what I should do about this feeling. I got my answer and even though from what I understood of that answer the relief from this crushing feeling won’t be immediate, it didn’t matter to me; I felt better almost immediately. The day went smoother, life didn’t seem so stressed, and I even had the energy to write. No it had nothing to do with the writers strike being over…funny coincidence that though.
About that though, the whole strike was about the writers wanting the right to get paid when people watch their shows online. I don’t really think there’s anything wrong with that either, I mean they should get paid for what they do, no matter where someone tunes in to see it. A funny thing happened while the writers were striking too: People started watching more online videos. So basically, the writers staged a strike to get paid for when people watch stuff online and the strike itself caused people to go watch stuff online because TV became boring (or rather more boring that it already is).
Now that’s what I call good strategy!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Video Game Difficulty: A Philosophical Debate
So I took a fun and informative test today, see my results below:
"You are a 59% Video Game Addict.Video games are a big portion of your life, maybe too big of a portion. They are not a means of social interaction, despite what you might think. Go outside."
Take theVideo Game Addict Test@ FualiDotCom
So, today's discussion is on Video Game Difficulty. This is a matter that weighs heavily on everyone (world leaders included). Yes I know, its hard to believe, but to quote my favorite Radio Disc Jockey, "You best Beleee' dat!"
Anyway, there are two camps on this issue. Camp number one, we'll call them the "Noobs" (not to be confused with Boobs) think that video games should have something that video game designers invented almost 20 years ago: the ability to select the game difficulty. These people have also been known to cheat off the smart kid in high school.
Now, the second camp, we'll call them the "Haters" (not to be confused with Haxxors, although some of them might identify with that comment). They believe that games should all be played at whatever difficulty the game designers arbitrarily decide to set. These people are also known to bite themselves in random places to see how much pain they can take without screaming or crying (or both).
Ok, there may also be a third camp, we'll call them the "WTF!? Who cares?" camp, but we don't talk much to them (or about them really) because mostly they have no imaginations, watch professional wrestling, NASCAR, or spend all their free time watching professional sports (or all of the above). These people have also been found dead after jelly leaked out of their ears (this jelly was later found to be the melted unused residue of their brains).
Now, I fall in somewhere in the middle between the "Noobs" and the "Haters." I say this because there are some games where I would prefer there to be no setting, but other games where I want to have a difficulty setting. As for the tough games, well, anyone who has ever played a VERY challenging game and been tempted to join the FBI, go through weapons and secret agent training, sign on for undercover sniper ops, then get reassigned as an office counter-intelligence worker just so he could find the game designer who made the game and sneak up on them and kill them in their sleep without going to jail knows EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Not that I've ever considered such a thing...ever...really!
Most of the games that don't need difficulty settings are designed in such a way that the game either auto-adjusts the difficulty or is super easy. This second category of games is what makes the "Haters" become...well "Haters." They say that if a game is too easy it's not even worth playing. Whereas I say if a game is too hard WHY THE HELL would I want to play it? Life is already hard enough, I don't need some damn video game (a part of one of my favorite pastimes) to remind me. I play video games to NOT think about how hard life can be.
Anyway, chime in on the comments section and let me know what you think.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
There’s something terribly wrong with the transportation system here in the
Now, if I want to take public transportation from here to D.C. it costs me almost TWICE what it costs to drive. The round trip tickets are $130 and that doesn’t even get me all the way to my family’s place. I still have to take another train to get within 20 miles of home and then have them pick me up there. After all the driving to train stations, parking, taking a second train, and driving the rest of the way the total time is nearly six hours one way and the total round-trip cost is about $140. That’s just ALL WRONG!
It should be backwards. The cost of the slower, public transportation should be half of the cost of driving. In fact, in most countries the train would be faster, but that would just be a miracle here. I look at the
The thing that really annoys me the most is that, if we had a train system similar to the Japanese one, I could live in D.C. and commute to New Jersey every day for work and it wouldn’t take me more than an hour and a half to get to work. I drive nearly that amount of time today and would gladly commute that far if it meant living in my home town.
I’m baaaaaaack…
Note: I wrote this post back in the middle of November using Word. Just never posted it until now.
So, I haven’t written in a long while. I’ve been back from India for almost exactly two and a half months. In that time I’ve been all over and done a ton of stuff. Most of it had to do with getting settled here in New Jersey and in my new job. I managed to fit in some really fun stuff in between though.
The first hurdle to jump upon getting back from India was the housing hurdle. I actually found the place that I was to end up in on the first day I looked but the guy who owned the place dragged his feet about letting me move in so I had to wait a week and a half before I could move in to my new place. That pretty much bit the big one, as I felt like a vagabond for the whole time I was “homeless.”
Once I got settled, in I started to work on feeling comfortable at my job. That has taken some time, and I honestly don’t think I have “arrived” yet but I feel much better about what I do and my work in general than I did when I was just recently returned from India, so that is good.
Wow, this blog entry is like, SUPER boring. I’m sitting here typing it and I’m bored. That’s just terrible. Here, lets change gears and see if we can’t make things interesting.
The other day I was at Taco Bell and I ordered some food and a drink. When I went to fill up my drink I tried the ice machine once, and nothing. The second time…again nothing. Now, usually I only want a few cubes of ice, as I don’t like my drinks really cold; I prefer cool. I could hear something rattling around inside the damn machine so I tried a third time thinking, “Third times a charm, right?” Well, on the third try the machine decides to make up for the two previous barren attempts by spitting out enough ice to drown in.
I grimaced as the ice almost filled my cup and thought to myself, “I HATE these damn machines.” I swear they were designed by some nerdy, demented engineer who had no friends and nothing better to do than design a machine that will torment poor innocent people like me who are just trying to get a few cubes of ice in their cups.
There, that was much more interesting. I suppose you could say it's pretty sad that my rants about different things I hate are more interesting than the last two and a half months of my life. If anything, that probably means that I lead a boring life. Hmm, if the realization that I lead a boring life really fazed me at all I might change my life, but it doesn’t so I won’t.
So, I haven’t written in a long while. I’ve been back from India for almost exactly two and a half months. In that time I’ve been all over and done a ton of stuff. Most of it had to do with getting settled here in New Jersey and in my new job. I managed to fit in some really fun stuff in between though.
The first hurdle to jump upon getting back from India was the housing hurdle. I actually found the place that I was to end up in on the first day I looked but the guy who owned the place dragged his feet about letting me move in so I had to wait a week and a half before I could move in to my new place. That pretty much bit the big one, as I felt like a vagabond for the whole time I was “homeless.”
Once I got settled, in I started to work on feeling comfortable at my job. That has taken some time, and I honestly don’t think I have “arrived” yet but I feel much better about what I do and my work in general than I did when I was just recently returned from India, so that is good.
Wow, this blog entry is like, SUPER boring. I’m sitting here typing it and I’m bored. That’s just terrible. Here, lets change gears and see if we can’t make things interesting.
The other day I was at Taco Bell and I ordered some food and a drink. When I went to fill up my drink I tried the ice machine once, and nothing. The second time…again nothing. Now, usually I only want a few cubes of ice, as I don’t like my drinks really cold; I prefer cool. I could hear something rattling around inside the damn machine so I tried a third time thinking, “Third times a charm, right?” Well, on the third try the machine decides to make up for the two previous barren attempts by spitting out enough ice to drown in.
I grimaced as the ice almost filled my cup and thought to myself, “I HATE these damn machines.” I swear they were designed by some nerdy, demented engineer who had no friends and nothing better to do than design a machine that will torment poor innocent people like me who are just trying to get a few cubes of ice in their cups.
There, that was much more interesting. I suppose you could say it's pretty sad that my rants about different things I hate are more interesting than the last two and a half months of my life. If anything, that probably means that I lead a boring life. Hmm, if the realization that I lead a boring life really fazed me at all I might change my life, but it doesn’t so I won’t.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
India - Bathroom Hazards
NOTE: If you are queasy in any way, shape, or form. DO NOT read this post. It deals with things better left unsaid. I, however, have diarrhea of the mouth and have to say it anyway.
Today seemed to be all about the bathroom. Things started off normal as I went into work and finished my first project after only an hour. That was making it seem like a great day. After a while I had to use the restroom so I went over there to do so. As I was walking into the bathroom I clipped my Blackberry on the corner outcropping (my Blackberry is holstered on my belt...yes, like the geek I am) and barely caught it before it dropped to the floor.
Later, back at home, I was standing before the pot doing my usual "Mother Nature requirement" thing and I happened to glance down into the toilet as I reached forward to flush it. This turned out to be a mistake. You see, what I saw at the bottom of the toilet bowl both scared the hell out of me AND brought back terrible memories. Memories I thought I had repressed.
There was something small, cylindrical, brown, and MOVING at the bottom of the toilet. At first I thought it was just leftover debris from some business I had taken care of about half an hour previous, but it was too small for that. And the fact that it was moving gave me pause. The object could only be a worm. It was about half a centimeter long and scared me more than a large North American Grizzly Bear.
I promptly flushed the toilet again because I couldn't stand to look at it anymore. All I can do is pray that it didn't come out of me and that it came up through the pipes or something.
The reason this brought back bad memories was because while I was in Panama, I contracted various different types of parasites during my stay there. One of those types gets killed by a pill that you take with food. Then when it dies, all of the dead bodies (and larvae) get expelled out of your system...and not through your mouth.
If you have never sat down to do your business, got up, and saw that you just gave alien birth then you cannot possibly fathom the horror.
As I left the bathroom after washing my hands something else struck me as odd. My shower curtain is missing. I guess the housekeeping staff decided that I don't need one because I am so tidy when I shower....? Riiiiiigght!
So yeah, it was just a day where I should have stayed out of the bathroom altogether.
Today seemed to be all about the bathroom. Things started off normal as I went into work and finished my first project after only an hour. That was making it seem like a great day. After a while I had to use the restroom so I went over there to do so. As I was walking into the bathroom I clipped my Blackberry on the corner outcropping (my Blackberry is holstered on my belt...yes, like the geek I am) and barely caught it before it dropped to the floor.
Later, back at home, I was standing before the pot doing my usual "Mother Nature requirement" thing and I happened to glance down into the toilet as I reached forward to flush it. This turned out to be a mistake. You see, what I saw at the bottom of the toilet bowl both scared the hell out of me AND brought back terrible memories. Memories I thought I had repressed.
There was something small, cylindrical, brown, and MOVING at the bottom of the toilet. At first I thought it was just leftover debris from some business I had taken care of about half an hour previous, but it was too small for that. And the fact that it was moving gave me pause. The object could only be a worm. It was about half a centimeter long and scared me more than a large North American Grizzly Bear.
I promptly flushed the toilet again because I couldn't stand to look at it anymore. All I can do is pray that it didn't come out of me and that it came up through the pipes or something.
The reason this brought back bad memories was because while I was in Panama, I contracted various different types of parasites during my stay there. One of those types gets killed by a pill that you take with food. Then when it dies, all of the dead bodies (and larvae) get expelled out of your system...and not through your mouth.
If you have never sat down to do your business, got up, and saw that you just gave alien birth then you cannot possibly fathom the horror.
As I left the bathroom after washing my hands something else struck me as odd. My shower curtain is missing. I guess the housekeeping staff decided that I don't need one because I am so tidy when I shower....? Riiiiiigght!
So yeah, it was just a day where I should have stayed out of the bathroom altogether.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
India - Magic Alarm Clock
Since coming to India (I have been here five weeks as of yesterday), I have had to get up at different times depending on what I was assigned to do during the day. When I started training here, I had to get up around 6:30 am to make it to work by 8:15 am or thereabouts. Later, when they assigned me to train with my Business Unit, I didn't have to wake up till 8:30 am because my Business Unit was a five minute walk away on the other side of campus. Why am I telling you this? Good question.
You see, every single day that I have been in India (except for one, but I'll get into that later) I have woken up between 5 to 15 minutes before my alarm when off. The one day that I didn't wake up before my alarm was when I was terribly sick the day before and I was up all night "praying to the porcelain gods." Every other day I have woken up well in advance of my alarm, usually about ten minutes.
Now, my alarm happens to also be my work cell phone. This is because of the whole electricity situation and also because there are no clocks in the entire guest house. The people here are on "India Standard Time" so I guess that precludes having any form of time telling device around.
The thing that baffles me, is some times I will even stay up late and I still wake up before my alarm. Also, I have purposely changed the time on my alarm to a few minutes before or after the usual time that I get up...to no avail. I still wake up before the alarm. I've never had this happen to me before so it has been kinda freaking me out. I mean, what is going on inside my head to make me wake up before my alarm every time?
What pisses me off is that this would have been great many times in my life before now. I can think of a few situations where waking up before your alarm can really be useful. In my case it was times when I had finals or school related stuff, or a plane to catch and I needed to be absolutely SURE that I got up. What better way of getting up to an annoying alarm than actually waking up before it so that when it starts going off you are already awake. So, instead of waking you up, the alarm just ends up annoying you. I don't know about you, but I know I can't sleep and be annoyed at the same time.
So...yeah, it's very strange but true. I guess that is true of many things in life...
You see, every single day that I have been in India (except for one, but I'll get into that later) I have woken up between 5 to 15 minutes before my alarm when off. The one day that I didn't wake up before my alarm was when I was terribly sick the day before and I was up all night "praying to the porcelain gods." Every other day I have woken up well in advance of my alarm, usually about ten minutes.
Now, my alarm happens to also be my work cell phone. This is because of the whole electricity situation and also because there are no clocks in the entire guest house. The people here are on "India Standard Time" so I guess that precludes having any form of time telling device around.
The thing that baffles me, is some times I will even stay up late and I still wake up before my alarm. Also, I have purposely changed the time on my alarm to a few minutes before or after the usual time that I get up...to no avail. I still wake up before the alarm. I've never had this happen to me before so it has been kinda freaking me out. I mean, what is going on inside my head to make me wake up before my alarm every time?
What pisses me off is that this would have been great many times in my life before now. I can think of a few situations where waking up before your alarm can really be useful. In my case it was times when I had finals or school related stuff, or a plane to catch and I needed to be absolutely SURE that I got up. What better way of getting up to an annoying alarm than actually waking up before it so that when it starts going off you are already awake. So, instead of waking you up, the alarm just ends up annoying you. I don't know about you, but I know I can't sleep and be annoyed at the same time.
So...yeah, it's very strange but true. I guess that is true of many things in life...
India - Two is company?
This past week, I got extremely tired of eating any type of Indian food whatsoever. As such, I decided to look for alternative places here on campus to get decent non-indian tasting food. One place that I found was the Barista Coffee shop in Tower 17.
It is a two minute walk from the Guest House to the Barista Cofee shop, so it is convenient enough. I went down there looking to get something sweet like a strawberry frappachino or something similar. As I perused the menu I saw that they also sell grilled sandwiches and other pastries.
I was happy about this because as I looked at the sandwich selection I found a couple that looked non-indian. There were some "Tikka/Masala" type sandwiches but I stayed well clear of those. I decided on the Grilled "BBQ Chicken" sandwich. I put the "BBQ chicken" part in quotes because this sandwich was almost exactly a "Chicken Salad" sandwich that you would buy in the states. There was no BBQ sauce and the chicken didn't have a BBQ flavor.
As an aside, let me tell you about Indian versions of many trusted foods that we know and love. Here a "Pasta" can be any number of things. For instance, when I was at U.S. Pizza the other day I ordered the "Chicken Pasta" for lunch. What came out as my order could only be described as a bowl of soup. To be fair there was noodles in the bowl, but the sauce was brown and the taste was a mix between "Super Spicy" and oregano. The chicken had taken on the spicy oregano flavor and to me tasted nasty. It had a very strange aftertaste. We would have called this "Chicken stew" back home, but the Indian's called it "Chicken Pasta." I had a similar experience at the resort we went to in Mysore, where I got the "Chicken Casserole" and was instead served "Chicken Fettucini Alfredo" that looked like something you would order from Olive Garden. It was VERY good, but I would never call it a casserole. So yeah...the Indian idea of American food is very skewed.
Anyway, back to the Barista Coffee place. So I ended up ordering two sandwiches because I was hungry. I also still wanted something sweet so I ordered two Strawberry Frappachinos as well. Now, the drink sizes here at the Barista coffee are considered "Large" here in India. This size is just a tiny bit smaller than the small Straberry Frappachino you can order at Starbucks. That is why I ordered two of them, because the Large here is super small for me.
So the guy taking me order at the cash register told me to have a seat and he would bring out the food. I obliged him and was engrossed in chatting with friends on gchat on my Blackberry by the time he came out with food.
The guy brought out one sandwich and one drink. I looked at him funny and he said to me, "I will bring out the rest of the food when your friend arrives." I just started shaking my head. These damn Indians, I swear! I looked at the guy and I said, "All the food I ordered is for me alone." He looked at me with this incredulous look, like he couldn't imagine one person eating two sandwiches and drinking two "Large" drinks. Then he said to me, still with that incredulous look on his face, "Oh ok, then I'll bring the rest of the food when you finish this." Hmm, ok thanks 'Mom', and can I have dessert if I finish all my food?
Needless to say, being as starved for non spicy food as I was, I scarfed that drink and sandwich in about five minutes. I had to wait a few minutes for him to bring the rest of the food out, but I devoured that stuff too. It was pretty good, at least to my jaded, mistreated tastebuds.
This whole experience just makes me laugh. I wasn't really laughing at the time, but I get quite a few chuckles out of it now as I recall the situation. Most of my friends laughed too. The portions in this country are quite a bit smaller. The people here probably eat alot less than in the U.S. too. I have seen many out of shape or overweight people though. Interestingly enough, I actually agree that many of the portions of food in the U.S. ARE too large. However, I happend to be starving that day and incredulous looks and slow service were NOT going to stop me from eating my fill.
It is a two minute walk from the Guest House to the Barista Cofee shop, so it is convenient enough. I went down there looking to get something sweet like a strawberry frappachino or something similar. As I perused the menu I saw that they also sell grilled sandwiches and other pastries.
I was happy about this because as I looked at the sandwich selection I found a couple that looked non-indian. There were some "Tikka/Masala" type sandwiches but I stayed well clear of those. I decided on the Grilled "BBQ Chicken" sandwich. I put the "BBQ chicken" part in quotes because this sandwich was almost exactly a "Chicken Salad" sandwich that you would buy in the states. There was no BBQ sauce and the chicken didn't have a BBQ flavor.
As an aside, let me tell you about Indian versions of many trusted foods that we know and love. Here a "Pasta" can be any number of things. For instance, when I was at U.S. Pizza the other day I ordered the "Chicken Pasta" for lunch. What came out as my order could only be described as a bowl of soup. To be fair there was noodles in the bowl, but the sauce was brown and the taste was a mix between "Super Spicy" and oregano. The chicken had taken on the spicy oregano flavor and to me tasted nasty. It had a very strange aftertaste. We would have called this "Chicken stew" back home, but the Indian's called it "Chicken Pasta." I had a similar experience at the resort we went to in Mysore, where I got the "Chicken Casserole" and was instead served "Chicken Fettucini Alfredo" that looked like something you would order from Olive Garden. It was VERY good, but I would never call it a casserole. So yeah...the Indian idea of American food is very skewed.
Anyway, back to the Barista Coffee place. So I ended up ordering two sandwiches because I was hungry. I also still wanted something sweet so I ordered two Strawberry Frappachinos as well. Now, the drink sizes here at the Barista coffee are considered "Large" here in India. This size is just a tiny bit smaller than the small Straberry Frappachino you can order at Starbucks. That is why I ordered two of them, because the Large here is super small for me.
So the guy taking me order at the cash register told me to have a seat and he would bring out the food. I obliged him and was engrossed in chatting with friends on gchat on my Blackberry by the time he came out with food.
The guy brought out one sandwich and one drink. I looked at him funny and he said to me, "I will bring out the rest of the food when your friend arrives." I just started shaking my head. These damn Indians, I swear! I looked at the guy and I said, "All the food I ordered is for me alone." He looked at me with this incredulous look, like he couldn't imagine one person eating two sandwiches and drinking two "Large" drinks. Then he said to me, still with that incredulous look on his face, "Oh ok, then I'll bring the rest of the food when you finish this." Hmm, ok thanks 'Mom', and can I have dessert if I finish all my food?
Needless to say, being as starved for non spicy food as I was, I scarfed that drink and sandwich in about five minutes. I had to wait a few minutes for him to bring the rest of the food out, but I devoured that stuff too. It was pretty good, at least to my jaded, mistreated tastebuds.
This whole experience just makes me laugh. I wasn't really laughing at the time, but I get quite a few chuckles out of it now as I recall the situation. Most of my friends laughed too. The portions in this country are quite a bit smaller. The people here probably eat alot less than in the U.S. too. I have seen many out of shape or overweight people though. Interestingly enough, I actually agree that many of the portions of food in the U.S. ARE too large. However, I happend to be starving that day and incredulous looks and slow service were NOT going to stop me from eating my fill.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
India - Writer's Block Over...
Hell yeah! Finally, I can sit down and post.
No, the irony of my last post being about what a writer uses as source material and the length of time between that post and this one is not lost on me. I meant to write about many different things I have seen here in India but for the past week and a half I have been pretty depressed, for reasons that I won't even get into here.
But I'm back, and that's the most important thing. Now for a few random items in this post (then I will post a more focused topic later today).
First random observation, the traffic. I noticed today as I walked around Bangalore that the traffic has stopped seeming abnormal to me. I was walking down the street with Bill (one of my co-workers) and we were crossing streets full of traffic while still having our conversation. Neither of us so much as blinked. It was hilarious!
The interesting thing about traffic here is there are very few stop lights. I have only seen three or four in all my riding around in cabs and such. So when you want to cross a street you usually have to just wade out into traffic and cross. Now, this sounds very dangerous (and maybe it is, I dont know the statistics on people getting run over by cars here) but if you know the "system" then you won't get hurt.
First thing to remember crossing the street is: Pedestrians do NOT have the right-of-way. This is important, let that sink in for a second and try not to cry...ok. Now, when you get out into the middle of the street and cars do not stop for you, do not panic. Instead, just stay very still (like the veritable "Deer in headlights") and the cars, rickshaws, motorcycles, and trucks WILL NOT hit you. They will simply see you as an obstacle in the road and go around you. Now, when you see an opportunity to move further across the street (like when there are less cars passing in front of you) then you move a few more steps across and repeat.
Using this process you can safely cross any Indian street. It is important to note here that, while you are standing in the middle of the street, you need to be very still and pay attention. If you step forward at the wrong time you WILL turn into road-kill. However, if you are careful and stay still at the appropriate times, standing in the middle of a busy street is as safe as standing on the sidewalk. I'm not joking.
Second random observation, the weather. In Bangalore the high here is around 85 degrees and it is not too humid. It makes for very nice weather most of the time. When you are downtown with all the traffic and people and it is sunny out side it can get quite hot but that's just the nature of summertime. Now, when it rains the temperature drops down to around 65 degrees. The Indians all make me laugh when this happens because they start putting on windbreakers and parkas and such. They also start saying things like, "Ooooo, It's cold outside!" Cold? Don't make me laugh!
When one of my co-workers said that last Thursday I told him, after I stopped laughing, "Do you see snow on the ground out there? No? Then its not cold!" He just chuckled and said, "Well this IS cold for Bangalore." Pfft! Pansies!
Third random observation, the office. Most of the time I work either at the Sarjapur road Wipro campus or here at Electronic City Campus. Both campuses have buildings that are pretty nice but nothing to write home about. However, this past Friday I spent the whole day in a client meeting, as an observer.
When I walked into the room where we were going to have the meeting, I thought I had left India and walked onto a Movie Set. The room looked like a boardroom in a high rise building that someone like Donald Trump would use. The room had a large bay window along one wall showing the immaculately landscaped Wipro technology campus and the two largest buildings on the campus. The other walls had a high quality oak wood look to them. The large centerpiece of the room, the meeting table, was a HUGE oak wood affair with leather board room chairs that were so comfortable it made you want to go to sleep (and as I saw later, some people did). The table had microphones set into the tabletop for each chair around the table so that when you spoke everyone in the room could hear you just fine without you raising your voice. The projection screen at one end of the room was a Huge ice-glass panel that you could walk up to and touch and such without your shadow showing up because the projector was located BEHIND the ice-glass. Next to that was a 32 inch plasma screen TV that can be used to show movies and other figures or just mirror the current presentation. Any way you look at it, the entire set up just screamed MONEY! It made me wonder why our offices are so mediocre and yet what we present to the client is just PHAT. Especially since our company made $700 million profit last year.
That's enough for you to chew on for now. I will post some more in a little while. I've got plenty more to write about...
PS. I put up a new movie quote...let the guessing begin.
No, the irony of my last post being about what a writer uses as source material and the length of time between that post and this one is not lost on me. I meant to write about many different things I have seen here in India but for the past week and a half I have been pretty depressed, for reasons that I won't even get into here.
But I'm back, and that's the most important thing. Now for a few random items in this post (then I will post a more focused topic later today).
First random observation, the traffic. I noticed today as I walked around Bangalore that the traffic has stopped seeming abnormal to me. I was walking down the street with Bill (one of my co-workers) and we were crossing streets full of traffic while still having our conversation. Neither of us so much as blinked. It was hilarious!
The interesting thing about traffic here is there are very few stop lights. I have only seen three or four in all my riding around in cabs and such. So when you want to cross a street you usually have to just wade out into traffic and cross. Now, this sounds very dangerous (and maybe it is, I dont know the statistics on people getting run over by cars here) but if you know the "system" then you won't get hurt.
First thing to remember crossing the street is: Pedestrians do NOT have the right-of-way. This is important, let that sink in for a second and try not to cry...ok. Now, when you get out into the middle of the street and cars do not stop for you, do not panic. Instead, just stay very still (like the veritable "Deer in headlights") and the cars, rickshaws, motorcycles, and trucks WILL NOT hit you. They will simply see you as an obstacle in the road and go around you. Now, when you see an opportunity to move further across the street (like when there are less cars passing in front of you) then you move a few more steps across and repeat.
Using this process you can safely cross any Indian street. It is important to note here that, while you are standing in the middle of the street, you need to be very still and pay attention. If you step forward at the wrong time you WILL turn into road-kill. However, if you are careful and stay still at the appropriate times, standing in the middle of a busy street is as safe as standing on the sidewalk. I'm not joking.
Second random observation, the weather. In Bangalore the high here is around 85 degrees and it is not too humid. It makes for very nice weather most of the time. When you are downtown with all the traffic and people and it is sunny out side it can get quite hot but that's just the nature of summertime. Now, when it rains the temperature drops down to around 65 degrees. The Indians all make me laugh when this happens because they start putting on windbreakers and parkas and such. They also start saying things like, "Ooooo, It's cold outside!" Cold? Don't make me laugh!
When one of my co-workers said that last Thursday I told him, after I stopped laughing, "Do you see snow on the ground out there? No? Then its not cold!" He just chuckled and said, "Well this IS cold for Bangalore." Pfft! Pansies!
Third random observation, the office. Most of the time I work either at the Sarjapur road Wipro campus or here at Electronic City Campus. Both campuses have buildings that are pretty nice but nothing to write home about. However, this past Friday I spent the whole day in a client meeting, as an observer.
When I walked into the room where we were going to have the meeting, I thought I had left India and walked onto a Movie Set. The room looked like a boardroom in a high rise building that someone like Donald Trump would use. The room had a large bay window along one wall showing the immaculately landscaped Wipro technology campus and the two largest buildings on the campus. The other walls had a high quality oak wood look to them. The large centerpiece of the room, the meeting table, was a HUGE oak wood affair with leather board room chairs that were so comfortable it made you want to go to sleep (and as I saw later, some people did). The table had microphones set into the tabletop for each chair around the table so that when you spoke everyone in the room could hear you just fine without you raising your voice. The projection screen at one end of the room was a Huge ice-glass panel that you could walk up to and touch and such without your shadow showing up because the projector was located BEHIND the ice-glass. Next to that was a 32 inch plasma screen TV that can be used to show movies and other figures or just mirror the current presentation. Any way you look at it, the entire set up just screamed MONEY! It made me wonder why our offices are so mediocre and yet what we present to the client is just PHAT. Especially since our company made $700 million profit last year.
That's enough for you to chew on for now. I will post some more in a little while. I've got plenty more to write about...
PS. I put up a new movie quote...let the guessing begin.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Writer's source...
Most books on writing that I have read tell the writer to write what he or she knows best. I always thought that meant you should write what you have experienced in your life. Whether it is work or life experience doesn’t matter I don’t think. I look at authors like John Grisham, who used to be a successful lawyer, and I see where most of his stories are originating.
Then you have authors like Stephen King, who writes mostly horror or authors like R.A. Salvatore that writes only Fantasy Fiction. Where does the “experience” come from to write these wildly fantastical things? I think much of this can be attributed to creative ability mixed with writing ability.
If you believe that an author should write what he or she knows, or write from experience then the best way to find more things to write is to go experience more things. I think Ernest Hemmingway was a great example of this. He is said to have traveled the world and have had numerous jobs. He was probably trying to expand what he can write about.
I suppose if you go by this definition then there are many things that I have done that would add to what I can write about. I’ve experienced both the first and third world. I’ve been sick and healthy at times. I have seen, heard, felt, and smelled so many different things that I’m sure all of that would add to anything I chose to write about. It’s kind of interesting to think about all the things I’ve experienced in my life and how that colors the way I write and what I write.
Of course, writers the world over are different in how they go about writing things. Some writers need an outline to do a writing project, others have to just start writing and then let the story evolve as it gets created. One writer said it best though when he said, “If you want to write the most important thing to do is: WRITE!”
Hmm, I should remember that…
Then you have authors like Stephen King, who writes mostly horror or authors like R.A. Salvatore that writes only Fantasy Fiction. Where does the “experience” come from to write these wildly fantastical things? I think much of this can be attributed to creative ability mixed with writing ability.
If you believe that an author should write what he or she knows, or write from experience then the best way to find more things to write is to go experience more things. I think Ernest Hemmingway was a great example of this. He is said to have traveled the world and have had numerous jobs. He was probably trying to expand what he can write about.
I suppose if you go by this definition then there are many things that I have done that would add to what I can write about. I’ve experienced both the first and third world. I’ve been sick and healthy at times. I have seen, heard, felt, and smelled so many different things that I’m sure all of that would add to anything I chose to write about. It’s kind of interesting to think about all the things I’ve experienced in my life and how that colors the way I write and what I write.
Of course, writers the world over are different in how they go about writing things. Some writers need an outline to do a writing project, others have to just start writing and then let the story evolve as it gets created. One writer said it best though when he said, “If you want to write the most important thing to do is: WRITE!”
Hmm, I should remember that…
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
India - "I haaaaaave the POWER!"
These words were uttered by He-man as he would turn from his “normal” mode into the hero known as “He-Man.” He-man must have never been to India.
Here at least twice a day the electricity simply turns off. Every single day at work it has happened and many times it happens while I am at the guest house as well. Now, at Sarjapur Road (where I work) the company has a generator that kicks in after twenty seconds to a minute. At the guest house however, there is no generator and so when the power goes out you usually have to wait for it to come back on. This process can take anywhere from a minute to fifteen minutes (so far).
This whole thing just makes me think of Panama. There were so many times while I was in Panama that the electricity would cut off and I would be left to lay there in the dark and heat without the aid of my fan. It was the closest thing to air conditioning we had, but the worst part was that the fan was the thing keeping most of the mosquitoes away from you, so when the electricity went out it was like thanksgiving dinner for all the mosquitoes.
Luckily this didn’t happen very often, even in Panama. When it did happen it never lasted longer than three hours. Which, granted, was a looooooong three hours! Anyone who has ever lived in a third would country probably knows what I am talking about (and is probably laughing at this post).
I know I laughed…
Here at least twice a day the electricity simply turns off. Every single day at work it has happened and many times it happens while I am at the guest house as well. Now, at Sarjapur Road (where I work) the company has a generator that kicks in after twenty seconds to a minute. At the guest house however, there is no generator and so when the power goes out you usually have to wait for it to come back on. This process can take anywhere from a minute to fifteen minutes (so far).
This whole thing just makes me think of Panama. There were so many times while I was in Panama that the electricity would cut off and I would be left to lay there in the dark and heat without the aid of my fan. It was the closest thing to air conditioning we had, but the worst part was that the fan was the thing keeping most of the mosquitoes away from you, so when the electricity went out it was like thanksgiving dinner for all the mosquitoes.
Luckily this didn’t happen very often, even in Panama. When it did happen it never lasted longer than three hours. Which, granted, was a looooooong three hours! Anyone who has ever lived in a third would country probably knows what I am talking about (and is probably laughing at this post).
I know I laughed…
Strange Dreams...again!?
Last night I had a strange dream. I do not know if it was stranger than my other dreams that I usually had, but it definitely stuck out in my mind when I woke up.
In the dream I was in Utah. My brother was there too, and we decided to sneak onto a nearby airport and steal some planes. He chose to steal an older style plane and I stole a new supersonic jet plane. No explanation was given as to how we learned to fly these planes, but we knew and takeoff was fine. We flew around for a while and then decided to head out of the country.
We ended up in the Netherlands (I know because when I landed near an airbase there I saw a sign) at some evil military base. They were evil because they were keeping people prisoner on the base. So, Andrew (my brother) and I decided to help. We snuck onto the base and tried to free a bunch of the people there. However we got captured.
At this point the main bad guy (who’s face I can’t seem to remember) started torturing us for information. We didn’t really tell him anything because we didn’t know anything. After that, this woman who was part of the base decided to help us and freed me. I got my brother out and the rest of the prisoners. They left via a bunch of military trucks that the lady who helped us had arranged. We went to our planes after that, but the military people had found and seized our planes.
So, we had to sneak back onto base and get to our planes. Unfortunately we could only find my brother’s old school style plane (it was a WWI type two-seater biplane looking thing). I was furious that they had taken my plane but there was nothing I could do about it.
Then we flew away. Yeah, that was it and then I woke up. Crazy eh?
In the dream I was in Utah. My brother was there too, and we decided to sneak onto a nearby airport and steal some planes. He chose to steal an older style plane and I stole a new supersonic jet plane. No explanation was given as to how we learned to fly these planes, but we knew and takeoff was fine. We flew around for a while and then decided to head out of the country.
We ended up in the Netherlands (I know because when I landed near an airbase there I saw a sign) at some evil military base. They were evil because they were keeping people prisoner on the base. So, Andrew (my brother) and I decided to help. We snuck onto the base and tried to free a bunch of the people there. However we got captured.
At this point the main bad guy (who’s face I can’t seem to remember) started torturing us for information. We didn’t really tell him anything because we didn’t know anything. After that, this woman who was part of the base decided to help us and freed me. I got my brother out and the rest of the prisoners. They left via a bunch of military trucks that the lady who helped us had arranged. We went to our planes after that, but the military people had found and seized our planes.
So, we had to sneak back onto base and get to our planes. Unfortunately we could only find my brother’s old school style plane (it was a WWI type two-seater biplane looking thing). I was furious that they had taken my plane but there was nothing I could do about it.
Then we flew away. Yeah, that was it and then I woke up. Crazy eh?
India - A matter of some 'weight'
So, I go to the gym on a regular basis here (when I’m not sick that is). The gym set up here is like this: There are two weight rooms and two yoga rooms. Where we live in the guest house is at the halfway point between the two gyms, so I can walk to either in about the same amount of time.
The gyms are open in the morning and at night. In the morning they are open from 6:10 am to 9:00 am. At night it is open from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Because of the hour long commute to work I have to leave for work by no later than 7:30, this makes going to the gym in the morning almost impossible. Also, I don’t like working out before eating and breakfast doesn’t start in the cafeteria until 7:00 am. So I don’t work out in the morning.
I try to go to the gym six days a week. Three of those days I do weights and the other three I do aerobics (mainly treadmill running). The problem with the aerobics here is that in the Tower 17 gym you are only allowed to stay on the treadmills for 10 minutes at a time; more on this later. In the Arena gym, you can stay on the treadmill for 20 minutes at a time. So, on aerobics days I go over there, cause even though 20 minutes isn’t enough, its twice as much as 10 minutes. To supplement the 20 minutes, I do jumping jacks and other forms of aerobics after I finish running. That way I get a full workout.
Now, as to the time limit on treadmills, it was put there because of the severe overcrowding of the gym and the shortage of treadmills. It is true that the gym is always busy, but these crazy people here think that ten minutes on a treadmill is enough to do you some real good. It boggles my mind when I think about it. I have seen Indians come into the gym, get on the treadmill for ten minutes and then leave. Obviously ten minutes is better than zero exercise but these people aren’t in great shape as it is and they are trying to lose weight (usually, from what I can tell by looking at them) so someone should wake them up to the fact that ten minutes is not doing squat.
The funniest part is that these people are some of the smartest people I have met. They all have very technical jobs that require tons of brain power to be successful. Yet, here we are with this ridiculous gym situation.
As I stated before the gym is very overcrowded. Around 14,000 people work on this Wipro campus and there are two gyms each with a maximum capacity of 50 people tops. If you add in the yoga, there can be about 200 people in the gym at any given time. That is just woefully deficient. So from 6 pm to around 8 pm the gym is super crowded. There is a bus that leaves campus around 8:30 pm so the gym clears out around 8 pm because people are trying to catch that bus. The gym is still busy after that time though since so many people work nights and go to the gym before work or live here.
The really funny part is how the way Keith and I work out differs from the Indian workout. Keith is my only American co-worker who goes to the weight room on a regular basis. The Indians follow the “Low weight, many reps” work out plan. Keith and I are on the “High weight, less reps” work out plan. So, when Keith and I do bench press, it is pretty funny to watch. Since we do quite a bit of weight, we literally have nearly every weight plate in the gym on the bar at one time. There are about 12 weight plates in the entire room and we put 8 of them on the bar so that we can have enough weight to do bench. Everyone in the gym stares at us funny as we lift that much weight and do not just one or two reps but a full set worth of reps using that weight. They look at us, and we are not too much bigger than the largest of them but we are doing a ton more weight.
Anyway, I’m pretty sore today after the workout yesterday, but it’s a good sore.
The gyms are open in the morning and at night. In the morning they are open from 6:10 am to 9:00 am. At night it is open from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Because of the hour long commute to work I have to leave for work by no later than 7:30, this makes going to the gym in the morning almost impossible. Also, I don’t like working out before eating and breakfast doesn’t start in the cafeteria until 7:00 am. So I don’t work out in the morning.
I try to go to the gym six days a week. Three of those days I do weights and the other three I do aerobics (mainly treadmill running). The problem with the aerobics here is that in the Tower 17 gym you are only allowed to stay on the treadmills for 10 minutes at a time; more on this later. In the Arena gym, you can stay on the treadmill for 20 minutes at a time. So, on aerobics days I go over there, cause even though 20 minutes isn’t enough, its twice as much as 10 minutes. To supplement the 20 minutes, I do jumping jacks and other forms of aerobics after I finish running. That way I get a full workout.
Now, as to the time limit on treadmills, it was put there because of the severe overcrowding of the gym and the shortage of treadmills. It is true that the gym is always busy, but these crazy people here think that ten minutes on a treadmill is enough to do you some real good. It boggles my mind when I think about it. I have seen Indians come into the gym, get on the treadmill for ten minutes and then leave. Obviously ten minutes is better than zero exercise but these people aren’t in great shape as it is and they are trying to lose weight (usually, from what I can tell by looking at them) so someone should wake them up to the fact that ten minutes is not doing squat.
The funniest part is that these people are some of the smartest people I have met. They all have very technical jobs that require tons of brain power to be successful. Yet, here we are with this ridiculous gym situation.
As I stated before the gym is very overcrowded. Around 14,000 people work on this Wipro campus and there are two gyms each with a maximum capacity of 50 people tops. If you add in the yoga, there can be about 200 people in the gym at any given time. That is just woefully deficient. So from 6 pm to around 8 pm the gym is super crowded. There is a bus that leaves campus around 8:30 pm so the gym clears out around 8 pm because people are trying to catch that bus. The gym is still busy after that time though since so many people work nights and go to the gym before work or live here.
The really funny part is how the way Keith and I work out differs from the Indian workout. Keith is my only American co-worker who goes to the weight room on a regular basis. The Indians follow the “Low weight, many reps” work out plan. Keith and I are on the “High weight, less reps” work out plan. So, when Keith and I do bench press, it is pretty funny to watch. Since we do quite a bit of weight, we literally have nearly every weight plate in the gym on the bar at one time. There are about 12 weight plates in the entire room and we put 8 of them on the bar so that we can have enough weight to do bench. Everyone in the gym stares at us funny as we lift that much weight and do not just one or two reps but a full set worth of reps using that weight. They look at us, and we are not too much bigger than the largest of them but we are doing a ton more weight.
Anyway, I’m pretty sore today after the workout yesterday, but it’s a good sore.
Monday, August 06, 2007
India - Birthday Blues
Today was my birthday. I got up, went to work, worked all day, came home, went to the gym, paid some bills, and then sat here thinking. It's somewhat strange to go through an entire birthday and not have any of the people you come face to face with wish you a happy birthday. I guess there's a first time for everything. I have a VIOP phone in my room though, so I was able to call many of my friends and family. That was good, because it was nice to hear them wish me a happy birthday.
I spent most of the day lost in thought. The training today was on Program Management, and since zero percent of my job deals with program management I paid that same percentage of my attention to the training. Instead, I read some comics on my computer and thought about this past year of life and the new year ahead. It's been a decent year. I managed to finish an MBA, which for me seems like no small feat. I also got my first "big break" of a job in the form of this BDM position with Wipro Technologies. I have many things to be grateful for and life is good.
So why am I so glum today?
I suppose it could be the "normalcy" of the day. I mean, the entire day just felt like any other, there was no special attachment to the day, no party, and no celebrating. Instead, there was work and much introspection. They say the "Unexamined life is not worth living," but maybe I should have picked a different day to do the examining.
I told my best friend that it was a happy birthday for me because I was still "alive and kicking," and to an extent this was (and is) the honest truth. I feel that every day I have on this Earth is another chance to prove that I deserve to be here. That opportunity is not one that I take lightly. The question: "Have I done any good in the world today?" comes to mind. I hope that we all can answer with a resounding yes.
Anyway, I'm getting older, and the older I get the more I realize that we are not just celebrating our age, we are celebrating life. That most precious and capricious of things, that sometimes eludes and sometimes overwhelms us. A Neurosurgeon that we spoke to today told us "Plan for tomorrow, but LIVE for today."
I couldn't agree more...
I spent most of the day lost in thought. The training today was on Program Management, and since zero percent of my job deals with program management I paid that same percentage of my attention to the training. Instead, I read some comics on my computer and thought about this past year of life and the new year ahead. It's been a decent year. I managed to finish an MBA, which for me seems like no small feat. I also got my first "big break" of a job in the form of this BDM position with Wipro Technologies. I have many things to be grateful for and life is good.
So why am I so glum today?
I suppose it could be the "normalcy" of the day. I mean, the entire day just felt like any other, there was no special attachment to the day, no party, and no celebrating. Instead, there was work and much introspection. They say the "Unexamined life is not worth living," but maybe I should have picked a different day to do the examining.
I told my best friend that it was a happy birthday for me because I was still "alive and kicking," and to an extent this was (and is) the honest truth. I feel that every day I have on this Earth is another chance to prove that I deserve to be here. That opportunity is not one that I take lightly. The question: "Have I done any good in the world today?" comes to mind. I hope that we all can answer with a resounding yes.
Anyway, I'm getting older, and the older I get the more I realize that we are not just celebrating our age, we are celebrating life. That most precious and capricious of things, that sometimes eludes and sometimes overwhelms us. A Neurosurgeon that we spoke to today told us "Plan for tomorrow, but LIVE for today."
I couldn't agree more...
India - Dirty Shopping
I went souvenir shopping on Saturday. Although I must admit I would have traveled into Bangalore on Saturday even if I had no souvenirs to buy. The need for American style food drives me into town each weekend regardless of the two hour drive.
This particular Saturday I had a few things to get done though. I got my hair cut, which was a strange experience because it was the first time I had a professional cut my hair in more than four years. I do not have hair clippers here though so I had to go to the salon. The guy who cut my hair, his name was Mani, did a decent job of it though. I was happy with it and it wasn’t too expensive either. I spent 350 rupees, which is just under nine dollars. The company is going to pay for it anyway.
Before getting my hair cut I ate at McDonald’s. I know this is a cliché for an American to go to a foreign country and then eat American fast food, but I don’t care. I needed food that wasn’t Indian and McDonald’s happened to be the first place I found. An interesting thing about McDonald’s here in India though: there is no beef in the entire store. Also, half of the items on the menu are vegetarian items. Since most of the country here worships cows (about 80%) and half the country is vegetarian, many of the American places do not carry beef at all, so all the burgers at McDonald’s are either chicken or vegetarian burgers. Needless to say, I got the McChicken Combo. It tasted just like home, albeit with “normal” size portions. The drink and fries I got were “medium” but are the same size as the “small” back home. You can thank McDonald’s for helping to make America fat.
After that I went out to M.G. Road. In Bangalore, Mahatma Gandhi Road is essentially the “center” of town since you can get to many good shopping places from M.G. Road. I wandered around that area buying souvenirs for friends and family as well as exploring a bit. I got most of my souvenir shopping done and for that I am glad. I really dislike shopping, and here in India it is even worse. The streets are full of dust and dirt and after an hour or so my eyes start to burn and I feel like coughing. The crowds of people, especially on Saturday, are packing the sidewalks and you have to fight your way through them to get where you are going. The selection of stores does not leave you wanting though, especially in that area. There are plenty of places to buy most things you could want.
After shopping, I ate dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s. The food was good, but still no beef. I was craving a hamburger, but ended up getting Chicken Alfredo pasta instead. Oh well, T.G.I. Friday’s has beef, and I’ll probably end up there next weekend.
All in all, it was a good shopping day, and I look forward to NEVER having to do it again!
This particular Saturday I had a few things to get done though. I got my hair cut, which was a strange experience because it was the first time I had a professional cut my hair in more than four years. I do not have hair clippers here though so I had to go to the salon. The guy who cut my hair, his name was Mani, did a decent job of it though. I was happy with it and it wasn’t too expensive either. I spent 350 rupees, which is just under nine dollars. The company is going to pay for it anyway.
Before getting my hair cut I ate at McDonald’s. I know this is a cliché for an American to go to a foreign country and then eat American fast food, but I don’t care. I needed food that wasn’t Indian and McDonald’s happened to be the first place I found. An interesting thing about McDonald’s here in India though: there is no beef in the entire store. Also, half of the items on the menu are vegetarian items. Since most of the country here worships cows (about 80%) and half the country is vegetarian, many of the American places do not carry beef at all, so all the burgers at McDonald’s are either chicken or vegetarian burgers. Needless to say, I got the McChicken Combo. It tasted just like home, albeit with “normal” size portions. The drink and fries I got were “medium” but are the same size as the “small” back home. You can thank McDonald’s for helping to make America fat.
After that I went out to M.G. Road. In Bangalore, Mahatma Gandhi Road is essentially the “center” of town since you can get to many good shopping places from M.G. Road. I wandered around that area buying souvenirs for friends and family as well as exploring a bit. I got most of my souvenir shopping done and for that I am glad. I really dislike shopping, and here in India it is even worse. The streets are full of dust and dirt and after an hour or so my eyes start to burn and I feel like coughing. The crowds of people, especially on Saturday, are packing the sidewalks and you have to fight your way through them to get where you are going. The selection of stores does not leave you wanting though, especially in that area. There are plenty of places to buy most things you could want.
After shopping, I ate dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s. The food was good, but still no beef. I was craving a hamburger, but ended up getting Chicken Alfredo pasta instead. Oh well, T.G.I. Friday’s has beef, and I’ll probably end up there next weekend.
All in all, it was a good shopping day, and I look forward to NEVER having to do it again!
Saturday, August 04, 2007
India - Clubbed to death!
Yesterday as I left work some of my co-workers were planning on going out instead of returning to the Guest House. I decided to go with them because in the past few weeks I've spent way too much time at the Guest House doing essentially nothing. I also knew that if I went back I would never catch up with them again. This requires some explaining.
You see, the guest house we live in is in a place called Electronic City, or EC for short. EC is located aproximately four miles south east of the Bangalore city limits. The trip from where we work to where we live takes about an hour either way during the first part of the morning and afternoon rush hours. I say "first part" because the traffic in Bangalore gets progressively worse for three hours after the work day ends, and then it wanes down to "normal" levels again by about ten p.m. Bangalore traffic doubles every fifteen minutes during the rush hour build up, and then drops off in about half the time it takes to build up.
So, with that information its time to do some of what I call "India Traffic Math." If I were to leave work (Point A) at 5 pm (the beginning of rush hour) to go to EC (Point B), it would take me an hour. Then I would need to get ready, which could be done in a half hour. Then if I wanted to catch up to my co-workers I would have to leave EC at 6:30 pm (Point B) for wherever they happen to be (Point C). Usually they venture deeper into the city than where our work is when they go out. So, getting to them would take aproximately two to two and a half hours. I would arrive between 8:30 and 9pm hungry and wanting to eat.
Meanwhile, my co-workers would not only have eaten, but would be well into their cups and at a club somewhere. I would spend another hour finding food, then make it to the club at about 10 to 10:30. A note on the Bangalore Club scene: All clubs here close between 11:30 pm and Midnight. So, our "India Traffic Math" tells us that we would spend four hours traveling, one hour eating, and one hour dancing. Thats no good at all.
So instead, I just went with them.
We left work at 5:30 because the Taxi took forever to come get us. We headed for a restaurant called India Joes. When we got to within 100 yards of the joint (we were actually on the off ramp of the highway) the police completely closed the road the off ramp exited onto. So there we were about 100 yards from our destination stuck in completely stopped traffic. So we did what any good adventurous Americans would do: we got out and walked.
Here in India the Taxi drivers (Cabs) hike up the price of their services after 10 pm to two or three times the normal rate. To avoid this problem, we hired a cab for the night. This works out well for both parties as Cab drivers are not guaranteed to get the late night business anyway. We told our cabbie that we would call him when we were done with India Joes.
To our dismay India Joes was closed for a Muslim holiday, fortunately for us T.G.I. Friday's shares the same building as India Joes. I cannot describe my ecstasy as I bit into that hamburger, munched on mozzarella sticks, and ate those fries. It was too good to be true.
My co-workers started their first drinking game of the night about the time I finished my appetizer. The goal of the game was to drink more liquor faster than anyone else. I barely payed attention as all of my energies were consumed digesting wonderful tasty food.
Shravan (one of Indian my co-workers) had his brother meet us at Friday's and we all left together after eating. Shravan wanted to stop at his house to get ready for clubbing (shower and what not) but his parents are so traditional Indian that we wouldn't be welcome there after hours (it was like 8:30pm) so we went to the coffee shop on the corner (Coffee Day its called) to wait for him.
He took forever, but finally we headed to the first club of the night: Fuga. Fuga was a wonderfully clean and spacious club, the house music was decent and the atmosphere was friendly. Only problem: it was nearly empty. Shravan, genius that he is, had timed things wrong and got us there too early. We arrived at 9 pm and the clubs dont start getting full till 9:30 or 10.
Our group at this point had ten people in it, as we had picked up more of Shravan's friends. They were drinking but getting antsy at Fuga. We went down and started dancing once more than five people were on the dance floor. At this point Shravan decided it was time to go hit another club.
So we spent fifteen minutes getting everyone OFF the dancefloor (it was retarded, I know) and out the door. We drove another ten minutes to a club called Nyx.
Nyx is on the fifth floor (the top) of a medium rise building in downtown Bangalore. The setup is a bar open to the night surrounded by tables and lounge style chairs on one side of the roof and an enclosed dance floor on the other side of the roof. It had a vaguely Indian-Hawaiin theme outside, but the inside of the dancefloor was all business. Hardwood floors and sound padded walls to keep the outside feeling more relaxed than the hard-core house music going on inside.
Fuga was much nicer than Nyx, but the DJ at Nyx was WAY better than the one at Fuga. I danced for over an hour and the DJ never let me get too tired, he would drop the beat just at the right time and then pick it up before too long. When the club finally closed at 11:45 or so, I was sweat soaked, tired, and happy. My co-workers were not too drunk to dance, but they were drunk enough to dance and be hilarious to watch! I think I enjoyed that almost as much as the music.
The Bangalore Police showed up about fifteen minutes after closing and the Nyx manager started telling everyone to leave before the cops started beating people. As a funny aside the cops were drinking cocktails next to the bar while they waited for the beatings to commence, and from how slow people were moving to exit I am SURE someone caught a beating. I, however, did not stick around to find out who.
Our group split up at that point as some people wanted to go sit and drink at Shravan's brother's spot while others (including me) wanted to call it a night. Dancing and socializing and a full day of work before that had taken its toll on me and I was almost literally...clubbed to death.
The trip back to EC took about 40 minutes. The same trip that takes 2.5 hours during rush hour. Gotta love the nightlife...
You see, the guest house we live in is in a place called Electronic City, or EC for short. EC is located aproximately four miles south east of the Bangalore city limits. The trip from where we work to where we live takes about an hour either way during the first part of the morning and afternoon rush hours. I say "first part" because the traffic in Bangalore gets progressively worse for three hours after the work day ends, and then it wanes down to "normal" levels again by about ten p.m. Bangalore traffic doubles every fifteen minutes during the rush hour build up, and then drops off in about half the time it takes to build up.
So, with that information its time to do some of what I call "India Traffic Math." If I were to leave work (Point A) at 5 pm (the beginning of rush hour) to go to EC (Point B), it would take me an hour. Then I would need to get ready, which could be done in a half hour. Then if I wanted to catch up to my co-workers I would have to leave EC at 6:30 pm (Point B) for wherever they happen to be (Point C). Usually they venture deeper into the city than where our work is when they go out. So, getting to them would take aproximately two to two and a half hours. I would arrive between 8:30 and 9pm hungry and wanting to eat.
Meanwhile, my co-workers would not only have eaten, but would be well into their cups and at a club somewhere. I would spend another hour finding food, then make it to the club at about 10 to 10:30. A note on the Bangalore Club scene: All clubs here close between 11:30 pm and Midnight. So, our "India Traffic Math" tells us that we would spend four hours traveling, one hour eating, and one hour dancing. Thats no good at all.
So instead, I just went with them.
We left work at 5:30 because the Taxi took forever to come get us. We headed for a restaurant called India Joes. When we got to within 100 yards of the joint (we were actually on the off ramp of the highway) the police completely closed the road the off ramp exited onto. So there we were about 100 yards from our destination stuck in completely stopped traffic. So we did what any good adventurous Americans would do: we got out and walked.
Here in India the Taxi drivers (Cabs) hike up the price of their services after 10 pm to two or three times the normal rate. To avoid this problem, we hired a cab for the night. This works out well for both parties as Cab drivers are not guaranteed to get the late night business anyway. We told our cabbie that we would call him when we were done with India Joes.
To our dismay India Joes was closed for a Muslim holiday, fortunately for us T.G.I. Friday's shares the same building as India Joes. I cannot describe my ecstasy as I bit into that hamburger, munched on mozzarella sticks, and ate those fries. It was too good to be true.
My co-workers started their first drinking game of the night about the time I finished my appetizer. The goal of the game was to drink more liquor faster than anyone else. I barely payed attention as all of my energies were consumed digesting wonderful tasty food.
Shravan (one of Indian my co-workers) had his brother meet us at Friday's and we all left together after eating. Shravan wanted to stop at his house to get ready for clubbing (shower and what not) but his parents are so traditional Indian that we wouldn't be welcome there after hours (it was like 8:30pm) so we went to the coffee shop on the corner (Coffee Day its called) to wait for him.
He took forever, but finally we headed to the first club of the night: Fuga. Fuga was a wonderfully clean and spacious club, the house music was decent and the atmosphere was friendly. Only problem: it was nearly empty. Shravan, genius that he is, had timed things wrong and got us there too early. We arrived at 9 pm and the clubs dont start getting full till 9:30 or 10.
Our group at this point had ten people in it, as we had picked up more of Shravan's friends. They were drinking but getting antsy at Fuga. We went down and started dancing once more than five people were on the dance floor. At this point Shravan decided it was time to go hit another club.
So we spent fifteen minutes getting everyone OFF the dancefloor (it was retarded, I know) and out the door. We drove another ten minutes to a club called Nyx.
Nyx is on the fifth floor (the top) of a medium rise building in downtown Bangalore. The setup is a bar open to the night surrounded by tables and lounge style chairs on one side of the roof and an enclosed dance floor on the other side of the roof. It had a vaguely Indian-Hawaiin theme outside, but the inside of the dancefloor was all business. Hardwood floors and sound padded walls to keep the outside feeling more relaxed than the hard-core house music going on inside.
Fuga was much nicer than Nyx, but the DJ at Nyx was WAY better than the one at Fuga. I danced for over an hour and the DJ never let me get too tired, he would drop the beat just at the right time and then pick it up before too long. When the club finally closed at 11:45 or so, I was sweat soaked, tired, and happy. My co-workers were not too drunk to dance, but they were drunk enough to dance and be hilarious to watch! I think I enjoyed that almost as much as the music.
The Bangalore Police showed up about fifteen minutes after closing and the Nyx manager started telling everyone to leave before the cops started beating people. As a funny aside the cops were drinking cocktails next to the bar while they waited for the beatings to commence, and from how slow people were moving to exit I am SURE someone caught a beating. I, however, did not stick around to find out who.
Our group split up at that point as some people wanted to go sit and drink at Shravan's brother's spot while others (including me) wanted to call it a night. Dancing and socializing and a full day of work before that had taken its toll on me and I was almost literally...clubbed to death.
The trip back to EC took about 40 minutes. The same trip that takes 2.5 hours during rush hour. Gotta love the nightlife...
India - End of Week 2
Two weeks down, four weeks still to go. Two of our group is actually leaving tonight to go back to the states. They are both consulting employees; they are not BDM’s (that’s Business Development Managers). I must say that I envy them. There are many good things about India, but none of them can really outweigh the glaring fact that India is not my home.
I am enjoying myself a lot more though. I have felt much better lately after my brush with deathly sickness last week. The thing that bugs me most is that I am still essentially living out of my suitcase. I have unpacked everything into my room, but I can’t help but feel that I only have ten percent of the useful things that I own here. I’m living a paired down version of my life. The worst part of the whole “suitcase” thing though, has been the struggle with the internet at the guest house. When we first arrived we could not access most of the websites we wanted to access. Anything that had to do with entertainment, games, social networking, or blogs was blocked. In fact this blog entry that you are reading right now was written in word because Blogger was still blocked at the time. We managed to complain enough to get a handful of sites unblocked but most of the wide world of the internet is still blocked.
This has been a sharp point of contention with me vis-à-vis Wipro. When I was in the states and asked them if I would have internet here they told me “Yes.” The internet that I use, with about 99% of the internet blocked, does not count as the internet at all. I can now use face book, gmail, and blogger but that’s about all of the really useful sites that I can use. Google still works, but most of the sites you can find on there won’t open. It makes me so bitter.
Today is Friday and I am excited. I’m sitting here at work in a training meeting on Lean Processes and Six Sigma Processes. I’m dressed down for Friday with jeans and a short sleeve collared shirt on, so the fact that this presentation is ridiculously boring doesn’t make me so sad. This weekend we are going to head into the city and I am planning on doing some serious shopping. Not only am I looking for souvenirs but also for good food. I spend each week trying to survive through terrible breakfasts and lunches by ordering food for dinner from different places around here. Then on the weekend I have a chance to go out and get good American style food from restaurants around Bangalore. So far the only real American style restaurant that I have found is the T.G.I. Fridays here in Bangalore. This weekend I plan to try to find some more restaurants.
Next weekend I am going to, hopefully, take a trip out to somewhere beyond Bangalore. I havn't decided where yet, but we'll see...
I am enjoying myself a lot more though. I have felt much better lately after my brush with deathly sickness last week. The thing that bugs me most is that I am still essentially living out of my suitcase. I have unpacked everything into my room, but I can’t help but feel that I only have ten percent of the useful things that I own here. I’m living a paired down version of my life. The worst part of the whole “suitcase” thing though, has been the struggle with the internet at the guest house. When we first arrived we could not access most of the websites we wanted to access. Anything that had to do with entertainment, games, social networking, or blogs was blocked. In fact this blog entry that you are reading right now was written in word because Blogger was still blocked at the time. We managed to complain enough to get a handful of sites unblocked but most of the wide world of the internet is still blocked.
This has been a sharp point of contention with me vis-à-vis Wipro. When I was in the states and asked them if I would have internet here they told me “Yes.” The internet that I use, with about 99% of the internet blocked, does not count as the internet at all. I can now use face book, gmail, and blogger but that’s about all of the really useful sites that I can use. Google still works, but most of the sites you can find on there won’t open. It makes me so bitter.
Today is Friday and I am excited. I’m sitting here at work in a training meeting on Lean Processes and Six Sigma Processes. I’m dressed down for Friday with jeans and a short sleeve collared shirt on, so the fact that this presentation is ridiculously boring doesn’t make me so sad. This weekend we are going to head into the city and I am planning on doing some serious shopping. Not only am I looking for souvenirs but also for good food. I spend each week trying to survive through terrible breakfasts and lunches by ordering food for dinner from different places around here. Then on the weekend I have a chance to go out and get good American style food from restaurants around Bangalore. So far the only real American style restaurant that I have found is the T.G.I. Fridays here in Bangalore. This weekend I plan to try to find some more restaurants.
Next weekend I am going to, hopefully, take a trip out to somewhere beyond Bangalore. I havn't decided where yet, but we'll see...
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