Trip: Wednesday-ish Through Sunday

so a handful of us have finally bullied HR into letting us take a couple of days off for a trip (after all, october is basically a holiday in india). some other US/UK folks here are still not allowed to leave (now that we have been split into a bunch of different 'stream batches', everything is all messed up and most of us are probably never going to see each other again from here on out . . . . sad), so they are meeting us for the second half of the trip.

we are going to singapore and bangkok for the weekend. basically, the most awesome trip ever (so far).

quick geography refresher, check it out:
down in malaysia you should be able to see singapore. more or less straight north from there, in thailand, is bangkok. west, across the bay of bengal, you can see india. mysore is more or less south of bangalore.


View Larger Map

details of my trip to follow shortly after i get back.

Things I Shall No Longer Take For Granted

• drinkable water


• beef


• toilet paper


• silverware


• napkins


• reliable electricity


• refrigerators


• microwaves


• bulk-size products


• the english language


• the ability to walk outside without being swarmed by mosquitoes


• changing seasons (i.e. winter)


• american tv


• pasteurized milk


• the concept of being on time


• the concept of being in a hurry


• edible fruit / vegetables


• driving on the right side of the road


• traffic rules


• freeways / highways


• mexican food


• having a room with more than 3 outlets


• being able to walk on grass


• a shower with reliable temperature and / or water pressure


• wireless internet

Long Overdue, I Know

sorry for the long interval between posts; we started our 'POST' project thingy about 2 weeks ago and that has been eating up almost all of my time and energy until recently. it is the Project on Organizational Standards in Training, or some other BS name like that ('what does POST stand for?' was a question in at least one of our daily tests last week, and i don't think a single person knew / knows what it actually is, still). basically, POST is a horribly organized (go figure) attempt at providing us with some 'hands-on' project time. the first 5 days were spent trying to fill out paperwork (more or less what we will be doing for the rest of our careers with this company . . . . Indians love their beaurocracy). now that we are finally done with the stupid paperwork phase, we can actually start coding the project. we spent one day getting ready, creating the skeletons and trying to integrate our project with some absolutely horrible, worthless software, as we were instructed to do. the 'integration' with this horrivle versioning software took almost 6 hours in itself, but now that we have it done, my group is expecting to finish our coding all on monday and have the majority of our remaining 3 days to relax and not go to work. hooray for being salaried!

anyway, i think i actually learned something this weekend. needing to do laundry, i have been wearing my ND Shirt (the green one from my junior year) all weekend . . . . for the second weekend since i got here.
the last time i wore it was the weekend Notre Dame played MSU.
both times i have worn this shirt since coming to india, we have lost; therefore, i think this Shirt is cursed.

from one of the past few weekends, i don't really remember which, i have posted pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/shadedaemon/ChamundiHill
we went to Chamundi Hill, which is basically a thousand or so steps up this hill to a temple / market area. more or less unremarkable, and the only reason to climb the stairs is just to say 'i climbed a thousand stairs, in the sun, with incredible humidity and 90 degree weather'.

i also remembered to post a quick little video i took with my camera when i went to the tibetan monastary:
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/shadedaemon/CoorgTrip (very last thing in the album).