The Office

A few things to know about the office.......

Expect the lights to go on and off and expect them to go off at inopportune times. Don't panic they'll come back on eventually normally it is just a couple of seconds of complete darkness and then they flicker back on. Luckily this is old hat for them and all the critical power is on battery backup. Don't expect Charmin it's close to notebook paper and feels closer to sandpaper. Simple trick to save you ass (literally) role the paper into a ball before use, it breaks down the paper fibers and actually softens it up just enough to be usable. Enjoy some great amenities like a person that brings you water and coffee and an in house concierge. The concierge can handle things like runs to the bank, payment of bills, movie tickets, prescriptions, etc. FaceTime should learn a thing or two from this, during the day people are working! They can get help with the tasks that distract them from working. All for now we are hopefully leaving soon as we shipped the product today so I think we should get out of the office before 9pm.

Too busy today

Nothing new today, we are getting ready for a General Availability release of IM Auditor so I have been slammed helping the team get through the issues that have arisen during testing. Staring at TCP dumps all day is murder on the eyes and the head. Again we didn't leave the office till after 9pm. Hopefully all will go well in the US and we will release tomorrow, then I can take some more pictures and check out some of the local turist spots.

FaceTime Communications India Pvt. Ltd., the sign outside of our building. 

Feeling brave? This is the road we have to cross every day to get to work. There is a crosswalk that they call a zebra; however the stripes have no meaning if you are in the way expect to get hit. This is the closest thing to a modern day frogger that you can get. Timing and patience are everything. The other day I watched a dog attempt to cross the road. He ventured out a few times but had to turn back to avoid an auto rickshaw bearing down on him. He then ventured up a little further for another attempt where he was joined by a man trying the same thing. Funny enough the dog waited to the man ventured out but again both of them had to jump back to safety to avoid getting smashed. The dog and man eventually gave up and walked up the street to another spot closer to the signal light. Basically the rules of the road are there are no rules to the road. Weave in and out of traffic use the sidewalks if necessary just don't get hit. 

Your money goes a long way.....

Something to remember about India, your money goes a long long way. We just had dinner at this very trendy bar restaurant. For about $70 we ate lobster, pad thai, chicken ginger, a bottle of wine, some beers, a very nice cigar, and a pack of cigarettes (for John). The service you get is over the top, not once did I refill my wine glass nor did I refill my plate with food. All was done by the waiter's and the rest of the staff. So far the trip has been pretty good, definately a little tired but enjoying the atmosphere. Traveling in the auto rickshaws is the only way to go, it's a little dusty and will dry out your eyes but they can manouver around the traffic like nobodys business. So far the people we have met have been really great, all very friendly and eager to talk about technology. If I were an Indian that lived here in Bangalore I would gather ten of my smartest friends that can write code and start a company that caters to the American software companies. Here they are all well trained and have a great desire to work, only interesting thing was when I told them I work 10-12 hours a day they thought that was a ton of hours. I don't know but I see opportunity here to try and maybe get some good contacts and fund a small outsourcing company. Guess I'll have to see what I can do. Well it's late here I need some sleep we are getting picked up at 9:30Am tomorrow for our first day in the office. Should be a good time I look forward to meeting everyone.

So this is a square that we passed by on the way to the shopping center. We decided to walk since it was nice out plus nothing beats seeing a city as walking does. By the way watch your ass trying to cross the street they drive like maniacs here. Anyway we are off for a few more beers, more pictures to come. 

So we did a little shopping today, had to check out the local Indian garb. This is John in a traditional Indian outfit. We both ended up buying one thought our coworkers would dig it, plus it's very comfortable. I'll definately have mine on in Goa. 

So here it is day one in Bangalore this is our driver that was waiting for us at the airport. Talk about a long ass flight, 12.5 hours to Frankfurt and another 8.5 hours to Bangalore. Come on FaceTime kick in the extra dough for business class! Anyway did a lot of pacing back and forth on the plane coach is cramped as hell. Uneventful flight, not turbulence to speak ok. Got see Germany for all of an hour which really wasn't anything but an airport. Well it's almost 3am here I should probably get some sleep so we can go explore tomorrow and I'm not completely dead. Lates. 

So this isn't India, but I wanted to try out the new blogger bot for picasso. This picture is actually Costa Rica and it is the view from my balcony in Manuel Antonio. 

Welcome........

Welcome to my blog, I created this blog so people can read about my upcoming trip to Bangalore, India. I am travelling to India on business, the other half of our development team is there. My plan is to update the blog a couple of times a day with pictures and writings about my experience over there. I have never been to India; however I am going to try and keep an open mind and leave some of my more "western" idealogies at home. My journey begins on the 25th of March and I return on the 8th of April. One of my engineers is also coming along for the trip, he and I are planning on visiting Goa the first weekend we are in India.