02.14.06
Posted in General at 8:20 am by BestFriendChris
- Josh
I was trying to decide what to write about, and couldn’t think of anything. Josh, as helpful as always, suggested that I write about the new Hindi phrases I have picked up since I’ve been here. So, in a shocking expose, I present to you:
The words I know
Chod do: Leave (Especially effective with the little beggar children that tend to cling to my side when I walk by them)
Shukriya: Thank you (Especially effective at getting waiters to chuckle every time they see you again)
Khana kana hai: Do you want to eat?
Shopping karna hai: Do you want to go shopping?
Peena hai: Do you want to drink?
Namaste: Hello.
Aap kaisa ho: How are you?
Accha hua: I’m doing well.
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02.09.06
Posted in General at 9:47 pm by BestFriendChris
So, after something like 729 hours of flying (time travel confuses me), I finally arrived in India at 1:30 in the morning. Only one of us lost their luggage, so 3 of us waited for him at the airport while he filled out the paperwork. Finally, at 3am, I got to bed and fell asleep. No sooner than three hours later, of course, I was wide awake again. Excellent. We all met at the office at 10am, and started a fun day of checking email, setting up our computers, and trying not to fall asleep too early. Later that evening we all went out to eat Masalla Dosa (which was excellent) and Ice Cream (also, excellent). Finally, at around 9pm, I went back to my apartment and crashed.
This morning, at 4 in the freaking AM, I woke up. Optimistically, I tried to fall back to sleep. An hour later, I decided to give up and go for a run. Scratch that, I went for a jog, which turned into a walk, back to a jog, a walk again, a slow jog, a walk, and, finally, an elevator ride back up to my apartment. Turns out I’m not in shape. Or rather, the shape I am in is not conducive for running. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
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02.07.06
Posted in General, Thoughtworks at 10:54 am by BestFriendChris
So, I recently (as in, an hour ago) noticed that my website looks like crap on windows machines… (For the record, it was only looked slightly better on Safari on my Mac, but that had more to do with my minimal website design experience than render and layout issues) So, I decided to choose a professionally designed layout for now.
I’m in the middle of posting some pictures from my trip to Shedd Aquarium with Sarah on Saturday. It’s taking a bit, since the internet here seems to be capped, but I’ve already got several up. The website for my pictures (which I’m also going to add to the links on the left) is lookat.bestfriendchris.com.
In other news, I had my first day of work yesterday. It was a little overwhelming, but I am looking forward to working here. I received my laptop (a Dell Latitude D610) which I’m using at the moment to type this post. Plus, most importantly, I learned how to submit my expenses. 
Well, I’m off! See you in India!
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01.29.06
Posted in General at 6:10 pm by BestFriendChris
Well, I’m off! Wish me luck!
Also, I found some pictures (actually, more like artists rendering) online of the place I’ll be staying at while in India. Pay particular attention to the pool. Feel free to wish you were me.
http://masterplanlandscapes.com/diamond.html
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01.28.06
Posted in Thoughtworks at 10:50 am by BestFriendChris
Just a few updates on my life at the moment:
- I’m leaving for Chicago in exactly one week, to not see my apartment (nor family) for 2 months
- I have my visa for India all taken care of. I had them leave it at their office so it doesn’t get lost again (see below for the story)
- I started taking my Malaria pills, so… That’s fun.
- My last day at my current job is Tuesday, Jan 31st. They have already, several times, mentioned that if I ever decide I want to settle down in the Waterloo area, I’m welcome to return. Also, if there are any computer parts I ever need, to let them know and they’ll get me a deal. (That sounds dangerous…)
The story with my passport, which I just now realized I hadn’t mentioned on the site, goes as such: Three weeks ago I sent, via FedEx, my passport and some paperwork to ThoughtWorks in order for them to get me a visa to enter India. One week later, on the 16th, I got an email from my friendly neighborhood Immigration Team Member Andra that he still hadn’t received my passport.
*Entering DefCon 4*
So, I shoot him the tracking number and check it out myself. The package was listed as going out on delivery, but that’s the last entry. Nothing about it returning to the Distribution Center. Nothing about it being delivered. In short, nothing.
*Entering DefCon 3*
The next day, the package still hadn’t arrived. Keep in mind, that if FedEx loses this package, there is not enough time for me to get a new Passport, get it to ThoughtWorks, and get a Visa to go to India. I call FedEx and finally get a hold of somebody, after a couple of false starts, of course. (For the record, if a company puts you on hold so long that it dumps you out of hold to the receptionist, and they aren’t at their desk so you get their voice mail, that’s bad customer service.) The person I got ahold of started a “Trace” on the package and they would call me back with what they found. The next morning I get a call, “We can’t find the package”.
*Entering DefCon 2*
After I get that call, I call FedEx back again and get somebody new. She decides that the best way to help me would be to get me in touch with the manager of the Distribution Center where it was last seen (Manny). While initially our talk seemed headed towards me yelling and generally being in a bad mood, he started to come around and help me. Manny put me on hold and talked with the driver that would have taken the package, and he had no idea. (At this point in the story, I found out that if a package is lost in FedEx land and a person submits a claim, it is the responsibility of the driver who last scanned the package out to pay for it. That would suck, although I have to say it’d be a pretty good way to keep packages from being lost…) The driver was going to look around and see what he could find.
*Entering DefCon 1*
About 2 minutes after finding this out, I shoot an email to Andra with an update. Apparently, as I was typing my email, he was typing one to me. He received the package! Sweet! The story is, ThoughtWorks is on the 6th floor of a particular building. The package wasn’t, however, delivered to the 6th floor. It was delivered to the diner on the 1st floor. (I’m not sure if they are in the habit of having passports FedEx’d to them or not, but my gut tells me “Not”). Anyway, once everybody figured out where it was supposed to go, it got there
*Returning to DefCon 5*
Hooray!
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01.19.06
Posted in General at 12:21 pm by BestFriendChris
- Kim Possible: No. Explanation. Required. (Or offered)
- Online Classifieds/Dating sites: It’s like people watching on steroids. For a good example, take a look at true.com
- Dancing movies: I’m not really sure why this is, but I can’t get enough of them. Recently I watched “Shall We Dance” with Richard Gere and J-Lo. Excellent. Considering I’m still in the guilty phase, I can’t rent/buy these movies, so I have to wait until they’re on cable. Increases the denyability. You understand.
- Most Disney movies: Always end happy. You’ve got to respect that. (Bonus points if it’s a Disney movie about dancing. For some reason, this includes Ice Skating)
- Infomercials: Pretty much for the same reason I like Disney movies.
- Scrubs: Not so much a guilty pleasure, but I have to say I love that show. It’s pretty much the only TV show I actually make an effort to watch.
- Honorable Mention: The early works of Jennifer Love Hewitt. This is no longer a guilty pleasure, but I felt like I should mention it. I used to have an “Unhealthy Obsession” with JLH, but, I’m proud to say, I have found the courage to move on. (Props, though, to the movie “Trojan War”. A mostly unknown JLH movie from the 90’s dealing with a young mans quest to find a condom. If you ever get a chance to see this movie, I heartily recommend it.)
I understand that if you don’t know me, several of the above could lead you to think I am, in fact, a 13 year old girl, but keep in mind that these are guilty pleasures. I don’t feel guilty about the things that make me look like a 26 year old rock star.
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01.17.06
Posted in Thoughtworks at 6:26 pm by BestFriendChris
So, I just got my flight itinerary for my trip to India. In exactly 21 days I will be on a plane in Chicago heading toward Frankfurt. I leave at 6:30pm and arrive 8 hours and 15 minutes later in Frankfurt at 9:45am (local time. That’s 2:45am me time). An hour and a half later I leave at 11:20am local, 4:20 me for an 8 hour, 30 minutes flight to Bangalore, where it will now be 12:25am local, 12:55pm me. So, basically, I’m going to be skipping lightly across wednesday, only touching ground for ~1.5 hours. Nice.
The return flight (On March 31st) is much the same, albeit traveling backward in time, where I will teach the people the wonders of the future, and they will most likely make me their god. Or something. Actually, the flight from Germany to the US will only take about 55 minutes. We’ll be making GREAT time. I hope Guiness is there when we land.
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01.16.06
Posted in General at 11:02 pm by BestFriendChris
So, while watching TV over the last week, I’ve noticed something odd. There are 2 different commercials playing on different channels. One is called the Faraday Flashlight and the other one is called the EverLife Flashlight. If you go to the websites of these products, or happen to see it on TV, you’ll notice that the commercials for each of these products is exactly the same. Exactly. The only change is the name of the product they mention. Just weird.
It gets even better. If you go directly to the As Seen On TV website and click on the Faraday flashlight link, the page calls the product “Faraday Flashlight”, yet the URL is: http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/everlife_flashlight.html
I think this product is leading a double life.
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Posted in General at 7:50 pm by BestFriendChris
I saw this about a month ago, but just last weekend I found out that Nate hadn’t even heard of it. It’s a hilarious skit from Saturday Night Live where Chris Parnell and Andy Samburg are rapping about cupcakes and going to see Chronicles of Narnia. Great stuff. Here is where you can find it.
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01.10.06
Posted in Apple at 5:48 pm by BestFriendChris
…would be excellent.
So, today Apple released the amazing, fantastic, horribly-named MacBook Pro to replace the 15″ PowerBook. Yes, they called it the MacBook Pro. Unfortunately for the boycott in all of us, it’s also pretty stinking sweet. sigh
Just to make sure everybody is following along, Apple has set itself down towards the following:
|
Consumer |
Professional |
| Portable |
iBook |
PowerBook
MacBook Pro |
| Desktop
| iMac |
PowerMac
MacMac Pro? |
Since apparently “Power” is the new “Groovy”, does that mean that the super-duper desktop computer is going to have to be called the MacMac Pro?!
Groovy.
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