Bangalore Trip, Day 4
Feb. 2nd, 2012 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bjarvisI solved a minor mystery this morning.
Unlike most US & Canadian hotels, one activates most of the electrical services in one's guest room by inserting the door key card into a slot inside the door. It's kinda neat dropping the card in place and having the lights all come on.
Last night, I returned from a couple of hours of walking around Bangalore. I grabbed a can of Coke from the fridge and found it wasn't very cold. In fact, it was nearly room temperature. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but I noted that the remaining soft drinks in the fridge were pleasantly chilled this morning. Of course! Pulling the key card not only turns off the lights but it turns off the fridge. Duh!
I slept very well last night. Because I had left my power cord at the office and neglected to power off my laptop before I departed on my walk, my laptop was dead. My phone & tablet still worked so I could catch up on email, Facebook, Livejournal & Twitter. My room has a very nice flat panel television but if it can get anything other than one channel broadcasting in Hindi, I can't find it. A vacation from television is probably a Good Thing anyway, although I'm curious what else is typically broadcast here.
This morning before I left for work, I used Skype to talk with Michael & Kent back in Maryland. The wifi in my hotel doesn't have enormous bandwidth but we had a passable video connection and excellent audio --at least up to the point where we lost the connection. We re-established it as audio only and all was well.
I've done a huge amount of technical writing while here in India. In large part, I'm creating a set of things my team needs to know for general day-to-day operations. I've tackled the easy ones and am now moving on to the harder topics, the ones about which I know little myself at the moment. I spent the larger portion of today walking Vinoda, Manjunath and Leslie through the docs and showing them live what they'll need to know for future. We still don't have individual login credentials for them so we can't have them do stuff hands-on, but we'll get that done before I leave.
We had lunch at the company buffet again today. I'd love to tell you want it was but I haven't a clue... just trust me that it was all delicious and I'm probably going to need two seats on the plane to return to DC on Feb 14.
For those who have asked, no, I have had no health issues at all since arriving here. No mosquitoes and therefore no malaria to worry about, only a couple of fruit flies. I have been avoiding the tap water for drinking & such but haven't been too worried about getting it near my face while showering. Yes, I've avoided uncooked vegetables & fruits as a precautionary measure but either I've been better at that than I thought or eating my own cooking for so many years has left me immune to nearly everything. Go me.
After this afternoon's training session, two of my local colleagues took me on an extended walking tour of the nearby commercial & shopping district. Wow, what a place! We did a lot of window shopping this evening and I plan to go back on the weekend to look more closely in a few shops along the way for gifts & souvenirs to take home.
It's such a blast walking around Bangalore. With the minimal traffic control, it's a state of insane but workable chaos. I'm sure I risked death a dozen different times crossing the street and the exhaust fumes have probably shaved two years off my life, but it's completely worth it. This place just gets more interesting every day.
Tonight, I'm putting my feet up and sitting at the laptop for a little while to catch up on writing, editing and personal stuff. Tomorrow is a new adventure.
Unlike most US & Canadian hotels, one activates most of the electrical services in one's guest room by inserting the door key card into a slot inside the door. It's kinda neat dropping the card in place and having the lights all come on.
Last night, I returned from a couple of hours of walking around Bangalore. I grabbed a can of Coke from the fridge and found it wasn't very cold. In fact, it was nearly room temperature. I didn't think anything of it at the time, but I noted that the remaining soft drinks in the fridge were pleasantly chilled this morning. Of course! Pulling the key card not only turns off the lights but it turns off the fridge. Duh!
I slept very well last night. Because I had left my power cord at the office and neglected to power off my laptop before I departed on my walk, my laptop was dead. My phone & tablet still worked so I could catch up on email, Facebook, Livejournal & Twitter. My room has a very nice flat panel television but if it can get anything other than one channel broadcasting in Hindi, I can't find it. A vacation from television is probably a Good Thing anyway, although I'm curious what else is typically broadcast here.
This morning before I left for work, I used Skype to talk with Michael & Kent back in Maryland. The wifi in my hotel doesn't have enormous bandwidth but we had a passable video connection and excellent audio --at least up to the point where we lost the connection. We re-established it as audio only and all was well.
I've done a huge amount of technical writing while here in India. In large part, I'm creating a set of things my team needs to know for general day-to-day operations. I've tackled the easy ones and am now moving on to the harder topics, the ones about which I know little myself at the moment. I spent the larger portion of today walking Vinoda, Manjunath and Leslie through the docs and showing them live what they'll need to know for future. We still don't have individual login credentials for them so we can't have them do stuff hands-on, but we'll get that done before I leave.
We had lunch at the company buffet again today. I'd love to tell you want it was but I haven't a clue... just trust me that it was all delicious and I'm probably going to need two seats on the plane to return to DC on Feb 14.
For those who have asked, no, I have had no health issues at all since arriving here. No mosquitoes and therefore no malaria to worry about, only a couple of fruit flies. I have been avoiding the tap water for drinking & such but haven't been too worried about getting it near my face while showering. Yes, I've avoided uncooked vegetables & fruits as a precautionary measure but either I've been better at that than I thought or eating my own cooking for so many years has left me immune to nearly everything. Go me.
After this afternoon's training session, two of my local colleagues took me on an extended walking tour of the nearby commercial & shopping district. Wow, what a place! We did a lot of window shopping this evening and I plan to go back on the weekend to look more closely in a few shops along the way for gifts & souvenirs to take home.
It's such a blast walking around Bangalore. With the minimal traffic control, it's a state of insane but workable chaos. I'm sure I risked death a dozen different times crossing the street and the exhaust fumes have probably shaved two years off my life, but it's completely worth it. This place just gets more interesting every day.
Tonight, I'm putting my feet up and sitting at the laptop for a little while to catch up on writing, editing and personal stuff. Tomorrow is a new adventure.
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no subject
Date: 2012-02-03 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-03 05:11 pm (UTC)We encountered this configuration in one or more hotels in New Zealand. (Fortunately, the in-room washer and dryer were not on the card-activated circuit, so we could leave our clothes drying when we went out.)
no subject
Date: 2012-02-03 05:27 pm (UTC)Sounds like you are settling in and enjoying the trip - hope there will be much picture-posting on your return (and not just of hot men!)
no subject
Date: 2012-02-03 05:56 pm (UTC)The hotel in Asbury Park for Peel the Pumpkin had that same electrical deal with the key card slot by the front door to turn the power on/off in the room. Was the first time I had ever seen that. We had two key cards of course, so no issues.
Sounds like a fine adventure all around, you babe magnet you!
no subject
Date: 2012-02-04 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-04 06:26 am (UTC)The lights in the hallway were odd too. They weren't always on. They came on as you approached, stayed on if you moved enough to keep them on, and turned off as you stopped or walked far enough away. After being frightened by someone's silent but sudden illuminating appearance, it was even creepy walking through the hall at night, wondering if anyone was standing in the darkness beyond the lights, watching.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-04 02:22 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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