January 12, 2013
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Quick photo upload since I have insomnia. Last week, my team bid farewell (from a work standpoint!
) to Bart. Bart joined the team almost the same time I did ~6 years ago, and has been a valuable and integral member ever since. I'm very happy for him ... it's all about phases in your life, and he deserves to enjoy retirement! Congratulations Bart!
Over the weekend, we went to see "How to Train Your Dragon LIVE" It was a really good show, and quite the deal (only $28/pp through Groupon) A lot of kids had on flashing viking hats. Zachary said,"What a waste of money. What are they going to do with it when they get home? It'll just clutter their house." So either it's a case of sour grapes or he's the practical son of cheap engineers. I'm thinking it's the latter, and I'm secretly a little proud. Sunday, James took the kids to Dave & Busters for games, and Barnes and Noble to use Zach's Christmas giftcard (He bought a puzzle and the game Forbidden Island, that Alex introduced him to)
Sunday morning it was off to Bangalore, India! Six days away from home for only 3 full working days. Travel was pretty brutal, taking 1.5 days to get there plus a 13.5 hour time difference. Damon and I had meetings pretty much back to back ... 21 meetings in all. They were very productive though; you really can't beat the rapport and dialog you get face to face. I'm optimistic that we're taking back ideas and suggestions that will improve collaboration and improve agility. (How's that for being vague ... sorry, work stuff is all confidential
)
Travel tips:
- If you can swing it, go business/first class. I'm no travel snob, and I've always travelled coach without problems. But flying half way around the world made me think twice about cost vs comfort!
- Consider paying a little extra for 'premier' rooms with concierge access. We had free drinks, breakfast, and appetizers ... which was enough for dinner since our internal schedule was off. As we stayed at a nice business hotel, we knew the food was 'safe' for our weak American stomachs.
- There is a reason Indian women wear flat sandals. It's really hard to dodge cars, motorcycles, buses, and cows on dirt roads in 4" heels. You pretty much feel like an idiot tourist! In case the camera on my wrist didn't tip them off.
- 8kg. That's the Lufthansa limit for carry-ons ... so even though my admin booked through United (no weight restrictions), we had to check in luggage.
- Don't forget to sign up for frequent flyer miles ... you get ~20k round trip, which is almost a free domestic flight!
In my (very limited!) experience, the Bangalore people are extremely friendly, and the food is terrific. I think the dust and humidity even helped my throat ... my cough has improved! Next time, I'll have to tack on a few extra vacation days to do some sightseeing. Maybe bring the kids and head to Goa.
Of course, the best part of going home is seeing how excited the kids are (although a shower was a close 2nd after a 32+ hour door-to-door trip). They were jumping up and down from excitement when my driver dropped me off at the front door. Calie gave me a big kiss and said, "I have been saving it for days and days!"
