All things in moderation

As in, I need to moderate the comments posted on my blog. Not that people are being rude, or nasty or anything like that. It's worse. I've had a couple of comments that contain links to questionable sites. Again, not rude, nasty or anything like that sites, but do you want to click on links in peoples comments and have to worry about it. No. So I'm protecting you. There, big brother has reached my blog. Ughhhh!!

So, if you post a comment, it will not appear until I can approve it. The one good thing is it that it forced me to review the way people can post to the blog. For those of you without Google or Blogger accounts, it means you just have to add you name in the field like I have done below

You will also have to do that verification thingy they ask for

All it all it should make it easier for my friends to post comments (hint, hint! It's good to see comments, it means you are out there!)

Time flies...

Wow, I can't believe it's Saturday already! I have some stories to share, but I think I'll go exploring...

How to make training not boring...

Not always an easy task, but I know I hate to be bored, so I try to make the training not boring (at least for me). As I mentioned in the last post, it is good to make personal connections. When I introduce myself, I show a picture of Rose, Sean and I, so that they can see my personal side. For these sessions as an ice breaker, I asked them to share something about themselves that no one else knew. Not easy for them, as they work in close knit teams, but it proved to be fun. There was one person who did not like music, sitting next to one who sang classical music. One of the guys admitted to watching the Travel and Living channel and then there were some others that were pretty funny that got quite a laugh from the team.

Then I trained.

Finally to wrap up, I showed some more pictures, this time of some of the people they know from their virtual interactions. Last year I got to go to London to meet with some of the country team members that we work with. I shared with them this picture.

They really enjoyed putting a face to a name.
Finally, they got to see Charlie


and Cleveland snow.

Working with the India Team

In case it didn't come through loud and clear from last year's blog entries, I really did enjoy my trip to India last year and truly enjoyed meeting and working with the team. Face to face is the way to go. I know it is more expensive, time consuming, tiring, etc., but it works wonders; allowing you to build relationships you can't build via the phone or instant messaging. When I arrived in the office on Monday, I was greeted by smiling faces and "welcome backs" from the Australian shift team. This team begins work at 3am local time to support our Far East and Oceania clients and teams. They are a tough group! The rest of the day involved catching up with all the shifts as they arrived (and with e-mails and rapidly falling behind work tasks from traveling for 2 days). The enthusiasm of the whole team is contagious. They are really excited that I am here to teach them new skills and to learn more about the products I support. This is going to be another good trip!

Current temperature - 73 degrees

One of the bad things about traveling, is that there are things back home that you miss. That is obvious. One of the good things about traveling, is that there are things that you MISS. For example, it is about 10:30 pm. I just got back from a nice team dinner, on the terrace of Ebony, which is on the 13th floor of a building in central Bangalore. It is currently 73 degrees. That is pretty sweet. Not to rub it in, but I think that beats the forecast temperature in Hudson of 32 tonight. True, it's not snowing and -10, but still. Definitely makes me look forward to spending time with Sean and Rose in the backyard, grillin' and chill' this summer!

Unfortunately, I will also miss Cugs and his family, who are in town for his niece's wedding. So the Nags Head Gang (less Kean and I) will be hanging at the Lizard tonight (I miss you guys!) By the way Tim, you were back in Ohio two years ago when I was in Paris. You need to schedule better!

Things have been going really well so far, no dead bodies, good weather, good food, great host, etc. It's kinda weird. Things have not changed since the last time I was here. I'm right next to the room I stayed at last time here at the Taj Gateway. It is a mirror of my old room. The staff is the same and they still know my name (it's embarrassing, you'd think I should know theirs). So I won't bore you with the same old stories, but I will share some pics instead (I know that is what you come for anyway!)

On Saturday when I arrived, I was invited to attend one of Cheryl's friends Jacquie's (below with Ali) surprise birthday parties. Once again, I was welcomed as if the other guests had known me forever. Well I had met most of them my last visit :-)

It was a really nice time, traditional Indian food...

...and of course, Texas Hold 'em!

Sunday was very relaxing, not much sleep the night before as my sleep patterns have just returned to normal (I hope). But did get to hang out at the pool, get some sun and then return to Jamavar at Leela Palace for a great meal. This place is pretty cool.

The hat says it all...

Thursday was a crazy day, up at 4:30am, conference call at 7. I still had packing and preparation to do (yes, Thursday was departure day, but you don't want to be too ready). Already too many things to get ready before the 2pm car service pickup? Or was it? I did need one last thing...our camera had been acting up, black spots on pictures, internal memory lasting 5 minutes, you know annoying things. And since I do like to take pictures, it was time to get a new camera. Now don't think I woke up Thursday and decided that, I HAD done some preparation. So off Rose and I go to Target shopping. A bit later we end up at a local camera dealer and purchased a Canon PowerShot A720IS. For us it was the perfect camera, not too big, not too small - - all-purpose. We'll see how it works out. After wings at the Lizard, we headed back to home to finish packing. I was doing good until 1:50 when I remembered I had to prepare the fish tank for two weeks...oh well, the driver wasn't too upset.

So the hat, which was an Easter gift from Rose, is perfect for the trip. And really, the hat says it all...

(Taken with new camera in Newark Airport)

Here we go again...

So time to resurrect the old blog....

I suppose I should really post stories for the other stuff that happens on my life...I guess that most stuff is either too personal, too boring, or too likely to get me in trouble at work (just kidding guys!)

In less than a week I head out again for Bangalore...I leave on 27 March and today is the 22nd. I am not prepared to do this. The last time I took this trip, the weather here in NEO was more similar to the weather in Bangalore. Not so now; in Bangalore, it is currently 70 degrees (12:10 am tomorrow) and here it is a balmy 35. We had 6 inches of snow overnight. We decorated decorated Easter Eggs this morning. Here is a useful way to dispose of the egg coloring when you have 4 foot tall piles of snow!

But I digress...So since it is still snowing here, and it is not snowing in Bangalore, I need to dig out the summer clothes...I just can't imagine short sleeves and shorts right now. So, I have nothing prepared to go, my luggage has a broken wheel and forget about being prepared work wise. The last two weeks have been interesting, to say the least, with the projects I am working on...this week will be a cram course in getting prepared for the following two weeks with the India Team, but I'm sure everything will work out.

I'm not sure what this trip will bring (hopefully no bodies on the tracks my first day in the office), but I'm sure there will be some stories to share...