i like to call it lost wages
Back from Vegas. The chill blast of stepping off a plane into freezing Indiana is getting too familiar.
I have a lot of thoughts about Microsoft’s new product line, which I may or may not go into at a future time.
Good networking, though. Good food, good sessions, saw cool movies/keynotes, played a lot of Gears of War 2 / Rock Band 2. Getting up on stage and singing strange songs is nervewracking. Until you realize that when you did it, there wasn’t even an audience, and now the band going up after you is a bunch of Frenchmen who don’t know any English and are still trying to rock out The Offspring, or the little timid Asian girl who comes up later and belts out Livin’ on a Prayer in front of a full crowd.
Everyone there was using a Macbook Pro running Windows 7. This is probably indicative of a lot of things. Although it’s not a surprise to see great hardware running great software.
I still don’t really like Vegas. Everything is tacky and dirty and old, like no one has bothered to update anything since the 70’s. It’s an exercise in consumerism, where the end goal of every facet you see from dawn to dusk is for you to spend money and make poor decisions. It seems like a playground for the rich, to flaunt nice cars and clothes and wealth and status. But most of all, I don’t like it because you don’t really see people being genuinely happy there.
But I guess I shouldn’t complain about a free stay in the Venetian.
midpoint
internet connections are not always readily available here, even though driving through the streets one will see the ubiquitous “i.s.o. s.t.d.” signs all over the place, which we know have something to do with a telephone/internet connection.
but, more to the point, we have been busy. any image one can conjour up upon the thought of India, more than likely we have been there, done that, taken pictures, gotten the tshirt.
I saw a snake charmer (and had a cobra around my neck), sipped wine on the back of an elephant, had a camel almost fling me off his back, rode countless rickshaws through crowded city streets, visited the Taj Mahal, had a New Year’s celebration at what was once a Palace of the Maharaja (and won a prize for being the best dressed male there), eaten spicier food than I have ever had back home, gotten really sick because of it (I’m fine now), and all around been treated like a visiting king. The only time the men stop and stare more at me than Brittany is when I have been wearing my kurta and turban (there are plenty of pictures), at which point they must only assume I’m rather important. But, considering we were featured in around fourteen of the top newspapers in Bangalore and India as a whole on the first day we arrived, we might as well be.
We head tomorrow back to Bangalore, to the fourth hotel in four nights. A few more days remain.
Arrival
We left the sun somewhere past London, and had to race halfway round the world just to pick him up again. It’s a shame that in our haste, our luggage just couldn’t keep up the pace. So if you happen to see my face plastered on every Bangalore paper and wonder why I’m in jeans and a tshirt, just know that at least once I have an excuse for being chronically underdressed.
Aside from the billboards and advertisements, we are more or less the only white people in Bangalore. Had we told the endless amount of men stopping and staring at Brittany that she was a famous American pop-star, I doubt anyone would question it.
Once again, I am left to question whether these people are the best or worst drivers in the world. If you ever wondered what would happen if police officers ran out of tickets to give, this would more or less be it.
The smell of the country is overwhelming at first, like you have stepped off the plane and right into the kitchen of your local Taj buffet. The food is delicious, the bananas are tiny, the pizza is most certainly not pizza, and juice is served room temperature (and I’d be crazy to ask for ice).
The tv stations are all Bollywood-style music videos and movies. Sometimes they speak in English, but not enough to understand the story more than “guy sings about girl, girl sings about not wanting guy, then the guy joins 50 other guys for a synchronized dance number.” (I’m almost positive they just said “Microsoft Word,” but they are nowhere near a computer) Also they danced with a transformer at one point (a car turned into a robot, not the electrical box).
Hopefully my suitcase arrives today, as though we plan on going shopping (and the airline gave me $70 to buy clothes), I haven’t seen any man in this country taller than 5′7″ and with a waist wider than 30″.
I’m still jetlagged, I don’t quite understand how to operate the toilet (it’s apparently a more complicated measure than a ‘flush’ button, as there’s also a valve to ‘open’ or ‘close’), and I’m surprised I’ve made it this far without getting sick.
But aside from that, India is wonderful.
some recent observations concerning facial hair and pirates
1) brad pitt looks absolutely terrible with a moustache
2) no, if we want to be a truly free market, we should not bail out the big three. they should fail, the execs should be fired, and the unions disbanded.
3) yes, since no one wants the entire country to be unemployed, we should probably bail them out anyway. the execs should still be fired, and the unions should still be disbanded. if they don’t make immediate changes to their fundamental business strategies (fuel efficiency vs. power as a selling point, large vs. smaller cars, union workers, etc) – 5 years or less – they will be right back where they are now.
4) trying to develop new ‘nonlethal’ weapons like audio blasters or high pressure hoses to deal with somalian pirates is beyond ridiculous. Change maritime ordinances immediately. Any large ship traveling through that region should be armed, and upon sight of pirates should open fire. this problem will only get worse otherwise. you do not bring a knife (or in this case, a hose) to a gun fight.
5) if we do not address the underlying economic/political reasons that these men have resorted to piracy, the problem will continue regardless of the ships’ actions.
6) bill richardson looks absolutely terrible without a beard
7) yes, the mumbai attacks originated in pakistan. duh. pakistan knows it, we know it, the indians certainly know it, and our tip-toing around the situation won’t help anything.
8 ) yes, I still want to go to India. no, i am not afraid. i will not look back on my life and fondly remember the times i spent safe and sound in familiar comfort. it is in these times that you must dare to live.
9) no, computer mice are not going to disappear in favor of multitouch input screens. it is not always intuitive or usefull to jab at a screen like a gorilla.
that wraps it up for today.
well then
Let’s see how this all goes down.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. They will only grow louder and more dissonant. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
-Barack Obama
January 8th, 2008
Is man one of God’s blunders? Or is God one of man’s blunders?
If only these were the ones printed in the papers every day, they would be infinitely more worth reading.
year 2: the sophomoring
So, as I finally have time to stop running around, sit down and relax, and stop driving all over the state.
Just as class starts tomorrow, 7:30 AM.
We’re almost finished with the decorations for our room, so I’ll get some pictures up when that happens.
my yellow robot shirt
I had an odd encounter with a new freshman girl moving into the dorms today (we helped people move their stuff into the rooms):
“Hey, you went to my school!”
“Oh, hi.”
“Yeah, you had that yellow robot shirt. That’s the only thing I remember, though.”
There’s probably a lesson in this, but I guess what it boils down to is that regardless of what accomplishments you have, people will remember you for your t-shirts. And that’s why I have so many of them.
T-shirts, not accomplishments.
I have quite a few.
let’s play a game
Okay, here are the rules:
1) Think of a major motion picture that has come out within the last year and a half (preferably an action movie)
2) Go to the Asylum Films Homepage (here)
3) If they haven’t yet made a blatant ripoff of it, you win. If there is a “Transmorphers” to your “Transformers,” however, you have to watch the trailer for it and start over. By the time you finally come up with a franchise they haven’t defiled yet, you’ll probably think of “Disaster Movie” as sophisticated cinematography.
Bonus points if you manage to find the movie starring none other than Insane Clown Posse. Yes, there is one.
a new low
Shameful. Juvenile. Childish. When you spend most of your campaign time actively trying to sling mud at your opponent rather than actually promote your own candidate, maybe you should try to understand why he has such a powerful following rather than complain about an unfair ‘bias’. You’re surprised that Obama is greatly more in touch with today’s youth than a 72-year-old who admitted to not using the internet? You’re surprised that the media would much rather cover a historic speech overseas to 200,000 cheering people (who can’t even vote for him) than McCain’s trip to a sausage-haus? Your attempts to capitalize on fear and mistrust in order to take advantage of the American people won’t work. Or, at least, one would hope.
tl;dr: Sorry your candidate sucks so much. Stop whining, it’s getting pathetic.
