hyderabad pt. 1

ok...i've been in hyderabad, india for almost a week now...so i guess it's high time that i actually wrote something (and i'm writing while watching the olympics on the internet...god i love technology!!!)...i have a lot to cover so i'm going to do this in three parts...part one (this one) will cover the trip across the pond and the house...part two will cover the office...part three will talk about driving escapades...after that...i'll try to be a little more diligent about blogging (yeah...right)...

btw...the pics will open up my gallery in picasa (another wonderful google product) in their own window/tab...

i guess i should hit rewind...i've only been at adecco/google for 2 and a half months and they're already sending me places...pretty cool i must say...like many high-tech companies...google has decided to move one of the operations i supervise to india because a) duh and b) so our operation can run virtually around the clock (12.5 hour difference between the u.s. and india)...my job is to work with the site manager (pooja) to train her on how to manage this specific operation, set up/test equipment, and hire/train new staff...

for the most part...the trip was rather uneventful...this was my first time flying klm and the service was excellent...not amazing a la singapore airlines...but they were very attentive and the food was certainly better than most airlines...unfortunately...i got stuck with one of the worst seats possible...middle section...middle seat...in the row against the lavatory...i had no elbow room or leg room on the account that we couldn't recline our seats...i was a) the only american in my row and b) the only male...to my left was a lady from russia...to my right was a lady from holland (actually an employee of klm)...and to my far right a lady from sweden (who is apparently some sort of tony robbins motivational/how to attain your dreams speaker)...biggest letdown of the flight...finding out that my ipod is not compatible with our kick ass portable dvd player so i got stuck watching movies on the baby screen...one thing i learned...if i ever make this trip again (and there's a chance i'll be doing this again before the end of the year) i'm going to take a one-day layover in amsterdam...not for obvious reasons (i LOVE wooden clogs!!!)...but because this soon-to-be 40 year-old body just can't handle 22 hours of travel...however...while in amsterdam's airport...myself and chris (another googler from a different project...even though technically we're not "googlers"because we're contractors...but addeco-er doesn't have the same ring...adecco-ite...adecco-an...so i'll just call us googlers for simplictiy's sake) stopped by the casino...i plopped down 40 euro (70 american) on the blackjack table and doubled my money in about 5 minutes (i walked away of course)...

non-sequitor...it's about 11am on sunday here and i'm having oreos and water for breakfast...yum!!!

twenty-two hours after leaving san francisco...we arrived at hyderabad airport...i won't bore you with customs as it was rather uneventful...chris...myself and two other googlers from chris's project decided to hit up the duty free store to pick up "supplies"...i wearily stumbled to the scotch section and my eyes locked in sniper-like to racks overflowing with vat 69 scotch...the official scotch of the 101st infantry screaming eagles...anyone who has seen band of brothers knows that this is what kept capt. nixon sane through the war...needless to say i bought myself a bottle and it's not likely any of it will return home...we piled into the two cars that were waiting to take us on the hour long drive to our residences...

google rents rooms in a series of cookie-cutter "american style" homes for folks traveling to hyderabad...they are two stories, with four bedrooms and a living room, and are loaded with some sort of stereotypical representation of american snack foods (pringles...oreos...sweet breakfast cereals...p.b and j)...my room has marble floors, a television, a king-sized bed, running water (it's even warm on occasion), and wi-fi!!! (they can't heat water but i can check my email)...and while i'm on the subject of the showers...apparently they don't believe in cleaning the shower heads...in the twelve odd rooms google is occupying only one has a shower that actually sprays the water toward where a person would be standing....instead you have water drizzling in a loose circle around you...i've basically given up on showers and have gone "native" using the bucket and pouring cup method...we have a property manager, two "house boys" (who sleep on the marble floors), an entire army of drivers, and round the clock security (two guards at the main entrance and 1 guard covering our three houses)...they are building an apartment complex down the road from us and the folks working on the complex (and their families) live on the bottom floor of the incomplete structure...

and thus concludes part one of our program...please stay tuned for part two...pleasant dreams...