you may ask me out to dinner. nothing fancy or foreign, no bars, no patios, no vegetables, and no seafood.

gas station ranking

1. chevron ... they have their shit together
2. mobil ... it's clean, it works, thanks
3. bp .. well lit, generally fine
4. exxon .. no issues
5. conoco .. not unpleasant
6. philips .. yeah not awful
7. shell .. usually not shitty
8. texaco .. doesn't jack me
9. 76 .. at least they don't steal my atm card
10. arco .. sucks

sunday

brunch was hot. although we missed melissa. actually, the whole day was awesome. after brunch, monica, joanie & i went to the gardens, met up with silvia and sat around ... joanie and i took a leisurely stroll to the beacon hill 7-11 for some vitamin water ... and it was so beautiful out, 70 degrees and sunny, yesss ... then we went to parish cafe and had martinis, so good! the key lime martini was amazing. unfortunately joanie had to go back to harvard for a blocking group dinner ... after parish, monica, silvia & i went shopping on newbury, i bought a couple shirts and some flip flops at fcuk. they had to go home around 7; i met up with some people from work. we went to amanda's place in the pru where we played xbox, psp, chatted, listened to dance music, enjoyed her massage chair and ordered chinese delivery. it was so good. then i went home and im'd with bill for like an hour.

yes, it was a great day

mosh

those who haven't seen it already should check out eminem's new >mosh video ... so hot, very political, hopefully will help kick dubya out of office

bush supporters clueless

there is a newly-documented reality gap among bush supporters ... striking among the findings of a recent poll: most bush supporters erroneously believe that iraq had financed al-qaeda and had wmd at the time of the invasion, that world opinion supports a bush reelection, and that bush supports the kyoto accords, the world criminal court, the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty, and the land mine treaty. woah.

it's over

time to turn my rally cap back over. what was that? 19-8, jeez, not as bad as 19-18 but still pretty ominous, jesus ... and that game was long as hell. let's go sox, 4 in a row ...

shit sox

this game is out of control. how the hell are we down by eleven points? not cool. also, how awesome was that mass state police dude? i've never before seen such a burly authority figure sing so beautifully! :-O ... also, i am with steven king, waitin for that 9th inning rally ...

oh shit did u see that? home run, now we're only down by nine. score!

go sox

relay call!

new discovery: call anyone in the u.s. for free on a relay call! using
relaycall.com or att.com you can summon a human "communications assistant" who will call a number you specify, tell your interlocutor anything you type, and type to you everything your interlocutor says. i'm not sure how at&t justifies paying these people and footing the bill for the calls, and the system seems ripe for abuse ;-) ... but this is for real. go relay call someone!

belated posts

yeah, it's been a while. i've got some things to post i wrote while offline. enjoy ...

sunday night at bombay airport

i'm currently sitting in the 'celebrations' lounge at the bombay airport. this place is the exact opposite of a celebration. the subdued music is almost inaudible, and the only wall décor is a colonial-era painting behind the reception desk. all the liquor is bottom-shelf, and i can't find any power outlet to plug my computer into. lamest lounge, ever. oh well, guess i'll get hammered ...

trying to leave india

mistaken identity: it's funny how so many indians think i'm indian. although i might have indian skin color, my features are really not indian -- and my spoken accent definitely isn't. yet today as i attempted to go through departure immigration in bombay, the agent repeatedly insisted i had to be indian. i insisted i wasn't, and he finally consulted with a colleague who was equally surprised, but decided to believe me. i thought i was home free, but it turned out the agents themselves were unfamiliar with foreigner-registration regulations, and erroneously asserted that i was to have registered upon arrival, and could not leave without producing proof of such reservation. i rolled my eyes and chewed my gum for fifteen minutes until someone finally informed them that i was right and they were wrong. haha.

last friday in india

friday night we ventured to the leela hotel for some nightlife. we of course pre-gamed, splitting four shots of tequila and a 375ml vodka between the two of us. drinks at the club consisted of double vodka red bulls, and double vodka tonics. then, when kai was off somewhere in the club, this old, portly man came up and started hitting on me! he bought me a beer and grabbed my ass. he said he was from holland, and wanted me to come back to his room with him. i shied away from his invitation, but when kai appeared, the man became excited again, saying we should all go back together, and that we should find one girl to come with us. not long after he told us his room number and asked us to meet him there in ten minutes. as we had no desire to become familiar with his nether lands, we quickly headed back to the guesthouse.

eating in bombay (guest post by kai)

Place  : Bombay, Juhu Beach, J.W. Mariott Hotel
Time   : 3:25pm
Problem: Two young hungry men, buffet closing in 5 minutes
Job 1  : Acquire as much food as possible, asap

5 Minutes later, Mission suceeded :




Place  : Bombay, Juhu Beach, J.W. Mariott Hotel
Time   : 5:30pm
Problem: Two young full men, after a hard fight, buffet closed 3hrs ago
Job 2  : Kindly kill 12 Plates full of food

Mission status: failed

chicken with vegetables

for my delivered dinner lately i'm really into this chinese dish that is just chicken and vegetables.

most dishes here are "veg" (vegitarian), and if you want non-veg, usually there is just meat and sauce, and some bread or rice if you're lucky. hello, not a balanced meal! that's why chicken WITH VEGETABLES is so amazing. but every time i order it i have to argue with the guy on the phone for like 5 minutes to get him to agree to NOT put gravy on it.

i'm always like "dry please"
and he goes "but it comes with gravy sir"
and i'm like "no, dry"
and he's like "you can have white or brown or green gravy"
and i'm like "NO GRAVY"
and he's like "no, it will be bland sir"

blah blah blah! it's actually really good. they put really good spices in it, and the veggies are really fresh.

i want to order it for dinner tonight. they'd better not fucking run out of vegetables like the lamb burger place. who does that? fucking run out of vegetables ...

trucker strike

the truckers in india have been on strike for a few days. at first it was awesome -- no traffic! my daily commute time was halved. but now it starts to suck because food is getting more expensive ... and more scarce. today i ordered a fresh green salad. the guy was like "no, no vegetables." i had a lamb burger instead :-(

my lg tv

is so fucking smart. its autoprogramme feature is brilliant. how does it recognize a good signal? just when i thought i was totally blown away, i went to the last page of the menu only to find that the tv includes a video cricket game. way to tailor your product to the market. in "lg cricket cup", you can play india versus pakistan, south africa, australia, sri lanka, or england. haha, who ever heard of a tv with an integrated video game??

wednesday night

last night was kai's farewell. i of course got smashed. then everyone's cell phones stopped working, so i couldn't get in on anyone's cab, and i took an auto-rickshaw home. i caught a bad cold, so now i am hungover *and* sick. skipping work today, not that anyone would care ...

meanwhile kai bit my finger last tuesday and it is still black + blue.

goals

i can now define the first element of my framework: my goals (broadly construed). i want to contribute to rising quality of life worldwide ...

- by enabling better communication and transportation links, on local, national, regional, and intercontinental scales

- by contributing to the development and promotion of life-enhancing products, services, and facilities

it's nice to finally articulate that. i hope it doesn't sound as clichéd as i imagine it could ... comments?

saturday night

my roommate wolfram and i thought we were going to retire early after our long day shopping saturday. we were finishing up dinner at 21.30 when kai and brenden showed up. of course, they were going out and of course we had to go with them.

we first went to a private house in frazertown (across the city) for some wine and other assorted beverages, and were already tipsy when we reached 1912, a bar and lounge on mg road. 1912 serves cocktails by the pitcher. one pitcher of mojito and 840 rupees later, i was drunk.

in my inebriated state, i found myself for only the second time in my life attracted to a woman. the french sophie was cute, sassy, and intelligent and i began to hit on her with reckless abandon. of course the magic ended (for me) when she freaked out after she thought she had lost her bag, but actually hadn't. it's probably just as well; otherwise, i might have ended up making a fool of myself, or hurting her later.

the second remarkable event at 1912 occurred while i was impersonating an indian beggar harassing brenden. i moved my hands to my mouth, expressing hunger, and began to poke him when he did not give me money. i of course invaded his space, as beggars do here, but crossed the line when i grabbed his crotch. whoops, i got a bit too into the role.

upon leaving 1912, wolfram, kai and brenden headed to club x while i joined a small group at a nearby restaurant, mostly because i thought i might be interested in one of the guys who was there.

several of us continued to a spot on mg road where tea is served at one's vehicle. just as we had ordered, a police van showed up to harass everyone and disperse the crowd. we of course drove further down the road to another tea-serving spot. the tea was delicious and, at 3.00, a welcome pick-me-up.

i left the tea group, taking an auto-rickshaw to club x. of course the bouncers made entry difficult, as i was not accompanied by any girls. i insisted that i was meeting friends inside, and the thugs eventually relented ... but charged me 500 rupees for the priviledge of entering. (i would later discover that my friends paid only 150 each.)

the ignominious gender discrimination did not end there, as i was refused entry to the dance floor, which was designated for "couples" ... until some friends were able to round up a female friend. of course, later, when the girls had were off the dance floor and i was dancing alone, a bouncer physically ejected me from the floor. >:-o

the best part was during the ride back home. at around 6.45, we came to the scene of a serious accident. two cars and a bus had collided, and a huge crowd had formed around the vehicles. most of the crowd was barefoot. they were stepping on shards of glass from the cars' windshields, fresh blood from those involved in the accident, and streams of gasoline flowing from the bus's punctured fuel tank. great situation. go india.

four factors to consider

i need to consider my desires and aspirations in shaping my framework. i should also mention that i derive much pleasure from saying "my framework". :-D

four factors:

i want to progress. my life has been marked by rich experiences and rapid advancement. i do not want to slow down this process of personal growth, and would rather hope to accelerate it.

i want to have fun. how miserable my life would be without fun. given how much fun i've had over the past several years, having fun during less than 50% of my time awake would mark a major deterioration of my quality of life. (i define "fun" as being happy and enjoying what i'm doing at a given moment.) one consequence of this factor: i need to work in a position with a lively, amicable workplace culture.

i don't want to waste my skills. most of my professional and academic experiences have only exploited a very small part of my skill set. i do not expect to find a position that will exploit all my skills, but i do want a position that will exploit many diverse skills - social, linguistic, creative, analytical and technical - and i want a position that helps to define a life direction that has the potential to exploit all my skills.

i don't want to waste my time. i enjoy being challenged and highly productive. i do not want to spend my day surfing the web because i do not have enough work to stimulate me.