I watched a documentary last night on Sweat Shops in China. It was almost unbearable to watch. Sometimes I just hate living in this world. There is just so much pain and suffering and abuse and selfishness and greed and inequity... I dont know how God can stand it. I realize that

May 6 (Sunday)
- one last big swim before my trip. Probably wont be able to swim for a month... but surfing is better for me, anyway
- bought book on Costa Rica (CR) on the way out
- starting to get sort of apprehensive about trip, maybe because it is because I feel everything converging before my sabbatical or maybe it is I just get homesick
- wife takes me to airport with my dog. no lines so able to sit on grass with her and play with my dog before getting on the plane at 8:30pm
- Intel travle put me on some weird flight that has a 5 hour layover in LAX, until 2:30 am. Originally, I was in center seat but the lady moved me to a window. Bless you lady
- Flight went quick with Bono all the way
- Touched down in LAX and found out I dont have a United connecting flight but have to go to terminal 2 to get to an airline called LACSA.
- Walk out to curb an dlook for something to take me to terminal 2. Ask lady in blue vest and she said catch next blue shuttle bus. Ok
- Catch next blue shuttle bus and I get a very nice tour of the entire LAX parking lot. I was on wrong shuttle. Great. Good thing I had Bono with me so it didnt bother me and heck, I have 5 hours to kill, I thought about doing the tour again
- Go back to terminal and get on new shuttle that takes me to terminal 2. Hooray. Get in line. Not really a long line but a time consuming line. All the folks returning to CR have massive suitcases like nothing you have ever seen they are checking in. I mean they must have bought everything in the entire US
- All right. Time fro me to check in. Here is my passport. Here is my flight info. What? You wont let me on my connecting flight? You say you wont accept my passport? The back cover is delaminated so it is no longer valid? Even though all the information is legible and intact? Hmmm. I have a decision to make. Get upset and fight back or accpet this gracefully. OK. How you react is more imprtant than how you act. So, I go and get my luggage and walk out. Lucky for me there is a passport office in LA. Maybe I can get a new passport here
- Go and get a rental car and drive toward the federal building north of LA. Find a hotel closest to the federal building and hope I can get a room. i am in luck. They have one room left in an all smoking floor and all smoking room facing the busy Wilshire road. Gadzooks. Get to sleep a little after 1:00am. Dont sleep too well with the noise and no oxygen
- Get up & out at 7:00 am and barge to the federal building knowing I better be first in line to have a chance. Yeh, I am first. Two hundred and first. Lots of folks had my same idea
- So, I stand in line forever. Turns out that if you need a passport for that night, they will give you a shot. So, after about an hour and a half, they let me in the building with all the other folks who have appointments. Just an fyi- they dont allow cell phones and blackberrys
- I go and get my #. I am 136. What # are they on? 8. And it is going slow. So I ask if I can go outside and run out to my car and call Intel travel to cancel my hotel for the night and keep my rental car reservation. It takes awhile to do that and do some key emails so I dont get back into the room for about an hour. I did some calculations that they were doing about 1 person/minute. They were on 109 when I got back in *whew*
- I get up to the representative and they tell me I need my birth certificate. Yeh, I always carry htat with me. So, they charge me an extra fee to prove I am a citizen and to expedit the process and tell me, there is no guarantee but com eback about 2:30 and check. The window closes at 3:00 so give them as much time as possible
- So, I know LA pretty well and the UCLA campus so I go near the campus and get a Boba tea and eat some Greek food that was pretty good. Some students saw my 'pizza my heart' t-shirt and cry out, 'yes! pizza my heart' then when they see it is from capitola we hit it off. They all went to UC santa cruz. It's amazing how In-n-Out and Pizza my heart pull the world together.
- I tell them I am going to CR and they know all baout CR and are excited to tell me where to go. I liked them. I aske their majors but none of them were engrs for the REP
- OK, its 2:10, time to head back. I get to the federal building and there is a pretty long line for pick up. I think I calculated ~80. the guy in fornt of me had cycled thur twice and still had not got his. Again, I did a calculation. They were doing about 2 people a minute so I estimate that it will be 40 minutes to get to the window before it closes! It was 2:20. Everything had to go perfect. The lady should not have told me 2:30
- So the pressure is on. The clock is ticking. Seems like the line is moving so slow. I am about 10 people away now. It is 2:56. My calculations were off. I am not going to make it! Again, I have a choice to make. Take off all my clothes and run screaming or accept this gracefully. Now it is 3:00 and they give 4 people in front of me a ticket that they can just go wait in the federal building for further instructions. that puts me at the window at 3:01. The lady gives me my passport. I step back from the window and lift my hands and shout, 'yes!' The remaining people in line clapped and seemed genuinely happy for me since we all suffered together that entire day. BTW- it was the hottest day on record for that day in LA
- To celebrate I took Wilshire all the way to the ocean (Santa Monica). It is so beautiful there. parked on the cliff and changed into my running stuff and went for a long run on the beach with Bono! It was gorgeous day and I just ran and ran. Aftwwards, I ate at a great Mexican place on the wharf. Had 2 cold beers and fajitas. There was a guy singing and playing piano on the wharf. I really liked him. After I ate, I went and sat against the wall with the warm sun on me, looking over the ocean and listening to this guy. Finally, I decided I wanted to buy his CD but could not find an ATM. I asked him where one was and he just gave me one. I didnt like that so I gave him my business card and told him to email me and I would send him $ for the CD he gave me and his CD that was coming out. His sister lives in Folsom and goes to UCD. What a small world!
- Now, one last thing to do. Jump in the ocean!! Yes. It was pretty darn cold but very refreshing to swim around for awhile.
- My life seems to be back to its happy state and the stress is gone. Now to go back to the airport and wait until 2:30 am
- I take the slow ocean scenic road back to the airport. I have about 6 hoours to kill after I get there. I look around everywhere for a chair by an outlet. For some reason, every outlet in LAX is worn out so when you plug in, the slots are so worn out your plug just falls right out. Undaunted, I checked every single outlet in the entire airport and found one ont eh second florr that sort of worked by a chair. Great. I can plug in my laptop and also my iPOD so Bono can stay with me. I get about 5 hours of work done before I call it quits
- Meet some guy in line near my gate and he tells me how much $ he has made in CR and how he has been jumped once and drugged once. I guess the drugging thing is popular. Some girl comes up to you and becomes your friend, drugs you while you get a drink with her and then takes all your stuff. No worries. I saw a Seinfeld episode like that

May 8 (Tuesday)
- Read my CR book. Wow. I am excited for CR! In 2003 CR's capital was rated 2nd friendliest in the world. It is like a surfers dream come true!! I knew one of the spots was in Endless Summer II but I did not know the whole country was like that. It is! And, it has a cool active volcano that you can hear rumble and shoot lava. I mean how cool is that. Those are 3 great things! friendly people, surf and a live volcano. I think I want to live here!!!
- Dear God, how do people sleep in planes!! Everyone in the plane is sleeping except for me. What is this 2 pieces of bread and a slice of turkey about? I try to sleep but no way. My body does not sleep vertical. So, back to Bono on the Bose
- Hooray, I am in CR! Nice airport, no lines, get out of there pretty fast . Change my $. GEt a ride to my rental car lot which looks more like someones house. It is Budget and the3re is a car there.
- Drive to hotel. Easy drive about 5 miles from airport. Signs are clear and Ticos drive on the right side of the road like we do.
- Get to Marriott. Very nice hotel less than a mile from Intel. Perfect. I am tired and email Pilar that I want to take a 2 hour nap and come in after lunch. She tells me here and her team are in mtgs most of the day and just to relax. OK!! Sweet. So, I take my 2 hour nap and get up and swim! They have a 25m pool. I am sooo happy. Get a good swim in and then it starts to pour! I like to swim in the rain, then sit in the jacuzzin in the rain.
- Have a great dinner at the hotel. I think I did something atypical and got mahi mahi instead of meat, but it was very good. Oh and a Mango Daqauri. Dang, that was awesome. I decided I love Mango anything
- Get to bed at a decent hour and sleep OK

May 9 (Wednesday)
- Up to a great buffet breakfast. I love buffet anything. Even like Jimmy Buffet. Eat tons. Breakfast is my favorite meal
- Get to Intel for 8:00 REP Geo meeting. Easy to get to Intel, easy to find where I need to be
- Meet Pilar for the first time. She is so friendly and enthusiastic. I love that. I cant believe how hospitable she has been. My book is right, this is the friendliest city, everyone I meet seems to really go out of there way to make me feel at home. She sets me up with an office and its back to Intel mode.
- Went to lunch at a local mall with Pilar and Anita. I got arroz con pollo which was OK. But, I got a great piece of chocolate cake. It was fun to speak Spanish with them! I feel my 7 years of Spanish coming back
- Since this is the start of their winter, it is sunny in the morning, a little humid, and then rains like nobodies business in the evening, pelo del gato, rain is so thick it is like cats hair?
- Lots of work to do so no time to go running or swimming :(
- Work late and then go straight to dinner. Man, Wed and Fri are BBQ night in the hotel. Oh man, now we're talking. Tons of every kind of meat known to mand and a Mango Daqauri!! I ate too much (if such a thing is possible). For some reason I am way tired and went to my room and watched UFC and fell asleep. Who can fall asleep watching ultimate fighter?

May 10 (Thursday)

- up extra early to get some work done. get into plant about 7:15am
- Reviewed all the intern resumes in Spanish. How fun! Wow. What a difference in resumes from the US! Ticos are not pretentious and do not want to brag and it refelcts in their resumes. It was very hard, to discern the top candidates and we are going to have to follow-up with phone screens next Tuesday to help decide on who to invite to the Rush. I still think Ticos can write resumes without bragging and still talk about themselves so employers can get a feel for the fit they would be in their company. It would be fun to coach the RCGs on this
- Cafeteria has a Subway so had a steak and cheese sandwich
- Ate dinner at the hotel - hamburger, pizza, and some weird soup

Friday (5/11)
<= my food buddy

- great omelet and buffet breakfast

- first f2f meeting with the REP rotation managers went well. Good managers and supportive of the program

- huge bbq dinner buffet at the hotel tonight. Great meat and fish. Some great garlic and olive oil sauce for the meat

Saturday (5/12)

<= Playa Hermosa (note shape of wave) goes forever

- felt good to sleep in

- called my wife to wish her a happy birthday

- i cant believe it. I have eaten so much I skipped breakfast and lunch! When have I ever done that?

- drove to Jaco. CR roads not well marked. Had to double back a few times. Took about 3 hours. It was raining like crazy

- playa hermosa was nice... drove right past it though :/

- Hotel Backyard was full so went to Terraza de Pacifica - room was simple but nice. Pretty good rate of $70/nt. right on ocean and nice breakfast

- went to Jaco (5 minutes up the road) to surf but it was low tide, had to wait until Sunday

- had a good meal at Jaco Taco

- party life is crazy in Jaco so decided to watch from afar and then get out. Prostitution is not a good thing.

- feel really lonely and bored in hotel room. I did not bring laptop as my book told me not to bring anything I could afford to lose. It was lightening and rain all night over the ocean, which was pretty cool

- slept for awhile and then woke up at midnight

- U2 rattle & hum video was on so stayed up and watched the whole thing to 2:00 am

Sunday (5/13)

<= Jaco. Great surf, party town. Note shape of waves

- death run on the beach at Playa Hermosa. Went pretty far and the humidity just killed me at the end. I should have just rented a board and surfed Playa Hermosa, waves were great, there

- had a nice breakfast right on the beach and it was a beautiful day. A huge iguana walked over my foot and freaked me out. He was super friendly so I fed him

- great surf at legendary Jaco! Paddling out was hard and my shoulder hurt. All my swimming has not helped me too much with the rotator cuff overuse injury

- great lunch oat restaurant closest to beach and cheap. Seems like I always choose a restaurant and hotel that is closer to the ocean than anyone else. What a beautiful beach !

- crazy ride back!!! Oh my gosh. I thought I followed the signs but I got on a road that I didn’t come in on. It eventually turned into a dirt road. For the next 4 hours I am sure I was discovering new land in CR. I was sure I was going to get a flat or run our of gas and die in the middle of nowhere. After 2 hours I knew I had to stick to the road and just take my chances wherever it ended up. Right when I thought I must be utterly lost I popped out in Orotina and was pretty close to where I should be

<= on way to being lost

Monday (5/14)

- just worked all day

Tuesday (5/15)
- Took a long lunch and Pili took me shopping for my wife’s b-day present (she is so great at this type of stuff)
- got a flat tire
- rather than change it, Pili advised me to drive on it to a tire center. This went against my judgment but it worked out. We drove about 2 miles on it. They changed it for free
- Found some nice jewelry for my wife

Wednesday (5/16)
- took the morning off so I could go for a long run and sit by the pool. Running is such a great thing to do here. Even though it is hard in the humidity, running up and down through country paths helps me see and feel the culture so much more
Funny thing- I ended up being part of some all girl school 10k, or something. I turned the corner on my way back and there were all these hi school girls wearing #s and aid stations giving bags of water. I was able to out run the girls :) I mocked them saying ‘yo soy mas rapido, yo soy el campion’ I didn’t really say that
- had dinner at an Italian place in plaza ribera. It was good and $ was reasonable. Just a mile or so from the hotel. Not sure why I did this as Wedensday’s is one of the buffet nights at the hotel. Maybe I ate here on Thursday after my swim

Thursday (5/17)

<= my swim
- good long swim. Well over 2 miles

Friday (5/18)
- Hooray, the all you can eat BBQ night

Saturday (5/19)
<= bday Jane - good run seeing new areas of town. Wish the cars had smog converters

- Hooray, my wife arrives. We eat and sit by the pool but she falls asleep and does not wake up. Pili helped me plan a surprise party for her in my room (Pili really has the gift for making things special and hospitality)

- The hotel staff came by at 7:00pm but my wife was still sleeping so I had to send them away

- My wife awoke at about 9:00 pm so I snuck out and got the staff and they came back with me. They brought flowers and balloons, and cake… and sang to my wife as she woke up

Sunday (5/20)

- dang, I missed brunch to catch bus to Arenal volcanoe
- long ride to Arenal ~ 3 hours or more, but the tour guide was interesting
- after looking at the volcano and Arenal lake we went to Tabacon hot springs. Wow, this was a great place! The hot water from the river flows over a 5’ drop on your back and gives you the greatest massage. Talk about relaxation!!
- We stayed at an amazing hotel (Kyoto) closest to the volcano and all rooms have the entire wall facing the volcano windowed.

Monday (5/21)
- wake up to volcano but still cloudy. Can see maybe 50% of it. Hear howler monkeys thru the night and I thought it might be the volcano making sounds
- people we met stayed on the other side of the volcano and said they saw lava, heard rocks the size of cars hurling down the mountain and were amazed. I cant believe we were told to go ot the wrong side L
- Got up early to take the canyon negro river tour. Saw tons of stuff – birds, flowers, caymans (like mini crocodiles), jesus lizards, iguanas and all kinds of monkeys (howler, white faced and squirrel)
- Jane had a funny quote- where are the Cancuns? (she meant to say the caymans)
ç dominant male is mad at us

Tuesday (5/22)
- SC REP staff, said good-bye to the REs L

Wednesday (5/23)
- FM REP staff, said good-bye to the REs L
- Missed great buffet BBQ to take Jane & Pili shopping :( Jane needed Pili’s help where good deals were. I got to be the driver :/
- they found some good deals and all I found was a pretty good place to eat crepe sandwiches
- then I sat at the bookstore and read all about U2. Didn’t know Bono cried constantly until he was 3 years ole. I wonder if that helped develop his voice and lungs? I am still amazed at how the bands synergizes and supports each other. Seems like Bono is the D, Edge is the C, Adam has an I to him and Larry is the S. They all need each others strength to be so successful

Thursday (5/24)
- laziest day ever. I must feel sabbatical coming on.
- my wife and I laid in the rain by the pool and talked all morning
- we then hung out in the jacuzzi in the rain and talked all thru lunch
- then went and had coffee in the front of the hotel and talked after lunch
- then went to the 2nd story hotel bar and watched the rain- and talked on backyard theology until evening
- had dinner at a french restaurant in la ribera. we had a french version of shabo-shabo (japanese meal where you boil different meats in a pot and then they bring out different sauces to dip in)

Friday (5/25)
- a long run again. More great experience running thru the city streets and getting a feel of the culture and people. Exhaust from cars and humidity make it tough, though. I had to stop at the top of a hill, sit on concrete steps and catch my breath and regain my will to live
- got a little lost going down some country road. Thought for sure I was going to get attacked by a dog
- very hard to disengage from Intel worked late into the evening

Saturday (5/26)
ç driving away
- Day 1 sabbatical!!
- Did a few more emails…tsk, tsk
- breakfast buffet was aweome, as always. Cant wait to weigh myself after this trip. I know I have broken some world record for eating… even that Japanese guys that eats 60 hot dogs
- swam about 800m, just not into it. I think humidity saps some of my energy
- trip to Manuel Antonio park took a long time to go about 90 miles.
- there are 2 bridges you have to coross, and they are one lane. So, if cars are coming from the other direction they stack up for miles and you have to wait until evcery last one of them clears out before you can cross! .. I think on both bridges we waited easily 40 mins/each
- Ate at some roadside Tico house for food, ella no hable ingles, so we had fun ordering. We got what we thought
- search for hotel- La Posada beach huts were full, we found a pretty good alternative Verde del mar was nice $50/nt. No TV which is fine
- the crabs all over the place and trying to get into our room J
- dinner on the beach! Amazing garlic mahi mahi and I am not a big fish eater. great. nice family that lives there… aunts, uncles, nephew, nieces all just hang out on the beach
- long walk on the beach in the evening w Jane – tons of lightening, good memory
- great way to start sabbatical!!

Sunday (5/27)
ç M Antonio
- slept OK, small a/c in wall kept the humidity manageable
- breakfast at same restaurant on beach. So cool
- typical tico pottey salesman sells us 7 pots while eating breakfast. These guys are all over the country. Wherever we stop they are there with their pots
- i had to drive and find a bank to pay him since I had run out of colones
- nice walk on beach from hotel to manuel antonio park, about 400m
- some ticos charge money to boat you across a small rivet park entrance but we just waded thru the river
- we hike to manuel antonio beach, called 3rd beach (but it really is the 2nd one you get to). it was very nice and i jumped in and swam the entire length of the beach a few times (since I have been itching to get a good swim in) while Jane looked for monkeys. She didnt have to look far as they came right down to where she was sitting! She got great pics of a bunch of white faced monkeys, up close and on the beach
- on our way back we saw a couple more sloths. who sleep 3/4 of their life and come out of the tree 1x/week to poop 1/3 of their body weight. Man, I think I would like to be a sloth
- note on door says i left my car lights on after i went to the bank to get $ for Janes pots. Yep, battery was dead and no one in the entire town has heard of or owned jumper cables. our rental was an automatic so couldn’t pop start it
- since we couldn’t drive anywhere we tried to walk up the hill to the nice restaurants but it was so dark and no sidewalks, jane fell and almost sprained her ankle L
- we then walked down to the main part of manuel antonio and ate. pretty good food. i think i had Mexican. Didn’t like everyone smoking all around me
- worker at hotel tells me he will get me jumper cables (called alligator cables here) or charge my battery for me while i do canopy tour in morning

Monday (5/28)
- up very early to do the canopy tour (zip lines and rapelling)
- about 1 hour drive to the canopy place and they gave us a nice breakfast. it was beautiful and right on a nice stream.
- we did 9 zip lines, 2 rapellings and 1 tarzan swing. It was a lot of fun, especially for my wife.
- arrive back at hotel about 1:00 and nothing has been done to my car L
- necessity is the mother of invention so i pulled a battery out of another car and used it to start my car and then while my car was running I took it out & put the battery back in the original car. I then connected my dead battery to my car, again, while the car was still running. crazy. it worked, though. the guy was super nice that let me do this. but that is the way most people are here. i owe him. he wouldnt even take $ as a thank you
- long drive ahead of us (And the crossing of the 2 rivers) and we stop in Jaco to eat. Jaco is where I surfed my first weekend here. It is a very great surfing town but a little wild on the partying side of things that I can talk about off-line
- great lunch on the beach and we met a nice kid named kevin asking for $. he was 14 years old and said his mom was dead and dad was in prison. he asked if he could come with us to guanacaste. i also met a surf instructor named eduardo and he advised me not to and that he had been trying to help him. eduardo was a nice guy and very open about his life and struggles
- we stayed too long talking w kevin and eduardo and since it gets dark early here we didnt make Nosara. In fact, it started pouring rain and there are no street lights and we were driving in some crazy conditions, causing some tension in the car. Now I know why the Fodors book said not to drive at night. After what seemed forever, 4 or 5 hours we ended up in a little town called Nicoya, but the one hotel we saw did not seem like a good place to stay. I got lucky and found another place for $20/night that even had a TV. it seemed much safer but no hot water and you could see through the front door thru the cracks. just a bed and toilet. we walked around the hotel and found a hole in the wall pizza place and ordered pizza. I loved talking to the owners 2 little daughters in spanish. my 8 years of spanish finally paying off. We took the pizza to the room and ate and slept

Tuesday (5/29)
- nicer day, the rains have stopped
- the book says the ride to from Nicoya to Somara and then to Nosara will be beautiful. the book was right. beautiful tropical countrysides the entire way and the road is good to somara… not to Nosara, though!
- there is not much to Somara. small little surf town. i found a great little breakfast place called shekina. i really enjoyed the breakfast- eggs, pancakes, beans and rice, fresh fruit and toast. also, i really like CR coffee and have started drinking coffee for the first time in my life
- i found a budget rental car place, extended my rental to June 10
- found an internet/travel cafe. while i was checking email, my wife found out there is a small plane that flies out of Carrillo (right next to samara) for $92. actually, we had to have the lady search every airport and if we didnt suggest carrillo, she wouldnt have checked it. Anyway, I went and bought the ticket for her.
- Jane met Josh and Amy from Florida, who later become my surf buddies for a couple days
- now, the road to Nosara is not too good like the book states. in fact, if you take the low road there are 2 rivers you cant cross. Even the high road the 2 rivers can be a challenge. but it is bumpy, dirt road all the way for 26 km. takes about 45 minutes. rough on the back. called a costa rica massage :(
- We roll into Nosara and it is hard to tell it is even a town at first. The book mentioned casa romantica was next to the beach and that is always my criteria for choosing a place. it turnos out this place is beautiful! Lush tropical garden, great pool and a short beautiful path right to the beach from our room. she gives us the best room since it is low season here for $60/nt, includes breakfast! Wow, I am happy and decide not to even look elsewhere. I love this place.
- We unload our stuff and walk to the beach. what a great beach and especially for surfing. i rent a surfboard right away ;)
- go for a nice run at low tide
- go to dinner at giordino tropical garden and run into josh and amy and their friends. They tell me the surf has been blown out in front of our hotel, lately, and they would take me to another place on Wednesday
- dinner is great but takes forever

Wednesday (5/30)
- great breakfast- fresh tropical fruit, omelette, rcie and beans ;)
- meet Josh and Amy and we drive to Garza. About 15 minutes away but only because of the death dirt roads. Its really only 2 miles away or so
- someone has stolen my leash!!
- waves break about 200 yards from shore. we are the only ones out there, so I decide to surf without a leash. Bad decision
- I catch first wave, fall and my board goes all the way to shore.
- i am stuck 200 yards away and Josh and Amy are nowhere to be seen
- felt pretty vulnerable, but finally relaxed and swam in
- 2-3 hours out surfing. Had a great time, but the locals started coming out and would grab the waves. They know exactly where to sit on the outside so they can catch the wave. It is a big no-no and sign of disrespect to drop in on them by catching the wave inside. So, I had to let many waves go by. In CA you get beat up if you drop in on a local or they trash your car
- After surfing I am unusually sore. Especially my back. I have 3 weak areas. 2 are overuse injuries from swimming so much- my shoulder and elbow. Swimmers shoulder (rotator cuff) and elbow. They both hurt. But my lower back really hurts and I get that when I run long distances, some times. So, my 3 weak areas are inflamed. Bums me out. Now is not the time for my body to be weak!! Not in this great place with so much to do

Thursday (5/31)
- Decide to take a break from surfing and heal. But then like a dummy I decide to do a long run on the beautiful beach!! Couldn’t help it
- eat at place across from Marlin Bills- had a hamburger (not so good), tomato soup and bruschetta
- went marlin bills for dinner. It is funny to see all the restaurants let their animals run wild
- Walked to the internet place at night and it was so dark I couldn’t even see the potholes in the road filled with rain water. It was amazing how dark. Great place to play sardines J Anyway, I was starting ot hate life since I couldn’t see anything and then I noticed all these bright little light flashes along the bushes in the side of the road! Fireflies! I had never seen them before in my life. There were tons! So cool

Friday (6/1)
- another great breakfast
- spent all morning beachcombing looking for shells with my wife. great bonding w wife :) Interesting to see what shells we each think our ‘special’ out of the gazillions. Much like choosing a rotation and final placement ;)
- got on the internet to check email
- went surfing back at Garza. Only could do an hour
- back hurts!! all my training seems to be backfiring? shoulder and elbow from swimming and now lower back from running all hurt while surfing
- jane rubs my back down and teaches me some yoga stuff. Geesh, has my life come to this? I have to do yoga before I surf? I wonder if the back pain isn’t from driving on all these crazy CR dirt roads with potholes?! I mean I have done about 15 hours of bone rattling up til now
- painful walk to dinner. Love fireflies
- great dinner back at giordanos tropical. Watch one of the dogs pee on the table leg. Cracks me up. Cats and dogs run around all restaurants here

Saturday (6/2)
- sad day. Wife has to leave. Get up eat breakfast and make a dash for some airport in Carrillo, about 50 minute south
- very funny/frustrating trying to find airport, perceptions make such a difference in life, right?!! What do you think of when you think of an airport? Oh, I think of a terminal, planes, a runway, concrete, tickets, waiting areas…. Well, none of that. We find Carrillo OK but are frantically driving looking for any sort of sign that states airport. I was told it is a small town and you can miss it. Right next to the beack. The beach is gorgeous, by the way. SO we drive back and forth in a panic looking for this mysterious airport. We are running out of time, so we ask some people at a store and they look alittle confused but tell us to go 200 meters and turn right. Well, I go 200 m, turn right and I am at a house in a field. So, I get out and ask the owner of the house, he tells me in spaning just to take the dirt road at the side of his house. Well, we are running out of time and I take the dirt road and it dead ends (little did I know that the dirt road I was on was the runway). I go back to the house and he tells me to just go wait under this little shed in front of his house. Are you kidding? For what? Ok. So we go sit in this little bus s top shed on side of road. Then out of nowhere. Seriously, out of thin air. This lady starts walking to our shed and asks for Janes passport. HSe has a clipboard, checks Jane’s name off and sits next to us. Wow. Next thing we know here comes this small plane flying over the ocean and lands right in front of us on the wet, dirt road I was just driving on!! Plane lands turns around and lets everyone off. Pilot is dressed like a pilot. Jane gets right on. I throw her luggage under the plane in the luggage compartment and off she goes. Didn’t even look like the plane needed much of a runway at all. Just got up and out.
- I was very ad to see wife go
- tried to explore and go south but got on another dirt road and said, ‘forget this’ I refuse to get on another dirt road
- good howler monkey sighting on road. Stopped and got pictures and a video. I know how to speak Howler and make the dominant male mad
- Playa Carrillowas just beautiful so had to take time to walk on the beach
- Picked up some hitchhikers form Czech republic. One was an engineering student (CS) I gave him my business card.
- They asked how AMD was doing and seemed surprised when I told them they were sucking wind pretty bad and losing market share
- great run on beach! I love it when i can run thru the thin layer of water as the waves roll up on shore! first run without bono, opened up my IPOD to other playlists. I think I am ruining my IPOD. I ruined my last 3 in Singapore, China and Penang. I think it has to do with humidity. I sweat so much when it is humid the water gets into the circuitry.
- sitting by pool i can hear ocean and once in awhie a howler monkey and always the birds. i am so at peace here, it is amazing. I am only one here a the hotel. weather is perfect. temp is perfect. i am so fortunate to be here. i hope I can do moe the just rest and have fun, I need clarity for what new challenges to undertake in my life when I come back
- Went at ate at giardonos tropical again and ate by myself. I do not like to eat by myself! Actually, I hate it. I like their focaccia and some penne/mozzarella dish
- walk home sort of sad and lonely. Drastic times require drastic measures. Yes, it is time to break out the U2 Vertigo video! Since there is no TV in my room, which I really am glad for, I put my laptop on the upper shelf and plug in my external speakers and lay on my bed and watch U2 all night. There really is no band like U2. The words to their songs actually have meaning. Bono really is trying to make a difference with his life and in the world and not just making tons of $. He certainly is not perfect but he admits that. Very transparent individual. I like that
ç U2 Vertigo

Sunday (6/3)
ç Chiara ;)
- wake up at 6:30 am, because I think I fell asleep at 8:30. 10 hours sleep! Nice. So, out of bed into my board shorts. Put rash guard on and grab my board. Take a beautiful 30 yard tropical path to the peach. Watch tons of big orange grabs run for their lives and the little green lizards run by my side. Quickly I arrive at the holy grail, the beautiful Guiones beach! Surf looks great. However, I take my time and stretch!! First time in my life :/ I guess I am doing some sort of pre-surf yoga. I don’t feel too foolish. Heck, I am staying in a place called ‘ casa romantica’ I cant feel much more foolish J I mean, I stretch forever! Like 15 minutes!! I cant even believe a person can go that long. Jump in the water and let the fun begin. I think surfing is the only sport where the first thing you do is make peace with the ocean. It is so powerful, it calls all the shots. You have to work with it and not fight it in any way. If you do, you will lose 100% of the time. Other sports, you can muscle and get your way. Not in this sport. What a great time.
- get back by 9:30 so I can get the free breakfast. Omelette, rice and beans, toast. I love the coffee. Weird. I love the CR salsa called lizanos salsa. Hopefully, Trader Joe’s carried it as I need it when I come back
- After breakfast I just sit by the pool and chill. Lo and behold, here comes Chiara running to see me, all smiles and skipping, my new girlfriend! She is so happy to see me. She is 6 years old and the daughter of the owner. I had tried to read her a goodnight story the night before but she went to bed early. She laughed hysterically as I tried to read her a book in German. She is from Switzerland and her English is great. We talked for over 3 hours about everything! I read her a few books, we talked at length about Disneyland and our favorite Disney movies. Then, I taught her knock-knock jokes. We made up our own for over an hour!
- Kids make me so happy. Its hard to say what I feel inside… it is a unique happy feeling that I feel nowhere else in life. Some of it is just laughter and pure enjoyment, I think kids are how we are all supposed to be and as we get older it gets beat out of us.
- Went to make sure my wife made it home safely. She did but she had to stay over-night in Houston since the San Jose airport is like their bridges on roads. Only one lane. At the airport there is only one runway so all the planes had to wait 2 hours for all the planes to land before they could take off
- Went and ate at Poncho’s but didn’t like it too much. But, they had great surf movies playing in the restaurant!!! I think the whole world should have the surfer vibe and feel. Everyone is happy talking about the waves and past surfing stories. They are healthy and happy. The ocean seems to relax and make everyone happy. I dare anyone to try and be sad or angry at the ocean. You really cant do it
- Back in my room, it is sort of sad and lonely again. I cant find my girlfriend to read her a nightme story. Well, fire up the Vertigo video, again J

Monday (6/4)
- Wake up at 7:20 am. Slept in as it was raining. Out of bed and into the board shoarts and down the path to the beach. HA, ha. I can be out of bed and on the beach in less than 4 minutes. If I did not have to do this stupid yoga pre-surf thing, I could be out of my bed and into my first wave in about 5 minutes. That is how God intended me to live!!!! Caught some nice waves this morning and stayed out a little longer. Hope my back does not hurt too much, later today
- Great breakfast. Now I am listening to U2 again. Here comes my crab buddies walking 4 inches from my foot. I am staring right at him. I think he is going into my room. He acts like he is sneaky and I cant see him but he doesn’t realize he is bright orange and bigger than a tennis ball. With a pseudo- face on the back of his shell that cracks me up. Big fake orange eyes and mouth to scare me away. I guess.
- What do I do today? Maybe try and do a run and then paddle back out. I cant believe how good I have it. I am in a tropical paradise. I have this place all to myself. I hear the ocean constantly. I have the entire Pacific ocean and the best waves all to myself. I have great food. The people here are all mellow and friendly. The surfers are just downright cool. I have the cutest 6-yr old girlfriend to talk to. I have my comfort foods in the refrigerator (cheezits, swiss chocolate w almonds, yogurt, pineapple and this cool CR dessert called ‘TRITS’ a great cookie, ice cream). I have great moments of reflection of how my kids have turned out, a great marriage, a great Cj7, a cool dog, a house I built, tremendous friends and a great job with great REs. Life is so good. This is what sabbatical must be for. What a great company to provide this opportunity. How am I ever going to leave this place?
- I can’t believe it. As I type this, a family of howler monkeys just jumped into the tree, right in front of me, where I laid down my surfboard. One dad, mother and baby!! They are just sitting eating the leaves! Incredible!
ç 3 monkees by my surfboard



Miscellaneous

ç hiding behind sink

ç erv, you are soo lost
ç CR comfort food

Funny stuff
Well, we have been here 3 weeks and I have not written anything to my blog. I have had a hard time balancing my new life, especially devoting myself to my new job & letting go of my REP job. I have only been working 40hr/weeks as it is so nice to do so much stuff with my wife in the evenings. I really want to capture som of the funny things that have happened though
- the bathroom in our hotel had little tubes of toothpaste. One morning I brushed my teeth and realized after awhile I had shaving cream in my mouth. I guess they also had a shaving kit & Jane had used it and pulled out an identical tube of shaving cream and left it on the bathroom counter
- chicken foot sticking out of hot pot
- christmas music at dinner
- me dressing
- the accident in front of our room
- $ that was reall 50 cents
- wearing girls cap swimming
- jane with the computer
- how to say 'no' and hello 'meow'
- buying stuff at silk street
- stuff we have eaten - aussie o's
- taxi driving
-

Interesting things
- selling arms to Iraq
- the people we have met
-

a picture of me at the forbidden city 

PRC/Singapore/India Trip overview
Saturday
- United lady at check-in cant find my reservation and goes weird lecturing me about why don’t I have a paper ticket (vs eticket). She ends up finding me under Lufthansa. I ask if I am still in Premiere & she then says, ‘no’ & lectures me some more. Turns out I really was in Premiere. I kept my cool
- Got sad saying good-bye to my family (10:30 am, Sat)
- Nice seat in plane, nobody to my right. Did email the entire 14 hours (waited on runway for 1-hour)
- Arrive in Beijing. City seemed very gray & dirty and dark because of the air, bummed me out
- Cab driver I think charged me ~$10 too much but I was so tired I was glad to just get in (6:00pm, Sun) . Shangri-La is a very nice hotel
- Logged in first thing and checked emails
- Ordered room service- did not like the food
- Went to sleep homesick and wondering what I was doing 6000 miles away, in this massive city w no air or sunlight
- Went to sleep, did not sleep well

Sunday (Monday PRC)
- got up at 4:00 am, called home
- Had a great breakfast! wow
- went in to the Intel office at 8:00 am (right across the street)
- Not much going on. Met my new mgr, told me just to rest
- So, I rented a bike and rode 30 minutes to the Forbidden City. Wow. So many sites, smells and sounds.
- Saw some poor young man who was severley crippled just laying off to the side of the road and I gave him 100 rnb (~$12), big woop erv. I really wanted to hug him and do so much more. it made me cry most of the way on my bike. I really need to do more to help the unfortunate in this world, this is plain ridiculous. We have so much, this guy has absoutely nothing
- I passed some youg kid and he got a big smile and decided to race me, so him and I raced allthe way to the FC, he had a huge smile on his face the whole way
- Some young college girl told me she would give me a tour for $20. I paid her. It was a good idea. She explained things well and was good company. She is trying to get into UC Berkeley & her English was good.
- It was so hot & humid , it was almost unbearable, even my guide said she thought she could not take it
- Rode back and went swimming in the hotel pool. Probably the nicest pool in the city! Almost 50M! Wow! I loved that. I am the biggest man in China and the fastest swimmer, by far
- Had dinner in the hotel, great buffet! Wow
- Met my new ‘team’ All are very nice- from Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India… mostly women
- Did emails and offers until midnight
- Did not sleep very well

Monday (Tues PRC)
- Up at 5:00 am
- More email
- It’s a rainy day but I still wear my shorts
- Breakfast was great! Wow
- All day mtg with the team, brutal!
- Had 70 minutes free at lunch so chose to skip lunch and try running in their gym. Felt good. Not like running outside in the sun with real air, but I guess I can handle being inside ona machine
- Getting out of the shower, they have polished tile floors and I slipped and went flying and landed on my back & my head just missed the steps! It really hurt but I still rushed back to make my mtg at 1:00 (with 30 seconds to spare), but I was in pain. MY back really hurt and I had a big goose egg on my spine that was huge. I thought my spine was sticking out but it was just massive swelling where I hit. At the 3:30 break , I went & found some ice and put it on my spine & it started to feel much better, wlk with a limp though - Went to dinner at 6:00
- Everyone takes a cab but I insist on walking, even in the rain. I got their before anyone because of the massive traffic. I think the walking helped my back loosen up, as well
- Dinner was good, Chinese. I ate frog, jellyfish and beef intestine & heart & feet. It was OK but still was weird
- Slept a little better

Wednesday (PRC)
- Up at 6:00 am , again
- Air is great because of rain! Hooray! Blue skies, beautiful to see. Makes me happy
- Lunch walked nearby to a good place
- All day meetings
- Dinner was good but I am not sure about frog and intestine stuff. I was the only one who walked there , again

Thursday (PRC)
- up very early for CA mtgs :(
- great buffet breakfast!!
- Long day in mtgs but went rock climbing at outdoor wall in ri-tan park. Beautiful day and lots of fun at the wall. good team building
- great dinner by India embassy!! Wow! xiheyaju, I signed up for the frequent eater program! good move, erv

Friday
- up early for CA mtgs :(
- great buffet breakfast!!
- long day in mtgs
- great swim in the 35 yeard pool. Frustrated by a series of email conflicts with another US manager. I was so amped up I dont think I ever swam as fast. Sort of disappointed with myself that I told them I wanted off a team with them as they were too hard to work with
- great dinner ad du dong duck. Peking duck is very good
- I think some guy tried to pick up on me at the club nearby :(

Saturday
<= here is where I fell to my death. They added the matt afterwards - up very early for mtgs - great buffet breakfast!! - called home :) - 3 hour nap!! :) - run on the treadmill! I dont like running on treadmills. Watched some dumb love movie w Jack Nicholson while I ran since my ipod battery was dead - Are the electricity spikes killing my iPOD? - did email until about 1:30 am :(

Sunday
- up early for buffet breakfast and then to the BICF church
- church was good, a 15 minute drive away. hard to explain to the driver where, though. Had to get on internet & print out directions for him
- helped teach the Jr hi group :) Taught the kids that underwear can be a resource
- great buffet lunch! I have certainly died & gone to food heaven, for sure!
- Another nap, I just cant seem to get any consistent sleep.
- Another huge swim. I never really excelled in athletics but I must say, I am a pretty good swimmer here.
- Just a normal dinner tonight. Spaghetti.

Monday
- up at 7:30, maybe finally getting back to normal
- dang, I love these breakfast buffets!
- re-made offers fro 3-4 interns for the 3rd time. Oh, that HAI tool
- did email all morning
- IMd with Alex for awhile.
- Ran on the dumb treadmill
- Went and looked for a place to live. I think I found a place called China World. It's close by the Intel site and the swimming pool. My 2 major criteria! Not near as expensive as Ascott but much smaller... 1/3 smaller, but I am good with that, I think.
- Finished making travel arrangements.
- Sure like buffets!

Tuesday
- Here is my Jr Hi group from Sunday, they needed some help so I volunteered
- 1/1s
- Great breakfast
- Got sort of caught up on email
- Good swim
- More email in the health club. Nice to get out and do email instead of from the hotel (BKM!)
- Italian buffet dinner, oh yeh
- I am all about buffets. Ervy buffet




Wednesday
- Up at 7:00
- Little email and pack
- Leave for airport at 8:45
- Arrive at 9:20. Sort of complicated figuring out which flight
- I think air china is also China East
- They only take cash for the plane ticket $1220 RMB :( groan
- Where to drop off luggage is not intuitive
- Not much english speaking in the airport so had to guess
- Had second worst meal ever in the airport
- On the plane an elderly lady next to me pulled out a tupprware thing when they brought our plane meal. It was liked diced jalapenos & red peppers from what I could tell. She offered me some. I cant refuse free food so took a ton. man, was it hot but tasty
- As a reward, she asked to listen to my iPOD, Ha, ha. I could hear her listening to U2 the whole way while she was tapping her foot like crazy. A 60 year old Chinese lady now loves U2, even though she cant understand a word of English
- Air in Shanghai is just as bad
- Went with non-regular cab driver & he charged me $20 too much. Never again! Iwil only go with standard cab drivers, even if they dont speak any English & i have to wait
- Good run in the gym, but hate running ona machine. It is so humid I sweat so much I cant even believe there is that much water in my entire body
- Ran into an Intel guy at dinner from FPG and had a great long talk about life & work
- Ordered chocolate soufle but the cook ruined it. Chocolate has to be melted on the inside. Oh well. It was only $5
- Better sleep, big day, tomorrow

Thursday
- up early, 30 min cab ride into Intel
- Nice site. Numbering of cubicles is crazy, though
- Food meeting with Olivia and REP needs
- Lunch in cafeteria. I had 5 bowls of stuff.
- Great shopping in Shanghai mart. ha, ha... lots to say about that
- Great dinner at Japanes place

Friday
- all my contacts were out of the office so worked form the hotel. At about noon I said to heck with it and went walking around Shanghai.
- I made friends with a guy that works at the hotel and we went all over the place in the evening. His name is Wengshei or something and he goes by Windy. His English is pretty good.
- Went to the top of the Jinmao tower, tallest in China, third in the world. Taiwan has one a little higher. Impressive view but so much pollution plus it was getting in the evening couldn’t appreciate is, as well
- I think it is 88 stories and 8 means something special. Every thing means something here. - Then we took the transit on over the Bund and that is a cool place to hang out. Ninjan road is just incredible and just lit up beyond belief and everyone is out walking the super wide street. Very impressive!
- We ate at sum famous Dim Sum place and ate about 30-40 dumplings. I felt sort of sick afterwards

Saturday
- travel day and it is raining
- I was 4 RMB short to pay the driver so had to run in and use the ATM :- 40 minute drive to the airport got there over 2 hours early, glad I did since Singapore air did not have record of my e-ticket. Singapore air lady let me use ther cell phone and I called Am Ex (no easy deal, internationally) and they got me fixed up but took forever
- Shanghai airport is much nicer than Beijing’s and easier to find things, not as crowded
- Singapore airlines rules, no doubt about it. Nice seats with a TV in front with a ton ov videos, TV shows, music, can even learn Chinese on there. I was going to work the whole trip but ended playing with the TV the entire 4.5 hours!
- Guy next to me had a bad cough and picked his nose & wiped it on the seat in front of him. Bummed me out
- Got into the hotel about 8:00. What a waste taking the shuttle. Only saved $5 Singapore $ but cost me 30 minutes
- Staying at the Shangri-la again. Man, those are the best hotels with the best food in the world. I feel like I am in Kauai! Seriously! In every way. This place has the same island feel, it is humid, my hotel is so lush with vegetation and the pool is incredible.
- Feel like I am part of the lifestyles of the rich & famous
- Dinner was just incredible. A buffet from about 10 different nations. I couldn’t believe it, just like it was in Beijing. I have to be gaining weight

Sunday
- Can’t decide what to do. Go running, eat breakfast, swim in the massive pool or work
- Decide to eat, even though not hungry at all after the huge late night dinner, before
- Then I get a great idea. I need to exercise but why not try and find a fun place, along the ocean. Well, on my map I see there is a little island called Sentosa abd 5-10 minutes from me aqnd I recall there is a Shangri-la there. So I go to the Concierge and he hooks me up so I can use all their facilities when I am there with a pass so I can bring my backpack, so I can run and swim J
- I take a taxi to Mt Faber
- I then take a mini tram down into Sentosa. Whoa, way cool
- Once there it is a small island but sort of like a mini adventure island.
- I take the free adventure bus to Shangri-la, change in the bathroom and decide to run completely around the island J
- I think the island is 8 miles around, but everyone I ask doesn’t know, even thee Concierge
- I run and it is hard as it is very humid but I make it half way and I get a piercing pain in my arch. I stop & rest (I needed to, anyway ad rub my arch for 3 minutes). Fixed. I run the rest of the way around the island J I am exhausted and sweating like crazy . So I buy 3 waters and head to the ocean in front of Shangri-la
- The ocean is warm so I jump in and swim forever, I actually swam around the very most southern pt of continental Aisa! Cool! I think it was about 2 miles. Took me an hour. It was freaky though as I would swim thru junk like seaweed and wood and stuff and I would freak out thinking I was in a pool of jellyfish. What a memory! On the swim back (after I cr0ossed the southern most pt of Asia) when I would turn to breathe I would see all these massive freightliners going past
- I then got out and got my backpack and sat by the great pool and read Leadership Challenge and ordered food and just relaxed
- When I got back to the hotel I decided I needed to walk around and get the feel of the city so I went walking down the st & along Orchard ave (the happening street) & had dinner. It was a nice warm evening and everyone was out. A couple bands were playing on the street & I stopped to listen to them
- I think I could live in Singapore. It is so cool. It is 80% Chinese but English is the business language spoken here. It is like the hub of Asia Pacific business so there is ton of diversity but still feels a little like a beach town with big business. Very clean and safe. I wanted to spit twice but held back
- I do not know what the rage is over moon cake. It is like fruitcakes or something. I tasted it and didn’t think much. It is some Autumn festival here and everyone is buying them. They are in fancy boxes and cost a lot but taste terrible.
- Time to go to bed. Have a very busy week. Hope I am ready to conduct First Line Mgr training in India, Friday morning :p

- iPOD is acting crazy

Monday
- Get work done!!! Worked from hotel

- Good swim in. Pool too warm, though.

- Big buffet dinner. I loeve this crepe thing they have for dessert that has brownie & nuts in the middle and then berry sauce. Listened to my iPOD

- Server asks me if I just woke up & I said, 'no, went swimming, my hair looks this way after i swim.' Everyone there looks like a fashion model. I just look NorCal

Tuesday
- Big buffet breakfast! :)

- Take taxi into office.

- Vision of Singapore is 'future of legendary service'

- Intel office is very nice in Singapore. Even more compressed offices, though

- They have free snacks in the break room, though!!

- Have a good 1/1 w William mapping out iMBOs

- Nice place to eat on 2nd floor but some weird pig pieces.

- Run at night. Crazy! Humididty is less butno sidewalks where I am and have to dodge cars.

- Find the Botanical gardens & run around that. It is huge so perfect place to get miles in. Very beautiful
- Buffet dinner

Wednesday
- Big buffet breakfast

- Take taxi into office
- Good evening swim, still feeling strong
- Dinner w William, Jeslyn & Millie at Newton Circus. A bunch of outdoor places to eat all in one location. Get a table and walk around and order food & goive them your table #. When they bring the food just pay. Great food. I ate stingray & enjoyed it to my surprise. Huge crayfish and saty and tons of food. Great!

- Why do they put corn on top of the ice cream?

Thursday
- Great breakfast. Fed a skittish cat

- Work from hotel so I can pack up

- Turns out they give me a late check-out

- Then another lady by the elevator even gives me a later check-out so I can go for a run

- Bad mistake. I run in the most humid weather of my life and seriously think I might die. I get to the Botanical gardens and I am sweating out more water than I have ever in my life. I am thinking of begging someone for $1 so I can buy a bottle of water, somwhere. Finally, I just stop & think, I can't even make it if I walk back. After a few minutes, I try again. Again, I am just sweating massively and am really thinking I have not 1 drop of water left in me, so I rest again. Finally, it clouds up a little & that seems to make all the difference & i am able to run bak to the hotel. I drank soooo much water. Like a half a gallon

- iPOD is now dead. I think because I sweated all over it. Dang

- Ate at the Hard Rock cafe and bought a t-shirt. Hadn't been there in ~8 years. Man, has Singapore changed
- Caught a taxi to the airport, everything much smoother getting ticket. Seems very expensive, though

- Singapore airport & airlines are just amazing!

- I get to my flight & there in are called the Oasis, right across the way. I can't beleive it, it is all dimmed for rest and has massage chairs! I sit in one for almost an hour and get massaged to death. Wow. Loved that

- However, somehow going horizontal & the vibratin machine caused my passport to slip out of my pocket. Also, it was so darki, I couldn't see it when I got out of the chair.

- However, as I walked away I saw it shoved into the crack *whew* close call

- plane trup to Bangalore was great. I love the tv/audio in the headrest that you cna play with the whole way!
- Got in at midnight. India airport is the opposite of Singapore. Getting through customs and out was no small ordeal. Getting luggage was no small ordeal. Getting a taxi was no small ordeal. It was on ordeal

- Got to the Leela Palace at 1:00 am. Hard to figure. Seems like a very niv ce place set in the midst of poverty

- Didn't sleep so well, started getting homesick, again

Friday

- Pretty good breakfast on the executive floor

- Up early and into the Intel office, right across the street.

- Hoping it is the right Intel office. I think there are 5 or 6

- Turns out I was lucky! All my other mtgs are at other Intel offices in India but the class I am teaching is right here.

- Eat lunch in the Intel cafeteria. Great Indian food, tons of it... all less than $1!! Yeh, baby!

- They take lunch at 1:00. Work from 9-6

- Teach PTV. Small room with small chairs & table but everything works fine. Especially the A/V

- I am tired and dont feel I am doing my best but half the students come up after the class & thank me for doing a great job & I get some nice comments on the surveys. Made me happy!

- Funny story! Ok, I noticed I got some weird looks walking on over from the hotel and also while at Intel & it finally dawned on me after the class. I am wearing a bright green Tommy Bahama hawaiian shirt and I notice all men wear darker colors & only the women wear the very bright colors in robes. So, I look like a girl, here. I ask some of the students after the class if this is true and finally they confess, you look nice but.... different.

Saturday

- Finally, a day to sort of rest

- Get up & eat breakfast

- Decide to run on the stupid machine

- Maybe I set the level too high (9) or for too long (60 minutes) or somethingbut the run almost kills me. Feel almost as bad as when I ran the last time in Singapore. Can barely stand. So , I went to the pool and swam 55 laps, that made me feel better.

- Sat in jacuzzi & sauna for awhil and now ready to go check out India so I ventured out to the happening place in Bangalore which would be MG (Mahatma Gandhi) Road. Well, in the 3rd world the most happening place still nothing we are used to (reminds me much of my trip to the Philippines).

- Anyway, I decided to take the autorickshaw than to have the nice hotel limo take me. I wanted to save Intel $ and the autorickshaw looked crazy & thought I needed to experience it, as that is the way most everyone gets around. I am so amazed I am not dead.

- Once I got there some other rickshaw guy grabs me & tells me he will take me free across town to see a silk place. He either said that or I want to take you across town & kill you. I took the chance and so did the white knuckle ride across town to this store that sells silk rugs and stuff. I did want to get something like that for my wife & daughter so I battled with the guy for an hour and bought 2 cashmere scarf’s and 1 silk bedspread. All, for $300. To be honest I was just glad to get the heck out of there (I get no pleasure out of shopping, just conquer & get the heck out).

- My driver that seems to be hijacking me says he is a Christian and will come pick me up for church in the morning & take me to St Mary’s. I told him I was not Catholic and not to come to my hotel & hunt me down like a wild dog, but he insisted.

Sunday

- Well, this morning there he was in the lobby waiting for me. I told him I found another church to go to- India Christian fellowship but I cant find it anywhere in the 50 year old map I bought for 400 rupies on MG road. He says, I know that place, I will take you there. So, he takes me somewhere else on the opposite side of town and we end up at an Assembly of God church. So, OK, it worked out, I guess. Church was good. Will talk more about that later.

- So, the guy has me hostage, again, and starts taking me all over the city and telling me just to stop & look in different stores (obviously, he is getting a commission). On one hand, the places I am going don’t seem too bad, so I am somewhat willing. Finally, I reach some pt & can’t take it anymore and tell him I have bought everything I can for my family, I am done with shopping, I hate shopping, take me back or I am going to get another rickshaw home. He seems offended and seemed to think that now is the time to kill me.

- I am safe back at my hotel and I am not sure I ever want to go back out, again. Seriously. Basically, when you walk around, you stand out like a sore thumb. It’s like you are wearing a sign that says, I have sooo much $ I am desperate to give it to someone, please help me and take my $! Every poor person in the world comes begging and pleading with you. Tons of young mothers holding their babies all bandaged up like their babies are hurt. Then there are the folks on the street selling stuff attacking you to buy & they are relentless & if you go into a store, the whole process starts again. There is not one second of relief. Not one second. When I got out of church, every mother with child in the entire city followed me down the road begging for $. All I kept saying was ‘Oh God, Oh God…” I have given most of my $ to the deaf & dumb kids and older folks but had to draw a line somewhere. I think these mothers could work

- I am exhausted. I should swim but not sure I can muster up any more discipline. Just getting thru this day took every ounce of discipline. I got a little freaked out last night. Sort of like I do when I swim across a cold lake. Like what am I doing here? I want to be done with this! Get me the heck out of here! I think I am just homesick (BTW- I did try & swim but it started pouring rain and I decided to forget it)
- I have many more stories to tell but for right now, I just want to do well at Intel this week and get the heck home.

- BTW, the sports I am watching are Rugby, the US open & Cricket. I dont quite get Cricket. As far as US open, in the next 8 hours the India champ Sonia will take on Sharipove. Hope I can see it.

Monday

- It's a holiday in US but not here. Today is when I do First Line Manager (FLM) training with the Inidia managers. It went well.

- Intel building SRR1 is very nice but the shuttle ride there is hard & the traffic is so bad

- Had lunch w Eswar. Nice guy from IBM. Food is soo cheap & good in the Intel cafe (<$1).

- Swim day. Nice to have a pool. I hear it is the only one in all of Bangalore

Tuesday

- Meet with various managers in PSB1. Pooja, Sid, Srini... Eswar is moving his office to SRR1

Wednesday

- Holiday here. Festival to the god of Ganesh. Lots of colorful elephant dolls being sold everywhere and lights are up in places. Eswar tells me a certain % pray to the elephant idol they purchase , whereas others pray to God and the idol is just a reminder or some sort of 'proxy' or reminder

- Had a good swim and rested a few hours, worked the rest

Thursday

- Missed MGI extended staff as I missed the bus. I was there over an hour early but the bus came to a different place from where all the other Intel shuttles leave

- Dinner with the new REs was fun. Great food at a Chines restaurant... cold tell the India influence int he food :)

-

Friday

- Super hard day. Get up early to catch bus to SRR1. Very crowded and stuffy while I did last minute preparations for teaching my class. No other bus

- Because of bad traffic I was 10 minutes late to class but I did not let it fluster me. I guess I should have taken a cab but wanted to save $

- Class went well. Many managers in the class and they were very responsive & nice

Saturday

- After such a long, hard day, yesterday, and trip, in general, I need a break. So I slept in. HAd a big breakfast and then did a run & a swim. What is really strange is I was so worn out , I felt I deserved some sort of reward so I paid for an Indian massage in the healthclub. 90 minutes! That is so atypical of me but it was pretty good. I checked out and worked in the executive area until about midnight & then took a taxi to the airport. $500/night hotel! I din't realize it would be so expensive

- Inida airport is just terrible & chaotic. I get there 2 hours early & still almost miss the plane. Everyone crowds in, no normal lines, people cut in, not well organized.

- 21 hour flight back. Egad

-