Tuesday, August 23, 2005
As I mark my 55th year off the calendar...
I want to thank those who helped, left comments and hopefully took a little piece of me to tuck away in their hidden recesses. I don't know what happened to that Chennai Blogger crowd, but maybe we'll remember our roots and meet again. Romba nandri.
2:10 PM
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Thursday, August 11, 2005
I need some help from Indian readership
I know of a single American woman planning to spend 4 months at Bihar Yoga Bharati (World's First Yoga University) in a town called Munger. This woman has never been to India and will be traveling alone, living in the ashram. Please visit the website above to get a feel for the place, program, people, etc. Kindly leave your thoughts and guidence in the Comments Section under this post AKA "...digging/shoveling..."
Particulars from website:
1. Leaving the ashram is discouraged with only 2 day passes per month.
2. There's no ashram heat and January temps are forecast at 5°C/41°F.
3. Silence is enforced much of the time.
4. Meals are vegan with occasional milk or curd.
5. Shared bath and toilet facilities imply she might learn about bucket, squatting and lack of tissue.
12:20 PM
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Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Gems from Customer Satisfaction Surveys on an outsourced PC HelpDesk
Please help me understand the logic of the following:
"Come back to the USA for those of us in the US ...
And you can help solve little computer problems without charging!"
When the labor cost goes up by a factor of 10, how does a "little" service become free? And who decides when a "little computer problem" becomes big?
12:09 PM
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Tuesday, August 09, 2005
H1-B visas: going, going...
almost gone for Fiscal Year 2006 beginning 01 October. Over 22,000 foreign, high-tech workers have approved applications for U.S. employment and 29,000 plus are pending. That means about 13,000 or 20% of these visas remain in these last two months. It'll probably be a hectic time for Prince Roy so be nice to our fellow blogger ;^)
1:52 PM
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Monday, August 08, 2005
Friday night beer tasting
The occasion was the 10th annual Flour City Brewer's Fest. $17 each got us unlimited sampling with beautiful 6 oz. etched glasses, several live bands playing in the background, and a show of heavenly bodies brought on by a warm Summer's eve and loosened inhibitions. The setting was Rochester's historic and beautiful High Falls on the Genesee River. Halfway thru the tasting, I knew enough to put a little food in my stomach: delicious pulled pork sandwiches from Dinosaur BBQ along with their tangy cole slaw and salt potatoes smothered in garlic herb butter.
Oh yeah, the brewery stands I visited, followed by the on-tap brews sampled:
1. Brouwerij van Hoegaarden "Original White Ale"
2. Middle Ages Brewing Company "Swallow Wit"
3. Rohrbach Brewing Company
a. "South Wedge Summer Ale"
b. "X Ale"
4. Southern Tier Brewing Company
a. "IPA"
b. "Hop Sun"
c. "Phin & Matts Extraordinary Ale"
5. Custom Brewcrafters
a. "Canandaigua Lake Ale"
b. "EPA English Pale Ale"
c. "Hop Harvest"
6. Victory Brewing Company
a. "Prima Pils"
b. "Hop Devil"
7. Flying Bison Brewing Company "Barnstormer APA"
8. Ithaca Beer Company
a. "Partly Sunny"
b. "Flower Power"
9. Ellicottville Brewing Company "Pale Ale"
10. Brooklyn Brewery "Weisse"
11. Brewery Ommegang
a. "Witte"
b. "Hennepin"
12. Magic Hat Brewing Company
a. "Hocus Pocus"
b. "#9"
13. Bear Republic Brewing Company "Red Rocket Ale"
14. Boulder Beer/Wilderness Pub "Mojo IPA"
15. Blue Point Brewing Company "Summer Ale"
16. Lake Placid Pub and Brewery "46'er Pale Ale"
17. Long Trail Brewing Company "Long Trail Ale"
And the answer to some of your questions:
1. I didn't drive
2. I'd guess I was legally intoxicated (0.05% blood alcohol content)
3. We behaved, walked relatively straight lines and didn't act drunk
4. On the 20 minute drive back to my house, we drank water.
5. At my house, I was competent enough to serve more water and espresso
6. I felt fine the next day and had more BBQ with "Slurpee Slinger" at NOLA, tho their beer wasn't as good ;^)
7:12 AM
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Sunday, August 07, 2005
Update for trendy Indian women: it's no longer 'Fair & Lovely'
It's now Young & Slim... and it doesn't come in a jar. Here's an idea for outsourcing: CSS, Cosmetic Surgery Screening:
"Thank you for calling Dr. Reddy's. May I be knowing your good breast size?
OK, may I now be holding you while I check you out?
(long dead silence, followed by sitar-laden advertising for medical vacation in India)
Thank you for holding, your details are perfect and I'll be having you completed in no time."
You know the drill ;^)
** ABOVE IS PARODY. It's not our company or yours. It's always somebody else **
9:35 AM
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Saturday, August 06, 2005
Ever hear of Lenny Bias?
Euthanasia is regularly practiced in Colombia, home of the world's cocaine cartel. The story indicates the death certificates of the euthanized read "cardiac arrest". If Dr. Death drops an eightball of pharmaceutical flake in the patient's IV, hell, there's pulmonary "blowout" unless it's some old 60's rocker ;^)
9:41 AM
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Friday, August 05, 2005
Root cause problem with offshore call centers?
While CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) surveys rank the #1 problem as "accent", perhaps chronic fatigue and overnight shifts are at the bottom of things. Trust me, I've seen a lot of phone agents with their heads on their little cube desks.
Also from personal experience, I know that India's pharmacy practice can help matters. Anyone can score from the gazillion of store fronts that sell branded drugs without script at less than 10% of U.S. costs (just like payroll). As an amateur gynecologist, I offer no medical advice, but call center workers may want to research modafinil. If the shopkeeper doesn't understand, ask for the PDR, Physician's Desk Reference (a cross catalog of drugs), to make your choice ;^)
12:39 PM
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Thursday, August 04, 2005
Office desks harbor 400X more bacteria than average toilet seat
Hmmmm, I wonder if this includes the soaking wet toilet seats in our Chennai, India office bathrooms?
A new book, “Why Do Men Have Nipples?”, has a lot of fun with medical facts.
Writing of "medical", I'm blaming my absence these past weeks on
1. lack of comments/feedback from readers (maybe there are none)
2. painful dental problems, i.e. infection, root canal, extractions, dry socket, etc.
10:07 AM
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