Travelling Technologist

At Long Last, My Novel

2012-01-30T20:42:00.002+07:00

Finally received the excellent cover art for my novel. You can purchase it here:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Tribe-ebook/dp/B00739SSF0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1327930339&sr=8-5

New Year's Eve

2012-01-26T19:01:00.002+07:00

With Christmas in the books and 2011 behind us, it was time to focus our efforts on closing out the old year and bringing in the new one.

We received such great feedback for our Halloween party, we were hoping to host a smaller, but just as fun, New Year’s Eve party for those who did not return to their home country. Unfortunately, only one other couple was able to commit far enough in advance for us to make proper arrangements, our two families decided to book rooms at the Shangri-La in Jakarta and attend the New Year’s Party at the hotel club BATS (Bar At The Shangri-La).

No sooner had we booked the room and purchased our non-refundable tickets then the inquiries started coming in. What are you guys doing for New Years? Are more tickets available? Can we bring friends? Our party of five quickly ballooned to a party of 19….a great size for a hosted New Year’s Eve party that would have saved us all money on hotel rooms and tickets to the club.

For my family, the hotel needed to accommodate three adults and three children (my wife’s cousin from Idaho was joining us). My booking was for a suite with an adjoining deluxe room with a baby cot and additional bed in the suite. When we arrived, we were told the rooms were already setup with the additional beds and were on separate floors. I objected, showing them the confirmation on my reservation. Forty minutes later, they had moved us to a new location, but said they would have to give us keys to the adjoining room later because it was “dirty” and needed cleaning.

The family we originally made reservations with sent me a text notifying that they were at the hotel and in their room. He complained they had moved them from their first room because something was broken. I asked what number he was in. He said they were being asked to move again because of an “engineering issue” in their room, then told me the number they were currently in. It was the adjoining suite! I knocked on his door and said: “You’re moving because you are in my suite. You must be the ‘dirt’ they were referring to.” The hotel apologized for the mix-up by providing them with a $300 bottle of champagne with which to bring in the New Year.

After settling into our rooms, my wife and her cousin went shopping for a dress to wear that evening and I took the kids to the pool. My son amazed me by jumping from the wall into the pool and swimming to me. He hadn’t shown the capability in the past and, once he realized he could do it, he spent the rest of the afternoon doing it non-stop. My daughter amazed me with her patience. I couldn’t entertain her and catch my son at the same time. She waited until he was tired and ready for a break, then her and I went and swam together for a while. A thunderstorm finally drove us inside.

We ordered the kids a room service dinner and got ourselves ready for the night. We were meeting friends for drinks at 8 then heading down for a 9 PM dinner. The kids ate and we got them ready for bed. Then, the beds for the kids never showed up. The second time we called, they told us they had none to bring us because they were sold out.

We left the kids with our nannies at 8 PM and went to the Club Lounge for drinks prior to heading down for dinner. The club lounge is for guests in suites and those who have paid extra for access to the floor. They have a special concierge for these VIP guests. I explained our bedding situation and asked them to rectify it quickly because our kids were ready for bed. I showed them the confirmation and said I wanted them to fix it even if they had to take a full size bed out of another room and go to the store to buy a new crib. Twenty minutes later they came back to tell me everything was fixed and they gave us a bottle of wine for our troubles. I love companies that recognize when they make a mistake and apologize for it. A strong track record before this incident, and the way they handled this one, are why we will continue to use Shangri-La hotels.

After finishing our drinks and meeting a new couple who would join us for the evening, we headed down to BATS for the evening’s festivities. Dinner was great, and they special ordered me a few items because of my allergies to seafood. Most people had a first course of Shrimp, followed by a lobster bisque, then a Salmon main course. I had a garden salad, tomato soup, and a nice steak. After dinner a live band covered the major hits and introduced the New Year. I made a fool of myself on the dance floor and we were all ready to crash when we finally went to bed at 2 AM.

The next morning we woke with the kids at 5:30. We waited until 9 to go down for the buffet breakfast, only to find ourselves standing in a very long line. We changed our mind and instead went back up to the Club Lounge and had breakfast there (both were free to us).

After breakfast we returned home and spent New Year’s Day fighting to remain awake while the kids played.

Christmas

2012-01-26T18:58:00.002+07:00

It’s difficult to make Christmas feel like Christmas in Jakarta. I imagine people who grew up in Hawaii wouldn’t notice a difference, but for those of us who grew up in the Midwest, or even in Arizona, Christmas here is very different. The malls still decorate with big trees, have carolers singing, and some even have snow fall from the ceiling, but the city doesn’t feel Christmas like cities do in the US. That doesn’t stop us from trying, though.

This year, Santa decided to introduce our family to his “Elf on a Shelf” program. With this program, he assigns an elf to each child in the family (except the babies) and the elf watches them all day and reports back to him each night. The elf arrives while you are sleeping, finds an observation point for the day, and changes location each day. You are required to name your elf, and you may talk to him or her, but touching is absolutely forbidden and could result in the forfeiture of all of your presents. It is important the elf does not see you misbehaving and deliver a bad report. And they move every day because half the fun is trying to find their new hiding spot!

Our kids must have been really good because Santa brought some cool new toys. The toy kitchen I’m sure required several hours of hard work with inferior tools and misleading directions to assemble. I’m not sure Santa was thinking of the parents when he gave our toddler a toy drum, but it has turned out okay nonetheless. Gifts from family were overwhelming for everyone, but, thankfully, they all arrived on time (at least from those who sent them on time).

We continued our tradition of hot chocolate and cinnamon toast for breakfast, and the kids enjoyed playing with their new toys all morning….then got bored with them, as they are wont to do. Mom and dad got cool gifts, too. I got a pogo stick and enough books to keep me occupied through February (finished half already), and my wife received I Love Lucy DVDs and the electronics I mentioned in our Singapore post. Santa had a few choice consumables for us in our stockings, too, but our kids ended up eating most of them.

The hardest part about Christmas in Jakarta is being away from the rituals, the culture, and the company of family. Exchanging gifts via DHL is not the same as playing the Gift Trade game where we steal and exchange gifts in a free-for-all fight of luck, timing and team strategy….ahhh, good times. Saying thank-you in person is always better than sending a note….requires less effort! And I hate not being able to veg-out in front of the TV watching football. Holidays are just not the same without watching grown men maul each other in the hopes of holding up a trophy at the end of the year.

But mankind is nothing if not adaptable, and we adapted to Christmas in Jakarta….so long as there isn’t another one.

Singapore

2012-01-25T22:19:00.000+07:00

As the end of the year wound down, I found myself with vacation and travel allowance balances I needed to use before the end of the year. I reserved a few days for when we had visiting family, and we booked a four-day weekend in Singapore with the balance.

When we visit Singapore, we typically stay in the city and walk to nearby attractions or take the subway to Universal Studios or Sentosa Island. This time, we decided to stay on Sentosa Island intending to have a relaxing beach vacation. I booked us a suite at Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort, right on the beach. Unfortunately, weather did not accommodate our plans.

In my prior post, I related the travel experience. The key lesson there: they will let you travel with an expired passport, but it will be a trying experience. I elaborate on our stay in this post.

We arrived on a Friday and awoke to overcast skies on Saturday. We had our large breakfast buffet then took a walk on the beach before heading to Chinatown for some holiday photos of the kids. That required most of the morning, and it was raining by the time we returned to the hotel. We had lunch, hoping it would stop raining, but it didn’t. We decided our best option was to complete the shopping we needed to do while in town, so that’s what we did. We loaded up on supplies for the kids, and I bought my wife her Christmas present from me (a Macbook Air) and from our kids (a new digital camera because our daughter broke the last one).

After a room service dinner, we passed out from exhaustion of travel and wandering the city all day. We awoke Sunday morning to more rain. We hoped it would clear after breakfast, but it never did. Not knowing what else to do with the kids since all of the activities we had come there for were outdoors, we suggested she try the kids club run by the hotel. She was reluctant, but agreed to try it. We didn’t see her again, except at dinner, for the rest of the trip. She absolutely loved the activities they offered. Thank you Rasa Sentosa!

That left us with the two boys. The baby is easy to entertain. Feed him, change him, hold him and let him observe and he’s happy. Our 2 year-old was a little harder. Sunday, we tried the toddler play area, but that only took up an hour. We tried playing in the room, but that didn’t last long either before he became bored. During a few breaks in the rain we did manage to go for a swim or watch the boats in the ocean, but the day just seemed to coast by in boredom for everyone.

When Monday greeted us with more rain, we knew staying at the hotel was not an option. We dropped our daughter at the Kids Club and took our sons across the street to the Aquarium. It’s small, and the weather shortened the one sea lion/dolphin show they have to a mere fifteen minutes, but the kids enjoyed viewing the big fish and watching daddy pet the sharks in the wade pool. The aquarium only ate up a few hours, but the rain had slowed to a mist when we finished, so we walked further up the street to Fort Siloso and took a tour. It is an interesting tour with good history of the Japanese invasion during WWII, but difficult to do pushing a stroller and under slick conditions. I nearly slipped off the wooden bridge as we maneuvered our way down the hill. The signs warning us to watch for poisonous green tree snakes did not contribute to our enjoyment in the least.

It is unfortunate the weather was so poor. The hotel was great and would have been even better had we been able to enjoy the beach, the sea water activities, the pool and the water slides. The resort is built with families in mind….though I would have preferred a hot tub that was actually hot. Even the stray monkeys jumping from balcony to balcony in search of food and mischief were scarcely seen due to the weather, though we did manage to get pretty close to them when they meandered by our room.

I hope we get an opportunity to go back. I don’t think we obtained the full enjoyment we could have from the experience.

Kids Update

2012-01-25T21:48:00.000+07:00

Most of the content of my blog focuses on life as an adult, with minor glimpses into the life of an expat child. This entry will be more about life as a child….or at least, the lives of my children.

Our 5 year-old daughter began kindergarten this year at the major international school here in Jakarta. None of the friends she made in pre-school transitioned with her, so she had to start making friends from scratch – something she’s done every year since we arrived. Some stayed at her original school, others went to a different international school – German, New Zealand, British, etc. Luckily, our next door neighbor attends the same school and is in her class. On the one hand, the experience of starting over will help her when we move back to Phoenix. On the other, continuity of friends is a fond memory I have from my childhood, and I’m sorry she hasn’t experienced that yet.

As expected, she has thrived in Kindergarten. So much so that she is sad and upset on days she doesn’t go to school. She looks forward to school. The school she attends includes students from K – 12. It’s where I used to play rugby on Thursday nights (something I’ve long since stopped doing). We originally drove her to school each morning, but now she takes the bus, which picks her up in our driveway. On days she does not have after school activities, she takes the bus home. In Phoenix, she’ll be walking to school each day, so riding the bus is a limited-time experience for her.

She has a teacher with an assistant for her primary lessons – math, reading, writing and general behavior - and a separate teacher for art, gym and music. After school she has Tae Kwon Do and Dance on different days of the week. She really enjoys Tae Kwon Do and has already advanced from beginner to her second belt! Now she’s teaching momma how to kick properly – “use your heel, thrust from your hip!” In December, on the last day of school, she had her Holiday Program and sang and danced for all the parents in attendance.

Moving away from our old home at Kemang Club Villas has made it more difficult to stay in touch with friends and spend time outdoors, but we’ve found ways to make it happen. We’re on our fourth nanny, but believe we have a good one now, and the kids really like her, too, which is important.

Our 2 year-old son started his first school last year, too. He’s attending the same Montessori our daughter did. We started him with just a few days a week, but he enjoyed it so much we extended him to full-time. His language skills are advancing rapidly as a result. We’ve invited a few classmates over on play dates and for his birthday party, but we’ve stopped doing it because he ignores them. He prefers to play with his big sister and her friends or with momma. I’m sure that will eventually change.

He is really interested in things that move – cars, trucks, buses, airplanes – always calling them out when we pass them and playing with his toy versions of them. He also mimics his sister like an echo. If she doesn’t like something, he doesn’t like it. If she likes something, he likes it. At 6:30 every night, when Disney’s Jake and the Neverland Pirates are on, he cheers and shouts like his sister does, even if she is not in the room. He even sings the theme song now.

We’re starting to get glimpses of his personality, too. He is persistent, brave, and very curious. Nothing stops him, nothing scares him, and he wants to be involved in everything. A few anecdotes:

Sunday afternoon and momma and sister are getting their nails done and I’m watching the two boys. We go out back to get some playtime outside. The 2 year-old sits in the chair next to me and says “Talk to me”. I nearly laughed out loud. I asked him how he enjoyed school and he rattled on for a good two minutes about his teacher, singing, and funny stories. Of course I only understood about half the words he said, but I got the gist of what he was saying.
Earlier this week after dinner, on a night both children were denied dessert for different reasons, our daughter was on the couch eating a second helping of home-baked fries. Our son, who also likes fries, thought this was dessert and approached us asking: “Dessert me too?” We assumed he was reminding us he did not get dessert, either, and we agreed. He then walked back to the couch while my wife and I remained at the dinner table in conversation. Soon, he shrieked in frustration, our daughter yelled at him, and he came screaming into the dining room clutching a fry. He points to his momma and says “Dessert me too!” I called him over, took the fry from him, and said: “Did someone give this to you?” “Yes”, he replies. “Who gave this to you”, I ask. “Me”, he replies. Hilarious!
A few days ago, he climbs on the chair at our home office and announces “My chair.” I say: “No, that’s my chair.” He replies, “No, my chair. Sit on my lap.” “I can’t sit on your lap”, I reply, “I’m too heavy.” “No, I’m strong”, he says. So, I sit on his lap, slowly putting more and more weight on him, waiting for him to say I’m too heavy. He never does, so I stand up and he says “See, I’m strong.”

Last but not least is the baby. He’s nearly six months old now and he is by far the quietest baby we’ve had. He seems very content to just watch the world around him. He’ll cry if he’s hungry, and occasionally when bored, but nowhere near the frequency or volume of our first two. He’s sitting up on his own, and he isn’t yet crawling but he spins himself in circles on his stomach. We’ve just started transitioning him from liquids-only to rice and baby food. He finds his older sister absolutely hilarious and also laughs when you make noise by blowing across the open mouth of a water bottle – not sure what that means. He hasn’t had a hardy, sustained laugh, yet, but we’ll video and post it the moment he does.

Overall, we couldn’t be happier with or more proud of our kids. It’s a blast watching them develop.

Simple Way to View US Financial Woes

2012-01-19T07:25:00.001+07:00

Let's see if I can simplify the US Deficit/Deb situation using the numbers provided here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2012/assets/tables.pdf

2010 Tax Revenue: $2,163,000,000,000

2010 Expenditures: $3,456,000,000,000

2010 Deficit: $1,293,000,000,000

2010 Debt: $9,019,000,000,000

2012 Budget Cuts: $38,500,000,000

Remove 8 zeroes to bring this down to what a household budget might look like:

2010 Salary: $21,630

2010 Spending: $34,560

2010 Amount added to debt: $12,930

2010 Credit Card Debt: $90,190

2012 expense reduction we're proud of: $385

Filling a Void

2012-01-18T07:49:00.001+07:00

There are no poems about Expats,

At least none of which I'm aware

Doctors, soldiers and athletes

All seem to have their share

But there are no poems about Expats

It's like they don't even exist

Not wanting this void to continue

I've written the world this.

December was a whirlwind!

2012-01-04T09:27:00.001+07:00

December was quite the busy month for us in Jakarta. There didn't seem to be a free night, weekend, or afternoon anywhere. January is starting in similar fashion, so I'll give a brief summary today and circle back with pictures next week.

Illness. The Flagyl worked and I hope I never take it again. It wrecked me. Tired, nauseous, constant headaches - it was almost worse than the disease it was curing. Once I finished the cycle, I then had to fight a bacterial infection with a different set of antibiotics for another week. If I ever find the food preparer who didn't wash his or her hands before cooking my food, I'm going to force them to wash their hands until the crack and bleed.

Events and more events. My daughter had her end of semester Christmas program. I always enjoy watching my kids perform on stage. Proud is an understatement. As long as she's having fun doing it, we'll always be there to watch. I could do without some of the other kids, though....especially the ones that like to draw attention away from my daughter! Are those other parents really there to watch their own kids??

When school completed for the term, we hopped on a plane for a four-day relaxing vacation in Singapore. Only it wasn't that relaxing. They almost didn't let us out of Jakarta, and then they almost didn't let us out of Singapore. Why? Because my wife's passport expires in May. Singapore requires six months eligibility to enter the country. The airline wasn't going to allow us to board the flight, but in the end, decided to allow it. Singapore immigration didn't even mention it. Same problem leaving Singapore, only this time, I had to spend forty minutes convincing them that because we were Jakarta residents with resident visas it wouldn't be an issue. Indonesian immigration didn't care, either - but I had someone from my office meet us there to help grease the wheels a little. The trip itself wasn't that great, either. It rained non-stop the entire four days we were there. Thankfully the hotel - Rasa Sentosa - had a kid's club. Our daughter enthusiastically spent all four days there while we tried to entertain the two boys.

When we returned, we had several dinners and events to attend. First was a going away party. Two expat couples are transitioning. One is taking a job with the United Nations in Kuala Lumpur, the other is taking a job in another city in Indonesia. At the party, we thought they would both be leaving Jakarta, but it turns out the one taking a job in another city will be able to continue living where he does today and just commute. That was good news. After that party was a dinner party with my staff and their spouses. This is an annual event we do around the holidays each year. The next day was our 8th wedding anniversary. We finally broke our fondue tradition and instead ate at a French restaurant far too pricey for the size of the food (which means it was a typical French restaurant). We were one of two tables so service was impeccable.

A few days after Christmas, my wife's cousin arrived for a two week visit. We made the requisite trip to Taman Safari the next day, followed by a tour of the famous historical sites in Jakarta the following day. We're now capable of being tour guides if anyone else wants to use our services.

Holidays. Of course the major events of the past few weeks were Christmas and New Year's. Santa paid us a visit and left behind hours of work for daddy and days of fun for the kids. I don't know why Santa bought our two year old a drum, but I'll have to be move involved in HER gift selection process next year. That thing is loud.

For New Year's Eve, we originally planned to host a party at our house. When we couldn't get enough people to confirm in advance, we instead decided to get a suite at the Shangri-La in Jakarta and go to one of the events they were hosting. Another couple joined us. Then another. Then another. Eventually, my reservation grew to 19 people. I informed them we all could have saved a bundle of money if they had just confirmed attendance at our party. We still had a great time. The food was excellent, the band was phenomenal, and the companionship of friends was the best. We finally returned to our rooms at 2 AM....only to wake with the kids at 5:30 the next morning. Ugh! Sunday afternoon naps are awesome.

Another Illness

2011-12-06T20:00:00.001+07:00

If you read through the 3-year blog history, you'll find that illness is just as much a part of the Indonesia experience as anything else. In the first fifteen years of my professional career, I probably missed two weeks of work due to illness. In the three years I've lived in Indonesia I have missed nearly a month. We're sick more often, and with harsher illness. Last week was yet another example.

When I arrived home from work on Monday, I told my wife I felt "odd". My skin felt raw and I was warmer than usual. Thirty minutes later I was shaking with chills and skipping dinner. Ninety minutes later, after the kids are in bed, I'm curled up in a ball on the couch burning with a 102 (39) degree fever and trying to stay warm with a blanket. Medicine isn't bringing my fever down.

I fell asleep at 10 PM. My wife woke me a few hours later to make me take more medicine. I was burning up. I was surprised when she told me I'd been asleep only two hours. I would have sworn I'd been asleep at least six. It was a rough night after that. Between fighting the fever and frequent trips to the bathroom, I hardly slept.

At 8 AM the next morning, after all the kids were at school, I went to the medical clinic. I was able to see a doctor within twenty minutes. She took my vitals, asked my symptoms, and walked me to the ER. I spent the next several hours in the ER hooked up to an IV under observation while they ran some tests. They were trying to keep me hydrated and bring down my fever. They were able to keep me hydrated.

Around noon they gave me my diagnosis: Amoebic Dysentery. Ugh. Same thing my daughter had last year, though our symptoms were slightly different. They gave me three different pills, one to kill the amoeba, one to help the issues that pill would cause in my stomach, and a third pill to fight the nausea caused by the other two. I would be taking 750mg of Flagyl three times a day for the next five days.

The medicine alleviated my symptoms almost immediately. My fever disappeared within hours, and the other symptoms began to improve. However, the medicine was brutal. Flagyl has a list of side effects and I experienced every single one of them. The worst for me was the headaches and the nausea. They left me incapacitated and in the fetal position for hours at a time. I kept trying to play with the kids but did not have the energy to do it. Being light headed didn't help either.

I stayed home from work on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I went back to work on Friday simply to honor a family rule: We do what we have to do so we can do what we want to do. I had a farewell party to attend and was hosting a poker party Friday night. If I didn't go to work, I wasn't going to do either of those events. Toughest day of work I've had in recent memory. Several times I doubled over to catch my breath. I did make it through the day, however, and attended the farewell party and the poker game, though everyone commented I looked very ill.

It's now Tuesday, a week after my trip to the ER. I took my final dose of Flagyl on Sunday AM and I still have the side effect of a sour taste in my mouth, though it's not as bad as it was yesterday. For the most part, I feel better, but I'm about 10 pounds (4 kg) lighter and don't have my full energy back yet. My appetite is slowly returning.

I went back to the medical clinic tonight so they could run more tests to confirm the amoeba is gone. They said it would take an hour, but realistically I don't expect to hear anything until tomorrow.

The worst part for me is knowing that my daughter went through this. She's a tough little kid. She had a lot more energy than I did!

Kids Always Amaze

2011-12-01T00:46:00.001+07:00

My daughter did two things recently I thought worthy of their own post.

My wife prepared a special snack for our daughter on a day after-school activities would have her at school longer than normal. Apples with honey, some raisins, and crackers. After school, my wife asked how she enjoyed her treat. She replied: "I ate the raisins and crackers but I threw the apples on the ground. I didn't like them." My wife told our daughter that it hurt her feelings that she would just throw on the ground something she had made special for her. A few minutes later, unprompted, with spelling only a five-year-old learning how to spell can do, was an apology: "I am sorry for throwing apple".

The second item had me very impressed. It's Sunday afternoon and my daughter asks if I would like to play a game she made up. I'm hesitant, but having recently resolved to say "yes" as much as possible, I agreed and asked how we played. Her prior attempts at inventing games gave us "Hide and go Statue Seek" which involves one person (me) hiding somewhere standing like a statue then chasing person who finds him (her) and some game she never could quite explain how to play that seemed to involve yelling out the name of an animal while running in a circle. This game, however, was quite impressive.

During the week, after school, she disappeared into her room with paper, scissors and crayons, emerging several minutes later with her game. Placing her stuffed animals on the paper, she traced their outline, then cut out the shapes. She then colored the shapes the same colors/designs as her animals, in some cases using the same words written across their chests. The object of the game was for me to match each animal to their paper cutout. I only missed one. I was very impressed. I'll have to let her design the next game for the iPad!

Return to Rafting

2011-11-27T20:22:00.001+07:00

Saturday, 26 November, my team and I returned to Sukabumi for another round of white water rafting. Though much was the same, much was different.

After a 5:30 AM departure from the office and a three-plus hour bus ride to Sukabumi, our team building began with ice breakers. I've never liked ice breakers. I think this is probably because I don't need any ice broken. I prefer to just get down to business. Same problem I have with small talk. Ice breakers are always some form of ridiculousness that seem designed to make people feel uncomfortable so they'll be more comfortable doing difficult tasks later in the session. For us, this involved standing in a circle and various activities involving counting - counting while shaking our fists, counting while stamping our feet, counting in different languages. Whatever.

After the foolishness, we got down to the good stuff. The games. Competition - my favorite. As the top of the food chain at these events, I try to step back and let others lead. I lead every day at work, this is an opportunity for others to show their capabilities. The fact that everything was explained in Bahasa, with no English translation, made this all the easier for me. I couldn't participate because I would be a detriment to my team. I helped where I could.

The first game reinforced the wisdom of my decision. Team size didn't matter, so I participated. We stood in a single file line, hands on shoulders of the person in front of us. The announcer would yell "Kiri", and everyone in the line would jump left. He'd cycle through all the directions - right, left, forward, backward. That was just to get us accustomed to jumping in unison. Then it got tricky. He said the first two we would do as he said them, the third we would do the opposite. So if he yells out Right, Left, Forward, we were to jump Right, Left, Backward. Of course, I received a summarized version of this explanation and thought the first and second rounds, not first and second commands. As team captain, I'm in front. Announcer yells right, we jump right. Announcer yells left, we jump left. Announcer yells backward, my team jumps backward, I jump forward, everyone laughs. My team is out. I'm feeling stupid. Next round, exact same commands, the team next to us fails. Now I don't feel so bad. Next round, exact same commands, two more teams drop and the game is over!

The next three games involved passing objects down the line and back. This required teams of equal size and my team had six while most others had five. This meant we had to sit someone out. I participated in the first two, then sat out never to return to action. First we joined hands and had to pass a loop over our entire body from person to person without breaking hand contact. Not difficult, but not easy to do quickly. We came in second. The next involved passing a baton back and forth by holding it with our knees. Once again, we came in second. The third event was passing the same baton back and forth holding it between neck and shoulders. For the third time, we came in second. First place was a different team each time.

The next event was more mental, more strategic, and this allowed me to participate in the strategy. The object was to communicate a number from one end to the other using only touch; no visual or audio clues allowed. Everyone sat front to back with one arm reaching for the person in front of them, and the other the person behind them. We had a few minutes to determine our methodology. Knowing this was tactile, I decided the motions had to be noticeably distinct. While other teams did things like "squeeze soft for 10, hard for 1", my approach was a swipe across the hand means 10, a two finger tap is 5, and a single finger tap is 1. Add them up, and you have the number. We were the third ones to provide a number, but the only team to get the number correct! First place! I realized after the fact that we could have been faster if we transmitted the signal simultaneously. The only two people that really needed to know the number were the first and the last. Everyone in between just needed to convey the message, which they could have done as it was conveyed to them, had I thought of it.

After the communication game we were given a tube about the size of a canister of tennis balls. To this was attached two ropes. Four people would hold each end of the two ropes, fill the canister with water, then transport the canister to a five liter jug with a ping-pong ball. The first to fill the jug with enough water to force the ball out would win. We all had a chance to practice transporting, then the game began. I realized very quickly every team was trying to be very precise pouring their water and it was taking a lot of time. I told my team: "Aim and dump, then run back for more." My strategy was twofold. First, we were going to get most of the water in because were weren't just dumping haphazardly, and we would be saving a lot of time. In fact, we would make two trips to most teams one. Second, the available water was limited. I figured if we wasted some of it, but made twice as many trips, other teams wouldn't have any water to fill their jug. Either way, we would win. And we did. By a wide margin. At the end, the lagging teams were spending a lot of time filling their containers because they could no longer just dunk them - they had to pour the water from the starting basin.

The next event had the teams back in a line, arms length apart. The front person was number one, the back person number five. The announcer was pretending to call a soccer game "One passes to two, two passes to five". At some point, he would yell "GOAL" and that number had to run to the back of the line, crawl through everyone in front of them, pick up a bag, fill it with air, and pop it. I gave one piece of advice: "As soon as the number is called, everyone collapse into each other so the crawling distance is as small as possible. Every single time we are the first one through. If we hadn't struggled with blowing up the bag and/or popping it, this would have been over in two tries. As it was, we took second the first two times, first the third, second a fourth time, and finally won overall by taking first the fifth time. The times we had finished second all had a different winner.

The last team event involved using two ropes, and four blindfolded participants, to carry a long line of tent poles across the field and then placing it into a tube so that it stood upright. It was brutal. We had no trouble making it across the field without dropping the poles, but getting it in the tube and having it stand upright was very hard. I don't know how some of the other teams did it so quickly. We took third.

After the team events, we split into individual events, one of which helped our team. The first event was a flying fox. For those of you unfamiliar, this involves harnessing yourself to a long wire, jumping, and letting gravity take you from point A to point B. Having made this jump in Singapore, this Flying Fox was nothing.

The other event, the one that counted towards team points, was not so easy - though it should have been. What it truly did was highlight different upbringings of the members of my staff. The event involved walking across a bamboo pole 10 meters in the air. We're harnessed to a wire and a guide rope, so there was no chance of falling to injury, but the psychological impact of looking down is tough to break....unless you did it every day as a kid. Indonesia is a culturally diverse place. Some members of my staff grew up in circumstances very familiar to those of us born and raised in a Western country. Others grew up in villages of subsistence farmers having no income and eating only what they grew our caught. Some of these often crossed a river dividing two villages by traversing a pole, without guide wires or harnesses, smaller than the one we walked. Those who grew up in circumstances similar to mine either did not attempt to cross, failed trying, or took a long time to do so. Those who grew up in the small villages walked across like they were going to the bathroom after a night of binge drinking. As for myself, I made three steps and fell. My legs were shaking so badly the pole began bouncing up and down. Once my body realized I wouldn't actually hit the ground, it stopped shaking and I speedily finished the crossing - but it didn't count. Thankfully, two other members of my team made the crossing. I think we finished second in that event.

We broke for lunch, gave away a 32 inch flat-screen LED TV as a door prize, and then went rafting. The water was high. Very high. So high, what was normally a Class 2 rapids was not a Class 3. And it started to pour as we were loading into our boats. The rafting was that much more exciting and fun. There was one section the guides would not let us try, however. It was only about 20 meters of river, but they had determined it too dangerous because the high water had created a dangerous whirlpool that was difficult to exit once entered. We walked the shore for that 20 meters instead.

After rafting it was now dark. We had dinner, gave away more door prizes (another TV, an iPad, an iPhone, etc) then returned to Jakarta. I think I was the only one who remained awake for the drive home - it was not without its own interesting events.

The first event caused our buses to pull over. We travelled in two buses - I was on the A bus with half of my team, the other half on the B bus. The driver of Bus B radioed Bus A complaining one of his rear tires had no traction. Not good when you're driving on narrow, winding mountain roads in a portable home. We stopped to switch places, so Bus B could be in front. I'm not sure why that mattered, but the driver of Bus B was happier, so I guess that's fine. We later stopped at a gas station where they added more air to the tire. We did make it home safely.

The second incident caused us delays. Saturday happened to be New Year's Eve on the Muslim calendar. When we reached a certain city around 9:30, all traffic came to a standstill and one side of the street was crowded with people carrying torches. I don't know what people in other countries think when they see a large crowd of people carrying torches, but I think every American's initial thought would have been the same as mine: "Oh S--t!" They eventually marched off to wherever they were heading and we were able to move on. It wasn't until later, when I'm driving back home from the office drop off point, when my driver explained to me that was a traditional celebration for the holiday. Whew!

Once again, we all had a great time. Unfortunately, two days later I found myself in the hospital with an IV suffering from amoebic dysentery....but that's a topic for another post.

How I Would Change America

2011-11-21T09:29:00.001+07:00

For some reason, I've though a lot about government this month, and my blog is reflecting that. I have one last set of thoughts to impart before returning to my normal posts of updates and pictures. December will be a busy month with travel, visitors, and end-of-school-semester recitals, so I'll have much to post. Today, my parting thoughts on government.

It helps to understand my perspective on the role of government. Most people spend their time arguing the finer points - how do we handle immigration law, what is a fair tax rate, should we allow gay marriage - without first agreeing on the broader concept of government's job. I prefer a government that operates in the black and white, leaving the gray issues to the private sector and non-profits. My view on the government's role, therefore, is quite simple: Defense of nation, inter-state commerce, representation internationally, and ensuring equal opportunity, all guided by the principle of majority rule with minority rights. With that as a framework, much of what we argue about - and fund - with government becomes moot.

Using that framework as a guideline, if I were King of the United States, I would do the following:

1) Nationalize health care....though not in a way anyone in the U.S. has yet proposed it. I like the Singapore model. Everybody pays out of pocket until they reach their income-determined deductible. For example, if you are earning $25,000/yr, you pay the first $2,500 of all your medical expenses and the government picks up the rest. If you earn $100,000/yr, you pay the first $10,000 of your medical expenses. I like this for several reasons. First, it forces people to be medical consumers. You'll shop for medical service the same way you shop for everything else (highest quality for lowest price), instead of by the oligopoly rules in place now whereby you randomly select someone on your insurer's provider list. By definition, this will create competition in the medical profession and drive down price. I've seen it first hand in Singapore. Second, because everyone is insured, the medical industry does not need to charge those who are insured quadruple market value to cover the cost of treating patients who will never pay. Further, not only are we lowering cost, we're freeing the medical care burden from corporations, making them more competitive in a global market. We're also not assuming control of the medical providers, so they remain free-market players and, operating in a more competitive environment, will need to innovate to attract patients. This is a win-win for everyone except insurance companies.

2) Invest in Infrastructure. If the role of government is to regulate and facilitate inter-state trade, we need our brightest minds defining and our first dollars funding an elite infrastructure to make inter-state trade as efficient as possible: High-speed railways, the world's safest air traffic control system, well built and maintained roads and bridges, an energy grid that can support and nurture technological advances in energy creation and the world's best communications infrastructure. We also need the raw materials (ie, natural resources) to provide the inputs for all of these efforts. Between spending money on infrastructure, and removing restrictions unrelated to human health (ie, water quality, air quality) on the extractive industries (oil, gas, mining), we will be creating jobs that cannot be transferred overseas. It is impractical to build a bridge in India and install it in Kentucky. It is impossible to mine in Mexico if the ore is in northern Minnesota. Australia today, where extractive industries are paying high school graduates $200,000/yr salaries, is a shining example of this plan in action. It works, and it keeps unemployment low.

3) Implement the Pickens Plan. I wouldn't normally endorse government supporting one industry over another. However, when national security interest are at stake, we all need to bend our rules for the greater good. Nothing is more dangerous to American lives than buying oil from Arab nations who hate us. Oil is our collective addiction. We cannot survive without it. As a result, our consumption of oil is giving terrorists the funding they need to coordinate attacks against us. Purchasing oil is funding our enemies. We have enough natural gas underneath US soil that if we converted all cars to run on CNG or LNG, we would no longer need to import oil, we would save money filling our tanks, and we would reduce emissions. A trifecta of quality-of-life improvements that makes resistance to this plan shameful. Write your Representatives today.

4) Replace entire tax structure with a national sales tax. I have long viewed a sales tax (aka - Transaction Tax) as the only fair and ethically justifiable tax. First, those who spend more (the wealthy) will pay more in tax. Second, imports are taxed, but exports are not. Third, if the role of government is to create environments conducive to the fair exchange of goods and services, its revenue should reflect the success of that environment. Fourth, we virtually eliminate the IRS. We'll be auditing businesses, not individuals - because individuals will not need to file tax returns! Finally, no loop holes. If you want to avoid paying tax, live off the grid and plant a garden for food. There is no other way to do it. The one argument against a sales tax is that it is regressive (poor people, who spend every dollar they earn, pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than do the wealthy, who spend a smaller percentage of their income). This is easily averted by not charging tax on certain food items or second-hand clothing.

5) Stop subsidizing college. What? Yes, stop subsidizing college. We're sending people to college who have no business attending. It's wasteful. We're encouraging people to spend $100,000 to obtain a degree required by professions that pay $30,000/yr. Further, college doesn't actually prepare anyone for a job. Many college degrees are just a key to the door of the rat race. What would be better - follow the lead of the legal and medical professions. Combine education with apprenticeships. Want to be an accountant? Take two years of foundational education classes, then apprentice for two years. Interested in Chemistry? Take three years of classes to learn scientific fundamentals and apprentice for three years. I do believe there is a place for higher education. I place a very high value on formal education....and a higher value on practical education. Let's stop kidding ourselves that every student in primary and secondary school today is potential college material. The reality is only 55% will attend, and a mere 30% will complete a degree. That means 25% of our population is wasting money - most of it government guaranteed loans. Two options: 1) Let the private sector and non-profit organizations play this role; they'll do a much better job getting a return on their educational dollar. 2) Pay for trade schools in addition to degree programs. That 25% is more likely to gain value from a trade school.

6) Term limits for all elected positions. Twelve years in an elected position is enough time for anyone. Elected office is not supposed to be a career. It's time to impose term limits on every elected office of no more than 4 terms, or twelve years, whichever comes first.

Other ideas I support:

1) Reduce the products available on Wall Street to stocks and bonds. You can either own a part of a company, or lend money to it. The days of betting on whether a stock will go up or down (options) or whether the option will go up or down (derivatives) should end. Brokers have become bookies.

2) Instead of building power plants exclusively, make every building add to the grid. Solar panels, wind turbines and spring coiled floors that generate electricity as people walk on and in every building will reduce emissions to generate energy.

3) Limiting annual budget to 103% of prior-year's revenue. The up cycles and down cycles should wash each other out in the long run.

Interesting Day in Jakarta

2011-11-09T22:10:00.001+07:00

Odd day in Jakarta.

1) Traffic was unusually light until we hit the home stretch in Kemang. Kemang Raya, the main road through this south Jakarta suburb, was backed up. A uniformed officer, as opposed to the typical weird guy with a whistle, was directing traffic. Something big was going on. Then I notice these huge, six foot by three foot flowered congratulations announcements - a typical Indonesian courtesy. Huge tents with catered food, crowds of well dressed people, bouncers, red carpet, a television camera crew. What the heck is going on? A new gas station. Seriously.

2) We've always had lizards in our house. They have replaced cockroaches as the creepy things that scatter when the lights come on. They have these big, suction cup feet so they can grip the walls and cling to anything. They are ubiquitous and harmless. At night, we'll often hear them chirping. Our yogi informed us the noise we hear is actually a big, ugly, scary lizard. We laughed....then, tonight, one showed up on the wall of our patio. They are huge. They are scary. Had to use my Super Zoom lens to get the close up.

3) This isn't new, but I thought of it again today. I'm not sure what this falls under. My wife's driver has started using her discarded Starbucks cups - the clear plastic ones they serve coffee in - to make his drinks. I'm not sure if he should now fall under Creepy Stalker or Captain Recycle. Whatever he is, I find it odd.

Why Do We Hate the Rich?

2011-11-07T10:56:00.001+07:00

Initially, I actually supported Occupy Wall Street. I united, in spirit, with them in their stand against government bailouts of poorly managed businesses. Then they started the "99%" campaign, and my support stopped. I have nothing against the 1%. In fact, I aspire to be one.
Class warfare has always existed in America, on some level. The Great Recession appears to have transformed despising the wealthy from an activity of the scorned and bitter to the de rigeur social movement of the decade. Quite frankly, I just don't understand it. Everyone wants to be rich, yet we hate those that are? Is this just jealousy run amok, or is there a deeper, more insidious issue at hand?
I think I've figured it out:

1) We misunderstand the rich. I blame reality television for this. If comments on news articles are representative of the American public, when most people think of the wealthy, they think of Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, or even Steve Forbes. Inherited wealth. But most millionaires didn't inherit their wealth, they earned it. The reality is a full 80% of millionaires are first generation. They worked hard, took risks, and made the most of opportunities - they didn't have their money handed to them. Most of the 1% are doctors or small business owners. Why would we hate these people instead of admire them?

2) We don't understand Economics. A common argument from those frustrated with the growing wealth gap is CEO pay. I'm not sure why we focus on CEOs in this discussion when they comprise a mere 10% of the hated 1%, but we do. This indicates people don't understand the Economic Law of Supply and Demand. There are 7 billion people on this planet. There are probably 700,000 who are qualified (education, experience, capabilities) to be a CEO. Given my experience with CEO's, I wouldn't credit more than 7,000 people as capable of being good CEOs. What does that mean? The supply of good CEOs is in severe deficit to the demand of good CEOs. When a product is scarce, its value rises. The other market force in play here is risk. Being a CEO is not an easy job which is why so many CEOs are very quickly former CEOs. The average tenure of a CEO is not much more than a Kardashian marriage (two Kardashian references in one post...I'm culturally relevant!). To entice someone into risk usually requires money. So CEO pay is driven both by scarcity, and by risk. Of course it is disproportionate.

3) We forget who are the "investors". This is the element that, ashamedly, amuses me the most. We bemoan "Wall Street Investors" for taking risks and causing catastrophe and forget they take risks because the investors they represent want larger and larger returns. And who are the investors? The 99%. The everyday working man. But, wait, you don't have a stock broker or an investment portfolio? You do if you have a 401k or a pension plan. The largest single owner of wealth in the United States is not Bill Gates or Warren Buffet - it's CALPERS, the State of California's employee retirement plan. At $202 billion, CALPERS is equivalent to four Bill Gates. The top 300 pension funds own $20 Trillion of wealth. It are these pension funds that drive decisions on Wall Street. So the great, macabre joke of the financial collapse, the sad truth behind the greed that led to this disaster, is that it is shared not by the 1% who, according to the research published in the book "The Richest Man in Town", invest in their own business, not other people's. The greed belongs to the 99% who demand higher returns in their 401k plans!

Ultimately, we will never eliminate class warfare unless we implement Pure Communism and everyone receives an equal share of the GDP. We will never eliminate a wage gap in a society that rewards higher skills with higher pay. And you won't get rich by occupying Wall Street. You won't improve your financial situation by sitting in a park cooking s'mores with your friends lamenting how unfair the world is. You get rich by taking risks, by thinking unconventionally, and by generating revenue by all legal means.

You want to change the system? Occupy a seat in government. You want to get rich? Occupy a job that people value.

Occupying Wall Street is just another way of saying: "I live in my parent's basement".

Why Occupy Wall Street is Misguided

2011-11-06T12:52:00.001+07:00

If you read my prior two posts, you can probably guess where I stand on this issue. The problem isn't Wall Street. It isn't the banks. It isn't even the wealthiest 1% (I'll have another post on this specific topic later this week).

The problem is Washington - and, oddly, I don't mean Obama.

Washington has completely lost touch with America...though I don't think this is new, it's just worse. Remember the late 1980's when Barbara Bush, then FLOTUS, visited a grocery store and was amazed at the scanning technology used at the checkout line? Yeah, politicians have been out of touch for a while.

But today, it's worse. Today we have Democrats still operating under the assumption that Americans not only want but need government protection from themselves. That if the government wasn't planning our retirement for us, telling us what we should eat, or paying for our health care that we would all be aimlessly roaming the streets. We have Republicans still operating under the assumption that Protestant Christianity represents the majority of America, that regulation is unnecessary (unless the toxic waste dump is next to their property), and we need the government's help to protect our children from outside influence. They're both wrong.

The reason they are so out of touch is Congress doesn't live in the real world. They live in Washington. And we never force them to live in the real world because we keep electing the same people back to office! We're all guilty of it: "It's not MY politician that's the problem, it's everyone else!"

When you lose touch with the average American, you can no longer represent them. When your salary is guaranteed for life, even if you stop working, how can you pass labor laws for the average worker? If your retirement plan is fully funded by the government and doesn't require you to pay into it, how can you reform social security? If your health care plan covers everything, with no copay, and never questions if you needed that surgery to enhance your wife's breasts, how can you contribute to a discussion seeking a solution to control rising costs of health care?

After electing FDR to his fourth presidency, the American public realized long-term government servitude is not right for our country. How is it, more than 80 years later, we have not come to the same realization with Congress?

It is time we did. In the absence of a Constitutional Amendment limiting all Congressman to 12 years of service in either house, it is up to us as voters to do the job. Vote out the incumbents, even if you are crossing party lines to do so.

Vote for someone else. If you have two choices on the ballot, and one is an incumbent, and the other is a convicted axe-murderer, vote for the felon - at least he's had the chance to reflect on his crimes.

We shouldn't be occupying Wall Street. We should be occupying Pennsylvania Avenue.

Heidi's Bar: Understanding the Financial Crisis

2011-11-06T12:11:00.000+07:00

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit.

She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later. Heidi keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers' loans). Word gets around about Heidi's "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Detroit .

By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Heidi's gross sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at Heidi's local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral! At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINK BONDS.

The bank bundles these "securities" and trades them on international securities markets. The bank pays rating agencies to give these bonds a AAA rating by promising them fees for rating several more bonds they will create in the coming months. Naive investors don't really understand that the securities being sold to them as "AAA Secured Bonds" really are debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices still are climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by Heidi's bar. He so informs Heidi. Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts.

Since Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations to the bank she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and Heidi's eleven employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINK BOND prices drop by 90%.

The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank's liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community. The suppliers of Heidi's bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms' pension funds in the BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds.

Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers. In addition, the laid-off workers' pension funds and IRAs all suffer substantial loss in value.

Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multibillion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from the government. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, nondrinkers who have never been in or heard of Heidi's bar.

Now do you understand why Occupy Wall Street is upset?

Congressional Reform Act 2011

2011-11-06T12:02:00.002+07:00

Please print this and mail it to your representative with your demand Congress put this to a vote as a new Constitutional Amendment:

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. If the National Debt should ever exceed 3% of GDP, all of Congress becomes ineligible for reelection.

We want this to become effective 1/1/2012.

Halloween for Adults

2011-10-30T17:12:00.002+07:00

The kids party ended at 7. The adult party started at 9. That gave us two hours to cleanup, setup, and get the kids put to bed.....oh, and my wife needed to put on her costume.

We'd been planning the two events for several weeks. We shipped a ton of decorations from the US, which requires several weeks lead time. The rest of the decorations, like the witch in the window and the rats on the baseboard (see Kid's Halloween for pictures), my wife did on her own.

Though we didn't plan it initially, we did eventually coordinate our costume's for the evening. My wife went as Cleopatra and I went as an Egyptian Pharaoh. My costume was custom made here in Jakarta. We went to a fabric store, selected the fabric we wanted, found designs on the Internet, and paid a tailor to custom make the tunic and headwear. Total cost: $30.

For the party, I rented a big sound system, hired two bar tenders and two serving girls. Our drivers remained until late in the evening to offer rides when necessary. As is our tradition with large parties, we had prizes: A Toshiba 19 inch flat screen TV for the sexiest costume, a Sony stereo system for the scariest costume, and a couple's spa package for the best couple ensemble. Some of the more creative costumes include Qaddafi, Steve Jobs, and the Corpse Bride.

We had two drinking contests. The first was a drawing for a bottle of Vodka. Anyone who tried the drink of the evening - "The Witch's Brew" - qualified. The other required two teams of five - 2 ladies, 3 men. This was a beer drinking relay race. Losing team had to go for a swim.

About 30 people attended and consumed far more alcohol than I ever would have imagined that number to consume: 12 bottles of liquor, 4 bottles of wine, 48 cans of beer and 12 bottles of Smirnoff Ice. We had one person pass out in the party's first hour (the Witch's Brew caught a lot of people by surprise). Several people had difficulty waking the next morning. Several others left behind some of their costume and even a credit card.

Our kids had us up at 7:30 - which means they slept in 2 hours later than normal....Nice! This will be a difficult event to top next year!

Kid's Halloween Party

2011-10-30T16:48:00.000+07:00

Halloween is a under celebrated holiday in Indonesia, but it seems to be growing in popularity. Halloween is one of our favorites, so we decided to host our own party this year. Nearly 40 kids attended. We had pumpkin carving, mask making, a puppet show, a pinata, bobbing for apples and more candy imported from the US than we knew what to do with. We bought masks for security and our drivers to wear and they greeted guests as they arrived.

All I can say about the party is that it had a few more issues than I would have hoped for (mostly with the entertainment and food) but overall I think everyone had a great time.

I cannot believe how exhausting kids parties are! Amazingly, we hosted an adult part 2 hours later.

A 2nd Birthday

2011-10-30T16:28:00.000+07:00

Our son turned two this month and we celebrated in typical Indonesian style - with a huge party! The kids always love the Gymboree party, so we invited everyone from his class, scheduled the Gymboree and let them take it from there. As I said in a prior post, he's very excited about trains these days, so the cake fit the occasion. I've never seen a kid so happy than when I brought out his cake. It's good he was tethered to his chair.

Latin Ball

2011-10-30T16:19:00.000+07:00

Last year's Latin Ball was so much fun we were looking forward to attending this year's, as well. More so since most of our friends in Jakarta are Latin Ladies and their spouses. The ball took place at the Shangri-La Hotel. We thought long and hard about the logistics of the evening, having a new nanny, and spending time in traffic when we're exhausted from the evening and decided it would be best if we just booked a suite to spend the night in. The kids hung out in the suite with the nanny while we went to the ball, and we didn't have far to go when we were done at the ball, which allowed us to remain longer.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest.

Grandparents Visit

2011-10-24T20:00:00.000+07:00

In the two and half years we've lived in Jakarta (yes, it has been that long), we've had our share of visitors. We have the visits down to a science, now: homemade Indonesian feast, restaurants, malls, Taman Safari. So when my father and his wife visited 9 Oct through 13 Oct, we knew just what to do.

They arrived Sunday afternoon. I picked them up at the airport and we made the fast, Sunday afternoon journey back to our house and enjoyed an Indonesian feast of lumpia, nasi goreng, and gado gado prepared by our maid. Delicious as always. When they started falling asleep on the couch watching after-dinner cartoons before the kids go to bed, we knew it would be an early night....and an earlier morning for them. We wished them good night and I said I'd be up at 3 AM to watch the NFL the next morning, so I'd see them then....and I was right.

My daughter had the week off of school, but my son still had class Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as usual. I am usually at work when he goes to school, so I accompanied the grandparents to drop him off. We also planned to celebrate my son's birthday while the grandparents were visiting, so I spent the time between dropping him off and picking him assembling his birthday present - more train tracks for his train set and some new trains! His train set now contains nearly 200 pieces. It requires a vast open space, but he loves playing with it.

Since Halloween is not really celebrated outside the US, and even less so in Indonesia, we wanted to provide the Halloween experience for our kids. Grandma waited in the guest room, and grandpa waited in the kitchen (both behind closed doors) and the kids ran back and forth between the two doors saying "Trick or Treat" and collecting candy. All went well until Grandpa decided it would be fun to scare the kids. My son's only two, grandpa!

Tuesday was the trip to Taman Safari. This is always a fun yet exhausting day. We've been so often we know where to buy the food, how much to buy, and what price to negotiate. My favorite is still feeding the elephants watermelon. Our guests typically like holding the animals best. Our daughter is finally brave enough to hold them herself. They also have several rides that the kids enjoyed....well, at least our son enjoyed the first lap. When it started going around a second time, then a third, he didn't like it so much. I think he thought he could never get off. I'm sure that will change soon.

We'd never made it to the top of the zoo. Typically, by the time we make it to the zoo, feed the animals, hold the animals, and do the rides and/or the walking zoo, we're exhausted. We've not seen many of the shows and had never been to the top of the hill...who wants to walk that far? Our driver convinced us to go to the top and see the waterfall, and we were not disappointed. We'll add this to the list of "must see" when we go again.

Wednesday was another school day for our son and a trip to the mall for everyone else. My father had not seen the modern, high-end malls in Jakarta on his last trip and was surprised at how much wealth exists here. When there is a store in the mall selling Bentley's and Ferrari's, you know there is money somewhere. We capped the day with dinner at Hacienda and card games at the house.

Thursday was a day to just hang around the house. Swimming for most, sleeping for the ladies who felt sick. It was also the day of departure. So, at 7:30, we said our good-byes and sent the grandparents to the airport with a movie to watch on the way.

It was a great trip and far too short. Probably the last visit they'll make since we'll be moving back in June.

Just When I Thought There Were No More Stories To Tell

2011-10-20T22:29:00.000+07:00

The month is two-thirds over and this is just my second post. We had visitors all last week and I've been spending every available moment (riding in the car, after the kids are asleep, lunch hour) devouring the Game of Thrones books, as well as planning for our son's 2nd birthday and two Halloween parties, but I can't truly claim those as the reasons for my silence. In fact, I'll have posts about those events soon - hopefully this weekend.

I haven't posted because we're in a routine. A good routine. And routine isn't exciting. Until something disrupts it....like this week. Here are four delightful insights into life in Jakarta:

1) I owe what!? My electric bill this month was the equivalent of $750 US. My first reaction was "BullSh--". No way. Every month up to this point had been $200-$300. I demanded an explanation from the electric company and from my landlord. The landlord's person is coming tomorow, but I'm pretty sure I already have my answer. The electric company informed us that they outsource the meter reading to another company. That company did layoffs which included the person who reads my meter. So they haven't read it. They've been "estimating" for the last six months. They finally read my meter. Next month I apparently will owe nearly $1,500! All because no one bothered to read my meter for six months and now they need to do a true-up.

2) What is my alternative? When our guests were visiting, the toilet in the master bathroom began leaking water from beneath the floor when we flushed. Never a good sign; especially when this is a repeat of something that happened a few months ago. Called the landlord, who sent out a plumber. He proceeds to disassemble the toilet, rip up the floor, and clean the pipe feeding....well, whatever it feeds. Three days later, we're good to go. Then I get an email from the landlord. The plumber informed them that the pipe was clogged with toilet paper. The landlord advised that we should not be flushing toilet paper down the toilet.

3) This explains a lot. A few weeks ago, when we returned from the US with our new son, we needed to complete the immigration paperwork for him. Standard procedure we've done several times. With the other two kids in school, we needed to find a time that was convenient. Luckily, immigration opens at 9 AM. Plenty of time to drop both kids off at school, travel to immigration, get the pictures taken and paperwork completed, and be back in time to pick up our two-year-old from his half-day pre-school. That is, if they would actually take a 9 AM appointment. We were dutifully informed that the earliest time we could schedule an appointment is at 10 AM because from 9 - 10 everyone in immigration likes to drink their coffee and read the paper. At least they're honest.

4) You mean, it isn't just the government? We're having a Halloween party. That means we need costumes. Halloween is a very American holiday so I was surprised to find a costume store in Jakarta. We took the forty minute car ride to the mall, found the store, selected the costume we wanted to try from the brochure and were told we had to wait. Huh? Everyone was eating lunch. They would help us when they were done with their lunch.

5) Shouldn't I get to decide that? Tomorrow night my wife and I are going to the Latin Ball. We had such a good time last year, we've been looking forward to this year's for several months. I bought a fitted tuxedo, specially tailored for me, and my wife went in search of a fabulous dress. That's right, my wife, less than three months removed from giving birth to our third child went out looking for a sexy dress. Bold, brave....and a bit humbling. She stopped in a store today, selected a dress, and brought it to the sales clerk and asked to try it on. Sales clerk looked at her and said: "No. That dress is a medium. You need an extra large. It won't fit you. You can't try it on." Wow! Amazingly, my wife not only didn't slap the woman, she laughed about it and left. She did eventually find a dress somewhere else and I can't wait to see her in it.

Man I miss home.

Hash House Harriers

2011-10-14T10:54:00.000+07:00

Two weeks ago, on a Sunday, we finally tried something we've been wanting to try for several months: A Hash Run. No, it has nothing to do with the hallucination inducing plant that has usurped the name. From what I can gather, it's called a "hash" run because you are following a trail composed of hashes of paper through the jungle. What is a paper hash? Think "hanging chad".

The group gathered at the meeting spot, farm country in the Bogor area, at 10 AM Sunday morning. Roughly thirty people, mostly kids under ten with their parents, headed off down a dirt trail that eventually disappeared into grassland and jungle. Interspersed throughout were subsistence farmers. Several large houses with no power or water, stood in the middle of the jungle near the farms. There were no roads, so any transportation of crops must be by foot.

On our hike, we encountered interesting plants, some free-ranging cows, several farmers in their field, and even two interesting gentlemen walking through the jungle with AK47 rifles. We gave them a wide berth. We climbed up and down a few hills, crossed a marshland, and, deciding to take the "medium" route instead of the "short" route, even enjoyed a cool walk through the jungle. We never got lost, but twice had to spend time looking for the next pile of hashes.

The 2 km hike required about an hour of our time because we stopped to pose for pictures, pick up walking sticks, and learn about the local flora. The group meets the last Sunday of every month. It will likely become a regular event for us.

A Little More to the Story

2011-09-27T22:47:00.002+07:00

Enough people have asked me about the details of my surgery, and laughed as I relate the experience, that I've decided to share a little more here. Don't worry, it doesn't get graphic.

Saturday morning my doctor required me to arrive at the hospital by 9 AM to check-in and prep for an 11 AM surgery. I arrived on time, checked in at his office, and took all the referral documentation to the surgery center. Third in line, two people on duty, so I wait and listen to an Australian couple who arrived after me, fourth in line, complain loudly about how ridiculously inefficient the hospital is and wondering aloud if they would arrive on time for their 10 AM surgery. I kept thinking: "Why didn't you arrive 2 hours early like I did?"

At 10 AM they called my name and brought me back to the surgery waiting room. Five curtained beds, I'm the only one alone...and the only one who's curtain remained open while I waited. I disrobe and put on the infamous hospital gown that is really not much more than an extra long pillow case with an opening specifically designed to give you a draft. I lock my valuables in a safe in my locker and wait. Around 10:30, a nurse brings me a pill and tells me it is to help me relax.

Five minutes before the 11 AM appointment, two nurses retrieve me from the waiting room and wheel me into the surgery theater. The room is an ice box. They transfer me from my waiting room bed to the surgery bed and within minutes my teeth are chattering and my body is convulsing with chills. I'm sure they thought I was shaking from nerves. Then I told them to touch my nose. It was frozen. They stack four blankets on top of me and tuck a hose blowing hot air in the middle.

Before I can warm up, the doctor arrives and exposes me from waist to knees. Great. I'm in a room that's ice cold, my body is still shivering and spasmodically thrashing on the table like a fish thrown in the sand, and I'm naked from waist to knees. Ever seen the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry's girlfriend walks in on George after he was swimming in the cold ocean?

Yeah, the "Shrinkage" episode.

But I'm over that. My doctor has seen it all. I'm wondering if the NINE OTHER PEOPLE in the room are as experienced. I swear they were giving me looks of pity, but I didn't dare challenge them. I mean, I've got twenty pounds of blankets on my chest, my feet are dangling off an operating table that is too short for me, and a doctor is standing over my exposed parts with a needle he's about to stick in a very unpleasant location. I figured it was not the best time to provoke them.

The doctor injects the anesthesia and starts poking me with a needle to see if it worked. When I ask if that is supposed to feel like a knife stabbing me, he gives me another dosage. By the time I'm feeling numb, I've finally warmed up and the pill has begun to take effect and I start to drift off. I think falling asleep concerned them because they kept waking me up to see if I was okay.

"Just tired", I tell them, and they leave me alone.

Then it just gets weird. Maybe this is protocol. Maybe this is a doctor who has seen too many of his colleagues get sued when a couple has an unplanned pregnancy after the surgery. Maybe my doctor was just weird. In any event, when he finished cutting out the first section, he woke me up and showed it to me! "See! I cut this out of you! See what it looks like!"

Thanks. I was dreaming about fishing. Can I go back to that now? Though after seeing a two centimeter section of my vas deferens I may have dreams of something other than fish. Maybe the worm.

Thirty minutes later I'm woken again so he can show me the other side is removed and tell me they are going to stitch me up now. Wake me when it's over. They do, and I transfer back to my waiting room bed and they roll me back to rest and recover.

I sleep for about an hour and they bring me some food. I'm famished. I slept too late for breakfast so I only had a banana from the fruit bowl in the room. My lunch is an Asian-portion sized ham sandwich. In America we call it "finger food". About an hour later, six hours after arriving at the hospital, I'm given the all clear to leave and return in the morning to make sure I'm not swollen to the size of tennis balls (his term, not mine).

I sleep the rest of the day and into the late morning, waking only long enough to have a hearty, protein filled dinner....with American sized portions of creamed spinach, rib eye steak and broccoli.

The next morning, I go for my checkup. Everything looks fine and the doctor leaves me in the room with the nurse. She has me drop my pants, lay back on the table, and proceeds to explain the proper cleaning care after my surgery. I had two thoughts: First, this is NOTHING like that "naughty nurses" movie I saw with my friends in High School. Second, Thank God it isn't! I had visions of stitches flying around the room as if shot from a cannon and myself falling on the floor in pain and embarrassment. Like a character from a Ben Stiller movie.

I thank them for not having cold hands, leave the office, and catch my flight back to Jakarta. That evening, we attended a "P" party; everyone had to dress as something that started with a "P". Our original plan was to go as Polygamists, but my situation required me to wear comfortable clothing and I instead went as a Physical Education teacher so I could wear loose pants.

All said and done, it wasn't that big a deal. I try not to say that too loudly because the wives of my friends are already using me as an example with their husbands. Seems I've started a trend.

I always wanted to be a trendsetter.