Our Hours are Changing

We awoke Monday morning to the sound of drums. Better than the trash collectors that awaken me on Saturday mornings at home. We were meeting Ramesh at 10:00 so we could visit the Mysore Palace. Ramesh invited us to a wedding that was taking place in our hotel. Honest, these are the warmest people in the world. They welcomed us to the wedding, even offering us tea. They allowed us to take pictures of this most special occasion. Everyone looked even more beautiful than usual. Lots of jasmine strung in the back of women's hair. The drums and a small band were the musical accompaniment to the festivities. I got a little movie of the band that will soon be on the Picasa site.

We stopped at the silk emporium on the way out. This is in one of the hotels. I'm thinking I should come back here with Laura and Nancy and stay at the hotel. What could be more convenient. I got some beautiful silk scarfs and KJ got this cool, soft tunic. She looked great. Although she has a weight loss bet with the other Karen in Orlando, she has a great figure. Most people in India are half my size. Yet Karen was able to slip this on right off the rack. Karen in Orlando, you are going to lose this bet.

We were so happy to be going home. I curled up with my ipod in the front seat. All was bliss until the tone of the driving changed. Flat tire. Poor Ramesh. The traffic at this point was perfect for this type of event. It was amazingly sparse. We are so lucky. Ramesh had it taken care of in 10 minutes. He needed no help and probably didn't need to have his picture taken. We had plenty of bottled water in the car so he could clean his hands before we drove on.

As a reward, he took us to a new restaurant in Bangalore. I hope Nahum from Chicago reads my blog. I have found his spiritual home. The name of the restaurant is, I believe, This One Place. It serves hamburgers and fries, spaghetti and meatballs, apple pie and many other American things. Nahum, we will go here as often as you need. It is not expensive and may make any traveler feel at home.

We were running late, so I called Suresh to let him know. That's when we found out that our new hours are 6:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. The hours didn't bother us, but we had both gotten up at 6:00 a.m. that morning. Sigh.

The class took a make up test on hardware and software. This was more organized than the previous test. It is open computer for software and not everyone had access to a computer last time. I think the scores will prove that the intense reviews and new testing set up (hardware test/no computer; software test/in front of computer.)

We are making good progress in getting the Citrix environment ready for the Helpdesk. There is such a lot of back home work to do to get it to this point. I think we will be okay for next week. Next week the LAT people start taking some calls. They will probably take calls for our busiest 3 hours of the day. I will be there to assist and help people feel comfortable with their knowledge here. I hope for their sake that folks in LA will be patient with all these newbies.

I know it will difficult to focus on helping the helpdesk get through these uncomfortable first two weeks. Another buy out was announced at The Times yesterday. There will be a lot on everyone's mind. Good luck to all. As one who will be leaving in October, I can say that this change is a little scary, but it can also be an opportunity. Hours and times are changing.