Today is my last day in Jakarta. Tomorrow morning, quite early, I leave the hotel, board a plane, and head back to the US. I'll be in the air nearly 21 hours, but arrive in Phoenix 9 hours after I leave...gotta love the time change! I should be home with a few hours left in the day before I need to go to bed. That, of course, is the good news.
The bad news - I think I have a head cold. I've gone the whole trip surrounded by people hacking, and coughing, and throat clearing. I thought I had made it without getting what they had. After a late night last night and then an early morning today, I think I made myself susceptible. I left work today early so I could come back and pack, but I ended up taking a 2 hour nap. I woke up still groggy, and my throat feeling worse. Thankfully, I brought medicine for just this scenario, so I should still have a good flight.
Thanks to the return of one of the guys who was out sick with Typhoid, I have completed every task I came here to do. The main point of the project - software development - is underway and is progressing nicely. I have high confidence in the team, and the team leader, and am not too concerned about the project failing at that point. There is still much to do, and it will be two or three more weeks before I will relax and have high confidence in my project's success.
I took time today to reflect back on my project and verify there were no open issues or questions I needed to resolve before my departure. The reflection illuminated the fact that I am way outside my comfort zone on this project - not in terms of end product, but in terms of process. Due to the compressed timeframe, the late assignment of resources, the odd dates of my travel in relation to the project plan, and the confusion over documentation - the key communication tool of the project - I have had to react to the situation instead of proactively plan for eventualities. We are on track and moving forward due to the superb work of the team and individuals more so than any project management process or tools I've been able to use. I feel I am still 2 weeks behind the curve, but I feel I can close that gap next week and start proacting again by April. Time will tell.
Jakarta, and my entire Indonesia trip, has once again been enjoyable, enlightening, challenging, and a lot of fun. I owe tremendous thanks to the generosity of my hosts at each location for devoting their time and attention to ensuring I had a fun and productive trip. Their hospitality and professionalism always makes these long trips away from family bearable.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Mar 17
Sunday, as my usual, was a do-nothing day. Yesterday I slept in, ate a late lunch, exercised, and watched many of the DVD's I bought. I made one quick trip back to the mall because I need a book for my journey home since I finished all four I came here with. Finding an English book in an Indonesian store was not easy. I had less variety to choose from than you would find in a grocery store. I finally settled on a biographic fiction novel about the Zodiac killer in San Francisco. I also bought a Winnie the Pooh book for my daughter.
Today was back to work. We have one milestone left before I can say I accomplished everything on my trip to-do list - create a detailed design document that defines all the changes we are making to the software. I received a draft of that document in the early afternoon and, with the exception of restructuring the flow of the document and adding a few additional elements from other documents, it's complete. We have a design review with the architecture committee on Wednesday morning and that should be the end of it.
I also received the good news that I am returning home two days early. When we booked the trip, we were unaware of the four day holiday weekend this week (well, we in the US were unaware). My original plans called for me to leave on Saturday. Once I learned of the holidays, I put my name on a waiting list with the airline to move me to a Thursday departure. Today, I received word I am off the waiting list and have confirmed tickets...so I'm home on Thursday night, now (but don't call, I'll be exhausted).
On this trip, I've done what I can to pick up bits and pieces of the language - Bahasa. In Papua, we picked up many words like Ibu and Pak - (mrs. and mr.) - and I continued this trend in Jakarta. One of my favorite terms - mostly because the locals like hearing me use it - is "bule" (Boo lay). I am a bule (no, sis, it doesn't mean that).
Those of you who know me well understand my affinity for languages. Through the years, I've dabbled in Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Yiddish and, now, Bhasan. Almost every language has a term for "bule". In Japan, its "Gaijin". The Jews use the term "Goy" or "Goyem". Mexicans use the term "Gringo". Basically, it means "foreigner", "outsider", "not one of us". Americans use "illegal immigrant"...but I digress.
In most cultures, this has no negative connotation - in fact, in many it's a positive. In Indonesia, being a bule has many benefits:
1) You don't wait in lines at restaurants
2) You get preferred seating
3) The government gives you preferential treatment on obtaining business licenses
4) The local police give you a "get out of jail free" card (at least that's what everyone calls the paper they gave me on my second day signed by the local police directorate - I haven't had to test it...nor do I want to)
5) You're automatically given deferential treatment
Of course, there is also "local price" and "bule price"... guess which is more. Nonetheless, everyone loves when I use self-depreciating humor while referring to myself as bule. Like "sorry, that was a bule mistake". Or, "I can't eat that, I'm a bule!" Or "Hati hati bule cawa" (Be careful of foreign men). Or, my favorite "Bule capade" (foreigner tired of waiting).
I think if I spent 3 months here I could converse in (broken) bahasa. But since "je parle francais comme un vache espangol" (I speak French like a Spanish cow) - believe me, the French die laughing when I say that - broken bahasa is prett good!
I've enjoyed every minute I've spent here - even the odd turns at the restaurants - but I am eager to return home and am glad we were able to change my flight. Two more days of Indonesian hospitality and I take to the skies to return to the competitive lifestyle of American capitalism.
Quick fact: Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of domestic labor.
(Big article in the Jakarta post today about thousands of the roughly 20,000 Indonesian domestic workers in Qatar wanting to leave because of abuse by their employers).
P.S. - Can the international media report on anything OTHER than the bad US economy, Eliot Spitzer, or Barrack Obama's preacher?? Geesh! The international edition of the WSJ had 22 articles on Bear Stearns today. Literally.
Today was back to work. We have one milestone left before I can say I accomplished everything on my trip to-do list - create a detailed design document that defines all the changes we are making to the software. I received a draft of that document in the early afternoon and, with the exception of restructuring the flow of the document and adding a few additional elements from other documents, it's complete. We have a design review with the architecture committee on Wednesday morning and that should be the end of it.
I also received the good news that I am returning home two days early. When we booked the trip, we were unaware of the four day holiday weekend this week (well, we in the US were unaware). My original plans called for me to leave on Saturday. Once I learned of the holidays, I put my name on a waiting list with the airline to move me to a Thursday departure. Today, I received word I am off the waiting list and have confirmed tickets...so I'm home on Thursday night, now (but don't call, I'll be exhausted).
On this trip, I've done what I can to pick up bits and pieces of the language - Bahasa. In Papua, we picked up many words like Ibu and Pak - (mrs. and mr.) - and I continued this trend in Jakarta. One of my favorite terms - mostly because the locals like hearing me use it - is "bule" (Boo lay). I am a bule (no, sis, it doesn't mean that).
Those of you who know me well understand my affinity for languages. Through the years, I've dabbled in Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Yiddish and, now, Bhasan. Almost every language has a term for "bule". In Japan, its "Gaijin". The Jews use the term "Goy" or "Goyem". Mexicans use the term "Gringo". Basically, it means "foreigner", "outsider", "not one of us". Americans use "illegal immigrant"...but I digress.
In most cultures, this has no negative connotation - in fact, in many it's a positive. In Indonesia, being a bule has many benefits:
1) You don't wait in lines at restaurants
2) You get preferred seating
3) The government gives you preferential treatment on obtaining business licenses
4) The local police give you a "get out of jail free" card (at least that's what everyone calls the paper they gave me on my second day signed by the local police directorate - I haven't had to test it...nor do I want to)
5) You're automatically given deferential treatment
Of course, there is also "local price" and "bule price"... guess which is more. Nonetheless, everyone loves when I use self-depreciating humor while referring to myself as bule. Like "sorry, that was a bule mistake". Or, "I can't eat that, I'm a bule!" Or "Hati hati bule cawa" (Be careful of foreign men). Or, my favorite "Bule capade" (foreigner tired of waiting).
I think if I spent 3 months here I could converse in (broken) bahasa. But since "je parle francais comme un vache espangol" (I speak French like a Spanish cow) - believe me, the French die laughing when I say that - broken bahasa is prett good!
I've enjoyed every minute I've spent here - even the odd turns at the restaurants - but I am eager to return home and am glad we were able to change my flight. Two more days of Indonesian hospitality and I take to the skies to return to the competitive lifestyle of American capitalism.
Quick fact: Indonesia is the world's largest exporter of domestic labor.
(Big article in the Jakarta post today about thousands of the roughly 20,000 Indonesian domestic workers in Qatar wanting to leave because of abuse by their employers).
P.S. - Can the international media report on anything OTHER than the bad US economy, Eliot Spitzer, or Barrack Obama's preacher?? Geesh! The international edition of the WSJ had 22 articles on Bear Stearns today. Literally.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Mar 15
Today was the Safari zoo. It exceeded my expectations. It is, bar none, the most amazing zoo I've ever been to. I was able to get up close and personal with animals like never before - and have the pictures to prove it. I took several pictures and then discovered I am at my quota for uploading photos to Flickr. So, I've only loaded the most relevant pictures that help illustrate today's events.
It has rained every day since I've arrived in Indonesia and today was no exception. Typically, the sky is partly cloudy in the morning, clouds roll in around midday, it rains in the afternoon and clears by evening. Today, the rain started early.
Traffic in Jakarta is usually clear on Saturdays. The rain, however flooded the streets - including the highways - and traffic was horrible. Driving to the Safari zoo should normally require 1 hour. It took us 2.5 hours. Part of the extra time was the result of us missing the exit we needed because the rain was coming down so hard we had next to no visibility and missed the sign. The rain continued until we arrived in the city in the mountains that has the Safari Zoo.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant that overlooked the mountain valley. Breathtaking views of the mountain vistas and the lush jungle vegetation. We had another restaurant snafu. I ordered the spaghetti. The waiter took our orders and when he finally came back, he only had one order. He delivered and said "sorry, we're out of spaghetti". Didn't ask if I wanted something else, hadn't come back before hand to tell us there was no spaghetti. I guess he assumed that I wouldn't want to eat anything if there wasn't spaghetti. I eventually ordered a cheeseburger - which, when delivered, was really a piece of bologna on a bun with lettuce.
Though it had stopped raining when we arrived, we watched as a big storm climbed the mountain across from us and came rushing down the valley. When it rains here, it rains unlike anywhere else I've seen. It literally removes visibility. One minute, we're staring at a mountain with large houses, the next we're staring at a large mass of gray with no idea there is a mountain on the other side. The rain comes down so hard and in such large drops, it forms an impenetrable sheet of water and hides everything more than 500 yards away. (I have pictures, but chose not to load those).
After lunch, we drove the remaining 8km to the Safari zoo. As you come up the final road to the zoo, every 20 feet there are road side stands that sell carrots
I thought nothing of it because there were similar shops that sold other fruit - pineapple, yams, oranges, bananas, etc. These, for some reason, focused on carrots.
When we arrived at the zoo, paid, and began our drive, it wasn't long before I discovered why they sold carrots. We drive through the first gate and are immediately confronted with wild animals. Elephants are lazily grazing just off the road to our left. A pack of zebras are huddled in the middle of the road directly in front of us. It had stopped raining, but there were still drops of rain on the windows. I wanted to get a clear, unobstructed picture of the animals so I rolled down my window. That proved to be a mistake. No sooner had I put the window down then I had two zebras with their heads inside my side of the car.
I finally got them out of the car and put the window back up. That was the closest I had ever been to a zebra. Closed windows didn't deter them, however. They, and then some of their friends, continued to sniff the windows, nibble at some of the plastic, and bite at the glass. Then, without warning, they left our car and ran behind us. The car behind us was feeding them carrots through windows they had opened just far enough to slide carrots through.
Now free from a herd of zebra, we continue up the road. Around the next turn, a pack of llama prance their way to the car, also seeking carrots. One stood directly in front of our car, forcing us to slow to a stop directly in front of it.
The zoo, like most zoos, is divided into several sections or exhibits. Each section is separated by large gates, but the gates are open so cars can drive through them. Large sections of cattle guard rails prevent the animals from crossing between exhibits.
Unlike other zoos where those exhibits contain the same animal, this zoo has several in the same area. Zebras with llama, elephants and water buffalo. Giraffe with hippos and monkeys. Deer with rhinos and ostriches. The only animals they separated into their own exhibits were the predators - lions, tigers and bears. The experience with the zebras and llamas continued with all sections of the park, except the predators.
When we arrived at the section for the lions, the gates are closed and doubled up, like a water lock. You drive up to the first gate and a warning sign reminds you that lions are, indeed, dangerous.
The gate opens, you drive into the lock, the gate closes behind you, the next gate opens, and you're now in with lions roaming freely.
The lions are not behind a fence, they are not behind bars. They are crossing the street in front of you. The same is true with the tigers. The warning sign for the tigers shows them leaping on the front of your car and advises you not to stop the vehicle. This is a zoo you would never see in the US. No one would insure it because we would allow the idiots who would exit the car, get maimed or die, to sue the zoo for negligence. Indonesia's approach is much better - social Darwinism.
The bears, however, were behind a barb wire fence. I'm guessing the bears had a history of smelling the carrots in the cars, coming up to the cars, and shaking them. The lions and tigers more or less ignored us - the bears had no choice.
At the end of the drive, the zoo had a special area for children to play. It included rides (carousels, trams), games, and a baby animals zoo. The restrooms (which, by the way, you have to pay to use) were in the baby zoo. I'm glad we went there because I had some awesome animal experiences. They had more then baby animals at the "baby zoo". They had a baby orangutan, a baby lion, a full grown white tiger, and a 9 year old jaguar (leopard)- all of which you could take your picture with for 10,000 Rupiah (about $1.50). I took pictures with all four.
If you ever get the opportunity to visit Jakarta, this is one experience you do not want to miss.
It has rained every day since I've arrived in Indonesia and today was no exception. Typically, the sky is partly cloudy in the morning, clouds roll in around midday, it rains in the afternoon and clears by evening. Today, the rain started early.
Traffic in Jakarta is usually clear on Saturdays. The rain, however flooded the streets - including the highways - and traffic was horrible. Driving to the Safari zoo should normally require 1 hour. It took us 2.5 hours. Part of the extra time was the result of us missing the exit we needed because the rain was coming down so hard we had next to no visibility and missed the sign. The rain continued until we arrived in the city in the mountains that has the Safari Zoo.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant that overlooked the mountain valley. Breathtaking views of the mountain vistas and the lush jungle vegetation. We had another restaurant snafu. I ordered the spaghetti. The waiter took our orders and when he finally came back, he only had one order. He delivered and said "sorry, we're out of spaghetti". Didn't ask if I wanted something else, hadn't come back before hand to tell us there was no spaghetti. I guess he assumed that I wouldn't want to eat anything if there wasn't spaghetti. I eventually ordered a cheeseburger - which, when delivered, was really a piece of bologna on a bun with lettuce.
Though it had stopped raining when we arrived, we watched as a big storm climbed the mountain across from us and came rushing down the valley. When it rains here, it rains unlike anywhere else I've seen. It literally removes visibility. One minute, we're staring at a mountain with large houses, the next we're staring at a large mass of gray with no idea there is a mountain on the other side. The rain comes down so hard and in such large drops, it forms an impenetrable sheet of water and hides everything more than 500 yards away. (I have pictures, but chose not to load those).
After lunch, we drove the remaining 8km to the Safari zoo. As you come up the final road to the zoo, every 20 feet there are road side stands that sell carrots
I thought nothing of it because there were similar shops that sold other fruit - pineapple, yams, oranges, bananas, etc. These, for some reason, focused on carrots.
When we arrived at the zoo, paid, and began our drive, it wasn't long before I discovered why they sold carrots. We drive through the first gate and are immediately confronted with wild animals. Elephants are lazily grazing just off the road to our left. A pack of zebras are huddled in the middle of the road directly in front of us. It had stopped raining, but there were still drops of rain on the windows. I wanted to get a clear, unobstructed picture of the animals so I rolled down my window. That proved to be a mistake. No sooner had I put the window down then I had two zebras with their heads inside my side of the car.
I finally got them out of the car and put the window back up. That was the closest I had ever been to a zebra. Closed windows didn't deter them, however. They, and then some of their friends, continued to sniff the windows, nibble at some of the plastic, and bite at the glass. Then, without warning, they left our car and ran behind us. The car behind us was feeding them carrots through windows they had opened just far enough to slide carrots through.
Now free from a herd of zebra, we continue up the road. Around the next turn, a pack of llama prance their way to the car, also seeking carrots. One stood directly in front of our car, forcing us to slow to a stop directly in front of it.
The zoo, like most zoos, is divided into several sections or exhibits. Each section is separated by large gates, but the gates are open so cars can drive through them. Large sections of cattle guard rails prevent the animals from crossing between exhibits.
Unlike other zoos where those exhibits contain the same animal, this zoo has several in the same area. Zebras with llama, elephants and water buffalo. Giraffe with hippos and monkeys. Deer with rhinos and ostriches. The only animals they separated into their own exhibits were the predators - lions, tigers and bears. The experience with the zebras and llamas continued with all sections of the park, except the predators.
When we arrived at the section for the lions, the gates are closed and doubled up, like a water lock. You drive up to the first gate and a warning sign reminds you that lions are, indeed, dangerous.
The gate opens, you drive into the lock, the gate closes behind you, the next gate opens, and you're now in with lions roaming freely.The lions are not behind a fence, they are not behind bars. They are crossing the street in front of you. The same is true with the tigers. The warning sign for the tigers shows them leaping on the front of your car and advises you not to stop the vehicle. This is a zoo you would never see in the US. No one would insure it because we would allow the idiots who would exit the car, get maimed or die, to sue the zoo for negligence. Indonesia's approach is much better - social Darwinism.
The bears, however, were behind a barb wire fence. I'm guessing the bears had a history of smelling the carrots in the cars, coming up to the cars, and shaking them. The lions and tigers more or less ignored us - the bears had no choice.
At the end of the drive, the zoo had a special area for children to play. It included rides (carousels, trams), games, and a baby animals zoo. The restrooms (which, by the way, you have to pay to use) were in the baby zoo. I'm glad we went there because I had some awesome animal experiences. They had more then baby animals at the "baby zoo". They had a baby orangutan, a baby lion, a full grown white tiger, and a 9 year old jaguar (leopard)- all of which you could take your picture with for 10,000 Rupiah (about $1.50). I took pictures with all four.
If you ever get the opportunity to visit Jakarta, this is one experience you do not want to miss.
Mar 14
We made tremendous strides in our project today. The team has worked long hours the last two weeks to try to get ahead of the schedule so we have time to spare at the end of the project if necessary. This is how I prefer to run projects, so I am pleased that they have seen the merit in the process.
This evening, we went to the same restaurant my colleagues visited prior to our flight to Timika. "Cilantro's" is on the top floor of the tallest building in Jakarta. It is one of the nicer restaurants in the city. We had six people in our group and with dinner, drinks and dessert, the tab was under $150.
Restaurants out here suffer from poor customer service. I blame it on a culture of no tipping (some businesses even post signs that say "Thank you for not tipping"). Cilantro's was no different. Prior to placing my order, I clarified that the Thai Mango Salad was just that - a salad. Fruit and vegetables only. The waiter confirmed this to be the case. When the salad arrived, it had what looked like baked chips on the top. I asked what they were, and they replied "fish". I indicated they should take it back and I had no intention of paying for something they had lied to me about. They wouldn't, and I had to pay for it because I ordered it. We also ordered a steak dish. We ordered one, they billed us for two saying they brought us a large one (there isn't a large one on the menu).
Tomorrow I am going to the Safari Zoo. The concept of it is very exciting, so I have high expectations and am really looking forward to the trip.
This evening, we went to the same restaurant my colleagues visited prior to our flight to Timika. "Cilantro's" is on the top floor of the tallest building in Jakarta. It is one of the nicer restaurants in the city. We had six people in our group and with dinner, drinks and dessert, the tab was under $150.
Restaurants out here suffer from poor customer service. I blame it on a culture of no tipping (some businesses even post signs that say "Thank you for not tipping"). Cilantro's was no different. Prior to placing my order, I clarified that the Thai Mango Salad was just that - a salad. Fruit and vegetables only. The waiter confirmed this to be the case. When the salad arrived, it had what looked like baked chips on the top. I asked what they were, and they replied "fish". I indicated they should take it back and I had no intention of paying for something they had lied to me about. They wouldn't, and I had to pay for it because I ordered it. We also ordered a steak dish. We ordered one, they billed us for two saying they brought us a large one (there isn't a large one on the menu).
Tomorrow I am going to the Safari Zoo. The concept of it is very exciting, so I have high expectations and am really looking forward to the trip.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Mar 13
My project has had setbacks, breakthroughs, and small advances in the last few days. First, when I arrived at the office on Monday, I learned that my local project coordinator, and the person in charge of managing the code, are both in the hospital with Typhoid Fever. One of our architects was out for most of the month of December, part of January, and even some of February with the same ailment, so I'm not expecting these employees back any time soon. Don't worry, I've been vaccinated against it, and it's not contagious.
Most of the project I'm working on is very basic: change the timestamp on transactions, change the tab order, add a field. One change, however, is large and complicated. That is the focus of the majority of my conversations on this project, and several different iterations of documentation. Yesterday, we finally cleared all aspects of the project through design. For the first time on this project, I have full confidence in its success. I'd always had faith in the people. Now I have faith in the project.
When I left Michigan to attend ASU, my dream was to pursue a career in international business. Specifically, I wanted to specialize in mergers and acquisitions. It took me 11 years, 7 companies, and 5 mergers, but I'm finally living my dream. Everyone I work with is intelligent. Everyone I work with is focused on doing their best. It's a far cry from the temp jobs I had in banking. Back then, the concept of "Instant Messaging" was sending "net send" requests from a command prompt. One of the guys I worked with sent "dork" as a net send, but sent it to the wrong computer. The woman sitting at the computer who actually received the "dork" message, had just made a mistake and thought the computer was deriding her. Seriously. It still makes me laugh. I worked with people who would surf porn sites at work. I worked with people who would spend 4 hours a day calling her boyfriend in Israel on the company phone. Not anymore.
I truly enjoy working with everyone in Indonesia, and I'm doing a job that I love. There are challenges, there are issues I wish I did not have to deal with, and there are opportunities that I could not get in any other job at any other company.
If only I could get my wife and daughter to come with me on these longer trips......
Most of the project I'm working on is very basic: change the timestamp on transactions, change the tab order, add a field. One change, however, is large and complicated. That is the focus of the majority of my conversations on this project, and several different iterations of documentation. Yesterday, we finally cleared all aspects of the project through design. For the first time on this project, I have full confidence in its success. I'd always had faith in the people. Now I have faith in the project.
When I left Michigan to attend ASU, my dream was to pursue a career in international business. Specifically, I wanted to specialize in mergers and acquisitions. It took me 11 years, 7 companies, and 5 mergers, but I'm finally living my dream. Everyone I work with is intelligent. Everyone I work with is focused on doing their best. It's a far cry from the temp jobs I had in banking. Back then, the concept of "Instant Messaging" was sending "net send" requests from a command prompt. One of the guys I worked with sent "dork" as a net send, but sent it to the wrong computer. The woman sitting at the computer who actually received the "dork" message, had just made a mistake and thought the computer was deriding her. Seriously. It still makes me laugh. I worked with people who would surf porn sites at work. I worked with people who would spend 4 hours a day calling her boyfriend in Israel on the company phone. Not anymore.
I truly enjoy working with everyone in Indonesia, and I'm doing a job that I love. There are challenges, there are issues I wish I did not have to deal with, and there are opportunities that I could not get in any other job at any other company.
If only I could get my wife and daughter to come with me on these longer trips......
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Mar 9 and 10 - A tree falls in the forest
Blogging is an interesting enterprise. On the one hand, I blog because I like to write. Writing, as an exercise, helps me to gather my thoughts, reflect on my day or, when I write fiction, is an outlet for my creativity. On the other hand, I use this particular blog to communicate my continued safety and share my experiences with family and friends. As I reread my blog (and sometimes edit where necessary), I see "0 comments" on nearly every post. No one emails me regarding my experiences, either.
As I blog, I often feel like an actor on a stage looking out at a darkened auditorium. I know the audience is out there - even though I can't see them - because they come up to me on the street a few days or weeks later and ask if I will perform again, or they comment on my performance. While they are in the auditorium, however, I hear nothing. No cheers, no jeers, no applause, no booing. So I ask the question:
"If a person blogs on the internet, and on one reads it, do they really blog?"
March 9:
Similar to last Sunday, I spent this Sunday by myself excercising, reading, and watching movies. I bought some really good DVD's and have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the movies. So far, the only one that was a waste was "Sweeny Todd", a Tim Burton film. I fell asleep watching it and it was the middle of the afternoon. I actually turned it of about 2/3 through because it was just a waste of time. I started my last book, so I'll definitely need to buy a new one before the weekend.
I have only 8 business days left in my trip. I'm here until Sat, 3/22, but 3/20 and 3/21 are national holidays (Easter) and no one is working. I tried to get an earlier flight, but everything is sold out.
This evening, I went to dinner with the tech lead for my project at the Jakarta Hard Rock cafe. Prices for that restaurant are no different here than anywhere else. I even contributed to the Indonesian economy by buying a $13 shot glass.
I encountered an interesting new issue - well, interesting to me, anyway. I have been unable to send email from my personal account while at the hotel. I am receiving email just fine, but every time I try to send an email, I get an error message telling me they think I am spam, or their servers are down. I did not have this issue my prior trip or evern earlier in this one. I contacted customer support via their 24 hour online chat. The first guy ended the conversation immediately after I told him the issue. The second guy told me to change my password because spammers were using my account. While the first one was obviously useless, the second one, as it turns out, was equally clueless.
Finally, on my third try, spoke with someone who had a clue. Indeed, my emails were being considered spam. Not, however, because of my account. The issue was the hotel's internet provider. Like most hotels, the Ritz doesn't provide you internet from their network, they work with a local provider (ISP) and you use their network (after paying a hefty fee). Apparently, in the week while I was gone, the ISP used by the hotel became flagged as a spammer by my ISP. When I access the internet from the hotel, I get an IP Address from the ISP. My ISP recognizes my computer as being from a spamming agency, and starts denying my emails. So, now, the only way I can send emails from my personal account is to first access my company's network, get an IP address from that, and THEN send the emails. What a mess.
The odor of my suitcase has diminished slightly, but I still don't want to walk near it.
My new Ritz neighbors are quite loud during their amorous activities. Luckily, they don't last very long.
Mar 10
Today was a very productive day. A rare day where I have absolutely no downtime at the office. The project is moving along quite nicely, despite some early hiccups. We're still not where I would like to be and we have a long way to go, though I'm comfortable with where we stand.
I had an interesting conversation with two of our architects, today. One of them was out most of December with Typhoid Fever, and we received notice today that one of the other members of the team now has Typhoid fever. This lead to a discussion of what shots I received before coming out here. For the record, I received the following shots/vaccinations:
- Hepatitis A (no need for Hepatitis B because I did those vaccinations a few years ago)
- Japanes Encephalitis
- Polio
- Tuberculosis
- Typhoid Fever
- Rabies
- Tetanus
They also gave me Cipro (yes, the anthrax drug) for GI issues, and pills to take to prevent Malaria that I have had to take 2 days prior to my trip to Papua and for 7 days after leaving.
The rest of the conversation went like this:
ARCH1: Who gave you those?
ME: The company our company sent me to prior to my trip
ARCH1: When I went to the US, they did not give me anything
ME: You don't need any vaccinations for a trip to the US
ARCH2: That is because they do not have vaccinations for Al Qaeda, terrorists, etc.
Interesting perspectives. We're scared of developing nations because of the "diseases". Developing nations are scared of us because everyone wants to attack us, our school shootings, etc. I wonder who has, statistically, the greater argument?
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Mar 8
Leaving Timika became a much larger adventure than I would have anticipated. We were in the lobby waiting for our ride about 9:10. Our ride had indicated he would arrive at 9:30 to take us to the airport for our 10:45 AM flight. The airport is less than 5 minutes away, and check-in is not like the major airports, so this would not likely be an issue. 9:30 arrives with no driver. 9:40 arrives and we get concerned. We make a few phone calls and discover there will be no driver. We're supposed to take the hotel shuttle. So, we do, scratching our heads as we all had heard the same thing - "see you tomorrow at 9:30".
When we arrive at the airport I, who had brought only one bag with me on the trip and only bought items that would fit in said bag, checked in fine. My two colleagues, however, who had purchased enough items that they filled both the extra bag they brought AND the new bag they had to buy to fill it, had difficulties. First, the airline had confusion over how many bags they could check vs. carry on. Then, they were each over the weight limit and had to pay extra for their baggage. Of course, they couldn't pay the overage at the check-in counter, they had to pay it at the ticket counter, which was outside. After jumping through all the hoops, their collection of $3-$10 trinkets cost $20 to fly on the plane - and that was just to Bali, they stll have to get home.
I left my companions in Bali and returned to Jakarta for the second half of my trip. When I arrived at the hotel and unpacked, I had two issues. First, I realized I left the book I was reading on the plane. I've not done that before. Second, my luggage absolutely reeked. It's like it was dipped in gasoline or oil or runover by a tire. None of my clothes smelled, thankfully, but I had to put the bag in the bathroom and shut the door due to the smell.
I read the inflight magazine from Bali to Jakarta and two articles reminded me of a few things I wanted to mention.
1) There is a lot of talk out here about Barack Obama. He spent a number of years in Indonesia as a child and went to school here. The author of the article in the inflight magazine had been a classmate of his. Local newspapers have written several articles about him, too. Food for thought on the veracity of the "rumors".
2) There are five recognized religions in Indonesia. Everyone in the states refers to Indonesia as the "world's largest Muslim nation". While it is true there are probably more Muslims here than any other country, Indonesia is the 5th most populous country in the world, so that could just be by sheer volume. Indonesia recognizes Hindu, Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. At each of our locations in Indonesia (Tembagapura, Kuala Kencana and Grasberg), we have both a church and a mosque. Indonesia also recognizes the holidays for each of the religions, so there is a lot of time off. The religious predominance varies by island, too. Bali, for example, is more Hindu and Buddhist than Muslim.
The only other issue I'm experiencing at the moment is I cannot send email from my personal account. Customer support says spammers may be using them and I need to change my password. So, I've done that, but will be a few hours before I know if that solved the issue.
Sunday I have to myself in Jakarta, so there likely won't be much to report.
When we arrive at the airport I, who had brought only one bag with me on the trip and only bought items that would fit in said bag, checked in fine. My two colleagues, however, who had purchased enough items that they filled both the extra bag they brought AND the new bag they had to buy to fill it, had difficulties. First, the airline had confusion over how many bags they could check vs. carry on. Then, they were each over the weight limit and had to pay extra for their baggage. Of course, they couldn't pay the overage at the check-in counter, they had to pay it at the ticket counter, which was outside. After jumping through all the hoops, their collection of $3-$10 trinkets cost $20 to fly on the plane - and that was just to Bali, they stll have to get home.
I left my companions in Bali and returned to Jakarta for the second half of my trip. When I arrived at the hotel and unpacked, I had two issues. First, I realized I left the book I was reading on the plane. I've not done that before. Second, my luggage absolutely reeked. It's like it was dipped in gasoline or oil or runover by a tire. None of my clothes smelled, thankfully, but I had to put the bag in the bathroom and shut the door due to the smell.
I read the inflight magazine from Bali to Jakarta and two articles reminded me of a few things I wanted to mention.
1) There is a lot of talk out here about Barack Obama. He spent a number of years in Indonesia as a child and went to school here. The author of the article in the inflight magazine had been a classmate of his. Local newspapers have written several articles about him, too. Food for thought on the veracity of the "rumors".
2) There are five recognized religions in Indonesia. Everyone in the states refers to Indonesia as the "world's largest Muslim nation". While it is true there are probably more Muslims here than any other country, Indonesia is the 5th most populous country in the world, so that could just be by sheer volume. Indonesia recognizes Hindu, Buddhism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism. At each of our locations in Indonesia (Tembagapura, Kuala Kencana and Grasberg), we have both a church and a mosque. Indonesia also recognizes the holidays for each of the religions, so there is a lot of time off. The religious predominance varies by island, too. Bali, for example, is more Hindu and Buddhist than Muslim.
The only other issue I'm experiencing at the moment is I cannot send email from my personal account. Customer support says spammers may be using them and I need to change my password. So, I've done that, but will be a few hours before I know if that solved the issue.
Sunday I have to myself in Jakarta, so there likely won't be much to report.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Mar 7
Today we received a tour of more of our facilities. In Papua, we have 160 person technology team. In addition to traditional desktop support and help desk functions, this group provides cable TV, power, and telephones to not just our mine sites, but to the entire area - company housing, the airport, our partner facilities. So, with 160 people, we are not just an IT team, we are also three utility companies. Pretty impressive.
Tonight is my last night in Papua. Tomorrow I fly back to Jakarta after first dropping my colleagues in Bali. I thought I would take this opportunity to share what I've learned about Papua.
1) I learned that they don't have sheep on Papua. This surprised me as I had ordered, and ate, the lamb chops at the golf course. Turns out, I ate goat.
2) I learned that the native Papuans will steal anything they can - often at any cost. As you drive around town, you see many Papuans using our mining helmets as their motorcycle helmet and they are wearing our steel-toed boots. They also will destroy the pipeline that feeds the copper slurry from the mountain to the port site. This they do at serious risk of life and limb. The pipes are pumped at a very high pressure. What the theives typically do is find a mentally ill person, have him break the pipe, and lose his arm in the process. All this to steal about six feet of piping that they can turn into about $1,000 - which is about a year's salary for the average Indonesian.
3) I learned that all of the art in Papua is either about sex or death. All of the totems are covered with symbols representing fertility or mortality. Anthropologically speaking, however, this is what I would expect from a society that lives hand-to-mouth.
4) I learned it rains every afternoon, most evenings, and some mornings - though I was here in the rainy season.
5) I learned that Papua is a land of beauty. I've seen at least 15 different species of butterfly and the flowers seem to be always in bloom.
6) I learned the people are friendly - if not economically desperate - but you always want a local to haggle the price on your behalf. Out here, there is regular price, and white-guy price.
7) I learned that Papuans love Karaoke and are CRAZY about American Idol. Apparently, a few years ago, we lost our feed of the channel that carries American Idol during one of the elimination rounds. The Papuans rioted - literally.
8) I learned that "ole-ole" (olay olay) means "little gifts", "pak" means "Mr.", "ibu" (ee-boo) means "Mrs.", and "poca" (poe cha) means "child".
9) I learned that you are supposed to bring "ole-ole" with you when you come (wish someone had told me in advance) and that anything American is much appreciated - but stickers are the prized item. Next time, I'm bringing bumper stickers that say "I Love Arizona".
10) I learned that teakwood is dirt cheap in Bali. You can buy a large, 6 drawer teakwood dresser for $50.
11) I learned it has some very scary snakes. One of the locals told a story of a time he and another were returning from a night drinking. They came to an intersection and his friend said he wanted to say something to the gentleman standing at the corner. He looked at what he wanted to speak to, and it was a python with its head lifted up over the top of the SUV. They gunned it before it could crash through the window of the car. He also told us of the 44 ft python they found in his backyard. Yikes!
I really liked my time in Papua. The staff here was very hospitable and shared of themselves as well as their knowledge of the area and our work here. Though my project does not change as a result of this visit, the socialization we will need to do to the rest of our team, and the policies and procedures we will need to create, have definitely changed as a result of our visit. I would return any time they ask it of me.... though hopefully I'll be home for a while after this trip.
Tonight is my last night in Papua. Tomorrow I fly back to Jakarta after first dropping my colleagues in Bali. I thought I would take this opportunity to share what I've learned about Papua.
1) I learned that they don't have sheep on Papua. This surprised me as I had ordered, and ate, the lamb chops at the golf course. Turns out, I ate goat.
2) I learned that the native Papuans will steal anything they can - often at any cost. As you drive around town, you see many Papuans using our mining helmets as their motorcycle helmet and they are wearing our steel-toed boots. They also will destroy the pipeline that feeds the copper slurry from the mountain to the port site. This they do at serious risk of life and limb. The pipes are pumped at a very high pressure. What the theives typically do is find a mentally ill person, have him break the pipe, and lose his arm in the process. All this to steal about six feet of piping that they can turn into about $1,000 - which is about a year's salary for the average Indonesian.
3) I learned that all of the art in Papua is either about sex or death. All of the totems are covered with symbols representing fertility or mortality. Anthropologically speaking, however, this is what I would expect from a society that lives hand-to-mouth.
4) I learned it rains every afternoon, most evenings, and some mornings - though I was here in the rainy season.
5) I learned that Papua is a land of beauty. I've seen at least 15 different species of butterfly and the flowers seem to be always in bloom.
6) I learned the people are friendly - if not economically desperate - but you always want a local to haggle the price on your behalf. Out here, there is regular price, and white-guy price.
7) I learned that Papuans love Karaoke and are CRAZY about American Idol. Apparently, a few years ago, we lost our feed of the channel that carries American Idol during one of the elimination rounds. The Papuans rioted - literally.
8) I learned that "ole-ole" (olay olay) means "little gifts", "pak" means "Mr.", "ibu" (ee-boo) means "Mrs.", and "poca" (poe cha) means "child".
9) I learned that you are supposed to bring "ole-ole" with you when you come (wish someone had told me in advance) and that anything American is much appreciated - but stickers are the prized item. Next time, I'm bringing bumper stickers that say "I Love Arizona".
10) I learned that teakwood is dirt cheap in Bali. You can buy a large, 6 drawer teakwood dresser for $50.
11) I learned it has some very scary snakes. One of the locals told a story of a time he and another were returning from a night drinking. They came to an intersection and his friend said he wanted to say something to the gentleman standing at the corner. He looked at what he wanted to speak to, and it was a python with its head lifted up over the top of the SUV. They gunned it before it could crash through the window of the car. He also told us of the 44 ft python they found in his backyard. Yikes!
I really liked my time in Papua. The staff here was very hospitable and shared of themselves as well as their knowledge of the area and our work here. Though my project does not change as a result of this visit, the socialization we will need to do to the rest of our team, and the policies and procedures we will need to create, have definitely changed as a result of our visit. I would return any time they ask it of me.... though hopefully I'll be home for a while after this trip.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Mar 6
Life is merely a collection of experiences. A good life, has more positive experiences than negative. A great life is filled of wonderful experiences that are the envy of many. In the end, our experiences, and the memories we have of them, are all we have. Today's experiences are some that I will never forget.
The morning started early - 5:00 AM to prepare for our 6:00 AM departure. Our driver picked us up in the near-dawn light and drove us to the office where we met up with our tour guides - two of the MIS workers in Papua. The provided me with a jacket, verified we had our PPE, and off we went.
Our first stop was at a security check point where we all had to scan our ID's before entering the restricted area. Shortly after passing the security check point, we began our ascent. It's difficult to comprehend exactly how high and how fast we climbed without actually doing it. Words and pictures don't do the journey justice, but I'll do my best.
First, the hotel is in Timika, at 75 ft above sea level. Kual Kencana, where the offices are, is at about 100 ft. The security check point is at 1800 feet. From the security check point, there is nothing but road all the way to Tembagapura (Copper City). Tembagapura is at 6600 feet - over a mile high. From there, you climb to 9500 feet, which is the base of Grasberg. For us, the final ascent to Grasberg - at 13,000 feet was done via a Gondola, and then another vehicle to reach the mine. A climb of nearly 2.5 miles - straight up.
Most of the way to Tembagapura is two-way, winding dirt roads that are at a 40 degree incline. There are a few places where the road is very steep - almost a 70 degree incline - so they have paved the uphill side of the road. Some places are too narrow for two vehicles, espcially when you consider that some of these vehicles are heavily loaded semi-trailers loaded down with explosives - so only one vehicle is permitted at a time. Two such instances of the one-way traffic are two tunnels - one a half-mile in length, the other nearly a mile long - that burrow through the mountain. The trip was made even more ominous by the fact that today was overcast, and we spent much of our trip ensconced in clouds with about 20 feet of visibility.
When you arrive in Tembagapura, you have to scan yourself in once again, and if you made the ascent in under 35 minutes, they give you a ticket for speeding. We did it in 36 minutes - and were white knuckled most of the way. Tembagapura is an absolutely beautiful city nestled in the mountains of Papua. It reminds me of Estes Park, Colorado, or the Pacific Northwest. Green everywhere, and waterfalls around every turn. The temperature had dropped significantly, too. In Timika, it was hot and muggy. In Tembagapura, I could see my breath when we exited the vehicle, though, because I was wearing three shirts and a jacket, I was not cold.
None of us had eaten breakfast, due to the early departure, so when we arrived in Tembagapura, we ate at the company sponsored mess hall. We then had a quick tour of the MIS facilities in Tembagapura, and prepared for our trip to Grasberg. Before leaving for the mine, we had to put on our PPE. It turned out, I should have tried on BOTH boots, not just one, before we left because one boot fit, the other was two sizes smaller and didn't fit. So, we had to make a quick stop by the guest house and get me two, equally sized boots before we went up the mountain.
The trip from Tembagapura to Grasberg is just as steep, if not steeper. We parked our vehicle at the mill, and climbed the hill about 200 feet to catch the tram, or gondola, to the top of the hill. We were at such a high altitude, the 200 foot walk up hill and then a flight of stairs had my heart pounding and me winded. We had to scan our badges once again before boarding the gondola.
Now, if you are afraid of heights, this is not the ride for you. You are climbing 3000 verticle feet, in a large metal box, suspended by steel cables, in about a mile's distance. There are very few bars to hold onto, and all the windows open - if you want them to. The view, however, is spectacular. When the Gondola stops, you are at the base operations of the Grasberg mine. Due to the overcast, we might as well have been in cloud city. There was a constant drizzle - as we were in the middle of a cloud the entire time. Visibility wasn't great, but the clouds were thin enough that we could still see what we came to see.
From here, we took a Land Rover to the repair shop. We saw the mining vehicles that were under repair. This was my first time actually standing next to a haul truck, and they are definitely enormous. At 15 stories tall, it seems impossible to think that they just made the same journey we did. Impossible, that is, until you learn that the come up in pieces and are reassembled at the top.
Our next stop was the dispatch center and the crushers. The dispatch center coordinates activity of all vehicles at the top of the mountain. The crusher is where we grind the rock we've mined into small particles that are then conveyed to the mill and turned into concentrate, or "slurry". That slurry is then sent down the hill through the use of large pipes and gravity alone all the way to our port where it is loaded on to ships and sent to the smelters to turn into copper.
From the crushers, we went to the mine dispatch center. This is basically the mine cockpit. If you've ever seen inside an airport control tower, the mine cockpit is similar. There are several people constantly monitoring all facets of the mine operations from the vehicles in the mine, to the boilers and crushers. Any time something goes down, or any system is operating outside the defined normal parameters, their screens alert them to the variance and they dispatch someone to correct the issue.
From the mine dispatch center, we went to the Grasberg overlook. The mine is absolutely enormous. It's like a big auditorium with rows upon enormous rows of seats. In the picture, if you look over my right shoulder, you'll notice a few specks on the wall behind me. Basically, go diagonally up and to the left from my right shoulder (your left). At the end of what appears to be a gray shelf, there are some black dots. Those specks are the same haul trucks in the previous pictures. That should give you some perspective on size.
We left the Grasberg open pit mine, and then went into the underground mine. We all scanned our badges, and the car started the descent into the tunnel. We drove for what seemed like miles, nearly straight down, before we finally saw people. The undergound mines are all single-lane tunnels, but the lanes go both directions. To accomodate bi-directional, single lane tunnels, every hundred feet or so, there are pullouts that you can pull into to allow other cars to pass. We had to use this once or twice. We stayed in the car for the whole trip, and when we emerged, we were at the mill, over 3000 feet lower than where we began.
We drove back down to Tembagapura and had our lunch at the mess hall. After a quick stop at the local mall so everyone but me could make a purchase, we headed back to Timika. We stopped at a scenic outlook and took a few pictures and were back in Kuala Kencana an hour after leaving Tembagapura. The only disappointment was the cloud cover prevented us from seeing the glacier atop the mountain range on Papua.
Our driver met us there, and we decided to take a trip into the town of Timika. We stopped at a few of the shops, and I finally broke down and bought some wood carvings that I thought were pretty cool. They reminded me of the stone figures from The Blue Lagoon movie where the natives would make human sacrifices.
By far, this was one of the most amazing days I've had. We went through several climates, saw some amazing beauty, and witnessed man's ingenuity at work. I took dozens of pictures, but, due to the bandwidth considerations on Papua, I've only uploaded those that were key to the telling of the story. I'll upload the rest when I return to Jakarta on Saturday.
The morning started early - 5:00 AM to prepare for our 6:00 AM departure. Our driver picked us up in the near-dawn light and drove us to the office where we met up with our tour guides - two of the MIS workers in Papua. The provided me with a jacket, verified we had our PPE, and off we went.
Our first stop was at a security check point where we all had to scan our ID's before entering the restricted area. Shortly after passing the security check point, we began our ascent. It's difficult to comprehend exactly how high and how fast we climbed without actually doing it. Words and pictures don't do the journey justice, but I'll do my best.
First, the hotel is in Timika, at 75 ft above sea level. Kual Kencana, where the offices are, is at about 100 ft. The security check point is at 1800 feet. From the security check point, there is nothing but road all the way to Tembagapura (Copper City). Tembagapura is at 6600 feet - over a mile high. From there, you climb to 9500 feet, which is the base of Grasberg. For us, the final ascent to Grasberg - at 13,000 feet was done via a Gondola, and then another vehicle to reach the mine. A climb of nearly 2.5 miles - straight up.
Most of the way to Tembagapura is two-way, winding dirt roads that are at a 40 degree incline. There are a few places where the road is very steep - almost a 70 degree incline - so they have paved the uphill side of the road. Some places are too narrow for two vehicles, espcially when you consider that some of these vehicles are heavily loaded semi-trailers loaded down with explosives - so only one vehicle is permitted at a time. Two such instances of the one-way traffic are two tunnels - one a half-mile in length, the other nearly a mile long - that burrow through the mountain. The trip was made even more ominous by the fact that today was overcast, and we spent much of our trip ensconced in clouds with about 20 feet of visibility.
When you arrive in Tembagapura, you have to scan yourself in once again, and if you made the ascent in under 35 minutes, they give you a ticket for speeding. We did it in 36 minutes - and were white knuckled most of the way. Tembagapura is an absolutely beautiful city nestled in the mountains of Papua. It reminds me of Estes Park, Colorado, or the Pacific Northwest. Green everywhere, and waterfalls around every turn. The temperature had dropped significantly, too. In Timika, it was hot and muggy. In Tembagapura, I could see my breath when we exited the vehicle, though, because I was wearing three shirts and a jacket, I was not cold.
None of us had eaten breakfast, due to the early departure, so when we arrived in Tembagapura, we ate at the company sponsored mess hall. We then had a quick tour of the MIS facilities in Tembagapura, and prepared for our trip to Grasberg. Before leaving for the mine, we had to put on our PPE. It turned out, I should have tried on BOTH boots, not just one, before we left because one boot fit, the other was two sizes smaller and didn't fit. So, we had to make a quick stop by the guest house and get me two, equally sized boots before we went up the mountain.
The trip from Tembagapura to Grasberg is just as steep, if not steeper. We parked our vehicle at the mill, and climbed the hill about 200 feet to catch the tram, or gondola, to the top of the hill. We were at such a high altitude, the 200 foot walk up hill and then a flight of stairs had my heart pounding and me winded. We had to scan our badges once again before boarding the gondola.
Now, if you are afraid of heights, this is not the ride for you. You are climbing 3000 verticle feet, in a large metal box, suspended by steel cables, in about a mile's distance. There are very few bars to hold onto, and all the windows open - if you want them to. The view, however, is spectacular. When the Gondola stops, you are at the base operations of the Grasberg mine. Due to the overcast, we might as well have been in cloud city. There was a constant drizzle - as we were in the middle of a cloud the entire time. Visibility wasn't great, but the clouds were thin enough that we could still see what we came to see.
From here, we took a Land Rover to the repair shop. We saw the mining vehicles that were under repair. This was my first time actually standing next to a haul truck, and they are definitely enormous. At 15 stories tall, it seems impossible to think that they just made the same journey we did. Impossible, that is, until you learn that the come up in pieces and are reassembled at the top.
Our next stop was the dispatch center and the crushers. The dispatch center coordinates activity of all vehicles at the top of the mountain. The crusher is where we grind the rock we've mined into small particles that are then conveyed to the mill and turned into concentrate, or "slurry". That slurry is then sent down the hill through the use of large pipes and gravity alone all the way to our port where it is loaded on to ships and sent to the smelters to turn into copper.
From the crushers, we went to the mine dispatch center. This is basically the mine cockpit. If you've ever seen inside an airport control tower, the mine cockpit is similar. There are several people constantly monitoring all facets of the mine operations from the vehicles in the mine, to the boilers and crushers. Any time something goes down, or any system is operating outside the defined normal parameters, their screens alert them to the variance and they dispatch someone to correct the issue.
From the mine dispatch center, we went to the Grasberg overlook. The mine is absolutely enormous. It's like a big auditorium with rows upon enormous rows of seats. In the picture, if you look over my right shoulder, you'll notice a few specks on the wall behind me. Basically, go diagonally up and to the left from my right shoulder (your left). At the end of what appears to be a gray shelf, there are some black dots. Those specks are the same haul trucks in the previous pictures. That should give you some perspective on size.
We left the Grasberg open pit mine, and then went into the underground mine. We all scanned our badges, and the car started the descent into the tunnel. We drove for what seemed like miles, nearly straight down, before we finally saw people. The undergound mines are all single-lane tunnels, but the lanes go both directions. To accomodate bi-directional, single lane tunnels, every hundred feet or so, there are pullouts that you can pull into to allow other cars to pass. We had to use this once or twice. We stayed in the car for the whole trip, and when we emerged, we were at the mill, over 3000 feet lower than where we began.
We drove back down to Tembagapura and had our lunch at the mess hall. After a quick stop at the local mall so everyone but me could make a purchase, we headed back to Timika. We stopped at a scenic outlook and took a few pictures and were back in Kuala Kencana an hour after leaving Tembagapura. The only disappointment was the cloud cover prevented us from seeing the glacier atop the mountain range on Papua.
Our driver met us there, and we decided to take a trip into the town of Timika. We stopped at a few of the shops, and I finally broke down and bought some wood carvings that I thought were pretty cool. They reminded me of the stone figures from The Blue Lagoon movie where the natives would make human sacrifices.
By far, this was one of the most amazing days I've had. We went through several climates, saw some amazing beauty, and witnessed man's ingenuity at work. I took dozens of pictures, but, due to the bandwidth considerations on Papua, I've only uploaded those that were key to the telling of the story. I'll upload the rest when I return to Jakarta on Saturday.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Mar 5
Today was a rather slow day for me. The morning started with our first check-in with the project steering committee, which went well, and the rest of my day was spent reviewing documents for my next project (implementing the Indonesia Contract Adminstration System in Phoenix) so I am ready for the meetings that start a few weeks after my return. We had some further discussions regarding the documentation challenges we're having on this project, but that was it. Spending my whole day reading user documentation is tiring on the eyes - and it isn't the most compelling reading, either.
We did have a break for lunch with the usual suspects. Not wanting to wait another 90 minutes for our meals, we went to the other restaurant at the mall across from the office. This restaurant served more general fare and I went the American food route and had my first cheeseburger in months. I had actually been hoping to return to the golf club as it is the only place I've seen out since I've been here this trip that had ice cream as an option - and a banana split, no less! Those of you that know my ice cream habits an imagine that going 10 days without ice cream had me going through withdrawal. Though I am down to 1.5 gallons a month (from 3 gallons a month), I still crave ice cream if I go too long without it. In Jakarta, I was able to supplement with cold milk and/or yogurt. In Timika, dairy products in general have been hard to come by. So, you can imagine my elation when I saw ice cream on the menu!
After my cheese burger (and a banana smoothie), I ordered one of my favorite ice cream flavors - mint chocolate chip. Although here, they called it "spearmint chocolate chip". The brought me the familiar green ice cream with dark brown specks...but it didn't taste or feel right. Based on appearance, I was expecting a rough texture, similar to homemade ice cream where the milk freezes more slowly and crystallizes instead of freezing smooth. However, it was more like cream cheese in texture. The mint was more like peppermint - and I saw streaks of pink in the green that confirmed that theory for me. The chocolate, however, was not what I was expecting. It had the texture of cake, and I don't know what the flavor was. It may have been unsweetened baking chocolate, or some type of chocolate substitute, but it was not the rich, dark chocolate I was expecting. Whatever it was, I enjoyed it, but I'll be looking for some of my favorite ice cream in the freezer when I get home (hopefully my wife sees this and stocks it for me).
Over lunch, we tend to talk about the differences in American and Indonesian life. Today's topic, as it often is, was food. One of our comrades mentioned that dog - yes, canine domesticus - was a common meal in the town where he grew up. He mentioned that people in his town would eat anything they could catch. He jokingly said that if they built a zoo in his town, on the same card that explained the animal and its habitat, there would be a recipe describing the best way to cook it. We didn't want to talk about eating our pets, so we changed the subject and asked how many of them would permanently move to the US if given the opportunity. Many of them said they would not, which I was both glad to hear and surprised to hear. One always likes to believe that everyone wants to move to their home country because it is the best in the world - especially Americans - but it is always nice to hear someone who is content with where they are at in life.
Tomorrow is our mine tour. We received our PPE - Personal Protective Equipment - today, including the steel toed shoes. We are advised to dress warmly and be prepared for high-altitude conditions. There is a glacier on top of the mountains of Papua, and our mine is close to it. I'm not sure I have warm enough clothes, so I'm dressing in layers and hoping for the best. I'm sure I'll have great pictures to load tomorrow.
We did have a break for lunch with the usual suspects. Not wanting to wait another 90 minutes for our meals, we went to the other restaurant at the mall across from the office. This restaurant served more general fare and I went the American food route and had my first cheeseburger in months. I had actually been hoping to return to the golf club as it is the only place I've seen out since I've been here this trip that had ice cream as an option - and a banana split, no less! Those of you that know my ice cream habits an imagine that going 10 days without ice cream had me going through withdrawal. Though I am down to 1.5 gallons a month (from 3 gallons a month), I still crave ice cream if I go too long without it. In Jakarta, I was able to supplement with cold milk and/or yogurt. In Timika, dairy products in general have been hard to come by. So, you can imagine my elation when I saw ice cream on the menu!
After my cheese burger (and a banana smoothie), I ordered one of my favorite ice cream flavors - mint chocolate chip. Although here, they called it "spearmint chocolate chip". The brought me the familiar green ice cream with dark brown specks...but it didn't taste or feel right. Based on appearance, I was expecting a rough texture, similar to homemade ice cream where the milk freezes more slowly and crystallizes instead of freezing smooth. However, it was more like cream cheese in texture. The mint was more like peppermint - and I saw streaks of pink in the green that confirmed that theory for me. The chocolate, however, was not what I was expecting. It had the texture of cake, and I don't know what the flavor was. It may have been unsweetened baking chocolate, or some type of chocolate substitute, but it was not the rich, dark chocolate I was expecting. Whatever it was, I enjoyed it, but I'll be looking for some of my favorite ice cream in the freezer when I get home (hopefully my wife sees this and stocks it for me).
Over lunch, we tend to talk about the differences in American and Indonesian life. Today's topic, as it often is, was food. One of our comrades mentioned that dog - yes, canine domesticus - was a common meal in the town where he grew up. He mentioned that people in his town would eat anything they could catch. He jokingly said that if they built a zoo in his town, on the same card that explained the animal and its habitat, there would be a recipe describing the best way to cook it. We didn't want to talk about eating our pets, so we changed the subject and asked how many of them would permanently move to the US if given the opportunity. Many of them said they would not, which I was both glad to hear and surprised to hear. One always likes to believe that everyone wants to move to their home country because it is the best in the world - especially Americans - but it is always nice to hear someone who is content with where they are at in life.
Tomorrow is our mine tour. We received our PPE - Personal Protective Equipment - today, including the steel toed shoes. We are advised to dress warmly and be prepared for high-altitude conditions. There is a glacier on top of the mountains of Papua, and our mine is close to it. I'm not sure I have warm enough clothes, so I'm dressing in layers and hoping for the best. I'm sure I'll have great pictures to load tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Mar 4
My project grows increasingly challenging by the day. The main plot of the effort - modify and deploy a global help desk application - is increasingly diminished by the power of the multiple subplots:
1) Use the new, standardized architecture. This required a significant revamp of the baselined application.
2) Help define the process for how we will work internationally moving forward. This project has not been the model of success on this front. I am still confident in project success, but we will be learning more from our challenges than we will be from our successes on this effort. The silver lining, of course, is that we are learning from it and the next projects will be the better for it.
3) Change the culture of the organization. This phrase keeps coming up, but we haven't quite determined what is meant by it. Hopefully we will shortly as I am sure it will impact our testing and training cycles.
4) Keep it simple. The more simple we make it, the more manual work we are creating by not adding system complexity. This is likely to have the biggest impact on the level of the "gripe factor".
I would say that the biggest issue we've had to this point is misunderstanding the documentation requirements. Our PMO (Project Management Office) group did an excellent job last year defining a standardized process for implementing technology projects. They interviewed the key players in both organization, took direction from our CIO, and held a pilot class with key managers and project managers - myself included - to get input on both the class and the process before deploying globally. Over the last few months, they've been touring the globe providing PMO training to all of our offices. This is exactly the process you would want the PMO to use.
The PMO rolled out what I like to call "little m" methodology instead of "Methodology". The difference being "methodology" defines stages, milestones, and project requirements, but permits flexibility for the project team to add and remove tasks and define deliverable templates based on the needs of the project. "Methodology" tries to define a specific set of rules, and a specific set of templates for every potential project and all parties must strictly adhere to all facets of the "Methodology". I've always preferred "methodology", so I've been very supportive of everything the PMO is trying to accomplish.
As part of the rollout and the training, the PMO provided templates for what document deliverables could look like. They took a best-of-breed approach to project documentation, but, with it being a "methodology" approach, fully expected that each project could and would modify the templates to fit the needs of the project. Here is where it gets interesting. In the training performed in Indonesia, the whole team left with the impression that they must follow the documentation templates explicitly. What's worse, no one knows where the document templates came from., and no one likes them. I know we didn't have them pre-merger, the Indonesia team said they weren't using them, and I swear the PMO had told me they adopted what the Indonesia team had provided. My guess is that one of our former colleagues, who was then manager of development in Indonesia, provided the templates to the PMO shortly before he left to "pursue other opportunities" (code for - got fired).
These documents have done nothing but muddle the issues and keep me jumping through hoops trying to follow the business requirements through to our design documents. Every version of the documents I see only poses more questions, but the developers always have thoughtful and detailed answers, which tells me they know what we are trying to accomplish, but we just aren't documenting it properly...or clearly, depending on your perspective. In any event, I'm cautiously optimistic that we are on track. I'll know for sure when I'm back in Jakarta next week and can really go through the design with everyone. They were still finishing it at the end of last week, so my first real look at it has been while I'm in Timika.
So, part of subplot 2 for me now is to create the first set of NEW templates for how we want to do development projects as a global team to help clear the confusion. When complete, the new templates won't be that different from the existing templates, they'll just have a few additions, a few deletions, and a slight reorganization....much like the system we're working on for this project.
Okay, enough work talk. On to what you really like to read about - INDONESIA. As most of the day was spent at the office (nearly 12 hours), I'll just fill in some details I forgot or omitted in some prior posts:
1) The mine has 4 shifts that run 24/7/365. Why don't we just say 24/365? Isn't the "7" redundant?? I digress. The staff refer to the locals who mine the river (illegally) as "Shift 5".
2) I was thinking the other day that isn't blogging and posting vacation pictures on Flickr just the 21st century equivalent of inviting family and friends over for a slide show? I remember the sitcoms of my youth - especially "The Wonder Years" - making fun of people who would have dinner parties and break out the slide shows. People DREADED that slide-show-guy, and now we can't get enough of Reality TV, reading people's blogs, seeing their pictures, etc. Not making a statement, really, just something interesting to me.
3) One of my colleagues bought something in the store today and they were out of change. So, instead of giving her change, they gave her a vitamin C lozenge. Do you think that would work in the US? "I'm sorry, we're out of singles, but you can select a few of our candy bars instead".
4) For lunch today, we ate at the golf course club house. It took nearly 90 minutes to get our food because the chef was preparing a feast for an Embassy meeting later in the evening. They didn't have anything exotic on the menu, so I just ordered the lamb chops (which haven't done well for my GI). The golf course is beautiful and was designed by Ben Crenshaw (I think that's his name). Over lunch, our Indonesian colleagues told us about a fruit that hung from one of the trees on the course. Apparently, it is very high in antioxidants, so many of the locals use it as medicine. They also have ascribed it great medicinal powers saying it can cure cancer, HIV, and malaria. It can't, but it's always nice to have hope.
Side note: On our way home from work, we had to wait at an intersection while the ambassador entourage passed in front of us. I hope they enjoy their dinner. It, apparently, took a long time to prepare.
Sounds like Thursday we'll get our mine tour, and I'm very excited about it. The mines are why we have jobs, so the more we can understand about how they operate, and how our products help them operate, the better we can contribute to the organization. Plus, it's just absolutely fascinating stuff. There are some events that make you proud to be part of an organization - like when ARPA birthed the internet. There are events that make you proud to be part of a country - like when America landed a man on the moon. Building a mine of this magnitude, in an area so hostile it was inaccessible before we arrived, having to create the entire infrastructure from ports, to roads, to power, and potable water, makes you proud to be part of the human race. It's endeavors like this that truly demonstrate man's preeminent status on our planet and is a testament to our ingenuity. I can't wait to see it.
1) Use the new, standardized architecture. This required a significant revamp of the baselined application.
2) Help define the process for how we will work internationally moving forward. This project has not been the model of success on this front. I am still confident in project success, but we will be learning more from our challenges than we will be from our successes on this effort. The silver lining, of course, is that we are learning from it and the next projects will be the better for it.
3) Change the culture of the organization. This phrase keeps coming up, but we haven't quite determined what is meant by it. Hopefully we will shortly as I am sure it will impact our testing and training cycles.
4) Keep it simple. The more simple we make it, the more manual work we are creating by not adding system complexity. This is likely to have the biggest impact on the level of the "gripe factor".
I would say that the biggest issue we've had to this point is misunderstanding the documentation requirements. Our PMO (Project Management Office) group did an excellent job last year defining a standardized process for implementing technology projects. They interviewed the key players in both organization, took direction from our CIO, and held a pilot class with key managers and project managers - myself included - to get input on both the class and the process before deploying globally. Over the last few months, they've been touring the globe providing PMO training to all of our offices. This is exactly the process you would want the PMO to use.
The PMO rolled out what I like to call "little m" methodology instead of "Methodology". The difference being "methodology" defines stages, milestones, and project requirements, but permits flexibility for the project team to add and remove tasks and define deliverable templates based on the needs of the project. "Methodology" tries to define a specific set of rules, and a specific set of templates for every potential project and all parties must strictly adhere to all facets of the "Methodology". I've always preferred "methodology", so I've been very supportive of everything the PMO is trying to accomplish.
As part of the rollout and the training, the PMO provided templates for what document deliverables could look like. They took a best-of-breed approach to project documentation, but, with it being a "methodology" approach, fully expected that each project could and would modify the templates to fit the needs of the project. Here is where it gets interesting. In the training performed in Indonesia, the whole team left with the impression that they must follow the documentation templates explicitly. What's worse, no one knows where the document templates came from., and no one likes them. I know we didn't have them pre-merger, the Indonesia team said they weren't using them, and I swear the PMO had told me they adopted what the Indonesia team had provided. My guess is that one of our former colleagues, who was then manager of development in Indonesia, provided the templates to the PMO shortly before he left to "pursue other opportunities" (code for - got fired).
These documents have done nothing but muddle the issues and keep me jumping through hoops trying to follow the business requirements through to our design documents. Every version of the documents I see only poses more questions, but the developers always have thoughtful and detailed answers, which tells me they know what we are trying to accomplish, but we just aren't documenting it properly...or clearly, depending on your perspective. In any event, I'm cautiously optimistic that we are on track. I'll know for sure when I'm back in Jakarta next week and can really go through the design with everyone. They were still finishing it at the end of last week, so my first real look at it has been while I'm in Timika.
So, part of subplot 2 for me now is to create the first set of NEW templates for how we want to do development projects as a global team to help clear the confusion. When complete, the new templates won't be that different from the existing templates, they'll just have a few additions, a few deletions, and a slight reorganization....much like the system we're working on for this project.
Okay, enough work talk. On to what you really like to read about - INDONESIA. As most of the day was spent at the office (nearly 12 hours), I'll just fill in some details I forgot or omitted in some prior posts:
1) The mine has 4 shifts that run 24/7/365. Why don't we just say 24/365? Isn't the "7" redundant?? I digress. The staff refer to the locals who mine the river (illegally) as "Shift 5".
2) I was thinking the other day that isn't blogging and posting vacation pictures on Flickr just the 21st century equivalent of inviting family and friends over for a slide show? I remember the sitcoms of my youth - especially "The Wonder Years" - making fun of people who would have dinner parties and break out the slide shows. People DREADED that slide-show-guy, and now we can't get enough of Reality TV, reading people's blogs, seeing their pictures, etc. Not making a statement, really, just something interesting to me.
3) One of my colleagues bought something in the store today and they were out of change. So, instead of giving her change, they gave her a vitamin C lozenge. Do you think that would work in the US? "I'm sorry, we're out of singles, but you can select a few of our candy bars instead".
4) For lunch today, we ate at the golf course club house. It took nearly 90 minutes to get our food because the chef was preparing a feast for an Embassy meeting later in the evening. They didn't have anything exotic on the menu, so I just ordered the lamb chops (which haven't done well for my GI). The golf course is beautiful and was designed by Ben Crenshaw (I think that's his name). Over lunch, our Indonesian colleagues told us about a fruit that hung from one of the trees on the course. Apparently, it is very high in antioxidants, so many of the locals use it as medicine. They also have ascribed it great medicinal powers saying it can cure cancer, HIV, and malaria. It can't, but it's always nice to have hope.
Side note: On our way home from work, we had to wait at an intersection while the ambassador entourage passed in front of us. I hope they enjoy their dinner. It, apparently, took a long time to prepare.
Sounds like Thursday we'll get our mine tour, and I'm very excited about it. The mines are why we have jobs, so the more we can understand about how they operate, and how our products help them operate, the better we can contribute to the organization. Plus, it's just absolutely fascinating stuff. There are some events that make you proud to be part of an organization - like when ARPA birthed the internet. There are events that make you proud to be part of a country - like when America landed a man on the moon. Building a mine of this magnitude, in an area so hostile it was inaccessible before we arrived, having to create the entire infrastructure from ports, to roads, to power, and potable water, makes you proud to be part of the human race. It's endeavors like this that truly demonstrate man's preeminent status on our planet and is a testament to our ingenuity. I can't wait to see it.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Mar 3
I write this at 7 PM in Timika while most of you are fast asleep - it's 3 AM in Phoenix.
Today was our first day at the office on Papua. The MIS offices are actually in Kuala Kencana, which is further up the mountain from Timika. Timika is where we land, heading up the mountain to Kuala Kencana is where we work, further up the hill is Tembagapura which is where the expats live, and then the mine is at the top of Grasburg. There are other small villages in the area - Kamoro, Banti - and they are REALLY small.
Yesterday, while I was relaxing, my two colleagues took a taxi into downtown Timika and had a good experience mingling with the locals - and some Aussie's that work at the mine. They were able to obtain some interesting information, as well. For example, in Timika, everyone just puts their trash on the side of the road. Vehicles come buy and push the trash into piles, and at night, someone comes by and lights the piles on fire. Efficient, but smelly. They also learned that the security around the hotel is, indeed, to keep out people, not animals. In fact, when there are riots on the island - like there were a few years ago - they rush all the expats to the security of the hotel. (Does the image of Jurassic Park sink in even more now?) Finally, we also learned that exchanging money here is difficult. If the US currency has a funny crease, or is to crisp or has any mark (like writing or www.wheresgeorge.com) then they won't exchange it.
Not to belabor the Jurassic Park analogy, but the trip out to the office reminded me of the scene where they took the jeep and were rushing through the jungle to get to the boat...only we were heading the opposite direction. When we left the hotel we followed a paved road to a security checkpoint, where our driver showed his credentials, and we turned on to a dirt road that ran parallel to the river. The river is one of hundreds on Papua, but happens to be the river that flows off our tailings. This means, the river has gold in it, and you'll see the natives panning for gold as you drive to the office. With gold hovering near $1,000 an ounce, and the GDP per person in Jakarta averaging around $1,000 per year, you can imagine how ecstatic they are when they find a single nugget.
Why isn't their a mad gold rush to Papua and the jungles of Irian Jaya? Well, first of all, it's illegal to pan for gold. Any gold they find, they sell for a substantial discount and someone very quickly makes it into some haphazard jewelry so they can sell it without many questions. It's less suspicious to sell gold jewelry than solid gold nuggets. Second, the rivers are full of large, hungy crocodiles. Gold panners often disappear under the water, never to surface. Of course, the native Papuans will also eat anything they can kill (including other humans if the stories are believed), so you'll also find crocodile meat in town and crocodile skin is an export of the island.
The dirt road finally ends on a divided highway that is our corporate campus and the local golf course (also operated by the Sheraton). The buildings themselves are squat, blue roofed buildings that stand out in the middle of the jungle. There is a mall in Kuala Kencana, directly across from the offices, with restaurants, a bank, and a grocery store. This used to be the center of the world for this area until Timika began to become a small town.
For lunch, we visited the Chinese restaurant. Trying to be adventurous, I once again ordered something that they had run out of - Deer, Kuala style. As most of the remainder of the menu was poultry, fish, or the ever ominous Jurassic pork (I know, bad pun), I chose the safe route and ordered sauteed bean sprouts with tofu. It was actually quite good and quite filling.
By mid afternoon the bright blue sky had become overcast, and shortly after 2 PM the rain came down hard. It continued raining until just a few minutes ago, though I expect it will start again before the night is over.
Before I forget the reason I'm here - my project - I have to say that this is the most challenging project I've worked on. The project objective itself is fairly straight forward - modify a help desk system in preparation for global deployment. The modifications are neither technically complex, numerous, or labor intensive. Where the challenge lies is with the people and the process. I'm sure we'll have the product fully tested and ready to deploy on the desired date. I am not so confident, however, that we will not have a mutiny (or at least muntinous grumbling) by every one who will now have to use the system as it is so vastly different in so many ways from what they are accustomed to.
Long term, the interconnectedness and simplicity it provides is absolutely the right move for the company. Short term, there is going to be a lot of pain and major culture shock. Adoption won't be difficult because there is only one option - use it. Getting through the training, rollout, policy and procedure changes, and system configuration will be a challenge. If I can just get us started on the development, I'll turn my attention to these more challenging aspects to see what can be done to mitigate so our project can be a success from the start. For now, those issues are a distant storm and I need to get the development team in gear so we can meet our delivery date.
Today was our first day at the office on Papua. The MIS offices are actually in Kuala Kencana, which is further up the mountain from Timika. Timika is where we land, heading up the mountain to Kuala Kencana is where we work, further up the hill is Tembagapura which is where the expats live, and then the mine is at the top of Grasburg. There are other small villages in the area - Kamoro, Banti - and they are REALLY small.
Yesterday, while I was relaxing, my two colleagues took a taxi into downtown Timika and had a good experience mingling with the locals - and some Aussie's that work at the mine. They were able to obtain some interesting information, as well. For example, in Timika, everyone just puts their trash on the side of the road. Vehicles come buy and push the trash into piles, and at night, someone comes by and lights the piles on fire. Efficient, but smelly. They also learned that the security around the hotel is, indeed, to keep out people, not animals. In fact, when there are riots on the island - like there were a few years ago - they rush all the expats to the security of the hotel. (Does the image of Jurassic Park sink in even more now?) Finally, we also learned that exchanging money here is difficult. If the US currency has a funny crease, or is to crisp or has any mark (like writing or www.wheresgeorge.com) then they won't exchange it.
Not to belabor the Jurassic Park analogy, but the trip out to the office reminded me of the scene where they took the jeep and were rushing through the jungle to get to the boat...only we were heading the opposite direction. When we left the hotel we followed a paved road to a security checkpoint, where our driver showed his credentials, and we turned on to a dirt road that ran parallel to the river. The river is one of hundreds on Papua, but happens to be the river that flows off our tailings. This means, the river has gold in it, and you'll see the natives panning for gold as you drive to the office. With gold hovering near $1,000 an ounce, and the GDP per person in Jakarta averaging around $1,000 per year, you can imagine how ecstatic they are when they find a single nugget.
Why isn't their a mad gold rush to Papua and the jungles of Irian Jaya? Well, first of all, it's illegal to pan for gold. Any gold they find, they sell for a substantial discount and someone very quickly makes it into some haphazard jewelry so they can sell it without many questions. It's less suspicious to sell gold jewelry than solid gold nuggets. Second, the rivers are full of large, hungy crocodiles. Gold panners often disappear under the water, never to surface. Of course, the native Papuans will also eat anything they can kill (including other humans if the stories are believed), so you'll also find crocodile meat in town and crocodile skin is an export of the island.
The dirt road finally ends on a divided highway that is our corporate campus and the local golf course (also operated by the Sheraton). The buildings themselves are squat, blue roofed buildings that stand out in the middle of the jungle. There is a mall in Kuala Kencana, directly across from the offices, with restaurants, a bank, and a grocery store. This used to be the center of the world for this area until Timika began to become a small town.
For lunch, we visited the Chinese restaurant. Trying to be adventurous, I once again ordered something that they had run out of - Deer, Kuala style. As most of the remainder of the menu was poultry, fish, or the ever ominous Jurassic pork (I know, bad pun), I chose the safe route and ordered sauteed bean sprouts with tofu. It was actually quite good and quite filling.
By mid afternoon the bright blue sky had become overcast, and shortly after 2 PM the rain came down hard. It continued raining until just a few minutes ago, though I expect it will start again before the night is over.
Before I forget the reason I'm here - my project - I have to say that this is the most challenging project I've worked on. The project objective itself is fairly straight forward - modify a help desk system in preparation for global deployment. The modifications are neither technically complex, numerous, or labor intensive. Where the challenge lies is with the people and the process. I'm sure we'll have the product fully tested and ready to deploy on the desired date. I am not so confident, however, that we will not have a mutiny (or at least muntinous grumbling) by every one who will now have to use the system as it is so vastly different in so many ways from what they are accustomed to.
Long term, the interconnectedness and simplicity it provides is absolutely the right move for the company. Short term, there is going to be a lot of pain and major culture shock. Adoption won't be difficult because there is only one option - use it. Getting through the training, rollout, policy and procedure changes, and system configuration will be a challenge. If I can just get us started on the development, I'll turn my attention to these more challenging aspects to see what can be done to mitigate so our project can be a success from the start. For now, those issues are a distant storm and I need to get the development team in gear so we can meet our delivery date.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Mar 2
Today was the first opportunity I've had for down time since arriving in Indonesia and I took full advantage of it leaving my room only twice - for a morning workout and for dinner. The rest of the day I spent in my room reading my back issues of Computerworld and trying to finish my book - The Watership Down.
On my walk back from the workout, I did a quick tour of the grounds around the hotel. It is actually quite nice and, if you don't consider "shopping" a vacation necessity (which I never have), it's actually a great place to visit as a vacation getaway. As you would expect, the hotel is lush with tropical foliage and has the feel of a south Florida vacation resort. The one caveat to that is the 8 foot high, barb wired security fence that surrounds the facility. I haven't decided if it is to keep out jungle animals - or jungle people. In either event, it does have a Jurassic Park feel to it, and it made me think of a prison story where the prisoner had every amenity available - but was never allowed to leave his room.
My room has a balcony contained by mosquito screens and I spent most of the day on it reading. The day started sunny, but by afternoon clouds drifted in and we had a nice downpour. The rain arrives in much the same way as applause in an auditorium. Because of the jungle, you hear it moving towards you in an ever increasing crescendo of sound until if finally reaches where you are. Preceding the storm, the jungle was alive with life as birds flew from tree to tree announcing the coming rains.
Tomorrow we will travel to the corporate offices. No word on when, or if, we will actually have a tour of the mine - which is a 2 hour drive from the offices. It would be a shame to travel all this way and not visit the mine. I would compare it to driving to Disney Land and never leaving the parking lot. I think the original plan was for us to have a tour on Saturday, but that was when we were arriving on Friday, so I don't know what the plan is now. With our original sponsor choosing to leave the company, our trip out has been somewhat haphazard with no clear contact at each location and no clear agenda. I've done my best to create an agenda so I can accomplish what needs to be done, but the whole trip was planned based on the plans of our original host, so there have been some gaps.
All in all, I'm excited to be part of this project and thrilled to be working with our Indonesian team again. They are truly remarkable people. I also can't wait to return home.
On my walk back from the workout, I did a quick tour of the grounds around the hotel. It is actually quite nice and, if you don't consider "shopping" a vacation necessity (which I never have), it's actually a great place to visit as a vacation getaway. As you would expect, the hotel is lush with tropical foliage and has the feel of a south Florida vacation resort. The one caveat to that is the 8 foot high, barb wired security fence that surrounds the facility. I haven't decided if it is to keep out jungle animals - or jungle people. In either event, it does have a Jurassic Park feel to it, and it made me think of a prison story where the prisoner had every amenity available - but was never allowed to leave his room.
My room has a balcony contained by mosquito screens and I spent most of the day on it reading. The day started sunny, but by afternoon clouds drifted in and we had a nice downpour. The rain arrives in much the same way as applause in an auditorium. Because of the jungle, you hear it moving towards you in an ever increasing crescendo of sound until if finally reaches where you are. Preceding the storm, the jungle was alive with life as birds flew from tree to tree announcing the coming rains.
Tomorrow we will travel to the corporate offices. No word on when, or if, we will actually have a tour of the mine - which is a 2 hour drive from the offices. It would be a shame to travel all this way and not visit the mine. I would compare it to driving to Disney Land and never leaving the parking lot. I think the original plan was for us to have a tour on Saturday, but that was when we were arriving on Friday, so I don't know what the plan is now. With our original sponsor choosing to leave the company, our trip out has been somewhat haphazard with no clear contact at each location and no clear agenda. I've done my best to create an agenda so I can accomplish what needs to be done, but the whole trip was planned based on the plans of our original host, so there have been some gaps.
All in all, I'm excited to be part of this project and thrilled to be working with our Indonesian team again. They are truly remarkable people. I also can't wait to return home.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Mar 1
As expected, today's travel provided much fodder to write about, starting with leaving for the airport. Our flight was at 7 AM, which meant we needed to be at the airport at 6 AM, which meant leaving the hotel at 5:15 AM. I used last night to pack, so my alarm went off at 4:10 and I had a wake up call at 4:30 so I could shower, finish any remaining packing, grab a quick bite, check out, and be at the car by 5:15. I arrived first - at 5:05 AM, and a second colleague arrived right at 5:15. At 5:20, and still no sign of our third, we decided to call her. It was a good thing we did because it woke her up. So, at 5:40, we finally left the hotel. Thankfully, the traffic was light and our driver drove the car as fast as it would safely go and got us to the airport shortly after 6 AM.
Once at the airport, life got interesting. In my prior trip, I only saw the international terminal, and it was like any other major aiport complete with shops, restaurants and lounges. This time, we were flying domestic, and it's a whole different story. First, we couldn't quite figure out how to get in because they wanted us to show them a ticket and we had e-tickets. Our itinerary turned out to be sufficient. Second, the domestic terminal did not have any of the accoutrements you find in the internationl terminal. It was very spartan, and not busy at all. I think it had one shop.
Security was tight. To enter the domestic terminal, we had to show our tickets and have our bagged scanned. Once we checked in, we had to go through another checkpoint where we showed our boarding pass and our ID and paid a $30,000 Rupiah (about $4 USD) departure fee. From there, we proceeded up to a security check point where they scanned our bags before allowing us back to the area where the gates were. The walkway from security to the gate was outdoors, but covered. When we arrived at the gate, they scanned our bags again before allowing us in and verified our identity to our boarding pass. Then, we walked down three flights of stairs, across the tarmac, climbed aboard the plane as the last passengers to board, and the 7 AM flight left the airport at 6:30.
We flew an AirFast flight from Jakarta to Timika - with two stops on the way. We took off, and landed an hour later. Took off again, landed about 2 hours later. This time, even though we were taking the same plane to Timika, they made us get off the plane, walk through arrivals, back through security (scan, then hand check, then ID verification) and back on through departures. Even more interesting was that the reading material on the plane was the history of my company and information about the mine! It was almost as if AirFast was a company owned airline.
The view from the plan during take off, landing, and while in flight was spectacular. Indonesia, with over 10,000 islands, is the world's largest archipelago, so as we flew from island to island we would see hundreds more from the plane. The water went from dark blue to pale green as little islands dotted the ocean. The islands themselves were luxuriously verdant with tall trees and rich green vegetation covering every inch without man-made development.
When we finally arrived at Timika - 5 hours after we left Jakarta - it felt as if we were going to land in the middle of the jungle.
We kept getting closer and closer to the ground and all we could see for miles was thick vegetation and tall trees. When we could hear the countdown from the cockpit (500 ft, 400 ft, 300 ft - we were in the first row, so we heard the computerized messages as they were announced) we finally saw a runway and then we safely touched down and taxied to the end of the runway....where we proceeded to do a U-turn, travel the same runway in reverse, and park next to an air hanger.
We deplaned, walked a few dozen feet to board a bus that, when full, drove us a few hundred feet to the only terminal. The terminal was more like a walled pavillion. No chairs, no televisions - very remote. I asked a security guard where I could claim my baggage and he pointed to the open wall behind me. I looked, and the wall was open to the elements with a chain link fence coming down from the ceiling and stopping a few feet above what can only be described as a metal shelf. The baggage handlers then drove up from collecting the bags from the plane, and placed the luggage on the shelf where passengers would come and collect it. Nothing automated about that task.
Our company appointed greeters arrived and took us to one of two offices at the terminal. We went in there, received our company badges for while we are here, and watched a safety videon that discussed both mine safety and the cautions of malaria. From there, the hotel shuttle took us to the Sheraton Timika.
For those of you who don't work for my company, you probably are wondering why I would get a company badge at the airport. Well, it's a company island. The airport, the hotel, pretty much everything on the island we build and/or manage. The internet connection I am using from the hotel is on the company network. I logged on to my company network from my hotel room as if I were at my desk at work - not through a VPN connection.
The hotel itself, and the island for that matter (what we've seen of it) is beautiful. Lush vegetation everywhere, beautiful, hand-carved artwork and friendly people. Warnings on how to prevent malaria are everywhere and there is even a special DEET lotion they provided for you in the hotel room. The only issue at this point is my TV doesn't turn on, but there isn't much to watch, anyway, so it really isn't a loss. However, it is a good thing I didn't watch any of the 9 DVD's I bought in Jakarta, because I bet I'll watch them all while I'm here.
Once at the airport, life got interesting. In my prior trip, I only saw the international terminal, and it was like any other major aiport complete with shops, restaurants and lounges. This time, we were flying domestic, and it's a whole different story. First, we couldn't quite figure out how to get in because they wanted us to show them a ticket and we had e-tickets. Our itinerary turned out to be sufficient. Second, the domestic terminal did not have any of the accoutrements you find in the internationl terminal. It was very spartan, and not busy at all. I think it had one shop.
Security was tight. To enter the domestic terminal, we had to show our tickets and have our bagged scanned. Once we checked in, we had to go through another checkpoint where we showed our boarding pass and our ID and paid a $30,000 Rupiah (about $4 USD) departure fee. From there, we proceeded up to a security check point where they scanned our bags before allowing us back to the area where the gates were. The walkway from security to the gate was outdoors, but covered. When we arrived at the gate, they scanned our bags again before allowing us in and verified our identity to our boarding pass. Then, we walked down three flights of stairs, across the tarmac, climbed aboard the plane as the last passengers to board, and the 7 AM flight left the airport at 6:30.
We flew an AirFast flight from Jakarta to Timika - with two stops on the way. We took off, and landed an hour later. Took off again, landed about 2 hours later. This time, even though we were taking the same plane to Timika, they made us get off the plane, walk through arrivals, back through security (scan, then hand check, then ID verification) and back on through departures. Even more interesting was that the reading material on the plane was the history of my company and information about the mine! It was almost as if AirFast was a company owned airline.
The view from the plan during take off, landing, and while in flight was spectacular. Indonesia, with over 10,000 islands, is the world's largest archipelago, so as we flew from island to island we would see hundreds more from the plane. The water went from dark blue to pale green as little islands dotted the ocean. The islands themselves were luxuriously verdant with tall trees and rich green vegetation covering every inch without man-made development.
When we finally arrived at Timika - 5 hours after we left Jakarta - it felt as if we were going to land in the middle of the jungle.
We kept getting closer and closer to the ground and all we could see for miles was thick vegetation and tall trees. When we could hear the countdown from the cockpit (500 ft, 400 ft, 300 ft - we were in the first row, so we heard the computerized messages as they were announced) we finally saw a runway and then we safely touched down and taxied to the end of the runway....where we proceeded to do a U-turn, travel the same runway in reverse, and park next to an air hanger.
We deplaned, walked a few dozen feet to board a bus that, when full, drove us a few hundred feet to the only terminal. The terminal was more like a walled pavillion. No chairs, no televisions - very remote. I asked a security guard where I could claim my baggage and he pointed to the open wall behind me. I looked, and the wall was open to the elements with a chain link fence coming down from the ceiling and stopping a few feet above what can only be described as a metal shelf. The baggage handlers then drove up from collecting the bags from the plane, and placed the luggage on the shelf where passengers would come and collect it. Nothing automated about that task.
Our company appointed greeters arrived and took us to one of two offices at the terminal. We went in there, received our company badges for while we are here, and watched a safety videon that discussed both mine safety and the cautions of malaria. From there, the hotel shuttle took us to the Sheraton Timika.
For those of you who don't work for my company, you probably are wondering why I would get a company badge at the airport. Well, it's a company island. The airport, the hotel, pretty much everything on the island we build and/or manage. The internet connection I am using from the hotel is on the company network. I logged on to my company network from my hotel room as if I were at my desk at work - not through a VPN connection.
The hotel itself, and the island for that matter (what we've seen of it) is beautiful. Lush vegetation everywhere, beautiful, hand-carved artwork and friendly people. Warnings on how to prevent malaria are everywhere and there is even a special DEET lotion they provided for you in the hotel room. The only issue at this point is my TV doesn't turn on, but there isn't much to watch, anyway, so it really isn't a loss. However, it is a good thing I didn't watch any of the 9 DVD's I bought in Jakarta, because I bet I'll watch them all while I'm here.
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