Travelling Technologist: Wednesday

Very long day for me. I still haven't quite adjusted to the time as much as I thought I would have. I'm waking up before my alarm every day. Monday and Tuesday I was up at 3:30 AM and 4:30 AM, respectively. This morning I was up shortly before 5 AM. Worked out well, though, because I was scheduled to have a meeting with my management in Phoenix at 6 AM local time. When I logged on to check my email before leaving the hotel, I saw the meeting was cancelled. My driver was already waiting for me downstairs, so I went to work anyway. Normally, if my day starts at 6 AM I like to return home around 4 PM. Today, I had another meeting with Phoenix at 8:30 PM local time (6:30 AM Phoenix), so I ended up arriving at the office at 5:45 AM and leaving the office at 10 PM. Like I said, very long day.

This has been a very productive three days. Monday, I met with all of the Superintendents who will be reporting to me and discussed my vision for the organization. We have had several discussions on the products we support out of Jakarta, current issues, and I've sat in on some of the weekly meetings. Tuesday, I had several project specific meetings and a brief meeting with our Indonesia CFO - whom I report to administratively while on assignment here. In the afternoon, we had a meeting with the full team (all 35 people) and informed them of my new role.

Today's focus was coordination with the team in Phoenix, design sessions on new projects we want to start, and follow up on some projects I want to close out on this week. I did take a small break in the morning to finalize a very important detail of my relocation - where we'll live.
On my last trip, I toured several different apartment and housing complexes in Jakarta. We settled on Kemang Club Villas. Visit the site. Kemang is the part of Jakarta where most of the expatriates (westerners) live. There are international schools, western grocery stores, and a lot of cultural events and attractions. In fact, I only heard English spoken on the compound. This particular compound abuts the US Embassy and complies with all US Embassy security standards and protocols.

Today, I visited three of the floor plans. On the website, first click "Click Here", and then click on the "Homes" tab. The top has a few pictures of the compound and some of the interiors. The bottom portion of the page has the floor plans. I looked at Type A, Type B and Type D. Initially, we were thinking we wanted Type D because all of the rooms are on one floor...then I saw it in person. I've stayed in timeshares that were more spacious, and I wasn't thrilled with the fact that the elevator was not secured.

I had seen a Type A floor plan on my last visit, and really liked it. However, as you can see from the layout, the Master Bedroom is on a different floor than the other bedrooms. We can always make Bedroom 2 or 3 the Master Bedroom so we can be on the same floor as our toddler, but those rooms are tiny. Not sure they would hold a Queen, much less the King we are used to.

The Type B floor plan has similar issues with the Master being on a different floor. However, Bedroom 3 is spacious enough to act as a Master, while Bedroom 2 could be for our daughter. Ultimately, this is the floor plan we have decided to move into. Below are some pictures of the interior.

Terrace: