Odds and Ends

Television in Jakarta is horrible. On the plus side, this means I read a lot more (see below). On the downside, it means I am missing the only sport I have an interest in - the NFL. What passes for sports here is Soccer, Cricket and Formula One auto racing. Occasionally I am able to catch an Australian rules football game, or even a rugby match, though I can't quite appreciate these sports like I can those I grew up with.

Before boarding my flight from Singapore back to Jakarta, I bought two books: "The Richest Man in Town" and "Outliers". Each book I read in their entirety in less than 2 days. Great books. Anyone who aspires to have great success, or wants to be an entrepreneur, must read "The Richest Man in Town". "Outliers" is the third book by Malcolm Gladwell - his first two books being "The Tipping Point" and "Blink". I think "Outliers" should be required reading for anyone with children.

Shootings started up again at our mine site this week. We had one on Wednesday, and another on Saturday morning. Even with the presence of 600 military troops, the capture of whomever is attacking our buses and employees remains elusive. What remains to be seen is if the continued tension will cause people to break, or will they begin to accept it as just another hardship of living in Papua and working in a mine.

The fasting is nearly over. The devout have been fasting for over three weeks. It appears that by the third week, lack of consistent food and water takes its toll. Traffic jams are much louder with blaring horns. People are more apt to criticize the behavior of others. Jakartans are just more on edge. Oh, and traffic is still outrageously bad.