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?