TriniBlog Day 3

I slept better last night. That was nice. Lester had some other things to do so he sent Terry for me. Nice guy. Talkative. Good driver. And his car smelled like cherries. He makes his own special concoction and sprays it on the seats and mats.

I got to work at 9:00. Steve came in and we went over to TSTT again. We got help from one of their DB Admins, Derrick. He wasn't really familiar with the Informix database where the business names are stored. And the data is goofy. There has to be another data source somewhere because their web application has all the data I need to make some big improvements.

I did the best I could today with what I had. To quote Butthead:

But if you let it dry, you can shellac it.

So tomorrow, we'll present the best we can do to TSTT. I think they will be impressed. And we'll tell them how much more we can do with the better data source. And how easy it will be to use "Press or Say" to speech enable their entire IVR. And how much better we can do with speech rec over touch tone for credit card numbers. And if all goes well, I will be coming home on Friday having accomplished what I set out to do. I better find my lucky project rock.

I went to a market today. That was weird. They have Hi Lo supermarkets, but I don't think I'll get the chance to go there. This was a market. And since I woke up hungry in the middle of the night last night, I decided to get some provisions and try some new things. The store had pretty much all of the things you would find in a corner market in the states. And a lot of things you wouldn't. There was a freezer with frozen meat. Chicken. Pork. Goat.

Goat?

Yes goat!

Liquor was overpriced. And aside from the liqour, none of the brands were familiar. They had things that looked sort of like Hostess cupcakes, only they weren't Hostess. And they looked a little odd. The had Peanut Butter, but no Skippy. There were raisins, but no Sun Maid in the familiar red box or tub. There was water, and they had Evian, but I opted for Blue Waters. They had cookies, but no Oreos. Only Double Stuff Oreos. But I don't like those. And they had granola, but not Grape Nuts.

Here are my provisions.


If you click on that picture to enlarge it, you might be able to see the best before date on the tub of Matouk's Crunchy Peanut Butter. 14 APR 06. So I won't be eating that.

There was even someone begging for change outside who asked me for something to drink. I gave him the three TT$1 bills I had in change. That's like 50 cents.

Here's Derrick and I working.

Then we went to lunch at the mall. This is the mall.

The Food Court was interesting. There were two Chinese Food places. And there were five places with different names selling pretty much the same things. I walked around the whole place twice, trying to figure out how and why people would choose one stand over another. Then I went to the one with the longest line, assuming that that one would have the best food. Perhaps it was the cheapest food? I don't know. But it was good.

When she handed me my change, I said, "Oh, good, I can bring some coins home for my boy."

She changed another dollar for me when she heard that.

All this for TT$46.25.

That's barbecue chicken and pork, rice, beans, and macaroni pie.

Macaroni Pie?

Yes, Macaroni pie!

No goat?

No goat! Just can't bring myself to order it.

Lester and I had a little chat about fast food the other day. He said that McDonald's came in for a while but they didn't last. He said everybody complained that the portions were too small. That whole plate above and a Sorell Fanta was under US $8.00.

They do have KFC - it's one of the most popular "restaurants" he says. But he thinks it's crap. They also have Pizza Hut and Popeye's Chicken.

Haven't seen a Starbuck's yet. But I'm told they are around in other cities.


Here's one of the most interesting power strips I've ever seen in a computer room.

I laughed at it at first. And then I realized, I could never MacGyver something like that. And it works. Also, it turns out I didn't need those international power adapters after all. Maybe I'll get to go to England or something.

Here's a picture of a Volkswagen Bora.

Bora?

Yes, Bora!

Not a Jetta?

Well, they have Jettas, too, that look just like this, but this Jetta is a Bora.

I went to the gym tonight. I felt like an idiot. I wore one of the workout outfits I bought while working at Nautilus. And it was late and I didn't think there would be many people there. But there were. And I was the only white guy. In my stupid blue Nautilus shorts and top that magically wick sweat away from your body, with my iPod, reading about race riots in Watts in the 60s in Zinn's People's History. But I got my sweat on. It was a rickety old treadmill, but I got my sweat on. The place was filled with guys lifting free weights in jeans and T-shirts and wife beaters.

Like I said, I felt like an idiot. But I got my sweat on. I skipped my wimpy shoulder exercises.

I'm for bed now. Big day tomorrow. And I have to find that rock.

Rachel, wish you were here.

Scratch that, I wish I was there. And I will be Friday.

Oh, notice there is no alarm clock. And my cell phone doesn't know what time it is because it can't get a signal. So I set the alarm on my rental cell phone and stick it under my pillow. At 7:45 it vibrates, rings, and says, "It's time to get up. The time is 7:45." And then I hit snooze and shut my eyes and then it vibrates and rings again and says, "It's time to get up. The time is 7:50." Then I get up.

It works pretty good.

Oh, pne more thing. The lamp is plugged in to this rickety loose power outlet in the wall at just about mattress level. When I lay down, the light flickers on and off. Sometimes it stays on, sometimes it stays off. When it stays off, I wiggle around and stop. Sometimes it stays on, sometime it stays off. When it stays off, I wiggle again. When it stays on, I lay very still and read.

So far, I haven't been electrocuted.

I can't imagine what it would be like to go somewhere like this where everything is different and they don't speak English. Or Spanish. At least I spoke Spanish in Mexico.

I know Lisa and, recently, Michele (with one 'L' - not a typo) went to China. I now have even more respect for those strong women.

It sounds like somebody is fixing an elevator with a rubber mallet in the next room.

Oh, and since I've been here, I've watched a whole bunch of Dog Whisperer and Sleeper Cell.

Goodnight.

And here, kind of like Aloha in Hawaii, Goodnight means both hello and, um...

Goodnight.