India Blogging!

Folks! I am in India right now, enjoying a nice, relaxing Saturday after a somewhat hectic week. It's nice to get away from the frigid Northeast and spend some time in Bombay (Mumbai, whatever) where the temperatures have been between 75 and 90 all week. Got another week to go here with some client visits and a client conference, and then it's home on March 4th.

Lots of travel upcoming too--ACC Tourney in Atlanta March 9-11 with Bettis, then home to Louisiana March 16-18, then to Georgia to visit TheInLaws the last weekend of March. Another week-long work trip at the beginning of April, then Scottsdale for a wedding, then L.A. for a few days to visit Ro, then Vegas for TheFace's bachelor party on April 13 and 14th. From there, fly to Newark for a night, and then to the DR from the 15-22. And then, possibly, meeting up with the family in Florida at the end of April til early May. Whew!

I'll be heading out to Powai, an area of Bombay that must be 20 kilometers away, but takes 1.5 hours to get to. Hey, India, invest in roads, dammit! I'll be meeting my 8-months pregnant cousin and her husband there. Perhaps a night viewing of Moneyball followed by some pitchers of Kingfisher and maybe some Indian-Chinese food. Can't beat that! At least I got in the workout this morning to clear the conscience. Been good on the workout front in India--got in back/biceps/shoulders/abs/1 mile run on Tuesday, chest/triceps/forearms/abs/1 mile run on Thursday, 6 mile run on Friday, and today another back/biceps/shoulders/abs/1 mile run. Weight is still hovering around the 183-185 range, but my clothes are fitting looser and I'm feeling good. Perhaps tomorrow will be a rest day, and then I'll aim to get in another strong week of workouts before heading home.

I was lucky enough to get to take a tour of the Bajaj auto factory in Chakan, just outside of Pune, a few days ago. Apparently it's Bajaj's newest, most technologically advanced plant in the country, and my god, was it a sight to behold. The factory employs 1,400 workers and churns out 4,000 motorcycles a day. That equates to roughly 1 motorcycle every 15 seconds that the plant is in operation. Seeing the process in motion was like watching something out of a Star Wars movie--you wouldn't believe how many self-guided robots are doing the work there, machining aluminum and steel crank cases and chassis to be inserted into the motorcycle body. And not just stationary work, mind you--they have robots (Auto Guided Vehicles, or AGV's as the acronym-obsessed Indians will call it) that transport crates of materials to workers on the line at predetermined intervals, all part of a complex system that delivers parts where they need to go, when they need to go and allows the plant to be extremely efficient. Having taken an Operations class in business school, I never fully appreciated just how much good logistical planning can accomplish. In class, it was all pizza pies and cookie sheets and who gives a shit? Seeing it in action at Bajaj and understanding how exactly a world-class manufacturer handles output to feed a blossoming economy that wants more and more bikes is a great way to hammer the concept home. And the craziest thing--these precision-engineered, beautifully crafted motorcycles they were churning out every 15 seconds all sell for roughly $1,200, extremely cheap considering that many bicycles in the US cost more than that. Efficiency, cost control, minimal wastage, elimination of defects and accidents, world-class operating standards--seeing that factory makes me proud to sell India's economy as an investment destination.

Ok, that's it. Off for my 1.5 hour, 20-kilometer taxi ride to Powai, which I'm sure will temper my enthusiasm about India's economy. Not a lot, but somewhat. Adios!

Back Home, Briefly (Also, Go To Hell, Carolina!)

Just got done with the week-long road trip plus the half-day in Boston today. Even though each day only involved a handful of meetings, the travel, shuffling around of meetings, inevitable hotel reservation fuck-ups, rental car snafus, and other what-have-yous tend to take a toll. I'm mad exhausted today--time to recharge the batteries for tomorrow, when I will try to take it easy, do a bit of housecleaning at the office, and undoubtedly disappoint TheWife on Valentine's Day.

One high point of the week, however, was getting back to the old digs in Durham, NC, grabbing dinner with Bashon and Bashali, taking my co-worker from India on a quick tour of Duke's campus, and hitting up Cosmic Cantina for a stealth burrito before driving out to Richmond. Sadly, left NC for Richmond the night of Duke-Carolina, but what can you do? Caught the first half with NanzoBot at a bar and raced back to the hotel for the second half. There, a skinny Asian kid was nestled up to the bar, paying close attention to the game. Lo and behold, I had found a Duke fan outside of Durham! As we rapped Duke bball and pleaded for our team to play defense and grab just a few rebounds, we slowly resigned ourselves to a 10-point loss. After a pretty decent outing in the first half, Carolina simply outclassed, outshot, outrebounded, out"physicaled" (whatever the hell that means), and I guess, out"athleted" Duke.

Thus, we decided to drown our sorrows with some scotch to end the night. But 2:38 later, after some fortuitous defending, three-point shooting, and Tyler Zellering, our funeral scotches morphed into party whiskey, because HOLY AUSTIN RIVERS! We must have woken up the first two floors of the Westin Richmond with our freakish screaming, as Duke put together one of the all-time classic comebacks that night, even if the first 37 minutes of the game were all Carolina. Shades of the Miracle Minute/Gone in 60 Seconds at Maryland in January 01. I'm still trying to figure out just how Duke stole that game away. Very early on in his career, Austin Rivers has put his stamp on Duke-Carolina forever with what must go down as a top-5 moment in the history of the rivalry. And, he's given Duke fans the satisfaction that Duke is 5-1 in the last six games against the Heels. That'll make the March 3rd rematch in Cameron all the better.

For all my Duke fandom, I do believe this is one of the weaker Duke teams we have seen in a long time. Not a great rebounding team despite having three guys 6'10" or taller who get significant time on the floor; a truly atrocious defensive team, sealing the basement of the ACC and allowing opponents to shoot 44%; despite the scoring stats, not a juggernaut offensively, especially when you consider Duke's atrocious performance in the assists department, an area in which classic Duke teams have excelled; and finally, a team that hasn't figured out its identity. You can see that in the play of Seth Curry, who last year nicely carved out a little spot as a scrappy defender, ball-handler, and 3-point assassin. This year, Curry has been slightly off-kilter on both ends of the floor--a bit more fouling, a bit less accurate on the threes, and on-and-off with the handle. This Duke team doesn't seem to rotate well on defense and tends to be extremely porous on the perimeter, allowing athletic guards to slash and attack the basket at will (see: UNC's first 37 minutes). For some reason, despite the lofty ranking, I just don't think this Duke team is that good, and the RPI tends to support that notion, keeping the Devils around the 10-15 ranking, well higher than their #4-5 ranking in the polls.

All that being said, this Duke team does seem to have a knack for winning, or at least playing well under intense game pressure. Experienced, the Devils are not. As far as being battle-tested over the last three months, no other team has a better claim. Discounting the 22-point loss to a terrifying Ohio State team, Duke's other three losses have come by 5, 3, and 4 points to respectable opponents. This is a team that simply knows how to stay in games until the final bell, and any team that can do that has a fighting chance to play deep into March. Duke has played the toughest schedule in the country, defeating the current #4 (Kansas), #7 (Mich. St.), #8 (UNC), #17 (Michigan), and #22 (UVA) teams in the AP Poll. Losses came to the current #6 (Ohio St.), #20 (Florida St.), #26 (Temple), and Miami (not receiving votes in any polls, but a respectable #41 in the RPI, according to KenPom). That's three RPI top-10 wins and 6 RPI top-25 wins for a young, young team, and no losses outside the RPI top-50. Not bad at all, considering Duke is just past halfway through the ACC slate and still will have games against UNC, Florida St., and RPI top-50 team NC State, not to mention the games that will come in the ACC Tourney.

So, long story short--I don't know what to make of this Duke team. I'm not even sure Coach K knows. Until he and the team figure it out, let's just sit back and enjoy the Austin Rivers backbreaker.

Return of The Ranga

Folks! Fret not, I am back! After a bit of a hiatus from the blogosphere due to a vacation with TheWife and a conference for work, I am back, at home on the couch, watching Lord of the Rings, and blogging away.

Many thoughts that I need to get out of the way: first of all, the Super Bowl is this weekend, and we are gearing up for a big party in the Hamdens. As I give less than one shit about the Pats and Giants combined, I will be more host than football fan Sunday. Gotta get the house clean before then, which I'm sure will thrill TheWife. Also, need to make a run to Stop & Shop, as I believe I have commissioned at least 3 Mexican-themed dips for the occasion. Sweet! As for the game, I really have no clue who will win. The Giants were 7-7 and not supposed to make the playoffs, and they have waltzed through the tourney unscathed. The Pats are bit banged up, too, so the Giants could have it in them for one more. But, I think Brady rallies the troops and gets Welker the ball a LOT and gets the Pats another Super Bowl. Of course, I've been wrong about EVERY damn playoff game, so do with my picks what you will.

Elsewhere--took a week-long vacation to St. John (US Virgin Islands) last week, which was excellent. Got tons of relaxation time, plenty of sun, got in the water every day, drank some cheap rum and ate good food (although not too much!). Also got to break out the Nikon D3100 that TheWife so kindly gave me for Christmas. Took some awesome landscape shots and also portraits. As I get more and more versed in the ways of photography, I will hopefully churn out some really nice, wall-hangable stuff. Still very early on the learning curve for me. Gotta keep learning about composition and other techniques to make the pictures really stand out.

Anyway, I headed straight to Scottsdale, AZ from St. John for a work conference. Scottsdale was a balmy 75 and sunny every day, and the hotel was situated right on the TPC Scottsdale, home of the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Incidentally, the Phoenix Open was kicking off the day I left, so I got to see some pros warming up on the course, which was phenomenal. Couldn't identify them from afar, but boy could they hit the ball. Managed to make a stealth stop at Chipotle on the way out of town, which was a great cherry on top of a 10-day respite from the Assault.

And speaking of the Assault, somehow I came back from the 10-day vacation and booze-friendly conference half a pound lighter than when I left. Not sure what happened, as I only got in two workouts over that 10-day span, but I'll take it! This week, I've gotten in a lift+run (Sunday), nice long squash session (Wednesday), and lift+run (today). Tomorrow, will try to get in a good 4+ mile run before heading to the airport to pick up Bashon.

Current weight: 185.4
Taraget weight: 180.0
Time frame: 2 weeks

2 weeks is a bit ambitious for 5.5 lbs, but the trend is at least encouraging, as I've lost about 18lbs overall since early summer. The speed of the progress could be a bit better, which means my diet has been letting me down more often than I think. The one good thing, though, is that I think I am gaining muscle--the arms and chest and shoulders are feeling a lot stronger, and I'm pushing up more and more weight at the gym as the weeks roll by. I don't have a body fat monitor, so I don't know exactly to what extent this is happening, but I am feeling better, fitting into the old jeans, old shrits aren't as tight, etc. So that's encouraging. And that's something to continue building on.

The rest of the month will be busy busy for me. NYC, Atlanta, Raleigh/Durham, Richmond, DC, Boston all by the 13th. Home for a few days, then India on the 18th, and back on March 4. Whew. By March 4th, I'll already be at 50k miles on Delta this year. Whoa.