It took my parents several hours to write, format, and distribute our Christmas letter this year. After getting into a long discussion with them about more efficient ways to distribute our Christmas letter, I introduced them to box.net, one of many free cloud computing applications available on the web. I uploaded our Christmas letter into the cloud and shared the cloud location using my social media channels so that all of my friends and family could immediately have access to our Christmas letter without having to store the huge file in their inbox, getting bounce backs from outdated email addresses, and running into formatting issues.
Wishing all of your friends and family a Merry Christmas is as easy as clicking the link that I've provided below:
http://www.box.net/shared/oqkxyzjve6
Embrace the power of the cloud and have more time to spend with your family this Holiday season.
Merry X-Mas and Happy Holidays,
Karl Laughton
P.S. You can now subscribe to my blog via email so that you'll receive an email notification every time I submit a new blog post, just put your email into the gadget on the right hand side of the page!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Tomorrow's Thought Leaders - Push the Envelope
I've been brought on as an associate board member to the Santa Clara Valley Science and Engineering Fair. It’s something I’ll be doing outside of work, but wanted to bring to your attention.
SCVSEF is a non-profit organization that’s an innovation distribution channel for the thought leaders of tomorrow and a feeder program to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
http://sites.google.com/site/synopsyschampionship/
I think that this will be a great learning opportunity for me as well as a good way to get involved with the community.
Non-profit organizations such as SCVSEF are the hubs that push the envelope in science and engineering to the next generation. They ultimately breed the next round of VC funding, create jobs, and will develop the technology that changes our everyday lives.
I'd encourage all of you to get involved in your communities and do the same, help change the world.
You can do more than you think:
"Attitude should not be determined by circumstances"
Karl Laughton
SCVSEF is a non-profit organization that’s an innovation distribution channel for the thought leaders of tomorrow and a feeder program to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
http://sites.google.com/site/synopsyschampionship/
I think that this will be a great learning opportunity for me as well as a good way to get involved with the community.
Non-profit organizations such as SCVSEF are the hubs that push the envelope in science and engineering to the next generation. They ultimately breed the next round of VC funding, create jobs, and will develop the technology that changes our everyday lives.
I'd encourage all of you to get involved in your communities and do the same, help change the world.
You can do more than you think:
"Attitude should not be determined by circumstances"
Karl Laughton
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thanksgiving means giving back- The importance of Corporate Social Responsibility
As we get closer to the Holidays I wanted to talk about the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility. What is your company doing to give back to the community this holiday season?
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give". ~Winston Churchill
Today my team and I volunteered at the Sacred Heart Community Center in San Jose :
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs076/1102490454376/archive/1103730459949.html
Sacred Heart services 2000+ people on a daily basis with 100 daily volunteers providing food, education, clothing, adult classes, job services, etc...
We donated food, toys, over 60 volunteer hours , and a matched $600 Cisco donation for our volunteering. (Check out the photos below)
http://picasaweb.google.com/vijisriraman/SacredHeartAndBocceBall?authkey=Gv1sRgCPOryqqhobCreQ&feat=email#
One responsibility that all successful people have is to give back to their community. Those fortunate enough to rise to the ranks atop society must never forget where they came from or how they got to where they are today. It's our communities who shape who we are, and we owe it to our communities to give back to them.
Get your company brand out into the community, promote CSR, and the community will reward you with brand loyalty as an externality of doing the right thing. Help yourself, Help your community, do the right thing this Holiday season.
Happy Holidays,
Karl Laughton
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give". ~Winston Churchill
Today my team and I volunteered at the Sacred Heart Community Center in San Jose :
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs076/1102490454376/archive/1103730459949.html
Sacred Heart services 2000+ people on a daily basis with 100 daily volunteers providing food, education, clothing, adult classes, job services, etc...
We donated food, toys, over 60 volunteer hours , and a matched $600 Cisco donation for our volunteering. (Check out the photos below)
http://picasaweb.google.com/vijisriraman/SacredHeartAndBocceBall?authkey=Gv1sRgCPOryqqhobCreQ&feat=email#
One responsibility that all successful people have is to give back to their community. Those fortunate enough to rise to the ranks atop society must never forget where they came from or how they got to where they are today. It's our communities who shape who we are, and we owe it to our communities to give back to them.
Get your company brand out into the community, promote CSR, and the community will reward you with brand loyalty as an externality of doing the right thing. Help yourself, Help your community, do the right thing this Holiday season.
Happy Holidays,
Karl Laughton
Monday, November 1, 2010
2011 Silicon Valley Tech Acquisition Strategies
As we head into the new year some firms have already started the buying frenzy. Amongst the major players, Intel has already made a few big moves with it's acquisitions of McAfee and Infineon. The play positions Intel nicely to make a move into the wireless sector where they can expand on their partnership with Nokia and hedge against suppressed demand for PC's. Expect AMD to make similar but scaled moves in the coming months if they're not bought by Oracle first.
Google had an enormous year with 40+ acquisitions as they are frantically trying to roll out their social media platform. I'd expect them to continue to buy in this space until they can launch their platform. After their launch, I'd also look for them to buy infrastructure/ services support as their application matures.
Apple's $100B war chest has remain closed, don't forget about them as we move into 2011. Steve Jobs has expressed his intent to make some big purchases in the near future. I'd like to see Apple supplement their Ping launch and make a run at YouTube for market share in the multimedia space.
H-P has been all over the headlines lately with it's bidding war to acquire 3Par, Mark Hurd debacle, and acquisition of Arcsight a few weeks later. It's clear that the world's largest tech company by annual revenue is strategically positioning itself as an end to end solutions provider. As an end to end provider with a broad portfolio of Enterprise products and services, they can make a run in the corporate data center market, a direct play at tech giants Cisco systems, Oracle, and Dell.
Based on the acquisitions we saw in 2010, I think we can forecast 3 distinct trends for 2011 acquisitions:
Google had an enormous year with 40+ acquisitions as they are frantically trying to roll out their social media platform. I'd expect them to continue to buy in this space until they can launch their platform. After their launch, I'd also look for them to buy infrastructure/ services support as their application matures.
Apple's $100B war chest has remain closed, don't forget about them as we move into 2011. Steve Jobs has expressed his intent to make some big purchases in the near future. I'd like to see Apple supplement their Ping launch and make a run at YouTube for market share in the multimedia space.
H-P has been all over the headlines lately with it's bidding war to acquire 3Par, Mark Hurd debacle, and acquisition of Arcsight a few weeks later. It's clear that the world's largest tech company by annual revenue is strategically positioning itself as an end to end solutions provider. As an end to end provider with a broad portfolio of Enterprise products and services, they can make a run in the corporate data center market, a direct play at tech giants Cisco systems, Oracle, and Dell.
Based on the acquisitions we saw in 2010, I think we can forecast 3 distinct trends for 2011 acquisitions:
- Chip Maker/Semi Conductor plays into the wireless market: Tablet devices have suppressed PC demand and chip makers will need to diversify their portfolios to hedge their losses while this market is hot.
- B2C based companies will continue to play the web 2.0 market with acquisitions in multimedia sharing, location based services, blogging platforms, and the emergence of group procurement services.
- B2B enterprise networking and data center companies will continue to broaden their portfolios with cloud, virtualization, and adjacency plays intended to supplement their core business models.
As usual, thank you all for following.
SVTB
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
India Blog Series- Post # 6: The End
The purpose of this documentary was to demonstrate how you can use social media applications & Cisco technology to stay in touch while abroad and educate internal/external communities on the breadth of capabilities that can be achieved via the network as the platform.
I wanted to thank all of you for following my documentary blog series as I travelled to India. I hope that you all found the blog series worthwhile. I’d love to hear your feedback regarding the blog series and understand what you liked, what I could’ve done better, etc… Please feel free to comment on the blog/ contact me directly with suggestions.
Furthermore, I wanted to thank my management team (Kristin White, Shayne Fulford, Swati Daniel, Gabriel Negrete, and Viji Sriraman) for sponsoring my application to the GRC guest audit program and for encouraging me to apply. Without their support and flexibility, I never would’ve followed through on my application.
Lastly, I wanted to extend a big thank you to the GRC audit team (Ravi Channahalli, Swaroop Ramaswamy, Gautam Kumar, Tarun Damodaran, and Vinita Venugopal). Their support made the trip for me. The strong leadership, visibility, and collaboration from the team made the entire process seamless. We came together as a cohesive group, delivered quality results, and had a great time doing it.
I would encourage anyone who has an opportunity to apply for programs of this nature to do so. The experience not only made me a better professional, it made me a better human being.
I am truly grateful to have had this opportunity. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions/ comments that you may have.
Karl Laughton
I wanted to thank all of you for following my documentary blog series as I travelled to India. I hope that you all found the blog series worthwhile. I’d love to hear your feedback regarding the blog series and understand what you liked, what I could’ve done better, etc… Please feel free to comment on the blog/ contact me directly with suggestions.
Furthermore, I wanted to thank my management team (Kristin White, Shayne Fulford, Swati Daniel, Gabriel Negrete, and Viji Sriraman) for sponsoring my application to the GRC guest audit program and for encouraging me to apply. Without their support and flexibility, I never would’ve followed through on my application.
Lastly, I wanted to extend a big thank you to the GRC audit team (Ravi Channahalli, Swaroop Ramaswamy, Gautam Kumar, Tarun Damodaran, and Vinita Venugopal). Their support made the trip for me. The strong leadership, visibility, and collaboration from the team made the entire process seamless. We came together as a cohesive group, delivered quality results, and had a great time doing it.
I would encourage anyone who has an opportunity to apply for programs of this nature to do so. The experience not only made me a better professional, it made me a better human being.
I am truly grateful to have had this opportunity. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions/ comments that you may have.
Karl Laughton
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Hard Rock Bangalore - India Blog Series Post #5
Tuesday
Today was a great day. The team went out to lunch today at subway. I rode in my first auto rickshaw to lunch. It was dodgey to say the least. Auto rickshaws are essentially motorized bicycles with makeshift carriages welded onto them. There are no seat belts, and the drivers come within inches of accidents your entire ride.
After lunch I had the pleasure of meeting Amy Kwan -VP Finance Accounting Shared Services Organization, Mike ward – Director FASSO, and Robert Fulnecky bus ops manager onsite. Amy, Mike, and Rob are out here checking up on the status of our Fusion project. They gave a good speech on the importance of the Accenture- Cisco partnership as it relates to accounting excellence and enablement. If Accenture can drive OE, standardize, and focus on delivery, it will enable Cisco to work on our evolving business model as we enter into new market adjacencies and continue to drive top line growth through innovation. They brought it all together at the end by speaking to the importance of one Cisco, and how we view the Accenture staff as our own, 1 team, 1 Family, Cisco.
I worked the late shift this evening to finish my testing. My testing is now 100% complete. I’ll be conducting analysis, consolidation, and documenting my findings over the next few days. The team is going to the Cisco Bangalore campus tomorrow. I’m excited to finally see campus.
Wednesday
The Cisco Bangalore campus is absolutely stunning. The entire campus is run based on Cisco’s smart grid technology. Most of the campus runs on Cisco’s Smart and Connected Community platform, linking building utilities, security, and facilities maintenance to the network. Every building can be managed remotely, energy is optimized, and crisis management is integrated. The Bangalore campus is an operation model for the future of the commercial real estate industry. Every building leverages best in class green technology building practices. It’s truly one thing to hear about S+CC projects like Songdo, and another to experience them. Furthermore, the aesthetic presence of the buildings and forward thinking interior design make the Campus an absolute pleasure to visit.
After a tour in the morning, the Audit team gave a status update meeting to Amy Kwan and Mike Ward around the Fusion Audit. Immediately following the meeting, we were invited to the FABINDIA Finance all hands meeting where Amy spent 90 minutes reviewing Cisco’s FY10 financials, highlighting FY11 initiatives, and answering questions. The key takeaway I had from Amy’s presentation was that she echoed the same message as John did in the company all hands. It’s a good feeling to have a consistent message from your leadership team. Knowing that everyone is on the same page assures me that FY11 is going to be a strong year.
After work, the team went out for dinner at the Hard Rock Café. It’s clear at this point that the team has bonded very strongly. We’ve been very productive together from a deliverables perspective, and we can have a good time together outside of work. The team has made the trip seamless for me.
I’ve included some photos below from dinner and drinks. That’s right Ravi, the party didn’t stop after dinner…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53854912@N02/sets/72157625018325684/
Thursday
We partied pretty hard Wednesday, so the morning on Thursday was a bit of a struggle. After lunch I had a 2 hour Telepresence meeting with the audit management team and my counterpart on the audit. We consolidated our findings, presented our analysis and metrics, and offered recommendations to the team during the call. All of the groundwork for my piece of the audit is done, and the management team is up to speed. It’s a great feeling to be done and know that what I did while I was here made an impact on the audit.
After work I went out shopping to a place called HUM India. I would highly recommend it for anyone who visits Bangalore. It’s a designer outlet store that sells designer goods of all kinds which have been priced for India. I cleaned the store out, and have no idea how I’m going to get all this stuff home!
Tomorrow is my last day. My flight leaves at 6:30am which means that I have to leave the hotel at 3:00am. I am not looking forward to the 26 hour trip, but it’ll be good to be home.
I’ll close off the blog series with a final post when I get home, keep your eyes open for that.
Thanks for following,
Karl
Today was a great day. The team went out to lunch today at subway. I rode in my first auto rickshaw to lunch. It was dodgey to say the least. Auto rickshaws are essentially motorized bicycles with makeshift carriages welded onto them. There are no seat belts, and the drivers come within inches of accidents your entire ride.
After lunch I had the pleasure of meeting Amy Kwan -VP Finance Accounting Shared Services Organization, Mike ward – Director FASSO, and Robert Fulnecky bus ops manager onsite. Amy, Mike, and Rob are out here checking up on the status of our Fusion project. They gave a good speech on the importance of the Accenture- Cisco partnership as it relates to accounting excellence and enablement. If Accenture can drive OE, standardize, and focus on delivery, it will enable Cisco to work on our evolving business model as we enter into new market adjacencies and continue to drive top line growth through innovation. They brought it all together at the end by speaking to the importance of one Cisco, and how we view the Accenture staff as our own, 1 team, 1 Family, Cisco.
I worked the late shift this evening to finish my testing. My testing is now 100% complete. I’ll be conducting analysis, consolidation, and documenting my findings over the next few days. The team is going to the Cisco Bangalore campus tomorrow. I’m excited to finally see campus.
Wednesday
The Cisco Bangalore campus is absolutely stunning. The entire campus is run based on Cisco’s smart grid technology. Most of the campus runs on Cisco’s Smart and Connected Community platform, linking building utilities, security, and facilities maintenance to the network. Every building can be managed remotely, energy is optimized, and crisis management is integrated. The Bangalore campus is an operation model for the future of the commercial real estate industry. Every building leverages best in class green technology building practices. It’s truly one thing to hear about S+CC projects like Songdo, and another to experience them. Furthermore, the aesthetic presence of the buildings and forward thinking interior design make the Campus an absolute pleasure to visit.
After a tour in the morning, the Audit team gave a status update meeting to Amy Kwan and Mike Ward around the Fusion Audit. Immediately following the meeting, we were invited to the FABINDIA Finance all hands meeting where Amy spent 90 minutes reviewing Cisco’s FY10 financials, highlighting FY11 initiatives, and answering questions. The key takeaway I had from Amy’s presentation was that she echoed the same message as John did in the company all hands. It’s a good feeling to have a consistent message from your leadership team. Knowing that everyone is on the same page assures me that FY11 is going to be a strong year.
After work, the team went out for dinner at the Hard Rock Café. It’s clear at this point that the team has bonded very strongly. We’ve been very productive together from a deliverables perspective, and we can have a good time together outside of work. The team has made the trip seamless for me.
I’ve included some photos below from dinner and drinks. That’s right Ravi, the party didn’t stop after dinner…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53854912@N02/sets/72157625018325684/
Thursday
We partied pretty hard Wednesday, so the morning on Thursday was a bit of a struggle. After lunch I had a 2 hour Telepresence meeting with the audit management team and my counterpart on the audit. We consolidated our findings, presented our analysis and metrics, and offered recommendations to the team during the call. All of the groundwork for my piece of the audit is done, and the management team is up to speed. It’s a great feeling to be done and know that what I did while I was here made an impact on the audit.
After work I went out shopping to a place called HUM India. I would highly recommend it for anyone who visits Bangalore. It’s a designer outlet store that sells designer goods of all kinds which have been priced for India. I cleaned the store out, and have no idea how I’m going to get all this stuff home!
Tomorrow is my last day. My flight leaves at 6:30am which means that I have to leave the hotel at 3:00am. I am not looking forward to the 26 hour trip, but it’ll be good to be home.
I’ll close off the blog series with a final post when I get home, keep your eyes open for that.
Thanks for following,
Karl
Monday, September 20, 2010
The beaches of Goa - India blog series Post #4
Before I get into the last 4 days, I’ve included the full photo set from my last post below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53854912@N02/sets/72157624872159933/
Friday
The team went out for lunch today. We’re really starting to open up to each other and mesh as a team. Everyone on the team adds something different, we are good together. My flight is at 6:00am Saturday Morning so I have to leave for the airport by 4:30am the next day. After work, we stop by a local liquor store for some weekend refreshments. I spent the rest of the evening grabbing dinner, packing, and drinking some local wine (Sula). There are very few options for reasonably priced wine here. A $15 bottle of Kendall Jackson, a low-mid range wine in the states at best, is roughly 10,000 Rs or $30-40 U.S. here. There’s huge opportunity for a wine import/export business here. If any of you capitalize on it, I expect a cut!
Saturday
The wakeup call comes at 4:00am and I’m regretting drinking so much Sula the previous night. Regardless, the anticipation for my trip to Goa pushes me through the morning struggle and I manage to get checked out and in my car to the airport on time. After a short flight, I’m on the shuttle to the Taj. The drive to the Taj lasts about an hour and gives me a great opportunity to take in the scenery. Goa is a western state situated off the coast of the Arabian Sea. The countryside is similar to that of a rainforest climate and is unlike anywhere I’ve ever been before.
There are two Taj hotels within a mile from each other, the Taj Fort Aguada and the Taj Holiday village. Both Hotels sit on the south end of Baga beach, looking over the Arabian Sea. I spend the first part of the day shuttling between both resorts and walking on the private beaches they retain. Its Monsoon season so the weather is overcast and rainfall occurs intermittently throughout the day. After touring the resorts and beaches, I treat myself to a massage and get ready to go to a Goan Bazaar later that afternoon.
Goan Bazaars are like U.S. flea markets on Steroids. Bargaining is an art form to the locals and the minute I walk in I’m hounded by all of the local vendors, each willing to “give you good deal”. I pick out a few items from one of the vendors and spend the next 30 minutes negotiating with her. I’ve negotiated with plenty of scalpers at Giants games before, but these ladies would put them out of business! Eventually I end up talking the vendor down from $2500Rs to $300Rs and am feeling pretty good about my accomplishment. After I finish the transaction, every vendor in the bazaar surrounds me. Now that they’ve seen me purchase something, the flood gates are open and I quickly decide that it’s time to get out of there.
I leave the bazaar and go to a restaurant on the beach. Fishing is a large part of the Goan economy as it boarders the ocean. I order a smoked salmon Caesar and crab cakes for lunch in the spirit of the fresh Goan seafood that’s been highly recommended to me. The seafood lived up to its hype 110%! The fish was absolutely incredible, and I could taste how fresh it was. What an incredible meal.
After lunch I head to the hotel lounge for some drinks before dinner. Even though it’s starting to rain pretty hard, I can realize the potential these resorts have during the summer time. Each resort has a bar overlooking the ocean, poolside lounge, and their own private beach. The landscape is unique as each resort sits 50M from the beach in the front and is engulfed by forestation in the back.
I’ve included some photos below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53854912@N02/sets/72157624996538042/
After dinner I take a shuttle to the Holiday village which has a club called Caravela. Caravela was livelier than I expected for Monsoon season and turned out to be a great time.
Sunday
I take the opportunity to sleep in Sunday and wake up just in time for lunch! I hit the hotel lounge for lunch and have some Coronas by the beach. Over a few drinks I end up meeting a group of Indian Private Equity guys. They’re all Ivy League types who did their schooling in the U.S. and have a taste for the finer things in life. After exchanging business cards, I leave the lounge and hop on the shuttle back to the airport. My flight was delayed by an hour and I don’t get back to the Hotel until 10PM that night. After unpacking again, I ordered some food and get ready for work the next day.
Monday
Today turned out to be a very productive day. I’m %85 done testing and have completed some good analysis around some of the exception types were seeing. The team went out to lunch at a vegetarian restaurant, not my favorite, but it turned out to be surprisingly good. After work I went to Brigid road, a shopping hub in Bangalore. I got most of my shopping for the trip done today. I really love the purchasing power of the dollar over here but realize that it’s not that much less expensive than the states. Any comparable shop/restaurant is considered very upscale here, and the prices reflect it. Furthermore, I don’t think that the pay cut employees take over here is parallel to the relative prices of goods, just my opinion.
I’m working late tomorrow to finish up my testing as the only Theatre I have left is Latin America and the analysts who support LATAM work the 6:30PM-3:30AM shift. It’s pretty ironic that I came all the way out here and will be working U.S. hours tomorrow. The team is going on a tour of the Cisco Bangalore campus Wednesday and then out for dinner at the Hard Rock. I’m really looking forward to that. There’s also a Jimi Hendrix inspired bar called “Purple Haze” here that we’re going to hit up on Thursday so lot’s more to come before I leave!
Stay tuned!
Thanks for following,
Karl
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53854912@N02/sets/72157624872159933/
Friday
The team went out for lunch today. We’re really starting to open up to each other and mesh as a team. Everyone on the team adds something different, we are good together. My flight is at 6:00am Saturday Morning so I have to leave for the airport by 4:30am the next day. After work, we stop by a local liquor store for some weekend refreshments. I spent the rest of the evening grabbing dinner, packing, and drinking some local wine (Sula). There are very few options for reasonably priced wine here. A $15 bottle of Kendall Jackson, a low-mid range wine in the states at best, is roughly 10,000 Rs or $30-40 U.S. here. There’s huge opportunity for a wine import/export business here. If any of you capitalize on it, I expect a cut!
Saturday
The wakeup call comes at 4:00am and I’m regretting drinking so much Sula the previous night. Regardless, the anticipation for my trip to Goa pushes me through the morning struggle and I manage to get checked out and in my car to the airport on time. After a short flight, I’m on the shuttle to the Taj. The drive to the Taj lasts about an hour and gives me a great opportunity to take in the scenery. Goa is a western state situated off the coast of the Arabian Sea. The countryside is similar to that of a rainforest climate and is unlike anywhere I’ve ever been before.
There are two Taj hotels within a mile from each other, the Taj Fort Aguada and the Taj Holiday village. Both Hotels sit on the south end of Baga beach, looking over the Arabian Sea. I spend the first part of the day shuttling between both resorts and walking on the private beaches they retain. Its Monsoon season so the weather is overcast and rainfall occurs intermittently throughout the day. After touring the resorts and beaches, I treat myself to a massage and get ready to go to a Goan Bazaar later that afternoon.
Goan Bazaars are like U.S. flea markets on Steroids. Bargaining is an art form to the locals and the minute I walk in I’m hounded by all of the local vendors, each willing to “give you good deal”. I pick out a few items from one of the vendors and spend the next 30 minutes negotiating with her. I’ve negotiated with plenty of scalpers at Giants games before, but these ladies would put them out of business! Eventually I end up talking the vendor down from $2500Rs to $300Rs and am feeling pretty good about my accomplishment. After I finish the transaction, every vendor in the bazaar surrounds me. Now that they’ve seen me purchase something, the flood gates are open and I quickly decide that it’s time to get out of there.
I leave the bazaar and go to a restaurant on the beach. Fishing is a large part of the Goan economy as it boarders the ocean. I order a smoked salmon Caesar and crab cakes for lunch in the spirit of the fresh Goan seafood that’s been highly recommended to me. The seafood lived up to its hype 110%! The fish was absolutely incredible, and I could taste how fresh it was. What an incredible meal.
After lunch I head to the hotel lounge for some drinks before dinner. Even though it’s starting to rain pretty hard, I can realize the potential these resorts have during the summer time. Each resort has a bar overlooking the ocean, poolside lounge, and their own private beach. The landscape is unique as each resort sits 50M from the beach in the front and is engulfed by forestation in the back.
I’ve included some photos below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53854912@N02/sets/72157624996538042/
After dinner I take a shuttle to the Holiday village which has a club called Caravela. Caravela was livelier than I expected for Monsoon season and turned out to be a great time.
Sunday
I take the opportunity to sleep in Sunday and wake up just in time for lunch! I hit the hotel lounge for lunch and have some Coronas by the beach. Over a few drinks I end up meeting a group of Indian Private Equity guys. They’re all Ivy League types who did their schooling in the U.S. and have a taste for the finer things in life. After exchanging business cards, I leave the lounge and hop on the shuttle back to the airport. My flight was delayed by an hour and I don’t get back to the Hotel until 10PM that night. After unpacking again, I ordered some food and get ready for work the next day.
Monday
Today turned out to be a very productive day. I’m %85 done testing and have completed some good analysis around some of the exception types were seeing. The team went out to lunch at a vegetarian restaurant, not my favorite, but it turned out to be surprisingly good. After work I went to Brigid road, a shopping hub in Bangalore. I got most of my shopping for the trip done today. I really love the purchasing power of the dollar over here but realize that it’s not that much less expensive than the states. Any comparable shop/restaurant is considered very upscale here, and the prices reflect it. Furthermore, I don’t think that the pay cut employees take over here is parallel to the relative prices of goods, just my opinion.
I’m working late tomorrow to finish up my testing as the only Theatre I have left is Latin America and the analysts who support LATAM work the 6:30PM-3:30AM shift. It’s pretty ironic that I came all the way out here and will be working U.S. hours tomorrow. The team is going on a tour of the Cisco Bangalore campus Wednesday and then out for dinner at the Hard Rock. I’m really looking forward to that. There’s also a Jimi Hendrix inspired bar called “Purple Haze” here that we’re going to hit up on Thursday so lot’s more to come before I leave!
Stay tuned!
Thanks for following,
Karl
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