One Geek

I think I managed to do some good work whilst here. I set myself the goal of providing at least $100,000 of value during my time volunteering. Except I forgot to work out how I was going to calculate that. Ops..

Anyway here is a somewhat incomplete list of the work tasks I completed:
Specify the computer systems required for a 200 bed hospital.
Setup a loadbalanced, redundant set of servers to deliver a custom application (Turbocare) using a MySQL backend.
Designed a network
Documented howto setup 90% of the hospitals systems
Misc work on Turbocare including testing and some coding.
Train and mentor two computer systems administrators. One in Delhi and one in Dimapur. (They should be meeting up in a few months, along with the guy I trained in Raxaul. I wonder if they’ll talk about how crazy I was. )
Setup online courseware for two programs (No content in them yet)
Setup an online LDAP Address Book (Not quite finished)
Setup backend for three websites (None of them have much content as of today, but I am promised it will come).
Created some mailing lists (Strangely these are actually used)
Gave a short session in a HMS workshop. (It was title Basic Health Care for Hospital Computers)
Provided evaluation of three Hospital Management Systems. (Mostly informal)
Meet with far too many vendors (I may be a bit of a people person, but I am not really that much into sales people. Particular the ones who call at 10pm on a Friday night.)
Developed a healthy coffee addiction
Researched mobile phone jammers (It’s too hard to get people to switch off phones in meetings)
Evaluated video conferencing solutions(not much though, cause I didn’t like the idea at the time)
Setup far too many wireless networks (But on the plus side, it is a good way to make friends)
Worked on credit card donations options ( Somehow it all ended up going nowhere)
Evaluated a variety of Content Management Systems (Oh so boring)
Evaluated Wireless long distance VPN system (Evaluation is such a nice word isn’t it)
Created specification for PBX system, evaluated some PBX’s and meet with a vendor.
Became official present shopper for colleagues in Dimapur. (Would be fun in a place like Delhi, just hard work in Dimapur)
Helping Damsel’s in distress with IT issues.

I am sure I am missing some tasks I preformed but I think that will do for now. No wonder I’ve been feeling tired. I am pretty amazed I managed to actually develop some friendships in my time here. Although sadly that last work task of helping damsel’s in distress is actually one of the ways I made friends here.

I think I need a new life but for now I’ll settle for leaving India and going on a holiday.

The problem with my living overseas is it means having to say too many goodbyes. I said goodbye to everyone at central office today. I even ended up giving a little speech but it wasn’t very good. It’s interesting goodbyes so often are akward, maybe we try so hard not to show the depth of emotion, or our vulnerability or something.

Anyway I’ve made some pretty awesome friends in my time here in India. I have also worked with some pretty inspiring people. The really nice thing is that I know I will at least see some of them back in Australia, or somewhere else in this tiny planet we live on.

I am looking very much forward to all my hellos that are coming soon. 12 days, 13 hours, 55 minutes until the bulk, but I have got to say hey to the Bevis and will soon be meeting Sam.

In two weeks I am scheduled to arrive back in Austalia.
In two days I am scheduled to leave India for my holiday with Sam.

I have found the well known follow an Indian trick incredibly helpful over the past week.
However now I have a new tip from my observations and experiments on Delhi roads.
Try and cross using a bus, in front of a bus you can usually find a two lane gap big enough to get you well and truly on your way. Once you have crossed those lanes don’t freak out, standing in the middle of a lane is a natural place to stand. Just keep an eye on the traffic and let it flow around you.

Why is it so hard to embrace both diversity and equality?

Class, race, gender, sexual preference, intelligence, charisma, health, compliance with social norms and so many other things are used to try and define and determine the value of people.

Why do people do it?

Why do I find myself sometimes thinking the same way?

I had a dream about the foodcourt a few days ago. They had redone the foodcourt whilst I was away and I couldn’t find Oporto. Very scary.

I just listened to the tropic of conversation.

First impression awesome. The last song india brought tears to my eyes, so evocative, so powerful. My experiences in this great land add more to it. It’s a song so filled with hope and love. The other songs are really good too, but india is my favourite on my first run through.

I spent most of today hanging out with Steve. We ended up going clothes shopping, hanging out in cafes, buying books, and minding children.

It was all good fun.
We ended up having dosa for dinner, which makes Steve a life long member of Dosa club.

I had forgotten how well proportioned the 600ml buddy is. In Nagaland they only had the 500ml Coke bottles and they always felt a little small in my hand. Here in Delhi they have the 600ml Coke bottles and they feel just right in my hand.

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