One Geek

India and Nagaland were hard, being back in Sydney is harder. It’s odd considering how much time I spent looking forward to coming home that it is being more difficult.

Whilst I was in Nagaland and Delhi I had clear goals, clear deadlines, meaningful but hard work and things to look forward too.

Back in Sydney I have very vague goals, work that seems neither meaningful nor is it absorbing. As far as things to look forward too, there really are no big events lined up. Bluesfest was my last big event I know of this year.

All this stuff is perfectly normal to feel coming back from working in the field. I am not that surprised I am going through this, it still isn’t pleasant. I go through good days and bad days. I think it is also hard because I know there is so much good I could be doing in other countries but can’t see much good here for me to do. I could easily spend 40 hours a week telecommuting to India helping out EHA and CIHSR but I can’t make money that way. Besides remote troubleshooting is one of the most frustrating things to try and do.

I love my friends, and it’s good to be back with them and my family. They are often the source of my good days, and provide me with a healthy level of attachment to Sydney.

I’m trying to make some changes to make life better soon. I am going to start looking for jobs that cater to my needs and in the mean time I am also going to work on sorting out my thesis topic making it something I am passionate about.

Well now I am waiting at Singapore airport for my flight this morning back home. I am rather tired as I didn’t get much sleep last night. The flight should be nice and dreadful as it’s a qantas flight and I am in a middle seat unless it’s the nice version of the 747 (747-400GE), which it may well be. Hope it is.

None of that actually bothers me that much as I will soon be home

It’s been a good holiday here with Sam. Didn’t end up having the kind of reflective time that I wanted but that’s alright. Just need to make sure I make some time to write when I get back home.

I’ve started packing now. I am only allowing myself to take my original suitcase.

I really enjoy leaving stuff behind, it’s a good cure for material attachment. It is also fun seeing how much what I am taking has changed from what I started with. Hmm…So maybe I am a materialist. Oh well.

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.

Well I’m sitting here in Kolkata waiting to bored my flight to Delhi. It’s only been delayed by an hour and a half so far so I am doing pretty well.

I went and brought a couple of books on arrival in Kolkata airport as the women selling coke didn’t have enough change for my 500Rs note.. That reminds me I also got some Lidnt chocolate maybe it’s time to eat it. Anyway I went through security nice and early to identify my bad and try and find a power point for my flat mobile battery. It only took about 30 minutes to do so. Another 5 minutes to id my bag and now an hour of sitting and waiting. I don’t mind though.

The problem though with Indian airports is the lack of stuff on the secure side of the airport. Oh well, you get that. I am feeling pretty tired now so I might go now.

I am now sitting in Dimapur waiting to leave for Kolkata and then Delhi. I am feeling very sad about leaving but really looking forward to Delhi, my holiday and returning home.

10 more days until I leave Dimapur
24 more days until I leave Delhi
1 Month and 6 days until I am home

Wes just left Dimapur. Feeling a bit sad now. It’s going to be odd not living and working with Wes. So much shared experience in India together. I think I’m going to miss all his story telling.

It’s funny he kept on suggesting I should go and visit him in the States where he will be volunteering with MCC for the next few years. Maybe I should at least it’s East Coast.

So this is my first secret blog post which will be published after I get home. Today is Sunday and it’s 49 hours until I come home. I am planning to arrive on Tuesday Night at commie dinner unannounced supprising everyone. I am really looking forward too it.
Though I don’t like the way too keep the secret I’ve ended up decieving people. The Friday I was planning on coming home seems to be rather inconvient for people, so I am glad I’m not coming home that day. It’s funny listening to people talk about the problems they will have with it being that day and knowing it’s not an issue but being able to say anything.

Today I started packing up all my stuff and hidding my other stuff away in cupboards so that people can come and stay in my room. I have got some fun presents for weddings and birthdays and stuff, I hope customs doesn’t stop me from taking them into Australia. It’s amazing how much fits into my suitcase. Packing makes my holiday home feel really real now, and I’m excited but still a little nervous. A holiday home is a strange concept. I think my trip is too short though :-(.

I am currently 11277m high. The time is 4.14pm in Sydney. I have about four hours and 15min left of flight time. Listening to U2 All that you can’t leave behind. I am mainly feeling tired and bored at this stage. I just want to get off the plane get through customs and immigration. No real profound thoughts at this point in time. It’s kind of fun writting a blog entry on the plane. Another five years and I’ll be able to post it from the plane. Oh joy. My laptop is far to big for economy seats. But the screen is like 5 times bigger then the passenger entertainment ones.

I haven’t watched any movies on this leg. Well actually I watched a bit of Catwoman, but couldn’t be to finish it. So I have been reluctant to put on another movie. That’s all for now.

Listening to Khe Shan in the airport lounge at KL. I spent $18US which has got me unlimited Coke, snacks, shower and internet. What more could you want?

My flight leaves here at 9.45am and arrives in Sydney 8.40pm. At least that’s the plan anyway.

Flight here sucked. I was next to a man who was not a very pleasent person to sit next to. He kept on elbowing me and belching. Grr.

Anyway now to work out what the time is here in KL.

Well I am now in the limbo that is the gate lounge. On the taxi ride here I felt my first bit of sadness about leaving India. I think I am going to miss a lot of things. People too. One of my friends brought me a little cycle rickshaw model. They are the best. You pull them back then they go. Lot’s of fun.

I got my bag security wrapped for the hell of it. I had too many ruppies left over. Then went though check-in which was quick and painless.

Emigration on the other hand was a bit more complex. I picked the wrong line and got a really slow guy doing my emigration paper work. He decided eventually that he wanted me to fill in a new departure card. Apparently my one from Raxaul wasn’t good enough.

I have tried to get online. There are two wireless networks I can access but I have no way to purchase a time on them. They don’t tell me where to go to buy it.

Not much else to tell except I am a bit sick in the stomach. All good fun.

I am all packed up and ready to go. I leave the house hour and a half. I have thrown out so much stuff. I have been reminded of the bit in the Bible where it talks about not storing riches on earth but in heaven. If I can not even take all my stuff with me when travelling across the earth, what chance do I have of taking it to the afterlife.