I volunteered for a two year 'posting. It made the most sense. Anything less seemed like sister-kissin' the whole idea. If you are familiar with MBTI (Meyers Briggs Type Indicators) I will tell you that my preferences are for the big picture, the concept, the strategy. I am not a detail person. That made preparation a challenge much like writing with my other hand. I finally took my daughter-in-law's suggestion and made some lists. Since I was writing with the other hand, they were difficult to read but they did help. There was a tremendous amount of detail. I found that in the last days before departure I only slept about 3 hours a night. I would wake up thinking about all that needed to get done and wondering what I had forgot. I went with the flow knowing that eventually things would work out and so far they have. Conversation with self at 3:00 AM: Rob, what did I forget? If you knew what you forgot then you wouldn't forget it now would you? Oh....yeah......right.
It seems like an event such as this somehow brings out the nuttier side of life. The day before I left I was at the bank. My phone rang. It was Enterprise Rent a Car. "Where is our car?" "What?" "Our car. The one you rented." "It's at the Chysler service center in the parking lot where I left it three weeks ago." I could hardly believe the conversation but it seems the car had been sitting with the keys in it and no one had noticed. The keys were locked in the car but considering all the possible outcomes this seemed minor. It had a happy ending; they got their car back; I was not charged; but all in all very nutty. Seems like nobody was minding the store. Certainly not me. I was headed for Mars....I mean India.
And another nutty thing. The day before the rental car company awakened my personal laptop shot craps. You know, the one with all my personal contacts and emails. The one I was going to back up when I got time. Yeah, that one. The cursor was drifting aimlessly. None of the cursor controls would hold it. I took it in to Ribbit (love that name). "Ah", he says. "The drifting cursor. Usually very easy to fix." He was of course unaware of LMKS (Last Minute Karma Syndrome). As he popped the keyboard loose and lifted a small cover plate I could hear him say, "Oh Oh". Instinctively I know this is not good. He had that look on his face they get when they don't want you around. I left. Came back in about an hour. He was still tinkering. "Can you fixit?" "Probablly not." This means no. I exercised my only option. I bought a new laptop. As he was showing me one he told me how sorry he was that he couldn't fix mine. Said that was very unusual (still in denial of LMKS). So I asked him how sorry he was. Was sorry in this case a figure of speech or was there a value attached? Turns out he was sorry to the tune of about $90. OK by me. He did save most my data. Another happy ending.
By the time I was ready my adrenalin valves were badly worn and a little leaky. I went to bed about 1:00 AM on the eve of departure all packed and stacked by the door. Jess, Ginger and Mara came over the next morning and brought breakfast, took me to the airport where we shed a tear and I departed. Here I am shown below with my colleague Pravin and his family.
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