Little Falls, Delaware - April 2008

Another trip to the USA. Another very long trip (the travel, not the duration of stay in Little Falls)!! Why? For another face to face meeting - this time for the training optimization project. All those late nights meetings (for me) can only achieve so much. The whole team needed to get together to get some decisions and commitments going.

So from KL to Philadelphia (airport to airport, including transit times), it took all of 30 hours. I left KL, headed to Hong Kong (because I flew Cathay), transit in San Francisco and ended up in the Christiana Hilton at 2 minutes before midnight on the same day that I had started. But of course, it was already a day later back home.

There was nothing to excite me at the various airports that I transiting through. So when I saw these 2 cops patrolling the vast territory in San Francisco airport (the terminals are really extensive!!), I did not hesitate to ask then if they minded having their photos taken. I wonder if I would have gotten shot if I did not ask permission??

Many people were envious of my temporary home in Gurgaon last month. So I will extend their envy by showing off what my room looks like in the Christiana Hilton. First of all, the TV comes with a games controller so that one can play Nintendo games when one has the time (which I did not - sigh!!). And if you did not have your own laptop, you can always surf the internet on the TV with the keyboard that was provided.

In addition to the king sized bed, (with a lounge seat besides it), there was also a desk for me to work and of course the TV, coffee machine, etc.. Don't the room look expansive (big lah)?

Everyday, in the late afternoons, there is also a swan feeding event. The hotel has a very nice lake next to the front entrance (which I aptly named as swan lake). They have quite a few swans enjoying themselves and occasional storks visitations (at least I think they are storks). Too bad, time did not allow me to see this happening (the feeding I mean).

And as with most of these meetings, we had at least one team dinner. Of all the places that they have in and around Little falls, the place for the team dinner was called Potstickers Asian Grill. Their menu was a mish mash of Chinese, Thai, Western, etc. And the portions were huge. If I had known the portions were so much, I would have volunteered to share the dinner with someone, instead of seeing a lot of it go to waste - especially in these times of WW food shortages looming.

Last but not lest, here is a team photo taken on the last day. I took the liberty of photo shopping in my boss (Mark D) as he was not able to be physically present. He called in 2 times to contribute to the meeting. So you can say he was spiritually with us. Heh heh heh!!

And then it was another 30 hours back from Philly to KL, airport to airport. But I lost Thursday. I left on Wednesday evening and arrived home in the afternoon of Friday.

I want to report a missing Thursday!!