Rio - Expectations and Realities

I made it to Rio, despite United Airlines doing their best to screw me over yet again.

When I got notified of the flight delay I got on the horn and got rerouted, on an American 2-hop because that was the only way to get to Houston in time to make the Rio flight.
And of course my PreCheck didn't carry over so I got to join the hoi-polloi in the take-your-left-shoe-off, take-your-right-shoe-off, stick-em-in-box Hokey Pokey - at least we didn't do quite as much "guess whats in TBG's backpack" going through the x-ray. Zero status with AA, so I had the Shittiest Seat On The Plane on the way to Charlotte, and Charlotte to Houston wasn't much better. I won't be switching to American any time soon. FTMF

Charlotte Airport sucks, as does American Airlines in general.
Just sayin'.
Spent 90 minutes in Houston swilling three gin & tonics up in the United Lounge, getting my courage up to board the Rio flight...
Bulkhead seat on the aisle- Yay.
In the other two seats were two middle-aged Brazilian women who talked non-stop for 4 hours...
Neither spoke a word of English, which was just peachy for me.
What was really good was the one sitting next to me was about 5'2", so there was no crowding or fighting for the armrest.

I did sleep about 4 of the 10 flight hours, thanks to the generous pour of Hendricks Gin back in Houston.
Made Rio a few minuted ahead of schedule, skated through C&I with no problems, though I did have a bit of a scare with my baggage.
Because I was on American (spit) through Charlotte to Houston, then back on United to Rio there was some discussion whether I would have to claim my bags in Houston, then recheck them on United to get them to Rio safely.
At check-in in JAX the ticket agent said checking them all the way through would be no problem.
He printed the tags, I verified the flight numbers and carriers, (AA- JAX-CLT-IAH UA- IAH-GIG)
and they were off...
Because they started on American, they didn't get United 'Priority' tags, so my duffle bag (clothes) showed up on the 4th or 5th cart, but my equipment case never showed up on the carousel.
Oh shit.
I hate that- the feeling you get when your bag is late, and all the mental gymnastics you go through... Did it miss the flight? Did it get stolen? What will I do if it's stolen? I'll bet the baggage handlers just the other side of the wall have opened it and are divvying up my laptops right now?

Bags stop coming out, carousel quits moving.
Shit.
I head to the baggage service desk with about 20 other people. Looks like I'm not alone in my dilemma... Then I notice the oversize/weird baggage area- all the baby seats, surfboards, etc... Along with a familiar black Pelican case.
Woo hoo!
Okay- I'll take back some of the horrible shit I was thinking about the Rio baggage crew...

I headed out of Baggage Claim, found the guy with my name on his cardboard sign and we headed to his car.

I expected to be besieged by A. Aegypti as soon as I walked out of the airport.

(What I was expecting)
But oddly enough, I made it to the hotel relatively unscathed.

Rio traffic, on a scale of 1 to China rates about a 6- at least on the main roads from the Airport to the Barra area. Surprisingly sedate. Maybe because it was Sunday?

I got to the Hilton, then to my room, took a good nap to make up for the hours I missed on the plane, then went up for a nice libation at the poolside bar on the roof of the Hilton.


Oh, I love me a good caipirinha... This trip might be fun after all...

The rooftop pool...

More of a lap pool, but still might be a nice spot for a dip.

Nice view

(Click to see large view)
The Olympic site off on the Barra peninsula.


I'll leave you with a Sign of the Apocalypse - Rio Edition #1 -



From the Hilton- "Watch your step, Gringo."


TBG - [Exit- Pursued by Anopheles Darlingi]

Sad News

I was fine right up until the service info...
"...At 330, for about 20 minutes."

I blew a snot bubble on that one...


TBG - - ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Choose Wisely

Decisions decisions...


Of course, here they should mention the spiders, snakes, crocs, and jellyfish.
And the friggin' cliffs that surround the country.


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Gorram (Progressive) Kids...

Now get off my lawn.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Options

Well... I guess that is one option...

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Signs Of Our Times

I think this is the place Borepatch goes in Roswell...


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

AAR - Singapore - Work Work Work

There's nothing more boring than details of someone else's job.

I went to the Singapore Indoor Stadium, blah blah blah.


The event is going to be interesting, to say the least...
I'm have mixed emotions regarding the event. I'd kinda like to be there-
but then again, given the technological challenges that are presented by the site, maybe not.

The inside is a bit sketchy...
They'd held a concert at the end of the previous week and still hadn't started the post-concert cleanup until the morning we arrived. If this is de rigueur for the site, things will be interesting. (And not in a good way.)

As always, I am able to find things that amuse me wherever I go...
This sign in the AV Booth was one of those things...


I took about 10,000 pictures of arena tech items, talked to the arena ops folks and generally made a pain in the ass of myself - raising flags all over the place to make the event ops guys aware of issues.
They usually run golf and UFC events- this will be their first tennis show...
We'll have 4 people on-site for this gig... I think things will work out OK.

I split the arena at 5pm- taxied back to the hotel in the rain, and after sundown I went on walkabout again...

Next up: Walkabout and MBS

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Self Preservation

Know where the nearest exit is.

And in this case, bring a hammer.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

AAR - Singapore

The site survey to Singapore sucked out loud...

That's not fair... Singapore is a cool city. The folks I met were really nice and went waaaay out of their way to be helpful- and in my dubious state of repair, I really appreciated their help.
If I had more time to see the city it would have been even better.

So, to rephrase: Getting to and from Singapore was a monumental bite in the ass, and I spent more time traveling than I did on the ground.
Not (never ever) doing that again.
(He said, emphatically, knowing full well that if They ask, and schedules dictate that kind of itinerary, his happy ass will damned-well be back in that middle seat for the Good Of The Company.
But my gung-ho Japanese salaryman spirit is slowly being ground to dust.)

I arrived just after noon at Changi and after finally getting through customs (33 minutes- gah) I hit up Uber for a ride...
(Have you tried Uber yet?
If you take taxis occasionally, I really suggest you look into Uber.
I have a long post coming up regarding this...)
Minutes later I was in a car heading into the city, skipping the 30-person deep queue for regular taxis.
Arriving at the hotel grabbed a quick shower and changed clothes. I really wanted to snooze, but I knew better. That way lies madness and completely fucked up time sense that takes weeks to recover from.
I went walkabout near the hotel, just needing to find an ATM to get some local dinero and a convenience store for in-room beverages.
There is not shortage of interesting signs around S'pore (as it is popularly abbreviated)...


And I took a wander thorough the Maxwell Street food market.

Lots of goodies on the menu there... Yeah. Not eating here.


One thing I didn't get a picture of was the most popular kiosk in the joint- the Hainanese Chick Rice stand... There was at least 50 people in line and they were serving up the most uninspired dish of off-color rice to everyone.
Most of the tables were fully populated and seemed to have the same array of food for the 3 to 6 people at each table:
One plate of beige rice (assuming the coloring is from the chicken element) for each person, and one communal plate of large-diced chicken that looked pretty bland. Add a large tumbler of boba tea for each person and you pretty much have it.
Weird.
After my 3-hour walkabout I was pretty drenched- it was 95 degrees, 100% humidity and overcast. I took another shower and prepared to head out to dinner
One of my volunteers from the Masters A Nice Golf Course lives in Singapore, so in advance of the trip we arranged dinner for Sunday night... He selected a Szechuan place not too far from the hotel.

Up Next - Dinner

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

*It has left me seriously considering dumping United as my preferred airline. An informal poll of the other traveling staff at The Company has revealed that only one in four is a StarAlliance/United victim. Most everyone else uses Delta/Skymiles. There is a smattering of OneWorld, but it seems Delta is the way to go.

Subtle. Very Subtle.

Whoever did this is evil.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Need Help With Your Paperwork?

Here are some nice forms for you...

I particularly like the Formal Apology.
I use it quite often.
(Double Click for bigness)















TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Trolling the Workplace

I could re-word this a bit and with the proper posting location,
I'll bet I could drive most of my coworkers to apoplexy.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Starbukkin' -

-or-
This is why we can't have nice things!

I doubt most Constant Readers even noticed it when it came across the WSJ, except possibly the most caffeine addicted of y'all out there...
But it seems that the super-seekrit Starbux spot finally made the national news...
(So secret it's been published by Yours Truly several times... Like here and here...)

An article was published in the Wall Street Journal and really threw a monkey wrench into the works here in Sochi...

After 10 days in Russia's sparse Olympic frontier, Sonari Glinton glimpsed a beautiful green siren: the Starbucks  mermaid on a crisp white coffee cup.

But after Mr. Glinton, a journalist for NPR, trailed the mystery cup for several hundred feet, its owner told him that he was out of luck. It came from the "office," she said—the Olympic broadcasting center where NBC has its own secret Starbucks.

Man- that sent the waves a-ripplin'...
McD's got pissed, IOC got involved...

Not a pretty sight...
All of a sudden there was a moratorium on Starbucks cups and cup sleeves...
Logos were covered with gaffers tape or otherwise obscured, all the unused cups were confiscated or marked for internal use only...




Nat, the caterer up at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park has too much time on her hands, modding these cup sleeves.


I think I'll send a message...


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Busted

I just keep adding to the list of places where I'm not welcome back.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Signs of the Apocalypse, Sochi Edition, Part 2

That's a funny place to keep a gun...

TBG

Weekend Prankage

You assignment for the weekend:


1. Download and print (full color) several copies of the graphic below.

2. Post in various public bathrooms. WalMart, City Hall, Fast-Food restaurants.
3. Don't get caught.




Click for larger version


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

KA3AHb - Pt. VI - Vindication & Transport

It's 2 in the afternoon and we were in all-out setup mode...
It's all hands on deck - Cables to run, hardware being installed, configuring software, volunteers to be trained, etc...
Since I'm not skilled enough to do any of these things, I'm on "Bitch Duty"...
Taping down cables, dressing the the hardware with cable-ties and making it tidy, and generally doing housekeeping and tracking where all our hardware was being deployed.

A little after 6AM EDT my phone rang.

CALLER ID: Big Cheese

Wow. He called to fire me. I was just expecting an e-mail for the weapons-grade insubordination I had sent off...

The conversation was short. (A $8/min it better be...)

Yours Truly: "Wow, calling to fire me. I feel somewhat honored."
Big Cheese: "Is the hotel REALLY that bad?"
YT: "It worse. I promise."
BC: "Then you guys move. Find another place."
YT: "Ok, thanks for the approval- I need to give LTC an opportunity to fix it. Moving will throw several monkey wrenches in the mix- site transport, airport transfers, etc. Plus, a couple other LTC staff is there too... The need relief too."
BC: "Regardless - take care of you crew. Get it fixed."
(click)

Wow.

I sent a rather toned-down-but-still-very-realistic email to LTC project managers and the on-site director... That got a quicker response.
20 Minutes later I got a text from the LTC Project Manager "(Redacted) is on his way to the hotel to check it out."
SpongeMark said to have (Redacted) go to his room, so I shot a text message suggesting he experience Room 303.
I got a call 10 minutes later.
LTC PM: "You're moving. Hopefully you can stand one more night- pack and bring your bags with you tomorrow on the bus."
I heard from one of the other LTC staff that was at the hotel that when he went into Room 303 it was close to 100 degrees. He stormed out when he saw there was no A/C and only a desk fan to cool the place.

So we made it through one more night, and by the night of opening ceremonies for the Games we were in a brand-spanking-new hotel. Hotel Olymp on Prospekt Pobedy - and even mo' bettah, it was 10 minutes closer to the 'site.

We were roomed on 2 floors of a 12-story hotel... Floor 6 & 7 were mostly finished...

For instance, this is the door to the men's bathroom in the hotel restaurant...
But since the janitorial staff (usually old ladies) barge right in regardless of occupation, no door=no big deal.

They did try to make us feel welcome...

There was an elevator that worked, and they used keycards for entry. No WiFi, bare wires for lighting and (presumably) surveillance audio & cameras hanging out of the walls, but at least the 7th floor had blessed A/C. 
And curtains that actually kept the rooms dark enough to sleep.
Heaven.

We went out to celebrate- that tale has already been told here...

It finally looked like things were starting to level off.
...Until I found out the next morning that SpongeMark still didn't have A/C.
He tried to adapt and overcome-
Being on the 6th floor he just opened the window to catch some breeze, and at around 4AM a cloud of mosquitoes flew in and held a long discussion about whether to eat him right there or to pick him up and take him home for the rest of the brood to enjoy.

He came down to breakfast. He was not a happy camper.
"Fuck this place. Fuck this whole place. I'm heading for the airport."
We settled him down and put программист ученого on it. программист ученого speaks Russian but prefers not to... He likes to sit and listen to the locals talk when they think no one understands them. He says it's very educational.

We were off to the site and the first days of competition...


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

I Hope This Is Real and Not a Photoshop...

Let's See How Deep The Rabbit Hole Goes...

As I was breaking down our office in the IBC, I noticed our comms panel had taken the red pill...


At that point in time, it didn't take much to amuse me...

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE

Always Check For Paper Before Sitting Down...

Ow.

TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE