Inside
Saturday March 19, 2005 8:45 AM CST, location: UA896, altitude 35000 feet, 6675 miles from Hong Kong, approaching Seattle, WA, USA. 3 hours 10 minutes until touchdown.

"Feet dry". We're back over land. Yippee! I just woke from my sleep period - it appears we'll be 1/2 hour late arriving into Chicago, although with a ground speed of 640 MPH, we may pick up some time. United (and probably other long haul airlines) has a map on the video display that tracks the flight path we're taking. It was interesting to watch the difference between the route we took going to HK and the one coming home. Our path coming home has been much further south. After leaving HK, instead of heading north, we left east, flying over Taiwan and Japan on the way to crossing the Pacific. We never reached as far north as the Aleutian Islands. I assume that's so we could ride the jet stream. I'll have to find out.

Arriving in HK I basically had two days to acquaint myself with the office surroundings. The Chinese (Lunar) New Year began February 9, and with the New Year the city shut down. Not much different than at home. Well, a little different. The city shut down for a 3 day celebration, then people came back to work on Saturday. The first few days were rough. Jet lag took most of the first week to sort out, and most of the month I still had sleeping problems.

The office building I'm in is a newer building. Many of the high-rises in HK are not newer, and the new and old stand right next to each other. It's a striking contrast in culture and architecture. The buildings I see from the office window across the street look worn down. On any given day, the washed clothes hang outside the windows to dry. Certainly not a sight I'm used to seeing.

One thing that struck me as funny about having the clothes outside to dry, was that the first few days I was in HK, the weather was pleasantly warm - upper 60s and 70s - but also very humid. 60% - 80% humid. At home, we don't go much more than a few days with that level of moisture in the air before it comes down.

Fortunately, or not depending on point of view, I didn't have to deal with the sauna (which was also nothing compared to what it will be in a few months) for more than a few days. The temperature cooled significantly, and for the rest of the month, we were in the 50s and 60s. This was a boon, as it made the temp outside and the temp inside the office the same. The office is always cold. Cold enough that there are days we need sweaters or jackets to keep warm enough.

Traveling between the office and the hotel was a breeze. Being a city boy, I don't mind riding the Subway, and Hong Kong's MTR is easy to navigate. 1/2 hour by MTR from hotel to office, or 15 minutes by taxi, basically traveling along the south shore of Victoria Harbor. I stayed at the Conrad Hotel, in Admiralty, and worked at Taikoo Place, in Quarry Bay.

(Goodbye Washington, hello Idaho)

The Conrad is a very nice hotel. I'm not sure any hotel is really worth the cost they charge, but it's the hotel that was offered by the client, and who am I to argue. I like the Hilton chain. The Conrad is attached (along with the Shangri-La and the JW Marriott) to the Pacific Place mall, a 4 level mall with a very Western feel.

(I shouldn't have paused writing - goodbye Idaho, hello Montana)

The first week of work was odd, as Monday and Tuesday the whole team was working, but Wednesday - Friday it was just Hans and I. Hans is another long-time CGI-AMS employee. I guess this is a good point to introduce the team. Maggie is in charge, Ka Fai and Andy are the bank leads, and Conrad and Eric are bank contractors. Maggie has an office next door to our development room. Basically, our room has a conference table just big enough for 6 computer monitors and keyboards. The room is just big enough to hold this table. I sit on the end of the table away from the door, and the wall behind me is covered with a big white board. The wall to my right is entirely windows to the outside (thankfully).

Contrary to first impressions, this is a very isolating environment for me. We work most of the day on our own issues, and have little conversation. There really is no privacy. Due to the project schedule, there is a lot of stress in the room. At first, there was little to be positive about - we had too much work and not enough time to do it. Each of us was fully booked, 6 days/week, for 6 weeks (and really for longer as the delivery milestone is March 31). As time has passed, some assignments have been eliminated, or postponed. Some of mine have taken longer than initial estimates indicated, which has added to the frustration level.

Getting back to the holiday, Chinese New Year has a similarity to Hanukkah. People exchange gelt! There are red envelopes that people exchange, and inside the envelopes is money. WooHoo! The exchange is with family, co-workers, children (related and not). I was a bit embarrassed because I did not know of the tradition, and it was difficult to go back after the fact to reciprocate. I've decided to donate what I've received to some local charity. It's right for me to do.

There was a great deal of isolation for me that first week in Hong Kong. Isolation will be a big theme of my posts. I'll try not to make it obnoxious, but it was a problem for me to overcome. The time difference between Chicago and HK is 14 hours. 7 PM Monday in Chicago is 9 AM Tuesday in HK. This means that the time when most of the people I want to talk to are available is the beginning of my work day. At work, I'm not allowed to have any of my messaging clients installed, but I've since discovered that AIM has a browser-based interface that I can use, so at least I can have quick conversations with people on AIM at somewhat convenient times.

So Wednesday after a day of work, with most shops closed, I decided to eat at one of the hotel restaurants. It seemed a good idea at the time, but with the mood I was in, I should have found a different environment for dinner. I was surrounded by many foreigners, families, coworkers. There was so much life in that room, and I felt so completely separated from it. I couldn't even eavesdrop on conversations! I had taken a notepad with me to start jotting things I wanted to cover in this blog (THAT worked out well, don't you think?), but instead I was inspired to write another song.

Not knowing who's reading this (probably not too many people right now), you may or may not be surprised to read that I've written a song. It's actually my third. I'm not sure it's a good thing, since I usually get inspired to write them at the times when I feel the most isolated. I got the idea to write the first one while driving inbound on I-90 near the O'Hare oasis about 5 months after Wendy died. The thought developed over a few weeks, and New Year's morning 2002 I started jotting notes. Over the course of months, I polished the lyrics, and eventually put the tune I was hearing in my head onto paper. "In My Dreams"

The second song developed in December 2002, while I was walking alone on a beach in Punta Cana. I was in the middle of an amazing vacation - really the first time in over a year I really let myself have fun. It may have been guilt, or loneliness, or it may have just been another gift that I've been given. Regardless, after returning from my walk I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote number two. Unlike the first song, which took months for me to be content with it, song two was complete in an afternoon. I've changed the final verse since then, but that's just me being a perfectionist. "Shine"

Song three has gone through five or so revisions over the course of the last six weeks. It's the one that's least like a poem, and one that I really have no melody thoughts on, but it's song three nonetheless. For now, it's called "Inside".

Well, that's moved far away from the theme of the hour. Time for a stretch. 12 hours on an airplane and I'm getting stir crazy.
- posted by LyleDeck @ 8:45 AM