So, here I am, little more than 2 months and a few kilograms (maybe I should start saying pounds ???) since I first passed through those hallowed halls of immigration at a grungy airport, evaluating my unexpected and sudden arrival in US of A. How did I come about doing a self evaluation on a Friday morning? The usual way, most sane people end in my situation. While checking the industry tagging for RhinoSystems of course, which happens to have come into a lot of wealth due to an unforseen twist of events whereby a venture finance company agreed to fork over the smart guys at RhinoSystems some $1.98 Million. What does this RhinoSystems do, you say to deserve the dough? Why, it helps you keep your nose clean of course! They apparently came up with a device called NaVage, an ingenious twist on the words nasal and lavage. And oh joy, there’s a video of a poor bugger getting her boogers out with this thing. Another gem I came across was a certain company called Xi’an Meipude Biotech, which produces hernia belts. Wonder whether they make those in different colors, you know so that you can color coordinate it with your undies.
The good thing about work from home is that when it’s a day when fate keeps bowling these gems at you, you always have unlimited access to all the glory that internet beholds beyond the office firewalls to escape it. And you never have to use sly methods like going through the cached pages or proxies to really get to the meaty results for google searches like “help, I am bored out of my mind”, “10 ways to make new friends” or “how to get the most out of facebook to make your life happening again”. I was just kidding. The really awesome thing about work from home is that you can actually improve your productivity by taking away those time consuming, meaningless things that office life involves. Like never ever having to run out of tissue paper again or comb your hair. One of my old companies decided that they have to do some cost cutting in the face of declining revenue streams due to recession. And one of the most brilliant ways was to remove tissue papers from the toilets. Apparently, that helped them double their profits in the last quarter. So, determined to never be in a situation where we don’t have any tissues, Mr. Arabica got like a gazillion toilet paper rolls from Costco. The people at Costco believe that why buy regular size in a world where people need a thousand gazillion things of everything everyday. Need a box of olives? How about five, 3 pounds each? Think of how much you would save by getting five straight years’ worth of supply of olives? Brilliant, no?
Anyway, I digress, I was pondering over my life in the new land of opportunities. Well, I suffer from being a creature of habit. So much so that I can’t even take a walk in the park without aggressive planning and googling, creating lists of options for parks (ah, yes, options…we’l have to come to THAT one of these days), drawing up pros and cons lists of each one, and then promptly selecting the most logical one. Of course, the plans change exactly some three minutes after I venture out. So, last weekend I decided that I needed a plan, before I find a best friend in the friendly 85 year old plumber (that social security is a bitch, ain’t it?). As a self confessed laziest person in the whole wide world, I needed something to “trick” myself to get out of the house. With my work schedule requiring 8-9 hours of productive work, I was not going to salsa my way out of the house anytime soon. I wanted a quite, peaceful place, where wi-fi was free. Given my stringent conditions, Mr. Arabica suggested the library. So, I decided to hop on a bus, and go the local library. I mean how difficult can it be right? I made the journey on the bus, alone, with a sense of elation and doing mental “high fives”, making notes of the restaurants on the way for the lunch break. With a broad silly smile pasted on my face, I approached the front door, reaching for the front door handle, imagining it to swing effortlessly under the confident twist of my hand. But, it didn’t budge. After several mighty pulls which would have made even Hercules proud, I saw the incriminating notice. “Library is closed on Veteran’s Day, 11th November 2010”. Being the kind of a person who doesn’t remember dates very well, at first it didn’t register. After few more valiant efforts on the door knob, it suddenly dawned on me that 11th November is today! Another realization hit me soon like a tsunami wave. I had forgotten to note down the route back home! My hand itched for a swanky smartphone which could have told me the route back home in a matter of few thumb swipes. I should get one those things. Alas, I had to resort to the old fashion way. Call someone with access to Google maps of course!
While I was figuring out a way back home, I was suddenly overcome by the strong desire to have coffee. Right here, right now. The city is kind to people like me who have these sudden, inexplicable desires. It has those coffee chains at every nook and cranny of the city. Don’t have drinking water? No worries, have a coffee. Forgot an umbrella? Have a coffee. No, the rain wouldn’t stop after you are done with the coffee. So what if I still have to find that perfect café that makes coffee Arabica style. I still have hope.
