Hong Kong skyline over the harbor at night

Hong Kong skyline over the nighttime harbor

Guaranteed Healthcare Solutions for less then $1 and road side

Retaliatory Nocturnal Red Bellied Ants

The ants are fighting back! I took .ant traps and spread them around my hallway, bathroom, and bedroom including under the bed over the weekend.  Earlier this week, I woke up with one of my cats standing on my head trying to paw something on the wall above the headboard.  I figured it was an ant or gecko and tried diligently to go back to sleep until the cat started sticking his paw under my pillow like something had crawled there.

Last night I wore up to ants biting me.  I have about 30 bites on my arms and legs.  Luckily, unlike mosquito bites or bee stings, they don't itch or sting.  They just look like I have some sort of pox.  Any ideas how to form a truce with ants? I fear they are going to pick me up one night and carry me away.

In another development, something has put big holes in our screen in the bathroom window on the second floor.  The first hole was about 2"x2" and appeared over night.  Larrie patched that with duct tape.  This morning a new hole appeared on the other corner that is about 3"x3".   I guess it is some comfort it can't be a spider or a snake.  But what would be out at night doing that???  And why it is trying to get in my bathroom?  Hey!!! Perhaps it is an anteater. 

Deterioration of Palm Meadows: The story about the power

Reported by Larrie upon his return from the airport on Monday:

When we walked in the door, there was no power.  It took a few moments to figure that out, and to deduce that the power was not coming back on. I got Allison's lunch packed and sent Imtiaz on his way, then I changed my clothes into something more fitting the heat, grabbed my meter and headed for the power box.  The control gizmo that switches back and forth between main and generator was blinking generator.  So, I figured something was wrong, and Jess and I went to the maintenance office to get an electrician.

They came about 10 min later, but just before they got there, we went back on main power; so, no problem.  "Call us when the generator is on" as if you can only fix the roof when it's raining.  Not 2 minutes after they vanished into the ether, we go back on generator, and same thing happens.  I had attempted to boot the PC in the meantime.  I waited for them to return as they said they would, but no show; so, off the maintenance office again.

This time they took 20 minutes to show up, and I had had enough time to figure out that we were only getting 120v rather than 240v and the relay was not working properly.  So, after they arrived, it took another 20 minutes to explain the problem.  Off to the main panel at the end of the block, where we discovered that at some time in the past a copper wire was used to extend an aluminium wire, and the joint has suffered from dielectric corrosion.  The USA outlawed the use of aluminium wire in houses in the 50's due to the danger.

They fixed the main panel, then went back to the house where it took another 20 minutes to wire it properly and put it back together.  Finally, 240v on generator.

So, I started to boot the PC again and got caught in an auto-update which locked up the machine.  Another half dozen attempts to test the switching from main to generator, a locked up PC, and I started a cold boot from a hard down.  I was just getting email working when I got Allison's SMS.

Why not respond by phone you might ask.  Well my cell phone was pretty well discharged, and to recharge it required electricity.   

Top it all off, there is another water line break on our street - our 4th / 5th this season - and we have no water.  Gotta love this neighborhood and it's infrastructure!  Keeps it interesting...  Palm Meadows is losing the luster it once had.

This whole sequence was prompted by Allison pinging Larrie via SMS to see if he had booked Jess's riding lesson for Sunday. 

Ready Reckoner: Bangalore <-> Minneapolis

Sometimes conversations here confuse me, so I've put together a *ready reckoner to help the next person who speaks Minnesotan but not necessarily Bangalorean.

*ready reckoner = cross reference

Bangalore Word = Minnesota Word

cabin = office

chock-a-block = jam packed
club = group

creche = daycare

cribbing = whining

crore = ten million or 100 lakh

diversion = detour 

do the needful = do whatever is necessary

erstwhile = former

hill station = mountain town

hotel = small, walk up restaurant (no rooms)

Housie = Bingo

fag end = very last

flyover = overpass

intimation = inform

lakh = one hundred thousand or 1,00,000 (*note the difference in placement of the comma)

lorry = truck

miscreant = vandal

monsoon = June - Oct

noon = anytime from about 2pm to 6pm

PG = paying guest

prepone = do earlier

puncher = tire repair

revert = respond 

Rs 44 (rupees) = 1 dollar (as of Oct 16, 2010)
scale = ruler

scheme = plan 

school year = June through March

summer = April / May

tank = reservoir
tell me = hello

Thermocoal = Styrofoam

tie up = partnership

to let = for rest

torch = flashlight 

touch wood = knock on wood

 2 minutes = usually about 10 minutes

10 minutes = usually about 20 minutes