Quote of the day

From a friend on FB:

A public union employee, a tea party activist and a CEO are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies in the middle of it.  The CEO takes 11 of the cookies, turns to the tea partier and says, "Watch out for that union guy.  He wants a piece of your cookie."

Adsense

I was curious if the blog is dominated with posts about Sri Lanka if the ads would correspond with travel, Asia or something like that.  Apparently not.  On the blog I see ads for Walden University everyday and Groupon is pretty common.  People in the US reported Netflix ads.  Sandy received an ad about watching Speaker Boehner.  Somewhere Google's adsense detected that Sandy is political and should get a political ad.

But since she was simply reading my blog and has not commented much politically on my blog, how did they know to give her a political ad?  

I didn't learn much about adsense.  I still don't know how they pick which ads that appear or why.  Or why some ads pay well and others pay nothing.

******
Another, particularly gratifying element:  91 unique visitors came to the blog yesterday but there were 224 page loads.  What does that mean?  It means that people came, read a post or two, and then came back later to read more.  That seriously makes my day.  Now if I could only schedule more 3 day trips to surrounding countries the blog would be so much more interesting...

Updated:  Edited on advice from a friend.

Sri Lanka: Colombo

 Colombo is the capitol of Sri Lanka and sits on the west coast of the country.  In the background of this picture is several of the nice hotels in the city.  Originally I wanted to stay at one of these but (fortunately) they were all booked.

Much to note here:  Coke dominated the city.  These ears of corn have to be the most over-ripe, over-cooked I have ever seen.  It looked more like field corn than sweet corn.  Also notice the kites in the background it was a rather festive atmosphere.

Sri Lanka: Elephant orphanage

 The highlight of the trip was walking among elephants at the elephant orphanage.

 They were a playful group.

 This is a sad picture.  This elephant is blind, having been shot 20 times in an attempt to kill him for his tusks.

 I am feeding this elephant bananas.

 She's quite happy and it's clear that bananas are like crack for an elephant.

While I'm happy that a guy captured this, the missing picture is of the elephant wrapping its trunk around my arm.  It was cool and scary at the same time.

Sri Lanka: Kandy

Kandy is at the center of the island nation of Sri Lanka.  It's most famous landmark is a buddhist temple that I didn't go in.  (Since I was wearing shorts I'd of had to rent a sarong - think skirt - and I was just too tired by this point to care.)  Anyhow the views were pretty spectacular.

 If you look carefully you can see a giant Buddha at the top of the hill.

Sri Lanka: Peradeniya Botanic Gardens

The next two posts are all about a stop at the Peradeniya Botanic Gardens.  Before describing the place I have to show my favorite part:  Feeding monkeys

On the ground were fruits I had never seen before.  They were kinda like peaches with a hard shell.  I broke two open for my new friends and they could not have been happier.

Sri Lanka: Peradeniya Botanic Gardens (II)

This botanic gardens are located near Kandy, in the hills in the center of the island of Sri Lanka. 

 The park was huge.  I could have easily spent the day there.

I thought the views were magnificent with this one being a favorite:

I didn't take the time to cross this footbridge; a reason to return someday.

Living in the UAE you rarely see couples in public. You are more likely to see two male friends holding pinkies than you are to see a couple holding hands. And while I'm not a fan of public displays of affection it was actually nice to see dozens of couples as I walked long the park.

It is no exaggeration to write that I saw more couples in an hour in the park than I have in 2.5 years in the Emirates.

Sri Lanka: Peradeniya Botanic Gardens (III)

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from botanic gardens:

 I have no idea what animal this is.  It was slightly smaller than a cow but much larger than a goat.  Any ideas?

 This picture doesn't do these trees justice.  The trees are all leaning at a 20 degree angle.    I'm not sure why.

I'm not sure of the story on this unique tree, either.

Or this tree with roots that looked like three foot high partitions.

The black balls you see in these trees are fruit bats.  They are quite a bit larger than bats in the US.  I like bats so their high pitched squeal was more interesting than scary.

I had many questions while walking around this place:  For example, why were there so many of these cluster of trees?

 Ever wanted to see a coffee plant?  I worship caffeine as one of the gods so I had to include this picture.

Sri Lanka: Tea plantation

This is a tea plant.  At least I think it is. 

 After the tea is picked it is dumped on these open-air grates to dry.  There's none to be seen because I visited during a full moon holiday (seriously).  I did not know that there are four parts of the tea plant that make very different teas:  Leaves, stems, and two parts of the flower.  In the past they'd use human workers to separate the four parts.  Recently they bought a machine:

Using some type of infared scanning the machine is able to pull apart the dried plant and separate them into the four parts.

No doubt many workers were laid off as a result.  This is a good example to use in my supply chain class:  In the long run it is unquestionably better for the company and the country to have devices like this replace human labor, but in the short run the unemployment hurts.

Sri Lanka: Shopping

Sri Lanka is the place where a lot of western clothes are made.  They have outlet stores in the capitol of Colombo that sells a lot of the excess merchandise at a discount of what you'd pay in the US.

They also, apparently, have all the ties from the 1980's that didn't sell:

My favorite purchases were those connected somehow to Sri Lanka, like tea herbs and anything elephant related:

Who wouldn't want elephant foot salt & pepper shakers and an elephant foot coffee mug?

I bought many of the containers of the cinnamon toothpicks to bring back to the US.  I should have tried one first:  While it is unquestionably cinnamon, it is also very bitter.

Sri Lanka: Buddhist temples

As I was walking along a guy very excitedly convinced me to come to this Buddhist temple.  After I told the tuk-tuk driver not to stay and wait, the guy who brought me there disappeared.  Still not sure what happened.

Anyhow, it was an interesting temple.

Check out the giant elephant tusks in front of the giant Buddha.

Sri Lanka: Panorama views

My camera has a pretty cool panorama feature.  I'm not sure if it will work well on the blog. Try clicking on each picture to get a better view.

 This is the view from Gall Face Hotel, an English colonial hotel.  This is a view looking westward out on to the Indian Ocean.  (This hotel is the one on the farthest right on the beach post above.)

This is a view of the national park.

Sri Lanka: Getting around

When I went to book a hotel I found that all of the good ($100 - $150) hotels were full.  I later learned this was because of the Cricket World Cup being held in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and India.  I booked a $32 hotel away from the touristy parts of the city.

To get around Colombo there are tuk-tuks rather than taxis.  Given their size they make a 2 lane road into a 3-4 lane road.  They weave in and out of dense traffic leaving mere inches from cars and trucks.  Fortunately, passengers can't see much to the right or left.  It's nice not to know how close you just came to an accident.  

This guy was one of the more polite drivers I had.  I gave a $9 tip and made his day.

The hotel choice worked out well.  My $32/night place was a mere $3 tuk-tuk ride away from all of the touristy spots.  In saving $70/night I could afford the tuk-tuk.  My hotel room was clean and rather spacious with a kitchenette:

 Ann had recommended trying all the fresh fruits I could while in the country.  On the first night I ordered a fresh squeezed lime juice and what claimed to be fresh squeezed orange juice.  The OJ tasted like Tang with a little bit of pulp.

The lime juice, however, was fantastic.  I probably had a dozen of these in three days.

Sri Lanka: Miscellaneous

See this plant?  It's beautiful isn't it?  I bought one of these last year in the Emirates.  Killed it in two weeks.

 Having been deprived of pork for three months back in the Emirates I ordered it three times in three days while in Sri Lanka.  Each time it was bad:  ridiculously salty.  I wonder if salt cured requires less refrigeration and/or keeps it from going bad longer.  Whatever the reason I'm crossing pork off the list on a future trip.

Etisilat was the monopoly phone and internet provider in the UAE until a few years ago.  (Now it has just a bit of competition from a company called du.)  Having made hundreds of millions (billions?) from their monopoly in this country they decided to diversify by buying phone companies in other countries, including Sri Lanka.

In the UAE, Etisilat has blocked Skype.  It is, in fact, illegal to use Skype in the UAE.  Skype allows people to make very cheap calls from one country to another over the internet.  If they allowed it in the UAE Etisilat would see revenue from international calls fall.  Remember:  80% of the people in this country are from another country.  International calling is huge.

In Sri Lanka, where Etisilat has real competition, they not only allow Skype they advertise its benefits.

Sri Lanka: the Iowa connection

While waiting to fly back to Dubai a guy noticed my U of Iowa shirt and came over to say he's an Iowa State grad.  Like me, he and his friends heard of the religious holiday on Thursday and decided to make the best of a three day weekend.

With his engineering degree from Iowa State he works in Abu Dhabi and commutes from Dubai.  "Why," I asked, "would you want a 2 hour commute each way every day?"

"The nightlife," was his response.  "There are a thousand more things to do in Dubai."  He's right and if I were his age I'd probably want to live in Dubai, too.  At my age, I see Dubai as a headache of traffic.  It's a nice place to go and do something but I have no desire to live there.

Sri Lanka: the con

I have 30 pictures to post from Sri Lanka but they'll have to wait one more day.  In the meantime, getting conned is a concern in traveling anywhere and more so in a third-world country.  While walking by a grocery store a beggar had a very specific request:  "Please, sir, buy baby formula for my new baby."  I was pretty sure it was a scam but I agreed and he went to pick out this can:

 I took it checkout and paid the $9.  He took the can and darted off.  I kept the receipt.  I'm still pretty sure it was a scam, but I'm willing to err on the side of good karma.

Another common feature is offering to do anything to help in the hopes of getting a tip.  The picture at the top of the blog is an example.  A guy said, "I'll take a picture for you," when I went to feed the elephant bananas.   As he handed the camera back he held out his other hand for money.  I gave him a buck or two.  If I had known how good that picture was I'd have paid more.

In a park (where I'll post many pictures tomorrow) a guy came up and said, "Would you like to see a scorpion?"

"Sure," I replied.  He ran over to a tree and picked up this leaf:

Now I wonder:   Is this scorpion real?  Is it alive?  If it was alive, how did he know exactly where it was?  Does the scorpion get a cut of the tips?

Sri Lanka or Iowa?

Tomorrow I will post pictures from the trip.  One of the oddest things to come across on the trip was this:

If I didn't know better, I'd have thought I was back in Iowa at the Old Thresher's Reunion.

Deprivation makes the heart grow fonder

I am not ashamed to say I spent $40 on bacon.  I ate a pound yesterday and I ate a pound today.  The remaining three pounds is in the fridge.  This city has been out of bacon for 3 months.  I was getting the bacon shakes and a cold sweats every time I thought of bacon mashed potatoes.

Oh, my 2011 diet starts next week.  Fortunately, on a low carb diet I can have bacon.

If you did the math $40/5 pounds = $8 per pound of bacon and thought, "Wow, is that really the price?"  The answer is, "Yes, sadly, it is."

The room is spinning and I haven't even had a drop to drink

I'm experiencing one of the most trippy head colds I've ever had.  This morning my voice was two octaves lower than normal - I couldn't resist singing "Burning ring of fire" in the car on the way to work.  All day it has seemed like stationary objects are moving.  To the best of my knowledge I haven't dropped acid.

Anyhow, I have no new good ideas of how I'm going to become a good teacher when I can't write on a board.  Since I have so little to offer today I'll post a link to beautiful photos of Australia.  I hope to make it there someday.

Too tired/sick to think of a clever headline

On Friday in Sri Lanka I had a sore throat.  It was worse on Saturday but I wasn't sure if it was pollution or a head cold.  By Sunday I was feeling awful and decided, "Getting sick in a developing country is risky.  I had better go to a doctor."  The wait at the hospital was 3 hours but I was rather cheerful waiting  because I was surrounded by people with real problems.  I felt guilty for even being in the emergency room with a cold... and I said that when I finally got in to the doctor.

It's a little embarrassing to tell a doctor who was clearly from SE Asia that, "I think it's just a head cold but since I got it in Sri Lanka I thought I should have it checked out."  Fortunately, she didn't seem offended by my reasoning.  She checked my lungs and throat confirmed it was just a head cold, but if certain symptoms develop come back immediately.

Good, so I didn't contract malaria, TB or worse...

Today I awoke just feeling like crap.  I had 4 classes starting at 8AM.  I checked e-mail before heading into work and discovered that my classrooms had been changed to accommodate all of the extra students.

Long story short:  My new classrooms don't have boards I can write on.

This semester I will be teaching 6 classes, 4 of which I cannot write on the board.

I CANNOT WRITE ON THE BOARD.  For me, this is a killer.  Whereas many of my colleagues teach purely from powerpoint and never write on the board I write pages and pages for each class.

This is going to force me to fundamentally change the way I teach.  Maybe I'll be up for the challenge but feeling the way I do right now?  I want to take an Ambien and go to bed early.

Number of the day: 240

240 explained in a moment, but first it was good trip to Sri Lanka.  I kept running into an annoying American at my hotel, but hey, the stereotype of loud, obnoxious Americans has to come from somewhere.  This guy was doing his part.

I returned to classes to find that my class sizes have ballooned.  I now 240 students this semester.  Yes, that's a record and no, that's not a good thing.

Wow, Mommy, I *can* travel alone

I am sooo reluctant to write this, but on day 2 of my 3 day solo trip I have to say it has been a blast.

I paused for at least a minute before deciding not to erase that last line. I don't believe in tempting the gods on things like, "Wow, that was fantastic!" just before getting robbed and losing my passport.

Today I got to feed an elephant bananas. She wrapped her trunk around my arm that was one part scary and three parts cool. Later I fed monkeys that were more than happy to have me husk the fruit for them.

The downside? Eight hours of harrowing traffic. I had a driver I trusted completely yet there were many times I had to simply shut my eyes and do the Serenity Prayer.

Greetings from Sri Lanka

I made it here without any major hassles. Today I walked/toured Colombo, the capitol and largest city. I took a long walk along the Indian Ocean. Too long, actually - I got burned. The cricket world cup is just starting here and that has led to touristy things being full and higher prices.

Tomorrow I am renting a driver for the day to take me up into the mountains and to an elephant orphanage.

It is interesting to be literally on the other side of the world - this place is 12 time zone away from central standard time. The weather is pretty muggy. It's like Iowa in July: highs in the mid-80's and humid.

I'm writing this from my iPhone. I saw some Internet cafes today but they - along with many stores - were closed for some moon god holiday. (Seriously.)

So checking the net is great on the iPhone but writing blog posts is not easy... Speaking of searching the net I know I am of cologne so I almost bought Calvin Klein Eternity but the price of $70 seemed a bit high. In less than a minute I was able to check Amazon and see that the price should be $38. Handy.

So that's it for now. The creepiest person I've met so far is a guy from Minnesota. He's near me right now trying make some Chinese guy believe he has important connections in the US. Really? We're staying in a $30 hotel. I don't think many important Americans stay here. Unfortunately I was wearing an Iowa shirt and he has tried to strike up a conversation. I want to say, "Dude, you are loud AND creepy. Thanks for letting everyone know you're American."

Creepy, Facebook, creepy

My nephew has a Master's in Supply Chain Management.  This semester I'm teaching 3 sections of an introductory course of Supply Chain and I wanted some advice.  I sent him a private message on FB.  (Note:  I did not post on his wall or mention the words Supply Chain anywhere BUT the private message.)

Now all the ads that run along the side of news feed are:  "Interested in majoring in Supply Chain Management?  click here."  "Find a job in Supply Chain Management by clicking here."

It makes me wonder if I send a private message saying, "Bestiality.  Love those animals.  Bestiality."  What kind of ads will I get?

Egypt from Gwenn's camera

My friend Gwenn lived in Egypt before coming here to teach.  Last week she went back to Cairo.  Here are a  few of her pictures.

Last Tuesday pro-Mubarak forces rode in on camels and horses to attempt to beat the anti-government using knives, rocks and guns.  After that protesters created a large blockade around the square.  To get in visitors were searched for weapons.  Here is Gwenn standing in the women's line.  She described the mood as festive.

 Or, I guess, as festive as you can be next to a tank.

 By this time the protests were in week 3.  Tents had become makeshift homes.

This is a tribute to those who had died in the protest.

For 30 years a person holding any one of these signs would have been quickly arrested and never heard from again.  After the first week it was clear to me that this could only end with the departure of Mubarak.  Too many people like these guys had their picture taken doing things that would have had them killed if Mubarak's special police were allowed to come back into power.  

If you know you will likely be dead if the protest ends you will be willing to stick to the protest for however long it takes.

 This is the burned out building of the Mubarak's party - the one that received 95% of the vote in the last (rigged) election.

 While hundreds of thousands took part in the protests, life still went on.  Shops were open.

 Coke was sold.

 And horses brought potatoes in from the countryside.