Me and Jithvan, Jeevan’s son, on the ride back from Gampaha
*Note:* This blog is in no way affiliated with my employer. Anything I say are said by me and they represent only me, and even I think some of it is stupid. If you want to narc me out to my bosses you should note that you suck.
Some friends and all seem curious, so this is a personal update. My family’s house is in Battaramulla. I’m there for 2 or 3 days a week. From there I take the bus (177 or 163) to either Kollupitiya or Dehiwala. If I catch an Air-Conditioned bus and get a seat it’s fine and I can sleep. If it’s not A/C I don’t really care as long as I can sit down. The second bus I catch from Kolluptiya to Moratuwa is the crappy one – I rarely get a seat and it’s bloody hot. That’s why I sleep at the Sarvodaya hostel rather than commute.
At HQ I generally wake up, and lately I go to Vishva Niketan (which I call Vishva Necktie, but only to myself) to meditate. I tried sitting outside today but there was this neighborhood goat or something moaning and I couldn’t think of anything except shooting the thing, and that’s not exactly appropriate. Vishva Nekthi is really nice, I can find quiet rooms there.
Then I open my laptop and go thru email. People are always giving me corrections they want on the site, plus emails from donors which I shouldn’t be getting, but I respond to or forward those. I also have a backlog of things to fix, from the categories to the donate page. I also have a standing request to provide an e-commerce system for project-specific donations, but it’s a bit of a bureaucratic tussle to get access to the PayPal account.
People also pass me photos and news to upload, and I fight to get press releases and planning documents. All in all I try to update the site at least 3 times a day. Recently Jeevan has been giving me rides out to the affected areas, which means I get good news and photos, but I would honestly like to cut back on that. I can’t maintain the website without connectivity and I can’t help with any of the information management problems around here.
Almost everyday I give Dr. Ari lessons in checking his email and basic web stuff. Almost all of the email to Sarvodaya goes to him, which is commendable for a 74 year old man. I help him reply, forward, etc, and sometimes he dictates to me.
I am tired, but I like my work. I’m basically getting paid (3rd World) to blog.