Last day at India went okay; didn't get everything DP wanted done and my flight out of India seemed to be speeding toward me the whole day. My stomach was nervous from the coming plane flight and the end of the trip... The morning conference call could've gone much better. DP kept things under control, but he shouldn't have had to.

Hope the Infogain team was able to keep moving forward on DP's requests after I left. DP had plans for them to work over the weekend. I started saying goodbye to people while DP was still talking to the core development team, but I did hear the end of the conference call that their goal should be to "make McCreavy's life easier" (at least that's what I heard).

Wish I had that on tape; it would've made a good ringtone. I think that statement should be everyone's Prime Directive.

Saying goodbye to everyone at Infogain went well -- they're all great.

The trip from Infogain's Guest house to the airport in New Delhi took over 2 hours (a ton of traffic -- Mandeep said that's very normal). It was a good idea to leave 4.5 hours ahead of time... A lot of interesting vehicles, breakdowns, and driving rules were displayed.

I got to the airport with 2 hours to check in and it was more than enough time to get a window seat and wander Indira Gandhi airport... Spent a while talking to a young guy who was all excited and talkative about the world opening up for him:

He was on his first:

• Plane flight
• International Trip
• Starting College

He was late for starting college in Australia because he had problems getting his Visa. He was very excited, and good for him. "Gotta wear shades," and all that. He was planning to study Computer Science, and I was happy to learn his favorite languages were C and C++.

When it was time to board the plane, the passengers took turns loading into a bus and taking a ride out to the tarmac where the plane was parked. Walked past the giant jet engine and climbed an Arrested Development stair-truck onto the plane.

After just over 24 hours of flying: Leaving New Delhi, a 5 or 6 hour trip to Singapore (2 Hour Layover, just enough to get through security and back on a plane), another 5 or 6 hour trip to Korea (another 2 Hour Layover and 3 more health/security checks -- got to use "Anyong haseo" and "Kam sam hap sumnida"), and finally a 10 or 11 hour trip to San Francisco.

The neighbors on the trip from New Delhi to Singapore were, I guess, Indian. Or Singaporean. But they kinda looked like New Zealand Maori guys: big. No face tattoos though. They couldn't speak English. One guy knew enough to be able to order the Veg (not the 'non-Veg'). Nice guys, just no talking.

For the remaining flight: the guy sitting next to me was an airforce F15 commander so I was hoping he'd know what to do if anything went wrong with the plane. The next guy over was a Social Science professor from Berkeley who had been finishing up a research project in Calcutta. We talked about India.

I was disappointed I couldn't outlast the Commander on asking to be let out of my window seat to visit the bathroom -- usually I'll get up with the middle guy... But he didn't ever get up! About 8 hours into the flight I woke him up and all 3 of us got up to stretch and talk in the galley for a while.

Got back to America -- got through immigration and customs super fast. Indian taxi driver got me back to my apartment... Was going to tip him with my remaining Rupees, but I didn't. Found my house keys at the bottom of my backpack... And got home.

The house is all new: new throw carpet, new coffee table, new lamps... Looks very nice. My mail nicely stacked, and a wonderful note from W (she left for Bogata two days ago)... She told me the refrigerator was stocked with Chicken Wings. Nice girl. Great girl. House is super clean; hope to keep it that way.

India trip was great, and being back home is great too.