We're in Vegas at the MiX Conference, what a rush. Rock Band is Microsoft's latest addition to the Guitar Hero series. Now it's a complete band with a lead guitar, a bass, drums and of course a vocalist.

The game rules are simple. Guitar players hit the right buttons on the controller, there are 3-8 buttons used depending on the level of difficulty. The drummer hits the right drums with the sticks. The singer - well, he has to actually sing the songs in the right tonality. The screen shows you if you're singing off key. PRETTY AWESOME! I was getting close to 97% accuracy on all the songs. Here's the list of those we did:

• Enter Sandman by Metallica
• Go With the Flow by Queens of the Stone Age
• Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi
• Learn to Fly by Foo Fighters
• Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden
• Dani California by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• When You Were Young by The Killers
• I'm So Sick by Flyleaf

Strangely enough at this conference guitars were the most popular choice followed by drums but no one really wanted to sing. That's great since I never pass a karaoke bar, no mater which country I'm in.

We rocked. The crowds cheered. I probably did about 10 songs in a row with different drummers and guitarists. Now I think I'm going to buy the set and do rock band parties in my apartment.

A word of advice to anyone who likes to sing: don't eat ice cream in between songs. Microsoft treated us with some tasty Häagen-Dazs, and for the rest of the day my voice sounded like a 1950s radio.

 

Here are some pictures from my Switzerland vacation. Where else can you find snow in August?

This is the Matterhorn mountain. There is a group of people who climb it almost every day. You can join them too.

  

The village looks great. Smaller hotels, plenty of rooms to rent. This is a pedestrian village, which means no gasoline cars allowed. You have to park your car in the nearby village and then take a train to Zermatt.

 

Here's me buying Swiss chocolate in Geneva. A camera adds 40 lbs, mmkay? :)

This is an interesting device - a mixing machine. It doesn't require a bartender to posess any skills, just press the right button.

It's the last week of August. The weather in the village is 15 degrees Celcius. You have to go 3000 meters up the mountain to get to the snow. There is a chain of gondolas that take you there.

In winter time you can take the same gondola up and then ski down aaaaall the way to the village. These are not your typical short slopes of the US East Coast. It might take you some time to get all the way down.

Once you've arrived at the top of the mountain by the gondola, there is a tunnel that takes you to the opposite side of the mountain top.

Beautiful view. Notice that there are no chair lifts. Only t-bars.

Ohm... Shanti Shanti...
I'm south of India, city of Chennai (formely Madras), province Tamilnadu. Surprisingly enough, everyone here speaks enough English to communicate with outlanders. The native language is Tamil but most of the time you don't hear it, unless you're in a little village; or perhaps they all stop speaking it when they see a whitey.

I feel like a rock star. Surely, I'm the center of attention. Most people here have never seen a white person before. I bet they've never seen blond hair either. I don't know if I can handle all this popularity. Now I know what being a super hot woman in New York feels like. This is probably not going to change the way I look at super hot women, though.

On Partying...

There is a dozen of night clubs in Chennai. However, they all close down at 11pm. WTF??? At exactly 11pm the music stops, the lights are lit, and the bar is closed. Nobody really kicks you out at this point but 20 minutes later everyone wanders off anyway, thristy and craving more excitements. Fortunately, at this point everyone is unafficially invited to an afterparty - the party is at our office/hotel.

 

Back to Business

I'm here on a long business trip, which lasts about a month. There is a plethora of .NET developers to teach. What's really funny is that a lot of them are women. I always thought being a computer geek is a privelege of the male race but in this country many roles are reversed. If I'm in a bar talking to a local lady, chances are she's a programmer. You can tell it right away by the first words from their mouths. A classic example is "Do you play 'Dungeons and Dragons?' I love strategy video games." OK, maybe not the exact words but you get the picture.

 

On Whacky Food

If you are a New Yorker like myself, who is used to variety, you'll suffer greatly. Food out here is fairly basic; there is not much of a choice. Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Italian? Forgetabout it. Be prepared to eat the same stuff every day.

Also, food is just too damn spicy. Asking the chef NOT to put hot stuff into your dish won't help you. The standard response is, "No, my friend, this is just part of the food." My response is generally, "Nah, it's PART of the food because you PUT IT IN THERE."

Here's me munching on a Dosa. It's filled with chili peppers. This picture was clearly taken before I took the first bite

 

 

On Culture

But enough of my bashing. There were interesting things to see, like this unfinished sphere in Auroville - The Town of No Religion. This is the only place in India where people don't practice any religion. I didn't meet many people around there so it was tough to make anything out of it but I liked the concept.

 

Here's another interesting thing - getting blessed by an elephant. One leans in and the elephant blesses him, i.e. lightly taps him with its trunk.

This particular elephant won't bless you unless you give it a coin.

There were also nice temples; unfortunately we weren't allowed to photograph. Gotta respect that...

This is indeed the best mountain on the East Coast.

I'm back from snowboarding, Quebec, Canada. If you are looking for a great mountain to snowboard at, the great state of New York is probably not the best option. I've found this place just 2 hours north of Montreal, called Mont Tremblant, (pronounced trum-loo). What's so great about this particular mountain is that it has slops on both Southern and Northern parts of it Once you're up at the very top, you get to decide which way you want to go. Plus the place usually has plenty of snow and it's rarely too crowded.

 

 

 

I've just got back from Barcelona, Spain. People there start partying at 6pm and don't stop until 6am. That's Thursday through Monday morning. They also don't eat until late night, so all restaurants are closed until 9pm. But hurry up; they close at midnight, and after that there isn't even a McDonald's open. Yeah, this ain't New York for you, but still it's a lot of fun. Unfortunatelly, some fucking cocktool stole my digital camera, so no pictures this time. However, that didn't bother me that much becase the women were slim, sexy and unbelievably .... well, let's just say, what happens in Barcelona, stays in Barcelona.

Don't ask me why or how I got here. It's a long story. I think one night I got really drunk and my former boss used the opportunity to convince me to go. The unofficial version is as follows: I was young and I needed money. Kuwait just seemed like a good place to earn living as a male belly dancer.

Environment

So, here I am. To the right of me is Persian Gulf, though locals prefer to call it Arabic Gulf. To the left - a chain of American restaurants and shopping malls.

Culture

To tell you the truth, I expected at least some action, good or bad, happening. Kuwait turned out to be a very quiet and conservative country. People here spend evenings pacing back and forth through shopping malls with only one goal - to buy the latest cellular phone. I guess it's a status symbol. My Kuwaiti friend has about 25 headsets she has bought in the past 2 years.

By the way, people here love American cars. Fords and Jeeps are popular here. That's where we're making money. Woohoo!

Alcohol is banned, so I had to smuggle some in. You could probably get some at the US Army base, but it's too far of a drive. Food here is nice, especially Lebanese cusine. Kabobs are the best.

It seems the country is becoming more and more liberated; most women no longer cover their faces, just their hair. The process is slow. There are plenty of stores selling female swim suits but you'll never see a woman wearing it outside the house.

This is the picture of the Kuwait Towers.

Here is some local architecture. Temperature outside is about 112 degrees Fahrenheit. Everything is build with concrete to withstand the heat.

Taking Care of Business

Once again, I'm back to the drawing board. It's 2004; .NET technology is still fairly new; and I have to train the masses. Luckily I have good students this time.