my new digs

the hotel has been doing some upgrades of late. there is a new hotel being built on the river that looks REALLY nice. the customer had a party there for synchronization. the hotel wasn't ready yet but the catering and outdoor gathering area were. the hotel is right on the river and they are building a viewing area for some regattas they do on the river. it also has a waterslide park, they're building a pool and hot tub area, and the rooms are apparently going to be pretty nice. see what the oil & gas industry can do for a poor area? well, this hotel (the River Bay) is going to one up our hotel * the only three start hotel in rajahmundry*. i reiterate from what was probably one of my first posts here, i believe they BOUGHT those three stars.

still they are trying to do better. they are upgrading their suites and they aren't too shabby (emma is in one of them across from my unrenovated one). since mine was the last one left to do, they moved me to the presidential suite until my original suite is done (with no offer of a discount, i might add!) anyways, it is nice. i might get spoiled, but i WILL go back down to my suite when it is ready. it's these TAs. i was happy with the normal room with my two-twin-beds-pushed-together until the other TAs came and wanted more, more, more. hah. they decided to get the suites, and i finally caved after coming back from one of my R&Rs. they are a bit nicer, and in this place, anything even incremental increases in luxuries are beneficial to morale. i now have a king bed (you can see one of my TVs tuned to women's aerials), big bathroom with a tub and huge counter, TWO TVs which i have on all the time when i'm in the room so i don't miss a bit of what little olympics i have the opportunity to see, a pseudo-dining room, a decent fridge, two desks, a nice balcony, and seating for 15 not counting the bed. too bad all our after-party people (lael, paul, ramesh, etc.) have been lucky enough to leave this blackhole of a place. here is a pic of emma hanging out in my bachelor pad because it is so much cooler than her lowly suite. you can see my OTHER TV tuned to alpine skiing, i believe.

yeah, i might get spoiled. wish i had more friends. anyone wanna come to india and rock out with me?