Scribbles

Lotsa digital housekeeping lately. I finally fired my outsourced developers after wasting a few months of my life. I managed to recover a small portion of my down-payment, but more importantly, the ordeal forced me to get over the steep learning curve of the software system – Drupal for you curious folks – and figured out the basic set-up and administration of our small business website. The next step is to learn more about the system, what’s available out in the market, and design a better project for experienced developers to work on.

Since I was on such a roll, I spent some time tinkering with this blog. I’m not done yet, but I’m at least happy with the current set up for now. Credits go to my buddy Demis for the sunset photo he took while we were on Pangkil island.

For the very digitally connected, I’ve been on Web 2.0 services rampage, signing up on all the latest social networks and various incarnations. Look me up if you feel like test driving Loopt or Jott with me.

Last weekend, a group of friends attended Jeni’s wedding.  Taking place in Kansas City where her family lives, most of the guests were out-of-towners, and that meant more than the typical ceremony and reception, it was a whole weekend extravaganza for us.  While the people and friends made our entire weekend memorable and enjoyable, a lot of the credit goes to the star of festivities.

One of our original cast of Montmelian back in France, Jeni was like a sister, living in our chateau and an integral part of the second floor.  Not the annoying bratty type, but the cool one where you can talk, tease, and hang out with.  Fast forward two years into the real world, and we tend to forget how amazing and impressive these peers really are, even if it’s that girl down the hall who’s always running around in her sweats.  But in reality, outside the exclusive INSEAD bubble, Jeni brings her can-do attitude and international pedigree to all aspects of her life, from excelling in the competitive business world to being in touch with the world.  And not surprisingly, to her beautiful American-Indian-Catholic wedding.

The 3-days of events that were so meticulously executed impressed the heck out of me.  Our bride really shined throughout the weekend.  In her speech at the rehearsal dinner, thanking her family and guests, she sounded sincere, polished, and confident.  On the dance floor at the reception, she brought her party smile and dazzled everyone with her moves, including some fantastic Indian dancing moves.  I don’t doubt that in the minds of her single female friends, they were seriously challenged with their ability to eventually pull off their own weddings with such poise and joy.

But it wasn’t just being able to keep things on schedule or having a beautiful wedding cake, it was the manner it was executed.  Of course you can find help to handle logistics and what not, but the little touches showed a sense of love and care.  How else could one interpret the Jeni’s father shuttling us to the baseball game and to the airport afterwards?

I know that I’m not alone in feeling so proud and happy for Jeni and Shaun.  And I’m also unabashedly proud to claim to be a friend.

The bane of my existence nowadays is the web project I’ve outsourced to India.  These contractors on the other end of the world are driving me insane.  While I can’t possibly be the only person with gripes about projects like these, I keep reading about the success stories of Friedman’s flat world and 4-hour work weeks when all I’m left with is a 4-hour headache and the desire to flatten some of these bozos.

For example, this recent Businessweek article waxes over the elegant efficiencies of mom and pop shops that leverage cheap global talent to get things done.  It even cites and quotes one of the biggest contract assistance sites out there, eLance.  Well, I hired my contractors through eLance, who boasted a 98% satisfaction rating, over 126 positive reviews, and $214k worth of project earnings.  Guess what?  They don’t even read email carefully.  The so called project manager never involves himself in understanding the real business requirements of my commercial website nor stays abreast of the project status.  He’s just the middle man who over-promises (agreed to everything) to get the sale and then forwards communications back and forth between me and who knows who.  The only time he showed any real fire was arguing with me over the definition of “great progress.”

My new website is now 2 weeks behind the original schedule with no end in sight.  My scary thought of the day is if and when they complete my project, dare I leave a scathing review?  Would they be able to disrupt my business through some backdoor method they managed to sneak in?  Who’s going to stand up for me now, or even then?