Old Man Morgan

Last night after work, Decy and I had dinner with a business visitor (Ed Gilbert) and his wife Sue. We had never met Sue before – she’s quite a hoot and lots of fun to be with. We met downtown Jakarta at Lan Nai Thai restaurant …. and had (ahem) Thai food. Chatted for a long time and made it home around 1030pm.

When we got home, Decy had to talk to her mom as she (Doortje) was upset about one of the grandkids (our nephew) having bronchitis. That conversation lasted until about 1115-1130pm. Then, it took me until midnight to wind down. Sadly, regrettably, disappointingly, my alarm went off at 315am. urgh. I will manage thru the day – but it won’t be one of my “better days”.

Spending a lot of time transitioning my position, trying to pre-plan the March accounting close, and organizing a company dinner party to celebrate the end-of-project. I am organizing a dinner for my SAP Start-up Team that will be held in a revolving restaurant on the 35th floor of an office tower in downtown Jakarta. There will be about 15 of us. The venue is absolutely fantastic – which is why I selected the place. The menu is good – but not top of the line. The setup is a bit of a challenge because the restaurant doubles as a club later at night. Thus, the place looks a bit tired especially before dark.

Decy and I are working hard to “spruce up” the place commensurate with the event …. clean the couches where we are going to have our reception, flowers on the tables, music during the reception and dinner. etc etc etc. Its been a bit of a hassle and the management haven’t exactly been responsive. BUT, I think they are getting the hang of it and have finally figured out (after several hints) that this is their opportunity to impress the company and maybe have more events in the future.

Because of the challenges of Jakarta / Indonesia, I have had to go buy the wine to bring to the restaurant (their selection was not acceptable). And, Decy and I have selected mementos for my staff (15 in total). Some are already back in their home country; thus, I am writing letters of appreciation and will be shipping their mementos to them. Overall, this is turning into quite an ordeal – time committment-wise, and costs. Overall, I expect the cost of the dinner, drinks, music, gifts, etc to be about $4k. And, the restaurant doesn’t accept AMEX cards (our company card). Given the hassle, I didn’t take out a cash advance …. soooooo …… guess I will have to wait patiently for the reimbursement.

Well, I better close this blog … so much time and so little to do …. oops, scratch that … so much to do and so little time (so says Willie Wonka).

ciao ciao