Outsourcing NOW

As I was telling you in my last post, I am currently reading "The World is Flat", I am already halfway through it. It is a good book, if you ignore some repetitions that tend to disrupt a little of the flow in the book. Well, one of the main themes in the book refers to "outsourcing".
What does outsourcing mean? Well, it is a process through which companies in the US (and not only here) can transfer some of their workforce, especially services workforce to country where labor is cheaper. For example, if you call the Microsoft technical support, don't imagine you're calling America. Someone over in India will answer and give you all the answers to questions you have. And a lot of companies have decided to do this, given the fact that it cost three times less to pay an Indian call operator than an American one.
I was in Boston yesterday, buying tickets to go to Denmark later this month from Northwest Airlines. So, I go, like any normal human being to the ticket office and ask what are the availabilities for the dates I was interested in.
The woman looks at me and gracefully points to a row of phones, somewhere in the terminal. She told me that I should call their center, make the reservatio
n and then come back to her to purchase the ticket. Oh man, I am well behind all of these service advancements that are just happening. And I thought to myself: "Wouldn't it be easier if she had just punched three buttons to check what I need and then sell me the ticket?" Well, for them, apparently it pays off to do this.
Obviously, I go to the row of phones and make the call. I sensed from the first second the slight Indian accent the woman had on the phone, so I realized they were doing exactly what I had read about in the book. Of course, it took me over 30 minutes to decide on a flight before making the reservation, so I guess the call center pays off.
Air France, another carrier I usually use (because of their fabulous food on board) does not do this. They still use the archaic system with computers and Internet. Isn't this funny? What we thought yesterday as being breakthrough technology, today it just might seem as something way old. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Flight

I have been pretty busy recently, writing more on more. The Glass Gazebo is going further and further at a pace I really enjoy writing in. Soon enough I will post here some other fragments of the stuff I'm writing. Pretty much the major characters of the novel are all set up, and I'm starting to get into the details of the minor ones, since they are important as well, right?
Oh well, now, I have some other personal stuff to tell you, if you're interested. Otherwise, just ignore this post. Just kidding.
I have been to Boston a couple of days ago, to set up a flight for Paris I am taking at the end of this month. Usually, I go to Boston by Ferry from Provincetown, it's a nice smooth ride, you don't get to see to much, but it's enjoyable and gets you there pretty fast. Pretty fast means a little more than an hour and a half, compared to the excruciatingly painful 3-4 hours that a bus needs to take to get there.
The interesting story starts now, the day before I got to Boston I took an afternoon nap at home. I still remember what I dreamt. It wasn't a very interesting dream, however it gave me a brilliant idea. In my dream I was flying from Provincetown to New york instead of going by Ferry. Even more exciting, the airport was right next to Long Wharf, where the ferry docks. I woke up, got on my bike and headed towards the airport. I was curious how much the plane fare was for Boston. I got there, and after finding out the price I bought a ticket for the first flight out the next day.
I do not remember exactly the name of the plane I was on, it was some type of Cessna, a plane, that, I suppose you already know that, has a very limited size. This one could carry up to a staggering 8 passengers plus the pilot. Of course the pilot's "cabin" wasn't separated from the rest of the seating area, so, if you were lucky enough to sit on the sit next to the captain, it would have been a very interesting flight, worth all the money spent on it. And so I was pretty lucky, since I got to sit there on my return flight, and kinda figure out what he was doing there.
I love planes, I always did, and I have had my fair share of flying. Including this last trip I have been on, I've been on 22 flights. It's not that much, but it's more than a lot of people I know have flown. Anyways, that's what I wanted to tell you, raegarding my personal life. Leave comments wherever you like and be sure to come back.

I think I have a title

One of the best things you can do as an author, especially, an inexperienced one, when writing your first major piece is to find a title before. Of course, it doesn't have to be the one you'll use when you finish it, but something to get you started, to give you the definitive proof that you are headed somewhere.
I am, apparently headed somewhere with my novel, but didn't think of a title yet. This until yesterday. Another sneak preview I'm gonna give you regards two main themes in this book, probably one of the first two locations that I have imagined from the beginning. One that I am completely familiarized with by now, about which I sketched already entire scenes and charts of significance and another one that is just revealing itself to me. You will understand in a second why one of them can be the title of the novel and the other cannot.
"The Dump" will be one of the major "spacial" characters of the book, obviously when you will read it you will understand why. There's still some time till that happens. The second, that I think will be the title of the book is "The Glass Gazebo".
I already have in mind so many ideas about this fabulous place I have discovered that I cannot wait to share them with you.

Coelho's hype

I was in one of Provincetown's bookshops the other day and I almost bought this book. But then I thought, why read Coelho again? Haven't I had enough reading his last books, didn't I feel enough pain reading Zahir?
I mean, let's face it Coelho is not the most brilliant author in the world, he writes book using a recipe, so, after you've read a few of his books, you kind of know what's gonna happen or what philosophical reasoning will be used in the next one.
Of course Coelho appeals to so many because it's not only easy to read and understand but his words seem to disperse some kind of reasoning beyond what you can usually read on the bestseller list.
I mean, just imagine how many 17 year old girls thought and still think that Coelho is the most brilliant writer ever, an incredible philosopher, maybe even better that Aristotle. Of course, this image is provided by the fact that he is able to hide very bad fiction behind really good wording.
But, unfortunately that's all there is to Coelho, he can fool some, he hasn't been able to fool others yet.
I am in the category in the middle. He did fool me in the beginning but right now, I've made the decisive step. I have not bought "The Witch of Portobello". And neither should you.

The good versus the really bad

Couple of weeks ago I decided to start entertaining myself with some easy reads, not the usual Kafka or Hemingway. So, I spent a couple of hours in the Barns and Noble in Boston on State St. till I found two novels that appealed to my senses.
First was named "Harvard Yard", written by William Martin, an author that places all his novel in the Boston - Cape Cod area. "Good", I said to myself, at least I have something to relate to. I live on the Cape. The book, however is excruciatingly painful. Bad is just a small word for it. Without trying to offend Mr. Martin, I couldn't read something like that. Even for a beach read this is way too complicated and not making any sense.
So, after I was 100 pages into Martin's novel, I decided to start Saul's book, given the fact that I had read many things by him before.
Oh well, as you can guess, we have a whole different situation this time. "In the Dark of the Night" is exciting, contemplative and pleasant. It's that kind of easy read that you enjoy, a real page-turner and virtually "unputdownable". Saul is a master of thriller and suspense, while Martin is a master of making his reader's fall asleep.
So, a very good recommendation from me is get any of Saul's 33 novels. I read about half of them, never have I been disappointed.
No, John did not pay me do write this. :)