Almy and Tauhid’s Blog

Taking a trip is a really good exercise in project management.

As our Grand Canyon trip date gets closer, a lot of concerns come to mind. I have the rental car and hotels booked, but questions still pop in my head throughout the day: What happens if the weather is bad? Where will we stop along the way? Where would the nearest hospital be in case of emergencies? If the car breaks down, where is the worst place to break down at? Will we be upset if it there are rain and fog at the canyon, which would prevent us to take nice photos? I seem have the talent to worry about this things — but that doesn’t mean I have the talent to reduce these risks.

I’m curious of what people think about this line of thinking.. I ‘ve heard a wide variety of responses: some say that I worry too much, a religious person would say that I can plan all I want but the success of the trip depends on Allah, but most of my engineer friends will encourage this planning and even offer their own trip survival tips. All those statements are true — but it’s not an ‘either or’ type of discussion. If I want to have a good trip I will have to plan accordingly and enjoy the trip and be in a state of tawakkal to accept whatever happens.

Yep, I’m enjoying this process — you won’t be able to tell from my expression though.

Beberapa bulan terakhir ini, upload gambar ke komputerku sangat sulit. Masalahnya, USB portku tak bisa baca USB 2.0 device.. padahal udah pasang WinXP Service Pack 2.. huh dasar Microsoft. Setelah ngobrak-ngabrik di safe mode, akhirnya jalan juga tuh.. ternyata drivernya USB-nya harus di donload dulu dengan meng-email Microsoft karena tidak ada di CD Windowsnya.

Anyways, mudah-mudahan dengan begini foto-foto Amira bisa lebih banyak di-upload.. heheh.. ini beberapa foto terakhir:

Amira ini suka banget lihat cermin..

Makanan favorit Amira: Cheerios — gak peduli pagi, siang, sore, malam.. dia selalu suka makan Cheerios.

Aku dan istri pernah menginap dua kali di Marriott, dan dua kali di hotel Hilton. Kami lebih menyukai Marriott. Kenapa ya? Kualitas kamar2nya hampir sama.. harga kamarnya tidak jauh beda.. Apa karena iklan Marriott lebih banyak di tivi ya? Setelah aku baca buku built to last karangan Jim collins tadi malam, aku mulai mengerti. Ini excerptnya tentang Marriott:

“Incentive bonuses reaching all the way down to coffee shop managers; bonuses based on service, quality, cleanliness in addition to cost effectiveness”

Setelah membaca kalimat itu, dan mengingat kembali service setiap pekerja hotel Marriott yang pernah kujumpai.. jelaslah sudah.

PS: we don’t have that much money to splurge on Marriott hotels during personal travel.. those stays happened during business trips