Evil Thieving Guard Begging for a Beating
I thought this situation with our thieving guard was taken care of but nooo.
After copping to stealing the roomie's laptop when 'interviewed' by a sage uncle and his copper buddy in the kampung a couple of nights ago, the guy showed up at the office today claiming he is innocent.
He arrived unannounced with a young cop who lives on my block looking for the roomie. I was called in to observe and maintain a menacing presence. He now catagorically denies having lifted the unit and is demanding his job back and his salary! In fact, my driver told me this morning that last night's guard told him (but not me) that the guy showed up last night to work!
To his credit the cop is not taking sides - at least in my presence - but says it would be better to make an official complaint to the police and let the system, crooked as it is, decide innocence or guilt.
Fair enough. We tried to be nice but now it looks like the gloves are off.
What neither cop nor robber know is that when the uncle and buddy went out to the village to do their interview a couple of nights ago - during which the gormless jerk admitted the theft - the village head asked them to arrest the guy because he's been stealing stuff from his own neighbours!
The other irritant in this case is the fact that the snitch-maid who finally IDed the guard (only after she'd confessed to nicking one of our water dispensers mind you) vanished at noon so when the roomie wanted to sit down with her, she was nowhere to be found.
This is going to get worse before it gets better. Guaranteed.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Monday, September 25, 2006
It's only Day 2 of the fast but already I feel like crap.
Woke up after a full "ayam a la J" dinner Sunday morning and guzzled two pots of coffee before realizing I'd already broken the rules... so sat with a couple of liters of Acehnese brew burning a hole in my belly for the better part of the day, trying to read, trying to sleep, trying to do anything but think about laying a couple pieces of bread in my gullet to head off the acid. By the time magrib rolled around I was twisted.
I woke today feeling a bit better. It's 5:08 now so only 90 minute or so to go. Gonna send Dede - my driver - out to pick up something to drink and maybe some bananas shortly.
I don't remember it being this hard last year. I think it is accumulated stress from dealing with issues on the home front.
I never got around to explaining the dynamic at Chateau Grinch in earlier posts. Since taking the place in June 2005 I've had to fire several housekeepers and one of the guards - we are required to have guards - for thieving. Most recently one of the roomies had a laptop pinched - what, did you think he wasn't going to notice? - and my ipod has gone missing as well a day before heading to Maldives on R&R. The other roomie reports his water dispenser has vanished from his room.
Turns out the housekeeper took the water dispenser, which only produced hot and scorching hot water, to her husband to be fixed. When he and various members of the extended family couldn't figure out how to fix it I guess they decided it looked good in the corner of their house so she never bothered to return it.
After recriminations and tears she offered to pay for the damn thing and then coughed up that Dyulfan had come into the house while we were on holidays and the place was empty, and walked off with the laptop.
I've been crushing down the desire to take a length of pipe to his head and instead developed an elaborate rus to get his home address. Roomie has some connections to local cops - having been interrogated, threatened and harassed over several years - and later this evening, once the evil one has returned to his home, they'll pounce.
Now the question becomes 'what next?'
What exactly has he stolen and what are the chances of actually getting any of it back? Will he cop to the thefts or end up in cells? Will he turn up at the house with a mob of his friends and family or try and take revenge on the maid? Arrggh.
Its amazing how many people have similar stories though. Just learned a friend had her camera stolen from her bedroom recently, others have had people slip into their homes at night to empty the refrigerator. Ask anyone you find a story.
At the same time I've got all kinds of work-related deadlines to meet over the next 10 days or so, and this after coming out of a pretty rough production cycle that began in late August.
And I wonder why my stomach is in knots.
Woke up after a full "ayam a la J" dinner Sunday morning and guzzled two pots of coffee before realizing I'd already broken the rules... so sat with a couple of liters of Acehnese brew burning a hole in my belly for the better part of the day, trying to read, trying to sleep, trying to do anything but think about laying a couple pieces of bread in my gullet to head off the acid. By the time magrib rolled around I was twisted.
I woke today feeling a bit better. It's 5:08 now so only 90 minute or so to go. Gonna send Dede - my driver - out to pick up something to drink and maybe some bananas shortly.
I don't remember it being this hard last year. I think it is accumulated stress from dealing with issues on the home front.
I never got around to explaining the dynamic at Chateau Grinch in earlier posts. Since taking the place in June 2005 I've had to fire several housekeepers and one of the guards - we are required to have guards - for thieving. Most recently one of the roomies had a laptop pinched - what, did you think he wasn't going to notice? - and my ipod has gone missing as well a day before heading to Maldives on R&R. The other roomie reports his water dispenser has vanished from his room.
Turns out the housekeeper took the water dispenser, which only produced hot and scorching hot water, to her husband to be fixed. When he and various members of the extended family couldn't figure out how to fix it I guess they decided it looked good in the corner of their house so she never bothered to return it.
After recriminations and tears she offered to pay for the damn thing and then coughed up that Dyulfan had come into the house while we were on holidays and the place was empty, and walked off with the laptop.
I've been crushing down the desire to take a length of pipe to his head and instead developed an elaborate rus to get his home address. Roomie has some connections to local cops - having been interrogated, threatened and harassed over several years - and later this evening, once the evil one has returned to his home, they'll pounce.
Now the question becomes 'what next?'
What exactly has he stolen and what are the chances of actually getting any of it back? Will he cop to the thefts or end up in cells? Will he turn up at the house with a mob of his friends and family or try and take revenge on the maid? Arrggh.
Its amazing how many people have similar stories though. Just learned a friend had her camera stolen from her bedroom recently, others have had people slip into their homes at night to empty the refrigerator. Ask anyone you find a story.
At the same time I've got all kinds of work-related deadlines to meet over the next 10 days or so, and this after coming out of a pretty rough production cycle that began in late August.
And I wonder why my stomach is in knots.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Not Quite Dead Yet!
Speaking of near-death experiences, here's a creepy one.
Plugged my birth name into Blogger Search a short while ago and came up with the following note, dated Sept 12 from some Missouri lass' MySpace site:
I heard this morning that (my name) died last night in a car accident. I was so sad when I heard that. I was never great friends with him but i knew people who were and who it was going to affect greatly. Like my sophmore year prom date josh, and tasha atwell who's grandpa comes into where i work a lot. And Raji..his brother. I think i am more sad for them. I wish i could do something besides dedicate a blog to him.
Yikes! And here's me all tanned and healthy after a week's R&R out of Aceh, and freshly stuffed from our staff pre-Ramadan Megang feast in the parking lot of the shop earlier today.
On a more pleasant note, apparently I am also a guitar-packing member of the Humbolt Green Party on walk-about in Peru, a B-list Hollywood movie actor, an Aussie drug policy specialist, a celebrity chef with my own TV show, a 22-year-old Limerick resident up on weapons charges, a Denver fire department captain, a Californian jewelry-maker, a high school newspaper sex columnist, and an on-line auto auctioneer.
No wonder I'm so tired all the time.
Speaking of near-death experiences, here's a creepy one.
Plugged my birth name into Blogger Search a short while ago and came up with the following note, dated Sept 12 from some Missouri lass' MySpace site:
I heard this morning that (my name) died last night in a car accident. I was so sad when I heard that. I was never great friends with him but i knew people who were and who it was going to affect greatly. Like my sophmore year prom date josh, and tasha atwell who's grandpa comes into where i work a lot. And Raji..his brother. I think i am more sad for them. I wish i could do something besides dedicate a blog to him.
Yikes! And here's me all tanned and healthy after a week's R&R out of Aceh, and freshly stuffed from our staff pre-Ramadan Megang feast in the parking lot of the shop earlier today.
On a more pleasant note, apparently I am also a guitar-packing member of the Humbolt Green Party on walk-about in Peru, a B-list Hollywood movie actor, an Aussie drug policy specialist, a celebrity chef with my own TV show, a 22-year-old Limerick resident up on weapons charges, a Denver fire department captain, a Californian jewelry-maker, a high school newspaper sex columnist, and an on-line auto auctioneer.
No wonder I'm so tired all the time.
Top Gear Host Hospitalized After 300mph Crash
Doctors treating Richard Hammond said last night that the Top Gear presenter had "suffered a significant brain injury" when the jet-powered dragster he was driving crashed after reaching speeds approaching 300mph.
The father of two had to be cut from the wreckage and was flown by air ambulance to Leeds General infirmary, which issued a statement about his condition after his wife and children had been to see him. In the statement, the hospital trust said: "Mr Hammond has suffered a significant brain injury. It's still giving cause for concern as it is still early after the injury. However, we are reasonably optimistic that he will make a good recovery."
Spinal injuries
The two most serious possibilities are that he has suffered damage as a result of his brain slamming against the inside of his skull during the crash. Because of that, arteries could have been ruptured. Doctors will also be fearful of spinal injuries. As well as his family, Hammond, 36, was visited by Top Gear co-presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May. Clarkson reported that Hammond had smiled briefly at him when he quipped: "The reason you're here is because you're a crap driver."
I really like this guy, a foil to the pompous, motorcycle-hating git Clarkson.
Bloody miracle the guy is alive at all.
Kinda reminds me of the story out of Arizona or Nevada a couple of years back about the fellow who bloted a jet engine to the roof of his station wagon, and opened it up in an open piece of road. Car got airborne at some point and basically vanished. Took weeks but the wreckage was eventually located beneath a black smudge on the side of a nearby mountain, the implication being he'd plowed into it a la Wile E Coyote.
Turned out to be a hoax rather than a Darwin Award candidate but the idea remains hugely entertaining.
Doctors treating Richard Hammond said last night that the Top Gear presenter had "suffered a significant brain injury" when the jet-powered dragster he was driving crashed after reaching speeds approaching 300mph.
The father of two had to be cut from the wreckage and was flown by air ambulance to Leeds General infirmary, which issued a statement about his condition after his wife and children had been to see him. In the statement, the hospital trust said: "Mr Hammond has suffered a significant brain injury. It's still giving cause for concern as it is still early after the injury. However, we are reasonably optimistic that he will make a good recovery."
Spinal injuries
The two most serious possibilities are that he has suffered damage as a result of his brain slamming against the inside of his skull during the crash. Because of that, arteries could have been ruptured. Doctors will also be fearful of spinal injuries. As well as his family, Hammond, 36, was visited by Top Gear co-presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May. Clarkson reported that Hammond had smiled briefly at him when he quipped: "The reason you're here is because you're a crap driver."
I really like this guy, a foil to the pompous, motorcycle-hating git Clarkson.
Bloody miracle the guy is alive at all.
Kinda reminds me of the story out of Arizona or Nevada a couple of years back about the fellow who bloted a jet engine to the roof of his station wagon, and opened it up in an open piece of road. Car got airborne at some point and basically vanished. Took weeks but the wreckage was eventually located beneath a black smudge on the side of a nearby mountain, the implication being he'd plowed into it a la Wile E Coyote.
Turned out to be a hoax rather than a Darwin Award candidate but the idea remains hugely entertaining.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Ugly little demo last night and today in Banda Aceh. Some shadowy organ calling itself FORAK (Forum Inter Shelter Communication) rolled up to the BRR offices in Banda Aceh last night with a crowd of 500 people, forced the doors closed and basically held the staff hostage for several hours.
Publically they say the issue is insufficient reconstruction but behind the scenes folks say the mob is a front for business interests (read, contractors) who have not received the plum building contracts they feel they are entitled to.
Unclear what set people off this morning but it seems the crowd was moving away from the offices, the Brimob were a little too abbrasive and the whole thing degenerated into a nasty rock-throwing incident that injured several cops. Instead of gunning down the demonstrators - as they would have done here until the tsunami struck - the cops opened up with the water cannon.
The pix of the scene show paving stones and bricks littering the front lawn of the BRR offices and several trucks with smashed windows.
This is the first in what I expect to be a series of increasingly nasty confrontations between now and the year's end involving ordinary civilians with a legitimate beef, bitter little Hizbt-tahrir wanna-be jihandis, covert elements of the security apparatus who are always happy to stir the pot, and political types hoping to cash in on local anger over a variety of different issues by scapegoating BRR, the infidel international community, NGOs, the behavior of some foreign women, in hopes of gaining more votes.
We can expect all these riptides to converge in the coming months and no one seems to be paying attention to it, least of all the gormless humps who set policy for the UN's security apparatus. They recently forced through recommendations that have seen the security phase in Aceh, Ambon and other national flashpoints reduced from Phase 3 to Phase 2. Without getting into the operational changes this entails, suffice to say that against all recommendations on the ground New York, under advisement from Jakarta has made this political/financial decision (savings of about $900 per international staff member/month) at the worst possible time.
Be interesting to see how DSS, Jakarta and NYC scapegoat when the first internationals are injured in one of these clashes.
Publically they say the issue is insufficient reconstruction but behind the scenes folks say the mob is a front for business interests (read, contractors) who have not received the plum building contracts they feel they are entitled to.
Unclear what set people off this morning but it seems the crowd was moving away from the offices, the Brimob were a little too abbrasive and the whole thing degenerated into a nasty rock-throwing incident that injured several cops. Instead of gunning down the demonstrators - as they would have done here until the tsunami struck - the cops opened up with the water cannon.
The pix of the scene show paving stones and bricks littering the front lawn of the BRR offices and several trucks with smashed windows.
This is the first in what I expect to be a series of increasingly nasty confrontations between now and the year's end involving ordinary civilians with a legitimate beef, bitter little Hizbt-tahrir wanna-be jihandis, covert elements of the security apparatus who are always happy to stir the pot, and political types hoping to cash in on local anger over a variety of different issues by scapegoating BRR, the infidel international community, NGOs, the behavior of some foreign women, in hopes of gaining more votes.
We can expect all these riptides to converge in the coming months and no one seems to be paying attention to it, least of all the gormless humps who set policy for the UN's security apparatus. They recently forced through recommendations that have seen the security phase in Aceh, Ambon and other national flashpoints reduced from Phase 3 to Phase 2. Without getting into the operational changes this entails, suffice to say that against all recommendations on the ground New York, under advisement from Jakarta has made this political/financial decision (savings of about $900 per international staff member/month) at the worst possible time.
Be interesting to see how DSS, Jakarta and NYC scapegoat when the first internationals are injured in one of these clashes.
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