Of matters ICT, IP and such

My most interesting day in Kochi so far! Freeda was having trouble getting the driver, the car and my apartment in the same geographic vicinity and so I had time to jot down this morning's overdue blog of the last couple of days.

Off in the car to the office and on the way I heard about the two gyms in Kochi - one that is being refurbished and not taking new members and the other "soft touch" (a fascinating name in an Australian slang context) that Freeda is considering signing up for. We had talked about swinging by for a look see this evening but by the time we left the office at 7.30pm other needs were pressing.

A good discussion with the account executive for our hosted website, that reinforced the positive feedback I'd received about the School's MBA prospectus, so we'll be able to provide a seamless link between the prospectus, the web site and promotional process for the program.

The IP front is more interesting as we play some "cat and mouse" with another organisation apparently offended by our existence, or at least the representation of our existence that is our trademark. Having spent some time in lawyers' offices over the years in relation to promotional material, matters of trademarks and so on, this was grist to the mill for me. We will play by the numbers for the time being.

I learned a lot today about asking the right questions of the people around me (although, of course, it's like many of those situations where the "right" question only becomes apparent after you've asked all the "wrong" questions and spent your time operating on a set of assumptions that had been given tacit acknowledgement only to find later that other assumptions were not only possible but more than probable).

We had been exploring an issue on the basis of what I thought were the clear ground rules outlined in earlier correspondence and I had been trying to find a way forward based on those ground rules, only to find that the "rules" were in the end on "respectful guidelines" and that many other interpretations were possible. The day was spent in good spirits though and so when we left the office, it was to smiles all round and an enthusiasm for the day to come.

When I got back to the apartment, it was time for my daily trek across the "road" to the Imperial Restaurant for vegetarian marsala and chappathi, washed down with a bottle of water (it was veg biryani and a mango juice drink for lunch, so I figured I'd had enough sugar for the day). I'm finding the weather agreeable and certainly not torrid - growing up in western sydney in the 60s (no airconditioning, not much shade and plenty of walking around to do) has probably stood me in good stead. I find the ceiling fans at home and work are sufficient (but then we are heading into "winter" now).