Yes we went night hunting in Arizona but we finally got our goal and coach (?) got his revenge. Film at 11.

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Spent the day in the rain. It rained ALL day. It went from a light rain to a very heavy rain and back again, but never not raining.

The day went very fast, I saw temples, zoos, parks, and museums.

I met and had a conversation with maybe 10 folks or so. Almost all of them asked me at some point in the conversation something along the lines of “Which is better India or America?” When I was here in 2003 the most common question was more like “Is there something you like about India?”

I think there is a real sense of things getting better here.

My answer was always something like: something better about US, something better here. I think Americans could learn a lot about how to enjoy life. The folks with the worst life in US have it way better than most in India, yet they seem to enjoy things more here. Most places I saw the folks seemed “more happy” than what I see at a similar place in US. It’s not a huge gap, but I see a definite gap. 2 examples.

1) The spill way: It was just a smallish water fall yet the folks seemed to enjoy it more than we would in US. There was more laughter, more excited talk (this might just be the language), more teenagers playing.
2) At another stop. It was on top of the hill where the stream started that folks were palying below. It was raining so hard that you really couldn’t seen anything, so a group of teens played music from their car and started dancing in the rain. It was just a big party waiting for the rain to stop enough to see something.

By the way: still not sick from the soda on day 1 so maybe I got lucky.  MAYBE!!!!

I wake up just in time to get to the breakfast. Indian breakfast? I forgot the ??? impact ??? Indian food has on me

The driver picks me up at about 12 and we had down the highway.

It has always been dark when I made this drive so it’s nice to see everything as it goes by. We stop off at a local McDonald’s. I forgot how hard it is to pick the safe stuff. I can’t have anything that is washed but not cooked. Also can’t have ice or anything that has had any water in it. So I order a pizza wrap kind of thingy, fries, and a soda (no ice) I get about half way through my meal and realize THE SODA FOUNTAIN ADDS WATER TO THE SYRUP!!!! This is not good. I hope the acid in the syrup is enough to kill any of the nasty bugs.

So we get back on the road. On the way we make a few stops to see a few things on the way. The most interesting was a spillway for a dam. There were lots of people all around climbing up the spill way, playing in the water, and generally mulling around like a small festival. I hang out here for a bit, meet several people (seems not many white folks get to this part of the world).

At about 6pm we get to the new hotel, I check in, eat dinner, and prop my eyes open until about 10pm.

The day of my trip started off nice.  Didn’t have to be a the airport until about 2pm.   Had to do some shopping before I left so ran around to a few stores.  Added bonus: I found a cool travel Ipod thingy.  It’a a travel alarm that has a dock for my ipod, has a sleep function, and lets me hook it up to a TV so I can watch the movies on a TV instead of the itty bitty screen on the ipod.

Got to the airport a little early, got to the self checkin screen and it tells me there is a problem please see someone at the counter.  Went to the counter the screen told me to and they said “OH!!  you need to go down that that line way down there.  Now I’m getting a little nervous.  When I get to the frount of the line the lady says “your plan has been delayed, not sure you can make your connecting flight.”    Then she says “there is an earlier flight we may be able to get you on.”  I was already booked in business class on my flight but will have to go on the waiting list on the new flight.   Well, turns out I do get on the earlier flight and do get business class, so everything turned out good.

The next flight turns out to be delayed for 15 mins.  No big deal.  We board and I’m in a row that is full, shoulder to shoulder.  So I look around and find an empty row so I move to that row and sit in the middle.  Turns out  there are about 30 folks that are running late from another flight so we all wait for about 30 mins just sitting in the plain.

Turns out my empty row get’s full from the people running late, so I look and find another empty row so I sit in the middle of that row.  Well, we pull away from the gate and I still have the row to my self!  WOOOO  HOOO.

The plan pulls back about 20 ft and then stops.  The someone announces there is a traffic jam behind the plane so we will have to wait for a bit.  About 40 mins later  the plane starts  moving again.  About 10 mins later there is another announcements “there is another traffic jam”  About 1 hr later we finally take off.

Considering it was a 16 hr flight that took actually took more like 20 hrs, this was a nice flight.  I got to lay down across the sits and slept.  Not at all comfortable, but a heck of a lot better than having to sit in the chairs.  Watched 4 movies that I had not seen yet and the last movie finished within 5 mins of landing.

The flight was due in at 10pm,  It was more like 2:00am. I got out of the airport at about 2:30am.  The driver took me to my hotel, and arranged to pick me up the next morning to take me to Pune and left.

I got up to the front desk and it turned out I’m at the wrong hotel.  (by now it’s just funny).  So I get a taxi to take me to the correct hotel, check in and head to bed.

LONG DAY!!!!

A Psychological Test / Game – Associated Content

I added question 3 from memory.

Question #1 – What is your favorite animal? Now write down three adjectives describing your favorite animal.

Question #2 – What is your favorite color? Now write down three adjectives describing your favorite color.

Question #3 – You see a vase? Now write down three adjectives describing that vase.

Question #4 – What is your favorite body
of water? (This can be anything from a toilet to the ocean), (i.e.:
lake, river, pool, etc.). Now write down three adjectives describing
your favorite body of water.

Question number five is a bit detailed, so read it very carefully and feel it as you read.

You
are sitting in a chair inside a room, facing a window. Outside the
window you are looking at the most beautiful, peaceful, relaxing
scenery you could ever imagine. Because of the view you are enjoying,
you feel at complete and utter peace within yourself. Suddenly, without
any warning, someone comes up to the window and pulls the shades! There
is nothing at all you can do about it.

Question #5 – What are your three emotions in the order that you feel them? Be sure and write them down.

Question #1 – The three adjectives you wrote down for your favorite animal describes how you see yourself.

Question #2 – The three adjectives you wrote down for your favorite color describes how others see you.

Question #3 – The three adjectives you wrote down for the vase describes how you see yourself.

Question #4 – The three adjectives you wrote down for your favorite body of water describes your love life.

And finally, Question #5 – The three emotions you wrote down are how you deal with death…in the order you wrote them down.