Just got back from work, going to Caperberry in a few minutes to start planning the big party for when my parents and sister are here.

so we left off on thursday. thursday I worked and went to dinner with my good friend Majid, from work. hes the best friend I have made at work and we get along really well. We went to an Indian place that he wanted to try, I am becoming obsessed with Indian food, its so good! and its all so healthy. we started talking about religion, I had figured he was Hindu but found out he was a Muslim. We had a pretty 'important' conversation about some really contraversial stuff. i felt like we were way closer after the dinner and that i understand islam a whole lot better. he told me about a lot of the violence between muslims and hindus in India and all kinds of other important stuff that relates to the US. I enjoyed the convo big time, I also found out he used to be a model. We have something in common.

Majid offered to pick me up at 4:30 AM friday morning to go to the train station and help me with everythnig. I'm pretty sure I didn't need the help but he insisted so I was happy to take the free car ride. My train ride to Chennai, south of India on the very tip, was about 5 hours. i tried to sleep during the ride but they just keep serving you stuff. I was warned against the train food and didnt want to be sick on the train so i stayed away. the guy next to me was watching kung foo panda so i watched that covertly, great movie. when i finally arrived i was totally ripped off by a taxi driver because he told me the drive was an hour when it was 15 minutes.

the office in chennai is new, only 2 guys work there. its in shyams hometown, the office is actually in his parents old house. i worked on the business plan for a few hours and had lunch. i am starting to love indian food, eating with your hands is the best. i actually dont get any food on my clothes, its weird. after work one of the guys, bilijori, and i went to check ot the beach and had some coffee. chennai was one of the places that got hit by the tsunami a few years back, it seemed to have recovered nicely though. theres not a whole lot to see in the city, a few cool temples. it was also about 100 degrees. at night i went to dinner at a resturant near where i was staying. there was actyually a kid eating alone in the same room, so we ate together. turns out hes got some friends who are going to a and m and r going to email me. pretty cool.

friday at work was very frusterating. the power went out 3 times for about an hour each time. not only could we not do any work but the ac would also go off, that was rough. there was some new legislation passed on friday that heavily impacts our business so i didnt see much of shyam after breakfast. we went to a diner, i love indian breakfast. i mainly did research all day trynig to get industry numbers and add to their database. it was a rough day, not having electricity is not cool. after work shyam and i went to an andhra pradesh restuurant, thats the state with the spiciest food. its weird, i cant even eat mild buffalo wings, but i can eat the spiciest indian food with no problem. i love it. we had a good time, we are getting pretty cool. he is a great manager and im learning a lot from him. went for some mango ice cream after.

saturday i cut a deal with shyam that if he let me go at 11 id finish my work at fishermans cove. he talked with me for an hr about the b plan and i left for the resort, about a 30 minute drive. it was amazing, i had my own little cottage near the beach. the food was great, my porch was awesome, i had an open air shower, and the workout room was great. i tried to meet some american guys at lunch when i got there but they were about to leave and everyone else was with their signif others, so i didnt wanna interupt that. i worked out and went back to my cottage to read atlas shrugged and work on the business plan. atlas shrugged is a fantastic book, everyone should read it, especially aggies. I just hung out on my porch all night, ordered some room service, read, slept, drank coffee. i wathec pirates of the caribean, took a few open air showers. in the morning i worked out and went to their amazing breakfast buffet. I read for a long time and had to check out at 12, but didnt leave for the train station until 9. i just bummed around the pool reading all day. i rewrote the gents business plan and put together our calendar for the fall. when it started to get dark i took my computer to the beach and did some p90x yoga, it was pretty cool. i walked about a mile down the beach for that, actually it was really scary. the waves at the beach wer epretty big and i was in the pitch black a mile down the beach. it was weird, i have never felt that alone before. it was kind of scary, the big waves and crabs crawling around. i sat there for a few minutes after, taking it in and kind of scared to move.

i went for a swim in their pool, had dinner, and took a taxi to the train stattion. it was a sleeper train and i was on a top bunk so that was kind of cool. it was nice to get a full night sleep, wasnt counting on that. it was a good weekend, cool to see another part of india and get to relax beachside. all my stuff at work is due next wednesday so im gunna be pushin it this week. will right in a few days. hope everyone is good, miss you all.

love
matt