Dennis Does India – Part One

Greetings all, been a crazy week for me.   I made a trip to India for work and managed to get some sightseeing in as well.   I don’t even know where to start with part 1, I guess at the beginning.  Firstly, for a beginner international traveler like me, a 15/hour plane flight was pretty intense.   Include the 4/hours travelling from Denver to Newark, it made for a long travel day.   I left the house at 6:30 AM on Monday and arrived in Delhi at 9:00PM on Tuesday.

I had applied for a visa online and it worked.   I showed them the letter of approval, gave my finger prints and they took a photo.  Thank god it worked as it would have been a quick trip if they wouldn’t have let me into the country.

I was traveling with a co-worker. Mr. Vivek Agarwal and he had arranged for his brother to pick us up at the airport as well as hosting us in his home for the evening.  When we arrived at the house and I was introduced to the Agarwal family and they greeted me with open arms.  We had a light traditional Indian dinner.  I finally got to bed about midnight and was up four hours later to get showered and dressed to catch the next flight to travel to Hyderabad India.

 

We arrived in Hyderabad by 8:30AM and then had meeting s all day once we arrived concluded by drinks and dinner.   We stayed at the Taj Krishna for the evening.  Once checked in, I crashed and crashed hard.  I was in bed by 10:00PM and didn’t awake until 6:30AM Thursday morning.   Felt great to finally get some sleep.

The hotel was nice and had a great buffet restaurant loaded with various Indian dishes.  I was pretty much a vegetarian the entire week I was there.   I did have eggs and one day I ate shrimp/prawns.   So basically I didn’t have any red meat.

On Wednesday afternoon we were treated to a tour of the old city and the market area.  Candy had asked me to find her some yarn while I was there and that is what I did.  It took some work and after several stops but we finally found some.  I wasn’t even sure if it was what she wanted or was looking for but I picked up several packages.  One of the folks I was with snapped a picture and I sent it to Candy.  She posted it in her yarn group and got over 1600 likes.  Hell I can’t even get that on our company facebook page.

Following the Old Market visit we traveled to Golconda Fort.  We hired a guide who gave us a quick tour with the hour that we had available.  The knowledge of acoustics that they had in the 14^th century is pretty incredible.

Below are a few pics from my two days in Hyderabad.

Taj Krishna Hotel

Buying Yarn in Hyderabad

Hyderabad Market

Vivek Agarwal at Golconda Fort

Golconda Fort

My First Cow Sighting

The Devil

Tonight I partook in a couple of cocktails,  I went to plug it into my fit-bit log and when I looked at the total I was reminded again about the evils of alcohol.

Hey

Working like crazy this last week and I don't see it slowing down.   If you haven't seen it already, we launched a new website: www.xtivia.com. Now we are planning for an Easter Egg hunt on our site.  Getting nervous about it, wanting everything to run smoothly.  We are raising money for charity and promoting the site at the same time. Two of our partners have agreed to match our donations. 

I have been walking most everyday so feeling good about that, logged 40/miles this last week.  Walking to and from work last week really helped the miles add up.   Friday was the only day that I didn't get out and walk.  

On Saturday I hiked over to the shop.  It was a great day out, sun shining and temperature in the 50's.  I went by myself and left Pebbles at home.   She was having a problem with her eye, not sure if she scratched or got something in it.   We rinsed it with saline and she seems to be fine today. 

I came across what looked like a newly created sink hole.  I was a little off the beaten path when I found it.  It was more of a deer trail than anything else.

I am home this week so I hope to be able to get some real distance in.   Going to have to get up early as I have some early morning calls.   I was hiking through Red Rock Canyon on Saturday.

Home Again

Wow, it is so good to be home.  This last week was a busy and fun one.   We had team meetings up in Breckenridge and there was a lot of planning that went into this to make it a success.   I think it went well, we just have a lot of work to do now.  The same week we launched our new website and that had some challenges, but we made it happen and it looks good.   We are working on a way to promote the new site and will focus hard and heavy starting tomorrow.

I really need to step it up, way up so I can be ready for my trip in a couple of weeks.  This last week I didn't get much walking in so I need to do it.   It was beautiful here at home yesterday and today.   The snow is starting to melt so I better plan for mud.

I rinsed the filters on the hot tub and added some water.  The birds we out chirping and looking for food.   I filled the feeders and then grabbed my camera.  I took me about 10 minutes to get these four pictures.

Playing catch-up.

I was traveling all last week in Austin and Houston.  Had a good trip, although long and got some work done.  Being that I was gone all week I was behind on my day to day and went into the office on Saturday to play catch up.

It started snowing on Saturday and turned cold, so I have not been out walking. I did spend most of the weekend shoveling snow and spent some time on the tread mill this evening so I could get 10K steps in.

Tonight I was playing around with Microsoft Paint and Power Point to see if I could impose myself or others into photo's.   I still need practice, but these are the two I came up with.

Colorado Birds

Last week I was out hiking and manged to get a few decent bird pictures.

It's Colorado

We had another beautiful day here in lovely Colorado.  Highs in the 50's and at 7:12PM it is cold and raining.  Most likely will turn to snow in the next couple of hours.  Don't think we are expecting much in accumulation, maybe an inch.  Might get icy out if the temperature drops quickly.

I need to get off my ass and get some walking in.  Today I drove as I had to get a shot and some medications for an upcoming trip to India.   Pretty excited and looking forward to seeing the country and living in the culture.  This is for work and I will be keeping pretty busy, but think we might have some time to see a few sites.

Received a shot for Hepitatus A and pills that I need to take for typhoid and malaria as well as some pills should I get Delhi Belly.  Delhi Belly was a term the nurse used today and found it comical, but wont if I get it.  I am traveling with a co-worker who has family in Delhi and we will be staying at his families home. We will make a trip down to southern India to Hyderabad for two days and then back up to Delhi. Should be a fun trip and looking forward to getting some business done.

Valentines Day is just around the corner, this is a make it or break it holiday for most men who are married or in a relationship.   I honestly believe that Valentines Day set's the tune for the entire year

Here are a few things you might not have known about Valentines Day.

• 11,000 Americans are conceived on this day, every year.
• Coincidence or not February 14th is also National Condom Day.
• More Viagra prescriptions are written for this day than all others.
• Two weeks after Valentines Day more pregnancy test are sold that any other time in the year.
• 13 percent of women send Valentines flowers to themselves because no one else did.

So my advice to you, is not matter how big or small the gift might be, she will love you for thinking about her.  Forget to get her a gift and I pity your next 364 days of existence.

Wow!

The last couple of days have been spectacular around here.  It has been in the 70's with clear skies and little wind.   Saturday we got out and hiked 6.5/miles through BCP, took the dogs with us.  Both of them were grinning ear to ear when we got home.

After our hike we spent an hour and half in the ATT store.   It was time for me to get a new phone so I upgraded to the iPhone 6+.   It is twice the size of the phone I was using and I am starting to get used to it.  I hope my new case shows up in the next couple of days.   I ordered a Sena iPhone 6+ wallet case, one additional way to downsize on stuff I have to carry with me.

Today I cleaned up over at the shop.   I had left several tools out and had sawdust that needed to be swept up.   Once I got it all cleaned up I pulled in the Avalanche and took the vacuum and cleaning wipes to the interior.  On my way home I stopped in at the car wash.   While I was at it I took Clark's truck down and washed it.   Clark is up in Ft. Collins this weekend and took the Rav.

Ranchero Update

Today I drove out to Falcon to visit with my paint and body guy.   He has made progress and looks like we will be in primer in a couple of weeks.  He is finishing up replacing the rocker panels and will remount the front fenders and align the hood.   I am guessing it will be another couple months before we are in paint.   Being that his full time job is a driver for UPS, he keeps pretty busy.

Oh boy, you betcha, yay

Beaver Creek Wilderness Area

I spent this week up in Toronto. Had to expedite my passport renewal in order to be able to make the trip.   Other than going through customs I really didn't notice a difference other than everything was in English and French, metric system in use and the currency.  I Rented a car from Avis, came out of the airport and drove past a Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Starbucks and stayed at a Hilton.

Beaver Creek Wilderness Area

Had good meetings and got to meet some very nice people.  The travel did get into my walking schedule and for the days I was gone I didn't get as many steps in as I should have.  Back home for a bit, so hopefully I will catch up.

Beaver Creek Wilderness Area

We did a nice hike this morning.   We drove down to Penrose and hiked in the Beaver Creek Wilderness area.   We were the only car in the parking lot, and had the place to ourselves.  This area doesn't get much use that I can tell.  It is tricky to get to.  It was a beautiful day and we had Pebbles with us.   We hiked about 4 miles and I am ready to go back. Afterwards we stopped in Penrose and got a smoothie and shared a sandwich. 

Beaver Creek Wilderness Area

I have our summer vacation all planned out.  Already got the airline tickets and house rented.   Pretty excited as we are going to be spending a week hiking up in Olympic National Park. I can hardly wait.

Vacation House

I went on to VRBO and rented a house on the Sol Duc River between Fork and Port Angeles.   This should be a great base camp for all the beach and forest activities we have planned.   One maybe two day's we will make a run over to Victoria, BC.   From my research, it looks awesome and has some great hiking and lots of waterfalls.

We have been watching Mick Dodge on NatGeo.  Mick hangs in the Hoh forest in Olympic National Park.  Yes I have also read up on the truth about Mick Dodge.  Either way, he most likely know's all the good spots, that most people don't get to and that's what I am looking for.  So to you NatGeo, if you are looking for a show, let me know.

Here is my walking chart for the last 28 days.   I need to step it up since I am home next week.   For the month of January, I am currently ranked #14 in the Colorado Springs fitbit group, and ranked #85 in the state fitbit groups that I belong to.