Thank you, sir.

The guy on the far left is my driver, Rama. The guy next to him is Mohan. He works for Ament and is a very pleasant fellow who has helped me out a lot since my arrival. I forget the guy on the far right, but he sold me the car. They decorated it with flowers and did a small religious ritual before handing me the keys, which I then handed to Rama.

Hot Sun, Cold Beer, Lazy Anthony

I heard it has been really cold in my former place of residence, Whatcom County. Well, here is a picture to warm you all up. In case you are wondering, the circle on the left is a jet pool and the half circle on the right is a bar. Most of the time I am in the office, but on the weekends I try to get away. Luckily, my friend Nick has a sick beach house with a private pool. It is only about a twenty minute drive from my house, which is nice, 'cause it wouldn't be worth it to drive more than twenty minutes for this.

Apodaca Overshadows Obama

If I had known that in celebrating Obama's victory I was going to steal momentarily his international spotlight, I might have thought twice about it. But since we don't have to worry about the polls anymore, I'll go with it. For those of you wondering about the headline, Chennai has somewhat of a nightlife problem, besides the fact that the whole city shuts down at 11pm. Actually, its kind of like living in Lynden, only 7 million people strong. I've gathered that because of cultural restraints, women do not typically go out as much as men, ergo the shortage of women in bars. Several places around town won't even let you in unless accompanied by a women. I'll never forget the first time I was denied entrance into a bar in Chennai. I felt like I was 18, trying to sneek into the Blarney Stone. Regardless of this rule, however, every time I have gone to one of these discriminatory places, pictured above, there is still way too many dudes there - as the article suggests.

Anthony Discovers Deezer

I'll credit Troy for this. Make your playlist here!

Discover Tom Waits!

Discover Rodrigo y Gabriela!

Discover The Cure!

Subway

I like Indian food a lot. Unfortunately, it is not treating my stomach so well these days, but I have found refuge in ordering sandwiches from the nearby Subway. However, I am increasingly frustrated by the fact that I cannot order a footlong even though it is on the menu. "Only six inch", they say. Is it too much to ask that they stop and think for one second about this proposition? Of course, I could do the work for them and order two six inchers, but the price is 139 bucks for a six inch and 224 for a footlong. So ordering two sixers would cost 54 bucks more. Even though I have explained this them over and over, and even though I put a Tamil speaker on the phone to explain it, they won't budge.

Of all the difficulties I have encountered in my time here, this one is putting me over the edge.

Mamallapuram

A few weeks ago, I traveled to the ancient city of Mamallapuram. And what luck, I ran into my fan club and a goat. On the way home Karthik was kind enough to let me drive his motorcycle back to Chennai! Don't worry mom; I purchased a helmet - although I am not sure if it is DOT approved. 

Traffic Excercise (for Rama)

If you have ever complained about traffic and you have not been to India, please try this exercise. You'll need to find a partner and a dog.

1. Tell your friend that starting today all of his household trash must be thrown into your garage. No bags, just toss it in the corners or wherever she or he feels like throwing it. 
2. Let the dog into your garage only to go potty. 
3. Turn the heat on in your garage so that as soon as you walk into it you begin to sweat. 
   
4. Wait one week for best results.
   
5. Go into the garage with your friend and have him start your car. Be sure to run the car for at least 15 minutes so that your garage fills with exhaust. For safety reasons you may crack the man door, but the big garage doors should remain closed.
   
6. Stand directly in front of your car and have your friend start honking. How long should you do this? Do this as long as you can. When you start to think to yourself that just one more minute of this would make your head explode, that means you only have 1 hour to go.
7. Switch with your partner and repeat.

After this you will find yourself much more relaxed in typical driving situations and other potentially frustrating situations. If you think I am exaggerating, I only have this to say. Today my auto rickshaw driver told me that all the honking here was starting to drive him nuts. Me too, Rama. Me too.