The Thillerz on the Grillerz

Practice Run before BBQ contest

2008-03-24T15:22:00.000-07:00

The Team was able to have a practice run before the BBQ. The team had a lot of items to work thru before the practice run:

1. Work on T-shirts and aprons with our names
2. Needed a Tent at least 10X10 -really needed two - one with side walls-use to relax. Sam's has a great deal on tent
3. Needed tables to prepare food - FYI - Use PVC pipe cut at 13" to increase the height of the table - tables from Sam's plastic top rectangle and pvc from Lowes with cap on end.
4. Buckets - used for storage, clean water, bleach water. We used Home Depot buckets and glanvized buckets with large mouths for cleaning our cutting boards and knives
5. Grill - Needed three smokers - 2 650sq cooking briskets,butts, and ribs. 1 used one for chicken. then we had a weber round grill for lighting fires and dinner
6. Lights- couple lights -Nice big spot light that can be hung- like a shop light and flashlights
7. Need something for ashes - ash bucket and shovel
8. Water hoses and electrical cords
9. Need something that you can level your grills in case ground unlevel
10. Knives and scissors
11. Weights for tents in case your on Asphalt or concrete
12. Fan or Heat depending on temp.
13. Nice large cutting boards - Sams or Academy Sports
14. Determining wood - Academy Sports
13. Create a schedule- see example
5:30:00 PM Wednesday Pick-up grilles at Page's
8:00:00 PM Wednesday Complete Rubs
8:00:00 PM Wednesday Complete Sauce

5:30:00 PM Thursday Butcher Block meats
8:30 PM Thursday Complete Mops

9:00:00 AM Friday Load Ken's truck -Ken's House
10:00:00 AM Friday Load Robert's grill
11:00:00 AM Friday Grab Lunch
12:00:00 PM Friday Arrive at Gate for event
1:00:00 PM Friday Meat Approval
2:30:00 PM Friday Area Set-up
3:00:00 PM Friday
3:15:00 AM Friday Rub down Butt and inject
3:30:00 AM Friday Rub Down Brisket and inject
3:45:00 AM Friday Ribs in Cider and Lemon
4:00:00 PM Friday Chicken in Italian Dressing
4:00:00 PM Friday Cook Meeting/add table cloth after clean-up
5:00:00 PM Friday Regroup/after cook meeting
6:00:00 PM Friday
7:00:00 PM Friday Start Fire one grill and Weber/Gates open
7:30:00 PM Friday Mickey and Motorcars
8:00:00 PM Friday Start Butt and Brisket -one grill/cook hamburger
8:10:00 PM Friday Dinner Hamburgers
9:00:00 PM Friday Cross Canadian Ragweed
10:00:00 PM Friday
11:00:00 PM Friday
12:00:00 AM Friday Mop

1:00:00 AM Saturday Start fire for Ribs -other grill/Mop
2:00:00 AM Saturday Rub Ribs and mustard binder and add to grill/Mop
3:00:00 AM Saturday Mop
4:00:00 AM Saturday Mop
5:00:00 AM Saturday Start fire for Chicken/soak chips/prep smoker/Rub Chicken/ Mop
6:00:00 AM Saturday Breakfast/Mop/chicken to grill
7:00:00 AM Saturday Mop
7:45:00 AM Saturday Start Chicken chimney
8:00:00 AM Saturday wrap ribs in foil with mop/wrap brisket in foil mop
8:30:00 AM Saturday Add chicken chimney
9:00:00 AM Saturday Mop
10:00:00 AM Saturday Remove all meats and start fire in Weber for finishing needs
11:00:00 AM Saturday regroup/crisp skin
11:30:00 AM Saturday START PLATING CHICKEN
12:00:00 PM Saturday Chicken turn in/Gates Open
12:10:00 PM Saturday START PLATING RIBS
12:30:00 PM Saturday Rib turn in
12:40:00 PM Saturday START PLATING PORK
1:00:00 PM Saturday Pork turn in
1:10:00 PM Saturday START PLATING BRISKET
1:30:00 PM Saturday Brisket turn in
3:00:00 PM Saturday Bobby Flay Demo
5:00:00 PM Saturday Awards

Items we learned at the practice run:
1. We didnt want to be worrying about breakfast on turn in day. So we just had breakfast bars.
2. We couldnt use all of the cooking area and need to do somethign with the opening for smoker box to food box. We used a alum pan to keep flames from reaching the food.
3. We couldn't use the split wood at Academy sports because we couldn't control the temp. in the food box. The big piece caused temp to soar into the 400 degree range.
4. It rained during the practice run and we lost about 30 degrees during the rain. Also you need your items off the ground because alot of items got really wet.

5. We practice our turn in process. 30 minutes flys during turn in. We had one person preparing the turn in boxes and two people cutting and determining what to tpieces to turn in. Also the team gets a little tipsy at this point in the process so be sure to have this defined.

6. We really struggled with ribs. We just had no idea what to do with them.

Here are some pictures

Example of our practice turn in box:

How The Thillerz on the Grillerz was created summer of 2007

2008-03-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

All,

I had worked with Robert Guisinger and Page Thompson for at least 7 years. We had attended cooking classes at Viking in Franklin over the years and had a great time. We all love to cook from gourmet to simple open fire cooking. I had noticed an Ad for a BBQ contest at the Gaylord Hotel in Nashville for last weekend in September and I guess it was around May. At the time only Page owned a smoker and it was a very small upright water smoker. We all agreed that this was something we wanted to try even thought we really had no experience in smoking meat in a real wood smoker.

So over the next couple of months, Robert and me bought barrel smokers from Academy Sports and started using them to cook butts, ribs, and brisket. Page was working on the chicken using his smoker. We researched on to cook using smokers and what a BBQ contest would be like for beginners. They had a backyard classification but we decided that if we were going then we would do all four meats (butt, ribs, brisket, and chicken).

Picture attached is my first fire in smoker box -Too hot and burned box

Memorial Day

2006-06-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

Memorial beach trip

2006-06-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

March 10th Friday

2006-04-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

I went with Kris's group for dinner on Friday night before catching the plane back.. The place was a theme type dinner palace... IT was very neat place to go... Just don't drink the water.. Kris made the mistake and ended up sick..
picture of kris

I had three people on the other side of the see saw....
My dancing skills
Getting my mark...

March 9th Thursday

2006-04-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

Went out with my group the night before returning home.. The group gave me a gift. The gift is the God of Good Luck...

March 8th Wednesday

2006-04-04T20:04:00.000-07:00

Picture of KVR and me.. KVR is the gentleman who took me around Hyderabad during my trip..

March 7th Tuesday

2006-04-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

The bed looked like it was normal size but I actually had to lay across the bed to sleep

Monday March 6th

2006-03-07T07:12:00.000-08:00

Ok....I'm just laughing.... Two pictures from the water park .... Can you find me in the pictures....I can't stop laughing.... No more tonight........

Sunday Mar. 5th

2006-03-06T06:07:00.000-08:00

This pictures is taken at a card reader stand... He has a parrot and he lets the parrot out of a cage to pick a card. He will read the results from the card to you in Hindu language.... A couple of people went and then everyone wanted me to take a turn... So, I agreed the card was of the greatest Hindu god .... The whole group took a deep breath..... So the card said I was very independent, financial successful after March 15th, and was a great leader...... Man--nailed it.....
This poor kid had to ride the Ferris wheel with me.... He was a nervous wreck....
I took this picture because if a truck breaks down outside of town then they leave the truck in the middle of the road and work on the truck... In the morning the truck was in the road and in the afternoon was still in the middle of the road but people were working on the truck.... I saw others jacked up and I guess they were waiting on parts to fix...

Sat March 4th

2006-03-05T00:25:00.000-08:00

The entrance to Mount Opera from the bottom of the hill
The view from the top of the Ferris wheel
The team left to Srinavas,Wenkat,Seeresha,Chandini,Sarvani, Kdub,Ashwini,Anjaiah, and Praveen
The ladies in the grounds of Mount Opera
Views from the Ferris Wheel
Pictures of the Water park -wave pool and boat ride and you can't see the water slide is the right.
Sarvani and Praveen posing...
More group pictures at the go karts.
Another wreck........Sarvani wrecking
Bumper cars...
Wenkat on top of the big mushroom..
more bumper cars
Sliding chair.
Sliding chair..... I had to past on this ride ---I wasn't sure about the weight limit..
We couldn't get the planes to start.. I think they had sometype of power issue.
Pictures from the Columbus ride.

I took the group to a amusement park called Mount Opera.

We had a fun day.... The park reminds me of the old fairgrounds amusement park. The best part of the day was watching the group drive the go karts. Most of the group don't drive. I don't believe anyone drove the go karts without crashing and almost rolled one of the karts....

After lunch we went to the water park.... OK OK here we go.....No one swims in India so this was a real treat for Anji and Praveen. The rest of the group just set in the stand while we went swimming.

First thing - No one owns swim trunks so they give you these old nylon shorts that look like gym shorts. I had included my swim trunks so it wasn't a problem but I can tell you that they didn't have shorts that would have fit me....and I'm not sure I would've wanted to wear them..

So, I go into the changing room, showers,and restroom area. I guess they all freaked out. I could here everyone leaving and shouting American... I changed and everyone was standing outside the door and the manager came down but no one said anything to me.... So anyone we changed an went out into the park.......

I will have to load a picture that shows me in the pool with everyone because it is ease to pick me out in the crowd....

So, When I was at the pool I was like a celebrity everyone wanted to talk with me and get pictures of me with their kids.....

Here is the picture for swim wear--- Men wear shorts with no shirt... Woman wear their full clothes then switch back into another set.. The women didn't ride the slides but they did get into the wave pool and this thing called RainDance --- Dancing is very big in India ---SO it is water spraying from the ceiling and loud music and everyone is dancing around....

Friday March 3rd

2006-03-05T00:03:00.000-08:00

Pictures from bottom up--The storage for guns, cannons, and etc.... In the first picture you can see the holes in the wall to put your weapon...

Lot of talk about Bush coming thru town. He had three blackhawks over Hyderabad traveling at a high rate of speed. I scanned thru the papers about his trip. I think in general it was good reviews. They have a couple of parties that don't like the U.S. but for the most part everything is good. I know the news was talking about all of the riots happening in town but I walked around the city out in the opening with out any problems.

I got refitted for my suits. We made a few adjustments and I ordered some custom cotton shirts at $15 US dollars a piece. We got a late start for the stores so we had late dinner and I didn't get into bed until about 2am and I have a trip planned at 8:30 for a outdoor outing..

Thursday March 2nd

2006-03-04T23:33:00.000-08:00

More pictures of the fort.

I went shopping to today... We went to Hyderabad Central and I bought some gifts and I had two custom suits made one tux and one regular suit. The stitching for two suits were 4200 rubies equal to less than $100 US dollars. The fabric wasn't bad I just need a lot of fabric for my suits. The total for 2 suits was less than $400 US dollars. They had Gucci fabric and I could have gotten a Gucci fabric suit for less than $200 US dollars..

Wednesday March 1st

2006-03-04T23:12:00.000-08:00

Pictures from the Fort and picture of my baby girl.....

Most of everything happening today is at Home:
We have two offers on the house and the first offer had a clause that they need to sell their house first. They removed the clause today and will start the process to close on our house even if they own their original house.

It has been funny(not really) to watch Kris go through the whole Jet Lag issue. Unable to sleep at night and unable to stay awake during the day.. He has traveled home before and never had this problem but he was also on vacation so he could rest at anytime.

We went to a restaurant called Fusion 9 the price is in line with American dining. This is the first place I have seen woman having drinks. More Westerners having dinner here than locals. They have another lounge and restaurant above this one and the restaurant above had sushi and beef. Finally a comfortable dinner after 3 weeks..

Tuesday Feb. 28th

2006-03-01T06:46:00.000-08:00

Last day of Feb... So, I had two house guest on Monday Yash--CTO and Kris - CM both are from the US office. Yash stayed Monday night and returned to the US on Tuesday. Kris is staying until March 11th.. He is from this area so I will learn more information similar to having Dinesh around.

OK----Here we go again. The first picture is a automatic mosquito sprayer that is in every room. If you remember from my first week that I had a couple of days fighting the little blood suckers...Well it seems that the house boy forgot to fill my sprayer....
Second picture ---This is the filter for water which seems fine but you have two buttons on this little puppy.... One starts the filtering of water and the other starts the flow of water to you cup or bottle. The flow doesn't happen instantly but has a delay......So here is the problem. So, Sunday I was home alone and I turned the filter and flow on at the same time. Went back to my room for something got caught up in TV and the next thing I know I have flooded the guest house.... I couldn't take a picture because it was to embarrassing.....

Monday Feb. 27th

2006-02-27T09:31:00.000-08:00

Received second offer on the house..... Making counter today...

Nothing special today so I'm loading more pictures from the fort.

Sunday Feb. 26th

2006-02-27T08:56:00.000-08:00

So, I have been asking the guys about what is the night life in India like... because everything I read says woman can't go into pubs unless they are a couple(with man). I was like then what do single men and woman do to meet. So, I went to a pub with top picture is Bosey (HR director) and bottom is of Subba roa (business development) and Naidul. So, Here is how the night went... We had snacks at the bar and I had my first american beer in 2 weeks BUD... So, the DJ played 80's rock music - Steve Miller, Van Halen, and etc.... All guys and one couple... then the band started playing. The bands as I understand it will always have asian woman in them. So this band had two asian woman who sang and dance (not bad). A couple more couples entered and about 20 guys until about 11:30. The band stopped and the DJ started Disco music and out of the blue three single woman entered and I turned to Bosey to ask if more people will start coming out and by the time I turned around the women were gone and the lights came on..... If your single in this town you have about a five min. window to make your move... Anyway it was fun to see what happens in the night life in India. NOT MUCH......

Sat. Feb. 25th

2006-02-25T11:10:00.000-08:00

The kids see a white person speaking english they just flock to you. They were just going crazy I took pictures of them and they were so happy..... They followed me over Golkonda Fort which you will see the pictures of below. ANYWAY.... THE KIDS WANTED TO TELL EVERYONE IN THE U.S.---HOW ARE YOU!!!-----
The acoustics in the fort is unbelievable you can hear a person clap inside the build from over a mile away... You can see the technique used to allow the sound to travel long distances.

This is taken from the top of the fort. The fort was first built in 1316AD

This building was added in the 1600's.

The picture above is of the water quarry they have three watering tanks around the fort and this is the only one with water. They were very large watering tanks.
The fort is 7 miles wide. This is the back side of the fort. You can see the size of the structure.
Pictures from the entrance
We were standing on this rock and we could hear the person in the middle structure at the bottom of the hill clapping.
The Hammer at the top of the fort looking for water and some more oxygen. Probably climbed 20 stories at this point with out stopping....
One for the mosque on the hilltop
View from the hill top ... Click and enlarge zoom in on the round top buildings..

So the pictures are from a trip to the Golkonda Fort. You will see more over the next week. I was very impressed with the fort. The things are so different in the states. Instead of keeping the area trimmed they just burn everything. So you see areas in the fort that have been burnt to kill the weeds. The other thing is no one has trash cans so garbage is all over the fort. I feel sorry for the people of India because they will continue to destroy their great national treasures...

Friday Feb. 24th

2006-02-25T10:52:00.000-08:00

The pictures are from around the city. Bottom to top-- The first picture is a cricket stadium. The stadium is located in the center of town. Cricket is the national sport and I expected to see people playing all over town. I have only seen one group of people playing and they are the neighbors to the guest house. I just liked the tower. The other pictures is a golden statue in front of the office. They have golden statues of their heroes all around town. Maybe spending a little more money on a water supply would be better spent money than golden statues..... I guess whatever floats your boat....It just want be water......

Thursday Feb.23th

2006-02-23T09:39:00.000-08:00

This is within a block of the guesthouse I'm staying in.. This is the best area in Hyderbad...I don't think I need to say much more.... so different. By the way this is lamb(goat)....

Wednesday Feb. 22nd

2006-02-23T09:27:00.000-08:00

I didn't feel good on Wednesday from all of the grease in the foods but the thought of posting these pictures of Dinesh helped me make it thru the day..... The MAN IN WHITE...

Enjoy..

Tuesday Feb. 21st

2006-02-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

So, Niaducel likes to show me off. He takes me into a clothing store and ask them to get the largest shirt in stock. This shirt was a size 48. The shirt fit to about middle chest. Everyone was laughing........ On Sunday he made me get on the scales... I weighted over twice his weight...laughing.....

Sent Dinesh off tonight back to the states.... I have some pictures I will post later since I was able to get some of his wedding pictures off his camera.........

Monday Feb. 20th

2006-02-23T09:03:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of Monday night's dinner. We had three bowls of gravy (two lamb and one vegetable),Large bowl of rice with lamb, four small white bowls of sauces (to the right by plate) , and four breads. This cost a total of $5.50. This food is about to kill me... If you look real closely to the top two gravies you will see a grease liquid on the top... This grease is dragging me down,... but the food is so GOOD>>>>>

Sunday Feb. 19th

2006-02-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

I hope I didn't confuse anyone with the snow picture but I received the picture from my brother in law from Saturday in Springfield, TN . Everyone enjoyed the snow pictures in India.

Ok---Back to my blogging about my trip...

The pictures in my discussion will be from bottom up:

Hyderabad, India has all kinds of fountains in the town. The picture above is of one of the many fountain's in the area. The thing about the fountain's are they are dry..... and collecting garbage. They have a major water shortage in Hyderabad ,so why so many fountains?? The picture above the fountain is the major river in Hyderabad as you can see over the fence it is lush grass and palm trees.

The next pictures are of the markets that the Muslim rioters destroyed on Friday afternoon and the large mosque you can see from the car window and the side with the great arch is the location that the rioters were praying then went out into the streets and by passed the Muslim vendors but attacked the Hindu vendors. I'm pretty sure the Hindu vendors have nothing to do with the Danish cartoons.... Anyway --- You will notice all pictures are taken from inside the car... 10,000 vs 1 American didn't like the odds.

Pictures from Saturday night

2006-02-21T09:44:00.000-08:00

Pictures are of Dinesh and (Naiducel)Driver, Niaducel and me, and me at the outdoor dining area.

Feb. 18th Saturday

2006-02-18T02:24:00.000-08:00

I HAD TO INCLUDE A PICTURE OF MY GIRL........

Sorry again for the quality of picture but again this is the drive to work . If you look at the picture your unable to see the head of the guy behind the counter. The reason is the carcasses of goats are hanging in front of him. Remember it is already in the 80's by the time we are going to work. I cannot even imagine what this area smells like by mid afternoon when the temp is in mid 90's. This will make you think about eating only vegetables.....

The car came by an picked me up tonight and we went by the office to pick-up Dinesh. Dinesh wanted to go by the outdoor food court area that you can see statue of Buddha in the middle of the lake. We walked around the area and they had a kids area with Merry Go Around and this is the funny thing -------a mechanical bull.... This was so funny watching the kids ride the bull.. They have a boat that will take you out to the Buddha statue. We are going to come back and take the boat to make pictures. We had dinner had O'Hari this is considered the finest restrauant in the area. Dinesh and me decided we like the Hyderabdad House best which is a cafteria type place and probably the cheapest.

Ok -- They are freaking out about me drinking more than two beers...... You will the see the picture of the beer I had tonight.. Royal Challenge. They come in large bottles just like me and Mike C. like it.......

Feb. 17th Friday

2006-02-18T01:36:00.000-08:00

Above --- I have been giving the housekeeper (Srinivas) a hard time about the issues in the house. I had no cable in my room and the lock to bathroom would lock you into the toilet area and you would need to call for help. I told him if he didn't get these items fixed I would make him into dog bait. So, he decided to make my bed in pink on Friday morning. He also has been telling stories to Dinesh how I drink beer. So here I go with my take on drinking alcohol in India. We ate in multiple restaurants around the city and until Wednesday night and this is still the only place that has served alcohol for dinner. As I understand it you have two types of restaurants one for families and one for adults. They only have a few for adults. The reason is after one to two drinks people get loud and rowdy. This comment is for Frank B.----- I have yet to find anyone who serves wine so I would suggest not taking a trip to India------. So, now going back to the comments from the housekeeper to Dinesh. I guess I was setting around Sunday night working on the computer and drinking beer. I think maybe at best I had five beers, the housekeeper had never seen anyone drink so much beer and he couldn't believe how little affect it had on me....... See picture above of the beer --Kingfisher----

I had a very good day at work and I think the group is responding well to training. So, just as I was getting ready to leave for the day I was informed that the Muslims had rioted in the old part of the city this morning and they wanted me to return to the house and they would bring in food. This area was under Muslim rule for 1000 of years so they have a large population and tend to follow what happens in Pakistan unlike other areas of India. So, I'm very concerned over this and I was even able to pick the story up on national news.

Feb. 16th Thursday

2006-02-18T00:55:00.000-08:00

Pictures above are places we go by every morning on the way to work. Sorry about quality of picture --taken in a moving car. I thought the cemetery was interesting because of the headstones and the colors. The U.S. cemeteries are always so gray because of the headstones. The India cemeteries look like somewhere you might play miniature golf. You will find temples like this one around every corner in the city.

Bad day at work.. I'm so exhausted from working all day and all night answering e-mails from U.S. I'm also unable to sleep more than 2 hours at a time. After work, I went home had dinner and went straight to bed.

***I think it was official today----We sold the house I signed the contract and faxed back to U.S. (fax cost 2 dollars for 7 min. fax not bad).*****

Feb 15th Wednesday

2006-02-18T00:30:00.000-08:00

The picture above is taken about one block from the house. This land had a sign that said owned by the government. As you can see not a lot of trees hence why the housing is built out of concrete. Here is the reason I'm showing this picture ---they don't have large machinery to do building or destruction of buildings. So, If they are demolishing a building they break it apart by hammer so thru out the city at times it looks like a war zone because it takes so long to take a building down. Also, they mix concrete by hand and use hand tools to build houses, roads, office complexes, and etc....

Work was fine today. After work we went to a Outdoor Dining area with multiple places to eat for dinner. This was very similar to the Outdoor dining in the U.S. and I had a great time. They have been ordering lamb dishes for me and tonight I found out that lamb means goat in India. I would like to thank Dinesh for the insight on LAMB.......The Goat dishes are very good and I would suggest ordering them over any chicken or seafood dishes .

Feb 14th Tuesday

2006-02-14T09:52:00.000-08:00

The only thing that was worth blogging about today is Dinesh's returned to the Guest House from visiting his family. Dinesh has worked at Edgenet about 4 years and attended Vanderbilt. So, he is helping me with my team members name. He is also explaining in more detail things I see and hear.

Here is my advice column for travelers to overseas:
The picture above is the water heater for the bathroom. It is about the size of a 10 gallon bucket. The beauty of this baby is it is on a light switch that is kept off until about 15 minutes prior to your shower. I had a great cold shower after being on a plane for 2 days.
I suggest finding this little baby first when arriving to your destination. Also don't turn the hot on full blast because you will be out of hot water before you can enter the other side of the shower curtain. Second cold shower.....

Monday Feb 13th

2006-02-13T08:49:00.000-08:00

Some great post -- BABA hasn't called yet so I might be off the hook...
--I'm teaching the house keeper how to clean.... He just needed directions.

First workday. I ask to be to picked up at 8:30am to arrive at work at 9:00am. I went to the downtown office. I was very impressed-- they had me set-up with access to everything by 9:15 am. I basically have handlers who come by and check on me to verify everything is fine. The two people are KVR and Subba. They are very nice and KVR is going to put about 50 lbs on me before I return home. He just keeps ordering food for me. He is like no eat more......

Meeting the group for the first was very interesting. I expect timid and soft spoken but I received outspoken and aggressive. I really liked the response I received from the group.
I would rate the day as 8 out of 10. I would have expected 3 out of 10. Exceeded my expectations in all fronts.

Nothing exciting today other than the car ride and walking across the traffic.

I'm going to explain Hyderabad traffic the best way I can. I'm trying to create a video of driving in traffic to give people a visual of the ride to work.

*** The traffic is like millions of bees funneled down a tube about 2 inches in diameter and they are coming thru the tube at both ends.**
Cars are on all sides of the road going east, west, north and south and they are just honking their horn. A red light doesn't mean stop if you believe you can work thru the traffic to the other side. Then dummy me walked across the street in this traffic today..

Pictures from the 12th

2006-02-12T06:37:00.000-08:00

Image of shops on the street -

Picture of the main bridge to the old city with top of hosiptal in the background.

Feb 12th Sunday

2006-02-12T05:54:00.000-08:00

Last night I couldn't sleep because of mosquitoes attacking me. I actually had to spray myself with bug repellent. I have spent the whole time in the house today killing mosquitoes.

I went to the Salar Jung Museum. It took 4 hours to go thru the museum. Here is my thoughts on the Museum... The collection was very interesting from textiles, guns, swords, wood and ivory carvings, Paintings, and sculptures in marble and wood. The sculpture called the Lady in the Veil was out of marble but I swear it looked like she had on a silk garment. The thing I was most disappointed with was the housing and upkeep of the artifacts. The textiles had moth balls all around them and things were open to touch even though they had no touch signs. Nothing was behind air tight glass and that was a shame. This collection will continue to detoriate if they don't change how the items are stored. We are extremely fortunate in the U.S. to have grants to preserve our heritage.

They also had a special exhibit at the museum called the Nizams' Jewellery. This was separate from the rest of the museum. They had special police guarding the exhibit and you get patted down by the police twice. The police have machine guns at every point in the exhibit. The Jacob diamond was on display and it was the size of a golf ball. The jewels were absolutely beautiful. The emeralds and rubies were so clear in greens and reds in very large caret sizes. I would guess anywhere from 10- 20 carets size for many of the emeralds and diamonds.

Sorry I don't have any pictures from the museum they wouldn't allow me to bring my camera into any parts of the museum.

Feb.10th and 11th

2006-02-11T07:17:00.000-08:00

Picking up from arriving in Amsterdam one hour early. Again I need to go to the other end of the terminal. I was unable to see anything outside of the terminal gates but I did see something I thought was interesting. First item was a Casino in the terminal with the baby and kids area beside the casino. I walked around the duty free area which had a shop with video games,movies and huge section of adult movies just like it was nothing. The prices seemed very expense in the duty free shops.

Once I arrived at my gate I knew I was in trouble. It look like 500 people waiting to board a plane that handles 230 people. So I'm the last person to board and I'm in the front of the plane. I look at all the people seated and only two spots are open next to each other. So, I go to my seat assignment and how luck can I be..... My seat is the aisle seat and the next seat is empty and the person on the other side is from India but he is my size. I'm thinking to my self how luck can one person be... If someone had been between us it would be a terrible flight because the arm of my seat will not move to allow more room.

I'm settling in for my flight when the stewardess says here is your seat SIR...... YES..YES.. The third largest guy on the plane is seated next to me. So, I travel the next 4400 miles with an elbow in my kidneys... I must have had to visit the restroom 10 times..... I believe I lost a kidney over IRAN when we hit an air pocket. The other thing that happen as soon as he was seated they delayed the take off for 1 hour because of video problems. I could have lived without the video........

The guys name was BABA and he lives in Chicago and is visiting India for the first time in 10 years. He wants to meet me and take me out for dinner. His best friend owns the largest catering service in Hyderabad.

On the 11th, I slept to around 1 pm and then updated the blog to around 3:00pm. Around 5:00pm Subba and his driver arrived to take me to the grocery store. I bought cleaning supplies, breakfast food, diet cook (LaShawntey tell Rachel I have Diet Coke so everything is alright),beer, and water.

I arrived back to the house and started cleaning the my bathroom. My housekeeper didn't see me cleaning the bathroom because he would have been mad that I didn't ask him to clean the room. I went into the kitchen and started cleaning and he took over until I was satisfied everything was clean. They clean the house but not to my standards.

I showed the housekeeper my family and he things I look like my mother (Thank God). I showed him my house and cars. I thought he was going to pass out.........

I'm just not very comfortable with someone to pick-up after me.

BY THE WAY--- MIKE CRABB----I received an offer on the house on Friday Feb. 10th. DANG IT>>>>

View from outside balcony

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Living area of the house

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Pictures of Kitchen and dining room and view from dining

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You will notice the view from the dining is actually the laundry room. This room is open area with washing machine/dryer and sink. Clothes are air dryed too..

My room and bath

2006-02-11T01:59:00.000-08:00

Feb. 9th -Day for Trip

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I got up early and went to have Bama's car checked for emission's to get her tags before I leave.

I dropped Kenly off at school then went to work a couple of hours.

Left work around 11:00pm went to County clerks office to pick-up tags for Bama's car and stop by Whitts carryout for lunch. I'm going to miss the sweet tea.......

My parents went to pick-up Kenly and meet us at home for lunch. I loaded the car and believe it our not it all fit in the trunk of the car.

I flew from Nashville to Memphis in a middle seat. Short trip so not bad but it was just the start of things to come....

I had to transfer to the other side of the terminal in Memphis so in the process I thought maybe I should look for the KING........ The shops are full of Elvis junk in the airport....

We leave on time from Memphis to Amsterdam. I load everything into my seat unfortunately
I didn't re check my seat number so I was in the wrong seat and had to move across the aisle to a section with 4 seats and I was in the aisle seat. This is the only section with 4 guys assigned to all seats.....The two guys in the middle moved right before the plane took off so I had a empty seat beside me for the trip. I was able to sleep about 4 hours on this trip. I took some Tylenol PM and it seemed to work.

Day before leaving Feb. 8th

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I went to Target after work. I bought valentine cards and gifts at Target since I will be gone for Valentine's Day. I also pick-up some snacks for the trip from Target.

I bought a backpack at REI and went home to back for the trip. I went thru a half dozen luggage combinations before settling on a duffle bag as a carry on bag, large rolling bag, and one garment bag. I packed a small Indiana Jones type bag in my other bag for carrying items around town.
I 'm going to return the backpack to REI because I couldn't pack the items I needed in the backpack.

I meet my parents for dinner at Bricks in Nolensville and I probably ate my last steak for a month........

I was unable to sleep stressing over the trip.

2 days before leaving

2006-02-07T19:36:00.000-08:00

Today I had an attorney (Stephen Young) prepare a Will, Living Will , and Dual Power of attorney. Realization that I'm actually leaving for my trip is beginning to set in.

Spoke with the gentlemen about how to find my driver at the airport in India. I will be staying in a house with a maid and a driver. I might need to work as soon as I get to India at Saturday at 1:00am and he gave me numbers and they will help me get the wireless set-up. I went by REI on the way home a brought volt adapters , blow-up pillow in the U shape for airplane, bug repellent, iodine for water if I need to drink unclean water, over the neck carrier for under clothes to carry documents, and 2 pair of hiking pants.

Started packing more into the bag. Medicine like aleve, therm-flu, chapstick, sunscreen, tums, toothpaste, tooth brush, malaria medicine, PM TY, diarrhea medicine from doctor and over the counter, soap, and shampoo. Got my camera out and cord for computer. Also trying to decide if I should buy a backpack or take a smaller bag? Decided not to take the Xbox because of video in Pal.

Tomorrow - I will make copies of my passport and dual power of attorney for office, home and to carry with me.

Weekend prior to leaving 2/5/2006

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1. Got my luggage out and pack some bags
2. Focused on taking the same colored clothes for same shoes,belts, and socks.
3. Bought 3 western books
4. Bought 2 books on India
5. Bought a DS handheld with golf,football, Mario racing, and poker from Game Crazy
6. Got my Ipod with computer charger and individual speakers for house.
7. Still trying to decide if I should take my Xbox????

Things you need to do prior to leaving for India

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* Make sure you have a certified copy of your birth certificate.

1. You will need to contact Vanderbilt’s International Travel Clinic http://www.vanderbilttravelclinic.com/booklet/ to see what shots/pills, etc you need prior your trip.
2. Fill out visa application: http://www.americanpassport.com/images/forms/India.pdf )
3. Fill out Passport - http://www.americanpassport.com/download_ds11_online.html
4. Go to UPS store and have 4 passport photos.
5. Get two copies of a cover letter discussing your trip and who you will be seeing in India. This letter needs to be on letterhead and signed by HR in black ink.
6. If standard process then you don't need a letter authorizing hand delivery. If not standard process then you need a letter authorizing hand delivery.
7. Get travel schedule(if available), authorization letter (if needed) cover letter, drivers license, birth certificate, passport forms, two pictures, and go to Post Office in Franklin or Main Post 0ffice in Nashville.
8. Mail all the information to american passport company.
9. Took 9 business days to get visa and passport

Preparing for Trip to India

2006-02-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

Date 2/3

Received my passport and visa last night. I while start taking my pills today for malaria.