Flashback

I have been having some pretty severe India flashbacks recently, which are exacerbated by the dozens of Indians staying at our hotel.  I'm sure they are nice people, and I have nothing against them personally, but hey, I've already stayed at a hotel with Indians.  For eight months.  Also, this hotel has kitchens in every room, which is nice, but unfortunately, they are not very well ventilated, so whatever anyone cooks floods the hallways (and elevators and lobby) with the smell of whatever they cooked.  In case you weren't aware, Indians like to cook food - curries to be exact.  They like to cook it in their hotel-room kitchen.  Again, I will stress that all of this is fine and I have nothing against them cooking or curries in general.  What I do have a problem with is the curry smell that floats under my door and through my walls, permeating my dreams and giving me nightmares of Baroda.  I think I have PTSD.

Further enhancing my flashbacks are the photos my friend Dori sent me from our scavenger hunt party we attended shortly before we left.  I love the pictures, but am having a pretty severe reaction on a mental/emotional level just looking at them.  Maybe some people just aren't cut out for Gujarat.  Maybe I'm one of them.

 

Me, Ken (Dori's husband), and some other lady whose name I don't remember posing for one of our scavenger hunt pictures.  We had to take a picture of all of us in an auto.  Not sure if the driver needed to be there or if he just wanted to be included.  If I had to guess, I'd go with the latter.  

 

Us with one of the front entrance guys at the hotel. (Another mandatory scavenger hunt picture.)  I actually really liked him.  Once, he had a questionable mole or tumor or something cut off the back of his neck.  I know this because he wore a bandage around for a while and I finally had to get a translator to explain what happened.  On a lighter note, check out that mustache!

 

With Ronald.  Classic.  

I'd also like to mention (in case I haven't before) that my team came in second in the scavenger hunt.  Matt's team came in first.  BUT one of his team member's lived right across the street and had most of the items on the list already.  So he wins, but we'll put an asterisk next to it.  Matt 1*, Cait 100 (I'm counting all the things I win against him in life.  Like Boggle, Scrabble, Taboo, reading, writing and arithmetic, etc).  

 

Us celebrating our victories.  We look good in Indian accessories, no?  (The answer is no.  We don't.) 

In other news, Sunday is Mother's Day, and you know what that means:  Six Flags Great America!  Matt and I have made a semi-tradition of going to Six Flags on either Mother's Day or Father's Day for the past few years.  It's awesome because there are no lines, so we can ride the Superman as many times as our stomachs will let us!  More flags, more fun!

Go, Baby, Go!

Ahh, summertime in Chicago... there's nothing better (okay, probably Thailand is better, but I'm staying positive here).  We spent a pretty great and fun-filled weekend here in the Chicago area, without ever actually making it downtown... one of these days, we will.  Friday Matt got a half-day because UOP does summer hours (otherwise, he would have been at work 'till 5, of course) so we went and shopped until we dropped at none other than TJ (Maxx, that is... stay with me, people).  I've been to most all the TJs in the area, but Friday we found a new one in a different suburb!  Woo hoo!  The best part is, it wasn't all picked over by the richie riches like the one in Schaumburg is.  Anyway, shopping, though it feels good, is exhausting, so we toted all our purchases home and had a fashion show for each other.  Then a big storm moved in over the Chicago area, so I put my camera in a plastic bag, grabbed some beers (naturally) and headed outside to catch some lightning shots.  Of course I got drenched because while rain is supposed to fall down, that doesn't take into account the fierce Chicago wind that never stops blowing.  Needles to say, I didn't get any lightning shots.  I did get a couple of the wicked storm, but they don't really capture the fearsomeness of the moment.  Oh well.

   

Okay, it doesn't look very wicked in the picture, but it was.  

Friday night we tried to go to a few different bars with our man Seth (a fellow Arkansan, Go Hogs), but the power was out, so we were once again thwarted by the storm.  Saturday made up for it
though, by being beautiful outside, so we celebrated by heading out to gamble.  We went to the Arlington Park horse races which we had never seen despite the fact that it's only about 20 minutes away.  After paying an exorbitant fee for food (and then discovering you can, in fact, bring your own food), we decided to sit out on the first race and just make a friendly little wager with each other.  Of course my horse won (1st place!) and Matt had to pay me $5.

 

My first win: Gaelic Storm gave me a pretty hefty payout at $7.40.  That's $4.40 of pure profit, baby.  

After the real betting began, I was on fire!  I kept picking them, and they kept winning, and I was on top of the world!  (Side note: my betting strategy is very complex... I scan the list with my hands over the stats, and then I pick the name I like the best... I told you it was complex.)  I only lost once, (thanks a lot, "Fire Cloud") but my second choice for the race won it all... too bad I only made one bet.  Also, at one point we thought our horse "Ripe Tomato" was so bad he didn't even finish... much to our surprise, he actually came in first.  No one ever said we were pros.

 

Ripe Tomato crossing the finish line.  I even got a picture of it and I still didn't know we won.  

Anyway, "Color Me Blue" in the 4th race had the biggest payout at $7.80, and I thought Matt was going to lose it.  We were rich!  We ended up just under our initial $25 investment, only winning $24.80.  I wanted to keep going and win enough to pay for our beer, but Matt decided we should leave on a high note (or an even note), and didn't let me bet in the 8th race (incidentally, my choice for race 8 was "Cumulonimble" who won it all).  All in all, it was a pretty good day.

On Sunday, we finally realized my Six Flags dream, and went to the one in Gurney, IL, which is less than an hour away.  The crowds were bigger than we had anticipated, considering it was Father's Day, but I guess no one in Gurney cares about their dads, because they were all at the park.  We spent the first hour waiting in line for the Superman ride, and then headed off to find a less popular ride.  We never waited more than 20 minutes for any other ride the rest of the day!  It was awesome.  The Raging Bull roller coaster is my new favorite, as it has a 208 foot drop right at the beginning.  We rode it four times, and after the first time, the thrill does die down a little.  But only a little.

 

Us at the racetrack.  I didn't have one from Six Flags.  Also, Matt got a haircut (finally).  It doesn't look good here because it was all windy, but it does look good in real life.  Take my word for it.  

Anyway, that was our weekend.  Don't know anything new about India, except that it will probably be pushed back.  I think they're trying to wait out the rainy season so Matt can actually work.  Sounds like the smartest answer, but if I know India, they probably still just don't have the unit built yet.  In any case, either we'll be heading out this weekend, or we'll be in Chicago again, and we'll have to plan yet another amazing weekend.  Also, to all you dads out there, Happy Father's Day.  There, I said it.