We're off to New York City
See some friends
Buy some clothes
Visit some old haunts
Get scanned for possible cancer
You know the score.
trouble with scans every 12 weeks is that you get scanned, wait two weeks for results and then relax for a bit - knowing that all is fine. Until BAM it's week 10 and you need to start the whole insurance clearance thing again. Every cough becomes evidence of a tumor. Every twinge a sign of internal organs being forced aside by something malignant.
Doesn't help that both Jude and I are having really vivid dreams about my being positive this time and needing to go back into treatment. And I don't really have vivid dreams. It's pathetic how deep my subconscious is buried. Really sad.
Still I'm here. We have New York, Las Vegas, Miami, Montreal, Mexico City and Buenos Aires on the trip calendar. Jobs we like. A place we love. And an expectation of a summer that will be outdoorsy, glamor filled and unlike anything we've ever done before.
Cool times ahead ---> and I really didn't think I'd be here in 2008 to say that
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Rash
So today I woke up with my eyes dry and flaking, with an angry red rash at my elbows and with the urge to scratch until bleed. It's really annoying as I know that all I need is a decent steroid cream and the whole thing will be fine. But being the US I need insurance clearance, a doctor's referal and a note from a specialist. All of which takes time and money and energy. Oh for 'socialized medicine'
Of course socialized medicine is one of the big "It's communism!" no-nos here in the US. Never mind that the US is slipping down the health leagues and that close to 1 in 6 people have no coverage ---> the thought of state control of the system fills people with horror and has lobbyists shaking in their tassled loafers.
Of course nobody minds 'socialized firegfighters' or 'socialized elementary school teachers' - it's just the medicine bit that frightens. Which is a crying shame. Especially for those who spend their lives in fear of illness and the bills that it might bring.
Now lots of the people running for president are paying lip-service to health but they're also being funded by the healthcare and insurance company industries (at least those with enough money to win are anyway) so the chance of real change is slight.
And "change" is the word of 2008 so far. Hillary is a proven agent of change. Obama hopes for change. Romney changes positions on change every 20 mins. You're either an agent for change driven by a personal agenda or you're dead in the water. Even Guilliani (the man who pretty much destroyed the nightclub scene in NYC with his dancing regulations and who placed the command centre for disaster response in the world trade center despite cries not to do it) is now an agent of change.
It's ridiculous. It's as though the electorate are bums and the people we have to choose from are offering loose coins. I for one am for the status quo - until the Bloomberg - Schwartzenegger challenge - at which point I'm for the billionaire and the nazi groper
Of course socialized medicine is one of the big "It's communism!" no-nos here in the US. Never mind that the US is slipping down the health leagues and that close to 1 in 6 people have no coverage ---> the thought of state control of the system fills people with horror and has lobbyists shaking in their tassled loafers.
Of course nobody minds 'socialized firegfighters' or 'socialized elementary school teachers' - it's just the medicine bit that frightens. Which is a crying shame. Especially for those who spend their lives in fear of illness and the bills that it might bring.
Now lots of the people running for president are paying lip-service to health but they're also being funded by the healthcare and insurance company industries (at least those with enough money to win are anyway) so the chance of real change is slight.
And "change" is the word of 2008 so far. Hillary is a proven agent of change. Obama hopes for change. Romney changes positions on change every 20 mins. You're either an agent for change driven by a personal agenda or you're dead in the water. Even Guilliani (the man who pretty much destroyed the nightclub scene in NYC with his dancing regulations and who placed the command centre for disaster response in the world trade center despite cries not to do it) is now an agent of change.
It's ridiculous. It's as though the electorate are bums and the people we have to choose from are offering loose coins. I for one am for the status quo - until the Bloomberg - Schwartzenegger challenge - at which point I'm for the billionaire and the nazi groper
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Photos and stuffn
So it feels as though things are ramping up here. Whilst at an exhibition of the rather dull pictures of Arthur Miller (yes, THAT one) I got talking to a guy who invited me to go with him to the most derelict sites in Detroit "when the light is right" to try a 'photo safari'
Then I have a photography class starting in a couple of weeks. Plus an invitation to a meet of a group of Flickr photographers. All rather splendid and I'm sure rather enjoyable (when the weather gets above -15c)
I do love taking pics, though it's been a while since I've ventured out to take any. It's what I do in the absence of spatial or visual awareness. Oh and talent. I do lack talent. Jude has an eye for composition, I have a mind for technical detail. I'd be a great assistant. She'd be a great 'artist'
Still I am still getting out into the world and new people always come with such possibility. I just might like it here.
Then I have a photography class starting in a couple of weeks. Plus an invitation to a meet of a group of Flickr photographers. All rather splendid and I'm sure rather enjoyable (when the weather gets above -15c)
I do love taking pics, though it's been a while since I've ventured out to take any. It's what I do in the absence of spatial or visual awareness. Oh and talent. I do lack talent. Jude has an eye for composition, I have a mind for technical detail. I'd be a great assistant. She'd be a great 'artist'
Still I am still getting out into the world and new people always come with such possibility. I just might like it here.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Auto show fever
So the Detroit Auto Show is in full swing and while it's probably the 2009 Ford F150 truck that's the most important new vehicle in terms of the industry (it's the biggest seller in the US) most of the buzz has been around the new, bejewelled, Lincoln. I have to say that is is a looker and the video makes it look like a Miami Penthouse on wheels but I'm not sure that I'd actuallyu drive one. It's all a bit too conspicuous for me.
Interesting to see lots of energy around more sustainable cars but while people are talking about how in the future their Tank like SUVs and slinky sports cars will be run on the smiles of children and on the pollen that makes you all hayfeverish there are a couple of actual advances already available. They have names like EcoBoost which in a country with a mania for 'more' isn't bad at all. It's the Pepsi Max vs. Diet Coke thing - you want more or you want less?
Car I've pictured is the concept for a baby Hummer. They're calling it HX but it's really an H4 - designed to compete with the smaller jeeps. Beats offsetting the bad you do with a 'Hummer Helps' campaign asking drivers to show up when disaster strikes. Actually that was clever - talks about capabilities and ruggedness while looking like it has a heart.
Not sure I've seen anything that I'd kill to own this year - though the European Verve looks interesting
More on Thursday - after I've been given a guide walk through of the whole show (!)
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Back on the Reformer
I started back with Pilates today. I love just how German it all is. Lots of equipment and rules about movement and range of movement. I love that the machines have names like The Reformer. And I love my new Sewdish instructor. She has a Volvo. She's blonde. Doubtless she beats herself with twigs whilst listening to Abba at steam room swingers parties.
But today I remembered the importance of breath. I opened up my chest some. I stretched my (rock solid) hamstrings and I started to feel just a little bit better. It's good this Pilates stuff.
Now to the vet with the animals (annual check up time, rabies shots all around) and then into work for a quick meeting with the 'big guy' while Jude stays home and works on an abstract for a conference paper.
Sun's shining too
But today I remembered the importance of breath. I opened up my chest some. I stretched my (rock solid) hamstrings and I started to feel just a little bit better. It's good this Pilates stuff.
Now to the vet with the animals (annual check up time, rabies shots all around) and then into work for a quick meeting with the 'big guy' while Jude stays home and works on an abstract for a conference paper.
Sun's shining too
Friday, January 11, 2008
The things you see in Michigan
One of the best things about Michigan in the winter is that as you drive around you see weird cars everywhere. They tend not to have badges on them. And to be disguised in some way. The wheels are quite often just black with no real decoration. They sometimes wear weird bits of vinyl. Or sometimes - like this one, they just show up at a party in all of their finery.
Michigan you see is not only the home of the US Auto industry, it's also the home of cold weather testing. So when people want the cars to look cool they ship them to parties in the vicinity. When they want to see whether they start in the cold they drive them around test tracks here.
I'm sure that there are people here who make their money out of spy shots and compared to lying in a gutter trying to get a snap of LiLo's snatch it's a pretty honorable way to make a living. Though Lilo's Vjay-jay is spotted a little more often than a new Camero I'm sure.
Still as a petrol head I still get a buzz out of spotting something that will soon become commonplace. I remember when it was covered in vinyl shall be my refrain from here out.
PS When are they going to bring back vinyl roofs? Surely as the demand for vinyl has plummeted so have prices. It's time people. It's time.
Michigan you see is not only the home of the US Auto industry, it's also the home of cold weather testing. So when people want the cars to look cool they ship them to parties in the vicinity. When they want to see whether they start in the cold they drive them around test tracks here.
I'm sure that there are people here who make their money out of spy shots and compared to lying in a gutter trying to get a snap of LiLo's snatch it's a pretty honorable way to make a living. Though Lilo's Vjay-jay is spotted a little more often than a new Camero I'm sure.
Still as a petrol head I still get a buzz out of spotting something that will soon become commonplace. I remember when it was covered in vinyl shall be my refrain from here out.
PS When are they going to bring back vinyl roofs? Surely as the demand for vinyl has plummeted so have prices. It's time people. It's time.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Personal Authenticity
I woke up early this morning with an idea of how I could write a piece about 'personal authenticity'. And I woke up excited (steady DK). It's been so long since I found work stimulating and exciting that I'm actually feeling quite giddy on it all. Post Cancer work was a slog that was slowly killing me. I changed jobs and was shackled by a system that asked me to facilitate thinking rather than think myself and I have to say that I think I forgot what it was like to go to bed with a problem in your head and wake up with an idea of how to solve it, how to re-express it, how to help other people understand what it is that you're trying to say.
Wrote a portrait of a person this morning that didn't just say what this person read and what they bought, it said how they smelled, what tattoos they would have (or be considering) and what it was that drove them to do the things that they do. It's easier when the target is closer to you than it is to someone you've never met but this stuff was pretty good today. And I'm shocked to find that I'm still pretty good at this stuff. It's weird after all of this time going back to something and finding that it still excites you.
Maybe advertising is like porn - all you need to do is leave it for a while, put it in a cupboard and when you come back it's interesting and new and stimulating all over again.
Maybe not.
But it's 8.40am, I've been at work for 2 hrs already and I'm lovin' it
Wrote a portrait of a person this morning that didn't just say what this person read and what they bought, it said how they smelled, what tattoos they would have (or be considering) and what it was that drove them to do the things that they do. It's easier when the target is closer to you than it is to someone you've never met but this stuff was pretty good today. And I'm shocked to find that I'm still pretty good at this stuff. It's weird after all of this time going back to something and finding that it still excites you.
Maybe advertising is like porn - all you need to do is leave it for a while, put it in a cupboard and when you come back it's interesting and new and stimulating all over again.
Maybe not.
But it's 8.40am, I've been at work for 2 hrs already and I'm lovin' it
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Survived
So having survived the freak warm weather, the near hit tornado and the torrential rain I made my way into work today - where I was actually useful. And good.
It's been a long time since I was either.
My last job was all about bringing people along with you and about intellectual slight of hand. The process was that we didn't have the ideas - we facilitated the client and had THEM have ideas. Which was great in theory but often led to subtle (or not so subtle) planting of ideas in sessions and frustration when the signs weren't 'properly read'
Today I got to say exactly what I thought. And only what I thought. I got to make a real leap from a quite generic start point and help people understand what this COULD mean. And it seemed to be well received.
Feeling alive and vibrant and buzzing and stimulated and as though I could take on the world and have a decent shot.
Fantastic
It's been a long time since I was either.
My last job was all about bringing people along with you and about intellectual slight of hand. The process was that we didn't have the ideas - we facilitated the client and had THEM have ideas. Which was great in theory but often led to subtle (or not so subtle) planting of ideas in sessions and frustration when the signs weren't 'properly read'
Today I got to say exactly what I thought. And only what I thought. I got to make a real leap from a quite generic start point and help people understand what this COULD mean. And it seemed to be well received.
Feeling alive and vibrant and buzzing and stimulated and as though I could take on the world and have a decent shot.
Fantastic
Monday, January 07, 2008
Weird day all around
I should have known that it was going to be a weird week. First the bitter cold of last week turned into record breaking high temperatures of 17c today. Then there's the snow in California, the continued frost in Florida and Hillary showing signs of emotion in New Hampshire.
But I thought that work was going to be predictable. At least until my boss sidled over and whispered 'come with me'
Ten minutes later we were down in the 'executive car park' being briefed on how not to crash the new Knight Rider car. The series breaks here on Feb 17th and the new KITT (now the Knight Industries THREE thousand) is a Shelby Cobra 500KR (or something, oops). It had the light on the front, a cool box just labeled KITT and very little else. You had to engage gears by sliding back a panel and fishing for switches with your fingers. The traction control was turned off. And it was without any real safety feature. But take it out and WOW!
Now I couldn't live with the car every day - the slightest twitch from your foot results in a supercharger whine and you being thrust backwards as satan erupts from hell just behind you making rather a loud noise as he goes. But watching people in Ford Foci and Chevvy Impala literally scurry for cover as we hurtled down the road was well worth it.
Tres cool. And another thing crossed off the 'to do' list
Wooom, woom, voom, vvoom
I've just driven KITT.
Very quickly
And with the red light at the front glowing.
It's a story I'll tell at length later.
But it was very cool
Very quickly
And with the red light at the front glowing.
It's a story I'll tell at length later.
But it was very cool
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Another blog
We've been missing New York for the last few weeks.
Mainly because Michigan is in hibernation and I still subscribe to Time Out New York - so I've been seeing all of the events still happening back there.
And then of course there are the calls from friends who keep asking "So are you gonna give up and come home to New York yet?"
The good thing is that work is great for both of us. We're meeting great people here and the animals are happier than I've ever seen them.
And we're going to head towards New York for the weekend.
Followed by Belgium for Jude
Vegas for both of us
And then Miami
Friday, January 04, 2008
Iowa
So last night I watched the results of the Iowa Causus come in. I particularly like the way that the democrats choose a candidate. First you show up at the voting place. Then you go and stand in the area of the room designated to your candidate (a bit like Run-a-round) - you're then counted. Anyone with 15% of the attendees is viable - the rest are out but their supporters are in play. So there's debate and bartering and no doubt lots of looking for which group is closest to the heating and who has cookies in their pockets. Then it's Run-a-round and the votes are counted.
In this case it was Obama who took the night - followed by John Edwards and Hillary Clinton. The speeches were great. Edwards was jubilant and gave his stump speech. Hillary sounded resigned and talked about it being more important that a democrat win than that she wins (though she'd like to if it's all the same with everyone), Obama - predicatably - talked about 'Hope' and gave his "We are not a collection of red states and blue states... we are the United States" in a horse yet sexy voice that had people leaning in then on their feet.
On the other side the good Xtian voters of Iowa voted mild mannered preacher Huckabee ahead of shifty mormon Romney. Romney had all of the money and the good hair - Huckabee had Chuck Norris. Yes THAT Chuck Norris. It was odd to see him talking about mildness and concern and charity with my "My tears can cure cancer - but alas Chuck Norris cannot allow himself to cry". Weirder still was Norris and a blonde 'hottie' changing places mid speech - elbowing out the rather more substantial Mrs Huckabee in the process.
All eyes are now on Iowa - I do hope that Hillary signs up Mr T.
In this case it was Obama who took the night - followed by John Edwards and Hillary Clinton. The speeches were great. Edwards was jubilant and gave his stump speech. Hillary sounded resigned and talked about it being more important that a democrat win than that she wins (though she'd like to if it's all the same with everyone), Obama - predicatably - talked about 'Hope' and gave his "We are not a collection of red states and blue states... we are the United States" in a horse yet sexy voice that had people leaning in then on their feet.
On the other side the good Xtian voters of Iowa voted mild mannered preacher Huckabee ahead of shifty mormon Romney. Romney had all of the money and the good hair - Huckabee had Chuck Norris. Yes THAT Chuck Norris. It was odd to see him talking about mildness and concern and charity with my "My tears can cure cancer - but alas Chuck Norris cannot allow himself to cry". Weirder still was Norris and a blonde 'hottie' changing places mid speech - elbowing out the rather more substantial Mrs Huckabee in the process.
All eyes are now on Iowa - I do hope that Hillary signs up Mr T.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
A weird bunch of searches
I've had a whole bunch of people coming into the site from Canada - all looking for post-op trannies. My first thought was that I may have inadvertently linked to the popular website "Dick or No Dick" upon which Howie Mandell, Christopher Biggins and Dana International ask you to 'Open the box' of one of 25 lovely 'Ladies' after guessing 'dick or no dick'... the object of the game is to correctly guess the contents of as many 'black boxes' before 'The Wanker' sounds his horn.
Turns out that there's just something going on in Canada that's driving people first to Google and then to here.
So if you're here looking for Post Op Trannies you're in the wrong place - but for a small fee I could furnish you with some addresses and a range of passwords that might just help you find what you're looking for.
Turns out that there's just something going on in Canada that's driving people first to Google and then to here.
So if you're here looking for Post Op Trannies you're in the wrong place - but for a small fee I could furnish you with some addresses and a range of passwords that might just help you find what you're looking for.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
the road is long
>bit of a trek to the i-94 this morning as the good town of Ann Arbor seems more intent on subsidizing Birkenstocks for Lesbians than it does actually clearing any roads.
Still I made it in one piece and am now bracing myself for the coldest night of the winter so far. Have a trip to the dentist tomorrow - I'm hoping that my dental insurance has cleared by then - so hopefully I can stop tongueing the side of my mouth in such disgusting 'fashion'
weirdly they're predicting a thaw and 9c by Monday. I'm weather obsessed. It's weird. Actually when the cold is life threatening - it's not. It's sensible. But if the dog eats more snow and then needs out at 5.30am again tonight then she's going alone
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Liars
When we first looked at Ann Arbor I was excited at the idea of having an excuse to buy a 4*4. Perhaps a Suzuki SX4 or something butcher... maybe a Subaru (okay not much butcher but the ultimate Lesbian car and therefore butch enough)
Of course the locals tsk'd and tee-hee'd. "Why do you want a 4*4?" they asked, over plucked eyebrows raised to comic levels. "We get snow here. We clear the roads. You don't need a 4*4"
I listened. I bought a 4 litre sports car with rear wheel drive and no ground clearance. And then it snowed. And the roads look like this. Not much evidence of snow plows here I think. Even our Hummer driving neighbor (gay of course, do you know a Hummer driver who isn't? Actually do you have a neighbor who isn't - or are only we living in a low rent version of Will & Grace?) gave up on driving home last night.
Of course I have work tomorrow - which means a 70 mile round trip. The forecast is for -14c. And more snow. So it's going to be a slog - though you do find that when you get to the motorway things get a little better.
Still I have a theory on a car and a category that I'm really excited about - and evidence that as each car in the segment has been launched so too has the percentage of people ordering 'beige' as their choice. Hoping to prove that a category that once managed to move the mainstream and make the avante garde acceptable is now the surest way to say that you've given up on life. I love that a once vibrant category can now stand for 'resignation' and am geniunely excited about doing something to turn that around.
Work cannot come fast enough tomorrow
Of course the locals tsk'd and tee-hee'd. "Why do you want a 4*4?" they asked, over plucked eyebrows raised to comic levels. "We get snow here. We clear the roads. You don't need a 4*4"
I listened. I bought a 4 litre sports car with rear wheel drive and no ground clearance. And then it snowed. And the roads look like this. Not much evidence of snow plows here I think. Even our Hummer driving neighbor (gay of course, do you know a Hummer driver who isn't? Actually do you have a neighbor who isn't - or are only we living in a low rent version of Will & Grace?) gave up on driving home last night.
Of course I have work tomorrow - which means a 70 mile round trip. The forecast is for -14c. And more snow. So it's going to be a slog - though you do find that when you get to the motorway things get a little better.
Still I have a theory on a car and a category that I'm really excited about - and evidence that as each car in the segment has been launched so too has the percentage of people ordering 'beige' as their choice. Hoping to prove that a category that once managed to move the mainstream and make the avante garde acceptable is now the surest way to say that you've given up on life. I love that a once vibrant category can now stand for 'resignation' and am geniunely excited about doing something to turn that around.
Work cannot come fast enough tomorrow
As if by magic
So last night we had some people over. Ate too much, drank a lot and looked up to see that it was almost time for the comedy thing. So we put on our coats and we ran down uncrowded streets to the venue. 90 mins later (I know what a rip off!) we came out into snow. Lots of snow. Lots and lots of snow. So I grabbed the old camera (don't care if it gets wet these days, it's now a workhorse) and ran down with the dog to grab a pic of Jude.
2007 was a good year I think. It wasn't an easy year. We moved. We switched jobs. We left a city that feels like home for a town that feels like the ones we moved to a city to avoid. We were by turns frustrated and doubtful and impatient and stressed to the point of American but as the years ends things look good.
I've realized that in a town this small you have to 'do rather than view'. We're 'hosting' much more often, meeting some fabulous people and having a good time doing it. The house is great. The town is full of little surprises and we;re slowly chancing across them. Summer looks to be spectacular. And my new job is both exactly what I want AND need to be doing right now.
We look forward to seeing more of you next year (we're going to be traveling more) - Michigan in the summer is spectacular. We have the space, we can help out with flights if need be and we'd LOVE to see you.
2007 was a good year I think. It wasn't an easy year. We moved. We switched jobs. We left a city that feels like home for a town that feels like the ones we moved to a city to avoid. We were by turns frustrated and doubtful and impatient and stressed to the point of American but as the years ends things look good.
I've realized that in a town this small you have to 'do rather than view'. We're 'hosting' much more often, meeting some fabulous people and having a good time doing it. The house is great. The town is full of little surprises and we;re slowly chancing across them. Summer looks to be spectacular. And my new job is both exactly what I want AND need to be doing right now.
We look forward to seeing more of you next year (we're going to be traveling more) - Michigan in the summer is spectacular. We have the space, we can help out with flights if need be and we'd LOVE to see you.
Monday, December 31, 2007
wicked New Year
So we suddenly have a bunch of people for New Year... which means dinner (bruschetta, butternut squash soup, a potato crusted halibut and Jude's keylime pie - this time with tequilla) and lots of mad vacuuming.
Then we have a 'comedy' show with Cash Levy ===> a man for whom there are still tickets, in a small town, with no other place open, on New Year's Eve. YouTube shows that he thinks that he's good with audience banter... giving me the chance to try out my "What do I do for a living? I'm a gynaecologist... and I reckonized you straight away" heckle. It's not great, but it's an opener. The man needs taking down.
And judging by the look on Jude's face here she's ready to do it...
Happy New Year all
Then we have a 'comedy' show with Cash Levy ===> a man for whom there are still tickets, in a small town, with no other place open, on New Year's Eve. YouTube shows that he thinks that he's good with audience banter... giving me the chance to try out my "What do I do for a living? I'm a gynaecologist... and I reckonized you straight away" heckle. It's not great, but it's an opener. The man needs taking down.
And judging by the look on Jude's face here she's ready to do it...
Happy New Year all
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Any excuse
I've been thinking about how I'd justify posting this pic. I could talk about how after weeks of begging I've finally managed to sign up for a photography class. Trouble is only the second part is true - I didn't beg, I just signed up. I could talk about needing absolution after weeks of eating too much and consuming liquids like an early 1990s VW (my 2001 Golf ate oil, it was ridiculous) - instead I'll just post the thing and have done with it.Jude hard at work the last couple of days - it seems that Academy deadlines loom over the holidays; so she's either nose in a book, typing furiously, asking 'what do you think of this?' or canvassing friends for an opinion on what she's doing. We'd planned on being in Vegas - but deadines are more important so instead we'll do New York as soon as she's submitted and then Vegas when she gets back from visiting her mom in Belgium.
Of course having seen Alex and Christianna's pictures from Miami - where the sky is blue, the temps bikini warm and Christmas is spent on the beach we're both wishing that we'd headed that way. It's not so much the cold here that gets to you, it's the grey. On the days when the sun shines all is fantastic. Steps have spring in them. Strides have pride. But when it greys over then you really do have to make an effort.
Having the dog helps. Yesterday she dragged me around two parks and then ran like a mad thing at the 2acre dog run. Of course the dog run should have been renamed the dog rink as the one day of above freezing temps had melted the snow only for the -11c temps to turn it back into sheet ice. She did well though. No falls, no tumbles, no submissions.
Other stuff. I'm due more scans - but can't make the appointment until my new medical card arrives as the doctor needs the number. The gym is easier nnow that I time the cardio part of my workout to an episode of the really rather good Prison Break and we finally have plans for New Year's Eve. Still a ghost town out there (the students go home for the holidays) so getting tickets for everything but James Blunt (weirdly) is easy.
Okay enough blog-moping - time to do some work myself.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Hoops
So yesterday we picked up a friend of Jude and her bf from the airport, finished off the leftovers, caught up on work, watched The Sixth Sense for the first time since Singapore, drove 45miles to the Detroit Sketchy's and managed to make it back in time for drinks before the bar closed.
I still haven't lost any of the 5lbs that I gained in Mexico (I blame the champagne buffet - give me alcohol and I'm able to eat my own weight in muffins) but I've not gained anything either. Guess that means hitting the gym today.
I tried to sign up for Pilates yesterday but the woman behind the counter was having none of it. She wanted me to wait until Jan 2nd and so I will wait. Weird as I had the $650 they want from me in my pocket and ready to go.
Don't have much of a plan for today - will check out Arborweb later and of course there's a slew of Oscar contending movies (or puportedly Oscar contending) in the cinema at the moment. But first I must haul my ass over to the gym.
I still haven't lost any of the 5lbs that I gained in Mexico (I blame the champagne buffet - give me alcohol and I'm able to eat my own weight in muffins) but I've not gained anything either. Guess that means hitting the gym today.
I tried to sign up for Pilates yesterday but the woman behind the counter was having none of it. She wanted me to wait until Jan 2nd and so I will wait. Weird as I had the $650 they want from me in my pocket and ready to go.
Don't have much of a plan for today - will check out Arborweb later and of course there's a slew of Oscar contending movies (or puportedly Oscar contending) in the cinema at the moment. But first I must haul my ass over to the gym.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
All play and no work
makes Steve a dull boy.
It's Boxing Day and I'm itching to go out and take some pictures around town. In fact what I really want to do is get in the car, drive somewhere gorgeous and take pictures there.
The reason? Well it's gloriously sunny; the tempertauere has risen from -8c this morning to 5c now and the skies are bluer than the eyes of an only child.
Actually what I really want to do is go to work. There's lots to be done and I'm just itching to roll up my sleeves and get on with it. But the office is closed for now and the people that I need to talk with to get things done need some time away from the office in order to be worth talking to. So this break becomes a strange limbo.
Still there's a Sketchy's tomorrow. I have a lovely new camera to play with. The dog is very much enjoying the walks and of course the refridgerator is full of food that could use some loving preparation.
Yesterday's food was rather a success. A great mushroom and pine nut soup, a spinach salad, a fennel fish with Christmas nutloaf and Jude's now famous Key Lime Pie (with whipped cream)... we've both vowed to do it again and to do it again soon. I quite like tis cooking thing - though the gym thing that came as a consequence this morning was rather more arduous.
It's Boxing Day and I'm itching to go out and take some pictures around town. In fact what I really want to do is get in the car, drive somewhere gorgeous and take pictures there.
The reason? Well it's gloriously sunny; the tempertauere has risen from -8c this morning to 5c now and the skies are bluer than the eyes of an only child.
Actually what I really want to do is go to work. There's lots to be done and I'm just itching to roll up my sleeves and get on with it. But the office is closed for now and the people that I need to talk with to get things done need some time away from the office in order to be worth talking to. So this break becomes a strange limbo.
Still there's a Sketchy's tomorrow. I have a lovely new camera to play with. The dog is very much enjoying the walks and of course the refridgerator is full of food that could use some loving preparation.
Yesterday's food was rather a success. A great mushroom and pine nut soup, a spinach salad, a fennel fish with Christmas nutloaf and Jude's now famous Key Lime Pie (with whipped cream)... we've both vowed to do it again and to do it again soon. I quite like tis cooking thing - though the gym thing that came as a consequence this morning was rather more arduous.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Oh
Oh and this is Velcro.
In her car friendly, belt me in harness.
She seems to like it.
She loves the dog run more though
In her car friendly, belt me in harness.
She seems to like it.
She loves the dog run more though
For those people as sad as me
There have been some people who wanted to know more about The Death Star (for which I received black furry dice this morning)... so for those people here are some details (for the rest of you there's nothing to see here people, nothing to see)
So it's a 2008 Ford Mustang coupe premium with a 4.0l V6 engine and a manual transmission (automatics ae for grannies and people who get whipped cream in their hot chocolate)
As well as all of the standard bits and pieces (6 CD rafdio, satellite, a/c and 6 way electric driver's seat... what was wrong with a lever?) it's also got 17 inch wheels, leather bucket seats, abs, traction control, a 'satin' interior upgrade and all manner of bells and whistles.
It's lossening up nicely and threatening to be a bit of a monster. So far I'm averaging about 25mpg US (that's 30mpg UK) which isn't bad when you consider that Ann Arbor is the stop sign capital of teh western world. It's ridiculous. I stop every 50 yards or so. The lights too suck - they're less synchronized than Stephen Hawkin during a power outage and tend to stay on red longer than Garth Gates did on the letter 'T' (was he the stutterer?)
But we're having fun. And ultimately that's what it's all about. That and hauling shopping - which it does in the enormous truck (boot).
And that, fact fans, is the last car post I'll be making. Unless something happens.
So it's a 2008 Ford Mustang coupe premium with a 4.0l V6 engine and a manual transmission (automatics ae for grannies and people who get whipped cream in their hot chocolate)
As well as all of the standard bits and pieces (6 CD rafdio, satellite, a/c and 6 way electric driver's seat... what was wrong with a lever?) it's also got 17 inch wheels, leather bucket seats, abs, traction control, a 'satin' interior upgrade and all manner of bells and whistles.
It's lossening up nicely and threatening to be a bit of a monster. So far I'm averaging about 25mpg US (that's 30mpg UK) which isn't bad when you consider that Ann Arbor is the stop sign capital of teh western world. It's ridiculous. I stop every 50 yards or so. The lights too suck - they're less synchronized than Stephen Hawkin during a power outage and tend to stay on red longer than Garth Gates did on the letter 'T' (was he the stutterer?)
But we're having fun. And ultimately that's what it's all about. That and hauling shopping - which it does in the enormous truck (boot).
And that, fact fans, is the last car post I'll be making. Unless something happens.
Monday, December 24, 2007
What does one do in Ann Arbor at Xmas?
Well it seems that most people leave Ann Arbor - returning to the busoms of their families to relax, rechange and generally mooch for a bit. That's a university town.
For the 'townies' - those people proud of being "here today, here tomorrow" Xmas is all about finding shelter from the cold. The gym is fit to bursting, Wholefoods is alive to the sound of contented grazing and every house has a warm orange glow eminating from what's probably a smokeless tofu log fire.
So what if the TV is crap (Elmo and Duel aside)? So what if it's so cold that the tennis balls at the dog run have frozen into the icepack and are harder to remove than excalibre? So what if there's nothing open and every event sold out some time back in the late 1990s?
It's Christmas, it's cold, there's snow on the ground, men shuffling awkwardly around lingerie shops, women praying that he doesn't bottle it again and buy her another iron and children searching every nook and cranny of the house. Ho. Ho. And, yes, Ho!
For the 'townies' - those people proud of being "here today, here tomorrow" Xmas is all about finding shelter from the cold. The gym is fit to bursting, Wholefoods is alive to the sound of contented grazing and every house has a warm orange glow eminating from what's probably a smokeless tofu log fire.
So what if the TV is crap (Elmo and Duel aside)? So what if it's so cold that the tennis balls at the dog run have frozen into the icepack and are harder to remove than excalibre? So what if there's nothing open and every event sold out some time back in the late 1990s?
It's Christmas, it's cold, there's snow on the ground, men shuffling awkwardly around lingerie shops, women praying that he doesn't bottle it again and buy her another iron and children searching every nook and cranny of the house. Ho. Ho. And, yes, Ho!
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Why can't America do Xmas?
A friend told me the other day that in the US Christmas is little more than a prompt to switch the window dressings in the stores to something a little more sparkly. I scoffed. Maybe even give a dismissive snort.
And then I looked at the Holiday TV. There is none. None at all. Just warmed up repeats and 'perennial classics'. It's actually a little depressing.
Tried to get into a 'Holiday Village' too - all last minute and of course sold out (unless you book into a hotel onsite in which case there are tickets galore)
In the end we walked down to see 'Atonement' at a spectacular local cinema, had dinner at a Pacific themed restaurant and headed for bed early.
Spent this morning watching Coronation Street on Canadian TV and mourning my distance from Noel's Xmas Presents. Weird that I only ever feel British around the Xmas TV schedules.
And then I looked at the Holiday TV. There is none. None at all. Just warmed up repeats and 'perennial classics'. It's actually a little depressing.
Tried to get into a 'Holiday Village' too - all last minute and of course sold out (unless you book into a hotel onsite in which case there are tickets galore)
In the end we walked down to see 'Atonement' at a spectacular local cinema, had dinner at a Pacific themed restaurant and headed for bed early.
Spent this morning watching Coronation Street on Canadian TV and mourning my distance from Noel's Xmas Presents. Weird that I only ever feel British around the Xmas TV schedules.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Good day
I wasn't supposed to be at work today. But a wee. mini, minor crisis came up and so I decided to mosey in. Actually I decided to drive like a bat out of hell - because this morning I dropped off Judith for her driving test (she passed!) and the guy took FOREVER to actually administer the bloody thing (20 mins to set up 20 cones? c'mon) and we then had to endure the vagueries if the DMV. Still she passed, I got out in time and managed to cruise to work in time for the meeting. Which went okay - lots to do in the new year though.
Headed back and had Jude drive me to an outlet mall (she's now insured) where we got into the Xmas spirit by buying something from virtually every store at stupidly low prices. The place was next to empty, the parking plentiful, the bargains terrific and the staff overly attentive in that 'I'm SO bored" kind of way perfected by the department stores years ago. I used to think that department store attitude came from spending a lifetime surrounded by goods they didn't pay you enough to buy yourself, but now I think it's a mixture of aching feet, polyester uniforms and the stupidity of virtually every customer.
No real chance for pics yet so I shot a quick one of reception on my way to payroll where my cheque (check) was waiting for me and no dramas unfolded.
Now for wine, for dinner and for the final of Clash of the Choirs (which we DVR'd last night)
Thursday, December 20, 2007
My new camera arrived
Spent the evening charging various batteries and the morning turning off the various beeps that accompanied my every move with it.
Massive zoom makes for more shots of unsuspecting old folk. I feel a photo safari coming on.
Hundreds of 'idiot modes' that probably make for amazing pictures but rob me of the chance to say that a shot is 'mine' and will therefore be all but ignored. It's looking promising though.
Pics over the weekend I think
Massive zoom makes for more shots of unsuspecting old folk. I feel a photo safari coming on.
Hundreds of 'idiot modes' that probably make for amazing pictures but rob me of the chance to say that a shot is 'mine' and will therefore be all but ignored. It's looking promising though.
Pics over the weekend I think
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Oh the drama
Turns out that my package WAS on the truck after all.
This I know because when I went in to collect my package - it wasn't there.
Despite a call that said "I have it in my hand, I will place it aside for you now"
Still in an attempt to move into lemonade manufacture I said
"Well that's good news. You guys are delivering a second package to me too. He can drop them both off together"
But of course he can't.
Because he now has instructions to return it to base.
So that I can pick it up.
Tomorrow.
The man in the knackered warehouse to whence I had journied seemed quite shocked that I would question the competence of his staff and his confidence in their ability to divine ass from elbow.
Still the mustang averaged 31mpg (that's 37mph for you UK folks today)... perhaps it's being powered by the vibration from the one loose piece of trim driving me to distraction (oh for a piece of blu-tac)
Note to all - UPS... should be known as "Ooops"
This I know because when I went in to collect my package - it wasn't there.
Despite a call that said "I have it in my hand, I will place it aside for you now"
Still in an attempt to move into lemonade manufacture I said
"Well that's good news. You guys are delivering a second package to me too. He can drop them both off together"
But of course he can't.
Because he now has instructions to return it to base.
So that I can pick it up.
Tomorrow.
The man in the knackered warehouse to whence I had journied seemed quite shocked that I would question the competence of his staff and his confidence in their ability to divine ass from elbow.
Still the mustang averaged 31mpg (that's 37mph for you UK folks today)... perhaps it's being powered by the vibration from the one loose piece of trim driving me to distraction (oh for a piece of blu-tac)
Note to all - UPS... should be known as "Ooops"
Yet more fuckwittery
So the old company was sending my last pay cheque by mail. Or rather by UPS. They forgot Friday and sent it out at 5pm on Monday. Delivery by 3pm Tuesday. Except it didn't arrive. UPS said it was on a truck and that I should "Not go to bed before 11.59pm". Well this morning still no package. It hadn't even been in Michigan. It was in Penn. No worries, it left this morning at 8am. Except it didn't. They didn't have the apt. number. Weird I'd given them the apartment number on Monday. And Tuesday. And at 7am this morning.
I asked why the package hadn't made it on time. "For no good reason" they said.
Comforting.
"Why not come in tonight between 8pm and 8.30pm?" they said. It might be here.
Then they called back - it's on a truck.
Then back again "It's not on a truck"
Then once more - "all of the appointments for 8pm to 8.30pm are gone. It'll be tomorrow. Maybe."
"Appointments? You told me to come by."
"Yeah, we did. We shouldn't have. We're busy."
So no cash before Xmas. No cash from the new guys until Jan 15th and no bloody holiday cheer for me or my family.
FUCKWITTERY
I asked why the package hadn't made it on time. "For no good reason" they said.
Comforting.
"Why not come in tonight between 8pm and 8.30pm?" they said. It might be here.
Then they called back - it's on a truck.
Then back again "It's not on a truck"
Then once more - "all of the appointments for 8pm to 8.30pm are gone. It'll be tomorrow. Maybe."
"Appointments? You told me to come by."
"Yeah, we did. We shouldn't have. We're busy."
So no cash before Xmas. No cash from the new guys until Jan 15th and no bloody holiday cheer for me or my family.
FUCKWITTERY
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Day two
okay so into day two of the new job and still at a bit of a loss regarding how to best fill me time. I've done benefits. I've met the people physically in the office, I've used the right click option on my mouse (it's a PC!) but there's only so much that you can do between Xmas and New Year in a half empty office.
That said I'm going through all of the stuff that's currently in research and trying to figure out how the good bits of each could form a cohesive whole. I guess it's like looking for which rabbits are going to make the coat and which will hit the stewer. You have an idea but it's only post skinning that you really figure it out.
That's quite a Michigan kind of analogy actually. Maybe I am made for this state after all.
That said I'm going through all of the stuff that's currently in research and trying to figure out how the good bits of each could form a cohesive whole. I guess it's like looking for which rabbits are going to make the coat and which will hit the stewer. You have an idea but it's only post skinning that you really figure it out.
That's quite a Michigan kind of analogy actually. Maybe I am made for this state after all.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Snow
It snowed yesterday. A lot. Inches and inches of snow fell and not a snow plow could be seen. Apparently they clear snow only on work days - or just before work days; so you're left to fend for yourself if it snows between 6pm Friday and 3pm Sunday.
Still the dog was happy and the town was pretty much empty as we trekked knee deep (shoulder deep for Velcro) through the pristine white snow.
Woke up this morning fearing that I might not be able to make it into work - but the roads had been (partially) cleared and so I put the Mustang into second (wheel spin in first) and edged out towards the motorway. Wasn't too bad out there - though I did see a few people who had spun clean off the road and a couple of people who really deserved to.
The journey in took about 40 mins, I reckon that on a clear day I could shave 10mins off that and the new building is rather lovely. I'm a little out in the open and my area of the office is arranged so that I have my back to everyone but other than that it's all okay. My silver, half dalek chairs revolve, people are friendly and generally things seem organized. I had my ID card within minutes, my computer soon after (it's a PC) and was up and running within an hour of arriving.
Orientation is tomorrow - so I guess that I'll have chair training and the chance to choose a health insurer then. Until which I shall attempt to look busy and to meet as many people as possible - given that it's the week before Christmas and the Holiday Season has helped 'thin out' the bodies available for hearty handshaking.
So far though, so good. This is going to be a tough job, but I'm thinking that I might even enjoy the challenge. Better to be worried about the job at hand than about the fact that someone, somewhere is going to book you on a plane to Des Moines rather than Detroit.
Still the dog was happy and the town was pretty much empty as we trekked knee deep (shoulder deep for Velcro) through the pristine white snow.
Woke up this morning fearing that I might not be able to make it into work - but the roads had been (partially) cleared and so I put the Mustang into second (wheel spin in first) and edged out towards the motorway. Wasn't too bad out there - though I did see a few people who had spun clean off the road and a couple of people who really deserved to.
The journey in took about 40 mins, I reckon that on a clear day I could shave 10mins off that and the new building is rather lovely. I'm a little out in the open and my area of the office is arranged so that I have my back to everyone but other than that it's all okay. My silver, half dalek chairs revolve, people are friendly and generally things seem organized. I had my ID card within minutes, my computer soon after (it's a PC) and was up and running within an hour of arriving.
Orientation is tomorrow - so I guess that I'll have chair training and the chance to choose a health insurer then. Until which I shall attempt to look busy and to meet as many people as possible - given that it's the week before Christmas and the Holiday Season has helped 'thin out' the bodies available for hearty handshaking.
So far though, so good. This is going to be a tough job, but I'm thinking that I might even enjoy the challenge. Better to be worried about the job at hand than about the fact that someone, somewhere is going to book you on a plane to Des Moines rather than Detroit.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Brrrr
This is Lake Michigan. During the summer it's all beaches and people protesting for the right to bathe in the altogether. Right now it's a frozen wasteland. As is much of Michigan. It was bloody freezing this morning as Jude and I battled our way from store to store in a bid to find decent Christmas gifts before one of us lost a limb to frostbite. I honestly can't remember being as cold. And I thought that I'd been in cold. Of course the truth of the matter is that the lowest we've been so far this winter is -14c (I know, I keep a record) and it's been colder than that. When my parents visited us upstate it was -20c; so cold that when my mom got out of the car and exhaled her breath first misted and then froze to her glasses adding a 'jam jar bottom' look that caused much mirth whenever she walked into a lamppost or small shrub.
Luckily for us the heating in the building is paid for and we have a gas fire that sends flames leaping into the air at the push of a button, all very nice come a winter's eve.
Jude wanted to go swimming this afternoon - but I'm afraid that the thought of being in swim trunks on a day when even the penguins are begging for the right to kill a mink or two in the name of survival was beyond me. We'll do it tomorrow though. IN the morning. Before the brain is engaged.
But first the dog needs a walk and that means me suiting up, wrapping up and getting up. Here we go
Friday, December 14, 2007
One final piece of fuckwittery
I was supposed to get paid today.
But I didn't.
Final pay is sent by cheque - in the mail.
Nobody told me this.
Nor did anyone put the cheque in the mail.
So instead it's sitting in an empty office (everyone is at a party retreat)
And I'm sitting with no money in the bank and with Xmas fast approaching.
Ok - so I have some money in the bank.
But they don't know that.
And "The cheque is almost in the mail' is a lousy excuse
ho-hum
But I didn't.
Final pay is sent by cheque - in the mail.
Nobody told me this.
Nor did anyone put the cheque in the mail.
So instead it's sitting in an empty office (everyone is at a party retreat)
And I'm sitting with no money in the bank and with Xmas fast approaching.
Ok - so I have some money in the bank.
But they don't know that.
And "The cheque is almost in the mail' is a lousy excuse
ho-hum
Thursday, December 13, 2007
back at the airport
and really early. it was the first time that I didn't hit Mexican traffic and as a result I'm now at the gate of the still new and deserted Terminal Two. It's actually quite eery here, alone, in a vast white building. The stores have yet to be opened, there are staff everywhere but no customers and the whole place has a sense of white elephant about it. It must have felt like this at The Dome come 2000.
Mexico was fun, the hotel rocked and we're in a good place on the project. All that's left now is to find some images and then make the recommendations look pretty. I find that almost everyone responds well to beauty. It's innate - whereas reading is learned.
-10c when I land in Detroit - hope that there are cabs.
Proper entry tomorrow
Mexico was fun, the hotel rocked and we're in a good place on the project. All that's left now is to find some images and then make the recommendations look pretty. I find that almost everyone responds well to beauty. It's innate - whereas reading is learned.
-10c when I land in Detroit - hope that there are cabs.
Proper entry tomorrow
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
when you only have a nickle
...get your shoes shined. Unless you're our illustrator who fell for the "Let me shine your shoes down this back alley" trick end ended up paying $20 for a shoe shine on $40 shoes. It would have been more had he not met the aggressive demand for cash with "my best cockney" - a universally understood language of aggression.
Our last full day with clients in Mexico will be spent in a focus group room. It can't be as bad as last night - moderator showed up late, nodded through a briefing, then abandoned the guide within seconds of starting the group with a bunch of show off know-it alls on a brand they didn't know. Just awful.
Still it's free food and the promise of a beer or two for those suffering along with us instead of being at the client Xmas party
Our last full day with clients in Mexico will be spent in a focus group room. It can't be as bad as last night - moderator showed up late, nodded through a briefing, then abandoned the guide within seconds of starting the group with a bunch of show off know-it alls on a brand they didn't know. Just awful.
Still it's free food and the promise of a beer or two for those suffering along with us instead of being at the client Xmas party
Monday, December 10, 2007
So out of touch am I
that upon waking this morning I dashed, ran, hurried and generally shifted toward a computer to book "just released" tickets for The Spice Girls. And was amazed at the availability.
For younger readers The Spice Girls were as close to pop perfection as the 90s went. They were sexy enough for boys to like but scary enough to reassure tween girls that their boyfriends had no chance of getting anywhere. Actually that boyband members had no chance of getting anywhere.
Of course it was all image ... as Robbie Williams used to say "I had the good fortune of being in one of the nost successful boyboands of the decade... and in three of the members of the most successful girl band"
These days the girls are older. The Girl Power rhetoric turned down a tad and the whole thing has the right cash to kitsch ratio.
It should be fun. Meanwhile I'm in Mexico and about to head into the morning traffic. Arrrrgggghhhhhh!
For younger readers The Spice Girls were as close to pop perfection as the 90s went. They were sexy enough for boys to like but scary enough to reassure tween girls that their boyfriends had no chance of getting anywhere. Actually that boyband members had no chance of getting anywhere.
Of course it was all image ... as Robbie Williams used to say "I had the good fortune of being in one of the nost successful boyboands of the decade... and in three of the members of the most successful girl band"
These days the girls are older. The Girl Power rhetoric turned down a tad and the whole thing has the right cash to kitsch ratio.
It should be fun. Meanwhile I'm in Mexico and about to head into the morning traffic. Arrrrgggghhhhhh!
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Ahhhhhhhhh
After weeks of travel fuckwittery and hotel malady it's good to have some time in a hotel where things work. And even better that Jude (whose flight left and arrived without drama) is here with me this weekend.
Yesterday was canal boats, market lunches, town squares and remarkably cheap transportation (the metro here costs 2 pesos, that's 20 cents or 10p to you Yanks and Brits) === that compared to the $8 that I had to pay to go one stop on the London underground is a bit of a right royal bargain.
Anyway the sun is shining, we have a witch waiting to cast our bad spirits into an egg and I have to catch up with the illustrator this morning so this is qoing to be a quickie.
Research tomorrow, home Thursday. New job next week! Hurrah.
Yesterday was canal boats, market lunches, town squares and remarkably cheap transportation (the metro here costs 2 pesos, that's 20 cents or 10p to you Yanks and Brits) === that compared to the $8 that I had to pay to go one stop on the London underground is a bit of a right royal bargain.
Anyway the sun is shining, we have a witch waiting to cast our bad spirits into an egg and I have to catch up with the illustrator this morning so this is qoing to be a quickie.
Research tomorrow, home Thursday. New job next week! Hurrah.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Oh for a gun
So today's 4 and a half hour flight took 15 hrs.
Booked onto the 8am flight I turn up at 6.30 to be told that there's no reservation for me between Detroit and Atlanta.
There was one - but it had been cancelled.
I have to buy a new ticket. In business. It's $650. I stump up the money and get my boarding passes.
The Aeromexico part shows as business but has me sitting in coach.
I head for the Delta counter - they tell me to go to Aeromexico in Atlanta.
I head for the lounge with my business ticket - they tell me to bugger off.
I get on the plane.
It's -14C outside and colder inside.
Land in Atlanta and walk from gate A to gate E in search of AeroMexico
They're closed.
I e-mail the travel agent.
She tells me to sort it out myself.
I call Aeromexico - it's business in their system but coach in Delta's - tough luck
I go to the Delta desk - he tells me it's not his problem until I have a business class ticket. At which point i won't have a problem.
I call Aeromexico again - they tell me that they've corrected the ticket and that I am now good to fly.
Back to Delta with my code. Nothing has changed. Other than the coach flight has now been cancelled.
They take my boarding pass and suggest that I pay another $1250 for a new ticket.
I stand my ground.
For 2 hrs.
In line.
With people hating me.
Finally.
Miraculously.
They find a way to access my records.
I'm given a boarding pass.
Flight is delayed. 6 hr layover now.
The direct flight is $500 and 4.5 hrs.
I'm paying three times that and taking three times as long. Why?
I fume.
Onto the plane and the pilot is being held at immigration.
Another hour.
We take off.
No vegetarian meal.
Stewardess insists that chicken IS vegetarian.
I ask "is a chicken a vegetable then?"
She spills wine on me
Then drops bread on me
And ignores my coffee order.
Finally land. Immigration is quick. Customs slow. Traffic Mexican.
Meet illustrator. Tad chirpy but nice.
Gareth has left champagne in my room.
I'd rather he'd left a homeless person, a large knife, a clean up kit and a 'get out of jail free card"
And now to bed.
My last trip ever with these clowns - the relief is overwhelming
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Yup it's that time again...
... flights back to Mexico mean MORE Fuckwittery
The instructions were simple
- A Direct Flight
- Nothing leaving before 9am
The flight.
An 8am flight via Atlanta with a 5 hour layover
A few calls show two things
- That a direct flight leaving at 9.20 is available
- There's an 11.10 flight out of Detroit that still makes my Atlanta connection with hours to spare
But of course the ticket has been booked as a "No Changes" thing and been approved by a moron in my office who agreed to all of the times and dates without thinking to consult me - or look at my original request.
Now last time I flew in I landed at the lovely new terminal. Terminal 2. Scheduled in at 1pm. Gareth, who was flying from New York landed at 3pm at Terminal 1. The person who arranged the travel came up with one car - which waited at Terminal 1 with my name on it.
To get from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 you need a valid boarding card.
If you've just got off a plane you don't have a valid boarding card.
Which means that Delta have to issue you with a fake boarding card and then escort you through train security (a man with an anorak and a gun) before you can be on your way. This takes 45 mins.
Then there's the fact that the ticket is issued by Aero Mexico. The code on the ticket is Aero Mexico but you can only check in on Delta. Which is in a different terminal. That you need a boarding card for. Which of course you don't have.
We've also had issues with hotels all week. I refuse to do three hotels in 5 days again, the client wants to save a few dollars (fewer than they usually spend on company funded rooftop cocktails) by having us switch around. My company isn't prepared to fund the difference (about $200 all in) and so around and around it goes again. We're staying in my favorite hotel - the only one where we know that everything works (internet, business centre, cars) and to hell with it.
Reckoning that 30% of the workng say is going on this stuff. Which is about $1700. Or $8500 a week. Fuckwittery? I'd say
The instructions were simple
- A Direct Flight
- Nothing leaving before 9am
The flight.
An 8am flight via Atlanta with a 5 hour layover
A few calls show two things
- That a direct flight leaving at 9.20 is available
- There's an 11.10 flight out of Detroit that still makes my Atlanta connection with hours to spare
But of course the ticket has been booked as a "No Changes" thing and been approved by a moron in my office who agreed to all of the times and dates without thinking to consult me - or look at my original request.
Now last time I flew in I landed at the lovely new terminal. Terminal 2. Scheduled in at 1pm. Gareth, who was flying from New York landed at 3pm at Terminal 1. The person who arranged the travel came up with one car - which waited at Terminal 1 with my name on it.
To get from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 you need a valid boarding card.
If you've just got off a plane you don't have a valid boarding card.
Which means that Delta have to issue you with a fake boarding card and then escort you through train security (a man with an anorak and a gun) before you can be on your way. This takes 45 mins.
Then there's the fact that the ticket is issued by Aero Mexico. The code on the ticket is Aero Mexico but you can only check in on Delta. Which is in a different terminal. That you need a boarding card for. Which of course you don't have.
We've also had issues with hotels all week. I refuse to do three hotels in 5 days again, the client wants to save a few dollars (fewer than they usually spend on company funded rooftop cocktails) by having us switch around. My company isn't prepared to fund the difference (about $200 all in) and so around and around it goes again. We're staying in my favorite hotel - the only one where we know that everything works (internet, business centre, cars) and to hell with it.
Reckoning that 30% of the workng say is going on this stuff. Which is about $1700. Or $8500 a week. Fuckwittery? I'd say
Load of old cock
Back to Mexico tomorrow. Not quite sure when as the flight details are always kept a mystery from me until the very last moment at which point they're pulled like a rather mangy rabbit from a mouldy tophat and I set the alarm for 3am.
Hoping for a more reasonable flight tomorrow. Perhaps even something direct - although holding my breath would be an act of suicide on that one.
Still Jude is coming down to Mexico city for the weekend. We have wrestling, witches with eggs that can kidnap bad spirits and trips on flower boats through fetid canals to look forward to. It'll just be nice to escape the cold and the snow for a while.
The person who made "pish" type noises at our thought of buying a 4*4 obviously had a very peculiar sense of humor though. The roads here are rarely cleared. The hills are steep. The rear whell drive on my 4.0L muscle car is prone to sending the car into all kinds of wriggles and wiggles upon set off (it's great once you're out of first gear) and I spend my life praying that the mom vans behind me are piloted by moms who really, really, really don't want to get into an accident with 'precious' on board.
The pic by the way is from a store dedicated to cock fightung magazines. Plenty of cock to admire. They do bull fighting too. Now I'd have called the store Cock and Bull (obvious but descriptive) but instead they called it something like "fa-tha-tha-thaa-thee-tha-thaaah" - the name of all stores in Mexico.
Okay taks to be taken in hand here. Ciao all
Hoping for a more reasonable flight tomorrow. Perhaps even something direct - although holding my breath would be an act of suicide on that one.
Still Jude is coming down to Mexico city for the weekend. We have wrestling, witches with eggs that can kidnap bad spirits and trips on flower boats through fetid canals to look forward to. It'll just be nice to escape the cold and the snow for a while.
The person who made "pish" type noises at our thought of buying a 4*4 obviously had a very peculiar sense of humor though. The roads here are rarely cleared. The hills are steep. The rear whell drive on my 4.0L muscle car is prone to sending the car into all kinds of wriggles and wiggles upon set off (it's great once you're out of first gear) and I spend my life praying that the mom vans behind me are piloted by moms who really, really, really don't want to get into an accident with 'precious' on board.
The pic by the way is from a store dedicated to cock fightung magazines. Plenty of cock to admire. They do bull fighting too. Now I'd have called the store Cock and Bull (obvious but descriptive) but instead they called it something like "fa-tha-tha-thaa-thee-tha-thaaah" - the name of all stores in Mexico.
Okay taks to be taken in hand here. Ciao all
Monday, December 03, 2007
All barking mad
So finally back in Ann Arbor (at least for three more days - then it's off back to Mexico City, the traffic, the noise, the peanut brands) and I've realized that everyone here is barking mad.
For example I spent a half hour today walking out in the -10c temps with Gareth to buy some dog food. We head out and en route see a Xmas Tree decoration shaped like an Octopus. This Gareth decides he has to buy for his artist gorlfriend who became famous with a slo-mo film of her trained Octopus and is currently exhibiting a range of Christmas Tree Ornaments. In we go and are greeted by a large woman who reminds us taht the Octopus has a very large place in certain forms of 'erotic Japanese literature'. Somehow the subject turns to Xmas and Lapland (Gareth had been chief elf there some years back - I kid you not) and she asks "Did you meet any of those big teethed girls who bite the balls off reindeer?" before adding "That might be customer inappropriate. They usually keep me in the shed"
We leave, bauble in hand and get to the pet store where we're told that a 'dog tag silencer' isn't an anal invention at all but a top seller. They then gasp when Gareth picks up a harness (it looks a bit like a bra) and ask that we don't touch the 3 foot high rubber chicken as "It's been reserved as a wedding gift."
On the way back we pass a store that says "The monsters are on strike" and has cut out monsters with signs saying things like "We demand bigger closets." Turns out it's a variation on the Brooklyn Superhero Store theme (there's also a Secret Agent version in Chicago that has a frontage that says "The really boring store" and a window full of gray boxes.
Seems that monsters are too hard to innovate around ('what do monsters need? drool?') and so it's about to become a Robot Store instead. We suggest that the Robot store is dropped on top of the monster store and that they have monster feet and monster goo dripping out of the front door where they were squished. It seems we're as mad as the rest of town.
30 mins, 3 mad people. Lots of gifts. It's good to be home
For example I spent a half hour today walking out in the -10c temps with Gareth to buy some dog food. We head out and en route see a Xmas Tree decoration shaped like an Octopus. This Gareth decides he has to buy for his artist gorlfriend who became famous with a slo-mo film of her trained Octopus and is currently exhibiting a range of Christmas Tree Ornaments. In we go and are greeted by a large woman who reminds us taht the Octopus has a very large place in certain forms of 'erotic Japanese literature'. Somehow the subject turns to Xmas and Lapland (Gareth had been chief elf there some years back - I kid you not) and she asks "Did you meet any of those big teethed girls who bite the balls off reindeer?" before adding "That might be customer inappropriate. They usually keep me in the shed"
We leave, bauble in hand and get to the pet store where we're told that a 'dog tag silencer' isn't an anal invention at all but a top seller. They then gasp when Gareth picks up a harness (it looks a bit like a bra) and ask that we don't touch the 3 foot high rubber chicken as "It's been reserved as a wedding gift."
On the way back we pass a store that says "The monsters are on strike" and has cut out monsters with signs saying things like "We demand bigger closets." Turns out it's a variation on the Brooklyn Superhero Store theme (there's also a Secret Agent version in Chicago that has a frontage that says "The really boring store" and a window full of gray boxes.
Seems that monsters are too hard to innovate around ('what do monsters need? drool?') and so it's about to become a Robot Store instead. We suggest that the Robot store is dropped on top of the monster store and that they have monster feet and monster goo dripping out of the front door where they were squished. It seems we're as mad as the rest of town.
30 mins, 3 mad people. Lots of gifts. It's good to be home
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Mexico City Airport
At the airport in Mexico city. A rather swank new terminal with free internet access and a huge number of 'helpers' in wheelchairs.
have another tight connection in atlanta and the threat of snow and ice storms closing detroit airport. So another stressful day. Why I can't fly direct with Northwest I don't know. But they won't let me. So it's deep breath, fingers crossed and here we go. Again
have another tight connection in atlanta and the threat of snow and ice storms closing detroit airport. So another stressful day. Why I can't fly direct with Northwest I don't know. But they won't let me. So it's deep breath, fingers crossed and here we go. Again
Friday, November 30, 2007
Yet more
the posts this week have been few and far between as we hopped from one hotel fiasco to another and one torturously slow internet connection to a virtually non-existant one. It's been a shocking show of organizational incompetence and jaw slackening ineptitude and yet somehow we managed to make it through the week with smiles on our faces and a growing conviction in our hearts that what we have growing on our laptops and in suitcases full of paper is getting closer and closetr to the answer. Which is a relief as the client here is lovely and deserves the best work that we can manage.
Another change of hotel today then tomorrow a flight home with a ludicrously short layover in Atlanta (it'll be land and run, customs, security, terminal transfer and boarding in less than an hour) so I hope AeroMexico are on time.
All of that said it's been an okay week, but really REALLY I just want to go home and hug my wife.
Another change of hotel today then tomorrow a flight home with a ludicrously short layover in Atlanta (it'll be land and run, customs, security, terminal transfer and boarding in less than an hour) so I hope AeroMexico are on time.
All of that said it's been an okay week, but really REALLY I just want to go home and hug my wife.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water
the fuckwittery continues. Yesterday's hotel took 20 mins to check in each guests, had none functioning lights, a wireless connection that required both a near impossible to acquire password and the ability to type whilst mimicking an aerial in order to get a connection, connection wires that didn't fit data ports and an alarming willingness to tell you that there was a message at reception and then deny all knowledge of ever having done so despite having left written evidence.
Today's hotel refused to let us in - as the company credit card (there to book two people into a hotel for a week) has a limit of $1000 and we spent that earlier. They wouldn't take an authorized number from my company (I left my wallet in the US) and their net connection (so we could pay off the work card and have it clear for one more night) was slower than the receptionist at the Hotel Indifferent.
Then there's the 'executive lounge' to which we've been moved (it's either executive nor lounge like), the ability of the staff to move so quickly to take your bags that you feel that you're being mugged and so aggressively to be tipped that technically you may well have been mugged.
It's all just awful. But Mexico remains lovely, the people are sweeter than a Betty White syrup cookie and I am ready for bed. Night all
Today's hotel refused to let us in - as the company credit card (there to book two people into a hotel for a week) has a limit of $1000 and we spent that earlier. They wouldn't take an authorized number from my company (I left my wallet in the US) and their net connection (so we could pay off the work card and have it clear for one more night) was slower than the receptionist at the Hotel Indifferent.
Then there's the 'executive lounge' to which we've been moved (it's either executive nor lounge like), the ability of the staff to move so quickly to take your bags that you feel that you're being mugged and so aggressively to be tipped that technically you may well have been mugged.
It's all just awful. But Mexico remains lovely, the people are sweeter than a Betty White syrup cookie and I am ready for bed. Night all
Monday, November 26, 2007
Mexico
a big hello from a Mexican taxi where el diablo is finding work for idle thumbs.
I am now fully immersed in Mexican wine, the shopping habits of over made up Mexican radio psychologists and the new Mexican hipsterism (dontcha just LOVE Lulu?) and have decided that my inability to string together more than ten words in the local language is no impediment to my moving here forever.
Of course forever isn't long enough to go amywhere in this traffic and the ominous appearance of Starbucks on every corner signals the end of any unique culture but that's okay. I'm tall here. I like the food. And i have a bevy of beauties (plus Gareth) attending to every detail of my life.
So what if i left my wallet in Detroit? Or that the journey here took 14 hrs? Who cares that the streets are giant parking lots? This is the land of Mistico - and he can FLY.
As Elvis might have said Viva Mexico.
I am now fully immersed in Mexican wine, the shopping habits of over made up Mexican radio psychologists and the new Mexican hipsterism (dontcha just LOVE Lulu?) and have decided that my inability to string together more than ten words in the local language is no impediment to my moving here forever.
Of course forever isn't long enough to go amywhere in this traffic and the ominous appearance of Starbucks on every corner signals the end of any unique culture but that's okay. I'm tall here. I like the food. And i have a bevy of beauties (plus Gareth) attending to every detail of my life.
So what if i left my wallet in Detroit? Or that the journey here took 14 hrs? Who cares that the streets are giant parking lots? This is the land of Mistico - and he can FLY.
As Elvis might have said Viva Mexico.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Didn't we have a lovely time....
So today was one of those cold winter days that begged to be allowed to drive you inside. It was bitterly cold in the wind and yet, on a whim, I decided to drive to the Detroit zoo for some pics. The drive was good, the zoo freezing and most of the animals had been replaced by signs that said "too cold for me"... all in all rather an abortive attempt at tweaking the black nose of jack Frost.
Tomorrow it's out at 4am and to the airport (30 mins away) for another week in Mexico. I'd been hoping that Jude would be able to join me for the week and work on the roof as I went off into the streets to sell peanuts - but of course she sometmes needs to be in the office and so has elected to stay (close to the fire I hope)
Why I'm being asked to give up all of Sunday for a meeting that doesn't start until Monday and all of next Saturday to get home is another question entirely and one that can be easily answered with the word of the week 'fuckwittery'
Still I'm packed for the trip, the Touch is loaded with CSI Miami and some new Glenn Close thing and the TomTom is promising to guide me to airport parking. Here's hoping that all goes right with the flights and that I don't get stuck in Atlanta with nothing to eat but Turkey (which they seem to think is a vegetable)
Okay back downstairs and to Jude, who I can hear is typing too.
Tomorrow it's out at 4am and to the airport (30 mins away) for another week in Mexico. I'd been hoping that Jude would be able to join me for the week and work on the roof as I went off into the streets to sell peanuts - but of course she sometmes needs to be in the office and so has elected to stay (close to the fire I hope)
Why I'm being asked to give up all of Sunday for a meeting that doesn't start until Monday and all of next Saturday to get home is another question entirely and one that can be easily answered with the word of the week 'fuckwittery'
Still I'm packed for the trip, the Touch is loaded with CSI Miami and some new Glenn Close thing and the TomTom is promising to guide me to airport parking. Here's hoping that all goes right with the flights and that I don't get stuck in Atlanta with nothing to eat but Turkey (which they seem to think is a vegetable)
Okay back downstairs and to Jude, who I can hear is typing too.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Black Friday
It's Black Friday today. The day after thanksgiving all of the stores have a huge sale and tend to generate lines longer than those in communist Russia around the time of bread delivery. It's insane. Earsly bird specials start at 4am. Stores offer free wake up calls. People go mad. The roads are blocked. Just madness; a perfect storm of boredom, consumerism and the need to fill 'family time'.
It's cold here too. The sun may well be shining down from a sky of brilliant blue but the temperature gauge is saying minus 9 centigrade and having taken the dog down already I have no reason to disbelieve the digital mercury. In fact there was a warning last night on the weather that went something like this...
"Well Friday may be black tomorrow - but your toes shouldn't be, so if you're going out remember to wear...."
Yup early frostbite warnings and yet I don't care. Thanksgiving dinner last night was full of geneticists, architects, economists and sustainable strategists. Arguments ranged from the biophilic through to the usefulness of happiness as a metric for anything and I have to say that I enjoyed it all tremendously. The temptation of course is to be Neanderthal and claim that you're to busy making things to actually think about things but it's something that I avoided. After all I'm in the business of creating desire - so when people start talking about how desire is a learned construct you really do have to listen or I do anyway.
Right, enough of this - Jude is out of the shower and we have some Black Friday wandering of our own to be doing. Happy post Thanksgiving all.
It's cold here too. The sun may well be shining down from a sky of brilliant blue but the temperature gauge is saying minus 9 centigrade and having taken the dog down already I have no reason to disbelieve the digital mercury. In fact there was a warning last night on the weather that went something like this...
"Well Friday may be black tomorrow - but your toes shouldn't be, so if you're going out remember to wear...."
Yup early frostbite warnings and yet I don't care. Thanksgiving dinner last night was full of geneticists, architects, economists and sustainable strategists. Arguments ranged from the biophilic through to the usefulness of happiness as a metric for anything and I have to say that I enjoyed it all tremendously. The temptation of course is to be Neanderthal and claim that you're to busy making things to actually think about things but it's something that I avoided. After all I'm in the business of creating desire - so when people start talking about how desire is a learned construct you really do have to listen or I do anyway.
Right, enough of this - Jude is out of the shower and we have some Black Friday wandering of our own to be doing. Happy post Thanksgiving all.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving
It's shaping up to be a perfect day. We woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow, with flakes still gently wafting in the chill air and every house suddenly a potential cover for Victorian confection. A walk with the dog brought many cries of admiration and a few sweet conversations - the dog was beside herself with excitement at the perfection of it all, the people with th esweetness of the dog. Home and there's Judith wrapped in bed with a coffee and a good book (and a banana, worryingly?) Today we have no plans other than to join some people for dinner tonight and hit th egym in preparation for excess tonight. Like a perfect Pinot I am chilled to zen like perfection. I could get used to this.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Our first couples thing...
... last night we 'entertained' for the first time... well we opened a bottle of wine for a couple of new friends then walked into town for more wine and the best food I've had here so far.
The big difference between Jude and I (I think) is that she knows interesting people while I tend to know interested people. The former are people out doing things in the world that are new and pushing boundaries (one of our guests last night had recently headed up the digital lab at Harvard) the latter are people who have read about, attended and studied things that are interesting, The former gave stories, the latter have annecdotes.
What they have in common is an interest in the world and a determination to see patterns. Last night's people were both interested and interesting. Which was great. And once again I was the most stupid person in the room (Including all of the staff in the restaurant) which was even better.
Hoping to get my plates and registration today from Ford (my new license wasn't in the system yesterday)
The big difference between Jude and I (I think) is that she knows interesting people while I tend to know interested people. The former are people out doing things in the world that are new and pushing boundaries (one of our guests last night had recently headed up the digital lab at Harvard) the latter are people who have read about, attended and studied things that are interesting, The former gave stories, the latter have annecdotes.
What they have in common is an interest in the world and a determination to see patterns. Last night's people were both interested and interesting. Which was great. And once again I was the most stupid person in the room (Including all of the staff in the restaurant) which was even better.
Hoping to get my plates and registration today from Ford (my new license wasn't in the system yesterday)
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
vroom vroom vroom
well it took forever and I still don't have valid plates but I am now the 'proud' owner of a Mustang. 4.0L of rumbling V6 muscle car that's pretty much as American as it's possible to be without actually attending a rodeo.It's a guilty pleasure. It looks great, it feels great and it sounds amazing but as you floor it and watch the fuel economy drop and drop you start to wonder whether a Honda Fit wasn't a better idea after all. But as Jude would say 'screw it' - I work on a car brand I should drive a car - rather than a shopping trolley.
Anyway the 'Stang is already nicknamed Death Star (black exterior, black interior, the low rumble of Darth Vader somewhere at its heart) and is turning heads wherever we go. Very cool - and at about GBP12k rather a bargain.
Of course I wanted to buy satellite navigation for the Death Star (there's nothing worse than accidentally destroying the wrong planet) but (and this is true) I couldn't find the store that sells them. Must have driven past it. Which could make a decent campaign - the last time you'll ever be lost is on the way to buy one.
Also went to a dentist yesterday in a bid to sort out and exploding (or rather imploding) tooth. While I was there the dentist took a drill to my uneven front teeth and in a matter of minutes had me looking more American and less Dickensian.
5 years in - saying too-na without even thinking about it, straighter, whiter teeth and now a muscle car. I think that this place is finally getting to me
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