I haven’t logged quite as many things that last few days as usual. I’d love to say it is because I have been rushed off my feet and have been just too busy. The truth is I have been working and the day to day stuff computer programming stuff may not be interesting reading. One thing I will say however is that working with some of the bigger clients is quite different to what I am used to. This week we commenced work on and website for a soft drinks company. I don’t believe I can say their name yet but I can it I say it’s not Lucozade and it does not have crocodile in the brand name (I think that is cryptic enough). Technically, don’t believe I was down to be on the team to actually work on this project. I accidentally walked into the meeting room and before I knew it we were talking about a new website. Opps! That’s one way of getting in on the action. They were doing a conference call with one of those big advertising agencies. It kind of reminded me of the film “what women want”.
We are on line at home now! Yay! After the rip off that was AT&T, Comcast has come along and got out cable up and running. The only slight issue that is not wi-fi ready. It is more a case of having a forty-five minute walk to get some more equipment and then spending half a day arsing around with it to get it to work. Ooh fun.
This morning, knowing that I was going to speak to Mum and Dad, I decide to run to the shops… literally! We were out of cereal and I though it a good opportunity to get a bit of intensive excursive. Since I have been here I have learnt to play the system a bit. I know that if I wait until the cars are at the top of the bridge, I can cross the first six lanes of traffic without having to run. Then it is just a case of walking the median (central reservation) until the light on the other side change. “Safely” across the road I start my jogging routine. My plan was to return the old TV areal I had and swap it for a wi-fi box. I managed to get to Wal-Mart and go straight to the customer service desk. I learnt today that you can just about take anything back to Wal-Mart without a receipt if you are polite and show of a nice shiny accent.
I say “Hi, I’d like to return this please, but I don’t have receipt”
“Say whaaaat! sey thay-at ag-ayn” –came the shocked response
“You see, I got it but then we got cable and it turns out we don’t need it” I say thinking I have just upset her
“Yaw wayt hyre sweedie…. RONDA! JA!... com ere!... Now, sey thay-at ag-ayn” she says again.
“So yeah, I got this and I don’t need it anymore” I say with an ever growing audience.
“oh my gowd, I jas lowve yaw ayc-ceyent. Say some-em eylse. I cawld lysen to hym awl day”
This went on for about five minutes, but it seemed longer. I won’t lie and tell you it didn’t feel good these people hang on my every word, even though I was talking a load of old boll**ks!
“he say-ed yoghurt, say some-em eylse diff-ryent” she says.
“I’m just saying it how it is spelt.. yog-hurt not yoe-gert… I mean you don’t say I have got my trainers on and I’m about to joe-ging do you?”
“yayer, wha do we sey they-at”
She was obviously distracted and she gave me a full refund without the need a receipt. Result! I got my bits and pieces and headed back home… 20 minutes no problem.
I was due to look at the car this afternoon but I didn’t hear anything. I rang Dave and he said “did you not get my text message?” He sent me one saying that he couldn’t get hold of Tim the car dealer so we will go around tonight. It seems that my mobile phone just can’t get text messages from other US phones, (except Sarah’s new mobile phone). Quite a few of them don’t have a + key on them which means they can’t dial internationally … to my phone… next to them. I will be getting a new one soon but I need to work out if I can use a US SIM card in the phone. The way that phone contract work here a quite different to the way they work in the UK. It is really simple in the UK when it comes to pay-as-you-go phones. You get a 10 quid voucher and top up. You get charged for the calls and text you make. The more you use it the more it is. Here in the US the pay-as-you go seems to be quite different. If you don’t use your phone, you don’t pay. If you want to sent a text message or make a 5 second call is costs you $3. Rip off right! The catch is, that you can send as many texts or spend ages talking on your phone, but it still is contained within that $3 per day. That doesn’t include 3G internet time either. I think is it a very subtle way of making you either spent more or talk more.
I have done the washing today and I have now lost the first sock in the USA. How does this happen! We had an even number when we got here… bloody thing!
Knowing that we had a free afternoon, I wanted to go out and find the nearest park. As I have said before, everything is spread out here. The nearest park is a good thirty minutes away. To get to it we had to walk through a fairly private estate. It wasn’t what I would call a gated community exactly but rather the kind of area where people would look at you to say “this is my patch… what are you doing”. I found a very easy way to throw off these looks. Basically, all you need is a blonde smiley four year old on your shoulders. It seems to work every time! (Although I think I need to get the light weight version as my back is killing me know). We would walk down this very beautiful path and there would be a man looking out of his conservatory giving you daggers. “right, I’m waving at him” I thought. The thing is when someone waves at you it soon defuses any threat. So he gave me a kind of reluctant semi raised hand back. “Right Katie, let’s go for it… wave at the man”. My darling daughter really went for it waving like crazy at the man who was like a long lost friend. The man had nowhere to go from here, and started waving back in an equally ridiculous way… That did make me laugh and I think secretly it made that guys day!
As we ventured further around the estate, you could really smell the money. We counted at least 6 houses that had a three door garage that had a car in each, plus one on the driveway. As first it seemed quite quiet, to the point of giving the feeling of an abandoned town. Everything new, massive, luxurious but ultimately empty. As we went further down the twisty road we heard kids playing/working. This is the season to be raking leafs alright. I am not kidding when I say that the whole community was getting involved. Ride-on lawn mowers whirring up and down while leaf blowers were being used to create piles of leafs ready to be compacted into bags by the kids. It seemed to be a full on event, and I felt a little left out. I miss my leaf blower. You could shoot a dog turd miles with that bad boy! We wondered up and down this street, people were happy to talk to us and give us directions to the nearest park. It was really nice getting some fresh air and kicking the leaves and wonder through the woods on the way home. On the way back Katie said to me “I am really glad you made me come out in the end daddy, I really enjoyed it”. Coming from a tried four year old girl who, trust me, knows how to whine when she is tired, really meant a lot to me.
Dave came around at seven and said that he still hasn’t been able to get in touch with Tim the car dealer, so we would go around tomorrow after the Colts game… Come on you Colts! The Kia will have to wait until tomorrow, which rather scuppers my plans with doing stuff on the weekend. I’m not quite sure how this will work, as I have heard that you can’t buy a car on a Sunday in Indiana.
We are on line at home now! Yay! After the rip off that was AT&T, Comcast has come along and got out cable up and running. The only slight issue that is not wi-fi ready. It is more a case of having a forty-five minute walk to get some more equipment and then spending half a day arsing around with it to get it to work. Ooh fun.
This morning, knowing that I was going to speak to Mum and Dad, I decide to run to the shops… literally! We were out of cereal and I though it a good opportunity to get a bit of intensive excursive. Since I have been here I have learnt to play the system a bit. I know that if I wait until the cars are at the top of the bridge, I can cross the first six lanes of traffic without having to run. Then it is just a case of walking the median (central reservation) until the light on the other side change. “Safely” across the road I start my jogging routine. My plan was to return the old TV areal I had and swap it for a wi-fi box. I managed to get to Wal-Mart and go straight to the customer service desk. I learnt today that you can just about take anything back to Wal-Mart without a receipt if you are polite and show of a nice shiny accent.
I say “Hi, I’d like to return this please, but I don’t have receipt”
“Say whaaaat! sey thay-at ag-ayn” –came the shocked response
“You see, I got it but then we got cable and it turns out we don’t need it” I say thinking I have just upset her
“Yaw wayt hyre sweedie…. RONDA! JA!... com ere!... Now, sey thay-at ag-ayn” she says again.
“So yeah, I got this and I don’t need it anymore” I say with an ever growing audience.
“oh my gowd, I jas lowve yaw ayc-ceyent. Say some-em eylse. I cawld lysen to hym awl day”
This went on for about five minutes, but it seemed longer. I won’t lie and tell you it didn’t feel good these people hang on my every word, even though I was talking a load of old boll**ks!
“he say-ed yoghurt, say some-em eylse diff-ryent” she says.
“I’m just saying it how it is spelt.. yog-hurt not yoe-gert… I mean you don’t say I have got my trainers on and I’m about to joe-ging do you?”
“yayer, wha do we sey they-at”
She was obviously distracted and she gave me a full refund without the need a receipt. Result! I got my bits and pieces and headed back home… 20 minutes no problem.
I was due to look at the car this afternoon but I didn’t hear anything. I rang Dave and he said “did you not get my text message?” He sent me one saying that he couldn’t get hold of Tim the car dealer so we will go around tonight. It seems that my mobile phone just can’t get text messages from other US phones, (except Sarah’s new mobile phone). Quite a few of them don’t have a + key on them which means they can’t dial internationally … to my phone… next to them. I will be getting a new one soon but I need to work out if I can use a US SIM card in the phone. The way that phone contract work here a quite different to the way they work in the UK. It is really simple in the UK when it comes to pay-as-you-go phones. You get a 10 quid voucher and top up. You get charged for the calls and text you make. The more you use it the more it is. Here in the US the pay-as-you go seems to be quite different. If you don’t use your phone, you don’t pay. If you want to sent a text message or make a 5 second call is costs you $3. Rip off right! The catch is, that you can send as many texts or spend ages talking on your phone, but it still is contained within that $3 per day. That doesn’t include 3G internet time either. I think is it a very subtle way of making you either spent more or talk more.
I have done the washing today and I have now lost the first sock in the USA. How does this happen! We had an even number when we got here… bloody thing!
Knowing that we had a free afternoon, I wanted to go out and find the nearest park. As I have said before, everything is spread out here. The nearest park is a good thirty minutes away. To get to it we had to walk through a fairly private estate. It wasn’t what I would call a gated community exactly but rather the kind of area where people would look at you to say “this is my patch… what are you doing”. I found a very easy way to throw off these looks. Basically, all you need is a blonde smiley four year old on your shoulders. It seems to work every time! (Although I think I need to get the light weight version as my back is killing me know). We would walk down this very beautiful path and there would be a man looking out of his conservatory giving you daggers. “right, I’m waving at him” I thought. The thing is when someone waves at you it soon defuses any threat. So he gave me a kind of reluctant semi raised hand back. “Right Katie, let’s go for it… wave at the man”. My darling daughter really went for it waving like crazy at the man who was like a long lost friend. The man had nowhere to go from here, and started waving back in an equally ridiculous way… That did make me laugh and I think secretly it made that guys day!
As we ventured further around the estate, you could really smell the money. We counted at least 6 houses that had a three door garage that had a car in each, plus one on the driveway. As first it seemed quite quiet, to the point of giving the feeling of an abandoned town. Everything new, massive, luxurious but ultimately empty. As we went further down the twisty road we heard kids playing/working. This is the season to be raking leafs alright. I am not kidding when I say that the whole community was getting involved. Ride-on lawn mowers whirring up and down while leaf blowers were being used to create piles of leafs ready to be compacted into bags by the kids. It seemed to be a full on event, and I felt a little left out. I miss my leaf blower. You could shoot a dog turd miles with that bad boy! We wondered up and down this street, people were happy to talk to us and give us directions to the nearest park. It was really nice getting some fresh air and kicking the leaves and wonder through the woods on the way home. On the way back Katie said to me “I am really glad you made me come out in the end daddy, I really enjoyed it”. Coming from a tried four year old girl who, trust me, knows how to whine when she is tired, really meant a lot to me.
Dave came around at seven and said that he still hasn’t been able to get in touch with Tim the car dealer, so we would go around tomorrow after the Colts game… Come on you Colts! The Kia will have to wait until tomorrow, which rather scuppers my plans with doing stuff on the weekend. I’m not quite sure how this will work, as I have heard that you can’t buy a car on a Sunday in Indiana.
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