Day 2 on the road

Day 2 was a busy day on the road. We left Virginia, passed into North Carolina, through South Carolina, Georgia, and finally arrived in Florida. It is amazing how much the American accent changes as you pass from State to State. It is also interesting to see an increase in the number of flags as you head further and further south.

We stopped at a McDonalds at around 11am so that I could setup my notebook and attend my first offical AED lesson with Nick. Before class I had time to take some pictures which I thought epitomised the aspects of America which were standing out to me...



Right next door to this McDonalds was a Motel with this sign outside..sort of says it all really.



The lesson was great - Nick is both meticulous and thorough. He leaves nothing to chance, and assumes nothing about your level of knowledge and understanding of the material being presented. After the class he gave me a call on Bob's mobile to discuss some aspects of one of the assignments I had submitted, and I found his feedback insightful and valuable.

Hitting the road again we saw the outside temperature steadily rising as we headed further south. Quite a few hours later we arrived in Florida and pushed down as far as Jacksonville before deciding to stop for dinner. Bob and Kim decided to indulge my fascination with a chain called 'Hooters'.



It took me a while to catch on to the local slang and work out what 'Hooters' pertained to. If I was in any doubt, that doubt was eradicated when I saw the result of  the staff employment policy. :-)  Good thing the weather is warm down here, else the staff might get rather cold...

We hit the road for a short time after dinner, before booking into a Ramada Inn in Daytona Beach. The accomodation was a bit more pricey, however nothing compared to what is rises to in a couple of weeks during race week. Then the price rises from $89 to $485 per night, with a minimum 6 night stay. $2900 per room!! The motel was right across the road from the raceway, and it was 95% booked out for raceweek.

We arrived quite late, and so I missed out on chatting to Janine and Jordan. That was a shame, but I was pretty tired aftere a long day on the road, so perhaps it was for the best.

Tomorrow we arrive at the house - that will be great!

Day 1 on the Road

We got on the road around 1pm yesterday, with Bob's Ford Expedition loaded with Kim, Bob and me, along with Baxter, Roxie and Zoe. On top of that we had 4 large cases of luggage, 2 PCs, 3 24" monitors, 1 19" monitor, 1 printer, plus my luggage and laptop. I'm glad Bob has a very large vehicle!!



As expected we travelled through snow and ice for the majority of the time we were on the road. It was great to see more of the US countryside, and it soon became apparent that Ohio is largely a flat state. As we travelled south into Kentucky we started to see some rolling hills. As we gained a bit of altitude we saw amazing trees covered in ice - they looked like ice sculptures.

After passing into West Virginia we pulled into a McDonalds to grab a coffee and 10 minutes break from driving. Whilst it was just a McDonalds, I found it another first in my long list of firsts here in the US. A 'Winter McDonalds'!!



And yes it was as cold as it looks!!!

McCafes are different here. Whereas in Australia a McCafe is like a separate store within McDonalds, here it is just an expresso machine in the corner. I think they thought me weird as I only wanted a latte without 27 different additions thrown in it!!

Hitting the road again we continued south into Virginia. The temperatures slowly climbed until we were finally above 0 celsius!! We stopped again around 7pm so that Bob and Kim could attend their class with Nick. I had time for a quick call to Janine and Jordan beforehand - despite the technology being commonplace now, I still find it amazing that I could be sitting in a McDonalds in Virginia having a free video call with Janine and Jordan in Melbourne.

After the class we hit the road again, this time I drove until we arrived in Virginia where we found a motel for the night. Quite cheap here too, $57 for the night.

Well time to head out again, I'll try and get another installment up tonight!!

Bye for now.

Hitting the Frog and Toad!!

Bob decided the roads will be clear enough today so we are going to hit the road after all!! Very exciting, I will get to see a lot more of the US on our trip from Ohio to Florida.

For those of you with a knowledge of US geography as limited as mine, that trip looks something like this.



A trip of around 1300 miles (2100km).

Looking at the snow depth map I saw we have some snow and ice to pass through on our way south through Ohio and Kentucky.

We are expecting the trip to take 2 or 3 days, leaving about midday today. Should be a fun trip with 3 people plus Baxter the Bulldog, and Roxie and Zoe the fox terriers!!

Speaking of the fox terriers, here is Zoe, living a dog's life!!



I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to update the blog during I trip south. I hope, but if nothing more appears here for the next few days you'll know why.

Bye for now!

It's snowing!!!

Last night we went to bed with warnings of a snow storm, predicting up to 12 inches of snow. When I woke up this morning it was snowing!!



Kim remembered that I had mentioned making a snowman, and said the snow this morning was perfect for one as it was a bit wet - so out we went! Even Zoe, Roxie and Baxter (the dogs) came out to help.

Building him took longer than I thought, with me packing up the snow to make the body, while Kim made a snowball that she rolled around in the snow to make it bigger and bigger. We used two of those, one to build up his body, and the other for his head. Even Baxter the bulldog helped - well in spirit anyway. He gave our snowman plenty of sniffs and snorts, however we had to draw the line when he tried to play with the sticks we used to make the arms.

Kim had her old 'snowman kit', which included the scarf, hat, eyes and mouth. To finish him off she went inside and got a carrot for his nose.



After we had finished the snowman Kim said we had to make 'snow angels'. I had no idea what they were, but they sounded a bit 'girly'. Kim said no way, and showed me how to make one. Basically you lie down on the snow, then wave your arms and legs back and forth on the snow to make the wings and dress. It was good fun!! I took a picture of mine, but it is a bit hard to see.



All in all a fun morning! Bob is thinking we may have to wait until Friday to leave for Florida, as there is a state emergency in Kentucky with the snow storm.

As far as the course goes, I'm still waiting for Nick to get back to me with the next lesson. It is coming up to 2 days now since I sent off the last one, and I am getting a bit impatient. I received my calss schedule last night, and will start having 4 regular classes a week from next week. What I have done so far has been excellent, and I suppose I have little choice but to be patient.

Bob and Kim have both been very generous and are making me feel so welcome here. I have certainly been blessed with the support and hospitality I received to date from both Chucky and Sloane, and Bob and Kim. It just goes to teach me how my preconceptions of the US and her citizens could not have been further off. I'll have to remember that next time I jump to uninformed preconceptions and generalities.

Well that is it for today - bye for now!

BRRRRRR!!!!!

Had my best sleep yet last night, I think the jetlag may be coming to an end!!

Kim had put flannalette sheets on my bed which was so welcome, it is rather cold here. In fact it makes New York seem quite summery!!

As I hadn't posted any photos on the previous blog I decided to rug up and go for a morning wander to see the local scenery. I was out for around an hour, and very grateful to get back. My face and hands were actually getting quite painful from the cold. It was well worth it though to see some of the local landscape.



The combination of snow and early morning sun was quite pretty, and hopefully I have captured some of it in these shots.



You can get an idea of the depth of the snow from how covered these corn plant stalks are...



At the far end of my walk I found a horse stables, with the horses out trotting in the snow!!



Bob and Kim tell me that their countryside isn't very pretty at this time of year, however with views like this, I beg to disagree..



If anyone is interested in seeing more photos (as I only post some of them in this blog), you can find my online photo albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/pauly139

Well, Nick has sent me the next lesson, so time to do some work. Bye for now!

The Beginning...

Yesterday Chucky was kind enough to drive me over to Philadelphia to see Nick, and in so doing I began what I came over here to do - the Asset Expansion course.

On the way over I Chuck drove down the same freeway which is shown in the opening titles of 'The Sopranos', and pointed out the signs which are shown in the start of the show. Closest I've been to Tony Soprano!!!

Only took 2 hours to get to Nick's place, starting out in New York state, passing through New Jersey, and ending up in Philadelphia.

Nick turned out to be an obviously very sharp guy, full of vision and passion, with a definite path mapped out before him. His explanation of the Asset Expansion course showed it to be exactly what I hoped, fitting in with my way I tend to learn best.

So, after a couple of hours of discussion I handed over my first months payment and signed on the dotted line. Then we headed on to the more important event for the day - LUNCH!!

Nick took us over to one of his local haunts where I got to experience the Italian version of a pie (well that is my impression of it anyway). I ordered a 'small' portion, and ended up with 2 absolutely huge serves of what looked like a cross between a pastie and a pizza. Delicious, and amazingly filling!

After saying bye to Nick, we headed back with full tummys and much excitement, looking forward to beginning the course.

Today it was time to say goodbye to Chucky, Sloane and New York. Chucky took me out to Laguardia Airport where it was time for another sting from American Airline industry. My fare from New York to Ohio was $99, and I was expecting an additional $15 for my suitcase. Well, it turns out the $15 only covers 50lb of luggage (they forgot to mention this when I purchased the ticket). The extra 10lb my suitcase weighed cost an additional $34. So, it cost $99 for me, and $49 for my suitcase.

Well I arrived in Akron, Ohio 90 mins later. Was great to see everything covered in snow. Bob picked me up, and we enjoyed a great chat during the 1 hour drive back to his place. Got back here and said hi to Kim, was great to see them both again.

Tonight I completed the first lesson and sent it off to Nick. Tomorrow I get to lesson 2!!

I understand we are leaving for Florida on Thursday, but until then it is head down bum up into the course.

My Day in Manhattan

What a great day!! Chucky and I headed off mid-morning, and caught the train from New Rochelle into Grand Central Station. Was a nice warm day (7 degrees)!
The station itself is wonderfully clean and in beautiful condition. Lovely marble lines the walls, with a hand-painted ceiling.

Heading out from the station we went across the road to the Chrysler Building, which was the world's tallest building before the Empire State Building. Great Art Deco interior!
So guess where we went next - yep, the Empire State Building. It was being renovated inside, and I was feeling too stingey to pay the $20 to go up to the viewing deck, especially since my $50AU I exchanged came back as $26US!!

From there we header down to the financial district, where I saw my two favorite ATMs!!


The American Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. I was really looking forward to going inside, but since 9-11 they have been closed to the public. However Chucky assures me that next time I visit he'll call on some old mates to get us inside for a look.

Next stop was 'Ground Zero', where the World Trade Center towers stood. The whole area was cordoned off with high fences due to the construction going on there. Couldn't see a thing, well except for solid high blue fences!! So, on we walked down to 'The Battery', which is on the southern tip of Manhattan, from where we could see the Statue of Liberty (wayyyyyyy in the distance), and Staten Island.

After lunch (a burger made by some famous chef whose name I can't remember), we wandered down to Central Park via The Plaza (a famous hotel). I had imagined a green leafy park, but of course being winter what we had instead was snow, ice, and bare trees! Still great to see...

We finished off the day with a walk down Fifth Avenue (apparently has the claim to fame of being the highest priced rental for retail space in the world). I noticed Janine's heaven, and so had to take a picture!!


All in all a great day - we saved a few places to visit when I'm back here with Janine and Jordan - Times Square, Little Italy, China Town, visits to the various viewing decks, Madison Square Gardens...

Chucky assures me that New York looks it's worst in Winter, and is magnificent in Spring and Summer. That being the case I can't wait to see it then, as it was remarkably clean, and pretty with the snow. The people were friendly and helpful, and my preconception of New York being dirty, dangerous and full of grumpy people has been totally destroyed!! Another belief structure shattered!!

Tomorrow we are off to visit Nick in Philadelphia, so off to bed I go excitedly looking forward to another day in the USA!!

New Rochelle

Well this is my second day at Chucky's place, and I have to say I've certainly landed on my feet. Chucky and his wife Sloane have a beautiful home here in New Rochelle. It is a lovely city within the greater district of New York. Very quiet, and it appears many notable people share (or have shared) the neighbourhood with them.

For example this is the home of Mr 7Up, and then the house where the Carrie Chapman lived...






Bill and Hillary Clinton nearly bought a house just down the road from Chucky, and to be honest I've forgotten all the others he mentioned. However walking around the neighbourhood I can see why. Check out some of the houses...





And finally a couple of sunset shots looking down Chucky's street...





For lunch Chucky took me to "Walter's Hotdogs" (www.waltershotdogs.com), and American Insitution in terms of Hotdogs - been there since 1919!! Not exactly in line with my organic diet, but I had to try one, not to mention the real American Hamburger I had yesterday. Have to try these things, I can clean up with some spirulina tomorrow :-)

Well, that reminds me that tomorrow I am going in to Manhattan and will be having a New York bagel for lunch, so I'll have to apologise to my stomach and treat it to some spinach the day after :-)

Well, time to finish off some work for Octal8 (the last job - yay!!!!!), then downstairs for another one of Chucky's great coffees.

Arrived in New York

Well, I've finally arrived here in New York after an interesting jump over the Pacific.

After a very emotional goodbye to Janine and Jordan I found myself waiting for a plane that didn't want to leave. Apparently an engineering problem was proving difficult to resolve, and at around 4pm (original departure was scheduled for 12:30pm) Qantas decided to fly us all to Sydney and put us on a plane to Los Angeles from there.

At around 7pm we finally departed from Sydney. The good side to all that was I found myself with 3 seats to myself, and so could stretch out for the 14 hour flight. I enjoyed some documentaries on Bill Gates, the origins of the internet, and Stephen Hawkings talking about the origins of the Universe. Who says I'm a geek!?!?

Arriving in Los Angeles we all had to wait around for a while before our luggage arrived, wondering if it had gone astray. Eventually it all turned up though, and we had to check it in again for the connecting flight to New York. It appears I was singled out for special attention as I was taken to one side and had my carry-on luggage stripped down and searched, and then I was patted down.

I then called Chuck to let him know my new arrival details, and just after hanging up I heard my name over the PA system telling me my plane was about to depart without me! That got me running down the corridor, luckily I wasn't too far from the gate and got there in time.

Finally arrived in New York around 12:45am, found my luggage, and then battled with the local phone system for half an hour trying to ring Chucky. When I finally got onto him he was just outside the terminal building and had been for some time - I could have just walked outside!

Anyway, Chucky has a gorgeous house, and outside it is beautiful and white with snow. I'd take a photo, but somewhere between Melbourne and here someone decided they would like my camera and GPS gear more than me, and relieved me of it all. So this morning Chucky will take me out to buy a new camera.

Enough adventure for now, I hope my next installment is a little more aligned with my expectations!!