I can’t think of anything interesting …

I haven’t really been up to much the last couple of evenings. Over the last two days I have been really busy at work as we begin the first phase of my assigned project; this is planned to continue until the end of October.

Sunday evening I went out to the same sports bar that I visited last week to watch the Indianapolis Colts play Denver. I’m trying to learn the rules of the game but it’s so stop/start and adverts every few minutes. It kicked off at 4:15 and I don’t think it finished until around 7:15 … THREE HOURS. I bought a Colts shirt last week so that I at least blended in a little this time …

Last night I stayed in just watching some TV although there wasn’t really anything interesting on. It’s starting to get cold here which, although I had been expecting it to BE cold, isn’t welcome… I actually had to turn my air conditioning from COOL to HEAT! Thankfully the thermostat has both metric and old money units of measurement; I still can’t get the hang of Fahrenheit. I was watching the weather this morning and although there was a slight chance of rain in the area, none materialised. Unlike Wisconsin where many towns seem to have flooded after a river, following heavy rains, burst its bank. In contrast California has seen temperatures around 110 (even I know that’s hot!). On the subject of units though, I have started to realise how much of a mix we use in the UK. Ask me my height and I will tell you in feet and inches, and probably my weight in stones and pounds. BUT if I measure anything it’s always in m, cm, and mm; if I weight anything it’s always in Kg’s. Our fuel is pumped in litres yet we all talk about our Miles Per Gallon … I guess we are the halfway house between Imperial America and Metric Europe.

This evening I got in from work and spoke to my family back home, and then spent a while doing not very much at all on the computer. I flicked through the TV and stumbled across Fox where I realised I was watching Glee and finding it quite entertaining. Not wanting to admit that to myself (I’m not that American just yet) I turned it off and headed out to the gym. I’ve never really been one for gyms, and the extent of my exercise would normally be playing football with work on a Wednesday evening or 2 weeks of (mildly) intensive training at the end of April ready for the 10k GEAR. Alright then; 1 week. Since I’ve been out here though I’ve been making use of the gym at the apartment complex. Partly something to do but also because I have this fear of Mr Dunkin’ and Mrs Krispy Kreme tapping me on the shoulder … Anyway, when I got back I cooked myself some dinner and then did some cleaning. That brings us up to the present time!

I haven’t eaten the Boy Scout Popcorn yet … I’m thinking of keeping hold of it until I’m sure there’ll be no other door-to-door salesmen so that I don’t lose my evidence of not being tight!

Finally, it seems I’m not unlucky for Arsenal if I’m at work when they’re playing. Following last week’s 6-0 win there was a 3-1 win against Partizan tonight. After the two results from each Saturday match since I’ve been here, I’m not looking forward to watching the Chelsea game on Sunday morning. Still, it has to be better than the almost constant re-runs of West Ham vs.. Spurs; I think I’ve seen parts of that match at least 3 times now … that actually makes Glee seem appealing!

I’ve been had …

Sometime this afternoon I was speaking to my parents on Skype when there was a knock at my front door. Having not met any of my neighbours yet, I assumed maybe it was someone coming round to say “Hi”. Well, it was, but following the greeting was “do you want to buy some popcorn?”. It was a little kid with his mum, doing the rounds for the Boy Scouts. Looking back I should have just said I was allergic to the stuff, but I didn’t. Instead I went and got my wallet, came back to the door and handed over $10 … TEN DOLLARS for a bag of popcorn!  It had better taste good.

Pancake extraordinaire!

Check out my handiwork …

Tasted as good as they looked!

Don’t you hate it when …

… you think you’ve finally got a good photo of the stalker chipmunk, only to find THIS with a quick Google search. That photo is just too awesome (although possibly slightly cruel). Still, here’s the photo of my chipmunk (of course now there’ll be a rush to tell me he’s not actually a chipmunk at all!).

I drove for about an hour north of Fishers today, taking my camera with me and trying to get some photo’s of the farmlands and scenery around the area. It wasn’t that easy because of a lack of places to pull over, and everywhere that looked like it could have been a side road actually turned out to be someone’s drive. I did manage to find a place to stop (actually just a really long drive!) and take the panorama below … I’ll try and upload some photo’s to my Flickr account, but it may take some time as the mobile broadband isn’t the quickest.

This morning was taken up by watching a load of crap Arsenal lose at home to West Brom … I’m going to stop watching the games whilst I’m in the States as I’m clearly bad luck. This evening I went grocery shopping (!!) where I went a bit crazy and paid $2.09 for a can of Heinz Baked Beans …

Had to get some “gas” …

And even that is completely different to the UK!

I got to work this morning and the light came on the fuel gauge warning that I was low on gas. So on the way back to the apartment after work I stopped at the Speedway just across the street. Before pulling up to the pump, I checked the gauge to see what side the fuel filler cap was on. The gauge always shows what side you fill from. ALWAYS. It seems that the Impala is the only car I have been in that tells you the wrong side … So, after a quick 3 point turn on the forecourt I then had to go into the station to pay for my my fuel before I put it in. I wasn’t really sure of the size of the tank, so I took a guess and paid $30.

I filled up.

When I got back in the car, $30 actually made the needle on the gauge move to full. So $30 got me roughly 11 and a bit gallons; about 43 litres. On current exchange rates, this means I managed to fill a big family car up for around £19. Based on current UK fuel prices this would cost us about £50.

Ouch!

One more thing …

I finally got asked some questions about the Queen today! My favourite being …

Captured!

I’ve finally managed to get a photo of the chipmunk! Well, kind of. I had just got home from work and there were two on the patio. One of them seemed to be trying to break into the window, but he had gone by the time I grabbed the camera out of my bag. It’s not a great photo as the autofocus got hold of the blinds, but it’s a start.

This morning I also saw a raccoon run along the side of the apartment as I left for work and with all the tame squirrels running around, it’s like living in a nature reserve.

Today we had some rain! It was nice as it had been so hot and humid since I’ve been here and, unlike the small shower on Sunday, it actually rained for a good few hours. There were a few cracks of thunder but nothing in terms if a storm.

I’m starting to run low on fuel in the car so I think I’ll have to fill up soon … I saw the price of a gallon at my local station has dropped to $2.65; I’m going to try and bring some home at that price!

It’s hot!!

How’s the weather back in the UK?? This is a screenshot of a weather gadget on my desktop at 22:00 ….

Wish I had packed some shorts now!

End of the first weekend …

This weekend I’ve managed to do some further exploring and the weather has been great apart from a slight shower early this afternoon. This was nice though as it helped to clear the air a little that had been feeling very humid and heavy.

Last night I ventured out in the car and found a couple of malls that are within a 10-20 minute drive from the apartment, so that will be useful when I start Americanising my clothes (I look a bit Euro at the moment …). It was also the first time that I have gone properly out without getting lost!!

Today I investigated the facilities around the apartment area. There’s a nice gym with lots of different equipment and from what the lady showing me around said it doesn’t get too busy either. There’s a nice looking outside pool, but I think this is now out of bounds during autumn and winter.

I also drove out north today from Fishers and as the road merges from dual to single carriageway, so does the scenery. The regular mixture of housing, fast food outlets and supermarkets is replaced by trees and fields. The trees are that nice mixture at the moment of having some green leaves but a growing majority of golden colours are visible. Driving a little further the trees vanish and you enter the main farming area that I believe the state of Indiana is most renowned for. It’s pretty much how it is displayed in movies, with traditional farmhouses and barns scattered across the landscape. The land is almost flat with only a very slight undulation – it was almost like driving through the Fens! There were some great patterns in the sky formed by clouds and the sunshine breaking through, but I didn’t have my decent camera on me to capture any of it. It also felt a bit daunting driving through the area, as it looked almost identical to the scenery in the film Twister … not something I want to encounter!

Tonight I was invited by some people I’m working with at the moment to join them at a local Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Indianapolis Colts. I went along and it was a great evening, the chicken pieces were really tasty (especially in the Honey BBQ sauce) and it was a good atmosphere . I even began to understand some of the rules! I think I’ll definitely be going again and will have to adopt them as my NFL team (and it will give me someone to locally support in the absence of Arsenal). I’m going to need to buy a shirt to fit in however. I tried my best though, (by pulling a cheesy grin and sticking my thumbs up)…

But it’s back to work tomorrow so it’s time for bed now!

A few quick snaps …

Block that my apartment is in …

(yellow arrow shows the entrance to mine – ground floor. There is a family above me that crash around quite a bit!)

My wheels while I’m out here …

Today I went to a local market/fete. It had a mixture of produce from local farmers and a separate section with stuff on sale from local artists, the weather was good so it was a nice day out.

When I got back to the apartment I flicked on the TV and was able to watch the Arsenal game – awesome! Not such a good result though.

This advert keeps coming on the TV, it makes me laugh every time. It’s mainly the dude at the beginning with his bad acting when he finishes his golf swing. haha. The old fella does quite well on the contraption though, so I can’t really knock him too much – especially with the spritely finish.

A week almost gone by …

and I still haven’t seen a donut! People told me I’d be surrounded by them, but I haven’t seen any. So tonight I ventured out onto the highway for the first time (other than the short drive to work) and headed to Walmart …

It is HUGE. I’ve been to some big Tesco’s back in the UK, but the sheer size of the building and it’s contents inside is something else. I’ve also realised that Amercian supermarkets just don’t cater for the shopper buying for one. I thought I’d get some eggs; I could only find them available in trays of 18. EIGHTEEN. There was such a huge array of different milk to choose from, let alone find one in the smallest size possible (which happened to be 1/2 gallon). There were loads of breakfast cereals, most of which were brightly coloured (I did buy myself some Lucky Charms) and also in the breakfast section were the Pop Tarts. Here you have the choice from 27 flavours!

On the way home I managed to get lost (took the wrong exit) but after a 20 minute detour I was back on track. I think it comes from watching too much Worlds Wildest Police Videos with dad, but I always get a funny feeling when I drive across a crossroads. I can almost hear the legendary Sheriff John Bunnell commentating on the (hopefully not about to happen) collision!

On the way home I stopped at Burger King to see what their largest size drink is … the corresponding straw is called a Pipe and I can almost fit my little finger down it!

I’ve also noticed the price of petrol … $2.79 for a GALLON. That’s about £1.80.

So, an interesting night. And I got my donuts!

Some photo’s of the accommodation …

People have been asking where I’m staying and what does it look like … so here goes. I’ll try and get some photo’s of outside and the surrounding area later in the week or at the weekend! There’s also a chipmunk (I think) that I keep seeing on the patio, so I’ll try and get a photo of him/her too.

Bathroom

Lounge

Kitchen

Bedroom

Day One: Done.

Today was my first day at work and it lasted almost 10 hours - breaking myself in gently! It was great to get started though and meet some really nice people. I spent the day in a training session for Value Stream Mapping, it goes on for the next 2 days and is proving to be a good way to learn the existing manufacturing processes for the different products.

American roads don’t seem to be too well signposted with regards to speed limits, so I have been ultra cautious and sticking to 30 ish on the main roads. I’m trying to get hold of a copy of the US Highway code but even Google doesn’t throw up any answers; anybody that knows me will know that Google is my answer for everything!!!

One more thing …

There is a 5 hour time difference … so it’s not me randomly posting during the night whilst commenting on the previous day! Goodnight!

America is … BIG!

I’m here! Apartment is very nice and I’ll post pictures once I’ve tidied up the mess that I’ve created in the process of unpacking all of my stuff. The local area looks nice although I haven’t been out to explore yet!

Today (Sunday) has been spent mainly sorting out my bits and pieces, getting my mobile to work (still having problems), and setting the internet up in the apartment. I’ve consumed plenty of tea, thanks to my box of 240 I brought with me (thanks mum). It’s also been a strange day as I come to terms with the fact that I wont see any familiar faces for the next 3 months … I’m looking forward to getting into work and meeting new people to make up for this!

The flights went very well, I tried to stay awake most of the Heathrow to Chicago flight to avoid not feeling tired when I got to  Indianapolis and, despite the lack of movie choice on the plane, I managed to avoid sleeping. Once landed at Chicago I joined the queue for passport control and then passed through to collect my luggage. Once luggage was in hand I had a dash from Terminal 5 at Chicago to Terminal 1 (made easier by a monorail serving the airport). I arrived at gate B18 with about 30 mins before boarding started for the 50 minute flight. I can’t remember much from this flight other than take off and landing as I fell asleep! Once off the plane and luggage collected, I was picked up and taken to pick up my wheels for the duration of the secondment. From here I was taken to my apartment where people had been kind enough to supply me with some basics before I have to go to the supermarket. I had a quick shower and having spent the previous 20 or more hours travelling, jumped straight into bed. Sleep has never felt so good!

I found this in the fridge; I know we have 4 pint containers back in England, but it sounds so much more extreme as a Half Gallon …

The end of a crazy week; the beginning of an exciting year.

Work is finally finished for the week. It felt strange clearing my desk and having people help carry some bits and pieces to the car. Even stranger still when my name was removed from the fire register!

I’ve been amazed at the amount of people wishing me good luck, some people that I have never worked with before but may have seen when passing in corridors. It’s an extra confidence booster.

Now I better start packing … 11 hours until departure for Heathrow.

Woah-oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien …

I’m soon to be an Englishman in Indianapolis. My passport is now all nicely stamped with a US Visa and on Saturday morning (9/11…) I board Virgin Atlantic flight VS0039 to Chicago.

I’ve still got to pack!