It would be rude not to acknowledge that three years ago today Mrs H and I got married at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel in, er, Hollywood (awful website, BTW. Just sayin’).
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Today the mother-in-law took us and Jennifer’s sister and husband for an anniversary meal at Walt’s magic kingdom – Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. Conveniently for both couples, our anniversaries are only a few days apart.
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The first year in a new country is going to be a year of ‘firsts’ as one experiences how occasions are handled in the new culture.

Valentine’s day looms and it seems the country has gone into overdrive when it comes to expressing ‘love’ in its many forms.

I can’t believe how everyone has gone card crazy. Jenn has been sending and receiving cards all week from and to – including but not limited to – mothers, sisters, grandparents and friends.

What’s that all about? Sorry, but I think it’s a bit weird. This one is definitely a cultural difference! As far as I’m concerned, there are only two types of person you send a Valentine’s card to: 1. your significant other; or 2. Someone you’d like to be your significant other. That’s it. Anything else is just creepy.

Then again, if you can convince people to send cards to pretty much everyone, just think how many cards you can sell. Call me cynical if you like.

I survived my first trip to the doctor last week.

I have to take regular medication. In the UK, visits to the doc are free, and if like me you have a ‘chronic condition’ then prescription medication is also free. The great thing about that situation is that you also get free prescriptions for ailments not related to your chronic one – maybe you fancy a nice wig? Free. Ok, you do need the doctor’s approval.

I digress. Of course, in the USA, visits to the doc aren’t gratis and medication isn’t handed out like free candy. No, you gotsta pay. Until we sort out our health insurance situation, we have to bite the bullet and pay all our own healthcare bills. As my medication bought over from the UK was running low, we could no longer put it off – the O.C.E had to find a doctor.

So, Jennifer did some investigation and we picked out Dr Tim Schmidt who practices at the St. Joseph Heritage Medical Group. An appointment was made and we headed down there on the day. After a bit of getting lost at the center (it has numerous doctors working from there plus other facilities) and doing the necessary paperwork, we found our way to Dr Schmidt’s waiting room. From then on it was pretty familiar experience to going to the doctor in the UK. I was ushered to a little examination room and prodded a bit by the nurse, then the doctor came in and we got down to business. I found it quite quaint that he wore a white coat – it’s been pointed out to me subsequently that “of course they do”. It’s obviously the norm here, but not something I’ve seen in the UK for years. Since I was about six years old, as it happens.

Anyway, Dr Schmidt is a very nice chap and we chatted about this and that (mostly health stuff, of course). I gave him all the information I had about my health including the very helpful full blood analysis done by the life insurance company (that saved us an expensive trip to the lab).

I was impressed when he issued my prescription and zapped it over to the Walgreen’s pharmacy down the road from our house. Soon we were all done and we made our escape from the office.

Later that day I wandered over to the pharmacy to collect my medication. My jaw hit the floor when it came to over $40! I know for a fact that in the UK, my levothyroxine costs the NHS not much more than a pound for a month’s supply. Hmmm. Bit of a markup there, I think. After returning from the pharmacy with my tail between my legs I did some research and found that Target will do my medication for $10 for 90 days’ supply. That’s more like it. Bless you, Target.

However, the biggest worry was what the size of the doctor’s bill was going to be. I’d heard nasty stories about a trip to the doc costing the equivalent of the debt of a small African nation. Yesterday the bill hit the mat and I opened it gingerly. Given that I was expecting a couple of hundred, it was relief to to find out it was ‘only’ $69.

However, still a bit more than what I was used to.

Yesterday we were getting ready for an evening’s entertainment. Jennifer, Rick and I were in the kitchen. I was sitting and they were standing.

Around 5.50pm, we all heard a double thump sound. Because I was sitting down at the same time as the thump I felt a vibration through my chair. Jennifer and Rick hadn’t felt anything because they were standing up, so just carried on talking. I interrupted them, but as they didn’t seem too bothered, the moment passed. I did try and think what it could have been, because it felt like something had hit the roof of the house. However, as everything seemed in order, we quickly forgot about it.

It was about 20 minutes later that Rick discovered from a friend’s Facebook comment that the boom and vibration had been from the space shuttle Discovery. Due to unstable weather in Florida, it was landing at Edwards AFB in California, and the sonic boom was heard all over Southern California as it came in to land.

How cool was that! Just wish I’d known it was coming beforehand, so I could have enjoyed the moment when it happened.

So, as you may guess (how?) I’m not actually IN the OC at the moment. Before that can happen, there are a number of hoops that need to be jumped through and lots of long boring paperwork.
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…Hello world indeed. Here it is: my first blog entry.

I’ve decided to start a blog as I am about to undertake a life-changing experience: moving from the UK to the USA.
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