Fri, 9 April 2010
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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Wed, 24 March 2010
I have been settling in nicely to my new life and have just about got all the things I need to feel at home – SSN, bank accounts, credit card, store card and driver’s license.
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Wed, 24 March 2010
Like all good foreigners to the USA, in the past I’ve fallen in to that trap of lazily stereotyping the good ol’ Land of the Free.
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Sun, 21 March 2010
This post is a bit of self-praise because I have completed a website for my first real Orange County website client – a lovely chap called Glenn Ritchie who is a realtor in Orange County.
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Wed, 17 March 2010
This past weekend I crossed off another of the “things to do before I die” list when Rick and I went up to Mountain High resort in Wrightwood, California.
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Wed, 10 March 2010
I landed back in California last week after my first visit to the Mother Country since moving here.
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Sat, 13 February 2010
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.
Sun, 7 February 2010
I can’t believe that a year has passed since the last Superbowl about which I also posted.
This time, however, it’s just how I imagined it would be after we moved out here; i.e. the sun is shining, the food is good, the beer is flowing and it’s NOT THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! Well, I suppose you’d guessed that because the sun’s shining, right?
My point is that this is my first Superbowl on US tv with all that entails – the pre-match hype and perhaps the most important thing: the commercials.
These 30 second nuggets of goodness are legendary and big budget. They have to be because it costs the equivalent of the debt of a small third world country to air them.
Jenn tells me that the commercials are also analysed afterward on certain channels! Crazy stuff. You’re supposed to go to the bathroom or kitchen during the game itself so you don’t miss the ads. In the age of PVR’s this must be every advertisers wet dream.
Plus The Who will be rocking the half-time show. Bring it on!
Fri, 29 January 2010
We’ve occasionally been catching a whiff of gas coming from “somewhere” in the street at the front of the house.
Being the proactive responsible types we’ve, er, ignored it until now. After all, it wasn’t that strong a smell. However, yesterday a neighbour passed by and commented that he noticed a fairly strong gas smell coming from our meter cover at the side of the roadway.
No longer in denial, Jenn grasped the nettle and called the imaginatively titled “The Gas Company” (no, really) this morning. They said someone would swing by sometime today.
Sure enough, a chap in a nice white truck called and it didn’t take him long to diagnose the problem – the pipe coming from our gas meter was corroded and leaking. Because it was our side of the meter, it was – you guessed it – our responsibility to get fixed. Bugger.
Ok, not the end of the world. These houses are fairly old and eventually things wear out and need replacing. No, the trouble was that now that the gas company knows that there’s a leak, they can’t just leave it. No, they had to turn it off. At 3pm on a Friday afternoon. Ooops.
As the gas man left he pointed out it wasn’t the best day to call them and that Monday mornings are a better time – you have the whole week to get it fixed at non-weekend rates.
So, no hot water and no heating or hob-cooking for a few days. It could have been worse – he said people call them out to check leaks on Christmas Eve and are then left with raw turkey the next day.
Mon, 9 November 2009
Today has seen yet another milestone in my California adventure – namely my behind the wheel driving test.
As I have been fortunate enough to drive alone while I practice (due to my holding a UK licence), I have had plenty of opportunity to get out there on the mean streets of Fullerton. Also, a car and freedom allowed me to unashamedly stake out and stalk the DMV examiners over the past couple of weeks. I will do anything to get an edge and know no shame. In fact I became so familiar with the Fullerton DMV test route I actually knew it better than my examiner on the test day.
I’ll admit I was nervous about taking the test – I had the test mentality that one develops while learning to drive in the UK (i.e. it’s very thorough). However, due to my stalking and practice practice practice, I got through it in one piece and with only two minor errors (one of which I feel was NOT an error – clearly I was being more observant than my examiner).
Anyhoo, to reassure any Californians doing the Fullerton DMV test, let me tell you it is actually easy compared to the UK. I hear they’ve made it ‘tough’ recently and everyone’s whining about how hard it is. Well, sorry to upset you but it’s not. It was over in about 15 minutes and involved driving around mostly quiet residential streets. I had to reverse along the curb a bit, which was the extent of anything that could be remotely described as ‘difficult’.
In the UK your test would be at least twice as long and you have a number of maneuvers to undertake, which may include: parallel parking, reversing around a corner, change in direction (using forward and reverse gears), and emergency stop (no skidding). Also, each test centre has a variety of test routes, not just the one like I experienced at the DMV in Fullerton. You see, if you have only one test route, sly bastards like me easily work it out and ace the test. Duh.
So, here it is for all you wannabe drivers. Fullerton DMV test route:
There you go, piece of cake. For those of you concerned that it is harder to pass at Fullerton DMV than other offices, I will say that if you can drive and have practised until you are sick of driving around those streets, then you will pass. It may well be harder, but it’s still a lot easier than other countries, as mentioned above. Believe me, a lot of stupid people drive in the UK and they passed the ‘tough’ test. If they can do it, you can pass the California one. Anyway, if you can’t pass at Fullerton or another California DMV, you shouldn’t be driving, right?
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