I'm on the wrong side of the pond
Sparing the comments about driving on the wrong side of the road, odd looking money, funny accents and such, its good over here.
Had some interesting moments from leaving the plane to getting to the hotel...
First off, we had to fill out the immigration form on the plane. It's somewhat amusing. I mean, really, who's going to put a little tick in the "Have you ever committed or been a part of genocide against a race?". That's pushing the honesty barrier of even the most truthful of genocidal maniacs.
After the slight amusement of that, we got off the plane and made it to immigration. Wheeee. I felt like I'd been sucked into 1984, the book, not the year. A lot of *very* serious faces, all under jarhead cuts, 9mm's holstered on every left hip, jet black uniforms with black and silver badges. All in an area pretty much devoid of everything apart from barriers... I felt like a cow meandering towards slaughter. Not that I was smuggling anything. My colleague, however, had been scrupulously honest on his immigration form, under the "What are you bringing here, and leaving here" section. We had just over $200 worth of Cuban cigars. What we didn't know, is the American government had a bit of a barney with Cuba (well, we knew *that*), and there's an embargo in place (herein lies the problem). Sooo, we got turned over. Forms in triplicate covering the seizure, all the while the customs official (after having a good sniff of the cigars and almost crying) told us he was just as unhappy about taking them as we were about losing them. Well, I hope they complemented his brandy well =). After about two hours of mooching about in customs, standing about doing nothing, receiving suspicious looks from everyone, we were set free. So we jumped on a bus owned by the car company we had selected to hire a car from, and he delivered us to the car lot. herein starts the second humongous fuckup of the day.
My colleague, who was to hire the car, had insufficient funds on his credit card to cover the transaction, and didnt have the cash either. So, I offered to cover it. Now, due to some history on my part, I do not have a full uk driving license. (Three failures, speeding, speeding, and punching an examiner. Ah well...). So, Because he didnt have the cash, and because I can't drive... no car for us. All of this was delivered to us by a lil guy that looked *exactly* like Carlton from the old Fresh Prince series. Funny as. Back to the airport we go.
We called our contact guy, and got a cab to the restaurant they were in... Schula's. Definitely in the top 5 steaks I've ever eaten. There was a 48oz porterhouse I was tempted with, but I didnt want to pay $80 for a steak only to nearly finish it, not completely. I was tired too.
During the week, I/we learnt a load about secured mil-spec wireless connectivity, and the possibilities of the kit that the guys we went to see sell. Good stuff, but not all that interesting if you're not in the market for it (which I'd guess most of the few readers I have are... =)). I ate more steak, some Maryland Crab Cakes (never tried crab before, not a huge fan of seafood) and loved em, and something stuffed with goats cheese. Might have been chicken. Tasted good tho. Also sent and received a few emails with a very close friend of mine (Hi you, I know you're reading =D), was just a shame I couldn't take a few more days out to visit over there.
Flew back on a funky plane, all sorts of games, watch Sin City, loved it, ate some pretty good food as far as airlines go, then jumped in a taxi to take me to work. Taxi driver was falling asleep at the wheel, but I was too tired to care. Worked until 2pm, went home. Picked up the kiddy from school, who was stoked to see me, played about a bit at home, went to bed about 7ish, after being out and about for about 30 hours. Slept until 6:30 this morning. Still tired, but I think I'm back in the swing of things. Just need to get my technical brain back in gear for work, and my creative mind back in gear for my creative writing ;)
More stories as and when I remember them...
Had some interesting moments from leaving the plane to getting to the hotel...
First off, we had to fill out the immigration form on the plane. It's somewhat amusing. I mean, really, who's going to put a little tick in the "Have you ever committed or been a part of genocide against a race?". That's pushing the honesty barrier of even the most truthful of genocidal maniacs.
After the slight amusement of that, we got off the plane and made it to immigration. Wheeee. I felt like I'd been sucked into 1984, the book, not the year. A lot of *very* serious faces, all under jarhead cuts, 9mm's holstered on every left hip, jet black uniforms with black and silver badges. All in an area pretty much devoid of everything apart from barriers... I felt like a cow meandering towards slaughter. Not that I was smuggling anything. My colleague, however, had been scrupulously honest on his immigration form, under the "What are you bringing here, and leaving here" section. We had just over $200 worth of Cuban cigars. What we didn't know, is the American government had a bit of a barney with Cuba (well, we knew *that*), and there's an embargo in place (herein lies the problem). Sooo, we got turned over. Forms in triplicate covering the seizure, all the while the customs official (after having a good sniff of the cigars and almost crying) told us he was just as unhappy about taking them as we were about losing them. Well, I hope they complemented his brandy well =). After about two hours of mooching about in customs, standing about doing nothing, receiving suspicious looks from everyone, we were set free. So we jumped on a bus owned by the car company we had selected to hire a car from, and he delivered us to the car lot. herein starts the second humongous fuckup of the day.
My colleague, who was to hire the car, had insufficient funds on his credit card to cover the transaction, and didnt have the cash either. So, I offered to cover it. Now, due to some history on my part, I do not have a full uk driving license. (Three failures, speeding, speeding, and punching an examiner. Ah well...). So, Because he didnt have the cash, and because I can't drive... no car for us. All of this was delivered to us by a lil guy that looked *exactly* like Carlton from the old Fresh Prince series. Funny as. Back to the airport we go.
We called our contact guy, and got a cab to the restaurant they were in... Schula's. Definitely in the top 5 steaks I've ever eaten. There was a 48oz porterhouse I was tempted with, but I didnt want to pay $80 for a steak only to nearly finish it, not completely. I was tired too.
During the week, I/we learnt a load about secured mil-spec wireless connectivity, and the possibilities of the kit that the guys we went to see sell. Good stuff, but not all that interesting if you're not in the market for it (which I'd guess most of the few readers I have are... =)). I ate more steak, some Maryland Crab Cakes (never tried crab before, not a huge fan of seafood) and loved em, and something stuffed with goats cheese. Might have been chicken. Tasted good tho. Also sent and received a few emails with a very close friend of mine (Hi you, I know you're reading =D), was just a shame I couldn't take a few more days out to visit over there.
Flew back on a funky plane, all sorts of games, watch Sin City, loved it, ate some pretty good food as far as airlines go, then jumped in a taxi to take me to work. Taxi driver was falling asleep at the wheel, but I was too tired to care. Worked until 2pm, went home. Picked up the kiddy from school, who was stoked to see me, played about a bit at home, went to bed about 7ish, after being out and about for about 30 hours. Slept until 6:30 this morning. Still tired, but I think I'm back in the swing of things. Just need to get my technical brain back in gear for work, and my creative mind back in gear for my creative writing ;)
More stories as and when I remember them...
posted by Subscribed at 3:22 PM
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