I’ll admit it’s a bit OCD, but I’ve been keeping a record of where I sleep ever since I got here. The plan is to be able to answer questions about how much travel my job involves with waaay too much information.

Raw Breakdown (01/Oct/2006 to 03/Mar/2007 forecast)

Hotel: 69
Home: 61
Away (Holidays/Friends): 19
Hostel: 12
On a Plane: 1

Observations

• As you can see, Hotel is still ahead of Home. This is mostly due to the headstart that Hotel got in October, since I didn’t have a home until November. Adding Hostel and Home gives 73, a slight lead over Hotel. Home should pass Hotel in a April.
• The sub-category “Home - Own Bed” is even lower than Home in total, as I slept several nights on the couch before Sugam moved out, and then several nights on a mattress on the floor until I bought a bed. Actual nights sleeping in my own bed make up only 36% of nights since I arrived in the US. The makes my rent look horrible on a per-day-used basis!
• I’ve only spent 45% of nights since I “moved to San Francisco” actually in San Francisco. I’ve spent 39% in Los Angeles and the remainder in Michigan, the UK, and Germany mostly. The upside is that if I’m away on work, I’m expensing. So, it has been quite easy to save. I also have enough airmiles and hotel points to take free trips on my meager US holidays (effectively 17 days per annum + the few national holidays they have).
• On a Plane is coming up next week. I couldn’t reconcile snowboarding in LA on Sunday with being in Michigan the next day without taking a night flight.

As you may know, couriers have previously tortured me for sport. Today, they came back for more.

I needed to get a package today. Extra amounts were paid to ensure delivery today. At 4pm, it hadn’t shown up so I checked the package tracking online and it was marked incorrect address. I checked the address they had and it was…

Camryn Brown
1369 Hyde St, Apartment 18
San Francisco CA 94109-3835

Basically, that’s perfect. It’s exactly how Fedex’s own site formats the address. So, I gave them a call…

“Oh, it says your name wasn’t on the building directory.”

Well, yeah. It’s not. The building manager is a bit slack. However, it’s not a problem to any but the most feeble mind. The building directory is just a list of names with apartment numbers next to it. You then dial the apartment number into the buzzer and my phone rings. The guy already had the apartment number right there in the address! He didn’t need the building directory. The address he had in front of him actually saved him that step! I was there all day… the guy didn’t even try.

So… could they try again?

“No, it’s after 4. We can’t try again after 1pm.”

What? They didn’t even try the first time until 2:30. It said so online. They also couldn’t try again the next day. Only Monday when I’m not here (for about 2 weeks) and it’s way too late.

So, my only option was a haul out to the Fedex depot in the middle of nowhere, wait in line, etc and generally waste time and/or money. I chose to waste time over money at took the bus, so the whole deal took 2 hours.

Fedex suck, along with the rest of ‘em.

From February 4th through 14th, I had to be in Grand Rapids for work. It’s in Michigan, and it’s very cold. In fact, it was below freezing for the entire duration of the trip. The town’s main claims to fame are that it was Gerald Ford’s hometown (just take the Gerald R. Ford Expressway from Gerald R. Ford International Airport and you’ll be at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum before you know it) and that it has recently been ranked the 49th Best Small Town in America. Oh yeah! I’m fairly certain that ranking was based on the number of chain restaurants, since it was impossible not to have an Applebees, Olive Garden, Chilis or the like in sight at all times.

Being in Grand Rapids meant that I was fairly close to Chicago, so instead of flying home for the weekend, we visited Dave and Rich in Chiacgo… my old Capgemini collegues from NZ who introduced me to the firm over here.

I investigated a few different ways of getting there, and Amtrak came out tops. I suppose I could’ve driven, but my total right-hand-side driving experience is only about 30 minutes and the roads were icey. The train trip took about 4-5 hours, and was surprisingly comfortable. There’s a lot more space than on a plane.

In Chicago, we stayed with Richard and Dave and did a quick weekend’s worth of tourist stuff: the John Hancock Center for a 94th floor view of the city and Lake Michigan, some shopping and architectural gazing on Michigan Ave, visiting Millenium Park and its shiny kidney thing, Wrigley Field, and falling into the tourist trap at Navy Pier. Photos here.

We also managed to hit a few bars, including one called “Howl at the Moon” where they have live raucous piano music provided continuously by multiple musicians switiching between two pianos. You name it (and tip them) and they can play it. Pretty good fun.

I’ll definitely visit Chicago again… at a time of year when the wind chill isn’t trying to burn my face off.

It seems that most consulting firms say that you’re “on the beach” (i.e. relaxing) or “on the bench” (i.e. like a substitute in a sports game, waiting to get back on the field) when you’re between projects. We seem to say “beach” here in Capgemini NA.

So, that’s the situation I found myself in for a week in late January. In reality, I was doing unchargeable “grey work” to finish the project I’d been working on and to prepare for the one I was about to start. Still, it meant that I was in San Francisco during the week for the first time since I arrived and that I had some free time to get out and see some sights.
I managed to re-visit Coit Tower (great view around the NE of the city) and Chinatown, and to do a few things for the first time…

• Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Boat Tour: $10 for a 45 minute trip out on the Bay. I wasn’t quite dressed for the conditions. The “captain” provided a fairly amusing commentary, with some good tidbits of information too.
• Golden Gate Park: The Japanese Tea Garden is amazing and Botanical Gardens have a New Zealand section that was a reminder of home, except that it seems to be the favoured habitat for squirrels. The squirrels obviously get fed peanuts, so they were quite tame. They were tricked into appearing in a few photos using some empty peanut shells.
• Twin Peaks: Great views, especailly of downtown. I have a favourite photo of myself “pinching” the TransAmerica pyramid.
• Japan Town: Not as “authentic” as Chinatown in some ways, although it’s probably a reasonable facsimile of an 1980’s Japanese mall.
• Palace of Fine Arts (same photo link as above): Not sure what the purpose of the pillars and rotunda are, but they look pretty nice at sunset. Nice looking swans and stuff too.

I’m feeling a lot less of a stranger in my own city now, and I’m more prepared with tried-and-tested things to show visitors. Still to cover: actually walking on Golden Gate Bridge, seeing the inside of Alcatraz, exploring the coast in both directions, and visiting wine country (oh yeah).

Sorry I haven’t posted much… there’s a large update under development. I have a couple of housekeeping items.

• Ever since I mentioned the word “insurance” in a post, I’ve had tons of insurance related comment-spam clogging up my comment moderation queue. So, I’m completely blacklisting the word insurance. I’m also blacklisting mortgage. If your comment includes either of these words, it will disapear into a blackhole and I’ll never even know it was posted… so don’t use them. I blacklist a variety of other words too, but there words are quite common and could come up, so I thought I’d better mention it. Also, please remember that comments won’t display until I moderate them unless you’ve had a previous comment approved from the same email address. Sorry for any delays, not that I get many comments.
• Tee gets the award for most referrals to my site. I don’t know if that’s just Tee clicking through to my site from her own, or if it’s actual third parties following her link. Still… cheers, Tee!
• My gallery (built using Tikiwiki) just isn’t up to it anymore. So, all photos from after I returned to the USA after Christmas in Europe will be on flickr… here.

In 2004, I entered a friend and co-worker in NZ Idol. He missed two days of work without permission, and got about 2.5 minutes of TV time by taking the piss, essentially.

If the video doesn’t show above, go here.