Yesterday, I got back from 10 days in Europe. The whole thing was a huge rush, as I managed to cram in a catchup with Helen and Guillaume in Paris, an intense 5-day Capgemini training workshop, and Mum and Bill’s wedding in England. Also, there was a significant amount of drinking as both the wedding and the training had open bars.

The Flight Over:
My flight left San Francisco early Saturday morning, with a planned arrival in Paris at 1pm Sunday due to the long flights + multiple changes + time differences. I told myself it wouldn’t be a wasted weekend since I’d see Helen and Guillaume at the other end. I did see them, but not until after some “fun” delays.

10 minutes after we took off from Chicago, I was already asleep. I was woken up by an announcement that we were heading back due to a failing fuel filter. So, I got to spend another 4 hours at O’Hare. Upside: a cockpit tour of the grounded plane. Downside: I knew I’d miss my Manchester connection to Paris + spending 30 minutes on hold to let BA know. My camera should’ve been charged but was throwing a fit so I didn’t get a photo of myself in the pilot’s hat (like that Foo Fighters video).

I did miss my connection, but I got onto another two hours later. The issue with that flight was that Justin Timberlake’s roadies were on it for his concert in Paris. Roadies are heavy. American roadies are like massive collections of tattoos wrapped around an All Black prop and crammed into a Metallica World Tour 1994 t-shirt. Their bags must’ve been heavy too, because the total weight of the plane was too much and they flew us without any bags.

Paris with Helen and Guillaume:
Since I was going to be so close to Paris all week, it made sense to actually see it. Helen and G picked me up from CDG and we headed down to Paris. On the way I saw Stade de France, where I hope several of my friends (Paul, Ange, etc) will see the ABs defeat someone in a Rugby World Cup final later this year. We parked near the Arc de Triumphe and caught up with some of their friends for some wine, and then had some dinner before going back to the airport to get my bags. They then kindly drove me all the way to Chantilly. It was more rushed than I’d like, but we caught up a lot in the 5 or 6 hours we had.

Usually “working from home” is my euphemism for not doing much on Fridays to make up for all the long days and travel from Monday to Thursday. At the moment, though, I’m actually working on a project that has no need for us to be at the client site on a day-to-day basis. I’ve started to observe some pros and cons to actually working from home…

Pros

• Extremely short commute from bed to desk.
• No need to wear suit and tie, or indeed anything at all. Massive drycleaning savings.
• Shaaviiing? What’s this sha-ving of which you speak?
• Background music without headphones.
• Access to good, healthy food at times I like (i.e. dinner at 7pm not 10pm)
• Can generally set own schedule, although still have online meetings, conference calls, etc

Cons

• Absence of human interaction make Cam crazy (no roomie at the moment).
• Feels like college (i.e. university) - mixing workplace and home means you have to create the work mindset insread of having it around you automatically.
• Not earning airmiles, hotel points, credit card points, etc… my precious precious points!
• No expenses, have to actually feed myself.
• All my buddies are out of town for work.
• Keep getting calls on the home phone, expect human contact, just get telemarketers.

Uh, well, that’s enough. I should get back to work

I passed my practical driving test today. So, I should be getting my CA license in the mail soon. Now I can buy a car if I decide it’s worth it. In this city, though, it seems better to rent.

I can also now avoid the hassle of having to explain my NZ license to airport security and bouncers all the time.

Big thanks to Chuck for being my ‘licensed dude’ on my first attempt when I couldn’t take the test due to not being able to prove I was insured to drive the rental, and Tony for providing an insured car and celebration beer for today’s successful attempt.

Still feels weird driving on the wrong side

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This last week I’ve been in Chicago for some Engagement Management training.

It was a hectic week, so I didn’t get to see much of the city. It was great, however, that it was shirt weather instead of five shirts and two jackets and my face is still freezing off weather. That made a big difference!

I did get to catch up with Dave for some drinks on Tuesday after work, and with Rich at work on Thursday. They seem OK, although Rich is facing visa issues.

Apart from the completing the training itself, which is a prerequisite for advancement, the other main objective was to meet some collegues from around the country. Every region and industry flavor of Capgemini US was there, and we had time for one dinner+drinks night out. They were a fun bunch! FMA’s will be pleased to know we spread the drinks out evenly across the BUs.

It’s great to have a wider base of contacts, since my new group is national and I’ll need to have people to work with and hang out with in other parts of the country.

I also stuck around on Friday to go to Chicago office drinks. That was great too. I like meeting people in the presence of beer. At the expense of presumably giving a bigger insight into myself, I also get a great insight into others. Beer is my golf. Why spend four hours on the course when 3 beers get the tounges wagging in a quarter of the time?

OK, it’s 28degC here in SF. Time to go watch some baseball.

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Find out how smart you are.

On Wednesday night, we decided to get into LA for a night out since it was my last week on the project. First up, we dropped by Dodger Stadium to watch Dodgers v Giants. This time, Giants won 6-4. I only got a little good-natured harrasment for my SF cap.

After the baseball, we went into Hollywood since JD and Ankit hadn’t been there before. After checking out various stars on the ground, we just had to go to Hooters (apparently) because Tony hadn’t been to one.

I almost forgot how bad their food is and how a little T&A is supposed to make it seem worth the price.
More photos here.

Luckily for me, there was a service here in San Francisco. A little early, but great to have the chance to think about Anzac Day with other New Zealanders and Australians.

This is my great grand uncle, Norman Carter. KIA France 1918.

Anzac Day on Wikipedia for my US friends.

I’ve got 4 invitations for Joost. First four replies to this mesage (on blog.ridsel.com or facebook) get ‘em. I’m watching Ministry of Sound TV right now!

When my family got our first microwave oven in the early 1980’s, it came with a handheld detector so we could test if the shielding was working. Perhaps it was an introductory gimmick from the microwave companies to calm consumers’ fears over a new technology. Anyways, you don’t get them with new ovens. Still, it is possible for shielding to fail over time.

An interesting trick I recently heard to test your microwave’s shielding: Put your phone in the microwave and call your phone. In case some slow types have managed to read this: don’t microwave your phone. Anyway, the idea is that if your sheilding is good, your phone won’t ring.

I’m not sure if this is urban legend or what. I know that ovens operate at around 2450 MHz and phones are usually 850/900 to 1800/1900 depending on country and network. So, why would an oven sheild a different frequency?

Can anyone test this for me? I can’t, since my entire house is impervious to my network’s signal so my phone won’t ring whether it’s inside or outside the oven.