Road America

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't updated this blog in ages, other than to post updates on our trip into the hell of Hurricane Sandy. Some of you may also have realised that stuff has happened in the last couple of months - most notably, getting married!

Before I get into that though, I have something to catch-up on from before the wedding - the Run Offs, at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin - where my future brother-in-law was competing, amongst many other races. Finally, I have sorted the picture and put them up, so let's complete the job with a blog update!

Racing, especially at Road America, has been a big part of Laura's family's life for decades; indeed this is how her parents met, and still meet with friends today. Her brother, Ethan, competes in Formula F (currently) and made the whole family proud with a win last time out. Now, it was time for the National Championship Run-offs, and we went to support him, meet said friends and family, and enjoy 2 of the many-days of racing this event had to offer.

Upon arrival, I was put to work - to help Ethan work out the weight distribution in his car. Cue comical readings of my weight, gasps of amazement, and then the equipping of lead shot to make me weigh more like the real driver.



After the work was done, we went to hang out with some of Laura's family friends and watch some qualifying. First up were the T2s.



We stayed until sunset, but the F5s were still qualifying.



But eventually we headed off to a nearby town for a night in a hotel. The track looked so pretty at dusk!



The next day, there were more races before Ethan's Formula F - we watched the SRFs (Spec Racer Fords), a number of which took a couple of nasty knocks!



Before some super-charged Mutangs and the likes in the GT1 class.



But then it was on to the main event. Laura, her Mom, and I took our place in the stands at turn 5 - one of the best apparently, to watch Ethan. He qualified in third, but some unsporting manoeuvres from his competitors near the start saw him drop a few places. Still, every time he went past, it seemed he was about to overtake on our corner.



A couple of drivers ahead of him spun, and a great overtaking move saw him get up to third on the last lap. Sadly, it wasn't to be, as a more powerful car overtook him on the final stretch; but fourth was a great finish given the issues at the start. We knew he gave it his best shot, and he has a proud family (new brother-in-law included!) no matter where he finishes.





A great couple of days out and the opportunity to spend time in Wisconsin are always welcome by me. Of course, just to add more weight in its favour, Wisconsin once again provided some amazing scenery and a dramatic skyline on the way home, to accompany us on our more timid drive home.



The full set of photos from Road America can be found here.

Mission NJ: Home!

We made it!

A little before lunchtime we made it to Jersey City after stopping for breakfast and a couple of wrong turns. The apartment, for me at least, was unscathed - though the basement had flooded about a foot, meaning it had to be pumped out before we could have power and such. But when we arrived our landlord and 6 different PS&G (Power Company) vehicles had our street blocked and were at work.

After only an hour, and help from neighbours, the truck was unloaded and by that point, the awesome power guys had electricity running again - and as a bonus our Internet kicked back in immediately  Score! Running water isn't a problem either, though we will boil it before drinking it.

The guys are still outside trying to do whatever needs to be done to get gas back online - meaning we can cook. We have a microwave in the meantime, so that's a plus. They don't reckon we'll have heating for a couple of days though as the basement needs to dry out before they can provide power to the boiler that gives us hot water and heat. So cold showers until then, and Laura is off with her parents looking for a space heater in whatever stores are open around here. I'm catching up with work a bit before we start trying to make home more like home, and huddle up for the night!

Mission NJ: Penn in the Dark

Quick one: we reached the very edge of Pennsylvania and tried to find a hotel. Oops. The first town had no power (thank you, national news for not telling us PA was having power issues) which made negotiating intersections with no lights a bit hair-raising. Our next move was to head back into PA as we knew NJ would be worse off. We tried a bunch of hotels who rudely told us they were full and unhelpfully dismissed us rather than finding something else nearby. Thankfully, a combination of mobile internet, map reading, and cellphone service booked us a hotel 35miles away. It took a while to reach it but after eating (Crackerbarrel, again!) we got there and are all about ready for sleeping.

Tomorrow we have to get back on the Interstate and then it's about 90 more minutes, maybe 2hrs if power is still affecting traffic, to the apartment and next assessment of the situation.

Mission NJ: Good News!

After Ohio we were in West Virginia for all of 15 minutes; a little spike on the map before entering Pennsylvania. It was here I received a very positive call from my work colleague and fellow Jersey City resident Matt. He had picked up a rental car (since his own washed away) and was outside my apartment. Although there was no way of being 100% sure, he reckoned the flood water hadn't reached my street really; certainly there was no visible storm damage to the apartment. The basement apartment may have been affected which may mean the gas connection would be shut off, but it supposedly looked minimal damage if anything.

We have avoided all the areas with the worst reported snow coverage, with only a period of snowy hills and trees in Pennsylvania thus far. The roads have been clear and spirits pretty high, considering the 4 of us have been cooped up together for 2 days. There was ones wrong turn on the way to lunch but eating cheered everyone up within 5 minutes.

We will now wait until we reach New Jersey in a couple of hours before finding a place to stay for the night. Tomorrow AM we will head to the apartment through the reported clear streets, unload the truck, and see about getting me working from home. There's another day for the local authorities to restore power and such to the area; they've been reported as doing a fantastic recovery job thus far so fingers crossed!

Mission NJ: Overnight in Ohio

Last night we made it to Springfield, Ohio (home of the Simpsons?) where we stopped for the night at a Quality Inn. The whole place reminded me of the setting for the film "Cedar Rapids" but we had a surprisingly good dinner at their near-empty cafe, watched some comedy on TV then got some sleep.

We heard back from the office management and the situation is not good. 7 World Trade Center has 13ft of water in the basement, and have only been able to pump out 1ft of it out due to more seeping in through the bedrock. The office is not expected to be back open until Monday, November 5th at the earliest, so those who can work from home will be doing so this week. Of course our bosses have reminded us that our own personal safety and situation is the primary concern ahead of work availability.

This morning we ate nice breakfast sausages at "Bob Evans" and drank a bunch of coffee, ready for the road again. We are expecting snow en route so will take it easy; we may stay overnight again so we can get into Jersey City in the first hours of tomorrow's daylight.

Mission NJ: into Indiana

It has now been about 8hrs which includes a lunch stop for around an hour at Crackerbarrell; "home of good country cooking!" I had a catfish sandwich.

The drive as expected was uneventful up until about an hour ago. We hit Indianapolis at about the time traffic became slow and weather became miserable. There's nothing unusual about either at this stage; they aren't slowing us down majorly and indeed I think we left the worst of the traffic back in Indianapolis. However the weather was so gloriously dry in Wisconsin and Illinois that this has injected some realism into the trip: the weather is going to be like this the rest of the way. There is likely going to be places with a lot of snow or water on the ground too, but hopefully the rain and wind doesn't get worse than a blustery downpour.

Reports from colleagues back in NJ and NY are that most flood water has receded and that folk are assessing and repairing some of the damage. Early reports however indicate that the PATH system; which links me in NJ to work at WTC; will be down for 7-10 days, so looks like I'm not getting to the office anytime soon, at least by conventional methods. Of course, the office building management haven't stated how the area is faring, and with many tunnels and subway flooded the office wouldn't receive many inhabitants anyway, so operating from home may well be the best policy for the next week.

We are now nearly in Ohio where we plan to drive about another 100 miles before finding a late dinner and a place to sleep. Onwards!

Mission NJ: Update from the Road

I haven't used this blog for a while, but as there a few asking for updates on our travel to storm-hit Jersey City, I figured I could use this, at least whilst we have mobile internet signal...

About 2 hours ago we set off in a very full truck towards NJ. It is not overly comfortable but no worse than a budget airline, and at least with this method of transport we can stop and get out!

Doug has picked a route which takes us a few hours South before we cut across; this should mean we avoid hitting the storm head-on, unlike with route through Canada. Our first day of driving should be long and uneventful; but tomorrow we will hit West Virginia for about an hour where the storm is currently depositing 2-3ft of snow. We are however expecting the highway to be open by tomorrow, and likewise expecting the worst of the weather and flooding to have receded ahead of arrival in Jersey City.

What awaits us there is a little bit of an unknown; a colleague lives a little further towards the Hudson river and has had his car swept away by 5ft of water (he didn't heed warnings to move it to higher ground) and the bottom floor of his building was flooded. He is fine but is assessing damage. The good news for us is that our apartment is further from the river and about 8ft off street level with a basement below. This will be bad for whoever is below us but should have spared our apartment from anything catastrophic. Further good news is that another colleague nearer to us is mostly ok barring loss of power. We may be without power when we arrive, but as many millions are out this will be both expected and resolved as soon as possible.

Early reports are saying that transport tunnels are very badly flooded so it is likely many won't be able to get to our office, even if it is open. World Trade Center is a construction zone and is at the end of Manhattan which has seen a lot of flooding. No one at our building has been there to give us an update so we are playing work by ear. Those with power and Internet are able to work from home.

As always we are travelling with caution and of course today won't tell us much from this distance. More updates will follow as I know more! It is also Doug's 70th birthday so we are planning in stopping for something nice to eat this evening before finding a motel. Should raise our spirits!

Parks in NY and NJ

Across 2 weekends recently I visited the two big parks of New York and Jersey Cities respectively.

Everyone knows Central Park, and I was rather annoyed that it took me 4 months to get out there again. But I met Ash for brunch then went and lazed in front of a softball game.

And sunbathed between the odd cloud.


Before heading on past the little lake full of remote controlled boats.


But what about Liberty State Park, Jersey City? It's really quite long, and there's a lot of walking to be done there. I discovered it's only a 10-15min walk from the new apartment, so I headed past the ugly docks and, despite the overcast skies, I started snapping.

The main feature is of course its proximity to the Statue of Liberty; and this is about as close as you can get without a zoom lens, or access to next door Ellis Island. Or a boat.


Regular park-goers were enjoying the large picnic area.

There is of course a look back towards New York City... yet more great views of skyscrapers. In this photo you can see back to Jersey City, Manhattan, and Brooklyn all at once.

Finally, beside the Hudson there was a family enjoying what little wildlife they could actually catch in that river...

But all in all a nice stroll out. Recommended!

The New Office Views

I should probably have done this ages ago.. say, when we moved in over 2 months ago. But anyway. We moved our office upstairs from our temporary home on Floor 30 of 7 World Trade Center, with our view over the Twin Towers site and 9/11 memorial. We swapped it for Floor 46, our own home, and a view across to Brooklyn and way up Midtown. I think you'll agree the views are ridiculous.

Here's most of Manhattan:


With the Empire State Building in the centre, as it should be really:


Across to Brooklyn:


And to Jersey:


And our Emmy Award is looking pretty nice against such a huge city backdrop:


Unfortunately, we had to move onto the floor as soon as it was habitable. Whilst the construction team have done a really good job with the ceiling, we have been trying to complete the "industrial feel" of the place with a polished concrete floor... but it has been messed up more times than we can count. We have some desks, and the glass separators for the meeting room and kitchen areas are in, but we can't finish the job - putting up TV screens, installing desks and lunch areas - until the floor is ready. Nevertheless, here's a sneak preview:


When it is all fully kitted out, I'm sure there will be a new post! Until then, enjoy the views. I certainly do!

An Open Letter to HSBC

HSBC,

Despite having an account for 16 weeks, and 3 separate promises of it being "on it's way", I still have not received my Credit Card.

What gives?

-Alan

Stormy

I love a good thunderstorm. There's something about the loud, scary shows that tell you nature is around you and you can't control it. I love huge thunderclaps and lightning forks. And I enjoy the sort of rain that is more like a waterfall from the sky that soaks you through in seconds. Because, what can you do?

And one thing America has is a good thunderstorm.

I just sat in the apartment on my own and the darkness of the evening coincided with some sudden and horrendous gales. I had to close the windows because things were quite literally flying everywhere. I checked a weather service and there was one of the scariest warnings I ever did see. I wish I had taken a screenshot because the alert has now passed. But it was 5 paragraphs of block capitals telling everyone to GET INSIDE! Because LIGHTNING IS ONE OF NATURE'S NUMBER ONE KILLERS! One of the number one? What? Frankly I thought a lot more people died of cancer or were eaten by sewer alligators (ok maybe not that one) but this just plain scaremongering, surely? There was more: REMEMBER, IF YOU CAN HEAR THUNDER, YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.

Anyway, I most definitely stayed indoors and I think we must have been right in the middle when the storm hit, because the thunder and lightning were basically in harmony and the thunder was THE loudest thing I've heard in a very long time. Most certainly the loudest thunder I ever heard. There is just so much more of an earthy, shake-the-buildings rumble about US ones over their UK counterparts.

The lightning was plentiful. Forks tore about the sky before the whole thing was over in under an hour. I didn't take any pictures but to demonstrate, here are some pictures I took when I was in NY two years ago, using the video mode of my compact camera!

Pretty cool, I thought.

In less stormy news, I have now secured an apartment for me and my wife-to-be for the next year. Still in New Jersey, as value-for-money seemed so much better, and I am getting to like my 20minute door-to-door commute! More on that later, for sure!

4th of July (Week)

I needed a holiday. Oh how I needed a holiday! I flew to Wisconsin to be with Laura and to experience my first proper celebration of the 4th of July - I just didn't tell anyone I'm British..

I started with a couple of days with Laura at her home near Rio, Wisconsin. She had the house to herself, except the animals she has to feed, and I enjoyed lounging and wandering around the garden, photographing the wildlife..


It was very hot, and had been for ages. The poor garden and vegetables were starting to look rather sunburned.. but I do like this shot of a peaceful farm/garden scene..


Then we travelled up to Washington Island - a trip I have done before and love... though I do feel guilty with Laura doing all the driving. Once there however, I find it to be the most amazingly relaxing place. No agenda, no TV, no Internet, barely any phone reception, though I did try to make my workmate jealous of the peaceful outdoors, such as this quiet, sandy area we found for some light swimming!


The water wasn't just comfortable, it was positively warm! And you could wander out for ages without it being more than chest-deep. The whole island is full of little summer creatures.. some scary-looking spiders around the cabin (none poisonous though!) but plenty of birds, dragonflies, and butterflies fluttering about (I am sounding like my Dad).


Laura's sister, brother-in-law, and niece were present for much of the week too. My future family! Little Cecilia is more than adorable, so I'm glad she got to meet her future Uncle!

Then of course, was the 4th of July fireworks! Except there were no fireworks. Here's why:


Yeah. A few minutes after this, an almighty thunderstorm started and the event was cancelled. This was the only time we were out and the weather wasn't glorious. But we were back in our same seats the day after, for Take 2 - which was fabulous!



Finally, we spent a couple of the evenings on the rocky beach out the back of the cabin, building a campfire, setting off bottle-rockets, and having fun with sparklers and long-exposure camera settings!


What a great week! It was a shame to leave it, but I felt a lot better and more relaxed than before I arrived. Plus, it's good spend time with those important to you, and share places and experiences important to you both.

The whole Flickr set from my trip is here.

June Has Been and Gone

So sorry.. I haven't updated this in ages. And I was going to update it every other day with brief stuff so everyone knows what I'm up to! Instead, I've been posting once a month and cramming a load of crap in there. So to catch-up, briefly, before I *actually* start updating this with more-or-less up-to-date and real-time info (and other hyphenated-words), this is what June has consisted of:

• Working. More directorial visits from London! More drinking..
• My lovely fiancée visited and we had a long weekend where she tried on her wedding dress (I didn't look!) and we walked the High Line (I looked), caught up with a couple of friends, and generally got to know some potential areas for living in. We had fondue! I had never had fondue before.. 
• I saw Mogwai play a small venue in New York; Webster Hall, in the East Village. They were on really early and a fairly short set, but still decent.
• I started looking, properly, for a proper apartment. I think I'm going to stay Jersey-way, because it has proper 1-bedrooms for the price of a wooden room in Manhattan. Brooklyn might be in with a surprise shout however, I will keep you posted!
• I watched as much of Euro 2012 as possible. Pretty much all the games at the weekend could be caught in a bar or two. I deviated from the normal Midtown area for a couple of matches, after it was pointed out as being next door to Webster Hall!
• I set off for Wisconsin, for a much-needed week off and time with my fiancée for 4th of July week... which will be the subject of my next post or two. Coming soon, I promise!

A Nearby Walk

One thing I loved doing in London was wandering. Just picking a direction and going with it. More often than not, I accompanied my fiancée for walks along the Thames, on the path near our flat. I decided to try out some of the new area where I live for the same effect. I was in luck; the nearby Hudson riverside of New Jersey is a nice little walk. Not quite London, but it boasts dramatic views of Manhattan and a few other sights on the way.

I took my camera and walked the area from the harbour at Newport:

Past the little lighthouse:

Enjoying some wildlife on the way:

And eventually into Hoboken:

Hoboken is lovely, if not a little pricey and loud and trendy at the weekends. But it has a nice grassy pier to sit on and some more of the riverside path. You can watch cruise ships go by or just people watch. I did both.

I'm glad I've found a walk to relax my brain for a little bit. I even shared it with my fiancée when she visited, so we have some similarities at times to life back in London.

The rest of the pics from the walk can be found here!

A Day of Nostalgia

Still catching up, but getting there. This involves the day & evening of May 12th - where I had a nostalgic trip between 3 places I had previously visited in NYC when travelling over here for work over 18 months ago.

The first stop was the High Line. This is an "elevated park" - and one of my favourite uses of space in New York. It has been converted from an old rail line which runs between Midtown and the Meatpacking District in Lower Manhattan. When I was here previously, it was only a few blocks long, but was very pleasant. Now it is a proper walk all the way up to 30th Street, and it is still being extended. It is full of grass, flowers, plants, trees, and now water features, a few food/drink stands, and a great view of the Statue of Liberty from afar. It makes a great short cut without having to stop at every intersection, and of course the greenery make it a more pleasant experience whilst you walk. I've since been up here two more times; taking a visiting friend to see it and also when my fiancée visited (more on that later).



After this wander, I kept going North through the less-than-thrilling Midtown area, until I landed upon Bryant Park. I enjoyed lying around on the grass taking photos of tall buildings until Ash turned up, followed by Melissa & Ian, for some beers in the Bryant Park Cafe. Ash and I used to come here often during our trips over as it is one of the few & best places to enjoy a sunny day with a spot of booze. So we enjoyed a seat and a few drinks until the sun went down.



Our final stop was one of Ash's favourite bars, which he took me to a couple of times previously. It's called Lillie's and is on 17th Street - so we needed to get a quick cab over there. It apparently was once a bar in Ireland until they shipped the entire contents over to New York. The result is a long bar, full of "stuff", atmosphere, and usually a lot of people. We had a few more drinks here, before calling it a night



You can find the rest of the pictures from the day/night here if you like.

Visitors, Football, and Yet More Hockey

That pretty much sums up the first 2 weeks of living in this flatshare.

There have been work visitors; Justin, Andy and Anthony which of course has meant a handful of nights out, on the company dime of course. I will spare this blog the pictures of some of our less-than-impressive ideas (one of which was "Eggs and Shots" - invented by Work Matt - a devilled egg then a shot of whisky - best forgotten about). But they were fun times. Enjoying a drink with Anthony when there aren't 50 people out made for a refreshing change and reminded me of the "old days". I passed my 5 years at Telemetry (or various guises) on May 14th and it really doesn't seem like that long ago.

I've been trying out the NYC-NJ travel thing outside of work hours; namely a couple of jaunts into Manhattan for wandering and beer. One night I met up with Ash and went around Greenwich and West Village, and another I enjoyed a pleasant day before meeting up with Ash, Ian and Melissa - but more on that in a later post.

I also tried out a sports bar for watching football and I was very impressed. It's on 33rd Street in Manhattan, called "Legends" and was showing every single game live on the last day of the Premiership season. No need to talk about that drama, but watching it in amongst NYC-based supporters for various teams made it even more exciting. I think I'll be trying to get in here during Euro 2012 and I believe the NYC branch of the Tartan Army meet here for Scotland games - score!

And hockey. Well, unfortunately I'm in a tight spot as many in the office are supporting the NY Rangers, and my flatmates, being in Jersey, support the NJ Devils. And right now, they are playing each other. I've been happy to cheer on the Rangers in bars near work with the office folks, and in a nearby bar (quite good, and cheap!) in Jersey with the flatmates. So no solid allegiances just yet, and actively cheering on rivals on alternate days is rather treacherous!

Just... don't tell anyone about that... or the eggs and shots...

A Temporary Home

Moving-in-day finally came round on May 1st. My grand plan of taking a half-day off work for moving all my stuff a few blocks from Matt's was hampered by the fact I was really ill most of the day. Flu or something. I eventually got my things round in the evening. I blew up my air-mattress which is now not as uncomfortable as you might think as I have piled sheets and covers and such all over it.

My new flatmates came home shortly after, sadly our socialising didn't happen because my illness meant all I wanted to do was sleep! Anyway, they are nice people. They customise guitars with arty designs and their decor kind of matches their personalities; a bit arty, a bit old-school rocky. Here's a picture of them looking completely different from their actual characters (the overalls were from painting, the rest was just them being silly). Lyuba and Matt:

I've made my bare room a little more bearable; the aforementioned bedclothes and a rug helped, as did hanging a Scotland flag (what a cliché!) and of course, putting up a picture of me and Laura, and our Caveys!

I also have my own bathroom, so I bought a rug, some towels, and a new shower curtain for that. I have to remember I'm only planning to be here a couple of months so anything else could wait. I'm missing a TV (for my XBox) and a guitar to play with (especially as I hear Matt playing his a lot!) but maybe I'll pick those up soon. Until then, this is home, in the Garden State of New Jersey!

Surfing USA

Before I could move into my flatshare, which I couldn't do until May 1st, I had to go surfing. Couch surfing, between three different sets of workmates. Matt, Melissa and Ian, Ash, then back to Matt's (so I could easily move down the road in Jersey City).

This was obviously very nice of my colleagues to offer their couch spaces and sofa beds (all of which were very comfortable, thanks guys!) but it meant having to ensure they were home and that I was pretty much tied to where they were on the evenings I stayed there. Thankfully, this was made a lot of fun.

When staying with Matt we watched some hockey; the NY Rangers being his team and fast becoming my team of choice. We of course enjoyed this with some proper New York style pizza.



Staying with Mel and Ian meant fairly long subway rides but wasn't all that bad. We spent a couple of nights out, mainly due to visits from London work colleagues. Then I spent a weekend with Ash, during which we went with Melissa up to Yankee Stadium. I cheered on my new "local" team, the Yankees, whilst Melissa (who hails from Detroit) cheered on her beloved Tigers.





This was a lot of fun (although the beer was pricey and the food simply terrible), and of course involved a lot of drinking, during and afterwards. Melissa was celebrating a Detroit win, I was annoyed the Yankees lost, and Ash couldn't have cared less!

Finally I went back to Matt's where there was more hockey and then I was ready to move!

Oh, I forgot to mention, I saw a space shuttle fly past the office on the back of a 747. Like you do, I suppose..