W is for wee

Wee as in "wee li'l accomodations", not as in "whee! This suite is huge!" After arriving in NYC we were shocked and dismayed to discover that that our rooms at the W hotel actually fit the size requirements of most airlines' carry-on luggage. I submit the following exhibits for your consideration. Yes, I know that space is at a premium in Manhattan, But for a hotel of that status, you wouldn't expect to be able to change channels with your toes. The bathroom wasn't much better: with a lack of a ventilation fan, each shower was followed with the humidex of the entire room jumping twenty degrees. The little radiator / AC unit in the corner was an arcane device crafted some time during the industrial revolution that gave out bizarre sounds as it warmed up or cooled down. Jeff, my poor co-worker with the room down the hall, had to deal with me at three in the morning (eastern time), as I couldn't sleep due to my heater's clanking and groaning antics. I had to go use his spare bed to get four precious hours of sleep before my presentation the next day.

Restrictive amenities for its conference center didn't help either. For the sin of eating in our conference room during lunch, the firm was fined a thousand dollars per day. Yes, you read that right, a g-bill. I can pretty much assure you that our lunch didn't involve roasting onions on an open-pit barbecue we dug out of the carpeting. God forbid you break the seal on the bottle of water in your room, for seven dollars I would expect the water to have been hand-delivered from a monk-run distillery in Naples.

Disappointing accomodations notwithstanding, we had a real blast in NYC. My west coast friends were exposed to some frigid arctic air for the first time, and got the treat of seeing some real snow fall. We toured downtown and midtown on foot and got to see the WTC site. Some shopping was also in order, and of course, food and drink. We met up with some New York girls and experienced the Gotham City nightlife (hint: it's a lot easier to drink hard if you don't have to drive home after).

Anyway, I'm back in LA again, I've got to work on a baseline to comparare the two cities - there's still a lot of partying to do!

mikyl

Honorable mention to my friend Kim, who also has a blog: www.xanga.com/silver_fire_fly

You see? I do read my comments!

PS... notice my recent American spelling (i.e. honorable vs. honourable)? It's part of my scheme to integrate. ;)

It's Monday morning, get back to work!

My Friend, The Karen

I don't know how I didn't think to link to this earlier, but motivated by Sing Tao Daily, my friend Karen had created her own blog karentertainment. Kudos to you, Karen, but please don't spend too much time blogging at work. ;-)

My readers, I encourage each and every one of you to go out and write your own blog. Cybernarcissism. It's the new crack!

New Computer

Finally finished building my new computer today. In case you were wondering, the specs are:

AMD64 2800, 1GB DDR memory, 120GB HD, ATI Radeon AIW 9800, 16x DVD+-R/RW, 17" Samsung SyncMaster 712N, DirecTV tuner w/ external tuner.

Check it out

Finally in the modern age, I'm one of those people who change computers less often than many people change cars. FYI, for my last PC, it was a Pentium II 450, which was about 5 years old from an office hardware sale. True to my colors, I assembled the thing from parts I got at Fry's, damn thing took me 4 hours to set up, including assembly and software installation. I can see why people like Macs.

I enumerate, therefore I am

Well, I finally got a Social Security Number, proof positive that I actually exist in the eyes of America. Only problem is, I gotta go back and line up again in the SSA office, or wait for it in the mail. Looks like I'll be getting some more use out of my Game Boy tomorrow.

I'll give it to the SSA, they did a pretty good job of integrating with DHS' systems in a relatively short period of time. As I know it, this new security process was only in place for the last year or so, not much time to do that size of systems integration. But I'll really reserve judgement until I get the damn number.

Next step, bank account & credit card... Whee!

Back to the real world

Well, I guess it's back to the real world for me, returning to some version of a daily routine. Only this daily routine involves palm trees and nice weather. Once in the office however, may you be in Bogota, Singapore, London, or Santa Monica, you're in a standard cubeville design with climate control. The only real differences are the people who walk in and out of the elevator every day. I'm not really implying anything negative here, since the very standardness of the universal workplace design is pretty much what enables me to work here just as efficiently as in Toronto. I guess it was the lack of culture shock that shocked me.

Anyway, I lucked out on my starting day, I will be going to New York City for a company function through most of next week. I'm looking forward to checking out the Big Apple, since I extended my stay to over the weekend. The last time I was there must have been 3 years ago, and it was a short one-day tour. I'm sure bodaciousness shall ensue.

More pictures are up

I've uploaded the pictures I have taken with my trusty little Minolta Xt camera. That is all I have to say at this time, for my liver is very tired.

Good night.

Pictures are UP

I've finally got some of my vacation pictures up. Too bad Ritz camera totally screwed up the scans - they all have a blue band running along the bottom, and some of them have dust on them.

But nevertheless, there were some good pictures. Check them out...

On Pina Colada and Ugg boots

It's the little things that you notice that occasionally remind you that you aren't home any more. The ubiquity of pina-colada scented soap for instance. In Canada, there's only this bizarre putrid-smelling pink lotion-type soap that every vendor uses. Here, it's a rather pleasant scent reminding you that indeed, this is the land of palm trees and white beaches.

Of course, there's always the little California-specific quirks that are everywhere, like UGG boots, Botts dots, countdown timers on pedestrian crosswalks, and open-air shopping malls.

The weather is getting warmer these days, it's supposed to get to 74 by Sunday. I may go down for some rollerblading by the seashore by then. Whee!

The ones who get left behind

If you've ever moved, especially since the turn of the century, you will be familiar with the process that takes place to reconnect all your old links. This of course includes your relatives, friends, acquaintances, and assorted contacts that you've built up over the years. They, like yourself, are all connected to each other through a string of symbols, numbers and characters that we enter into our various devices in order to talk, text, or just to send amusing attachments concerning dancing penguins to each other. It's more than just an ad by the local telco, and you know it. If you've done a good enough job, within a few weeks, everyone will be calling and IM'ing you just like before. But there are always those people, the Mr. Y's and Ms. X's of the world, who you may have met at every other party with your significant other, but only know you by your cell phone number, or an old email (abandoned due to spam) address. I assure you, those are the hidden gems in the world wide web of networking.

I realized that whenever you do a move of any magnitude, whether it be changing cell phone numbers or moving home and hearth to another country, there will always be the ones left behind. So I'm going to try my darndest to try to get back in contact with all those who I've missed in the past. And you, your homework assignment for tonight is to go home, and look up one person that you haven't talked to in six months, and CALL, EMAIL, or INSTANT MESSAGE them. Bonus marks if they are now the CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation.

These days though, it's not anywhere near as though as it was in the days of yore. They can always just google you. Especially if you have a blog.

Back in business

Life is good. Thanks to my brilliant assistant with the aid of the ubiquitous Google, I am now taking advantage of a little-published rule to allow me to work while my SSN application is in progress. Finally, my life as an unemployed bum is over. Woohoo!

Swedish paradise

Ever see that scene in Fight Club where Ed Norton's character goes on to talk about how his pad is totally furnished top to bottom with IKEA, and where he's taking a dump and is calling IKEA with catalog orders at the same time? Yeah, that's me.
I got the MALM bed, two side two-drawer dressers, the STEFANO adjustable work chair, MIKAEL work table, SKYAR lamps, a MORKER, some LILLHOMEN, etc., etc. Oh yes, and some Swedish meatballs and a $0.99 hot dog.

I may be suffering from Swedophilia, but hell, I got a bedroom and bathroom furnished for $500.

American idolatry

Not to be a girl or anything, but I couldn't help but notice how Kelly Clarkson's newest song, "Breakaway" really reflects my feelings about moving to L.A.

Oh yeah, and I'm still waiting for my Social Security Number. Grrr. Apparently, the process may take up to 8-12 weeks. Totally unacceptable.

Hurry up and wait

Welcome to the United States of America! Skip Ellis Island, bypass the Hollywood sign, run past the Walk of Fame, and zip along Sunset Boulevard to... The local Social Security office! Yaaay! So far, in this highlighted section of my tribulations, I've waited in line for a total 4 hours, not including the total of 3 hours I have waited on the phone with various agencies, all to tell me to hurry up and wait. So far, I am mired in the interwoven web of: Social Security Number -> tax database entry -> HR file -> payroll -> work eligibility. Taken in another way, this mathematical identity becomes: SSN -> national credit database -> credit rating -> American Express card -> US Address -> Internet purchase confirmation -> IKEA catalogue orders.

The long and short of it is that I'm temporarily unemployed for 3-15 business days, thankyouverymuchforcallingsocialsecuritygoodbye. That, and I've somehow managed to logically connect my status in the federal tax databse to IKEA catalogue orders over the 'net.

Funny how the world works.

City of Angels

I came, I saw, I drove. What a ride - I finally arrived yesterday at 5pm in the afternoon in Los Angles, California, after spending New Year's Eve in Fabulous Las Vegas. I have to say, after trekking through the entire continental United States, it really feels like I'm arriving 'home' at the end of a long trip. The landscape of the land between the plains of Texas and the Sierra Nevadas was truly something else. More than the sense of traveling through another country, it was as if I had been teleported to another planet. However, seeing the palm trees of San Bernardino County was the sign of the beginning of the end of our journey.

New Year's Eve in Vegas was another experience altogether. Over half a million people crowding the 2 miles that comprise the Strip, either drunk or on something a little stronger, all jamming to get a better view of .... ? Anyway, that won't be the last time I'll be visiting Vegas, for sure.

In the next few weeks I'll be scanning my photos, and getting a pbase.com account to post all the pictures from my trip on the Internet. After unpacking the sum of my possessions from the back of my car, I'm off again doing some serious shopping round town.

More updates to come once I have a computer.

Adios!