Thanks Brent

Great driving snack.

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The St Louis Gateway arch

The view down from 630 ft up (192m) in the St Louis Gateway arch

The arch itself
A cool one I took from the base
The arch was comissioned by Thomas Jefferson as a monument to the Westward expansion of the US. It is 193m tall and 193m wide and is in the shape a chain forms when held by each side. Interestingly, In 1980, Kenneth Swyers tried to parachute onto the Gateway Arch, planning to jump off to land on the ground. Instead, he slid all the way down one leg to his death. The pilot, Richard Skurat, had his pilot certificate suspended for 90 days.

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I can feel her presence

That one's for you Caz

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM

Sorry I can not be there. I hope you have a fabulous day and I will celebrate with you when I get back.

Please leave birthday wishes as comments to this post - it's for Uncle Mum and all.

Where am I???

There is a theory I have not left Cleveland:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3012271&id=506147433

you be the judge.

These could all just be from google:
http://picasaweb.google.com/myprivateradio/Chicago?feat=directlink

Addendum to goodbye Cleveland

I am sure I may have neglected to mention many people who made my time in Cleveland great. Don't despair, it is my memory at fault. While I was walking through millennium park looking for someone to take my photo, I remembered the Friday afternoon lunches with John and Roy. I used to look forward to this and it all started with me introducing myself to john as I walked past his desk about 20 times a day.

John invited me to lunch and it was a regular thing from there with as many of the project team as were available. He also made the time one weekend to take Luis and I to his place and a local shopping centre. We were able to meet his lovely wife and effervescent son. Thanks for the generosity if your time boys.

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The Billabong store in Chicago

"Hey, happy holidays mate"

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Chicago, the city for everyone

After leaving Cleveland at 8am yesterday, I safely made it to Chicago at about 2pm. About 45 minutes later I was at my hotel after I circled the blocks around it about a million times (unaudited).

The drive was good. The vista leaving Cleveland was American rural in white. I am not sure if you have noticed, but snow is still a wonderful thing to me (Jen, pass my number on to the east coast). I amused myself with music and podcasts and regular pit stops. I found out there is no fruit in the interstate that is not in a McDonald's apple pie or Starbucks cherry spiced latte.

Getting to Chicago was a breeze- get on the I90 and drive. Shazam, you hit Chicago ($20 in tolls later). The hard part was getting a park. Just as I missed my second last turn (oops) the blackberry suffered a catastrophic failure and required a battery pull. For those who don't know blackberries, it is quicker to load a game on a commodore 64 using a tape than restart one of these. I focused myself into a zen like state and pictured the map. I was Yoda himself and found where I was going . . . . Or did I? I was in a back ally which did not look good so I chucked a right. Suddenly I am in the strange underground world from Batman Begins.

I loop the block and then try the street in front of the hotel. It is called Michigan Ave and all the cars in the world were on it at once. The only luck going for me was there was no snow. I follow my blue dot on the BB GPS but after 8 weeks of navigating around the US, I still never remember the blue dot is about a half a block in the past and I pass the hotel and cross a bridge. Oh dear. Each set of lights has a no u-turn sign (which I respect because the traffic was a combined consciousness of angry horns tooting everywhere). I take the plunge and loop around a block, run a 4 way stop sign (there are those horns again) and start back in the right direction.

Hallelujah, there is the awning for the hotel but god is having his way with me again (not in the good way) and there is nowhere to stop. I do a loop (or two) of a few blocks, mapping the parking garages in my head. After about 3 more loops I take the plunge, following a public parking sign in the underground world. I get to the end of this "street", after passing the homeless man making up his bed and there is a closed car parking garage. Back out with an Austin Powers like 3 point turn and looping the block again.

At this point, the 3 bottles of water I had in the car were knocking and if I crossed and tighter, blood would stop getting to my toes. I follow another sign to public parking and praise be, I was parked (and I think in the only park left in the first level). I did a quick anti-theft cleanse of the car and hid the iPod etc in the glovebox. There is a chance this park is going to cost a kidney but it was a medical emergency.

I checked in to the thinnest hotel in the world and made my way to level 16 for some relief. In stepped god again as one of the lifts were out. I did get to level 16 and my hotel room is actually a 1 bedroom apartment with a view up and down Michigan ave (photos). It is very impressive, especially for $75 a night.

I went walking for a couple of hours and ducked into famous Ada's for a beer and lunner (lunch and dinner). After that it was freakishly cold so I made my way back, past a really amazing outdoor ice skating rink (notice no quotation marks). I will have to check that out. The bit of Chicago I have seen is dense with spectacular buildings and I could just walk around looking for days (in fact, I just might).

Back at the apartment I really wanted to get out there again but there was a new episode of For the Love of Ray J and I was tired. I was in bed by 7.30 (central time) and 10 hours sleep later, I wake up fresh as a daisy.

I left the curtains open as I can see down Michigan from my bed and in the morning, I could see (after I put on my glasses) a couple of inches of snow had fallen. It's 11am now and it is still going.

I have checked out a few shopping centres (and the shiny Apple store with the huge rubber stairs) and Chicago is the city for everyone. It has:
- Tiffany's for Al
- Apple for, well all nerds
- hershey's for Caroline
- Oprah for Caroline (this just may be your city, all it needs now is country music)
- Disney store for Carla
- borders for David, and
- snow for me

Chicago, you're alright.

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Goodbye Cleveland :(

As my American adventure continues, I have now left the ACC project team in Cleveland for a few weeks of travelling, before I go home. I could have never predicted how good a time I would have in Cleveland. This has been a combination of the project team (in the photo above), and Cleveland itself. If anyone tells you Cleveland is anything less than a great city, tell them they have not tried, and maybe the problem is themself.

I was there for about 7 weeks working in a room with my new friends above. We also had the ACS team visiting as special guest starts on occasion. We spent the days together in our 15603 sharing stories from home, planning our weekends and evenings together and, sometimes working (no, we really did, I swear Lisa).

The work involved significant amounts of reading and concentration, so we would break this up with our chats. This is hands down the most valuable thing I have taken from this. I have learned many things about the team members’ respective homes, and a little about me (like I am offensive in any language and calling someone a dirty bitch is somehow bad- go figure). Dirty bitch did become Lyudmila’s favourite new term.

Some other things I have learned:
- Not all Russians drink vodka
- How to call people bad names in Spanish
- Hats keep your head warm, puffy hats have the benefit of keeping your hair style in shape as well
- The toothfairy does not get to every country. Sometimes, she sends a mouse (or does the mouse send the toothfairy?)
- Utah is weird
- Petrol (gas) is cheaper than water in Bahrain
- Ice is not fun and romantic, it makes you fall
- Walking on 2 inches of snow is easier than walking on ¼ of an inch of snow
- The German advent calendars kicks arse over Australian advent calendars

Some things I have taught the team:
- You do not turn left in the car, you chuck a left
- Hiccupping is a great attention seeking device
- Jumpers keep you warm in the cold (American use sweaters but that just sounds unpleasant)
- Koalas are not bears. Please share this with everyone you know so when you visit Australia it is one less thing we will laugh at you about behind your back
- Snow is fun and romantic, it is not a pain. You choose to live in the north so suck it up people

Let me introduce the team to you properly. From the right of the photo, we have:
- Shuichi (Shu) from Japan who looks like he is concentrating all the time but now and then a smile will creep over his face during our conversations in the room. He also enjoys a bit of “professional” wrestling (at any cost). He is also the most impressive eater I have ever seen. Bravo Shu.
- Brent, the all American man. He is ex-Marine and an all round good bloke. He is an Australian’s saviour, taking me to the pub at the end of my first week (sorry about the whole hot sauce incident).
- Emma, my boss’ boss who is from England who I had to fight with to be the loudest in the room. She invited us to her house for a night of foods’o’the world and is a mean competitor on arcade dance games (self professed champion).
- Me. I write blogs.
- Julia from Germany who was kind enough to make the room a German advent calendar which was made up of 24 individually wrapped presents. We would revert to children each day opening up the new one. She also had the natural German efficiency coursing through her veins as displayed on many occasions.
- On top is Lisa from country Australia (and Adelaide, which is really the same thing). She was the guiding light through this project and also was a great provider of ideas on things to do in Cleveland (even “ice” skating). She will often stand in the shadows with her huge camera (it has its own post/zip code) taking streams of photos that can be viewed in succession to form a video.
- Luis (Antonio) from Chile, my best mate in Cleveland. When he arrived, he had no idea what I was saying. I think it took 6 weeks before he could understand me (he started a week after me). We went out for dinner in his first week and I was concerned about how we were going to communicate but apparently interpretative dance is universal. He has an amazing family who very kindly fed me for most of the time I was here. Chilean food is impressive.
- Lyudmila, the non vodka drinking Russian and my favourite. Lyudmila was quite at first and I think she was in shock at my level of obnoxiousness. It was talking to Lyudmila which highlighted most to me the literal meanings to phrases and words we use are not always what they mean in a sentence. She also has the most expressive eyes and eyebrows in the history of communication.
- Asad, the Pakistani Bahraini. He joined us later in the project but jumped straight into the dynamic. He is a mean poker player and is entirely styled by Cleveland sporting teams.
- Last, but not least, is Vijai, the Indian American who has filled the void left by the departure of Brent (not to a better place, to client service work). He also has a very sneaky wife who contacted me on his Birthday (which Vijai had kept to himself) to organise something. Vijai supplied us with mountains of American candy so we immediately liked him.

Other special guest stars during my time are:
The ACS team who take what we do and turn it into something that makes sense. They are Jennifer K, Jennifer W, Hunter, Bern, Alexis, Larry who have contributed their stories to the room and added to the fun we have. Hunter is a crazy traveller, balanced by his domestic Utahness. Jenn K loves to live in other peoples’ houses and Jennifer W is as loud as I am. Thanks for the work and fun team.

I cannot sign-off from Cleveland without mentioning the Phoenix team. On my first morning, after 6 hours sleep which proceeded 30 hours of being awake, I walked the city looking for coffee goodness. After a few false starts, I found Phoenix who have dutifully coffeed me up every morning, with a side of toasted raisin bagel with cream cheese. In the order of meeting you, thanks Elizabeth, Wes, Shannon, Nathan and the rest of the team. Thanks for the coffee and crazy chats.

So with my friends from Cleveland I have experienced a lot. I have seen every major local sporting team play (who were in season), been to Niagara, been “ice” skating, eaten, drunk, and had an amazing time- thank you all!!!!

PS I just beat Jesus, I have 13 disciples now

My last . . .

I have packed the car, handed in my key, dropped off the last of my toilet paper to Luis and stopped in to Phoenix for the last time.

I ordered may last latte and bagel. Although my order was different than the first Monday I showed up (cappuccino and plain bagel with butter, what was I thinking?), I was served again by Elizabeth and Wes. This time Elizabeth could understand me (I'm pretty sure) and it was a good last stop in Cleveland.

I am very sad to say goodbye to the city, and mostly the people, but more about that later . . .

As Willie Nelson once said, I'm on the road again . . . (although I have selected Room for Squares by john Mayer as my soundtrack out of Cleveland - it just seams right).

To infinity and beyond!!!

PS bye Lyudmila, sorry I missed you :(

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Oh yes I did

I'm at the Outback Steakhouse with Shu for one last hurrah in Cleveland. There are about 6 of this restaurant in greater Cleveland. I am choosing between the bloomin' onion, kookaburra wings, gold coast coconut shrimp (oh yes, Gold Coast shrimp) or the Alice Springs quesadilla. I can wash it down with a glass of Greg Norman cab merlot or a Gold Coast 'rita (margarita for the diseducated).

And yes Bec, you are represented with the Toowoomba pasta (apparently Toowoomba is descriptive enough so no need to tell everyone what is in the pasta in the name).

And they have Fosters in the menu and no I did not.

P.S. the photo is of me and the dessert menu and the first item is "thunder from down under". Not only is that a type of sundae, but it is an Australian male dance troop that have been in Cleveland this month. Also, while I was in Niagara, I was asked about them by a worker at the Casino. They are following me everywhere here.

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There is some crazy schizzle going down

These photos are from 6.30 Friday night (I say night because it had been dark for a couple of hours already) and it is 41F (5C in real degrees). We were chatting about this crazy warmth as the temperature should be below freezing right now. It also highlighted how perceptions change with your environment. We were describing this as warm but if I was at home, this would be considered the coming of the next ice age (as our lowest average temperate in winter is 9C or about 48F).


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The cheesecake factory (it is as great as it sounds)

It is a huge restaurant which has the largest menu I have ever seen, including two packed pages of cheesecakes of all description. The food was good and the company was better.

Luis (formerly Antonio), his wife, Pamela, Lyudmila, Shu and I decided we would make the most out of the cars we have at the moment (Family Chile is going to New York on Sunday and I am leaving for the big trip on Monday). It was about 15 minutes down the I90 and sounded easy to get to. This was before I decided to go past Q arena where obviously there was an event on tonight. It took longer to get out of town and our cars were split up (Chile and I were driving, he has the faster car, it is red).

Shu was in the hot seat in my car with Google maps going on my Blackberry Storm 2 (welcome to the club Brad). We got onto the I90 without an issue and even found the right turnoff (Yanks know how to build a highway network). We crossed over the I90 to get to the restaurant, and took the first right. It turns out we wanted the third right as we successfully got back on to the I90, going back to Cleveland Downtown. We took the next exit, crossed back over and took the exit again. This time we took the second turn (again, looking for the third turn here). This was a little easier to correct, with a quick U turn.

The restaurant was in a shopping centre and the wait was an hour. We split up and browsed for an hour (well I browsed- Lyudmila did not let the opportunity to shop escape her). I was with team Chile and we tended to walk until we got cold and then we would browse in the closest shop to thaw).

Into the Cheesecake factory to be seated. The meals were American sized so I took my first doggy bag home (or as we do here, I asked for a box). The food was good but we all knew we were there for cheesecake.

I ordered the Banana cream cheesecake, Shu had the death by chocolate (that was not the name but you get the picture), Lyudmila decided to copy me and got the banana cream to go and had the original for there. She also considered getting the strawberry to go as well but decided against it. Our waitress was cute but, well, not much else. She came over a couple a times after we ordered dessert to see if Lyudmila wanted the Strawberry cheesecake to go. Lyudmila had to ask if she was saying the wrong words but not this time. The waitress was just, well, cute.

Chile and Pamela ordered the strawberry and the lemon raspberry, which they had to share with me because mine was late and then our waitress, who was cute, brought the wrong one (cookies and cream, not banana cream). I kept trying to take some off Shu's plate but he was defending it like it was last piece of food on post apocalyptic earth. My desire for cheesecake did not transcend my desire to live.

The drive home was interesting as while we were eating, an inch of snow had appeared on the car, from god himself. I was a little concerned as I had no idea what to do. While I was getting in the car, Shu had already picked up the ice scraper (apparently a standard extra on a Cleveland car) and was cleaning the windows. That was good to know before the big trip. I think I need to do some research about driving in the snow before heading off on Monday. Watch out for the blog posts to stop - an indication the snow got the better of me.

Going home was a little slow as I was staying a little under the speed limit, but we made it which was a positive. I did have precious cargo – Lyudmila and Shu.

Sunday is finishing off a bit of work and Monday is the start of the next adventure. I think I am going to drop Kansas City off the roster as I have lost a couple of days. I still have to actually sit down and plan the trip. Tonight is going to be a mix of spreadsheeting and packing.

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Don't tease me Cleveland

The snow on my windowsill.

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I don't think this is the classiest of establishments

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