First day in the office

There are certain things that happen whenever you start a new job, so having them happen when you've been working for a company for 5 years is a bit surreal. I'm currently the owner of a new ID badge for the site and have a new office (albeit temporary) for the work we're here for over the next few weeks.

Plans are being made and the work looks to be a lot of fun even though there appears to be a lot of it, and once I get over the jet lag things should be a lot smoother. Also driving is getting easier, at least now I go to the correct side of the car to get in and I don't feel quite so nervous about going around the place.

Englishman in New York (State)

At 5am on a dark autumnal morning the taxi arrived that would take me up to Heathrow ready for the trip out to New York. Having done all this before there weren't quite so many nerves with having to do the whole travelling thing and only having to do one flight made things a lot more straight forward.

The flight itself was fine, watched lots of films and ate what was claimed to be breakfast and lunch (actually the pizza wasn't too bad). Upon arrival made it through immigration with no problems, mentioning that you work for IBM still has a couple of advantages. Heading into the arrivals lounge Zippe and Debbie were there to say hello (and have a chat and a coffee) before they had to head out to someone sunnier and I had to pick up the hire car.

Having already driven in the states on a previous trip being on the wrong side of the car and not having to change gear didn't really phase me. Having been forced to hire the smallest class, I was expecting something I might struggle to fit in, however the Honda Accord feels bigger than my normal car. Being on the wrong side of the road wasn't a problem due to driving on major roads and them being in effect motorways (albeit with a slightly slower speed limit). Cruise control is my favourite toy when in the states, press a couple of buttons and all you've got to do is point the car in the right direction.

The drive itself was quite pretty, ignoring the rain and after a quick tour around the town having missed the turning for the hotel (there are houses with white picket fences) I got all checked into a quite frankly huge suite which will be home for the next four weeks (photos below). A very nice goody bag was presented on arrival and the bottle of wine will most likely come in very handy as the project goes on.

America for a month

After some last minute decisions work have allowed me to go out to Poughkeepsie, NY for 4 weeks to write a technical book based around the product I work on. This is very cool as it's something I've been wanting to do for a while plus has the advantage of allowing me to work in another country.

I fly out on Saturday morning, land at JFK airport, and once I've had some lunch/tea/whatever it is by that time it'll be time to drive up to the hotel that will be home for the four weeks I'm out there. The driving shouldn't be a problem given my holiday jaunts around Orlando last year (another work related trip) though the distance is a bit greater. I'm also hoping to see a bit more of New York city than just JFK airport.

Expect touristy type updates here, plus possibly one or two pictures.

Who are these people?

So after a silly prank phone call which caused 2 complaints after it was initially aired, a week later after the papers had got hold of it there are 30,000 complaints. The fallout is massive with resignations and suspensions and questions being asked in parliament. Ok, the phone calls weren't funny, and yes they probably shouldn't have been aired but this was a pre-recorded show and the producer decided it would be ok.

Fast forward to today, the new series of Top Gear starts with a feature on how hard it is to be a truck driver. Clarkson makes a couple of jokes based off some urban myths which weren't necessarily in the best of taste, but in the context of the program and the persona he projects not entirely unsurprising. As of this morning there were less than 200 complaints, by the end of the afternoon there were over 500 and people were calling for him to be sacked.

Now if you see something that is genuinely offensive you are well within your rights to complain, I don't want to take that away from people but I think you do need to have been there at the time of the incident to be truly offended. The fact that the number of complaints grows after the event seems to indicate that there are people who are just looking to complain because there's something to complain about, which of course begs the question why? Head outside and enjoy the wonderful countryside we have and think about all the huge things that are going on in the world that need to be fought against rather than some throw away joke from a motormouth television journalist.

It should also be mentioned that of the millions of people that watch Top Gear there have been only 500 complaints so in comparison there are a disproportionately larger group of people who watched the program and enjoyed it. Let's not forget these people (including me) who are likely to be lost in the moral outrage of the over vocal minority.