House of Spa

Time:  11:17am USA / 1:17am AUST

the weekend approaches and i’ve just secured tickets to my first baseball game and PNC park, where the Pittsburgh Pirates will take on the Cincinnati Reds …

 

  

the Pirates are about the crappest team in the World Series so i don’t expect much, but it’s an experience nevertheless! other developments lately, well, my “NASA” bed has already arrived and is awaiting delivery, yet i don’t yet have a place to deliver it to! speaking of places, the agents for the Cork Factory called, and i’m going in tomorrow to finalise the lease … so i’ll know exactly when i’ll be moving in! i expect it to be mid-November. i’ll take my camera with me and take some more pics of my actual apartment there to give everyone an idea of what it will look like. will nice to have a place of my own! i just need to sort out transport … on the transport issue i am going for my learners permit shortly (eg: today) and then will book my “driving test” sometime next week … have to practise my reverse parking skills, on the other side of the road! talk about confusing!!

got volleyball tonight! woohoo

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Time:  5:28pm USA / 7:28am AUST

well, like i posted on tuesday, low and behold, after obtaining my learners license on the 16th March 1995, and exactly 9 years 11 months 9 days since the date of my first driving offence, i have finally got my full license!

for those that haven’t seen my driving record, or would like a refresher, you can view it by clicking here (read from the bottom up). i cant help but see the irony of my situation, given that i plan to obtain a learners license in the State of Pennsylvania in the coming days …!

in other news, work continues to pickup day-by-day as i get more and more comfortable with my new surroundings. doing alot of reading, and sleeping, and yesterday went back to the gym so am pretty sore today … but … as i swore to some people before i left, i was not going to get fat whilst over here, so i better make sure i stick to it! with the amount of variety, selection, and obscene amount of take away eateries in this country it’s no wonder there are real problems!

i’m meant to be going to a baseball game this saturday night, so that should be pretty cool. will take my camera and hope that the rain holds out … itchin to fly to New York this time next month, it’s going to be maaaaaad

Time:  11:08am USA / 1:08am AUST

monday mornings can be summed up in one word “yuk!” … i could have quite happily kept sleeping this morning, especially since i’ve been coming into the office by 8am for the past week (ouch, it really hurts!).

well, my weekend was relatively uneventful. i spent some time reading through some technical books (enthralling reading, really - not), and other than that i paid a visit to the Driver & Motor Vehicle Services (aka DMV) to suss out how to obtain a State of Pennsylvania drivers license. contrary to what i was told previously, the only transferrable drivers licenses outside of the US are France and Germany, and therefore i am forced to do a written/multiple choice knowledge test, to obtain my LEARNERS PERMIT … then i will have to do a driving test to obtain my full license!! what a joke!! hahahaha … so i’ve got the book and have browsed through it (it’s all pretty straight forward, but they do have some funky road rules here, and weird signs that aren’t all that clear) and then i’ll go and do the knowledge test, and book my driving test a few days later … so hopefully by next week i’ll have a license! woohoo!! whilst on the topic of drivers licenses, i checked on the MyRecords website (part of the RTA NSW) today to see how many demerit points i have on my license … and … for the first time since I HAD MY LICENSE, i will actually have my full 12 points back as of Wednesday of this week … is it possible that I’ve gone for 3 years without a demerit offense? wow …!

i also ordered a new bed on the weekend … an ‘original’ Tempur-Pedic, which is a memory-foam mattress used by NASA for their space exploration programmes. this is some funky bedding!

back to work now … ta taaaaa

Time:  4:49pm USA / 6:49am AUST

here i am sitting at my desk preparing to design and configure the good part of $500k worth of network gear for upgrades taking place across the North American region, replacing the unreliable legacy gear that is way past it’s warranty! for those of you that don’t know what i do for a living, the below is a pic of what i’m talking about, not that it will probably make much sense to you!

 

  

anyyyyyyway, enough talk of work. in other news i have booked my first weekend venture away from Pittsburgh … and it’s to New York! from the 27th Oct > 29th Oct i will be guest of Mr Franky Lie (works for Macquarie Bank in NY) who will hopefully show me as many sights to see in New York as humanly possible in the short time that i will be there. it’ll be my first time ever in New York, but guaranteed to not be my last! i’ve also got word that my old neighbour, Keiran Hart, will be in New York earlier that week, so i might actually fly in a day early to catch up with the silly pecker! haven’t seen him in a good 4yrs i think!

In other news, i could very well have a State of Pennsylvania drivers license this weekend, as i’ve managed to work a way to obtain one with a utilities bill in my name! oh, and i have also purchased my first item of furniture for my new place … it’s called a LoveSac, which is basically an oversized beanbag with a plush furry finish. to be specific, the bag (known as the BigOne) and cover (known as Puppy Phur) weigh in at approximately 55kg’s (120lbs), is 8 feet in diameter, and could comfortably seat at least 3 adults! i could almost sleep on this thing!! and as there was a sale on i also got a GameSac, which is a small single seater, for free! now all i need in my living room is a nice flat panel TV, surround sound stereo, and a breakfast table! IKEA here i come …

so, things are settling into a nice routine, everything running smoothly and really getting comfortable at work, and learning many new things (just the sheer scale of things here). ta taaa for now people!

Time:  3:01pm USA / 5:01am AUST

well, what a weekend … not! had a very very lazy weekend. slept in on saturday morning, went shopping in the afternoon, stayed in on sat night, slept in sunday morning, did some washing, watched some tv, did a bit of reading, watched more tv, and then had trouble getting to sleep last night cause i was so well rested my body didn’t want to rest anymore! so it was not until probably 3:30am i actually fell asleep last night! d’oh! i did notice something interesting in a bookstore on saturday afternoon though, that the motor-heads reading this will find amusing …

GO HOLDEN! haaaaaahahahaha … the new Pontiac Grand Prix aka the VE Holden Commodore!! oh, i also caught a snap of one some locals running in the backyard …

wwwwwwhhheeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! heehe … this little guys (chipmunks) are funny … they move in very sharp precise actions, and the moment they see anyone move (from a long distance) they dart off into the bush!

in other news, today i banked my first “pay check”, which again was a hassle cause i am a ‘new’ account holder at the bank, i have to wait SEVEN BUSINESS DAYS for it to clear! for GOODNESS SAKES! i thought cheques in Australia were bad enough! arrrggghh … but in better news I calculated my tax rate and it works out to be only 24%! the equivalent tax bracket i would be in back in Australia would be around 45% … so it’s extremely satisfying to give any government (especially a foreign one) as little of my money as possible! all i need now is for the Aussie dollar to weaken so when i send money home, i get as close to a money-tree effect as possible! woohoo!!

Time:  4:37pm USA / 6:37am AUST

argh, where do i start? i went in yesterday afternoon to the Cinglar Wireless store to get a localised SIM for my Sony Ericsson K800i GSM phone, so that I can call home at discounted rates (which they advertise) instead of using the global roaming on my Australian SIM / provider … anyway, yesterday they wanted to actually SEE my Social Security Card, which had not yet arrived in the mail, so I couldn’t complete the deal, and left most displeased. i arrive home last night and wouldn’t you know it, my Social Security Card had arrived in the mail. i can’t believe how POOR the security around such an important number is, i could duplicate this card in no less than 10 minutes and no one would know any better. it’s simply a bit of plain paper with some writing on it, non-laminated, no picture, just my name, a number, and that’s about it! i’d put a picture up of it but i might run the risk of sufferring identity theft!

sooooo … i went back to the store today with my Social Security Card (which they say in big bold letters DO NOT CARRY ON YOU) and this time they didn’t even need to see it! love the consistency!! anyways, after much messing about, finally got my SIM activated after paying a $500 US security deposit (as i do not have any credit history) and left the shop amazed that something had actually gone to plan, for once!

after i got back to the office, i logged onto their website so i could check my account and details were correct, and i noticed that the “International Calling Option” was not listed, which gives me discounted rates to call Australia (US $0.24/min from mobile > mobile, and US $0.07/min mobile > landline). so, i call their support line and ask what the deal is, as the primary reason i got the local SIM was so that i could call Australia at a discounted rate! after 3 minutes on hold while that person went and checked it out, they came back to me saying “as you don’t have a history with us at the moment, you will have to wait 90 days before we can enable the International Calling Option” … i coouuuuuuldddddnnn’t beeeeeliiiiiieve it! the logic here is sometimes beyond comprehension!

alright, i’m going home. had enough of this baloney!! CYA!!!!!!!!!

PS - for those that want my new yankee number, EMAIL ME. i will only be checking my Australian mobile every couple of days AT BEST!!

Time:  4:30pm USA / 6:30am AUST

today we took a trip to the ‘world famous’ Primanti Brothers restaurant for their one-of-a-kind Pittsburgh-only sandwhiches … i had the best selling “PITTS-BURGER CHEESE STEAK”. basically, it’s a sandwhich, with a beef pattie, cheese, tomato, coleslaw (!!), and chips (!!) all in one …. as you can see by the pic below, it’s a mouthful and a half!

in other news, i get my first official “pay check” tomorrow which will be cool … being paid local currency! it’s proving very very difficult to get anything done over here, getting my drivers license, obtaining a local GSM sim card for my phone, and any form of credit is next-to impossible as i don’t have any ‘history’ which they can track. i even rung up the credit reporting bureau yesterday and they couldn’t actually tell me anything, cause i don’t have a history! how on earth does one gain a credit history when one cannot obtain any form of credit or bill? it’s beyond me!

we were taste-testing again at Heinz … today we had 4 cheese pasta sauce of three varieties, and 3 chocolate mousses’ …

oh, and for those that know, i’ve finally lodged my tax returns for the past FOUR financial years … mirrrraaaaacccleeeee!!!!

Time:  2:11pm USA / 4:11am AUST

just got back from a taste-testing session at the Heinz plant which is in an adjoining building … we were taste-testing some kind of sauce and chicken stuff, no idea what it was called but below you can see the ‘booths’ that are setup for you to fill out a survey asking all sorts of questions about the different tastes between the control product and the other samples …

 

 

and, at the end, you get an ice-cream! wooohooo … I can see this being a daily occurance for everyone’s information, Heinz (yes, the people that make the sauce), originates from good ‘ol Pittsburgh! their NFL stadium, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, is actually called Heinz Field.

in other news, i slept on my left shoulder really awkwardly last night, so it’s REALLY sore today … plus i’m pretty sore from the gym yesterday anyway, so might take it easy tonight and try to get a good nights sleep, on my right shoulder instead! hehe …

oohhh … and trying to establish a credit rating in this country is bloody impossible. a credit check is run on almost anything you try to buy/rent/purchase here … eg: rent a house, buy/sign up for a phone/plan, take out insurance, anything! so it’s endlessly frustrating trying to find a bank that will give me even the smallest credit card or SOMETHING that i can start using in order to establish a credit history! silly yanks, it’s not like i’m a criminal! so, the journey continues …

Time:  8:04pm USA / 10:04am AUST

oh man, i’m dying … made use of the gym here in the office, and i am absolutely BUGGERRED! haven’t worked out consistenly for probably 2 months so i’m going to be in pain tomorrow, and serious pain on thursday … but it’s very convenient to have pretty much the whole place to yourself, and the equipment, whilst not quite to the standard of Fitness First, you can’t complain for $0/month

 

Time:  2:50pm USA / 4:50am AUST

well, i apologise for the lack of updates over the weekend. it’s not that i was particularly busy, i was just being lazy! so how was my weekend? well, Friday evening played volleyball with some of the people from work … was a little rusty for the first 30 mins but after that really picked up … i can’t remember what the score was tho? i’ll just say that our team won Saturday i was sore from volleyball, goes to show how unfit i am, but i managed to take my first extended solo drive (without getting lost!) over to the South Side Works area of Pittsburgh and wander around to get a ‘feel’ for the area. it’s a recently re-developed area and definately is one of the nicer areas of Pittsburgh to be in, I thought. lots of designer shops, furniture, cafe’s, movies, etc which is appealing to have at your doorstep. the annoying thing is that there is no vacancy in any decent rental places there! i guess that’s an indication of how in-demand that area must be …

i didnt do much for the rest of the weekend … TV was full of 9/11 tributes and documentaries, which I got pretty sick of by Monday night … so i switched over to Fox and watched new episodes of Simpsons, and Family Guy! YEAH!! i’ve ordered some ‘light’ technical reading on some work related stuff, which i’m sure will send me right to sleep before bed each night … should arrive in the next few days.

oh, and i haven’t managed to obtain a State of Pennsylvania drivers license yet, as I need to show two forms of residential address such as a utilities bill, tax records, lease agreements, mortgage documents, W-2 form (like your group certificate), or a current weapons permit (!!) … all of these aren’t easily obtained which means it might be a while before i can get a PA license, which also means I can’t buy a bloody car! grrrrrr!! terribly frustrating trying to get anything done here. oh well … i’ll get there.

i guess that’s all for now. nothing much else happenning, just getting along with my work which is ramping up.

Time:  5:45pm USA / 7:45am AUST 

picked up my photo id / swipe card today - has to be one of the worst photos EVER! after managing to avoid getting a Marconi card, and an Ericsson card back in Sydney for over 6 years, i had to finally succumb to the procedures and policies here in the US. and this is what i got …