Urgh

OK, jetlag is a bit strong but we’ve both been at somewhat of a low ebb. The last few weeks have been a tad wearing and it’s time for some R&R as I get set for next week.

There are also two new laptops to get up and running - 10 minutes to start and a few hours apiece to get them into usable machines. And before you say anything no I wouldn’t like to have nice Mr Jobs sort all that out for me.

Homeward bound

According to Delta’s twitter feed we were good to go this afternoon, so bade farewell to our hosts and had lunch with R, who gave us a lift to the airport. It was our third trip to LIC Market, highly recommended.

The flight back was long but untroubled, but we got back to find the housesitter had left the place in a terrible state. She’s taken moving in a bit seriously, there were some breakages and a strange stain on the bath. On the plus side Boo was happy to see us and is sticking close.

There was also apparently another earthquake just off SF, but at this point I’m too tired to think straight.

The day after

Got up around 9am and was distinctly unimpressed. The weather was windy with a light sprinkling of rain. After tea we all went down to the river for a walk and despite a few broken trees and the odd band of rain the scene was no worse than a wet weekend in Bognor.

The police kept us away from the river, but we had a look around. A few underground car parks were flooded, but slowly enough to allow the cars to be moved. The local Irish pub had closed, but a cafe was still open so we popped in for eggs Benedict and a cup of tea. It was midday by the time we got back but there was nothing to do.

I will confess to some bitching about this, after all that fuss for nothing. Friends pointed out that the death count was in double figures, large chunks of the state were underwater (not M’s parents thank goodness,) and silence was golden. Good advice, we got lucky and the flooding was extensive. Long Beach Island got away with minor damage it seems.

M and I walked over the bridge to Brooklyn for a wander around. The wind was strong but warm, and long strings of clouds were scudding across the skyline in slow formations. Shops and restaurants were open and largish groups of people were just strolling in that “I’ve got to get outdoors” way.

We wandered back over to Long Island City and went down to the waterfront, chatting to people as we went. Lots of people were about, and most were in a talkative and friendly mood. The above picture came from my phone (that's M in the lower right corner) from Gantry Park.
Maybe I was wrong about New York - it’s a very easy place to love at times like this.

Everybody panic!

A very strange non-day really, we were in hunker-down mode - not that travel was much of an option. The subway was being shut down at midday and power could go as well in lower Manhattan and be off for days.

First things first, get supplies - both internal and external. Brunch at a local place on Long Island City was essential survival food - meaty corned beef hash, with eggs, toast and jam, with a Bloody Mary because who knew when we might taste uncontaminated tomato juice again. As good an excuse as any.

The off to the local health food shop for some supplies. The queue outside the local Trader Joe’s was two blocks long and the situation similar at the competition. While D&D have a week’s worth of food (and a fortnight’s of beer) in the fridge there was comfort food to buy. We decamped to the local health food store and stocked up on crisps, fruit and the occasional chocolaty morsel or five.

Business was brisk, but not insane - no fights over the last soy milk carton or handful of cilantro. M received a little taunting over a couple of tins of sardines, but I got the same for a highly nutritious, if massive, bag of BBQ crisps.

On the TV New Jersey’s governor and Mayor Bloomberg were now up to three press conferences a day. The eye of the storm is expected to pass a few miles east of New York at 8am Sunday, but it’s slow and carrying a lot of water. High tide is also around that time and the storm surge could be large. We’re in zone two of the flooding area, a couple of blocks clear of the mandatory evacuation zone.

Today the final Top 10 also got posted - end of an era for N and I. The Top 10 started as a vague idea and sort of grew out of control. I think we hit 6,000 words on one and the banter during the decision making process for the final list always made me grin. N has surprising reservoirs of knowledge in unlikely areas and argues his case well. It was a bit emotional to see the last one live.

The first bands of rain started to come in around 4pm and lasted for less than half an hour initially, but then increased in frequency. The wind started to really kick in around 7pm but the floor-to-ceiling windows were holding up fine. We had dinner and drinks, then played rummy while the TV was on silent in the background. At this point there was very little else to do. Shops were boarded up, and while a few bars were open, getting there would have required a soaking. The waves of rain were just pounding down at a 40 degree angle, but at least it was warm and didn’t feel too bad.

Much wine and beer was drunk, as M & D tussled for the lead, with myself bringing up the last place spot. Finally we called it a night around 11pm, filled the bath with water in case power went out so we could flush the loo, and retired to bed. The city was quiet, apart from the occasional car and the odd muted police siren telling people to get off the streets. We checked we knew where our documents were and went to sleep

Escape to New York

OK, we’ve heading back to New York, and the comparative safety of the city. We’ll be close to the airport if the storm is overblown (sorry, couldn’t resist with that or the picture) and I’d rather be in the city if disaster does hit because the apartment is well-situated and there’s good looting opportunities.

The drive back up was none too difficult, a bit of extra traffic but all road tolls were excused and traffic flowed well. We had one thing to do on the way – lunch with an old friend named B. We’d met in Malaysia at an aviation conference in 1998, when I was editing a newsletter on aviation IT (not as dull as it sounds). A few minutes after meeting a very bad local karaoke band had started a pidgin version of a Spice Girls track and neither of us cold suppress giggles.

We’ve been good friends ever since; I spent a memorable first US Thanksgiving with her family and she and some of the family stayed with me in London when visiting. B specialises in family travel, my idea of hell, and is one of a new breed of travel agents that got in early online. Thanks to her I was able to navigate the very murky world of early online booking systems and score some great deals.

Few people under 30 get what a hassle it was getting abroad in the days before online. You had to physically go to a shop in order to not only purchase tickets, but then also to pick them up. The whole system of flight booking depended on a massive early computer system - SABRE (Semi-Automatic Business-Related Environment). This was one of the first computer booking systems, set up as an IBM spin-off and by 1976 allowed travel agents the then-magical ability to book flights nearly instantaneously.

It was a very profitable business, but the internet cut a huge segment out of it, as it has with a lot of industries including mine. B got into the internet early and now works from home - and occasionally from a cruise ship, beach resort or Peruvian mountain - setting up holidays for families with children, and more importantly sorting out problems when they occur.

Anyway, we hadn’t actually seen each other in years, and a 1:30pm lunch stretched into 5pm, at which point the waiters were getting restive and a second portion of pudding increasingly attractive. We said a fond farewell and parted ways.

We had planned to go up north for an hour and see M’s old home town, but the second we got onto the freeway traffic was nearly static. Lots of commuters - it was Friday afternoon - but a lot of very stuffed cars too, and not everyone heads to the country for the weekend with that many supplies.

We stopped off for water, a torch and a few essentials before heading back to D&D’s place, dropping the car off as we went. According to a policeman in a bar we stopped in they were expecting flooding not too serious. We shall see.

More natural disasters

OK, I'm starting to get a little freaked now. Hurricane Irene, a category two hurricane in the West Indies, looks set to swing up the eastern seaboard and land directly on New Jersey and New York on Sunday.

We've spent the night photographing the family's possessions and making sure that all important documents are secure. For all the e-commerce in the world insurance companies aren't going to be impressed with a printout alone. M's folks are already stocked up on food, water and medicine, and have an impressive larder, although if the power goes out there will be some frenzied cooking of frozen stuff.

The news channels are full of nothing else and we check in periodically for updates. Some of the news was a tad alarmist. Someone on the TV advised people to write their name, social security number and date of birth on a piece of paper, wrap in plastic and put it in their left shoe and lace it up. There's something to induce panic, and for no good reason.

M's parents are being very nice about it but I suspect they might have reason to regard me as something of a natural jinx. The last time I was here at Christmas we had a massive snow storm that dumped 26 inches of snow in 24 hours, snowing us in for two days. So far on this visit we've had an earthquake and now a hurricane.

Heaven only knows what's going to happen when I come next time – a rain of frogs, multiple lightning strikes or a small volcano no doubt. Personally I'm hoping for slow zombies. Everyone's being very nice about things, but I suspect 200 years ago I'd be hauled out and burnt as one of Satan's imps for this run of bad luck :) Thank goodness for progress.

Earthquake redux

OK, not content with yesterday's earthquake the forces of nature have given us another one – not here thank goodness but back at home in the Bay area.

There was force 3.5 in Oakland this morning. Apparently it's not too severe, but the housesitter informs us Boo was a little freaked and got very clingy. Given she usually sits on my head at night the little mite must have grafted herself to our friend. Poor little devil, looking forward to seeing her again.

Earthquake!

I've been living in California for over three years now and I've never felt an earthquake. There have been a couple but I've always been somewhere else. Now I come to New Jersey and feel one within days.

It was around 2pm when we got to the beach and set up the deck chairs and umbrella before anointing ourselves with sunscreen and settling down for a quick picnic before going for a swim. As I sat down the chair I noticed it was rocking. M remarked on it as well, and we agreed it was probably just the wind. But the rocking didn't stop, in fact it intensified, before dropping away after about ten seconds.

A minute or so later someone in the group next to us started to talk about a tremor, so M popped over to have a chat. Turns out the wind wasn't that strong; instead a 5.8 quake had hit Virginia and we'd felt it a few hundred miles away. It turns out the plate that makes up part of the East Coast is fairly solid and unbroken, so seismic shock carries further than on the West coast, where the plate is more broken up.

It's my first US earthquake (I've felt one in the UK) and was exciting, and a little worrying. We shall see what the rest of the week brings...

The end of the affair

Having very mixed feelings about New York – it hasn't changed, but I have and no longer feel the same way about a city that has been a passion of mine for a while.

When I first envisaged moving to the US, New York was top of my choices of places to work. There's an undeniable energy that comes from cramming seven million people into a tiny space, adding a dose of capitalism and pressing the fast-forward button on social evolution. It's a place where you can get almost anything you want whenever you want it, where the poshest shops share a street with scuzzy corner stores and it'll always be the the best place in the world for bagels and pizza.

But New York no longer has the same hold on me that once it had. I first came in 1999 and was entranced, and the city pulled me back again and again. It has a buzz like no other place, I've laughed, cried, loved and lost here and regret nothing, well, maybe one or two things but you know what I mean.

Maybe it was the oppressive heat and humidity, or the rudeness of people, or simply the fact that I've got older and softer, but I'm no longer so besotted with the place. M summed it up best - it's kind of like a relationship that once burned hot and hard, and has now mellowed into a sort of friends-with-benefits deal. I'll always be fond of the place, but now it's somewhere you visit, have a good time and then wave goodbye to. Northern California has won my heart now, although I'll always love the green rolling hills of Derbyshire.

Absolutely fabulous

Met up with some of my favourite people in the city, and we set up to paint the town red.

The evening started with drinks in a cocktail bar on 57th avenue, before moving on for beers and burgers at a nearby joint. Lovely to meet up with T and A again – both of whom look fabulous. Another old friend, who I hadn't seen in over seven years (god I'm old), although I nearly didn't recognise her. Good to see that some of us get better looking with age :)

Drinks turned into more drinks, then burgers and a stagger through the city trying to find somewhere with aircon. I am coming to the conclusion the British lost the war of independence after one too many New York summers.

Bored beyond belief

Bonus points if you can guess what film the picture comes from.

Today was a challenge. M went off to work as normal and I mooched around online, spotting stories and fighting the urge to write a news list. Barring public holidays and one day off I’ve followed the same routine all year – wake up, log on, scan emails, get out of bed and make the tea. After a scan of the headlines the first news list gets noted. Then I'd either crack on from home or download enough information to write something on the BART trip to the office.

By 10:30am I was quite frankly bored, and actually got as far as writing an email to N offering to do a blog piece if he was short-handed. I stopped short of sending it thank goodness, but it was a close run thing.

In the end I scrubbed the floor for two hours. It needed it and the whole house could do with a clean if truth be told. I’ve still ended the day with aching fingers, but knees and back too :)

Dumb idea no.2,216

Some things don’t change - the morning after a leaving day still comes with a hangover.

In a fit of optimism I’d signed up as lesson coordinator for Saturday sailing lessons at the club. This means getting down there at 9:15am and I woke with a thick head, threw on some clothes and pedaled down at a speed only made possible by the fact that no-one else was foolish enough to be awake and on the road.

A few students were waiting, looking impossibly chipper, and we got the boats in the water and sent the first set out. In the meantime I guzzled water, showed people around and helped with docking and unloading. It’s a stressful morning, with a lot of fun thrown in. One senior skipper showed up and gave live capsize practice from the dock for about ten students while they waited, and I sneaked in a lesson at the end of the session.

There’s always a surfeit of students at first. All the skippers are volunteers and it takes a lot to get out of bed at an ungodly hour and teach for free. We got enough to get things moving and then more showed up and the day finished with no-one having missed a lesson – just the way we like it. I even felt human enough to partake of the end of lesson BBQ.

Last day

A very weird day today, my last at my current employers. As is traditional on Fridays we did a Top 10, although for dating reasons it’s going to be published at the end of the month.

I don’t leave jobs often, and the last day is always awkward. Actually, my last couple have been very drunken affairs with very little work done, but as I’m the boss over here I have to set an example. Plus Friday is the busiest day of the week – those Top 10 lists don’t write themselves.

The Top 10s started as a bit of fun nearly three years ago, and were inspired by a night at the pub and bad film scripting. We were looking for some non-news content to write and had been discussing ideas. We decamped to a pub to discuss things further and left the matter unresolved, although my colleague did mention that a Top 10 could be fun.

That night I got home to find the house empty of both housemates and food, so ordered in a Hunan beef delivery and settled down to see what was on the TV. Very little as it turned out – it’s remarkable how anyone can produce 300 channels of unrelenting garbage. It’s not just a US thing, digital TV has bought the same delights to British shores.

There’s a fundamental limit to the amount of good programs out there in my opinion. There are only a few Dennis Potters in the world and much of the content of channels is either repeats or really duff stuff. But remote controls are built for this, and you can cycle easily through channels until you find something bearable.

That night it was Jurassic Park, which I caught half way through. It’s scary to think that at the time Jurassic Park was 16 years old. I went to see that on a date when it first came out and if I’d have got lucky (unlikely considering my choice of romantic film) and been careless the offspring could vote by now. Such glimpses of other lives are depressingly common these days.

As I munched through hot beef and rice the film got to my favourite line, the infamous UNIX quote. Synapses fired and the concept of a Top 10 worst technology snafus in film came to mind. The next day we did the first of what became a Friday ritual, and possibly the most popular stories on the site. They’ve grown from about 1,500 words to over 6,000 on occasion, and our arguments have drawn attention during the traditional pre-list meeting at Morty’s.

Now it’s over. M’s gone clubbing and I’m left with a bottle of good wine, Justin Currie playing in the background and an editing task to get done. It’s a bit different from this stage of the night at my last leaving do – back then I was staggering around Soho with a whiskey in hand, trying desperately not to make a final fling at a colleague. I suspect tonight is an improvement.