A new life; same as the old life?

Thanks to aviewoncities for this picture. This post is like one of those friends flashback episodes they use when they have an idea drought. I have linked some of the older posts should people be interested in reading or re-reading them. There is some new stuff too tho. It is exactly a year ago today since I came to the US. I set out at the time with my then girlfriend Lorraine, to whom, regular readers and friends, will know I was recently married . We have lived in three different apartments in that time, and, in fact, are considering moving again next month, to a much more community oriented place, with a high street and local shops/restaurants, on one of the main train lines into the city for evenings and weekends. Not that the train line has stopped us as such, as we have, again as regular readers know, spent considerable time in the city at various events, showing friends around etc, but this will just make it that much easier, and we wouldn't have to drive 45 minutes to t...

Pardon the title, but I spent most of this week down south in Nashville, Tennessee, at a conference. They had a woman that came on stage on the first two mornings, and woke us all up with a Hooowwwdeeeee. The Helpdesk Institute is one of the biggest organisations supporting IT Service & Support Professionals. There were some fabulous speakers, and of course some not so good, covering topics from the value of global support and improving customer service to motivational speakers. I have to say though that Nashville didn't strike a cord with me. Previous conferences have been in Vegas and Orlando, with the conference centres being right in the thick of the action. In Nashville, the conference centre is a long way from town, and a long way from pretty much anything else, so it felt a little isolated. Everything was a drive away, so I am not sure I really took in as much of the locale as I could/should have. On the plus side, I guess it meant I took in more of the conference topics...

They do say that the Celts know best how to celebrate, and sure enough, displaced Irish here in the Chicagoland area and pretty much anyone who wants to join in the fun seem to make St Patrick's Day one of the biggest parties of the year, with a parade . Apparently we also have a peculiar tradition (50 years) of dyeing the Chicago River green , which last year was be done by Charter One Bank, having won the right on an Ebay auction . We are heading out tonight with friends to a couple of Irish pubs in Libertyville, and Lorraine and I are thinking we will try to get down to the city tomorrow (second time this year already and it's not even summer yet), to see what all the fuss is about. I will have a lot of stuff to tell if we do; so for now, I will simply say, happy St Patrick's Day! Update - It seems in all my plans, I forgot to check the date of the parade, which for some bizarre reason was actually last weekend, 6 days before the actual day, instead of today, one day af...

In the last chapter of story, I was returning from South Africa and starting to settle back into the UK. If you missed "Return From The Wilderness", you can see it here , other parts of the tale are " The Early Years " and " The South Africa Years ". We moved to New Farm Loch, coincidentally, about 3 streets away from the very first house I can remember in Brodie Place before we went to South Africa. That was when life really started to get interesting. I was still hanging out with Billy and Craig mostly, although Dave was still in the picture too. Every week, at least twice or 3 times we would go skating to the ice disco, down at the Magnum ice rink. Craig initially and Billy later were driving at this point, I was another year or so behind them. There are all sorts of stories I could tell you from this time, but they are better left unsaid. We got into CB radios too, Craig and Billy were the Roadrunner and Gearslammer, I don't remember which way roun...

Mike Vega, a very good friend of ours, put together a compilation of some of the pictures he and his wife took at the wedding. He also, very cleverly, added some of the music that we put on our CD favor to it. We are still awaiting the official pictures, but this is well worth a look. I think he did a fantastic job putting it together. Check it out here . It's the one at the bottom of the list. Thanks Mike!

Right, I'm off. We will be in Florida this week for the honeymoon. We got a great deal last year at the Taste Of Lincolnshire, a local food festival, when Marriott were trying to push their timeshares. All we have to do is go and listen for 45 minutes to their spiel. As payment, we get four nights in their new 4 star hotel for the sweet price of $150. Add flights for $200 a piece and we get a week in Florida for the low low price of $550 We will undoubtedly spend some time in the parks, Disney, Epcot, or Universal, but we want to make sure we see some other stuff too. A full report will be forthcoming on our return.

Lorraine & I played golf for the first time this year. I can't say season, because officially the season isn't even open yet; in this area the official opening date is 30th March. I was also going to call it Millionaire's Golf (a friend of mine coined this term), because we had the course all to ourselves. However I guess if I was a millionaire then I wouldn't be playing in 30 degrees in March in Chicagoland! It was a beautiful day though, whatever the temperature. The sun shone all day, and it was quite warm without the breeze. Quite a contrast to Sunday when had 2-3 inches of snow. Having said all that, I was very pleased with myself. I was not playing my best by any stretch, but I still managed to come away with a 96, including a couple of 7s and 8s. My handicap from last year is 26, and I am hoping to get that down below 20 this year. Wish me luck!

We last left our hero returning from the wilds of South Africa, hence "Return From The Wilderness". If you missed the earlier parts of the tale, check out " The Early Years " and " The South Africa Years ". I was 10 when we returned to the UK, and went into what we called "primary 6" at Kirkstyle Primary school. My maternal grandparents had a small three bedroom house, that we moved into with them. I cannot recall the exact sleeping arrangements, but I know they were tight with 3 kids and four adults in three rooms. I think I recall having my own room, I guess because I was the oldest, my sisters being 8 and 2 years old that time. I cannot remember how long we were there either, but I don't think it can have been very long, because I remember having to walk from our new house, in Cuillin Place to the old school, approx 1.5 miles each way every day. I quite enjoyed that school, and actually am still friends with one guy, David, I met there, al...

I am beginning to think my truck might be made from the same material as a stealth bomber. To the naked eye, it is clearly bright red, about 15ft long, over 6ft high and about 6ft wide. However to the residents of my apartment complex, I think it might as well be invisible. The picture on the right is the front bumper, after someone tried to reverse out of a parking bay this morning as I was driving along. It would have been a lot worse, had I not braked and swerved. The red plastic, that you can see better if you click on the picture, is part of his light cluster, not damage to my truck. At this point he is trying to figure out a way to blame me for the accident. The impact was about 50 yards, if that, from my parking spot, but he had the cheek to ask me why I was driving "so fast" or why I didn't try to brake. I offered to get the police, if he was unhappy, but surprisingly, he decided it wouldn't be necessary. No damage again, I love my truck! Now if only I can get...