Saturday 15th November to Thursday 20th November, 2008 If Peter, my first Stateside visitor of six weeks earlier had warranted renaming The Rain Man, his visit heralding the first precipitation in over four months since my arrival then big brother Jerry had to be the God of Fire. Jerry was due a tea time landing at LAX and so on a freakishly warm and clear skied November Saturday afternoon with temperatures touching the late eighties and in an attempt to provide a welcoming fridge full of cheese and Stella Artois I nipped to the local Ralph’s for a grocery stock up [View Full Entry]

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Well - we made it! The trip was long and exhausting (especially for those who had to wear compression pants and walk around all nite) - but worth it! We had very little trouble getting into LA, although the "Homeland Security" woman wanted to know our whole life story. We got off the plane, cleared immigration and got our luggage all within 45min. Probably better than Australia! The weather is great - warm and sunny. It reminds me of Surfers Paradise - although prob not as busy. I have also worked out why America has an obesity problem. I wanted a [View Full Entry]

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I'm back! I spent the weekend in Long Beach running about for my cousin Leana's wedding. I did get a chance to check out the Aquarium of the Pacific. Tons of colorful, fun stuff to see. Plus they had tanks full of aquatic animals you could touch. Who knew I'd ever be able to touch Manta Rays and sharks. Very cool. Here's a few pics to tide you over until I add the rest. So many beautiful creatures! [View Full Entry]

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On board the Queen Mary drinking Champagne........nice. [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone, the Queen Mary was excellent. After a reasonably short flight (5 hours) we arrived at LAX, flight was ok except for the ignorant oriental types sitting in front of us who put there seats right back and kept blocking our view of the movie. The onboard food was good though, being a domestic flight we had to pay for our beverages though. Our room was ready on arrival, so dumped our bags and proceeded to wander around the ship then straight to the bar for drinks. Room service that night which was good, then off to bed......been a long [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday 10th September to Friday 12th September, 2008 Let’s get Ready to Rummmmbbbbbllle ! Ladies and gentlemen, the final bout of the evening. In the red corner, hailing out of Chicago, Illinois and weighing in at 190lbs with a record of one bout, one stoppage (albeit against a member of the fairer sex) and no knockouts, we have the challenger, the Dark Destroyer, Barack OOOooobbbaaaammmmaaaa (pause for cheers and applause interspersed with the occasional boo and hiss) and in the blue corner, aide to the reigning champion of the world, two bouts, one win by knockout, one [View Full Entry]

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Friday 5th September to Tuesday 9th September, 2009 I'm waiting in my cold cell As the bell begins to chime Reflecting on my past life 'Cos it doesn't have much time (Iron Maiden - Hallowed Be Thy Name)....... Oops sorry, getting a bit carried away there. No I'm not, I'm not waiting in my cold cell at all. It's 12:30pm Tuesday lunchtime and I'm sitting alone in my characterless air conditioned office waiting for Angus McGill to arrive at 4pm for a preliminary briefing to discuss my imminent transfer to the offices of Fresh and Easy. Tommorow at nine I meet [View Full Entry]

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Friday 29th August to Thursday 4th September, 2008 *NB* Do not be alarmed at some of the images on show (other than the Motor'eadbanger which is for real). The website currently has a temporary glitch which is showing portrait shots in odd sizes. And if you aren't already aware, as Peter wasn't last week there's more than one page of photos. Just recently, more or less ever since the soccer scrimmage of a week and a half ago my knee has been giving me discomfort to the point where it has been beginning to get me down. As you know keeping [View Full Entry]

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Thursday 14th August to Wednesday 20th August, 2008 The final week of my first three months in America began on the morning of Thursday 14th August and for the next few days allowed me hardly a second to sit down and relax such was the hectic yet event packed liesure schedule I’d afforded myself. It all started as I was returning to the office following my daily ten minute mid morning Beijing Olympic catch up session courtesy of the LA Times in the boys room when Megan attracted my attention. “Matt, Jimmy Chevez has been in, lunch is on for 12:30”. [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 2nd August to Wednesday 13th August, 2008 It appears that meeting a partner, life, sex or otherwise on the internet Stateside is as frequent a practice for many people as is a trip to the supermarket or to collect their mail and in the relatively short time I’ve been over here I’ve already met and heard of several examples of relationships formed within the unbounded realms of cyberspace. Whilst at this stage of my life I have no desire whatsoever to find a ‘soul mate’, most certainly not to the extent of asking a machine for assistance to do so [View Full Entry]

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