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Published: January 18th 2008
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Very nice... how much?
This suit is black pause NOT Jagshemash!!!
Greetings from the land of the free, home of the brave, blah blah blah. Yes, I'm still alive and kicking. Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Well, we can't say "
Christmas" anymore cos it's not politically correct... whatever.
I think it's been over a year since I've updated you on my adventures. Or should I say misadventures? To be honest, I didn't really do much in 2007.
After getting my ass out of Toronto in February (thank God - I was constantly worried my roommate might violate me while I was asleep), I set about getting my visa to work in the states. A few phone interviews and I score a job as a project manager for Siemens. That's SIEMENS, not...... anyway. Before starting work, I went back to Vancouver to pick up my work visa and catch up with a few mates.
So here I am in Chicago, Illinois living with my bro and his family. Rik's been here for about 7 years now and he's a full on yank, pronouncing his R's and shit... friggin' traitor! haha. Chicago is in the "mid-west" as they say but if you look at a map of the states, Chicago
Nuts!
Are my balls showing again? is more to the mid-east. Then again, these are the same people who think Asia is a country.
Okay, I've probably offended too many people already.
But it ain't too bad here. Chicago is very flat and it gets very windy at times, hence the nickname "the Windy City". It's mid winter now and the temperatures get well below zero. Lucky I get to work from home a lot. Scraping ice off the windscreen every morning ain't my idea of fun. In fact, it's actually snowing right now. So no wonder the Chicagoans love their summers cos winter sucks.
Summer last year was great. The weather is like Sydney - hot and humid. Checked out a few festivals around the city, including the Blues Festival. Went to the beach in Indiana (a neighbouring state) which was really Lake Michigan. The only waves came from the occasional boat going past.
Gav, my old boss, was in town in May and caught up at a White Sox game, my first baseball game. It ain't no cricket... when I try to explain cricket to the locals, they cannot fathom watching a game for nine hours, five days straight. And how
Numero Uno
So good and so cheap after a night on the piss. many arguments have I had over American football vs. rugby? They don't like it when you call their gridiron players "pussies".
Went to a Mixed Martial Arts event... very brutal. It's amazing how loud the noise a shinbone makes when it connects with someone's head. Had to go to Indiana for that cos it's illegal in Illinois.
Also watched my first hockey game, Vancouver Canucks vs. Chicago Blackhawks, in December. Canucks won of course. That night ended with me in handcuffs and taken to the cop shop... another first! No, I was busted for prostitution like you all might think. I won't get into details but let's just say the world
isn't our toilet!
Work has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Within 3 months of starting, I was demoted to another team. I've never been demoted before... you should try it one day. Long story short, there was a comedy of errors with a bunch of people screwing up and the customer said "let's blame that aussie bloke" so I basically took it up the bum for everyone else. But I've since bounced back like a champ and back to my original role. But I'm not
overly confident in management's effort in backing up their staff.
I don't know how much longer I can take this. These people work way too longer hours and they hardly have any pub lunches. What's the go with that? I have edumacated them on POETS days but that is slow to get off the ground.
I've had a few business trips to Seattle on the west coast, home of Starbucks. That place reminded me of Vancouver. Rain and lots of it. But very beautiful nonetheless. And in case you're wondering, I did get plenty of sleep in Seattle. Also been down south to Ohio. Close to hicksville but not quite.
Last week I had my first real holiday. I took a week off and flew west to South Lake Tahoe on the California/Nevada boarder for a bit of fun in the snow. I stayed at hotel/casino so that is always bad news. The day before I arrived it had dumped 5 feet so the first few days were brilliant with fresh powder and lots of tree skiing. I skied Heavenly Valley and Kirkwood - there were actually 6 mountains to choose from in total within a 1.5 hour bus
Chicago
These waterways run throughout the city ride from my hotel.
I nearly ruined it all on the first day of skiing... I was flying down a groomed run when I decide to go off this small jump. Turns out the snow on the other side was about thigh-deep of powder. If you can picture it, the tip of my right ski digs in, I face-plant, the right ski snaps off my boot and the tail end spears me in the back of the head. Real hard. Lucky for me there's not much up there to damage but lying there face down in the snow, I wished I hadn't have left my helmet in Sydney.
I guess you had to be there.
Other than that, there was no other dramas. The lift lines were non-existent during the week. On the second last day, it had rained the previous night so the runs were very icy. Reminded me a lot like back home at Thredbo and Perisher.
That was my first US mountain I've skied and I'm quite impressed but it had nothing over Japan in my opinion.
So what's the plan for 2008? Quite a bit actually...
I'm going back to Ohio next week for training.
Gav's gonna visit in March and we're planning on meeting up in Vegas for a few days of grog, gambling and golf. Then there's a week in Mexico in June/July for my sis-in-law's birthday. Did someone say "all inclusive"? I think my liver just shrieked. I also wanna do a Contiki tour around Europe in Aug/Sept.
And now my friend in Vancouver called me up the other day saying she's getting married to a Cuban dude in Oct/Nov. Wedding in Cuba... nice, I like.
So I have a bit of saving to do. No more wasting money on bail.
Anyway, hope you've enjoyed the read. There won't be another update till the next holiday.
Hope everyone's doing good wherever you are in the world. Have a great 2008!
Cheers.
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Lorna
non-member comment
Jealous!
OMG You have an awesome lifestyle - holidays galore. Good for you Vito. Wish you all the best and looking forward to your next adventure. PS Where did you plant your money tree? Mine seems to be dying - not enough light? water?