...YMCA! Oh yes. Live and kicking, The Village People just had to be seen to be believed at a recent night out at Mohegan Sun! Just for the fun, and the cheese factor! And there they were, in full fancy dress, with a huge crowd to confirm their status as Kings of Cheese! Even a World's Strongest Man contender was in the audience! We're not sure if that was significant.
Anyway, watching the audience was about as much fun as watching the band! There was some choice dancing going on, and mainly from the men! A particular favourite appeared to be "Macho Man" - we think there was a reason for that! They showed their age when they talked about a song being released in 1972, even before either of us were born! But the old faves were present, with "In the Navy" and "YMCA" getting the crowd going.
It provided a welcome relief from the tables for Ian. He wasn't doing particularly well that evening, so it was a good excuse for a break and the chance to get some food. Annalie broke even ultimately, but Ian didn't fare as well.
Being a long weekend for the 4th July, we took the opportunity to go out for the day with a ride out to Newport. Annalie had been with her parents last year, but Ian had never made it across the bridge as he was diving in Jamestown. We walked a little way around Fort Adams - one of the largest forts in America - taking in the view of Newport from the peninsula, and also getting an eyeful of some of the rather impressive houses that are perched on the waterfront.
We then took a drive around Ocean Drive, making the most of the sea air, tinged with seaweed! Then it was on to Bellevue Avenue to take a look at some of the famed mansions from the cliff walk. It was a beautiful day, although the sea breeze took the edge off the hot sun. This turned out to be a problem later on though, as Annalie had forgotten to put the sun cream on and ended up with some slightly burnt shoulders, and a strap mark where her bag strap had rested across her chest! Nice!
When we headed back into the town for a wander around there, Ian was determined that he wasn't going to be fleeced by the many (expensive) parking options. So we headed for the fire department and he turned on the charm to a local "brother". The result was a free afternoon's parking near the town centre! Result!
After a late afternoon stroll and a nice lunch on the waterfront, we had to decide whether to wait around a couple of hours until the fireworks, or whether to start heading back towards home and pick up a closer display. We opted for the latter, thinking that we wouldn't have as long a drive to get home, and after a day in the hot sun, we were both feeling tired. So we headed to Norwich to see what they had to offer. We got there in plenty of time, grabbed a slice of pizza and waited on the bridge for the pyrotechnics to start. They weren't disappointing, but then, if there's one thing that Americans know what to do, it's how to put on a fireworks display! Especially on Independence Day!
This week has been a bit of a whirlwind that has meant that we haven't seen much of each other. On Monday, Annalie had a team night out as a Paris thank you, a celebration of Carla's work anniversary, and as a team farewell to David, who retires in a couple of weeks. So we headed down to the coast to Old Saybrook for a seafood dinner and some mini golf. Oh, and some home-made ice cream . On Tuesday Ian had a fire department training session and Annalie had Happy Hour drinks and snacks for someone's leaving do. Wednesday saw a late night at the office for Annalie, but Ian had already headed out with his Fire Academy mates, and Thursday was the monthly Rolls-Royce "Girls' Night Out" at Trumbull Kitchen. On Friday night one of the guys from IAE was playing in a band at Gilo's, a bar in East Hartford, so many of us turned up to support him.
This weekend we took another day out to the coast. The weather has been pretty rubbish, or at best unpredictable, so we decided to make the most of the sun! Annalie took Ian down to Old Saybrook, where she'd been on Monday, only to find out he'd been to the high street with his own parents last year. However, he'd not made it to the seafront, so we stood and watched some of the boats coming and going.
We then decided to have a go at the mini golf that Annalie had tried on Monday. Despite a bad start, Annalie sneaked past Ian and going into the last two holes was in the lead. The pressure took its toll though and Ian scraped through to win by one shot.
Almost as soon as we began the oceanfront drive we were about to take, we spotted a little eatery on the harbour that offered "lobster dogs". Intrigued by the thought of a hot dog made from lobster, we went to investigate. Thankfully for Ian, they didn't just serve the seafood variety, so lunch was had here, watching the (rather nice) boats bobbing in the marina.
While we were out and about in Saybrook, Ian started getting messages from his Fire Academy pals who had received the results from their exam. Most had passed but one had failed, so Ian started getting anxious to get home and find out if his results had arrived. When we eventually got home, we found that the postman hadn't brought the paperwork so he still doesn't know if he's passed or failed. The agony goes on a little longer!
Saturday night was Mhairi and Steve's wedding party, following their return from their Scottish wedding and Rio honeymoon. We were very disappointed to arrive and see Mhairi in a party dress rather than the wedding dress, but she did go and put it on for a short time to let us all to see. And she looked stunning.
Earlier in the year, Annalie lost about 10lbs with diet and exercise, but put it all back on when she went travelling for 2 weeks. So she's managing to get back into her gym routine but decided to spice things up a bit by joining a small group personal training bootcamp. So twice a week, for the next 6 weeks, she's going to be put through hell for an hour in an attempt to try and improve her fitness and lose the weight again. But she's got to combine that with eating right (again!), or else it will never happen. Give her some motivation!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
A tale of too many cities
The last couple of weeks we've been fairly quiet while Annalie completed a mammoth business trip, with some personal time included.
First off she headed oop north in the UK to enable her to physically hand in the hard copy of her Masters dissertation at Leeds Metropolitan University. All 19,000 words and 120 pages! She picked up her copies from the binders which was a couple of miles from campus and then drove to Headingley to make her final milestone. As the uni pushed back the deadline until September, the exam board is not going to meet until then, so her official result won't be available until October time. But she's hoping that she'll be able to get an "unofficial" result before then, just to put her mind at ease.
After a couple of days relaxing at home with the family, she headed off to Paris to run IAE's main Air Show operation. It's the biggest Show of the year and probably the biggest of all, so a lot of importance is placed on the event going smoothly. As Annalie effectively "owns" the whole thing, she was keen to oversee an effective show. As it happened, she needn't have worried. Her Air Show manager had, as ever, done a great job, but she had to manage a few last-minute schedule changes from customers.
Despite originally thinking it was going to be a quiet show, it turned out to be one of the busiest in recent years in terms of customer meetings, so everyone left happy.
So after a hectic week, typically featuring no more than 5 hours sleep a night, Annalie headed back to the UK to go out for TC's first hen night. She was actually stunned by BA's performance though as she landed at Heathrow about 20 minutes early, cleared immigration relatively quickly, found her bag came out fast and was on the bus on the way to Reading within 30 minutes of landing! All of this from Terminal 5. Not what you come to expect considering all of the horror stories that have gone before. Still. Annalie will not complain. It meant that she and TC could be in the pub by 2.30
A first night out in Wokingham saw a reunion including Zoe and Somerset and Annalie getting a longed-for Pizza Express If TC hadn't insisted on watching Flight of the Concords when we got home, we might have had a reasonable night's sleep!
Then it was off to Bath for a nice afternoon of shopping before a fabulous Michelin starred meal at The Priory. Most brides-to-be opt for something less sedate, but this is TC we're talking about, maybe she's saving the best for last? It was a delicious meal, but us four girls definitely lowered the usual tone of the restaurant!
We then headed back into Bath to get changed for a bit of clubbing in the Blue Rooms, which was luckily (or was it well-planned by Elly?) located below our hotel! The club was as cheesey as the best of them, just how we like them. We ended up spending most of our time in the so-called "exclusive" bar where Zoe and Elly managed to wangle many a free drink from the young and not-so-impressionable barman!
After another night of far-too-little sleep, it was back on the train to Reading, where the girls bade farewell to each other as Annalie headed off to catch the bus to Heathrow while the others boarded a train to the 'ham. As she was walking out of the station, Annalie's nose was drawn towards the familiar smell of a pasty. Knowing how it would be something that Ian was missing, and because she also knew it would help the hangover , she purchased one to consume while waiting for the bus!
An uneventful journey to China followed, arriving in Beijing on the Monday morning to join up with the Airbus media team to take some journalists to the delivery of the first Airbus A320 built in China. So a two-hour bus trip later and the group arrives in the port city of Tianjin where the ceremony will take place the following day. After the ceremony, and a tour of the assembly line, it's back on the bus to head back to Beijing.
That night, after an IAE-sponsored dinner at a famous duck restaurant, Annalie managed to stay up until gone 1am trying to watch Andy Murray at Wimbledon. She managed to see through to the end of the second set and could last no longer.
A spare day in the city saw Annalie visit the IAE office - the company's only regional sales office outside of the US, and having lunch with the Rolls-Royce Communications person.
The Thursday turned into probably the longest day that Annalie has ever encountered as she flew back to the US via London. To try and get the body clock back onto Eastern Standard Time, she stayed up until gone 3am and set a wake-up call for 6am. She forced herself up, went to the gym, packed - which was a challenge considering two weeks on the road, various different clothing requirements and the UK shopping list . She decided to wear her heaviest clothing to lighten her case!
With a departure at 11.25, that was night time in the US so she was hoping her sleep deprivation strategy would pay off. After a spot of lunch, a film and a "sleep aid" tablet she embarked on her attempt to find out. And judging by the fact that she woke up about two hours before landing, it appeared to have been a success.
Her bags were through-checked all the way to Boston, so she had nothing to worry about at Heathrow. She thought she might attempt to be cheeky by going through to the Arrivals Lounge to get an extra free massage, only to find it shut two hours before she landed So she went back to the Departure Lounge to get a genuine free massage there!
But before doing so, she headed to WH Smith to arm herself with a mountain of Twirls, and a couple of Toblerones for good measure! The cashier did look a little bit stunned, but Annalie's explanation of "This is what happens when you move to the States" appeared to make complete sense to him! He even offered her some more Dairy Milk bars that were half price, but Annalie thought she'd bought enough already!
In the First Class lounge (courtesy of the BA Gold Card ) she managed to catch the first two sets of Andy Murray's game before boarding. As she was checked in for the flight in Beijing she already had her boarding card, but it was rejected by the gate. A quick check and another boarding card was printed out, seat 1K - First Class! The first upgrade of this nature Annalie has received. She's not sure if it was because of the Gold Card, the fact that she'd already travelled from Beijing that day, or a combination of both. But who cares?!
Upon arrival in Boston, she knew that Ian would be waiting for her as her "chauffeur" - in an official work capacity as well, so earning money while getting to see Annalie a couple of hours early
And so endeth Annalie's mammoth trip.
Coinciding with Annalie's departure from Boston more than two weeks ago, Ian and Paul ("tick Paddy") got tickets to see the New York Yankees playing at the Boston Red Sox. It's the baseball equivalent of Man Utd vs Liverpool. So they dropped Annalie off at the airport before heading off to the game. As part of their night out, they decided to go to a nearby bar called McGreevey's where we'd seen them launch a 1.9lb burger that people are challenged to eat , in return for $30. Although a free t-shirt is thrown in for good measure
Funnily enough, Ian managed to finish his, but Paul failed in his mission. So Ian can proudly wear the t-shirt that shouts that he beat the burger! After all that, the Yankees lost 5-6, but it was a good game anyway.
Ian didn't need to eat for several days after as his body still attempted to digest the vast amount of protein he consumed! To keep his mind of it, he had a couple of extra driving jobs with Premier to help bump up his flying fund. At the moment his attempts to get his pilot's licence are still on hold pending his "alien" application to the security administration in the US. Following 9/11, the authorities in the US have clamped down on foreigners learning to fly in the country so you have to basically be approved before you can take to the skies.
So Ian kept himself busy with jumping through the various hoops required to get the nod. This included having an FAA (airworthiness authority) medical and setting up an appointment to get his fingerprints taken (again!).
He has also been prepping himself for his bus test as Premier have asked him to get this additional licence qualification. After many attempts to find an open test slot, he's finally got one in early July. Not that the test really does much - it's just a case of drive around the block and back to the test centre! Still, Ian has been conscientious and trying to fit in some "training" although he's not been behind the wheel of a bus much. Still, having driven buses for so long in the UK, he's pretty confident that the test should go fine.
When Annalie returned to the US, she was expecting to be met by similar weather to that she'd experienced in both the UK and China - warm, humid under blue skies. But that image was shattered pretty early on. The day after she got back, a tornado hit the neighbouring town of Wethersfield! It was an amazing storm where the thunder could be felt shaking the house. Another violent storm whipped through on Saturday afternoon, threatening the Glastonbury "Strawberry Moon" festival. It dried up and the event managed to go on, with thunder and lightening skirting the town.
We headed down there as we did last year to check out the food options and meet friends. Although there wasn't a vast choice, we still managed to find something to whet the appetite - $2 mini burgers went down well! And washed down with a few beers with our friend Danny.
Now that we've caught you up on the last few weeks' events, we're thinking things will be a little quieter, for a couple of weeks at least ;)
First off she headed oop north in the UK to enable her to physically hand in the hard copy of her Masters dissertation at Leeds Metropolitan University. All 19,000 words and 120 pages! She picked up her copies from the binders which was a couple of miles from campus and then drove to Headingley to make her final milestone. As the uni pushed back the deadline until September, the exam board is not going to meet until then, so her official result won't be available until October time. But she's hoping that she'll be able to get an "unofficial" result before then, just to put her mind at ease.
After a couple of days relaxing at home with the family, she headed off to Paris to run IAE's main Air Show operation. It's the biggest Show of the year and probably the biggest of all, so a lot of importance is placed on the event going smoothly. As Annalie effectively "owns" the whole thing, she was keen to oversee an effective show. As it happened, she needn't have worried. Her Air Show manager had, as ever, done a great job, but she had to manage a few last-minute schedule changes from customers.
Despite originally thinking it was going to be a quiet show, it turned out to be one of the busiest in recent years in terms of customer meetings, so everyone left happy.
So after a hectic week, typically featuring no more than 5 hours sleep a night, Annalie headed back to the UK to go out for TC's first hen night. She was actually stunned by BA's performance though as she landed at Heathrow about 20 minutes early, cleared immigration relatively quickly, found her bag came out fast and was on the bus on the way to Reading within 30 minutes of landing! All of this from Terminal 5. Not what you come to expect considering all of the horror stories that have gone before. Still. Annalie will not complain. It meant that she and TC could be in the pub by 2.30
A first night out in Wokingham saw a reunion including Zoe and Somerset and Annalie getting a longed-for Pizza Express If TC hadn't insisted on watching Flight of the Concords when we got home, we might have had a reasonable night's sleep!
Then it was off to Bath for a nice afternoon of shopping before a fabulous Michelin starred meal at The Priory. Most brides-to-be opt for something less sedate, but this is TC we're talking about, maybe she's saving the best for last? It was a delicious meal, but us four girls definitely lowered the usual tone of the restaurant!
We then headed back into Bath to get changed for a bit of clubbing in the Blue Rooms, which was luckily (or was it well-planned by Elly?) located below our hotel! The club was as cheesey as the best of them, just how we like them. We ended up spending most of our time in the so-called "exclusive" bar where Zoe and Elly managed to wangle many a free drink from the young and not-so-impressionable barman!
After another night of far-too-little sleep, it was back on the train to Reading, where the girls bade farewell to each other as Annalie headed off to catch the bus to Heathrow while the others boarded a train to the 'ham. As she was walking out of the station, Annalie's nose was drawn towards the familiar smell of a pasty. Knowing how it would be something that Ian was missing, and because she also knew it would help the hangover , she purchased one to consume while waiting for the bus!
An uneventful journey to China followed, arriving in Beijing on the Monday morning to join up with the Airbus media team to take some journalists to the delivery of the first Airbus A320 built in China. So a two-hour bus trip later and the group arrives in the port city of Tianjin where the ceremony will take place the following day. After the ceremony, and a tour of the assembly line, it's back on the bus to head back to Beijing.
That night, after an IAE-sponsored dinner at a famous duck restaurant, Annalie managed to stay up until gone 1am trying to watch Andy Murray at Wimbledon. She managed to see through to the end of the second set and could last no longer.
A spare day in the city saw Annalie visit the IAE office - the company's only regional sales office outside of the US, and having lunch with the Rolls-Royce Communications person.
The Thursday turned into probably the longest day that Annalie has ever encountered as she flew back to the US via London. To try and get the body clock back onto Eastern Standard Time, she stayed up until gone 3am and set a wake-up call for 6am. She forced herself up, went to the gym, packed - which was a challenge considering two weeks on the road, various different clothing requirements and the UK shopping list . She decided to wear her heaviest clothing to lighten her case!
With a departure at 11.25, that was night time in the US so she was hoping her sleep deprivation strategy would pay off. After a spot of lunch, a film and a "sleep aid" tablet she embarked on her attempt to find out. And judging by the fact that she woke up about two hours before landing, it appeared to have been a success.
Her bags were through-checked all the way to Boston, so she had nothing to worry about at Heathrow. She thought she might attempt to be cheeky by going through to the Arrivals Lounge to get an extra free massage, only to find it shut two hours before she landed So she went back to the Departure Lounge to get a genuine free massage there!
But before doing so, she headed to WH Smith to arm herself with a mountain of Twirls, and a couple of Toblerones for good measure! The cashier did look a little bit stunned, but Annalie's explanation of "This is what happens when you move to the States" appeared to make complete sense to him! He even offered her some more Dairy Milk bars that were half price, but Annalie thought she'd bought enough already!
In the First Class lounge (courtesy of the BA Gold Card ) she managed to catch the first two sets of Andy Murray's game before boarding. As she was checked in for the flight in Beijing she already had her boarding card, but it was rejected by the gate. A quick check and another boarding card was printed out, seat 1K - First Class! The first upgrade of this nature Annalie has received. She's not sure if it was because of the Gold Card, the fact that she'd already travelled from Beijing that day, or a combination of both. But who cares?!
Upon arrival in Boston, she knew that Ian would be waiting for her as her "chauffeur" - in an official work capacity as well, so earning money while getting to see Annalie a couple of hours early
And so endeth Annalie's mammoth trip.
Coinciding with Annalie's departure from Boston more than two weeks ago, Ian and Paul ("tick Paddy") got tickets to see the New York Yankees playing at the Boston Red Sox. It's the baseball equivalent of Man Utd vs Liverpool. So they dropped Annalie off at the airport before heading off to the game. As part of their night out, they decided to go to a nearby bar called McGreevey's where we'd seen them launch a 1.9lb burger that people are challenged to eat , in return for $30. Although a free t-shirt is thrown in for good measure
Funnily enough, Ian managed to finish his, but Paul failed in his mission. So Ian can proudly wear the t-shirt that shouts that he beat the burger! After all that, the Yankees lost 5-6, but it was a good game anyway.
Ian didn't need to eat for several days after as his body still attempted to digest the vast amount of protein he consumed! To keep his mind of it, he had a couple of extra driving jobs with Premier to help bump up his flying fund. At the moment his attempts to get his pilot's licence are still on hold pending his "alien" application to the security administration in the US. Following 9/11, the authorities in the US have clamped down on foreigners learning to fly in the country so you have to basically be approved before you can take to the skies.
So Ian kept himself busy with jumping through the various hoops required to get the nod. This included having an FAA (airworthiness authority) medical and setting up an appointment to get his fingerprints taken (again!).
He has also been prepping himself for his bus test as Premier have asked him to get this additional licence qualification. After many attempts to find an open test slot, he's finally got one in early July. Not that the test really does much - it's just a case of drive around the block and back to the test centre! Still, Ian has been conscientious and trying to fit in some "training" although he's not been behind the wheel of a bus much. Still, having driven buses for so long in the UK, he's pretty confident that the test should go fine.
When Annalie returned to the US, she was expecting to be met by similar weather to that she'd experienced in both the UK and China - warm, humid under blue skies. But that image was shattered pretty early on. The day after she got back, a tornado hit the neighbouring town of Wethersfield! It was an amazing storm where the thunder could be felt shaking the house. Another violent storm whipped through on Saturday afternoon, threatening the Glastonbury "Strawberry Moon" festival. It dried up and the event managed to go on, with thunder and lightening skirting the town.
We headed down there as we did last year to check out the food options and meet friends. Although there wasn't a vast choice, we still managed to find something to whet the appetite - $2 mini burgers went down well! And washed down with a few beers with our friend Danny.
Now that we've caught you up on the last few weeks' events, we're thinking things will be a little quieter, for a couple of weeks at least ;)
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Done and Dusted!
Yep, that's right, we're both done. Finished. Have our lives back. Neither of us knows how well we've done, and we probably won't know for about another two months, but at least neither of us has the pressure of studying hanging over us any more. Yay!
Ian had his written exam last Tuesday. It was mainly multiple choice and he thinks he's done OK. He's been doing really well on the mock tests so there is no reason to think he's done anything than pass. He was talking to his Captain today asking what he would have to do as well as get the pass to get his "probie" label removed. They've been that impressed with his commitment and performance that they're happy to recommend his promotion as soon as he gets his pass so it shows that persistence pays off.
After his exam, Ian and the boys headed round the corner for a "few" drinks! He then managed to wake Annalie up when he sauntered home at 1.30am but she forgave him, because he deserved it. Shame it was a school night for her though!
Ian has also been involved in other Fire Department activities over the last couple of weeks. First there was a "mock car accident" demonstration at Glastonbury High School to show the kids how scary it is to be extracted from a car wreck. It is supposed to put them off drink driving. So Ian got involved in photographing the exercise for the team.
Monday 25th May was Memorial Day in the US so we got a bank holiday out of them. As part of the celebrations, most towns have a parade and Glastonbury is no exception. The Fire Department are a big part of the parade so the engines get spruced up and the Department turns out in its finery. As Ian hasn't "graduated" yet, he couldn't exactly march with the others, but he found a way to get involved! He ended up stood in their rescue boat, donning an ice rescue suit in 70+ degree heat!! Maybe they did that to him on purpose! Being the newbie and all
And today he's been putting all his newly-learned skills to the test on a forest rescue drill. Annalie's sure it's just an excuse for boys to play with toys! He was racing through the woods on an ATV and chopping trees down with a chainsaw. Sounds like too much fun to be serious!!
There's also been some advancements at the limo company. He's had a couple of small jobs, but now he's free from all his study, he can be more gainfully employed So he was at the yard getting his pay check and chatting about availability when he overheard them complaining about a shortage of bus drivers. Given his past experience, he piped up and is now getting ready to get his bus license so he can get more regular, and better paid work.
Also on the work front, Ian went for an assessment with Glastonbury Town for the position of 911 Dispatcher, which would complement his work with the Fire Department. There were 16 candidates taking this test, which included note taking while watching a video, then questions were asked based on the notes, and finally there was a computerised moving map with 4 different simulated police vehicles on it and scenarios where he had to "dispatch" which vehicle and how soon it had to get to the scene.
Annalie's dissertation reached its climax today as well. She'd got through most of the main content earlier in the week and had been getting good feedback from her tutor. And amazingly she is only 1,000 words over the limit which is a good percentage seeing as that is 18,000 words At the end she just had to write a "learning statement" to reflect on what she'd learnt during the course of the project. As usual, the word count simply wasn't enough for her though! So she hasn't written about as many subjects as she'd have liked, but what she's provided is better than nothing! Just when she thought she'd finished, she decided to review the dissertation handbook one last time, only to find there were some niggly little bits she needed to include in the appendices. So a couple of hours spent this morning finishing it off and she was ready to hand it in.
So off it was posted to her tutor. But she also had to arrange to get the thing bound. Luckily, her friend Melly (thanks Mel ) had recommended a website through which binding can be ordered. And to top it all off, it is just down the road from University in Leeds So the plan is, that Annalie will stop off in the UK on the way to the Paris Air Show in order to hand the damn thing in herself. Then she can get it out of her mind completely! It's currently due to be ready for collection on Friday 12th June, but she's hoping to convince them to get it ready on the 11th.
Annalie has also received feedback from her penultimate assignment that was handed in back in March. Amazingly she has maintained her 70+% scores, so the pressure is really on for the dissertation if she's going to get a first!
There's also been a Girls' Night Out with the Rolls-Royce ladies at one of our favourite restaurants in Glastonbury, Sakura Garden. It was the first time she'd had a drink in several weeks so made the most of the fact that she wasn't driving (Sake anyone? ). On Friday there were some drinks after work as one of the Rolls-Royce guys bid goodbye to IAE and Glastonbury. There was a good turnout at Houlihan's but it's not surprising. Iggy is a nice guy and has been around for a while. Ian joined the IAE crew to see some of the guys for the first time in ages. He also met our new next door neighbour, who is another RR secondee. Annalie is concerned about their mutual love of motorbikes though and how much Ian's desire for a bike has returned. Hmmmm.
Over the long weekend we also went out to get some new additions for the deck, now that the good weather is getting more regular. Check out the photos (House and stuff) for a view of our hammock and a hummingbird nectar feeder. We've already had a couple of new visitors to that, but they are so flighty and skittish that they're gone before you can photograph them. And then you wait to photograph them and they never come back. They're such teases!
And finally, we've been getting more prepared for our our trip to NZ in October. We've got an itinerary agreed, so we've finally managed to book the campervan for our travels, the ferry from the North Island to the South Island, and the hotel we're going to end up in when we reach Queenstown for the last few days there. We've decided to fly from Queenstown back up to Auckland to catch our return flight to the US, so we're going to ditch the campervan a few days early and finish off with some luxury before flying home.
Not that we're wishing time away, but we can't wait for that trip!
(By the way, Orlando photos are now uploaded sorry about the delay - we've just had other things on our minds!)
Ian had his written exam last Tuesday. It was mainly multiple choice and he thinks he's done OK. He's been doing really well on the mock tests so there is no reason to think he's done anything than pass. He was talking to his Captain today asking what he would have to do as well as get the pass to get his "probie" label removed. They've been that impressed with his commitment and performance that they're happy to recommend his promotion as soon as he gets his pass so it shows that persistence pays off.
After his exam, Ian and the boys headed round the corner for a "few" drinks! He then managed to wake Annalie up when he sauntered home at 1.30am but she forgave him, because he deserved it. Shame it was a school night for her though!
Ian has also been involved in other Fire Department activities over the last couple of weeks. First there was a "mock car accident" demonstration at Glastonbury High School to show the kids how scary it is to be extracted from a car wreck. It is supposed to put them off drink driving. So Ian got involved in photographing the exercise for the team.
Monday 25th May was Memorial Day in the US so we got a bank holiday out of them. As part of the celebrations, most towns have a parade and Glastonbury is no exception. The Fire Department are a big part of the parade so the engines get spruced up and the Department turns out in its finery. As Ian hasn't "graduated" yet, he couldn't exactly march with the others, but he found a way to get involved! He ended up stood in their rescue boat, donning an ice rescue suit in 70+ degree heat!! Maybe they did that to him on purpose! Being the newbie and all
And today he's been putting all his newly-learned skills to the test on a forest rescue drill. Annalie's sure it's just an excuse for boys to play with toys! He was racing through the woods on an ATV and chopping trees down with a chainsaw. Sounds like too much fun to be serious!!
There's also been some advancements at the limo company. He's had a couple of small jobs, but now he's free from all his study, he can be more gainfully employed So he was at the yard getting his pay check and chatting about availability when he overheard them complaining about a shortage of bus drivers. Given his past experience, he piped up and is now getting ready to get his bus license so he can get more regular, and better paid work.
Also on the work front, Ian went for an assessment with Glastonbury Town for the position of 911 Dispatcher, which would complement his work with the Fire Department. There were 16 candidates taking this test, which included note taking while watching a video, then questions were asked based on the notes, and finally there was a computerised moving map with 4 different simulated police vehicles on it and scenarios where he had to "dispatch" which vehicle and how soon it had to get to the scene.
Annalie's dissertation reached its climax today as well. She'd got through most of the main content earlier in the week and had been getting good feedback from her tutor. And amazingly she is only 1,000 words over the limit which is a good percentage seeing as that is 18,000 words At the end she just had to write a "learning statement" to reflect on what she'd learnt during the course of the project. As usual, the word count simply wasn't enough for her though! So she hasn't written about as many subjects as she'd have liked, but what she's provided is better than nothing! Just when she thought she'd finished, she decided to review the dissertation handbook one last time, only to find there were some niggly little bits she needed to include in the appendices. So a couple of hours spent this morning finishing it off and she was ready to hand it in.
So off it was posted to her tutor. But she also had to arrange to get the thing bound. Luckily, her friend Melly (thanks Mel ) had recommended a website through which binding can be ordered. And to top it all off, it is just down the road from University in Leeds So the plan is, that Annalie will stop off in the UK on the way to the Paris Air Show in order to hand the damn thing in herself. Then she can get it out of her mind completely! It's currently due to be ready for collection on Friday 12th June, but she's hoping to convince them to get it ready on the 11th.
Annalie has also received feedback from her penultimate assignment that was handed in back in March. Amazingly she has maintained her 70+% scores, so the pressure is really on for the dissertation if she's going to get a first!
There's also been a Girls' Night Out with the Rolls-Royce ladies at one of our favourite restaurants in Glastonbury, Sakura Garden. It was the first time she'd had a drink in several weeks so made the most of the fact that she wasn't driving (Sake anyone? ). On Friday there were some drinks after work as one of the Rolls-Royce guys bid goodbye to IAE and Glastonbury. There was a good turnout at Houlihan's but it's not surprising. Iggy is a nice guy and has been around for a while. Ian joined the IAE crew to see some of the guys for the first time in ages. He also met our new next door neighbour, who is another RR secondee. Annalie is concerned about their mutual love of motorbikes though and how much Ian's desire for a bike has returned. Hmmmm.
Over the long weekend we also went out to get some new additions for the deck, now that the good weather is getting more regular. Check out the photos (House and stuff) for a view of our hammock and a hummingbird nectar feeder. We've already had a couple of new visitors to that, but they are so flighty and skittish that they're gone before you can photograph them. And then you wait to photograph them and they never come back. They're such teases!
And finally, we've been getting more prepared for our our trip to NZ in October. We've got an itinerary agreed, so we've finally managed to book the campervan for our travels, the ferry from the North Island to the South Island, and the hotel we're going to end up in when we reach Queenstown for the last few days there. We've decided to fly from Queenstown back up to Auckland to catch our return flight to the US, so we're going to ditch the campervan a few days early and finish off with some luxury before flying home.
Not that we're wishing time away, but we can't wait for that trip!
(By the way, Orlando photos are now uploaded sorry about the delay - we've just had other things on our minds!)
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Congrats Mr B - One Down, One to Go
Well, it's been a couple of weeks so there's a few things to update you on. Firstly, and most importantly, Ian has passed the practical element of his firefighter exams. So he's half way through his assessments with just the written exam to go on the 26th. His practical involved six different stations, each with a different test. These were: changing a burst hose and nozzle operation, water into a building via sprinkler unit and closing individual sprinkler head (whilst trying to avoid getting completely drenched!!), overhaul and salvage - protecting items of furniture getting too wet and damaged, self-contained breathing apparatus assessments, large, heavy ladder drill and building ventilation, and HazMat tanker rollover. He was one of a handful that passed every test first time, so he's now officially a girlie swot, just like Annalie Well done Ian!
He's been revising hard for the written part as well though. He and a bunch of the other guys have been meeting up in a study group to prepare themselves for the test. He's got this Tuesday at the Academy and then the Tuesday after for the test and that's his training over. He just has to do a couple of bits at the fire house and then he can be a fully-fledged firefighter, and able to take the "Probationer" badge off Although Annalie's not sure if she's pleased about this or not
Ian's Ground School is also over and he has successfully passed that too This means he can now go to the FAA department at the local airport and take his written test for that - although it's probably a little harder than the firefighter test! There are plenty of mock tests online so he's had his head buried in those for the past couple of weeks. There's a pretty high pass mark needed so he's making sure he's consistently getting past that before forking out $100 on a test! But to start flying, he needs to apply to the TSA to get clearance because he's an "alien"! This is an extra security measure that has been put in place since 9/11 as all the terrorists learnt to fly in the States before they committed the hijackings.
Annalie is also well on her way to completing university and finishing her dissertation with well over 12,000 words written already. Unfortunately this means that, yet again, she's going to blast through a word limit, but who's counting right now? What matters is that she gets it written and handed in. The deadline is June 1st, but because of her unusual circumstances, i.e. being in another continent, let alone country, Leeds Met Uni are being very flexible about the hand in date.
So Annalie thought she'd make the most of the fact that she's flying to Europe for the Paris Air Show and has negotiated a hand in date of June 11th or 12th, depending on when it will be available to pick up from the binders. She'd like to get it emailed on June 1st to prove that she can meet the deadline, and that will enable her to get the cheapest binding option done (10 days' notice). But we shall see. There's still two weeks to go, but she thinks that will be enough time. She's been sending sections to her tutor already and has been given the thumbs up for most.
This trip will make up for the recent one Annalie missed to Europe thanks to Rolls-Royce On May 1st, Annalie was due to pick a hire car up at about 3.30pm to travel to the UK that night, spending the weekend at home before flying to Germany for an event and some meetings. Only that morning, Rolls-Royce decided to issue a travel restriction based on "pig flu." But rather than restricting travel just to Mexico, they restricted all international travel. So the IAE Leadership Team had an emergency meeting to see if the trip to Germany would still be on. Eventually they called it off. So just as Annalie should have been preparing to pick her hire car up, she was ringing the travel agent and cancelling everything. So she missed out on Lucy's birthday party But on the positive side it did give her a bit more dedicated time to her dissertation instead of travelling so she's probably closer to finishing now than she would have been had she been in Europe for a week. She's no good at working and travelling together!!
Elsewhere Ian has had a steady stream of driving work that has taken up his Friday's. Annalie managed to get him a good job for IAE so he drove a few of the guys he knows down to New York for a lunch and then brought them back. They were very impressed with his professionalism and actually feeling safe in a car for once (for those of you that have experienced American driving, you know what we mean!!). Once he's got the written exam out of the way for the fire department, he'll be able to do a few more days' work if he wants, but Annalie thinks he quite likes it the way things are
Annalie has also been getting closer to one of the girls that was working for Pratt & Whitney Communications but has recently transferred to the corporate headquarters, which is in downtown Hartford. She wants to meet Jennifer's two hounds because she's amazed how a single girl can cope with them - a Great Dane and a Lab x Great Dane!! But they sound like fab dogs and we're sure Jennifer must feel very secure having those two around!
But other than that Annalie has been working hard. Neither of us have been to the IAE golf league yet. Ian has been at the fire academy every Tuesday so far and Annalie has made the most of the quiet time that affords her and cracked on with her assignment. But with only two weeks left for both of us now, we know there will be other opportunities soon enough.
He's been revising hard for the written part as well though. He and a bunch of the other guys have been meeting up in a study group to prepare themselves for the test. He's got this Tuesday at the Academy and then the Tuesday after for the test and that's his training over. He just has to do a couple of bits at the fire house and then he can be a fully-fledged firefighter, and able to take the "Probationer" badge off Although Annalie's not sure if she's pleased about this or not
Ian's Ground School is also over and he has successfully passed that too This means he can now go to the FAA department at the local airport and take his written test for that - although it's probably a little harder than the firefighter test! There are plenty of mock tests online so he's had his head buried in those for the past couple of weeks. There's a pretty high pass mark needed so he's making sure he's consistently getting past that before forking out $100 on a test! But to start flying, he needs to apply to the TSA to get clearance because he's an "alien"! This is an extra security measure that has been put in place since 9/11 as all the terrorists learnt to fly in the States before they committed the hijackings.
Annalie is also well on her way to completing university and finishing her dissertation with well over 12,000 words written already. Unfortunately this means that, yet again, she's going to blast through a word limit, but who's counting right now? What matters is that she gets it written and handed in. The deadline is June 1st, but because of her unusual circumstances, i.e. being in another continent, let alone country, Leeds Met Uni are being very flexible about the hand in date.
So Annalie thought she'd make the most of the fact that she's flying to Europe for the Paris Air Show and has negotiated a hand in date of June 11th or 12th, depending on when it will be available to pick up from the binders. She'd like to get it emailed on June 1st to prove that she can meet the deadline, and that will enable her to get the cheapest binding option done (10 days' notice). But we shall see. There's still two weeks to go, but she thinks that will be enough time. She's been sending sections to her tutor already and has been given the thumbs up for most.
This trip will make up for the recent one Annalie missed to Europe thanks to Rolls-Royce On May 1st, Annalie was due to pick a hire car up at about 3.30pm to travel to the UK that night, spending the weekend at home before flying to Germany for an event and some meetings. Only that morning, Rolls-Royce decided to issue a travel restriction based on "pig flu." But rather than restricting travel just to Mexico, they restricted all international travel. So the IAE Leadership Team had an emergency meeting to see if the trip to Germany would still be on. Eventually they called it off. So just as Annalie should have been preparing to pick her hire car up, she was ringing the travel agent and cancelling everything. So she missed out on Lucy's birthday party But on the positive side it did give her a bit more dedicated time to her dissertation instead of travelling so she's probably closer to finishing now than she would have been had she been in Europe for a week. She's no good at working and travelling together!!
Elsewhere Ian has had a steady stream of driving work that has taken up his Friday's. Annalie managed to get him a good job for IAE so he drove a few of the guys he knows down to New York for a lunch and then brought them back. They were very impressed with his professionalism and actually feeling safe in a car for once (for those of you that have experienced American driving, you know what we mean!!). Once he's got the written exam out of the way for the fire department, he'll be able to do a few more days' work if he wants, but Annalie thinks he quite likes it the way things are
Annalie has also been getting closer to one of the girls that was working for Pratt & Whitney Communications but has recently transferred to the corporate headquarters, which is in downtown Hartford. She wants to meet Jennifer's two hounds because she's amazed how a single girl can cope with them - a Great Dane and a Lab x Great Dane!! But they sound like fab dogs and we're sure Jennifer must feel very secure having those two around!
But other than that Annalie has been working hard. Neither of us have been to the IAE golf league yet. Ian has been at the fire academy every Tuesday so far and Annalie has made the most of the quiet time that affords her and cracked on with her assignment. But with only two weeks left for both of us now, we know there will be other opportunities soon enough.
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