Well it has been a long time in the making. After a good 4 weeks in NZ after our large trip round SE Asia and the wonderful wedding of Kate and Dave on the 14th March I flew out on the 16th March to land 7 hrs before I took off.
I hope all have had a good Easter. It is not a holiday over here though the commercialism of the event is just has big as back in NZ. Anyhow in this case that did not bother me as I have had the week off getting my bearings around Redlands. I start work tomorrow. (Monday 24th LA my time).
After a real long flight of not getting any real sleep I arrived into LAX. I had heard horror stories. All went smooth as however. Went through immigration. All the VISAs worked 'thank god...' and then a real surprise. Just like Bangkok I walked straight out the doors without anyone taking a look at my 90kgs of luggage. A real mission was the problem of getting all my stuff onto a free shuttle bus to take me to the Hertz Rental location. After finding a trolley to move everything around they gave me a Mustang. I was meant to have an SUV so I could fit all my gear in it. They said it would fit so I was pretty happy about a Mustang. Still I walked with all my gear across the huge parking lot to find it was not there. To cut a long story short, I ended up with an SUV after all when they first said there were none available hence being 'upgraded' to a Mustang.
With no sleep it was off onto the wrong side of the road in my Hyundai Tucson with my trusty Google maps printed out. It was an 80 mile drive and the radio and amazing views kept me awake. The mountains were full of snow and the lighting that evening was impressive. Really really nice. My camera was not nearby so I did not get any shots. I had dinner with Edan (the 1 Kiwi I know working at ESRI in Redlands). That was really nice, we had burgers with his very cute girls (Kiwis also but talk with only an American accent) on the BBQ for dinner. We then went round to the flat Edan had organized for me with Derek and Alex. Both Americans, both at ESRI and both my age. They are great guys.
I hope all have had a good Easter. It is not a holiday over here though the commercialism of the event is just has big as back in NZ. Anyhow in this case that did not bother me as I have had the week off getting my bearings around Redlands. I start work tomorrow. (Monday 24th LA my time).
After a real long flight of not getting any real sleep I arrived into LAX. I had heard horror stories. All went smooth as however. Went through immigration. All the VISAs worked 'thank god...' and then a real surprise. Just like Bangkok I walked straight out the doors without anyone taking a look at my 90kgs of luggage. A real mission was the problem of getting all my stuff onto a free shuttle bus to take me to the Hertz Rental location. After finding a trolley to move everything around they gave me a Mustang. I was meant to have an SUV so I could fit all my gear in it. They said it would fit so I was pretty happy about a Mustang. Still I walked with all my gear across the huge parking lot to find it was not there. To cut a long story short, I ended up with an SUV after all when they first said there were none available hence being 'upgraded' to a Mustang.
With no sleep it was off onto the wrong side of the road in my Hyundai Tucson with my trusty Google maps printed out. It was an 80 mile drive and the radio and amazing views kept me awake. The mountains were full of snow and the lighting that evening was impressive. Really really nice. My camera was not nearby so I did not get any shots. I had dinner with Edan (the 1 Kiwi I know working at ESRI in Redlands). That was really nice, we had burgers with his very cute girls (Kiwis also but talk with only an American accent) on the BBQ for dinner. We then went round to the flat Edan had organized for me with Derek and Alex. Both Americans, both at ESRI and both my age. They are great guys.
3 Bedroom House I am living in. Nice Palms aye...
Redland's Thursdays 'Farmers Market'
Here I am 1 week later posting a blog before I start work. I have had a rental the last week. A funny looking thing. A Chevy HHR. It goes ok. Not too great I imagine compared to other brand new cars but yeah it has been kinda fun to cruise round it. Mileage is ok, worst thing is the rear seat room and lack of visibility looking out of the car. So I have clocked up 550 odd miles on it in 7 days. I have kitted out my room. Desks, bookshelf, drawers Etc. and all the small things you need. Some clothes too. It all takes much longer when the places are so big and there are so many options for shopping. For those that have not experienced IKEA make sure you do at some stage. It certainly is value for money and a v ery different concept of shopping for Home furnishings and furniture.
On Saturday I went with Alex out to JensonUSAs biggest showroom. Pretty cool to see all the bikes we see from the web in one place. A nice Rocky Mtn road bike was very tempting (lots of road riding here) as was a demo Intense 6.6 with a nice X9 build kit, Juicy's, DHX 5, 66s Etc. for just 2800Us. The frames alone are about 2100US Next to the bike store was a real Big Bikes store. The biggest Harley shop I have seen. Man they are lovely machines. Next up was a bike shop called Dons Cycles. Lots of GTs and Specialized bikes. Alex got a great deal on a demo Specialized FSR. 1150US. A really good deal. Down from 1900US.
Bikes Bikes Bikes.... :-)
Today I went for a large drive up to the hills since I don't know when I will have a car next and the snow was still around. I was real impressed with the scenery. The freeway goes straight up the hill to 8000 feet (2200m). The lakes were lovely as were the houses and little mountain shacks. There is lots of potential up there for some exploring on both feet and bikes. I visited Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake.
Pictures of Lake Arrowhead, Big Bear Lake and the Mountains
So that about sums up some of the stuff I have been up to. Its back to work tomorrow for the 1st time in 4 months. I am looking forward to it. ESRI sounds like a great place to work from the various people I have met working there thus far.
I have put more pics up of the Redlands area here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=32137&l=c13e1&id=518882572 and of my drive to the hills here:
Anyhow until next time, take care...
Kurt
Supermarket Area I went to tonight for supplies
P.S – The Weather is amazing. Right now at 9.30 at night it is 25 degrees in my room. It gets down to about 10 or 12 degrees at night at the moment so it is still very seasonal. Kinda like our good summer days in Christchurch but a bit more of a range in the temps. Soon however the summer will begin and the heat is unbearable they all say. 45 degrees is very common. Guess that’s what AC is for eh…
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