November 2008

Graeme’s Week

I’m back! I’ve let my good wife do most of the writing to let you all know what has been going on and I must say what a good job she has done. Not just in writing but in sorting a lot of mundane things out this end such as utilities, shopping, e-mailing, Facebook, etc, a woman’s work is never done!!

For me it has been a mad crazy time with work. Hitting the ground running and … well, I’m still running and running, getting up early to avoid the traffic and hitting the traffic on the way home to avoid the work. Did Dee ever tell you how bad the driving is here? Well let me tell you, Missourian drivers are tailgaters from hell whether the sun is shining, hail is hailing or a blizzard is blowing! I’m forever looking as much in my mirror as I’m looking forward waiting for the inevitable smack up the backside which would be bad news as I’m still not convinced whether I’m insured or not!!!

The cars…. Well who would have though getting two lease cars would be such hard work? We started the exercise well before we left, in fact about 6 weeks before we left and I know that Dee has mentioned about Ford pulling out at the last minute. The new VW’s are nearly here, supposedly 1 week for mine but still 3-4 weeks until Dee’s arrives which means we are still in rental cars and that’s why I’m not 100% sure about insurance cover, so I’m driving very very carefully! It also means we will have two lease cars here in the US for a couple of months after we leave to come home!!

Now the important stuff for all the boys out there! I am still looking for a home theater system to go with the 40” HDTV down in the basement but we want a DVD player that plays multi region DVDs so we can still watch our DVD’s from home. Well no-one sells multi-region and every time I look at a new system, I can’t find any hacks for them so no further forward. Just found a nice LG on e-bay that is guaranteed multi region but is $100 dollars more than the same region 1 system you get in the shop.. I’m going to have to make a decision soon as Chrimbo is fast approaching.. What to do?!

Ladies, you can come back now as I want to tell you how the dog is getting on.. well she has been a pain at times and has turned into the biggest scaredy cat ever! I’m the one that has to take her out first thing in the morning and last thing at night and all she wants to do is to get back in the house as quickly as possible! I can tell you there is nothing worse than trying to pick up dog poo (with a plastic bag for those of you who think I’m some person with a sick dog poo fetish!) while the dog launches off at full speed back to the house on a retractable lead.. If you don’t have your wits about you, you’d go flying when she reaches the end of the lead, which I’m sure the neighbours would find highly amusing watching a mad Englishman flying past their window trying to catch the dog poo that has also been launched upwards at 90MPH!! In the house she likes to go mad by running around the house at full speed chasing the kids (did we mention the house is big and with minimal furniture becomes a great dog park)! She now has a figure of eight track that she runs around which includes the dining table at one end and a settee at the other and sometimes has a variation that goes through the hall and back around through the kitchen. It all becomes a bit more precarious now that we have put the Christmas tree up!! The good thing is it doesn’t take long for her to get puffed out and she soon collapses in a heap in the middle of the floor. The worst culprit though is Dee who likes to stir the dog up by running around the track making the dog chase her! The down side is Dee doesn’t collapse in a heap and likes to carry on being a pain to me when the dog has had enough!!

Finally for those who think I’m going to turn into a big fat American blobber, I’ve been out for two jogs this weekend.. both killed me physically but mentally I feel stronger zzzzzzzzzzz!! Enough from me for now as I’m sure Dee has far more important things to tell you about, especially about her driving test!