Last couple of days...

Been gettin' lazy with this blog. On Sunday there was a dinner party at the house so the day was spent doing things for that then enjoying the event itself. This house is amazing for entertaining!

Yesterday I did this and that, and the day disappeared too quickly. Had my first freeway experience (very short - on, then off at the next exit) and a fairly long night drive out of the urban environment and onto roads more akin to those in Scotland.

Today is my first day at Ralphs. I have donned the red polo, and am ready to serve!

The Capital of Capitalism

Saturday was spent training (8.5 hours - 8 hours training with two paid 10 minute breaks, half an hour unpaid lunch) to be a Courtesy Clerk at Ralphs, involving bag packing, sweeping, cart collection, and other lowly odd jobs about the mighty stores. The training had 4 principles that were drilled into our heads, almost like brain washing.

Our people are great!

Our prices are good.

You get the products you want, plus a little.

The shopping experience make you want to return.

We were told to watch how we say things and carefully guard our facial expressions when in work - I reckon George Orwell wrote 1984 after working in Ralphs for a while (and, yes, Ralphs was about when he was writing the novel). But whatever, it's instant work and not too taxing as long as I'm friendly, helpful, and informative all the time. We got about 200 pages of manauls just to make sure we don't forget...

Afterwards I tried America's no. 1 least healthy drink (a smaller size - the one mention previously was only the medium!). It was sickly sweet and so rich it stayed in my throat for a good while. I also tried the Starbucks coffee cake (delicious, but tricky to get the mouth around) and their green tea latte (sickly sweet, vibrant green foam. Just stick to the plain green tea. Seriously, these Americans must be on a constant sugar high). After driving on the wrong side of the road for a little bit, quickly corrected by my godfather (in my defense I was two lanes over to the right - would've been fine on a British motorway. These roads are huge!), I had thai food for dinner. Delicious again. I then drove to the cinema (two more slightly close brushes, but I won't talk about them. I blame the amount of sugar coursing through my poor body).

I have now seen 3 films in the states, all good. Traitor (slow burning terrorist thriller), Ghost Town (standard comedy fare, good turn by Gervais), and - last night - Eagle Eye (fast, furious, fairly easy to predict action fare).

Some quick thoughts on food in the States - lots of unhealthy things being thrust forward, food outlets everywhere, cheap, tasty. Much easier to pack on the pounds than in Britain, less of the health guilt, more of a culture of eating out all the time, shameless marketing, larger portions, larger fridges, and huge stores. In short, it tastes great but one has to really watch that they don't end up hoovering up the sugars and fat being shoved at them every day.

You Spin Me Right Round, Baby, Right Round...

I relaxed for most of the day, watching some TV shows on IMDB, keeping out of the way of the Polish cleaners (they're taking over the world with their diligence!). I then drove to Ralphs, found out that I passed the drug test (I got 62% - just joking people!) and got myself signed up for training tomorrow, was given a couple of trendy red polo shirts and a snazzy name badge (it's Kyle under the sticker, folks!).

I then went karting as part of a Mazda charity event for juvenile diabetes. I was last. Sigh. It was the extra weight, I tell you. I only spun out once. I thought I wasn't doing too bad! Oh well. I found solace in a dinner of Japanese curry (who knew?) followed by (after driving home) watermelon in front of the presidential debate. It was really a lesson in press bias. The debate itself was interesting, the press analysis was sickeningly bias - change channel, change 'winner' of the debate. Leave it to the viewers to decide!

Better get a good snooze before my venture into the working world of America tomorrow!

Another Day in the Sun

Not much to say today (job hunting, swimming - pretty plain) so I'll mention the spiders. The spiders that I've seen here (serious first, Al, serious first) are larger than their British counterparts in every way. They spin bigger webs (I swear they could catch unwary kids in those!), they are larger (and perch in the middle of those gigantic webs waiting for the kids), and the web is thick enough to feel like hair. It's really kinda gross, you think you have a hair on your hand but id won't blow off and it's all sticky and then realization (such an American z there) dawns...

Whatever. The sun has fried my body (and my brain apparently but you wouldn't notice much difference) so I might just get an early night so I'm fresh for the wonders of the 'morrow.

Riding El Toro

Gettin' behind on my posting here! Been unable to get my phone to talk to my mac so this post will be pictureless once again...

Yesterday I applied to a local supermarket and was called shortly after to go in to meet them and take a drug test. I assured them that I was only a casual crack abuser.

Other things I did that day, short version: Shopping, swimming, reading, and BBQing steaks. Nice, no?

And on to today...

Firstly, a very happy Birthday to both Becka, in the US of A, and Dot in sunny Glasgow. Older only on paper...

Now I doubt either of these lovely ladies has time for my blog shenanigans, but I like to believe that a general sense of well-being will be transferred from my lowly blog across the cosmos to them. It's the thought that counts, right?

Anyway, today saw me rising well before the dawn to go to the UPS plant 7 miles from the house for a meeting regarding employment. As good as the job looks, it seems I have to turn it down as it is too far away.

The trip home (by bike) was an enjoyable and leisurely trip set against the rising Californian sun. The cool morning mists and predawn light were a delight whilst being bitten on the forehead by some unseen (but hopefully smited) beastie was not such a pleasant feeling. Going at a speed that rivaled the cars alongside, the bike whizzed me down the canyon and onto the great El Toro road. A convenient Starbucks provided me with breakfast at dawn (Starbucks' Perfect Oatmeal with nut topping - not great, homemade is sooo much better) and a fix of my rapidly developing addiction to Pumpkin Spice Frappuccinos.

Working my way up El Toro brought me to a closed mall (opens at 10) which, as it turns out, contains a See's Candy shop - I'll be back there in the future, no doubt. Then up to a shoe shop (not open until 9, damn and blast!) which, after the wait until opening time, yeilded 2 nice pairs of shoes for about $100. Sweet, but still a lot of dough. Luckily the nearby Cold Stone Creamery was closed until noon else I would've been sorely tempted to try America's no. 1 least healthy drink - the 20oz Love It size OhFudge! Shake (containing a whopping 1,660 kcal). Just for research purposes, you understand...

A leisurely cycle (via Longs Drug Store - it's an american thing) brought me back home for lunch, driving (getting better! Only a few minor infringements this time...), swimming, looking at local jobs, and going to the cinema (in about 3 minutes).

Any suggestions for getting my phone to talk are appreciated (it's paired with my mac, but won't connect) as are suggestions for a topic on which to explore in this blog other than my day to day grind (hah!).

Pictures!

I spent the rest of yesterday walking a fair distance to get an american sim card and bank account, rowing on the lake (then wading in it in order to find the oar pin I dropped - yuk), getting some top-notch mexican food, and doing some driving. Only one exciting incident when driving - two people pulling into a left-turn lane at the same time which had me pulling out pretty quickly. Automatics make life so much easier and the roads in America are massive.

Oh, and you may have noticed I took some pictures for y'all when I was boating...

Easy Driver

Today a trip to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) earned me the right to drive on Californian roads with an experienced driver in the cars. Watch out CA!

It required some ID, a picture, a thumbprint, a signature, and the completion of a 36 question, multiple choice test. Now, as most of you know, I have had only a cursory knowledge of the holy code of driving in Britain, and even less of the Californian driving code. I could probably take a decent shot at the theory test in Britain, who knows? What I am aware of is that after about 2 hours of reading the driving handbook (skipping roughly half of it) and some short but useful driving commentaries from my godfather, I scored 34 out of 36 (30/36 was the pass mark). One an admin. question - SR 1 forms, anyone? The other was an honest mistake - mobiles whilst driving are allowed for emergency calls. The test required some very basic knowledge and a bit of common sense. With 3 answers for each question, one obvious to rule out, I guess it could almost be done by luck. Now just to actually learn how to steer a car around the monstrous American Boulevards...