August 2002

Cambridge Society Weekend in Chepstow Posted Saturday, 31 August, 2002
I have at last added the Chepstow Weekend pictures to the web site.

The Bank Holiday Weekend Posted Tuesday, 27 August, 2002
This weekend and Bank holiday we basically stayed at home.

The Sunday was the return of the Welsh, (St Brides Major) clay shoot. They arrived at 11.30 and shot the 80 bird layout. After the shoot, there was lunch and much beer and wine. The result, we beat them on the day, but they won the whole overall shoot by six shots. When you think each of us need only have scored half a shot more to win, then you can see how close it was.

The Monday we ran a shoot for the Grendon Underwood football team. There was a lot of set-up and clearing up at the end. I had to show most of the shooters how to handle and shoot with a shotgun. They, never having shot before.

Canal trip Posted Saturday, 17 August, 2002
No rest at all, up early to do the final touches the chicken dish for the Saturday picnic. At Pitstone by 9.00 a.m for the canal trip kindly arranged by Carol and John Curd. There were twelve of us on board.

The boat was on the Grand Union canal. We took it South going through 6 locks stopped for the picnic and then took it back to its berth.

The day was excellent, the sun shone, a breeze kept the temperature down to a comfortable temperature. The company was good, the different foods provided on the picnic were excellent, as was the wine. The entertainment of opening and closing the locks kept us amused and fit.

Only bad point was I seemed to miss a hand rail on the boat and fell into the canal. Oh well, can't be helped, it did seem to provide amusement to all those around.

Back to old blighty Posted Friday, 16 August, 2002
I was in bed by 2.30 after the blues night and trip back on the El. Now the alarm clock, and phone were ringing to make sure I was awake by 5.30 in the morning. A quick shower and a cup of coffee, and I was at the Blue line El by 6.00. Soaked in sweat from the very high humidity. It was hot and a little rain was falling.

Made the plane in plenty of time, take off was an hour late, we spent much of that time moving from one side of the airport and then back again. Something to do with storms in some direction or other. Chatted with an American on the way back, her first time in England, and a little frightened of flying from some past experiences of turbulence.

Arrived in Heathrow at 11.00 p.m., place was deserted. Took a while to get the car out of the car park, because I could not find the phone to ring the Pink Elephant park. This was not a BT phone, but an internal extension phone. Eventually left Heathrow 12.00, getting home at 1.00 am, before the daughter who arrived in later at 2.00

Thursday in Chicago and more blues Posted Thursday, 15 August, 2002
Today was just finishing up in work. Set up the backups, and added the creation of the SQL to the install scripts.

Supper was at the hotel, in the Trader Vics restaurant. Had some Mae Tae cocktails and BBQed fish for supper. Afterwards headed out on the EL to the Blues club on 2500 North Halstead. Arrived just as the band was starting to play at 9.30. They played three sets of one hour each, and so I left at around 1.30 Friday morning. It was a pretty good evening. Consumed a few glasses of beer, and bought a couple of tee shirts from the club.

Liz and Mike recognised me from the previous evening. Had a few words with them.

Wednesday in Chicago and the Blues Posted Wednesday, 14 August, 2002
My time here is coming to an end, just one more day and I will be out of here.

Work wise, just adding the final touches to the release mechanism, though more work must be done to add all the other products later.

For lunch went out for an Indian buffet with Tom and Vikram. It was quite good, spicy but not hot. Because it was a buffet could try all kinds of dishes.

After work did a bit of shopping, bought my self some jeans. I went to Virgin MegaStore to take a look at the DVDs, they were priced at the full US price so I did not buy anything. The selection was large, they had box sets of all kinds of UK shows, Monty Python, Black Adder, Jeeves and Worster (sic), etc. They also had the Collectors Edition of Die Hard, (6 DVDs) at 79.99 + tax. I was looking to buy the DC version of Blade Runner, I might get it from Tower Records next to the hotel, it is a bit cheaper there.

I had supper in the Down Town bar of the hotel again. Meal wise I had, beer and a burger. Tonight was blues night and the band was excellent. It must be hard for them to perform in that type of environment where they do not get a great attention from the audience. They had just got back from Germany, and had spent a night in England. Apparently getting a lecture from the cabby as to why we will never have the Euro in England.

I am afraid I bought two CDs, one by the singer Liz Mandville Greeson, and the other by the guitarist Mike Gibb. Hope they sound as good as they do live. I might go out and see them play tonight at a Blues club on Halstead road.

Chicago Tuesday - The Chicago Art Institute Posted Tuesday, 13 August, 2002
Today was cloudy, and I believe it rained at some stage. Temperature rose to 26 degrees.

Left work early, (17.30) and visited the Chicago Art Institute. It was open free until 20.00 on a Tuesday. It had many old masters on show lent from collections around the US. There must have been 20 Monets, several Manats, Picassos, Van Gogh, Pissaro, a couple of Constables, Salvador Dali, to name a few well know artists.

The Institute also had a modern section with the usual exhibits, one of which I almost sat on. It was only when I passed by a little later did I see the small notice on the floor telling one not to touch the exhibit. Previously I had wondered where the bronze sculpture was, a notice on the wall seemed to be referring to some non existent sculpture. Yes it was a bronze chair, not out of place for sitting on.

There were sections of Greek, and Italian pottery, German armour and Chinese stuff. I did not have time to see these. I thought these items were more in keeping with a museum.

Afterwards had a meal in a different restaurant in the hotel. When I have eaten in the hotel, I have always eaten in the 'Big Downtown', a mixture of bar and restaurant. Very lively. Today I thought I should try a different place, so I eat in the 'French Quarter'. Well decorated, but very quiet. Had an excellent soup, chicken soup, with chilli, but it was also filled with fresh tacos, and topped with guacamole. For the mains I had a small steak, and half a bottle of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

Chicago Monday Posted Monday, 12 August, 2002
Rather hot and sticky day in Chicago with threatened thunder storms. They never materialised though.

Worked through to about 8.00 pm and got a long way with the deployment side of the portlets, so should be finished in time for the flight home on Friday.

Had an excellent pork chop back in the hotel. I was worried it was going to be very fatty, American pig can be that way, but it was well trimmed and came with a lovely gravy and mashed potatoes. I know not everyone’s cup of tea.

I did not get asked if I was attending the Hardware show today. This must be a first. I also did not get to speak to any nuke-em now Americans at the bar. On Friday I had to listen to a large Texan who had lived in Mildenhall UK, and his views of the world.

Chicago weekend Posted Sunday, 11 August, 2002
Friday was uneventful.

Saturday I started out by walking to the Halstead region. I managed the only route that took me through the projects. I was getting a little worried at one stage. Here they were having a street party with some bands and Market stalls. It was called Halstead Market Day, and was held every year to raise money for the community.

I watched a couple of bands, (Clip, ManPlanet). Clip were pretty good and it was such a pity no one thought likewise. After watching the bands I went for a walk round Halstead and stopped in a bar to cool off with a Guinness. I had had enough of drinking Miller, and it was really very hot out in the sun.

Went back to the Street Market and watched an R&B band. Looked at the stalls, 25% were Gay and Lesbian stalls. I later found out that this area of town was the Gay area. Stopped at one stall and asked why I should want to go to Manchester. It was a Manchester tourist board stall. They were advertising the Gay community of Manchester.

Went back to the hotel by the Brown Line train to pick up my messages. Fred had said he would ring about dinner. Messages left said that he was or was about to be at Barbara's and that to ring. I rang, got her address and found that she lived in the Halstead area and had been at the Street Party. So back on the Brown Line train to Halstead. At Barbara's there was Fred and family, and Marianne Parkhill. After a couple of beers we went out for a Thai curry, and then back home.

On Sunday I did the museums in the area. But first I visited the John Hancock Observatory. This used to be the highest building in Chicago, until the Sears tower was build. First was the Shed Aquarium, were they had some good exhibits, some a bit like the sea shore at the Plymouth aquarium. There example was the yearly rise and fall of the river in the Amazon forest. They also fed some of the fish in another aquarium by hand with a diver swimming amongst them. Not sharks.

In the Ocean pool they had Dolphins and Whales. These performed for us.

Next on to the Adler Planetarium. I watched one show of the night skies over Africa. The rest of the exhibits were educational, but geared at the child or person who knows nothing of physics. One good exhibit though was the Atwood Sphere. This was a large metal sphere in which you sat. The sphere was rotated around you, and light entered through holes in the sphere configured as the night sky. Eight of you could sit in the Sphere at one time. This Sphere had been build eighty years ago and was the way the night sky would be shown to people. It was superseded by the Zeiss projection system a few years later. The Sphere then was used by the Navy to teach navigation during the war, then it was donated to the Adler and was a curiosity. It was very good and we were shown the constellations of stars.

The final museum I did was the Field museum. I specially looked at the exhibits relating to the Native Americans, and then looked at the mineral exhibits. They had a very good collection of meteorites, including the one which fell in the 1930s, through a car garage roof, the car roof, the seat floor pan, and stopping at the exhaust pipe. The museum had all the bits of the car and garage roof, which had been hit by the meteorite.

Back to the hotel for supper and a shower. Very sore feet after all the walking I had done.

Chicago Thursday Posted Thursday, 8 August, 2002
Thursday was another cool day in Chicago. In to the office by 6.00am, problems back in the UK seem to be resolving themselves, so won't be flying back early.

Went out with the team to fish cafe. I had some oysters to start, followed by blackened Swordfish.

Afterwards took a walk down by the marina, and then back to the hotel passing some huge fountain. I suppose Americans have to have larger anything than the rest of the world.

Wednesday in Chicago Posted Wednesday, 7 August, 2002
Another cool day in Chicago. Work was exciting today. Big panic back in the UK required my attention. Roger was wanting to fly me back to the UK on the next plane, even paying for first class flights. Reason prevailed and I am still here. I though had a bad night sleeping, waiting for the phone call from the UK requiring me to rush to the Chicago office at 3.00 am. This never happened so hopefully the problems have been resolved.

Had a large New York Strip for supper, done a nice rare. For starters thin piece of tuna coated in sesame seeds. These were quite nice to eat. Afterwards took a walk around town. Saw a fire work display, the loud bangs echoing around the high rise buildings was something to be heard.

There was also an outdoor exhibition of photographs from around the world. All taken from the air showing natural and unnatural features of the world. Examples would be the Flamingos on Lake Nakuru, or the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, or a nudist beach in France, or the out runnings of waste water from a desalination plant in Kuwait, or the ships stranded in the dried out lake in Eastern Europe.

Tuesday in Chicago Posted Tuesday, 6 August, 2002
After another bad night, waking at 4.00 am in the morning, I walked into work for 8.00. Not much to report work wise.

After work had an Italian meal with Christine and chatted about various things. As usual the restaurant was crowded at 6.30 pm in the evening. These Americans do love to eat early.

After the meal, I must admit to feeling tired, so went back to the hotel and slept through a Bruce Willis film (12 monkeys). So I am afraid to say I did not do a great deal.

Chicago update Posted Monday, 5 August, 2002
The first day in Chicago is nearly over. I woke early 4.00 am and watched a bit of television. Then I walked into work, ten minutes from the office. It was warm (24C), but very humid (100%). Arrived at 8.00. Bit of a problem getting into the office, so went for a coffee and a Danish.

Arrived into the office at 8.15, met Fred, Tom, Vikram and Christine. Spent most of the morning talking about WSAD and CVS.

For lunch had a walk around, bought a tooth brush and some food from the local deli.

During the afternoon looked at merging source from different levels, and then started the process of building a new development WSAD system.

Went for supper with Fred. Had a large Tuna steak cooked medium rare. Was very nice. We sat outside for the meal. It was quite nice weather for Chicago, not at all hot, around 23 degrees. There was unfortunatly rather a strong wind blowing.

Back to the hotel where I picked up lots of brochures.

Going to Chicago Posted Sunday, 4 August, 2002
On Sunday drove down to Heathrow to catch the plane to Chicago. Got stuck on the M25 for one hour and made the checkin 75 minutes before the scheduled flight leaving time.

Flight was full. Had plenty of wine and food on the trip. Arrived in Chicago, and filled in the customs form to say I had been on a farm. They were still concerned with FMD from England, so cleaned and disinfected my shoes.

Caught to Chicago City train into tge city, as this is quite a low clost way in.

The Hilton Palmer House Hotel was good, it is a 1900 hotel with a wonderful ceiling in the entrance hall painted by a French impressionist.

Had a burger and a few glasses of beer before going to bed.

Kingswood Clay and Rough Shhot Club BBQ Posted Saturday, 3 August, 2002
Saturday was the day for the KCRC BBQ. Had a clay shoot late afternoon. Rather pathetic score from me. Then a BBQ hosted by Pete Sherrif, of burgers, steak and sausages. Lots of beer and wine.

Afterwards a game of aunt sally and a large scale game of Jenga

Annecy Paragliding Posted Friday, 2 August, 2002
On Friday got back from Annecy after a week of paragliding.

We drove out with Cloud Nine and stayed a Maison Du Moulin as guests of Irwyn Jehu. http://www.maison-du-moulin.co.uk/

The weather was excellant and we had five days of paraliding. The last two days it rained, and instead Irwyn tooks us canyoning.

Had good flights from Col de la Forclaz where I managed to gain 600 meters above take off in quite strong conditions. In fact I had to put in the big ears to stop going into the rather black looking clouds. Managed to get over to the teeth, but chickened out from crossing the lake because of the now very black looking clouds. After landing down by the lake, a thunder stor soon started.

We also flew at Grand Bornond, near La Cluzas, where I also gained much height. The second flight though was rather rough and I spend 10-15 minutes with big ears pulled to get down quickly. No one I spoke to enjoyed that second flight.

All in all had a wonderful time, with great food and wine. Should have some pictures later.