Monday, 12 June 2000

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Well, the alarm clock I bought at Radio Shack works. Meet my ride to work, Mark, for the first time. Seems like a very amicable kind of guy. Go to work. My boss/contact, Ian, is off today "recovering" from his son's wedding this weekend, so I'm kind of hanging in limbo until he gets back. I've got the laptop set up on a desk in his office, and I'm trying to log on to the network. I NEED AN INTERNET CONNECTION! I think I'm freaking Clarisse, the department secretary, out a little bit. Guess they're not used to geeks around here much. He he. To the IT department with me. I need a spare mouse, some Cat-5 network cable, a spare mouse, and could you possibly point me to the nearest Ethernet port? Yes, I understand this stuff. Yes, I'm a freak. Everyone in the office is looking at me funny. I rule.

I'm online! Unfortunately, I'm running through the same firewall as I was in Canton, so I can't get my private email or visit any porn sites, but dammit, I've got web access. Okay, I'll calm down now, but you must understand, it's been THREE DAYS! This is my security blanket. Some people have a favorite blanket or a teddy bear. I have the internet. As long as I'm connected, I know everything's going to be all right. I spend the morning getting caught up on tech. news and stuff, and I'm feeling much better about life. Nobody really knows what to do with me, so I'm pretty much left to my own devices until Ian gets back tomorrow. Cool by me.

Lunch with Clarisse and Sabine. They're both French. From Alsace, to be exact. They have no idea what to make of me. This'll be fun. We start with the standard, gettin' to know you, small talk. What am I studying? You know, the usual, Philosophy, French, Creative Writing. French? That raises a couple of eyebrows. Yes, I speak French. So, the attempted French conversation ensues. God damn, I'm rusty. Oh well, so much for the macho, scholarly geek-boy approach. Hell, who am I trying to impress, anyway? The food here isn't bad. Not great, but not bad. Granted, it's much better than the crap they serve in the cafeteria in Canton, and the portions are a hell of a lot bigger, too. I did find out an interesting stereotype about Americans that I hadn't heard before. I guess Americans are known for taking lots of ice in their beverages. This is news to me. On the other hand, it makes sense, but it's not our fault. <rant>The restaurants and food-service places we deal with are the ones who perpetuate this by making sure that cups are loaded down with ice so they don't have to dispense as much tasty beverage.</rant> It's funny the impressions people get about cultures.

Went looking for an apartment this afternoon. Elizabeth (she works for Timken in HR in some capacity, but I'm not sure exactly what she does) takes myself and Pablo, another intern working in England this summer, out to look at a couple of rooms she had found. Oh my God, are these places shitholes! I should have expected it as soon as I find out they were in the projects, but supposedly, "They're not as bad as all that." Uh-huh. These rooms absolutely reek of stale urine, not to mention that I'd be dealing with shared kitchen and bath facilities with people I've never met before. No way. Not me. Luckily everyone (except the landlord, of course) mirrors my sentiments and we quickly write them off. Elizabeth is going to look into a couple of other arrangements tomorrow. We'll see.

After work, I take a walk. This is my first real attempt to venture outside the hotel and see my surroundings. So far Northampton is a typical suburb. Nice residential areas. A few shops and pubs. There is, however this incredibly beautiful park, which is the goal of my walk. I saw it on the way home and wanted to check it out. Of course, I've got about two minutes here before I have to turn around and head back, or I'll miss my dinner reservation. Oh well. A half-hour walk and I didn't even get close to Town Centre (downtown). They do have me out in the boonies.

The Euro2000 Soccer Championship started this weekend, and England plays its first match tonight, and tired as I am, I want to watch. That was one of the very cool things about being in France for the World Cup two years ago. There was always a soccer match going on. So, I'm excited about being able to watch soccer at will all summer, yea! Of course, I'm tired, too. I fall asleep halfway through the match. England loses to Portugal, 2-3. Go figure.

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This page contains a single entry by mordarageek published on June 12, 2000 4:44 PM.

Sunday, 11 June 2000 was the previous entry in this blog.

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