Well, I’m here safe and sound. A few random thoughts about the journey:
- American economy/coach was as per usual. No frills but good legroom.
- The airline version of Casino Royale has been hacked to death with big chunks missing. I think this is more to do with time than content. Though the staircase fight and torture scene are heavily edited. The poisoned drink bit had gone completely
- Deja Vu – quite good.
- Perfect Parents – TV movie with Christopher Eccleston pretending his family is Catholic to get daughter into a good school. Turns out very dark in the end. Lots of swearing so confirms that Casino Royale must have been cut for length
- I really need to get a new battery for my Thinkpad. Less than an hour on full charge. Not good, but it is 3 years old.
- Bits of Lake Michigan are frozen on the descent into ORD
- Might have been optimistic about leaving 90 minutes to transfer at O’Hare seeing as last time immigration took 75 minutes alone. However all is fine and no queue to re-check bag for once.
- Was handled at immigration by an officer called Buttman, who was playing AC-DC from his iPod on a pair of speakers. Bizarre, and totally unlike the usual experience
- Flight to Minneapolis St-Paul uneventful. The whole ground is white.
- Hertz gave me a Subaru Legacy. Nice. However decide to get the Neverlost sat-nav so end up swapping for a Ford Escape SUV. Has the worst auto-box I’ve ever driven.
- Coming out of the airport, Neverlost takes an age to get satellite lock. This ends up with lots of u-turns and route recalcs which also take about a minute. Not good , but get on the right route in the end.
- Easy 75 mile drive to Rochester. Highway 52 generally clear with a few bits of drifting snow from nearby fields. One rolled car holding up the other carriageway.
- Pass IBM coming into Rochester.
- Arrive downtown with some light still in the sky. Obviously had a lot of snow this week.
- Park up at the Hilton Garden Inn and feel the temperature for the first time. Very, very cold.
- Into room. Free internet and room service. 76 channels of nothing on. Crash at 8:30pm.
So, this morning it is off to the Rochester lab for the next few days. Should be fun.
‘Bizarre, and totally unlike the usual experience’
Better, or worse?
Quite plainly better. He obviously had some personality!
I would tend to agree, although if his actual name was Buttman (surely it must be if Homeland Security let him use it), that would worry me.