Charlotte Diary October 2000
August 29th September 9th
September17th October 9th
Back to the sun
Greetings Charlotte, Queen City of North Carolina. I'm back for a fortnight's
stretch this time.
I collect the hire car, now with two weeks' grime. Get the thing cleaned in
an amazing Avis Car wash. None of the amateur drive through rubbish we have in
the UK! No, the car is hauled through on a track, and dried of by an amiable
Mexican.
Bob and Pete
|
 Bob,
and his mate Pete, have taken over my apartment. Swines. Still Pete knows
how to take the piss out of Bob - a Geordie. That's always worth a laugh.
We drive to decent restaurant in the centre of town. Steak and Seafood
and beer is consumed... best thing for jet lag is to get totally tired
out!
And then to the Mens' Club. A sad place proclaiming "Sport,
food and Pussy
Galore". Sad because of the embarrassed men that need to go there.
Still, I'm no prude - the girlies do have nice titties!
Barney wanted to come to the Men's Club too. I refuse - he is marketed
as a morally correct toy, unlike those 'Telly Tubby' perverts.
|
We have sun
Weather is really extreme. From freezing in the morning to the 80's (ºF) in
the afternoon.
Microsoft DevDay
Bill Gates is still waving the .NET flag. A call to homage is being held at
the local Hilton hotel. Good, he hasn't changed his mind. Been there, seen it, cut the
code, so I leave after a couple of hours - after eating my $139 worth of lunch.
Finland V England
Bob and I meet with Jeff at an English Pub. Bizarre. Brits watching footy.
You can order Shepard's Pie or Roast Beef. Home from home.
Hamlet
 Bob and I have a cultural evening in Charlotte. We take in
Hamlet. Bob is keen to emphasize that not all people from the North East
are thick and unread.
Directed by John Hartness. Betrayal. Murder. Lust. Vengeance.
Universal themes in possibly the greatest play of all time.
We find the theatre: it's tucked away in a dark isolated industrial
estate.
"What's goin' on here, like?" queries Bob.
Thoughts of the Men's Club cross my mind.
The dubious surroundings of the exterior is contrasted by the friendly
welcome inside. The director / Gravedigger invites us in - beer at half
time. There's already 30 or so people in the auditorium. I guess around
100 people could be seated.
The sets and costumes were simple and achronistic. Chain mail made from
ring pulls; the opening scene had the guards in combat jackets, smoking a
joint.
The acting was excellent - the atmosphere draw us all in to the play.
Bob, literally, as the King slaps him on his back during the performance.
Osric, a courtier, played by Britt Nipper, is portrayed as a camp,
effeminate, raging queer - very good! The actor also performs the
"Player Queen". Some of the audience could not handle this:
there was some embarrassed sniggering.
Disgraceful. Where I come from, men in tight leathers, or in a dress,
is normal! Hicksville USA! |
Concord Mills
Just up the I85 from work is a large shopping mall, Concord Mills. Yes, even
bigger than Central Milton Keynes.
Bargains to be had: A couple of portable "walkman" CD players at
$54 a pop (£35) seems a bargain for 2 spoilt dudes back home.
The outdoor shop is amazing. You name it you can get it. (OK, no they didn't
have any thing ecological like wind generators or solar panels. "Use a
generator, dude.")
I buy a multi socket strip. I've plans for it...
Charlotte Sunset
 Solar House Tour
Today is the Nationwide Solar Tour Day
organized by the AES.
During the tour I say hello to one of the host's neighbours - a Top
Band Merchant into QRP. These yanks do have disposable income! His
double garage is full, floor to ceiling, of radio kit.
BasketBall Video
An silly DVD, with the creators of Cartman et al. 6/10. We are amused
by the references to the word dude.
|
Myrtle Beach
Bob
and I hit the beach. Yes, it takes 3 hours to get there - so what? Cruising on
the American roads is fun.
We pass cotton fields. The Geordie thought cotton came from worms' arses. No.
I show him. The cotton fields do remind me of South India.
We travel down the I52, through some really isolated, remote towns. In
Society Hill we pass amazing old houses - this must be a film set.
At Myrtle Beach we walk several miles along the water's edge, stopping for
the ubiquitous ice cold beer.
It's a bit like Margate: a bit tacky and seedy, only the beach must be 20
miles long.
Concord Mills
I complete the shopping tour from last Friday. Out comes the credit card...
GPS
Time to buy another toy. A Garmin
ETrex GPS receiver. As I write this up I'm currently at 40º 51'N, 73º 29'
W 545 miles from Charlotte, on a heading of 64ºN, a speed of 578 MPH, at 37000
ft, flying over a large city. (Name that city and win a prize.) New York
The receiver is lightweight, and intuitive to use. It cost me £82! I should
have brought back a bag full.
Set a waypoint at the pool, and
drive to work. 
Seems
to work!
(Hmmm it's version 2.07 - must download 2.10 - that version shows the
satellites!)
(There's a bit of setting up to do for use in the UK: set the Position Format
to "British Grid", and the Map Datum to "ord srvy GB".)
SanDisk digital camera card reader (USB
Imagemate)
Another toy and it really does 'plug and play': I plugged it in and it
worked! The camera images can now be read very quickly. No more slow transfers
from the camera using arcane bundled software.
I use this reader for a more devious use. My work's laptop was used with an
account that applied the corporate policy of "don't connect to
unauthenticated networks." This now means I cannot connect the laptop to my
home network and share drives. That's where all my web stuff is! I install the
card reader on the laptop, and copy image and web pages files from the laptop to
the 64Meg ram card. The card was then plugged into a pc on my home network, and
the files transferred! Done.
I remember when 780k floppies were big!
Indian Restaurant
The
Diamond India 3200 Monroe Rd. Serves food that's ninja hot! It's served
spicy HOT! We're used to the Indian's in the UK serving subtle South Indian
dishes. This serves HOT North Indian food. Be advised: if you go there, ask for
mild!
 Evening Pint with the Main Man
The Coliseum is lousy with young girls - some boy band, NSYNC, is playing at the
stadium. Lee is being the caring father: his daughters are at the event.
He requested that his staff be with him while he waited for the band to
finish. Bob and I volunteer. The usual large quantities of food are
served.
Pumpkins
The shops are full off them - Halloween is a coming... |
Mobile Phone
This turned up - I wish I had it when I joined in August! Sophisticated
thing, can handle email too.
American Movie
Another DVD that's an interesting 6/10. It's a documentary on making the
budget film Coven. Some really weird people there.
GoodBye
I leave with the engineering team doing good things, and I feel quite
positive about the place.
Jeff and I do lunch at Midtown - discuss the future and things like that.
Return Flight
I'm flying back Club class. You can use a laptop here - impossible in cattle
class.
Gatwick
Hey! It's raining - I've just had 10 days of solid sun!
<<Previous
Bob,
and his mate Pete, have taken over my apartment. Swines. Still Pete knows
how to take the piss out of Bob - a Geordie. That's always worth a laugh.
