The longest day...

Blimey, what a day! I've finally arrived at my hotel in Bozeman, only to discover that there is no mobile coverage for either Vodafone or O2 round here, so I'm going to be well cut off. Good job I have MSN!

Here's a brief summary of how I got on on my journey...

The flight from Manchester was good. We got "Take It Easy" packs, containing eye-masks, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a ped and small pad and some flight socks! There was a large school trip on the flight and when they saw these packs they let out a collective "Coooooool!".

What was cool was watching the tv screens in front of each seat. Throughout the flight you could select one of 2 cameras mounted outside the plane, to get a "pilot's eye view". This was really good, especially on take-off and landing. After take-off, I tried to access the Games on the TV, but it crashed! Bloomin dodgy Windows error!

I had a nice meal of Chicked Korma, rice, salad, cheese & crackers...and a mini Toblerone! :o) All washed down with a glass of CHardonnay, which was rather nice.

Things took a bit of a downer when I discovered a family with a little girl a few rows in front. she must have been about 3 or 4 and seeing them with her made me witsh I had my kids with me, so I got a bit sad then :o( But then, thankfully, Little Britain came on the TV, so I watched that (as did everyone else, by the sounds of all the laughter). It was the first episode from the second series, which was really good to see again.

We had a piece of Pizza and a small cake at around 6.15 as our tea. It was a bit soggy, but it kept me going. I was busy watching the stunning views of the Appalation Mountains on the TV screens as we passed over Canada and into the USA. We eventually passed over New York, although I couldn't quite see if Mary-Kate and Ashley were there for Rosie (!).

My neck was killing me - I had had a fitful night sleep and had really cricked my neck. Spending hours on an aeroplane was doing it no good at all.

We eventually landed at Washington, where I had to go through the stringent security checks, get my fingerprints taken, photo taken, take your shoes off, coat off, take your laptop out etc. etc. It's a bit of a pain, but I guess it's making sure we're all safe, so I shouldn't complain. I had a couple of hours till my flight to Denver was due, so I grabbed a bite to eat (spent my first dollars!) and waited by the gate.

The plane to Denver was quiet different the the previous one. It was set out in a 2-5-2 arrangement, and I was plonked right in the middle of the 5. Great. And the guy in front of me insisted on having his seat reclined, so I kept sticking my knees in his back till he moved ;o)
Take off was delayed by about 20 mins for some reason, which was a bit boring, but once we got up it was a decent flight - 4 hours long. I was starting to feel really wierd by now - my body thought it was 18:45, but actually it was only 13:45. Very odd.

So I finally arrived in Denver, dashed off to find my luggage , only to find out that I didn't need to as it would be transferred to the Bozeman plane for me. I had, by this time, gone out of the departture lounge though, so I had to go back through all the security again...shoes off, bags emptied, laptop out etc. , then get a train back to the departure lounge. I was rapidly running out of time so I sprinted as best I could, dragging my trolley case behind me, and just made it onto the Bozeman flight with 10 minutes to spare. This was a much smaller plane, just 2+2, although it is a relatively short hop of 1.5 hours from Denver to Bozeman. I spent this time finding some really funny things you can buy in the in-flight magazine. I'll tell you all about these another day!

In the end, we landed in Bozeman a bit early. I collected my bag and called the hotel to arrange a pickup (they do a free transfer service). I was fretting a bit tho, as there appears to be no mobile signal out here. I have had no problems in Washington and Denver, but it looks like Bozeman doesn't come under any roaming agreements with O2 or Vodafone - there's just no signal at all. This is a real pain, as it means I'm limited to MSN, or costly hotel telephones, when sometimes just a quick text would do. Grrrr......

Anyway, I got into my room and rang Lisa to tell her all was well. When the kids got up they all went on MSN, so I had a nice chat with everyone and we got the webcams working at least (no audio tho :o[ ) I miss them all so much already. I don't know quite how I have managed to be so brave, coz all I wanted to do today was cry and cry all day, but I toughed it out and managed to control myself, for the sake of my fellow travellers!

I'll now finish my unpacking and get some sleep. I think its gonna take me a good few days to get back to normal, so I hope there's nothing too strenuous in the first few days training!

My carriage awaits

After the most difficult goodbyes I've ever done, I'm now waiting to board my plane for washington. It's the start of a very big adventure for me, not just for the next 2.5 weeks, but for the rest of my life as it heralds theproper start of my new job...and ultimately my new life.

USA here I come!

This is probably the last chance I'll get to post before I leave for the states on Sunday, so I thought I'd just say farewell. I hope to keep posting while I'm over there, with news and photos of what I'm up to.

I'm feeling really wierd now...quite excited about going, but so sad to be leaving everyone behind. I'm going to miss them all so much. I'm so not looking forward to saying goodbye, it's gonna be awful :o(

JCS on Radio 2

On Elaine Paige's Radio 2 show on Sunday, she had JCS as her featured show. She played "Superstar", "Herod's Song", "Everything's Alright", "Gethsemane" and "I don't know how to love him". You can listen to the show again on the BBC Radio Player until next Sunday. If you can put up with Elaine's rather annoying voice and unfunny jokes, it's actually quite a good show, with a good selection of songs from film and stage. It's on from 13:00 till 14:30 on a Sunday.

Montana webcams

Well, the time for my departure to the USA is approaching fast - only 5 more days then I'm off :o(

I've been checking out the weather conditions over there by using these 2 webcams:
This one is on top of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle building, and this one is on the Montana State University campus. Both of these can be controlled by the user, so you can pan around and zoom in and out to your heart's content, which is quite fun. Remember that Montana is 7 hours behind tho, so there's not much to see before about 2pm our time. When the sun does come up tho, there are some amazing mountain ranges all along the horizon, which are worth a look. For the stalkers among you, you could alternatively park the camera outside the Student Union building and snoop on the students going in and out!

Another new look

Yes, its true...I decided on another make-over for the site. I felt the other template wasn't really working too well, and stumbled across this one, which I thought was rather funky. Hope you like it.

Slight change of plan

It seems my flights and hotel have been changed for my trip to the states. I am now flying into Washington, then from there to Denver, then on to Bozeman. This is better as my flight now leaves at 12 noon, which gives us time to get to the airport without having to get up at stupid-o-clock in the morning. And I now have my seats reserved, so I can see that although I have to make do with travelling Economy class, I am on the aisle, so at least I can stretch my legs out.

And they've changed my hotel to the Wingate Inn, which looks much nicer than the other one. Rooms look much bigger and more comfortable. There's still free net access, which is great, and it also means I'll be there with the other 2 guys from work who are visiting at the same time.

As for the new job, well, it's going vey well. I'm getting into it now and getting to know the software. I'm working from home this week, really getting my hands dirty with the product, but then I'm hopefully going out on site with another consultant next week for a few days. Then, it's off to the states the week after!

A new start

So, yesterday was my first day working for RightNow. It was a good day, everyone here is really friendly and pleased to see me. I've got a nice swanky new laptop, and a smart mobile phone is on order! It was quite a quiet day, spent looking through documents and internal web sites, getting acquainted with the systems they use here. I think it's all going to work out really well.

Even the Travelodge I'm staying in is pretty good (as Travelodges go), and, best of all, it is literally just across the street from the office - 15 seconds walk from door to door! Now that's the sort of commute I don't mind doing!

And of an era...and top show news

That's it, the end of an era...today was my last day with BT and I am now officially unemployed! (until Monday!)

I thought I'd feel really overjoyed as i left the building in Leeds for the last time, but I actually felt quite subdued. I think my excitement at leaving BT has been tempered by my anxiety over my new job. Don't get me wrong, I'm so looking forward to doing it, it's just going to be a real test for me, for Lisa and for the kids. I have to get used to working really hard again! I don't seem to have done that for quite some time now! And Lisa and the kids will have to get used to me not being around much, which is going to be really hard. It's going to be a strain on all of us, but we have to keep focussing on the final goal - the move to France. That is why I'm doing this job and that is why we will all make it work.

Another good thing - we won the "Best Show" award from NODA for JCS! I think we all hoped that we would, but it is nice to hear at last. Personally, I'm also holding out for the "Best Suicide in a musical" award....

A proud Uncle

Uncle Richard
Originally uploaded by aragornsbeard.

Daniel

Daniel
Originally uploaded by aragornsbeard.

What an angel...