Year: 2007
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Go Texan! Go, Texan!
It could only happen here. (Here being Texas.) Today is officially ‘Go Texan Day’, an annual event where everyone in Texas is wholeheartedly encouraged to ‘be as Texan as possible’. The most immediate impact of this is that everyone is wearing cowboy outfits at work. (Well, perhaps not everyone, but at least half the men on my floor are wearing Stetsons and/or checked shirts.) Now Friday is ‘casual day’ anyway (something I’ve never seen the point in), but when one of your office buddies comes in wearing chaps, and without a hint of irony – or at least a policeman,… Read more
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‘Special’ delivery
There’s an episode of The Simpsons where Mr. Burns wants to send an express package to someone. It rapidly goes through several handlers (in a parody of a FedEx or DHL advert – I forget which) before being given to Homer to deliver. Homer sees Mr. Burns’s name on it, and not realizing that this is the ‘From’ person, rushes, panting into Mr. Burns’ office to deliver it to him, some 30 seconds after Mr. Burns sent it in the first place. Classic stuff. But sadly all too real… I’ve just relocated my office from Brussels (Belgium) to Houston, Texas.  I packed up… Read more
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(F)utility services
Sigh. It looks as though my hope for a painless re-integration into American living may be a tad naive. I’m back in Brussels and, having found a house in the U.S., am now trying to get everything connected for when I move in, in a couple of week’s time. First up was the electricity supply. The previous occupants used a company called Stream Energy. They compared favorably with the other providers, so I thought I may as well continue using them. So I phoned them up to get the service transferred into my name. Nope. Can’t do it. That would… Read more
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Gee it’s great to be back home again
What a great week! I’m back in Houston, TX. It’s been a while, but as soon as I got off the plane and the humidity hit me, I just felt that I was right back home again. Sure, it’s not the prettiest city in the world, and it’s never going to make it as a vacation destination, but something about Houston just makes it comfortable. I’m here ostensibly to finalize the details of my new job.  Much of this involves sitting in all-day meetings with the rest of my new organization trying to working out who we are and what we’re supposed to be doing.   Inbetween all… Read more