MrGrumpy was up and in the office by 6:30am, he did a couple of miles jogging before getting some fruit and heading off to a meeting.
Luckily when he and the E-Team returned there were still some Donuts left, hopefully he did not undo the good work from jogging by scoffing a donut for a mid morning snack.
The rest of the day was uneventful, several meetings, lunch, more meetings followed by dinner and a couple of pints.
Tomorrow the rest of the E-Team leave the west coast, leaving MrGrumpy to continues to represent them in isolation.
Friday, 31 August 2012
Thursday, 30 August 2012
Beside the seaside...
After another day of meetings, the E-Team headed to the coast for the evening. This should be quite a simple thing to organise, but given the number of vehicles and places everybody was staying it did get a little complicated.
At the beach they took a walk around, while walking down the pier, MrGrumpy attracted the attention of a local, MrSeagull, who must have been a bomber pilot in a previous life, as he managed to hit MrGrumpy's Nikon from about 30feet above. You can imagine how happy this made MrGrumpy...
The rest of the evening went without incident, MrWhiteSox let them to a bar / restaurant which was called "99 bottles of beer", they did not manage all 99...
At the beach they took a walk around, while walking down the pier, MrGrumpy attracted the attention of a local, MrSeagull, who must have been a bomber pilot in a previous life, as he managed to hit MrGrumpy's Nikon from about 30feet above. You can imagine how happy this made MrGrumpy...
The rest of the evening went without incident, MrWhiteSox let them to a bar / restaurant which was called "99 bottles of beer", they did not manage all 99...
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
The Walking Dead... (aka JetLag)
None of the E-Team slept very well, MrC was awake from 2:30am, MrCosmicTea woke at 55mins past every hour and MrGrumpy was wide awake checking emails at 4:00am.
After a morning of meetings the E-Team with support from MrWhiteSox and MrZee, had some lunch.
Post Lunch and mid afternoon they were feeling the effects of JetLag, they powered on through with the assistance of coffee and sour skittles.
By early evening they headed to the "Yard House" in San Jose for some refreshment and food.
After a morning of meetings the E-Team with support from MrWhiteSox and MrZee, had some lunch.
Post Lunch and mid afternoon they were feeling the effects of JetLag, they powered on through with the assistance of coffee and sour skittles.
By early evening they headed to the "Yard House" in San Jose for some refreshment and food.
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
MrGrumpy Season 3 Begins
"In 2012 , a crack bluetooth unit was confined to secure facility by the powers above for a project they can't talk about. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the development underground.
If you have a bluetooth problem...if no one else can help...and if you can find them...maybe you can hire...The E-Team..."
Three members of the E-Team, MrGrumpy, MrC and MrCosmicTea, headed to the airport...
MrCosmicTea had not been to the USA before (he did say that "he had landed there, on the way to somewhere nice").
They were unable to get decent seats, so they upgraded to the "extra legroom" seats, a little more comfort for 10+ hour flight and just an additional £30.
The flight was not too bad, except MrGrumpy did have a small RugRat sat behind, who regularly (for about 8 hours) kicked, tapped or moved the back of his seat... obviously not annoying MrGrumpy at all... but he did wish he had his gaffer tape and velcro to hand...
At immigration the queue was not existent, they were all through about 10mins after leaving the plane, a record... it was a pity the luggage took another 30mins to arrive...
Next they had MrHertz to contend with, it all seemed to go smoothly, until they got to the car and found the "CrapNav" (aka nEverLost - the n is silent) was nowhere to be found... MrC had a discussion with someone and finally they moved cars to a Toymota Armchair (with CrapNav).
MrCosmicTea provided them with some amusement when he attempted to find the hotel on the CrapNav, it all went much smoother without the "H" in San Jose.
If you have a bluetooth problem...if no one else can help...and if you can find them...maybe you can hire...The E-Team..."
Three members of the E-Team, MrGrumpy, MrC and MrCosmicTea, headed to the airport...
MrCosmicTea had not been to the USA before (he did say that "he had landed there, on the way to somewhere nice").
They were unable to get decent seats, so they upgraded to the "extra legroom" seats, a little more comfort for 10+ hour flight and just an additional £30.
The flight was not too bad, except MrGrumpy did have a small RugRat sat behind, who regularly (for about 8 hours) kicked, tapped or moved the back of his seat... obviously not annoying MrGrumpy at all... but he did wish he had his gaffer tape and velcro to hand...
At immigration the queue was not existent, they were all through about 10mins after leaving the plane, a record... it was a pity the luggage took another 30mins to arrive...
Next they had MrHertz to contend with, it all seemed to go smoothly, until they got to the car and found the "CrapNav" (aka nEverLost - the n is silent) was nowhere to be found... MrC had a discussion with someone and finally they moved cars to a Toymota Armchair (with CrapNav).
MrCosmicTea provided them with some amusement when he attempted to find the hotel on the CrapNav, it all went much smoother without the "H" in San Jose.
MrGrumpy and the Porsche Saga
MrGrumpy is happy to be using is Porsche again, but there are a few frustrations that continue to annoy him... mainly the sensors that control the roof opening (or not)...
These are the sort of annoying little issues that he should expect, owning a 13+ year old sports car is never going to be smooth (unless the budget to buy and maintain is unlimited). Whereas MrGrumpy has the WorldsCheapestPorsche(tm) and maintains it on a minimal budget, therefore he has to deal with each issue as it arrises.
*** Update ***
MrGrumpy has sold the Porsche, he is quite sad to see it go...
These are the sort of annoying little issues that he should expect, owning a 13+ year old sports car is never going to be smooth (unless the budget to buy and maintain is unlimited). Whereas MrGrumpy has the WorldsCheapestPorsche(tm) and maintains it on a minimal budget, therefore he has to deal with each issue as it arrises.
*** Update ***
MrGrumpy has sold the Porsche, he is quite sad to see it go...
Friday, 17 August 2012
The Return of MrSneeze
MrGrumpy is suffering, he is not sure if it is an allergy or a cold, he does know it is getting annoying.
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Office Days
MrGrumpy is spending the week in the office, it is a lot different to his days in the CubeFarm, open plan and can see / speak to people.
MrDangerous has been taken ill whilst on holiday, he should be back home tomorrow and then assessed by the local expert hospital, MrGrumpy has delayed his flight back for a week.
MrDangerous has been taken ill whilst on holiday, he should be back home tomorrow and then assessed by the local expert hospital, MrGrumpy has delayed his flight back for a week.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Post Olympics and JetLag
MrGrumpy slept very well after their 13 miles walking and the long day at the Olympics.
By mid afternoon, the JetLag was kicking in, MrGrumpy found himself nodding off in the chair and regretted it once he woke, feeling much worse than he did before he fell asleep.
In the evening they watched the Opening ceremony on iPlayer on the projector, prior to watching the closing concert.
Back to work for MrGrumpy in the morning...
MrGrumpy goes to the Olympics
MrGrumpy did not get long to recover from jet lag before he and LittleMissNaughty headed down to London to visit the last day of the Olympic athletics.
Their tickets were for the last evening of the athletics, so they headed into central London first. They got off the tube at StPauls and after a coffee they walked over the river and up the south bank before crossing at Westminster bridge and back to StPauls via a bar for a pub lunch.
The Tube back to Stratford and the Olympic park was quite busy, it was a short walk from the station to the entrance, once through the airport style security they were into the Olympic park.
When they headed into the stadium the found their seats were directly opposite the Olympic flame and four rows from the top. They were surprised that the stadium did not seem that big, they had a good enough view.
MrGrumpy did expect to leave with a bruised elbow, every time the little girl in the next seat stood up or sat down (which she did a lot), the seat would catch MrGrumpy's elbow...
The highlights of the night for MrGrumpy and LittleMissNaughty were seeing and being there when MrMoFarah won the 5K Gold medal, the roar of the crowd in the stadium was deafening.
Even thought MrGrumpy was not a athletics fan, being at the Olympics was an event that he won't get chance to attend again and was really pleased he had been able to go (thanks to LittleMissNaughty being organised and she was determined to go).
Their tickets were for the last evening of the athletics, so they headed into central London first. They got off the tube at StPauls and after a coffee they walked over the river and up the south bank before crossing at Westminster bridge and back to StPauls via a bar for a pub lunch.
The Tube back to Stratford and the Olympic park was quite busy, it was a short walk from the station to the entrance, once through the airport style security they were into the Olympic park.
When they headed into the stadium the found their seats were directly opposite the Olympic flame and four rows from the top. They were surprised that the stadium did not seem that big, they had a good enough view.
MrGrumpy did expect to leave with a bruised elbow, every time the little girl in the next seat stood up or sat down (which she did a lot), the seat would catch MrGrumpy's elbow...
The highlights of the night for MrGrumpy and LittleMissNaughty were seeing and being there when MrMoFarah won the 5K Gold medal, the roar of the crowd in the stadium was deafening.
Even thought MrGrumpy was not a athletics fan, being at the Olympics was an event that he won't get chance to attend again and was really pleased he had been able to go (thanks to LittleMissNaughty being organised and she was determined to go).
 |
| And the crowd went wild as MrMoFarah won his second gold in the 5000m final |
Friday, 10 August 2012
Thursday, 9 August 2012
The Final Countdown
Today it is time for the Season 2 cliffhanger, what could it be... well it is a DonutThursday, so will MrGrumpy only go for fruit and stay away from the donut? (unlikely)...
Could Season 3 be the final season? will there be a Season 4 or will there be a spin off series?, time will tell.
Once MrGrumpy returns for Season 3 his next scheduled return to the UK is not until the end of next March, this will be a really long time to be away from friends and family.
He does have LittleMissNaughty coming over for their holidays to look forward to, their holiday plans have an uncanny resemblance to the Piston Heads American Dream tour, but PH are doing it all in 8 days, MrGrumpy and LittleMissNaughty have planned it over two trips.
MrGrumpy and MrZee leave for the airport at lunchtime, MrGrumpy is hoping the choice of seats is not limited to the two that were shown on the website, both middle seats. If it is then his flight will be even more miserable than usual.
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
FlyHomeDay - Today == Tomorrow
It is the penultimate episode of BreakfastInAmerica Season 2, tomorrow will just be the cliffhanger (and travel/flight saga).
MrGrumpy has several things to get done today, a couple of meetings out of the office and he also needs to extract a cheque from the bank (for his rent).
He also needs to ensure he does enough walking today to cover the 1/2 pizza that is in the fridge from yesterday.
MrGrumpy has several things to get done today, a couple of meetings out of the office and he also needs to extract a cheque from the bank (for his rent).
He also needs to ensure he does enough walking today to cover the 1/2 pizza that is in the fridge from yesterday.
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
On Target and Off Target
By 6:30am MrGrumpy was at work, it does make for a long day, but gives him opertunity to have read all his email and be ready for his 7:00am conference call.At lunchtime MrBombsAway called MrGrumpy to see if he wanted to go to the range at lunch time (no not golf, shooting).
MrGrumpy was quite please with his accuracy, there were a couple of stray shots, but nothing much.
MrGrumpy may have been on target at the shooting range (mainly) but his number of steps an will power were well off target, due to him giving in to a craving for pizza... He only ate half, saving the rest for tomorrow, but even half blew his calorie budget by 650 calories... When he got home he felt guilty enough to go out for an after dinner stroll... an extra 9000 steps brought him back within budget (just). Of cause if he wants to eat the rest of the pizza tomorrow he will have to do at least another 12500 steps.
Monday, 6 August 2012
Another Monday, but a good week begins
Just as most other Monday mornings, MrGrumpy's arrived at the CubeFarm by 7am. This week will be quite short as he and MrZee are flying to the UK on Thursday afternoon.
MrGrumpy can't believe that 9 weeks have passed since he returned to California.
Today at lunchtime MrGrumpy walked about a mile and met up with MrCrazyRunner, they went to StJohnsBarAndGrill for BBQ chicken and fries.
MrGrumpy was tempted to have a pint, but restrained himself to Diet Coke.
MrGrumpy can't believe that 9 weeks have passed since he returned to California.
Today at lunchtime MrGrumpy walked about a mile and met up with MrCrazyRunner, they went to StJohnsBarAndGrill for BBQ chicken and fries.
MrGrumpy was tempted to have a pint, but restrained himself to Diet Coke.
MrGrumpy goes Golfing
MrGrumpy had a plan for today, well the afternoon at least. He was going to play golf at SantaTeresa course, he had found this via a BeginnersGolf group on MeetUp.com.
But he would need some supplies, water, cereal bars etc, so he took a walk to the local store. When he got there he decided to get some coffee at Peets Coffees and Teas. He saw a Light Frotto (100 Cal), which he incorrectly thought would be some type of latte, it was a iced coffee, blended to make it more like a milkshake. Not really what he had wanted for breakfast, he sat outside and drank it anyway.
After drinking his coffee milkshake and getting supplies for the afternoon he headed back, by the time he got home the dull and overcast day and reverted back to what he normally expects, sunshine and blue skies.
He arrived at the course in plenty of time and decided to hit a few on the range first, he had to rush the last 15-20 as he was getting close to the meeting up time. At the pro-shop he met up with the rest of the group, there were 11 playing, three groups.
MrGrumpy was in the second group, without going into details, the game was pretty bad, he played very consistent, but it was a consistently bad. Only a rare clean hit would encourage him on. On the last couple of holes he did manage to hit a couple of semi-decent shots, but they were soon let down by poor chips or putting.
But he would need some supplies, water, cereal bars etc, so he took a walk to the local store. When he got there he decided to get some coffee at Peets Coffees and Teas. He saw a Light Frotto (100 Cal), which he incorrectly thought would be some type of latte, it was a iced coffee, blended to make it more like a milkshake. Not really what he had wanted for breakfast, he sat outside and drank it anyway.
After drinking his coffee milkshake and getting supplies for the afternoon he headed back, by the time he got home the dull and overcast day and reverted back to what he normally expects, sunshine and blue skies.
He arrived at the course in plenty of time and decided to hit a few on the range first, he had to rush the last 15-20 as he was getting close to the meeting up time. At the pro-shop he met up with the rest of the group, there were 11 playing, three groups.
MrGrumpy was in the second group, without going into details, the game was pretty bad, he played very consistent, but it was a consistently bad. Only a rare clean hit would encourage him on. On the last couple of holes he did manage to hit a couple of semi-decent shots, but they were soon let down by poor chips or putting.
Saturday, 4 August 2012
A Non Day
MrGrumpy had to do his washing today, but other than that he had no plans.
He has found that when travelling he did not have carry on luggage which would hold his laptop and some clothes, he thought it was about time to get some, so against his better judgement he went to the mall.
MrGrumpy does not like shopping at the best of times, malls make it even worse, he generally wanders around Zombie like searching for whatever it is he is looking for. Today was no different, he checked out the usual department stores. There are plenty of carry on sized bags, but then you have to check the size, 22", 21" or 20", 2 or 4, hard shell or soft, tote or case, the choices are endless. All he wanted was something that would fit and also hold clothes + laptop (or two) + chargers etc. Finally he narrowed it down, 20" TravelPro Crew9 is the best choice as it fits in the overhead bins (wheels first) on both domestic and international flights.
After getting a case, the next problem was finding his way out of the maze that is the mall. It all looks the same and even when he did find an exit, was he at the car park, of cause not, back into the maze and find another exit... If there is one thing MrGrumpy dislikes more than shopping in a mall, it is choosing what to eat! Combine these two and you have MrGrumpy's perfect storm of a nightmare. He was faced with about 15 choices at the food court, after several circuits of the various vendors, he picked one. He had a grilled shrimp burrito, no chips (as they would add 230 calories) and a CokeZero. It was not a bad choice, it filled him up and was only 730 calories.
He retraced his steps back to the car and headed towards home. The route took him past all the car dealers, he was not in any rush to get home, so stopped down the street and decided to take a walk to see what and how much cars were going for. He was not looking to buy, he was just interested in seeing what he could / would think about buying if he were in the market for something newer than his trusty 1998 Mustang. There was not that much that he was really interested in, a few Nissan 370Z, Mustangs, Dodge Challenger, quite a few V8 trucks (which all look about the same, just with different badges and engines in).
He got back into his Mustang and drove home, all this walking at the mall and browsing the cars had boosted his steps for today, over 18,000 (about 8.5 miles). Today was warm but mostly cloudy, about the first weekend since he has been here that it has not been wall to wall blue sky.
He has found that when travelling he did not have carry on luggage which would hold his laptop and some clothes, he thought it was about time to get some, so against his better judgement he went to the mall.
MrGrumpy does not like shopping at the best of times, malls make it even worse, he generally wanders around Zombie like searching for whatever it is he is looking for. Today was no different, he checked out the usual department stores. There are plenty of carry on sized bags, but then you have to check the size, 22", 21" or 20", 2 or 4, hard shell or soft, tote or case, the choices are endless. All he wanted was something that would fit and also hold clothes + laptop (or two) + chargers etc. Finally he narrowed it down, 20" TravelPro Crew9 is the best choice as it fits in the overhead bins (wheels first) on both domestic and international flights.
After getting a case, the next problem was finding his way out of the maze that is the mall. It all looks the same and even when he did find an exit, was he at the car park, of cause not, back into the maze and find another exit... If there is one thing MrGrumpy dislikes more than shopping in a mall, it is choosing what to eat! Combine these two and you have MrGrumpy's perfect storm of a nightmare. He was faced with about 15 choices at the food court, after several circuits of the various vendors, he picked one. He had a grilled shrimp burrito, no chips (as they would add 230 calories) and a CokeZero. It was not a bad choice, it filled him up and was only 730 calories.
He retraced his steps back to the car and headed towards home. The route took him past all the car dealers, he was not in any rush to get home, so stopped down the street and decided to take a walk to see what and how much cars were going for. He was not looking to buy, he was just interested in seeing what he could / would think about buying if he were in the market for something newer than his trusty 1998 Mustang. There was not that much that he was really interested in, a few Nissan 370Z, Mustangs, Dodge Challenger, quite a few V8 trucks (which all look about the same, just with different badges and engines in).
He got back into his Mustang and drove home, all this walking at the mall and browsing the cars had boosted his steps for today, over 18,000 (about 8.5 miles). Today was warm but mostly cloudy, about the first weekend since he has been here that it has not been wall to wall blue sky.
MrGrumpy's 150% Rule
Always give 150% at work: 25% Monday, 30% Tuesday, 50% Wednesday, 40% Thursday, 5% Friday.
MrGrumpy wishes this were true, for the last few months he has been working more like 150% / day, but he is not complaining. Working almost completely in isolation he has become more focused has a clearer view of what he wants his future direction to be.
As he comes to the end of the extended Season 2, he needs to start putting things in place to ensure the difficult Season 3 and beyond get full backing from the studio.
With this being a Friday he will not be working doing 150%, he limits Fridays to 100% max.
He has not yet seen the latest MrBatMan movie and would like to see it in IMAX before it ends up on the dreaded AMC Mercado Screen 7 (with the duff right audio channel and scratched screen).
After seeing MrBatMan, MrGrumpy went to TGI Fridays and had Steak, Mash and Broccoli (yes a vegetable, but when dipped in the JackDaniels BBQ sauce it became palatable).
Next MrGrumpy went looking at carry on luggage, there was too much choice, so he decided to leave it for now.
As MrGrumpy had not seen any movies for a couple of weeks, he decided to go back to the cinema and watch Total Recall, so that was two movies today, he has now almost caught up.
MrGrumpy wishes this were true, for the last few months he has been working more like 150% / day, but he is not complaining. Working almost completely in isolation he has become more focused has a clearer view of what he wants his future direction to be.
As he comes to the end of the extended Season 2, he needs to start putting things in place to ensure the difficult Season 3 and beyond get full backing from the studio.
With this being a Friday he will not be working doing 150%, he limits Fridays to 100% max.
After seeing MrBatMan, MrGrumpy went to TGI Fridays and had Steak, Mash and Broccoli (yes a vegetable, but when dipped in the JackDaniels BBQ sauce it became palatable).
Next MrGrumpy went looking at carry on luggage, there was too much choice, so he decided to leave it for now.
As MrGrumpy had not seen any movies for a couple of weeks, he decided to go back to the cinema and watch Total Recall, so that was two movies today, he has now almost caught up.
Thursday, 2 August 2012
Fist DonutThursday for a few weeks
MrGrumpy was around for a DonutThursday, he had some fruit and a danish (for a change).
The day soon passed and he went to downtown Sunnyvale to meet some of the golfers he had met last weekend.
He got back home quite late (for him) it was 10:50pm, time to talk to LittleMissNaughty and then go to sleep...
The day soon passed and he went to downtown Sunnyvale to meet some of the golfers he had met last weekend.
He got back home quite late (for him) it was 10:50pm, time to talk to LittleMissNaughty and then go to sleep...
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Mid Week Again
MrGrumpy is struggling to work out where the weeks go, it is Wednesday again and he can't work out where Monday & Tuesday have gone, he know that his todo list just as long as it was on Monday morning, even as he ticks off one item, four or five seem to get added...
This Evening MrGrumpy had to do his expenses for the last couple of trips, he hates doing expenses, but as he has to pay the bill on his credit card now, he will be even more out of pocket if he leaves it.
7PM again, time for MrGrumpy to leave his Cube and head home, watch some Netflix and then sleep for a few hours before returning for his first DonutThursday in three weeks...
This Evening MrGrumpy had to do his expenses for the last couple of trips, he hates doing expenses, but as he has to pay the bill on his credit card now, he will be even more out of pocket if he leaves it.
7PM again, time for MrGrumpy to leave his Cube and head home, watch some Netflix and then sleep for a few hours before returning for his first DonutThursday in three weeks...
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