I guess I jinxed the next flight
In my last post, I said that the flight to Houston went well, so of course the flight from Houston to London had to make up for it! Actually, it wasn't too awful, but there was some aggravation initially. Right after we pushed back from the gate, a thunderstorm blew in over the airport. So we sat on the tarmac for a few minutes and then the captain got on the intercom and told us about the thunderstorm and said it should clean in about 15 minutes. Forty-five minutes later, he got on the intercom again and said that the storms had cleared over the airport, but that the corridor for our flight had more thunderstorms, so that tower was clearing flights going a different direction ahead of us and that it would be about 15 minutes more before we could take off. Once again his 15 minutes turned into 45 minutes and we finally took off an hour and a half late. We did make up about thirty minutes of that time and were only an hour late landing at Heathrow.
I knew from previous trips, that London was an expensive place, but I was shocked when I found out that it was going to cost me 65 pound for the thirty minute ride from the airport to the hotel I am staying at. For those who don't check the daily exchange rates, that boiled down to about $119 to go a total of about 15 miles. Talk about a license to steal! I am beginning to wonder if I have exchanged enough money for this trip! Though it is probably not the most cost effective way to do it, I think for the time I am here, I will end up charging my breakfast and dinner to my hotel room so that I can put it all on one mastercard bill. Of course this is all set up as well in a manner where I will have to expense all of it back, so I am basically giving the company an interest free loan for the three months or so it will take for me to get reimbursed. Unless I pay it off all at once that means I will get the *privilege* of paying interest on the interest free loan I am giving the company. Sometimes I think the company's policies are deliberately designed to drive thinking people away!
So far though the course is going ok. I am getting to see some coworkers that I haven't seen in ages which has been nice. There was a bit of a CF at the start of the class, it appears the global IT guys had screwed up and the log in for us for the course did not get set up until a couple of hours after we had been in the course. (If ever there was an appropriate acronym for a group of people it has to be git. For those not familiar with UK version of English slang, a git is an idiot, and most of the people who work for global IT division definitely act like they qualify!)
Even though I am very much an introvert, I am the most experienced person in the course (including the instructor as far as our software is concerned) so I have interjected lots of comments and anecdotes during the course so far.
I am undergoing a bit of a temperature shock though. The high temperatures so far have been about on level with what low temperatures were in Tulsa before I left. Well I suppose I should end this post for now had hit the rack. I hope all who read this are having a good week.
I knew from previous trips, that London was an expensive place, but I was shocked when I found out that it was going to cost me 65 pound for the thirty minute ride from the airport to the hotel I am staying at. For those who don't check the daily exchange rates, that boiled down to about $119 to go a total of about 15 miles. Talk about a license to steal! I am beginning to wonder if I have exchanged enough money for this trip! Though it is probably not the most cost effective way to do it, I think for the time I am here, I will end up charging my breakfast and dinner to my hotel room so that I can put it all on one mastercard bill. Of course this is all set up as well in a manner where I will have to expense all of it back, so I am basically giving the company an interest free loan for the three months or so it will take for me to get reimbursed. Unless I pay it off all at once that means I will get the *privilege* of paying interest on the interest free loan I am giving the company. Sometimes I think the company's policies are deliberately designed to drive thinking people away!
So far though the course is going ok. I am getting to see some coworkers that I haven't seen in ages which has been nice. There was a bit of a CF at the start of the class, it appears the global IT guys had screwed up and the log in for us for the course did not get set up until a couple of hours after we had been in the course. (If ever there was an appropriate acronym for a group of people it has to be git. For those not familiar with UK version of English slang, a git is an idiot, and most of the people who work for global IT division definitely act like they qualify!)
Even though I am very much an introvert, I am the most experienced person in the course (including the instructor as far as our software is concerned) so I have interjected lots of comments and anecdotes during the course so far.
I am undergoing a bit of a temperature shock though. The high temperatures so far have been about on level with what low temperatures were in Tulsa before I left. Well I suppose I should end this post for now had hit the rack. I hope all who read this are having a good week.