Time isnt half confusing

In addition to my problems with dates, I have just discovered that time is also a cause of confusion. 9:30 is always spoken as “nine thirty”, using the common UK expression of “half past nine”, or “half nine”, leads to blank looks or worse missed meetings. I told one of my colleagues that I wanted to see him at half nine; this was at about 9:20. He did not arrive; having heard the word half, he had assumed that I meant in half an hour.

Better Late than Never

It takes my employer a few weeks to verify that my bank account details are correct, so my first payslip was accompanied by a cheque. This check was presented to the bank on Wednesday. I received a message from my bank that said:

“Since all funds from your deposit were not made available on the same business day of your transaction, this notice provides you with the schedule of when the funds will be made available for your use.”

I was not expecting immediate availability of funds, since the deposit was a cheque. Knowing when the funds would be available would still be useful, if the message had not arrived as a letter the day after the funds had cleared. This sort of message is surely only useful if it arrives in a timely manner. Since the bank knows my email address – they tell me when my statements are available – this would have been a far better communications medium. It seems that maybe US banks have not fully arrived in the twenty-first century.

Heroes

In the UK, if you find about a great new TV series several episodes into its run you are faced with four choices
a) Find someone who has recorded the series so far
b) Start watching and hope that what you have missed will not stop you understanding
c) Wait until season one is complete and catch repeats or buy it on DVD before the second season.
d) Shrug your shoulders and accept you have missed the boat.

Here in the US, there is a fifth choice; go to the website of the TV network and watch the episodes broadcast so far until you are up to date. I am in the process of watching the first twelve episodes of the NBC show Heroes, so that I can start watching it on Monday evenings. This show is an intriguing concept that pulls the viewer into a multi-threaded plot. The basic premise involves apparently ordinary people who have developed extra-ordinary powers; including two of whom that have seen a near future in which a nuclear explosion obliterates New York.

Having the show on the web seems like an excellent idea, as it allows one to catch up or ensure you don’t drop out after a couple of missed episodes. Clearly, when having a 5Mps connection to the Internet is normal, web delivery is practical.

Dating Problems

Dates in America are giving me problems. Before those who know me wonder how my wife feels about me experiencing dates in the US, I should clarify that I am blogging about calendar dates. I have always known that in the US dates are written mm/dd/yy rather than the dd/mm/yy format used in the UK and Europe. However, now that I am working not only do I need to read these dates, but I have to write them. It is not so bad when writing dates after the twelfth of the month, as 31/1/07 is obviously the 31st January, but 3/2/07 could refer to two different dates. I am sure I will cause some confusion in the office with an ambiguous date at some point.

Changing License Plates

I bought a car about a month ago, when I moved to Northern California. It was not new, having been used by the dealer as a demo car. It had license plates, but the tax had expired. The dealer gave me a temporary permit and told me that the DMV would send me the tax stickers and the pink slip in six-eight weeks.

The pink slip is the government issued document that demonstrates your ownership of the car. Unlike the famous green card, which is not green; the pink slip is actually coloured pink. Rather that have a sticker for the windscreen, the US tax stickers adhere directly to the license plate.

The package arrived from the DMV today, a day over the six weeks. As well as the expected pink slip and tax stickers, they supplied two new license plates. In the UK, a car has the same plates from registration until it is scrapped and they are used as the primary identification for the car. The arrival of these new plates was, therefore, a surprise. In the UK, a change of plates would require contacting my insurance company, but here the 17 character VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) is used as the identification code. If changes in ownership cause changes in license plate numbers, I can see why the VIN is used. It also has the advantage of confirming the details of the car, as the VIN can be decoded to tell you the make, model, and year of manufacturer (In fact, you can even tell the assembly plant in which the car was built)

Public Holidays

I have noted in a previous blog entry that fewer days of vacation are offered in the US than in the UK. However, there are more federal holidays than the equivalent bank holidays. There are ten days per year, compared to eight in the UK. This year there was an eleventh day; a day of mourning for President Gerald Ford. From 2009, there will be a federal holiday for the presidential inauguration; an event that occurs every four years.

Unfortunately, while government offices, banks, and post offices observe these holidays. Many companies in the private sector only close for some of these days. My new employer marks just six of them, although we do get an extra day on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow, Monday 15, is Martin Luther King Day; a holiday that I will spend in the office as will be the case with February 19; which is President’s Day. My first day of holiday will not arrive until Memorial Day on May 28.

Precise but not Accurate

It seems common practice here in the US to show the population on the signs posted at the city limits. What makes this feel a little odd is the precision that these numbers display. The city of Fairfield in which I live has a population of about 100,000. The signs however state that the population is 105,026.

Why be so precise? Since the number is not update hourly it is clearly no longer accurate and was probably wrong by the time it was posted on the board. I have no idea where the figure used is obtained. The obvious source would be from the last census, but that was a population of just under 102,000.

The population figures are clearly updated more frequently than the signs are replaced as they are on a plate that that sits proud of the main sign’s surface. I did not note if the figure was changed when we moved in.

Fish and Chips (Revisited)

It is strange what being an expat can do to your tastes. I think I ate Fish and Chips on three or maybe four occasions in my last five years in the UK. Now that I am in the US and Fish and Chips is not a common dish, I tend to eat it wherever I see it; three times in less than six months.

The latest place was at a Chippy just down the road from where I work. Served in paper with malt vinegar and salt; it felt pretty authentic. The menu included scallops, calamari, and shrimp which are a little less common sight on UK menus. For the main white fish there was a choice of Cod or Pollock. Since I am not a fan of abstract expressionist art, I went for the traditional choice of Cod.

Here in the US the word chips is used to describe crisps and deep fried sticks of potato are called French fries or just fries. However, the phrase Fish and Chips is used to describe battered fish and fried potato, a potential source of confusion that could be resolved if they just used the correct words in the first place.

Nine to Six

I have just started my second week of work. The most obvious difference from any office that I have worked in the UK is the dress code. No one wears a tie and while blue denim is forbidden there are people in black jeans and sweat shirts. Each morning as I am about to leave the house, I really notice the lack of a tie.

The company pays salaries fortnightly rather than the monthly frequency which is the norm in the UK. They also pay with a cheque unless you explicitly request a bank transfer. This seems to significantly increase the admin work for the payroll department.

In common with most US companies the amount of holiday is tiny compared to the UK. I cannot take holiday during my first year and I get just ten days per year; although this rises to fifteen days per year after five years of service.

Back in the US

Happy New Year

New Year’s Day is a holiday here in the US, as is Christmas Day. Boxing Day is not and most offices were back at work on Tuesday. Closures for the whole week; which are still common in the UK seem all but unknown here. The amount of vacation time is typically two weeks per year; with three seen as generous. This compares to the 4-5 weeks typical in the UK. I arranged not to start my new job until 2nd January; which allowed me to return to the UK for Christmas.

I flew from San Francisco airport; the nearest airport with flights to Europe. It has an unusual runway arrangement. I stood in the car park waiting for the courtesy bus to take me to the terminal and watched planes landing. There are two parallel runways used for incoming planes, and you can see pairs of planes separated by just 750 feet coming into land at the same time.

The runway for take-offs is at ninety degrees to the incoming ones and planes take off across the bay. Oakland airport is on the other shore, so the planes have to turn through ninety degrees very soon after taking off. On a day as clear as the one on which I departed, there are wonderful views across the city including the famous Golden Gate Bridge.