Today I am in Durham, NC. I flew from Edmonton yesterday to Raleigh-Durham via Chicago. Let me tell you that I absolutely love the moving walkways in Chicago...I've never seen a busier airport.

Americans love their cell phones. Once the pilot or flight attendant tells the passengers that it's okay to send/receive calls, you can hear cell phones being turned on and people chatting away, all while the plane is still arriving at the airport.

The guy who met me at the airport is the designated VIF representative at the airport. His responsibility is to meet the VIF teachers and call the Millennium Hotel (where I am staying) shuttle. His name is Cecil and he recently graduated from UNC in Chapel Hill, in Electrical Engineering. I asked him about the school system, weather and sports. He knows that Edmonton has a hockey team but not much else. We talked about football, and I mentioned that the CFL plays with three downs (unlike the NFL).

There was a man on the shuttle from Alabama going to the hotel. I'm not sure whether he was escaping Katrina, but that's a mighty fine accent you got going on there...

The hospitality has been great so far. I have thrown out all previous opinions I had about the United States. But only time will tell.

My first VIF lesson took place last night. We reviewed the driving rules and watched an old video called "The National Driving Test". The test itself was pretty easy, maybe because I'm from Canada, after all and the rules are very similar.

My roommate arrived late last night, after I had settled into bed. His name is George and he will be teaching in Raeford as well at the elementary level. He arrived from Hungary, a good 19 hour trip from his home town, and his wife is coming later this week. He's got a British accent, perhaps because he lived in London for a couple of years.

This morning, I had my driving test with a gentleman by the name of Davey Knight, who is from Greensboro. We got to drive around Durham. I didn't have much trouble, only with the seat adjustment and the speedometer (which is in units of miles per hour). He told me the weather hasn't been this hot in years (can you imagine 76°F = 24°C in the early morning?). He was a history and biology teacher before becoming a driving instructor. He told me I shouldn't have any trouble driving around Raeford when I get there.

After a short break, I was in the hallway in front of the VIF office and I talked with a lady named Milly, who schedules the driving tests. She told me about how her son had a substitute for science for three (of four) terms and didn't do very well. But now he's in a charter school and wants to go to the NC School of Math and Science (a high school with its own highway sign) and has an interest in cryogenics.

I skipped the dinner part (which was uneventful, except for the fact that I now hate olives and green chili peppers more than ever), but that's a synopsis of my adventure in America thus far.

Well, it is my last day in Edmonton for now.

I met up with my friend Karl and we walked over to his new apartment, which is still under renovations. He's been working pretty hard since the strike at his company began one month ago, completing 12-hour shifts in the daytime and another four-plus hours in the evening. Afterwards, we went out for a nice lunch at Sherlock Holmes. Well, he had a nice lunch. I had breakfast, so I wasn't that hungry.

My favourite radio station, the CBC, has locked out its unionized workers for the past two weeks. It's a shame that much of the summer programming was cut, and some of the familiar voices have gone off the air. However, they have not conceded to total silence, thanks to the Internet. This will satisfy my ears for a bit while I am down in the USA.

Today is the 10th anniversary of the release of Microsoft Windows 95. I remember wanting to use the operating system very much, but thought I should wait a while for the bugs to be worked out. Microsoft issued Service Pack 1 at the end of December, and I bought Windows 95 and the Plus! pack in April 1996. They did not even bother to slipstream the Service Pack into the original media. That was the last time I was paying money for an operating system that did not come preinstalled on my computer. If I had a choice though, I wish we could have the option of other operating systems preinstalled, instead of the "Microsoft tax".

Here's a gem I found from Slashdot today: "I thought they wrote 32-bit extensions and a graphical shell for a 16-bit patch to an 8-bit operating system originally coded for a 4-bit microprocessor written by a 2-bit company that can't stand 1-bit of competition."

The Win32s extensions were a set of files that were supposed to be installed on top of Windows 3.1, which ran on top of MS-DOS, which was programmed for the Intel 8088 processor. Win32s was useless, since there was hardly any software that could use them until Windows 95 came along.

All right. So I am going (= moving) to the USA this weekend. Forms here, forms there. Fees here, fees there. In the spirit of list-making, I offer the following:

- state certification fee ($60 US = $75)
- criminal record check ($30)
- passport ($87)
- passport photos ($10.69)
- SEVIS fee ($100 US = $125)

Why does the US have such cryptic codes for their forms?
I-901 SEVIS (I-797 issued for receipt of payment), DS-2019, J-1 visa, I-94 arrival/departure card, Form 8840 (to be attached to Form 1040NR).

BREAKING NEWS
Alberta teacher headed south

EDMONTON - The author of this piece, a first-year teacher from Edmonton, will be departing for the United States in a little over a week to begin as a high-school chemistry teacher at Hoke High School in Raeford, NC. The tentative agreement was reached over the telephone early Friday afternoon.

The interview was brief and took less than 60 seconds. The school year begins in Hoke County this coming Thursday and the candidate they had initially chosen couldn't get to the U.S. The entire interview, given by the vice-principal of the school, consisted of two questions: "Can you teach chemistry?" and "How did you get the experience?". Given satisfactory answers, a position was immediately offered.

Raeford has a population of approximately 3,500 and is located near the Fort Bragg Military Reservation. Less than 20 miles away is Fayetteville, a city which is considerably larger and hosts a variety of services, including a Wal-Mart store. Details of the agreement were not disclosed.

I received a call last night from a principal for a telephone interview, in regards to an application I submitted for a teaching position in the tiny hamlet of Ardmore (pop. 234), located between Bonnyville and Cold Lake. The interview took place over speakerphone this morning.

The posting had been modified from 1.0 FTE Science Teacher to 0.5 Science Teacher + 0.5 Elementary Math Teacher. Ah, I can handle addition and subtraction...

In the evening, the vice-principal called me and told me that (unfortunately) I finished second (out of four candidates). The incumbent won out because s/he had special needs experience, but we were tied in all other categories (apparently).

As they say, second place is the first loser.

I like Eisenhower's creations. Now, all I need is a fuel-efficient car with shock-absorbent-but-indestructible bumpers to experience it safely.

I finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince this past weekend. Harry is not killed by Lord Voldemort in this book, therefore, there will be a Book Seven after all (oops...spoiler). But somebody is killed, could it be ... the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot?

Mobile phone users:

Talking on your phone from Downtown to Mill Woods (or reverse trip) is NOT COOL. Just because you're on an unlimited plan doesn't mean you get to talk as much as you want, it annoys the other 90% of the bus riders. Also, it's not your private vehicle, you paid $2 for the ride, and we don't care where the hell you are, or where the bus is at the moment.

Checking your phone for messages while riding the LRT is NOT COOL. You are essentially disconnected from the network once you enter the second set of escalators at University Station due to poor reception. What difference does it make if you checked once you get back onto surface level, where your services are restored?

Playing games on your phone is NOT COOL. Maybe it was in 1998, when getting the highest score in 'Snakes' gained yourself popularity among your friends, but when you play anything on-board public transportation it makes you look like you are holding your best friend.

Proud to be a non-owner of a mobile phone for 24 years. (I had a phone for a little over three months last summer at work. But it wasn't my fault I wasn't given a desk phone. My personal/non-business usage over this period was under 20 minutes.)