I figured I should start the new year out with a blog posting since it’s been exactly a year since I first posted something on in it and, in three days, since I publicly told anyone I’d be making a trip to England. It’s been a long and busy year. Let’s hope the adventures don’t stop 🙂
I’ll be making a US trip in 2 days. I’ll be in New Jersey to see Carolyn for a few days and then off to Arizona to see my parents in their new environment and my sister. It’ll be a much needed break.
As a result, I was in the UK for the whole of the holidays. Considering how hectic London is during the bulk of the year (7 million people in a single city makes it a little crowded), this was a ghost town the last week. My commute, short as it normally is, was absurd. The roads were empty, the buses were empty, the office was empty. Alas, I was sick, so all the work I planned on catching up on became ‘This needs to be done yesterday’ again. But it’s been nice and relaxing to have everyone off on holidays. And now I get to flee before it gets to crazy again. I’ll post more once I’m stateside!
Oh yeah, if you’re in NYC on 5 January (it’s a Saturday), lemme know as I’m hoping to spend the evening in the city.
Been pretty quiet around here. I’m still recovering from that really horrible flu which means that, when I’m not resting, I’m trying to catch up at work. yuck.
On a positive note, I’m taking a much needed vacation to the US in about 3 days. Very exciting.
Hope all you people who read this have a wonderful 2008!
For those of you reading this today (you shouldnt be! 🙂 ), I just wanted to wish you a merry christmas. I managed to get down to Brighton before the entire UK shut down (it really does), but I’ve got a nasty flu which made for an unpleasant time but Dina and Adrian have been very nice and helpful. So it’s been a nice relaxing Christmas. Hope you’re all having the same.
OK, technically, the previous post was the last one on Paris. However, I’ve had a few people who have seen that I usually take more than 3 photos of a place mention that they’d like to be able to access these photos outside of my apartment. Now I could easily do this with flickr or ofoto or a million other sites that I have no control over. Instead, I’ve set up an area where I’ll try to dump my photos on a regular basis for all the world to enjoy. While I’ll not upload really shitty pictures or ones where I took 7 trying to get the right angle or focus, it’ll pretty much be raw. The photos are about half their original size (otherwise, it’ll load veeeery slowly) but they’re still quite large. If i feel like a photo needs an explanation, I might add one, but that’ll be it. And i’ll just add a link to the blog when a new one is created. So, without further adieu:
So, I’ve been saying for months that, once my hair was more than 10 inches long, I’d donate it and finally bite the bullet and figure out a hair style instead of the default ‘don’t get a haircut’ mode I’ve been in. Well, today was the day. Here is me before (my hair is wet as I’d just showered):
And here I am 2 hours later:
So what became of my hair? Well, it’s currently sitting on my kitchen table, drying. Soon, it’ll be in a ziplock bag and I’ll mail it to one of those charities that makes wigs for kids with cancer or early balding. The length was about 12 inches:
I managed to find a reasonably priced place with a guy who knew what he was doing. It looks like the cut he gave me should be flexible so, if I don’t like how it looks now, I can just tousle it around and it’ll be different. 🙂
This is just short note to point out that, in a very short while, Carolyn will be arriving in London. Alas, it’s not for good, but she’ll have her first chance to see London without the tourist thoughts. It’s a very different city when you look at it as a potential place to live. Needless to say, I’m very much looking forward to her arrival. 🙂
Plus, she’s bringing me a new camera, so I’ll be able to document things again. Lots of excitment!
OK, there are a few of you dedicated types who haven’t given up on me. I’ve been busy/tired and I’m finally getting a chance to catch up. I have at least 5 posts (yes ‘timber’ one of those involves my kitties!) that I’ll start putting up on Wednesday. In the meantime, my friend Dan is an artist. He has been drawing as long as I’ve known him (which is about 25 years). He’s made some cool shit that’s been put on the web and he published something recently. Sooo, here it be:
Howdy. It’s been a silent week for me. That would be because, since returning to the UK, I’ve essentially been working. I worked 30 hours this weekend alone. If I can make it Friday, then I can catch up on all the fun things in my life (my Chicago trip has been woefully under-reported). More later this week!
Well, I’m back in the UK now and only somewhat jetlagged. I had a wonderful time in Chicago and I’ll be trying to add entries about some of the more interesting things/days of the trip. For all the fine people I was able to see, it was tons of fun. Hopefully I’ll be back sooner rather than later! 🙂
Most of you who read this site have at least heard about Carolyn and many of you have had the pleasure of getting to know her. She’s the wonderful woman I’ve been dating for almost 3 years. We’ve been separated by my move to the UK, which has been very difficult. But it’s actually made our relationship stronger.
In the four months we’ve been apart, it’s become clear that no matter what our future holds, it will involve both of us. So, on Tuesday 17 July 2007, we went to a beach we visited on our first date, had a nice picnic brunch and I proposed to her. And, for some strange reason, she said yes! Woo Hoo!
Anyhoo, for those of you I haven’t been able to talk to, let it be known that Carolyn and I are engaged (chances are, you didn’t hear it directly because I lost all my US phone numbers. Doh!). Here’s a picture of the happy couple:
And here’s where it happened:
There’s not much more to add aside from the general happiness. Life is good and you’ll be able to hear plenty more about it as the details (when, where, ETC) develop. Joy!
Hello all you lovely Chicago readers. Just a quick announcement before regular posting continues, but I wanted to make it be known that, barring an emergency at work, I’ve got a ticket to head to beautiful Chicago in less than two weeks. I’ll be in Chicago or visiting the family in Michigan from the 13th of July until the 23rd at which point I’ll be heading back to finish my marathon project at work.
Hopefully, you’ll all be around and I can see you and break bread and drink beer and enjoy a little bit of summer in Chicago with you. Exciting!!
So I’ve really been enjoying messing around with this whole google map hack I’ve thrown together. Kind of an intellectual exercise that people seem to enjoy. Anyhoo, this post is just to remind people that it’s a work in progress, so every day or so, something (either more points or a feature or two) is added. The most recent additions would be non-London locations: Brighton and Leeds (Stockholm is coming soon!). So hop over to the map if you wanna see how things lay out and play around with it!
Maybe you’ve seen some websites which use google maps to have a little more interactive feel to it. Well, I got an idea to jump on the bandwagon last night and whipped together a page that takes some of the places I’ve been and puts it into a map that you can click on and see pictures related to the location. It’s a work in progress and is only for a fraction of the places I’ve been (no restaurants yet and some sights haven’t been added either) and it’s only for London, but I think, as I add entries to this, I’ll also add it to the map to get some perspective of where I’ve been. Check it out and give me some feedback:
