Commercials - Are they really that hard to come up with?

One of the reasons that I'm excited to go home next week is because I actually can't take one more full week of Brit tv. Granted, I only watch American television shows, but still the Brit commercials make their way in and attack my brain like some sort of burrowing insect in your brain. Here is one that has haunted me since I moved here:


The annoying thing is EVERYONE LOVES IT! Why?? They not only don't hate it, they think its hysterical. When he twitches at the end and says "simples", it makes me want to hurt someone. I get so mad! Especially when people are doing that in the office.

One of my co-workers just came over and tried to get me to go to www.comparethemeerkats.com. She keeps say "Kat, ees very funny! (clearly she is eastern European) You just go and compare meerkats! You MUST do!"

No, no. I must not.

Now she is comparing the meerkats and reading out loud the different descriptions of the different meerkats. And asking everyone that walks by if they've compared the meerkats. Seriously? Seriously. Get me out of here.

Clearly I'm at the end of my rope. If the IT guy comes in and starts singing the "go compare" song, its on.

The Christmas that BA ruined

Update from the BA strike front:

BA took the union, Unite, to court. Basically BA said that the strike was illegal because when Unite passed out the ballots to its members to say "Do you want to strike?", they also sent them to people that had stopped working at BA as long as 9 months ago. So the court said, sorry bout your luck Unite, the strike is illegal. Now the strike is off. Unite is complaining like a biotch because they said this is a loop hole. The thing is, it was so dumb of them because 92% of the people that were balloted voted for the strike, and even BA admitted that the number of people that didn't work there any more that got surveyed was negligible. So they could have followed the rules and had the strike anyway. Greedy, greedy.

I'm actually pretty mad that the strike did get called off because now I have a ridiculous credit with Continental. There is still a chance that something could happen anyway. Unite is reserving their right to appeal, and they are re-balloting everyone. Even if that happens quickly, they are saying the strike won't take place until after the new year. I'm also mad it got called off because I'm not sure I trust myself to be a nice passenger to my flight crew on the 23rd now. But I guess they'll have a lot of that.

So I am not so patiently watching the news to see what happens.

In other news, I can't wait for this year to be over. Bring on 2010. And if anyone has suggestions as to fun places to go next year, let me know.

The grinch

In case anyone is interested in what the grinch looks like these days:

An open letter

Dear British Airways Union,

You suck. Due to your decision to strike from December 22nd to January 2nd, you have majorly FUBAR'd over one million people's travel plans for the holidays. I have heard stories from several brits on the news who are really upset their Boxing Day holiday plans have been ruined due to the strike. As much as I feel for them (I love a good ski holiday just as much as the next girl - nothing like sitting by a fire sipping hot chocolate), I have to say their holiday plans being ruined is really small potatoes.

My sister and I have been looking forward to going home for several months now. I need to be home. Liz needs to be home. If I have to spend Christmas in this country I might scream. After you announced your little strike, all of the other airlines who had reasonable prices over the holidays jumped at the chance to bump them up. Now, I understand the supply and demand theories, but really? Virgin, you are charging me £13,000 for a round trip ticket? For SHAME!!

After whipping out several credit cards (because, surprisingly, not everyone has a spare couple thousand pounds in their accounts to rebook tickets), I've got my ticket home and Liz's ticket taken care of. How gracious of BA to say they will refund your money. Oh wait, scratch that. Only if you actually cancel the flight. So now I have two tickets, because my other option is possibly not having any.

I wish I could say I understand the reasons that BA is so angry to strike. Cutting flight crew from 15 to 14 and instituting a pay freeze for 2 years really doesn't seem like something you can pull a grinch for though. News flash. We are in a recession. I don't know a single company that hasn't had lay offs and pay freezes. Welcome to 2009. The only thing that makes me smile is that no matter what happens, this will be the end of BA. They will lose £15 million if the strike happens. Even if the strike doesn't happen, I don't know a single person that would risk flying with your facockta airlines again.

Len McCluskey, assistant general secretary of the Unite union: If we ever meet, please prepare yourself for a good old can of Jersey whoop ass being brought upon you. You sir, are the living version of the grinch. Sans the growing heart.

I hope you get coal in your stocking, and a pink slip.

Happy Freakin Christmas,

Kat

Because I'm Bored...

There are three weeks left in the quarter, 5 days of which have the potential to be productive. Starting on the 18th, no one is going to be in their offices. Any chance I have at closing sales is essentially done, now I'm just waiting for the orders to come in. This means my days are filled with me trying to entertain myself and find new companies for next year. Thus, I am bored. I thought I would regale you with a story about the worst shower ever made.

Last weekend I went to Verity's house on Saturday night. We were planning on ordering food, watching X Factor, and then I was going to sleep over because Hillary's baby shower was taking place about 10 minutes from V's house (as opposed to the hour or so trip it would have been from my place in West London). So we devoured way to much Indian food, I yelled about how annoying Stacy is and how she makes me want to poke my ear drums out with a dull knife, and V talked about her future wedding with Ollie. Then we went to bed and woke up the next morning to shower and get ready to head to Hillary's. When I was in the bathroom the night before, I noticed that the shower head was sitting on faucet. I asked V, "V, how do you shower? Do you just hold the faucet above you?" She just started laughing, and said "oh this is going to be funny tomorrow." Since V lives on the 3rd floor (2nd floor to Americans) of her apartment complex, the water pressure doesn't allow her to hold the faucet over her head. Instead, in the morning, she leans over the tub to wash her hair first, then when that is done, puts it up in a towel, and then gets in the shower and baths the rest of her.

So at 10 am on Sunday, I headed in the bathroom to try and conquer this shower. I decided that I couldn't stand bending over the tub to wash my hair first, so I went right in. She wasn't kidding. If I held the faucet up to shoulders, the water stopped running. I stared at the shower head for a while, thought about it, and then I knelt down. If I lifted the faucet over my head, the pressure still stopped. I again stared at the shower head for a while, thought about it, and tried channeling my days in elementary school when we had to do problem solving exercises. The best thing I could come up with was to get lower. So I sat indian style. There I was, a 26 year old grown adult sitting indian style in a bath tub. Certainly not my finest moment.

When I was done, I asked V how she has been doing that for 3 years. Granted she's about 4 inches shorter than me, but still. Ridic. Stupid London.

Free Fallin'

I CANNOT believe how quickly this month is going by. Last weekend we had Hillary's baby shower which was fun. It was nice because it wasn't like other baby showers where you sniff melted chocolate in diapers and do those other gross games. The only baby theme was that the champagne bottles that we got were baby sized and blue. That was really cute. And useful.

That night I went and saw Paranormal Activity which, while startling, was not scary. I did not suffer from nightmares or anything bad. This is pretty remarkable since I am VERY bad at scary movies typically. "Scream" makes me have nightmares.

I also sent out Christmas cards this year to a short list of my friends here. This was due to Allison telling me that now that I am an adult I need to send out Christmas cards. A bunch of the girls here do it, so I need to as well. My main objection with Christmas cards is also tied to my commitmentphobia. How is this possible you crazy woman, you ask? Well here's the thing: once you send out Christmas cards, you need to do it FOREVER! If you stop one year, then you have people going, why'd you take me off your list? Its crazy. I was having chest pains just thinking about it. Allison told me to get over it. She sent me a spreadsheet with a list of some friends, and I wrote the cards and sent them out. I actually felt good about it too! It was a nice thing to do. Now when my list gets to be more than 12 people, I might have a problem.

FINALLY....BIG NEWS!!! Allison and I have talked about this before...my mom and I have talked about this before, and now I'm going to do it:


SKYDIVING!!! Typically it costs about £200, but you can do it for charity, so you'll set up a fundraising page, get donations for like £500, and then £200 of that will cover the dive, and the rest goes to the charity of your choice. I'm super pumped about it, and have gotten almost my whole office to agree to do it as well. Obviously this won't take place until the weather warms up, but come April next year, I will be jumping out of a plane! I can't wait!

12 more days til AMERICA!

Thanksgiving

Rachel and Jess came over to visit for Thanksgiving. They landed on Wednesday, so that night we pretty much just had some drinks at my house and got caught up. Thursday I obviously had to work, so they got tickets for the double decker bus tour and hit all the tourist hot spots. That night we were planning on having Thanksgiving dinner at my house, but DD offered up his kitchen since he has all kinds of pots and pans and I have none since the move. So after work, I went home, we gathered together the stuffing, potatoes, vegetables, and the chicken that Rachel bought from my local butcher. When Rachel pulled it out of the fridge, she said, There's just one minor problem. It still has talons. I said, what do you mean? After taking a look, I said, dude I don't think those are talons, I think that is vertebrae.

Either way, we remained determined to have a successful Thanksgiving. So we hopped in a cab and off to DD's. When we got there, Jess cuts the string off the chicken and we realized there is still stuff inside. And not in a bag like gibblets come in. There was stuff still attached. EW. DD retreated, and Rachel and I stood in the hallway cheering Jess on from afar as she made her best attempt to de-gut the chicken. After about 20 minutes, lots of curse words, and tears from laughter, Jess admitted defeat. We realized that if we had any chance at eating this thing, it would need to touched by a professional, not three chicks from the suburbs.

DD suggested that rather than expose ourselves to possible salmonella and other diseases that come from eating chicken intestines, we order food. We ended up ordering Indian food, which I thought was kind of funny. After the great food, we hit the living room for board games and football. Two hours of taboo later, Rachel and I were victorious, although Jess and DD MAY have had a small disadvantage since they had just met that day.

Overall, I would say it Thanksgiving went off like all Thanksgivings do. Not quite as you had expected, but really fun none the less.

Champagne (pronounced Sham-pag-nee for you non-world travelers)

I've been very bad at posting lately. Mostly because things have been so busy! I moved into my new apartment on the 15th, then that Friday four days later I packed up and headed to Champagne with Tam, Jam and Cam. We drove down to Dover at 0'dark thirty (I didn't do much talking on the ride down), and then once we get there, we drove onto a train car and parked the car. The train started moving and went under the English Channel and less than 30 minutes we were in France! Crazy.

So on the train ride over Jam was telling us all how the French are awful people. I thought well he can't hate them as much as Americans (aka my father and all the other Rush/Bill followers) do. False. We pull into Carrfour, (Me: What's Carrfour? Cam: Its like Target but better. No, that was a stupid thing to say, I'm sorry, nothing's better than Target.), a car pulled out in front of Jam. He exclaims "God! We've been in this country for 5 minutes and the French are ALREADY pissing me off!" I thought this was about the funniest thing I had ever heard. Thus set the theme of the weekend.

When Cam's hard boiled egg was small: Jam - Its because the French as so selfish!
When we couldn't find any street signs: Jam - Its a French plot to get us lost!
When we wouldn't get seated at a restaurant - Its because the French are too lazy and just want to go home!

It was hysterical. But overall, we hit a lot of Champagne houses, and I learned a lot about history surprisingly enough! And of course had lots of great steak, hit a few VERY small french restaurants, and discovered ugly French men have no qualms about dancing in front of a restaurant window to get your attention. Ew.

It was a great trip, but I have to say I was happy to get home among the land of the civilized Brits.

Pictures

So I finally uploaded pictures from my camera. For some reason my facebook isn't letting me upload them there, so you'll have to wait for a little longer to see any pictures from August to now basically. Here's a bit of a highlight:


Hong Kong during the Tsunami


A rooftop bar in the center of the city


Beach, where we were in bathing suits, but Chinese tourists were coming fully dressed, getting off their bus, taking a picture, then getting back on the bus to take them to the next place. Very odd.

Ok then there are just pictures from NY, and then clearly my camera battery died and I didn't charge it until Jess and Rachel's trip. So that's all you're getting for now.

Things that are great about living alone

1) No one to judge your crappy television selection
2) You can eat straight out of the container without any looks
3) If the dishes don't get done, you have no one to blame but yourself
4) If you want to go to bed at 10:45, you can, and don't have to worry about anyone staying up late and keeping you awake

Last night was the first night alone in bed and it was great! I didn't get freaked out by any noises. I also realized that I like that my upstairs neighbor is a lovely fat german/polish/middle europe something. Hearing him upstairs is comforting knowing that someone else is around.

I have unpacked allll of my boxes, and all but one of my suitcases. I have to do laundry tonight, buy cleaning supplies (right now my tub is clean enough to have a bath in and I am going to keep it that way come hell or high water!), a hammer, screwdrivers, and a chain for my door.

ALSO, major score!! Last night I found a toaster and a kettle under the sink! I'm thinking I might be able to get away with not having a microwave. I can always heat things up in the oven, right? Or, there is always the whole learn to cook thing..hmm.

V was reading my "Rocco gets real" or whatever Rocco's cooking book is. She read the recipe for some kind of salad and she said "Do you know this says, 'Buy a rotisserie chicken'?? Its not COOKING if you are mixing a precooked chicken with salad!" I said, um...its cooking to me! She thinks my "How to boil water" cook book is going to be better for teaching me ACTUALLY how to cook and not just how to shop for pre-cooked food.

Its a bit like reverse childbirth isn't it?

So this weekend was quite eventful. Saturday was the Beyonce concert. Before the concert we were all going to Camille's to watch fireworks for some parade or something. On the way there I decided to get a cake since it was Verity's birthday on the way. I hopped on the bus to go to Shepherd's Bush. When I got on, I was standing and looking around and saw one guy who looked a little familiar. He had his jacket zipped up over his nose and I when I looked at him he looked away. Then I started laughing and realized it was the "matching cardigan" guy as previously mentioned when I talked about bad dates. Yes, that's correct, he zipped his jacket up over his face to avoid saying hi to me. Now granted, I did phase him out, but only after like 4 dates. And I mean, come on...we are all adults here. Say hello. Anyway, I laughed for the rest of the bus ride until he got off.

At Cam's we just hung out and ate dinner because the fireworks were cancelled and then went to the concert. It was AMAZING. If you have the opportunity to go to a Beyonce concert, I would highly recommend it. Afterwards Verity and I headed out for a few more drinks. We went to one bar that was PACKED but were able to find a table by the door. Since we were right by the door people kept leaving their drinks on the table as they went out for cigarettes. Finally after the third person asked if they could leave their drink there I said, "Sure, that's a pound a drink," and he actually paid without question! So did a few other people. That worked out pretty well for us!

The next morning was the move. Verity slept over to help, so I left in the morning and got the keys, powerade, and McDonalds. Then James and Tam came over with their car to load it up for the first run. Tam and I sat in the back seat with boxes on our lap. Tam questioned whether a box would fit on my lap, and I said sure it will, and then rolled down the window so it would fit. Whatever it takes... As James was trying to shove my duvay into a small space in the car, he said "This is a bit like reverse childbirth, isn't it?" Thanks to James great pushing skills, and expert packing ways, Tam's help and V's pure organization and positive attitude, we made the whole move in two car loads. It was amazing.

Once we were all moved in, V and I did a quick scan to make a list of things we need. While in the kitchen she said, Ok well you need a kettle and toaster (in the UK they pretty much come as a package deal). I said, right. Then she said, and a microwave. My face DROPPED. "I didn't realize I didn't have one! How am I going to eat??!!" V said, ok so now we know what's number one of the list of things to get!

Later that night Big James and Sio came over with cake for V. Both Jameses were great in offering to fix "wonky" handles and knobs, and take care of all the things your dad would do if you were moving to a new place, so I'm VERY lucky to have them here!

Now that I am getting all settled in, I'm realizing how much moving right before Christmas is NOT the best way to do it. BUT at the end of the day, I'm a grown up now, in my own house. Last night I made V sleep over in case there were scary noises (yes, ok so I'm only a little bit of a grown up), so tonight is the first night all on my own! Note to self: No episodes of Law and Order: SVU before bed tonight.

One year on (as the Brits would say)

So this past Monday celebrated my one year anniversary in London. I seriously can't believe how fast the year has gone by, and how much has changed in the past year. This time last year, my office was in a different location, I had no friends (but the promise of some through a kind soul at my old company who was connecting me with her college friend and his wife), and I was about to move in with people who I had met once for about 20 minutes.

One year later, I work in an office with twice as many people, I have a great group of friends, and am about to move into my own place. On top of that, my friends lives have been changing a lot too. Tam and Lindsey just bought houses, Hillary's about to pop with a baby, Chris is working in Helsinki (that's in Finland - I had to look it up too. Oh you didn't? Shut up), Sio is engaged...crazy changes are happening!! In two weeks I'm about to celebrate the one year anniversary of meeting most of my friends by going to Allison and Chris's turkey day celebration. Last year I showed up with microwaved mash potatoes that I had to search high and low for in ghetto SheBu. This year I'm rolling up with a bit of a crew (Liz is in town from Bath! and Rachel and Jess will be in town!!), and I'm in charge of dessert. Lots of pies and cookies!

Surprisingly, even after a year, I'm still learning new things every day. On Monday, I was reading an article about how British spies foiled a plan to blow up the NYC subways. It referred to Scotland Yard. I had to call out, "Um, can I ask a really stupid Brit question?"
Eddie (he sounds like a Beatle): Sure Kat
Me: So you Scotland Yard? Is it, like, IN Scotland, or is the British police, or is it all of the UK?
Eddie: Wow, that really is a stupid Brit question. Ok, its the headquarters for metro police. Its a London thing.
Me: Ohhh..gotcha.

A little later that day I was talking to Jess online about her excitement to come to London. She had one specific request: she wants to see my keyboard.

I told her, well you know its not that different. The @ is over the apostrophe instead of on the numbers. And the " is over the 2. Also the £ is over the three and there is no number sign.

THEN, my finger slipped and a # popped on the screen. I shouted in excitement and confusion. I think stopped, stared at my keyboard until finally I found it! The # was hiding LITERALLY under my fingers the whole time!! Right next to the enter key and next to the @. Its just so close to the enter key that I had always overlooked it. Then I started to really questions my own intelligence. It took me exactly ONE YEAR to find a key on my keyboard that has less than 100 keys total. As much as I started to hate myself for my stupidity, I was far too excited to let that get to me.

So the next few weeks will be really busy for me. Saturday is Beyonce WHOOP WHOOP, then going out to celebrate Verity's birthday, then moving into my new place on Sunday. I've never moved not hung over, so why start now?

Can I retire yet?

I woke up and the first two things I thought this morning were:
1) Oh my god How is it only Tuesday?
2) I wonder how long until I can retire.

I don't HATE my job...I just don't LOVE it. I mean, truth be told, I don't think anyone LOVES their job, except professional athletes and those annoying people who knew what they wanted to do since they were like 3. I can't stand that. How are you supposed to know? I'm over a quarter century old and I still don't know if I'm doing the right thing. Just sometimes, you have those mornings where you are like, wow I reallllly wish I was independently wealth so I could quit this dog and pony show and plan events to help cure cancer or something.

I think this whole rant is evidence that its officially November in London. November in London = rain and craptacular weather. Well at least that's what it was like last year when I moved here EVERY DAY. It did not help the whole adapting to a new country without knowing anyone thing I was trying to do. I woke up this morning and it was pouring rain. It hasn't stopped. I'm pretty sure it will keep going. Yep...just looked at the 10 day forecast. Two days where its only partly cloudy, the rest will rain.

Ok time to get back on the positive train:
1) This weekend Liz is coming down from Bath and cooking me real food.
2) Next Saturday I'm going to see Beyonce
3) Next Sunday I'm moving
4) The following weekend I'm in Champagne with JamTam and Cam (haha that's funny)
5) Jess and Rachel are coming to visit for Thanksgiving!!

Alright, screw the weather. Mother Nature you can't hold me down! Tonight they are turning the lights on on Regent Street. Jim Carrey is coming to do it to promote the new Christmas Carol. Since they don't have Thanksgiving here they dive RIGHT into the Christmas cheer as soon as Halloween is over. That will keep me going too. I've downloaded Christmas songs, will watch Love Actually, and try to avoid taking out a tourist on my daily commute.

If all else fails, there is always fake tanning to keep the Vitamin D flowing!

Happy Halloween!!

Since Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, I was suuuper pumped to be going to Tam and Moderately Tall (did I get that right?) James' house for a murder mystery party. This was NOTHING like the murder mystery dinner that the fam and I went to in Hilton Head one summer, but it was just as fun.

So let me give you the background. All the characters are part of a movie production company who specializes in scary movies. We are going to the wrap party for our latest film "Ghouls just want to have fun", when the head of the production company is found dead. My character was Kat Peeple (totally a coincidence that it was the same name). I play the star in all of the films, and what came out during the evening through stages questions and answers was that I had been tricked into a long contract with low pay by the guy who got murdered, so now that he was dead, I could get out of the contract and go work in real movies. Everyone had a little motive.

DD and I arrived at about 6:30 after a quick bite to eat to eliminate any sloppiness that could occur later. Since DD didn't have a have a character he was Mr. Kat Peeple. He decided that was lame and made up a character which was funny. My character was supposed to dress up like Morticia Addams, so I wore a black dress with long sleeves and fishnet stockings (because its Halloween and when else are you going to wear them?). Well after I put the dress on I realized that in the right/wrong light it was mildly see-through. Awesome. Well it was too late to change then!

So the party went off without a hitch. Everyone was in full costume which was awesome to see. Even Hillary, who is like 7 months pregnant, KIND OF dressed up. I looked at her and said, um what are you? She raised her arms up and said I'm a bat! Her black shirt had flowy sleeves. I was like, hmm if you weren't preggo that would not be ok. By the time the murderer was revealed (sadly it wasn't me), everyone was in VERY good spirits, and having a great time. Everyone took turns answering the door for trick or treaters. At one point I heard the door open and heard some little kid yell out "'ow many people 'ave you got in there? Can I come?". His mom probably wouldn't have appreciated us sharing the "sodas" we were drinking. I answered the door once and was talking to the kids who were just staring at me, either because a) they could see through my dress, or b) because of my crazy american accent. I'm hoping it was the latter.

By the time I got home, I looked at the clock and realized that Yankees game was on! So I put that on and stayed up waaay too late watching that, but was glad I did to see them win!

Overall, it was a great Halloween!!

Ouch

So remember that big weekend I had planned? Yeah, well I'm getting too old for this. I feel like DEATH today. But had an absolute fabulous time all three nights.

Friday night was the tamest of the three evenings, which is surprising because I was surrounded by the most alcohol. We all went to the wine show, tasted several different varieties, even learned a little. Then went and got a burrito, went to a bar, and got the tube home and was in bed by midnight.

Saturday was a little more crazy. Book club at my house. Book club = TONS of wine. There were about 10 of us, and we went through about as many bottles. We talked about the book, watched X Factor, then went dancing at a bar by my house which was awesome. We haven't all gotten together for a good boogie (as they call it) in a while, and the music was great, so it was definitely fun. However, Sunday morning I had red wine hangover which is the worst.

I pushed through and met up with DD, V and her parents at the tube to head to Wimbly for the BIG GAME!! It was awesome. SOO many people (82,000), tons of excitement, and every team's jersey represented. Before the game, DD spotted a McD's, and V's dad is also a big fan, so we went and got some food and then saw a gas station that sold beer, so we all got a few 4 packs to tailgate with.

**Background - DD and I are friends, we are hanging out. V was joking around with me that her parents could do a little recon and give my parents a call to let them know what they think about DD. We laughed because it was clearly not going to happen.

Resuming story-
So we are all standing around drinking, laughing, having a good time. Then V's mom stops and goes "Oh I just remembered! V, whose boyfriend am I supposed to checking out?" My face immediately turns bright red and my jaw drops. V just points to me, and then V's mom looks at DD and goes, "Oh! Well I quite like you! You look a bit like Ben Shepherd!"

HOLY AWKWARD BATMAN!!!

I start hysterically laughing, V starts laughing, and DD goes, Oh thanks haha. Then V's dad goes, Don't worry..we don't really know her parents!

I couldn't stop laughing. I love awkward moments, but this was a bit much, even for me. DD was a really trooper about the whole thing and later told me he thought it was funny. I just thought I was going to die from embarrassment.

The whole weekend was a lot of fun. I do feel like I need a week of rest to make up for it though.

Are you ready for some football?!?!

GREAT WEEKEND PLANNED!!!! I'm so excited!

Friday - Today after work I'm headed over to Angel where there is a wine show going on. Tamara got me a ticket for my birthday, so a bunch of us will head over there, get a tasting glass, and then head from booth to booth tasting wine. I'm thinking its going to be a lot like the Beerfest that Kirsten, Jess, Jordan, Meg, Margy, Sarah and I went to in Atlantic City, but instead of beer its wine. So that should be a lot of fun. Then we are going to get burritos after that at a Chipotle-esque place.

Saturday - Boo that an engineer is coming to fix our dishwasher at 8:30 am, but yay that its finally happening since its been broken since June. Then I'm cleaning house - boo again. But yay that the reason I'm cleaning is that I'm hosting book club at my house! So about 10 girls will be coming over to discuss the book we just read, and then, if we're feeling ambitious, we'll head out in SheBu. This will probably be one of my last outings in Australian-central-land.

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!! - YAY for the Bucs-Pats game! I think my seats are pretty awful, but its REAL LIVE FOOTBALL! So I'm taking my friend DD to the game with me. There we'll meet up with Allison and Chris, my friend Verity and her parents, and some other fun people before the game for some good old fashioned tailgating. If we see the CBS cameras I'll be sure to get myself noticed! I can't wait! GO BUCS!!!

Pizza and Bagels...That's what New Jersey does!

We had a guy in London this week from our DC office. He was supposed to evaluate the state of our IT stuff, and give his opinion on how to make it better. Mostly what we want is solid connection from the Internet (since we are an Internet company), and someone who can help us if our email goes down, even if that happens at 9 am. Right now, we have to wait until the people in DC wake up to to have someone reset the email server. ANYWAY, he was asking me if I ever get homesick. I thought about it and said, not really. There are certain things I miss, and people I miss, but mostly now I've figured out how to keep in touch with people so that's not a problem. What I really miss, I said, is certain food. He said, like what? I said oh you know, Chipotle, pizza, bagels, etc.

Now, when I say this to anyone who is not from New Jersey or New York, I get one of two responses. Either, "What? there is great pizza/bagels/subs here!" or "Oh my god you have GOT to try this place, its amazing!"

When I said oh you know, Chipotle, pizza, bagels, etc. The brits replied with "What? there is great pizza/bagels/subs here!" and the IT guy replied with "Oh my god you have GOT to try this place, its amazing!"

When people say this to me, I don't believe them. I will never believe you. I don't care if you fly Mario and Luigi into Washington, DC, the pizza will not taste like what I want it to taste like. I don't care if there is a store that is known for its New York style bagels in Bethesda, MD, they won't taste like what I want it to taste like.

So IT guy goes on about how fabulous this pizza place in Dulles, VA is (red flag number one...its in Dulles? Not exactly the cultural capital of the area). He tells me how the owner is a real Italian guy who was a barber for his whole life and then decided he wanted to open up a restaurant (red flag 2...good Italian eateries are run by guys who have been punching dough since they were 5). Mr. Italian dude has been approached a bunch of times to franchise throughout DC but he always refuses (seriously is this a selling point? have you ever eaten pizza in dc? The competition isn't exactly overwhelming). So IT guy pulls up the website for this AMAZING pizza place, and starts reading about all the amazing toppings on "The Sicilian Hit" or "The Lucky Luciano". Now do I even need to tell you this is a bit ridiculous? A topping does not a good pizza make.

So I smiled and said oh yeah I'll definitely give it a try next time I'm in Dulles, VA. He then tried to tell me about a bagel place. I couldn't sit through this again.

"Look, IT guy, I know you think that the place that you know will be amazing to me, but I can guarantee you it will not be. Unless they ship their water in from New York, I will eat the bagel, smile politely, say I love it, and then vow in my head to never go back there."
IT Guy: "The water? Seriously? That's stupid."
Me: "Yes the water. Its a fact. Its science. Science is real. You can't argue with it."
IT Guy: "Riiight."

I could have kept going, but its pointless to argue with poorly informed (and clearly poorly formed tastebuds).

So yes...I get homesick for certain things. I get homesick for Chipotle after a big night, but I have found other burrito places. I miss my family and friends, but I have ways to keep in contact with them. I get homesick for pizza and bagels. There is not cure for this one...but its a battle I've been fighting since I was 18. Sadly I'm used it.

The 90s

I find this blog HIGHLY entertaining, and always makes me go "oh yeah!!" whenever I read it. Here's one for you kids of the 90s: http://childrenofthenineties.blogspot.com/2009/10/dont-tell-them-its-educational.html

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Can we talk about the fact that its FREEZING outside?? Ok maybe not freezing but I feel like winter came over night! One day it was sunny and 67 and then it was a bit brisk (smelled like pumpkins and rugby season and waiting for the bus), and then it was COOLLDDDD! I have a feeling that it will be a rough winter!

Well I've decided to make the most of it. I've taken out all my winter clothes and started working sweaters into my outfits. I still refuse to wear my winter coat, because I need something to work up to. Instead I'm wearing my "I'M AMERICAN!!!" jacket, aka my northface. Not only is it a northface, its a salmon colored one. You see a few in London, but they are almost always black. Yeah I stand out a bit.

My second "make the most of winter" is to try and figure out whether or not I want to have a party. I love Christmas parties. In DC we used to have one before everyone went home for the holidays. It was great because we would all dress up, bring a dish or a bottle, Scrappy would get a Turducken, and we would just hang out. Sooo much fun. I love Christmas parties. I want to make sure I go to at least one, so I think to make sure that happens I need to have one. I haven't hosted a party since I lived in DC. I think my new apartment is the perfect place for it. I always feel bad having a Christmas party because what if you take someone else's date that they wanted to have theirs on? I think the solution to this is to loop it in with a Housewarming party. People can come and go as they please, since it will be during one of the 4 days that people actually have Christmas parties.

I mean really these things are just an excuse to get everyone all together. Soo what do we think? December 12th? (can't believe I'm planning this before Halloween has even happened) Save the date folks!

Jason Bateman - SUUUPER hottie

Some of my friends in DC have started collaborating a list of top 10. Top 10 people they would give anything and drop anyone to be with. Some people included professional athletes (Eli Manning), others include really studly celebs (Johnny Depp), while others include the go to funny man (Jason Segel).

Well I'm making a declaration. I'm locking in Jason Bateman.



He was highlighted this morning in the Metro paper, where they did one of their 60 second interviews. He basically is the sweetest guy in the world. I really like when people talk about their wives being their best friends. He's also insanely funny, as clearly demonstrated by every movie he's ever been in. Anyway, that was my "its Friday and I don't want to start work yet" rant.

This weekend should be fun. Tomorrow I'm going to a Diwali party at Amrit's house. Lots of curry and wine. Then Sunday I'm taking the train up to Bath to visit Liz which will be nice. I'm excited to see her dorm and school and have a nice lunch/dinner! Have a great weekend!

Everything Ashton Kutcher

So Jess makes fun of me all the time because I love everything Ashton Kutcher. He is a bad actor and makes bad movies but I don't care. I heart him.

Its a good thing I do! I just had an epiphany and realized that the girl that I talked to last night at the casino was a contestant in Beauty and the Geek!



Her name was Lauren and I think she was from Season 1. Good times!

Awesomeness part 5 of the weekend

Last night I went to a casino with a friend and some of his friends. Normally I would sit back and watch the gambling take place, but my friend suggested I join in on the fun. I took out some money and hit the blackjack table, first betting with someone else who was playing, and then I took a seat for myself. Once I had enough winnings to play with, I put aside my starter money. By the time we left I had more than £300! As winnings!! Whoop Whoop!!

As I was cashing out there was a girl in front of me and the girls I was cashing out with. She started talking to us after hearing I was American. She was about 2 feet tall, blond and very pretty. The girls I was with said she looked really familiar, so I'm pretty sure she is someone, but just like a D lister. Maybe I've seen her on the Girls Next Door or something. Yay good weekend!

CELEBRATE!

Pop the bubbly...I'm officially a grown up! I just put my deposit down on my very own one bedroom apartment!! I'm soo excited. I've never lived on my own before, except for the first two weeks that I moved to London.

So I don't have any pictures yet, but its a one bedroom in Ladbrook Grove. Its a 10 minute walk to Portobello Market. The owners waaay underpriced it which is pretty much the only reason I can afford it. I'm so excited! I move in the day after the Beyonce concert, so by the time Jess and Rachel get here for Thanksgiving it will be all set! Now I just need someone to help me move (volunteers welcome - I pay in beer and pizza). So that was an awesome start to my weekend!!

Awesomeness part two of the weekend: Last night Allison's cousin and his friends were in town. Nothing like hanging out with 4 firefighters from Staten Island who are trying to pick up Brits. It was sooo funny! They were all hysterical. My friend Amrit, who Allison's cousin proposed to in the first 5 minutes of meeting her, said she thinks its time for her to go to New York! The boys bought drinks all night, and were very funny and outgoing. Basically the opposite of all British boys. Amrit and I also planned how we are going to win the Nobel Peace Prize next year. Since they are clearly giving it away on promises now, I told Amrit I am going to promise to cure AIDS. They she tried to one up me by saying SHE promises to plans to bring World Peace. Its going to be a tight race next for sure.

Awesomeness part three of the weekend: Gossip Girl Season Three Episode 1. Just by chance I stumbled across it! What the heck is going on in the Upper East Side?! Vanessa is dating the love child of Lily and Rufus? Chuck is a nice guy? And can we talk about how annoying Dan is being? What is up with that hair? And his obsession to solve all of Serena's problems? Leave her alone! So excited for this season!! No spoilers please!!

Awesomeness part 4 of the weekend: Jurassic Park is on right now!! I caught it just as it started, and am now realizing how often I've seen this movie because I can actually recite some of the lines along with the movie. I think my brother watched this movie 3 times in the theater. Question (probably directed to Mike): Is this actually possible? I mean, probably not because if so they would have done it already, but still. Also, did anyone know that the Asian doctor who is watching over the raptor eggs (the one who says "we've engineered them that way" during the "life, uh, finds a way" speech) is the doctor from Law and Order? That should be a trivia question and some really dorky pub quiz.

Sad news of the weekend: I'm very nervous for the recovery of my future husband, Eli Manning. Funnily enough, one of my friends just told me HE has plantar fasciitis which just flared up, so I was quizzing him as to whether or not he thought he could quarterback an NFL game right now. He said he thought so with some heavy medication, so I am feeling pretty good about Eli's recovery. Plus, we all remember that shoulder injury which was supposed to take him out for like a month and he came back in no time. Let's go GIANTS!!

Home Sweet Home

I'm finally back in London. After about 3 weeks traveling with a 4 day break, I'm so happy to be back. It was great to be able to see all my friends in New York and DC, and of course my family, but being back in my apartment and knowing that I'm back into my routine is great.

So my company's conference in San Francisco was a big hit. San Francisco is a really fun city. I unfortunately didn't get to see any of it except for the Conference center, my hotel, the City Hall, and Ruby Skye/Slide (a club). Our CEO is a morning person, so when we are at conference he expects everyone else to be as well. So we had 6 am meetings 3/4 days - the first day was a 7 am meeting. As you can imagine, having to get up at 4:45 limits your fun levels the night before. However, the last night everyone pretty much just says, screw it, its our last night, let's have a blast. Tuesday was the last evening we had to be there, so we started the day with the 6 am breakfast meeting, worked all day, and then at 5:30 headed to the evening entertainment to help set up. The evening entertainment was at Ruby Skye and Slide, two club/bars next to each other. Slide used to be a speakeasy, so to get into it you go down this crazy slide, hence, Slide. So we help set up, go back to the hotel, get changed, and then head back to Ruby Skye. *It should be noted that the conference is for finance people, so imagine 2,000 35-65 year olds at one of the hottest clubs in San Fran.* Ok, so the bar is flowing, people are socializing, and then the 70s and 80s cover band comes out. They were all dolled up in wigs and costumes and were hysterical. They were dropping a few f bombs and hitting on random women in the audience, so our meeting planner had a nervous smile on her face the whole time, while our CEO was (thankfully) laughing. So the band is playing and a ton of the attendees hit the dance floor. Let me just say, if the night ended then, it would have been entertainment enough for me. It was hysterical. I can't even describe it. One man looked like he had lost use of his shoulders and was just turning his hips so his arms went flailing around while he dragged his feet across the dance floor. Another woman looked like she was trying to dance big enough to save dance space for 5 people. And she wasn't. My co-workers and I (aged 25-35) were all standing at the edge of the dance floor just staring at the attendees dancing, pointing random ones that were getting especially down, and hysterically laughing. It was quite the site. At least they were having fun. I know I look just as/if not more ridiculous when I'm dancing, so I shouldn't really talk.

So the party starts winding down, we head over to Slide to go down the slide, and then a bunch of my co-workers and I headed to a rooftop bar where WE all started dancing and getting down. Most of my co-workers were dancing very well, but let's be honest, nothing beats a good Jersey fist pump. That party wound down between 1 and 2, and then we all were up again at 4:45 for the final breakfast meeting. At 4:30 I hopped on the plane and headed home.

The flight was amazing because I wore those bose headphones my parents got me for my birthday. Amazing. I slept for 6 hours and that never happens on a flight for me. It could also have to do with the fact that I was exhausted, but either way. I got home and found my bathroom ceiling leaking and dripping, so that wasn't ideal, but hopefully (fingers crossed) my incompetent landlord will be able to get that taken care of by Monday. FYI - If you live in London and you are looking for a new agent, DO NOT USE Northfields. They are useless. We have had a broken dishwasher for almost 4 months. I've never worked with a company that has been so ridiculous and worthless.

Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to look at some new places since my lease is up next month! Until then, I'm in recovery mode. Lots of sleep and not a lot of talking so I can lose this Sophia Bush thing I've got going on.

I should negotiate everything after several beers

Last night my friend Trisha had this concert she was dying to go to. The band is called Burnt Sienna and they are the most rocking cover band I've ever heard. She wants them to play at her wedding. When she told them that last time she saw them they said, awesome! That sounds great! Congrats! When are you getting married? She said, Oh sweet Jesus I have no idea. Let me try and get a date first, but when I do...you boys better be ready! So they were in town last night and we decided to go see them to celebrate Trisha's bday. It was SOOO much fun!! They said happy birthday to Trisha and invited her on stage. For other songs they said, come on ladies we need you on stage, but this was just Trisha. Have you ever noticed that when they say Come on ladies, get on stage, its always the ugliest girls in the bar getting up? Well at least this was the case last night. Anyway, the whole things was a blast. We stayed out until WAY too late for a school night and then I took cab cross states to get back to Bethesda.

When I arrived at my hotel, I decided this was the appropriate time to book at taxi for my Saturday 7 am flight. I went up to the concierge and said, "Hey do you know Mike? In sales?"
Concierge Guy: Yes I do, he's not here right now.
Me: No I figured that. He's nice. I met him once.
Guy: o. k.
me: so anyway i'm going to need a cab on sat
guy: ok i can arrange that
me: yeah, but i don't want one of those sketch ass gypsy cabs. i want a REAL cab
guy: ok, like barwood?
me: yeah!! like barwood!!
guy: ok, that will probably be about $75
me: No.
guy: excuse me?
me: No. That's ridic. I lived here for 7 years and I have never seen those numbers on a cab. sorry I'll find someone else.
guy: um..ok well how much?
me: $40
guy: um..how about $45?
me: fine. see you then

Who knew I had such killer negotiating skills? Let's hope this sticks!

SNUGGIE-TASTIC!!

I am currently in Bethesda, continuing my cross country tour. It all started because I have to be in San Fran this Saturday-next Wednesday for a conference. Last weekend happened to be the weekend of the Tunnel To Towers Run () that was started in honor of my friend's uncle that died in September 11th. I have done it every year for the past so many years. Because my friend and her brother both went to my college, its essentially a giant college reunion for a great cause. I convinced my boss that he should fly me out the week before the conference so I could do some client visits (staying with friends so no need for a hotel), and I would arrive at the conference in Cali bright eyed and bushy tailed, and not with the 8 hour time difference jet lag. While I'm not REGRETTING my decision to go on this cross country journey, I'm getting a bit tired!

Friday I flew in and make one client visit, then headed to queens to stay with my old room and best friend from college. We hit the liquor store, caught up over a few glasses of wine, and then headed into the city to meet a big group of my friends who I haven't seen in (for some of them) almost a year! And my brother and his girlfriend came as well. My brother is essentially the brother of all of my friends, and we all always have a good time together. He did have to warn his gf about us. We tend to get a bit crazy when we are all together. So we hung out at a few bars and then Mike and Lauren headed back, and the rest of the girls continued on. We ended up at a bar called hook and ladder. They have outdoor beer pong. You can imagine how this ended. Margy and I dominated the table, more friends came and visited, it was awesome. Some highlights include: Molly getting us all Miller Chill (its only $2 you guys!), me falling after the excitement of winning the first game, Maura's gummibears at the bar, and Sarah and Mike being perfect for each other because they both wear hats.

Saturday was a BIG day of recovery since we didn't get to bed til about 5 am. My body isn't cut out for this anymore. But we relaxed, watched some TBS, had pizza, and then dragged our sorry butts out again. This time it was to meet up with Mark who I haven't seen in a year. This same weekend last year actually. He lives in Florida so its really hard for us to get together. We headed to Maura's for some drinks, and then went out to 3rd and Long. It was a good time, but I think we were all hurting from the night before. At the end of the night it was Molly, Maura, Bdan, and his roommate. A bit of a random mix because I haven't seen Bdan in several years, and I've never met his roommate. We ended up having a very educational time though, as Maura decided that it was time for someone to answer all the questions she's had in life that she never got to ask. Before we knew it, it was 4 am and the bartenders were kicking us out. Molly, Maura and I headed back to her place, talked to Molly's boyfriend (who I'm SOO mad I missed out on meeting!), and then crashed. Molly and I got up the next morning to head down to the run. Oops, we missed it. So instead we grabbed lunch (with hot George, our bartender who knows Eli Manning) and then headed back to Queens to shower and send me on my way to Hoboken for dinner with the parents, Lauren and Mike.

Dinner with the fam was lovely. Then Mom, Dad and myself headed home. That's when I got to open Mike and Liz's bday present for me. Mike had already let the cat out of the bag, or rather I conned it out of him - I'm really good at getting people to tell me things. They got me a SNUGGIE!!! I've wanted one for ages. I love anything comfy. Oversized sweaters, sweatshirts, slippers, sweatpants. I live for them. This snuggie is awesome. Between that and the Bose headphones, I will never travel the same again.


Mine is leopard print!

So two days of working in Jersey, I'm now in DC until Saturday. I'm excited to see a bunch of people, but happy that it will be a much more chill visit than last time I was here.

"Americans very nice people, British always complaing!"

Hi everybody! (Hi Dr. Nick!) I'm back from Hong Kong. Its 5:42 in the morning right now and I can't sleep. I was up until about 12:30 so there is no reason for me to be up, except that my body probably thinks its 12:43 pm. So what better to do at a ridiculous hour in the morning than update here?

Last Sunday I landed in Hong Kong for a conference. The airport was fine, but there was a distinct smell. I later defined this smell as a mix of bleach and chinese food. This is what 97% of Hong Kong smells like. My co-worker and I hop on the conference bus that takes us to our hotel. We turn the corner and they say this is it! I look around. Its dirty, there are topless men everywhere, and there is an entire duck hanging from the window across the street. I'm not in Kansas anymore, Toto. So we get out, head up and check in. I go up to my room which is fine, two twin beds, a tv, a mini fridge with diet coke (this was the only place I could locate diet coke during my day because there were no vending machines at the convention center. I nearly went into caffeine withdrawal...T you would have DIED!), and a killer view of the harbor. We are one building away from the water. So my boss calls us and we decide to head out to investigate the city and find some authentic food. We head across the street to "Treasure Land". We soon realized that this was not a place westerns go. This is place that hard working parents take their families out for a nice dinner. Except this nice dinner is on par with the Sunset Diner. Every waitress in the restaurant hung out at our table. Just hung out. They all knew about three words of english, so there was a lot of pointing, and then there was a lot of watching. I told my boss I felt like I was in the Chinese restaurant in a Christmas Story and someone was going to come out and sing Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra to me. He didn't get it...british...

At this point my appreciation for HK is very low. Monday the conference starts and we all head back to the hotel to change for a night of parties paid for by tax payers around the world. This would have been fine except we got an email from the head of the conference saying I don't mean to alarm you but there is a stage 8 (out of 10) typhoon headed this way scheduled to hit tonight, so hunker down in your hotels and don't leave. Remember that one building between my hotel and the harbor? I was really hoping that was a strong one. So everyone that was staying at our hotel heads up to the top floor bar and watches the storm clouds come in. It ended up missing the south of the island (or whatever part we were on...north? don't really know), so it was a glorified thunderstorm, but the wind was RIPPING! And there was crazy lightening and thunder.

Tuesday came and brought more rain. So did Wednesday. But by the time Thursday came, it was 90 degrees and super sunny. Over the course of the week, we discovered, through parties and exploring, that there are a few areas you need to go. Central - where all the good restaurants and hotels are; Soho/Lan Kwai Fong - where all the fun bars are; and a few beaches/markets. The hotels and rooftop bars in central were amazing! I have a ton of pictures which I will get up this week. At night they do a light show where all the buildings light up in different patterns. It was really cool. On Tuesday we went to a dive bar in Lan Kwai Fong where one company was having a small party. It was a replacement party to what was supposed to be a dinner cruise, but since the typhoon came it kind of grounded everyone. My boss suggests we go and just chill for some free food and booze. Awesome. We get there and everyone immediately starts talking to us and the hired photographers come over and start snapping. I thought, wow this company is really attentive. Then I look back and see that the bar is about 20 feet deep, and the company is really attentive because we are all smushed on top of each other. We start to head back to where the food is and some randoms start talking to me and my boss and again the photographer comes over. After conversation with the drunkest man at the party, my boss grabs my arm and pulls me into another convo with less drunk people and the photogs follow. At this point I'm started to get really weirded out. I don't think I'm ugly, but I know what I'm not. And I am not the girl the gets followed around a party by photographers. At all. I look around and then realize what's going on. I am the ONLY GIRL at the party standing up. There are three other women who have found the only booth in the place in the back corner and are hiding there. At this point I look at my boss and say, we gotta go. He agrees and we rally the troops to head to the sickest bar ever 40 floors up. Lots of girls and boys. Very nice.

The rest of the conference went well. Friday and Saturday we had off, so Friday we headed to the beach and Stanley Market escorted by a lovely Chinese woman who my co-worker had met during the week. This was awesome because she spoke to the cabbies, and then translated for us. One of them told her how much he loved Americans, and could tell that's what we were as soon as we stepped in the cab. He told us how Americans are very nice people, "everything is one is one and two is two. They don't complain. British is why why why why why why? British people always complaining! Why? Because I say now get out my cab HAHAHA!" It was hysterical. Saturday we went to Kawloon, another part of Hong Kong off the island, and toured around there, got shouted at by people selling watches and purses, etc. Then I went to the peak which is the highest point in Hong Kong. Amazing views. Its just so funny to see a skyline like New York's, and then just to the left of a massive skyscraper is a mountain that is completely green and hasn't been touched.

In the end, I really liked Hong Kong, but think it will be some time before I head back that way.

Celeb Spotting

I just got back from lunch with my cousin Mary Kate who is in town for her husband's conference. Well, they are in Oxford, but since I haven't seen her in like 10 years, she came down and we went out to lunch. It was lovely and great to chat with her. She is really cool and I think that we would have a lot of fun together if we ended up going out for a night.

ANYWAY, so I'm walking back to the office and pull out my blackberry because I have a feeling that I might have missed my one on one. So I'm looking for an email when I walk into this group of girls and there are two old me taking pictures of them. I look up and say, "Oh sorry!...oh sh!t...Juliette Lewis. Awesome."

Any then try and wiggle my way through her possey to cross the street. She weighs about 4 pounds. When I told me friend Trisha she said, "Did you tell her you were here for the gang bang?" Damn...awesome opportunity missed. Oh well!

Bad Dates 101

I started to put this post up a few months back, but then I took it down because I thought, what if the guy that I'm seeing (at the time) sees this and knows that I am blasting him? But that's long done, and I was just reading fmylife.com and looking at some bad dates people put up there, so I thought this might be entertaining.

Basically after I broke up with my college bf of a year and a half (on and off), I went on a crapload of bad dates. That was in the beginning of 2006 (actually it was January and I remember this because the ex-bf had bought me tickets to a Bon Jovi concert for Christmas and then called me in January right before the concert after I broke up with him and asked me if he could get the tickets back because someone was going to pay him "like a million bucks" for the tickets (I'm so sure). I said, sure I'd love to give that gift that you gave me back to you, despite the fact that I am asking nothing in return from you. Since they were e-tickets, I basically just had to not use them. After a few glasses of wine, my roommates and I were plotting whether or not we should just take the tickets, go to the show like 2 hours before it starts and get in before him. But we rose above that somehow)..anyway what I was saying was it was the beginning of 2006 that my bad dates started accumulating. These are their stories. DUN DUN


The Old Guy
I can't remember where Meg and I met these guys...it might have been Front Page. But the two of us were out and started chatting with these two guys. I ended up exchanging numbers with one of them and low and behold he actually called. He wasn't that cute, but he was kind of interesting, was a JAG lawyer, and we had a good phone convo so we decided it would be nice to go out to dinner. At this point I had pegged him at maybe 27, which was fine, I was 22. We went out for tapas (which I hate. I like to have my plate and I eat off it and you have your plate and you eat off it). During our conversation of "getting to know each other" he started talking about his siblings.
me: oh how many siblings do you have?
old guy: 2 brothers. My youngest brother, he's 31, just got married, so I just got to see the whole family recently.
me: (choking on my sangria) Um I'm sorry did you just say your YOUNGEST brother was 31?
old guy: yeah.
me: oh.

So obviously I went out for one more date with him, and then gave him a call (actually I texted haha) saying that I think I need to be with people my own age.

Not that bad of a date, but I realized I am an awful judge of age.

Mr. Commitment
I met this guy at a bar where my friend's band was playing, exchanged numbers, and, again, this guy called. We ended up going to a microbrewery. I'm all about drinks on the first date, but a microbrewery? Ew. And we were going there for dinner. I felt like it was the equivalent of going to Fridays. So we get there and they said, 40 minute wait for a table, or you can just sit at the bar. This guy says, That'd be GREAT! So we head over to the bar and join all the other unwashed masses that make up Arlington, VA. He proceeds to tell me all about his time in the Secret Service and how he's commencing to the next level in a week. His aunt and uncle are coming to town for it. Do I want to go?

RED FLAG. Mr. Commitment, you are no friend of mine. I haven't even finished my beer and you are asking me these things while I have a 300 pound, loud, GROSS woman sitting on the other side of me? See ya.

Case of the Con Queso
I met this guys through a friend. She worked with him at a company that lobbies for the legalization of pot. I kind of knew from the beginning this wasn't going to work out, but I had nothing else going on so I thought, why not? He tells me he's going to be in the area that I worked on Thursday, so let's meet up for dinner, he knows a great Mexican place. Perfect. I love Mexican. At 4pm he calls and says, hey I have to swing by my parents place before hand, so do you want to meet at 7. I said that sounds fine, I'll go out for some drinks with work people and then meet you. So I go out, have a few drinks, then start walking over to the restaurant. He calls at 7:02 asking where I am. I said I'll be there in a hot second. Red Flag number 1.

I get there, STARVING, since I haven't eaten noon and I've never been the girl that is afraid to eat on a date. So I rock up, we get seated and the waiter brings us our menus. I look and say oh man, is there anything that's really good here that you would recommend?
con caso: Well the Con Queso is awesome
me: oh ok cool, so do you want to get that as a starter then?
cc: well, the thing is, I kind of already ate (RED FLAG 2!)
me: um...what?
cc: yeah my parents guilted me into it. sorry. (RED FLAG 3!! - clearly some sort of mother issue)
me: um. ok but this was supposed to be dinner right?
cc: yeah. but I mean, if you want to get something, like the con queso or whatever, that's totally cool.
me: riiiight. ok...waiter? yes, we're going to need some more drinks

So that's what I had for dinner: con queso - which was actually NOT good! It was a 2 centimeter layer of hard congealed cheese on the bottom of a bowl with like 5 tostitos - and several Coronas.

"That couple" guy
I have this theory that people who peak early in life often suffer later because they never had to develop a good personality. Obviously this is a blanket statement so there are exceptions. But typically if you peak later, you have to develop a good personality to get by on, since in high school (or early in life) you didn't really have the full package yet. I met the ultimate early peaker. He was good looking, yes, but the most self involved person I've ever met (therefore making him hideous).

We went out for the worst date ever. The first 45 minutes were spent with him arguing with two guys at the table next to us about something Scots vs Brits or something...I don't even know. I actually turned to the people at the table on the other side and asked if I was on a candid camera program because the scene was so unbelievable. I was about to get up and walk out, when the date tapped me and said ok GIRLFRIEND (AHHH!!! Not the G word!!) let's go to the next bar. Ughh...ok so we walk over the next bar where he proceeds to tell me several things after I say, "BTW, I'm a bit of a commitmentphobe, so you are going to have to be patient with me." In his world the following things were appropriate to say after that:
"I'm going to Australia in August (it was June). Do you want to come with me and visit my family?"
"Would you ever move to Australia for me?"
"Next time you wear that grey cardigan, you should tell me because I have one that looks just like it, and we could match."

This one set me off.
me: "Noo..that's really retarded"
him: "oh come on! it will be funny! We could be that couple that people hate!"
me: "I don't want people to hate me. I like when people like me."
him: "oh we are totally hot enough for it! All the guys will want you to dump me and all the girls will want me to dump you. It will be perfect."
me: "I don't think ANYONE is hot enough for that. I think you are a bit confused as to who I am."

Ugh. Awful!! I think my friends and I could write a book. I can't wait for several more years of this.

Birthdays and football...September rocks

Happy Labor Day everyone! Well, everyone, that is, in America. Sadly I'm in the office. I know, I know, I had last Monday off. Well I want to have my cake and eat it too!

This month is already FLYING BY. I feel like I walked out of my house on September 1st and the wind was ripping, the leaves were falling down, and it felt like October. Then the swine flu got me, but I've bounced back. I'm 99% recovered which is awesome, since I have to be completely healthy for my birthday TOMORROW!! I'll be 26. What a useless birthday. All it does is remind me that I'm closer to 30 than I am 20 now. Not that I really want to be 20 I guess. When I was 20...well...I was at Catholic, let's just say that. I think my parents and relatives are happy that those four years remain more of a mystery than anything. So being on the plus side of 20 is not that bad. Getting into my late 20s is a little scary just because I feel like its all going by so quickly!!

Remember when you were little and you thought that you would get married right after college to your college sweetheart, and then you'd work for like a year, and then have babies and by the time you were thirty you'd be all done with that bs? And then you got to college (at least at Catholic), looked around at the male population, and realized, good Lord, the plan is already going to shit. Then you think, well, maybe I'll push the plan back like 5 years and kick it off at 25. Then somewhere between starting college and graduating you realize 25 is RIGHT around the corner. You've also learned that plans NEVER go as they should, so its time to abort that and just best to say screw the plans! So kids, if you want to know the secret to true happiness, ditch the plans. Study/work hard, and just let the rest of it happen. That's your moment of Zen.

But I'm rambling. So yes, Tuesday is the big 2-6, then Friday is the Tam/Kat/Cam birtday extravaganza, then Saturday I leave for Hong Kong. I'm super excited for that since I've never been to Asia, and I have the last two and a half days to play and be a tourist. SADLY, Giants season opener will be on (as far as I can calculate) at 4 am on the 14th. So I think I'll be missing that. But maybe my body clock will be soo off that I'm awake at that time. And maybe by some miracle, it will be shown on tv? Yeah...probably not. Oh well.

Anyway, I'll update as soon as I can with exciting news about the BDay extravaganza, actual birthday, and Hong Kong as soon as possible!

Man Down!!

Well at least it happened when I said it was allowed to. I caught swine flu. Well maybe not swine flu, but some kind of flu. Friday I woke up with a bit of a cough, spend the weekend aching a little, and by Monday I felt pretty awful. I was popping motrin and downing fluids like it was my job. Monday was a bank holiday (aka random day off in the UK), so Tuesday I headed back into the office not feeling awesome, but not too awful. Wednesday though, the fever set in. That's when I got sent home/sent myself home from work. Today I stayed home as well just to be cautious. Fevers dunzo (knock on wood), cough is subsiding, and aches are gone. Tomorrow I'll probably head back into the office because I have a lot to do over the next week!

1) This weekend should be fun just because its the weekend
2) Tuesday its my BIRTHDAY!! I turn 26. Closer to 30 than 20. I'm not really panicked about I don't think, but I'm not in my usual birthday excitement mode. I think its just because I'm really busy.
3) I have to pack and do a little shopping for my big trip
4) Friday is my joint birthday party with Cam and Tam. I think it will be a great time and I'm very excited about that
5) Saturday I leave for Hong Kong for over a week! Its for work, so Monday-Thursday will be CRAZY busy, but Friday and Saturday I have all to myself to do touristy things. I have a few friends who've spent some time there who are telling me all the hot spots to visit (that are safe for me to go by myself if I haven't found a friend to tour with).

So basically the next few weeks will be crazy!

Also, I think its a bit crazy that as soon as the calendar turned to September 1st, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees and the wind picked up. It reminds me of waiting at the bus stop at the end of September.

OH and big news for British television! Friday starts How I Met Your Mother! This is show that I have been a fan of for a few years now. Jessica used to make fun of me everytime I requested we watch it, saying that its was the dumbest show on television. Then one day Sarah and Mike came down to visit and started talking about how they love it. I said ME TOO! and Jess rolled her eyes. Then someone else mentioned they love it and I said ME TOO! and Jess roller her eyes. Then at Kristen and Sean's wedding Chris said he loved the show and I said ME TOO and Jess said, yeah its not that bad! Now I know I like some stupid shows, but this is an awesome one. If you haven't gotten into it, I suggest you start. From the beginning.

Second awesomeness in Brit television is that The Real Housewives of New Jersey is starting. This show started casting when I was still home, and then when I moved it made its debut. Molly emailed me and told me that the show gives NJ a worse name than it ever. So I'm super excited, especially for the scene where one of them flips a table in a restaurant. I can't wait to see how sterotypically North Jersey these crazies are!

Motivational Blog of the Day

So I promise to write about that show, but today is a short day for me because we have our company Summer Picnic. Its like 65 and cloudy, so I'm not sure how cheery the picnic will be. If it rains we are just going to have it in the office. We have 12 bottles of wine, a bottle of Pims, sandwiches, chesse and crackers. We have about 20 people in the company so I think this could be fun. People have also brought "picnic sports" such as frisbee and badmitton. How British. Anyway, below your motivation for the day. The moral of the story is just because someone thinks your idea is stupid, don't give up!

Computers in the future will weigh no more than 1.5 tons." (Popular Mechanics, forecasting advance of science, 1949.)

"I think there's a world market for maybe five computers." (Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.)

"I have travelled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." (Editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.)

"But what is it good for?" (Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, commenting on the micro chip, 1968)

"There is no reason why anyone would want to have a computer in their home." (Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp, 1977.)

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." (Western Union memo, 1876.)

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" (David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920's.)

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" (HM Warner, Warner Bros, 1927.)

"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say that America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make." (Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting the Mrs Fields Cookies business.)

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." (Decca Recording Company rejecting the Beatles, 1962.)

"Heavier than air flying machines are impossible." (Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.)

"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this." (Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3M PostIt Notepads.)

"So we went to Atari and said, 'We've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' They said 'No'. Then we went to Hewlett-Packard; they said, 'We don't need you. You haven't got through college yet'." (Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and HP interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.)

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy." (Drillers whom Edwin L Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil, 1859.)

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." (Irving Fisher, Economics professor, Yale University, 1929.)

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value". (Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.)

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." (Charles H Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.)

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction." (Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872.)

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon." (Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, 1873.)

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." (Bill Gates of Microsoft, 1981.)
"Fred Astaire Can't act, can't sing, balding... Can dance a little." (MGM telent scout, 1928.)

"What can you do with a guy with ears like that?" (Jack Warner, movie mogul, rejecting Clark Gable, 1930.)

"You ain't goin' nowhere son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck." (Jim Denny of the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, firing Elvis Presley after his first performance.)

"I'm sorry Mr Kipling, but you don't know how to use the English language." (Editor of the San Francisco Examiner, rejecting a short story from author and poet Rudyard Kipling.)

And finally there is the story, seemingly based mostly on truth, that Fred Smith, the founder of the multi-billion-dollar FedEx carrier corporation, originally proposed the FedEx concept in a college examination paper - for which we was awarded a C grade. Smith has broadly confirmed this story in later interviews, albeit with a little uncertainty as to how specifically he presented the FedEx model, and precisely how the examiner expressed his indifference. It's a good story nevertheless, and helps confirm not only that great oaks grow from tiny acorns, but also how difficult it is to recognize a particularly good acorn before it's grown.

We Comin to America!

So I'm finally back and settled in jolly old Londontown. Last Saturday I flew out to DC for sales training. I have to say, I had zero expectations for it, but this sales training ended up being the best I've ever had. It is (hopefully) going to really help me in my efforts at work. Saturday night I went out with a bunch of friends and actually got to see my friend Lauren who lives in LA which I was really excited about since I haven't seen her since her wedding. I was delirious for most of the night and drank 3 red bulls and two diet cokes before we went out, so then spent most of the night alternating between water and Miller Light. I ended the night with jumbo slice which I was super excited about.

Then Sunday I left to go check into the hotel in Bethesda. The week was a blur. The days felt like they lasted for years, and the nights..well imagine 10 of the most ADD prone, rowdie and full of energy people in a hotel. There were lots of nights spent by the rooftop pool laughing and making fun of each other, and of course team bonding. The DC people had never met the London people, so there was a lot of excitement there.

Once the week ended (finally, but also sadly, because I knew that meant my time was limited!) I headed back to Rachel's to stay until I flew out on Sunday. A few highlights include:
-7 of us standing in circle, arms around each other, swaying and singing God Bless the USA
-jumbo slice (obvi)
-driving a 16' moving truck across the city.

Yes, Rachel was selling her couch, and had to rent a Budget truck to pick up the new couch. The budget store was out of 10 foot trucks so they gave her a 16' for the same price. She was PANICKED because she didn't think she could drive it. I heard her on the phone with her mom getting worked up about it. Once I heard her mom suggest Jess drive it, I stepped in. I've seen Jess drive and I knew this would be bad for herself, Rachel, the truck and pretty much everyone on the road :) I've driven one of those before, and I was pretty confident I could do it again.

When we told our friends that I would be driving, Sue (smartly) pointed out that they chose the girl who hasn't driven in 9 months to drive a giant truck! But still, I was the best choice. So Rachel Jess and I head to Budget to pick up the truck. Holy crap was it big.

So we hop in, Rachel squats between Jess and I who are in seats, and we hit the road. Miraculously, I didn't mess anything up. We only got beeped at once! We drove it to the couch, loaded it, dropped off the stuff at Rachel's, and headed back to return it quickly (because my flight was leaving 3 hours before I thought it was). There went my brunch plans. Jess's angel friend Darci raced me off to Dulles after a shower, where, as soon as I got in line for check in, I crashed. The week of keeping up energy and appearances ended and so did my good mood. Combine that with no food and the stress that came with driving big bertha across the city, by the time I hit my seat in the plane I only watched one movie! That's pretty miraculous for me since I LOVE watching movies.

Anyway, I know this post was a little lame, but its almost 6:30 and there's a break in the rain so I'm headed out. I'll write more tomorrow about a show I discovered that I'm pretty sure promotes anorexia.

Military time = Stupid

When I first moved here everyone in my office laughed at me for several reasons, but one of them was because I kept trying to change all of my electronics into normal time. I kept asking them why everything was in military time and they were like, military time? oh...you mean TIME. Yeah, that's because that's how the clock works. I said, actually gen Y-ers...before the clock went digital, there were just 12 numbers on a wall. It seemed to work out for everyone pretty well then, I think we can get along with just 12 numbers ourselves...why complicate things?

Well they choose to anyway. I've come up with a good way of remembering most of the numbers:
13 = 1 because its right after 12
15 = 3 because 3 times 5 is 15
16 = 4 because 4 times 4 is 16
18 = 6 because they kind of look alike
24 = 12 because...well duh.

So the ones in the middle are the ones that really get me. Yes, I know you can just subtract 12, but that takes some sort of conversion and I don't have time for that. MOST of the time I'm pretty good at it. My microwave and oven timers can't go to 12 hours, so at home I have my cell phone on my body at all times. At work my computer is on military time and I can't figure out how to change it (I've tried all the obvious ways, its not in control panel either).

I thought I was getting really good at it, until today. Eddie left at 14:48 for a call. I said, geez he's leaving a bit early, but then realized why. He had to go do his job. For some reason though, the 14 stuck in my head as 4 (because I don't have a rule for this number!). So by the time 15:40 rolled around, I thought I was being a big baller for staying so late. At 15:57 I emailed a friend who I'm meeting for drinks tonight and said, "Look I know you have to work until 6 but I'm going to head to the bar now and get us a table. Where should I go?" I shut down all my programs except email and was about to close that when I got his response: Wow, a bit early isn't it? Ok well how about (insert bar here)?


I read his email like 3 times, looked at the clock again. Stared at it, and then said, Oh my god. It was 3:57, not 5:57. Fmylife. Now I have to kill the next two hours already having mentally shut down. If we just stuck with 12 numbers this would never happen. Why complicate things with more numbers? Is AM and PM really that hard to figure out?