Vista Upgrade

This is by far one of my favorite Mac vs PC commercials - Surgery. Especially since in my office we all use PCs and everyone else around here is all hyped up on Vista.

Viva la Mac!

Score 1 for Me!

On Sunday I played soccer and decided to play forward. Usually I play defense, but was feeling good so I played up. Was doing pretty well, and the high light for me was when I scored not only the first goal of the game, but my first goal ever! Though it was not as graceful as one would like. My team mate Maneesh had passed the ball to me and I was in front of the net. I meant to stop the ball then kick it in, but my timing was off and instead the ball hit my shinguard, but still went into the goal. Hey, I'll take it anyway I can get it.

The rest of the game I had many more goal opportunities. One I kicked the ball a little too high and it went over the net, and the rest were awesome setups, again with me in front of the net, but my brain and feet just were not talking to each other and I totally f*&%ed up each time. Oh well, at least I tried, and I can only get better from this point on. I had fun regardless. I love my soccer team, I will be very sad to leave them. And apparently in England co-ed teams are not very common. wtf?

Supercross 2007

Went to watch the Supercross at AT&T Park on Saturday night with my friends Lilliam and David. It is a really cool event. Those guys are crazy on the bikes, zipping around the track lightning-fast, running into each other and crashing, but luckily there didn't seem to be any serious injuries. It was funny to see the baseball field transformed into a dirt track. I was rooting for #7 James Stewart because my friends Elana and Dayved, who are avid motorcross fans and riders themselves, told me to. LoL. I am really glad I got to check this event out before going to England - good idea Miss Lil!


Vroom vroom.



Me, David & Lilliam



View of the whole track.

It's Official

Bought my plane ticket for London. Leaving on February 26th but I'll be back for Christmas. Now that there is a moving date, it's making things move along quicker, knowing that I have basically 6 weeks to sort everything out. The work situation is going well, haven't gotten a 100% job offer, but it is 95% there. As usual Chris is being so generous and caring with the whole move, I am so lucky. I know I keep saying that, but it is true and there always seems to be something new that he offers or an idea he has to help me.

It is starting to hit people that I am moving, now that I have a departure date. People at work know. Friends and family are starting to know. Soon the waterworks will be turned on. Time to buy waterproof mascara.

Flight Home

When I woke up on Monday I could not believe I was already flying home. The week went by way to fast. I woke up early so that I could take Big Red (my huge ass suitcase) down to the post office so I could arrange to have it sent to Chris' pub in Biddestone. Man that thing was heavy - about 70lbs. When I got to the post office I thought the process would be quick, but my suitcase was too heavy so I had to take out some stuff, and ship that seperately. I felt weird opening up my suitcase and doing all of this in the post office, plus it was a small office, but hey- gotta do what you gotta do.

When it was all said and done and I left the post office it was a little after 10:30am, and I needed to get on the tube to head for Heathrow at 11am. So much for my morning walk in the park. Headed back to the hotel, Kris and Will had already left (we said our goodbye's earlier) and luckily I had already packed the night before. I left the hotel and made my way to the Victoria station. However, I still needed to buy my mom and sister their gifts. There were two shops in the Victoria station, but of course I didn't see anything I liked. What a time to be picky eh? After wasting time there, I walked down a block to this one souvenir shop that I had been to before, and they had a much larger selection. Got their gifts, and headed back to the station. It was a little past 11am, but I thought I could still make it to the airport on time.

I was doing good, up until I reached the airport, got off the train, went into the terminal to check in only to realize I was in the wrong terminal. The tube stops first at Terminal 4, then at Terminals 1, 2, 3. I was in Terminal 4 and needed to be in Terminal 1. So I go back to the underground, and just miss the fricken train. The next one wouldn't be by for another 10 minutes. So now I am starting to worry. I get on the train, get to Terminal 1, drop off by bag and head for the security line. This was the icing on the cake. The line was pretty long. Wouldn't have mattered if I got to the terminal on time like I planned, but such is life.

Finally got through security, and when I was leaving that area, I got out my watch and saw that it was 1:20pm. My flight leaves at 1:45pm and on the board it said my gate was closing AND that it takes 15 minutes to walk to my gate. (ahhh!!) So I am running through the fricken terminal now, with my huge ass backpack, getting all sweaty hoping I don't miss my flight. Luckily when I rounded the corner and saw my gate there was still a good sized line in front, so I relaxed, bought myself a water bottle and got in line.

The flight home was nice. Slept in the beginning to help align myself with Cali time, watched some movies, wrote in my journal, and then next thing you know we are landing in SFO. Karina and mom were at the airport to pick me up, so sweet. I had an amazing time in London and this trip definitly solidified for me my choice to move there and has made me even more excited and confident about the move.

Last Night in London

Sunday - Managed to wake up relatively early considering I was out until 2am drinking the night before (good times). The plan for today was to go to the markets over in East London and then check out Parliament, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. However, Kris and Will didn't get much sleep at all apparently, and were having a hard time getting out of bed. I knew they would rather go to the markets, so I told them I'd head out and see the Royal parts of London, and come back at 1pm and then we could go to the markets. They agreed, so I headed out.

Can you believe it was actually sunny!? Blue skies and sunshine, it's a miracle. Though still incredibly cold. My first stop was Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. I took a zillion pictures, because everything looked so pretty with the sun shining on it. I wanted to tour the Westminster Abbey, but on Sunday's it is closed to tourists, and is only open for regular masses. Then I walked across the street to Parliament, thinking I could take a tour of that, but it must have been closed on Sunday as well because I didn't see an entrance, or queue to get in. So I just walked around the outside, taking more pictures.

Once I was done there, I headed over to Buckingham Palace, but for some reason I had trouble figuring out where the entrance was for this place. Maybe Sunday is just a bad day for tours. I continued to walk around the property, feeling a bit disappointed when I noticed a huge crowd of people had gathered outside of the gate to Buckingham Palace, and there was music. I made my way to the fence, stood on my tiptoes and saw what all the comotion was about- it was the chagning of the guards. It was towards the end, but at least I saw something today. Took pictures, then walked over to one of the parks lining the palace. I decided to take a stroll through St. James' Park, and as I was walking, the royal guards were leaving the palace gates, and making their way down the street I was on, so I got a front seat of watching these guys march on by. Very cool.

The walk through the park was so nice and peaceful, and the fact that it was sunny really helped. There were a ton of birds all over the place, as there is a pond that runs down the middle length of the park, and everyone was feeding the birds. The animals here are so domesticated. I saw one guy wearing a glove and a pidgeon was on his hand and the guy was totally petting it like a pet! Oh and then I saw more British Squirrels, and those guys are super friendly. When I got to the end of the park and rounded the corner I had made a full circle and was back at Parliament and Big Ben. I found a payphone and called our hotel room to see if Kris and Will were up yet. They were, so I made my way back to the hotel, then we headed out for the markets.

Spitalfields Market is the first one we went to, and it was pretty cool. Tons of booths with cool stuff, but after a while we all felt that some of the stuff that was being sold wasn't very unique as we saw the same things in several booths. Still cool to look at. Then we went down the street to Brick Lane, which definitly seemed like a more authentic market. Kristine even bought a cute coat. I wanted to visit Harrod's, so we took the tube over there and checked it out very briefly. Wasn't exactly Kris and Will's type of store. Suppose I'll get to check it out in more detail when I move there. It is pretty amazing though. There are a bunch of rooms, some with various themes. There were rooms for buying meat, candies, etc. along with all the other department store items like clothes, cosmetics, etc.

After Harrod's I needed to go back to the hotel for a little cat nap before we headed out for the night. And since it was my last night in London, we wanted to find a really good, authentic fish & chips place. Will did some research and found 2 restaurants in Notting Hill that were supposed to be good. We took the tube there, but when we got to Notting Hill, and finally found the resturants, they were both closed. Other than bars closing early in England, apparently restaurants do to on Sundays. We obviously were still thinking things around here ran 24-7 like in America, and because of that got slapped in the face. So no fish and chips, bummer. But I was really getting hungry and so were Kris and Will and because it was so late we feared traveling anywhere else to find food, because by the time we would get there, they'd be closed. So we desperately searched the one main street of the area and found a few places but we were having a hard time agreeing on a place. Just when I thought I was going to go crazy and just eat on my own, Kris found a Portugese/Brazilian place that she liked, and i didn't care so we ate there. Turned out to be a really cool place, however when they say things are 'spicy" they mean it. I ordered my meal as "medium" and should have stuck with "mild". I couldn't even finish my chicken. But at least the crisps were yummy and they had bottomless soda.

After dinner we wanted to find a pub for drinks but once again it was already really late and if bars close early on weekdays then they were sure to close just as early, if not earlier, on a Sunday. I suggested we find a pub near our hotel, that way we didn't have to worry about getting home. Once we were back in our neighborhood, nearly all the places were already closed or stopped serving alcohol. We had almost given up but then we came across St. Geroge's Tavern, and decided to try there. When I walked in I saw one of the guys I had met the night before, Oula. I quickly said hi to him, then went to the bar to get my drink before they shut down. The guy at the bar served us, though apparently they had stopped serving drinks 30 minutes ago. So we sat, had to quickly down our pints as they were closing, and then attempted to find another pub butt they were all closed. They must think us Americans are a bunch of lushes always trying to get alcohol at odd hours. lol.

Football & Pints

Saturdays plan was to visit the Portobello Market, then go to the West Ham United vs Fulham football game. However that morning Kristine was feeling really crapy. We missed the market, and she decided to stay at the hotel and rest for the day. Will stayed with her, and I went to the West Ham game on my own. I got onto the tube heading towards Upton Park, and as we got closer and closer to that stop, more and more people were boarding wearing West Ham colors (burgundy and light blue). Luckily I had a purple-ish sweater on so I sort of matched the fans.

When we got to Upton Park there was a sea of people out on the street, either heading towards the stadium or buying food. I went and got the tickets, then bought a cool scarf sporting the West Ham colors, ate some food, then began the task of trying to sell the two extra tickts I had. I really hate doing the whole "tickets, tickets for the game" bit, but I had to at least try and get some money for them. My first taker was another scalper, asking how much I wanted. I paid 40 GBP (80 USD) for each ticket and wanted to get as close to full price as possible. His response was "Good luck." I kept at it for almost 30 minutes, with no other takers. Then it was almost time for the game to start, and the scalper came back to me and asked what was the lowest price I'd take, and I said 20 Pounds each, and he agreed. So at least I got 1/2 price.

When I got into the stadium, they were just starting to sing the West Ham song.


"'I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air,
They fly so high, nearly reach the sky,
Then like my dreams they fade and die,
Fortune's always hiding, I've looked everywhere,
I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air,
United! United!"


I was impressed by how loud the crowd was. I've never head a crowd at a US stadium get that loud. And it was funny how in the stand where all the "crazy" West Ham fans were, they stuck the Fulham supporters. They even had a few policemen stationed in the aisle that seperated the West Ham and Fulham supporters. The game was really good, even though both teams had been playing poorly as of late. There were some major errors on the field, but they kept us on our toes by always having the score be so close. At the end of the second half, the score was 3-2 West Ham, but then the refs added 5 minutes of extra time, which is a lot. West Ham managed to keep their lead, but in the last second of the 5 minutes, Fulham scored, tying the match. Everyone (except the Fulham supporters) was pissed. "The referee's a wanker" was booming throughout the stadium.

I left the stadium and headed back to the hotel. When I got there, Kris and Will had left me a note saying they left for dinner. I tried to catch them, as they left me the name and address of where they were going, but when I got there and looked around I did not see them. So I decided to look for a cool pub for food, and didn't really see anything in that part of town, so I went back to Westminster (the area we were staying in) and went into this pub called St. George's Tavern. I felt a little akward going in, because the entrance in a big open space and I felt that everyone in there was starting at me. Did I have "tourist" printed on my forehead or something?

I saw some people at tables eating food, and headed in that direction to look for an empty table, but on my way over, a gentleman stopped me and asked me my name and if I wanted a drink. I was a little apprehensive as he was definitly much older than me, but what the heck, I said yes. Then when he came back he asked "So are you for West Ham" and pointed to my new West Ham scarf. I expalined I was on vacation and went to the game that afternoon. He was so jealous because he is a West Ham fan. We talked about the game, then he introduced himself and his friends. They were all a really nice group of people, nothing dodgey about them at all.

We all sat and talked and drank, it was a lot of fun. And when that pub was closing, they asked me to go with them to another one down the street which stayed open a little later. I did, we had 1 more round, and they taught me some football chants which was cool. Then we went across the street and they bought me a shishkabob which I was so thankful for because I hadn't had any dinner up until that point. Then they walked me a few blocks down to my hotel and told me that when I move to London to give them a call or find them at St. Georges'.

They were so cool and nice (English people are so nice!). I'd only been in London for 2 days and already I made some new friends, which tells me I'll be just fine at making more when I move there.

ARG!

Damn timed internet....I was writing a new post, and it was quite lengthy. Thought I had enough time to finish but apparently not and not I've lost all that I just wrote. Errr...to tired now to re-type. Will do it later.

The City of London

Today was our main sight-seeing day. We started by taking the tube to the London Eye, a 420 ft tall monster ferris-wheel type thing that you can ride around in to get an amazing view of London. Sadly it is going through maintenance all fricken week so we won't get a chance to ride it. We hopped on a ferry and took a nice boat ride from the Westminster Pier (near Parliament) up the Thames to the Tower of London. The ride was nice and we got to see quite a few points of interest along the way, like the Globe Theater, Millenium Bridge, London Bridge, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.

After departing the ferry, I went to take a tour of the Tower of London, while Kristine and Will got some nibbles and pints. The Tower of London, though pricey, was a great tour. It's been around for about 900 years and so much history has taken place there. After my 2 1/2 hours there, we walked along Cannon Street, passing by some really cool buildings, the Monument (built to commemorate the great fire of london in 1666), St. Mary-le-bow church, the infamous St. Paul's Cathedral which we sadly didn't go into (next time).

Then we walked across the Millenium Bridge, went into the Tate Modernm Museum of Art, which really we went into the use the restroom, but inside they have these kick ass slides! Kristine and I went down one which was fun. Then we continued walking back in the direction of the London Tower so we could catch our ferry back to Westminster. The ferry ride back at night was a nice contrast to our earlier boat ride. The whole city was lit up and very pretty. Sadly my little camera doesn't take night shots well, however Krstine (being a photographer) had a better camera so I'll just snag some of her nite shots.

Now we are back at the hotel, giving our feet a rest before we head out for the night. We plan to go to Picadilly Circus, Traflager Square and Chinatown (all close to each other and in the southern part of Soho). Should be fun.

Greetings from England!!

I arrive at Heathrow on Tuesday morning, left my bags at the airport and went off to see Hampton Court. Really cool place, lots of history. Took a few different audio tours and rushed out into the gardens to go through the Maze, and then hurried back to my bus stop as I had to head back to Heathrow to meet Chris. The journey back took much longer, and I totally goofed at one point and got on the wrong train so they delayed me even more.

Finally got to the airport, met Chris, we drove to his pub in Biddestone (near Bath) and called it a night. Wednesday morning went to Stonehenge. Very cool thing to see, though it was freezing and windy! Then we drove into bath which is a great town. Took a tour of the Roman Bath House, had tea at 3pm, then headed back to the pub.

Today I took the train from Bath to London, got to my hotel, waited for my friends Kristine and Will to arrive, decided to take a stroll around the area. Saw the Westminster Cathedral, and some war memorials near Hyde Park. Krstine and Will didn't show up until nearly 4:30pm! Apparently their flight out of SFO was delayed for 3 hours, then during landing, the turbulence was so terrible that they both threw up, and so did a few other people. But they finally made it here and despite a rough start are happy to be here at the hotel.

Going to London (but only for 1 week)

Today I leave for my vacation/recon trip to London. But do not worry, this isn't "the move". I mean really people, do you think i would move and not have some amazingly huge party to say my goodbyes??? C'mon, give me a little more credit. I am all packed and ready to go. It does feel like I am moving though since I had to pack the 2 extra suitecases with moving items. When I return I will start boxing up all the stuff in my room for storage and probably won't have much else to move over when I leave end of February, which is cool.

Weather right now in London is rain. :oP I know I know, what did I expect- beautiful California sunshine? It will still be fun, got myself some new waterproof booties to walk around in. I will do my best to update my blog whilst over in London if possible. Otherwise I'll do a big post when I return.

Cherrio!

it's 2007 - are you ready?

I welcome with open arms and open mind the New Year of 2007. It's going to be a big year for me as i am moving to London at the end of February. Exciting, scary, thrilling, uncertain - I'm feeling all of it but this is my dream and I know it will be an amazing experience. Right now I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Work is crazy busy, and I am trying to get ready for my London vacation/recon trip next week. Sounds easy but the thing is I am packing 3 (yes three) suitcases. 1 is for the vacation part, the other two are going to have "pre-moving" items like towel, linens, extra clothes, etc. that I am leaving at my boss' house until I get there in Feb. Cool huh? He is such an awesome person and am so thankful to have him as my boss.