Lou in London

Tuesday the 25th of april

2006-04-25T12:00:00.000+01:00

I was going to go play softball today but I was running late -

so I didn't bring my stuff in and also-
a. i thought it might rain (is that really an excuse here)
b. my back has been killing me. I just popped two ibuprofen and my back actually no longer hurts.... mmmmm.. pain medicine.
c. that damn stupid exam is hanging over my head.

Also got another email saying that the other team I was going to play for is practicing tonight too....

Happy Birthday to Me

2006-01-25T12:03:00.000+01:00

it's my birthday

I brought in donuts and muffins from sainsbury to work. The donuts went pretty quick. Muffins not as quick.

Tube strike today

2006-01-09T11:12:00.000+01:00

yet.... the trains are still running. a few stations are closed. no real trouble to get to work.

so,... if there is a strike but the statsions and trains can still be staffed, did the tree really fall?

Tuesday November 15

2005-11-15T23:31:00.000+01:00

Work today.. fun fun .

Then off to the dog track in Wimbledon. Yes, we went to watch greyhound racing. It was a social event for the group. (Apparently, they can't all be drinking so we do gambling... typical British)

Out of about 60 in the group about 20-25 showed up. We each got a program, 2 half pint drink vouchers and 2 £2 better vouchers.

There were 12 races. Most were a little over a lap of a track about 400m. Some races were close to a lap and a half or something.

I won some, i lost some. i drank some. i ended up losing maybe £20 or so. Then back home.. got home late.. passed out.

Monday November 14

2005-11-14T12:12:00.000+01:00

Busy day at work. A few new clients, a few ongoing. Subway for lunch. After work-
Basketball 'training' which turned out to be just 5 guys at a gym in east london. Played 2 on 2 for about 2 hours. I am totally sore.

tube - home - leftover dinner... bed earlyish.. woke up 2 am,.. watched the eagles for a half. went to bed with a lead.. woke up to find out they choked in the last few minutes.

Monday October 10th

2005-10-10T23:00:00.000+01:00

Showed up to work.
Did not really do much at work. Updated a memo or two and did some admin.
Afterwork grabbed dinner from M&S. Then studied.

I am a little sore from football yesterday. Still haven't gotten a haircut.

Sunday October 9

2005-10-09T22:51:00.000+01:00

Meant to wake up early as I had a lot to do today. Finally left the flat at like 1230 with intentions of :
1. get a haircut
2. buy shoes for soccer match (indoor shoes as it was on turf)
3. Lunch.
4. bus to battersea park for game

I went to a barber but the wait was long. So I walked down to oxford street to try and find soccer shoes but not cleats. I really wandered all over, went into a JD, Adidas store, foot locker, john Lewis and was unsuccessful. Service here is really horrible so no one helped me and i really wasn't sure what i wanted.

Had a quick fish and chips somewhere while failing to shop and hopped on bus to battersea park 137 bus. Got to game about 10 minutes before 3. we were supposed to meet at 230 but I was fine. Had time to change and stretch. I prob played only 30-40% of the game as we had way too many people. I played some defense and midfield. I think I did ok. we lost 5-1.

After football, headed to Settle Inn for drinks. Firm (a partner) bought a lot of beer, pims, lemonade and food (pita/ hummus, chips, nacho chips). Stayed till 8ish. Found a cab and took it to sports cafe. Met up with ashley. The folks from last week who ashley texted said they would show but we couldnt find them. Eagles sucked.
THey also had a brasil soccer game on. that was crap. not as much fun as previous weeks.

Ashley's friend Amber (her 'little sister' who hangs onto her) and her flatmate were there. Flatmate not as cool as amber who is like super young. also there was ashleys friend maura who is pretty damn cool. i was in bad mood as eagles stunk.
took cab home.. got to bed at 1230.

UPdate

2005-10-09T00:43:00.000+01:00

tim and katie came home and we went back over to the party. stayed an hour and a half. talked mostly to them.. not a bad time at all

Saturday October 8

2005-10-08T22:42:00.000+01:00

Today was an easy day. I woke up, made coffee and studied most of the day. I had to stay in the flat as the telephone man was coming. He finally showed up at 4:00 pm and fixed our land line.

I also did laundry.

I have done 2 practice exams from 1989 and 1990 (cost method stuff) . While most of the problems still are good to practice a lot have commutation functions.

Some of bj / tims friends stopped by as they were going to a party at the old flat on edgeware road. I got dragged but only stayed for a few minutes as i knew about 1 person plus a few others but do not know their names. That and it was an 80s theme party. People were mostly all dressed up in 80s gear. They named the rooms after tv shoes. All in all it would have been great had I had a good 80s outfit. Lot s of aussies. I left shortly and came home to study.

Yes, I should go out and make friends but studying in number one now.
and tomorrow is a busy day with the soccer match vs TS group. I gotta buy some new sneaks plus then the eagles game..

Friday October 7

2005-10-07T18:23:00.000+01:00

1. They were going to turn the water off in the flat at 7 am this morning, so I got myself out of bed at 6:30 AM to shower.
2. Got to work before 8 AM.
3. Had technical meeting at 9:45 (Wierd meeting time, 45 after the hour)
4. Meet with my lead reviewer about goals and getting on deals. good stuff. had a coffee.
5. Had lunch with some other new hires and all the partners and directors. I was totally the only one under 35 there. I think I had a one too many glasses of wine making this afternoon a little bit of a struggle.
6. Printed off some old exams to take this weekend. Worked on my nasty letter to the head of global mobility.
7. Off to the pub. Screw the exams.. hehee

Thursday October 6, 2005

2005-10-06T18:35:00.000+01:00

Morning at work-

Read 2 days worth of emails.

Actually kept busy.

12:30 grab quick lunch then cab to afternoon session of "living and working in the UK". it was a cultural training. My trainer was terrible. Waste of time. She did not tie anything together.

Subway home. I was gonna pop in a frozen food but Tim was making a roast. Yummy roast. A little dry but yummy nonetheless. Studied a little but not much.

July 27

2005-07-27T13:16:00.000+01:00

I finally got my listing from my estate agent/ relocation broker with places to see. It was a long day. Of course, I only wanted a share but they convinced me the day before that I should see studios too.

(Editor's note: Complete this post later)

July 26

2005-07-26T13:14:00.000+01:00

I looked online for flats and walked around the neighbourhood where I wanted to live. (Baker Street/ Marylebone). I went back in the evening and saw a flat I saw online. It was nice, in a great location. I told them I wanted it. The next day they told me they gave it to someone else. Of course, it has still been posted on gumtree.com ever since so I think they were lying. Then again, they were French so it wasn’t ideal.

July 25

2005-07-25T13:14:00.000+01:00

I walked all the way from my hotel to Trafalgar square, walking along the Thames river. I had lunch at subway, bought me a pay as you go mobile phone and took the original bus tour.

Basically it was just a 2 hour bus tour (double decker, open top) that just went through a route in London with a live tour guide. It was good to get an overview of the city layout but it was real cold up top. It must have been in the low fifties.

Sunday July 24

2005-07-24T12:52:00.000+01:00

July 24

We landed at heathrow and took a shuttle to the terminal. The wait for immigration wasn’t really long at all. I showed my passport and work permit and it was all sorted. (Sorted here means it was ok). Then I collected my bags, walked through customs (the green aisle), and found my driver. The driver was set up by the relocation company.

My driver was this old woman who had trouble getting my bags into the car. I basically did all the work. I had converted some cash to pounds but when we got to the hotel, the driver would only take cash and not credit cards. I had to go to an ATM. Of course, it being London, it was cool and rainy.

My hotel basically was a long term studio with a SOFA BED. No air conditioning (which was OK as it never really got hot but not ideal). And the room was only made up once a week. It was in an area of town that was basically deserted on Sunday. It was pretty lonely. I napped, walked around the block ,read some, and went to bed. On my way walking around, some random drunk guy started talking to me, a young Australian and told me to meet him at a bar the following night. I had no intention of doing so but said sure, whatever.

July 23

2005-07-23T14:51:00.000+01:00

July 23 – My parents took me and Sam to the airport (JFK). We had gone to a late lunch at Yura and then I finished packing. I was almost totally packed but it was still stressful fitting the last pieces into the three suitcases. At the airport, I could not find my itinerary so I had to wait in line at the virgin customer service to get my ticket printed. Of course the people in front of me were paying cash for like 10 tickets so it took forever. I got my ticket then waited in line to check in. When I was a few people away from the counter the system went down so it only added more stress and waiting to the day. Finally, I checked in but had to go back to the other line to pay an excess baggage fee. Then I was able to pick up my boarding pass and sent my luggage through the check-in.

We went to the security gate and it was tough saying goodbye to mom, dad, and especially Sam.

When I was up to the metal detector, they took my ticket and passport and told me to wait. It must have been because I had a one-way ticket. Then they let like 50 flight crew people through. It took a while. Eventually I got to the gate and waited a while then boarded the plane. Fortunately, there was no one in the seat next to me so I had both the window and the aisle.

I was not able to sleep on the plane but did watch Million Dollar Baby on the entertainment system. I might have slept for an hour or two on the whole flight.

I took out my contacts and looked into my bag for my glasses. I opened my glasses case but no glasses. I later found out that I had brought 3 cases and 2 sets of glasses. I was a little panicky there.