You know who you are...

Aigh! Too many people

Claustraphobia too much. Left the cheering throng. Will visit when I can get in.

California Supreme Court overturns Gay Marriage Ban...

Woo!
California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban

Go, US!

Spring in Boston Common

It looked so pretty.

Spring Has Come, Klennex Stocks a Good Bet

The last few days have been allergy hell. Even with the allergy medicine in my system, my head is pounding and I'm stuffed up.

Gotta love the pollen.

At least one good thing is that next week, I'll be going to the allergist.

I can't wait to see if there's anything that he or she can do for me other than telling me to suck it up.

On the other hand, the sun and the flowers are a nice change from the grey and the rain.

Another Reason Why I Miss the NHS...

As my faithful (or bored) readers know I recently got a CPAP machine. I just got the insurance bill. The friggin' health insurance that I pay into won't pay for it, though my doctor says that I need it. The most they'll pay for health equipment is peanuts, leaving me with two grand for my very own. Friggin' jackasses.

This is what I love about health insurance. You get it, you pay into it and it still doesn't help you when you need it.

Happily, I do get to act out my frustration at work. I'm now the anonymous 'Jack', head of software development. A perpetually harried and annoyed character that gets to snap at the idiotic headhunters that cold call us with what we don't want or need.

It's very freeing.

Back of the quilt

Back

Ryan's quilt

Front

One Annoying Problem with Sleeping Better...

Clearly, I'm dreaming again... So far there've been two nights, where I was able to take off the CPAP mask or otherwise disconnect myself from the machine the first time unplugging the hose (though that might have been something as simple as rolling over too far and popping it out), but last night was different. I went to bed with the machine fully connected and the machine on, but I woke up this morning with the water reservoir half-way full, the mask neatly coiled in the dresser drawer like I usually put it in the morning and the CPAP machine turned off. I'm not sure if it was fully unhooked, but I think it was.

Unfortunately, no memory at all of doing any of that. If my subconscious made itself half as useful and would take up the slack with its share of the chores around the apartment, things would be so much easier. Though I don't think there's a listing for someone that sleep-cleans rather than sleep-walking.

Clownitis Strikes!

Ryan has it worst. But as you can see Conall, has the bug as well. I would imagine that the whole house will be down with a bad case by the end of the week. Hopefully, the usual therapy of seltzer bottles and oversized shoes will work.

Wednesday Night at the Circus

This brings me back. I feel like a kid again. (Okay, this me, so that's only going back days or weeks.)

Sunday School Thoughts

Sunday was strange.

I started the process toward joining the Arlington Street Church, here in Boston. It was weird to be going to Sunday School at this point in my life. And weird to try to fit Unitarian Universalism into my understanding of 'church' from my more hierarchical Roman Catholic upbringing. To say that they're more than a little different doesn't begin to cover it.

A few things are the same though... The senior minister sat down with all of the new people in the class. She said that knowing her congregation is the only way that she knows how to minister, which reminded me a lot of the way my old parish priest would always be there to talk to his flock. The group talked about our faith and what brought us to Arlington Street and finally to the class. It was strange to hear the ministers talking about being called to preach. Maybe it's because I'm agnostic enough to not be sure about whether a deity (or deities) exists, I can't really understand someone that had utter confidence and belief in such a calling.

One of the things that really made me feel better about myself and my own struggles was learning that Mother Theresa had doubts throughout her life. I mean, I'm no Mother Theresa, but knowing that she had doubts and quite probably days when she wanted to pack it all in has really helped me keep my life in perspective.

For me, my beliefs turn more to believing in the innate goodness of mankind and a belief that we can make things better for everyone/everything. Maybe not solve all of the problems, but even easing someone else's day certainly counts as a win. I want to believe that there's an afterlife, but because I can't be sure, I believe that this is your one chance at getting it right. Maybe it flows from that or maybe because my own nature is largely ambivalent and doubting, I don't think I've ever made a decision in my life that I haven't second or third guessed. So the concept of an external imposed calling seems so alien that I can't really wrap my mind around it.

Of course, part of that is probably my reading of the words. If you think about it, a call to serve doesn't have to be external. I guess it could just as easily be a belief that that's where you'll be able to do the most good. And as such, that's the same as anyone moving toward a career. Of course, I doubt that's the way that they'd see it.

Okay, there's my maudlin post for the day. Time to go back to my mass market paperback book.

CPAP - Review

First a note to the pervs out there, the teenaged girl wasn't in my bed. She was in the guest room.

Now that that's over with, the CPAP machine. I've been using it since Thursday night — about a week now. I'm feel better rested, more awake during the day, I haven't felt the need for caffeine since I started using it. I also find that I have a lot more energy. I'm not ready to roll over and go to bed at 9:30pm any more. I can do more than be a lump on the couch after work, which has resulted in me going to the gym more (okay, twice so far) and other things.

I do find myself waking up at odd times during the night, when I roll over an the mask shifts and the CPAP machine blows air into my face or my eyes. Unsurprisingly, that's enough to wake me up.

But other than that, I'm feeling much much better.

Go CPAP.

CPAP a go go

Well, yesterday, I had my appointment with the sleep people. I found out that I had severe sleep apnea. According to their charts, I stop breathing 72+ times a night. (It's a wonder that I ever feel rested sleeping.)

They got me a cool CPAP machine that I slept with for the first time last night. It seemed to do the job and I woke up at 5 or so this morning feeling fantastic. (Not Michael Jackson sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber, but still good none the less.)

Friends visiting this week. Once I drag a teenaged girl out of bed, it's Salem for us.

Closed on Easter?

My friend, Kiki and I went to the Copley Mall yesterday only to find it largely closed. The same was found when we went to the Prudential Mall. Yes, yesterday was Easter.

However, when did Easter get raised to become a National Holiday?

I thought that if the US had one stated religion it was Capitalism more than anything else. What the hell?

Top of the Hub on restaurant week

Overcast and foggy. But the food was exquisite.

Bible on Homosexuality

Saw a link to this Pro-Gay/Anti-Gay article about the bible... Interesting...

Damn, I've done a lot...

I recently got an old friend from high school and he asked what I've been doing. And I got one of those rare moments of looking back on the last twenty-five years of your life and looking at what you've done.

Not to get maudlin, but I've really been blessed. I've seen a lot, met a lot of people, been in a lot of places and had a lot of fun.

Who knew that taking a measure of things once in a while would be so rewarding. Sure there are things that I wish I had done -- or not done as is more often the case -- but on a whole, I don't think I'd change much. And it feels damned good to be able to say that.

Thanks.

Day 2 - Figuring Out What's Missing

Okay, the worst thing is the feeling of violation, but I'm even more pissed off about all the stupid shit that's gone...

Yes, I can understand why the thief liked my cashmere scarf. I liked it, too, which is why I purchased it. But why take all my Spring/Fall jackets? Why take my cargo pants? Why take my laundry bag? Especially, when you're already taking duffel bags and backpacks. Why take my shoes, when yours are half a size bigger than mine? Why open a bottle of shampoo? Why just throw it back on the furniture after you open it?

Why leave your clothes?

I'm sure it's going to be several days where I reach for something to wear or go to use something that's not there and get pissed, but in the big scheme of things, it's not the end of the world. Still pisses me off, though.

Update: And the hits keep coming... I should have realized it when the laundry bag was gone, but he took several pairs of pants, shirts, etc... I'm sure that when I finish doing the laundry he left, I'll find a host of unmatched sox and the like.

Robbed!

First off, let's insert some gratuitous and much needed profanities.

Once that's done... We're ready to discuss it.

Was away for the weekend. A visit out to Western Mass to spend time with the family. Actually, had a lot of fun. Played with my nephews and nieces wandered around the mall, got some stuff out of storage, and generally had fun.

Came back home to find change spilled all over the floor in my bedroom. (Was a little confused by this. Dropped the bags and looked around. All the drawers were opened, and it looked like everything had been rifled through. Went next door to check with the landlord -- had my roommate mentioned anything about our being robbed? Nope, and she just talked with him the other day. She promised to send over her husband, the cop.)

We looked around, he had me call 911 and then I got to spend some time with the police officer that came to take my statement and then the detectives that showed up to dust for prints.

Basically, as far as I could piece together. My roommate went out to a bar and picked up someone that didn't look skeevy. They came back to the apartment, had an enjoyable evening and then had breakfast in the morning. My roommate went back to bed. His friend hung out in the living room, watching TV. When my roommate woke up, his new friend was gone.

Gone, but not forgotten. He'd helped himself to some clothes in my room, money that I had lying around, my portable DVD player, some prescription drugs that I had, some jewlery, my old Palm, and a backpack. On the other hand, he was nice enough to leave me his clothes. So I guess he considered that a nice trade. Though I think my Doc Martens, my leather jackets, etc... were a little bit better than his work boots, chino's and sweater.

The best I can say is that all my really expensive stuff: the MacBook, the iPod, my digital camera, the cell phone, and my current Palm were all with me out in Western Mass, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. It still annoys the living crap out of me, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been and no one got hurt.

I'll have a chat with my roommate tomorrow and we'll try to get this sorted out. I'll start cleaning things up, because I've got guests coming in this weekend and all next week.

Night of the Sleep Study

And boy did I look like a dork.

The good news is that we have some results already. The nurse was really nice and friendly as she strapped me in and applied all the sensors. She was also nice enough to take this picture for me.

She said that they had until 3am to decide whether I had sleep apnea. The fact that she came in before midnight to get me a CPAP mask answered any questions that I had about whether I had sleep apnea. She said it was really bad and that anyone that heard me could tell that I had sleep apnea.

They initially tried just a nose mask, but that didn't work much with my stuffed up nose and forty odd years of mouth-breathing. About twenty minutes later, she was back with a nose/mouth mask. I was breathing through that and though it dried the hell out of me, it did seem to work.

Initially, I had some trouble sleep and woke up several times. I had odd feelings about being shocked and zapped by the sensors at the beginning, but the nurse assured me that that couldn't happen and that I must have been dreaming. After I got the CPAP machine, I slept much more thoroughly. This could mean that I'll snore less and be much more awake and alert in my day to day life, when I get one of my own.

We'll see.

Update: And what's up with the education video that shows everyone with sleep apnea looking like Louie Anderson after a month long Ben & Jerry's eat-a-thon? If I didn't know that a thin person that I knew had sleep apnea, I would be feeling pretty fat after watching that.

Sleep Study Tonight

I've been off my allergy meds for a few days, so that I'll be able to be tested at worst case. And frankly I'm absolutely miserable. I think all I need now is a ragweed corsage to make this worse.

I'm looking forward to finding out if I have sleep apnea.

A couple of months in...

Okay, I've been back for a couple of months now.

Settling in, still having the same problems that I always have about balancing life and work, which usually means that life falters and more time goes into work. I'm not quite into the same routine that I had when I was in London with weekly visits to gaming and comic stores — mostly because I'm trying to stay away from them and getting some money in the bank that way.

Still need to get plugged into Ashmont a little more, or at the very least, using Peapod rather than massive trips to Trader Joe's and living off of frozen Mexican food and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a couple of weeks. Granted, I eat out too much: eggs or a toasted bagel from the place by work and lunch from somewhere around there, as well. Dinner and weekends are really the only times that I cook. I miss having a well-stocked grocery store next to the office where I could nip in for some sliced mangos or pineapple whenever I had a craving.

Trying to go to the gym more. I was good for a few weeks of scheduling a M, W, F standing two pm gym appointment. Then work got crazy and deadlines and... The gym slipped down on the priority queue. Right now I'm trying to get into a before work (made it once so far) or after work (made it once so far) schedule. We'll see how that goes and more importantly, how I can keep from being one of those people that the gyms love: I give them money and don't use their equipment.

I finally moved the bulk of my stuff from storage in Western Mass to my apartment. So I have a futon for guests, a desk, books, CDs and games all set up. (Which is a good thing, because I've got visitors coming from Kansas City later this month.) There are still some boxes and I've got some plastic tubs that make a maze of getting to the closet in the office, but for the most part I'm almost ready for guests.

Need to write more, mostly because I keep getting distracted from projects with other projects. Ie; novel put down, so I can work on a short story for my niece, which makes me one to write something for other kids and then I need to... I'm sure you've seen the cascading excuses procrastination tree in your own life.

Hopefully, I'll get some time to just disappear and work on some of my own stuff soon. Of course, that might take winning the lottery and being able to build a moat.

Packages from the UK

I sent an enormous amount of packages from the UK to the US over the last couple of years. Whenever the stack of comics was too high, send them home. When I moved back, everything had to go.

One package recently made it to my brother's house. It was sealed in plastic and duct tape and looked as though it had been broken apart more than once.

I opened it today. Inside were my comics, a couple of tee-shirts to pad the box and a floral dressing gown for a man that would have made me seem tiny.

As I've never owned one of those, I was sort of at a loss. Obviously, several boxes were broken together. And seeing the tee-shirts, the postal worker, or sailer on the cargo ship, naturally thought that the dressing gown was mine, too.

Oddness.

A New Job?

Finally, a job I've prepared for most of my life.

Schadenfreude Moving

Dear God,

Could today have gone any worse?

It starts at the UHaul place. My father had arrived 20 minutes early and was freaking out because there was no truck under my name. I got there and got it sorted, they had a truck, but my name was mistyped. They gave me a truck with three-quarters of a tank, rather than the full tank that I had initialed the contract about.

We get to the storage place and get to my unit. The lock was frozen. Happily, my father had a screwdriver and a hammer in his car. With some judicious smacking, we got the lock rotating. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the damned thing to open. Dad had a hacksaw. (I do hope he's also got a jack otherwise, he's going to have some troubles with a flat.)

While they worked on that, I went to the office to see if I could get a bolt cutter to snap the lock. They promised to send someone out. My father and my brother had sawed almost through it, when the lock popped open.

Now the storage unit door wouldn't open. (There was ice covering it.) My brother and my father were chipping away at the ice, but it didn't do much good. The maintenance guy came by with the bolt cutters. That wasn't useful, but he went and got some ice chippers. That worked much better to get the door opened.

Then the drive to Boston began. We got to the place and I went to the front door and remembered something. Before we left, I had printed off directions, so that we'd be covered in case we got separated. Unfortunately, I left my USB thumb drive in the computer - with the key ring it was attached to. That was about 150 miles back and almost 90 minutes ago.

While I was freaking out about that, my brother and my father showed up. My good news/bad news attempt at humor didn't go over well.

I checked with my landlord - no one was home - called my roommate - away from his desk - and figured we couldn't do anything until they called, so we went to grab some lunch.

Once I got the landlord's key, moving in was short, simple and easy.

I drive to the UHaul to drop off the truck - and promptly get lost. I call UHaul, who tells me that they don't have a UHaul location at the address I was given. They give me a different address. I drive to it and find it's the same place that I was going to. My address is their side street, the address I had just gotten was the main street it was on.

As expected, there was nothing that I could do about the gas. I had initialized it. But they also wouldn't accept the truck because there was some crap in the back that was in there when I got it. So I had to clean all of that out, before they'd take the damned truck. I shoved it all into a trash can at the place.

And as an added bonus, when I got home, I found out that tickets for a friend to visit were wrong and I need to go to Orbitz tomorrow and try to change them. AIGH!

At least the day is almost over.

Sleep Study

Woo! I have an appointment. Now I just need to find some footie jammies, so that I don't scare the nurses by sleep in the raw.

Ah... Health Care...

Okay, I'm perfectly willing to say that I was spoiled by the UK health care system while I was over there. Say what you like about the National Health Service (NHS), it was simple. You go to the doctor in your neighborhood, they take care of you, and because of my medical condition, I even got free meds. No hassles with insurance or anything like that, the only issue is that I might have to wait a few weeks for an appointment. When I had to go to the hospital, ambulance, visit and meds were all free and the care fantastic.

Now, I'm back home in Boston. My doctor refers me to a sleep center to get checked for sleep apnea. I call the referral number. They can't do anything because they haven't been given a fax from my doctor. I call my doctor and get bounced to the referral department of the health center that he works with. They can't do anything until they get a doctor's name. I call the sleep center. They can't give me a doctor's name until they have a referral.

Jesus H. Christ!

I called back. Oh, no. It's less of a referral that they need than a doctor's order, so that they know what I need and where I'll be going. Okay, I told them where I lived and explained that we're just trying to find out if I have sleep apnea. Unfortunately, that doesn't nail it down enough.

More phone calls and more annoyance on both ends. At least now, it's back with my doctor faxing something to the sleep center so that hopefully they'll let me schedule an appointment.

Happily, this isn't the same for all things. I called up my doctor and got an appointment to see him in a month or so. And a referral to the dermatologist is only about a week away. So at least that's working okay.

Proud Member of the Miskatonic Mouse Club

M i s . . . um... Aigh!

Quiet Week

Fighting a miserable cold.
As well as miserable code, at work, but that's a different issue.
Cough my way through the days at work, then go home to curl up in bed with a pile of comics that I've slowly been making my way through.
All in all, I think the only thing taht I've been missing is ginger ale and ritz crackers liberally spread with peanut butter to feel like I'm 8 again.

Harvard Square

I've always liked this window.

Primary Day!

It's Primary Day in Mass. (And many other states around the country.) Don't forget to get out and do your civic duty today!

Another bad diet day...

It's been a while, but I fell off the B&J's wagon.

But boy did it taste good.

WTF with Mass Drivers?

How difficult is it to remember that you pass on the left not the right?
Two lanes and I'm behind someone going 10 miles per hour slower than the speed limit, because he can't move into the right lane, because people are wizzing by at 90.
AIGH!

My neighborhood...

Love is in the air.

Mac's Already Back!

Charged, cleaned and fixed.
Go team Apple

Internet Addiction - Day 1

Yesterday, I had to relinquish my beloved mac to the shop to get the ethernet port fixed. (It's on the motherboard, so the whole board needed to be replaced.)

Hopefully, I should get it back in 48 hours or so.

Last night, I was on my Palm, using that to go online. On the other hand, it was good to get a full night's sleep. Especially needed after going to the gym yesterday.

Greetings from a New England winter

Where the hats are warm and we're okay looking like dorks.

Last Week's Winter Storm

Test of the phone.

Woo! I can add blog posts from my phone again and just take pictures.
Technology rocks!

Busy weekend...

First off, I want to thank the people that have been constantly abusing me about going to the gym, pushing me to go to the gym today, giving me ways to make up for missing the gym, etc...

Unfortunately, I didn't go to the gym this weekend. I did do a good amount of walking, though. Saturday, I went to the mall on an errand for a friend of mine. He needs me to pick up a PS/3 and a few other things and ship them to him. I also wanted to go to the Apple store and gawk, as well as ask them a couple of questions and picking up the mac version of Quicken.

After I got home, I schlepped around Ashmont a bit trying to find a grocery store. I was annoyed. I saw a big sign for a Super Stop and Shop and headed over there. Two miles later, I saw the part of the sign that was hidden - it said that the store was an exit down and then down the road. (According to the locals, that's in Quincy, so I'll probably be using Peapod or shopping in town and bringing my groceries out to Ashmont with me. There are a couple of small shops that have a lot of the staples near me, so I was able to get some peanut butter, some jelly, bread and orange juice, which will tide me through for a few days.

I also have some cool software for the mac: Quicken, which is just always friggin' fantastic; the Missing Sync, which is a better syncing program for the mac than the software it comes it.; and Spanning Sync, which allows me to sync my mac's built-in iCal calendars with the Google Calendars.

This gets me the same calendar at home, at work and in my pocket, which is just very very handy.

I've also been playing with Twitter. Not sure how I like it for me, but I've been working on a Twitter fiction project which I enjoy a lot. (http://twitter.com/Helsing if you'd like to check it out.)

Saw a movie that didn't really wow me last night: 28 Weeks Later. It was a sequel to Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later about a zombie infestation in the UK. There was a lot of carnage, some tension and plenty of stress, but it didn't really cover much new ground.

Today was the LGBT parents' brunch, which I enjoyed. I talked to a couple of other people that had adopted DSS kids, which is what I'm thinking of. I'm thinking of an older kid and a DSS kid, which will speed things up, but also means that they've been in DSS custody and the foster care system with the problems involved with that.

Okay, I need help...

Rarely do I open myself up to constant abuse like this, but...

I've got a gym membership. I'm also working from 7.30-6 (or 7). If you don't see me talking about the gym and whining about working out. I want abuse. Push me.

Thank you.

Registered to Vote!

Woo! I made the deadlines and I'm ready for the primaries.

Still getting settled in, both at home and at work.

First Big Snow Storm

Well, the first big storm now that I'm back. Strangely, I'm looking forward to it.
I've heard the sand trucks and the plows going by for a few hours, but the room has been too cold to get out of my nice warm bed.

It's weird now that I'm back in Boston, how easy it is to slip back into my routines. My time away seems to be receding a bit. Not like it's a dream or anything, but more about how life here feels a little more solid with the roots that I have in Boston. Which makes sense, I suppose. You can't live here for all those years and have so many people that I care about and not be connected.

Of course, there are some things that don't feel as solid any more. Tried what I used to think was the great vegetarian place in Chinatown the other night. It was eh at best. Maybe it was the meal, but I wasn't very impressed. Of course, Sorrento's was everything that I remembered. The service and the food were exquisite. The waiter that I'm used to had changed, but it was a Sunday afternoon.

We'll see if some of my other favorites hold up soon.

Settling In...

Joined a gym.
Started my new job.
Found an apartment.
Life is good.

New Apartment

Here's the new apartment:

The view from the stairs on the way up.

The entrance hall.

My bedroom

The second bedroom that I'm going to turn into an office. I'll toss in a sleeper sofa for visitors. *HINT*

The full-bathroom

Full-bathroom's shower and towel closet? What do you call those things?

Dining room portion of the living room, note the bar for entertaining.

The living room portion of the living room with a working fireplace. The room is divided by an archway. There's a cable modem, but I haven't been able to get it to work with my computer. Will try with a wireless router tomorrow.

The kitchen.

The washer/dryer half-bath

Best New Year's Gift Ever...

Watching the results of Iowa Caucuses and finding out that Mitt Romney's almost 7 to 1 spending advantage still wasn't enough.

I really don't like that guy. He seems to be a weasel that will say or do anything to court the Republican base. And seeing that he can't buy the Iowa caucus or hopefully the New Hampshire primary — the first primary in the nation — is just a beautiful thing.

Update: I was wrong. He was outspent 20 to 1.

What's the deal with Boston?

I spent the last few days looking for a place to live.

There are an awful lot of luxury condos that have either gone up or are in the process of going up.

And the rent to live in the city is pretty damned obscene. According to rent.com:

The cost of living in Boston is 240% the national average, with apartments ranking 48% more expensive than the national average. The average rent for luxury two-bedroom apartment rentals is $1,900, and the average price for one-bedroom apartments in older buildings is around $1,000. If those prices are too rich for your blood, take a close look at the neighborhoods of Allston, Brighton, Charlestown, Dorchester, East Boston and Jamaica Plain, where rents have fallen an average of 5% in recent years.

I think the thing that's the most annoying out of it was that it's taking forever to find a place to live. In Dublin, London, San Francisco and New York, I was able to find a place to live immediately. Here, I've been running around for a week or so. Granted, the week between Christmas and New Year's probably isn't the best one for looking for a place. Perspective roommates and landlords are probably out of the city or something.

Finally starting to make some progress.

Back in the US of A

Back in Boston (well, Waltham)...

The flight was horrible. Truly a flight of the damned... We sat for 90 minutes on the tarmac while the ground crew played who's luggage is this.

Then, we finally made it up in the air.

It's late, I'm exhausted. I'm finally back in Boston. A quick shower and then I'm off to bed.

As Friggin' Usual....

I'm trying to shove all my things into my bags, so I can go and there's a handful of things that won't fit. I used to be so good at spatial recognition.

Now, I just suck. :)

I may have to do the one thing that I really really don't want to have to do. And go buy a cheap suitcase to make sure everything fits.

On the other hand. It's the simplest and most efficient solution.

Packed and Boxed

That's it. All my stuff jammed into 10 boxes.

Signs of the Times

From the Mudchute farm near the flat.

Greenwich for Christmas

Greenwich at night, by the walkway under the Thames. I'll have to go out and try to get better pictures.

London lights up for x-mas

I needed to go to the Apple Store and was stuck around the flat until 4 or 5, which meant that I had to head into Oxford Circus — one of the busiest areas of London commerce on a Saturday afternoon/evening just before Christmas. To say it was crowded doesn't even begin to cover it.

Sidewalks that you should be able to walk on three abreast were spilling out into the street. This building, which you can't see very well here was covered from roof to ground in lights. It was like something out of the Vegas strip.

Home Stretch

In the home stretch now. Only one more week of work, then I have a week free before flying home.

At the moment, I'm shipping most of my stuff home on Dec. 17th, which will leave me fairly light in that last week. My flatmate will be off for the holidays and I'll have the place to myself. One of the places that I wanted to see before I left Europe (or when I come back) is Amsterdam, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull that off in the last week, especially with my sleep study.

Still it'd be nice, if I could pull that off.

See everyone soon.

Rituals

Everyone has rituals in their lives. Whether it's your morning shower and shave or trying each item on your plate before eating in earnest, there are things that you do in a certain way. I was thinking about that today.

I have a silly ritual that I do. I can see where it came from, but when you look at out of context it seems more than a little nuts.

When I find money on the street and I don't need it. I'll take it, but give it to the first person that asks me for money, whether street person, busker or co-worker. This came from when I was younger and there were a few times when I really needed money and I found a $5 or $10 by my feet as I walked around Boston.

So on some level, it's magical thinking to imagine that my need was connected to finding the money, but I guess that's not stopping me from I guess redistributing wealth in my own way.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mmmmm. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, veggies, gravy, biscuits, gorging myself until I waddle: these are only a few of the things that I miss about not being back home today.

Instead, I stopped by the post office this morning to ship some stuff home. I've used post offices around the world for years. Friends and family are postal workers. They're not all Newmans. Hell, I haven't seen anything like that in real life.

Then there was today.

In the UK, the royal postal service does more than just deliver mail. They also exchange currency, sell insurance, etc... I saw this gentlemen in the post office earlier in the week. Maybe I was a little short with him, when I said that I wasn't interested in getting flat insurance or holiday insurance. I have no idea. All I know is that I saw him again today, as I was going about my daily post office business:

• Find the box that I need
• Put in my books, clothes, stuffed animals, board/card games, whatnot
• Put in clothes, whatnot to pad it out
• Address the box
• Secure it
• Cart it over to the big scale to figure out the weight to save time
• Cart it over to the queue to wait to be called to a window
• Sign, pay and out the door

That sounds simple enough. I've got it down by this time.

Or at least that's what I'd think. The guy made me schlep back to the big scale to re-weigh things while he watched (because nothing helps the customer experience than to feel that you're being accused to lying), schlep back to the window and go over every piece of the paperwork to be positive that they were all filled out correctly. It took forever.

That said, he was also as anal-retentive with my package. He took time to tape up all the edges for me to be sure there would be no problems with anything getting inside.

Gay Paree

I know that it's called Gay Paree, but did they have to make the Eiffel Tower look like a gay bar? (And if anyone knows how to rotate the damned video, I would be most appreciative.)

Reaper Review

I had been waiting for this show to come to iTunes, so I could finally get a gander at it. Kevin Smith mentioned it when he was here in London for one of his "An Evening with..." monologue and Q&A sessions.

The early reviews that I heard about it were pretty solid. And it's got Ray Wise, who I've loved since seeing him on Twin Peaks.

I got all the episodes so far and just laughed my ass off. The premise is a little silly, Sam (the titular character) works at the equivalent of Home Depot and seems to be going nowhere with his life. It starts off on his 21st birthday and, as any writing teacher recommends, right in the heart of things.

That's the day that he finds out that his soul was sold to the devil by his parents. And that's the day that he meets the devil himself. The devil (played by Ray Wise) is smarmily perfect as a hands-on manager/mentor/tormentor. Sam is now a bounty hunter for the devil, chasing down lost souls for Satan and returning them to hell.

The shows are a bit formulaic with monsters of the week, but what makes the show stand apart is the light-hearted camaraderie between the main characters: Sam and his best friends, 'Sock' and Ben.

Enjoy the ride.

Another Tale from the Dating Pool...

Just before Halloween, I had a date with a nice guy. He was a working medium and talked a bit about how the spirits share information with him and about the differences between clairvoyance, clairaudience, and the other extra-normal senses. He talked about himself a lot, but I chalked that up to nerves or something.

He finally got back to me a week or so after I said that I had fun and looked forward to another coffee date or something. Unfortunately, he didn't think we had any chemistry.

I'm not sure whether I should be happy or annoyed that someone that speaks with the dead doesn't have any chemistry with me.

Things I Learned In Paris...

I'll be posting more once I upload the pictures from the camera, but here's a few of the random thoughts.

• Talking louder and more slowly doesn't make what you're saying any more comprehensible.
• Prefacing it with 'how you say....' in a French accent also doesn't help.
• Miming things does work, interpretive dance doesn't. (Which surprised me, because I thought that left leg, right leg, butt wiggle, head cluck and arm flap was the International dance for I'd rather the chicken than the veal.)
• Tourist hotels trade online reservations as easily as grade school kids trade baseball cards. I had two different hotels in the two nights that I stayed in Paris.
  
• The French clearly have a different idea about bathroom plumbing than we do. (The first hotel had a tub with a shower attachment about a foot above the top of the tub—roughly below waist level for me. The second hotel looked like a normal shower until I turned on the water and the shower head flipped up from the force of the water and sprayed over my head, drenching the towels on the rack behind me.)
  

And now Mesmo loves you, too...

I always love weird viral marketing or oddball posters.

"Damages" on F/X

Okay, normally, by the time shows get to the UK, it's already too late to say anything about them. This might be one of them, but wow. It's on F/X, which shouldn't really surprise me. They've got a history of absolutely fantastic shows, if their stack of emmy nominations and awards are any indication.

I had seen articles about this show online and every critic has been favorable. I downloaded the season on iTunes. Saw the pilot last night and was blown away. Glenn Close is just absolutely fantastic in her role as the ruthlessly manipulative Patty Hewes.

I can't wait to see the rest of the season and hope that it'll get picked up for another year.

WTF?!

First off NFL football here in London? Secondly, two story anamatronic robots to sell it?

Stardust - Review

This film just opened here in the UK, so I finally got a chance to see it.

I had heard it referred to as the closest thing to "The Princess Bride" in twenty years, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to see it.

I have to say that I don't think I've been this enchanted by a movie since I saw "Amelie". It's a sweet love story, a swashbuckling adventure film, and a magical fairy tale all wrapped up together.

While I loved the ostensible male and female leads: Charlie Cox and Claire Dane, for my money the film was stolen by Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer. Both of them played against type wonderfully.

The heroic journey of Cox's Tristan was fairy tale pitch perfect (not that I expected anything less from a film based upon a story by Neil Gaiman). There were trials passed and failed, difficulties faced or avoided and a wonderful mix of odd-ball characters filling out the magical realm of Stormhold.

See it. Pay full price, but please see it on the big screen.

Maddening!

Somewhere, something in the flat is beeping. One beep every five minutes. I have no clue what the hell is making the noise or how to stop it.

It just keeps on beeping. Looks like I'll be sleeping with the fan on tonight to get some white noise to keep from being disturbed.

Update: My flatmate just came home. It was his phone. He couldn't call and let me know that it might be here and beeping on low-battery, because he didn't have his phone. Oy.

At least the good news is that my back is feeling much much better, no twinge at all today and I didn't even take any pain pills. Go healing.

Charity

I realize that charity is tough for some people to take, but sometimes it's just weird.

The other day, I was in line at the grocery store and I was chatting with the people that were next to me. They said that they were with a youth charity. After I paid for my groceries, I tried to slip some money to the cashier to help pay for their groceries: cake, chips, etc... for the party that they looked they were going to have. All I wanted to do was to do something nice and then slip away.

The cashier didn't want to play ball. He couldn't take the money. I had to do it. By this point in our discussion, the people behind me had figured out something had happened. They weren't sure if I was trying to take some of their groceries. I tried to explain that friends of mine worked with youth and that there was never enough money and I wanted to help. They didn't want my help, but I finally talked them into taking my money. Then they wanted my email to thank me.

*Sigh* You just can't do something nice and anonymous these days.

Things that make me homesick

Boston T | Slog | The Stranger | Seattle's Only Newspaper

At least Dan Savage makes me laugh when he does it.

Fear

The last couple of days were interesting. Each time I went out, I was afraid that my back was going to act up again. My anxiety level would go up and I had trouble just leaving the house. I had to break it down it down, just to step outside.

When I started thinking about it, the issue was fear. Fear of falling, fear of being stuck on the ground, fear of not being able to help myself, fear of embarrassment, etc... It probably didn't help that I didn't have to face it for a couple of day. I was able to avoid work, by pointing out that muscle-relaxants and pain-pills weren't conducive to solid coding practices.

For two days, I slept, watched TV, read and slept some more. I did the stretching exercises that I was supposed to and did some walking. And I took my pain pills, hoping to hoard my last couple of muscle relaxants until I really needed it. Each time I kept the walking to a minimum near the flat.

This morning was tough. I was up for a couple of hours before the alarm, worrying about whether I would be able to make it, whether I'd fall again, etc... When the alarm went off, I sort of shoved the stupidity aside and got going. Pulled on clothes, groaned in pain at parts, sucked down my pills and got moving.

As usual, what I was afraid of was less than the reality. At times my back spasmed, but nothing as bad as it might have been. I walked when I could, stood when I had to, got to work, had breakfast and did my stretching exercises. Now I'm getting back up to speed on the last few days at work.

Oh the joy.

My London "Sicko" story

Earlier in the week, I hurt my back again. (I wish I had been doing something exciting when it happened, but all I did was reach for a book while I was lying in bed. I either felt something pop or just spasm, I can't really remember what. All I know is that I hurt. I popped some Ibu and did my back stretches and it was manageable.

Everything was not pleasant, but dealable and getting better. Until Saturday. It got worse and nothing was making it any better. Getting off the bed almost brought me to my knees. The pain helped make up my mind, I decided that I had to go to the doctor. I got the pullover on, put my stuff in my pockets and reached for the door. A spasm hit and I collapsed.

I couldn't walk. Hell, I couldn't even get to a kneeling position. Five minutes quickly became twenty and the pain hadn't gotten any better. I slowly made my way from my stomach to my back. I could reach my cell, but didn't have anyone to call other than an ambulance. The problem was that they wouldn't be able to get to me, because the front door to the flat was locked.

It took a half hour, but I got shoes on. (Well, Tevas, but let's be generous. At the time, it felt epic.) Then the long slow crawl to the closed door of my bedroom. Stretch, spasm, collapse, repeat. At some point, I realized that if I forced myself not to collapse during the spasm, I'd make slightly better time.

Out in the hall, the slippery wooden floor meant than I made a little better time as a human Swiffer across the floor. About an hour later, I was at the front door to the flat. Unfortunately, there I couldn't reach the lock from the floor. I was going to have to get to my feet. Getting my feet under me didn't work. Pushing my torso up, while trying not to bend my back was not happening. Finally, I got the idea to try to use the corner to get to my knees or my feet, so I could reach the lock. A door to my back didn't work; the door wobbled slightly, which set my back spasming even worse than before. I wormed my way back to a corner, where both were walls. It took forever—false starts where I couldn't get past the pain, then I finally got my legs beneath me and pushed up against the wall and stumbled off of it to stumble toward the door.

By this point, my back was spasming so badly that I had to lean against wall to keep from falling again. I couldn't even lift my arms without agonizing pain. I had come too far to just collapse and have to start all over again. After what felt like forever, I toddled to the door and was able to unlock it. Breathing rapidly to try to keep the pain down, I got the door locked and stumbled down the hall to get outside.

Once I was outside, I dialed 911 to get an ambulance or something. There was no way that I'd be able to make it to a place where I could find a cab; I needed the wall to even stand. I let out a groan and a young girl must have taken that as a dirty bastard moan or something and rushed inside.

In London, 911 doesn't work. I called my cell phone company's customer service line to find that you need to dial 999 here in the UK. I said I needed an ambulance and they redirected me to the ambulance service. They took my information, though I had to tell them my address three times—I can only imagine that my Boston accent must be indecipherable to her.

The wait for the ambulance felt like forever. (Now, anyone that knows me knows that I hate cats and clearly they hate me. A local outdoor cat made a bee-line toward me. Clearly, it's nemesis-sense was tingling and it could tell that I wasn't going to be able to shoo it away. It took this opportunity to rub against me and use my jean-clad leg as a scratching post.)

Finally, the ambulance showed up and the two EMTs helped me inside. At this point, things moved much quicker. It was a rush of taking my vitals, giving me an inhaled analgesic that made me light-headed, giving the EMT my history to expedite my entry into the hospital.

I wasn't in danger of dying. They quickly verified that it wasn't a kidney stone or appendicitis and moved me from emergency to minor wounds/problems. A nurse checked me out and gave me something for pain and told me to walk a bit while they waited for the pain meds to kick in. I don't think I was there for than twenty, thirty minutes on the outside, before I saw a doctor and was treated.

It didn't take him long before he realized that it was back spasm in my lower trapezius and not my spine. He said what I expected: pain meds and muscle relaxants, back exercises to stretch things out. Instead of a prescription, I got handed the pills I need. I had my Sicko moment, when I wondered about payment. There was no cost for the ambulance or the hospital visit. I even got looked at funny, when I asked about that.

The only thing I had to worry about was my cab ride home from the hospital and then the pizza that I ordered, because all my pills needed to be taken with food. At the moment, I'm on the mend and hoping to be mobile in a few more days/weeks.

Jumper!

One of my favorite books, Jumper is being turned into a movie.

I don't know whether it's any good, but the trailer looks like it's been turned into a big action movie extravaganza.

Ramadan Is Not An Excuse For Weight Gain

Who knew?

Seriously, I went to the doctor last night to see about getting referred to a sleep study so I can finally get checked for sleep apnea — it's only been what 15 years since an ex said that I would stop breathing in my sleep as I snored. The doctor pointed out that I've put on some weight in the last month. The only thing that made sense is that my co-workers are fasting for Ramadan, because I don't think I've become any more sedentary in the last month or ate anything much more than I usually do. *shrug*

We'll see how well eating less and exercising more work.

And as to the sleep study. There's one place where it can be done in London. Add to that the rise in obesity — which I thought I heard was linked with sleep apnea — and it shouldn't be much of a surprise that they're heavily booked. My appointment is on Dec. 19th.

Also found that I'm getting some tax money back from the UK. (Am I the only one that feels guilty for getting an overpayment back when I'm getting free meds and medical care? That must be either a liberal thing or it has to do with the mindset that says that medical care must be expensive.)

Worst Logo Ever

I'd heard how bad it was, but words still fail. I see Lisa Simpson in it as the detractors say.

Now Comes The Time of Decision

Hmm.... What to do... What to do... The iPhone is coming to UK, but only on O2.
Now comes the big question, do I want one enough to get tied to an additional two year commitment and all of the other bits of fine print that I'll have to sign up for to get one of them?
It's £269 for the handset. And the new plans are £35, £45 or £55 per month with unlimited data. All of that seems similar to what I've got now, except with a different handset and no unlimited data. The other bonus is that I'll have access to 7,500 wifi hotspots with a monthly plan. Can you say Starbucks anyone?
It certainly looks really cool and I've enjoyed playing with them in the past.
Hmm...
Dear God, I've become one of those obsessive Mac people.
At least I've got until 9-November to decide.

Playing Tourist With Friends

It's especially tough after a long sleepless night doing the London cancer walk.

Update: Unfortunately, they're gone. :( Hopefully, I'll get some more sleep tonight, because this week is going to be crazy with some writing classes after and instead of work, as well as all weekend.

Things that make me laugh...

Pix from a wedding.

Dyson UK - Dyson Airblade™

Dyson UK - Dyson Airblade™

Okay, this is the coolest thing I've seen in the office bathroom since one of the senior partners left a dirty magazine in there.

I washed my hand three times, so I could keep playing with it.

I've Tasted Heaven....

And they're called Garlic Poppers. They're basically, roasted garlic on a skewer with a light batter on it, served with garlic toast. I went to Garlic and Shots to try a few things on the menu out.

They're not too bad. Shots don't do much for me, but I did try the buttered rum and garlic shot, which wasn't too bad. It seemed the least nasty of the choices. I can't wait to try to get people to try it when they visit.

3:10 to Yuma (Original)

I just saw the original 3:10 to Yuma with Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. I've seen the ads for the remake for several weeks and as soon as I found out that it was a remake, I wanted to see the original. (I'm a nerd that way.)

I have to say I miss the old westerns from that golden age of cowboys. Long sprawling cinematic shots of the stark plains, actors that effortlessly hoped on and off horses in a way that showed how much time they spent on horseback, and the rooftop shootings that remind you the difference a good stunt man can make to a movie.

Glenn Ford was incredible, but that was to be expected. I had never seen him play a heavy before and he played as only he could: principled, direct and absolutely deadly when need be. Van Heflin was a cypher. I had never even heard of him before. He had a fantastic role—a rancher pushed to his limit by drought and forced to go against Ford's character. And Heflin played that to the hilt in a few tense cat and mouse moments that reminded me of some of the brilliance of Infernal Affairs.

I recommend it and look forward to seeing the remake.

Black Sheep premiere

It's going to be so baad.

Update: Website. And I recommend this movie. It was nonsensical, silly, and hit absolutely every sheep shagging joke that I've ever heard.

Only in London

Yesterday morning, I stopped by a cafe for breakfast before running some errands. On the menu was the Jolly Roger breakfast platter: a fried egg, baked beans, a fried tomato, toast, four fish fingers and a ration of chips.

Who the hell eats this sort of thing for breakfast? (Well, outside of me.)

Maxjet

Heading from NYC back to London. This time, the company put me on Maxjet, which I had never heard of before. Checking out the web site, some of it seemed almost too good to be true: large comfortable seats and what seemed to be good food. (That's pretty much all I could hope for.)

Then I got to the airport after an initial worrying moment, when the terminal that I had been told to go to turned out to be incorrect things have been wonderful. Plenty of room, access to outlets, and free wifi. There's also snacks and beverages, but I haven't sampled them yet. At the moment, I'm blogging, checking my email one last time and then curling up with a book and my podcasts to just relax a bit before sampling what's available.

And from what I was able to find online, it's all business class and not horribly expensive. I may fly them again, if everything onboard is as good as this.

Update: Two things: I can blog with my Palm and everything in the lounge is free. Free, I tell you. Soda, pretzels, water and possibly even the chair massages. Okay, that's not here, but I expect to find it.

Update II: The plane... First, we sat on the tarmac at JFK for about an hour, but I think that's more of JFK than MaxJet. The seats were large and there was about a yard of leg room. Seriously, the guy next to me had to unbuckle to put his book into the pocket behind the seat in front of him. While we were on the ground, the flight attendants came around with canapes to see if we wanted a snack, while we waited.

The food was wonderful. A real glass and real metal flatware rather than the typical airport plastic. For dinner, we started with a mozzarella, tomato and lettuce salad with a nice vinaigrette. The mozzarella wasn't horribly fresh, but it was very good. The fresh hot dinner rolls and chilled butter was nice, but I prefer my butter a little easier to spread. I did make a faux pas with the entree. It was chicken stuffed with goat cheese and herbs served with artichoke spears and peppers. The food was nice, but it was cold. Figuring that it hadn't been cooked, I asked for it to be heated up. The French flight attendant told me that the meal with served cold, but if I would like a hot meal I could have the sea bass or the sirloin instead. Feeling like an idiot, I said I was happy with my chicken.

Our dessert was coffee in a real mug and a cheese and fruit plate.

The entertainment center was a bit lacking. The good was that it was full of movies and TV, as well as having the ability to pause, fast forward, etc... The bad was that it was free standing which made it fairly impossible to use while eating and they were a bit buggy. It took me two or three of them before I got one that reliably worked.

The biggest bonus was that I had room to stretch out and really sleep for most of the night.

The downside is that the plane went to Stansed so it took another 15-20 minutes to get into the City than Heathrow. Not horrible and the queues were large and the trip back home from Liverpool street was an absolute bear — Liverpool was crushingly full and my transit pass had expired, so I had to wait in those horrible lines.

NYC Subway — cool addition

I saw this on the train last night and I saw this was the coolest damned thing. It's an electronic panel that changes as the train movies telling you what's coming up, where you are and where the end of the line is.

Yes, I'm a geek, but I love this stuff.

Clearly, I've been out of the States for too long....

I just had to pay a buck fifty-one for a pack of gum. What the hell is going on?

Yeah, I realize a part of that is the welcome to New York, bend over and accept the taxes and the mark up on damned near everything. That that certainly seems like there's something else going on, too.

Wait... Not Back to London...

Turns out that I'm not going back to London as quickly as planned. I found out that I'll be working on a project out of the NYC office. Which means, that I go from Philly to NYC and I'll be working out of that office until the 10th of August.

In classic good news/bad news fashion, I'll be busy, but on a different project than expected and I'll be in New York for two weeks. At least it'll be on someone else's dime and I got to show that I'm a team player.

Settled into Philly

I got to Philly and I'm settled into my hotel. There's a lovely view of the city, which is even more spectacular right now while I can look out across the city as the sky is lit up with lightning.

Today was one of my synchronicity days. I had a hankering for Mexican and walked past El Azteca II Mexican Restaurant. It was really good. Then I happened to walk past a theater that was playing "Sicko". Even better, it happened to be starting, as I walked by. I popped into the theater and enjoyed it immensely. It was really a good, painful, horrible film.

And the coolest thing is that my room is on an actual 13th floor. I love when they do that.

Back to the States

My third trip back to the States in as many months. And unfortunately, pretty much the last of my vacation time for the year. Going to Philly for a wedding on Saturday and a few days with friends — assuming, of course, that I don't get bumped. (That happened on my last flight to the States and gunshy of it happening again.

Sure, they compensated me well for my time, but that doesn't mean that I want to go through several hours of sitting on my tucus at the airport. I'd be much happier at the hotel in Philly napping in my room or lounging poolside.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Okay, what the living hell have I been doing? All the mania. All the stressing out. For a book. I was very happy that I gave in to the hype but not crazily so.

I went to bed last night at a reasonable time. I headed into the city centre this morning to pick up the book and have some breakfast. Happily, a store that I like was in the grips of Potter induced craziness and had the doors opened at 7:30am, so I was able to buy the book earlier than expected. Unfortunately, though the owners were hoping for legions of fans, the store was empty other than two twenty-something clerks chatting to each other at almost 9, when I showed up. I picked up the book, headed over to a cafe for a nice little breakfast. And then headed home to curl up with a book and listen to the radio.

All in all, it's been a nice day. And look, no spoilers to ruin anything for anyone.

The Word for the Day — Resistant

*Mutter* *Mutter*

This has happened before. And I always find it out to my detriment when the sky opens and the heaven dump a boat load of water on my soggy butt.

The pullover is attractive and made out of hemp and PET (recycled plastic), I was told it was water resistant. I must have heard proof, thinking of the plastic. It was really coming down today when I ran out to get lunch. Once I felt the water running down my back, I knew I have chosen unwisely as they say for today.

Hope everyone else is dry and well.

New Camera and New Flat Tour

I'm back from my holiday in the States. Saw family, friends and there was child tormenting enjoyed by all.

First off, I got a new camera, a Canon Powershot SD850 IS and it's fantastic.

And because people have asked to see the new flat, here are some pictures:

Walking inside, you see the closet and the hidden water heater, respectively.
The hallway and a fleeting glimpse of my elusive flatmate.
Look! A bathroom. Imagine that. Hot water and a single shelf.
My spacious room - scattered and filled with crap during my flurry of post-trip unpacking.
Our kitchen with our washer and oven dominant. There's also a dishwasher.
Our living room with TV, couches, coffee table and another glimpse of the elusive flatmate as he reads on the couch.
The dining nook, flatmate's desk and the elusive flatmate.
And lastly, me at the new office in my new desk. It's not a cubicle, because there's not enough psuedo walls to be a cubicle.