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.