28 June @ 1957 Puerto Vallarta Time

It is the rainy season and the heat here is oppressive w/o a breeze and that is where we are tonight. Henry has made some new friends over the past few days and they offered to let him spend some time with them this evening and I amsitting in the mall near our hotel using the internet cafe and the lavanderia so I can get some dry clothes. Everything is wet ans sweaty so we spend the majority of our time poolside or in the pool itself.

We arrived on Saturday and standing in line for customs was as always a treat. Lots of people and no air conditioning. Even stepping off the plane was like a blast furnace. We spent that first eveing poolside and swimming for a few hours and then unpacking, did a little shopping and figured our the thermostat and ceiling fan controls. The room is very nice, small but well laid out and easy to spend a week in.

The next day we spent 9 hours @ the pool with about an hour break for lunch in the room.

Monday we spent another 9 hours pooling w/o a break this time and then took in the Mexican fiesta. All you can eat and drink for about $30.00 US for adults and $18.00 for Henry. He had a couple quesadllas and some chips + a sprite and I tried to make up for him by eating way too much and then on top of that sucking down the margaritas and shots of blanco tequila as the pretty girls from the activities team came by to refill the shot glass hanging around my neck (everyone gets one, so dont say it). Then it was a show of traditinal dances of mexico iinterupted occasionally for the activities team to lead us in various dances such as a conga line and pour even more shots of tequila. Miraculously, my head was still normal size the next day...

Tuesday we took a trip into Old vallarta and getting off the first bus, Henry left our bag with our hats in it on the bus and we didn`t discover it until the bus was already out of sight. He was devastated and seems to think it`s all his fault but the heat was so bad neither of us was thinking too much about logistics. We found some water and some air conditioning after another bus ride and we visited the Hard Rock as Henry loves those places and likes to collect the t-shirts from the ones where he has visited. We did a little souvenit shopping and then waled to the pier south of downtown nd took the water taxi back directly to the hotel and saw a giant turtle and lots of pelicans on the hunt but the best part about it was Henry`s big smile, the first one I got out of him since leaving the cool of the hotel a few hours earlier. We took a nap and then spent the eveing @ the pool until about 2100, went to Henry`s friends room and the kids and Mom played dominoes and Dad and I dranks frosty Coronas.

Today we were at the pool by 0930, swam, played beach volleyball, some water polo and didn`t leave until 1900 Henry hasn developed a rash so we went to the Dr and he got some cream and Claritin and he should be able to get isn the salt water again by Friday. We had booked a dolphin encounter for him tomorrow but rescheduled due to the salt water restrictions.

Tomorrow will probably be more of the pool stuff and fun and games.

More later

24 June 06 @ 0720 Mountain Time

Been awhile since the last update but we've been in Ogden Utah for the past day and a half and leaving for Puerto Vallarta in a couple hours. We visited a very large aircraft museum @ hill AFB yesterday and that took a few hours and then I had a bellyache so I laid down and the next thing I know woke up after 6pm. It gave Henry some good time with his Gma and Gpa that live here and they had a good time. Back to packing, I'll look for an internet cafe in PV. Hasta

Saturday 13 May @ 1537

Greetings,
Henry is off to NYC today, he's very excited. I'm sure he'll have many stories to tell as he sees the sights and experiences the city that never sleeps.
I'm taking care of Nina while he and Kristin are away and she howled all last night making sleep an interesting endeavor for both Butch and I. I have the front of the house blocked off for her and Butch stays outside or in the back of the house. Today she has been coming to see me a lot and has been very needy. Here she is exploring her digs for this week

I wish I had both the kitties for a week as I have missed them but you'll recall her brother Cole left for kitty island a few weeks ago. She seems none the worse for wear but like I said is very needy.

I picked up my new bike today and it's a doozie. Here is a photo. It rides great but with the suspension it is definitely a new experience. You hit the front brakes and it dives forward as your momentum carries through the stop and the back end has suspension as well so it seems a bit "loose" or almost as if the back tire is low on pressure. I'll get used to it and should be able to withstand longer more challenging rides with the suspension being somewhat forgiving to my 45+ year old bones ( at least that's what my Doc told me, he's been on a similar bike for a few years now and sez it doesn't take near the recovery time).

I brought it home and took it for a short ride and now I'm working on dialing in a few adjustments. Tomorrow will be my first ride of the season so I'll keep it short to about 10 miles or so to start killing the nerves in my tush. I do not look forward to this but I'm going to try and ride nearly every day this week while Henry is gone so I'm ready to ride with him when he gets back. I'm sure we'll take our bikes to Oregon with us for Memorial Day weekend so I need to be able to keep up with him.

I was able to book our summer vacation yesterday. We're headed to Puerto Vallarta for a week, whoo hoo!!! I found a deal on a nice resort (http://www.paradisevillage.com/) and had enough miles for us to fly free although I had to settle for first class and I've now used all my miles in one trip. Oh well, it's worth it. My friends have a time share at this resort and I know others that have been with their families and all reports are tremendous. We fly through SLC on the way there and in order to make the flight, we would have to spend the night before there so I set it up that we'll have two days there and we'll get to see the Utah contingent of friends and family. Henry's very excited about that as well, one trip and we get two trips out of the deal. I think I'm most excited about some long first class travel and a hotel with 3 pools, a kid's pool and activity program with a zoo onsite and a program to let the kids pet the baby lions and tigers and bears oh my! A big beach with watersports rentals and paragliding, etc. Throw in a bit of tequila and lime and I'll be happy as a clam.

It's a beautiful day today so I'm working in the yard and just doing stuff around the house this afternoon, here's a couple picture of the backyard for everyone.

The first is from the north side of the shed on our parking area on the alley. You can see the deck and this is the entrance we use most often. W have some flowers planted in containers to liven up the place and have a nice back lawn.

The next photo is the whole back yard from the driveway across the alley. You can see Butch to the right of the car and just a peek of the 20' high and 20' wide beautiful and fragrant dark purple lilac as well as the very large sitka spruce just to the south of the back door. The entire south side of the house has lots of windows and there is a skylight above the kitchen on that side of the house in the middle front to back so the house is very light and even stays warm in the Spring before it gets warm outside. All the windows have blinds and there are strategic deciduous plantings on the corner of the house up front that are starting to shade the brightest sun while still allowing much light. We're planting our herbs and sunflowers along that side of the house along with a hill of zukes to keep me in grilling fodder for the summer.

Not much more for now, got some really nice greens @ the farmers market this am, baby arugula and mizuna. Asparagus is up to $3.00 a lb already! Yikes! Ah the passing along of the cost of fuel, even Costco was $3.08 on Thursday so I'm still trying to minimize my driving and wile even experiment with the bus to work some this week since I don't have to pick up Henry at a certain time.

Monday 01 May @ 1718

Greetings Fair Readers,

It's been some time since my last update and since I rceived another from a friend (you know who you are, Scott), I figured it was time for another.

I had a root canal today and it hurts. I think it is time for alcohol and some sort of narcotic but since all I have is the alcohol, I guess it's alcohol and tylenol. It is very windy outside but still avery sunny day here in the PNW. This portends some sort of weather coming on usually and since the weather man is saying we should have some falling moisture tomorrow am, this seems to be right about on time.
Took Butch to the vet today as he has been feeling poorly as well and apparently he has a scratch on his eye. This was done during a fight with the neighbor's German Shepard last week during a block party. Some sort of territory thing although most of the time these dogs get along OK, this time Butch wandered into the neighbor's house and that touched it off. Rolf drew some blood on Butch but Butch got his licks in as well and Roldf slunk away to nurse his bruised ego, I don't think he had ever had another dog stand up to him before and Butch rang his bell quite well short of opening any wounds.
Spring has finally come to the PNW and I have to cut the lawn twice a week now to keep up as usual here is sunny Edmonds. The flowers are peeking out, the lilacs in the yard are in full bloom and the exeter azalea in my front yard is stunning.

I am barely keeping up with the growth of the yard at this time but I have killed a great many weedies with my trusty sprayer and the assistance of Ortho, Bayer and Roundup.
Last Thursday was Bring a Child to Work Day and once again Henry accompanied me to work for the day. He started out a bit slow and cranky but we finished the day well and then attended a farewell luncheon for a co-worker that has gone on to manage a B&B on Orcas Island he just purchased.
April has been pretty good to us all in all and we are sure ready for some Summertime. Henry is heading to New York City with his Mother on 5/16 to attend his Auntie Jenna's graduation. He seems somewhat excited but when asked what he wants to do while there, he asked "Is there a Target?". I was thinking they should try to get on the Emeril Live show since his first word was "BAM" afterall.

Above - Planting and decorating coffee trees

Left - A travel mug decorated in coffee stamps

Henry broke his arm falling out of a tree early in the month and had the cast on until the evening of 4/27. He's good to go now although he was none too happy to have to wear the splint for the weekend so the Dr and I suggested we put another cast on so he shaped up.

Off to find something soft for dinner and watch Anthony (Scott, I can't believe you just found this show). For the rest of you, check this out - http://travel.discovery.com/fansites/bourdain/bourdain.html
Bye for now

Wednesday 5 April @ 0818

Well, it's back to work today. Took a couple days off to spend with Henry the first days of Spring break. Just caught up on the work stuff and getting him ready to go to his Mom's for the rest of the week. We had a good few days and were able to fit a couple of special things in as well.

Monday we went to Mt Vernon to see some of the tulips although not too many out yet but we brought a few cut ones home to sprice up the place. It was an overcast day and not many flowers to see except @ the Roozengarde display gardens but we had fun lookint at those all the same.

Yesterday we worked a bit around the house and then went hiking @ Saint Edwards State Park over in Bothell. We walked down to the lake and after playing around a bit, Henry fell and broke his arm and I lost my cell phone so we hiked back out and spent the rest of the day @ the Doctor. It was a buckle fracture which I take to be relatively minor as fractures go and quite common in children. He is in a splint and will probably go into a cast later this week for a couple weeks. We don't know if it happened during that fall or another spill he took from his skateboard on Sunday @ his cousin's Bday party but we do know that the fall yesterday at least exacerbated it enough to mean no jumping around and no hard playing for a little while. Here are some photos from yesterday

Sad Sunday - 26 Mar

Kitty Cole died yesterday. I can't seem to stop weeping

Rest in peace best kitty friend ever and fare thee well

Sunday 12 Mar @ 1846

Well, it's been a busy week.

Monday I was taken to lunch @ Lola (http://tomdouglas.com/lola/lunch.html), always a treat. We ate so much I was not hungry the remainder of the day. Henry still wants to take me out for a Bday meal but it's not too high on my priority list but we'll get to it.
Wednesday we tried a sushi place called Sushiland near the Seattle Center. It was my first time to a kaiten sushi place where the dishes are sent past the diners on a conveyor and you pick out what looks good. Each dish is a different color representing the cost of that dish. Once it's over, they total you dishes and you pay. Easy as California Roll. All I know is the fish was fresh and tasty, they made decent stuff and a big sushi lunch was only a bit more than $20.00.
Henry wanted to stay an extra night with me so he stayed Friday and then I dropped him @ bowling with his Mom. He bowled a 96 and a 101 raw score, his best scratch series so far in league play. He was really excited with his progress. I'm really proud of his sticking to this and getting better and better all the time. His skills are definitely developing rapidly and he is already talking about participating in Summer league as well.
I had my last appointment with Katherine on Saturday. She is retiring and I am now starting the search for a new therapist. She has been such a great addition to my life these last 8 or so years and I will miss her. She is sending a list of referrals for me and I'll be working w/ my GP as well in my search.
Yesterday afternoon, Kristin called to let me know that one of our cats from when we were married had a small stroke. He is diabetic and has been on insulin injections for almost a month now but took a turn for the worse and she rushed him to the vet where they also discovered a large tumor in or near his intestine. He is too old and his diabetes makes him not a good candidate for surgery but he is happy and purring and still wants attention. I was pretty sad so I stopped by this afternoon and spent some time with him and let him know I love him and that he can go when he's ready. He used to be so big and he has lost almost 50% of his body weight so he is really bony and doesn't move much but he still gave me kisses and head butts and obviously recognized me. I remember when I really did not want to get cats but this big boy really turned into my cat; always choosing my lap or sleeping between my legs in bed. I'm tearing up as I write this because I'm so sad but he's been a good cat and I've missed him these last 3 years or so. I'm planning on stopping by to see him a couple times a week until he goes. The vet gave him about 2 months but after seeing him today and listening to Kristin talking about how he earlier lost some of the movement in his back legs in the back yard, neither of us thinks he'll last 2 months. If he needs to go to kitty island, Kristin told me I can be there with them when he goes but as bad as it sounds, we are hoping he just goes to sleep soon and has an easy time of it. He deserves it.
Last night I returned to Sushiland as it is only 3 blocks from the opera house where I attended the Seattle Opera's closing night performance of Cosi Fan Tutte. This was my late Bday gift to myself, an evening of musical theatre and it was brilliant. I'm glad I got out to do it.
Not much more for now, please send good kitty thoughts for Cole.

Wednesday 1 Mar @ 1730

Here it is, the first day of that most hallowed of months. Yes it's true ladies and gentlemen, the ,moth that you were all given the gift of me is on us once again and I will be 46 years of age. When my boss found out that my B-day is Monday, he asked where I wanted to go for lunch and I replied, "Paris, I've always loved Paris in the Spring...". He suggested that we hit the crepe stand in Pioneer Square. Well, it was worth a try.

Onward...

I've been experimenting with Thai food @ home. I made a green curry last night and the first pass turned out too salty as I used far too much of the curry paste. Not to bright of me to try going by color huh? I cut it with more coconut milk and it is fine now, in fact it made a fine lunch today. I will endeavor to perfect this going forward. Soon I will be on to mussaman curry, another Thai stew. This is a red curry with cinnamon and I had a lamb version while in the UK and it was terrific. I like the fact that lamb was on so many menus there even though chicken seemed to be an afterthought on many of those same menus. I've seen other references to lamb mussaman curry so it must be somewhat authentic. I'll try it here as I have a reference for that and then probably switch to chicken. I found both of those curry pastes relatively easily but another I'm searching for I have found only online, kaeng par or jungle curry. This is a coconut milk free curry as it is considered a peasant dish so the lack of the coconut milk makes the stew less expensive. It is very spicy and is basically a curry broth with lots of vegetables, very yummy as well.

Now that Spring is almost sprung, I'm starting to get the cooking bug and even the grocery produce is starting to look far better for the most part. This happens to me a lot this time of year, I think it's the beginning of availability of affordable crisp fresh asparagus. I can use it in curry! and so many other ways as well.

I've also been experimenting with expanding my knowledge of tea. I find that it makes a nice afternoon pick me up w/o the coffee buzz that so often accompanies coffee or a shot of espresso. I was able to lay hands on a couple of single estate Assam teas while in London ( the cute girl behind the tea counter @ Harrods didn't tell me the jumbari estate was $27.00 for the 100 grams I ordered!) and they make a nice afternoon cuppa. In fact I substituted tea for coffee last Saturday morning (not sure I'll intentionally do that again but it was worth a try). I also picked up a tin of Assam TGFOP from Fortnum & Mason as well as a couple of their coffees to taste out with the kids in my department. The coffee so far has been retched (that's as nice a thing as I can come up with to say) but the tea has been lovely. I have also asked that I be a guinea pig for the new yea master program that will be unveiled @ work next month. Much to learn...

Back to my birthday, I think I'll get a ticket to the closing night of Cosi Fan Tutti w/ the Seattle Opera. It is a new production and sounds tremendous according to the reviews. I haven't been to the opera for a while and would like to attend again. I've found that attending the theater alone is a very enjoyable experience. It allows for much pondering and always the ability to sit in the shadows and watch all the funny people.

I have Henry for the weekend and we're going to try and hook up with a couple of his friends so he can see some he hasn't for a while. We're back on the regular treadmill now until we have a 3 day weekend together for St. Patricks Day. We're thinking of Oregon if we can get it put together. If not, maybe Vancouver or something else. That weekend will be followed on Monday the 20th by the 2nd Annual Great Protest of the Great Meat-out. The Great Meat-out is the day those Vegan types would like to see us all give up eating meat, however a group @ work has decided to make a tradition of last year's observance and eat nothing but meat. At this time we are still accepting ideas for the largest plate of meat we can find in the Seattle area for lunch. At this time the leader seems to be the sampler platter @ Mac's Smokehouse. Apparently we can measure the amont of meat on the plate not by mere ounces but by pounds. This could be this year's winner.

Well, back to the grind. Have a lovely March

Sunday 26 Feb @ 1230

Last day before returning to work. I had a great week with Henry and we did lots of fun stuff and even got a few things done as well. Bike expo, getting a new MTB on layaway for myself, bowling 3 times, snowboarding lesson and a day in the mountains, tried out Fu Man Dumpling House as I've been wanting to do for a while now (yummy too!, might have to return for lunch today), got the furniture in the family room rearranged, the counter in the kitchen cleared off for the firt time since we moved (it's been a staging and dumping area since then) and got the stereo and home theater hooked up and in place finally and last but not least unpacked a few more boxes in Henry's room and my office. Things are starting to take shape, just need a few pieces of furniture to round things out and it'sll be excellent.

Today's plan is to finish the last of laundry, get a curry on for the week and get to Costco so it's off to biz I go. More later...

Thursday 23 Feb @ 1125

Snowboarding was a big success! Henry did great! His instructor said that he was a bit reluctant @ first and actually pretty negative but perked up once he could stand up a bit. He has graduated and is now considered a level 2 for further lessons. However, what makes me the most proud is that after the lesson, he thought that was it but I told him his lift pass was good for 2 more hours. He jumped right back on and used up his entire time practicing and he got better and better with each of his successive 10, yes I said that right, 10 runs on his own. By the end he was back up the magic carpet lift in under 10 minutes including lift time. He stuck with it and took a few tumbles as we all knoew he would but he kept right on getting up and trying again. Here are some photos:

These guys have it pretty easy as there are no longer t-bars, rope tows or poma lifts to maneuver on the bunny hill. They have a moving sidewalk called the magic carpet and it may be slow but it sure is easy for beginners. The last photo doesn't look like much as a still but he is actually sliding pretty well and making a real turn. Pretty good for end of first day. I think a l,ot of the success came from the fact that this is his, nonw of the rest of us do this and he can proceed completely at his own pace. As much fun as this looks like, I think I'm going to just give him this for a while at least and maybe I'll try it next season so he can keep going on his own. I can always ski with him once he progresses to the lifts.

Vacation is coming to a close, sometimes too soon and sometimes I actually have a hankering to get back to work for a bit. I miss the pace sometimes...We're taking today pretty easy, yesterday out oin the snow all day took it out of us so we're once again enjoying our holiday be being pretty lazy. Bowling later this afternoon and we need to get to the bank and the PO but other than that, we can use up some time on around the house stuff. Plenty to do around here...

Henry & Butch

Tuesday 21 Feb @ 1935

Still home on holiday. Not a lot to add but Henry bowled 5 games this afternoon and put up to 100+ raw scores. He is having a lot of fun with this and it is a really great afternoon diversion for him a couple times a week. He rolls for free and gets free shoes since he is in the kids league so it is even a very cost effective way for us to get out of the house and get some activity time in as well.

Tomorrow is Henry's first snowboarding day. He is signed up for a 2 hour lesson @ 1300 and then gets 2 more hours of practice time. He's pretty excited but was a bit reluctant when I told him I had signed him up for a lesson. He seems to think he can do anything if he just gets out there and tries since he "already knows how to snowboard". Right... I decided this time to sit it out, let him spend some time with kids his own age that are just trying it for the first time as well. He gets pretty frustrated if he doesn't immediately grasp any activity when I am doing it with him but seems a lot less frustrated when I just surreptitiously watch from the sidelines. I'll take my book and wander out from time to time to take photos but otherwise stay in the shadows to let him concentrate.

That's it for now

Lazy Sunday - 19 Feb @ 1210

Lazing on a Sunday afternoon...

Had a big day yesterday, Henry bowled 2 consecutive 81s in his league games yesterday and his team rolled a high score of 475 with the 183 team handicap (one of his teammates rolled a raw 128! Way to go Mat!). Here are some photos:






Henry












Mathew















Elizabeth






Together they make up the Mad Strikers. They have fun together and his teammates are great kids, really nice.

Henry and I then spent the remainder of the day @ the Cascade Bicycle Club Bike Expo. We watched the trials riders (Henry finagled an invitation to Fluidride to try out one of the beginner trials bikes) a couple of times and then a couple of BMX exhibitions. Henry was mesmerized throughout. Ran into a friend Michael @ one of the exhibit booths for Axley glasses and it was good to see him. Now both Henry and I are a bit stoked to get on our bikes but the weather has been too cold for any windchill addition. We were @ the bike show from just after 11 until 6 last night and had a great time.

Read the paper and now that I'm home, I feel like I need to be doing stuff but I also need a plain old lazy day. Henry took Butch for a walk for over an hour today and we'll go together later this afternoon. Still feeling pretty lazy but need to get moving and finish the laundry and clean the kitchen.

Strangley enough, since I've been back from England I am craving Thai food. I ate Thai more than any other and now I feel like I need it every day. I had been going through an Asian food stage before I left where I am craving Asian every day but now it is more specific, I want Thai curries especially the jungle curry I had the last night in London. Packed w/ veggies and w/o coconut milk as most Thai curries, this stuff was spicy and good. Called kaeng par but I'm having trouble finding a recipe or mention of it on the internet other than to say it's spicy and w/o coconut milk ( I know that!). I'll need to experiment. I did find the large Thai aubergines fresh @ Whole Foods but need to try and find a Thai grocery for the Thai pea aubergines, these were totally new to me and although they look like a large English pea, they are hard skinned and POP when you bite them. I thought they were just raw English peas when I first encountered them in the UK but they are something else entirely and really good. I saw them listed in every rendition of green curry I saw in England.

signing off for now...

Now on Holiday - 17 Feb @ 1817

Back to work today for a while. It was good to be back although I didn't get a lot done other than catching up on some approvals. Many of the peeps had questions about the trip, I took UK coffee passports to our department coffee masters and delivered the souvenirs I had committed to as well. Kim wanted some TyPhoo tea, Daniel wanted some Chelsea Football Club memorabilia and Alissa wanted something from Lush that she couldn't get in the states; all delivered!

Yesterday was a bit difficult, some jet lag but had a good time with the kids at the Childrens Museum @ the Seattle Center. We'll be spending some time downtown this next week as long as the weather holds. I've been talking about taking Henry up the Space Needle and he loves the Fun Forest with all the rides plus we both love the Pacific Science Center. One thing we now know, we don't really need a season pass to the Children's Museum, it's fun for an outing but it's not large enough or diverse enough to hold Henry's attention all that long where the Science Center never gets old for him. Here are some photos from the field trip:

Henry @ the drum kit in the sound booth




More drums ...A budding John Bonham?



Cool music machine where the balls drop on tone bells



















Henry & Brandon ticklin' the ivories














Today, after work we ran a couple errands and Henry frosted some brownies he made last night and they are truly a wonder to behold. Here are some pics:




Working hard














Caught in the act



















A future food stylist? You be the judge...

Back home again - 16 Feb 0630

Here it is early Thursday morning. Suffering from a bit of jet lag; passed out before 2100 last night and woke up @ about 0350 this am (converted to London time, that would have been asleep just before 0500 on 16 Feb after getting up @ 0800 on 15 Feb with a lot of travel in between and then getting up just before noon on 16 Feb) so yesterday was a long day. I did sleep for a fitful couple hours on the plane just to make it that long but didn't want to over do so I could go to sleep early last night to start recovery ASAP.

Last night I made it home too late to pick up Butch from the kennel sadly and finally was able to pick up Henry from his Mom's house just before 1800. I went for the big hug and it was terrific to see him smiling so wide as I drove into the driveway, we were both very excited to be reunited. Henry too was quite sad that we didn't have Butch for our family homecoming and wept a bit but he'll be fine. I was able to get Henry a coule shirts while away; a Harley Davidson from a London dealer with a great logo of waving Union Jacks and saying "London, England" in big letters, a tshirt from the Chelsea football club ( we were right by the stadium as you might recall rethinking earlier posts) and a Scotland t-shirt; all were happily received.

We didn't have much food and I was tired so we went out to the Mexican place a block away and then came home for a bit of talk and cuddling up in front of the TV.

Today I'm to spend as a chaperone on a trip for Henry's class @ the Seattle Children's museum. A day of that and a Tylenol PM and tomorrow I should be back on schedule.

Since I'm up, I've been catching up on some work email from the past couple days, man there has been a lot of traffic. I'm in the office tomorrow and then taking a weeks holiday to spend w/ Henry. Might try to get a snowboarding lesson in if the finances will tolerate it.

Here are some of the photos of the trip running chronologically:

The river Thames from near our hotel


The massive Queens Street staion in Glasgow

The railway bridge over the Firth of Forth

The British Museum

Big Ben and the House of Parliament through the rainy capsule high on the London Eye

The London Eye from the corner of Waterloo station

Last night in London - 14 Feb 1815

Well, here it is. I just stopped @ Lush to get the last of my obligations (they have products in the UK they dn't have in the US). Almost forgot as I haven't seen one in a while but I left Dave and Steph @ Leiscester Square and they're off for a nice Valentine's evening. They have tickets to The Mousetrap, the show has been running in the same theatre for 54 years now. Had I known the history, I might have gone earlier in the week but I'm ready for an early night tonight. I went out to lifet a couple with the UK manager last night and didn't get in until late again. I'm very nearly packed as I woke up early today and frankly I'm so excited about going home I got packed before going to the office today.

We had a great day, said goodbye to the team and toured 4 stores with last year's district manager of the year. His stores are all central London and all very busy with many challenges but they always make them work. Good to meet some of the field partners as well adn listen to what they have to say, both the positive and the negative as they speak of their experiences using our group. We're taking back quite a lot of information.

I walked up to Covent Garden and went through the Lush there, apparently it is "the Lush" so I've been to ground zero for you Lushies out there. Now I'm about halfway back to the tube and decided to update one last time from here before going home. I think I'll stop and get a curry and then spend some quality time with the Olympics.

This is a brilliant city and now that I'm leaving I look forward to coming back. If it weren't already so darned expensive, I might think about the 2012 Olympics but I can't even fathom how much it will be then.

Signing off for now...next update from Edmonds

London Office - Tuesday 14 Feb @ 0930

Here we are, the last day in the office. We'll be catching up with the UK support team this morning and then doing some store visits with a retail district manager this afternoon. We'll be visiting the busiest store here, Leicester Square and then others and discussing the challenges the stores have and how we can turn those challenges into opportunities.

We need to find a Lush store and hit the Chelsea team store as we're out today and all my obligations are done. I got tea for Kim last night on my way to the hotel. Henry has a sack of souvenirs even though I've truly stayed my shopping hand as I've been out.

I am really ready to go home, as is Dave. We talked a lot about it as we walked to the office this morning. I woke up early today and I am completely packed except for the clothes on my back and what I need to take in my carryon. I really miss Henry and my slobbery crazy assed dog. I'm really looking forward to just taking some time and laying on the couch petting the dog and hugging my boy.

The flight tomorrow is @ 1405 GMT and we arrive just after 1500 PST.

Monday - London 13 Feb 1725

Well, here we are at the end of another day in London. Again I believe we have accomplished quite a lot on this trip. Today we did the wrap up we had scheduled for tomorrow as the retail team will meet with us tomorrow and take us on a store tour so we can see for ourselves some of the challenges the stores face each day. We are especially looking FW to back room tours as thy tend to be quite eye opening. We will also ask of the store partners and their DM that will be tourin us what we can do better to assist them in overcoming their daily challenges.

After the last update Saturday, I walked up the King's Road to Sloane Square. It was great to see the place where the 60s swinging hipsters hung out and be in the neighborhood where some of the old pop stars of the day still keep houses and flats.

I made it to the British Museum and spent the majorty of the day in the ancient civilisations wing w/ the Eqypt, Assyria and Greece exhibits. What an amazing place and so much to see. It is amazing the pieces of the Parthenon and other exhibits such as the Rosetta stone that are all here. I spent some time in the Americas wing as well as the reproduction of the King's Library and found these to be wondrous exhibits as well. After the museaum, I wandered a bit more and found my way into Chinatown. I must have wandered into a werewolf because I found myself @ a place called ...










...and considered a bowl of beef chowmein (the blessed among you will understand the importance of this).

Another walk round and found myself again in Piccadilly and Leicester Squares, tried for a discount ticket to the We Will Rock You show but none available so headed back to Chelsea and stopped in a reat Thai restaurant called Jim Thompson's named after an American silk exporter that was a purported spy in 60s Thailand. Had a bowl of beef randang that was sensational and had a walk back to the hotel. Brutally cold it's been...

Raining these past couple days and even with the weather I got out and did the London Eye opposite the House of Parliament on the Thames on Sunday. I'll let you read about it here for yourself http://www.londoneye.com/. I have to say, 145 metres did not seem that high to me even when I was on the ground but even with the weather the views were very impressive and the people with which I rode the capsule were very nice and took pictures of me as well to show you all. Here you can can gaze upon my visage over London w/ Big Ben in the background

In all, this was one off the best things I have done in London and I'm glad I did it even in the rain.

After the ride, I hopped the tube back from Waterloo and grabbed a bottle of wine (Gemstone Shiraz from McLaren Vale, quite tasty) an my host for the afternoon collected me @ the station for a traditional Sunday in England. We had a Sunday roast of beef rib, yorkshire puddings, oven roast tatties, peas and a parsnip mash (heavenly, mashed w/ creme fraiche, butter, salt and pepper; MMM MMM GOOD!) with wine and beer before the Scotland v. Wales rugby (Scotland los but I did wear my Scotland jersey I picked up last time here, glad my hosts were Scotland fans!). Here's a picture of my friends in London














And one of me with my friends (Thanks Liam)














What a tremendous way to spend the day in a city far, far away with friends, food, bevvies and rugby.

Tomorrow is our last day here and although I'm having a tremendous time in London and can't wait to return, I'm ready for home. Think of living in what's referred to as a "function" hotel (along the lines of a Motel 6 or Super 8; bed, bathroom, tv) for 12 days. I'm trying not to complain but it is tiresome. The bright side is I'm in London, a vibrant city where everything is moving all the time and there are lots of things to see and do

Edinburgh airport; airside 2/10 *UPDATED 14 Feb*

Just finished a vendor visit in Edinburgh. Waiting for the return to London. Updating from an internet kiosk in he airport. Last night in Glasgow, very interesting visit.

More to come later, my travel mates are waiting.

*****UPDATE 14 Feb*****
OK, so I need to talk about the evening in Glasgow. We worked with NCR @ the call center until about 2030 and the director we worked with was taking us to the hotel in a city with which he was unfamiliar. As his frustration grew, he was driving faster and faster, jerking around corners and we saw quite a lot of Glasgow by night. Mark was in the back sandwiched between Dave and Pete and asking for someone to crack a window, I was trying to read tiny print on Graham's map while sitting in the (wrong or left) passenger seat trying to help navigate while being thoroughly confused about being on the left (wrong) side of the road and left (wrong) side of the car with a map that was not marked with North and funny names (Scotland remember). Finally Graham jumped out to ask directions @ a convenience store (where apparently neither English nor Scottish were even a scimilie of the attendant's language) and we asked Graham to find a somewhat inhabited street with restaurants and drop us off. We could get a cab from there. Humorous at best but vomit inducing at worst I must say. None of was feeling all that well and Graham still had to drive for a hour to get home out in the countryside. He dropped us on Sauchiehall Street and we found an Italian restaurant and ordered 4 pizzas and ate every last morsel.

The best part of the whole thing was that when the cab driver dropped us we realized we had driven within a block of the hotel but didn't see the sign. A good laugh was had by all after all was said and done but I think that Graham will be rethinking any offers of chaufferring for some time. He sent me a mail the next day apologizing and jesting about a promise to have SAT NAV available for our next trip. Obvioulsy feeling bad about it but no harm done, in fact quite a funny story to tell everyone.

Next day a beautiful train ride just after the sunrise to Edinburgh. Our vendor had a cab waiting for us and we felt like stars with the suited driver holding a Starbucks sign and showing us to a Mercedes people mover.

We learned a lot about the manufacturing process and the future of one of the devices we use and then had a tremendous lunch (my first steak and ale pie, between that and the bangers and mash the a couple nights before I think I can say I had some native food this time around) overlooking the Firth of Forth. We were then chauffered to the airport and given a gift of Michael Jackson's Guide to Malt Whiskys. Another successful day

Worlds End - London - 1210 GMT

Made it back to London last night and after a bit of a rest, met up with some friends for a few pints and a good curry. What a tremendous London experience. Many beers, many glasses of rioja (I'm told most people drink red wine with curry, just another thing to like about it) and layers upon layers of tastes. Some of the dishes I remember:
Plain and spicy popadums
Pickled lime
Yogurt and coriander
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chicken Biryani
Green garlic chicken chilly
Lamb madras
and other assorted lamb, chicken and vegetarian dishes just coming at you from all sides. A great evening with friends and coworkers with a definite London bent to it.

One thing about the culture here; there are still a great many smokers and the pubs and restaurants are all very smoky. My clothes end up impregnated to the point I have to put them in plastic bags as far from the bed as I can get them in the hotel room and then shower before I go anywhere near the bed so as not to get the pillows and bedding smoky as well. I was in a grocery today getting food for my walkabout today and thought it was still me but it was little old ladies walking by me.

Today I'm in a neighborhood called Worlds End (how can you not like a name like that?) in Chelsea and walking East up King's Road. I don't have a destination in mind at all, I just thought I'd take this in and then head to the British Museum for a bit this afternoon and try and catch the England v. Italy rugby later this afternoon. Not sure if I want to get all smoky in a pub or pick up a couple beers and snacks and spend it in the hotel to avoid some smoke for a day but I'll probably end up in the pub, after all how often do you get a chance to take in rugby in London surrounded by real fans?

Tomorrow, I've been invited round to John and Mary's for a Sunday roast and wine then the Scotland rugby (big supporters they are; John one hopped down to NZ just for a match between Scotland and the All Blacks and they hold season ticket to Murrayfield in Edinburgh for the games although they live in London). I have to be careful though, they hurt me last night and I have a bit of a hangover today even though I slept until 0930. I thinks it's time for a pint...

Not much more at this time but I'll update you all again soon

London Wednesday 2/6/06

Wednesday 2/8/06

In the office working today, gave a 3 hour presentation for my British colleagues and was well received. Even my co-workers that traveled with me did know I had so much information and had developed so many tools to help me do my job. All impressed. Well enough of the patting myself on the back, I don’t need an injury before we head to Scotland tomorrow.

I’m well acclimated now, even woke up before the alarm this morning for the first time. Feels like I’m on a regular schedule now. We’ve been very well received and very productive since we started work Monday morning. There have been many “ah ha” moments since we’ve been here, on both sides. All I really need to leave here with is a good sense the UK team knows what we do and how we do it so they know they can leverage us for assistance in supporting our stores and field partners. We have also learned a lot about the challenges as well as the opportunities that exist here for us to help out.

Sunday after my last update was pretty tame, avoided most of the post football crowds as they left the pitch and made it to the hotel where I settled for an underwhelming burger and a couple pints of Guinness. Every pub including the one at the hotel over a km from the pitch were packed as there seems to be a bit of bad blood between Chelsea and Liverpool; just glad the locals won so I avoided any difficulties.

We’ve been introduced to a fine deli near the office for lunch each day; expensive but terrific fresh foods as well as gourmet items and fresh fruit from the Mediterranean. Quite a find and although I sometimes wish for a place like his close to the home office, it would be terribly dangerous as I can’t seem to get out of there under 7GBP. That’s indicative of the cost of everything here in London. When we got the bill for ~35 GBP for dinner last night and felt it wasn’t bad, we knew we’d been in London a while already. 35 GBP is ~ $61.16 for a plate of pasta, a steak sandwich w/ chips and bangers & mash. Granted the food was decent but adding only 2 sodas and a beer still would have been a lot less than that in most neighborhood bars at home. It was the least expensive dinner we’ve had since we arrived though. Most have been ~ 45 GBP so it’s a budget buster.

Well, that’s about I for now, I’ll do my best to add some updates soon