Friday, November 9, 2007

~Day 4~ Work and then Travel to London Via Paddington Station (omg Paddington station sounds sooooo cute)

Gas is £1 per liter here.
There are 5 liters to a gallon (for all us Metric haters).
£1 = $2
So yeah a gallon of gas is $10. Whoa. It would cost me $180 to fill my gas tank. I'm going to stop complaining about $3 gas now.

Work stuff: now have my computer set up for testing tomorrow night and Sunday morning. Finishing final details for data stewardship training on Monday and Tuesday, with plans to begin data stewardship on production Wednesday, November 14th.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

~Day 3~ - If it's Thursday, I must be in Newbury

**Placeholder for Non-Work Stuff Here**
Oh this morning on tv, they were talking about chicken pox vaccine here. They call getting a 'shot' getting a 'jab.' Ow! I guess shot sounds pretty bad too. :)
Dinner Tonight is going to be at Sun in the Wood. I was told there are no bangers, only mash, but there are some fantastic-looking puddings. Here is a picture of the restaurant.



And here we are:



They didn't have bangers - only mash, which was delicious. I also learned a lot of new British terms.

Like: bunches means pigtails
Plaits means braids
And pudding is generic for dessert - i.e. "what kind of pudding are you going to have?" "ice cream" Crazy! Of course they though Misty and I were crazy when we said that we use Coke as generic for soft drink. "What kind of Coke do you want?" "Sprite".

Lunch update: Vicky took Misty and I to the grocery store and they had to drag me out of the store. It is so interesting to see what all is available here. I also got a British coin lesson. After we got back to the office, we went to the BP station to get a Diet Coke (it had been more than 24 hours people). I stocked up and also got this:



It's um yeah interesting. Glad I tried it but probably won't get another one. Regular Coke gives me 'teeth sweaters' (phrase credited to Vallory Martin) anyway.

Work stuff:
Had a call with Tunde and Nanetta to finalize details of the data stewardship training and overall plan for how the whole project is going to work. Finalizing user setups - found out they only need Windows logins to use Auditor so that will be faster to set up than Oracle logins. I am going to send over the Auditor test document to Tunde and Nanetta for them to review.

Update: found out logins won't be available until tomorrow which is cutting it rather close. Hoping the Help Desk Europe can set them up and put them in the correct Citrix group tomorrow. We won't be actually using the logins until Monday afternoon, but it would be much preferred to have them first thing Monday.

~Day 2~ Bonus Post

When we left the office we heard what I automatically assumed were gunshots (comes from my 2 years living in New Orleans). Apparently the sound was just fireworks because November 5th is Fireworks Night.

We then went and ate at Nawab Indian Restaurant. (Wow I am a classy broad)



I've seen hand-held credit card swipe machines at both of the places we have eaten so far. I love that idea because it cuts out the extra time you spend between having the check dropped off and picked back up. It is a bit intimidating having to figure the tip in your head while they stand and wait though.

I believe the plan tonight is to go to a traditional English countryside pub for 'pub grub' like bangers and mash.

Work stuff: Finished polishing the training presentation and worked on the test for the data stewards Set up a meeting for today with Tunde and Nanetta to finalize details. Had a short meeting with Vicky regarding search results and provided further numbers to use in decision-making. Met Sara Giudici in person and talked with Leslie, Bex, Vicky and Sam.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

~Day 2~ We made it to the UK!

Just wanted to let you know that we (and our luggage) made it into London last night/this morning and we are at at NI Newbury office drinking English tea and working hard.

If I can stay awake past 9pm, I think I will have totally avoided jetlag.

Bye all - more later.

P.S. It is cold enough to wear my coat and my gloves. Score!

Edited to add: Yall. It gets dark here at like 4:30pm.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

~Day 1~ Hurry Up and Wait

So we are in the Austin airport and just found out that our flight is delayed by an hour. This wouldn't normally be a big deal but it might make us miss our connection to London. So we're stalking the ticketing desk at the gate - ready to pounce on anyone who can reschedule us or hold the plane in London.

More soon I'm sure :)

Update as of 4:40pm Central - looks like we are going to make it. We're at least going to get on the plane and take our chances in Chicago. Wish us luck.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Deep Fried Mac and Cheese? Really?

So I am watching a little tv as I do a laundry marathon today and I see a commercial for Sonic Mac and Cheese bites.

From Sonic's web site:


Today I'd like to introduce the term "unrestricted eating." It refers eating whatever you want, whenever you want it. Like macaroni & cheese, for example. Typically, you'd need a bowl, spoon and both hands to enjoy this quintessentially American dish. Lucky for you, SONIC® invented Mac & Cheese Snacks—a cheesy favorite packed into crunchy bite-size morsels. It's portable and pop-able. Which means you can now have Mac & Cheese anytime, anywhere. So like I said, it's "unrestricted eating." Got it?

Don't get me wrong. I like Sonic. But do we really need to be able to eat mac and cheese in the car? The only thing keeping Sonic from being on my personal "On Notice" board is their commercials. Oh and Route 44 Vanilla Diet Cokes with Extra Ice™. ;)

Thursday, November 1, 2007

1977 JC Penney Catalog

I got this from a friend of mine at work and had to share.

Cowboy Chachi Loves You Best