oda.com

the rants and raves of oda

June 29th, 2007

Rumblings in the Office

I’m sitting in my office, eating my cereal and doing my work and then I feel the whole building shaking lightly for maybe 5-10 seconds. Was it just my building? I’m 37 floors up, not sure what it was, but everything looks normal. Anyone notice/feel anything? Am I crazy?



June 29th, 2007

Wrap Up of My Europe Trip Photos

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve finally managed to post my Europe photos online, well only the worthy ones, there were lots that Henry deleted, or I didn’t like the way I looked in them. =) I get to do that since it’s my site. Anyway, here is any easy way to find all the photos.

Paris
No Pics CIMG7123 CIMG7222 CIMG7250 CIMG7274
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Related Links:

Barcelona
CIMG7295 CIMG7342 CIMG7382
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
Related Links:

Rome
CIMG7440 CIMG7496 CIMG7570
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Related Links:

London
CIMG7695 CIMG7802 CIMG7822
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Related Links:



June 28th, 2007

Very Productive Evening

I’ve had a very productive evening. I left work at around 7pm, not too late. I stopped by the supermarket to pick up some groceries and to look for some Skinny Cow sandwiches. Yes, they did have them, and they had the mint flavored ones too. I made a quick call to Mike to see if he wanted some mint Skinny Cow sandwiches too, and he couldn’t resist. I had to walk quickly to beat the rain, and made it back, but was very sweaty.

Once home I quickly changed into some comfy clothes and instead of relaxing, I grabbed my laundry and went downstairs to the laundry room. I actually just did laundry a week ago, and did about four weeks worth, on my own. I figure I had a decent amount of clothes for one load, and instead of doing laundry for hours and trying to lug all the laundry downstairs and wake up with an achy back and arms, one load may be the way to go, and it really was. I finished the washing and drying in an hour. The folding was very quick too. I feel so happy!

But my productivity doesn’t end there, I’ve been having a craving for brownies, so instead of just buying store bought ones, I baked “fresh” ones with a mix and added in walnuts. Why walnuts? Henry doesn’t like them without the walnuts and complains if I leave them out, not that I don’t enjoy them with walnuts. So I’ve left a couple of pieces of Henry, gave a piece to my neighbors Mike and Kit, had some for myself and then packed the rest of them away to bring to work. Though I wish I had some vanilla ice cream to put on top of my brownie, there’s nothing better than a warm brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I think this is where my productivity ends. I’m gonna check on a few things to work and then get ready for bed.



June 27th, 2007

London 2007 - Day 3

We woke up and hopped back onto the bus tour. You get 24 hours on the bus tour. So we rode through the whole tour and got off right when our tickets expired. Time to search for food again. We walked around and around (sound familiar) and ended up at a pub with an outdoor seating area and sat outside to enjoy the London scenery and enjoy our food. I got the fish and chips, they were much better than Henry’s from the previous day. He got sausages, which were pretty good.

We walked around for some more and then stopped at an internet cafe for an hour. We made a stop at Mark & Spencer’s to take a look around and Henry picked up a can of the Heinz Baked Beans, in the blue can, at a local grocery store.

Little Miss Sunshine Then it was back to our hotel to pick up our luggage and then off to catch the Heathrow Express that would eventually bring us to Heathrow Airport. If you weren’t aware, security is very tight in the airport. There was a separate line that was just to check our shoes! On the plane ride back we watched our other Netflix DVD, Little Miss Sunshine. It was hilarious and Olive was so adorable. We landed on time, despite the rain, which is a rarity.

June 27th, 2007

London 2007 - Day 2

Tired of all the sightseeing, I was able to convince Henry to do a bus tour, rather than walking all day long. Part of this reason I was able to convince him was because it was close to impossible to walk to all the places we would want to see. But first, we grabbed sandwiches at Pret-A-Manger. Their sandwiches were surprisingly good, for something mass produced. Our first stop on the bus tour was to the National Gallery, another free museum. They have a cool feature at the museum where there are computer kiosks that you can pick and choose which exhibits or artists you want to see, a max of 10, and then you can print out a map (though it was hard finding the printer, it was in another room in the basement). Henry printed out a map and I printed out maps and we did have some paintings that we both wanted to see. It made our trip around the museum a bit faster.

We walked over to Leister Square to the tkts stand. We were expecting a really long line, but was pleasantly surprised. We picked up tickets to see Chicago for £60 a ticket, including the extra fees and surcharges. But the seats were in the front row, three seats in from the center. But we didn’t complain.

We hopped back on the bus tour for awhile but then got off to take pictures of Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. Then there was aimless walking around and eventually hunting for food. We stopped at Garfunkel’s, it’s like a Friendly’s here. I got a good tasting cottage pie, but Henry’s fish and chips were disappointing. The fish was way overcooked.

We went back to our hotel to freshen up and change for Chicago. Did you know that they charge for programs? They charge £3.50 for each program, so for $7 USD, we passed. The theater was very warm. I really am convinced that they don’t believe in air conditioning. During intermission, Henry bought a little container of ice cream which cost us another £3, and I mean little! Being front row makes the whole cast look scary. You see how much makeup they have on, you see the microphones taped to the women’s foreheads, and you can see them sweating too. Out of the whole cast, we only recognized Maxwell Caulfield, he was Billy Elliot. The show was good and the cast had pretty amazing voices. I kind of want to see it on Broadway here now.