Mirror, mirror on the wall
Slowly but surely, we’re getting moved in. Next: framed pictures on the walls.
Newcastle Golf Course
We decided to go check out Newcastle this evening, just to take a drive. (In the car, that is.) There was a wedding going on, and I got lucky when I snapped a picture right as the photographer’s assistant’s flash was going off.
Oh, and then there’s Fish.
Shoot, the lawnmower won’t start
This is a good example of why we don’t have a power mower at our house. Or a shotgun.
The English Countryside
I took the train out the Beaconsfield (pronounced “beckensfield,” my fellow Americans) today to hang out with my good friend Gareth. He was kind enough to take the afternoon off and drive me around an idyllic, green, beautiful part of the world, far removed from the noise and crowds of London, where people with too much money have apparently lived for centuries.
First stop was the Royal Standard of England, the world’s oldest freehouse. We enjoyed beers and lunch, and I ordered steak and kidney pudding, the same thing I might have ordered when I was here 900 years ago in another lifetime. The only patron in our half of the place when we arrived was a black cat sleeping in a booth, who never moved or opened its eyes, even when a table full of little kids and moms plopped down in the next booth over. I see from their web site that they’re pets and kids friendly, what a surprise.
After chatting with a couple of guys about how much everyone in world loves George Bush, and snapping a few pictures, we headed on down the road to Cliveden, a huge mansion in Buckinghamshire. Back in those days, people weren’t afraid to flaunt it! Gareth managed to find a parking spot right out front, and we took a walk around the grounds. I think we saw about 1% of the place.
Then we motored over to Marlow, a peaceful little town on the meandering Thames.
I caught the train back to the city, and I snapped a few pictures of the various train stations but after downloading the D70 I don’t have them. This concerns me, because nothing like this has ever happened before. When I downloaded the camera, I got everything from our tour of the Beaconsfield area, but none of the 15 or 20 shots I took on the way back. It’s as if the memory card malfunctioned and was saving them to an inaccessible location or something. Anybody ever seen anything like that? (And no, the card wasn’t even half full.)
UPDATE: Mystery solved. My D70 created a second folder named 101NCD70 instead of 100NCD70, and the photos were in there. I hadn’t noticed that second folder. But I sure don’t understand why this happens sometimes. The manual says something about creating a new folder after 1000 pictures (I don’t have it with me and don’t remember the exact text), but in my experience that seems to happen randomly sometimes. Anyway, here’s Marleybone train station:
And now, having sat through an evening of conference calls, I’m writing this up at the hotel bar. Before posting on the blog, I’m going to have another cocktail and chat a bit more with Lori and Gareth (no relation), two young auditors from Ernst & Young who are in London for one day, from somewhere two hours north of here. I assume they’ll ruin somebody’s day tomorrow and head for home; it’s what auditors do, after all.
Megan, I’m heading for home myself in the morning. See you soon.
King’s Cross Station
I still haven’t made it more than a few blocks from my hotel, but I walked over to the nearby train station this evening and found I liked the inside much better than the outside.
London Again
After a trip of less than 24 hours to London last month, this month I’m going spend a little more time here. I have meetings the next three days and related social activities, but am planning to get out and take some pictures on Thursday. Meanwhile, here are a few shots I snapped Sunday afternoon …
Tad’s Hold ‘Em Book
We had an impromptu card game last night with a few friends, and it was fun. We played for 10 cents per chip, and nobody bought in for more than $8 worth. We didn’t really plan ahead on this one, but next time (probably early August) I’ll post notice here on the blog.
After I shrewdly folded the off-suit 8/6 above, the flop was pretty interesting. Sigh.
Tad was there, and he brought us a copy of his book on Hold ‘Em. We’re going through it together (Megan and I), and it’s fun, irreverent, and focused on nothing but winning hands. I’ll be blogging about some of the details in the future here.
By the way, if you’re wondering what Tad is doing above, check this out.
in pursuit of an iPhone
I was planning to get an iPhone 3G when they came out, as I hinted at recently. Then I decided to wait a few days because of the iPocalypse, but my patience hasn’t paid off yet.
I went to the AT&T store at Bellevue Square mall today, based on my mistaken understanding that they had some in stock. They don’t, and they’re pissed about it because the nearby Apple store has them in stock, with a line of people waiting their turn out front to buy one.
I can’t go to the Apple store, because I need to swap my recently purchased Blackjack II at the AT&T store to get credit for it. So I’m waiting for Bellevue Square to get more inventory, but they’re not sure when they’ll get any, and they have many people like me waiting to pounce.
Further complicating the situation is the fact I have to return the BlackJack II by July 29, but I’ll be in London all of next week. So my only hope is to have a batch arrive at the AT&T store on July 27/28/29, and then get there before they’re gone.
Life can be so complicated sometimes.
Belgian Budweiser
Anheuser-Busch has been sold to InBev, a Belgian firm. Personally, I think this is great news because now I can order a Bud in Brussels and not be a stereotypical unsophisticated American, blisfully ignorant of local culture. “Garcon, a Boodwasser, por favor?”
But some people are pissed off:
What’s the deal with those “related videos”?
Miscellaneous Photos
I just finished filing away the digital debris of the last couple of weeks, and came across a few photos that I liked …
