Kicked out

We have kept this a bit on the down low, because well there really isn't much we could do about it. About three weeks ago, in a strange twist of fate, we got a call from our landlord letting us know he was moving to Singapore, and going to sell our flat. We had 60 days to find some place else to live and move out. The ironic part was the night before Kristen had decided that we should move somewhere else for the last 6 months, and experience another part of London. Not that our current place isn't great, I mean we love Kok Pu, and its fun only being able to use half of the lights, but seems like a bit of a blessing in disguise.

We really don't know where we are going to end up, Kristen has been searching like a mad man, only to get denied as every place that is currently available doesn't want to wait till March to start renting it. So sometime between now and March we will find a new place. Hampton is voting for near Hyde Park, but unless she gets a job we probably won't be moving there. Its a bit odd to be surrounded by available flats, and not be able actually get one. I guess its just a waiting game at this point.

Politics

Not sure if its really politics that have made these decisions but it seems that we are bending to the short term whims of a few more and more often.

Read this article from the London paper a couple of days ago Pupils too soft

There are a whole bunch of reasons this bugs me, not the least is the train of thought which would have led to the decision to 'toughen up' the kids. To me it seems like they are trying to pass the buck. I guess its not that much different than the no child left behind waivers that were granted back at home. In general though I just feel like the politicians are making big decisions to win elections which turn out to negatively impact everyone that they were supposedly created to help.

Just like the cheap labor exodus which has turned out to be a bad idea and has led to a dramatic shift in business tactics, this seems like someone got it really wrong to begin with. Not sure if the early 2000s were the anomaly, or the problem was trying to make everyone a winner, but it looks like the old days of hard work are back.

Lots of good-byes

We are fully dedicated to this yeast free thing, but not made of money so I guess you could say we are easing ourselves into it. We should have theoretically thrown all of our old food out, and restocked the fridge and pantry, but that seemed a bit excessive and expensive. So instead we are eating our way through all the 'bad' food and only buying 'good' food going forward.

That has resulted in a sad sad ritual of saying good-bye to things which you might not have really cared or thought twice about in the past. I opened up the last bottle of DPZ and nearly had a panic attack. Once that was gone, I stared longingly at a week old bottle of orange juice, and had a five minute debate with myself as to just how official the expiration date really was.

The Cherrios are gone, and the only bread left in the house is a frozen loaf of garlic bread that looks to have exploded from the cold, and some Yorkshire puddings. I am not really sure what I am going to spread whats left of 2lb jar of Nutella on...I guess maybe some celery or an apple. I bet I try it on alot of stuff that turns out to be a really bad idea.

I am not sold yet on rice milk either! If anyone has any great suggestions, I am more than happy to hear them.

Star Wars!!

Awesome!!

Almost 13 years after the first time I saw it in the theatres, its back and better than ever. I think this was the 6th time I have seen Phantom Menace in the theatre, so trust me when I tell you it is best in 3D. I am sure you are saying 'wait it wasn't that good', ok point taken, but I guess that makes it easier to be better than ever. It still has all of the flaws of the first release, and yes still has Jar Jar Binks, so if you were so angered by him the first time you are going to feel just about the same this time. I always thought that Episode I had too much story to tell and was Star Wars 101 to all of the the novice Star Wars fans. Unfortunately that is still the case, but there is a big BUT.

George Lucas and Industrial Light and Magic came through with flying colors on the 3D re-release. I am sure it wasn't that difficult to re-engineer the movie since the majority of it was in CGI in the first place. Alot of the movie is backstory and can't really be changed in post production, but what they did accomplish where they could was awesome.

The podracing scene, is almost enough to make the trip worth the extra $$ for another trip to the theatre and the 3D upcharge. First person shots of the track, ground-level views of the race, make the scene the best moment of the experience. Couple that with the Darth Maul, Obi -Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn light sabre battle and it is totally worth it. If you are not a Star Wars fan though, you probably will be less than impressed.

It does get me more excited about what is going to happen to episodes IV-VI. There is so much fighting, and flying in those movies, its gonna be amazing. I guess you will know where I am going to be the first week in February between now and 2017.

I managed to get Kristen to come along, and I am intrigued as to what she will think about the movies. I gotta imagine that of the worlds population she is in the very small minority of people which will get to see the movies in chronological order of the movies not the order of their original release.

One of the benefits of being in one of the biggest cities in the world is that you seem to stumble across exciting things happening which you didn't even know about. The majority of the time those end up causing problems, be it closed roads, and just too many people, but this time it was an welcome sight. First they had people dressed up as all the Star Wars characters taking pictures in from of the theatre. I wasn't quite up to posing with them, but all these guys were more than happy to get in for pictures. Kristen said 'oh how cute, they are embracing their nerdyness.' I laughed because although they may have been cute, there were no women anywhere to be seen around them.

Then as we strolled through the O2 to get to the theatre, just randomly sitting there, was last year's Force India Formula 1 car. You could literally walk right up and touch a multi-million $$ car which a couple of months ago was flying around the race track in Brazil a more than 100 miles an hour. Pretty surreal.

A bit worried

Not even really a day in and scared of this whole yeast free thing already.

Bought our special yeast free sweetener (can't have splenda, or anything remotely inexpensive for that matter) and was shocked at its directions and warnings....

'Add it to your favourite tea and coffee. Sprinkle it on fruit and cereal.

Excessive consumption may induce laxative effects.'

Great this warning to the guy who mixes sugar and peanut butter to put on top of chocolate chip cookies. I thought the sweetener was going to be my saviour, now a bit concerned I might need to start wearing depends.

Where no man has gone before......

Well I guess that is a bit of a dramatic over-exaggeration, but I am a bit dramatic so there you go. Anyway, the big news is a hare-brained idea of Kristen's, which for some reason I am all too excited to jump on board with. Kristen was messing around on the internet reading some blog or trolling for men or whatever, and found some crazy girl the has a yeast free diet. For whatever reason it sounded like a good idea, and as of tomorrow we will be on board.

They say its not a diet but a way of life, not sure I am completely sold.

So here it is:

Sweeteners and fruit out...dairy out....alcohol out....yeast in any form out....

Basically, NO gains, baked goods, breads, dairy, pasta, mushrooms, sugar, soft drinks, and margarine.

Sound crazy?? Yeah I foresee some really interesting things in store. But I guess as a bit of a going away present I had 10 chocolate pancakes and a granola bar (to keep it healthy) this morning. Pancakes here are really crapes, but you get the idea.

Golf Boys in Round 3 of Waste Management

I am always a week behind, but this is still news to me. Golf doesn't come on till Wednesdays here.

These guys are hilarious. I can't imagine how its possible to cut so loose right in the middle of the third round. Ben Crane's caddie had to be carrying that helmet around all day long. Bubba Watson is a mystery to me. I feel like he doesn't care at all about golf. To be so talented that you can just fool around and still post a number is just amazing. They are so far above and beyond an 'average' golfer you couldn't even compare them.

Oh and by the way Go Pokes!!

Making Tracks

I guess the level 3 alert was appropirate after all.  Started snowing last night around 8 and I guess snowed pretty much all night.  Ended up with 3 inchs or so.  It doesn't seem to be very bad though.  Really wet, and just kinda turns to slush straight away.  Hampton is pretty excited about it though. 

 London looks really nice in the snow.  When it snowed last year everything just kinda shut down, and the city crawled to a stop.  Seemed to be alot of cars out and about already which is really saying something for Sunday mornings.  I bet when we get to the main roads they are pretty clear already.

It was apparently slippery enough that a car missed the corner and smashed through the giant illuminated sign that says 'Hey jack-ass slow down there is a corner here'.



REALLY COLD!!!

I can't feel my right big toe. Hampton took a poo today that was steaming! We walked back past where she had peed like 15 minutes earlier and it was frozen. I don't even know how it feels so cold when it is only like 28 or something.

Its supposed to snow tonight, and they are talking about it like its going to shut the whole country down. They put out a 'Level 3 Cold Weather Alert' today, whatever that means. I can't even imagine what its like in Europe where it is really cold. I kinda feel like its the start of that move 'Day After Tomorrow', and I am going to wake up in the morning and everything is going to be frozen.

Its like -30 in Turkey and Poland right now. The only time I have ever been that cold, was counting frozen chickens in a blast freezer. When it gets that cold you get one breath when the air in your lungs is still kinda warm, but the first time you breathe in the cold air it freezes all the moisture in your breath on your nose hairs. Its a really strange feeling. Anyway, there has been more than 100 people die so far because of the cold in Europe. Record lows just about everywhere and some places have gotten 15 feet of snow. Crazy stuff!!

This is the fountain in Trafalgar Square today

Check out the rest of Europe

I guess the good news is that there is a free preview weekend on ESPN this weekend. The DVR is in overdrive already. Haven't seen college basketball in nearly two years now, gonna be great. Even better they broadcast all the UFC events on ESPN over here, since there is not On-Demand. If anyone wants to come over and watch the fight there is a spot on the couch waiting for you.

Cold!!!

Its payback time I guess for all the 'warm' weather we have had this fall and winter here. I had almost forgotten how cold it gets here. I guess not cold like Tulsa in a ice storm, but you don't have to walk home from the tube in Tulsa either. The windchill was like 20 on the way home tonight. Way to cold to be walking around in work clothes.

Tomorrow is trash day so walking down the sidewalk is a bit of an obstacle course. There was a trash bag leaking some shmutz, it has apparently frozen solid. I slipped on it and think I broke my knee. My eyes started watering, and then pretty sure they froze open. Needless to say just a bit jealous of Tulsa's weather right now