As a starting point, I’ll put a list of the Twitter posts I did while in the UK in reverse chronological order (times are Seattle local time so they do not necessarily match; add on 8 hours for accuracy.) More descriptive posts to follow.

Jan 3

• Home. Time to sleep. 10:09 PM Jan 3rd
• About to pack & leave hotel for airport. May not have internets until we get home. If not, will be back in Seattle late Saturday afternoon. 12:52 AM Jan 3rd

Jan 2

• Went to Tate Modern. Saw more French people than art. The Rothko exhibit was outstanding! London was very crowded today. 12:39 PM Jan 2nd
• Never under any circumstances should you subject yourself to The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008). EOT. 1:42 AM Jan 2nd
• At National Gallery’s bag check I LOLed when the guy asked if I brought in a machete. Immediately felt suspicious when I saw he was serious. 1:32 AM Jan 2nd
• Heading back to States tomorrow. Really going to be sad to leave. The culture and history here are amazing. Also not working is so nice!! 12:03 AM Jan 2nd
• There are a definite lack of obese people here. Still plenty of fast food available and countless pubs. Everyone must exercise a lot. 12:01 AM Jan 2nd

Jan 1

• Love the grab & go fresh deli shops around here. We’ve eaten at Pret a Manger 5x now. They’re as common in London as Starbucks in Seattle. 11:58 PM Jan 1st
• Watching the new Jonathan Creek episode as it’s being broadcast! 2:13 PM Jan 1st
• My feet and calves are sore from walking so much. There is so much awesomeness to experience here! I really like London. Getting used to £s…. 1:42 AM Jan 1st
• Jules got my 4-year-old Powerbook to be region free. Now we can watch our Bill Bailey discs! 1:39 AM Jan 1st
• Going to Tate Modern today as it is the only gallery open. I guess that’s acceptable 1:36 AM Jan 1st
• Watching a special on Stonehenge. Love the fact that this is normal programming here. 1:34 AM Jan 1st

Dec 31

• Happy New Year! So surreal watching London Eye fireworks display on BBC1 and hearing the echo out the hotel window! 4:10 PM Dec 31st, 2008

Dec 30

• Went shopping all day. Feet are killing me. Rode the Underground; so much nicer, quicker & more reliable than Seattle transport. 3:21 PM Dec 30th, 2008
• Just saw Bill Bailey live! Showed up 2 hrs before the show & got the last pair of fix in row A of the dress circle! http://twitpic.com/y25q 3:19 PM Dec 30th, 2008
• The view from our hotel window http://twitpic.com/xvat 1:18 AM Dec 30th, 2008
• This hotel is almost classy, just like us. The chandelier has 3/5 working bulbs! Also it has a functional shower! 12:17 AM Dec 30th, 2008
• Jules got interweb sharing working on laptop so free wireless now at hotel (still have to pay for wired connection though!) 12:15 AM Dec 30th, 2008

Dec 29

• Perfect Lancaster honeymoon activity: looking at blue whale skellingtons. 9:59 AM Dec 29th, 2008
• Spent the afternoon walking through Kensington Gardens and visiting the Natural History Museum and the V&A Gallery. Rodins & Turners galore! 9:58 AM Dec 29th, 2008

Dec 28

• Having trouble sleeping for some reason. 5:53 PM Dec 28th, 2008
• The bells of Salisbury Cathedral started ringing while we were in the bell tower. Could feel the sound through my whole body for long a time 12:17 PM Dec 28th, 2008
• Coolest quote yet: Simon: “Want to go take a peek at the Magna Carta while we wait for our tower tour (of Salisbury Cathedral)?” 12:14 PM Dec 28th, 2008
• People here are obsessed with Jane Austen and are apalled I have not read her work. Her grave at Winchester Cathedral was stunning. 12:12 PM Dec 28th, 2008
• Who has been to London and has recommendations for best places to visit? There for 4 days near Hyde Park. 12:09 PM Dec 28th, 2008
• Drivers here do not seem to wash their cars very often. Most are covered with a grimy film. 12:08 PM Dec 28th, 2008
• Never expected my honeymoon might involve babysitting my niece. The screaming of young kids is draining me. Not sure how parents do this. 12:06 PM Dec 28th, 2008
• My camera ran out of battery today so I wasn’t able to photograph everything as usual. :( 12:02 PM Dec 28th, 2008
• Saw the Roman baths in…Bath. They Look quite inviting. I think all this tourism is starting to wear me down. :( London tomorrow though! 12:00 PM Dec 28th, 2008
• It suddenly got super cold here. Like Midwest style cold, but very confusing as the grass is still verdant and there is no snow. 12:53 AM Dec 28th, 2008
• I dreamt I killed a prisoner and our mailman was leaving our mail in our microwave. I still fear for my life despite being awake now. 12:51 AM Dec 28th, 2008

Dec 27

• Saw Stonehenge, Old Sarum, and Salisbury Cathedral today. Was an okay day I suppose 10:08 AM Dec 27th, 2008
• Stonehenge!! http://twitpic.com/x19l 10:06 AM Dec 27th, 2008
• It’s strange how quickly I get used to not hearing American accents. Simon watched CSI last night and I was like “blech!” :) 12:52 AM Dec 27th, 2008
• Going to see Stonehenge in about a hour! This may end up being a highlight of my life. 12:49 AM Dec 27th, 2008

Dec 26

• Headed to Winchester this afternoon, which should be great. Pics to follow as usual. 2:08 AM Dec 26th, 2008
• Mum & Dadcaster are headed back to Australia today. It was so nice to see them again–I will miss them very much. 2:07 AM Dec 26th, 2008
• Lovely huge comfy Xmas Day. So nice to be part of 2 families who truly enjoy each other’s company. 2:04 AM Dec 26th, 2008

Dec 25

• Merry Xmas all! 3:57 AM Dec 25th, 2008
• Traditional family Christmas: in England in a house with 9 Australians. :) 12:33 AM Dec 25th, 2008

Dec 24

• I don’t think I have seen any single family residences since I arrived here, with the exception of a couple thatched-roof cottages. TROGDOR! 5:24 AM Dec 24th, 2008
• The plumbing here is so old you never know what you’ll get. Hot/cold are often reversed & sometimes you have to turn the tap 3+ revolutions. 5:22 AM Dec 24th, 2008
• Went to Alice’s shop and bought a “Drink Me” mug. The shop was a bit gimmicky. We ate at the Cafe Loco next door afterwards. Yummy. 5:19 AM Dec 24th, 2008
• There are a ton more smokers here than in the US. Either that or I just notice more because people tend to smoke everywhere outdoors. 5:16 AM Dec 24th, 2008
• Using a credit card to pay at the till is extremely rare here. The cashiers always get flustered when I try to pay and they never have pens. 5:15 AM Dec 24th, 2008
• Cannot get tired of these OLD graveyards. Expect tons of photos! 1:41 AM Dec 24th, 2008
• It’s a sign you chose well when you are coveting the gift you bought for someone else for your own. Jules was praying for a “better” find. 1:39 AM Dec 24th, 2008
• Going to see Uffington White Horse this afternoon. Very excited! Also Stonehenge next week! (lifelong dream of mine) 1:35 AM Dec 24th, 2008
• Had dinner last night @ Italian place run by real Italians. Reminded me a lot of home in the Midwest. I miss Victoria’s a lot sometimes. 1:32 AM Dec 24th, 2008
• Missing friends and kitties at this time. 1:28 AM Dec 24th, 2008
• It is a strange and exhausting experience buying gifts for people you have never met. (sister-in-law’s brothers) 1:26 AM Dec 24th, 2008
• By node id all pluggd ub. :( 12:40 AM Dec 24th, 2008

Dec 22

• Speaking of money, it’s amazing how a different currency than the one you are used to starts out feeling like “play money”, Monopoly style. 10:23 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
• The £1 coin has nearly the same satisfying “clack” sound as the $2 Aussie coin when they come in contact another coin of the same variety. 10:21 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
• Got all of “Life on Mars” for £36. There are some rather good sales to be had around here at the moment and the US$ is currently strong here… 10:18 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
• Called my Dad from SkypeOut last night and 20 min call was $1.50. Awesomeness! 10:13 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
• Grocery clerks in this country allowed to sit while they work. You don’t tip someone unless they’ve done outstanding work. Why not in USA??? 10:11 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
• Discovered a working “power shower” in the building last night thanks to Jules. I finally feel clean! http://twitpic.com/vi7u 10:00 PM Dec 22nd, 2008
• Glad we left Seattle when we did…the weather appears to have worsened since! Seattlites, have you been making it into work? If so, how? 9:54 AM Dec 22nd, 2008
• Really old graveyards are so amazingly cool! I am assured they are everywhere here but I still keep wanting to photograph them all! 9:51 AM Dec 22nd, 2008
• There are so many old buildings around here that I must continually resist the urge to photograph Jules in front of every old door. 9:48 AM Dec 22nd, 2008

Dec 21

• Nice thing about not knowing currency conversion between $ and £ is that I stop treating money as an object. Am enjoying this immensely! 12:30 PM Dec 21st, 2008
• The student housing we are staying in is several hundred years old and is still immeasurably better than my university’s dorms! 12:28 PM Dec 21st, 2008
• Have seen at least three Starbucks along one street in Oxford. That sort of penetration should be stopped. Also KFC, Burger King & McDonalds 12:26 PM Dec 21st, 2008
• Showers are rare here. When you come across one it’s broken or too confusing to operate. Britons: why? Am having trouble getting clean. :( 12:23 PM Dec 21st, 2008
• The homeless people here are so polite. Wonder why American homeless can’t be the same 12:21 PM Dec 21st, 2008
• We’ve eaten nothing but pub food since arriving. Delicious of course but I think my body is starting to rebel. Tomorrow we eat healthy foods 12:19 PM Dec 21st, 2008
• The horse stables in Warwick Castle actually smell like horse stables. I guess I never considered the fact that some smells can linger. 12:17 PM Dec 21st, 2008
• Went to Warwick Castle, took tons of photos. Amazing! The wax people in the scene recreations gave me the willies with their realistic eyes! 12:15 PM Dec 21st, 2008

Dec 20

• Just saw some old doors in downtown Oxford. 9:02 AM Dec 20th, 2008
• Using iPhone internationally is fine if you turn on wifi and “airplane mode”…and have access to a wifi connection. 1:16 AM Dec 20th, 2008
• English countryside looks a lot like America without 90 degree corners on fields; from above it looks like a messy patchwork quilt. 1:14 AM Dec 20th, 2008
• Yesterday: Arrived safely in London only about an hour late. Mum & Dad there to get us. Then on to Simon’s house in Penwood. Today: Oxford. 1:11 AM Dec 20th, 2008

Dec 18

• Yay, Nat got home safely! 5:11 PM Dec 18th, 2008
• Nat drove us to the airport. We got stuck on a hill and some nice doods helped push us free! :) 5:10 PM Dec 18th, 2008
• Sitting in Seatac waiting for Jules to get a burger. The weather is ridiculously bad. The roads are really REALLY bad. 3:52 PM Dec 18th, 2008

Jules and I returned to Seattle this weekend from our 2-week honeymoon holiday to England! As expected I have taken hundreds of photos, and I will do my best to go through them for highlights and start posting those as blog entries. Keep your eyes open for those over the next few days.

So Seattle is calling this storm “Snowpocalypse”. It was pretty awesome to see snow falling here but it’s nothing compared to typical winter weather in the Midwest. Seattle drivers turn frightened and stupid in this weather and everything grinds to a halt. Jules had his first experience driving in snow and did just fine, so they really have no excuse!

Here is our completed bar, which we finished just in time for our housewarming party on Saturday! This was a quite clever and simple Ikea hack we assembled for under $400 ($700 considering stools, lighting, and refrigeration) with a combination of parts from Ikea and Home Depot. To give a little background information, we had 3 requirements:

1. It had to fit down our 29″ wide staircase which turns sharply on its way downstairs
2. It had to be easy to assemble without outside help
3. It had to be reasonably inexpensive

This ruled out pre-made counters as they are too large and too expensive and considering our lack of carpentry skills and access to powertools also ruled out making one from scratch. Thus, we took a drive to Ikea where we happened upon the Effektiv cabinet. We chose these cabinets because they are some of the only ones carried by Ikea which have a reasonably solid back instead of the typical paperboard that their shelving units tend to have. It needed to look good from the back and be fairly resilient since it would be facing outward and would probably take a bit of a beating from people’s knees.

The core of the project is 2 Effektiv cabinets side by side ($200) on plinth bases ($80), bolted together in the middle at the 4 corners. From there we bolted on 4 Capita counter risers ($24) evenly spaced. The counter surface is a 6′ oak plank from Home Depot ($60) which we sanded down, then stained and varnished with a medium gloss finish and attached to the risers with 3/4″ wood screws. (A side note: the 1″ wood screws that came with the risers were too long for the plank.)

Finishing touches include the track lighting with 2 halogen pendant lamps from Home Depot and 3 Soda Style Adjustable Padded Bar Stools from Overstock.com. To the right of the bar near the door is our beer fridge (Magic Chef 7 cubic foot — I cannot locate this on the Home Depot site), which creates the “L” shape and makes it look more like a typical bar. Jules and Nat did all of the electrical stuff with the track lighting (including shortening the cord lengths) and I did most of the surface treatment for the countertop so it was quite a collaborative effort!

I am very pleased with how it turned out, especially after its debut at our party. It stood up to heavy usage that evening, which bodes well for its sturdiness for daily usage. It is able to contain our (meaning Nathaniel’s) copious quantities of liquor bottles in addition to napkins, cups, plates, and various other bar-related implements. The lights give off a warm and inviting glow, which we leave on when watching television downstairs with all other lights extinguished. It is very comforting!

It’s kind of hard to believe we’ve only been in our house for a month considering all the stuff we’ve done with it already. Admittedly I’ve been going a bit overboard with everything but I do it in the hopes that when we arrive home from our honeymoon we will have a comfortable place to relax with very little to concern ourselves with.

As you can see by the photo, the chimney work has commenced. They have torn down to about 6 feet from the ground and have since rebuilt from that point up using the old bricks. It appears to be about 75% complete but since I am not a masonry expert I could be totally off the mark. It’s coming along nicely anyway, and will hopefully be complete by the time we leave. Additionally, we have had a new hot water heater, furnace, water pressurizer pump, electrical service, meter, and circuit breaker panel put in last week! In terms of major systems, that covers everything potentially problematic except for the roof, which we can’t do anything with until the chimney is complete. We have the roofer lined up to start work as soon as that’s complete though, so all I need to do is make a call and that’ll be ready to go. I feel so…responsible!

We have also been working on the basement a bit in preparation for our housewarming party on Saturday. We hung the speakers on the wall, several framed posters, and bolted together the bar cabinets. Last night we began staining the plank for the bar surface, which hopefully will be ready for varnishing tomorrow evening. We ordered 3 soda-style bar stools for the bar which arrived late last week and look fantastic down there! The place is really shaping up and is beginning to feel like home.

Unsurprisingly we haven’t really had time for much else lately. We did manage to go see Twilight, Quantum of Solace, and play a bit of Left 4 Dead. Despite being so overwhelmingly busy I am having a great time and am really enjoying life these days.

And everyone please send some positive energy to my dad as he is going in for hand/elbow surgery on Dec 30. I’m sure everything will go just fine, but some prayers and positivity definitely wouldn’t hurt a bit. Thanks. :D

In case I don’t get a chance to update the next few weeks, Happy Holidays everyone!

This hideous monstrosity created from something which at one time must have been quite beautiful is set up in the plaza area of our office building. I am simultaneously appalled and curious…sort of like witnessing a trainwreck.

Since moving into our house permanently about two weeks ago we have spent a considerable amount of time cleaning it up and organizing as much as we could and it’s starting to take shape. There are still tons of things to do and fix and move and clean, but that will be an ongoing project for awhile, and that’s okay. I really enjoy making things nice and that will keep me quite busy. I think I’ve overworked poor Jules asking him to do things I can’t (reach high places, lift heavy things, etc) but I’ve been really excited. He’s convinced me to take it easy for awhile and try to enjoy the place even if it’s not “finished.” To get an idea of the sort of state the house is currently in (from the inside) I have taken some in-progress photos. I feel a bit embarrassed by the mess but at least we have an excuse!

Last night we put in some modular carpet tiles (purchased online from Flor) in the basement around the TV area and the office. They look even nicer than expected and remind me a lot of coffee and chocolate, which is a delicious combination indeed. The entertainment area is easily the most “together” place in the house so far since it’s the place where we spend most of our time. Rock Band is awesome now that we finally have something to absorb the sound and can play it comfortably at a higher volume!

It gets quite warm down there with little help from the furnace (all those computers and machines!) so we are able to keep the thermostat at 60° F with no problem. We are in the process of putting together a home bar hacked from Ikea and Home Depot parts. We put together two black/brown Effektiv cabinets side by side and plan on adding a raised (stained & varnished) oak plank on some 6″ pedestals as the bar surface. This was easily the cheapest option (~$350) within reason for us. Our other choices would have been to make it from scratch (which would involve either buying or renting power tools and likely messing it up,) hiring a carpenter to make one for us (which would be expensive,) or buying a pre-made one from a showroom or furniture store (which would be even more expensive.) I’ll post more photos of the bar once it’s further along.

Our Twilight Zone pinball machine was delivered last Friday. I haven’t spent too much time playing it yet but Jules has had some fun adjusting bits here and there to make it function better. Parts came out of alignment during shipment so there are some things that don’t work properly. Hopefully the dealer will be out soon to fix some of these things up. It’s a pretty awesome machine but I’m not very good at it! Practice will help.

Things are falling into place now for the rest of the house. The chimney guy should begin his work today so within two weeks we should have a straight chimney! We have an electrician coming out tomorrow to look at the ol’ Bulldog Pushmatic circuit breaker panel (recalled ages ago…whoops) and service entrance. Additionally we’ll be getting a new roof at the beginning of December (Harvest Brown fiberglass laminate w/ algae resistant coating…wooo!) All that’s really left after that (aside from very little money) will be plumbing, of which there is a lot. It looks like all of this will be done before we leave for the UK for the holidays, which is great. I definitely want to paint the interior somewhat soon though considering the color of the sunroom, bathroom, and our bedroom makes me feel a little ill. Not sure what the people who painted it were thinking but they were definitely in an early 90’s mindset.

Eventually, too, I would like to redo the exterior of the house but that will be in a few years probably. Sometime next year I would like to do the tub surround in the main bathroom as well. We had an agent from Home Depot come out and give us an overview of their acrylic tub covers and wall panels which go over the top of the existing fixtures and it seems like a really decent option for us. Neither of us are all that keen on redoing all that stuff on our own and this would certainly be cheaper than a complete remodel.

We’ve set up as many accounts as we could for the house (water/sewer/garbage/recycling/yard waste, electricity, gas, internet) so everything is up and running. I got our mortgage payments on a two-week cycle (twooooooo weeeeeeeeks) so half the payment will be automatically withdrawn every other Friday (which coincides with payday) and in doing so this will cut some of the interest off the total payment because there will be less of a balance to draw interest from each month. This is definitely a good thing! Once we get all our first bills I’ll be able to switch most if not all of them to auto-withdrawal so we’ll be able to relax on that front. We’ve installed water-saving showerheads and plan on putting in CFL bulbs wherever we can once we’ve taken an inventory of the house. (We have one light that won’t turn off and we need to figure that out at some point!)

So far it has been really great living in the house. We are starting to settle in, although we have a lot of garbage and recycling littered throughout the house since we can’t fit it in the bins out back. (Ikea furniture is the main culprit.) I raked up the front and side yards and came up with 3 times more leaves than the 64gallon yard waste container can handle. With Nat moving in this weekend I am guessing it will take us a few weeks to get all the waste materials gone from the house. The kitties are still quite nervous about everything and tend to hide a lot. I’m sure they will be fine soon. Jules and I have even been discussing getting a third cat sometime next year once everything has settled down. The upheaval has been a bit stressful for us (Jules especially, since he’s been headachy and sore) and we haven’t yet had a quiet weekend but hopefully this will be the last one that is quite this demanding. But yes, all in all it’s been great so far and I’m very happy with our choice to buy a home!

This morning I am truly, sincerely proud of my country. This is a much needed step in the right direction. Good things are on the horizon.

Seattle is a jubilant place at the moment; I could hear fireworks for hours last night as people celebrated. We watched streaming web video coverage of the election last night (ABC, CNN, BBC) which was excellent. I was very impressed with McCain’s concession speech but not his audience as they booed his gracious comments about Obama. Obama’s speech was amazing as always; I am delighted to listen to such an orator. I look forward to the White House puppy!

As promised, a photo of the house we’re buying!

This evening at about 4:30 the bank appraisal showed up in my inbox. (Who has ever heard of bankers working on Sunday evening? Anyway.) Good news: they valued the house at about $5000 more than list price with no conditions! Assuming the bank doesn’t need any further paperwork, all that’s left to do is our final walkthrough and sign the papers for closing. If everything goes according to plan we will have the keys a week from today!

On a sadder note, I think I got food poisoning last night after eating some sushi from a restaurant down the street. It was a pretty rough night for me which I survived only by distracting myself by listening to old Coast to Coast AM broadcasts with Jules. I scared myself silly enough that I found it difficult to muster up the courage to go into the bathroom! I am feeling a bit better today but still not perfect. I hope I’m able to go to work tomorrow as I am suddenly in the middle of a few projects with tight deadlines.

Also, I am thinking about investing in a fireproof/waterproof safe for important documents and valuables. Has anyone had any experience with any of these types of safes (think hanging folder size) where they have survived a disaster intact? Basically I am trying to figure out whether investing in something like that is overkill, assuming they don’t protect valuables any better than a regular file box.

At the risk of detracting from the enormity of the previous post, I present you with Domo Kun in a pumpkin costume riding a unicorn made of light. For real. This is at the crepe place down the street from our apartment.