February 2009
49 posts
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“A Skype To Go number lets you make super low-cost international calls from...”
– Skype To Go now for all paying users - Skype Blogs
Call US to London for roughly two US cents a minute. From your mobile.
Oh Skype, I love you so much.
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101 things in 1001 days
In 2008, I spent about 3 months in England, over 2 visits. Then, I moved there from Chicago in early 2009. Therefore, there is a lot that I’ve never seen. I kind of want to make a list of 101 things to see and do in England (or the UK in general) but am not always sure what is worth doing, so I am asking the internet for help.
I am pretty open minded about the kinds of things I enjoy...
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Maybe England didn't get the memo.
I am not sure if this is wholly a product of England. I’m willing to concede this might be a result of being a wife now instead of a girlfriend, as that happened shortly before moving here. Either way, I notice a lot here that people seem to think they need to deal with my husband because he’s the man. The most recent offenders were the moving company. These guys have a crate full...
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Money Money Money
Randomly: My new favorite park dog is a fat little spaniel with three legs.
It wasn’t all that long ago that a dollar would buy you about 50p.
Today, a dollar will buy you about 70p.
I still haven’t moved my savings accounts to the UK, and now I am debating if I should hurry up and do it, or wait a little while to see if I can get a better deal.
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Throwing Stones
I think it’s safe to say that americans are much more house proud than the english. We spend as much or more time taking care of the outsides of our homes as the insides, and the garden is no exception.
I’m always amazed at the state of people’s gardens here. Recycling bins falling over next to trash cans; piles of stuff to be burned, tipped over pots and rusted bicycles and...
Fun with paranoia, Part 364783
We don’t have a number on our house, much to the disappointment of pizza delivery men and others. Today, I very clearly and suddenly heard a man’s voice outside repeating my house number. (“10a? 10a.”) I was in my nightie so I popped upstairs to get dressed in case he knocked for whatever reason. I peeked out the window and there were two of them out there, looking...
Anti-gay preachers Fred Phelps and Shirley... →
The UK has told Westboro Baptist Church that it’s not welcome here. Obviously, these people are the lowest common denominator of human life, but I’m not sure banning them is right. I was kind of hoping you’d let them in and then detain them… forever.
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“Poll time: Where are you from and how do you take your tea?
(I put disqus...”
– Chicago, black with one sugar.
GourmetSleuth - Cooking Conversions Calculator →
The trouble with converting recipes from home is that at home, we measure in volume. Here, most things are measured by weight. Therefore, conversions are hard because a cup of spinach doesn’t weigh the same as a cup of peanut butter.
This site has saved dinner many, many times this year. You tell it what ingredient you’re trying to convert and it does it for that specific item. It...
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+/-
+ Ikea called and they are bringing our sofa on Tuesday. Hooray!
- My international movers (Stevens International, for anyone keeping count) have horrible customer service.
My name is spelled wrong on every document they’ve sent me, despite my correcting it many times. Not a huge deal but not exactly encouraging.
They mailed my marriage certificate to the wrong address, even though I...
“Today, I meant to say what and it came out as WOT.”
– YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED.
BBC NEWS | UK | Nuclear subs collide in Atlantic →
What’s a little nuclear fender bender between friends, right?
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Pavlov
Even at home, I get a bit anxious about answering doors and phones. I have no good reason for this unless you count that period in my early 20s when I owed everyone money and every call was an irate dentist. Here, it’s worse, because I have this lingering fear that the person on the other side will either try to swindle me and I will fall for it, or will be trying to do something legit and...
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Disqus
I realized today that Tumblr now lets you write many posts at once and then set them to drip at a steady interval. This feature is awesome. Thank you, Tumblr.
Next, will you please give me a button to check that would prevent me from ever having to see the same post 100 times due to re-blog?
If someone I follow re-blogs someone I do not follow, it should show on my dash.
If someone I follow...
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Going to be one of those days.
It has come to my attention that even though I have mostly, a year later, mastered the art of typing on a UK keyboard without hitting \ every time I aim for the enter key, I still have no idea where to find what I know as the pound sign.
*looks harder*
*gives up and types it with her laptop keyboard instead of the one she’s docked to.*
##############
#!
Oranges and Lemons
Oranges and Lemons is an English nursery rhyme which refers to the bells of several churches, all within or close to the City of London.
“Oranges and lemons”, say the bells of St. Clement’s
“You owe me five farthings”, say the bells of St. Martin’s
“When will you pay me?” say the bells of Old Bailey “
When I grow rich”, say the...
“I am a big fan of wedding by the people, for the people.”
– What my cousin had to say about my eloping when we caught up this month.
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woof
In the park under my window today, I watched a man training with his dog for a long time. The dog was exceptionally good; despite being very young looking, he was intently watching his master’s every move. He would lie on the ground patiently as his owner marched allllll the way across the park with his ball, and only came when he was called. I probably watched them for an hour or more,...
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Remember, Remember the 14th of February
Hey guys - if you like fireworks, you should live where I do. There has been a complimentary chavtastic firework display outside at 5am the last two nights. Tonight, I am thinking about taking a picnic blanket to the park and waiting up to catch them while I’m awake, even.
Typical Friday
My husband, at my pushing, went for a check-up today. He told me it would be weird if I came along with him, which was odd to me. At home, we encourage people to bring a second set of ears to any medical appointment, and wouldn’t think anything at all of a spouse/partner sitting in on any exam.
When he returned, I grilled him for details. I plan my own check-up soon and wanted to know...
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Lazy Friday
My ship is going to come in, literally. The email said it’ll be here on Sunday, and I have no idea how long it takes to go through customs or whatever, but either way: After 2 months without any of it, I am excited to get my stuff back. Things I have missed most:
My 22” monitor
My guitar
Hats
Good walking shoes
Mixing bowls
I’m the kind of person who eats off the good...
Australian Fire Relief
Ahoy nerds!
As a dedicated insomniac who lives on the internet, I happen to have a lot of aussie friends, and every one of them is fantastic. It’s been scary and hard to hear the stories coming from their part of the world this week.
Someone sent me this link and I thought I’d pass it on:
Sitepoint.com is doing a 5 for 1 sale .pdf booksale with 100% proceeds to the Aussie Red...
Chippy chippy chippy chippy chippy
Chippy is such a great word. It’s almost as much fun as bollocks, but not quite as much fun as chav, my all-time favorite co-opted word.
I haven’t had fish and chips since I got back to this side of the Atlantic, and it seems every time we think to try, we miss the chippy by half an hour. Bollocks.
Also, whereas we’d have lunch and dinner at home, the chippy serves dinner...
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“oh but just for the record: coriander leaves and cilantro are the same thing.”
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caduceus
I suppose when I started this little blog, I had a notion that it’d become a kind of reference book for anyone else about to undertake the same journey. I would fill it with facts and references and leave out the rest of my life, because it pollutes the main idea.
But it’s impossible to tell the tale of moving to the UK without also telling a love story, because without that, I...
“After playing Chopin, I feel as if I had been weeping over sins that I had never...”
– Oscar Wilde (via affremblequotes) (via counterforce) (via elvira)
Exactly. I just posted an old Chopin recording after reading this post. Thanks for reminding me. :)
I recorded this after jazz band practice a few...
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“I suppose it’s good to get that first “unattended brick of peat...”
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St. Valentine
We have discovered today that americans do Valentine’s day differently from Brits. My very excellent mother sent me a care package today and inside was a v-day card for me and another for him. He found this to be exceedingly unusual.
Here in the UK, it seems you only send Valentine’s stuff to your crush or romantic partner, and you’re supposed to send it secretly.
In the...
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Busted
Fact: To convert an american bra size to a UK bra size, you just increase the cup size one letter. US size 32C is UK size 32D.
Clothing sizes also get bigger (UK6= UK8), while shoes get smaller (US7 = UK5).
So by moving, I essentially sound like I am slightly fatter, with smaller feet and bigger breasts. I think I’m ok with that.
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What does this button do?
Bought that D90 today. I’m a point-and-shoot girl, so it’s quite a step up for me, but my husband hasn’t rolled his eyes at any of my dumb questions yet, so there is hope.
the freesound project →
bossa:
The Freesound Project is a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds. Freesound focusses only on sound, not songs. This is what sets freesound apart from other splendid libraries like ccMixter.
Freesound is fantastic. The guy who runs it was a phenomenal coworker when I was in Spain and remains a good friend of mine. If you’re an audio nut, it’s absolutely...
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February
I have been in the UK for over a month now. I survived my first month in a new country, in a new marriage and in my new house, and nobody died. I call that a victory. It is fair to say there have been moments where I sincerely doubted my decision to come here, but equally fair to say they have passed. Things have been much better lately.
February is hereby declared Month of Materialistic...
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KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
It snowed in England today. (Well, yesterday, really. It’s 2am now.) I always make fun of people here when they whine whinge about the cold, but was going to make a concerted effort to be nice about this. After all, houses with cat-flaps and keyholes big enough to see through are not really built to withstand cold weather and it was admittedly chilly in our house today, despite the fire...
Trick or Treat
Me: Ok, ok. I am awake! What do you want to do today?
He: We should go for a walk. It's lovely outside. We can call on people.
Me (laughing): Ok. We can "callll on people."
He: what?
Me: It just makes me laugh, the way you guys knock on doors and invite yourselves in.
He: Yes. We can knock and say, "Hallo, we are here for a coffee." It's ok.
Me: Does it work for other things?
He: How do you mean?
Me: Can you knock and be like, "Hallo, we are here for some cake." or "Hallo, we are here for two double amaretto sours and a plasma television?"
He: I suppose you could try.
January 2009
70 posts
Norn Iron
Hahaha…. this made me smile. My husband’s Ulster brogue isn’t quite so thick as this, I’d imagine, but it’s enough that I do find myself stopping him at least once a day to repeat something for me.
jhnbrssndn:
The long-suffering Mrs Brssndn originally comes from Northern Ireland. One of the ways she has enriched my existence is in the many linguistic...
