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Being that it was sub-30 this morning, I decided it was about time to get the heating system in order.

I tried to turn the temperature up on Sunday night but discovered that the furance was not interested in igniting any gas. The blower attempted to exhaust the system but there was no ignition. I decided that I could live without heat for the night. I did a follow-up look on Monday to no avail. I took yet another look on Tuesday night. It still didn’t want to work.

I called the landlord in the afternoon to see if he would send someone over to check it out. Surprisingly, he called me back a few hours later to tell me he’d stop by on Thursday. He suggested that the pilot light must be out or something simple like that. I decided I could handle one more cold night.

When I got home I pulled up the internet and did some quick Googling. I figured that I’d look into the process of relighting the pilot in hopes that I could fix the system and get the heat back online. After a short period of time I came to the conclusion that my furnace actually did not contain a pilot light. After browsing around for a few more minutes I got a hunch about what was wrong.

I took a quick step outside the front door and looked in the alley between my house and the neighbor’s. There was a bunch of stuff in the alley. I moved a box and headed back inside. I went back down to the furnace and attempted to fire it up. Bam! It started up without any hesitation. The exhaust system had been blocked and the sensors did their job. They prevented any burning from taking place to remove the risk of deadly gases building up in the house.

Things are nice and toasty right now and I believe I’ll sleep very well.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet, but I acquired a Concept2 rowing machine (ergometer). A couple friends of mine influenced this decision. So far, I think it was a smart choice.

I don’t really care for the gym. In fact, I haven’t worked out in my gym in over 6 months. That is $360 I wasted. Tonight I went to the gym and quit. However, they told me I had to give 60 days notice so I can’t quit until January. I think that is a bunch of crap and I don’t remember agreeing to those terms (it was probably in the terms but who ever reads that stuff). I tried to be disgruntled, but I wasn’t in the mood to push my agenda. Anyway, how are you supposed to convince someone to change the rules when you are cutting off funding for them. They have no motivation to appease me.

If the weather were more manageable in the winter, I would make more of an effort to run. Actually, it isn’t the weather but rather the lack of sunlight. There is absolutely no way to run in the light. Wait, that’s a lie. I could wake up at 6am and run. Not happening. Point is that I needed an alternate method of exercise to get me through the winter months. Indoor rowing seemed like a good option.

So far, I’ve rowed 22km. I’m going to put together a database one of these days for tracking this stuff. For documentation purposes, my best 5K time is 20:28.2 and the best 10K is 45:05.0. I don’t know if those are particularly fast or slow. I do know that the machine is a good workout.

Update: It is worth noting that 2km and 6km are the common distances for indoor rowing. Therefore, I will no longer refer to 5km times.

I affectionately now declare that John and Sarah’s house in Houserville (State College, PA) is now to be know as “The Club House.”

I’ve got this funny little thing about me where I like to be in control of my own time. Sitting around too much when I’m out of my element makes me antsy. I love roaming around and seeing things but but I also love to be sitting in my own house doing whatever. I’ve always been this way (plenty of embarassing stories about how much I hated going places).

At “The Club House” I don’t feel this way.

Here are the potential reasons why hanging out here was so nice.

• good beer in the fridge
• cold pizza in the fridge
• a comfy couch in the basement for sleeping
• 2 bathrooms that I can use
• a big HD TV
• good people
• video games
• high speed internet
• a group of people where sarcasm is the only way of speaking to each other

I look forward to next weekend.

Today was one of those “good days” that I mentioned. A day where I feel very productive and know that I add “value.” And that best part (in theory) is that the day is not yet over. I’ve got plenty of time to sort out world peace as well. Maybe as a bonus I’ll fix the hunger thing too.

It was so good of a day so far, that it has inspired me to drive to State College tomorrow so that I can watch Penn State get things in order against Indiana. I was actually planning on going anyway (and not because of my inspiring friends).

The English put mayo on everything (rather, every type of sandwich) as default.

Sainsbury’s grocery stores have “Cool Ranch Doritos” type chips that are their store brand but taste like a cross between the big name chip and popcorn.

I bought a ticket today on StubHub for $146 for “Joe Paterno’s last home game” which will be against Michigan State on November 22, 2008. I’m looking to sell it. The seat location is the lower, north-east section of the north endzone about 30-odd rows up. Please let me know if you are interested.

For the second straight week I played football (soccer) with a bunch of people from work. It was a really fun time. The situation was 5 v 5 on a small, rectangular, outdoor, arena-style field. I think we ended up at a 10-10 draw but I believe my team thinks they won. I actually scored a goal which is quite an accomplishment for me. I might be a decent goalie but I’m a relatively poor field player. The experience was especially interesting because it was a bit cold and the rain blew down on us for most of the match.

Now I sit here, wondering if I should turn the TV off and try to sleep. I’m not particularly tired though. I feel like last week my body was confused and decided to try and adjust to the UK time. I feel like this week my body realized that I live in America and we lost a lot of lives to have that as a fact. It doesn’t want to subject itself to adjustment. It wants me to stay up and party and have some drinks and call it quits around 6am GMT. However, I would still need to wake up at 7:10am and that just wouldn’t add up to a particularly productive day.

I am quite happy that I discovered my room has a tempature adjustment unit. There is a terrible draft at the windows and the past two nights have been chilly. That isn’t really a bad thing once I’m sleeping as I prefer it to be cold in the room. However, when I’m sitting up, typing away, watching TV, I’d rather be warm. I have the thing set at 25°C which I have no idea how hot that is. It won’t go over 28°C so I’m gonna guess that is like 80-something. It is actually too warm but maybe that will make me sleepy.

My current debate is whether or not I actually post this tonight. It costs me 15 pounds per day for internet access. Let me correct myself. I pay that much for terrible internet access.

In conclusion, I look forward to coming home right now for a variety of reasons. Before I list them, I’d like to say that I feel absolutely strange over here. I feel like I’ve been here forever and it almost feels so routine that I can’t imagine what it will be like to go back to my normal life. I don’t mean to make this sound like a bad thing. Everyone is absolutely great over here. Lots of friendliness and lots of laughs. I appreciate the less politically correct culture. Things get said that would never fly in the States and no one bats an eye.

If I had to spent the next 5 months over here, I wouldn’t completely hate that fact. I would miss a lot though.

• I’ve got be honest about the fact that I’m not really looking forward to going to the Penn State game this weekend. I suspect I’ll need a weekend to just regroup and get back to my normal life. On top of that, you have the disappointment that PSU gave us. And you have the long drive. But, you also have a lot of friends expecting me to be there.
• If I remember correctly, I bought a few nice beers before this trip. They should be waiting in the fridge. I suspect I’ll crack them open on Sunday upon my return from State College (if I go).
• If I’m lucky, my last batch of beer has settled down and is ready to keg. According to the Sultan himself, it exploded last week. The yeast was going so crazy that the krausen (yeasty beer foam that gets created) probably clogged the airlock which resulted in a large pressure build-up which results in the top partially popping off (which takes a lot, and I mean a lot of pressure). Hopefully, it did not get infected. The high alcohol content is a plus that it will be clean.
• Ah! I’ve got a keg of delicious homebrew on tap. I hope to fill a few growlers to take back to the folks in central PA (if I go).
• My poor soccer team needs me. Last week we played a team that we had previously defeated 7-2 and lost 9-2. That is unacceptable. I’m missing playoffs this week. I’d bet $1000 we lose in the first round.
• I’ve got to get back to my hunt.
• I still have a work team at home that is doing God-knows-what. I’ve been trying to sync up with them everyday but for all I know, they are building box forts and surfing the net all day. I suppose that if everything is still functioning, I ought to buy them lunch or something.
• In my opinion, Marriott beds are better than Westin beds. I’m going to miss these beds, but there is certainly nothing like sleeping in ones own bed.

Finally thought. If I would win a foreign lottery, am I allowed to collect the winnings?

The British have lots of odd potato chips. Yesterday I purchased a variety pack that included “Turkey and Stuffing”, “Ham and Mustard” and “Ploughman”. I’m not too familiar with what a ploughman is supposed to taste like so I can’t really judge it. The other two tasted very much as hoped. The turkey one also smelled like a turkey dinner which was quite fascinating. The ham one tasted like it had spicy mustard and was quite tasty. I try to keep my chip eating to a minimum but I’m glad I sampled these varieties.

The other night I had this most bizarre dream. I’ve been having a lot of strangely vivid dreams as of late. Anyway, I was at a birthday party or some sort of celebration. Oddly enough, it was being throw by my old guitar teacher. For the life of me, I can’t imagine why this person was on my mind. I remember sitting on the floor as the guitar teacher’s son sat on a bench. It might have been a piano bench. He had a 12-string guitar; right handed. My old guitar teacher played a 12-string as well. I believe there was some conversation mixed in, but the most vivid part was that he played this one song. In the dream I couldn’t quite place it but the way his hands moved along the neck probably wouldn’t have resulted in the actual sound. He was going through some rather complex motion and the flow was a little amateur, but I was impress nonetheless.

I woke up in what felt like a short time later. The motion of him playing the guitat was still fresh in my mind and the sound was there too. I don’t ever recall remembering sound so vividly from a dream. Come to think of it, I don’t ever remember dreaming with sound. Can you recall a particular sound or voice from a dream? Not just words but the actual sound.

I thought about the song for a little while but didn’t put in much effort into discovering what it could actually be. I suspected that it was some sort of amalgamation of various indie rock songs I’ve heard recently, but part of me realized that it was actually a distinct song.

Tonight I was reading the first blog linked on the right hand side and there was a post about a vivid dream. It got me thinking about my own recent experience. It inspired me to search for the actual song. I had a feeling it was a Death Cab for Cutie song. Indeed it was. The song is from their most recent album and is entitled “You Can Do Better Than Me.” I’ve had the strangest relationship with their music as I’ve written several times.

Not surprisingly, it is a bit of a somber tune with classic Death Cab lyrics that make think, “Why didn’t I come up with that line.” I’d say it is probably one of the better songs on the rather disappointing album. Why did I dream about that particular song? No idea. I haven’t heard it in at least a month.

Perhaps it is some representation of how I feel as of late. Maybe it somehow represents my realization of my potential and the yearning to qualify said potential. Time to push away the old person and discover the new? Maybe it is a yearning for change. Maybe the lyrics attached to me quite subliminally the first time I heard it. Maybe it was just a catchy song.

Finally, around 10:15pm we left the office at headed to dinner. A tough Monday for me considering that we started around 8:15am but I’ve got much more sympathy for my coworkers who just came over this morning on the red eye and put in the same hours. It was a long and mildly frustrating day. That’s been the story of work lately. I’ve had quite the mix of very satisfactory days and days where I’m wondering just what the hell is going on. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing though. It just happens to mean I’m being challenged and a good challenge will go a long way.

The source of my frustration stems from the fact that I’ve been pulled into a lot of situations where I don’t have much to contribute. I sit in these meetings just trying to find something to say that no one else managed to think of. Well, when you’ve got a room full of experts on the subject and they’ve been working on it for the last 11 months they tend to have all of the processes and concepts locked down very well. I find myself absolutely racking my brain for something of value to add to the situation. I find myself wanting to apologize for my lack of input, but I suppose that it is just the nature of my situation to sit and think and if I come up with something, then great.

Fortunately, that isn’t the primary objective of my role. I’ve got an entire seperate focus where I actually have a lot of experience to bring to the table. In that capacity, I find it much easier to debate processes and map out how we should move forward. While I often have moments where I get dwarfed by others with “experience” and opinions, I do a fair job of making things happen. I have no doubt that when this project is all said and done, I’ll have a lot of faith in my abilities and so will others around me. Success is just a matter of time (literally thousands of hours of hard work).

The day ended on a very nice note as we headed to a Lebanese restaurant next door. I was surprised to hear that anything was even open this late. The town I work in is a quaint little place with a wonderful high street filled with shops I’d never have a reason to visit and restaurants I’ll probably never have a bite within (much like Manayunk). We were the only customers.

The meal began with a wide range of starters. I believe that this is refered to as “mezze” and it is quite similar to Spanish tapas (which we did last Wednesday night). The menu was fairly extensive and given my lack of knowledge into Lebanese cuisine I couldn’t really tell you if this was authentic or just your standard Middle Eastern fare. To be honest, I couldn’t even tell you much about Middle Eastern cooking. One time back in college I went to Turkish night as a gesture of cultural interest to my roommate, Zikri. Wow, I had an incredibly intelligent Turkish roommate. That is kind of neat and I really ought to look him up. Oh, and the mezze was quite delicious.

Anyway,  6 out of 8 of us decided to keep it simple and went with the mixed grill plate as our main dish. I couldn’t have made a better selection. It included some of the most delicious white rice I’ve ever consumed along with three different kebabs: chicken, beef and lamb. I’d have to say the lamb was my favorite. I enjoy it so much that I’m going to try and find ground lamb when I return home along with a few recipes from the internet. It was a very filling and satisfying dinner. The best part was the unique smoky-grilled flavor on all of the kebabs. This is a style I’d definitely be interested in exploring futher.

A great end to a long day.

I was still a bit irked when I woke up about the Penn State game and didn’t feel like getting out of bed. I hit my snooze about a dozen times before I decided it would be a good idea to checkout of the hotel before they kicked me out. Fortunately, it was a noon checkout time so I had plenty of time to mope around.

After another economical bus trip into the city I set about on my second day of wandering. I took pictures for a while and decided to see if I could get a table at the Witchery place I previously mentioned. By some luck I was able to get a seat without reservations (this place was incredibly small with about a dozen tables that I could see).

I couldn’t really get the sense as to whether this place actually had anything to do with witchery, but it was dark and had a neat atmosphere to it. As best as I could tell, the cooking was French (not my favorite style). However, they had an excellent light lunch option at a very reasonable price.

I selected a bowl of soup (I believe it was minestrone) to start off which I really enjoyed. For my main I had vension sausage accompanied by a side of some sort of mashed vegetable and caramelized red onions. It might have been the best sausage I’ve ever tasted. I paired this was a nice glass of Bordeaux. I’m not a big dessert person but I decided to try their pistachio parfait. I’m glad I did. The lunch was the perfect portion and all very good and only cost me 38 pounds with gratuity.

The next step was to decide if I would learn about whisky or go climb a big hill and take pictures. I settled on the whisky. Conveniently enough, the educational whisky office place was right next door to the restaurant. I bought a ticket for their info session and went down to the bar to warm up.

They an option to sample 4 different whiskys from the 4 whisky regions of Scotland for 8.50 pounds. I took a seat by myself was shortly greeted by a middle-aged couple from Leeds who asked if they could join me. I was able to have some company. We had a nice long discussion about whisky, other places in the UK that I should visit and American politics. It was really good conversation.

The whisky information session was quite simple but well worth it. Not only did I learn about how it is made, but I got a soveneir tasting glass and got to sample an another 2 whiskys. I’ve decided I don’t really care for whisky all that much, but I can appreciate the complexity of a good one. I can relate to due to my interest in beer and the whole color, nose and palate thing.

I was left with very little time and didn’t manage to walk up the large hill for pictures. I did a little more random sight seeing before I made my way back down to the station.

It was a very good visit. Between the good time I had the the number of things I didn’t get a chance to see, I’d definitely consider a return trip.

I ws awoken around 12:30pm on Saturday to a member of the hotel staff asking if I wanted room service. I was a bit confused not only because I hadn’t ordered room service but because I was in the middle of a very vivid and very strange dream. I told the guy to wait just a minute as a stumbled to the door. He indicated that I had accidentally put the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the “Room Service Please” side. Opps.

Since I considered this to be mini-vacation, I so no reason to fret about half the daylight already being gone. I figured I’d see what I could see and that would be fine. A short bus trip took me back into the heard of the city. One lesson learned is that the bus only costs 1.10 pounds for one direction or 2.50 pounds for unlimited riding all day (It was 14 pounds to take a taxi). The route went right past the school that was supposedly J.K. Rowlings inspiration for Hogwarts (Harry Potter).

I spent the afternoon just walking around. I saw Edinburgh Castle. I saw lots of neat shops. I had a few beers and a bite to eat. I took some pictures. I found a nice lamb’s wool scarf. It was a rather relaxing afternoon.

The rugby match was scheduled to start at 5:15pm and I decided there was enough time to walk to the stadium. So, I followed a large contingent of people in kilts and rugby gear on the long hike out to Murrayfield. It was not unlike the hike we used to take to Beaver Stadium from my apartment in State College.

The process of picking up my ticket was painless and the lines were well managed for actually getting into the stadium. It was a nice setup because all of the food vendors were outside the actual stadium structure and this allowed for a wide variety of them to fit. Additionally, there was a beer garden larger than any I’ve previously observed.

My seat wasn’t too shabby as I got an end and had a nice angled view of the pitch. I was able to generally follow the game but didn’t really understand why the ref would blow the whistle. I’d imagine it would be similar for a rugby person who had never seen American football to witness an NFL game. New Zealand destroyed Scotland, but everyone was very pleasant. A coworker had previously informed me of this fact and that it is much a form of family entertainment but I was quite pleased to see how true this was. However, this was just a test match between countries so maybe it gets more heated between city rivals in actual play.

After the game I desperately wanted to continue the fun. However, the crowds were incredibly slow and it started to rain. I wandered around for about an hour trying to find a place for either drinks or dinner but couldn’t locate anything that wasn’t ridiculously crowded. I eventually gave up and headed back to the hotel.

Dinner ended up being a club sandwich in the hotel lobby and a couple of Murphy’s Irish stouts. I “watched” the Penn State game from the comfort of ESPN.com gametracker. For most of the game my thought process was “Ok, we will win this but not very convincingly. I wouldn’t be surprised if we drop a couple spots.” I guess that thought doesn’t mean much right now. I can’t telly ou how disgusted I was to watch the outcome of each play appear on the screen and the minutes ticked away. Without actually being able to see the game, I can tell you that I got the impression that the coaching made a few poor decisions.

I didn’t stay up much past the completion of the game and went to bed a very frustrated Penn State fan.