Back at it

Well, so much for the New Year's Resolution to post once a week. We did get four in for January, so I guess that should count for something. I should have known that with heading into my busy season it wasn't going to happen. Anyway, we're back, and it is probably a good thing that we haven't been writing, because as you'll soon see, we've had a pretty boring 3 weeks.

Visitors

First, we had some friends (Jason and Leesa Potnick) come over from Dallas. It was Jason's birthday and they had miles, so they came over to see London for a few days. They mostly went out and saw the city on their own, but we did join them for a service in Westminster Abbey, which was very cool (and they don't charge if you go to a service!!) It was great to have them here, and we loved getting all the news about church and other things from home. They were even kind enough to bring over some precious peanut butter and some Saltines! We still have rooms available over the next 12 months, so call to make your reservation...

I Wanna Join the Circus

So for as long as I can remember, I've wanted to go see Cirque du Soleil. That kind of stuff amazes me. They came to Dallas once and I was pretty tempted when in Vegas, but it has always been so expensive that we've had trouble justifying it. Well, they were coming to London, so we thought we'd at least look to see how much tickets were. Turns out the nose-bleeds were very cheap - like less than 50% of what we'd have paid back home, so we jumped on it. The seats were high, and partially obstructed by a cross bar, but it was still amazing. It is hard to describe if you haven't seen it, but it was just incredible to see what the human body is capable of. We thought it was really amazing what you could do with a jump rope! Next time we have a chance to see them, I don't think we'll question the cost.

Customer Service Nightmare

So literally the day before Jason and Leesa came, Jenna was trying to do some last minute cleaning, including some laundry. Jenna called me at work to say that the washing machine was not working. I came home and did the manly thing - pulled it out and pretended to know what was wrong and how to fix it. When staring at it didn't work, we called the landlord and he called to set up service on it right away. This was on Thursday, and we got an appointment for the following Wednesday.

The guy shows up and fiddles for a while, coming to the conclusion that the motor is out (this was brand new when we moved in five months ago - we need to start buying American). Of course, he doesn't have a motor with him. "It's going to be a week." The next Wednesday, another guy comes out and replaces the motor, but informs us that the module (what the heck is a module!?) is also broken. Of course, he doesn't have a module. "We can get back out there on Monday". Monday morning we get a call that due to adverse weather (see below), they can't make it and we need to reschedule for Friday. Today (Friday), we get a call saying that the repairman scheduled for us quit without notice, so we have to be rescheduled for next week.

Needless to say, this has been a pretty big deal. I have made no less than 3 trips to the store for new underwear, and tomorrow we are finally breaking down and I will be making my first ever trip to the laundromat. We had heard that customer service over here was terrible, and based on our first experience, we have to wholeheartedly agree.

Snow Day

Although London is north of the US, and gets a lot of precipitation, it very rarely snows here. So, when we got 7 inches last Monday, it was the most snow the city had seen in 18 years, and everything literally shut down. I hear that this actually made the news back home, too. I showed up to the train station to find out that 1) no trains were running; 2) only 1 of the 11 Tube lines was running; and 3) that all of the cabs that would normally service my area were already headed downtown. Even the London Buses, which have not stopped running "in living memory" - including the "Blitz" of 1940 - were not in service due to adverse weather.

Since I'm in the middle of Busy Season and had a deadline this week, I didn't have the luxury of taking the day off, and in order to do any work from home, I first needed to grab a few things from the office. I literally had no choice but to walk. Luckily, my client's office is on the one Tube line that was running, so I didn't have to walk all the way - just 3.5 miles. Through the snow. In my dress shoes. With my 20 pound laptop backpack. Uphill both ways.

I left the flat at 7:15. When I arrived at the office at 9:45 (normal commute is 40 min), I was told that I was lucky I didn't get there much later, because everyone was leaving and they were closing up at 10:00. So, I basically packed up a few things that I needed and headed back out the door. Luckily, I was able to catch a cab from the city (after an hour wait), so at least I didn't have to walk back home. Anyway, it was a little bit of an annoyance, but makes for a good story, and it was nice to be able to work from home at a time of the year when I normally spend more than 12 hours a day behind my desk.  Here are a few pics:

"The Red Van" outside our house

Another unfortunate soul who had to walk in to the city with me

A picture from the office looking down on Golden Square - Not Golden today!!

Jenna's Trip

I (Jenna) am getting ready to head back to the States in the next week. I am so excited to see all my family and friends! I will get to be a bridesmaid in my friend Kelsey's wedding, where I will get to see "the girls" from school. I will then head to Omaha with my Mom for a day to see Hesse and Cobi, my brother and sister-in-law (and their dog Dubs). Then my Mom and I are heading out to San Diego to see Krissa and J.J., my sister and brother-in-law (and their dog Cubby). I will also hopefully get to see my new nephew K.J., if he comes when he is scheduled! I am excited to soak up this time with loved ones and am sad that Aaron cannot join us! I am also excited about all the of the shopping and good eating I will be doing while I am home!

Random

Some other random stuff that's happened...

-Saw an Annie Liebovitz exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery, which was pretty good, but not impressed with the rest of the Gallery.

-Saw a couple of movies (7 Pounds was okay but could have been better; Revolutionary Road was very disappointing/depressing)

-Jenna watched 4 seasons of Lost (I also re-watched Season 4) in anticipation of the new season starting. We've only seen the first episode so far...so don't say anything.

-Discovered that one of the parks that is pretty close to us is pretty awesome. We took a Lost break to take a walk and found that there are a lot of cool things in that park, and we're looking forward to going back in the summer when it is more green.

-And maybe most importantly...We got the Wii working! Jason and Leesa gave us the cord we needed to make the video work on these crazy UK TVs, and we ordered a power cord from Hong Kong, and now we are back at it!!!