So tonight was my going-away celebratory nacho night. Really though just an excuse to have nachos once more before a whole month without them. A good time was had by all. Or at least by Al. Halfway though I remembered that my light fixture still needed to put back into place after I had changed the lightbulb about three weeks ago. The thing is one really needs to balance on the side of the bed whilst holing the heavy glass fixture and screwing the bottom bit into place. As I attempted to do this all I could imagine was Poopsie's face cringing in fear. Thusly I aborted the attempt and realized a much smarter option was to get Z to do it! So, hoorah, he heroically attempted it, and manged to bust some kinda thingy in the wiring. Seriously, I make coffee, he tried to tell me what went wrong, some metal touched other metal and then there was no light. Huzzah for engineers! ZB and MT attacked the wiring and spliced and stripped (wires not clothes) and voila! The nerds said "let there be light!" And there was light. And it was good. And may one day burn the house down. Furthermore, the nachos were tasty.
And now it's time for bed!
Today's Word of Welsh
Gwely - gwe-lee (with the emphasis on lee) - bed
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Tuesday Morning, 8:36am
My final day off before the big break. Mostly I'm just writing right now to appease Poopsie, who is in Connecticut right now visiting my sister and wee nephew. I neglected the blog yet again yesterday and I need to keep her entertained. Hallo Poopsie!
So I've been a bit busy lately, as evidenced by the missing blog posts. Though amusingly it's really had nothing to do with travel, just happy to have friends! Today though is utterly free of comittment, and will be filled with the likes of laundry, train tickets, cleaning and hopefully I can squeeze in some MI:5 episodes. All that spiked with a fair dose of nervous anticipation from time to time.
Alright so now I'm off to enjoy my final slow relaxing breakfast in my cozy familiar surroundings for a month. I'll toast my cup of tea to you all!
Oh, lastly, I simply had to include this picture in the post. It, of course, has nothing whatsoever to do with travel or Europe, but it's simply the best product placement I've ever seen. ZB took it at a local grocery store... 
Today's Word of Welsh
Rather appropriately, today's word is
Brecwast - Brek-wast (super easy pronounciation, just remember to roll the r)
=Breakfast!
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Oh yeah, almost forgot...
Today's Word of Welsh
Bore Da - Bor-eh Dah - Good Morning
One could say "Bore Da Cariad" (Good morning darling)
Bore Da - Bor-eh Dah - Good Morning
One could say "Bore Da Cariad" (Good morning darling)
I refuse to blame the Indian food!
Ugh I say. Saturday was spent lying on various things in a state of stomach upset. The bed, both couches, the floor, probably the table at some point. Yes there was copious amounts of Indian food consumed last night, but neither Nuka or the Zeeb felt any ill effects from it. Mass has yet to report in, so either he's fine or dead. I'll keep you posted.
The good news is, what better way to spend your day off than lazing about the house, with a perfectly good excuse as to why you can't get on the treadmill. The other good news is that my knight in faded blue jeans scored another grand point for males today and picked up a few last-minute things I needed from REI whilst I convalesced. Bravo Z, bravo. And props to Nuka too for accompanying him.
The good news is, what better way to spend your day off than lazing about the house, with a perfectly good excuse as to why you can't get on the treadmill. The other good news is that my knight in faded blue jeans scored another grand point for males today and picked up a few last-minute things I needed from REI whilst I convalesced. Bravo Z, bravo. And props to Nuka too for accompanying him.
So I have pretty much everything I need, I'm sure I could think of a million little extra things to take along with me, but as I'll be carrying it all on my back for a month I'm trying to go as lightly as I can. Certainly if anyone has any reccomendations I'd love to hear them, just add them to the comments!
For all those who may not know the main characters in this blog, here are some pictures and explainations to better make sense of Al's blog. Yeah, good luck with that.
This is code-name Nuka, she's my super fab roommate
This is code-name Nuka, she's my super fab roommate
This is her looking fierce.
This is super best bud code-name ZB, or just Z, or The Zeeb, or Zaphod Beeblebrox, or The President, the list does go on
Visible in the backround is my other roommate, code-name J Ho. He says very inappropriate things often and is a remorseless eating machine and I just freakin' adore him. Here's him after eating too much last Thanksgiving.
And lastly, the infamous Massimo, code-name Mass
He's Italian and often can't remember where his car is parked.
There may be more later but now it's bath time! Woot!
Friday, April 25, 2008
The Lowdown
So I think many of you already know the lowdown of where I'm going and what I'll be doing... well, I'm not even all that sure what I'll be doing so scratch that last bit, but here's a basic outline of my general movements...
May 2nd - Leave Seattle
May 3rd - Arrive at Heathrow, take a train to Birmingham
May 4th - Birmingham shenanigans
May 5th - Arrive in Knighton, Wales, the starting point of Glyndwr's Way
May 6th-12th - Walking Glyndwr's way http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/GlyndwrsWay/
The next few days will be exploring northwest Wales, hanging out with locals and resting my feet! Eventually I make it to Bangor, and take the Holyhead Ferry to Ireland. That's when plans get rather mushy. I would very much like to stay in Dublin for a few days, but I kind of only really want to if I have a guide of some sort, someone to show me around all the non-touristy places. I'm working on it and we'll see if it comes to pass. The last week and a half will be spent traipsing about Ireland, seeing what sort of craic I can find.
From wikipedia -
Craic is "fun, enjoyment, abandonment, or lighthearted mischief; often in the context of drinking or music".
Today's planning was spent calling the cedit card companies to find out which has the best international exchange rate. Gold star goes to Washington Mutual with a mere 1% transaction fee on purchasing AND cash advances.
Today's Word of Welsh
Cariad - Darling/Love
We're starting off with an easy one, it's pronounced mostly like it looks. Cahr-ee-ahd
Tomorrow's word - cwpwrdd. Just kidding. For those interested it means cabinet.
May 2nd - Leave Seattle
May 3rd - Arrive at Heathrow, take a train to Birmingham
May 4th - Birmingham shenanigans
May 5th - Arrive in Knighton, Wales, the starting point of Glyndwr's Way
May 6th-12th - Walking Glyndwr's way http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/GlyndwrsWay/
The next few days will be exploring northwest Wales, hanging out with locals and resting my feet! Eventually I make it to Bangor, and take the Holyhead Ferry to Ireland. That's when plans get rather mushy. I would very much like to stay in Dublin for a few days, but I kind of only really want to if I have a guide of some sort, someone to show me around all the non-touristy places. I'm working on it and we'll see if it comes to pass. The last week and a half will be spent traipsing about Ireland, seeing what sort of craic I can find.
From wikipedia -
Craic is "fun, enjoyment, abandonment, or lighthearted mischief; often in the context of drinking or music".
Today's planning was spent calling the cedit card companies to find out which has the best international exchange rate. Gold star goes to Washington Mutual with a mere 1% transaction fee on purchasing AND cash advances.
Today's Word of Welsh
Cariad - Darling/Love
We're starting off with an easy one, it's pronounced mostly like it looks. Cahr-ee-ahd
Tomorrow's word - cwpwrdd. Just kidding. For those interested it means cabinet.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Hellfire and Vengence vs. Bear Grylls
After all of yesterday's action I fear today seems rather banal in comparison. Mostly I've just spent the day being exhausted from my second day of opening Ladro on predictably too little sleep. The upside is that you can take a bath and don pajamas at 5 in the evening and feel completely justified. Tonight's goal is to create the optimal cache of music in Hellfire and Vengence, the fab little red ipod that found its way to me after my previous ipod, Bear Grylls, got stolen. While I do miss the 20GB fantasmathon of music that Bear Grylls offered, Hellfire and Vengence is such a trooper, forging ahead with it's 8GBs of pluckiness. The trick now, of course, is that there's far less wiggle room for choosing the right tunes. Yet I perservere!
Also in preperation for the trip there will most likely be a bit of MI:5 viewing this evening, that is if I don't fall asleep before 7.
Also in preperation for the trip there will most likely be a bit of MI:5 viewing this evening, that is if I don't fall asleep before 7.
Also...
Also, Poopsie is hereby on probation.
My dear mother, after fully reading the first blog called me up to point out that I had spelled "hostle" incorrectly. She apparently read it well enough to notice the error, but clearly not well enough to notice the entire first paragraph!
Poopsie I heart you.
But watch yourself, you don't want to end up like Massimo. He called me last night in tears and apologized. There was sobbing and blubbering but eventually I recanted and he's allowed to read the blog again. Ah the imaginary conversations the brain creates at 4 in the morning...
Crap I gotta get to work!
My dear mother, after fully reading the first blog called me up to point out that I had spelled "hostle" incorrectly. She apparently read it well enough to notice the error, but clearly not well enough to notice the entire first paragraph!
Poopsie I heart you.
But watch yourself, you don't want to end up like Massimo. He called me last night in tears and apologized. There was sobbing and blubbering but eventually I recanted and he's allowed to read the blog again. Ah the imaginary conversations the brain creates at 4 in the morning...
Crap I gotta get to work!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Update!
Grand news! Tresillian is okay AND I found my wallet! The vet said she had one of the most terrible uteruses he'd ever seen. Way to go Tresillian, my rats can't do anything half-assed. Wait, wasn't this supposed to be a blog about me going to Europe?
One week (thereabouts) and counting!!!
Helloooo all! Wowie my very first forays into the realms of blogginess. So I'm about a week out from the start of my travels, quite excited, quite nervous. First and formost, here's a little disclaimer - I apologize in advance for any offense that may be taken, however it may manifest itself, and in return y'all agree there shall be no criticisms of my grammar, spelling or word usage (Poopsie I'm looking in your general direction...). S'alright? Well then it's agreed. All smiles.
Today is maybe a six on the scale o' stress, one of my rats, Tresillian, had to undergo an emergency spay today and I'm still waiting for word on how she's doing. Major props, in fact, Super Cosmic Bomb-Diggity Props go out to ZB for his unwavering support in driving Silpat to the vet's this morning! Hoo-rah ZB. So that's a fair heapa stress right there. Also I can't find my wallet. It's red with a black bat on it if anyone's seen it. Great time to lose one's wallet, a week out from a huge trip. I'm sure it's here somewhere...
So the plan is I leave May 2nd, roundabouts 11:30am, that is if the airlines don't decide to shut down, and I land in Heathrow and begin my merry adventure. Well, the adventure doesn't really begin so merry if I'm honest. Like so many adventures this one begins with peeling myself out of a lumpy airline seat, tumbling into the Underground and attempting to find the correct route to the proper train station, managing to board the right train, then dragging myself the last several hundred feet - (oops! meters!) to my hostle in Birmingham (England not Alabama). Sounds fabulous, don't it? I'll spend two days in Birmingham, doing what, I haven't a clue. This really wans't on the itinerary, I had planned to stay in London stalking Richard Armitage, but I couldn't find anyone to stay with (Richard's address doesn't seem to be disclosed to the general public... hmmm) and mostly what I heard was the London is rubbish and dreadfully expensive. So nuts to London - I'm going to Birmingham to have... so much... more fun... there. Ahem. Hey I'm sure there's all sorts of entertaining and delighting things to do in Birmingham. Ahem. And if anyone out there knows of any, just go ahead and let me know, k?
At least I know I'm set for a cuppa in Birmingham and another in Dublin, an A-1 Ladro customer hooked my up with two fivers; one in pounds and another in euros - Mathamatical! Thanks a heap!
I look forward to keeping you all updated, smooches and rat tidings!
Sweet, my first blog post. Now let's see if I can't manage to delete it before posting it...
Today is maybe a six on the scale o' stress, one of my rats, Tresillian, had to undergo an emergency spay today and I'm still waiting for word on how she's doing. Major props, in fact, Super Cosmic Bomb-Diggity Props go out to ZB for his unwavering support in driving Silpat to the vet's this morning! Hoo-rah ZB. So that's a fair heapa stress right there. Also I can't find my wallet. It's red with a black bat on it if anyone's seen it. Great time to lose one's wallet, a week out from a huge trip. I'm sure it's here somewhere...
So the plan is I leave May 2nd, roundabouts 11:30am, that is if the airlines don't decide to shut down, and I land in Heathrow and begin my merry adventure. Well, the adventure doesn't really begin so merry if I'm honest. Like so many adventures this one begins with peeling myself out of a lumpy airline seat, tumbling into the Underground and attempting to find the correct route to the proper train station, managing to board the right train, then dragging myself the last several hundred feet - (oops! meters!) to my hostle in Birmingham (England not Alabama). Sounds fabulous, don't it? I'll spend two days in Birmingham, doing what, I haven't a clue. This really wans't on the itinerary, I had planned to stay in London stalking Richard Armitage, but I couldn't find anyone to stay with (Richard's address doesn't seem to be disclosed to the general public... hmmm) and mostly what I heard was the London is rubbish and dreadfully expensive. So nuts to London - I'm going to Birmingham to have... so much... more fun... there. Ahem. Hey I'm sure there's all sorts of entertaining and delighting things to do in Birmingham. Ahem. And if anyone out there knows of any, just go ahead and let me know, k?
At least I know I'm set for a cuppa in Birmingham and another in Dublin, an A-1 Ladro customer hooked my up with two fivers; one in pounds and another in euros - Mathamatical! Thanks a heap!
I look forward to keeping you all updated, smooches and rat tidings!
Sweet, my first blog post. Now let's see if I can't manage to delete it before posting it...
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