I'm going to be a commuter

It looks like I'll be commuting from Cambridge to London for the next two plus months. Does anyone (all 3 people who read this blog?) have suggestions of books that I should read on the train?

moving

I feel like I move every six months. Here is where I've lived since College graduation: (almost exactly 3 years ago!)

1. 316 (or something) C Street, Cambridge June 04-Aug 04
2. 248 S Street, Somerville, Sept 04-Aug 05
3. 32 I Street, Cambridge Sept 05- Dec 05
4. 11c C, London, Jan 06-Aug 06
5. 33 B Ct. London, Sept 06-May 07

I don't know where I'm living next. A family from church has said that I can stay with them for a couple weeks and I'm going to do that. I also have a couple of rooms in Cambridge, (england this time) that I might let. I'm meeting two people on Saturday. We decided that the nice apt. was too nice for us. I still don't know if secondment will work. The lawyers initially said no, but I think that's b/c HR didn't explain the situation well. I'm getting a bit fed up that it's taking so long for HR to answer a simple question. I'll commute from Cambridge to London for a bit. That's okay--not at all the end of the world.

Every time I move I just pack up my stuff and get someone to help me. Every time I've move either my parents or Jed have helped me move. Well, from flat 2 to flat 3 I moved w. my roommate and a friend. I try not to have a lot of stuff and do a good clean out each time I move.

Ah, I'm accompany a client alone to a manager meeting. It's a mid-market/growth equity London based manager. It should be interesting. I need to think of good questions to ask.

Here's a link to a good youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s48B4dgHHp4

Saturday Morning

This morning I woke up to a brass band playing. It's the start of the cricket season at Lord's and they are having a game/match(?) today. It's the first time that the stadium has been full since I moved here. Cricket is one game that I still don't understand and I don't have much interest in understanding. People don't really cheer at Cricket games. I've been sitting with my window open for about 40 min. and I've only heard one polite 4 sec clap from the crowd. Not like the footy.

The stands are full here. Sorry that the trees take up so much of the picture.




I'm headed up to Cambridge in a couple of hours. I need to return a video before catching the train. We actually watched Borat the other weekend. I know, I know. I spent the morning tidying my flat. I had worked some long hours this week and it got dirty in the process. I'm going to go running in Regents Park in a little bit.

Not much else is happening here. Still no definitive word on the secondment idea. I do have a good lead on a place to live in Cambridge. It's actually in Newnham which is a really green area of Cambridge. It backs up to sporting grounds which back up to the meadows and the river. It would be a 20 min. walk for me to go to work and it's also close for Jeddie to walk to the UL or the Classics Faculty. I've yet to see the inside, but the desciption sounds charming. We'll see. I also likely have a place to live post 6 June in London. I'm not worried about being homeless. I'm also just trying to be really patient about not knowing the outcome of the secondment.

I'm sure that JEd will give you a full rundown of the conference on his blog, but the first day went really well. People kept telling him that his paper was excellent! Yeah!! :)

Wedding

I'm realising that I need to start planning our wedding. So far we have the chapel and the reception place booked, but that's it! Oh, we also have someone to play the organ and conduct the ceremony. Oh, and I have our marriage license application from the Archbishop of Canterbury. I never thought that they would legalize and bless my wedding! I keep telling myself that I'm going to wait until I move up to Cambridge to start planning, but now I don't really know when I'm going to move up there. I think that I'm going to start my master list tonight. I've been making one in my head, but that's not enough.

Here's a picture of the exterior and interior of chapel where we're getting married. The chapel will have a Christmas tree up b/c we are getting married at Christmas time and we'll also put up white candles along the side. I think that it will be really pretty.

visa issues

As my faithful readers know, I'm in the middle of trying to get a new job in country that is not my home country. It's likely to be a 2.5 month project before I get my Visa approved by the Queen. It's a bit of a hiccup, but I am reminding myself that in the scheme of things it is not a big deal. I have so much to be thankful for. I don't need to dwell on this.

Jed is giving a 40 min. paper at Oxford this Friday. I'm really excited for him b/c it's good practice to give papers and he will get to meet the leading ancient philosophers in England. We went shopping this weekend to get Jed a new shirt and tie to wear. I was successful at convincing him to buy a pink tie. Doesn't he look handsome? It was a great deal--shirt and tie for only 35 sterling.




I only worked 2 days last week so this week will be pretty busy. I need to be really productive at work.

Lugano

I'm back from 2 days in Switzerland. The meeting was WAY better than I had anticipated. I made friends and even met some people who are notorious in the private equity world.

Ah, here are a couple of pictures. THe first is a view from my hotel room, the second is the view from a vineyard where we had dinner. The fourth picture is a close of view of Lake Lugano. The last is a tram that takes people to their homes that are on the mountain. Ah. blogger won't let me post right now. I'll try tomorrow. Plus it is late and I'm super tired.


Oh, I do not recommend visiting salami factories. It is so gross to see mass produced raw meat. The butchers at this company train for 2-3 years and they really take pride in their work. Annual turnover is approx. 3% and jobs are often passed from father to son. The factory smelled like a mix of salami and ant-bacterial kitchen cleaner. Also, if there is anything more disgusting than watching the production of salami, it's the production of bologne.

No Monday Morning Blues

Today was the first of our May Bank Holidays so I didn't have to go to work. WE have another Bank Holiday on May 28th, I think. I spent the weekend in Cambridge. Ah, I had such a lovely time. On Saturday morning I looked at two flats while Jed did some work. The first one that I saw was a room in a house. It was really small--too small. I liked the second studio that I saw, but the landlady just sent me an email saying that they had decided to let it to another person who was likely to stay for 18 months. If I let a studio it needs to be a 6 month let b/c I'm going to have a housemate in December. :) However, it I can find a reasonably priced and reasonably sized 1 bedroom, then Jeddie can move in in December. We'll see. I probably look at flats next Saturday. I've been trying to do this w.o an estate agent, but I may need one.

I just discovered that Ricky Skaggs is playing at the Cambridge Folk Festival in July. Oh, I think that it's actually the weekend that my parents are in town--hmm.

Ah, I also had this Monday morning without JEd b/c he was giving a presentation on Aristotle. I went into the Oxfam book store and I saw a book called "Learning New Testament Greek". It was only 4 pounds so I bought it! It was published in the 1950's by Cambridge University Press--it's so old-fashioned. It would be great to be able to read the NT in Greek. I know that it's a major feat to learn an ancient language. I do have the world's best personal tutor. I think how busy my new job is will contribute to how much time I'm able to devote to learning Greek.

Adios amigos.

I love England in the summer

England in the spring is so lovely. Right now it stays light until 8:30-9:00 at night. In June/July it will start staying late until almost 10:00. This extended day is so welcome after the winter when it's dark, grey, cold, and rainy all day long. I'm sitting with my living room window open and I'm drinking a glass of white wine. I'd take a picture of the green outside, but I just checked my camera and it is out of batteries.

In about a week I'm going to Lugano, Switzerland for an annual meeting for a Swiss/German private equity firm. I have mixed feelings about this. One, I'm really excited b/c I've never been to Southern Switzerland/Northern Italy and it's supposed to be a beautiful area of the world. However, when I go to these meetings I always feel like I'm playing the Seasame Street game "one of these things is not like the other". It's usually about 10% women and I'm using the youngest person there by about 15 years. I try not to let it bother me, but I usually have quite a time making small talk. This one will be particulary difficult b/c it's a longer event. We even get to tour one of their portfolio companies which is a salami factory. The only reason that I'm going to this event is b/c 5 people "ahead" of me couldn't attend.


OH! Jed and I have a date for the wedding. On December 29 2007 I'll be Claire Atkins. :) CBA. I'm kinda sad to see my middle name Larson leave.