Since I don't have a car here in the UK yet, I do a lot of cycling simply going to work and back. The route is about 12km to 15km depending on which way I travel. When you ride four or five days a week that really starts to add up both in distance and wear and tear on your body and bike. During the last week in fact, my bike has developed a problem where I can't really stop pedaling while riding. Apparently this is a good thing (or so Adrian tells me) as it teaches you good pedaling discipline. I'm not so sure I buy into this, so I'm taking my bike into the shop to get it fixed and cleaned.
In commemoration of this display of poor maintenance I looked back over my riding so far. Using my Garmin Edge GPS and Ascent, I've determined that this week I passed the 1000km mark. I've also climbed over 8000m on my bike as well. It's amazing how something like that sneaks up on you. And while the weather has been pretty cold and rainy this week, I'm glad that I'm still on my bike. In fact now, I don't even want a car because I know it'll be a matter of time before I become lazy and drive every day.
Since I seem to be starting to exercise in public, I'm joining a number others in the office and entering the Test Valley Tour. The tour (which is just a collection of road and off-road cycling excursions) is set up with a couple of different distances depending on what you're comfortable riding. Most of us will be riding the 50km route, but if Jill lets me get a road bike, I'd love to try the 100km route that Rob and Adrian are riding.
Friday 28 March 2008
Saturday 22 March 2008
Weather
One of the first things that stuck out at me when I moved here was how cold it was. Now, most Britons will tell you that the weather in Southampton is mild and generally very warm. But compared to Florida, pretty much everywhere is cold. In fact many mornings in February I actually cycled to work while it was below freezing. Here are a couple of pictures of the glass enclosure on my balcony during those days. It's been a long time since I've seen this kind of thing in Florida.
This was in early February and I can deal with that. It's the dead of winter and by the time the sun hit the glass, the ice would be gone. But today was a whole different story. Here it is the end of March and it snowed!. I was sitting in my room doing some work and I noticed a racket in the living room. I walked out and noticed that some sort of precipitation was hitting the windows. Not really understanding what was going on, I walked out on the balcony and noticed that it was snow.
There was no snow predicted for today, but apparently there is for the rest of the weekend.
I wonder if I'm going to be able to take this place next winter.
This was in early February and I can deal with that. It's the dead of winter and by the time the sun hit the glass, the ice would be gone. But today was a whole different story. Here it is the end of March and it snowed!. I was sitting in my room doing some work and I noticed a racket in the living room. I walked out and noticed that some sort of precipitation was hitting the windows. Not really understanding what was going on, I walked out on the balcony and noticed that it was snow.
There was no snow predicted for today, but apparently there is for the rest of the weekend.
I wonder if I'm going to be able to take this place next winter.
Sunday 16 March 2008
Sport Relief
I've just gotten back from the Sport Relief mile today. The weather was pretty poor; it'd been drizzling all morning and was cold and windy. However the rain held off during the run itself and I made a pretty good showing. I was in the first dozen or so runners in our heat and did it in about 7:15. Not bad for a fat American. A congratulations go out to Rob and Sally as well, and thanks to everyone who sponsored us on the run.
Now for a shower.
Now for a shower.
Wednesday 12 March 2008
Running For My Life
Last weekend Sally ran a 10K which was mighty impressive. After the race she asked me if I'd like to do a charity run this weekend. I reflexively said no (being averse to all forms of running), but the next day I felt kind of guilty. If Sally can run 10K, I can at least run a mile, right? So I said yes and I'll be running the Sport Relief Mile on Sunday. For more details (and if you want to sponsor the Harrops and I) take a look at Sally's blog entry.
If you don't hear from me after Sunday, it'll be because I've died somewhere along the line.
If you don't hear from me after Sunday, it'll be because I've died somewhere along the line.
Thursday 6 March 2008
London
Earlier this week I did my first consulting engagement in the UK. The customer I was meeting with was located on Canary Wharf. Because I hadn't been into the city on my own yet I got a really early start and left my house at 0630. A taxi picked me up and dropped me at the train station. I caught the 0708 train into the city (£53!!) and got to Waterloo Station on time.
I'd been to the station before so I kind of knew how to get down to the Jubilee line and on to Canary Wharf. The big difference was that I'd never ridden the tube during rush hour. Holy cow it was crowded. I've never been touched by so many people at the same time. But I finally got to my destination (where apparently everyone was going anyway) and headed above ground.
To divert a little, I want to rave about the Oyster Card. In my experience every major city has a stored value card for their mass transit, but I've never run into one as nice as an Oyster. First the card itself is much heaver and very permanent. You'd expect to have your card for a number of years before replacing it (there's even a deposit to discourage disposal). In New York or Chicago they have these thin paper cards that you could carry around, but really you pitch them any time they get empty. The result is piles and piles of discarded cards near the stations. You don't see that in the tube. Second is the technology. In NY and Chicago, the cards are thin and you swipe them at the turnstiles. The Oyster on the other hand is RFID which means that I just keep it in my wallet and put my wallet on the sensor. As long as the card is within about a centimeter, I'm fine. Very cool and it means that I don't have to go digging out my card all the time, it's just the same motion to remove my wallet as if I was paying for something.
But back to the engagement. The site was nice and I found the co-worker I was supposed to meet just fine on the first try. At the end of the day, we went to meet some other co-workers who happened to be in the city (I was impressed how many separate clients we were meeting as a company during one day) and so we took the DLR to the end of the line at Bank Station. Another side note about this station is that it sits 42 meters below ground. It seemed like we rode escalators up forever.
At this point we were about 20 minutes walk south of where we were meeting everyone so I got a bit of a walking tour of the city. We passed things like St Mary-le-Bow (which means that I was in hearing distance of my boss' birthplace) and St Paul's.
After dinner and drinks I caught a cab back to Waterloo and had one of those moments. I looked up at the departures board (after a few drinks mind you) and couldn't see any trains headed back to Southampton. I was in the process of calling Sally for help (at 2100 I'm sure she wouldn't have been amused) when the departure boards changed and I was saved. I ended up getting into Southampton around 2230 and walked over to the airport to catch a cab.
Now, the company has an account with a cab company, so you go to a dispatching desk and pay there instead of to the driver. This is a little strange at the best of times, but when I mentioned to the dispatcher that I was with SpringSource he immediately knew where I was heading (which is odd because the housing estate is so new). It turns out that he worked overnights and he had actually dispatched my cab at 0630 that morning! I'd been in London so long he was back on duty.
I eventually made it home and can't wait to go back to London.
I'd been to the station before so I kind of knew how to get down to the Jubilee line and on to Canary Wharf. The big difference was that I'd never ridden the tube during rush hour. Holy cow it was crowded. I've never been touched by so many people at the same time. But I finally got to my destination (where apparently everyone was going anyway) and headed above ground.
To divert a little, I want to rave about the Oyster Card. In my experience every major city has a stored value card for their mass transit, but I've never run into one as nice as an Oyster. First the card itself is much heaver and very permanent. You'd expect to have your card for a number of years before replacing it (there's even a deposit to discourage disposal). In New York or Chicago they have these thin paper cards that you could carry around, but really you pitch them any time they get empty. The result is piles and piles of discarded cards near the stations. You don't see that in the tube. Second is the technology. In NY and Chicago, the cards are thin and you swipe them at the turnstiles. The Oyster on the other hand is RFID which means that I just keep it in my wallet and put my wallet on the sensor. As long as the card is within about a centimeter, I'm fine. Very cool and it means that I don't have to go digging out my card all the time, it's just the same motion to remove my wallet as if I was paying for something.
But back to the engagement. The site was nice and I found the co-worker I was supposed to meet just fine on the first try. At the end of the day, we went to meet some other co-workers who happened to be in the city (I was impressed how many separate clients we were meeting as a company during one day) and so we took the DLR to the end of the line at Bank Station. Another side note about this station is that it sits 42 meters below ground. It seemed like we rode escalators up forever.
At this point we were about 20 minutes walk south of where we were meeting everyone so I got a bit of a walking tour of the city. We passed things like St Mary-le-Bow (which means that I was in hearing distance of my boss' birthplace) and St Paul's.
After dinner and drinks I caught a cab back to Waterloo and had one of those moments. I looked up at the departures board (after a few drinks mind you) and couldn't see any trains headed back to Southampton. I was in the process of calling Sally for help (at 2100 I'm sure she wouldn't have been amused) when the departure boards changed and I was saved. I ended up getting into Southampton around 2230 and walked over to the airport to catch a cab.
Now, the company has an account with a cab company, so you go to a dispatching desk and pay there instead of to the driver. This is a little strange at the best of times, but when I mentioned to the dispatcher that I was with SpringSource he immediately knew where I was heading (which is odd because the housing estate is so new). It turns out that he worked overnights and he had actually dispatched my cab at 0630 that morning! I'd been in London so long he was back on duty.
I eventually made it home and can't wait to go back to London.
Internet!
After two long months going to work before 0700, I got the internet at home today! It means that I'll still probably get up at the same time to talk to Jill, but I won't have to cycle in until a more normal hour. It also means that I'll be staying up much later talking to her. You win some, you lose some I guess.
Saturday 1 March 2008
Moving in
I may have arrived in the UK nearly two months ago, but I wouldn't say that I'd moved in. Not until today. But let me back up.
When the time came to start packing for the move to the UK, I had to make a decision. Did I plan to be there temporarily so putting most of my stuff in storage would make sense, or did I want to be there long-term making storage unneeded? In the end, I chose something in the middle. Some of my large furniture pieces went into storage, anything with an electrical plug was sold, given away, or trashed, and then finally a couple of things I just could not live without were planned to be shipped to the UK.
I officially entered the UK on 12 January and set up house with a pair of great friends, Rob and Sally. I can't say enough how nice it was to have a nice stable place to stay as soon as I got to the UK. It gave me the opportunity to do some looking for a flat before being forced to move in. It took me about 3 weeks, but I eventually found and signed the paper work on a two-bedroom flat in Hedge End. This was all well and good, but it still took me about another week to even move in as I had absolutely no furniture. When I did get some furniture, it was only a bed, so I still didn't feel like I'd moved in. Rather it was a place where I spent the night, a lot like a hotel room.
But over the last couple of weeks, I've been slowly but surely getting the place fixed up and the best thing happened this weekend. I got my boxes of stuff I just could not live without and finally set up house.
It took the better part of a day, but I'm completely unpacked with everything I needed and I feel like I've moved in. Now, there's still no real furniture to speak of, but that doesn't really matter. :)
When the time came to start packing for the move to the UK, I had to make a decision. Did I plan to be there temporarily so putting most of my stuff in storage would make sense, or did I want to be there long-term making storage unneeded? In the end, I chose something in the middle. Some of my large furniture pieces went into storage, anything with an electrical plug was sold, given away, or trashed, and then finally a couple of things I just could not live without were planned to be shipped to the UK.
I officially entered the UK on 12 January and set up house with a pair of great friends, Rob and Sally. I can't say enough how nice it was to have a nice stable place to stay as soon as I got to the UK. It gave me the opportunity to do some looking for a flat before being forced to move in. It took me about 3 weeks, but I eventually found and signed the paper work on a two-bedroom flat in Hedge End. This was all well and good, but it still took me about another week to even move in as I had absolutely no furniture. When I did get some furniture, it was only a bed, so I still didn't feel like I'd moved in. Rather it was a place where I spent the night, a lot like a hotel room.
But over the last couple of weeks, I've been slowly but surely getting the place fixed up and the best thing happened this weekend. I got my boxes of stuff I just could not live without and finally set up house.
It took the better part of a day, but I'm completely unpacked with everything I needed and I feel like I've moved in. Now, there's still no real furniture to speak of, but that doesn't really matter. :)
A new chapter
Two years ago I accepted a position with a company called Interface21. At the time this was a small multi-national company and I was the 4th employee in North America. When I accepted the position I knew there would be quite a bit of travel. How much though, I'm not sure I could have ever predicted. Over the next year and a half, I spoke to training classes both public and private, spoke to conferences both large and small, did consulting, and even managed to write a little software. The flip side to all of the exciting work, was that I spent a lot of time on the road. To give you an idea, this image shows the key cards of every hotel room I stayed in during that time.
In addition to lots of hotels, I spent lots of time in the air. In my first year I accrued over 30,000 air miles, while in my second I accrued over 100,000! In two cases I actually went for more than a month (5 weeks in both cases) without ever going home. This meant that I paid rent on an apartment that I never entered and a lease on a car I never drove.
But am I ever glad that I did the travel. Sometimes all the airports and planes could be a drag, but then I'd think back to all of the things I saw.
Things like the CN Tower in Toronto.
Niagra Falls.
Chicago.
Seattle
The Ferrari Factory.
More snow than a Floridan should ever need to see.
More than one aquarium.
The world's largest plane.
A volcano.
And even Stonehenge
But really, two years is a long time to travel the way I did and I decided that it was probably time to start looking for something a little quieter. Around this time, the company changed name to SpringSource, we picked up venture capital, and a new development group was created. I got the opportunity to take a job doing more development and less travel (well less business travel and more personal travel I hope) and I jumped at it. One small hitch though, the job wasn't in Florida... it was in the United Kingdom. And that's where this story begins.
In addition to lots of hotels, I spent lots of time in the air. In my first year I accrued over 30,000 air miles, while in my second I accrued over 100,000! In two cases I actually went for more than a month (5 weeks in both cases) without ever going home. This meant that I paid rent on an apartment that I never entered and a lease on a car I never drove.
But am I ever glad that I did the travel. Sometimes all the airports and planes could be a drag, but then I'd think back to all of the things I saw.
Things like the CN Tower in Toronto.
Niagra Falls.
Chicago.
Seattle
The Ferrari Factory.
More snow than a Floridan should ever need to see.
More than one aquarium.
The world's largest plane.
A volcano.
And even Stonehenge
But really, two years is a long time to travel the way I did and I decided that it was probably time to start looking for something a little quieter. Around this time, the company changed name to SpringSource, we picked up venture capital, and a new development group was created. I got the opportunity to take a job doing more development and less travel (well less business travel and more personal travel I hope) and I jumped at it. One small hitch though, the job wasn't in Florida... it was in the United Kingdom. And that's where this story begins.
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