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August 24, 2005
Woe is Mac
I recently bought an Apple PowerBook. Mostly because I really love OS X, and although I already have a PC desktop and notebook for work, I wanted a light, fun computer to use for my personal projects and school. Now, I have no illusions about Macs and law school--I expected no support and resistance, but this is a bit ridiculous.
We have wireless networking (new!) at my school, and I wanted to get my new PB on... so I went to our "Help Desk" and our conversation went like this:
"I wanted to authorize my Mac for the wireless network."
"We don't support Macs. You see, they use a completely different operating system."
"Um, yes, I know. But wireless is wireless. It's all 802.11b/g and TCP/IP. I can give you the MAC address for authentication."
"We don't support them because we don't want Macs here."
Delightful bunch. This is the same crew that told me they required Windows because of security last year. I had to suppress my laughter at that one.
*sigh*
I can still get on the wired network, but it's irritating.
Posted by Dave! Permalink | Comments (4)
August 16, 2005
Gas!
Wow. Just got back from an extended trip to the UK and when I got into my car yesterday, I discovered I needed gas. So I went to the gas station and was floored: Gas was 2.79 a gallon!
I will say though, that in the global perspective, that's still a deal. In London, I noticed gas prices between 93p and 95p per liter. That works out to 3.52GBP per gallon, which in U.S. dollars right now is about $6.35. So I think I'll stop my whining. At that rate, it would be over $100 to fill up my Volvo!
It does make me wish that Chicago had better mass transit, though. As nice as the El is, there aren't enough lines that are convenient (in fact, none go to the area where I work). And the buses are not only slow--they still run on dino-fuel. It was pretty amazing how easy it is to not have a car in London compared to Chicago. Not that a car is essential in Chicago--but it is very convenient. In London (and I was working--not being a tourist) I barely noticed.
Posted by Dave! Permalink | Comments (2)
August 10, 2005
Some Girl(s)
You can't go to London and not go to the theatre. At least, I can't. Unfortunately, since I was working so much during this trip, it was hard to break away and get out in the evening; usually I was pretty exhausted by the time I returned to the hotel.
However, during our last few days in London, my wife and I did get a chance to catch Some Girl(s) at the Gielgud Theatre. (Coincidentally, I've seen several plays here in the past.)
I wanted to see Some Girl(s) because it was written by Neil LaBute, not because it was starring David Schwimmer. I don't really have an opinion on Schwimmer one way or the other. On one hand, he is a founding member of Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre Company, which is decidedly cool. On the other hand, he was on Friends, which is decidedly not. But I'm a big fan of Labute's film work (In the Company of Men, Your Friends and Neighbors, Nurse Betty) so I figured this would be worth a trip... seats in London can be had pretty cheap.
Without going into all the details, the play centers around a nameless "Man" who is about to get married and is revisiting some of his past relationships, which ended badly (or did they?) in some sort of last ditch soul-searching exercise. I don't want to give away anything about the play, so I'll stop there. The female cast members were all quite good, although each of their characters felt a little stereotyped to me... not a lot of dimension, although, that seems to have been deliberate for serving the purpose of the visits.
Schwimmer was, well, as far as I can tell, Schwimmer. I've only seen one or two episodes of Friends. It seems to be one of those shows that people say, "oh, it's better than you think, you just have to watch and get to know the characters." So I try, and I see an episode that, evidently, wouldn't be so downright stupid if I "knew the characters" and give up. Only to try again later and end up seeing a re-run of the same episode. Or is it? Anyway, as far as I can tell, the character development of "Man" in Some Girl(s) is a little too close for comfort to the Ross character Schwimmer played on Friends. The character is a shlub. Likable enough, but still kind of a whiny shlub. Which Schwimmer does play well, but you never get past Schwimmer into believing the shlub. (Unlike the amazing Matt Malloy, who in In the Company of Man takes shlub to a whole new level, opposite the equally talented Aaron Eckhart... but I digress.)
Overall, not a bad night out at the theatre, but I wouldn't expect Some Girl(s) to make it out of the West End. It felt a little like a piece that was being work shopped, and still had a way to go.
Posted by Dave! Permalink
Chowki
I had a chance to explore some of the curry houses of Brick Lane before my wife arrived. However, she wanted to try some Indian while in London, so we hit some review sites and found a place very close to a theatre we were going to see a show at. That place was Chowki.
The decor at Chowki was a little on the hip-for-the-sake-of-hip side for me, but it doesn't matter. I would highly recommend the place, especially if you are out for a night of theatre. It's less than a block off Picadilly Circus, so it's very convenient to an amazing number of theaters and it's also some of the most unique Indian food I've had.
For reasons I won't go into here *cough*imperialism*cough* London is swimming with Indian/Bangladeshi restaurants. I couldn't find decent Mexican there to save my life, but man, the variety of food from the Asian subcontinent was amazing.
Chowki features a rotating menu that showcases different regions of India each month. So there were only a few dishes on the menu that I recognized from the traditional Indian fare we get around Chicago. The August menu featured cuisine from Bangladesh, Gujarat and Karnataka.
We began with starters from Karnataka that featured a chili-chicken dish with onions and coconut that was so flavorful, with just a little kick. For our main course, we went hog wild, with some Chicken Kori Gassi, and another dish of flageolet beans and peagon peas, all rounded out with a "meat" kebab selection. We left very full and very satisfied.
Posted by Dave! Permalink
The Tate Modern
The last time I was in London, several years ago, the Tate Modern was only days away from opening. I was very disappointed not to be able to see it, so this time around, there was no way I was going to miss it. Overall, I'm very glad I went--everyone visiting London should go. But have to say that I was pretty disappointed with the collection.
Let me preface this by saying that I love art museums. I'm spoiled in that I've had a chance to visit: The National Gallery, the Hirshhorn, the Guggenheim, the Met, MoMA, the British National Gallery, the Dali Museum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Louvre and I happen to live in a city with it's own great museum, The Art Institute of Chicago. So I have high museum expectations.
That said, the Tate Modern is the coolest space for an art museum. Ever. It's an old hydro-electrical generator station along the banks of the Thames, and wow, it is an amazingly impressive space. So impressive, in fact, that it completely dwarfs and diminishes the collection inside.
The collection at the Tate isn't laid out by artist or period, but rather by subject matter, for example, "Nude/Action/Body" or "Still Life/Object/Real Life." I actually really like that organizational structure. It allows you to see how different artists from different periods approached similar subjects, which is very cool.
The collection has some "star" artists, there are some pieces by Picasso and Matisse, some Duchamp (yawn) and Koons. There's a few Monet's and a Kandinsky, but all of them are just kind of blah... with only a few exceptions, they seem to be lesser pieces from lesser periods. Not that it all has to be wildly popular to be a good museum, but the Tate just left me feeling, well, underwhelmed--at least the collection.
There were some good photographic pieces, some so-so Cindy Sherman work (stuff at MoMA is much better). There are some great Stieglitz and Weston nudes, which were almost canceled out but the awful, awful, awful Gilbert & George work. Oh, man, awful.
My two favorite things were the "Thames River Dig" and the Rothko room. The Thames Dig is a room that features found objects from a project that involved an archaeological dig along the Thames with a bunch of school children--slightly out of place for an art museum, but totally cool nonetheless.
I liked the Rothko room because it featured these massive red/mauve/grey pieces that were very abstract and atmospheric... moody. They were among the only pieces that fit the scale of the space--which I think is the major problem with the Tate. It's this really amazing space on an immense scale which just tends to dwarf the exhibits and make the artwork fade into the background. It's such a cool an exciting space that it really works against the collection.
Who knows, maybe the collection wouldn't seem so dull if it were in a more traditional museum building. Maybe it would. On the whole, I'm very glad I got a chance to see it, and if you're in London, you might as well stop by. The area has a lot going on (it's not far from St. Paul, the Millennium Bridge, Parliament, Westminster, etc.) and the building itself is pretty damn impressive. Just don't expect to be blown away by the art.
Posted by Dave! Permalink
August 8, 2005
Bath
Today was the day of Bath.
First, because the B&B has no shower. I like soaking as much as the next guy... in fact, one of my favorite things about traveling in Japan was the Japanese baths. However, I am a large man. A large American man. When I want to be clean, I want a shower. No such luck. So I started the day with a bath.
Then it was a delicious sausage and egg breakfast (no hot tomato for me--I'm sorry, English tomatoes bite. Why are the British such good gardeners, and yet, can't seem to manage a decent tomato? But I digress) and then we were back out on the country roads to Bath.
Bath, home of the only hot springs in England and the ruins of ancient Roman Baths is very picturesque town. The architecture is interesting and the baths are pretty cool. There's also a great bridge by the river. It's a great town to spend the day in relaxing, taking in some tourist sites and shopping, just ambling about, seeing some interesting things and accomplishing nothing. It was a very welcome and needed break after the last weeks of work. I feel so recharged. And tonight it's dinner back at the B&B!!
Posted by Dave! Permalink | Comments (1)
Talbot Inn, Mells
We arrived at the B&B where we are staying and it's a very charming little coaching inn located in the medieval village of Mells. It's called the Talbot Inn.Mells, in case you were wondering, is somewhere between Radstock and Frome, not too far from Bath. Okay, so you can picture it, right? It was recommended to me at the office party when I was really drunk, but I recall the gentleman who recommended it saying they had a fantastic restaurant.
Anyway, Mells is very quaint, as in, there's a Post Office/Store here and not much else. My wife and I are traveling out this way with a friend, and we all remarked that if this were a similar sized town in America, we'd all be thinking "Deliverance," but instead, it's cute. Very cute. Darling, in fact. There's a church (St. Andrews) down the road from the inn, so we walked down and had a look around the courtyard. It was a very old church, let me tell you, and very pretty. In fact, it's pretty all over around here... and quiet. A person could really get used to this.
Now, I did mention that this place had a good restaurant, right? Because this place has a good restaurant. It is really amazing... forget everything I've said about British food. Well, not everything. But this place is outstanding. We split a bunch of appetizers, which included a carmalized apple and blue cheese tatin, some mussels in cream and white wine sauce, and some Scottish smoked salmon. All were out of this world. The we had our main courses... I had a fillet with wild mushroom ragou in a Madeira sauce, with garlic roasted potatoes. Did I say out of this world??! My wife had the lamb though, and--oh my god--I'm getting the lamb tonight!! It was the most tender, succulent lamb... with none of that "lamb" smell/flavor/aftertaste. It was simply out of this world food.
If you're ever traveling out this way, I'd have to recommend this place as a B&B. The rooms have all the quirks--like low ceilings in the bathrooms and weird stairways--that you associate with country B&Bs, with a staff who are friendly and outgoing and a restaurant that is simply amazing.
Posted by Dave! Permalink
August 7, 2005
Stonehenge
We stopped at Stonehenge on our way to Bath and I was just as awed as the last time I saw it. One of the people in our group wasn't that impressed--or so it seemed--but my wife and I were pretty amazed. I hadn't been since I was a kid, and although it seems silly to say so, a lot has changed.
The biggest change was that when I was a kid, you could walk right up to the stones and touch them. You can't do that anymore, it's now roped off. Which is kind of a shame. You still can appreciate what an amazing thing Stonehenge is by looking at it. Those rocks are big. But it really instills a sense of just how massive they are when you can stand at their base and reach out to touch them.
Posted by Dave! Permalink
Driving in England
Today, we began an English countryside adventure. We're going over to Bath for a few days, in a rental car. Ordinarily, this in itself would not be newsworthy. However, seeing that we drive on the opposite side of the road in America, it was.
Actually, I discovered several things about driving in England today. First, as long as things are going well, driving on the opposite (in this case, left) side of the road isn't horrible. Most of the time, you are in traffic, so just follow the guy ahead of you and you're okay. Second, roundabouts may be great fun as a passenger and they might improve the flow of traffic, but they are just plain dangerous--especially if you are an American, concentrating on staying on the proper side of the road. Third, English country roads are narrow. I've been on them before and I don't remember them being this narrow, although, I was never driving.
And fourth, coming back to point one... when you're tooling along and not having any problems, this other side of the road business is dandy. But what happens when you are on a single-lane country road, and a van from some florist is coming at you at a high rate of speed? "No problem, I'll just pull over," you might think to yourself. This presents two problems. The trees/hedges are cropped very close to the road, so there isn't really anywhere to pull over. The bigger problem, however, is 16+ years of experience driving on the other side of the road. When faced with an imminent collision, your instinct takes over. And if you are an American, as I am, your instinct says, "Pull over! Now! To the right". But, uh, your right is the other driver's left, so you both pull over... and end up looking at the driver opposite you thinking, "What an idiot!" until you realize you are sitting on the opposite side of the road from where you should be--the opposite being the opposite of what you are used to--and you have to sheepishly wave and realize that you are, indeed, the idiot.
Posted by Dave! Permalink | Comments (1)
Done!
Sorry for the infrequent updates (to all three of you reading) but I got side-tracked, oh, I dunno, working...
This week was the first full week the new London office was up and running, so things were very chaotic. We were finishing up installation and testing on so many systems right up to the wire on Monday morning and we've been updating, de-bugging and troubleshooting all week.
All in all, it was a very successful opening week. Everyone seemed to really like the new space and really take advantage of all that it has to offer. And in spite of the fact that the space was now full of people working and going to class, we still managed to get an incredible amount of work done this week.
I pronounce it a success! Now, let's hope my boss does.
They had a party for the contractors and specialists from the States on Thursday as a show of thanks. It was quite nice. The contractor was there, people from the architect, etc. Of course, I was seriously under-dressed, as I'd just come from punch listing a room with one of the systems contractors. However, much wine was had--and I mean much wine--and a good time was had by all. I really do love the British, and I like them even more when we are all drunk.
I also got some tips on places to stay and things to see when I'm "on vacation" with my wife next week. We're going to go to Bath for a few days and then spend a few more days in London before returning to the states.
So, as I head out of work land and into actually traveling land, the updates may get more sporadic (as if that is possible). I'm still going to write them, though, and just post them all as a batch when I return.
As my British counterparts all seem so fond of saying, cheers!
Posted by Dave! Permalink
August 6, 2005
Kulu Kulu Sushi
Sushi Night!
Anyone who knows me knows that I loves me some raw fish on rice! So with the help of some recommendations, I found Kulu Kulu Sushi near Soho/Covent Garden and decided to give sushi in London a shot. I was not disappointed.
For some reason Kaiten sushi places seem to be more rare in the States than in Japan, or in Britain for some reason. In fact, all of the places in Chicago are Sushi-ya or Izakaya (as far as I know). If you've never been Kaiten are "conveyor belt" sushi restaurants, where instead of ordering from an Itamae, you grab what you want off a giant conveyor belt that keeps new and tempting pieces rolling past you all evening long. If you haven't been to one, go.
Kulu Kulu was quite tasty and as far as sushi is concerned, quite affordable. There was a good mix of nigiri and I had a really excellent soft-shell crab temaki that was out of this world.
I won't compare sushi in London (or the U.S. for that matter) to eating Sushi in Japan--it's just not fair. However, I will say that Kulu Kulu was as good as many of the places I've had sushi in the States, although not quite as good as the best sushi I've had in the states. Since my experience with sushi in London was limited, I can't say how good Kulu Kulu is in relation to other London offerings, but I will say that it was good quality, tasty and affordable, which means I wouldn't hesitate to go back again.
Posted by Dave! Permalink
Ringtones
Okay, are the British as obsessed with ringtones as the telly would have me believe? When I come back to the hotel from work and flip on the news (granted, this is usually later at night) I see dozens of ads for "ringtones" and "wallpaper" for cell (sorry, mobile) phones. They are all really, really silly and/or annoying.
I'm sorry, the "Crazy Frog" is not cute nor clever, it's just goddamn annoying.
Posted by Dave! Permalink
Why?
Do they call it a 10,000 Meter race in track and field competitions, instead of calling it a 10 Kilometer race?
Posted by Dave! Permalink
August 4, 2005
Refettorio
Do you normally associate great restaurants with hotels? I don't. Maybe you do, but I don't. Tonight we hit Refettorio though, which is located in the Crowne Plaza hotel, not far from our hotel in London (The City). The place came recommended for its cheese and salami selections, and I'm a cheese fiend. So we gave it a shot...
We weren't disappointed. The cheese was outstanding--especially this creamy Gorgonzola that was the most amazing Gorgonzola I have ever had. It was phenomenal. The pasta was out of this world too, all hand made. I had a linguine with pesto and some Sangiovese and ended up going back to the hotel a well fed man.
It wasn't the best restaurant I've been to on this trip, but it was a solid restaurant that I would go to again, hotel or not.
Posted by Dave! Permalink
August 3, 2005
Barcelona
Tapas tonight! And I mentioned to one of the Brits at work and they said, "You're going to a topless bar with your wife??" Nice to know that the English use the same stale jokes we do.
Anyway, we went to a tapas place called Barcelona, which apparently has multiple locations, but we didn't know that at the time. We went to the original, which is on Bell Lane not terribly far from Brick Lane (Indian central). From the outside, you would think it was a total dive. And from the inside it has the most uncomfortable bar stools ever. But the decor is still very bright and lively. And for what it lacked in decor, it made up for in quality. On the whole, some of the best tapas I've ever had. Everything we sampled was delicious... the Mejillones con Sofrito (mussels) were absolutely fantastic and the patatas bravas were just the right balance of flavor and spice. I could go on-and-on about the menu, but since we had so many dishes, it would take forever. Just go check out the menu on their website.
I was speaking with another co-worker about Spain--I've never been. He was saying how great it was to walk out of work at 9:30-10:00PM into the warm night air as restaurants are just beginning their first seatings and to feel the cool Mediterranean breeze. He did a great sales job; Spain has moved way up on my "must visit" lists. Any place that believes that dinner shouldn't start until 10pm and that thinks mid-day naps are an important part of life gets a huge thumbs up from me.
Posted by Dave! Permalink
August 1, 2005
The Killers
I tried not to like The Killers because they are so hot now and they are from Vegas--and face it, Vegas is where bad musicians go to fade into oblivion.
However, Hot Fuss is one, um, killer album. I highly recommend it.
Posted by Dave! Permalink