Thursday, 3 November:
Christmas!!! Ok, not really but it felt like Christmas this morning. We received three packages today, two from my parents and one from Wanadoo. The internet hardware arrived first, as it was here yesterday and signed for by the day porter. The cleaning man (A really nice guy named Pat) brought it up first thing this morning. (Unfortunately, the line has not been activated, so no internet, but at least the stuff is here and in two days no less.) The wireless router/modem is by far the best designed modem router I have ever seen. The modem appears to be a book sitting on its opening edge in all white. When it is plugged in, the Wanadoo lights up in white through the plastic and looks really cool. This is even better looking than the glowing apple on the back of powerbooks. If design and timeliness of delivery are any indication of service, I am going to be very happy with Wanadoo.
A little later the mail came and we had two more boxes. We got our memory foam mattress topper from Overstock.com (It needs to air out for two days, so a review will be forthcoming but not right away) and our care package from my parents. More peppers! Yay! And vodka sauce from Trader Joes!!! Did I mention Christmas!!! The tomato based sauces here are very chunky and runny, so they are a bit different than we are used to. But Trader Joe's (or Trader Giottis as they call the Italian food) Vodka sauce is the perfect red pasta sauce in my opinion. OK, so it gets some spice from crushed peppers, and other treatments when we are making it, but it is the perfect base. Other items included most of the conspiracy participants in other posts, namely: Ziplocs, food storage, and pesto filled pasta (again from Trader Joes. If you are going to buy dried pasta, they have the best, cheapest filled pasta.) Here, you can buy pesto, but it comes by itself in jars, not in pasta. I suppose if we were inclined, we could hand make our own pesto filled pasta, but neither of us is willing to pretend to be gourmets until our cookware arrives.
Speaking of cookware, our shipment should be here in about three weeks, I received a notification today, so this is the day for pleasant surprises! Now if I could get a job offer... Ok, I won't push it, I have enough to lift my spirits today. The rain is more frequent of late, which is wonderfully refreshing, especially since my anitbiotics appear to have kicked the last of my upper respiratory infection to the curb.
Christmas is starting to show up in the stores. I guess not having a Thanksgiving holiday means that there is no reason to wait once Hallowe'en has passed. Starbucks is now using their red Christmas cups for the poor sods that don't have the time to enjoy coffee in house in mugs. They also have a literacy program going on here where you can donate books to help with literacy in the UK. I think Suzanne and I will have some serious purging to do when our stuff arrives, so this is a great way to send books to new homes. I have always had book issues, and have a hard time getting rid of them. Even harder is the thought of just throwing books away. I only have done this out of anger at school bookstores that made me pay $80+ for a text book then offered to buy it back for $1.50 because they were using a new edition now. Funny, but the old editions are still for sale in the bookstore for $25... Never mind, I am not likely to see the inside of a classroom as anything other than a teacher or parent any time soon.
I am not usually caught up in the Christmas spirit until about two days before Christmas, so it is still strange to see the decorations up so soon, but it is a happy thought that we may get a white Christmas. Local weather people keep predicting the coldest winter in more than a decade and none other than weather guru Aunt Linda predicts that a warm October means a REALLY cold winter. This could mean that my families San Diego tradition of eating Christmas breakfast outside in sunglasses and shorts is out this year. Who knows, maybe I will do it just for traditions sake. Especially if there is snow on the ground, it would make a great picture. And keeping up the family traditions is so important when you are far from home. I don't think I will get Suzanne to participate in this one though.
All in all, we are in great spirits today! And the day isn't even over, so we shall see what else shall come.
A little later the mail came and we had two more boxes. We got our memory foam mattress topper from Overstock.com (It needs to air out for two days, so a review will be forthcoming but not right away) and our care package from my parents. More peppers! Yay! And vodka sauce from Trader Joes!!! Did I mention Christmas!!! The tomato based sauces here are very chunky and runny, so they are a bit different than we are used to. But Trader Joe's (or Trader Giottis as they call the Italian food) Vodka sauce is the perfect red pasta sauce in my opinion. OK, so it gets some spice from crushed peppers, and other treatments when we are making it, but it is the perfect base. Other items included most of the conspiracy participants in other posts, namely: Ziplocs, food storage, and pesto filled pasta (again from Trader Joes. If you are going to buy dried pasta, they have the best, cheapest filled pasta.) Here, you can buy pesto, but it comes by itself in jars, not in pasta. I suppose if we were inclined, we could hand make our own pesto filled pasta, but neither of us is willing to pretend to be gourmets until our cookware arrives.
Speaking of cookware, our shipment should be here in about three weeks, I received a notification today, so this is the day for pleasant surprises! Now if I could get a job offer... Ok, I won't push it, I have enough to lift my spirits today. The rain is more frequent of late, which is wonderfully refreshing, especially since my anitbiotics appear to have kicked the last of my upper respiratory infection to the curb.
Christmas is starting to show up in the stores. I guess not having a Thanksgiving holiday means that there is no reason to wait once Hallowe'en has passed. Starbucks is now using their red Christmas cups for the poor sods that don't have the time to enjoy coffee in house in mugs. They also have a literacy program going on here where you can donate books to help with literacy in the UK. I think Suzanne and I will have some serious purging to do when our stuff arrives, so this is a great way to send books to new homes. I have always had book issues, and have a hard time getting rid of them. Even harder is the thought of just throwing books away. I only have done this out of anger at school bookstores that made me pay $80+ for a text book then offered to buy it back for $1.50 because they were using a new edition now. Funny, but the old editions are still for sale in the bookstore for $25... Never mind, I am not likely to see the inside of a classroom as anything other than a teacher or parent any time soon.
I am not usually caught up in the Christmas spirit until about two days before Christmas, so it is still strange to see the decorations up so soon, but it is a happy thought that we may get a white Christmas. Local weather people keep predicting the coldest winter in more than a decade and none other than weather guru Aunt Linda predicts that a warm October means a REALLY cold winter. This could mean that my families San Diego tradition of eating Christmas breakfast outside in sunglasses and shorts is out this year. Who knows, maybe I will do it just for traditions sake. Especially if there is snow on the ground, it would make a great picture. And keeping up the family traditions is so important when you are far from home. I don't think I will get Suzanne to participate in this one though.
All in all, we are in great spirits today! And the day isn't even over, so we shall see what else shall come.
posted by Unknown at 4:30 AM
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