Holidays

So being on holiday does something to the soul... something that makes me want to drink more coffee and read more books AND doesn't really make me want to blog. Shoot I don't even want to check my email (which has been thankfully empyty) or facebook, let alone go through the effort of writing a post, do you'll have to deal with us if we take a technology holiday to match our physical one. We have photos and stories to share but those will have to wait till a time of greater ambition, which may be tomorrow or may be next week.

As a final thought though I just wanted to say I love the idea of being relaxed enough to take a holiday from all the ways we are connected. I love my email, wi-fi, my phone and all that comes with those but I had forgotten the deep seated pleasure in not worrying about them whilst reading a book in a comfortable chair in my pajamas. Simply lovely.

Speaking of which...

Funny Photo Friday: They don't make em like they used to

Remember when all you could get from a vending machine was a can of coke and a chocolate bar? Maybe a bag of chips? No more...

We may have posted a few of these before... but here is a vending machine in Dublin. The beer cans were in the bottom row... You did have to get your credit card approved at the hotel front desk, at least.
An airport near Durham. 50p for a few plastic ziplocs for your liquids. Extortion.
Airport in London. Forgot something to read?
Detroit airport. Fancy an ipod?

Another month, another transatlantic flight.

Today, we fly. Again. We are spending two glorious weeks in the snow-filled fields and forests of the Correct Spelling People. (They're related to the Letter People, but they never got their own television show on PBS.) We're kinda excited.

We'll make every effort to meet up with those we can meet up with, but if you feel neglected or simply feel like taking the initiative since you never did ask that girl out twelve years ago and she was pretty cute and it's now time for you to be a man, post a comment or send an email, and we'll reply/give you a call. I'd rather not post my parents' phone number on the web. For that matter, we can give you our AMERICAN cell phone number which we acquired in NYC last month because we thought it would be a useful thing to have while we're in country and because we missed the 646 area code. Don't worry, we're smarter than a contract; it's pay as you go. Reach out and touch someone.

Things people here have told us about America(ns) that made us laugh.

Are you going to clap when we land? I thought all Americans clap when a plane lands.

Jaywalkers get arrested all the time in the USA.

What do you call these? Candied yams, right? Say 'candied yams.' [To another British person:] Americans don't call these sweet potatoes, they call them candied yams.

But your speed limits top out at 50 mph. Or is it 55?

You don't have veneers? I thought most Americans had veneers on their teeth.

Funny Photo Friday

With cold bugs flying all over the place these days, I found myself reading the label on a packet of throat lozenges the other day and then giggling. In case it's not clear, here's what it says:

Overdose of menthol may cause severe stomach upset, feeling or being sick, giddiness, shaking, drowsiness.

I don’t know what’s funnier to me- the fact that feeling and being sick are different things in this country or that a lozenge could cause giddiness. Really? Giddiness? Bring it on.

The long night

I arrived at work this morning in the frosty twilight of predawn, a dramatic wash of light from East to West painted across the sky, and I left the office with coat buttoned up and hat pulled low against the icy pitch blackness of a ‘night’ already two hours gone. I enjoy the long summer evenings of the 55th parallel, but, goodness me, this part is tough.

Nightshift NYC

Our friends are on the radio! (you should listen to them here)

I can't say the delight I had upon hearing their voices over the glorious inter-web. These are good friends whose company we deeply enjoy when we can get together (which was never that often even while we lived in New York), and they are on radio promoting a recent book project about nightshift workers in New York. Having just finished it, and enjoying it deeply, let me say you should all buy it... well ok, all of those of you who are interested in good stories about interesting people. And I hope that is all of you.

Anyway, I love the internet... and friends who do interesting things. Yeah! Nothing new to say aside from that, I'm rather proud of them and really like their recent project (and they were on the Leonard Lopate show, cool!).

p.s. buy their book!

Funny Photo Friday: Strictly, even.

Grand Central Station, New York City

Well who knew?

Well, as we all know the Internet is full of gloriously pointless things. A new favorite one is here, which will evaluate your blog according to Myers-Briggs. Well turns out good ol' Wallstraville is an ESFP; who knew?

In case you forgot what an ESFP is, the typealyzer lists it (mildly comically) as:

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves. The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

D'ya reckon so?

I think of hillbillies and a slow appalachian drawl when I think of the word "reckon." "Whaddaya reckon?" "Ah reckon so..."

But here? Reckon is a common word. I heard it today on the train from someone trying to get connected with the train's wireless internet. "How do you reckon we get hooked up?"

Funny.

the plight of the architect

I just wanted to make an announcement. I am, should the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards accept all the pages I recently mailed in, sixth-sevenths of the way done with my internship requirement.

Does this mean I become an architect in a few months? No. It means that after 4 years of undergraduate education in general studies (specifically engineering and art), 3 years of graduate study (although I think more if you count the number of waking hours spent working above the average grad student), and at least three years of working, I am allowed, yes, even encouraged, to sit for the 9 separate required exams (to become 7 in number in 2009). These must be taken all within 5 years of each other. When all have been passed successfully and paid for, then, with a bit more paperwork and a few additional fees, I can register as an architect.

That makes: 4 years uni + 3 years uni + 3 years working + 1-5 years testing
Here in England, it tends to be 3 years uni + 1 year out working + 2 year uni + 1 year working + 1 oral and (sometimes) 1 written exam.

Something doesn't look right there...

***
And just a side note on my personal mission to Educate the Public:

But at least you make lots of money to make up for all the effort, right?

Wellllll... maybe. Let me just dispel the myth a moment. The average architect's income is $58,000 per annum. (I've been searching and found numbers from $36,000 for newbies to this one- the highest I've seen- for all architects. This number is from here.) That's not bad. But that's not great either. At least it doesn't seem to be anywhere near what people must think it is judging by their facial expressions. And it doesn't seem nearly in line with other professions requiring a similar level of schooling (law, even medicine). Salaries also vary considerably based on where you are in the company and where you are in the country. And, while I'm at it, I think this line from the link listed above is apt: "I believe if a median hour/week figure were factored into this median salary, an architect would be paid the same as someone at dunkin donuts. "

Am I complaining? Yes. I admit it. I am. However, I also enjoy my job and, honestly, I like the respect it gets! I am amazed at the number of positive reactions I get when answering questions about my career. People find it interesting in a way that I am not sure I always do. But hey, I'll take it.

Fancy a film?

I have a terrible, horrible fault. It's awful, and I hesitate to admit it. And yet. I am somehow compelled by the blogisphere to reveal this dirty, dark secret.

I watch bad movies. Really. Bad. Movies. I'm not sure what it is. It's not that I enjoy them, necessarily, or that I seek them out. But if there is an old movie about a terminally ill woman trying to gain the right to kill herself or a divorced mother estranged from her successful daughter, anything with Sally Field or an autistic salesman, especially made-for-TV-only, provided there is nothing else worthy of my attention on television, I will watch it. All of it. If I change the channel within the first 15 minutes, I'm alright. After that, I am stuck like deer in headlights. I can't look away.

Although there were symptoms, I wasn't aware of the predilection until moving to this country. They play a LOT of bad movies here beginning on Friday afternoons and continuing through Sunday evening. Anything from 1952 to 1997 is fair game, although I've discovered the best (worst?) films are those produced in the late 80's to early 90's.

I was hoping I could cure myself through written catharsis, but this afternoon, Fluke, Pillowtalk, and Cats & Dogs are on. A man who reincarnates as a dog, crossed phone lines bringing together a decorator and songwriter, and kittens trying to take over the world. I am definitely turning off the telly. Best not to even get started.

Funny Photo Friday: Seeing Double

Ever seen a DOUBLE banana? Me neither!

(this was in Nepal last summer)
















While I'm at it, here's another twin. I cracked this egg while making my very first pie crust for my very first with-the-real-stuff-because-we-couldn't-find-canned-pumpkin pumpkin pie. (Its yolk was to be brushed on the crust. Of course, I didn't have the foresight to look for a brush prior to cracking.) I know this isn't as strange as a double banana, but I still love it when it happens. I took it as a good sign for the pie.

'Hum, hum hum, just wipping the snow off my windscreen... hey come back with my car!'

Its been rather chilly the few days (several days at and below zero (we've both been rather happy to have that cold/crisp feel and smell) and so people are having to come out early to de-ice their windshields. But because of these chilly temperatures a new dilemma has been popping up throughout the UK.

The problem tends to involve people and their iced cars. As drivers come out in the morning, they turn the car on, put the defrost on, leave the car door open, and scrap the windows (or pour hot water on it... which I still find funny for some reason) until its clean and warm and then off they go. Well turns out aspiring car thieves have figured this routine out and now do early morning rounds waiting for an unaware driver to begin scraping the far side of the car, when the thieves hop in the open door and drive off with the car! And apparently this has happened enough over the last few days it's one of the headlines of the BBC this morning with the tag line, 'Rise in car jackings during morning de-icing.' They even have the police on telling you how to best avoid this problem (shut your door) and other tips for de-icing (like not putting boiling water on your windscreen because it will crack your windscreen, who knew?!).

Funny.

P.S. On a not so funny note, there is also a story one woman got run over as the car-jacker drove off and is in criticial condition.

P.P.S. It's is actually snowing at present here, how exciting!

A bit of nostalgia... English style

I remember dumping out the old tin of Lincoln Logs on the living room floor of my grandmother's house (The Cottage, we used to call it based on its lovely lakeside location and despite its permanency as their "real" house). I don't remember loving Lincoln Logs, but I remember being wholly satisfied with an hour or two of timber entertainment.

I have absolutely no recollection of why this came up at work the other day, but a coworker said that she used to create buildings with an aging set of toys at her grandparents' house, too. They, too, came in a tin. They, too, had a distinct antique smell. They, too, provided a specific set of building blocks and house parts. Only these toys weren't logs, they were bricks.

This, I love. Americans? We build using wood. But the British? Well, that just wouldn't make sense, so bricks it is- our cultural construction differences translated into our childhood toys.



(By the way, I found this link while looking for a Lincoln Logs photo. Wow. Talk about a life goal.)

The place where I live

Let's be cheesy for a minute here. Life is all about growing, and growing means changing, learning, discovering. I've been thinking about my homes recently, the places where I've lived, what they've taught me and how they've changed me. Sometimes the changes weren't for the best, like the subtle refocusing inwards that resulted from the first three exhausting years of my time in New York. Other times, my eyes have been opened to new, perhaps better ways of doing things, like commuting to work via train rather than car. As Josh and I are still so transient, each place we've lived teaches us a little bit about where we'd like to live next, what that community looks like and what that home feels like. So here are some things I've learned about living places from the places I've lived. I'd love to hear some of yours!

Read the rest...
Zeeland, Michigan
Population 7,000
3500 sf
5 residents + 1-3 cats

-Living near family (and I mean extended family) is worth something. A lot of something.
-Living near fields and forest provides places for hide and seek and climbing trees.
-I like small towns.


Calvin College
Population 2,400 (on campus)
150 sf
2 residents + an unending cycle of multiple goldfish

-Living near friends is worth something, too.
-When those friends are your family (roomate+cousin), well, that's even better.


Oxford, England
Population 134,000
120 sf
2 residents

-Living in a city centre is quite enjoyable.
-I like rainy places.


Grand Rapids, Michigan
Population 198,000
1800 sf
4 residents

-My first commute, a 15 minute drive to Calvin College, was the beginning of a love-hate relationship. Living near work/school is important.


New York, New York
Population 8,000,000
290 sf
2 residents + an unending cycle of multiple mice

-I do not need as much space as I think I do. In fact, close quarters makes for closer relationships- there's no escaping.
-The direction your home faces is important- sunlight is a good thing.
-An easy way not to accumulate things you don't need is to not have the space for them in the first place.
-I can live cheaply even in expensive places, and there's little reason for me not to.
-Little markets and shops are so much more fun than big grocery stores.
-I like big cities.
-(Good) public transportation is just about the best thing ever.
-Laundromats stink.
-Long work hours and 2 weeks vacation stink, too.
-Just five years in a place can still get you awfully attached to it and the people you love there.


Granby, Colorado
Population 1,670
1800 sf
3 residents + Izzy the dog

-Mountains look fantastic from your bedroom window.
-Four wheel drive DOES have a place in the modern world.
-Shorter work hours provide for a much more enjoyable and stress-free home life.
-Avoid moving into a brand new place. Things never go perfectly smooth the first time and you have to deal with issues like no TV/phone/internet/radio signal all at once or strange leaks in your bathroom.
-Remote-ness is pleasant, but tiresome.


Many towns, Asia
Population lots
13 kg backpack space
1 resident

-I do not need as much stuff as I thought to live happily. In fact, the fewer the items, the easier the load.
-The world is big and beautiful, and each place has it's own unique advantages.


Durham, England
Population 29,000
700 sf
2 residents + the professor and vicar downstairs

-I am happy when my commute is happy.
-Clear country of origin labeling on every food product is a fantastic idea. Hm, perhaps that's a little off-topic.
-Weather affects my mood a lot more than I think it should. Also, I like four distinct seasons.
-Again, I like small towns.
-Again, (good) public transportation is just about the best thing ever.
-Again, living near family is worth something. I miss them!