I'm a Bad Blogger - UK TRIP!

Well, kiddies...from what I understand, blogging is supposed to help you chronicle your life and its twist and turns. So why have I been quiet for two weeks?

I've actually been in the UK for a work gig. It's something of a reprise from an earlier one in April; I've been working in a Midlands town in England called Lichfield. I was also able to steal off to London over last weekend, where the Tour de France was in town.

So why no blogging? Well, a couple of reasons. There are times - most of them, I think - when I'm a natural blogger. I like to recount, tell, and relate; I love to synthesize knowledge and experiences into something (hopefully) bigger. And yes, from that last sentence you can tell I'm a geek too.

One thing I've found, though, is that life can intrude...especially when your routine is so disrupted. I almost hate admitting this, since I have such a reputation as the "jetsetter" among friends - but intercontinental travel really sucks the first few days. Going to Europe leaves me completely hyper during the morning and early day, only to crash horribly in the afternoon. And darlings, let me say that Jonathan barely looks decent when he's well rested- when tired, it's like the Medusan on the classic Star Trek episode "Is There In Truth No Beauty? "

I did do better this time. I'm not usually one to embrace taking a ton o' supplements and pills, but I did break down and try melatonin for a sleep aid. I would DEFINITELY recommend it! No psychotic dreams like Ambien, no sleepiness during the day, great for helping you get into a good rhythm of sleeping and waking.

There were some downsides. First, England is having weather close to what Texas had when I left - i.e. rainy, floody, and crappy. It also has some allergen which I was totally unprepared for; by the third day here, I had lost my sense of taste (EEEEK!) and was getting very itchy. And this was on Claritin!! Luckily, Zyrtec is available over the counter here, and within two days I was right as rain. (God, I've been linguistically contaminated. You should hear some of the more colorful idioms they use here.)

Finally - and this was perhaps the most subconsciously depressing - my STUPID CAMERA PHONE totally crapped out on me. I was snapping pictures like wild at the tour, being Ultra Cool and using my Sports setting to capture shots of the...very sleek and hot...bikers go by. On the second day, though, the camera app started freezing repeatedly; then, in a moment of sheer horror, I looked on my storage card and realized that all the pictures I'd had were no longer registering in the file system. They're still THERE, according to the memory stats, but the file system got corrupted. When I get home, I'm going to try a couple of utilities to extract what I can; I seriously hope that I can post some pics from London.

So I'm going to try a kind of delayed blogging, giving some highlights of the trip. I'm staying up tonight to try and start syncing back with American time; when I leave for Austin via Frankfurt, it'll be around 12:45 AM CDT. We'll see if I can't make it on the flight to Germany, then zonk out on the plane.