Getting to Paris was fairly smooth, but the legendary Charles de Gaulle Airport wasn't about to let it be that easy. I got through Frankfurt without having my passport checked even once - I picked up my boarding card by inserting my bank card into an automated checkin machine, then scanned the bar code on it to get past the gate and into the aircraft. David had a slight delay, but the real fun began when we realised that we had landed in different terminals. In the end I asked him to aim for the RER (mass transit commuter lines) in his terminal and I'd just try to find him. The shuttle between terminals is a bit like an old-style rollercoaster ride and takes forever.
Then it was out into Paris' public transport system, which rumbled along to Chatelet-les-Halles, the metro station I was most afraid of when I lived there as a kid. The RER section wasn't as bad as I remembered the metro part being - more people and more lights. Then it was one more stop to Gare de Lyon, which we would leave from the next morning. Despite it being nearly 11pm there were open cafes, and we had warm goat's cheese salad and a Savoyarde flammkuchen with mushrooms, cheese and bacon. I navigated from the station to the hotel, then David navigated us back when I got hopelessly off track. The Hotel des Trois Gares was neatly tucked into a corner at the end of a footbridge across a canal and we had a nice quiet night there (the only downside about the place was the miniscule lift - you would want to be friendly to use it).
The next morning, after commiserating with the man on reception about France's defeat by the Netherlands the night before and seeing Ireland's 'No' vote splashed across the front pages, we headed to Gare de Lyon and grabbed some warm drinks before boarding a train for Fontainebleau-Avon. It was not a good morning for coffee - at the hotel it was stewed and cold (a rare combination) and at the station more like water. Half of the hour-long journey was spent sitting at an intermediate station, but then we arrived through steadily increasing amounts of forest to Fontainebleau. Or, maybe more accurately, to its outskirts. Not realising the scale of the map we walked in, which took almost half an hour. But we found the hotel easily, and they let us check in and get the key card early. We headed out for a pizza and dessert at a cafe next door - narrowly avoiding a rain shower - and then headed back in to plan but ended up sleeping for a while... obviously we both needed it.
We spent the rest of the evening watching Stardust on DVD, which was a lot of fun. My favourite line of the movie: "But you were a mouse! You wanted cheese!" We realised at one point that as David had brought me over some clothes, my new music player, a very large pair of noise-cancelling headphones and a USB headset - there was no way I was going to get everything back in to my rucksack along with my laptop and camera (which I didn't really need anyway as David had brought his much smaller one). So, case swap it was. Must bring it back in July.
Somewhat more refreshed the next morning, we left our cases at the very nice Hotel Napoleon and headed out. After picking up a map of the Forest of Fontainebleau, I realised that Nemours, where we went on family holidays when we lived in Paris, was quite a bit further than I had thought and would probably require a return to the train station. Damn. The weather was also quite unsettled, with half an hour of sunshine followed by ten minutes of torrential rain. Not really the kind of weather you want for going and rambling around (and knowing me, getting lost in) a forest, no matter how lovely the rocks are.
We resigned ourselves to staying in the town where we could find shelter, which was no bad thing. Lunch was had at a cafe and patisserie we had seen the day before, some nice quiches followed by a raspberry souffle for himself and a coffee religieuse that almost made me ill - I seem to have lost my sugar tolerance somewhat. There were plenty of places in the town to wander around and buildings to admire, then we explored the chateau gardens and did a quick bit of boating on the carp lake (just got out in time as it started to rain again - although we were equally worried about being capsized by one of the giant fish). We even went on a horse-drawn carriage ride through the French Garden and out a little way into the forest, which was lovely but made you appreciate modern suspension. Amazing how even rain can be enjoyable when you're somewhere else on holiday.
After spending a few hours around the chateau and realising that the weather wasn't going to improve, we set off for the station again, this time by bus. The train back was much quicker, and we were in Gare de Lyon over half an hour before we had planned.
For the next half an hour or so, we were reminded why we don't come to France very often. The Japanese restaurant we had seen on Friday was closed, as were the Chinese and Italian ones. Which left the Fruits de Mer (seafood) and Savoyarde restaurants - none of which had a 'vegetarian option' beyond plain omelette. Eventually we got tired of walking around the area - particularly as the number of open restaurants decreased as we went away from the station - and instead headed for the airport.
That was equally bad, and we ended up having slightly stale mozarella and tomato and ham and cheese sandwiches at a terminal cafe. After splitting up to head off to our checkins, I found that my flight was delayed by a technical fault which had caused a delay on the incoming craft, which was then followed after boarding by some passengers from another flight deciding they didn't want to transfer to this one, so their bags had to be found and offloaded. Between that and the irregular evening trains from the airport (filled with celebrating Turkish supporters), I got home about 1:00 am.
Monday was thankfully quiet at work, and although one of the MA seminars was supposed to have started yesterday there was nothing on the bulletin boards, so as I was geared up to do something I instead redesigned my j-trans site. It's still not perfect but at least looks a lot better.
Monday, 16 June 2008
Friday, 13 June 2008
Touch base
It was a fairly hectic day yesterday, but first back to the long walk.
I thought I was one of the last to leave the office, running out at 5:45 which is when we were meant to be registering at the tent. The park was just down the road, but it was absolutely immense and it took me a while to find any tents, let alone the Nintendo one. When I finally found it, and the other UK translators doing the run, I was still in plenty of time - someone had obviously added a cat-herding margin to the arrival times.
A pleasant surprise was that the company t-shirts were actually quite nice - normally they're things you'd be embarrassed to wear after the event unless decorating, but I'll definitely wear mine in public. We also had inflatable batons to make noise with, and there was a lot of it as we headed off en masse after a group photo (there's no way they got everyone in without a panoramic lens). We filed out of the park, joking about how we were all wearing 'Wii Fit' t-shirts but were being passed out by pretty much everyone else, including some very fit-looking people from Panasonic.
It was a fair walk before we even got to the start area, and it was jam packed. There was some idea of organising yourself by your projected race time, but no-one seemed to be paying it any attention (which came back to bite us later). We stood around commenting on other people's t-shirts (one had 'we love this meeting!') and groaning at the choice of music (themes from Rocky and Chariots of Fire). After several '5-4-3-2-1!' announcements, we finally started to move forward, although it was another few minutes before we got to the start gate. But the crowd was very good-natured, and kept doing Mexican waves while standing around.
G and I walked the whole thing, but didn't do too badly at 50 minutes for 3.5 miles. The worst part was being pushed past by people running, as no-one had lined up by race time (it was simply too crowded to do anything like that) and although they were letting people out in batches the road (2-3 lanes) was still too narrow to allow everyone to be where they wanted. We ended up hugging the side of the barriers, but people still tried to undertake us. After a while the runners from both start gates joined up as we got to use both sides of a 4-lane dual carriageway, which made things much easier.
There were loads of cheering fans standing outside offices, and samba dancers for some reason. Other Nintendo people stopped to talk to us as they passed (which they generally did) and before too long we were passing the 5km markers and trying to figure out what 3.5 miles was in km. The end gate was a fairly subdued affair, with people raising their arms to run through in front of some cameras. From there we carried on walking until we were back in the park - we never did find the places to pick up our post-race JP Morgan t-shirts but we weren't that bothered. Cold drinks were foremost in our minds, and with those supplied we headed back to the company tent. The sight of the queue for the BBQ - and the amount of fat some of the stuff was frying in - put myself and G off and we had some biscuits instead.
I ended up sitting next to the producer from my previous project, a gregarious Frenchman with a love of any chocolate over 60% cocoa (and a corresponding hatred and scorn of anything less). Various areas had begun to hurt, mainly my calves and front of my thighs, followed by the backs of my hips (I did the whole thing in my MBTs, as they're simply the most comfortable walking shoes ever, so long as it's on a flat surface). My neck started hurting as well and I tried stretching it out, which he noticed and pushed his thumbs into the top of my shoulders, and agreed that I was indeed very stiff.
Then he took my hand and started pressing his thumb into various parts of it, which was fine until he reached the area above my thumb on the side of the hand - then it hurt like hell. "Are you sleeping well? You're not sleeping well, and you're depleted." I was frankly amazed - I haven't been sleeping well in Frankfurt, and gave up eating properly in the heat as I had no appetite. Turns out he has been informally studying shiatsu for years, and loved to use it to ease his wife's aches and pains when she was pregnant.
If any guys are reading this, this is a skill that will help you pull. He gives the best backrub, if G and P's reactions were anything to go by (actually, if we'd video-taped P and you didn't know what was happening...). I, unfortunately, was judged too tense for him to be able to do anything there and then, but I was still most impressed. Quite interested in it now.
Thursday was spent crunching through possible localisation issues in files at work - it's always fascinating to talk about it with someone else and see how differently people can think. Now we just need to close down as many as we can and leave as few changes to implement as possible. After that I concentrated on checking my translation, which I also spent most of the night doing. It started raining about 4pm, and I was only in a t-shirt as it's been way too hot for weeks. Bought a brolly in the supermarket.
I've bought some music online in anticipation of getting my shiny new player from David tonight, and am having a lot of enjoyment listening to Sunglasses at Night (Sean Finn and Gino Montesano, Moog Radio Mix) and Dangerous Power (Gabriel Dresden feat. Sean Burton, Gabriel Dresden Extended Mix).
But now it's time to pack the laptop, get a fleece and get to work! Paris and Fontainebleau await!
I thought I was one of the last to leave the office, running out at 5:45 which is when we were meant to be registering at the tent. The park was just down the road, but it was absolutely immense and it took me a while to find any tents, let alone the Nintendo one. When I finally found it, and the other UK translators doing the run, I was still in plenty of time - someone had obviously added a cat-herding margin to the arrival times.
A pleasant surprise was that the company t-shirts were actually quite nice - normally they're things you'd be embarrassed to wear after the event unless decorating, but I'll definitely wear mine in public. We also had inflatable batons to make noise with, and there was a lot of it as we headed off en masse after a group photo (there's no way they got everyone in without a panoramic lens). We filed out of the park, joking about how we were all wearing 'Wii Fit' t-shirts but were being passed out by pretty much everyone else, including some very fit-looking people from Panasonic.
It was a fair walk before we even got to the start area, and it was jam packed. There was some idea of organising yourself by your projected race time, but no-one seemed to be paying it any attention (which came back to bite us later). We stood around commenting on other people's t-shirts (one had 'we love this meeting!') and groaning at the choice of music (themes from Rocky and Chariots of Fire). After several '5-4-3-2-1!' announcements, we finally started to move forward, although it was another few minutes before we got to the start gate. But the crowd was very good-natured, and kept doing Mexican waves while standing around.
G and I walked the whole thing, but didn't do too badly at 50 minutes for 3.5 miles. The worst part was being pushed past by people running, as no-one had lined up by race time (it was simply too crowded to do anything like that) and although they were letting people out in batches the road (2-3 lanes) was still too narrow to allow everyone to be where they wanted. We ended up hugging the side of the barriers, but people still tried to undertake us. After a while the runners from both start gates joined up as we got to use both sides of a 4-lane dual carriageway, which made things much easier.
There were loads of cheering fans standing outside offices, and samba dancers for some reason. Other Nintendo people stopped to talk to us as they passed (which they generally did) and before too long we were passing the 5km markers and trying to figure out what 3.5 miles was in km. The end gate was a fairly subdued affair, with people raising their arms to run through in front of some cameras. From there we carried on walking until we were back in the park - we never did find the places to pick up our post-race JP Morgan t-shirts but we weren't that bothered. Cold drinks were foremost in our minds, and with those supplied we headed back to the company tent. The sight of the queue for the BBQ - and the amount of fat some of the stuff was frying in - put myself and G off and we had some biscuits instead.
I ended up sitting next to the producer from my previous project, a gregarious Frenchman with a love of any chocolate over 60% cocoa (and a corresponding hatred and scorn of anything less). Various areas had begun to hurt, mainly my calves and front of my thighs, followed by the backs of my hips (I did the whole thing in my MBTs, as they're simply the most comfortable walking shoes ever, so long as it's on a flat surface). My neck started hurting as well and I tried stretching it out, which he noticed and pushed his thumbs into the top of my shoulders, and agreed that I was indeed very stiff.
Then he took my hand and started pressing his thumb into various parts of it, which was fine until he reached the area above my thumb on the side of the hand - then it hurt like hell. "Are you sleeping well? You're not sleeping well, and you're depleted." I was frankly amazed - I haven't been sleeping well in Frankfurt, and gave up eating properly in the heat as I had no appetite. Turns out he has been informally studying shiatsu for years, and loved to use it to ease his wife's aches and pains when she was pregnant.
If any guys are reading this, this is a skill that will help you pull. He gives the best backrub, if G and P's reactions were anything to go by (actually, if we'd video-taped P and you didn't know what was happening...). I, unfortunately, was judged too tense for him to be able to do anything there and then, but I was still most impressed. Quite interested in it now.
Thursday was spent crunching through possible localisation issues in files at work - it's always fascinating to talk about it with someone else and see how differently people can think. Now we just need to close down as many as we can and leave as few changes to implement as possible. After that I concentrated on checking my translation, which I also spent most of the night doing. It started raining about 4pm, and I was only in a t-shirt as it's been way too hot for weeks. Bought a brolly in the supermarket.
I've bought some music online in anticipation of getting my shiny new player from David tonight, and am having a lot of enjoyment listening to Sunglasses at Night (Sean Finn and Gino Montesano, Moog Radio Mix) and Dangerous Power (Gabriel Dresden feat. Sean Burton, Gabriel Dresden Extended Mix).
But now it's time to pack the laptop, get a fleece and get to work! Paris and Fontainebleau await!
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
All walked out
Have dragged myself home from the 3.5 mile JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge, one nice t-shirt to show for it. I'm going to be very, very stiff tomorrow.
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Something funny
Again, a genuine search - this time for weasel words, to find a nicer way of describing the cop-out of saying 'most people would agree that...' without providing any evidence for my feminism nationalism translation - has led to some new gems.
Follow it through glittering generality to The Society for Propaganda Analysis, then Argumentum ad numerum through to Communal reinforcement and finally you will arrive... at the wonders of truthiness. Keep going until you find the report on the speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.
I hope it makes you laugh - albeit in a rather painful way - as much as it did me.
Follow it through glittering generality to The Society for Propaganda Analysis, then Argumentum ad numerum through to Communal reinforcement and finally you will arrive... at the wonders of truthiness. Keep going until you find the report on the speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.
I hope it makes you laugh - albeit in a rather painful way - as much as it did me.
Monday, 9 June 2008
Run!
I completely forgot that I'd signed up to do a charity 3.5k run (after being assured that not only could I walk it, I would probably have to as there were so many people involved). And forgot when it was, so was worried it was this Friday or weekend, when I will not be here. Unhelpfully, the reminders in work were vague in a 'less than 2 weeks to go!' way but not actually giving a date. The internet informs me that it's Wednesday, so I will trundle along with loads of others from work and go to a huge BBQ afterwards. Should be fun.
Finally finished translating feminism nationalism over the weekend. Now I just have to check what I've done (especially the last section) and try to make it into acceptable English. It's hard when I'm not sure what some of the passages are trying to say, or when I don't understand the theory behind them. But such are uni assignments, particularly when you're trying to do something vaguely advanced in a field you know little about.
Amusing factoid I found today - there is a Black Day in South Korea. Nothing racial, I stumbled upon it while looking up Baumkuchen (legitimate work-related search!), which led me to White Day, which led me to Black Day. Seen my past failure at baking pretty much anything, I am in no hurry to try a traditional Baumkuchen...
Other than that, all getting a bit existential, in a what-am-I-doing way. Some colleagues have the chance to work closely with their teams or project managers, or actually translate, and so show what they can do, which I am quite envious of (the chance rather than the people). What I'm working on at the moment is checking US English text for anything unacceptable and/or incomprehensible in UK English, which while worthy in its own way is quite boring and simple work. I'm not stretching myself in any way, there isn't much to make an impression (let alone impress) with and although the pay is excellent the work itself isn't getting me anywhere.
My self-motivation is slipping (has slipped?) and without it there's not much to keep me going. While I feel I learned the hard way that trying hard for a lost cause (aka flogging a dead horse?) just ends up driving me crazy, I'm afraid of becoming sloppy and missing a chance if it does present itself, or simply messing up at some point.
And while saying all that, I have to laugh - it's nothing that hasn't happened to pretty much everyone else, including me, and the answer is the same as it's always been. Somehow, bootstrapping.
Finally finished translating feminism nationalism over the weekend. Now I just have to check what I've done (especially the last section) and try to make it into acceptable English. It's hard when I'm not sure what some of the passages are trying to say, or when I don't understand the theory behind them. But such are uni assignments, particularly when you're trying to do something vaguely advanced in a field you know little about.
Amusing factoid I found today - there is a Black Day in South Korea. Nothing racial, I stumbled upon it while looking up Baumkuchen (legitimate work-related search!), which led me to White Day, which led me to Black Day. Seen my past failure at baking pretty much anything, I am in no hurry to try a traditional Baumkuchen...
Other than that, all getting a bit existential, in a what-am-I-doing way. Some colleagues have the chance to work closely with their teams or project managers, or actually translate, and so show what they can do, which I am quite envious of (the chance rather than the people). What I'm working on at the moment is checking US English text for anything unacceptable and/or incomprehensible in UK English, which while worthy in its own way is quite boring and simple work. I'm not stretching myself in any way, there isn't much to make an impression (let alone impress) with and although the pay is excellent the work itself isn't getting me anywhere.
My self-motivation is slipping (has slipped?) and without it there's not much to keep me going. While I feel I learned the hard way that trying hard for a lost cause (aka flogging a dead horse?) just ends up driving me crazy, I'm afraid of becoming sloppy and missing a chance if it does present itself, or simply messing up at some point.
And while saying all that, I have to laugh - it's nothing that hasn't happened to pretty much everyone else, including me, and the answer is the same as it's always been. Somehow, bootstrapping.
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Too damn hot
Yes, it's still hot. Not quite as bad as it was, but it's been hot for so long that I'm feeling really worn down and light-headed most of the time. So, hiding out in my room reading rather than going out at the weekends, which means not much in the way of news.
Himself has been wonderful and ordered my new mp3 player, headphones and USB headset for me. Can't wait to see him next weekend.
Still trying to drag myself through this feminism nationalism translation. If nothing else it's turning into an interesting impromptu history lesson as I try to place some names - female anarchists executed for treason in the Meiji era.
Quote for the day: "Not unusually, tradition in Japan held that femaleness and an individual identity and destiny were oxymoronic. Thus, when the Tokugawa (1603-1867) authorities chose to execute a woman, she would be given a man's name. This was not unlike the view of progressive medieval Buddhists that enlightenment was not, after all, out of the reach of women. In male bodies, transformed at the point of death through the grace of Amida Buddha, they might gain immediate entry to the Pure Land. Either style of 'annihilation' meant dying a 'man'. However, after the Meiji imperial restoration of 1868, Western-style modernity brought with it a new view of women as modern citizens. The Meiji Constitution, Civil Code and political assembly laws fell far short of according them equality in terms of their rights or duties to the nation, yet the new criminal code promulgated in 1880 spelt a certain equality for women in granting them equal access to criminality."
From 'Resistance to Difference: Sexual Equality and its Law-ful and Out-law (Anarchist) Advocates in Imperial Japan' by Hélène Bowen Raddeker
Himself has been wonderful and ordered my new mp3 player, headphones and USB headset for me. Can't wait to see him next weekend.
Still trying to drag myself through this feminism nationalism translation. If nothing else it's turning into an interesting impromptu history lesson as I try to place some names - female anarchists executed for treason in the Meiji era.
Quote for the day: "Not unusually, tradition in Japan held that femaleness and an individual identity and destiny were oxymoronic. Thus, when the Tokugawa (1603-1867) authorities chose to execute a woman, she would be given a man's name. This was not unlike the view of progressive medieval Buddhists that enlightenment was not, after all, out of the reach of women. In male bodies, transformed at the point of death through the grace of Amida Buddha, they might gain immediate entry to the Pure Land. Either style of 'annihilation' meant dying a 'man'. However, after the Meiji imperial restoration of 1868, Western-style modernity brought with it a new view of women as modern citizens. The Meiji Constitution, Civil Code and political assembly laws fell far short of according them equality in terms of their rights or duties to the nation, yet the new criminal code promulgated in 1880 spelt a certain equality for women in granting them equal access to criminality."
From 'Resistance to Difference: Sexual Equality and its Law-ful and Out-law (Anarchist) Advocates in Imperial Japan' by Hélène Bowen Raddeker
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Now you've done it
I've booked my flights for Japan in October! Finnair are having a seat sale, with Heathrow to Nagoya or Osaka for a mere £392.90. I'm leaving on Oct 3, arriving early on Oct 4 and there until the morning of Oct 26. The three week JR railpass and rental mobile will be sorted out later...
Not much else - it's still too hot. Went out to Yumeya, a ramen restaurant near the Frankfurt Messe exhibition center. It was fun, if quite disorganised on the service front. Not expensive either.
Really, really must concentrate on getting this feminist nationalist translation done this weekend so I can run away to Fontainebleau with himself next weekend. Shall bring the camera - I know I haven't been doing much around Frankfurt recently. There aren't many people interested in going places, and I'm sorry to say my German is still non-existent so I'm still quite nervous. But I should make an effort to at least see Heidelberg and one town on the Romance Road that seems near enough.
June already... been here three months. It feels like it, in that way that you get used to places, but also not in that I feel like I haven't got that much done. Another three months (or possibly four, the one month extension I was promised has not shown up yet) and it's all over. For now anyway.
But I have other things to worry about - I'm managing to read a small newspaper article a day on the Asahi Shimbun website, but as soon as I get back from France I need to start preparing for the residential weekend, which means reading short stories, reviewing the report-writing and preparing visual aids for the presentation. There's quite a lot of work to be done there, so I just hope I have the willpower for it...
Not much else - it's still too hot. Went out to Yumeya, a ramen restaurant near the Frankfurt Messe exhibition center. It was fun, if quite disorganised on the service front. Not expensive either.
Really, really must concentrate on getting this feminist nationalist translation done this weekend so I can run away to Fontainebleau with himself next weekend. Shall bring the camera - I know I haven't been doing much around Frankfurt recently. There aren't many people interested in going places, and I'm sorry to say my German is still non-existent so I'm still quite nervous. But I should make an effort to at least see Heidelberg and one town on the Romance Road that seems near enough.
June already... been here three months. It feels like it, in that way that you get used to places, but also not in that I feel like I haven't got that much done. Another three months (or possibly four, the one month extension I was promised has not shown up yet) and it's all over. For now anyway.
But I have other things to worry about - I'm managing to read a small newspaper article a day on the Asahi Shimbun website, but as soon as I get back from France I need to start preparing for the residential weekend, which means reading short stories, reviewing the report-writing and preparing visual aids for the presentation. There's quite a lot of work to be done there, so I just hope I have the willpower for it...
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
yes, yes, YES!!
As the ad goes. I finally got my hair cut (goes a bit like this) which makes me feel like I've taken off a woolly hat. Which is good, as the weather continues to be stupidly hot.
In other news, having far too much fun looking at places to go with my brother and his other half in Japan in October (Tokyo, Matsumoto, Obuse, Inuyama and Kanazawa on the list so far) and generally managing to avoid the MA translation I should be doing.
In other news, having far too much fun looking at places to go with my brother and his other half in Japan in October (Tokyo, Matsumoto, Obuse, Inuyama and Kanazawa on the list so far) and generally managing to avoid the MA translation I should be doing.
Friday, 30 May 2008
Victory! (again)
I have an appointment for a haircut. Woo.
The Italians have been measuring the heat in the office, and apparently it hit 31 Celsius on Wednesday. Thursday was equally bad, but Friday was bearable. I did go out on Wednesday and buy four new light tops, and a headset for using Skype now I've paid in to be able to call normal phones.
Except the MacBook Pros don't come with a microphone port. They come with a line-in port, which normal headsets can't use. So, I can't use it. Need to get myself a USB headset or some kind of external amp or sound card. Spent a huge amount of time researching what will or won't work and think I have found one now that I can use.
Had a massive thunderstorm last night with constant thunder and lightning, and another one has just moved in. At least it will cool things down a bit. It's hard to concentrate on anything with it so hot, but I have at least managed to buy a card for my cousin's wedding (although I've managed to lose his address) and write to my homestay family in Japan.
My brother has finally firmed up his dates for Mongolia, so I can start plotting my next trip to Japan. Finnair are having a seat sale, and seem to make the journey via Helsinki faster than Emirates via Dubai. The direct flights are all over £800, much as I would love to go direct again.
The Italians have been measuring the heat in the office, and apparently it hit 31 Celsius on Wednesday. Thursday was equally bad, but Friday was bearable. I did go out on Wednesday and buy four new light tops, and a headset for using Skype now I've paid in to be able to call normal phones.
Except the MacBook Pros don't come with a microphone port. They come with a line-in port, which normal headsets can't use. So, I can't use it. Need to get myself a USB headset or some kind of external amp or sound card. Spent a huge amount of time researching what will or won't work and think I have found one now that I can use.
Had a massive thunderstorm last night with constant thunder and lightning, and another one has just moved in. At least it will cool things down a bit. It's hard to concentrate on anything with it so hot, but I have at least managed to buy a card for my cousin's wedding (although I've managed to lose his address) and write to my homestay family in Japan.
My brother has finally firmed up his dates for Mongolia, so I can start plotting my next trip to Japan. Finnair are having a seat sale, and seem to make the journey via Helsinki faster than Emirates via Dubai. The direct flights are all over £800, much as I would love to go direct again.
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Round and round and round we go
For anyone wondering what on earth I'm talking about with kumihimo, here's a photo of my attempts so far. One of them is being used a decorative dangle on my bag, as I wove it around a clip. I'm not sure if the thinner ones are meant to twist as mine do... But still an awful lot of fun and really relaxing.
Yesterday was too hot. It was the kind of day where you either are dressed, or move, but not both. Everything I own seems to be too heavy. Yesterday was 23 degrees - today, tomorrow and Friday are supposed to be 29. I'm going to melt.
Still trying to get a haircut.
Yesterday was too hot. It was the kind of day where you either are dressed, or move, but not both. Everything I own seems to be too heavy. Yesterday was 23 degrees - today, tomorrow and Friday are supposed to be 29. I'm going to melt.
Still trying to get a haircut.
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
The horror is in the post
Love these Hammer House of Horror commemorative stamps from Royal Mail - along with the Carry On ones.
Not sure what it says about the contents of what it's on though...
Not sure what it says about the contents of what it's on though...
Monday, 26 May 2008
Oops
Apparently, I can lose track of time while doing kumihimo. I was planning on being in bed early tonight...
Easily distracted
I ended up undoing the kumihimo cord and redoing it - then undoing it again after realising I'd got the pattern wrong. How I did that I don't know, as it is literally weave-by-numbers. But on the third go I cut a new thread for the cross-weave so that it would be long enough to use up all the other cords, and wove away while watching a video - I now have a very nice red, gold and brown cord attached to a clip!
I don't have a weight to keep it tense and so keep the weave even, but I found that just holding the braid as it comes from the disc worked nicely. Very happy with it for a third first attempt...
But I really shouldn't be doing it in the morning before work. Need to run now.
I don't have a weight to keep it tense and so keep the weave even, but I found that just holding the braid as it comes from the disc worked nicely. Very happy with it for a third first attempt...
But I really shouldn't be doing it in the morning before work. Need to run now.
Sunday, 25 May 2008
Not too bad
As predicted, Friday felt like being called into work on a Saturday, Saturday felt like Sunday and Sunday didn't know what to do with itself. Such is a bank holiday Thursday.
Managed to get some things done - finally did a jewellery repair that I've had since Easter. I needed a few beads for it, so went to search for bead shops in Frankfurt without much hope - I'd searched before and found naught. But someone had posted a question about it a few days earlier on an 'answers' site and I got addresses for two places - the first of which had what I wanted (which was nothing special) and I also caved in and bought a kumihimo set and some carabiners with chains to weave onto. The second store was much larger and nicer, with a larger range of beads, and there too I was unable to resist buying something - in this case a set of 6 butterfly and dragonfly stamps and a set of blue/green ink pads. I know, I shouldn't. But I did.
The other thing I was on the lookout for was headphones. I found a real hi-fi shop, which predictably enough only stocked serious merchandise - 300 and 400 Euro Sennheiser headphones. The strange thing is that I can get both the headphones and the iAudio D2 much cheaper in the UK than here, even taking the strong Euro into account. But I can't seem to pay for them with my German bank card, so I'll have to see if I can get them delivered to a non-cardholder address (always a bit of a pain).
Otherwise, I finished the first section of the Social Science Readings translation, and read the central part we don't have to translate. I still have some way to go before I finish (due on June 13) but at least I've cracked the ice.
Went out to dinner last night with Z to the Thai place around the corner - cheap and cheerful (6 Euro main course) but tasty and just what we were looking for. He sent me one of his songs in production, and I am extremely impressed.
So, I'm now sitting surrounded by rattail (satin cord, in case you think it's something strange) and templates. I translated the kumihimo booklet online from German to English, and although not all of it made sense, I found a video that cleared up most things and actually making one piece has made a lot of the rest obvious. One bit I missed was that some threads have to be longer than others, so my 'finished item' has uneven straggly tails, but I quite like it anyway.
Managed to get some things done - finally did a jewellery repair that I've had since Easter. I needed a few beads for it, so went to search for bead shops in Frankfurt without much hope - I'd searched before and found naught. But someone had posted a question about it a few days earlier on an 'answers' site and I got addresses for two places - the first of which had what I wanted (which was nothing special) and I also caved in and bought a kumihimo set and some carabiners with chains to weave onto. The second store was much larger and nicer, with a larger range of beads, and there too I was unable to resist buying something - in this case a set of 6 butterfly and dragonfly stamps and a set of blue/green ink pads. I know, I shouldn't. But I did.
The other thing I was on the lookout for was headphones. I found a real hi-fi shop, which predictably enough only stocked serious merchandise - 300 and 400 Euro Sennheiser headphones. The strange thing is that I can get both the headphones and the iAudio D2 much cheaper in the UK than here, even taking the strong Euro into account. But I can't seem to pay for them with my German bank card, so I'll have to see if I can get them delivered to a non-cardholder address (always a bit of a pain).
Otherwise, I finished the first section of the Social Science Readings translation, and read the central part we don't have to translate. I still have some way to go before I finish (due on June 13) but at least I've cracked the ice.
Went out to dinner last night with Z to the Thai place around the corner - cheap and cheerful (6 Euro main course) but tasty and just what we were looking for. He sent me one of his songs in production, and I am extremely impressed.
So, I'm now sitting surrounded by rattail (satin cord, in case you think it's something strange) and templates. I translated the kumihimo booklet online from German to English, and although not all of it made sense, I found a video that cleared up most things and actually making one piece has made a lot of the rest obvious. One bit I missed was that some threads have to be longer than others, so my 'finished item' has uneven straggly tails, but I quite like it anyway.
Friday, 23 May 2008
It's dead, Jim
I had a few things I was going to do on the bank holiday yesterday - and did exactly none of them. I slept for 12 hours, watched videos and listened to music and generally faffed around.
Today, the content management system misbehaved to the extent that I managed to get about half of what I was hoping to done, and the rest of the day rechecking files it hadn't loaded properly the first time. I get paid for this.
My beloved and heavily used iAudio G2 has bitten the dust. It was declaring its 1GB disk full although there was nothing on it, so I proceeded to do a firmware update, which fixed that last time. No such luck - it went from being recognisable but full on the Mac to being recognisable on the Windows virtual machine only, and then to only being seen as a defective USB mass storage device. Oh well. I have had it for ages, and used it most days in that time. It has earned its eternal rest.
I'm currently interested it its younger sibling, the iAudio D2, and a pair of out-of-ear earphones. While I hate the way they look, my inner ears are starting to feel funny, possibly because due to the complete and total lack of soundproofing in these flats, I always have headphones on when listening to anything. I'm still not convinced that my hearing is 100%, despite a visit to the Royal Berkshire.
And now - the weekend, where I will attempt to do what I should have done yesterday.
Today, the content management system misbehaved to the extent that I managed to get about half of what I was hoping to done, and the rest of the day rechecking files it hadn't loaded properly the first time. I get paid for this.
My beloved and heavily used iAudio G2 has bitten the dust. It was declaring its 1GB disk full although there was nothing on it, so I proceeded to do a firmware update, which fixed that last time. No such luck - it went from being recognisable but full on the Mac to being recognisable on the Windows virtual machine only, and then to only being seen as a defective USB mass storage device. Oh well. I have had it for ages, and used it most days in that time. It has earned its eternal rest.
I'm currently interested it its younger sibling, the iAudio D2, and a pair of out-of-ear earphones. While I hate the way they look, my inner ears are starting to feel funny, possibly because due to the complete and total lack of soundproofing in these flats, I always have headphones on when listening to anything. I'm still not convinced that my hearing is 100%, despite a visit to the Royal Berkshire.
And now - the weekend, where I will attempt to do what I should have done yesterday.
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
Dream and nightmare
This morning went swimmingly. Oh, I did my usual (this must be the right stop - oh no, the destination looks wrong - cross to other bus stop - bus arrives - tells me I need the other direction - RUN across dual carriageway and only catch bus because it is late) but I was at UPS as they opened, paid my money, got my package and had a good 25 minutes opening everything and reading manuals before the bus arrived.
And I spent the entire day - I kid you not - merging files on the content management system. So I've played some of all three games...
My new neighbour downstairs might be from the music school. I think he's playing saxophone. I can hear it over my own music with headphones in, and it's given me a raging headache in the 20 minutes I've been home.
Bank holiday tomorrow. Must get a few things done that I've been waiting to do. I just hope Mr. Saxophone is out.
And I spent the entire day - I kid you not - merging files on the content management system. So I've played some of all three games...
My new neighbour downstairs might be from the music school. I think he's playing saxophone. I can hear it over my own music with headphones in, and it's given me a raging headache in the 20 minutes I've been home.
Bank holiday tomorrow. Must get a few things done that I've been waiting to do. I just hope Mr. Saxophone is out.
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
German efficiency?
Dad mentioned on the phone that the TGV booking website is allegedly the worst. No, I can beat it...
Frankfurt's route planner was sending me out two towns to the east before coming back in. Hence the hour journey and unknown fare.
It was only when I used Google Maps (no, not just plugging it because himself works for them) that I realised what on earth was happening. And that there was a U-Bahn station close by that I might be able to walk from. And when I traced the route, I could clearly see a tram on the street.
So, it's now down to a short hop to Willy-Brant-Platz and then Tram 11 to Hugo-Junkers-Strasse. 42 minutes. Or the S-Bahn to the next town east and then a bus. 33 minutes.
I'm sure it's something to do with not defining where I'm going in terms that the site can understand, but it doesn't exactly help me plan my journey...
Frankfurt's route planner was sending me out two towns to the east before coming back in. Hence the hour journey and unknown fare.
It was only when I used Google Maps (no, not just plugging it because himself works for them) that I realised what on earth was happening. And that there was a U-Bahn station close by that I might be able to walk from. And when I traced the route, I could clearly see a tram on the street.
So, it's now down to a short hop to Willy-Brant-Platz and then Tram 11 to Hugo-Junkers-Strasse. 42 minutes. Or the S-Bahn to the next town east and then a bus. 33 minutes.
I'm sure it's something to do with not defining where I'm going in terms that the site can understand, but it doesn't exactly help me plan my journey...
Adventure calls
Or disaster. It's not clear which it will be...
I could have sworn I checked my mailbox yesterday, but when I checked it today I found two 'we tried to deliver' notices from UPS for the order I placed ages ago for some Japanese language software on the DS - one of the games was out of stock for weeks.
The postal system here has a nasty habit of sending things back, so after hastily online-translating the options I called up and asked for delivery to 'a nearby UPS Centre' - there's one around the corner!
I called the UPS number and after a reasonable start, the conversation degenerated to the point where the call handler switched to English. I got the street name and number for my pickup and was assured I could pay what I assume is import tax.
'Nearby' must be some kind of euphemism. The UPS Center is in a massive industrial park way out on the east side of the city, out by the docks. Google Maps came through for me again, pinpointing the street even though I'd left out a hyphen. The Frankfurt public transport site was far less helpful until I switched to searching on the larger street the UPS Centre is off - it will take me just over an hour on a combination of U-bahn, commuter train and bus to get anywhere near the place.
They're open from 8am to 9pm, so I'll try to get there tomorrow am - and get into work on time...
I could have sworn I checked my mailbox yesterday, but when I checked it today I found two 'we tried to deliver' notices from UPS for the order I placed ages ago for some Japanese language software on the DS - one of the games was out of stock for weeks.
The postal system here has a nasty habit of sending things back, so after hastily online-translating the options I called up and asked for delivery to 'a nearby UPS Centre' - there's one around the corner!
I called the UPS number and after a reasonable start, the conversation degenerated to the point where the call handler switched to English. I got the street name and number for my pickup and was assured I could pay what I assume is import tax.
'Nearby' must be some kind of euphemism. The UPS Center is in a massive industrial park way out on the east side of the city, out by the docks. Google Maps came through for me again, pinpointing the street even though I'd left out a hyphen. The Frankfurt public transport site was far less helpful until I switched to searching on the larger street the UPS Centre is off - it will take me just over an hour on a combination of U-bahn, commuter train and bus to get anywhere near the place.
They're open from 8am to 9pm, so I'll try to get there tomorrow am - and get into work on time...
Monday, 19 May 2008
Weekender
After the morning of misfortune, I met up with A as promised at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. We headed back to mine to drop his case and then had a quick lunch at the Italian place near Iroha. From there we wandered through the historic Romerplatz and through to the river, where we took the 100 minute cruise up and down the river. The boat was bigger than the one I'd taken before for the cruise and Night of the Museums - maybe they're getting into high season. We could hear all the commentary, although it was playing a minute or so after we'd passed whatever they were talking about.
For dinner we tried out a place with a terrace on top of the Galeria department store, but it didn't do much in the way of food. We ended up at the bar at Eschenheimer Tor, where they forgot my cheeseburger. When it did come, I stopped eating the chips halfway through as they seemed a bit funny. And spent most of the night being kept up by having to go to the loo. If it wasn't that, it would have been the party at the house next door. At least A judged the inflatable mattress to be comfortable, and it was large enough.
On Sunday morning, mindful of what might or might not be open, we headed to the Main Tower, passing some really nice parks that trace the old town walls. After the airport-style security check (where they let a man with a pocket knife through...) we got into the lifts, which had a panel showing you where in the building you were and how fast the lift was going - I think we hit 18kmph. The view from the top (190m) was fantastic and it is definitely on my list of Places to Bring People.
Next stop was Fressgasse, supposed to be Frankfurt's one-street stop for all things gourmet. It was however very quiet and many places were closed. After deciding against anything too outrageous, we ended up having sandwiches and coffee at a really nice place that I'll definitely go to again.
Suitably fortified, we got back on the U-bahn and headed to the Sudbahnhof and connected with the No. 14 tram. It all looked very urban until the stop before ours, when we suddenly came into trees and the tram started to climb slightly. By the time we got off, you couldn't see any trace of Frankfurt. We headed off in one direction and found an arboretum and the City Forest House, full of interactive exhibits for kids. It also had a very impressive map of the city and forest with height gradations, and we could see there was a lake not far from the tram stop, so we set off back there with brief pauses to rescue a snail and investigate some kind of dragon mascot.
After crossing the tracks, we headed off in one direction and found some streams, but also a dead end (coming up against allotments) and then went uphill, which we thought couldn't be right. Back to the tram station and map - the only maps were on each side of the tram stop, and there was almost no signposting. The fact that neither of us has any sense of direction didn't help, but we weren't desperate to get anywhere. It was a glorious day and nice to be out of the city. We finally found the lake, took photos and staggered off to a rest stop for beer and diet coke.
Then it was back to the city center and another new discovery for dinner - although it took us a little while to find, the Historical Stork Restaurant was lovely and had great food - veal with mushrooms in cream sauce with noodles with butter and white truffle oil. And very reasonable, compared to Iwase.
Finally it was the traditional sprint for the station, but we got there with 5 minutes to spare and I waved A off. As he'd said, it was great to have someone familiar to chat to, and I was hit by a wave of loneliness as I watched the train fill up. Giving in to the urge to treat myself - but wanting to carry on avoiding sweeties as I had been doing so successfully for that week - I stumbled across a huge selection of novels in English in a bookshop in the station and bought a crime thriller.
Which came in very handy today, which finally was not party time at the laundrette.
But all in all a fantastic weekend - three new places to take people and a comfy mattress to put them up on.
For dinner we tried out a place with a terrace on top of the Galeria department store, but it didn't do much in the way of food. We ended up at the bar at Eschenheimer Tor, where they forgot my cheeseburger. When it did come, I stopped eating the chips halfway through as they seemed a bit funny. And spent most of the night being kept up by having to go to the loo. If it wasn't that, it would have been the party at the house next door. At least A judged the inflatable mattress to be comfortable, and it was large enough.
On Sunday morning, mindful of what might or might not be open, we headed to the Main Tower, passing some really nice parks that trace the old town walls. After the airport-style security check (where they let a man with a pocket knife through...) we got into the lifts, which had a panel showing you where in the building you were and how fast the lift was going - I think we hit 18kmph. The view from the top (190m) was fantastic and it is definitely on my list of Places to Bring People.
Next stop was Fressgasse, supposed to be Frankfurt's one-street stop for all things gourmet. It was however very quiet and many places were closed. After deciding against anything too outrageous, we ended up having sandwiches and coffee at a really nice place that I'll definitely go to again.
Suitably fortified, we got back on the U-bahn and headed to the Sudbahnhof and connected with the No. 14 tram. It all looked very urban until the stop before ours, when we suddenly came into trees and the tram started to climb slightly. By the time we got off, you couldn't see any trace of Frankfurt. We headed off in one direction and found an arboretum and the City Forest House, full of interactive exhibits for kids. It also had a very impressive map of the city and forest with height gradations, and we could see there was a lake not far from the tram stop, so we set off back there with brief pauses to rescue a snail and investigate some kind of dragon mascot.
After crossing the tracks, we headed off in one direction and found some streams, but also a dead end (coming up against allotments) and then went uphill, which we thought couldn't be right. Back to the tram station and map - the only maps were on each side of the tram stop, and there was almost no signposting. The fact that neither of us has any sense of direction didn't help, but we weren't desperate to get anywhere. It was a glorious day and nice to be out of the city. We finally found the lake, took photos and staggered off to a rest stop for beer and diet coke.
Then it was back to the city center and another new discovery for dinner - although it took us a little while to find, the Historical Stork Restaurant was lovely and had great food - veal with mushrooms in cream sauce with noodles with butter and white truffle oil. And very reasonable, compared to Iwase.
Finally it was the traditional sprint for the station, but we got there with 5 minutes to spare and I waved A off. As he'd said, it was great to have someone familiar to chat to, and I was hit by a wave of loneliness as I watched the train fill up. Giving in to the urge to treat myself - but wanting to carry on avoiding sweeties as I had been doing so successfully for that week - I stumbled across a huge selection of novels in English in a bookshop in the station and bought a crime thriller.
Which came in very handy today, which finally was not party time at the laundrette.
But all in all a fantastic weekend - three new places to take people and a comfy mattress to put them up on.
Sunday, 18 May 2008
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