MIxed Reviews

When you book a big trip like Justin and I did, make sure you do your homework. I researched our hotel in London weeks before I booked it. The reviews were mixed and, as we found out, with good reason. It was in a cool area of town. Everything was in walking distance, including the BEST falafal I have EVER had. It was so good, we had it two nights in a row. So freaking good! Did I mention it was the best I've ever had?

The hotel offered free breakfast which was a bonus since our dollar was so weak there; we needed something free. And the room was adequate and cleaned almost daily. And we had a trouser press in the room. How British! I don't think we brought trousers but that didn't stop Justin from using it.

Now for the bad reviews. The room was VERY small but we didn't care because we were celebrating my 30th birthday all week in London...not in a small hotel room. With all the luggage we had, there just wasn't enough room. The room was cleaned for the most part. Sometimes the trash wasn't taken out or the bed made but we thought, "This is London. Maybe they do things differently over here. Lets go get falafal!"

Early one morning we got up to catch the Eurostar train to Paris. Looking back, I'm glad we got up at 6am because right before we left all dressed up for our big day in Paris, we started to hear something. We knew immediately what that sound was. Then it became obvious when we could see our bed hitting the wall...without us in it. Justin was impressed with our neighbors. I was impressed with our luck; us leaving that morning. I think they were French because they smoked all the time in their non-smoking room. I threatened to call the front desk but I didn't want a wake up call from them again in the morning, so I gave up.

Phone charges are killer at this hotel or again, our dollar just sucks. Make sure to ask about premium phone numbers (aka 1-900 numbers, but we didn't call one of those numbers. It was the BBC, I don't think they are that skanky.) One call cost us $30. I'm NOT kidding. Justin limited our cell phone time due to $1/min charges. Looking back, that wasn't smart. It would have been cheaper to use the cell phone. Live and learn and pay the $60 phone bill. Grrrr

Besides all those silly little problems, we enjoyed our trip to London. I'd recommend this hotel even if there are French there.

Edit

I took Monday off to attend NAB (National Association of Broadcasters). I like to go every year because 1) it's here in Vegas and 2) I like to see all the new stuff in the industry I'm not working in. I'm learning a lot in the Affiliate Marketing industry but it's more curiosity of what's happening in the media.

I was inspired to do a few things at home that I learned (new editing techniques and tricks). But I have yet to do them. I prefer to have direction like a project. Not just play around with things. And since I don't have a project, I don't try new things out. So I need a project. I can shoot, capture, edit and post online. Does anyone have any ideas or a need for a cool video? No charge! I just want to practice and use all the equipment I have and keep my skills sharp.

I had a weird dream that I was writing a fake story about Elton John hating the Irish (honestly, I have no idea where this came from). In my dream, Justin said I should write about the band Foghat instead. He must have told me this in his sleep because he was singing "Slow Ride" this morning.

Maybe that's my video topic. Who knows. Any suggestions or better ideas?

Hey Drum Corps Friends

Who didn't see this coming?

Well at least I can buy my tickets now that they know where finals will be.

1 year Anniversary

Yesterday was my 1-year anniversary. Justin said, "Am I going to get in trouble if I don't know what your 1-year anniversary is?" Silly boy. No, of course I don't expect him to remember that my braces came off one year ago yesterday. Nothing really to celebrate. I still have to wear my retainer and I have one more ortho appointment but other than that...it's been an uneventful year regarding my teeth.

Lately my theme song has been Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze's Chippendales dance: Everybody's working for the weekend. I look forward to the week ending it's really sad.

Speaking of butt crack - I got a free magazine subscription as a gift and I picked This Old House. I own a house but not an old one. I do most of the repairs so I figured it'd be good to get advice from the experts. Justin thinks because I do all the plumbing repairs in the house it's ok for me to show my crack. I don't agree for various reasons. He doesn't do any repairs and his crack is always showing. Guess it can be a lonely club sometimes. But now we've got This Old House to help me so I can show him that they don't have crack to be a good plumber.