Since I moved here, I've done:
- San Francisco to London - moving to the UK (5363 miles)
- London to Amsterdam - 20 hour trip to NextWeb conference and hang with the Diggnation guys (221 miles)
- Amsterdam to London - back to work (221 miles)
- London to Paris - personal trip with Deanne and Kristen (213 miles)
- Paris to London - eurostar trip back (213 miles)
- London to San Francisco - work trip to Web 2.0 expo (5363 miles)
- San Francisco to London - flight back from Web 2.0 (5363 miles)
- London to Budapest - personal trip with Deanne (902 miles)
- Budapest to London - flight back from BUD (902 miles)
- London to Paris - quick weekend trip with Andrew and Emily (213 miles)
- Paris to London - Eurostar back (213 miles)
- London to Johannesburg - 2 night work trip (5642 miles)
- Johannesburg to London - flight back (5642 miles)
30,291 miles so far and with trips to New York, Dublin and Krakow next month, I'll be well over 40,000 by the end of June. Didn't I use to not enjoy flying or something?
Suffice to say...I'm pretty tired.
]]>Paris: http://flickr.com/photos/46399542@N00/sets/72157604413093069/
My 18 hour trip to Amsterdam: http://flickr.com/photos/46399542@N00/sets/72157604391127770/
Fulham vs. Sunderland with Andrew: http://flickr.com/photos/46399542@N00/sets/72157604292644319/
Based on Tim Ferris' concept of a low-information diet, I did not look at any news media for an entire week. No TV news, no radio, no newspapers, no internet news, no magazines, no current affairs blogs, no digg. Complete current affairs blackout. I couldn't even listen to my beloved Fresh Air on the way to work. Only non-fiction books and TV for the week.
Most of you know I'm an information fiend. I crave news and information. I need to know what's going on. I wake up in the morning and throw on the news, check the web for what happened in the 6 hours I was asleep, I read the newspaper cover to cover. I check the news sites throughout the day, I'm a digg addict and I have news ticker widgets on my desktop. I think it goes without saying that this was not going to be easy for me.
So before I get into the results, let me explain why I did this. Well it was a couple of reasons. First and foremost, to see if I could. Secondly, it was an experiment to see what would happen to my life if I reduced the noise level dramatically. Would it reduce my stress? Would I sleep even better than I do now? Would I be able to concentrate better? Would I be able to cope not knowing what was going on? Would this sensory deprivation turn me into a social retard, unable to start or participate in conversations because I didn't know what was going on? Did I *need* to know everything that was going on? I was looking forward to finding out. But also scared shitless.
Well, I'm still alive so I deem the experiment a success. The first thing I should say is that it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. By reducing my information input from a fire hose to a squirt gun, I immediately found myself more relaxed and much more focused. By forbidding myself to check the BBC website every half an hour, browse digg, read the ticker, watch TV etc I found my productivity went through the roof. I had dramatically reduced my distractions and could stay on task without a bunch of background noise.
The second thing I noticed is that I *was* able to keep up to date with what was going on. No, I didn't cheat. But I managed to glean hours and hours of information and opinion in just a few seconds. I glanced at headlines as I walked past newsagents, I peeked over shoulders on the Tube to get a 3 second look at an article in Metro. I got everything I needed to know in a matter of seconds and moved on. Simple.
I also managed to get my editorial and opinion information as well. This was even easier AND it actually HELPED start conversations instead of the opposite. I just asked people at work or friends "Hey, what happened in the world today, I didn't get a chance to catch the news?" In less than a minute I'd have a world news digest AND 4 people's perspectives and opinions on the topics. Done. Simple.
I even got the results of two major primary elections without looking them up or asking anyone. My mom sent me a text message, assuming I saw the results, saying "What a bummer about Ohio and Texas! Think he can bounce back?" From that I knew that Hilary Clinton had won both states and that my mom was disappointed. I got my fact and my editorial in a 12 word digest.
I also felt less pissed off at the world. I never had an opportunity or need to go "Goddamn Fox News!! They make me so mad!" because I didn't let them get to me. No pundit on a news opinion show could rile me up with his or her viewpoint because I didn't hear it. I didn't need to hear it in the first place.
So no, I didn't feel out of touch or uninformed. In fact I felt more informed because I was given several layers of perspective to each piece of information I got and could then make up my own mind (or chose to discard the info) based on who told me what.
Since I finished this total immersion, I've slowly been allowing streams back into my life but only in a highly managed way. Still don't watch the news, still don't check the news sites more than once. I read the digg RSS feed once in a while but more because it always produces more funny and entertaining stories than hard hitting journalism. Plus it provides everything in short, digestible sound bites. I don't feel the need to click through.
We live in a total information age and I have been standing in front of the floodgates for a long time now. It was nice to step out of the deluge and take shelter for a little while.
]]>We have our very own Class 3 Kill-Storm here in England. 85mph winds and all that fun stuff. But typical England, it rains sideways and there's apocalyptic thunder and lightning one minute and then the next minute it's sunny. Lather, rinse, repeat. Ad nauseum.
Now I fully expected 15 or 16 people quietly lining up in front of an old woman with some juice and cookies. Perhaps the woman might have been wearing some sort of festive straw hat. And maybe a badge. But no! We turned the corner and were confronted by cheering throngs, thrusting their Hillary or Obama signs into the air as they chanted their respective slogans. There were police, cameramen, journalists, photographers. The line to vote stretched out of the building. As we filled in our forms, several passers-by (and I'm not making this up) actually heckled us. What made it even weirder is that they were respectable-looking old men and women. One old woman walked by and said "I can't wait for the Pakistani elections, at least THEY'LL do it with some decorum." Snotty bitch. But before we could all register our disgust, a fellow American piped up with "At least we don't blow people up," which technically isn't true but is still funny and put the skank in her place. One other older "gentleman" walked past a lady holding a Hillary sign and said "Why don't you call it "Clinton" because Hillary is a lie!" We all looked at each other with a collective "....what?"
After the drive-by hecklings, we made our way into the haul where we were efficiently ushered into the registration area where our forms were collected and our IDs verified. Then it was into the main hall. Which was absolutely jampacked! There must have been two to three hundred people in there. Bunting on the walls, balloons everywhere, the aforementioned juice and cookies, people wearing hats. It was a real party (get it?) atmosphere. We cast our votes on the stage where, weirdly enough, everyone could see who you were voting for as you deposited your ballot into conspicuously labeled bins. As you went off the stage you were ushered back into the hall where everyone was smiles. People were really having a great time. A great time voting. Yes, you read that correctly. I don't think the Brits could do anything like this with the local Womens Institute running parish council elections at the Village Hall. Hell, I don't even think Americans would do this at a normal polling station. This felt more like a political party convention than an election station. You half expected Jesse Jackson to walk on stage and start addressing the audience in his delightfully clipped prose.
So after all was said and done I (can't speak for Deanne) was bursting with patriotism as the 200,000 eligible American voters in London were, for a moment, united by the democratic process. It filled me with pride and some other emotions that are weird and deeply confusing. Quick, I need some Taco Bell.
(Doesn't the guy in that last photo look like Rob Cordry?)
Well life in London is good so far. We've been very, very busy with the boring day to day stuff, as well as the fun stuff. I've done three weeks at my new job at Virgin Management (aka the mothership) and I'm really enjoying it. We just moved from our serviced apartment in Bayswater to a hotel on Gloucester Road. We'll be here for a total of 16 nights until we move into our house in Fulham. I'm excited to move in and get settled - I think it will feel like we really live here once we're in a proper, permanent house.
A few more observations about life in London:
- traveling by Tube on the weekend is a lot like driving on the weekend. Slow and frustrating. They do the majority of repair work on the weekends and will often shut down entire lines. At one point early this month it was physically impossible to get to Victoria station by Tube. THREE lines go through Victoria Station.
- traveling by Tube at rush hour is a lot like the Bay Area during rush hour. Slow, crowded, dark, smelly, evil. But, I actually quite like the Tube - it's cheap and relatively quick. At least I don't have to drive.
- the British are a very outdoorsy people, they like doing things outdoors where everyone can see them. Like drinking, shouting, and puking. I've seen more puke in the last month than I've seen...ever.
- In the 1980s when the IRA had a penchant for using trash cans as convenient holders for their bombs, most public trash cans were either removed or relocated to low traffic areas. As a result, Londoners got used to leaving their empty beer can or candy bar wrapper pretty much wherever they wanted. That's right London, you've got a serious litter problem.
- The massive influx of Eastern Europeans into England has revolutionized customer service. England is not known for its customer service but the last few years has seen a dramatic improvement, especially in restaurants.
- I'd forgotten how much I enjoy living in a city. You can walk out your front door and be in the thick of things almost immediately. You don't notice shitty weather or darkness as much because there's constant activity.
]]>btj VIRGIN FLIGHTS "FLASHING LIGHTS" PARODY KANYE WEST
Add to My Profile | More Videos
They're all amazing but this one in particular is absolutely genius:
No? Not old enough and/or expensive enough, you say? Ok, well how about a bottle from 1865? A steal at £1949, and in no way does it taste like gasoline. Fantastic.
Still no? My, sir is quite the connoisseur! Well we do have a bottle of scotch for £5000 from the 1950s that sir might like. Yes? Excellent choice sir, I'll wrap it up right away! Oh..no need to wrap it up? You'll just drink it here? I see, well done sir.
Now, technically being of British lineage, I feel I can say all of this with a sense of cheeky (British) self-deprecation. We/they are not an attractive people. At all. Now of course you do get the occasional exception to the rule, just like anywhere. David Beckham, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Keira Knightley, Jude Law to name but a few, are beautiful people. But for the most part we get the type of sun-fearing trolls that you'd expect in a country that sees the sun for one hour some time in August.
Even the moderately attractive people, there's just something not right. You see someone from a distance and as they get closer..."Oh hey now, he/she looks pretty cute!....yeahhhoohhh....oh..oh dear....oh that's a shame." You look at them carefully and there's just something not right. Something ever so slightly off. Eyes ever so slightly too far apart or forehead just a little too big to land a helicopter on.
Perhaps it's all due to comparison. As I noted in my previous post, London is full of beautiful foreigners - perhaps seeing them in contrast to the average Brit isn't helping the situation. Maybe THAT'S why they're so adamant about cracking down on immigration. I see what you're up to!
But in all seriousness, one thing has struck me since I arrived here. Everywhere you look, in pubs, on the tube, on the street, the Brits are smiling a lot more. It's really nice. I don't know what they're smiling about and frankly I don't care but it sure does make them seem more attractive than their permanently pouting European neighbors.
So with that, I declare Britain the winners in this little Tete á Tete. Congratulations Britain, keep smiling!
]]>- If I ever write a book about my life it's going to be called "Continental Drift" or "Dislocation"
- There are no English people in London anymore. That's not a good or bad thing, just an observation. In case you're wondering, it's now filled with gorgeous (both male and female) europeans and russians.
- I don't do well without my wife around. At all. I'm really glad she's here.
- the Brits are a lary, loud people. They love to shout (be it agressively or positively) at you for any reason they can think of.
- The weather and darkness...really not that bad. I have a feeling being in the city really helps that which is one of the reasons I want to live in the middle of things and not out in the sticks.
- It's really hard to eat badly here. Yeah there's McDonalds and the BK Lounge but everywhere you look there are great restaurants and really good, clean food options that are just as fast and cheap as McDonalds and the BK Lounge.
- I don't miss the things that I thought I would. I don't miss the food (although my kind mother-in-law shipped some roni and cheese over to me, which I am really looking forward to!). I don't miss the TV as much as I thought I would. In fact I have barely watched any British TV since getting here.
- I think there might be more Starbucks per capita in London than in San Francisco. It certainly feels like that. Oh and they don't have Raspberry Mochas here - what the hell is up with that shit?
- So far since moving here I've eaten Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Singaporean, Malaysian, Italian and Middle Eastern food. All within 500 meters of my apartment. Awesome.
- Guitar Hero has reintroduced me to my love of Velvet Revolver. They're song "Slither" is featured in the current commercial that's playing in the US.
- I miss my US family immensely. Especially my nieces. But as my sister-in-law Donna pointed out in her recent blog post, in this day and age, you're never really far from anywhere.
- Internet connectivity is so much faster here. It's not even funny. My wireless connection in the apartment is 5x faster than my wired connection in San Leandro. I hate you AT&T.
- This is a great article on being an American in London http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_extracts/article3136495.ece
- Tea flows like water here. It's extraordinary. About 5 times a day someone comes around the office and asks if we want a "cuppa." Oh and tea tastes better here. I can bring back tea bags and make the same tea but it just tastes better here.
- Apparently if you drink beer from a bottle here, that makes you gay. Well call me Liberace then. No, you have to drink beer that has grass clippings in it and tastes like the drainings from a compost pile.
- Things they have here that surprised the hell out of me: Chili's, Papa John's Pizza, and Mexican food.
- Things that are hard to find here: The Onion, Wired Magazine, Dental floss, garbage cans, TV shows worth watching.
- Things that are not hard to find here: Starbucks, Cell phone companies, Chinese restaurants, clouds.
