Love The Brits

The trip to UK was pretty awesome. Here's a link to the rest of the pictures. Some are London, the old tore down castle is Bury St Edmunds.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bakergd/sets/72157602177633251/

Cheers,

-Gary

If Your Not Right..

If you're not right, you must be wrong. For well over half my life I've been driving a car. The basic rules of the road are now a part of my nature. I'm at the point where I can dial my cell, read a book, even take a nap and get to work safely. Knowing where to look when merging, turning or weaving happens without thought.

...until today. I'm in the UK. I rented a car at Heathrow airport to drive up to Bury St Edmunds with my boss. Now we've been in London since yesterday. We've been riding in cabs and we got the whole experience watching someone drive on the left side of the road. It was actually a litte exciting the first time we looked outside the front windshield while taking a right turn, but after a full day of it, it seems to flow pretty normally. So we go get this car. A light blue 5-speed manual Peugeot. We collect our 'Tom Tom' from the lady behind the desk and walk out to the car.

First mistake. David never planned on driving and I had the key, but that didn't stop both of us from naturally walking up to the wrong sides of the car to get in. We just looked at each other over the roof, rolled our eyes at each other and traded sides.

Second thru Three hundred fifty seventh mistakes. Driving a stick in the UK. It's on the left side. I can't remember how many times I needed to down/up-shift and hit my right hand on the door. I've heard of this from a colleague who said he went for the door handle once. He wasn't exaggerating. It's queer as hell.

It took about 30 feet in the parking lot to lose all cockiness and realize this was going to take an amazing feat in concentration if I wanted to make it a couple hundred kilometers to Bury St. Edmunds. Thanks the LORD, it was mostly freeway. After awhile, we got a little hungry and wanted to exit at a place that advertised 'services'. This was another major event. The normal intersection on this side of the Atlantic Ocean seems to be 'roundabouts'. (Rotaries if you're from New England). They're all over the place, but here they go clockwise. The rules are the same, but be dang sure you know which way to look for oncoming traffic, or you will become 'foreign stuff smeared on the road'. At one point I think David's eyes were closed, but I can't blame him. Mine were too for a few hairy moments.

But, in the end, we made it to the hotel. The best practice I got was in this small English town where David thought he knew where the hotel was. Trying to take lefts and rights on his command while also trying to keep from having a head-on was a pretty good lesson on driving in the UK. My suggestion if you're ever going to do it. Get on the Internet and study the rules of the road up here. The signs, lights, rotaries and street markings are completely different than those back home. Also, get a rental with the maximum insurance. It gives you a small edge on the comfort side.

I'll be posting pictures of the London sites in the next couple days. Will be seeing 'Stonehenge' also before flying to Germany. Oh, which reminds me... Oktoberfest started last weekend. You might not ever see me again.

Sweet!

-Gary

Dagnabit!!!

I missed it. Today was 'Talk Like a Pirate' Day and I got too busy to lay down the lingo to anyone. I was really hoping to annoy my boss today with it. CRAP!

-Gary

Trimethylxanthine

I quit Trimethylxanthine on Tuesday. The last time I took the psychoactive stimulant was Monday night in the form of Coke. Yep, I'm talking about Caffiene. Over the past 100 years that I've been chain-drinking soda's, my body has build up a substantial number of adenosine receptors in my central nervous system. Who doesn't mind a few extra receptors, am I right? Well, the problem with those extra receptors is that my body built up a tolerance to caffeine. As a matter if fact, it was nothing for me to have a soda just before going to bed and still sleep like a baby. Not the kind of baby that wakes up every 2 hours screaming, but more like the kind of baby who has a momma that puts alcohol in the bottle to help him/her sleep.

So what's the big deal about adenosine receptors? Well adenosine serves to regulate blood pressure. The increased effects of adenosine due to caffiene withdrawal causes the blood vessels of the head to dilate, leading to an excess of blood in the head and causing headache and nausea. Well there we go. In short, that's where I've been living the past 4 days. (Today being day 4)

The more I read about caffeine withdrawal and the possible effects it could have on a person, the more I feel lucky that all I had was blinding headaches and some serious stomach issues the last few days. Now I won't say I haven't been irritable. Just ask my boss. But the pros say this could also put people into depression and just the fact that I'm having a pretty good life right now counteracts the crap out of that. I'm a lucky man. I'm in a lot of pain right now, but still... a very lucky man!

Voo Doo Nachos

It's peculiar what happens to the body when you're sick. You starve yourself because of the major loss of appetite, which deprives you of nourishment, which makes you feel worse, which makes it that much harder to eat. That happened to me last week. A diet consisted of half-eaten can's of soup and the occasional Ritz cracker.

That's right, I said 'Cracker', Cracka!

The achiness started to go away on Friday, and so did the loss of appetite. It was kind of like the dam breaking and it all came to a head with a trip to Fajita Jack's. Everthing was the same until I started to put salt on the chips. I started chain-eating chips/salsa and ordered a plate of fajita nachos. Beef, not chicken. As I sat there trying to feed the starvation, I realized, "Heck, I feel better". Now I asked myself, "Are these magical nachos?" Maybe the cheese was a bit moldy and I had my share of penicillin. Maybe the salt that I put on the chips went into my system and got in the eyes of all the little germs that made me feel bad confusing them and made them kill each other. (..a stretch, I know)

It didn't take me long to realize that eating 'crap' doesn't make someone feel better. Just maybe it was the simple fact of having a good day after a few bad ones. Seeing the sun, getting outside and talking to a friend.

-Gary