good morning uk

where is everyone?

Ssshh, it's Sunday, we're in bed!


Stu

(morning!)

Actually I was up at 6.30am with my cat >< You know they have a sixth sense..? Well she doesn't see dead people (AFAIK) but she can *definitely* sense something is up with the impending move...

Hey! I have a good excuse to stay in bed! I'm hiding from all the flood waters here in Easter Iowa. Someone send me an ark please

-Shan

stay safe there in Iowa!

After a gruelling 13 and a half hour flight, I am in Seoul. I took an Ambien and it had no effect. As in zilch, nada, niente. I slept 35 minutes on the plane, and another 45 on the shuttle bus from the airport. But now I am in the hotel room, and I plan to shower and nap before a bite to eat and a phone call home to my very worried boy. He was acting extra cute this morning in a vain attempt to keep me from going. Sigh. Well, at least I have no more international travel until September.

I am SO tired! And I look like crap. Bleh.

g'morning everyone. glad to see i wasn't the only one around here.

Have fun with the jet lag maven! Always great when you have meetings to go to.

Fortunately the rivers are cresting and the water is slowly starting to recede. It's still a big mess though and the tap water is starting to smell a bit like dead fish and mud. At least everyone, so far, is ok though!
Hope everyone is having a good monday!

-Shan

Sounds good that things are improving, those floods look evil - where are you in Iowa?

as promised

more wedding pics

g'morning everyone, and lovely pics weedebz

I'm near Iowa City. They've finally opened up the major interstates, so traffic is slowly returning to normal

Weedebz, those pictures are beautiful ^^

-Shan

Yeah gorgeous piccies hun

Still freaking out here - I pick Jeremy up this time tomorrow which is great but I am moving in less than two weeks... and I am soooooo scared ><

lovely pics weedebz - i like the sepia-toned one especially.

Have a nice reunion Jeraly


I did body scultping class at the gym last night - I can barely lift my legs. I am in pain, I tell you, paaaaiiiin.

Ahh but doesn't it feel good!? Being in pain is better than feeling fat and right now I feel like the latter

Well, that's what I'm telling myself. Unfortunately, one session didn't transform me into thighs of steel so I have to contemplate doing it AGAIN.

Beautiful pics

Oooo out by Coralville? The company I work for owns Coral Ridge Mall. Thankfully no damage there :-)

Lovely pictures Debz. Makes me miss good ole' Neb I've been in that chapel a good half dozen times at least and always thought it would be a lovely place to get married.

Only 4 days to W-Day now. Nicky and I got legally hitched last Friday but we have the ceremony this Saturday. True to form of Chicago bureaucracy, I have not been able to get a hold of my contact in the city park's office about questions I have for my wedding ceremony. I called several times last week and today I sent an email...in which I got an out of office response that did not say until when she was out.

I spoke to the operator...she had no idea what to do.

Methinks I might drop by Mayor Daley's office in person...grrr....

Awww - I know how you feel - I need to be as disciplined - I keep telling myself when I move that I am going to become some kinda super-sexy uber fit person...

Might take a while... You don't live near me do you - maybe we can egg each other on by calling each other names or something

I miss Bruce. I'm 6000-odd miles away from my honey, sitting in a hotel room, looking out at the rain, eating Pringles from the minibar for breakfast. I want to be home.

Awwww, Maven. Click to view attachment

I would be in 7th heaven if that were me. I've always wanted to empty a minibar with no consequences and no one to bug me about it.

Thanks, Krikit. The minibar does offer some solace, but it might take more than a few M&Ms and a Toblerone. Like room service!

But you're in KOREA!!!!

So jealous.......

Awwww, sorry to hear that you're home sick Maven. I suppose with work commitments it might be hard to get out and about. But I always find the the best way to forget about homesickness is to get out and enjoy the place you're in!

g'morning everyone.
someone say minibar?

ohhhh forgot to say, lovely pic's debs!

G'morn to you Charles.

Last day at work today. Taking tomorrow and Friday off for the wedding...the relatives from the UK are all coming in tomorrow afternoon and my family that night.

Debs your pictures are lovely! xxx

have a great weekend and dont forget the pics

Have a fantastic weekend!

Have fun Ginger and best of luck!



I have done my second day of body scuplting and moving with the same speed as my 88 year old grandmother

That's two days more body sculpting than I intend doing!

HE'S HEEEEEEEEEERRRRRREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*runs off again to get more cuddles*

This could well be my personal info floating around out there...seeing as this was my local hospital & where I had foot surgery.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england...don/7461619.stm

Six laptops stolen from hospital

Six laptops containing information about 20,000 patients have been stolen from a south London hospital.

The computers were taken from a locked cabinet in a secure room at St George's Hospital in Tooting, in June.

Patient information kept on the laptops includes brief medical notes, names, dates of birth and postcodes.

The hospital accepts the data should not have been stored on portable computers and has written to every patient to apologise.

Police have launched an investigation and the St George's Healthcare NHS Trust has begun an internal inquiry into the theft.

'Determined thief

The trust said the data was only stored on laptops as a temporary measure because of a problem with the computer network.

It added all the information on the laptops was password protected and personal information, such as postcodes, were hidden - although the patient's name and hospital number was shown.

The data has not been lost and the theft will not affect any treatments or appointments, the trust said.

Chief Executive David Astley said: "We offer all our patients our sincere apologies for putting their confidential information at risk, although we could not anticipate a determined thief who was prepared to force open a filing cabinet and locked drawers to get to the laptops.

"We believe the data will almost certainly be wiped by the thief so he can get a quick sale.

"Nonetheless, we owe it to our patients to protect their personal information and we have reminded our staff not to store this kind of data on laptops in the future."

He said a helpline has been set up which has been included in the letters to the affected patients.
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oh yeah, an apology will make it all better won't it? sounds like an inside job, either that or the secure room wasn't as secure as they'd like to think.

there seems to be a lot of this sort of thing happening in the UK lately - makes it pretty hard to convince me everyone's personal information would be secured if the government decided to impose ID cards.

g'morning uk!

Good evening UK! My last night in Seoul (it's quarter to 10 here) and I'm typing away in the window seat of my room at the Ritz. (Very cheap deal through Expedia has made it possible.) Just went out for Korean barbecue with friends, and had a bit of a surprise. So there's 7 of us having dinner together -- 3 Americans, 1 Brit, 1 Italian, 1 Australian, 1 Korean -- and who would that solitary Brit be? Well, it was the last guy I dated in London before I met Bruce. He's a nice enough guy, and 6 years younger than me, but I looked at him and thought: what in the world was I thinking?

I had met him at a conference in London the day of the July 7th bombings. It was a bit of Blitz spirit in me, I guess, and the fact that I had just found out that my ex-husband (who I was still married to at that time) was dating a younger woman, that inspired me to pursue this boy. We got a bit drunk, and snogged. Then two days later we went to a Bright Eyes gig at Somerset House. It was a beautiful summer night, London was defiant and triumphant, and, well, it all got the better of us and we ended up becoming a sort-of casual couple for the next month or so.

Things were always going to end badly for us. First off, my company was his client, so I had to deal with him on a regular basis for business stuff. The governance community is small and tight-knit in London, and we didn't really want anyone to find out so we couldn't go out together much lest we start a rumour. And he was always a bit odd and diffident, so I never really knew where I stood with him. We never really broke up so much as drifted apart, and we moved on to a sparky friendship.

And then I met Bruce, and the whole world changed. Tom (not his name, but close enough) got all weird and snarky, and referred to him only as "The Actor." And said it wouldn't last, and was I comfortable with some guy who kissed other girls on stage. After a while, I stopped meeting Tom for the occasional drink. My company stopped being his company's client, which meant we hardly ever saw each other professionally or socially. It was all fine by me.

So tonight, here I was, sitting next to him and eating Korean barbecue. He was full of questions about Bruce, and was I happy, and didn't I miss the UK? And when was I coming back next to London so he could buy me lunch? I wasn't sure if he was genuinely interested in my happiness, but I think he was. I was happy to see him. But where I used to feel that lurch of lust and longing just by being 2, 5, 10 feet away from him, I felt nothing much. I felt I was looking back at a life that almost happened. A life that I branched off from and left back in England. And I didn't feel one bit regretful that I met Bruce and let Tom recede into my past.

Just needed to ramble a bit there... I miss my Bruce. Home tomorrow night!

Aww Maven - but these memories are good I have exes I bump into and chat to from time to time and I must say I have much the same feelings!!

Last day of work yesterday! I am free now for the next few months... what a weird feeling... can't believe I move in little over a week... I get nervous from time to time but having Jeremy here has really helped - Normally I am panicking about him leaving but I don't have to do that now and instead I get to be nervous about the move. But what is so great about that is that we are doing it together which makes it not so scary

Have to call shipping companies today!!

good morning everyone.

what's snogged?

and how is korea maven? it's planned for me to make a trip there in sep.

That is an awesome story, Maven. lol. I never run into any of my old exes. Oh wait. Except for an ex from years ago who still hangs around with my family because he thinks of them as his family. He's a nice guy and all, but it's weird that he won't let go. But I'm fine with it. My husband's not, but I am.

No wait. I take that back. It's not weird that he still hangs around my family. My family is awesome. I'd keep hanging around them too.

snogging - to make out with. I think the US equivalent would be "mashing"

Did you make a trip to the DMZ maven? That's was my #1 priority when I went to Seoul a few years back. It was a little odd.

Exes are weird - my ex from many years ago, who was the first love of my life, and who I've maintained friendly and sporadic contact with emailed me out of the blue for the first time in a few years to announce that he was getting a divorce and arguing with his wife about custody of the children but "not to worry about him" because "he was okay." Considering I hadn't known about the divorce at all or any of the drama in the first place I hadn't really lost any sleep over it.

My high school boyfriend got in touch with me on linkedin. Since he wouldn't have had any of the email addresses that account is linked to, he would have had to actively gone looking for me, which was weird. I noticed that my best friend from high school who I've lost touch with was linked to him and have been having this debate with myself over whether to message her. She stopped returning my phone calls after a New Years 1994 where I was drunk and disorderly. I must have done something wrong but I don't know what. The perils of modern day social networking!

Oh good. "Weird ex" stories! More! More!

I'm from such a small town in Ireland that I still see all my secondary school friends every christmas, and any ex's from then too.


Nearly there Jeraly!!! You must be peeing your pants in anticipation

i have so many ex stories but for now.. going to refrain from them lol

That's one way of putting it - this time next week will be my last full day in the UK and I am cacking myself I am SO glad I have Jeremy here for moral support - he's been wonderful as I've been freaking out on and off all week - yesterday was interesting as I had a full blown panic attack ><