Visa just arrived!

I've got a feeling this has been asked before but my head is all over the place at the moment, trying to throw everything into cardboard boxes. Do I need to take this enormous x-ray in my hand luggage? I don't think it'd fit in my bag without bending.

good morning everyone.

Morning Charles.

There is a thread about that here actually..

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=137411

I put mine in my carry-on bag. Was never asked for it. I did consider leaving it in the UK, but then had nightmares about being turned away at POE because I didn't have it with me.

Read that thread and make your own judgement.

Very best of luck with the move!

Safe travels, see you soon!!!

phone cut off, boxes gone, cable box picked up, but the internet still works. YAY!!!!

Yes hot as hades in my office too. I feel like I'm sweating constantly...at least it helps me lose weight :-p

Well I finally signed up for the Chicago Half-Marathon this September, and my hard-core training starts next week. Looking forward to it, but at the same time it will be a lot of hard work. At least I've enlisted Nicky to be my coach on some of my workouts where he times me :-)

Good luck with the move Poiteen!

Have fun with the training, Ginger. I am debating a half marathon myself. Although I may just do a 5k - I know I can actually run 5k without stopping or passing out, lol.

Have fun!! Try and sneak a coffee table into your stuff to be shipped so if it all turns up here...


I took mine folded in half just in case cause I preferred to have it and not get asked for it than the other way around I didn't get asked for mine


I can't imagine even contemplating running in this weather Swimming is ok though

Hmm, ok! Perhaps I'll kinda roll it around the inside edge of the hand luggage so it's not proper bent, per se.

Just booked my flight for next Thursday. Sorry for the running commentary, excited! ><


Stu

Hahaha - I bet the next week will drag! I know it seemed to take forzever while I was waiting then when it was there it seemed like it had all happened so fast - I still can't quite believe that I made it here... it's crazy!

Just been out having the last meal!!! Fancy sausages and mash for me Went on the London eye for the first time, and pretty much caught the dusk setting in around 9. I have to admit, I got a bit weepy for the first time. Wandered along the south bank, watched some mad outdoor performance put on by the national theatre, but outside it, got a big red bus home.

Now have to do washing up, and will have to do some hoovering and cleaning either tonight or tomorrow. But by noon, gotta be on the way to Stanstead. xxx


P.S. Thank you so much Aly for saving my bacon. xxx

I miss London!!!

Aww hun - weepy is.. ok it's not normal... I figured I was normal with the mass hysteria that set in about two weeks (and then some) prior to my move

And you don't want me to save bacon for you - they only get the fake streaky stuff here

I feel ill stupid MMR Jab. Good luck Poiteen

good friday morning everyone!

I got called in for stupid $^@&@$(^@$&^!%# jury duty today - and have to report by 7:30 AM. I have ot leave my house by 6:15.

It's not right.

hmmm, everyone I know in this town gets called for Jury Duty, yet I have never been called.

I've been called for jury duty 3 time so far! I never get picked though. Its either been insurance cases, which I previously worked in insurance and one was an arson case ans since my dad is a retired fire fighter they said I'd know too much about fire. I always enjoy getting away from work for a few days.

Jury duty would be interesting if it wasn't such a pain in the butt with work and compensation.

I tend to run either early in the morning or in the evening when it isn't so blazin' hot. If not my workplace has a gym in the basement and I'll just run on the dreadmill or eliptical for a while...it's not much better as it isn't terribly well ventilated but at least I'm out of the direct sun.

Most 5K races are fun...there is an Elvis is Alive! 5K coming up here soon, where people dress as young fit/old fat Elvis or Priscilla.

The dreadmill! I'll have to use that.

I got called for jury duty in Michigan and had to do a slip and fall case for some lady who was suing the city because she slipped on some ice. The urge to go and shake her and shout "you live in michigan - it gets icy in the winter!" was overwhelming.

People will sue over anything it seems.

I had a friend who had jury duty in a very strange case. Apparently, there was a lesbian couple that wanted a kid, so they recruited a male friend (who apparently was gay as well) to use his sperm to impregnate one of the women. Well, I guess they went through lawyers and filled out paperwork saying that he was giving up custody, but then I guess after the baby was born he wanted custody and to be paid child support. When that didn't shake (due to the previous legal agreement) he tried to sue them for money for the use of his sperm...or something like that. This was quite a while back my friend was on the jury for this trial so I am probably forgetting some of the details. Anyways, it sure sounded interesting!

I can imagine... I mean we said my gran should sue when she fell and broke her wrist and foot - but then she did trip over a pole that had been cut off but there was two inches left sticking out of the ground and she didn't see it Being the stubborn person she is, she continued to walk to the hairdressers to have her hair done (on her broken ankle) and insisted that her hair be done before being taken to hospital as she didn't want to look a state!!!

It's the middle of July, why must it be so cold?

Cold?? It's 92F here!!

That's 33C for you folk back in the UK.

33?! If only!!! Hahaha!! It's like... (checks the weather) 39c here right now and it is just after 11am!! 33 sounds quite pleasant

Well it's raining her in Cambridgeshire and the average temp is showing 15c. Feels a lot colder than that. I wouldn't mind but I wish the UK would makes its mind up about what weather it's going to have. This is why I can't wait to go to Alabama.

It's 31c/88f here. Humidity is only 42% today! w00t!

Maven needs to get back online. They have just announced they are doing a Valley Girl musical. Is the fact that this announcement came the same week she moves to Burbank a coincidence? I think not!

ahhh civic duty!
i never get selected. i should sue!

Maybe she's been busy with auditions

Well, I sat there & they called one panel but not me. They called one for people who could sit for 40 days. 4 people they called - all said yes. WTF? Who would want to??? For $15 a day + .34 a mile (one way).....

So I sat from 7:30 til 11:45, for a break til 1:30 & came back only to be dismissed! I had 3 coffees & read a book. Then at lunch I went to MOCA (Contemporary art museum) which is full of CRAP CRAP CRAP.

Turns out K-Fed was there today for custody crap. (There was a lot of news vans outside)

So you didn't miss much then

It's reallllllly humid here today... 72% - due thunderstorms and flash floods in the desert... fun fun... Knew something was up when I stepped outside this morning and could barely breathe - the air is so full of water that standing still even at 7.30am was making me sweat like a pig. And it's only 29c at the moment as well... hopefully the heat of the day will burn off some of the moisture in the air

76% here - it's gross! But nothing compared to Ohio in summer - that get to like 95%. Nasty!

Gray too, dunno if it will burn off today....

Oh we have blue skies and sunshine here... It's dropped to 55% and is only 33c but feels like 38 apparently

Ha ha! I am back peoples! I got online on Thursday night and unfortunately had to spend all of yesterday catching up on work. Oh, and then there was a mission to IKEA, which I swear is kryptonite for men. They always start freaking out in there, and Bruce was no exception.

So.... what did I miss? On my end, we have moved into our house in Burbank and are busy making it liveable. Until Thursday, we were without any sofa/chairs/seating equipment, and had to eat our meals sitting on the floor. No gas until last Wednesday meant we were mostly unbathed between Saturday (when I say we, I mean him, as I was man enough to take a cold shower). We were basically living off of takeaways until the fridge arrived. And we had possibly THE most horrific Wal-Mart experience of my life, nay, anyone's life when we visited the store in Panorama City on Saturday afternoon. Anyway, we are sloooowly acquiring furniture and waiting for our stuffs to arrive on the moving truck, hopefully next week.

The house is kinda Tardis-like. It looks like a tiny box from the front but inside there are 3 beds, a small bath, large sitting room opening into a dining room and a 1940s era kitchen. Outside is a double garage with a bonus workshop attached for Bruce's car-fettling, and a nice little garden next to it for barbecues. (Yes dev, that does mean that I will be holding a barbecue sometime soon! Bring a chair or something though. ) Oh my god, central air, central air! Central air, I love you. The Valley is freakin' hot, though not as hot as Jeraly is in PS.

And today, we were over kickin' it Westside to pick up Bruce's car. Yes, he bought a car already. And because it's him, you know it's a red 1984 Corvette. I cannot get that Prince song out of my head. Anyway, that necessitated me driving back toute seule to Burbank from Culver City as we had driven out there together in the Taurus -- my first solo highway drive, from the 10 to the 405 to the 101. And I did just fine.

I have yet to go back and read the posts from my drunken night with dev and Robin (hoooooo boy. How do you spell, "tossing one's cookies?"), so I don't know what the post-mortem was, but from my side, it was awesome. I can report that those two ladies are wonderful company, and put up with me shrieking "New York, New York" in a microphone and losing my wallet. (Dig this: the thief who took my credit card decided to go crazy at Del Taco to the tune of $16.06. Yep, that was the sum of their fraud in the 12 hours they had it.) And if they're up for another evening sometime soon (NOT on a school night, and NOT with so much gin/vodka/what have you), I am too. And certainly when Poiteen touches down, we SO need to go to Backstage again.

Right, off for a mani/pedi and a trip to Ralph's for some milk. I got a lot of catching up to do on VJ this weekend! Glad to be back everyone; I missed you.

good to have you back!

I recently found the receipt from that night in my purse and realized exactly how many drinks we each consumed. It is VERY ugly (except for sensible Dev).

Yay!! Welcome back Maven - we missed you too!!!

I feel totally out of things in the middle of the desert - maybe I am the only one insane enough to live here?! As for central air - I am kinda fed up with our whole apartment sounding like it is about to take off Ohhh for a peaceful night's sleep!!! I swear there must be better systems than what we have but as it is our electricity bill is looking to prevent us from ever having a mortgage or children or even for me to visit the UK ever ever again. It really sucks and it is all so alien to me that I don't know what to do about it

I see a new member title in my future...

Pssst, we go to Target - not Wal-Mart here in LA LA. Those are close too!

Did you really toss your cookies? That Del Taco thing is hilarious. What a tool. Who called you to give it back - I'm so impressed with that!

Let's do it again. I can do school night as I am 'sensible Dev'.

A new car already, I'm impressed - that man works fast....

Welcome back to the land of internetz & a BBQ sounds fab.

Welcome back maven! Glad to hear you guys are settling in nicely.

Well, I'll be MIA until the 28th or 29th as we're off to the UK tomorrow for some much needed R & R. Kids are off to camp and we are free to imbibe til our hearts are content. No need to be sensible!

See you guys soon and take care one and all!

Have a nice trip Julez!!

As it stands, I woke up at 6.30am to a huge thunderstorm, get the cat in and try and get things in from outside when I get a call from the bedroom - our roof is leaking. Like we need any more to deal with on top of the humungous pile of crap life has already dealt us?!

So I take the bag out of the kitchen bin, gather the bucket that was collecting water from the leaky aircon unit in the living room and a number of other receptacles and run into the bedroom.

Current situation:

The bed has been pulled up to the closet and my nightstand has been pulled aside to the back door. My lamp is drying on the bed, as is my reading book and bank stuff. Behind the bed looks a little like the washing up scene from Fantasia, with pots and pans everywhere catching water...

I was going to clean today

Sorry about the leaks, Aly. It's just teething problems, I'm sure. In a couple of weeks you'll have everything sorted out and all the crap will be a long and distant memory...

Julez ~ Have a fabby trip!

That sucks, Aly. The first few months in any new place are always pretty fraught, as you learn all the kinks. But a storm in PS sounds pretty bad -- ground must be so dry there everything's slippery.

Julez -- enjoy yourself! Good time of the year to visit.

Haha - well after having a breakdown I went into work with Jeremy - it was all I could do in the end because I was just so upset. It has just been one thing after another - from all the money/bank problems to the gas getting cut off to the roof leaking... I think it was just the straw that broke the camel's back - I was crying because I have mossie bites as well so I think it all just got a bit too much for me!!!

Maven - I hope you're right!! I know I wasn't expecting to move and to have everything fall into place and be perfect but I wasn't expecting the ton of crap we have had to deal with!! Part of me feels that had Jeremy been better organised... (gas )

But we just have to make the best of a bad situation - I just hope it picks up soon cause it is driving me nuts!

Off Topic is over there.

Your point being?

eric...............

Gay bug is watching me.

Afternoon United Kingdom

Been in Chicago 6 weeks now. Starting to feel settled now.

Once I'm able to get a job with my own routine I'll feel so much more at home. It was nice the first few weeks not being able to work. Now its getting old, sitting at home every day. Though today I'm going to the Chicago history museum free day.

No probs opening a bank account with Bank of America. But somehow the debit card has been lost in the post, so I'm waiting for that to arrive.

Found real heinz tomato soup yesterday at Jewel, so that's lifted the spirits. Looking forward to geeking out to the new X Files movie on Friday, then Lollapalooza music fest in a couple weeks.

Hope everybody who's moved to the states recently has settled in well.

Nicky