Pistons misfiring

It's been a while since I put up a new post.  My wife has inspired me by her own blog, so here goes.... Last night I went to see the Knicks play the Pistons at the O2.  I think this is probably the first or second NBA season game that was played in London.  I unfortunately didn't get to sit as close as I would have liked to.  I went with a friend of mine and he just didn't want to drop the dough to sit closer.  We were sitting in the nosebleed section with some uncouth individuals.  Fortunately they weren't Pistons fans.  

All in all a good night out.  The Pistons just weren't as competitive as I would have hoped they would be.  I was hoping for the game to end with a last second buzzer shot to win the game, but hey there's always next time.  Being a New Yorker, I supported the home team and fortunately they won.  There were a few scary moments when they blew their 20 pt lead but they held on.  Eagerly looking forward to the next NBA match in London.  Well done Knicks.

The Thames and boats

Last weekend we thought we’d head out to the fun fair and check out the rides. Unfortunately it hadn’t opened yet and since we had a few hours left, we decided to rent out these small motor boats. These boats can fit four people in it and the best part was we got to do the ‘driving’ ourselves. Fortunately, the weather held out while we were out and it was just a beautiful day to go on the river Thames. We went close to the locks by Mapledurham and came right back. Along the way, we were able to see some really nice houses which had their own mooring (really cool). I'm sure these houses must cost a fortune. It was a really nice two hour boat ride. However, my only complaint was the boat wasn’t as fast as I hoped it to be. It moved quite well with only the driver in it, but with three adults and a two year old in it, the boat struggled. I found out we can rent bigger (faster) boats and I think our next rendezvous on the river will be on one of these.

Reading Festival 2008

Well, it's that time of the year again. Lots of teeny bops running around Reading carrying gear half their size. The Reading Festival gets underway today and for the next couple of days the visitors will be VERY prominent in Reading. It's nice in many ways, so long as they don't make a mess of things. I do know they have some really good bands playing this year. I found out Slipknot won't come due to some injury, which is a bit of shame. However, festival goers will be fortunate to see Rage against the machine and Metallica. It would have been nice to go and check them out but unfortunately won't be possible this year. There is always next year.

British summer

I seem to have slowly gotten used to the concept of a ‘British summer’. For those of you not familiar with it, it’s simply put as a summer which doesn’t have much sun, rains, and gets cold every now and then. In a word: unpredictable. For the first year, I kept complaining and couldn’t understand how people here put up with it. After staying here for nearly two years now, I have unfortunately become ‘British’ in my attitude towards the weather. I don’t complain, and try to go on with our plans despite what mother nature brings down on us. For those of you who know me, don’t worry I’m not becoming completely ‘British’. That would be a very scary thought, but I’m certain I’ll hold my own as I just can’t (and won’t) give up my American accent for that of a British one. Not that anything is wrong with a 'British' accent, but I just can't bring myself to speaking like that. Reminds me of Jennifer Coolidge from the episode of Friends where she acts as 'Amanda Buffamonteezi' (the girl with the fake british accent).

Argos'ing it

The well known retailer Argos's catch phrase is 'Don't shop for it....Argos it'. Well it seems like Argos'ing it would mean anything but purchasing the item you want to buy.

I went to Argos today to get light bulbs, not some rare antique table or the Nintendo Wii, but ‘light bulbs’! I went to the kiosk, typed in the code and saw they had two left in stock so I happily paid for it and waited for my number to come up. Six minutes later, my number gets called and I go to ‘pickup point A’ to collect my item. What do you think happens? I get my light bulbs and go home?..... Nooo, that would be too simple now. Why would they want to ensure a streamlined, painless buying process for the consumer.

I ended up waiting for another 20 minutes at ‘pickup point A’ just to find out they had only one item in stock and that one item was just the packaging. It didn’t have any light bulbs in it! How weird is that? I have no clue how a) their systems are not updated properly to reflect the right quantities and b) how they can stock just the ‘packaging’ without the actual item inside. Oh and its’ not like you couldn’t see if the bulbs were there or not; it was just a clear plastic covering.

So if you want to waste your time, get misleading information, and NOT get what you want to buy, Argos it.

2009 ICC World Twenty20

I don’t know how many of you out there are cricket fans but about two months ago (June 30, 2008 to be exact), the tickets for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 were up for grabs. Given it is hosted in England, I decided I would buy some tickets and see some interesting matches. It took me ages to get through and register and by the time I went through to the actual location where I could buy tickets, all the final tickets were sold. I was surprised in a matter of a few hours, all these tickets were gone. Fortunately, I was able to get tickets for one of the Super 8s (India vs. Australia) in Lord’s and the Semis in the Oval. All I have to do now is wait until it starts in June 2009.

Foot Guitar?

While going through some of the Bath pics, I realized I had left out this great picture of a guitar machine some guy had built. I have a penchant for innovation and creating new contraptions just for the heck of it.

This guy who made this 'machine' was playing the violin and this ‘guitar’ with his feet, which looked really cool. The board he had read ‘I built this machine because of unreliable guitars. It don’t smoke! It don’t drink! And it’s never late.’. I didn’t quite get it. I think he may have meant ‘I built this machine because of unreliable guitarists?’. I don’t know. I wanted to ask him what he meant by it and how long he spent building this but as you can tell from the crowd, there were quite a lot of people observing him and I didn’t feel like disturbing him. This just goes to show you how innovative people can get if they apply themselves.

More .... and a Bear in Bath

I completely forgot to put up this one picture I had showing a fairly quiet road lined with columns. Since I’ve been seeing the first season of ‘Rome’, this looked like it could have been an actual road way back then.



There was also this lovely park right across the Bath Abbey with people soaking up the sun and lounging in these comfy looking beach chairs. I found out the parks department make a different animal every year with the hedge that's there. This year it was the bear.

A revolution against Revolution

P.S. The 'Revolution' bar/restaurant in Bath sucks. I think there is only one in Bath, but this one was on George Street. The cup I got for my tea was stained and dirty and they don't serve any beverages not on the menu, especially when they have a well stocked display of liquor. It doesn't stop at that but this was just a sad experience for us and I'll guarantee you we WON'T be going there again.

Blah Blah Blah and .... Bath

I’ve unfortunately been extremely busy with work or something else which is why I haven’t been very prompt in putting up new stuff. I’ve decided to take the first step in amending this by putting something up today.

This weekend was surprisingly beautiful, sunny and believe it or not HOT. The weather forecast on Friday for the weekend was rain rain and more rain, however it turned out to be picture perfect. On Saturday we went to one of my wife’s friends wedding in Bath. As the name implies, this is where the Romans built baths probably around the 3rd century due to the naturally occurring hot springs in that area. It was interesting not because it was the first wedding I’ve ever attended but it was the first traditional British wedding I’ve attended. A beautiful day, a beautiful wedding followed by a great reception and good food. Can’t ask for more on such a lovely day.

Since it was our first time in Bath, we went there a few hours before the wedding so we can look around the city. I was taken aback as I never expected to see such a beautiful city. Although there were quite a lot of tourists, we were still able to see a good portion of it. The city has retained it’s old charm and you can just sit out in one of the plethora of cafés and just soak up the environment around you. It’s just one of those cities you have to go and see for yourself. It was a shame we didn’t get to spend more time since we had to run to the wedding. However, we certainly plan on heading back there and discovering it in greater detail. We also didn’t get to see the Roman baths, but did get a few snaps of the building façade from the outside.