hello from London

Warning, a bit of a long post. And there will be a couple other smaller ones to come.

Well, I'm here. At least for a little bit. But we'll get to that in a minute. I arrived in London on Friday (left Seattle Thursday as Katherine mentioned below). Got here safe and jet lagged, got to the corporate housing, met my brother (who was out for 2 days), and had some coffee (Starbucks, of course).
The weekend is a bit of a blur. A ton of fun, late nights, jet lag, 2 martini's for $40, that kind of thing. Ended up walking home Saturday night at 3am, lost a debit card, and was offered a favor from a male cab driver while walking down the street. My brother didn't quite make it home that night...

Although, probably the highlight of the weekend was Friday night. We went out, checked out the British Museum on the Friday evening until close, went home, got changed, and went to a great pub in the neighborhood. Great food, definitely you’re your standard fair. Met a group of friends who thought we were American’s they were supposed to meet, versus random American’s just lurking close around. But we managed to make a good impression (really me more than Rich ;-), and we ended up hanging out with this group for the evening, went to a club until closing time (AKA Hook-up Time, same around the world, very funny). Then Rich and I walked home, and of course hit up the 24 hour grocery store. Pre-made sandwich, check. Crisps shaped like chips in Salt and Vinegar flavor, check (I found’em Katherine!). Giant bottle of water, check.
Sunday was when it hit me. Rich left. I'm here. Katherine’s not. I need to grocery shop, do laundry, pick up the flat. This is not a vacation, or a business trip, and this ain't a hotel room. I'm here. A sad realization. So I bucked up, went to the grocery store, bought some mini groceries to stock up the mini fridge. Spent 10 minutes trying to figure out what kind of laundry detergent to buy (comes in pellets or gel caps, huh?) and was on my way. Did some laundry and it worked, watched some bad TV, got the internet working kind of, things were starting to work.

Come Monday, things were looking up. Applied for a bank account, had some groceries, made my way out to the Slough (of The Office fame) for work. After work, I went out with my co-worker, and new friend Adrian for a pint, met some of his friends. Things are starting to look up. Tuesday, I got a UK phone number (it’s a temporary work phone, but still, feels good, even though I have no idea how to call anyone quite yet). And now, I’m about to head in for my 3^rd day of work, 2^nd with Mothercare up in Watford, as a master of the mass transit (tube to train to taxi, and then back again).

I’m settling in, but need to go to NYC on Friday for 24 hours (which, lame as it is, will actually be a good thing). So long as I head to New York on Friday that means I’m getting my passport, which means Katherine then gets her Visa, she’s here next week, and we’re 2/3 of a family (which, if you’re counting, is twice as good as 1/3 of a family).

More soon.