More uninteresting crap… Now from England!

6 months in the making, I finally got an offer to sign yesterday. We're going to England!

I've been using Bloglines for several years to manage my RSS feeds. In that time I've seen little in the way of improvements, but a number of notable annoyances (including a corruption of my profile, making me resub to most feeds inorder to fix my last read dates.)

Sadly no one else had a web-based solution to compare. Rojo was close, but not quite. [http://www.google.com/reader/view/](Google Reader) when launched had, for me, one of the least usable UIs I've ever used. It wasn't that it didn't work, or wasn't innovative, it was that it presented the articles in a way that was very hard for me to read (a big minus for a product with “reader” in its name.)

Yesterday Google released a new version of Reader, and praise be to Jebus, it's actually usable. So much so that I've abandoned Bloglines. All hail the new king.

I finally purchased a replacement for a belt I've been wearing more or less daily since college. It was one of the first purchases that I made after becoming somewhat fashion self-aware. The purchase was also notable, as it was one of the first signs that I was begining to turn into my father (just as he became like his old man.) He used to admonish me for not wearing a belt. At the time I didn't see the point. A bit older and a bit wiser I see the reason behind a lot of the things that my dad did, and find that I'm much more like him than 50% of my genes would suggest.

So knowing I'm my father's son, be aware that after I become president/dictator, there will be _no more fucking parades_. (I will reconcile this authoritarian statement with my libertarian leanings by making parade organizers financially responsible for the inconviences caused by their parade. A piece of legislation that would effectively end them in most cities.)

English muffin,
cheese,
taco seasoned ground beef,
egg over easy,
green onions,
a few dashes of habenero sauce

Two words: fuck yeah!

Photographed by denovich

Tuesday morning I got an IM from my former manager…

Jeff: Hey…

Having overheard a discussion in the hall, I knew what had been decided. I was the lucky guy who got a free trip to Milan. 108 hrs later and just about all I had seen of Italy was the aiport and the inside of a wharehouse.

I did get one good day in Genova, many cups of excellent espresso, and I think the trip might have been worth it for the pizza with pancetta Saturday night (or the swordfish Sunday, or maybe the carpaccio…)

There is disagreement over what the offer is/isn't and how exactly it says it… but agreement on what the resulting numbers should be. Maybe I didn't need to be mad all day today.

(That's probably not the first time I used that post title. Deal with it.)

Ok. I finally thought I knew what in the hell was going on…

Found out at 10am that I'm headed to Milan, Italy tomorrow at noon, to do some field support. Embassy visit is cancelled, house hunting trip delayed.

Second: Things aren't worked out with my offer as I had been led to believe. All I know for sure is that I feel a bit sick and I'm a bit pissed off.

I have yet to put ink to paper, but I have it on good authority that an acceptable offer is imminent.

Things are going to start happening quite quickly now. Next week, we're off to NYC to get our paperwork finalized at the British Consulate. Then it's off to jolly-olde' for a week to secure an apartment. When we get back we'll have only a few weeks to get organzied before the final send-off.

So much to do…

Despite owning quite a few cars, I've never actually sold one before (two abandoned, one junked, three given away, the remaining three still in my possession.) I think this is mostly a side-effect of, until recently, being a bottom feeder when it comes to used cars.

The Spider went back to Chicago, IL Saturday with its new owner. I never had to do much work on that car, and perversely I think that's why I never really bonded with her. Certainly fun to drive, but it occupied a similar niche as my motorcycle… unless I needed to hual something, I generally found myself picking the bike.

I've been hesitant to post much, as so many things were yet to be determined. Finally, I can report some progress (as much as I'm willing to reveal publicly) on the whole movin' to England adventure.

Compensation: the big ? has mostly been hammered out. It took a lot of headscratching and cypherin' to come up with a formula that takes into account taxes/housing/trasport/cost of living/etc which was all complicated by the fact that I'm being paid in US$ and maintaining my house here. I think I'll do ok… just have to avoid going broke in the first 2 months (lots of upfront costs.)

Work Permit: The good news today was that my Work Permit was approved. I was optimistic, but it was the one thing that could torpedo our plans completely. Next up is a trip to NYC to get our passports stamped at the British Consulate.

Where to live: We've settled on [Marlow SL7, Buckinghamshire](http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Marlow,+Buckinghamshire,+SL7,+UK&ie=UTF8&z=15&om=1&iwloc=A). It's a pretty little town. Big enough to have a good selection of shops and resturants, small enough not to feel like the city. The Thames flows right through town and it's gorgeous. We should be headed over to do some apartment hunting in two or three weeks. Some pictures of Marlow [here](http://www.flickr.com/photos/denovich/sets/72157594217882165/)

Banking: I signed up for an [HSBC Premier](http://www.hsbcpremier.com/) account in the US. One of the Premier account perks is that they simplify opening of other bank accounts world-wide. I should be able to avoid the catch-22 of needing an confirmed address in the UK to open an account, and needing an account to rent a property.

Cars: I have an offer for the Spider. Now that things are in motion I plan to get serious about the rest of my vehicles. I've got a '97 Dodge Dakota Sport 2WD, a '95 Lexus SC400, and an '88 Alfa Romeo Milano Verde, if anyone is interested. (email me: [myfirstname]@[mylastname].com)

Stuff: I'm getting a shipping container to haul all our shit to the UK. With 20' x 8.5' x 8' fill, I should be able to bring most anything we need + my motorcycle & scooter.