Mar

31

Last flight into Heathrow, a lesson in humidity, and loving my own bed

Filed Under expat, regular, tout le fromage | 4 Comments

Getting the last flight into Heathrow is great for arriving in London. You have nearly no one in Customs/Passport Control, baggage retrieval is swift, and a fraction of people milling about in the reception area means you can find your greeting party with ease. The only downside is watching an entire day disappear as you cross the ocean. So it goes.

The trip to the US went well if you subtract the allergy bits and my unexpected wine hangover. The allergies were treated with loads of meds and time in a hotel. The wine hangover was remedied in a similar fashion. I’d not considered that tolerance could be so different and dramatically affected depending on local relative humidity but I am now convinced of it. The same amount of wine in the UK — where it is much more humid than Wisconsin in March — would not have turned my hair to straw and my brains to roadkill as it did in the US. I learned a meteorological lesson the hard way. Upon returning to Heathrow I was amazed at how humid it was. I realise there was rain while I was gone, but even the air in the flat was nearly uncomfortably sticky until my body adjusted. All in all, I’m much healthier here and can resume the allergy medicine-free lifestyle and the casual imbibing that makes me happy. Truly, the days of wine and roses! Yay!

I’ve been through the emails and skimmed through my RSS feeds. I’m unpacking casually and have cleaned the kitchen and bathroom up a bit. The espresso machine has been kind — not like the stroppy, temperamental cow it can be — and it’s been bliss to be in the flat again. I don’t have a home in Wisconsin anymore and to stay in the house that was once half mine or to stay in a strange hotel just makes returning to the flat all the more right and wonderful. It may be cluttered with stuff (and even more-so with the crap I’ve brought back with me) but I love it here. I woke to sunshine and flowers in bloom outside my window. I hear the wind-chime in the living room window gently singing in the breeze and am rested from a long nap in my own bed.

I had a great time with family and friends in Wisconsin, but just like any person on a holiday, it’s truly wonderful to be home. Now I need to unpack some more stuff, eat some chocolate (just because), and beat the jetlag into submission. (Perhaps that means a trip to Costa Coffee tomorrow… Neil?)

smooches~
jEN

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Mar

27

Nearly 5 hours of ice hockey and the devil is everywhere

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Yes, nearly five hours of ice hockey for one game. Not being much of a sports fan, for me to sit through any sporting event for a length of time is unusual, but for some reason I kind of enjoy hockey. I don’t pretend to understand much about it; it’s some ice, some big dudes on skates, a little bitty thing they smack around (the puck, and oftentimes an opposing player), and some goals to score. I recognise when a team is doing well and simple rules of play are fairly evident if one applies oneself to viewing a few solid minutes of the game. I’d say my yearly ice hockey fix was satisfied within one evening and conveniently bundled into one game. I had nearly six full periods of regional championship hockey to observe tonight and am pleased to say that finally! someone won. It happened to be the Wisconsin Badgers over Cornell. Now the Badgers go to the “Frozen Four” for the first time since 1992. This evening’s game was also the second longest regional confrontation. I know these things because I listened to the empty-headed announcers prattle on for nearly five hours. The ability to tune them out went in waves, and some of what they said made it past my ears and into my brain. Don’t worry, they’ll be replaced by a catchy cat food jingle or something shiny soon enough. That’s the beauty of ADD…
This concludes my sports reporting.

After the hockey, I settled into that whirlpool in my hotel room I was telling you about yesterday. It’s a corner unit in the main area of the room. It rocks. Although it’s too noisy to watch TV and have the jets on simultaneously, I went through the motions anyway. How could I not?

Oh — as I recap the day — I learned something interesting about the American food I once loved: I can’t eat it anymore. This morning Jodi, Aaron and I met up at the Denny’s restaurant next door to the hotel and I decided to give the French Toast and a side of hashbrowns a go. Mmmm… it was good until it went horribly wrong. I have never in my life had to excuse myself from a table and urgently (yet cooly) rush to the bathroom for fear of reversing that which I just ate. I can only guess the grease of the hashbrowns recognised my bran and soy fed body and decided to have a little fun. Bastards. I don’t know if perhaps it was the brisk walk to the loo or the deterrent state of the public toilet that cured me, but the feeling subsided and I returned to the table without incident. I fear that may be the last time I have hashbrowns. Somewhere, a trumpet plays Taps for a bygone era of my life.

Other things I did today included: walked Ollie (the bull terrier) in the park, and learned all about how numerology can be used for TV evangelism. (Did you know that you can spell your way to 666 with nearly anything if you put your mind to it? I shall have to post more about this absurdity another time. I took pictures of the TV show just to share with you.)

I’m off to do a bit of last minute homework as I wind down for sleep. Tomorrow sees one of the main reasons I’m back in Wisconsin at this time of year: tax time. This should be the last income tax I file in the US. With any luck, I’ll get a return. That would be swell.

Good night!
smooches~
jEN

Mar

26

Cat hair, my head the Hoover, and Britney Spears

Filed Under tout le fromage | 4 Comments

survival gearI’m sat in a hotel room just outside of town, eating Cheetos in my underwear. Normally, this would feel terribly indulgent (if not a tad white trash) but today it’s a means of survival. Well, OK, the hotel part is, not the underwear or Cheetos bit. That’s just because I can.

Cats. The reason I’m here. My normally healthy body went into full-blown shut-down mode after a few days in the house with them. I took the 24 hour allergy medicine. I bought tissues. I even took my vitamins like a good girl. Still, my body rejects vacuuming up cat hair into its sinuses. Argh. I love the kitties (and they love me) but my body is allergy-free in the UK and the combination of Wisconsin’s dry winter air and copious amounts of feline fuzz was just too much.

But, on the bright side, I’m in my underwear eating Cheetos in a rather nice hotel room. I’m living like Britney Spears.

Tomorrow I upgrade to a whirlpool suite. Maybe allergies aren’t so bad after all…
(Click the pic for a better view of my survival gear. Sorry about the bad thumbnail pic — I’m not using my normal setup to blog.)

Mar

23

Like a visitor but better

Filed Under tout le fromage | 4 Comments

It’s funny how you can live someplace for so long and feel comfortable there when you visit but have the total awareness that it’s not your home anymore. Hard to explain, but there is a peaceful awareness about this trip back to Wisconsin.

The visit to the US is going just fine. Traffic between Chicago and Rockford was a nightmare, but the plane landed at O’Hare over half an hour early, so I suppose I made up the time gain in traffic. Aaron was the one to pick me up from the airport and we chatted comfortably as we made our slow way through construction and toll booths to Wisconsin.

First stop was Starbucks for some much needed caffeine! We planned dinner with my mom and met up for (veggie) burgers and bottomless fries at the local Red Robin. We had also made a stop for allergy medicine for me, as I knew I’d need it when we got to the house. The greeting from the pets was as if I’d only been gone for a few days. The last time I appeared, it had also been around six months passed but the cats and dog all looked at me skeptically as if I had returned from the dead! Not so this time, although I haven’t seen the shyest of the kitties yet. I imagine Boris will emerge in time… He’s clearly the one in the script that says, “I dunno guys, are you sure she’s not here to eat our brains?” Honest — cats pay attention to zombie movies…

Got a great night’s sleep and started my day around 5:30am. (Time zones are a bitch.) Aaron is at work and I’ve been going through loads of boxes of old paperwork and other stuff he’s been keeping for me. The longer I live away from it all, the less it all matters. God! I was a packrat! I’ve now got four piles: trash, recycle, store at mom’s, and take with me this trip. If it were a pie-eating contest, the trash and recycle would be the contestants gobbling down the most. Yay!

I have use of the PT Cruiser (formerly my car) and may venture out for a cappuccino and some stealth shopping. I feel like this trip back is really only for the closest people in my life and would prefer to avoid seeing old acquaintances if possible. We’ve all trickled out the emails to a communications drought now, so why make uncomfortable small talk if I can avoid it… Seems sensible this morning, but I may change my mind.

Overall, feels good to be here, and even better to be purred to sleep by my 18 year old cat under the blankets with me. I could never put him through the stress of moving overseas, so I must cherish these times with him.

More from America later.
smooches~
jEN

Mar

21

“Can you bring us back some Curly Wurlies?”

Filed Under creative stuff, regular, tout le fromage | 2 Comments

CurlywurlyWhy sure I can. :) That’s one of the requests from my gal-pals Jodi and Bridgette who stayed with us over New Year’s. So that means a visit back to the USA. Looks like balmy Wisconsin will be between -2˚—13˚ Celsius (23˚—55˚ Fahrenheit) for my trip. I’ve become such a baby about cold temperatures since living here in the UK. We don’t get any substantial (or measurable) snow in the area and the temps have rarely been below freezing in the year and a half I’ve lived here. Keep up the good work, Global Warming… ;)
With travel happening this week, I’ve got laundry going, work to complete, and a writing assignment chugging along. The most important thing to complete is the work, of course, but I’ll be disappointed if I have to wait a week to post my course work. I need to become more disciplined in getting it done swiftly rather than waiting until I feel guilty about not getting it done. I’m beginning to realise that I don’t particularly enjoy certain aspects of magazine writing and that adds fuel to the procrastinator’s fire.

Also dishearteningly, the local library is not much more than a lovely modern building filled with a small selection of books, several computer terminals, loads of travel brochures, and likely the most pitiful magazine/periodical selection I’ve every seen. My living room offers more magazines than the local library — no joke. To do research, I need to buy my own or travel by train to another city to get the kind of research done that needs doing. Yes, there is the internet, but in order to do most of my recent assignments, I need current magazines and newspapers to read, evaluate, and respond to. That isn’t happening at my local library… It’s terribly frustrating.

My course will investigate many types of writing, and to be honest, I can’t wait to move on to the next.

Back to work! (Drupal CSS stuff today… :) )
smooches~
jEN

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Mar

20

My rabbit doesn’t even wear lipstick

Filed Under regular, tout le fromage | 6 Comments

I recently caught some news that L’Oreal is buying The Body Shop. This everyday corporate business wouldn’t normally catch my eye, were it not for my abhorrence for animal testing. Now, I’m not a perfect beast, but nearly every product I buy is examined for a ‘cruelty free’ label or purchased from a company that publicly rejects and does not participate in animal testing. L’Oreal is not quite there yet, though you will read mixed messages in the reports regarding the merger. According to Peta — who regularly track company policies — L’Oreal is still on the list of companies who conduct animal testing. According to one article about the takeover, L’Oreal claims they stopped animal testing in 1989, yet when you dig deep enough on L’Oreal’s corporate site you’ll find that they carefully word their policy to read:

L’Oréal has also, for a number of years, been committed to research, development and validation of methods leading to reducing and replacing animal testing of the chemical ingredients used in cosmetics.

There are currently three areas of toxicity for which alternative methods have been scientifically validated and which replace animal testing: skin corrosion, phototoxic potential and percutaneous absorption. L’Oréal Research has contributed extensively to the development, validation and international regulatory acceptance of these tests.

Other articles seem to more directly report on the issue of L’Oreal’s animal testing. From The Toronto Star:

Owen-Jones said L’Oréal wouldn’t be able to stop animal testing overnight, but it does have the long-term plan of “joining Body Shop on the issue.”

And some showed the uglier side of some animal rights advocates. From The Sydney Morning Herald:

Ruth Rosselson of Ethical Consumer Magazine said: “I for one will certainly not be shopping at Body Shop again. L’Oreal has yet to show its commitment to any ethical issues at all.” Animal protection groups called for a boycott.

As for that last quote, how is it going to help the cause by abandoning The Body Shop? Come on folks. Even Peta supported Burger King when it introduced veggie burgers! (And here too.)

Back on topic, for more information about companies that do and companies that don’t animal test check my links below. Peta updates their lists every few months. I can honestly say that I don’t support everything Peta does or says, but I do tend to align with them more than I do not.

I suppose my stance on cosmetics testing can be simplified to a few basic questions: If you wouldn’t spray your pet rabbit’s eyes or raw skin with hairspray, why would you let someone else? If you wouldn’t smear mascara into your cat or dog’s eyes, why is it OK for someone else to do it? Is vanity worth the suffering of another creature?

Nope. Never.
The more you learn about it all, the more you understand the barbaric and often inaccurate practice of animal testing.

Here’s hoping The Body Shop has swift influence over L’Oreal and that we all try to do good by watching what products we buy. Thanks for reading!

—

Important Links:
Companies that DO and that DON’T animal test

(You can also find similar lists for Charities HERE.)

And, although not related to this post in particular, here’s a link for the animal friendly
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

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Mar

17

Note to con artist spammer: spell-check & grammar are not to be ignored

Filed Under regular, tout le fromage | Leave a Comment

I used to have a Citibank Credit Card. I never gave them my email address. In fact, I paid off and cancelled the account last year. I just got an email from them… ish.

I’ve recently noticed how some spammers are using actual graphics from legitimate companies (like Amazon and Paypal) to add perceived legitimacy to their phishing/spamming campaigns. This one from * cough * Citibank is no different.

I once read a paragraph (and if I could find it, I’d post it) that was made up entirely of typographical errors. Nearly all people (strangely enough, they didn’t test it on mice) read the text with accurate comprehension despite the glaring misspellings. It is due to this quirk of the brain that I can only guess that this * cough * Citibank message will have an appalling success rate.

Just a note to the gullible trusting souls out there: trust nothing in your inbox from anyone claiming to be your financial institution. Ever. If it needs attention or clarification — call them or go directly to their website without using any links from the email. Just because an email looks like a duck and walks like a duck, doesn’t mean it is a duck. It’s probably just duck-shaped poo with a few feathers stuck on it. Trust me on this.

Anyway, for your amusement and education, I give you the * cough * Citibank email I just received:
(click pic to enlarge)

Not a real Citibank email

And for your further interest, look at the link when hovered over. Notice, it’s not the same as what they want you to believe. Subtle, but different. Neato.
(click pic to enlarge)

Company name typo in real address

.

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Mar

17

This is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time

Filed Under irregular, tout le fromage | 6 Comments

…and I don’t even think they mean it to be.

Click this link and have sound on.

(It is totally work safe — nothing bad, just incredibly strange…)

Thanks go to Warren Ellis for having the link on his blog.

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