And we're back

We're online again!

Lots of things to tell you about. Here's a few tid-bits to keep you entertained.

We have (some) furniture. A combination of a couple trips to IKEA, a few co-workers leaving the UK at the end of their tours and an amazing website called Freecycle has helped us get the basics at fairly reasonable prices. A note on Freecycle - it's like Craigs List (but everything is given away). People post what they want to get rid of & their post code and if you want it, you can email them & arrange a time to pick up. I'm a huge fan so far. We'll continue to look for stuff to round out furnishings as we go.

Credit cards over here have gone to "chip & pin". Every card has a microchip in it, so you put it in a machine (like a hotel room key) then type in your pin number instead of sliding it. Most places look at our US card funny, then we explain that they have to swipe it. If it's someone new, they often have to go find a manager to explain to them how to swipe a credit card. A bit annoying, but not that big of a deal. We went to Asda (Walmart) last weekend -- the sign outfront actually says ASDA / Walmart -- they refused our card. They said it's their policy not to take swipe cards. I pointed out to the cashier and both managers who came to discuss the situation with me that they had a swipe port on the key pad and they could take my card. They were undetered. We are eventually going to get a UK card, but decided to wait until we had some UK cashflow to make sure we could pay it first. I just couldn't believe that Walmart wouldn't take my US credit card! I wrote them a letter on their customer service website. They wrote back today & said that it is their policy to take both chip & pin and swipe cards. I'm going to print it out & take it with me next time we go. I'm pretty sure throwing a fit in Walmart is what gives American's bad names over here!

The weather over here has been really mild. Those of you in the 100+ record summer in Texas should come visit! Here's our 10 day forecast:



Adam has finished & submitted his scholarship application, but has gotten a bit distracted this evening by planning our vacation. I got a note at work the other day that I had to take 6 days of vacation (err...holiday) before September 30. How have I already accrued that much vacation? I've been here just over a month!