cheers d-bags...

chuck james, tim tam, and geoffrey dubay...it was a pleasure...

it took only 15 minutes...

for the bright sunshine to come out...craziness...

the weather gods are angry...

that we are leaving apparently...

the entire time from 9am to noon that the packers were packing...it was unbelievable sunshine...they put all the boxes together so that they could all move it into the truck at the same time...

the minute they started to move things into the truck...the clouds rolled in and a torrential rain storm has begun...hopefully it will stop soon so they can be on their way...thankfully, they aren't moving anything in the rain...i don't really want wet boxes in storage for a couple of weeks...

anyways, i'm sure if we wait another hour, it will be completely sunny again...

seriously...so much stuff...

the packers/movers are here...here's a pic of probably just 60% of the stuff we need to ship over...after the survey guy camed a couple of weeks ago, we were given an allowance of 1,300 pounds and some number of square volume...i'm pritu sure we are going to come pritu close to that...

we came for london...

but we wished we could stay cause of the friends we've met...both old and new...good times...even though they sound kinda funny...

they're coming...

tomorrow morning to take everything...yikes.

lots of stuff...

we seriously brought a lot of stuff over here...and are bringing even more back...ugh...

happy birthday gus!!!

wish we could be there...here's a snapshot when we "talked" to him on skype today...he was trying to sit in my mom's lap until he decided to sniff the computer screen...you can see his tail moving at super sonic speed...what a little boogar...

he's baaa-aack....

safe and sound...although looking a little tired (even dogs get jet lagged i guess!).

Gus has left the building...

he's on his way now...long journey back to Chicago...definitely a sad moment but we'll see him soon enough...have a safe trip buddy...see you on the other side of the atlantic...

our ride to the countryside...

ok...so, over the weekend we drove down to kent (which isn't quite the countryside, but close enough when compared to the urban life of central london) to stay with a friend...it was definitely a quiet place which is "the country" to me...

Anyways, we rented a car to get there so we could bring Gus...we got hooked up with a car because they ran out of automatic compact cars with built-in SatNav systems when i got to the counter...so, they gave us the car to the right which was a pleasant surprise...

this was my second time driving, so i was definitely more comfortable driving on the WRONG side of the road...the roundabouts were a piece of cake, although there were moments where i probably should have waited a little longer...i was beeped at my fair share of times and i also did my fair share of beeping...i even exhibited road rage a couple of times when pedestrians would randomly cross the road in front of me or walk through the cross walk when i had a green light...profanity-laced tirades spewed from my mouth...

anyways, gus had a good ol' time in the back seat (although he never looks it!)...he hasn't truly ridden in the back seat of a car in a long time...
so, he did what he loves to do...he loves to stick his head out the window and let the wind blow his ears horizontal...its funny when i can see his head sticking out in my side view mirror...on our way home, the SatNav took us through our old neighborhood in Pimlico where we first lived for a month in corporate apartments before Gus arrived (see early blogs)...Gus had a good look at the place as we drove by...its funny how things eventually come full circle in life at unexpected times...

haven't forgotten about you...

been missing in action as of late...will post more very soon...

tourists in london...not!!!

so, m and i have been all over europe in our travels both together and apart...have been to some of the coolest places and sights in europe...visited more famous museums and cathedrals that we've completely lost count...

the irony to all this is...we've been to almost zero museums and cathedrals here in london!

for example, we work right near St. Paul's Cathedral (the cathedral dome is basically in every london skyline photo) and have never taken a tour of the place...the only time i've ever been inside was to pay for my parents tickets so they could take a tour...

the only museum i could think of that i've been to in London was the National Maritime Museum!!! hahaha...and i don't know anybody that has ever been there or let alone has even heard of it...the only reason i entered was because i was taking my parents around Greenwich and we started wandering and just ran into it...so, may as well enter since most of the museums in London are absolutely free...and it was a cool place! As far as I know, the only place m's ever been to is the National Gallery...

so, we work across from the famous Tate Modern...but never been inside...and we keep hearing about the wonderful British Museum, but still haven't made our way over there...even though its just a short walk from everywhere...never been inside Westminster Abbey...

its sunday night here and we had a free weekend to wander and visit these places...but NAH! TOO MANY TOURISTS! instead, we just enjoyed relaxing at home...playing video games...catching up with friends here and back in chicago...watching TV...doing our marathon training runs...and of course hanging out and walking Gus in the park...

so, i can honestly say that I haven't properly toured london like I have every other city in Europe that I've visited...but that's okay and perfectly fine...i haven't taken london for granted at all...i've just enjoyed the city as a resident...visiting places and experiencing things that tourists don't have time to do...because after our short stint here, we'll never be able to call this place home again...and since we plan on coming back to london many more times in the future, then at that point we can be proper tourists!

the long runs...

so, the marathon training long runs are in full swing now...last weekend, i ran 6 miles on sat and then 14 miles on sunday...this weekend, its 7 miles today then 15 miles tomorrow...hopefully, my knees will hold up...

patring pet care center...huh???

ok...my dad is pretty bored at home...with my mom being in PI for the past 1.5 months...anyways, they are both very excited about having two dogs in the house very soon...so, my dad, being very bored at home, sent the following e-mail out to the family...what a big lu-zer.

----------------------

The grand opening of PATRING PET CARE CENTER, LLC will be on July 20, 2009.

The Center is a gratis & non-profit care center. Pets will be treated with love & care. The facilities will provide: clean painted 2 door steel cage, 144 square feet of fully fenced playground, toys, background music and a spacious sleeping bed. Upon request, we will provide shower & walk out exercise. Water will be provided, but due to swine & bird flu and possibly diarrhea, food & treats not included.

Reservation in advance is mandatory.

Best Regards,

Tootsie

Pooh Collector

Patring Pet Care Center, LLC

getting into the swing of things...

so, me and ab were so inspired by wimbledon that we decided to play tennis ourselves...so, we booked a one hour reservation at the hyde park tennis center...i brought all my tennis gear over from the States and never used them...so, may as well! other than the extreme heat (it was in the high 80s)...and the fact that we didn't play like they do on TV (the first half hour was not pretty)...it was a lot of fun and a really cool experience to be able to say we played tennis in london just a few miles away from where the wimbledon courts were packed with players...

the pet kingdom...

so, me and ab went to one of the most famous department stores in the world today...the department store name starts with an H and ends with an arrods! anyways, this place was as advertised...gigantic and sold every high end thing known to man...and the food hall was pretty cool...

one of the departments we visited was called the Pet Kingdom looking for stuff for Gus and Bode...the place was definitely posh...here are a few pics of the pet beds that they sold...each one was at least $500 to $800 each...more than people sized furniture!!! ridiculous!

our last month...

for our avid readers out there, here is a quick blog to keep you entertained...here are two pics i took messing around with the point-n-shoot camera which i am in charge of, while m is in charge of the fancy DSLR camera...i'm certainly not the photographer in the family but i do know my way around the point-n-shoot...and it does some cool things that you wouldn't expect...like focusing on the flower below (you can make out my finger in both pics holding on to this flower...which is actually an offshoot of a weed i found in the grass)...this was taken in a popular residential block in amsterdam where we chose just to hang out for a while to rest...