Finally a Sunday in Nashville

Well, y'all... I made it back to Nashville Saturday night. I was so glad to get home and hang out on the front porch and listen to the crickets and then a rainstorm. Perfect night.

I havent been home the past 3 Sundays, so it was nice to finally have a Nashville Sunday again.

No time for cooling my heels all day and relaxing though. Now that I'll be home for a while, the furniture/washer&dryer search has resumed with a vengeance.

We think we might have found the sofa we want, just gotta give it a day or two to make sure nothing else meets our fancy. The washer/dryer situation is going to be easier to make a decision on though since we have a limit to the size of the units. Not a lot to choose from.

We did have an interesting encounter at Ethan Allen today. When we walked in, the sales person was speaking with someone on their way out and she looked at us rather odd. We mentioned we were just browsing and walked on... she came up to us a couple of mintues later and said... "I'm sorry, I'm just not used to seeing two guys come in here furniture shopping." I think I might have scratched my head a little, but she then went on telling us the Ethan Allen 411. I dont want to sound too sensitive, but she just said that statement in an strange manner.

She wasnt finished with her stupidness though... She finally caught us on the way out and was giving us a catalog and her card... then decided to tell us that "I've been working with a bachelor recently... not that you are a bachelor... and it has just been so much fun. He comes in every week and wants to do another room."

I'll spare you the details of the rest of her banter, but it was just a strange string of comments coming from a seemingly classy lady. I guess gays dont shop at Ethan Allen... well, I know thats a lie, but she acted that way. Needless to say, I doubt I'll be buying anything at that store.

Anyway, hopefully I'll be blogging about some new things that are making the house feel more comfortable and normal this week. We did find a new mirror for the bathroom today... goodbye little cosmetic mirrors and using the fireplace in the living room... lol...

Hope you all had a great weekend & upcoming Holiday Week!!!

Saska-Storm

Hey, y'all... Not too much excitement to report from Sasktoon, Saskatchewan.

I've had a good week with my training class... only one day left... I'm quite happy about that.

I havent done much this week aside from work. I've still not found anything that fun to do here. I went to the mall yesterday. I always enjoy going to stores that we dont have in Nashville.

I did take a walk down by the river here tonight (which is right behind my hotel)... it was a nice walk... and I stumbled on a free stage of the jazz festivities going on this week. After that, I had dinner at an Italian restaurant that doesnt have a website. It was good, but keeping with the Saskatoon theme, looked straight out of the 70's.

I got home just in time to see a huge storm blow in... it's still happening right now... It looked gnarley enough that I got a little scared and turned on the news... I'm a bit of a wuss about storms sometimes when they are predicting hail and strong winds.

I'm going back to Nashville on Saturday and cant wait... I'm looking forward to getting back in my normal enviro. I cant imagine some of my friends who travel pretty much every week. This past month has taken a toll on me in more ways than one. I love travel, just enjoy it spread out over periods of time and definitely enjoy it more when accompanied by a friend.

Hope you are all doing well.

P.S... my trainees love that I say "you all" and "y'all"... it's so weird.. it's just part of my vernacular, but I've been more aware of how often I say it this week.

Canadian Idol

Ok, y'all.. not much to report on my Saskatoon experience. My training is going ok... but I cant find a lot of things to do for entertainment.

I've been sucked into Canadian Idol the past two nights and I have to say... wow... it sucks. It's just getting started here, so there are a lot of contestants... but I've yet to see someone I think is good... and worthy of selling records.

Oh... cutest thing ever... my grandmother has finally figured out how to respond to my emails when I cant call her... I've been working with her... she's getting there... she can finally reply... although she hasnt figured out how to use the space bar to separate words... soiseeareplythatlookslikethis....

Cute... She's a doll.

Hope you are all having a great week!

Canada, eh?

Blogging from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan this week. Not my ideal destination, but here I am. To be honest, my first impression of the city has been that of a city mostly built in the 60's/70's... the architecture is just non existant for the most part... aside from my hotel.

The trip here was mostly ok... aside from the annoying 2 y/o who babbled incessantly from Nashville to Minneapolis in the row behind me... it was quite frustrating... luckily the next flight allowed me to have 2 seats to myself.

Sunday's been pretty unremarkable. Although it is the Jazz Fest, it rained today and now that it has stopped, I'm too tired to go out. I left my home in Nashville at 6:30am.

I'm probably going to go to bed earlier tonight than I have in recent memory... I know I'm behind in posting photos of my past trips, but I have my cam this week also and will take pics of the Beirut of Canada...

Hope you all have a great week!

Back in Music City

Wow... I think it's been about three days since I've blogged. I needed the break honestly. I've been exhausted. I had a really long day on Monday. I left my hotel in Manchester at 2:30am Central and didnt get to Nashville until 7:30pm Central. I had to sit on the runway in Philly on Monday afternoon for 2 hours. It was quite frustrating.

I could barely walk when I got home... I walked so much in Manch & then all the plane sitting took a toll. I'm finally starting to recover and get back to a normal sleeping pattern.

It was definitely nice to get back to the US and be around familar settings. It was odd being gone for pretty much 2 weekends. The familiarity will only be temporary as I am leaving first thing Sunday morning for Saskatchewan. I wont be there quite as long as Manch though. I have a much anticipated vacation week coming up after that though. While I'm not going anywhere, I'm ready to just hang out here and get some stuff done. I havent had enough time to do things here at the "new" house.

Not sure I'll have much to blog about this week aside from looking forward to a wine party on Friday. Hope you are all having a great week!

P.S... I paid over $4 a gallon for gas today for the first time and it's unreal.

The Manchester Chronicles are coming to a close

It's almost over... I'm quite happy too... I cant wait to get back to familiar surroundings... the last day here didnt go quite as planned... but the details of today are better left unwritten for the masses. We'll leave it at, "I've had better days." For the record, there was nothing unlawful.

Here are my overall Manchester impressions: The density of the buildings and the mix of old & new are very cool... the lack of a bustling city after business hours was disappointing though considering this is the "2nd city of England." The people were quite self-depricating about their city, but I think it was a facade.

It's a nice city worth a visit if you have some spare time... but as I've said before, it shouldnt be your main destination for the first time in the UK.

Cheers, Mates. I'm scheduled to arrive in Nashville at 5ish pm on Monday.

P.S... dont expect daily updates on life in Nashville when I return. I gave you all a treat this week... well... let's call a spade a spade... I was bored and lonely this week :)

See post from Friday before reading this one

Well, I found out what the people showing their bits & pieces on the bicycles yesterday were all about.

Apparently it's a worldwide event... here ya go

Saturday Update

'Ello, again, Mates! Well... it's 8pm Saturday night. I've had a fun day. I still havent witnessed it raining yet, but I could tell it rained overnight from the roof of the adjacent building I can see from my room.

I did follow my plan of sleeping in, but ventured out around 1pm to return to the shopping district. I took quite a few pictures and some video clips today as well... unfortunately I've only been included in one of the pictures taken on my cam so far, but I feel awkward asking random strangers to take my photo. The only time I'm ok with that is if I see other tourist taking photos as well.

Wow... the shopping district was sooo busy. You could compare it to December in the US. Crazy crazy packed with people. I found a ton of stuff I wanted, but again, the dollar exchange prevents me from going crazy. I did get a few things at a good price. Apparently there is a very popular chain here in Europe, Primark, that has some very cool clothes at K-Mart prices. The store was swamped & everyone you saw on the street had a bag from there.

I also spent time in Picadilly Gardens again (like I did on Sunday). I took video clips from there. A highlight was a group of mates who enticed one guy in their group to run thru the fountains. It was quite the spectacle. He took his shirt off...and even briefly took off his jeans. I'll just say that dude obviously works out regularly. It was a nice surprise :)

Another interesting thing that started out the day was a group of protestors in front of the "Church" of Scientology. Not sure what the real beef was, but I think it had something to do with environmental pollution of some large boat that the Scientology elite use. I'm sure there were other issues as well. They had some kind of odd music playing and were wearing scary masks. One other pedestrian told her daughter... "Look, look at the Scary Man!" in classic British English.

I was actually pretty tired from all the walking today, but managed to make it down to the lap pool and spa. It was a quick trip, but really nice. Wish I had a lap pool in my house!

I'm about to get dressed for dinner. I'm going back to Negresco tonight. I've already been there, but I loved my dish and it's right out the front door of the hotel. I think I'm going to go back to the gay village again tonight after dinner. I might check out some other places that I didnt go in last night. Going to bars alone is a bit of a downer, but it's still good to just watch people.

Hope you all have a great Saturday! I wanted to post now before heading out... I might not make sense if I attempt to blog after going out tonight :)

Cheers, mates!

Check this out

I told you all that I recently went to Philadelphia for a training session. The bonus was that one of my favorite people in the world lives there and he made a video clip that is now shared on his blog

Check this out... many thanks to Whitney for doing this!!!!!!

Friday night is over

It's odd to think that I'm back in the hotel already after a few hours out & people are just getting out of work in the US.

I walked down to the gay village again tonight (Chinatown is in the same area... I've see Chinatown in other cities and they are all the same really)... the patrons werent quite as pissed as Sunday night. I had a hard time finding a restaurant serving food around there at 8:30pm, but settled with an Italian themed restaurant. It was a basement building that would probably be a candidate for Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen nightmares, but I was hungry & braved it out. The food sucked for the most part, but the wine was good :)

After dinner, I went into a dance/video bar. Who doesnt love to see vintage videos of Elton John, Abba & the Jacksons???

2 pints was all I could handle though... I still wanted to walk home in a straight line. The hotel is about a mile away from the gay village.

The walk to the hotel turned into an episode though... a very large guy (who looked & was the same size as this guy) decided to find his way home with me. He had an English accent but was so pissed he had no clue where to find his train. I wasnt much help obviously, but he decided to hang on my shoulder to support his drunken walk... nevermind I am half his weight. He asked me what my name was about 6 times within 3 minutes. I had no idea where his station was. I finally just asked someone on the street if they could help him. As I walked away after telling him to walk in the opposite direction I was going, he kept yelling my name... it was quite awkward, but comical.

He seemed str8 as an arrow though... so I dont think he fancied me in "that" way. He was just pissed.

I'm not sure if it is just our situation in most US cities that someone has to drive home... but I've seen so many people just out of their mind drunk here. I avoided one restaurant last night just b/c when I went to read their menu posted outside, a patron was just hiccuping and barely had her eyes open...while the other man & woman at her table were just disgustingly making out. They'd obviously been drinking a bit. I went a few shops down & saw them get in a taxi later... it was very comical/sad.

If someone was in a resturant in the US in the state I've seen people in here, they would be cut off & kicked out.

Damn... maybe I'm a bit pissed b/c I intended a quick post...

I'll chalk it up to the fact that I havent talked to anyone I know verbally since last Saturday. :)

Cheers, mates.

When you know you are NOT in Nashville...

This is a spontaneous blog post... the funniest thing just happened. I'm hanging out here in 'me' room... I worked a bit late today & am relaxing and catching up on US news.

I could hear some street noise of people being realy loud along with some type of whistles blowing. (make your own joke with that comment along with the following) I look out the window and there is a group of about 30 bicyclists... buck-ass naked (men & women) just letting their bits & pieces all hang out... I wish I could have taken a photo, but it happened too fast and I couldnt get downstairs and the straight down angle wouldnt work (there isnt a balcony). Not sure what the purpose was, but there were people with professional cameras running along the street taking photos.

One of those things I doubt I'll be seeing anytime soon in Nashville. I'll try to remember to check out the newspaper tomorrow to see if there is any mention of this. Hopefully there will be.

Cheers, mates!

P.S... I'm so glad it is Friday & I'm finished with the training session. It's time to let the hair down!

Not much to report, Mates!

Hey, y'all... I dont really have much to chat about tonight, but thought I'd check in anyway.

I'm so glad there is only one day left in the work week!!!! It's been a fun group of trainees, but sometimes, you're ready to let your hair down. I've been ready to let my hair down since Monday, but that goes without saying.

Believe it or not, it hasnt rained while I've been here and it's been quite nice. The past two days have been more of what I was expecting weather-wise. The sun does come out more than I imagined, but it's kinda chilly. The high temps have been around 60 and will be for the rest of my stay. Nothing a little jacket cant help with though.

I've been really exhausted today, so I cant wait to be able to sleep a little late on Saturday morning. I know some people would say, "you're in a different city/country, get out & about!" but I'll do that... after a good rest.

I took a little stroll this evening down to the shopping area I talked about the other day (Picadilly Square area)... there are a lot of clothes I'd love to have...and some I got, but when you think about having to double the list price (dollar conversion), it makes a difference.

I found a few restaurants open past 8pm finally... Tonight, I ate here. I had a pan seared fish dish with mash & peas. I actually sat outside like several other people did and it was interesting watching the pedestrian traffic from the sidewalk cafe. I had to sample dessert as well and it was magnifique!!! (the restaurant was French--again--throw me a bone) I had a crepe with bananas, ice creme & chocolate... yum yum yum. It was huge, but I managed to eat it all. :) I've done enough walking to work off the calories.

I've actually been walking everywhere. I took a taxi to work on the first day b/c I didnt know where I was going, but have been walking since. I'm actually exhausted today and was feeling some shin splint action tonight. I suppose that's good for a change.

I'm still loving the view from the hotel. It's not even completely dark yet even though it is 10pm. Crazy.

That's about all I have to post on me blog for now (I'm getting a kick out of the lack of the word "my" here). "Casey, me computer's not doing that!"

Hope you are all doing swell.

Cheers.

I'm out of clever titles

Hey, y'all... It's humpday...and I'm extremely excited about that... I only have 2 more days of training. I have really enjoyed my group this week thus far... they are so different from me... yet, I feel a connection with some of them... my training session the next two days will be with different people though... so I'm starting all over... enough about work

The forecast predicted rain tonight.. but guess what??? i only felt a couple sprinkles.... English weather forecasters lie just as Americans.... I went out for dinner tonight... I ventured out at 8pm... I dont mind eating late, but damn... these people eat early in Manchester... all week I've noticed they stop serving food at 9pm or earlier... I went in a few places that were open...but they stopped serving food at 7pm or so.. but they were still busy with drinkers... it's just odd to me... apparently some futbol championship is going on (im clueless)... and they looked at me like I was crazy... I went in about 5 places before I could find someone still serving food at 8pm... thats crazy to me...

It was a French inspired restaurant, click here to find out about it, I actually liked my meal tonight... the pomme frittes (french fries) were the highlight of the evening. They were seriously in my hungry mind the best fries I've ever had. Delicious.

I came back to the hotel and checked some of your emails... y'all rock... and decided to listen to music that makes me feel like home... (Loretta).... I miss Nashville... but... at the same time... I'm loving Manchester & would encourage anyone reading my blog to visit it at some point on your list... but... it shouldnt be on your top list if you like vibrant 24/7 cities as I do.

I dont even know where to stop on this rant, so I'll just say.. Cheers, mates.

Thanks, y'all!!!

I think my site meter must be going crazy... I've had a lot more page views/visits to my blog over the past week/few days. It's really nice. I have some awesome fellow bloggers sending people my way... it makes me actually feel a little "queer." It's interesting to think that people might be reading my thoughts that I havent met yet... but isnt that all part of blogging? :)

I've made it through 3 days of my training session and only have two days left... but I'll be sticking around the city until Monday morning. I couldnt come to the UK for the first time and not enjoy a weekend with no stress, right?

Believe it or not, it has yet to rain. The weather reports predicted it this afternoon, but it's almost 8pm and just cloudy really (and still daylight!). The forecast calls for the possibility of rain on Friday night, but we'll see if that pans out.

Today was the first day it felt a bit cool. It's not expected to get above 60 degrees for the rest of my stay. It's been in the 70's since I arrived. I guess this is back to normal. I still have to read weather.com for my forecast b/c I am a dumb American who cant convert their Celcius reports.

Nothing else to report for now. I'm about to head out for dinner and I can assure you that a meat pie will not be in front of me.

Cheers, mates!

'Ello, Mates!

Manchester update...

Here's where I left off yesterday... I switched hotel rooms... I was overlooking a train stop & pretty much the edge of Manchester/outskirts with lots of trees on the first night... it was pretty, but I prefer a real City Centre view, so I asked to be moved to the other side of the hotel. I'll be damned if they werent up in about 10 minutes to move me up two floors on the side I wanted. I now have a fabulous view of the city that is fantastic. I took a quick video clip & will take some pics to share later.

I went to dinner last night just steps away from my hotel. It was soooo good. I had some braised beef with mash... love me some meat & potatoes. I also got a bottle of wine (well, I had to bring some of it back to the hotel) and got a bit snookered considering I had also had a few after work ales. I got thru the training session just fine on Tuesday though... although I was a tad sleepy most of the day.

I decided to get back down into the heart of the city Tuesday night to find a dinner spot. This is a really big city, but unfortunately, it is largely a ghost town after 5pm. I did take some cool photos that I hope turn out ok. I dont have the connection cord for the cam to PC with me, so you'll have to wait for them. I even got someone to take a photo of me in front of a very cool place.

Speaking of cool place, I had dinner there also. It was at The Olde Wellington Inn. It really has a deep historical background and looked so authentically English. I selected some meat pie that I hated. It was an English steak with stilton in a puff pastry. That sounded good on paper, but I just didnt enjoy it personally. They were a little too generous with some thick brown gravy. It was interesting to say the least. It also had some sort of potato topping (stilton) in addition to a side of mash. They love their meat & potatoes here... and I usually do as well.

I was happy with the experience overall though. Just b/c I personally didnt like my dish doesnt mean it wasnt good, I just didnt fancy it tonight. The English steak part wasnt really a traditional steak as we know it in the US, it was very finely chopped up in the pastry & gravy.

Enough about the food... even though I dont have much else I can post on here tonight. I'm still loving the city & enjoy the daytime vibrancy of walking to work (I can see the office from my hotel) and all the street activity.

I do miss my "assistant/editor" though and wish I was not here alone. Dinner alone is the worst. So much is going on at home... our duplex tenants are moving in this week & he has it all set and I cant even see it completely rent ready before they all move in. Also, we have some beautiful flowers blooming at our new house. He was nice enough to send me photos though, so that was a nice touch.

It's way too late for me to still be up... so I'll end this now.

I'll keep you posted on my journey the rest of the week as it unfolds.

Ta-ta for now!

Some Random Manchester tid-bits

Alright, y'all...

I'm getting adjusted to the time difference here. I got to sleep around 1am local time last evening/morning, but I was able to feel ready to roll during the 9-5 session today.

I ventured out last night to the gay district, Canal Street. I didnt get there until 9:30ish and apparently I missed out on the real party activities. Being such a nice day & all on Sunday (70+ degrees), apparently they got their groove on early. I walked through Canal Street and was actually kinda feeling odd. They were all mostly crazy drunk, pissed if you are in the know, and I wasnt up for a venture inside any of the bars/clubs. There was too much stumbling around, bumping into each other & spilling beer just on the pedestrian streets in front of the hangouts for me to brave a look inside. I'm not bashful at all when it comes to going out alone in strange cities, but sometimes you have to recognize what you are up against. I'm all for getting a bit pissed myself, but I wasnt there last night and couldnt deal with others in that state.

Today was not a bad workday at all. I'm working at the equivalent of the IRS in the US. I took a taxi this morning (the stereotypical English kind), but realized it was just a 10 minute walk from my hotel, so I hoofed it back this afternoon.

Another thing that is hard to adjust to is all the damn coins you get here. I got 6 lbs back from lunch today, and it was all coins. That's like $12 USD!! They definitely stay in circulation longer, but it's definitely not convenient carrying several coins in your pocket.

I'm totally digging the architectural mix here. There are plenty of old as dirt buildings that are beautiful, but also a lot of very modern buildings... sometimes right next door to the old. I love that!

I've resolved my credit card freeze issue from yesterday (FYI: always call your credit card company if you are going to be out of country unless you want to deal with calling Customer Service after the fact).

It's almost 7pm here & I'm going to head out fairly soon to do something I havent decided on yet. It's really odd for me that it doesnt get dark here until 10pm.

Hope you are all doing well. TTYL!

'Ello, 'Ello!!!

I made it!!! I'm now in Manchester, UK. I'm quite excited about it so far. I got here at 9am local time this morning (3am Central) & luckily was able to check-in upon arriving at the hotel. The hotel is great. My driver from the airport said it is one of the tallest residential buildings in England. The hotel is 23 floors & there are apartments up to floor 48, so I am inclined to believe him.

The weather is surprisingly beautiful. My driver also said it was to be the warmest day here so far this year. Sadly, I was too sleepy to get out & enjoy it for a while... but I finally forced myself to enjoy it around 4pm. I was very glad I did. I took a quick walk and found a ton of stuff around here and the streets were buzzing with people/energy. I am right in the City Centre so plenty to do. It was very nice to sit in Picadilly Square and people watch.

Not too much to report about my travel experience yesterday aside from the fact I took a voluntary bump (with the understanding I'd still get to Philly for my connecting flight) and received a free r/t ticket to anywhere in the US/Canada. Score!!! I actually preferred waiting longer in Nashville rather than Philly, so it worked out great. Oh, I also saw a ZZZ-list former American Idol contestant getting on the plane I got bumped from. He still looks exactly as he did on the show.

I forgot to take my camera out today when I was out & about, but I promise to do better this week.

I'll post more updates as they unfold! TTFN!!

P.S... I had the opportunity to watch 'Juno' on the flight to the UK (which so many of you have talked about) and it was a great movie. I laughed quite a bit... and even got a little emotional sometimes... which is always a good experience for me... I like to run the gamut. If you havent seen the movie, check it out!!!

22 Weeks to go...

Wow! I cant believe we only have 22 weeks until the General Election for POTUS.

What a wild primary election it has been. I love a healthy debate, but feel that it is time to move on from the intra-party battle of the Democrats.

The candidate I voted for in the primary is not going to be on the top of the ticket unfortunately, but I am pleased to have a good alternative selection.

It's amazing that we finally have one of the parties with a minority candidate. Regardless of where you fall on the issues, I'm sure everyone can feel proud that we've finally turned a corner like this in our country.

Please go out & vote in November... if you arent currently registered, first, shame on you... second... get your behind to the County Election Commission. This is really something we should all pay attention to--not to mention you really, really, really need to participate in state/local politics as well.

Vote, Vote, Vote!!!

I'm a little behind, y'all!!!

Ok... I've been a little light on posting new blog entries this past week.

I went to Philadelphia for a training last week. I had a great time. I was able to stay in Center City and was just a short walk from a ton of things... most importantly, my friend, Josh's, employer. We were able to hang out Wednesday night, Thursday night and during the day on Friday. I had to leave Friday evening, but we packed a lot of sightseeing in a short period of time.

We walked down to the old city where so much history was made. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (unfortunately couldnt go in to see it) along with a lot of other really interesting buildings.

I do have some pictures to share, but my "assistant" hasnt put them on Flickr yet. I'll keep you posted. (Josh already posted some of his pics).

The rest of the weekend was pretty much low key aside from a visit to the Nashville Gay Pride festival in Centennial Park on Sunday.

It was back to the office this week.

I'm leaving on Saturday for Manchester, UK, to deliver another training session. I havent been to Europe before (mainly b/c of the weak dollar, so it will be nice to go on an expense account :).

I'll be there a little over a week & I'll take plenty of pictures & hopefully keep my blog updated while I am there. The only downer is that I'll be traveling alone :( Hopefully I can find plenty of things to keep me occupied.

Stay tuned for the pictures of Philly!!!