The place where lost socks go...

The past thirty-six hours -- from Monday evening until this morning -- have been really good! There hasn't been any one single Major Good Thing... but there have been loads of little things conspiring to put me in an excellent mood!

It started with quite a nice ice skating lesson on Monday evening. I had a couple of breakthrough moments where various and sundry maneuvers seemed to click into place. I still can't reliably do an inside three-turn[*], but my backwards crossovers are looking good and my continuous curves -- both inside and outside edge -- are nice, too!

After skating on Monday, I had a lovely phone date with the even lovelier tawneypup! It is always good to hear her voice... and it will be even better to see here again next month! It was also a good way to end my evening; after getting off the phone, I collapsed into bed with cheshcat.

Tuesday began with the perfect commute, as I wrote about yesterday... and the day just got better from there. Apparently, I was right about the perfect commute being a good omen![**] For one thing, the weather was clear and sunny -- at this time of year, I will take all the daylight that I can get! Also, over the course of Tuesday, I received word of various and sundry bits of good news -- much of it I cannot repeat in the public domain -- which left me feeling bouncy and happy. Indeed, the bouncy happiness threatened to bubble over... so I went up to the level eight terrace and had a phone chat with Darelle so that I could bounce at her from the roof for a bit!

Tuesday evening was bell ringing practice with the OUSCR at Mary Mag. The return commute was nearly as smooth as the morning's -- only a three minute wait for the Oxford Tube -- and the ringing was quite nice. In particular, I fell into a groove whilst ringing the treble to St. Simons Triples and was ringing impressively well (for me)! These days, I am working on improving my ropesight and my listening skills. Also my bell handling, so that I can make more natural distinctions between a slow stroke, a steady stroke, and a quick stroke.

When practice ended, I picked up noodles for cheshcat and I for dinner, then met her at Skullcrusher Mountain. We ate, then removed the last bits of our things from the old flat. With all of our stuff gone, the last task was to get the kitties moved. We had left them to the end, visiting daily with food when we came to pack. The idea -- which seems to have worked -- was to set the new place up reasonably well before unleashing them to destroy it! Before moving the kitties, we bathed them. We do this once or twice a year with our cats, using baby shampoo with conditioner to clean them up. So long as you start them on it young, they tolerate it. They never like it... but they tolerate it. For Giles, who was six months old yesterday, this was his first bath ever! He squirms like a wild thing when we so much as try to clip his claws... so both Chesh and I had anticipated the bath as being quite a challenge. Giles surprised us by taking it remarkably well -- mainly he just went limp and let us get on with it! Good kitty!

Once Giles and The Boy were clean, we put them in the car and left Skullcrusher Mountain. We need to return for cleaning and to do a farewell ritual for the space... but we are now officially moved out! Nice! Indeed, this has been one of the easiest moves I have ever done[***]. We did it all in eleven days, all by ourselves[****] and using only my Red Rover for transport. The new place is not fully set up set... but by spreading the packing over eleven days, we have had time to get a good fraction of our things into place as we went along.[*****]

The poor kitties didn't quite know what hit them! First, Mommy and Daddy take away all the things that they are used to! And go away each night! Then they get shoved into water!! And put in a carrier!! In the car!!! Then taken to a strange place!!!! Poor The Boy, he was very clingy and vocal as he explored the new place -- I made sure to lavish tonnes of attention on him! Giles, being a kitten, was less traumatised and happily explored his new home. Even though it was late, cheshcat and I stayed up with them for some time, helping to acclimate them.

Finally, Chesh fell into bed and I hopped into the shower to wash the yuck of the old flat off of me. Then a "quick" hop online to check for mail from one or two certain someones... and into bed myself!

All in all, quite a nice day and a half!

The one downside to it all has been that, amongst all the activity of the past few days, I really have not enjoyed a full night's sleep since Saturday! I will endeavour to rectify this tonight. This evening, cheshcat and I have theatre plans at the Oxford Playhouse. I don't know what show we are seeing yet -- this is the second-to-last of the "surprise theatre" tickets that she bought back in August -- but their shows usually let out shortly after ten pm. With any luck, I can grab a quick dinner and be in bed by shortly after eleven o'clock, thus luxuriating in the luxury of eight hours rest!

---

[*] But that's okay as the term is only half over. I have three more weeks to learn how!

[**] Certain good wishes from certain special people probably didn't hurt with this, either!

[***] Not counting those rare times that we have had professional movers, like when I moved from Arizona to Chicago to start work at Fermilab and the lab paid for the relocation costs.

[****] I believe that this alone is a first!

[*****] We were also able to re-use boxes after unpacking them, which is a nice eco-bonus!

Writing this entry, as usual, from Ye Olde Oxforde Tube[*]. This morning, after I left the flat, I started cycling towards the bus stop. On the Oxford end, it is only a two minute cycle ride[**] -- shortly after I started, I could see the Oxford Tube waiting at the bus stop already. Meanwhile, I was stopped behind a red slight. Apparently, I was going to just barely miss the bus. Feh... or so I thought.

Turns out, enough people were waiting to get on that I made it. Nice! Zero minutes wait is the best kind! As an added bonus, the coach was very nearly empty. I have two seats to myself and desktop space for this morning's commute. This is about as good as it gets!

If I were superstitious, I would take this as a portent that today is going to be a good day. In fact, I think that I will choose to take it as such anyway!

---

[*] Not nearly as exciting as a decommissioned underground nuclear bunker in Southern France, but there you go.

[**] The point of bringing the bicycle is for the London end, when it turns a forty minute walk into a thirteen minute ride.

Definitely living up to my moniker[*] today!

Woke up, as I so often do, in Oxford. Promptly headed into London. This time, my destination was not Imperial College, but Queen Mary University of London. There, I was meeting with a colleague who is also a new post-doc on the T2K experiment and also did his doctorate at Stony Brook under CKJ. I barely knew him back then, as I finished up shortly after he arrived, but we have been starting to coalesce into a team at our new positions.

After our meeting at QM finished, I started heading back to Oxford. Indeed, I am writing this -- as I do with many entries of late -- from Ye Olde Oxforde Tubee[**].

Upon arriving back in Oxford, however, I shall not be staying long! I intend to clean up a bit at the new flat and collect cheshcat. Then we are off again!

Where are we off to, you may fairly ask. Tonight's entertainment is a return to Stratford-upon-Avon. There, we will see the Royal Shakespeare Company perform Loves Labours Lost. This will be the nineteenth performance that I have seen by the RSC[***]. It has been about nine weeks since I last saw the RSC do anything -- I need to be a good theatre junkie and keep feeding the habit!

After that, we return to Oxford where I shall sleep, as I so often do.

It seems that recent events have conspired to turn Oxford into less of my home city and more of my base-of-operations. With a job in London, a passion for travel, a sweetie in the rural middle of nowhere, an addiction to Stratford-on-Avon, et cetera, et cetera, and so forth... well, I have been back from the States for twenty-five days now, and only two of them have not involved doing something outside of Oxford! Quite a change from the early days of when I was living here -- still without a car -- when I could go weeks without leaving Oxford!

---

[*] "Nomad", that is. What did you think I meant?

[**] Thank goodness for mobile broadband! It has made this commute so much more productive!

[***] Also, just for the record, it will be eighteenth trip to Stratford (as one time we went on a Saturday for two plays). It will also be the eighteenth play that I have seen the RSC perform (as I saw them put on Richard III twice). It will be the seventeenth Shakespearean play that I have seen RSC perform (as I once saw them perform MacBett -- an Ionesco parody of MacBeth). And it will be the seventeenth RSC show that I have seen with cheshcat, who has accompanied me on all but two of these expeditions!

Our lease on the new flat began on Friday. We are currently in the process of moving from the old place to the new one, and expect to be entirely out of the old apartment by the end of this coming weekend. In the meantime, here are so initial thoughts on the new space:

Cons (major):

• Size: New flat is definitely smaller than the old flat. Which is saying something!

Cons (minor):

• Location: New flat is further from the Oxford city centre (about two miles, compared with our previous flat which was about one mile away).
  
• Management: New flat is run by a professional company, meaning more interference into our lives.
  
• Rent: New flat is £45/month more expensive than the old flat.
  
• Showers: Thus far, water pressure is not impressive. Nor is the hot water supply. We shall see if something can be done about this.

Pros (major):

• Location: New flat is much closer to the Oxford Tube stop (a five minute walk, or three minute run, compared to a fifteen minute drive). This will also make it easier to take my bicycle on the coach, helping to shorten the London side of the commute.
  
• Location: New flat is also on a bus route that brings cheshcat directly to work.
  
• Location: New flat is in an active neighborhood -- directly above shops -- so there is life outside my apartment. And I can see it just by looking outside of my living room window!
  
• Condition: New flat is in much better condition than the old flat! Much!! (For one thing, there doesn't seem to be rampant mould growth, which the old flat suffered from -- due to insufficient insulation -- every winter!)
  
• Dishwasher: We have one now!

Pros (minor):

• Facilities: Two full bathrooms! Excellent!
  
• Management: New flat is run by a professional company, so any problems that we have will hopefully be tended to. (As opposed to the last landlady who did absolutely nothing ever about anything -- not even returning letters, calls, or e-mail)
  
• Neighbors: I live next to the Shark House! How bloody cool is that??

In short, the new place[**] is not perfect... but it is an improvement, especially given the location of our current jobs.[***] These are just the initial impressions. It will be interesting[****] to see how they evolve as time goes on.

---

[*] Apologies to the Barenaked Ladies for my subject line...

[**] Which still has not officially been christened. Chesh favours calling it "Skullcrusher Mountain II", whilst I tend to favour an original name.

[***] In all fairness, the old flat was much better suited to the location of our previous jobs, for both of us. Had we lived at the new place whilst working at those jobs, it would have been very inconvenient.

[****] At least to me.

Been a tad busy these past few days. Instead of saving everything up for one big post -- which, due to time constraints, may never get written -- I may just put out a series of small entries today.

Although we took possession of the new flat on Friday, we are still in the process of moving into it. We slept in the old flat on Friday and Saturday, then slept in the new one for the first time on Sunday. Thus, my first commute to London from the new place happened yesterday.

The living room in the new flat looks out on the London Road -- the main road in East Oxford[*]. Yesterday, as I was coming home from London to the new flat, I sent a text message to cheshcat letting her know when the coach had arrived at the outskirts of Oxford. Six minutes later, I was walking up to our building when I heard a loud "BEEP" from above. I looked up and saw cheshcat there -- smiling and waving at me! After receiving my text, she had gone to the window and leaned out to greet me as I returned to our new home for the first time. That was very sweet of her, and a most pleasant welcome home! I was grinning for much of the rest of the evening after that...

---

[*] Others may disagree with me on this, citing the Cowley Road and the Iffley Road. However, I consider the London Road to be the main road in East Oxford, while the Cowley and Iffley Roads are the main roads in SouthEast Oxford. The Abingdon Road is clearly the main road in South Oxford and the Botley road is just as obviously the main road in West Oxford. North Oxford, like SouthEast Oxford, has two main roads -- the Woodstock Road and the Banbury Road, though the Banbury Road -- where we have been living -- is clearly the "main-er" of the two.

That's right! It's time for the dreaded "Week In Review" post![*] What has your Friendly Neighbourhood Nomad been up to this week?

Monday: After work, I had a tight commute, but got back into Oxford just in time for my ice skating lesson. Actually, I had thought that I would be late for the first time ever -- very glad to have been wrong on that count! This was the first week of the Level Seven class. We are learning inside edge three-turns[**], backwards crossovers, continuous circles on the inside edges, and continuous circles on the outside edges. The first two seem a bit tricky, but I have a fair bit of confidence that I can manage to learn them all in the remaining five weeks of the class. Eventually, I know that I will have to re-take a Level... but it hasn't happened yet, and I'd like to put that off for as long as possible!

Tuesday: Missed the Oxford Tube in the evening by about two minutes, so I had to wait fifteen for the next one. This made me late for bell ringing practice with the OUSCR at Mary Mag. Thankfully, I was only seven minutes late to a seventy-five minute practice, so it all worked out. Indeed, it is quite likely that I didn't actually miss out on any ringing. There were twenty-two people there, so I only rang every third or fourth go. I also stayed up far too late watching the election results come in.

Wednesday: This was a free evening -- a rarity during term time. Since I skate on Mondays and ring on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Wednesday evening is the only one that is potentially open... and often cheshcat and I fill it with theatre dates (like we did last week and like we will do in two and three weeks time). I used the opportunity stay late at Imperial College. This seemed like a good idea, especially since I had arrived late, thanks to the long election night on Tuesday. Once I arrived home, I ate dinner quickly, then had a phone date with the tremendously terrific tawneypup! It had only been about a week since we had last talked -- which is normal for us -- but it was still quite lovely to hear her voice! Before the evening was out, I also got to catch up with frogcastle for the first time in awhile, and speak to the delightfully delicious Darelle, too.

Thursday: Today has turned out to be very different than planned. In fact, it has been a bit of an annoying day. Nothing serious has gone wrong, but I am non-plussed. I'm going to rant about my day, just to get the annoyance off of my chest. However, it really is just griping, so I will ( place it behind a cut, and please feel free to skip it! )

Friday: Tomorrow, we pick up the keys to our new flat! At which point, we officially start moving! Looking forward to this -- I like the new place, and it will make the commute a bit easier in a couple of different ways! Then there is a very busy weekend ahead... but I will write about that as it unfolds.

---

[*] Or, to be more specific, the slightly-less dreaded "Week In Review So Far" post.

[**] These involve skating forward, then pivoting on one foot, and ending up backward in a one-foot glide. We did them on the outside edge of our skates in Level Six.

[***] As anyone who knows me will attest, waiting is not my strong suit.

[****] Three cheers for mobile broadband!

At the start of the previous entry, I mentioned that the past couple of days had been busy and fun... then promised I would update about them later. No time like the present! Yes, I am still in a Samhain state of mind... but there are also things to be joyful about. At times like this, I invoke my favourite Walt Whitman quote, from Song of Myself:

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then, I contradict myself.
I am large, I contain multitudes.

Thus, without further ado, here is what everybody's favourite Nomad has been up to for the past couple of days:

On Wednesday, I woke and drove myself to the Park & Ride. Got on the coach, sat down, set up laptop. Learned that there had been a "major accident" on the M40 -- the motorway between Oxford and London that comprises the bulk of my commute -- and that it was now closed. Promptly got off the coach, drove home, and e-mailed in to say that I would be working from home. As it turns out, two lorries had collided at about three in the morning. One was carrying lard, which ended up all over the six lanes of the M40. The London-bound side did not re-open until after 4pm; the Oxford-bound side was closed until after 11pm! Not a day to commute into London!

While in Oxford, I also took the opportunity to run a couple of local errands. One of these was to pick up a mobile broadband subscription for myself. When I decided to do the Oxford/London commute daily, it was with the assumption that I would have WiFi on the coach so that the bulk of the commute could be productive. Turns out that the Oxford Tube WiFi is horrendous and not at all conducive to productivity. Having my own independent and reliable net connection? Priceless![1]

Wednesday evening, cheshcat and I went to the Oxford Playhouse to see a show called Liberty. I am very glad that they gave me Liberty, because I don't particularly care for the alternative[2]. The show is a new production, put together by the Lifeblood Theatre Company and Shakespeare's Globe. Written by an English playwright, the show is set in France, during the revolution[3]. The show was very good. Not brilliant, but definitely very good. Many parallels drawn to the United States in the post-9/11 world. It was poignant in several places, too. Definitely enjoyed -- kudos to cheshcat for choosing it! As an added bonus for the evening, I got to spend some time before bed chatting with the delighful perspicacious! Always a good thing! I am very much enjoying getting to know that woman better!

On Thursday, I got to skip the Oxford/London commute yet again. No, the lard was all gone from the M40. However, there was a small T2K meeting at Oxford. It was very technical, dealing with the data flow from the Multi-Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs)[4], through the front end electronics, the back end electronics, the various stages of the data acquisition system, and then the "near-online" computing chain. There was a lot that I missed, due to the highly technical nature of the meeting, but I still found it to be very useful.

Thursday evening, I made up for not going to London during the day. I picked up cheshcat and wolfpeach, then drove us all into London to see Jonathan Coulton perform! Last time we saw him perform, back in March, it was at a small venue in Camden, and he went on alone. This time, the show was at a larger venue and he was accompanied by his frequent touring companions, Paul & Storm. I had not seen P&S perform before -- very glad that I have now! Generally speaking, their music does not have the same brilliance as JoCo's -- though I particularly liked the song Opening Band -- but their stage presence is incredible. One of the highlights of the evening was when somebody suggested Paul do a Cabaret routine. He replied, quite snarkily: "Twenty pounds!" I raised my hand, auction style, in the balcony. However, when he said he wanted it on the stage first, I balked. For one thing, I didn't actually have that much in my wallet! About to move on, some fan in the front run actually put twenty quid on stage. Go figure! So he did a Liza Minnelli routine! Very nice! I also got to make a jackass out of myself get some laughs from the crowd when people started shouting out requests. It started with one guy repeatedly requesting Shop Vac. He was so persistent that he eventually got his way. As a result, everyone started shouting out a request for JoCo -- all at once. Not one to sit idly by, I shouted out a request of my own... but not for a JoCo song. Spontaneously, I yelled out: "PLAY FREE BIRD!" JoCo heard me and laughed, then said "No, I'm not going to play Free Bird." Which made everyone else in the house -- who had not heard me over the din -- laugh. Well done, Nomad[5].

Today has been a fairly ordinary and mundane day. The highlight, so far, was that I got to make somebody special feel better. Tonight, of course, is our Samhain ritual. Heading home now to get ready and transition into HP mode...

---

[1] Okay, actually the price is fifteen quid a month. But that doesn't sound nearly as clever.

[2] Cake, please. Yes, I'm making these jokes on Samhain. I am not always known for being the brightest card in the deck. See next entry.

[3] Who would ever have thought that a Brit would make a play about the French Revolution??

[4] A new piece of technology intended as an alternate for the well established photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs) when one needs to work in an environment with a magnetic field.

[5] I learned today that the wonderful tawneypup did very nearly the same thing at a Gaelic Storm concert quite recently. I knew that there was a reason I adore that woman!

I am beginning to wonder if somebody slipped a bit of Felix Felicis into my tea this morning! So far, the day has been spent tackling errands in three major areas. Each had come into trouble before... and each has had the trouble vanish today!

First, there is Peter, our Red Rover. Last week, I brought Peter in its annual MOT. I was nervous about this, and happy to see as he passed test after test... until the end. The final test was Peter's emissions, and he failed in two places. Not even close, really. So this morning, I brought him to a garage in Kidlington for repair. The mechanic was dubious, not sure if he could get to it today or if he would have the right part. Especially since the garage was only open for a half day on Saturday. Left the car and caught the bus back to Oxford. Jump forward a couple of hours, when I returned to the garage: Turns out, a new catalytic converter was needed, they had one in stock, it is now installed, and the emissions are well within acceptable limits. Even better, the part can cost well over a thousand pounds for some models... but just one hundred fifty for my Rover. For under two hundred quid, Peter now has acceptable emissions and, as best I can tell, is in tip-top shape!

Next, there is my quest to maximize productivity on my long commute. As mentioned a few days ago, the plan is to acquire a Blackberry (or equivalent) to provide mobile broadband while I am on the bus. I looked in several shops yesterday, but was stymied. Even the best "unlimited internet" plan that I could find had a cap of 500 MB/month. That's fine if one exclusively uses the Blackberry, which employs powerful compression. Not so great if the plan is to frequently use the phone as a tethered modem. The news was not encouraging. Today, I made one more try and headed to "The 3 Store", as suggested by otterylexa. Turns out, they had a better deal than I had hoped -- for thirty-six pounds a month, I can have a Nokia E71 (with 1 GB/month of internet usage) plus a mobile USB modem for my laptop with 5 GB/month of use. That should fit the bill quite well and make my commute much more productive!

Finally, there is the relocation from Skullcrusher Mountain. Since London is East of Oxford, I have been planning to move from this flat, which is in North Oxford, to a place in East Oxford. Preferably the Headington neighborhood. For my previous job -- and Chesh's -- this flat was at an ideal location. For both of our current jobs, it is not so good. Getting a place in Headington will make her commute one direct bus ride into the Oxford city centre; for me, such a move would allow me to easily catch the Oxford Tube on its way out of the city. No driving to the Park & Ride or wasting time as the bus fights its way through city traffic. About a week ago, I was searching for flats and found a place that is ideally suited for our current job situation: It is right in Headington, just above shops. It is located just next to the bus stop that would take Chesh into the city center and -- on the other side of the street -- the bus stop that would take me to London! I rang the letting agent... only to be informed that the landlord would not allow pets. Over the next few days, I combed the web looking at other flats. None were even close to being as well located at this one. Yesterday, I rang the agent again. I explained that I could understand the landlord not wanting pets in general, but extolled the difference between large dogs and two small cats that stay indoors. I urged her to contact the landlord to see if there was some way that we could change their mind -- perhaps signing a long lease (I was willing to sign for two years), perhaps paying an extra security deposit, perhaps a slightly higher rent. I was not hopeful, but I figured that nothing could be lost by trying. While I was out with the car today, the letting agent phoned. cheshcat took the call. Turns out that the landlord is okay with two indoor cats, and we have an appointment to view the flat on Monday!

I'm not sure what I have done to merit such favourable treatment from the Karma Gods today. However, I am duly grateful and will not complain! My car situation, my housing situation, and my commuting situation all look far better than they did when I woke up this morning!

And it is only lunchtime!

It looks like it has been about two weeks since I updated this journal with much content about what I have been doing[*]. I suppose that I should write an entry soon to rectify that. This is not that entry.

This entry is just a collection of random uncorrelated bits that have been percolating in my head today. Skim through and see which ones catch your interest, gentle readers...

• Had the best commute ever today. Which is to say that I gave myself permission to work from home. Everyone else in the T2K group at Imperial College was going to be away today, anyway, so I figured that I could be as productive alone in a room in Oxford as I could be alone in a room in London. I was right. Am still working from home, despite the fact that it is a Friday night. Productivity is a Good Thing^(TM).
  
  
• The weather has been stunning for the past few days! It almost makes me wonder if I am still in England! This sort of cool, crisp, clear Autumn weather is absolutely lovely!
  
  
• My bus pass for the Oxford Tube also permits me to ride on any of the local buses in Oxfordshire. Thus, I have achieved some sort of Nirvana for local transportation in Oxford. I can now get myself anywhere in the city -- when I choose and free of charge -- by either (a) bicycle, (b) car[**], (c) bus, and (d) on foot. Indeed, I could even borrow (e) Cheshcat's scooter, if I really wanted to! This is a great improvement from two years ago; between July 2006 and May 2007, my only free option was to walk everywhere!
  
  
• "Andy" is the most common name amongst the people that I know in Oxford. I know four Oxonian Andys.
  
  
• Watching the Katie Couric interviews of Sarah Palin has convinced me that there may indeed be Vice-Presidential material there. Katie Couric may have the makings of a competent veep...
  
  
• Alas! Tis with great regret that I must contradict my previous post about going to the Poly MeetUp on Tuesday. It looks like I will be taking remedial ice skating instead. More accurately, I will be missing the last lesson of the term for my ice skating course, as I will be in New York on October 13^th. It turns out that this coming Tuesday is the only time that I can make up the lesson. So no Poly MeetUp for me this month. Hope to see many of you lovely people at the next one, on November 4^th! Meanwhile, have extra fun on my behalf while I'm gone, okay?
  
  
• Six days from now, I will be on an aeroplane to New York! One week from right now, I will be back at my spiritual home, at the start of my twelfth consecutive P**T*** gathering!!!
  
  
• Over the past two weeks, the relationship velocity has started to slow down somewhat, after being at unprecedentedly high levels for about eight weeks. I believe that I may even be approaching a stable new relationship configuration[***]. Most of the developments have been positive, though there is one case that has me feeling a little sad. In effect, I think that I need to fall out of love -- something that I have never done before -- with somebody who is very dear to me, in order that the relationship can survive[****]. How to even begin doing that is a mystery to me! Thankfully, I have all the time that I need to figure it out.
  
  
• Twenty-six!!!

Okay, back to work for a little while longer, then off to spend some quality alone time with cheshcat...

---

[*] Besides riding the Oxford Tube, that is!

[**] Okay, to be fair, there is a petrol cost for driving. But this city is so small that the expense is negligible.

[***] Famous last words, I know.

[****] On the plus side, it looks like this particular relationship will survive.