Free Refills

After I go to the gym I usually stop by Tesco and pick up something to make for lunch. Today as I walking in the store I noticed that they had a display of pop near the tills.

I never was a huge pop drinker in the States. I would have some if I was out at a restaurant or I'd grab a can here and there, but I never bought pop to have in the house. My favorite pop to drink out of a fountain is Diet Coke, but only from the fountain. It just doesn't taste the same from the plastic bottle or can. 

Anyways, I don't drink much pop at all here in London. Maybe one pop a month? For one thing Diet Coke here tastes like regular Coke. It doesn't have that snappy little diet taste at all. Also there's really no such thing as free refills here. At Nandos they have a fountain and you can serve yourself, but that's the only one I've seen. It's not like back in Minnesota, where I could sit at Currans and have like 9 Diet Cokes. 

Also, there isn't the variety of carbonated drinks like you would find at a gas station in the States. At a gas station here you are going to find Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Orange Fanta, and maybe Dr. Pepper. At some off licenses you'll get Cherry Coke, or even 7Up. I remember the amazement Matthew expressed the first time he encountered a cooler at the Super America.

I am going back to Minneapolis with Matthew in May and after seeing the pop on display in Tesco, it really got me craving a nice ice cold pop. Especially when someone will bring you a refill even before the glass is empty. Now that's the America I miss....

PRINCE 2

Last week was a good week. I went and did a Project Management certification course. I am now a certified PRINCE 2 practitioner. PRINCE 2 stands for Projects in Controlled Environments. It is a de facto standard used extensively by the UK Government and is widely recognised and used in the private sector, both in the UK and internationally.

There was a lot of project management in my degree back at MCAD. It was even a required class in my major, taught by the lovely Julie Dirksen. I always enjoyed it. I liked the behind the scenes role of making sure all the ducks were in a row and that things were getting done on time. It's a great feeling to set up the framework in which something gets created.

I had tossed around the idea of getting in project management out here, but found out that people really need some kind of training or certification. Matthew then suggested that I do PRINCE 2 and there was a course that was starting the next Monday. I was excited about the training and interested to see what it was all about.

It was an intense week. You take two exams. The first one comes on Wednesday and that's a foundation exam. You spend the first three days going over material from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. You are still going over material that you're going to be tested on Wednesday. It's a lot of ground to cover, but you'd be surprised at how fast the day goes by. There were about 12 people in the class. I must say that it was a great group of people. I loved our instructors Simon and Kobus. I liked to call Kobus the Cobra.

We all passed the first exam and then we went on to study for the practitioners exam on Friday. I didn't like the second bit as much as the first. Thursday and Friday we went over a mock exam. The test questions were difficult, I am too tired to go into now, but it was tricky. //
will finish this up tomorrow //

The best things about going on the course was that it got me out of the house, I got to learn something new and I met some great people. The course in and of itself was good. I liked having somewhere to be everyday and learning about project management processes and best practices. I liked studying and being back in school. It was good to have a challenge.

After we all passed our first exam on Wednesday we went down to the pub to celebrate. It was fun to go out and chat with my fellow PRINCEs. It felt good to be part of a group, we would go and get lunch and sit outside together. There would be a little bit of banter and wisecracking in class. We were all in it together!

It gave me a huge boost. I didn't feel like an outsider at all. One of the great people I met, Graham, works for a charity called Sense. Sense is a leading national charity that supports and campaigns for children and adults who are deafblind. They provide expert advice and information as well as specialist services to deafblind people, their families, carers and the professionals who work with them. They also support people who have sensory impairments with additional disabilities. I am going to see Graham today to do some volunteer work for them. I have been wanting to do some volunteer work for a long time, I am glad that I found Graham and Sense.

I know it sounds crazy, but I can't tell you how good it felt to go that course. It just got me out of my rut and changed my perspective a bit. We all went out on Friday after the three hour practitioner's exam. I think it was the first time that I had a group of people to go out with that didn't involve Matthew. Now, of course I adore Matthew's friends and like to go out with them, but these were my friends. To be honest, I felt like I was back in elementary school! Look, I am making friends!

Now the real test is to see whether or not my certification is going to help me get a job!

Up in the gym, just working on my fitness

My commitment to exercise and healthy living has been going pretty well. I gave myself a goal of getting in good shape on the 9th of March. At that point I would  have 9 1/2 weeks before I go back to Minneapolis for a visit so I made myself a schedule and it started out great. This is week three and so far so good. The first week I went to the gym everyday for two hours. I usually warm up on the exercise bike (while reading a gossip magazine) and then do an aerobic class. 

Now, some might think going to the gym for two hours is a bit much. Although I am not going to work, so I've got the time. Don't worry. I am not drinking protein shakes and wearing a sweat band 24/7. I haven't gone over the top. 

I've been into the Nike Rockstar Dance Hall workout. I absolutely love it. You learn a "dance" in an hour and it's good fun. I call it my MTV booty dance workout. I throw in some weights and some other evil classes like Legs, Bums and Tums and hopefully there will be some results by the end of it.

I've been wanting to try a spinning class, but I find the seats to be a little uncomfortable. I guess I could just really go for it and stand the entire time, but come on. Would I really do that? No.

I didn't do as well as I wanted to last week. I only managed to get to the gym once. I was doing an intense project management training course and I needed to study every night. I managed to eat well and get lots of water, so that's good. I don't have a certain weight that I am trying to achieve, although the Beyonce body is what I am going for. They play her put a ring on it video all the time at the gym. Who knows, you just might see me in Minneapolis sporing a black leotard and nothing else!

I'd also like to give a shout out to my friend Elyse! Thanks for the support, I miss you and your laugh :)

How random is that

Now here's a random thing that happened today.

I bought this Dr Stuarts detox tea the other day. I was in the market for a good detoxifying brew and when I saw the packaging that Dr Stuart was offering up I was sold. I love great design and this packaging is just delightful. Just as I was putting it in my basket, Matthew came over and wanted to have a look. He was a bit shocked when he saw the price (1.89) and wanted to know why I didn't buy a cheaper one. I think I could have gotten something similar for a pound. 

To me the answer was simple. I liked the way this one looked. After studying a bit of marketing I realize that good packaging and a premium price doesn't always mean that the product is superior, but I felt confident that Dr Stuart wasn't going to let me down. The design made me happy, I thought it was cute and clever, it was going to look great on the counter, it would make drinking a detox tea fun and exciting. I was more the happy to open my wallet.

The random part comes in when I found out that a friend of mine in London, Tiffany, had actually worked on the team that designed the packaging. I had posted the photo on FB, saying that I liked it and I was drinking it, and she posted a comment informing me of her involvement.

 How crazy is that? I met Tiffany through my friend Tracy. Tracy and TIffany worked together at Yamamotto Moss. Tiffany, who is from Sweden, went to college at Macalester and she's been living in London for four years. I met Tracy when I did an internship with her in Texas. It's a small world! Anyway, that's my little random story. The tea is great, I don't know if they have it in the States. I will bring some back for you all to try.

cheers

Stuff. Part 1

I packed incredibly light when I came to study abroad back in September 2007. I didn't want to have to deal with heavy bags and suitcases. I wanted to have the freedom of just having a backpack that I could just toss on and go. My wonderful friend Raya lent me her small Osprey backpack and that in addition to a small little tote bag was all I brought over. I had only one pair of shoes, two pairs of jeans, a couple tank tops, underwear and a few jackets, mainly the essentials. I didn't really pack any of my really cute clothes. I didn't bring a hairdryer or nicknack's from home. 

My thinking at the time was that I was only going to be going to school in London for two months and then I would travel a bit afterwards. I figured that I would just pick up some cool clothes along the way and then I would go back home to find all my lovely clothes waiting for me.

Since I never went home, that meant that I never was reunited with all my clothes. Also since I was going to have to use all my money to stay in London for the entire year, I didn't have a lot of spare cash to buy clothes. Not to mention all my possessions that I left behind. Everything I own, and it's not much, is packed away in boxes in a basement in West.St.Paul. Thanks Peggy and Dennis!!!

I wouldn't consider myself a materialistic person. The contents of those boxes are items that I consider to be very sentimental personal items. I never want to be the kind of person who lets what they own ending up owning them, but I miss my stuff. I miss all my boxes and notebooks. I miss my photos and of course my clothes. I also miss all my music that's on my itunes.  I just miss seeing my things around. 

The last time I was back in Minnesota I went through a bunch of stuff that I had stored at my friend Angie Doerr's apartment and decided to chuck most of it. That was really hard to do. On the one hand, I don't know if I want to ship it all over here to London. I don't really need it, but it's like the contents of my life are all packed up. I've saved up some pretty cool stuff! I have been thinking a lot about what I am going to do with all the boxes in the basement. I don't want to get rid of them, but I feel bad about the boxes taking up space and being in the way. 

I also planned to bring a lot of my things that were packed up in the basement back with me. Except that I discovered that my plane was leaving four hours earlier than I had thought. 

That was awful. I had planned to spend my last day in Minnesota going through my boxes and bringing a bunch of stuff back. While I was getting ready to pack it all up I wisely decided to double check what time my flight left. I wasn't very happy to discover that I had gotten the time wrong and I only had one hour to pack and get to the airport.

It was so crazy. I had my clothes in the dryer, I wasn't dressed, I had to call a taxi to take me and it was snowing. I also couldn't get the electronic scales to work so I was worried that if I did just throw things in the suitcase it would be overweight. What a nightmare. So I didn't get to really bring much back. Matthew and I will be able to bring a good load over this May. 

I still like the idea of not having a bunch of stuff to move around London, but I would love to have my Pyrex dish collection out here. We shall see.