Updates -- Life, the universe, everything

It's been a while since I've posted -- life's been a bit busy here!

As mentioned in my last post, I've now left the employer with which I came to London and started a full-time role with the American investment bank that had been my client for the past year. Day-to-day, little has changed in my work duties. I'm on the same project, in the same role, with roughly the same responsibilities. I'm no longer involved in sales activities or other stuff beyond my immediate role, but that's okay for now!

I've done a bit of travel, despite my thoughts that I'd be staying local after a rather hectic summer --

Oslo
Back in September, Ben and Katherine had visited London. Katherine was going to be in Norway in early November over a weekend as part of a work trip from the States, so I ended up booking a flight to visit. Due to schedule changes, she arrived in Norway a few days later than originally expected. As I had a non-refundable ticket, I ended up still visiting Norway on my own. Lots of fun, but definitely a different dynamic being a solo traveler. I've posted a few photos of the Kon Tiki museum, the opera house and other sights here.

I have a Canon PowerShot camera that I'd gotten shortly before moving to London. It's worked well... decent photos (all the ones on Picasa...) from a small camera. Unfortunately, I'd been carrying it around in a pocket while walking through Oslo. At some point, it powered on in my pocket and the lens extended. It twisted about 20 degrees and now won't extend or retract the full way... the camera's dead. Time to go shopping when I return to the US over Christmas...

Dublin
The weekend after Oslo, I ended up visiting a former colleague for the weekend in Dublin. We stayed in town right near Temple Bar, went to the Guinness brewery, the old jail, Trinity college and all the other sites -- a great weekend and definitely more Guinness than I've had in a long long time!

On the way back from Dublin, I took a 6:40am Monday flight to London City airport. It's a 12-gate airport that's only 15 minutes from the office on public transit, so I figured if we landed on schedule at 8:10, I'd be in the office by 8:30-8:45. Much to my surprise, I woke up on the flight at 8:15 as we were in a holding pattern -- LCY was closed due to fog. We waited for a bit before diverting to South End airport, about 50 miles southeast of London. This is a small private airfield, but on this morning it had at least 25 BA and Air France regional jets lined up with miffed business travelers. At least there was a row of chartered buses lined up out front and they took us back to LCY, but I ended up getting into work on the second Monday of my new job at 11:30... not quite what I'd originally intended!

Apartment hunting
When I first found my flat in Islington, I was looking for something central-ish and easily commutable to London Bridge. As I've been working in Canary Wharf almost since I moved into that flat, and will now be for the indefinite future, I figured it was time to look at what else I could get in more of a renters market, closer to work. Following a friend's suggestion, I looked at www.spareroom.co.uk. I lined up six flats for viewing in and around Greenwich on a Sunday -- the first one near Deptford, then several in and around Greenwich, then two just north of Greenwich on the Isle of Dogs.

The first two near Deptford were in an area where I absolutely didn't want to live, after walking around a bit that afternoon -- a bit too grungy and not feeling like the safest place in the world. The next few were in much nicer areas, but I wasn't really excited about living with the potential flatmates that I met. I finally ended up looking at a place at Burrells Wharf, along the water, just across the foot tunnel from Greenwich. My now-flatmate co-owns the flat with a friend who just moved elsewhere in London. For about the same rent as before in Islington, we have nearly double the space, much nicer furnishings, two bathrooms rather than one, and a 10-minute commute to work via bus. So far, no complaints!

I moved in last weekend, and have more or less settled into the new place quickly. It's working out well so far! As my camera's dead, I don't have any photos, but we're on the second floor of the building on the right, on the back side of the building, facing a courtyard rather than the river.