the path

Tonight at the VLDB conference banquet we were served something I’ve never eaten before: reindeer. To complement the entree was a starter of poached scallops with white wine, and a dessert of white chocolate and orange mousse. As for entertainment a local choir came to sing authentic (albeit unintelligible to me) Norwegian music. Tonight Raja and I are headed out to a local pub to take in some of the culture and alcohol.

Hopefully the site update looks nice and keeps away the comment spamming robots from posting. We’ll see.

So at work all I’m hearing is 80s music and it is reminding me that I haven’t been rollerskating in more than ten years. Back in West Palm Beach there used to be a couple of really good places — The Palace in Lantana, and Atlantis Skateway on Jog Road. Are there even rinks still in business?

Right now it’s just shy of 8am and this is the earliest I’ve woken up in months. With no loud noises or external influence I’ve managed to rise after only a few hours sleep and completely under my own accord. The only problem is I’m exhausted and need the rest but can’t seem to get any more right now.

After seeing my movie last night, I decided to stop by Jenni’s house for a grilled cheese. Usuaully I park in the lot that is 50 yards from her from door but for whatever reason I decided to park in the lot they say they tow from. In the four years she’s lived there she said she’s only seen one person get towed. Well, now that number is two. Obviously it’s my own fault and I guess it’s a little crazy that I’ve lived in Gainesville for five years and until last night haven’t had my car removed from anywhere. The bright side is the driver let me pay $40 to drop it in the parking lot instead of the $76 to bring it all the way to Depot. How nice of him — I should write him a thank you card.

In an attempt to make a Smart House presentation a little bit more aesthetically pleasing I headed to Radio Shack to buy a case with a 4 AA battery holder. I walk into the store on my phone and immediately one man accosts me and asks if I need help finding anything. Pretty familiar with the store and what they sell I tell him no and that I’ll be okay on my own. So after 30 seconds of searching I find the area with the battery holders and it takes me another minute to find the right kind and I feel fairly lucky that I will walk away with only spending $2 on it. I go up to the counter and another employee asks if that is all I need and the conversation goes something like this:

Ok, well how about some batteries to go with this holder?

No, thank you.

Are you sure? We’ve got a special deal on AA batteries right now — they’re 10 for $4.

I’m pretty much all set.

Well, can I have your zip code?

32607

Do you have cell phone service?

Yea

With which company?

[looking around thinking you’ve got to be joking] Verizon [even though I have Sprint because Radio Shack backs Verizon so I figured he’d give me a break instead of trying to convince me to change]

Verizon? Well, how long have you been in a contract?

Are you joking? Can I please have my receipt?

How about we just upgrade your phone?

I just want my receipt… thanks.

My roommate Louie had told me about John Basedow from TV’s Fitness Made Simple series of advertisements is missing in Phuket, Thailand. I guess it didn’t matter how fit that guy was, the water was too much.

Check here for stories…

After a long time of tweaking and fixing things, I’ve decided to go with this design for a little while. If you are inclined to do so, feel free to comment on this or any entry… you don’t need to be “registered” to post a comment — just make sure you enter an email address otherwise it won’t work correctly. If you’re looking for the photo gallery, access it here.

On March 27, 1997, at the age of sixteen and after fourteen years of residency I became a naturalized citizen of the United States. At that time I was sworn in and forced to renounce my natural born British citizenship. That annoyed me, but I didn’t have much of a choice. Since then I’ve obtained a US passport in preparation for international travel but alas, I have yet to go anywhere outside of the country.

So with the formulation of the European Union (EU), I see a great number of advantages of retaining my British citizenship (even though I had to renounce it in from the US INS official). Two great possibilities emerge from this: (1) I can live wherever I want so long as the nation is a member of the EU, and (2) I can work freely without too much hassle in any EU country. Recently, I’ve really wanted this opportunity to perhaps study in a European country or even live somewhere new before beginning my “real life.” Furthermore, if the US keeps upsetting every foreign country it might not be a bad idea to travel under British rule because some place just don’t like Americans. So in my quest to assure I’ll be able to I went on a UK passport information finding hunt. What I’ve found makes it all kinds of difficult unless I’m actually in England. Despite needing to be there, I need to furnish my birth certificate and other documents. The birth certificate is easy but I don’t have a UK medical card or driver’s license, and forget about me having a National Insurance card. I did find out that I am an official British Citizen by birthright since I was a citizen prior to December 31, 1982.

One crazy requirement can also imposed on the applicant and his (and I say his because being male apparently has an advantage) family. If one was born after January 1, 1983, a person cannot claim citizenship from one’s mother, but is it ok to claim it from one’s father? I don’t get it.

Even though I haven’t added anything at all in the past week, I have a few ideas swimming in my head. I’ll touch on them as soon as I can.. most likely Thursday night or Friday. Some things I want to discuss are the apparently two kinds of love I heard about on the radio today — romantic and true love — and to what extent they both exist and fade. The other stuff is simply random thoughts that have made it to paper.

I need to get back to my work, more to be read later.