If you’re a web developer and you do all your debugging in firefox because it’s a standards based browser, and has the awesomest tool ever (firebug), then you’ve probably had this happen to you too:
You’re playing around with making a form, and you have a drop-down. When you try to pre-pop it with a value, using the selected="true" deal, firefox doesn’t seem to recognize it.
Well, that’s because firefox sees that you’ve already filled in this form and overrides what the code says with what you had in there before. FOOK!
To kill this "feature", put about:config into the address bar and then change browser.formfill.enable = false (just double click on it.
If you have read any DateTime format string documentation, you will know that the .NET platform has two different styles of DateTime format string:
2-a. Standard Format String
This is basically built in short hand for custom format string. You pass in the one character string to denote which custom format you want.
i.e.
now.ToString(”d”); // “09/27/2006″
now.ToString(”D”); // “Tuesday, 27 September 2006″
now.ToString(”G”); // “09/27/2006 14:15:39″
All of the format string syntax I discussed in “.NET Format String 101″ is invalid here. Also, if you call now.ToString(), it is basically calling now.ToString(”G”);
I have included my own table mapping Standard Format String to Custom Format string in part 2-c below. MSDN actually has a pretty good table that describe what each item does, and DateTime.ToString() has a pretty good code example that shows what each format string specifier do. Also if you just want samples, MSDN has a “Standard Date Time Format String Output example” here. Because documentation is so good. I won’t go into this too much.
2-b. Custom Format String
Custom format string gives you the flexibility to build your own formatting. When using a single character format string specifier, you will need to prepend it with a “%”, otherwise it will be interpreted as a Standard Format String. Here are the basics for building your own string:
DateTime now = new DateTime(2006, 9, 07, 15, 06, 01, 08, DateTimeKind.Local);
// Note: The multiple K were just read as multiple instances of the
// single K
DateTime unspecified = new DateTime(now.Ticks, DateTimeKind.Unspecified);
unspecified.ToString(”%K”); //”"
DateTime utc = new DateTime(now.Ticks, DateTimeKind.Utc);
utc.ToString(”%K”); //”Z”
TimeZone
now.ToString(”%z”); //”-7″
now.ToString(”zz”); //”-07″
now.ToString(”zzz”); //”-07:00″
now.ToString(”zzzz”); //”-07:00″
Other
now.ToString(”%g”); //”A.D.”
now.ToString(”gg”); //”A.D.”
now.ToString(”ggg”); //”A.D.”
now.ToString(”gggg”); //”A.D.”
now.ToString(”%t”); //”P”
now.ToString(”tt”); //”PM”
now.ToString(”ttt”); //”PM”
now.ToString(”tttt”); //”PM”
2-c. Additional Resources
Now that you understand what Standard and Custom format strings are, here is a table of Standard Format String to Custom Format String mapping:
Year Month Day Patterns:
d = “MM/dd/yyyy”
D = “dddd, dd MMMM yyyy”
M or m = “MMMM dd”
Y or y = “yyyy MMMM”
Time Patterns:
t = “HH:mm”
T = “HH:mm:ss”
Year Month Day and Time without Time Zones:
f = “dddd, dd MMMM yyyy HH:mm”
F = “dddd, dd MMMM yyyy HH:mm:ss”
g = “MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm”
G = “MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss”
Year Month Day and Time with Time Zones:
o = “yyyy’-'MM’-'dd’T'HH’:'mm’:’ss.fffffffK”
R or r = “ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH’:'mm’:’ss ‘GMT’”
s = “yyyy’-'MM’-'dd’T'HH’:'mm’:’ss”
u = “yyyy’-'MM’-'dd HH’:'mm’:’ss’Z'”
U = “dddd, dd MMMM yyyy HH:mm:ss”
All other single characters will throw an exception.
I woke up to a knock at my hotel door. It’s Jenni and Craig. They inform me that it’s time to go. I ask if they’re referring to the noon meeting for sushi. Nope. It’s time for the 6pm BodyMod.org meetup.
“Holy Shit!” I’ve been asleep for almost 20 hours. I guess my body needed some catch up sleep after being awake for 3 days =).
I needed to shower and change, so I told them that I would just meet them at the bar. They left me a map from the tube station and they left.
Well crap. I was planing on going to the Dali exhibit and running around town this afternoon, so I guess that’s not going to happen. Oh well.
I jumped in the shower, threw on some clothes and briskly walked to the tube station. By this time, I was pretty familiar with the underground, and knew of the station I was supposed to go to, Kings Cross. It was the same one I met Jenni and Shelli at yesterday.
To my delight, the line that ran to that station was closed for the weekend due to construction. I had to get on two different trains, and backtrack a couple stops to get there, but I eventually made it.
When I got above ground, I pulled out my trusty map and tried to make my way to the bar. The only problem was that the map wasn’t lining up with the streets that were in front of me. Maybe I got out on the wrong side. Back through the station and out the other end, I pull out my map and check it. Nope, nuthin. Well, this isn’t good.
There were a couple coppers (that’s what they call ‘em over there) hanging out front, so I showed them the map and asked them for directions. Apparently, I was waaaaay off. Wrong tube station. I was supposed to go to Charring Cross, not Kings Cross. Dammit.
Back onto the tube. Now I had to go back the way I came and then get to another train to get to the Charring Cross station. By the time I got there, I’d spent a good hour underground playing around in the subway.
When I exited, my map fit with what was in front of me. Booyah! I made a couple turns and arrived at Jewel, the bar everyone from the site was meeting up at. I was about an hour and a half late. It’s all good. I had to be fashionably late anyway. I’m the guest of honor, lol =).
The door guy didn’t want to let me in right away. He was was a “list man”. You know the type, “woah woah woah… are you on the list man?”. Simple answer, “fuck if I know”. This produces a frown from the “list man”. Apparently, I needed to be on the list to get in. So I tell him that I’m there to meet up with a party of about 60+ people, and that I’m the guy they’re all there to meet. It was a load of BS, but it’s always fun to mess with them. He waved me in, but didn’t turn that frown upside down.
Inside, I met up with everyone and grabbed a drink from the bar. I met a few new people that I didn’t meet yesterday from the site and talked a little about this and that. Most of the girls were pretty shy, so I didn’t get to talk to them much. They looked pretty in their dresses and gowns, but not too talkative. No worries though, I still had a blast =).
After my second cocktail, I was told that we were leaving to go out to dinner. Works for me, I hadn’t eaten anything since the noodles from last night. We left the bar and headed around the corner to a pizza / italian place called “Zizzi”.
Obviously, they didn’t have seating readily available for 12 people on a saturday night, so we plopped our names on a list and were told to be back in 30 minutes. Nice.
We exited the restaurant and decided to find a small bar near by and get a drink while we wait. I ran into a somewhat fast food place next door to ask where the closet bar was. The chick behind the counter told me that there is a really nice gay bar just down the road. Ummm… not really what I was looking for. I asked her if it was the leather pants that triggered her response and she just laughed. She then told me that we should head around the corner to this place called “Jewel”, but you may need to be on the list to get in. Awesome. I got nowhere real quick.
We collectively decided to head down the road and see what we could find. A little ways down, we found a small english pub and entered. Most people ordered their pints, but Mac and I voiced our love of Mr. Jack Daniels and his best friend Coke. That’s when I saw the atrocity. The most evil of things you can ever see in a bar. I saw it a couple times last night, but didn’t think much of it. Now I was sober, and very aware. The measured pour. Nooooooooo! “You want a Jack and Coke? Well, first I have to pour the Jack into a measured shot glass to make sure that you’re not getting a drop over 250ml. Then I’ll fill the glass with coke to make sure that you don’t taste the Jack and get nothing from the alcohol what-so-ever because you’re going to nurse this drink for too long as you’re not too eager to drop another 4-5 pounds (8-10 dollars) for your next one.”
When I saw this I freaked out, and Mac told me that a lot of the time, bars pad the bottom of the metal measuring cylinders with a rounded bottom to actually short you on the pour! Heresy!
Apparently, hand-pouring a drink is really rare, and not to be expected. Talk about bad news. I thought we were just hitting a bad string of bars. About mid-way through our drinks, Jenni ran in and told us that our table was ready and we needed to head back to Zizzi. Not eager to stay, I sucked down my drink and headed out.
We showed up and there was a table ready for us. Well, 8 of us. There were 2 chicks at the end of the adjoining table just gabbing away after they paid their tab and weren’t leaving. W…T…F? Why do girls do this? Apparently it’s an international thing. So annoying.
I headed upstairs to the little stand / bodega thing next door to grab a bag of chips, sorry… crisps. I was hungry and needed something to keep the stomach gods appeased for just a little longer.
When I returned, the girls were gone, and Mac and I sat down. A short time later, our waitress arrived and took our drink order. Again, Jack and Coke. She got it half right. I received the Jack, but no Coke. When we ordered dinner, I reminded her that I would like a coke as well.
While we waited for our food, we chatted away, and took some photos. Generally being annoying to everyone else around us that was trying to have a quite dinner. Oops.
When dinner arrived, we all just shoveled it into our faces with minimal talking. Most of it was, “Mmmm thish ish goodmmm…”. Though, looking back, it was pretty bland. I emptied about half of the pepper shaker into my food to give it some flavor. That seemed to be the commonality with british food. Everything tasted the same. Odd. I didn’t care though, I was hungry. 30 minutes in and our mission was accomplished. We paid our tab and then headed out to our next bar.
On the way to the bar, I saw something that was pure genius: street urinals. The city brings out these portable urinals that can be occupied by 4 men at a time (with dividers), and then hauls them away in the early morning. So smart. Keep people from peeing all over the streets, and it’s perfectly legal. This is something we need in NYC, bad.
One of the guys I was hanging out with told me that another city in England has urinals that come out of the ground every night. The raise up out of the side walks like a james bond device. Freaking sweet!
We made it to the bar, but just in time for one last round as they rung the last call bell right when we walked in (it was about 11pm). Yeah, that’s another thing that bothers me about London. Bars close anywhere from 10 to midnight, even on the weekends. The only places that stay open later are the big mega-clubs. No thanks.
When we finished up our drinks, we headed outside and started to give our goodbyes. Some of us decided to head back to the hotel and just drink it up in our rooms and hang out there. Others had a long train ride home and decided to call it a night.
Those of us that were heading back to the hotel, jumped on the tube and were pleasantly surprised to be entertained by this crazy Elvis impersonator. I was so impressed with his performance, that not only did I video tape it and give him a tip, but I also got my picture taken with him =). This also shows how I really don’t fit in the train cars at all.
Here’s the video:
When we arrived outside the hotel, we contemplated as to where we were going to get alcohol. All the stores were closed, and most of the bars were also closed. Craig and I then got the bright idea of going to some dive bar that was open and trying to buy a bottle off them. Figured it was worth a shot. So we left and headed for a small metal bar that was just down the road.
A good 10 or 15 minutes into our walk, I found a wallet on the sidewalk. I picked it up and looked around to see if there were any guys around that could have dropped it, nothing. So I pocketed it and asked Craig if I put it in a mailbox that it would get back to the guy. He said they don’t do that there, and we could just mail it to him. Sounded good to me. Then “Crazy guy” came outta no where…
“Touch me I’m hot!” he shouted at craig as he stuck his fist out for the well renowned fist-hit handshake thing. He was with some girl, and everyone was smiling, so it seemed like a harmless, drunken gesture. That was just the beginning. This guy wouldn’t leave. Originally he and the girl were walking in the opposite direction, and now he was walking with us. The girl then looks at us and tells us, “Thank god. I don’t know this guy. He just starting talking to me, and he was funny so I tagged along. Have fun with him, bye!” And she bolted. Crazy Man continued to talk about all kinds of non-sense. He even asked us if this was the UK. We were pretty sure it was, so we said yes.
Every time we walked by someone, he would do the gesture and shout, “Touch me, I’m hot” to everyone. If he really liked you, he would show off his new porn DVD that he just bought. He was pretty proud of it. Eventually he lost interest in us and found a new group of people to latch onto that were passing by and we never saw him again… in person.
Right after we lost our new friend, we ran into the chick that we originally saw him with. She hung up her phone and tagged along with us as we were all laughing our asses off about this crazy man we all encountered. She was on her way to a bar in the same direction, so she decided to tag along with us and go to the bar we were off to. I believe her name was Mia. Craig gave her his full name at the bar and proclaimed that he’s the only one of them on Facebook, so I’m sure their bff now ;o)
As we waited outside the bar, I pulled out the wallet to see if there was any cash to pay for our drinks. No cash. No anything really. Just a library card, drivers license, and some misc other cards. Looks like someone found it before me. As craig was reading the guys name out loud, Mia burst out laughing. Confused, we asked, “Ummm… what?” Apparently Crazy Man told her his name during all his ramblings, and that was the guys wallet. We looked closer at the photo on the license, and sure enough, it was! We decided to return all his stuff, but I kept the wallet and license as a souvenir. Let other people buy little snow globes of Big Ben. I got Crazy Man’s drivers license =).
After a few shots of Jager at the metal bar, we asked the bartender if we could buy a bottle off him. He said that the only way we could do it is if we bought the bottle by the shot. I did the quick math and it came out to around $140 for a bottle of Jager. We passed.
We then left the bar and parted ways with Mia. We were on task to bring back liquor and we were going to do so! Craig then suggested that we ask the bodega guys to sell us a bottle on the down low. Didn’t seem too unreasonable. In nyc, you can get a 6 pack after hours if you go to the shady places. Unfortunately we kept getting denied. One guy was genuinely insulted when I openly offered to bribe him. Dude’s gotta loosen up.
We walked all around London, and tried every little store that had a liquor license and got nuthin’. We even walked through a place that was the equivalent of NYC’s times square. Not too impressive really.
After a long time of walking around London, we realized that we had walked all the way back to where we had dinner at! Talk about a weekend of stumbling in circles. It was pretty late now, and we were both hungry and tired. Figured it was best to call it quits and head back to the hotel. There was one more place to check, and Craig wanted to hit it up before turning around. Shazam! He was willing to sell! Hallelujah! We grabbed a bottle of Jack, a 2 litre of coke, and a few beers. We did it. We’re so awesome.
Now to get back to the hotel and share with everyone else how awesome we are that we found alcohol in this wonderfully dry-by-night city. We decided to grab some food on the way back because the stomach monster was at it again. Food of choice? Subway, again. There’re everywhere and some are open 24 hours. Also, it was better than “Wok in a Box”. As interesting as it may sound, I decided it was best for me to pass. I have to be on a flight to Moscow in a few hours, and I don’t want to take any chances.
When we entered the hotel, the concierge approached me and said that I had a message from a guy, “He’s in room 533″. Assuming it was Mac, who was also staying here (and I didn’t know his room number), I asked if the guy had bright red hair. “No, but he had tattoos on his arms.” Ok, now I’m confused, because the only person here that I knew with tattoos on their arms without bright red hair was me. I figured he was mistaken, and later I found out I was right. Apparently tattoos stick out more than red hair. Weird.
We took the lift to the 5th floor and knocked on Mac’s door. No answer. Ok… maybe he’s down at the girls room with everyone else. So, down to the 4th floor. We knock on their door. Nothing. Ok, I guess they all went to bed. Oh well. More Jack for me and Craig! As we were walking down the hall their door opened and Shelly shouted at us. They were asleep. Wusses. Shelly wanted to hang out though, so she came back up to my room for some drinks and chat. While we were there, she got ahold of Mac, and he came down too. This is when we found out what time it was, 3am. Oops. Guess we were gone a little bit longer than expected.
We drank and talked until the sun came up. I had to be at the airport at 10am, which meant I had to leave the hotel at 8am. It was not 7am. Guess I’m not going to sleep again. Definitely worth it. I made a few new friends, had a night to remember, and was about to start my next adventure to China. Awesome!
I made sure to try and get ahead of everyone on the way to customs. I know how bad it sucks when a whole plane is in front of you. I followed the arrows and guides all around the airport until I got to the giant customs room. Words to describe the customs waiting line / room; long, hot, silent, humid. After waiting in line for about 45 minutes, I made my way up to a guy that didn’t even look at me. Just stamped my passport and pointed to his left.
My next task was to find the subway (aka. The Underground / The Tube) and make my way to the hotel. I got the subway stop on the internet before I left, so I had that going for me. Finding the underground was really easy, and even finding the right trains were a peace of cake. The way London labels their tracks and trains is great. I really wish nyc would learn from it. Also, they’re super clean. On top of that, the trains themselves are cleaner and more comfy. They have padded seats, flip-down padded seats, and even padded butt-leaning pads for people to lean against if they have to stand. The one down side (and it’s a big one), is that they’re tiny. There’s no way in hell I can stand in them. Actually, I think anyone over 6′5″ wouldn’t be able to stand in them.
When I finally got to the hotel, it was a little after 9am. So much for my 8am timeframe. I didn’t see anyone there that I recognized either, so I figured no one got my message. I decided to check in, drop my bags off, and then go romp around town to see what London has to offer. In theory, it was a great plan. Unfortunately I was so caught up with increasing my head-shots with an M16, that I forgot to call my credit card company and tell them I was traveling abroad. So I got to talk to Satish Abudala for a while on my cell phone (racking up who knows what kind of charges) to find out that by me trying to reserve my room, it froze my account due to fraudulent activity. Awesome. Now I had go through a ton of hoops to prove I am me, and I am definitely in London. At one point I got so frustrated that I stuck my phone out towards the lobby and then asked if he heard all the British people talking around me.
Card unlocked, I was checked into my room. She wrote room 675 on my card and pointed me towards the “lift”. I went to push button 6, but it only went to 5. I saw another elevator, so deduced that the other one went to the higher floors. I excused my way out and then waited for the other one. “Ding!”, doors open, I enter, and push button… ummm… 1-5? Ok… what the hell. Now I recall that she did say something about floor 4. Ahh, I guess they don’t number rooms the same way here, that was obviously my bad. So I head to the 4th floor. Rooms 400 - 450 to the left and 451 - 480 to the right. OH C’MON! There was a maid there, so I asked her if she knew what was up. Apparently, 675 = 475. Puzzle 1 solved! For puzzle 2, I didn’t even have to try. The maid showed me to the room telling me that I never would have found it on my own. I laughed and told her that I’ve stayed in a hotel before and I could manager. She insisted, so I went along just to placate her. Boy was I wrong. My room wasn’t even in the same building. I had to go across a walkway that joined up to another building.
The room was pretty nice. Had a little sofa in it, squishy bed, nice bathroom. Only two gripes; most of the ceiling was too low (couldn’t stand straight up), and the shower head came to about sternum high.
Now that I’m on a role in completing my new set of goals, it was time to finish the last one and proceed to romp. I grabbed my camera and headed out the door. I received a city map from the concierge and studied it for a minute, but decided to ditch it and just wing it.
What I tend to do every time I visit a new country / city, I like to wonder around until I’m really lost, and then try to figure out how to get back to my home base. With the crazy streets in London, I figured this would be a piece of cake. About an hour into my walk with many twist and turns, I figure it’s time to get back to the hotel and try to contact someone I’m supposed to meet up with. Also, I would like to figure out how to get to Big Ben (pretty much the only London landmark I’m aware of =). I see a street to my left full of guitar stores, so I figure I’d start my return trip that way. About 100 yards down the street I stumble onto my hotel. Maaaaannn… so much for getting lost and having an adventure. Oh well.
The first “odd” store that I noticed was this umbrella store that was established in 1830. First off, the fact that an umbrella store even exists is amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. Even in NYC. Also, the thing has been around for over 150 years! Crazy! I did make sense though. Given London’s weather, constantly drizzling, I would imagine that an umbrella can evolve as a status symbol that people carry around with them. Kind of like cell phones and wallets.
Back in my room, I flipped open my computer and thankfully Jenni was online. Jenni and Shelli were two chicks from northern england that I was supposed to be meeting up with. More importantly, they had Alex’s phone number, so they were able to get a hold of him. We talked for a couple minutes about where to meet up, and decided on a subway station close to the hotel about an hour and a half from now. Sounded good to me. I grabbed my camera, a map, and headed out to check out this giant ferris wheel called the “Eye of London” (well… it has the word “Eye” in it somewhere). The thing is massive.
Has to be the largest one in the world by far. Each capsule thing holds up to 25 people and takes 30-40 minutes to complete one rotation. I wanted to go on it for a great view of London, but once I got there and saw how long the line was, I didn’t have any time. I snapped a few photos of Big Ben and some surrounding architecture, and then hopped into the Tube to meet up with Shell and Jenni.
I arrived to what I thought was going to be an impossible situation. It wasn’t just a subway station, but a full-on train station. Like a smaller version of Grand Central. How the hell was I to find anyone…”Adam!” Never-mind, they found me! I should have figured that I stick out.
We exchange our “Hello”s and “Nice to finally meet you”s, and then I get onto the important stuff, “Where can I buy some red bulls? I’m fading fast!” I’m now into my third day with no sleep, and I’ve been walking around town all morning and afternoon. I was pointed to a nearby store that’s similar to Duane Reade (RiteAid), grabbed a couple liquid crack canisters and then headed back out to the waiting area. We were waiting for Jenni’s boyfriend Craig and the mysterious Alex. About 15 minutes in, Alex and Craig show up. We head back to the hotel for them to check in and then figure out what to do from there.
Alex lives in London, so he didn’t need to check into the hotel. So we hung out at the bar and waited for girls to come down so we could figure out what to do. About an hour later, the girls (and Craig) arrive and I have gotten to know Alex. Very cool guy. Good friend.
The decision was made, onto the pub that was right around the corner. Drinks and drinks. Except for the homeless man that stumbled in, the place was pretty cool. Very stereotypical english pub layout and feel. After that Alex had to take off. Had some work / school stuff to take care of. Shell, Jenni, Craig, and I headed out for food.
I was to have a traditional English dinner, Fish-n-Chips with mushy peas. Yes, mushy, that’s the word they use. Just think chunky mashed potatoes made of peas.
The bar we went to was pretty cool. Reminded me of Jekyl and Hydes in the city. After dinner and drinks there, it was back to the hotel. Mac had arrived and we were going to meet up with him. We talked briefly, and then decided to go onto the next pub in Camden Town. Craig told me that it was a really good metal bar. The place is called the Hobgoblin, was called the Dev. Mac and Shell opted out, so it was just Jenni, Craig and I. The bar was very cool (to begin with), then some live performance electronic music thing came on that was just horrible. Had to leave. Right before we bolted out the door, I saw someone that I recognized. Impossible I though. The only person in the entire country that I know, and they’re right in front of me? Yep! We said our hello’s but that I had leave. I was tired, pretty tipsy, and the music was unbearable.
On the way back to the tube, Craig insisted we stop at the noodle place. It’s this Chinese street vendor that sells a whole thing of rice, noodles, veggies, and chicken (well, says it’s chicken) for 3 pounds. I couldn’t bring myself to eat the chicken, but I did get some rice and noodles. I figured that they’d be the least deadly, and Craig wouldn’t let me leave until I got something. It was tasty, but I only had a few bites. I hadn’t built up an immunity yet, so I played it safe.
It was now sometime around 10pm and I was exhausted. I’d been up for 3 days, and drinking since I was on the plane. My body was tapping out.
On the way back to the hotel, we agreed to meet up around 2pm for Sushi and drinks before heading to the official BodyMod.org Meetup at 6pm. I figured I could get a good 12-13 hours of sleep. Good enough =)
A normal person would have passed out as soon as he hit the bed. I tried to watch a movie on my laptop first. One about the conditions at Guantonamo Bay. I think I got about 10 minutes in.
This is the day that marks the beginning of my travel around the world. But really, I should start with yesterday… Wednesday.
I received a gift certificate for my birthday for Ruth’s Chris steakhouse, so I took Nicole out for a nice dinner as it would be my last night in the states before I take off. I had a great steak, some wine, and dessert that I really couldn’t fit in my stomach, but hey… it was free =)
After dinner, I headed home for a little Call of Duty. Wanted to get some in before I left. Also, I was hoping to see Alex online. Alex is a guy from my site that I was supposed to meet up with once I got to London, and as of he, I don’t have contact info, or even a plan on when / where to meet. As luck should have it, Alex signed on around 6am. I played a couple games, and then realized that I had not packed yet… whoops. So I told him I’d see him Friday, signed off, and packed up for the trip.
Shit… totally forgot to get contact info, or even work out a place to meet. I signed back on real quick, but he was gone. Hmmm…
I figured I’d just worry about it tomorrow, it was now almost 7am, and I wanted to get some sleep. Welp… Nicole woke up just as I was going to sleep, so I really didn’t get any sleep. I opted to basically pull an all-nighter and just head to work.
Now on with Thursday!
I get to work and I have 2 goals, make sure all my expenses are in, and get a hold of someone, somehow, about meeting up in London.
First things first… expenses. I have a few weeks of backlog (whoops), but I figured it would only take an hour or two.
Then, the unexpected happens… a client called me, and I had to work… dammit.
I had to be in a car by 4pm to get to JFK on time for my 7pm flight to London Heathrow. It was getting dangerously close to 4, and I hadn’t reached anyone. Crap. The car downstairs is calling me incessantly, my boss wants to talk “real quick”, and I had to send out an email to everyone I knew in London with my proposed plan, and hope someone followed it. My plan was that my flight was to land at 6:30am, and I was going to take the Tube to the hotel and get there by around 8am. I proposed that we just meet up then.
By the time I got to the car, it was quarter after 4. Wasn’t too worried though, I mean, if it was Friday, I may have been a little more concerned. More people leave NYC on Fridays than Thursdays.
As soon as the driver gets outside the tunnel, traffic slows us down to a crawl… wtf? I wasn’t paying too much attention, because I was trying to catch some zzz’s. Then I noticed that we weren’t moving, but the lanes to the left were flowing fine. I asked the driver how long we were just sitting there, and he told me, “About 5 minutes”. “So why the hell don’t get in the left lane?!”… I was cranky, but he switched lanes and we started moving. Turned out that is was a combination of an accident and driver that’s an idiot.
I got to the international departure terminal for my airline, Air India (hey… it was cheap =). The retard takes my backpack and sets it on the edge of the curb, and of course it falls into the street just as a car is pulling away. Would suck if my camera and laptop were in there, oh wait…
Thankfully, someone saw it and pulled it out of the way real quick. I check in and obviously irritated the hell out of the check-in lady for the airline by asking for an exit row seat. She must have found some compassion, because she got it for me. Yay!
The flight to London wound up being an easy flight. The exit row was the kind where I could stretch my legs all the way out and not touch the seats in front of me.
Also had on-demand movies and tv shows (Bollywood mainly). The dinner on the way there wasn’t so hot though. It being an Indian flight, my options were vegetarian curry or non-vegetarian curry. Crap… I hate curry. I tried the non-veggie one for kicks.
I got sucked into the on-demand stuff, and the unlimited free alcohol =).
Next thing I know, I see the sun rising out the window, and we’re starting out decent into Heathrow. Crap, still didn’t sleep, and now I gotta deal with customs. Oh well, at least I’ll speak their language. That’s a bonus.
