Change of Venue

It's finally happening. As of next month, Paul and I begin our separation.

I was offered what looks to be an extremely exciting opportunity in Warsaw, Poland (motherland!) to do marketing and presentations a dynamic automatic lighting company that is currently in large bids for projects in Canada and the States. The company is in the process of opening operations in America and were looking for an eager english-speaking Polack to get aquainted with the business and to work on the international relations side of things somewhat too.

So I am very eager to get thrown into the world of business and marketing, to learn some new skills and to move to a large city. I'll be heading down to Poland on Oct 10 to begin training and then I'll be told whether I'm up to snuff with these corporate fatcats.

On the topic of enticing opportunities, I had one of the most enjoyable interviews ever yesterday when I took of briefly to London for an interview with EA Games. Lots of fun!

Wish me luck! It's time to book a flight!

Practice Makes Perfect

Some of the things that I learn behind the bar are kind of weird. For example, why do English-folk always ruin their beers with "dashes" and "shandys" of lemonade? Just order a Bacardi Breezer or something! Don't ruin the purity of a fine beer... It's beyond me, but I do it for them anyway.

However, I have been learning more interesting things as well. First of all, I have an ever increasing repertoire of funny drink names that actually mean something to me. A St. Clemonts is one, and another of my favourites so far is the Moscow Mule.

But my favourite thing recently has been an increasing appreciation for the art of Guinness pouring. I think I may be snotty about my Guinnesses (Guinnii??) when I get back to America, because no one pours them properly there! I love making them here, and after a few months of practice I've learned how to make designs on the foam as well, including hearts and shamrocks. Come down to the pub and I'll show you!

A Habs Jersey Visits Stonehenge

We've gotten back to the travelling since the last post. No, we're still working at Smugglers' and spinning drinks, but we took some time off recently to sample the finer things in life.

It all started with the young Ms. Todd coming for a visit. Here's one of Laura's favourites pictures from her stay that I'm sure she'll appreciate me putting up. Paul's sister flew in during the busiest weekend ever at the pub and was lucky enough to see us in a flury of fine wine fixing and beer pouring. She came just as the long weekend ended, a weekend after which both Paul and I needed a break from behind the bar. So we travelled to Oxford by train to visit the school of such venerables as Einstein and the filming place of classics such as Harry Potter. It's a beautiful place, it really is. We walk around the campuses which were stunning adn I got a chance to go to Christ Church for a service with a full choir. It was beautiful.

We decided to do as Oxfordians do, and in the evening we took up punting. Now punting, as the picture above suggests, is similar to gondolas in Venice. A low-hulled boat and a long pole. The rest is up to you. With beautiful scenery around us, how could we not try it out? To be honest, we were absolutley horrible in controlling the skfif at first (skiff is a proper term, right? :-) ) We ran into banks, did 360's and altogether managed to create a punting traffic jam. However, by the end of the day I had watched some other punters around and managed to gain control of the boat. I even became confident enough to punt and eat at the same time, though Laura wasn't too excited about my attempt at punteating as can be seen by her cry for help on the left. All in all, it was extremely relaxing to to just skim around on the water, chasing swans and talking about travelling. Lots of fun

After punting, we took 'the greatest show on UK turf' on the road again and took a ride to Stonehenge. We arrived right as it was raining and booked a tour by bus to get to the site, only to have the clouds lift just as we got there! Our tour guide was really good and energetic, delving into loads of information that kept us interested and laughing during the ride to the stones. And once we got there he even let us do a couple of excercies with electromagnetic energy fields that stunned even Paul Todd. The funniest part of the trip was when someone frmo our bus came over to us and asked if we would take a picture for his brother. He sighed in desperation, reaching into his bag, while saying: I promised my brother I'd do this. Then he pulled out a montreal jersey! Turns out that he'd taken pictures with the jersey at all the large landmarks that he'd been at. I couldn't resist so I borrowed it for myself and had this classic shot taken as my battery slowly sputtered out.

Back at home in Weymouth, Paul and I both had the day of yesterday, along with the Aussie couple that live in Paul's aparment. The four of us had been talking about Zorbing for a long time ever since we saw a Zorb brochure at the Wymouth tourist centre, and with the Aussies leaving soon, we decided that this was the perfect chance to Zorb it up and become Zorbonauts. What is Zorbing and why do I like to use the word so much? Good question.

Zorbing is a New Zealand-invented attraction that turns you into a human bowling ball. You are placed in a large inflated plastic ball, either strapped in or free falling. Then, after the ball has been driven to the top of a 100m hill, you are sent down and experience what can only be described as a washing machine. Absolutley crazy, and fun! Paul and I rolled down on our first run just laughing the whole time because of how surreal it is. I was crying by the end of the ride. There's a good video on my camera of one of the runs that I'll put up when I figure out how.

When our friends Emma and Shannon did their run, one of the guys running the Zorbs asked if we'd want to lie down in front of one. I didn't know if he was serious or not. Either way, it sounded like a good time so as the Aussie bubble flew down the countryside hill, I sprinted onto the track, looked up to see a giant mass of water/plastic/persons coming at me, and face planted right when the entire thing rolled over my back. What!?

It was a great experience and fun to do with some good friends from work.