Isle of Wight

This weekend found us visiting the Isle of Wight. We left on a dreary early Saturday morning. Rain was forecast and it looked to hit us any minute. Boo. But we headed on down to Southampton to take our car on the ferry over to the Isle regardless.

By the time we got to Cowes, the weather was great. Blue skies, warm weather. Yeah! This weekend was the annual sailing race around the island. What a wonderful sight to see this non-stop line of boats just off the coast. We stayed at a hotel near the water in Sandown and played on and along the beach most of the day.









































Today we stopped at a place called 'Amazon World'. They had a surprising well-done animal park. The kids loved the meerkats, Mr. loved seeing the toucans and ocelots, and I enjoyed the black-footed penguins and the beautiful owl.
























































After that we headed back to Southampton and then home with plenty of time to spare before the Euro 2008 final.


Great weekend!

Euro 2008: Ole!

Now you know to listen to Mr. TeamKing when it comes to sports. He picked Spain from the beginning. Oh well. I was rooting for them in the final - I had Torres nearly all season on my EPL Fantasy Football team, so I knew he was good.

Great job Spain! Congrats!

Euro 2008 - Final Four

Well, I thought Portugal was going to win the Euro, but it wasn't to be. Even Mr.'s choice of Spain wasn't looking particularly good, but at least they are still in it. We think the final will be Germany and Russia. And Russia looked SO fit that we're both picking them to win it all. What the heck. I'll root for them. :)

Time will tell.

Viral Advertising and AR Gaming

If your tastes run along the more edgy sort of puzzles, I hope you checked out Nine Inch Nails Year Zero internet alternate reality game. I use the term 'game' very loosely. It's pretty cutting edge, so I don't know where I would personally classify it. But these are definately where things are heading for some advertisers. This specific campaign didn't appeal to me, but Trent Reznor is from my hometown. I went to school with him - he was a year ahead of me - and my mom went to school with his parents - so I made sure to check it out. Regardless, look at the award 42 Entertainment won:

June 20, 2008

News Update

Cannes Lions Award for 42 Entertainment

by Jonathan Waite

42 Entertainment has won yet another distinguished honor, and this time, it's a grand prize. On Thursday, June 19, the company won the Grand Prix Cyber Lions award at the Cannes Lions 2008 festival in the Viral Advertising/Viral Marketing category for their alternate reality game. The Cannes Lions awards are widely considered the most prestigious of all advertising awards, so this is definitely a feather in the cap for the company responsible for this enthralling collaboration with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame. Congratulations to the crew, which includes Steve Peters, the previous owner of this very web site.

In picture: Susan Bonds, Producer/CEO, and Alex Lieu, Creative Director/CCO, 42 Entertainment

Treasure Hunting

A few years ago - I think that's right - I ran across a group called 'The Armchair Treasure Hunt Club'. This looked pretty cool - sort of like letterboxing and geocaching only you have to solve puzzles to find the 'treasure'. I thought I might join, but then saw that they were all UK based hunts. Oh well. Maybe some time.

Well, now some time has arrived. I went ahead and joined this group. In the mail came this packet of papers. Most of them specific hunts - written clues such as stories, picture clips, word puzzles - and you work them out to find a treasure in the wild. Now, I'm not sure what sort of treasures you actually find. In my mind I'm recalling hunts such as 'Masquerade', 'A Treasure Trove', 'Noah's Ark' and 'The Merlin Mystery' - all book based puzzle hunts you solve to find real treasure/money.

Most of those are all expired now, but if you're keen to try something like these, here are some suggestions:

Books:
Cathy's Book and the new sequel Cathy's Key
The Tower by Graeme Whittle (avail. on www.lulu.com in July)

Websites:
www.professorsjournal.com
www.treasurequestsociety.coom
www.alextreasurehunt.caylixconsulting.com
www.oraclebook.net

Those are just a few I've run across that look interesting. If you end up getting involved in one of them, drop me a line and let me know! Good luck.

And I'll let you know if I have any luck on my Armchair hunts. :)

Coffee Rookie

Thank God there are like a zillion Starbucks in England. Otherwise I would just have to go mad over trying to make my own at home.

In the states, we had bought a really nice Keurigs machine back in 2006. It was beautiful. I ordered a bunch of the k-cups with all their wonderful flavors. I ordered some teas and hot chocolate. I even got the attachment part so I could put my own ground coffee in it. It was like the coolest thing. Mr. and I didn't even fight over who had to make the coffee either! Success!

So, when we moved here I naturally brought it with us. I would just get a converter to power conversion and continue using it. First obstacle turned out to be that they won't ship the k-cups out of the US. No! Boo! But I figured I could sweet talk my mom into helping me out with getting them here. Then I called a place I found over here who sells the US to UK power converters. He completely blew me off and said 'get a machine over here'. What? No, you don't understand. I spent an arm and a leg on this specific coffee machine. We love it. We want to use it. I don't want a UK one. Then he told me what the cost of the power converter was going to be. It was the same as the machine nearly. Sad. Sad. I finally packed up my nice Keurig after about a month and shipped it to my mom for her to use. Sigh. Then I did nothing.

After finding Starbucks, I just went there and other places and gave up on the whole machine at home. Okay, don't laugh, but we used. . .instant coffee. I know. I know. Have we no taste?! But, I admit, it was actually pretty good.

Then one day I was having coffee with one of the new moms I've met at her house, and she pulls out this huge silver contraption. It was some sort of manual high-end coffee press. I watched her use it and then had some of the best coffee I have ever had. Well, this thing was out of the question for us. Way too expensive and way too much work plus it was like 2ft x 2ft in size. But I started to take notice of what others where using to make their coffee and found out this french press (see photo) is most popular thing. They're quite cheap, so I got one to try out.(I still haven't seen one coffee machine at anyone's house.)

It's really not too bad to use. I already make my tea directly from leaves so pouring grounds and using the little device wasn't an issue.

The issue is. . .I just can't get the right mix. I've tried numerous beans. Numerous mixes of water to scoops. Different 'brew' times. And I just can't get a taste I like. So, that silly little press has been moved to the back of the cabinet. Enter phase 3.

Since I so loved our old coffee machine using the pre-measured cups, I thought I'd go that route again. Research. Research. Do you know that no one in England actually drinks any flavored coffees? LOL. Okay, that was harsh. But I can't find anyone who makes these cups in any sort of flavor. No vanilla or caramel or anything. Boo. After much debate, I decided to just go ahead and get a machine anyway and add syrups if needed.

In conclusion, we'll have had whole beans, partial ground beans (did I mention I burned up our US grinder? I guess the wattage exceeded the converter), instant coffee, and a coffee machine. And I still can't get a decent cup. Hope the new machine works out.

Anyone for a cup of coffee?

Euro 2008

Anyone watching Euro 2008? Mr. TeamKing and I have a bet going on it. He says Spain will win it. I say Portugal. And we both like the Dutch but don't think they'll win it.

How about you? Any predictions?

http://www.euro2008.uefa.com/tournament/teams/index.html

The Voices of Customer Service

(Note: the views and opinions expressed below are in no way meant to demean the peoples named. The commentary is on accents and staffing and meant only in jest.:))

Don't you just hate making calls to customer service/technical help depts? Every call in the states like that gets forwarded to India.

So, after you've lost your cool in the first place and had to call for help, then you had to dig out the number from their literature or website (it's the small print on the back page underneath the 5o other numbers, or in some remote corner of their website where they've directed you to their help forums and online directions in an effort to throw you off your path calling them), then you had to push like 10 numbers minimum to get you to the right service center for the correct product and problem, you finally get a warm body on the line only to discover they don't speak your language. Well, okay, they ARE speaking English, but with accents so heavy you both just struggle and struggle to communicate. Don't you find that amazing? I mean, here are companies main contact with their customers, and they put you in contact with people that you just can't understand. Your blood pressure shoots through the roof. The customer service person must be paid some fantastic amount of money to endure the onslaught from frustrated Americans thousands of miles away. They always stay calm and cool. It just amazes me.

Then I came to England. Okay. I need to make some customer service calls. You go through the same exact steps as above. Finally get to the warm body on the phone and. . .they're Scottish! Scottish, of all things! Every call I've made over here. Every one. I'm pretty sure understanding a heavy Scottish accent beats out understanding a heavy Indian accent. It's the only English language I've seen where they SUBTITLE it on films. Really. It's that heavy.

So now I'm convinced there must be some sort of conspiracy on banning all customer service calls to other countries - and other countries with people who have heavy accents. They obviously don't do any sort of vocal test before hiring and placing people in these phone support roles. Anything goes. Knowledge of product far outweighs anything else. I think they want to do away with this cost and just have website support only. Because don't you find that once you've struggled through one such call, you don't normally call again. You end digging through online documents, calling local stores for help, or just living with the problem.

And now, I can't help but wonder. . .who answers the phone when you call from India or Scotland? Do they come back to the US? How about a deep southern US accent? or someone from the Bronx or Long Island? or some rapper from LA?

Wouldn't that be interesting. . .its like the Tower of Babel.

:p

eBooks

I saw a blurb today for the Amazon Kindle. It's one of those handheld electronic book readers. Retails for $300-400. Huh? I wasn't quite sure I understood the point of it. If you're new to eBooks, here's what I think is a better way - use your phone. Of course, that depends on what sort of mobile phone you're carrying around. If you have a basic function unit with no PDA sort of options on it, then this won't work. But if you're already using a PDA/Smartphone type of phone then you're all set.

How?

First you need a reader on your PDA. I have a Palm OS Treo so I can't suggest any Windows based programs. The best I've used to date (and what I currently use) is eReader. I've been using them for a few years now and have had no issues. The software is free to download. And once you have the reader on your unit, then you're ready to get some books. I like eReader from this perspective too as I feel they have a good selection of books - both old and current releases. Are the prices cheap? No. They're not. It's rather like going to a bookstore and buying. But, it is still cheaper than a new hardback. Plus you can sign up for their newsletter which has a code in it where you can get 10% off your orders. At least it's something. They also keep your account on their site, so you can always go back and re-download any of your purchases.

Once you find a book you want to buy and have completed the purchase, it downloads to your desktop/computer immediately. I then simply drag and drop to my phone and do a HotSync. Viola! A book on my phone.

Why?

Some people have never understood why anyone would want to do this. Read a book on your phone?! Yes. Let me tell you why I love it. I can't tell you how many times I find myself waiting somewhere - waiting on kids, waiting on doctors/dentists, waiting for someone in a restaurant, store, car, etc., waiting in the airport, train station, etc. We seem to wait a lot in our lives. And this is where I love to pull out my pda phone and read a little. Besides enjoying the book itself, t's relaxing and time flies. I actually get through books quickly now instead of them lingering on my nightstand.

If you've never tried one before, give it a go. The most you can lose is the cost of one book if you end up not reading it.

Oh, that reminds me, here's a source for FREE eBooks. These aren't current books though, they're Classics! Which is really good too when you want to go back and read some of those great literature books you never had time for. . www.gutenberg.org

Life of Riley

Well, we are now all moved into house no. 2. Don't know if permanent yet as we may try to buy it. Time will tell. Regardless, we're really happy with it and our new location in Surrey. We're very near the Devils Punchbowl which should provide some wonderful walks (for me at least).

No geocaching or letterbox updates. Haven't been out for over a month now. Boo. But I am signed up for a nighttime caching event this summer which sounds like a lot of fun. Also hoping I can pull off another Dartmoor weekend this summer. Would be really great with the extended light in the evenings!

Other than moving, I started a new 'sport' - Bowls! Now, don't be like Mr. TeamKing who gave me a hard time for joining as the average age seems to be about 70. I figure by the time I get there I'll have many years under my belt and might actuallly be good! Hah!

We spent this past Saturday at Legoland Windsor. A really good park for those with non-teen kids. I noticed a lot of creative little touches that were as well thought out as anything at Disney.

Then in the evening, we were off to Wembley Arena to the Osmonds 50th Anniversary tour. It was the whole clan (well, other than the 2 older hearing impaired brothers). But even Marie was there. It was really quite fun.

On the postal letterboxing side, I've had to give this up as the postage would be WAY too much for people to send to me now that I'm in the UK. However, I'd been thinking of trying a LTC and finally an opportunity came up. I joined the Bookmark Swap. These aren't actually LTCs. But, I think they sort of fall into the general category. Homemade, handmade stamp, etc. I had fun doing mine so I think I will try a LTC ring or at least some exchanges. I really hate my stamp carving ability, but I'll give it a go. I'll have to show a picture of all the ones I get once I receive.

Anyone watch the 'Survivor' series this recent go-around? I thought it was one of the best ones they ever did - and that's saying a lot as I've watched every single series they've had which is like 9 years or so worth! Only things on here that I'm still watching are 'The Apprentice' (Sir Alan Sugar is a bit rougher than Trump, so it's quite entertaining), and one of my favs that I only got into since moving here - 'Doctor Who'. I see many of the US shows are finally wrapping up their seasons. Way too short. No more strikes! Please!

Finally, upcoming events include a weekend in Wales, a possible summer trip to Germany, and a day trip to the Isle of Wight. (AND Madonna tickets for September. Yeah!) Now if I could just get some to Tina Turner. . .

:)