An American Expat in Scotland

Dundee

2012-02-05T13:41:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago I went to Dundee for the day. I had previously heard Dundee being called Scumdee so I wasn't sure want to expect. I was actually pleasantly surprised. While it is definitely not the nicest place I have visited, Dundee was a perfectly nice place to visit for the day. The high street/central part of the city could be mistaken for any mid-sized British city.

On this trip I visited Scott's Discovery which was the ship used on his Antarctic expedition in 1901. The ship's museum was really well done and the ship itself has been well preserved. I would highly recommend visiting the Discovery.

I also visited the Verdant Works, which is an old jute mill that has been converted into a museum. Jute is made into a fabric, such as burlap. The museum does a good job explaining the manufacturing process and also the wider implications of the jute trade.

Lebkuchen

2012-01-22T13:26:00.000-05:00

Continuing my series of posts on street foods, today we have Lebkuchen. Lebkuchen is normally described as resembling gingerbread and is a traditional German Christmas treat. They are either rectangular or round, they have a sweet, lightly nutty taste, and their aroma is a bit like nutmeg and allspice. They are soft and baked on top of a thin, sugary "oblaten" wafer. Nuremberg is famous for its Lebkuchen.

Lebkuchen also comes in a harder form with is made into different shapes and decorated with icing. A common sight at Christmas markets is stalls decorated with Lebkuchen.

This Nürnberger Lebkuchen came from the Christkindlesmarkt.

Crêpe

2012-01-20T14:14:00.000-05:00

Crêpes are a popular European street food. Although they are most commonly associated with France, you can find them in many other countries. You can get crêpes filled with many different things including fruit, whipped cream, sugar, chocolate sauce, and jam. Crêpes are a pretty versatile food.

This particular crêpe is from the Regensburg Christmas market and is filled with nutella, which is my favourite topping.

Kartoffelpuffer

2012-01-18T15:57:00.001-05:00

When I went to Germany last month, I made sure to have some my favourite German food to eat. Potato pancakes, known as Kartoffelpuffer in German, with applesauce have long been one of my favourite foods, and I always have some when I go to a Christmas market, whether in Germany or the one in Edinburgh.

These particular potato pancakes were from the Frankfurter Weihnachtsmarkt and were excellent. Quite possibly the best I have ever had. Later on the trip I had some more from the Nürnberg Christkindlesmarkt.

You can find my other articles on street foods here:

Langos
Käsekrainer
Belgian Waffles
Frites
Socca

Law School Apps

2012-01-04T20:03:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts but I am frantically trying to tie up some loose strings and submit my law school applications before I fly back to Scotland. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and a great 2012.

Field of Dreams

2011-11-13T18:07:00.000-05:00

Tonight Field of Dreams was on ITV4. Field of Dreams is such a great movie. It was really good to come across it on British television.

This scene with James Earl Jones has to be one of the greatest movie monologues of the past 25 years.

November Catch Up

2011-11-06T13:39:00.000-05:00

It has been awhile since I have posted so I figured it was time to do a quick catch up post of what I have been doing for the past five weeks or so.

At the very end of September, I moved into a new flat in Stirling. It was a little sad moving out of my old flat. I had lived there for almost two years, which made it the longest I have lived anywhere on my own and the 3^rd longest if you include where I lived with my parents. While it wasn't the nicest flat, it had a great location and suited my needs fine.

My new flat is great though. I'm renting it from a friend who is giving me a pretty big discount from the going rate for a flat in the building. The flat has a great view of the Wallace Monument and the surrounding Ochil Hills. It has also cut my commute to work in half, from six minutes to three. The downside is that you just can't pop out to a nearby shop if you need to quickly pick something up.

Similar to the view from my flat

In early October, I went to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in St Andrews. It is basically the European equivalent of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. I got to see John Daly and top European golfers like Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Colin Montgomerie, Padraig Harrington, and Graeme McDowell. By chance, I also watched Huey Lewis a lot. I can't believe how much I have seen Huey Lewis playing golf. I'm pretty sure he started to recognise me by the end of his round.

John Daly teeing off at the Old Course

Also in October I took a day trip to visit York. I was born in York Pennsylvania, which is named after York England, and much of my family lives there so it was kind of like I was "going home". I visited York Minster, York Castle, The Shambles and the Jorvik Viking Centre. The Viking Centre was pretty interesting. It had a ride that took you through a reconstructed Viking town. They piped in this smell so it smelled like what a Viking town would smell like. I had a great pork sandwich from the York Hogroast for lunch.

The Shambles

Best Firework Show Ever?

2011-11-06T13:03:00.000-05:00

Gondola Races

2011-09-26T15:59:00.002-04:00

Gondola races are one of those things that are better in concept than they are in real life.

When I was in Venice at the beginning of the month, I got to see the Regata Storica, which is the largest gondola race in Venice. While you would think gondola races would be pretty exciting, they were anything but. The whole program of races was running very late and there were lengthy half hour waits between races. There is little passing and those passes that do take place are very gradual.

Becoming British?

2011-09-11T08:35:00.001-04:00

When I was in Venice last weekend, I was talking to some Canadians who were staying at the same place I was. One of them brought up the different kinds of "chips" that are available in Canada. She was saying that ketchup chips are particularly good. It was only after a couple of confusing minutes that I realised she was talking about french fries rather than potato chips.

Does automatically assuming "chips" means french fries mean I am slowing becoming British?

Fringe Reviews

2011-08-28T12:49:00.006-04:00

Here are my rating of the Edinburgh Fringe shows I saw this year.

Dave Gorman *****
Milton Jones *****
Jack Whitehall *****
Mark Nelson **** 1/2
Cambridge Footlights ****
Pete Firman ****
Andy Parsons *** 1/2 (not bad, just did not live up to my expectations)
Mat Ricardo ***

August 2011 Update

2011-08-14T18:59:00.001-04:00

August in Scotland means only one thing, Festivals.

This month I've been busy going to shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. On 5th August, I saw Dave Gorman doing his powerpoint show. The show was excellent and I highly recommend it. It was a little weird that the show was held in the George Square lecture theatre. I used to have philosophy lectures there that used powerpoint and now I was sitting there watching a comedian use powerpoint.

The following day I watched Hibernian play Sunderland, an English Premier League team. It wasn't the most exciting match, but Hibs were able to hold out for a draw against a much stronger team. After that I saw the "Best of Irish Comedy" show. The show has a different cast each night. That Saturday it was Neil Delamere, Elaine Malcolmson and another Northern Irish comedian with Martin Mor as the MC.

This past Tuesday I saw Milton Jones before going to the Tattoo. Milton Jones is an excellent one-liner. His comedy was pretty intellectual. You needed to listen closely to catch his play on words. I still have tickets to see Jack Whitehall, Andy Parsons and the Cambridge Footlights later this month. I'm also going to see the Scotland vs Italy rugby game at Murrayfield.

Below is a video I took of the Dutch Bicycle Band at the Tattoo.

Scottish is ...

2011-07-15T06:59:00.000-04:00

Stirling Castle

2011-07-04T21:11:00.004-04:00

On June 12, I visited the recently reopened Royal Palace of Stirling Castle. The Palace had its grand opening the previous weekend after being closed for renovations over a couple of years. It has been completely been redone as it would have looked in the 16th century.

I had been to the Palace the first time I visited Stirling in December 2007, shortly before it was closed for renovations. The difference between then and now is huge. In 2007, the walls had been striped back and were bare stone. Historic Scotland did a great job. Below are a couple pictures I took.

The Stirling Heads

Socca

2011-05-31T19:07:00.003-04:00

Continuing my series of posts on different kinds of street food, in Nice I tried Socca. Socca is pancake-like and made out of chickpea flour and olive oil. It is baked in a large flat pan and then served while still hot.

Socca is surprisingly filling. A serving like the one in my picture is almost enough for a whole meal and only costs a euro or two. Overall Socca is one of those foods you should try once but you probably won't have a strong desire to keep going back, unlike Belgian waffles.

French Riviera

2011-05-31T05:53:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the gap in posting. I have been pretty busy lately. This past weekend this blog turned two years old, and I would like to increase the frequency of posts over the next year.

Earlier in May, I went to the French Riviera for a 4-day weekend. I stayed in Nice and took trips to Antibes, Cannes, and Monaco. It was nice to get away from cool and overcast Scotland for a couple days. The weather was prefect on Thursday and Friday.

The Cannes Film Festival was going on that weekend. All of the huge yachts were out, and I got to see some of the largest in the world. I walked out to the end of the dock to get a better view and hung out with the paparazzi as they wanted for someone to leave the Lady Moura. The events surrounding the film festival were a little bizarre. You had all kinds of people walking around trying to spot someone famous or to get into one of the various parties. Some of these people were rather dressed up, which made them seem all the more desperate. It resembled groups of college freshmen on a Friday night trying to find a frat party that would let them in.

Monaco was also an absurd place, but in a different way. It is very much a place of contradictions. The city/country consists mainly of high-rise towers. However, there are lots of nice little parks and green areas all over. Of course, there were plenty of middle age men driving expensive supercars and a flat the size of mine would cost over €1 million, but at the same time, I got the impression that Monaco must have been a kind of a backwater 100 years ago.

Since I was there two weeks before the Grand Prix, the course was almost finished being set up and I was able to walk most of the track. One of the things I did was I went to the Monte Carlo Casino. The Casino is very grand and not like any casino you would find in America. It cost €10 to get in. Since the minimum for blackjack was €50, I just played the slot machines for a while and watched people play roulette. I saw one guy win over €8,000 on one game. It also had a self-cleaning toilet I took a video of.

My pictures are now uploaded and a few are below the jump.

Beach in Nice

Paul Allen's yacht Octopus off the coast of Cannes. It is the 12th largest yacht in the world.

Monaco set up for the Grand Prix

Monte Carlo Casino

Historic Day in Scotland

2011-05-06T18:59:00.004-04:00

Today will go down as an important day in the history of Scotland. Last night the people of Scotland voted and gave the Scottish National Party a surprise majority in the Parliament and a strong mandate to govern the country for the next five years. Not to overstate things, but this is huge news and changes everything.

The outcome of the election is very significant. The Scottish Parliament was designed by the Labour Party in 1998 to use proportional representation so that it would be impossible for the nationalists to win a majority of the seats. They feared the SNP would use the Parliament as a step towards independence. The SNP were able to overcome this last night.

For the past four years, they have governed as a minority government, relying on the other parties to pass anything. This obviously restricted what they could do and forced them to make compromises. Now they are free to pursue their own agenda.

Scotland's relationship with Westminster and the rest of the UK has dramatically changed for at least the next five years. The SNP Government is in the position where it can claim to be the only government in the UK with the legitimacy to rule as is the only party to have a majority of seats in its legislative body. It will use its mandate to pressure Cameron. And if he doesn't get his way, Salmond will use every grievance as a means of showing how Scotland would be better off without the English. The next couple of years will be a long, subtle campaign for independence.

You could see the effects of the election even today, before all of the results were announced. At work we have already begun to discuss how we will have to approach our English equivalents differently.

How I crashed the Royal Wedding

2011-05-01T13:22:00.000-04:00

Since I was already in London this week for an alumni reception my university was hosting, I decided to stick around until Friday when the royal wedding was. I wasn't particularly interested in standing along the route all day, but I did want to see the crowds and how people were celebrating. It was a big British national event and worth having some sort of experience.

I got to the Green Park tube station around 10:30. I thought that I would try walking towards the middle of the Mall thinking the crowds would be thinner there. However, the police were blocking all access to the Mall and the area around it. So I kept walking towards Trafalgar Square. However, it was blocked off too so I headed back to Green Park. It turned out that at some point before anything started, the police had blocked all access to the route and also to the sites where they had set up giant screens. If were weren't on the Mall or at one of the site with the screens really early, they weren't letting you in. I spent some time walking around trying to figure out how to get through. I did get to see some of the Household Cavalry walking towards Buckingham Palace, which was pretty much the extent of the procession I saw.

Eventually I found a spot where people where sitting on the top of a 10 ft high plywood wall on the edge of Green Park. I stood on top of a 3 ft high barrier and pulled myself over the top and on to a small 2X4 ledge on the other side. The other side wasn't the actual park but a rectangular maintenance area. The police then started to yell at everyone standing on the difference sections of the walls to go back to the road or they would arrest use. Some of the other people started to jump into the park so I made my way around the wall (walking on a 2 inch wide ledge) to the park side of the box. By then the police were busy chasing the earlier jumpers. I waited until after this 70 year old Indian guy jumped because I was sure I could out run him. After almost landing on a glass bottle, I ran into the crowd of people watching the screen to hide.

By this point, they were just arriving back at Buckingham Palace. I did get to see them come out on the balcony on the giant screen set up in the park. I had a great view of the flyover and got to buy a copy of the official programme.

Ketchup Confusion

2011-04-23T11:59:00.001-04:00

I've noticed that there often seems to be a moment of confusion when I ask for ketchup for my chips at the chippie or other fast food place, although I normally use brown sauce. The worker hesitates and asks if I mean "tomato ketchup" or "tomato sauce".

I was always a little confused why they needed to ask for clarification but never really gave it a whole lot of thought until I saw this article from the Middle Class Handbook. According to them, there is a pretty clear class divide in the British choice of condiments. Brown sauce is the middle class condiment of choice while "tomato sauce" is used by the working class. "Ketchup" is a more middle class term that the chippie worker would not use, hence his confusion when he comes across me.

2011 Masters

2011-04-11T18:37:00.001-04:00

I was watching the Masters yesterday on the BBC and something felt like it was missing. I don't believe the BBC played the Masters jingle that CBS uses. Dave Loggin wrote the song and it is entitled "Augusta". The song also has lyrics (see after the jump), but CBS only uses the instrumental version.

This song is the perfect example of the interaction between music, sport and memory. When many people think of the Masters, this song is one of the first things they think of. When you hear a few bars of the song, images of Augusta come to mind. Without the song, the BBC's coverage was lacking one of those little things that makes the Masters special.

Stone Roses Disappointment

2011-04-08T17:52:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I got very excited when I read this.

But later I saw this and became disappointed.

It seems like this rumour makes the rounds every year. When I saw that the Telegraph was running the story, I got my hopes up since I figured they would only carry it if there was something behind it. At least the Complete Stone Roses tribute group will be playing in Stirling this summer.

2011 Census

2011-04-01T17:45:00.001-04:00

Sunday was census day in Scotland. I was actually pretty excited to fill it out. I have seen my ancestors' records from various US census, and its pretty cool to think that in 100 years my descendants will be able to a little glimpse into my Scottish life.

Double Jeopardy Outrage Continued

2011-03-28T12:44:00.004-04:00

Continuing on from my post last week about the passage of the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Bill, I came across this news story over the weekend:

An inquest has returned verdicts of suicide for Derrick Bird and unlawful killing for each of the 12 people he shot dead in West Cumbria last year. A jury of six women and five men sitting in Workington, Cumbria, returned the verdicts after listening to four weeks of harrowing evidence.

Unless I am missing something, this "inquest" seems to be completely pointless and a waste of time and money. As far as I can tell, there is a separate inquiry which is also wrapping up soon on how the police response could have been better. Why did a second one need to be held with a jury?

Why did this take 4 weeks and required 70 some people testifying? There was no question he did it. If this was required by some legal technicality, couldn't they wrap it up in an afternoon? Why did so many people need to relive the events for no obvious purpose?
Suicide is a actual crime you can be found guilty of? Is there a punishment for it? Who defends you? How much does the British government spend each year trying people for suicide?
Unlawful killing? As opposed to lawful killing? (I actually read this is the English term for homicide and manslaughter which makes more sense, but I still wonder what the point of jury's verdict is since Bird is dead.)
Going back to my double jeopardy post, if this had happened in Scotland, could you now be retried for suicide if you were acquitted the first time around? Could a dead person be retried for unlawful killing?

Athens

2011-03-25T17:16:00.001-04:00

I have uploaded my pictures from Athens. Here are a few of them:

The Parthenon

Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Acropolis

Panathinaiko Stadium, site of the 1896 Olympics

Temple of Hephaestus

Where is the Double Jeopardy outrage?

2011-03-24T12:53:00.001-04:00

Hours before dissolving itself, the Scottish Parliament passed the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Bill and the bill is currently awaiting royal assent. The Scotsman summarises the bill as allowing "exemptions to the centuries-old principle that no-one should be tried twice for the same crime." I am shocked that not only has there been no form of public outrage, there seems to be support for it. The Daily Record notes that Scots Law has provided protection against double jeopardy for over 800 years but they then go on to support getting rid of that protection saying how great it will be to retry some people 30 years later. Even the Law Society of Scotland supports the bill.

West's Encyclopedia of American Law lists five principles which underpin double jeopardy:

preventing the government from employing its superior resources to wear down and erroneously convict innocent persons;
protecting individuals from the financial, emotional, and social consequences of successive prosecutions;
preserving the finality and integrity of criminal proceedings, which would be compromised were the state allowed to arbitrarily ignore unsatisfactory outcomes;
restricting prosecutorial discretion over the charging process; and
eliminating judicial discretion to impose cumulative punishments not authorized by the legislature

A government's ability to require anyone to answer to the court and to submit to its judgement is one of its greatest powers. Without protection against double jeopardy, this power would go largely unchecked. This power is entirely one sided. The state would have the power to decide how often to charge an individual and could do so until it received the verdict it wants. The individual has no choice. He must continue to defend himself until he loses. The individual will never win and the state will never lose.

The judicial system is based on finality. Once the court has decided a matter of fact, it is not reconsidered, res judicata. The integrity of the judiciary demands this.

Prosecutors have the responsible to use their powers with great care and only after consideration. Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat, the burden of proof rests on who asserts, not on who denies. It is the responsibility of the prosecutors to decide when the evident is great enough that the State will bring charges against an individual. By prohibiting double jeopardy, the prosecutor makes sure his case is sound and is forced to not make premature accusations. Without this, the quality of the judiciary will suffer. Knowing that you could possible have a second chance at trying someone completely changes the dynamics surrounding criminal procession.

What makes the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Bill worse is that it applies ex post facto. This is coupled with a vague general "new evidence" exception so that anyone acquitted of a crime in Scotland ever now faces the uncertainty of their acquittal and faces the worrying prospects of a second trial.

One of the hallmarks of an advanced civilization is a fair and just legal system. These recent developments cause me to question if Scotland has this.

I have supported the SNP in the past on this blog, but this is clearly a huge error of judgement on their behalf.

Cologne

2011-03-05T07:54:00.004-05:00

Last weekend I went to Köln, Germany. I visited the Cologne Cathedral and got to climb the one church tower. Before the completion of the Washington Monument, the cathedral in Cologne was the tallest building in the world. The day was a little overcast but you still got a great view of the Rhine and the city. I also went to the Chocolate Museum. It had a working Lindt production line so you could watch up close while they made little chocolate bars and Lindor truffle balls. I ate a couple of really good pretzels and bratwurst and had some Kölsch.

I also went to watch FC Köln play SC Freiburg. Köln won 1-0 with a late goal by Lukas Podolski. The atmosphere at the game was incredible. Possibly the best I have ever seen. The fans in the south stand were chanting/singing the whole game and were incredibly loud at times.

Kölner Dom

Before the Köln-Freiburg game

Making truffle balls

Cell Phone History

2011-03-04T19:01:00.000-05:00

Engadget recently published a story where their staff writers wrote about the first cell phones they owned. It's an interesting read and definitely says something about American culture in the 90s/early 2000s and the evolving role that technology plays in our lives. It is also interesting to see how technology, in the way of mobile phones, provide us with a set of common experiences. Their story prompted me to think about the phones I have owned and used over the years. Read on after the break.

Dad's car phone

The first real semi-portable phone I used was the car phone my Dad had installed in his car in the mid 90s. I remember how cool I thought it was that you could call someone no matter where you were. Whenever I would ride with him somewhere, I would always ask to call Mom at home just to be able to use the car phone.

Dad's cell phones

The first cell phones I used regularly where two Nokia candybar phones my Dad got from his bank in the late 90s/early 2000s. The first one was some variation of the Nokia 5110 and the second was some variation of the Nokia 5110i. These phones were really popular at the time and where known for their changeable covers. Changeable faceplates were an attempt to allow you to customise your phone when other options did not exist at the time. He would let me borrow them when I would go somewhere that I would then need to get picked up from, like debate tournaments. What I remember best about these phones was playing Snake on them.

My first cell phone

My first cell phone was a LG VX3300 which I got in August 2005 when I left for Colgate. It was a pretty basic phone without a camera. This phone was pretty unremarkable but had a pretty good battery life and a couple games. The phone's design reflected the popularity of flip phones at the time. It also had a changeable faceplate but that fad had mainly died by 2005. This LG served reliably for over two years before it got replaced.

Prepaid Scottish Phone

I had a Motorola C139 for a couple months in the fall of 2007 as a prepaid phone that I used while studying abroad. It was the worst phone ever. The volume was really low and couldn't be adjusted. The phone was awkwardly small in a way that made it hard to hold. The best feature of the phone was that you could set timers for the phone to automatically turn off and on. It was really useful to save battery power.

LG Chocolate

When I got back to America, I used Verizon's new phone every 2 years credit to replace my other LG phone with the 2nd version of the LG Chocolate. This phone was a big step up from my older phone. It had a 1.3 Megapixel Camera and could play music (but I never actually did).

Second Scottish Phone

Since I liked the slider design of the above LG phone, I bought an unlocked Motorola ROKR Z6 to use when I moved back to Scotland. This was the first phone I used to access the internet. The phone still serves as a backup phone and is used when my parents come to visit.

First Smartphone

My current phone is an HTC Hero, which runs Android. This is probably my favourite phone so far. Besides the fact that it has so many features available and you can access the internet anywhere, the Android OS works really well. The widgets that provide you with information at a glance, rather than having to open an app, are a big plus over other phones. The phone is also one of the first phones to have a Teflon coating. Even after owning the phone for over a year it still looks greats.

FC Köln

2011-02-15T16:23:00.004-05:00

At the end of the month I am going to Cologne. One of the things I will be doing there is going to watch a FC Köln game. It turns out that their song uses the tune of Loch Lomond. The club's mascot is a billy goat named Hennes. Here is Hennes VIII singing the anthem:

Some Observations

2011-01-30T19:59:00.002-05:00

A few random observations:

British breakfasts are rather good. Eggs, a grilled tomato, some good pork sausages, thick back bacon and potato scones. Although I do skip the baked beans.
British business lunches are terrible. I always dread going to meetings where lunch will be served. They always serve these awful little sandwiches with the grossest fillings, and since they put out so many different kinds of these sandwiches, its not like there is a whole lot else to choose from. And since the people you are meeting with are paying for it, you are obligated to be seen eating something. I usually end up eating a lot of fruit. I wouldn't be surprised if some people thought I was a vegetarian.
British people are short. My boss is 6'2" at the most, but if you had heard people (including himself) talk about him, you would have thought he was a giant. This confused me a little. It took me awhile to realise this, but British people are just short.
When I first lived in Scotland, I thought that British Coca-Cola tasted rather poor compared to the American stuff. I had thought that I had since got used to it. The other day I bought a 1.5L bottle of Coke. Turns out that it is just as poor as it was in 2007. Nothing has changed.

Blackberry Sketch

2010-12-30T23:58:00.000-05:00

This is a pretty funny sketch full of technology puns by a legendary Scottish comedian.

Danny MacAskill - "Way Back Home"

2010-11-19T14:14:00.001-05:00

Tower Bridge

2010-10-23T12:48:00.003-04:00

I took these pictures when I was in London at the beginning of the month.

Passed Driving Theory Test

2010-09-30T16:38:00.000-04:00

Back at the beginning of August I took the driving theory and hazard perception tests and never got around to posting about it. The test centre was on the other side of Stirling and I walked there after work. When I got there I waited in line at a desk to check in. After I checked in, I had to put everything except my license in a locker. Since the test centre was fairly busy, I had to wait again until I was called. I then went down a hallway and had my ID checked again. I was then assessed a computer and went into the test room. When I was finished, I went back to the waiting room and waited a minute or two to get my results. I passed both parts.

I got 48 out of 50 on the theory part. You needed 43 to pass. On the hazard perception part I only barely passed. You needed to get 44 out of 75 points to pass. I was getting in the mid 50s when practising. But I only got 46 on the actual test, including a zero on the one video.

The whole experience was interesting. I'm pretty sure I was the only person at the test centre between 20 and 65. The centre was being manned by two retirees. Everyone else looked 18. I thought about making an old timers joke to the one old guy working there but wasn't sure he would get it.

Three Septembers

2010-09-26T06:23:00.001-04:00

I realised the other day that this is the third September I've spent in Scotland. That makes it seem like I've been here a long time. Maybe a little misleading since I've only been here one August.

Trip Back Home

2010-09-21T10:46:00.000-04:00

It’s been a slow day at work so I figured that I should do an update. Plus typing in Word makes it look like I’m busy.

At the end of August, I went back to America for the first time in roughly nine months. This was the longest time that I’ve been away from home. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that strange to be home. A bunch of building and shops had changed but nothing was really that different. My parents invited all of my relations up for a cooked out the one day. I went to New York City to see a couple friends from university and saw an Orioles-Yankees baseball game. The Orioles won. I also went to the new casino with my family.

My one year anniversary at work passed while I was in America.

It was actually stranger going back to Stirling. There was this sense of everything being familiar yet still slightly foreign. It didn’t seem like I have lived here for over a year now.

I can’t believe that I am trying to get out of a free trip to America. Someone at Colgate asked me to go speak on what I do, and I semi-jokingly said yes if the school paid for my ticket. He thought I was serious and is trying to find someone to buy me a ticket. I really don’t want to go though.

Edinburgh Tattoo

2010-08-11T15:49:00.002-04:00

Last night I went to the Edinburgh Tattoo. It was a great show.
Here are a couple short videos I made:

August Update

2010-07-31T16:56:00.000-04:00

I have a couple of big things coming up in the next couple of weeks. Next Thursday I'm going to Hibs' Europa League game. The following Thursday morning I'm going to a Scottish dentist for the first time. I'm not entirely sure what to expect. Then after the dentist, I'm going to the driver's licence test center to take the theory and hazard perception tests. Once I passed those two test, I'm going to start taking a few driving lessons so I can get my full driving licence.

The Edinburgh Festival starts soon so I'm going to be going to some of those events. I may be going to Rosslyn Chapel tomorrow. At the end of the month, I'm going back to America for a couple of weeks.

British Open

2010-07-31T15:40:00.004-04:00

Two weeks ago I went to the British Open at St. Andrews. For a golf fan, the Open Championship at the Old Course is a trip of a lifetime. I went for two days. The first was the Wednesday practice day, which was supposed to have a past champions event. However, the weather was terrible. There was a tedious downpour the whole day with very strong winds. I spent most of the day hiding under tents and grandstands. The champions event ended up being canceled. After the rain slowed down, I played paparazzi outside the R&A clubhouse. I got to see Tom Watson up close and saw Arnold Palmer drive by.

Sunday was a great day for golf. The weather was warm and sunny. I spent most of the day sitting in the grandstand behind the 7/11 double green. I got to see all of the groups except for the first couple. I saw Tiger double bogey a hole, John Daly crush a drive, Phil, Sergio, Vijay, and the rest of the top golfers. Once the leaders finished 11, I went to the 18th and watched the last groups finish. I got to see the trophy presentation and saw the Claret Jug up close as Louis Oosthuizen took his victory lap around the 18th fairway.

As a side note, I finally got around to redoing this blog's template. The new one should look more professional and maybe feel a little more British with the background picture. I hope you like it.

This also happens to be the first post from my new laptop. After 5 years of outstanding service, my old one has been granted a peaceful retirement.

Friend's China blog

2010-07-04T09:41:00.001-04:00

My one friend has been living in Shanghai for the past year and has also been keeping a blog. He's much better at having regular, significant posts than I am. It's worth a read.

You can view his blog here: coreysheridan.wordpress.com/

Rome Pictures

2010-06-27T18:57:00.002-04:00

My pictures from my trip to Rome last weekend have now been uploaded. You can see them here.

World Cup Songs

2010-06-15T17:08:00.003-04:00

Here are two songs that are being played during the World Cup that I think are pretty good.

Wavin' Flag (Coca-Cola® Celebration Mix)

When You Come Back 2010

Reactions to USA England Game

2010-06-13T12:17:00.005-04:00

This morning I made sure to stop by WH Smiths to see the different British newspapers' reactions to the US drawing England last night in the world cup. There were a couple good ones. My favourite was the "Hand of Clod", which is a play on Maradona's "hand of god" goal.

One year anniversary

2010-06-02T13:51:00.001-04:00

This blog has been going for over a year now. When it was started, I was preparing to take the LSAT and waiting for my visa. Now i've been living in Scotland for nine months. I plan on making some improvements to this blog soon and come up with a new layout.

The World Cup will be starting in a little more than a week. I'm looking forward to the USA-England match. Hopefully the US will win so I can be obnoxious. I'll be heading to Rome on the 17th for the weekend.

Eurovision

2010-05-29T15:50:00.002-04:00

I'm watching the eurovision final right now and I can't believe I'm sitting through this. I mean some of the groups aren't bad, like the Belgian guy. But you have to wonder what some of these countries were thinking. Moldova and Stinkovic from Serbia I'm looking at you. As I'm writing this, we are only through a third of the acts so I'm sure there are plenty more terrible acts to come.

EDIT: I can't believe Germany won. I mean the song was kind of catchy and the girl is kind of cute, but she can't sing at all. You could go to karaoke night at any bar and find someone who can sing better than her. In all, eurovision seems to serve as a pretty good commercial for the American music industry.

Election Continued ...

2010-05-08T15:34:00.001-04:00

I was planning on writing a reaction to the election results but we still don't know the results. It looks like some sort of Conservative - Lib Dem agreement will be reached on the next couple of days.

I stayed up on election night watching the results come in until 1:30 AM, switching between the BBC's and Sky News's coverage. The results were so slow that I went to bed until 5:30. I watched for another 45 minutes before getting another hour of sleep. Needless to day I was pretty tired the next day. I'm not sure how some of the people on the BBC were able to do 18 hours on air.

My family is coming from America to visit on Monday. Should be an interesting 10 days.

Haggis Dog?

2010-04-27T15:30:00.001-04:00

The other day I noticed that the coffee shop I live above has a sign advertising they now serve haggis hot dogs. It's basically a chili dog with haggis. Who came up with such a thing and more importantly who buys them? The things weren't cheap either, like £3.

SNP's campaign

2010-04-24T12:47:00.001-04:00

Twelve days to go until election day. Even though I won't get to vote here, I did get to vote this week. I mailed my absentee ballot today for the primary election. I still have a problem with having to use a stamp with the Queen on it to be able to vote.

I like the Scottish National Party's campaign. Their strategy is to run as Scotland's local champions. It doesn't matter as much if you agree with all of their policies. If you think that Scotland needs someone to stand up for her and make sure her voices are heard, then they think you should vote for them. The SNP have set a goal of winning 20 seats. I don't think they will get there, but they will pick up a few more seats.

Midway Point of the Election

2010-04-20T11:47:00.000-04:00

We’re now at the halfway point of the campaign with a little more than two weeks until election day. To be honest, I’m a little disappoint with the election so far. With only a month long campaign, I was expecting it to be more intense that it has been. That may be due to the fact that there really aren’t any ads on TV.

The Conservatives seem to have been the winners of week one of the campaign. Their argument that the proposed rise in NI tax would kill growth in jobs seems to have been resonating with voters, and they were able to bring big business leader aboard publicly. Their momentum was killed by the debate. While I don’t think there was a clear winner, Nick Clegg did come across well. Even if the Lib Dems didn’t actually win the debate, they won the debate of who won the debate.

What I don’t understand is how the Lib Dems are able to continue to avoid answering what they would do in the case of a hung parliament. Their position of avoiding answering it seems to be unsustainable. If I were running either the Tories’ or Labour’s campaign, I would use the second debate to either get them to answer the question or blast them for avoiding it. If they say they will support either a Tory or Labour government, their support will erode. They would become the junior version of one of those parties. If you want one of those parties in power, why would you vote for the Lib Dems? If they don’t answer, you criticise them for not being honest with the electorate. The debate is the perfect time to push the issue.

Grand National

2010-04-10T12:16:00.001-04:00

I just watched the Grand National horse race on BBC. I believe it is the most important steeplechasing race in the country. While I'm not an expert on horseracing, British races seem kind of weird. They don't use starting gates, there are like forty horses entered, and the race is really long, over four miles. The funniest thing is that the horses keep running even when their riders fell off. For awhile, the horse running in second was riderless.

The BBC is also showing the Masters this weekend. I plan on watching some tonight. The time difference is kind of a pain though. A winner won't be decided until after midnight tomorrow.

The Race is on

2010-04-06T17:41:00.001-04:00

Today Gordon Brown went to the palace to see the Queen and ask for Parliament to be dissolved. This means the countdown to the election starts now. May 6th will be the day. Stirling is one of the seats that the Tories will need to win if they are going to have enough seats to form a government. It should be an exciting 30 days as I have a front row seat to the campaigning.

Frites

2010-04-04T10:42:00.001-04:00

Another of Brussels's classic street foods that every visitor must try is frites, known as frieten in Dutch. Belgians claim to have invented french fries so where else to have a few? Frites are thicker than American fries but not as thick as British chips. They are crispier than British chips. Normally you would have them with mayonnaise, but I hate mayonnaise so I got mine with ketchup instead. You can find frites served in cones at stands called Friteries or Frietkoten.

Belgian Waffles

2010-04-04T09:52:00.000-04:00

One of the things every tourist has to try in Brussels is the waffles. There are two major kinds of waffles available.

The above waffle is a Brussels Waffle. It is characterized by its lighter texture and rectangular shape. I had mine topped with some sort of cream (it was like whipped cream but a little denser before it started to melt), melted chocolate, and powdered sugar. It was excellent but a little messy to eat.

This is a Liège Waffle. It is denser and sweeter than the Brussels Waffle and also has a more irregular shape. I believe it had some sort of caramelized sugar on it. I had melted Belgian chocolate on this one. I also made sure to buy this waffle from a stand that used plastic holders.

If you like this post, I also posted on Austrian street foods back in December: Langos and Käsekrainer.

Abandoned Cities

2010-03-25T05:59:00.002-04:00

I found this cool blog post that shows pictures of abandoned cities around the world.

Abandoned Places In The World

March

2010-03-23T14:30:00.001-04:00

I finished all of my taxes a week ago. I'm going to get a $403 refund from the IRS but ended up owing Pennsylvania and my local township some money. $403 is enough for one of my student loan payments.

I bought tickets yesterday to go to the British Open at St Andrews. I'm going to go on Wednesday and Sunday. On Wednesday they are holding a contest for all of the former champions. There is a chance Jack Nicholas may relive his memorable 2005 farewell. I also registered for information on buying London 2012 olympic tickets.

This Friday I'm going to Belgium for the weekend.

Taxes

2010-03-11T10:22:00.002-05:00

So I've been busy this week doing my American taxes. I started out using Taxcut's website but ran into a problem entering my UK wages. After contacting their useless customer service, I switched to Taxact. I was able to finish my federal return last night with no problem. That was the easy part. Now I get to struggle with my Pennsylvania return. I found a link online that gives you a discount on Taxact so you can fill both federal and state for less than $12, which is a good bit less than what Taxcut and Turbotax want.

In other news, for some reason, the Mormons of Scotland keep trying to convert me. Out of all the people who walk past them, they always pick me to be the one they try to talk to. I guess its kind of a compliment that they want me to join their religion.

Letter from America

2010-03-04T19:00:00.002-05:00

Since I'm posting the Proclaimers, here is another of their songs. This one is pretty topical for this blog.

Letter from America - The Proclaimers - MyVideo

Good Bye East Stand

2010-03-02T18:41:00.003-05:00

Saturday was the last game for Hibernian's East Stand at Easter Road before it will be turn down and replaced with a new stand. Unfortunately, St Johnstone didn't follow the script. Instead of a glorious victory to see off the old stand, it was a pretty unenjoyable draw. Before the game, Hibs announced that demolition would start pretty promptly this week. The result was that people went crazy after the game trying to take everything with them. And by everything, I mean everything. I took one of the seats. The stand was littered with pieces of green plastic from seats that broke into pieces when people tried to snap them off. Other people were taking concession stand menus, seat number signs, etc... One guy even took the women's restroom's sign, which had to be the grossest place ever. Some people got away with the green doors to the turnstiles.

On a more personal note, I'm going to miss the old stand. While I haven't been a Hibs supporter for as long as some people, the stand did have an uniquely Hibernian character. There was something different about watching a game from there. It was a link to the club's past. It's sad to see it go.

Some sunshine on leith

Avatar in IMAX 3D

2010-02-19T14:34:00.001-05:00

Last weekend I saw Avatar at the IMAX theater at the Glasgow science center. Getting tickets was a pain in the ass as they were selling out over two weeks in advance. It was worth the wait to see it at the IMAX. The huge screen made it seem like you were actually on the planet at times. The 3D effort was cool but at the same time not distracting. I had heard bad things about the plot, but it was fine. A little predictable at times but good enough to keep you interested in the movie.

Missed Fastnacht Day

2010-02-18T06:59:00.002-05:00

Tuesday was Fastnacht Day and I completely missed it. For some reason I thought that fat Tuesday was the following week. I don't believe that I celebrated Fastnacht Day in university due to the difficulty of buying anything resembling a fastnacht, but I was planing on making a serious effort to at least find doughnuts that were similar. 363 days to go until the next one...

Update

2010-02-08T06:47:00.002-05:00

Since I'm staying home from work today because I came down with the flu yesterday, I figured I could post a brief update of what I've been up to.

I've been on two short business trips in the past two weeks. One to London and the other to Birmingham. I took the 1st class Virgin train to Birmingham. It was a pretty nice train ride with beautiful scenery. The sleeper train was still the more memorable trip though. The city of Birmingham is a different story. It was probable the crapest British city I've been to. I also got the feeling that it was the most American-like city I've been to, but I kept that to myself.

I stayed up and watched the Super Bowl on BBC One. It was really weird without the commercials.

Centralia's final days

2010-02-08T06:18:00.002-05:00

Here is an interesting story my local paper back in PA ran on Centralia. Centralia is a town in Pennsylvania with a coal vein on fire underneath it. The government has slowly moved people out over the decades turning it into a kind of ghost town.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2010/02/centralia_could_be_facing_its.html

Haggis

2010-01-31T16:27:00.011-05:00

On Friday night, I went to one of my coworker's flats for dinner. His girlfriend had made haggis. I've had haggis before but hers was better. As long as you don't think about what it is made out of, its actually pretty good.

I've also gotten a new cell phone. I went with the HTC Hero which runs Google's Android OS. I'll post more about it once I get to play around with it some more.

Jellyfish

2010-01-25T17:26:00.002-05:00

Today I ate some Jellyfish. That is all

Living in the Arctic Tundra - Redux

2010-01-10T16:25:00.001-05:00

Keeping a long story short, I'm back in Scotland after surviving the chaos of Newark Airport being shut down because some Chinese dude crept through security so he could kiss his girlfriend. I was sitting on the plane, had to disboard the plane, and then exit the airport. I sat on a black plastic tray in the baggage claim hall for hours waiting until I could go through security again.

I just happened to be living in Scotland during one of the coldest winters in generations. I used to joke that Hamilton was in the arctic tundra that is upstate New York. Scotland has been just as cold this week as it was in Hamilton. Someone needs to remind me that I need to apply to law schools in warm places.

ESPN's Images of the Decade

2010-01-02T20:11:00.002-05:00

Obligatory End of the Year Post

2009-12-31T15:58:00.000-05:00

It seems to be a requirement that if you have a blog that you have to do an end of the year post, so here is mine. A lot has happened in the last year. A lot has changed. Graduating from university in May was a big enough deal on its own, never mind everything thing else. It was a little more than 10 months ago that I started interviewing for my job. After hours of phone interviews and a trip to Scotland, I accepted the position in mid March. Then all the visa issues came up. I studied for and took the LSATs while all of that was going on. There were trips to Hilton Head and Orlando. I finally moved to Scotland in the first couple of days in September. I was homeless for a couple of days too. I've been to London twice, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, and drove through Bratislava quickly. In 2009, I got to meet a lot of interesting people and go to a lot of interesting places. It was an exciting year and hopefully 2010 is even better.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T12:28:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas to all my readers. I'm back in the US right now after flying home Tuesday. Its just as cold, if not a little colder, than Scotland. Looks like I didn't luck out.

The next morning after flying home, I had a dentist appointment to go to. Afterwards, I-83 was backed up and the on ramp was full so I had some time to kill. There is a brand new McDonalds nearby so I stopped there to eat and wait for the traffic to start to move again. If you ever need a reminder that you're in America, stop at a McDonalds during lunch hour...

Käsekrainer

2009-12-20T15:09:00.000-05:00

Another thing I had to eat in Austria was a Kasekrainer. It is a klobasa sausage that has some cheese in it. It is served in a baguette that is cut open at the one end. Some mustard is added as the sausage is slid in.

Langos

2009-12-20T14:55:00.000-05:00

In Vienna, I discovered Langos, which quickly became one of my favorite festival foods. A langos is a large, fairly flat piece of dough that is deep fried. It is then coated with a garlic butter spread. They're great and I had two of them from Vienna's Christmas Market.

The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York

2009-12-19T14:20:00.000-05:00

Here is a another Christmas classic:

Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone

2009-12-19T14:05:00.004-05:00

This has become one of my favorite Christmas songs, but the video is really strange/creepy. Why he is even trying to dance? Who decided that Santa was the way to go? The Santa is really creepy and not just in an awkward 80s kind of way. Check out the kids reaction at 2:50. Also, whats up with the weird female adult-sized elf that shows up at a couple of places? Is she wearing makeup or is she just that ugly?

Videos from Munich

2009-12-18T12:00:00.002-05:00

I took a couple short videos with my digital camera of the Glockenspiel at Munich's Neues Rathaus. Everyday at the top of a couple of select hours, the clock has some mechanical figures that put on a show.

Munich and Austria Trip

2009-12-18T11:54:00.002-05:00

I spend last Thursday through Monday in Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna. I was originally hoping to do a series of posts about this trip, but haven't got around to it and probably won't. However, it was a very nice trip that I enjoyed very much. For most of my meals, I went to the Christmas markets and got food from the stands, which was very tasty.

Animated All Star Band

2009-12-05T18:43:00.003-05:00

This video is pretty good. It's a charity video featuring the voices of all the original actors. Some of the characters are pretty obscure though, at least for someone who didn't grow up in England.

Homeless and frozen to death

2009-12-05T16:07:00.003-05:00

The past ten days or so have been pretty eventful. The lease on my flat ended last Friday so I had to move out. The problem was that I couldn't move into my new flat until Monday. The letting agent claimed I couldn't move in until they received a reference letter from my bank. I pushed them on this and they agreed that I could move in on Monday. Somehow this requirement disappeared with no explanation. I still don't know if they ever got the letter or not.

This left me basically homeless over the weekend. I had arrange for my one coworker to store my stuff and I was going to stay with another coworker. However, when he went back to his flat Friday night, he found out that he was being temporary evicted because they had to do emergency repairs to the shared wall between him and his neighbor. I became homeless twice in one day.

When I eventually moved into my new flat on Monday, I quickly founded out that night that the central gas heating did not work. The whole flat got very cold very quickly. Luckily I had purchased a new duvet early in the week. Without it, I would probably have froze to death in my sleep. By chance, I was heading to London for a conference for the next two nights so I only had to put up with it one night. When I got back Thursday night, it had been fixed.

Flat Search 2009

2009-11-17T17:05:00.002-05:00

The lease on my flat is ending soon so I've been busy trying to find another flat. There is not that great of a selection to choose from right now. Apparently people don't like to move before Christmas so places aren't opening up. After seeing four flats, I think I've found a place that will be satisfactory and agreed in principle today to take it. Now there is the paperwork to deal with and to actually move some point next week.

London Calling ...

2009-11-17T16:20:00.006-05:00

So I spent the 6th to the 8th down in London. Since I had never been to London before, the trip was spent doing different touristy stuff. I traveled south on the Caledonian Sleeper train. I caught the train at 0:06 in Stirling. Just going to the station in town was so much more convenient than having to go to the airport. Even though I paid for a bargain berth (was only £49) which is supposed to be shared with someone else, I lucked out and got the whole berth to myself, which worked out well. It was just small enough that I'm not sure how sharing with someone else would have worked out. I actually got a decent night's sleep too.

One of the highlights of the trip was my tour of Westminster Palace, home to Parliament. I had gotten Stirling's MP to arrange it for me (not letting on that I couldn't vote for her). One thing that surprised me was how small the House of Commons and House of Lords chambers were. For having 600+ members each, there wasn't a whole lot of room. I'm sure the House of Representatives in Washington is bigger even though it was less members. The whole building was really ornate.

Other things I went to see included the Tower of London and the Imperial War Museum. I also saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, which was kind of a waste of time. It was pretty long and drawn out with not a whole lot to see. The one night I went to Alexandra Palace to see the Bonfire Night fireworks. They were pretty good. Plus since I was on top of a hill, I could see all kinds of other fireworks going off in London. I spent a lot of time just wondering around and seeing different parts of the city.

My pictures from the trip have been uploaded.

British Pizza Hut

2009-10-30T19:00:00.002-04:00

Today at work we got Pizza Hut pizza for lunch. Even though I'm not particularly a fan of Pizza Hut in America, I was hoping that it would be decent American deep dish pizza. It was not. I wasn't involved in the ordering so its possible deep dish pizza was available, but the pizza we got was the pretty standard British style pizza. That said, it was pretty good pizza. Just not what I was hoping for when I heard Pizza Hut. Along with the pizza, we got a bunch of sides including wings. The cheese covered garlic bread was pretty good. We also got chips (french fries) which I thought was typical but still kind of strange given the restaurant.

Future Travel

2009-10-25T10:47:00.003-04:00

I've been busy lately planning some trips. In two weeks, I'm heading down to London for the weekend. I've never been to London before, not counting sitting at Heathrow for several hours, so I'm looking forward to going down. One of the major things I have planned is that I had my MP arrange a tour of Parliament for me. I'm taking the Caledonian Sleeper train down so that should be an experience.

In December, I'm going to Munich and Austria for five days. I'll fly into Munich and spend two nights there. I'll then take the train to Salzburg and spend a night there. The trip ends in Vienna. I decided to go in December so I can experience all of the Christmas stuff going on. Hopefully its not too cold.

Fountain Brewery - The Laughing Cavalier Laughs On

2009-10-25T09:54:00.003-04:00

Back in the fall of 2007, I was wondering through Edinburgh trying to find the Caledonian Brewery, where they brew Deuchars. I found it but it turned out they didn't offer tours so there really wasn't anything to see. The real highlight of the trip was stumbling across the old McEwan's brewery at Foutainbridge. The brewery was owned by Scottish and Newcastle but they closed it in 2005. It was probably one of my favorite sites in Edinburgh. Ironically, one of the major reasons why it closed was due to high water prices. If only they held out a little longer ...

The site was situated to be torn down for redevelopment into condos and such. The part of the site with smaller buildings was torn down prior to me finding it the first time. I heard that the rest was leveled by late 2008. So you can imagine my surprise when I randomly came across it again a few weeks ago. Other than replacing the chain link fence with a more formidable solid blue fence, it looks like not much has happened in the past two years.

I took a couple of pictures but they're hard to make out since it was pitch black at night. I've matched them up with ones from 2007. See them after the jump. I plan on going back during the day and will hopefully get some better pictures.

Oak Smoked Cheddar

2009-10-17T12:59:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday I bought some oak smoked cheddar cheese from the Stirling Farmer's Market. Its from the Arran Island, which is a small island off the western coast of Scotland. However, when I decided to have some of the cheese a couple days later, I ran into a problem.

The cheese came coated in a thick red wax. I've seen cheese in wax before, but never had to figure out how to get it out before. I decided to just cut the wheel and was able to peel off the wax from the wedge I cut.

The end result was some very tasty cheddar. There was just the right amount of oak smoke taste to the cheese. I've been enjoying it very much this week. Unfortunately, the Stirling Farmer's Market is only held once a month so I'll have to wait another three week to be able to try some more of their cheeses.

New Pictures Uploaded

2009-10-17T12:04:00.002-04:00

I've uploaded some pictures from the past couple of weeks. You can find them here.

Got my British Driver's Licence

2009-10-16T13:15:00.000-04:00

My British provisional driving licence came the other day. According to the codes on the licence, I can now drive agricultural tractors, "mowing machines or vehicles controlled by someone on foot", and mopeds. You need a licence to be able to mow your grass, particularly with a riding lawn mower? Why are they allowing anyone who wants a car licence to be able to drive tractors on the road? The licence itself looks like I made it in five minutes in photoshop. It doesn't even specifically say where its from. I understand that its based on the EU standard design, but you would think the country name should be somewhere. If you were to show it to someone in America, they would probably think it was a fake.

Deep Fried Pizza

2009-10-04T12:53:00.002-04:00

After the Hibs game yesterday, I headed down to Franco's on Summerhall Place to try a deep fried pizza. I used to live across the street from Franco's and had first seen a deep fried pizza there so I figured it was the place to try one. A deep fired pizza is simply the cheapest deep dish frozen pizza thrown into a deep fryer. Do not believe the misinformation that other websites are spreading, it is not battered. It is properly served with chips and salt & sauce, never with vinegar. I was surprised how good the result was. Not quite as good as a properly done deep fried Mars bar, but still quite tasty.Its not something to eat everyday, but I'll be ordering another soon. Credit to the guy I stole the picture from.

Stirling Bridge and the Wallace Monument

2009-10-01T14:39:00.001-04:00

Here is a picture I took of Stirling Bridge and the Wallace Monument. I think it turned out pretty well.

Falkirk Wheel and Sewage Treatment

2009-10-01T14:18:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday I took a short trip to the Falkirk Wheel. The Falkirk Wheel is basically a large boat lift that lifts boats from one canal up so they can travel on the other canal. Its actually pretty cool to see the thing in operation. It was a beautiful day so I had this nice walk along the canal to get to the Wheel. I was surprised that there was more to do at the Wheel than just watching it spin up and down. While walking around, I found Santa Claus's grotto. Hugh Hefner may have his grotto in LA, but Santa chose to have his in the middle of nowhere outside Falkirk, Scotland.

Today I visited water and sewage treatment plants for work. It was actually a pretty enjoyable experience. I didn't mind the smell but one girl used her scarf to try to filter out the smell.

Runnin' with lemurs/ no time for beaver?

2009-09-25T19:35:00.001-04:00

Heard this song tonight. I thought the chorus went "runnin' with lemurs/ no time for beaver". It turned out that its not, but a song about lemurs would be awesome.

Jamie T - Sticks & Stones

Opening a Bank Account

2009-09-25T15:16:00.002-04:00

First, I want to say hello to the couple people in Japan and Brazil who read this blog.

Before I came over, I had read online that some people have problems opening bank accounts since they do not have proof of address or for other reasons. Since I had no problem opening my account, I figured I'd post my experience here.

I decided to go with Lloyds because the vantage feature on their current accounts seemed to offer the best rates. The local branch is also on my way to work and is open Saturdays. I walked and told the guy at the "help desk" that I wanted to open a current account. He asked to see some ID and I showed him my passport. He handed me off to a person in the back. She made a copy of my passport photo page and also my visa. Nothing about proof of address. We then went though the standard questions, like name, address, birthday, employment status & length of employment (started the following day in my case), length living at the address (1 day), net monthly income, etc... I ended up opening a silver current account, which has a small monthly fee. I asked about the free account, but she kept trying to up sell me. The account does have some additional features that are kind of useful, like mobile phone and travel insurance, but I don't think I'll get my money's worth out of the fees I would pay over the course of the year. I'll probably downgrade after the introductory fee period ends. I also was given a small overdraft which surprised me. Got my debt card in the mail like 2 days later, followed by my pin and cheque book.

So in summary, the process was really easy. Looking back, I'm not sure why I was concerned in the first place.

Officially "In the System"

2009-09-25T14:11:00.003-04:00

Over the past three weeks, I have been going around and doing things that government conspiracists would consider being put into "the system". I guess that I won't be able to live like an illegal immigrant now. I've registered with a doctor, opened a bank account with Lloyds TSB Scotland, received a national insurance number, and have a British American Express card on the way. I also applied for a European Health Insurance Card. All I needed now is to get a British driver's license and I'll be set.

Today was payday so I'm now officially a British taxpayer, not that that is necessarily a good thing. For some reason, I'm on tax code BR and paying emergency tax. This means I'm did not get my tax free allowance and all of my income for the month was subject to taxation. I'll get the extra amount back but its just a pain, especially since my first paycheck was smaller because I didn't start working until the second week. The plus side is that I can now use all those Revolutionary War slogans to complain about being taxed without representation in Parliament. I'll have to get some Patrick Henry and Sam Adams pins for my backpack, but only if I can get them without paying VAT.

View from my office

2009-09-16T17:26:00.004-04:00

My office has this great view of the Ochil Hills. Here is a picture I found taken from the roof of the high school next door. This picture really doesn't do it justice.

I'm Back

2009-09-16T17:21:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, but the good news is that this post is this blog's first from Scotland. My visa finally arrived at the end of August. I immediately booked a flight from Newark to Edinburgh for the night of September 1. I crammed all of my stuff into Space Bags and then into a suitcase and a large wheeled duffel bag. The duffel bag was a good choice since its starting weight was much less than the suitcase. This goes a long way in making sure that you stay under the 50 lb per bag limit.

I arrived in Edinburgh on the morning of September 2. Continental's direct flights between Newark and Scotland are a good product, especially when you get an exit row seat with an empty seat next to you. The food on the flight is pretty good and the VOD is good enough. After collecting my bags in EDI, I had the fun of maneuvering my two bags through the airport to the ATM right on the other side of customs, then to the kiosk to buy an airport bus ticket, and finally making the turn in the railings for the bus queue line. This is where the shortcoming of the duffel bag became clear. It was a lot harder to keep the bag stable while trying to do anything other than move straight.

Once I was at Waverly Station, I had to get to one of the side platforms for my train to Stirling. Rather than go up the stairs, I tried to take the elevator. The door on the thing won't close. I had to have been in it for close to three minutes before it shut. At least after it started to move, I had a laugh about how the elevators here talk. A 50 minute train ride later and I was in Stirling ...

Favorite Scottish TV Commercials

2009-08-16T19:58:00.004-04:00

Since this blog has been lacking in Scottish content, here are my two favorite Scottish TV advertisements.

Tell Me Moses

2009-08-13T17:02:00.000-04:00

The previously mentioned Stone Roses tribute band, The Complete Stone Roses, recently released an original song of their own. Entitled "Tell Me Moses", the lyrics of the song are made up of the titles of Stone Roses tracks. Kind of gimmicky, but its pretty good for what it is.

The song was sent out to everyone on their mailing list for free but you can download the song here.

Twenty Years of the Stone Roses

2009-08-07T00:13:00.004-04:00

2009 marks the twentieth anniversary of the release of the Stone Roses's self-title debut album. For those of you who are not familiar with the Stone Roses, simply put, they are the greatest band of all time. In 2006, NME Magazine (its kind of like the British Rolling Stone) name their debut album "the best British album of all time." You can listen to most of their stuff here. As part of the 20th anniversary, they are release a couple different versions of the album, including an absurd $120 collection of CDs, vinyl LPs, John Squire's artwork, and a book.

There's a tribute group known as the Complete Stone Roses. They're playing a gig in Edinburgh on October 3rd that I'm looking forward to going to.

EDIT: I found these cool T-Shirts but I don't know where you can buy them.

Any Day Now ...

2009-08-06T22:37:00.002-04:00

Any day now, any day. Just waiting...

In other news, I got an invite for Google Voice the other night. I haven't played with it a whole lot, but it looks pretty interesting. As you are signing up, you get to search for different numbers that are available. You can search by letters too if you're looking to get a number that represents part of a name or word. After you pick a number, you then link your cell phone, home phone, etc... The major feature of Google Voice is that your new phone number will ring all of your numbers when someone calls it. It also serves as a voice mail service. You can listen to your messages from any computer, and Google will also provide a transcript of the messages. You can also make free calls and send free text messages.

Tomorrow night I'm probably going to go to the fair being held near my house. It's pretty small but I used to help out there when I was younger. My dad and I built the ring toss game. My eagle project was at the fire company that hosts the fair so I'll probably stop by to see how my project is holding up.

Want to see what 400 trillion dollars looks like?

2009-08-01T16:59:00.001-04:00

Yes, this is real money. Because of rapid inflation, Zimbabwe had to issue banknotes with obscene numbers of zeros. The largest were these 100 trillion dollar notes. Shortly after beginning to print these notes, even 100 trillion dollars wasn't enough. You'd be lucky to get a egg for one of these. The only thing that they're good for is that I can now claim that I'm a multi-trillionaire. I'm probably going to be the only multi-trillionaire in Stirling.

In other news ...

2009-08-01T16:32:00.000-04:00

Pennsylvania ('s budget) is a month late. Maybe Eddie Rendell should take her for a pregnancy test. Oh wait, there's no money to pay for it. Seriously though, that situation is pretty ridiculous. The fact that they've been stuck over the same issues for months and made little to no progress makes it all the worst. With major employers threatening to leave the state, they shouldn't even be considering raising taxes. You can raise taxes all you want, but if no one has a job, no one is going to be paying them no matter what level you set.

Now that I'm closer to leaving, posts should start to come more frequently. This past week was spent gathering what I want to take with me and getting rid of stuff that I don't want anymore. I went through my closet and found a bunch of old T-shirts that are too large. I pulled them out and will donate them to the Salvation Army. This morning I went bought a new suit and a couple of neckties.

I've been spending sometime researching bank accounts. I had heard that opening a bank account can be a problem since you have no proof of address. Apparently, there are a couple of banks, like Barclays and Lloyds, that don't require you to prove your UK address. They are willing to accept proof of your old address in America. That's good news and its one less thing to worry about. I've also heard recently that most landlords are more flexible for people just arriving with no history of credit in the UK.

McDonald's follow up

2009-07-15T23:44:00.000-04:00

As a follow up to the previous post, I'd like to share what I call the trailer park combo. It consists of

Double Hamburger
Small French Fries
Large Soda

Right now the cost of this meal is $3 since all sodas are currently $1. Compare this to the quarter pounder value meal which is easily $2.50 more, almost twice as much, and only comes with a medium soda.

I also found this interesting McDonald's blog. The guy happens to be from Upstate New York

McChronicles

Where did the menu go?

2009-07-15T19:42:00.003-04:00

I've recently noted a worrying trend, the lack of menus in fast food restaurants. I first saw this in a McDonalds on the high street in Kirkcaldy, Scotland (the one across the street from the house that Adam Smith was born in). The place had menu boards above the counter, but they only had the promos they were running and the combos. They did not have the individual items you could order. Even worse, I was in a Burger King that was serving breakfast but only had lunch menus up. I had to order by guessing what they would have based on a vague recollection of what an American Burger King would serve. They also didn't have trash cans but that's another story.

At first, I thought that it must be a UK thing, but I was at a McDonalds today in Pennsylvania and they also had this menu boards that really don't tell you anything. It didn't even have the dollar menu. How do they expect you to know what they have and how much it costs? Its a heck of a thing if you wanted to order something other than a hamburger combo. I can't image how this helps their business. What's the point of selling items if you don't let people know that you're selling them?

As a side note, there's been a gap between my posts since a bunch of stuff came up that complicated my visa. This move looks like it going to be a pretty frantic one.

Silhouette

2009-06-30T14:59:00.001-04:00

When I was in Florida the other week, my brother and I had a silhouette done of the two of us. It was done complety freehand with just a pair of scissors. I thought that it turned out pretty well, at least for me. Not sure about how my brother looks.

I'm in the front and my brother is in the back