London

All work and no (well, little) play pretty much sums up my trip to London. I wish I could send across the latest pictures of my tourist misadventures but barring an evening trip to the bar for a beer and some eats with colleagues after a long day at work, I'm here on a decidedly work-centered mission. In fact, I don't even have a camera at my disposal to take pictures with - not even my phone!

First, make no mistake that of all the cities in the world that I've been to, it should be no surprise that there is a distinct level of familiarity of being in the U.S.. A colleague joked how 'American' of it was of me to feel that London felt like another part of the U.S. -- so U.S.-centric! But come on, as if the England has no history of hegemony! For some, even visiting California inspires pulling out a passport . You get the point, being here is far from exotic.

Or maybe the above is just some long justification I'm making for myself given I'm not able to get out and enjoy the city as much : )

By way of summary, I arrived in the city after a nightmarish day of travel. The only good news was that the airlines did not lose my luggage. I suppose we could chalk it all up to the ash clouds -- seems to be the topic of choice around here next to London's lack of government just a few days ago and Gordon Brown's resignation.

To stay up and quickly get acclimated to the time change, I met up with my friend and colleague, Andrew, for dinner Monday evening and ate at a place called Henry's Bar here in Mayfair where I'm staying. Same deal on Tuesday and then last night my entire team had dinner and drinks. 

Ok, I'm running off - time for another day at the office...