29 September 2010 - 20:45And We’re Back…

First off, I’d like to extend my gratitude to anyone who has ordered anything from me over the last week. I will be working furiously to ship it all out tomorrow. I also would like to offer my apology for anyone who was not helped by my absence. It wasn’t easy being away for this long during a busy time.

So to make things brief, I will sum up my trip as concisely as possible.

Day of arrival. Wake up feeling OK for having slept on a plane. A nice walk in the British countryside while the sun almost came out. Then beers, then out for my brother’s “stag” curry.

A few hours before the “death blow” was delivered. I had the worst hangover in recent memory. In addition to jetlag, there were way too many drinks, including Ouzo, and Scotch Whiskey. I was useless until 3 pm the following day. Yes, I should know better.

Missed going to the Natural History Museum with Mandy and Keiran, which was followed by a visit to the Lady Diana Memorial Playground. Later I found out that I was to be one of the best men at the wedding, and made it to London amidst terrible traffic for the rehearsal. We were late, and the priest was salty. Then there was some last minute wedding stuff that needed to get done.

We got to the wedding on time. The bride did not. She got there 30 minutes late (the car that was supposed to bring her never showed up). It was a nice ceremony in a beautiful English church, and then we went to one of Guy Ritchie’s pubs (conveniently located 50 feet from the church) – The Punch Bowl – for drinks. Then dinner, dancing and more drinks at a hotel nearby.

Big BBQ at my mom’s house. The weather was crap. My brother was late. Food was AWESOME

A trip to Legoland in Windsor. The weather was crap again.

The highlight was a Lego train derailment in the Lego British countryside.

And Darth Vader.

I visited a tiny bike shop on Tuesday in Peaslake, a place that is supposed to have some very good mountain biking nearby. They sold Santa Cruz, but I didn’t see much there. The shop is about the size of my bedroom, which is not big, but there was some serious hardware laying about. It was the real deal, and someplace I’d like to check out when I have more time for the really fun stuff.

Then it was 18 hours of traveling to get home, only to get plugged back into life the hard way. As I write this, I will have been awake for almost 24 hours. As you read this, I will probably be at the shop furiously shipping orders as fast as I can.

Anyone care to guess how many voicemails I have? If you guess correctly, I’ll send you a t-shirt. You have until 8pm EST Thursday the 30th.