Update

So I lied about posting. Those of you who know me shouldn't be surprised. Just to quickly catch you up: Lori and I left London and headed for Greece on April 12th, where we spent 4 awesome days in the sun (and 1 in the wind). Athens was forgettable, but Santorini was hands down one of the best places we've been. We returned to London on the 16th, flew back to the states on the 17th, and then left DC for Denver in a fully loaded automobile on the 20th. After stops in Chicago and Lincoln (thanks Sarah and Brett and Katie for putting us up!) we arrived in Denver and hit the ground running to make the home livable after being away for over 2 years (and to add a woman's touch). I was back at work in Denver on the 27th, and on the 1st I got a call asking me to return to London.

Wait, what?

Yeah, after only 20 days of being gone, 14 of which were vacation, I was asked to return to the job I was still bitter about. Needless to say I was irked, but my personal opinion mattered not in the discussion. The fact that I was sitting on my ass waiting for paperwork to go through before starting the new job made for the perfect excuse for my old managers to bring me back. So on May 4, one week after returning to normal Denver life, I boarded a flight to England.

Which is where I sit now, 60 miles west of London, waiting for some guidance on what exactly they want me to do. The original task I was brought out for is essentially done, having been mostly finished by someone else before I even got here. However, my return flight isn't until next Friday, so I'm hoping I can leave a bit early rather than waste more time and money. If I have to sit on my ass not being productive, I'd much rather do it in Denver, not 4700 miles from home.

Day 368

So I guess this is it. Tomorrow we get on a plane to Greece and by this time next week I will be repatriated. It's time for you and I to have a moment. Before you read on, I have picked out some music to help set the ambiance. Go ahead, click the link. Put on some head phones cause you don't want to be distracted. And make sure it's raining, and that you're standing in it, preferably surrounded by a giant crowd. Now we're ready to say goodbye.

I remember my first day here. The first morning, while suffering from a mild strain of Ebola virus that had me questioning if I should be writing my last will and testament on the in-room dining menu, I attempted to board a U3 bus using a 20 pound note and had to be bailed out by a friendly local. Upon arriving in this mystical place named "Uxbridge" I spent 45 minutes searching for a 9 story glass building that even the bobbies couldn't find. I finally got to the office and waited an hour for my manager to come grab me from reception while all these people with funny accents buzzed around me. Eventually, I was shown to my desk and handed a stack of documents to read. Before I made it through the change history page I was off to lunch at an authentic English pub where you order by pointing at the dish that looks the least scary. After lunch, it took no time at all before I was doing touch and gos at my desk and had to call it a day at 3 pm. Little did I know this was par for the course here in England.

Fast forward a year, and aside from the naps at my desk after lunch, I barely even recognize that scared little girl who landed at Heathrow that night. I've met a lot of incredible people, especially during the last 6 months, so leaving is bitter-sweet. On the one hand, I can't wait to get back to Denver after being away from my friends and family for 2 and half years (1 year here and another year and half in DC). But at the same time, aside from the insane work hours and missing home, I quite liked it here and I'm gonna miss a lot of folks. I can't possibly highlight all the good times, but I suppose I can pick a few:

• Tuesday night football, including a spectacular header that would have made Sir Alex Ferguson crap his depends (only made possible by an even more incredible throw in).
  
• Seeing places I would have otherwise never visited: Scotland, Spain, and Egypt.
  
• Working with a bunch of smart engineers that made me want to not say dumb things.
  
• Tea with milk. Big fan.
  

Of course, there were things I did not like. Stores closing at 7 pm is annoying. Not having a car and being a slave to unpredictable buses and tubes is annoying. Seeing 30 Americans in the office at 9pm with no Brits in sight is annoying. Seeing people litter with complete disregard for their own city is annoying. And let's get real: England is not exactly known for its cuisine. But mostly, pouring your heart and soul into a program that consistently lets you down is incredibly disheartening. I don't want to focus on work, because really I don't have to give a crap anymore, but I do wish everyone the best of luck.

Now to address the elephant in the room: the blog. I'd like to carry on, but I also have to be honest with myself: I have attempted at least twice in the past to maintain one and it inevitably falls to shit within a couple months. However, I will make you all a promise: I'll at least post when we get back from Greece and I am safely within the confines of a Chipotle. Past that, I advise adding me to your favorite RSS reader (might I recommend Google Reader) to keep you informed of updates, which may or may not come.

So that's it. After 328 Subways sandwiches, 234 pints of beer, 3256 hours of work, 17 18 misuses of the word "pants", and 9 bad teeth jokes in the presence of a Brit, it's time to say farewell. Thank you all for reading. I hope you laughed, I hope you cried, but most importantly, I hope you wet your pants. To all the people I abandoned when I came here, I hope you'll welcome me back, preferably with a 80s style chest bump. And to all the people I am abandoning now, I hope we meet again.

Cheers.

Mike

Last Day

I'll have a more appropriate Springer-style final thoughts later, but today is my last day of work in ye old United Kingdom. How appropriate that it's a bank holiday and there were will be about 7 people in the office. Of course I don't plan to be uber productive, mostly taking care of some documentation and administrative tasks.

But like I said, no need to get all sentimental now...I'll post some deeper thoughts on my time here in England before I leave.

Update

So I have some pretty big news, and I wasn't sure the best way to let everyone know. Earlier this week I was offered a new job! Nothing too crazy...it's with my company on a new program. Though there is a twist: it's in Antarctica. Rayteon Polar Services has a need for some people to do maintenance type work around their facilities, and I think I'm a good fit. It'll definitely be a change but I'm up for a challenge.

Now the bad news: I leave this weekend. I know it's crazy soon but their need is immediate, so I'm catching a flight Saturday morning to Kazakhstan. From there I switch to a US Air Force C-130 cargo plane to Christchurch, New Zealand where I'll have a quick layover and then on to McMurdo Station.

I'm sure it'll take me awhile to get settled in, but in the blogging spirit I have set up a new site for you all to follow. Though, I'm not 100% sure they have internet there. Either way, follow all the freezing fun here. See you in the Fall!

Booooooo

So I was supposed to be headed for Rome today. But instead, my passport is still in the hands of the...to be honest, I don't know who...but someone took it to stamp my new Visa in it, and they haven't returned it. It's been 2 weeks, and I was told it took...2 weeks. This is very lame.

Hopefully next weekend will work out. If not, I am out of weekends to go. And this is the one place I absolutely wanted to visit during my 12 months here.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Tonight we had a fund raising pub quiz event after work. I originally wasn't gonna go, but it's been advertised around the whole office for weeks and most of the people I knew were going, so I decided to head over. After all, I had bought a few raffle tickets and I thought I'd skip the quiz part and just try to won free stuff.

It turns out, they started late so I ended up on a team with some co-workers. I was worried it'd be all British trivia, but luckily we had 3 Brits, and they also asked a fair amount of US-esque questions (Mount Rushmore, history, etc). And at one point, they had the pot of gold making the rounds, The idea is you buy as many tickets as you want for £1 and all the money goes into a jar. The winner gets half. Not a bad little investment, so I bought 2 tickets.

And wouldn't you know it, I won. My other raffle tickets were bunk, but who cares! I wasn't even gonna go to this thing, and we ended up taking 3rd (out of about 12 teams) and I won some cash.

The moral of the story: skip work and drink beer.

You know you've lived in London too long...

...when you're wondering on a Friday night at 8pm if anything is still open.