c. scott andreas

I’ve spent a day or so settling into my new home at Canterbury - figured it’s time for an update.

I’m massively jet lagged, decaffinated, and hungry.  That aside, I’m extremely happy.

The flight:

I stepped off Virgin Atlantic #40 an hour early yesterday morning at 7 am after not sleeping for two days. I’ve enjoyed flights before (Southwest!), but I have never been happy while on an aircraft. Virgin was downright fantastic. Somewhere between the three-course meal (including a little vino gratis) and watching Arrested Development while zipping over the Atlantic at 600+ mph, I caught myself thinking “I’m really glad that I’m here right now.” As we landed, the flight attendents switched on a “welcome to London” video with some great visuals and spicy Britpop. It left me feeling like I was going to walk right into an Austin Powers montage after stepping off the plane.

Granted, that thought passed the moment I hit the queue at Customs, though that was easy as well.

So, props to Virgin. Give them all your money.

From London to Canterbury

The bus trip cost £35. After exchanging some of my travellers cheques and paying the fee, it came out to about $76. For a fifty-mile trip on a minibus. Damn. Good ride, though.

My New Home

I’m paying through the nose for this, too, but I love it. My building is almost new and ridiculously good looking. It’s like IKEA threw up in here. Never seen university-owned accomodation this nice. I have my a bathroom to myself, ample living space, and a giant kitchen that I share with three guys in my cooridor.

Cool thing: the lights in the hallway are triggered by motion sensors. Why waste?

The Network

Yeah, I’m a geek. Plugged in the PowerBook (w/ the World Travel kit) and had no problems. Plugged in the network and registered my MAC address - very quick, very painless. And boy is this a zippy link. Skype is outstanding, I can access SSH/SFTP, and just about anything else I’d like.

The iPhone

Here’s a little tidbit that flew up my screen earlier:

Resetting baseband
Unlocking…
Testing unlock status…
==> Unlocked!
Restarting Commcenter
Completed.
Enjoy!

It wasn’t easy, and it sure wasn’t pretty either, but it works. My neighbor Aaron was kind enough to lend me his Virgin SIM. I popped it in, made a call, and jumped a little bit. Can’t wait to get this guy on a network.

Settling In

I have no groceries. There’s a convenience store nearby, but the prices are outrageous. Tomorrow, I’ll be heading down to ASDA (owned by Wal-Mart, bleah) or Tesco (far away) to get what I need.

Speaking of which, I haven’t had coffee for two days. Instead, I’ve been trying out this low-grade headache that Tylenol can’t touch. I think I preferred the coffee.

That’s all for now. More self-indulgent rambling soon.