I’m not really sure why, but I was browsing the UC admissions website, and UCR was still open for admission for the winter 2009 quarter, so I figured, what the hell.

I’d still be a philosophy major, which probably isn’t the best choice, but at least they offer a “law and society” major path for philosophy, which may be applicable elsewhere.

At the same time, I enrolled in two classes at moorpark college, Introduction to Criminal Justice (its always interested me, and I’ve never taken it) and Sociological Analysis (hey, I already analyze people all the time, may as well actually take a class.)

Anyway, we’ll see what happens.

After dinner that evening we drove around the area which generally confirmed my early statement about the U.K. being “enchanted.” Simply beautiful country, and even in a tiny area like this, there’s an amazing local church.

Anyway, today I took the train into Liverpool, saw the two cathedrals, then went down to the albert dock to see the beatles museum, the maritime museum, and the international slavery museum. Then I took a quick stop on the train back to see the Lady Lever Art Gallery (on recommendation from paul.)

Tomorrow its off to Alton Towers for a day of “relaxing” if I can call it that, then thursday I head into Manchester.

Friday is undecided, but saturday is a day-trip to Dublin, Ireland… St. James Gate (makers of Guiness) factory tour here I come!

Title says it all, simply breathtaking!!!

I’m uploading some pictures to flickr as I type this (click the “flickr” link in the top menubar to view my photos.)

Mostly panorama’s I shot today at the tower bridge, and the tower of london. I’ve got some regular still shots too, they’ll be up later as well as a couple HDR’s if they turn out ok.

Mind the ghosting in the panorama’s, it seems impossible to get a clear shot without somebody walking in front of my lens, let alone 4,5,7,10,+ shots to stitch together to make a nice panorama.

London is totally enchanted, I feel as though I should take a picture with every step.

my u.k. Number:
07534493436

The flights were long and boring, but business class is truly another world, totally plush.

So far the Croydon area is nice, a pleasant mix of old and new, and as always the public transport is superb.

I realized that my choice of purchasing the £50 oyster card was a bit of a mistake as the national rail lines are a better option, so tomorrow its off to purchase a sim card for my phone, a 7-day travel card, and then into central london to be an annoying tourist.

I’ll hopefully start taking pictures tomorrow and uploading them to flickr.

cheers!

So after perhaps the worst possible news regarding my trip to England (there’s no way whatsoever that I’ll make it to continental Europe now), I have two options:

1) try to fend for myself in England for food, lodging, etc. for 14 days (5 days are covered by the c.s. lewis oxbridge 2008 conference) on approximately $600 USD / £300 GBP

2) not go entirely, even though the conference fees ($2500) the airfare ($225 + 80,000 frequent flyer miles) and the rail transport fees (approximately $500) have already been paid.

Any thoughts? Is it possible to survive in England, in the summer for £20 per day?

And of course, if it is possible to physically survive on £20 per day (food and lodging) does that leave anything at all for entertainment or sightseeing / tourism?

Honestly though, I need to stop getting my hopes up (ever) because seriously, the whole “Mallon luck” joke that my dad always made is true…

“If we didn’t have bad luck, we wouldn’t have any.”

Sorry “symbian guru” voicemail is dead.

Until mobile service providers offer voice-to-text services included in the standard monthly fee, then voicemail is dead.

Right now there are really only two competing services, spinvox, and callwave, and neither one of them will break into the mainstream market with their current business models in time to stop the demise of voicemail in general.

Spinvox is ridiculously overpriced for anyone who’s native currency isn’t GBP, and even if it is, its still questionable if its truly affordable for the paltry number of message conversions allowed per month, and the whole concept of starting the next months service early if you go over the allotment, means that someone who receives 100 message a month, and pays for the 50 message package (as there’s no 100 message package) will effectively be paying for two years of service to cover one, or for those of us in the USA, $475 a year on top of the regular monthly fee we already pay to our mobile provider.

Callwave isn’t much better, costing $180 a year for 40 messages per month, $300 for 80 messages per month, and $600 for 200 messages per month.

At these rates, when people already pay $10-$20 per month for unlimited sms, mms and data, both services are completely out of the pricing of the casual cell phone user.

Of course, lets not forget that Grandcentral may include voicemail transcription services in the future, and its free of charge.

Either offer the service for free, or roll it into something like unlimited service for $100 / £50 per year, then maybe you’ll stand a chance at breaking into the mainstream market.

Airfare is covered, and room and board is partly covered.

Now I just need to find the cash to pay for food, drink, and entertainment.

Donations greatly appreciated.