alexist

Our living room is a disaster area. I'm currently at the stage where I'm half-panicking and wondering how we're going to get it all packed. Have we saved every piece of papert we've ever received? I'm thinking yes.

OTOH, it's a good thing we did, because I need at least 10 and preferably 20 pieces of evidence from 5 different sources to show that Neil and I have been maintaining a joint household for the past 2 years. All those old bills will come in handy. I'm sure it will be all right; my fiancée visa and FLR appointments were fine, and I suppose we don't arouse suspicion. We look like people who would get married to each other, and I suspect that Americans aren't a big source of visa scams.

So the boxes aren't self sealing. What I didn't notice is that half the things in the box of boxes aren't actually boxes--they're lids! I realised this after I got through 10 boxes, saw how many things were left, and thought "Didn't Neil say this was a box of 20?" I looked at 2 of the bundles, saw they were sheets of cardboard, then after 2 seconds of playing with them realised they were meant to be folded into box tops.

I am very, very dumb.

However, the following cute post on baaaaabyanimals made me smile:
http://community.livejournal.com/baaaaabyanimals/2673758.html

I was thinking of getting a subscription to The New Yorker to save myself (or Neil, in a few months) the trouble of going to get it every week. Comag (who distribute international magazines in the UK) offer it. I checked the prices just now. It's £4.79 per single issue, or £110 for 6 months. Newsstand price (also from Comag) is £3.95, which works out to £94.80 for 24 issues (they publish 48 issues per year). That is the first time I have ever seen a subscription price be higher than the cover price. Yes, I realise there's postage and everything, and it is an import so I wasn't expecting much of a discount--but I've never before seen it be higher! That's a bit short-sighted; it discourages people from paying a large sum up front and runs the risk of them missing issues (and hence depriving the distributor of revenue).

Don't know the details, just saw it in my cousin's AIM profile :-( Poor dog. I knew he was going, of course, and I was surprised he lasted as long as he did since they thought he'd have to be put down 2 months ago, but still.

I'm really unhappy that I won't get to see Abby again this year--there's a good chance she might not be there when I can travel again :-(

After I saw "product return pending" for a week, I got a bit suspicious.

After lengthy calls to both AppleCare and the Apple Store at Brent Cross, it emerged that my laptop is still being repaired. Apparently, it was on hold for several days due to an unavailable part. No explanation as to why the page I get says "product return pending", while the status available to the techs has it on repair.

With luck, I should get it back this week. Here's hoping :(

When I was at the store that stocks American goodies, I spotted a bottle of Habanero Tabasco. I got it for Neil. I figure that anyone who complains about his vindaloo being "too mild" should enjoy it. :-)

(What I'd like is Garlic Tabasco, which is not too hot and has lots of garlic--perfect for me! But I've never seen it here.)