can anyone recommend a good internet service that preferably doesn’t require additional services such as cable tv, phone service etc? We intend to use our mobiles for our main phone line in the house and don’t feel the need to purchase cable tv in the new house. However we do NEED internet access (and not dialup!) so any suggestions on who to use (or avoid?) (There is a cable hookup in the house already)

I think we’ve just purchased a house! Kristen saw a really nice house yesterday and I went back with her last night to look at it and it really was as good as she was raving about. We put an offer in that was accepted an hour or so ago and Monday we go back to the realtor for yet more paperwork. We also need to organise the inspection, title people, mortgage people and bank people and all that stuff (and find a ride on lawnmower) so its going to be a very busy week next week.
One of the best things about the house is that Kristen and I have agreed on the choice of houses all along – we’ve not had the stress of one of us liking one house and the other hating it – just shows how much alike we are and how perfect we are for each other….now onto some less sappy stuff 🙂

I’m actually surprised I’ve managed to blog this before Kristen has, but she has got more excitement lined up as she is now looking for a car!

I found out today that the cost of health insurance for Kristen and me per month is $300. Unfortunately we hadn’t budgeted for that when we were doing our budget recently. If it costs that much for insurance I’d hate to get a bill without insurance.

Last night was (almost) the quietest Guy Fawkes night I’ve ever had as there wasn’t a firework to be heard, not even a sparkler sizzling. I think I wouldn’t have missed it until someone mentioned the date and I read some blogs about their firework plans.
I say it was almost the quietest night as at about 10.30 loads of teenagers across the road started to make a racket about something – whether a party they were having was finished (unlikely) or just starting (probable) I’m not sure but this was the same house that got toilet papered on Friday night. (The first time I’d seen a house get toilet papered)

Happy Independence Day*

This is just one of the hundred photo’s that I took at Dublin’s Independence Day parade. We got to our spot about 45 minutes before the parade started and I amused myself by taking various candid pictures of the crowd. Most people were dressed in red white and blue and the kids were very cute. Photo’s have been uploaded to my photo gallery and some will also be uploaded to flickr at a later date. I will be also adding some more photos in the next couple of days as I will be taking some more photos tonight at the dublin fireworks and concert (where Huey Lewis and the News is headlining)
I’ve deliberately left the photo narrow and long to emphasis just how “tall” this guy was.
*For the non-americans reading this, Happy 4th July. It was a bit weird going to this parade, wearing my American Flag trousers and USA shirt being a Brit, but I really enjoyed it and there was a strong sense of American Pride which was nice to see. The respect that everyone gave to the veterans as they paraded past was also good to see.

Last night I saw my first ever real Lightning bug/Firefly. Although I had seen them in the movies I had never seen one in real life. I didn’t try to catch them in a glass jar but Kristen did try to catch one in her hand but it rose up over the screened in porch much to her annoyance. There is quite a good close up of them on Flickr

or at least not if you want it quickly. Only after I started the transfer off from the UK did I find out that it was going to take 7-10 working days for the money to arrive in my US paypal account. Then in order to transfer the money into the US bank account it is going to take another 3-4 working days. I’m sure they don’t publicise the fact that it could take 2 weeks for money to get transferred when you sign up for paypal.
The weird thing is that when I took some money out of an ATM in the mall the other day I didn’t get charged a disloyalty fee from the issuing bank as the card was not an american card. I got the money instantly (as you’d hope from an ATM!) at an exchange rate of 1.77 though.
To transfer $500 via an atm would cost 281.92 pounds and I’d get it the following day (as there is a limit you can withdraw). Via paypal it cost 270.21 pounds but takes 12 days (and thats just to reach my US account)
The alternative is to do things “properly” and use a bank transfer which is a flat rate of 10 pounds but can take 10 days.

This morning went really well and if I had known it was going to be that easy I would have been a lot less stressed out about the whole thing. The test consisted of reversing out of my angled parking space (much easier than ones parallel to the kerb), pulling out into the main road and doing 3 right turns, followed by a left back into the testing car park. I then had to do the manoevrability test which was pretty simple too. Just before I did the manoeuvres I asked if I was allowed to lean out of the window and I was – the only thing I wasn’t allowed to do was to hit the cones or run them over. This was the main thing that I was concerned about as when the cones are out in the parking lot you can’t practise with them and when they are not out, it is very difficult to see where they are placed as you rely on a painted square on the ground. In fact when we were practising last night I had to get Kristen to get out of the car and stand on one of the spots so I had an idea where the poles would be.
The practise was worthwhile though as I did this with no problems. I also found out that they introduced this test when they stopped doing the parallel park – something we had spent quite some time on practising as it’s quite different when you do it on the “wrong” side of the car.
Whilst doing the test the extremely nice examiner was asking me questions about how long I had been over here and noted that I wasn’t wasting any time in getting the licence (3 weeks to the day) and asked how Kristen and I met and we had a nice chat which reduced the nerves and also showed that I was capable of driving AND thinking at the same time 🙂
Anyway, I got the piece of paper to say I had passed with no points deducted in either of the two driving pieces or the written test, so what can I say – perfect all round 🙂
The only downside is that I couldn’t get the full licence straight away as we didn’t have my Social Security card with the correct number on it (my learner permit had the wrong number on) so we had to drive to another dmv centre after stopping at home to get the card. (oh and the other downside is I’m not insured to drive the porsche 🙁 )

Kristen booked me in for a driving test tomorrow morning at 9.30 so hopefully we’ll wake up in time (I had a layin this morning). I’ve not done any maneuverability practising yet – that is this afternoons job but hopefully it shouldn’t be too hard. Yesterday I spent a torturous hour watching a video on how to drive which I got out from the library. Unfortunately it was filmed in canada so the guy talks about kilometres an hour for speeds and some of the things he said were wrong. There were also a couple of times that the woman demonstrating the manouvres actually did something wrong (she crossed a “sidewalk” and entered the road and only stopped once – these are meant to be treated as two individual stops.
Also the talking and effects were really cheesy. There is some debate going on about my steering as I now find it very difficult NOT to use the push-pull method of steering that we are taught in the UK, but according to Kristen the hand over hand method is preferred in the states (although a couple of books that I’ve read mention both methods but with push-pull used in certain circumstances).
Kristen also got her new numberplates yesterday – expect to see something on her blog very shortly (as soon as I’ve uploaded the photo)