So, Cheryl, Spout and I just returned from the Jack Johnson concert in Nottingham. It was a really good show. I really enjoyed it.

There wasn’t much to it, to be honest. No crazy light movements, no crazy use of the backdrop screens, which isn’t necessary and would probably distract from Jack laid-back tunes.

The opening acts were ALO and Matt Costa both on Jack’s label, Brushfire Records. I was looking forward to hearing Matt Costa, but I was definitely more impressed and enjoyed ALO. They were a lot of fun and all but one band member sang as well, which reminded me Phish a little. The crowd really got excited as Jack joined ALO for one song early in the evening.

I will tell you one thing; Britain (at least Nottingham) LOVES Jack Johnson. The crowd sang along loudly, especially “Where’d all the good people go”, and of course “La da da dada, la da dada da dada da” from Bubble Toes. I was pleasantly surprised, then we realized the logic behind Jack’s tour. Of course, you stop in London; it’s a major international city. Cheryl and I came to the conclusion that Jack’s main tour stops are university towns.

Back to the show…the guitar player from ALO joined Jack and the band for a couple of songs. As I saw him sit on his stool, slide guitar in hand, I was sure that ‘Flake’ was the next song. Quite the opposite though was, ‘Constellations’. He also helped out on ‘Breakdown’, so Jack could play the ukulele, or as the British fellow behind us said, “my favourite, the little guitar”.

Adding some laughs during the show was Zach Gill, Jack’s piano player, and apparently lead member of ALO. He moves in very odd ways when he plays the piano and when he dances around playing the accordion. He has fun. Cheryl said he reminded her of the roommate from Notting Hill, just based on how he moved, not how he looked.

The only major disappointment was there were no performances from the Curious George soundtrack. Now, the movie has not been released in the UK yet, so most people probably aren’t aware of it, but I was still hoping for one song at least.

All in all it was a good show, and the encore was a series of songs with Jack by himself (a couple with Matt Costa & his guitar), which was a very nice intimate way to end the night. If Jack is ever in your area, I recommend the show for a good time.

SETLIST: Click here for the iMix on iTunes.

Girl, I Wanna Lay You Down (ALO & Jack Johnson)
Never Know
Taylor
Gone
Posters
Banana
Staple It Together
Constellations
Breakdown
Rodeo Clowns
Tomorrow Morning
Bubble Toes
Wasting Time
Belle
Mudfootball
The Horizon Has Been Defeated>
Badfish Boss DJ
Inaudible Melodies
Do You Remember
Flake
Sitting, Waiting, Wishing
Good People

Encore:
No Other Way
Times Like These
The News>Mystic
Fall Line (with Matt Costa)
Sunshine (with Matt Costa)
Better Together

So this post was never intended to be anything special, but Sarah's comment (while I appreciate comments) made it appear that I had some Earth-shattering news. I do not.

I was just going to mention that we attended the cinema on Sunday night and as the title photo implies, saw Walk The Line. I really enjoyed this picture. I thougth Cheryl may be interested in seeing it as well as she likes Reese Witherspoon and this movie is very different for her. After the movie was over, Cheryl told me that she really liked it, even though beforehand she had no interest at all in seeing it.

I thougth both actors did a great job, especially singing live during filming. I think that creative decision made by the director, James Mangold, before filming began really added to the quality of the movie. A large part of who Johnny and June Carter Cash were, was tied into their performances on stage. It would be difficult to portray that by lip-syncing.

I hope Joaquin Phoenix wins for Best Actor next month, but I fear Jamie Foxx's win for portraying music legend Ray Charles last year puts Phoenix at a disadvantage. It would send a message to all actors "play a music legend in a dramatic bio-pic, win an Oscar".

Also, on Monday evening, we rented Elizabethtown, another movie I have been wanting to see. I really enjoy all the Cameron Crowe movies that I have seen. I think films are much better when written & directed by the same individuals. They know exactly what vision they want to convey when they are writting the story. If you liked Elizabethtown, its style in particular, you should look at Almost Famous, another personal story based on Crowe's life. Don't listen to anything my wife has to say about that movie. Its good.

From now on we will be using the comments section for readers to guess where title quotes are from. Let the games begin.

To 2 very random things....

A couple of things to mention today:
Rolling Stone
Jack Johnson's Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies, the soundtrack to the children's movie Curious George, topped the chart this week, with 163,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The CD features a combination of kids' songs and Johnson's signature, laidback relationship tunes, ranging from the theme "Upside Down" to the G. Love-penned and performed "Jungle Gym" and a cover of the White Stripes' "We're Going to Be Friends." Johnson used his voice and the cavaquinho, a Brazilian ukelele, to do the talking for the popular -- but speechless -- animated monkey.

In other news...
I had a meeting today with my supervisor at work to discuss how exactly what I will be doing now that Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) was finalized the end of January. There are a few ad hoc projects I have been working or will be during February, however we discussed how my role as an Internal Auditor will be utilized throughout the four primary business areas between now and July - August (basically until SOX work begins again).

I will be planning and running small audit engagements for each area and then report any findings and conclusions to the Finance Director (since techincally that is the dept I work for) and to the COO & CEO of my company in the UK. Pretty cool stuff. I am excited to get into more of an operational audit role as opposed to SOX. SOX is good and it was very interesting, but not my favorite type of work.

What is even more interesting (and overwhelming) is that we will be hiring one individual to work with me. We are looking for an Jr. Auditor, probably someone directly out of university. They will be officially reporting to my supervisor from an HR point of view, however I will be managing this new person day-to-day myself. I kind of wanted to hire someone, so I can have some in-charging type experience prior to returning to the States. At the same time, I am a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of having someone "report" to me.

My supervisor and the Finance Director discussed hiring someone more experienced, but they decided since I am famaliar with managment locally and the SOX Cooridnator & CFO in the States (plus all the insane reports) they wanted me to take the lead in this area.

At the end of the day, this is all very good news. Hopefully things will go smoothly and I will be able to succeed with all this new work.

Well, now is your chance!

Our first sonogram for Baby McFaddin, aka Sprout, was this morning. This was one of the coolest things ever. I can't express our cool it is to see your baby moving inside your wife's stomach. WOW!

Everything went well and we were also able to see and hear the heartbeat. Click on the photo for a much bigger picture.

You can also read Cheryl's thought on the matter at our collective website here.

Differences:
Bacon – For the most part what they really mean is ham
Rubbish – Trash
Throw Away – Bin it
Pinched/Nicked – Took/Stole (this holds true in the presents tense use as well)
Cakes– Basically anything that is sweet (muffins, cookies, donuts…cake)
Cheers – Thanks
Nappy – Diaper
Post – Mail
Mobile – Cell phone
Pissed – Drunk

YOU bring everyone “cakes” when it’s your birthday, not the other way around. I tried to buck the system last month on my birthday and have everyone in my area celebrate the American Way by chipping in and buying me a cake, but they didn’t go for that.

It doesn’t rain that much – At least not yet. Everyone hears about how horrible the weather is in London, specifically the amount of rain. In Texas when it rains, it really rains. In the 5+ months I have been here it has been more overcast and misty than rainy. There isn’t as much sunshine as in the States, of course I haven’t been here during spring or summer (I will keep you informed). I will also say that while there are parts of TX I miss, the 100+ degree summers will not be on that list.

Tax – when you look at a menu, for example, at your local Starbucks when it says a venti vanilla latte costs £2.75 that is precisely how much money will leave your wallet. VAT, or Valued Added Tax, is included on all purchases. Now I don’t know much about VAT as a general practice, but its just nice when you have just enough money to buy that afternoon caffinated beverage. Note: Regarding VAT, I hear that Britain is actually taxed more than the U.S., but I would argue this is netted as healthcare is nationwide and you don’t have monthly premiums and co-pays for doctor visits.

Mobiles (aka Cell Phones) – If there is a cool, new cell phone hitting the stores in the States, it has been available in the U.K. for at least six months prior. Why? Don’t have clue. I still read American tech & business news this topic is addressed via articles about Motorola, Nokia, et al.

Cars – Ok, so a large majority of cars here are standards. In fact, you have to obtain a separate license in order to drive a standard in the U.K. People are quite interested when I mention just the opposite in America. I believe automatics are becoming more popular in recent years.

Offices – Desks are grouped together in a room and there are not cubicles. Now, I have never had my own office (Felker, Proctor) but I was quite satisfied with my cubicle. I had 5.5 ft walls and a lot of desk space and was able to decorate as I saw fit. The nicest benefit was overhead storage bins. I have a lot of files to store in my limited time working in the UK, however I don’t have any place other than my desk (or under it) to store them at the moment.

Markets/Grocery Stores – This is a small thing, but one that can cause problems. Grocery stores in the UK do not assist you in bagging y our groceries. Now, I am not some sort of grocery snob, above bagging my own groceries, but I would appreciate some assistance, especially when I have a lot of them to bag. I miss Wal-Mart’s little bag-turning device.


Just a few of the small things I have noticed in my just-shy 6 months here in the UK.

Four jobs you have had in your life:
1. Internal Auditor (2 different companies)
2. Accounting Intern
3. Summer Camp Counselor
4. Video Store Sales Associate

Four movies you could watch over and over:
Ok, seriously own over a 100 movies, so I can’t answer this one.

Four books you could read over and over:
1. I am working on this one. Will get back to you.

Four places you have lived:
1. Atlanta, Georgia
2. Searcy, Arkansas
3. Arlington, Texas
4. London, United Kingdom

Four TV shows you like to watch:
1. LOST
2. 24
3. ALIAS
4. Desperate Housewives

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Kauai, Hawaii
2. EuroTour (France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland)
3. Ohau, Hawaii
4. Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh, & Stirling)

Four websites you visit daily:
1. A plethora of blogs (Micheal Felker, Michael Chaffin, Sarah Pace (good ole RSS), Kristen Chapman) see sidebar for links
2. Business Week
3. USA Today
4. IMDB news

Four of your favorite foods:
1. Flank Steak
2. Mexican food
3. Italian Food (includes pizza)
4. Chinese/Japanese

Four places you would rather be right now:
1. Kauai, Hawaii
2. Salzburg, Austria
3. Caribbean beach (never been)
4. South America (again never been)

I have only briefly skimmed over a list of award winners this morning and was delighted to see that U2 dominated the Grammy's last night, winning among others, the Album of the Year award.

You should check Micheal's website sometime today for the inevitable comments surrounding the Grammy's last night.

One final thought about the Grammy's in general. Coldplay's previous two albums, Parachutes & Rush of Blood to the Head were nomnated in the Alternative category. While X &Y has some rock-type songs, what criteria makes them switch to the Rock album category this year?

Just curious.

Welcome to the new Somewhere in Between. When I began this blog I wasn't really pleased with the template options at Blogger. I much preferred templates using WordPress but did not have my own domain name to use. Plus, I don't really know code, I just copy/paste to make things the way I want them.

There is nothing really different other than the appearance, but I did implement use of Haloscan for comments. I had to do this because this new template would not allow use of word verification when making comments.

Hopefully it will work out well and I can keep the new look going.

For the dumb engineer from British Gas to show up. Our boiler stopped working again. They were just here fixing it in late October/early November...for too recent for it to break again, especially since you have to wait a minimum of one full day to get an appointment and then when you get one is "Someone will be there betwee 8:00 & 1:00." What the mess?! That is a good chunk of the day.

Well, its now 11:46 and no one has showed up. This may be nothing, but last time we had a "morning" appointment and no one ever showed up, not even after 5 phone calls from me between 1 - 5 PM. So far the most glaring problem with living in Britain is the LACK of customer service. Most resturants are decent with this, but utilities are horrible.

Someone at work told me next time our boiler breaks down (which it very well may at this rate) I should tell me I have a gas leak and they would be here so quick. When they arrive be like "You can't smell it? Oh, well since you are here..."

I don't mind a day off work, but not when its like today. I am quite annoyed and really would like some heat over the weekend. Plus, I don't want to take Monday off as well. Apparently there is some push for compensation when the miss appointments. I'll have to look into that.

Editors Note 4:45 PM--After 2 phone calls this afternoon, the wonderful company known as British Gas has informed me that they will not be fixing my boiler today. Its no big deal...its only 34 degrees outside. I get to wait once again tomorrow morning for their supposed arrival.

So as some of you know, Cheryl left last Friday morning to visit her family as her parents and brother move from California to Chicago. Now, I love my wife very much and I love spending time with her, especially on the weekends I am not a fan we are a part. She is the best! With her absence in mind, I thought this would be a good opportunity to go see any movies I want to see that Cheryl may not (plus it gets me out of an empty flat).

Luckily, released just this past weekend was Munich. It was incredible. Spielberg’s talent shines in these types of films. He is best served with stories like Munich, Saving Private Ryan, &… that focus on people rather than effects such as, War of the Worlds,

The film itself has stirred some already troubled political/ethnic waters as to the accuracy of the story, and the sensitive relations between Israelis and Palestinians. I am not going to comment on any of that, as that aspect did not interest me to see the movie. I was however, wondering if the negative/non-positive press that has surrounded Munich would affect attendance. Would I be the only person at a 1:00 show? Thankfully, the theater was had a decent number of attendees, more that I expected.

The film begins with the hostage incident at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. Spielberg “reenacts” these events to start the film and flashes back a few times throughout the movie. He even uses actual news footage on occasion, to eerie effect during one particular moment with the terrorist leader.

The story of Munich is Israel’s response to the hostage taking and massacre of 11 of its Olympic athletes. Munich follows a team (perhaps one of many?) of 5 Israelis; lead by Avner, played wonderfully by Eric Bana, a great character-actor who is long overdue household name status (see his supporting role in Black Hawk Down). Munich rests on his shoulders, as he is the central focus of the film, or more appropriately, his acceptance with a task he cannot refuse, and his struggle to fulfill it. The rest of the cast does an excellent job in their roles as well, particularly actors playing Avner’s French sources.

To summarize, I thought this movie was excellently written, beautifully shot, and with the exception a montage at the end of the film, expertly directed. I recommend this movie to anyone that enjoys a good drama or thriller as Munich excels in both genres.

I would hope this movie would win Best Picture (it is the only one I have seen of the potential nominees), however, with all the strong opinions regarding the accuracy, or truth, behind the story and the sensitive nature of a generations old war, I imagine Munich will be overlooked on March 5.

I will warn that Munich is rated R largely due to some particularly violent images. It is not quite as intense as Saving Private Ryan, primarily due to decreased action sequences, but I still caution anyone with a easy stomach of watching any of the terror attacks that start the film and a couple of assassinations that occur in the last half of the story.
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Editor's Note:
In an unrelated story our boiler has been making some odd noises lately so in a preemptive strike, I called the gas company to come and inspect it before we were, once again, without heat & hot water. Turns out my call was not preemptive enough as evidenced by my sudden strikingly cold last-half of a shower. They will be here (supposedly) on Friday morning to fix it before Cheryl returns.

Until then, i will be "chillin" in front of our wonder oscilating space heater.