London Ninja

Neighbourhoods generally have different names in the UK. London has its share of different names. The most interesting thing with these names is that they seem to just stick more and more endings to them. The best example is: Gloucestershire. WTF? How many endings can you put into a name?

The following neighborhoods are my favourite in London.

Tooting is lovely. Cheers.

Ah yes, it’s back. Football. No, not soccer. Real football that you do not play with your foot but with your hands. Of course the question is:

“How do you keep up with football in the UK?”

There are two answers:
1. Sky Sports
2. Slingbox

I don’t think I need to describe Sky Sports in detail as you just order some premium package and pay your arse for it. My personally mantra states that I don’t generally pay my arse for anything. This leaves us at the second option: Slingbox.

Here’s how it basically works:

The Slingbox AV is the perfect companion for your DVR, digital cable, or satellite receiver. The Slingbox AV allows you to watch and control live TV, or any other TV entertainment you have, anywhere you go. Using an Internet connected computer or wireless mobile device, you can watch and control your home TV, DVR, digital cable box, or satellite receiver around town or around the globe. With a Slingbox AV you will never be separated from your favorite TV shows, sports broadcasts, breaking news stories, digital video recordings, or video on demand.

I bought a Slingbox for ~$100 before I crossed the pond and hooked it up at my folks’ place. Now I can watch anything they watch. It is essentially like being able to watch their TV. The only thing is that if they flip the channel, you watch what they watch. I would recommend a Tivo, also , as it will allow you to beat the time zone difference and be able to watch Monday Night Football without staying up past midnight. It could get a bit choppy when around 100-200kbps streaming, but good enough to get what’s going on. The audio portion generally comes down quite well, so it definitely allows you to follow the game.

The best thing is that this means I don’t have to start watching that other football anytime soon….you know, the kind you play with your foot.

UPDATE (Oct 27, 2008):
There’s a new option I have learned of, the NFL Game Pass with Yahoo. It’s currently $100 for the season or $80 for just your favorite team, but I think those are mid-season prices. I believe the normal price is something around $200-$300. Sounds like an ok option but I still prefer Slingbox. As a matter of fact…I loooove Slingbox.

Play.com is a relatively new to the UK but it is seriously eating Amazon’s lunch. It might come to the US soon, but here’s the basic premise of the Play.com shopping experience:

1. Focus on electronics, so you will find your phones, cameras, etc.
2. Prices are significantly lower than Amazon.co.uk
3. All prices include shipping. This is huge.

I did a quick check for prices for a set of speakers. The reason being that my speakers run on US electricity and speakers are not the type of thing you want to be converting with as they draw a lot of power. Add that to the fact that these are a pair of crap 8-year old speakers handed down by my nemesis Workmonkey. Speaking of which, I have a bag of e-waste that I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with. Thinking about just leaving it on the company receptionist’s desk and letting her deal with it. We’re talking about power strips, phones, routers, and all this other waste that has been shipped to the UK that I cannot use. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Back to the new e-waste I’m interested in buying….

Siimple comparison is here on a Logic3 speaker system (not what I’m going to get, just an example)

Price on Play.com

Price on Amazon.co.uk

There are many examples of this, but I would say all in all if you’re looking for a new product, Play.com would be the place to go for electronics. eBay may offer some deals but the prices on Play.com are pretty damn competitive inthe electronics area. Of course, you should definitely check HotUKDeals, the UK version of Fatwallet, first.

All that said, I haven’t found the right ones yet and may need to use this tiny laptop speaker a while longer. Bollocks.

The Rugby World Cup starts today in the UK. In case you don’t know what rugby is, it’s something like football (not soccer), except no pads, no body armor, and no black people. That last piece might not be true. Guys generally aren’t as big as they are in the US but rest assured they are much bigger than the London Ninja. The game is revolved a bigger version of the football and…um….that’s about it. I’m not sure exactly how the game is played but I plan on being at a pub on Saturday to experience it. It is apparently a game for the toffs as opposed to a game for the common folks.

8 September:
England v USA, Lens, Pool A (1700 BST)

If you’re able to watch it (not sure how), you might want to watch it. If you do, let me know how rugby is played, cuz I still have no idea.

Oh, and don’t confuse rugby with Aussie rubgy, football, or gaelic football. There are also different rugby leagues in the UK and different rules.

Bottom line: don’t ask me any questions about it cuz I don’t know shit about rugby. Cheers

Word: Treble
Definition:

tr. & intr.v. treb·led, treb·ling, treb·les To make or become triple.

Usage: My expenses have trebled since I moved to London. Bollocks.

Despite how expensive it is to eat in London, there are always deals to be had. In my almost 3 months in London, I have found a few different ways to get around the absolutely rubbish prices charged for food(yes, I have turned British…and yes, I now drink tea everyday with my crumpets).

There has only been one other time when we had deals this good, and that was for Royales with Cheese. I gotta say I cannot go back to BK for while but alas, I am still a big fan of the American burger. The great news is that through September, we can eat Big Macs at 241. Yes folks, 241. Eat at your own risk, and no Supersizing.

Classic American comfort food. Just click print it out and get some extra J in the T.

In case you’re worried your ass will get bigger if you eat Big Macs…you’re right. Here’s the nutritional value of the Big Mac.

Calories: 540
Fat: 29 (45% of recommended value)
Sodium: 1040(43% of recommended value)
Carbs: 45g (15% of recommended value. Don’t eat this if you’re on Atkins, which is apparently a bad word now)
Fiber: 3g (13% of recommended value)
Protein: 25g

But you know..whatever…it tastes good and it’s American so I will be Supersizing it all of September.

When I say “bloody Brits”, I mean it with the highest sincerity. I also mean it with the highest level of WTF. And by bloody, I mean “hella bloody”.

Apparently the bloody Brits are striking again. This time it is targetting the Tube, only the key form of transportation in London. Brilliant.

When I first arrived in the UK, the Postal strike was occuring and now this. WTF. Apparently, the postal workers here have not yet figured out that you just have to go Postal to get some change.

The Ninja opinion:
If you aren’t happy with the pay, then you should walk out and get a job somewhere else. I can sort of understand some factory jobs needing some type of reform in high-unemployment, low-working-standards type of eras(or countries), but we’re in London! This is like striking in San Francisco because they put too much chutney in your rocket salad, or too much au jus on your steak tar tar. It’s like striking because the fois gras on their canapé is a bit too tender. I can go all week.

I would write more but I reckon I have to complete my tube travel before 5pm as not to disrupt my commute home. Blimey.

Word: Lead
Definition: A leash that you would put your dog on
Usage: Why you let yo baby’s mama put you on a leash like that, bloke?

Article does not apply to Michael Vick.