Queen's Day - Amsterdam

Went to Amsterdam this weekend for some pre-Queen's Day celebrations. We couldn't stay for the actual day (today) which apparently is a once-a-year spectacle of Dutch pride. Instead, we came in on Friday night and stayed through Sunday afternoon. For more on Queen's Day:

http://www.thisisthelife.com/en/queens-day.htm

It was good to get out of London for a couple different reasons - the weather and the expense. London definitely lives up to its reputation as one of the more expensive cities in the world. I imagine, even after hotel, I spent about as much going out in Amsterdam for the weekend that I would have in London. Anyhow, Amsterdam is a great city with much more to offer than drugs and the red light district. It's a mess of bikes, vlammes fritjes (french fries, typically served with globs of mayonnaise), parks, museums, canals, and people from all over the world. Interesting fact: There are more bicycles in Amsterdam than actual residents. Residents number almost 800,000.

So, for the weekend, we walked around, shopped, attempted to rent bikes (rented out), visited the Van Gogh museum (http://www3.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?lang=en), enjoyed a couple nights out on the town, and even enjoyed the Heineken Experience (http://www.heinekenexperience.com/). Needless to say, it was a good weekend.

It's back to the drawing board for now, though. Our team at work has a pretty big deadline this Friday and there's much to be accomplished before then. As the Dutch would say - Koninginnedagviering! (Happy Queen's Day!).

So what do you do exactly???

Some of you already know what I do, but I've been too busy with work to do anything else worth writing about. Since arriving in London in mid-March, I've been working on Cerner's London Cluster Design & Configuration team. What does that mean exactly? Well, I help design the hospital and outpatient software that will be used by every clinician in London. (The software supporting healthcare for 7.5 Million people.) More specifically, I am responsible for helping design: how physicians order tests, referrals, and follow-up appointments; how groups of clinicians communicate eletronically for results, document signatures, and messaging; and some systems integration work across labs, clinics, hospitals, ERs, etc.

Believe it or not, the work is very interesting and challenging. There are a lot of differences working in the UK and in the US (besides the language - really). Outside the US and A, socialized healthcare is the norm, not the anomaly. That bleeds into a million different aspects of how documentation, billing, and reporting structures are defined. Insurance companies don't exist, you don't have to worry about whether your plan covers Y or Z, but you also may have to wait for care. Then again, if you really need the care, is it worth the wait?

All in all, I have to admit I'm having a blast. I lead on it's less work than play but that's not always the case. I'm just happy I'm more interested in the new challenges my work presents. The will to live and work towards something I'm passionnate about is worth the price of the occassional 60 hour week.

REMINDER: FOR MY LATESTS PICS, CHECK - http://public.fotki.com/raggett/

London Marathon blues...

I joined the crowds to watch the London Marathon yesterday. It hosted one of the best marathon fields ever - including Paul Tergat (world record holder), two-time world champion Jaouad Gharib, Olympic champ Stefano Baldini, two-time Olympic 10K champ Haile Gebrselassie, among others. The race was pretty sweet to watch with over 35,000 runners. Officials estimate more than half a million people turned out to watch the race. All in all, it was a pretty cool event to see. Martin Lel (Kenya) ended up winning the event in 2:07.41. It was definitely no record, but given the 75 degree heat, quite a race. The first American, 24-year old Ryan Hall, came in 7th.

Race Report: http://www.london-marathon.co.uk/site/media_centre/index.php?page=49

Watching the race definitely made me miss running competitively. So, I went for a nice 10-mile run after I got home from the marathon. I've been getting back into pretty good form lately, and tempted to start competing again. Honestly, I just need to get my lazy arse off the couch and run more. It's a great feeling to be in good shape and run everyday!

On a side note, the KU Relays took place this past weekend in Lawrence, KS. While the London Marathon was great, it's no substitute for visiting the alma mater, catching up with old teammates and friends, and watching the Jayhawks win some races. Rock Chalk!

A Proper Football Game

I spent last Saturday with some English friends from work and Brian Legg. We had some tickets to a proper English football match at Brentwood- Nottingham Forest FC v. Brentwood FC. We met up at 11:30 in the morning to start pub crawling our way to the 3 pm match. Our buddy Martin, who had the tickets, is a long-time Nottingham fan. He planned to go with his dad and brother, and we joined them.

So, just four pubs and one dirty sidewalk later, we arrived at the Brentwood Football Grounds. What ensued is close to what I would call hooliganism - plenty of yelling, cursing, and inappropriate taunting of the other team. The only reason I say "close to hooliganism" is because no all out fights happened. The match was great - Forest came from 2 goals down to win 4-2.

After the match, we went out for a few more pints. I finally got home about 12:30. Good day!
(http://www.nottinghamforest.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Welcome)

Pics posted, more to come!!!

Hey all -

I finally started putting some pictures on the web to share. Keep this link, and I'll promise to share my pictures of London, Oxford, and everywhere else I visit.

http://public.fotki.com/raggett/

Cheers!

Brian

From Moscow and St. Petersburg with Love...

Apologies abound for not writing sooner - I just returned from Easter in Russia. Eric, Jeremy and I left for Moscow last Thursday and returned Wednesday night. It was a great time, to say the least. I'd definitely be disappointed if I didn't return sometime again.

The trip started in Moscow for three days, then onto St. Petersburg. We took time to see all the Moscow sites - Red Square, the Kremlin, St. Basils Cathedral, The Bolschoi Theatre, Pushkin Square, Alexander Gardens, the Moscow Metro (largest subway in the world with over 170 stations) and more. If you want to take a peek at some of these sites, I opened a Fotki site with some pictures ( ). Unfortunately, the Russian government doesn't allow photos of one of the best sites in Russia - Vladimir Lenin's dead body. Lenin fathered Communism and led the Bolshevik Revolution that led to 70+ years of communism. As a tribute, Stalin had Lenin's body preserved for eternity. Tourists can see the body, for the mere price of passing through two metal detectors, checking your camera, and having more than 20 Russian military watch your every move. It's all worth it to see a dead communist revolutionary who died 80 years ago from 8 feet away. I couldn't take a picture but you can see one here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenin).

After the sun went down, Moscow has some of the best night clubs I've seen, including Fabrique (http://www.waytorussia.net/Moscow/ClubsDance.html). Russians are apparently born to listen to House and Trance. The clubs we went to all had at least one, if not two or three DJs. We were fortunate enough to make friends with some rich, English-speaking Russians. Posha is from Moscow and took the time to drive us around Moscow and show us a few things most tourists don't see. Vladimir was in town from St. Petersburg to hang out with Posha and returned to St. Petersburg the same day as us. You could say that worked out pretty well.

So, on Monday, we went to St. Petersburg. Vladimir showed us the nightlife and we explored by day. I'd compare St. Petersburg to San Francisco if Moscow were New York. The two cities are definitely very different, with St. Petersburg being the more culture/museum/couture of the two. The Hermitage Museum (Winter Palace of Peter the Great) rivals the Louvre in Paris. It's home to hundreds of works from Monet to Renoir to Van Gogh, Matisse, Gauguin, and Michaelangelo. The city is abound with canals, much like Venice and Amsterdam. The people in St. Petersburg were a bit friendlier than in Moscow, but they all seemed to ask, "Why would you ever come to St. Petersburg?" Maybe that's why we went...

London now, sleep later

Whew! Every day (and every night) seems to go on and on. The endless work, pubs, pints, runs, guns, and tons of fun turn me into a kid in a candy store. To save you from complete boredom, I won't make a list of everything I've been up to but hope this is a representative list.

I got back from San Francisco on Thursday this week and went straight into work. Work is good, but definitely starting to pile up. For those of you who don't know, my job in the UK is to help design the electronic documentation process for London's doctors. That being said, work is just a means to live your life, right? As soon as the clock strikes five or six or whenever you get out, half the living world is at the pub, having a pint to erase the day. It took me a couple nights before I discovered the pints here have a lot more alcohol than the ones in Kansas City. Lesson learned.

So I get done with work on Friday about 6:30, then I went out for a quick run. By 8:00, I was on my way to dinner with some friends before finishing the night at a party. I think it was 3:30 before I got home. Highlights of the evening included introducing the British to the ever infamous POLAR BEAR JOKE.

Derrik and I took the train Saturday to Oxford to see what the famous university city had to offer. We spent the day walking around the city, touring castles and parks and markets and watching the Arsenal-Liverpool match. For whatever reason, I brought my football (soccer ball) with us. We were kicking the ball around on the grounds of a church when, all of a sudden, this dogs comes at me at a full sprint. As the owner later told me, his dog absolutely loves football. The dog and I fought over the ball for at least five minutes. In the end (and probably due to a few footballs to the face), I like to think I won the battle. Cheers!!!