The Musings of the Kat

Posted by Kat Crichton Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:00:00 GMT

I'm knackered! Tonight (Friday night) is show 5 of 7 in one week. We're past the hump performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta The Gondoliers.

We got a glowing review in the local rag yesterday night. It praised the energy of the performance as well as the interesting set and lighting effects.

Each night there's a small party. You might think this is pushing things a little, but with the adrenalin still flowing it's practically impossible to sleep straight after a show.

Our schedule of entertainment this week is: Monday, Chinese takeaway; Tuesday, Italian restaurant; Wednesday, Wii & Karaoke night; Thursday, Curry at our MD's; Friday, Snacks and drinks; Saturday, End of Show Party at a local (and rather ancient) pub in Poole.

In retrospect I probably should have taken a few days off this week instead of just the matinée performance. Oh well, I'll try and have a bit of a lie in tomorrow before the Saturday matinée.

Posted by Kat Crichton Fri, 03 Nov 2006 19:32:00 GMT

I'm always up for trying local food when I travel and Seattle is no exception to that rule. So yesterday I had my first ever burrito, at Taco Del Mar - a Mexian fast food franchise in America and Canada.

I wasn't at all sure what I was asking for, so I tried to follow Mike's lead picking a wholegrain burrito with guacamole, sour cream, beans, rice, chicken, cheese and hot sauce. My order came to a couple of dollars more than Mikes, so some of that stuff must have been optional.

When we got back to the office I had a quick lesson on the art of eating a burrito. Unwrap one end of the foil wrapping, eat the end and unwrap as you go. I later realised that these same instructions were printed on the bag.

So what did it taste like? Relatively satisfying but kinda mushy. I think I'd prefer it with a little more crunch or bite. Not bad though, interesting mix of flavours. I think perhaps the fun is in choosing a different mix of fillings each time.

Taco Del Mar's speciality seems to be seafood (as the name would indicate, so next time I might get a fishy burrito (if that doesn't sound like too much of an inuendo).

Posted by Kat Crichton Wed, 25 Oct 2006 10:13:00 GMT

My company has sent me to our Seattle office to work on a project that requires support by someone in the same time-zone as our customer in South Africa.

This is the first time I've been to the US. I've never really had the urge to visit before - there are many other places in the world that are more interesting to me due to their cultural differences from the UK. However, I've recently become more interested as I video conference with my colleagues in Seattle every day.

I'm staying in Bellevue, the office is in Kirkland and about the same distance away to the NE is Redmond, home of Microsoft.

So far I've only really seen shopping malls and fast food restaurants, but hopefully I'll explore downtown a bit at the weekend.

Posted by Kat Crichton Mon, 25 Sep 2006 05:15:00 GMT

I thought I'd done a pretty good job of booking the hotel in Paris entirely in French (trois chambres simple pour un nuit). However, on arrival at 2200h - my colleagues and I were told at the reception of the Hotel Printemps that there was no reservation. Thankfully they had three shabby little rooms on the top floor available.

It didn't exactly set us up for a good meeting the next day and the train journey was sweltering. Fortunately, the village we went to was beautifully picturesque and within a few minutes of arriving, we felt relaxed and calm.

The second night was spent in the Quality Hotel in the business district. Usually the rule is that if something has to mention an attribute such as quality in its name, it will probably be trying to make up for a lack of that attribute. However, the Quality Hotel was indeed of high quality. My evening meal of duck with a garlic jus was particularly good.

The meetings went well and my return flight came far too quickly with not a moment of time available for sightseeing or shopping. Must revisit Paris soon for leisure rather than work.