Weekend in Canterbury

Finally, finally, finally!
Last Sunday we finally made it to Canterbury, the capital of south east UK. Every time (3 times) I tried to buy tickets there, I had to cancel it.
So what can I say about the city of my dreams?
It is an amazing and ancient city (check out the photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/john.markh/20061217Canterbury).
We went to Canterbury cathedral, one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. After couple of hours there, we went to West Gate Gardens which we really beautiful and finished our short visit in local restaurant (Waivers).

Christmas Diner with "YourMove" James Muir

Today we have been invited to Christmas dinner with Alyona's colleagues from "YourMove" James Muir (estate agency where she is working).
We went to Greek restaurant called "Kolossi" in the centre of London (56-60 Rosebery Avenue, London). The food and the company were EXCELLENT! Personally, it was one of the best restaurants I have been in London. It was small, cosy restaurant with home style kitchen and VERY Greek service (which is open and friendly).
We stayed there for almost 4 hours, eating and chatting away. During that time, there was never an empty table, so if any of you are planning to come over to eat make sure you book a table before.

PipeX Project 0.3

Today, I made totaly new release to PipeX.
This release includes 2 new categories of pipes:

• Manipulation: allows to manipulate data of fly (to upper case, to lower case, etc.) without storing it in temporary variables/buffers.
• Security: filter out or replace malicious input.

Binary, Is it really this hard?

Today, I showed my wife this:
0 0000 0
1 0001 1
2 0010 2
3 0011 3
4 0100 4
5 0101 5
6 0110 6
7 0111 7
8 1000 8
9 1001 9
A 1010 10
B 1011 11
C 1100 12
D 1101 13
E 1110 14
F 1111 15
Is it really this hard to understand?

Yoga

Yesterday I went to Yoga for the first time in my life. It was quite different from what I expected. Let's start by saying that I was the only male in the class (except teacher, who had pines but I'm not sure that he is male). So we started by stretching muscles I didn't know exist to the point it hurts, then changed position (asana) and started over. The teacher always corrected me and I'm not so sure why... :) But, the best thing was 'relaxation': to lay on the mat in darkness and try not to sleep! Loved it!
In anyway, I do feel some improvement in my posture. I stand more straight with straight shoulders.

Long Way Home...

What a long way home,
OK, so after we returned from Bahamas we spend another 3-4 days in Miami. Over there, we have celebrated Thanksgiving at Hilel's (http://picasaweb.google.com/bronsteinfla/Thanksgiving) and then headed to NY. In NY we met again with Xusha and Daniel (http://picasaweb.google.com/john.markh/23112006NewYork), made some shopping (ohhh, I hate it so much) and finally took a taxi to JFK.
And now, to the interesting part of the story.
When we finished boarding and the airplane was on a runway to take off, one of the his engines went MIA (Missed In Action). On a runway, just a seconds before airplane was in the air! I think I have to say thanks to the pilot for breaking before end of the runway. So, we spend additional 'extra' day hours in New York, met with Daniel and Xusha again and finally, after 18 hours delay, we flew to London. Needless to say, that when alarm (smoke detector) sounded during the flight, it was pretty scary...
But, after all 'bad' things I wrote, I have to say that Virgin Atlantic were more that OK. They have placed everyone (who wanted) in nearby hotel, paid for meal and provided transportation. We didn't had to 'fight' for it. They have also compensated us with 50% discount for all future flights with them for the next 18 months.

South of USA

Are we in Miami yet?
Yes we are! We spend first day in Florida in Aventura at my mom's place and the day after we drove to Orlando. In there, we visited 2 parks: Universal Studios and The Island of Adventure (http://picasaweb.google.com/john.markh/15112006UniversalParks)
So, here we are. A week after we have landed in US we went on a cruise to Bahamas (http://picasaweb.google.com/john.markh/17112006BahamasAndNassauIsland). We were suppose to have 2 stops: Coca Island and Nassau, but because of bad weather conditions we didn't stop on Coca Island. On Nassau we spend a day on a beach and hired jet ski. The guy who rented the jet ski called my mom "Boss Lady"! After a day on a beach, my skin hurts sooo much! I'm as red as lobster in beer...

Now, my planes are to relax and just to lay down by the pool and read some book.

No more activities!