Google is OFF the Christmas card list!!!

Got back from CHI2008 in Florence with a challenged liver, tons of business cards, and absolutely no budget for holiday this year (thanks, Copenhagen University for cancelling most of my funding and making sure that I will have to spend the summer working on the house because I cannot afford to escape. Thanks a bunch).

Returned to London with a notebook full of drawings - my brain believes that if it makes my hands busy my eyes will stay open during long and boring sessions on Fitt's Law. Fat chance. After a night out with the Scotts nothing is that simple. Actually, that is when you really need Mama Bar, the local Italian place where you (supposedly) come for a glass of warm milk, biscuits and someone to tell you that you're alright after all. (Oh, by the way; no decent Mama Bar would dare to close. Ever.)

Wasn't a complete failure though. Managed to stay wide awake during Janet's cool talk on the Mars Rovers and Tyler's talk on how gamers just wanna play World of Warcraft with a Kofi Annan avatar. Go figure.

And what about this year's Google party, you may ask. Well, here's what I have to say about that: you are OFF the Christmas Card list!!! (and that is meant as a punishment, in case you wonder) After last year, many of us looked forward to joggling freaks on roller blades in an inferno of body tequilas or something of the kind. Just out of spite I didn't go to the early session the day after, though I easily could have.

Coming back to rainy London and completely failing to hunt down new canine participants in the local park I retreated to Alex's house for the weekend to enjoy great books on art, architecture and robotics.

And then it happened...!!!

.....my eyes have finally been opened to the joys of the British Cuisine: it is custard galore, I tell you! Found the best little shop that even put 'suitable for breakfast and lunch' on their yummy products. 'AND afternoon tea AND dinner', may I add. (And there is nothing you can do about it mum, you cannot force me to eat my veggies at a distance. Yet. The guys in Singapore are probably working on that this very moment.)

Kudos for giving me carte blanche to have custard with all meals, custard producer's marketing department!

Not so much kudos for the taxi security marketing department that created this add I found in the cab on the way home to Cambridge.

Guys, I hardly think that 11 layers of pain suffices 'security' if it came to a car crash. And you mentioning it on the add that is supposed to show off your cabs as security champs actually makes me a bit anxious about the rest of your security stuff.

Got home safely though, so I might be wrong.