I did finally get my iPhone…but it took 11 days rather than the few they had promised. I’m impressed with it and really enjoy the Pandora feature, though I wish that with every new listen it wouldn’t play stuff it has already provided.
Heathrow’s Terminal 5
For months now, I’ve been reading horror stories about Heathrow’s Terminal 5 knowing that I’d have to contend with it this month. I even got some “TrackMe” tags just in case my bags were lost…
But in the end, I found it to be a great experience. I’ve heard the terminal is the size of 50 football fields, and it’s definitely a sight to behold. There’s actually a mall inside of it and some really great restaurants. There are three sections within the terminal and a train takes you to B and C. They say that you need to allow 20 minutes, though the train itself never took more than 5.
Gordon Ramsay has a restaurant inside the terminal, where I enjoyed a breakfast of pancakes and orange juice. Yeah, it was a bit pricey for pancakes but I have to admit they were delicious, as was the fresh juice. (During my time there, I imagined him in the back yelling at people for overcooked Wellingtons…)
I bought a few trinkets for friends at the Harrod’s store, though later found that one of the items was missing a piece. Grr. I tried exchanging it on my way back but the B store didn’t have the item I’d bought and I was in a frantic rush at the time anyway.
On my outbound flight, all my baggage made it with me. On my way back, I only had an hour to change planes in terminal five…had to go through security again as well as passport check, then run up to see from whence my flight was leaving (gate-wise). I had to take the train to B and made it just as people were boarding the plane. But, miraculously, my bags made it with me.
The one thing that was a bit surprising was the fact that at Terminal 5, they only tell you which gate you’ll be departing from 40-60 minutes before it actually leaves. So you hang out in A until they let you know.
But all in all, I have to give Terminal 5 a B+. It looks like they’ve worked out the kinks and now people can breathe a little easier.
iWait
Decided to stop by the AT&T store yesterday because it didn’t look like they had much of a line.
After about 15 minutes, I got inside and was informed that they had been sold out of the new iPhones since 10:45 a.m. I went ahead and pre-ordered one. They should it be in sometime around Monday or Tuesday, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Verizon has been good to me, but I need something that’ll work overseas without having to switch out my SIM card.
Enigma
I just watched the movie Enigma, starring Kate Winslet and Dougray Scott. It was also one of those films that stars a bunch of people you recognize, but it takes you a second to figure out who they are since it’s a bit out of context. But after a while, it turned into “Hey, that’s Mr. Darcy from the recent Pride & Prejudice movie,” or “That’s Bruno from Dancing With the Stars…”
If you haven’t seen this movie yet, you should. It’s smart, has that tinge of mystery and is even *gasp* educational regarding WWII and the history of cryptography. The bonus features on the DVD are great as well…talking about how the world’s first computer was created at Bletchley Park, and how some of the codebreakers were found through nationwide crossword competitions, because apparently that works the same part of the brain as codebreaking.
