eMarkLee

I have taken a personal ban of owning any pets for life. To give you history and why I am doing it I will take you back through my history with animals in order:

1. Happy (a dog given to me on my 4th birthday that was kept at my grandpa and grandma’s place in the farmlands of Taiwan). It was a white dog that used to be real mean when you tried to touch him during mealtime. Eventually Happy became quite a nice dog and was able to join me in eating frogs. Shortly after I came to the United States, my grandpa ate the dog.
2. Cockatiel #1 – No, not a molotov cocktail. A cockatiel is a small bird that actually has quite a bit of personality and intelligence. I think this was my best pet ever. Our friend gave it to us after it had been trained. It could sing songs and even say a couple of words. All from a brain the size of a booger. It flew away when my Dad tried to destroy it with a garden hose. Cockatiel #1 did not like that idea. It fled. I was sad.
3. Cockatiel #2 – This bird was the replacement for Cockatiel #1 and looked exactly like it. It would cry away when we were out of its sights. We got it at the swap meet when it was quite young…where we had to get special seeds to feed it because it couldnt consume the regular seeds. Ultimately it disappeared. Not sure what happened…grandpa was living with us at that time.
4. Horny Toad – This reptile beast was just plain awesome. Looked like a prehistoric dinosaur. I took it home from my 6th grade science class for the summer but my parents made me give it back after the summer was up. It would fall asleep when you pet it on the head, at which point you could flip it on its back and rub its belly. They apparently have the ability to spit blood from their eyes if you piss it off enough.

Don’t piss me off

5. Red Eared Slider - My aunt gave this turtle to us when it was the size of a half dollar. We had it for a long time to the point where it was the size of a six dollar hamburger. Turtles are cool…but aquariums tend to become a pain in the ass because you have to clean it. All in all I like turtles more than turtleheads but they belong in a pond in Mozambique, not in my living room.
6. The black cat – Ugh. This feline monster had fleas and wanted to eat my hand. It was cute when it was small but then just became a big pain in the ass. This cat would want to play. I would play with it and it would try to eat my hand. WTF. My mom eventually had enough and ditched it somewhere….literally in a ditch I think.
7. Lizard #1 – I had this cool looking lizard that would bury itself in the sand…so I literally had to dig it out to play with it. Lizards are a pain in the ass because you have to go to the pet store all the time to get crickets and worms. Eventually it got paralyzed in its lower body for some reason and crickets ate its lower feet. Irony in nature at its best here…almost poetic. I had to put it in the freezer to put it to rest.
8. Lizard #2 – This lizard was pretty mean but cool looking. It was mean looking enough where I didn’t want to hold it. Also, its poo was highly odorous. I know poo generally does not smell like sundaes but this poo was seriously stinkly. They didn’t tell me that at the pet store. Workmonkey had enough at a certain point and killed it. Workmonkey and I had to toss it over our balcony in San Francisco with our ceremonial pour fo mah homeyz. I will never forgive you, Workmonkey.
9. Various creatures of the sea – I ran a reef tank for a year. I got into it because I had a hook up at the local fish store, where everything I got was at a deep deep discount. This was such a huge undertaking in both time, effort, and money but it was all worth it when you see a fully functional ecosystem in your living room. It was a pain in the ass, though, because it was a reef tank…so adding salt, Ph levels, algae, ick, etc etc. Eventually, ick killed my favorite porcupine puffer when I introduced a cowfish with ick into the tank. Everything got tossed over the balcony along with some Old English after that. I tore the tank down after that and sold everything. It was fun, but I wouldn’t go through all that again.

My aquarium

Wha choo lookin at?

After the aquarium, I made the decision to never own another pet. I still like some dogs and puffer fishes, but as you can see..pet keeping generally doesn’t end in a good way and have always been a pain in the ass. So why succumb to that urge you get sometimes to own something cute instead of just looking at it or playing with it and letting it be? Come join me in banning all pets for life!

As it is a whole new world in London, I will need to figure out ways to be smart with money in London, especially in light of the extremely weak dollar. Stop importing and outsourcing everything, Republicans…you’re killing me.

Here is how I will approach getting cash and spending cash to buy fish and chips in the UK:

ATM:
I will use my BofA account at partner banks, which will assess no fee to my account:

I can also use my Presidential Bank account, which also does not assess any fees. Unfortunately, I will probably need to open up a local bank account in order to deposit money and to interact with the local blokes and tarts.

Credit Card:
There’s only one credit card company you should consider when you travel abroad: Capital One Cash. They don’t assess the ridiculous 3% fee usually assessed by your credit cards like Chase and Bank of America. That’s $3 for every $100! In London that could buy you some tartar sauce to go with the fish. With Capital One, you will basically be getting market exchange rates without thinking about it. Boo ya. Not sure if I can get away with using my American credit card overseas for a long time, but I guess we’ll find out.

Perfect timing:

Dollar’s Weakness Hits New Benchmarks: British Pound Breaks Through $2 for First Time in Nearly 15 Years

There are many things I still need to do before leaving the bay area, which is one of the best areas in the US aside from real estate prices. I will highlight some of these elements that I will miss as I try to hit up most of them before I leave.

Hiking in the Bay Area

There are so many great areas to hike in the bay area, not to mention Yosemite and Big Sur that are a short drive away. We hit up a local hiking spot a couple of weekends ago called Mission Peak. It is not the best hiking in the area, but it is very accessible and gives a nice workout. The Mount Tamalpais / John Muir Woods area in Marin are probably some of my favorite hiking spots in the bay area.

View of the east bay

You also get to milk the cows on the way down

Been working on it for a while, and thinking about it for quite a few weeks…but yes it’s official. I’m going to move to London, you bloody blokes!

Now I get to answer all your questions:

Why are you moving to London?
This is one of the most exciting life experience opportunities I have ever had. To live and work outside of the US has always been an aspiration of mine, and now that dream is going to become a reality. Taj, Agenda, and Workmonkey have all done it to some extent. I did my 5 months out of the country after college, 3 of it backpacking through Europe, but I think it is a different experience to actually live somewhere for an extended amount of time.

Why London?
While some other countries are more appealing to me culturally (Italy, Spain, Greece, France, etc), it is not really feasible to work somewhere that does not use English as the primary language. Just think about not being able to understand all the watercooler chatter and conversations before meetings begin. Rest assured, they will not be in English (especially in Paris). Yes, you can work there but it would be a challenge. Also, I would not be able to fully use the product since I don’t know any of the languages well enough.

Are you quitting your job?
No, I am going to take on a role in the London branch of the company I currently work for. (For those who don’t know who I work for, it is a top global Internet site) It will be a great opportunity to take on more responsibility and manage a larger set of products. It will also offer me the opportunity to gain international business experience, which is great.

When are you moving?
The dates are not solid yet, but I expect to be working in London in June.

Is emarklee.com going to become emarklee.uk?
No, the Brits are not going to take over the world.

What about New York?
Many of you know that I had been planning on moving to New York to join Workmonkey, Agenda, et al in the East Coast. It was a difficult decision, but the London opportunity presents a larger life experience opportunity….and more vacation days I hope to visit NYC more with the extra time and still aspire to live there at a certain point, but I had to choose London for all the travel opportunity that I hope my friends in NYC will join me for.

What now?
As this is quite a big change in my life, I will be sharing this experience on my blog with all of you. I’ve started a new category that will chronicle my Life as a Brit. I hope to show my move, my acclimation into London, and everything that comes my way. Stay tuned.

sorta like watchin from a hotel room