such fun

My first post direct from the Virgin Airlines Upper Class Clubhouse - hope I get many more, because this is FUN! I presume if you travel a lot on business the excitement wears off... but I'm certainly enjoying the free food, huge television, and cushy chairs... only wish they had a few fashion or gossip mags - all the business papers get a bit boring... ;-)

Next post - Nigeria!

movin' on up

It's taken a while, but we finally made it back to the Greyhound Pub Quiz... and what a great night it was! Ok, we didn't win, but we came in 2nd this time, which is 1 better than the last time we were at the Greyhound. To be honest, a number of the questions were pretty easy - but we'll take what we can get.

More exciting than the quiz itself was the grand prize for most interesting day at work. Going around the room we had retailers, physicist, software sales closer (yay, Ashley), global banker, school teacher, and a Seattle-based art gallery curator (aka Mom, did you know?!). The bartenders chose their 2 favourite - and Mom was one of them... tension building - who would win the coveted best job / day prize of cinnamon liqueur???

The prize was to be determined by a test of skill... would Mom or the schoolteacher be more accurate in their guess of the age of one of the younger looking contestants...

Mom took a close look, said "hmm - you look a lot like my son" and guessed 28.

The school teacher went for the younger 24...

The embarrassed young looking contestant opened his mouth and said... "I'm 29"

And a great cheer went up 'round the pub for the Seattle smartie who took home the prize!

[I would post a picture, but something seems to be wrong with the upload... wil try again later...]

24 hours until the Stitchery Show

Ok, 25 hours and 12 minutes... but am very excited nonetheless about my upcoming journey to ally pally (aka Alexandra Palace) for this year's Knitting and Stitching Show (formerly just the Stitchery Show, but as knitting's become more popular, that's migrated into the title). Rows & rows of stalls, usually some amazing work on display, and I'll take yet another knitting class in the hope that it will stick this time.

Though I have no idea why I'm even looking at new material, considering the progress I'm making on my current project - a baby sampler for my friend Beth that at this rate won't be finished until the intended, Benjamin, is in kindergarten!

Hours of fun

Or minutes at least at the GeoQuiz. Phew - got a nice 100% on 25 US cities... a lot worse on European capitals! But, better than I expected on UK cities, so I've learned a little bit in my 9 years here...

How excited am I? Only one week until the launch of new digital channel "Five US" - yes, they've finally realised that almost the only good TV on in the UK is from the US. (aside of course from Extras, QI, Jonathan Ross, and those fab BBC wildlife documentaries and period dramas that show up on PBS eventually). So thanks to Channel 5 for launching a separate channel devoted to US shows only. Though on first review, it appears to be the All CSI, All the Time channel (unfortunately the All Law & Order channel here appears to be the Hallmark network, which we don't get...). But it's a start!

How many of these have you read?

The New York Times not-so-recently did a survey of top writers and other leading literary figures to find the "best work of American fiction in the past 25 years"

I'm very ashamed to find I've read a whopping 1 on the list (The Plot Against America)... must up my reading worthiness from Heat and Grazia magazines! At least I fared slightly better on the much-more-recent Observer look at the UK / Commonwealth equivalent. I think I've read about 3 or 4 of them. But on the other hand, the Observer's list of 'honourable mentions' is much longer than the NYT's... And at least I'm in a bookclub now - that's got to count for something!

Race results

Yay! Another personal best - 1:02:04 for the Nike 10k, I'm pretty sure my fastest 10k ever. AND, I'm proud to say, I ran the first 6k (in 36:20) before taking a bit of a breather. OK, before hitting the wall. 6k - 7k was practically a crawl after that, at about 7:15, but picked up the pace a tiny bit to finish under 63, which was my goal. Slightly adjusted goal (from the original 60) - but a goal nonetheless, and one that allowed me a PB. And I still have that sub-60 to shoot for. Now I just need another race.

Until then, however... is it bedtime yet?

Clock is ticking

12-ish hours, counting down, to this year's Nike Run. And wow - how about that training. Er. Hmm. Once again, my ambitions however many weeks ago when I signed up were a bit stronger than reality, but I did do a couple of sessions / week, and so fingers crossed I'll do ok tomorrow. The weather should be crisp and autumnal, which should help - much better than if it's too warm. And my trusty iPod is charging up as we speak, so I should have musical accompaniment, which of course always helps.

Updates tomorrow in my next post. Assuming I have any energy left to type...