9 S on a SM

aka, 9 Sacks on a Seahawks Monday... congrats to the Seahawks for actually remembering how to win, and doing it on Monday Night Football! Ok, perhaps it wasn't pretty... so maybe Tony Kornheiser called it a 'death game'... fine, ESPN said even a mediocre team would've beat the 'Hawks... but a win is a win is a win!

World's Longest Bridges

Part of my Nigerian adventure included crossing (twice!) what I was told was Africa's longest bridge - from the airport to Lagos Island (and onto Victoria Island, which I presume is part of Lagos, but what do I know - clearly I need to improve my knowledge of Nigerian geography...)

Anyway, that got me wondering - what's the longest bridge on each continent? And I wonder if someone's crossed all of them? The first question was pretty easy to answer, thank you Wikipedia... I thought Lake Ponchartrain would be the longest, but am amazed it's nearly 4 times the Third Mainland Bridge (which is what I assume is the bridge I crossed in Nigeria, not that there were any signs or anything!) I'm glad I'm only reading *now* the fact that it may be in urgent need for repair, as the government has not maintained it in 15+ years (according to Wikipedia, that is).

A bit harder to answer the 2nd question - if anyone's crossed all of them. I'd say perhaps the Bridgemeister, however it seems he concentrates on suspension bridges (with a few exceptions, yes)... I'll have to keep looking. Perhaps the Bridgetravelmeister is around here somewhere!

National Blog Posting Month

So, it's NaBloPoMo -- didn't you know? I've hung the decorations, wrapped the gifts, sent out the cards, and am practicing my Nablopomorphic carols... Or at least trying to find something to write about each & every day of November. I've made it so far - here's to the rest of the month...

movie-blog

Oooh - saw The Departed tonight... Martin Scorsese-directed, with Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon & Leonardo Di Caprio (interestingly, on the poster Leo gets first credit...)

We'd definitely been looking forward to it, and I'd heard mostly good reviews... so, perhaps my expectations were high - not usually a good thing for movie going! Overall, I thought the acting was very good, especially Di Caprio, though more & more I'm not sure if Jack Nicholson's becoming a parody of himself... I kept seeing flashes of The Joker coming through.

But that's being unfair - I do think it was mostly gripping, and I only started even thinking about looking at my watch about 10 minutes from the end. With all the double crossing and undercover investigations I did find myself getting confused at times as to who was going after whom and why, but think I perhaps understood it by the end. The love interest was a bit disjointed - wondering if perhaps some bits had been edited out to keep it to 2 1/2 hours.

I think I agree most with the New Yorker critic, David Denby, who says "The story is highly improbable, although Scorsese and Monahan keep the complicated goings on clear and taut, and the entire movie is acted with spirit and conviction... “The Departed” is murderous fun, but it’s too shallow to be the kind of movie that haunts your sleep." I certainly enjoyed it, and am glad we saw it on the big screen, but don't think it's a classic or one I'll be pondering over for more than the first 10 minutes of the dinner we had after the movie (and of course the few minutes it's taken me to write this entry.)

A few photos

Yawn... returned from Nigeria this morning, via Amsterdam. Got about 3 hours sleep - am doing my best to stay awake until a reasonable hour. If I take a nap, I think I'll end up sleeping for hours & then my schedule will be completely discombobulated!

A few pictures from the trip:

View from my hotel balcony

On the road - saw so many people balancing goods on their heads, I just don't know how!

Dinner... during a momentary blackout...

More news from the trip when I wake up!

whirlwind trip

I absolutely cannot believe it - trip almost over! In a very short time I've seen the countryside, had a massive dinner, visited the atlantic ocean (didn't go in!), chased a newt out of my room, bought the obligatory-postcard-for-the-collection, and of course, conducted business... one more meeting to go - then off to the airport.

Still surreal to think I've only been here less than 2 days... seems so far away, but so relatively easy to get to.

Photos coming soon!

Landed safe & sound

I could get seriously used to this Upper Class travel, especially on overnight flights. The seat flipped over to form a completely flat bed, and a relatively comfortable one at that. I was out FAST, and think I got about 3 1/2 hours at least... not bad for a 6 hour flight. Arrived in Lagos safe & sound, now in the business centre before my meeting starts. All in all, fairly uneventful. And no mosquitos... after all the malaria talk & 'you must wear DEET-containing bug spray...' and I don't think I've seen a single mosquito.

[but don't worry dad - I'll keep taking my malarone!]

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...

Quiz champions

Last Saturday was momentous not only for the run, but also for a brilliant success at the Stonor Cricket Club quiz night. Ok, perhaps I should've built the tension a little more, but it was just so exciting to win, I couldn't keep it in for another 2 - 3 paragraphs.

The tension on the night was a lot more real, however - as we came from behind in the last round to beat - by 1 point!! - the single team from the rival club. Phew! Especially because that meant that my mortifying mistake in a cricket-related question didn't put us out of contention. (what happened? as the scribe for our 6-person team, I was responsible for filling out the answer sheets, obviously with team input. And for the cricket-related questions, I clearly know NOTHING, so was writing whatever I was told. So how I ended up writing 'Keith Gillespie' [the incorrect answer] instead of 'Jason Gillespie' [the correct answer] I will never know. Did I learn nothing from all of those years of watching Jeopardy!? Answer last names only, don't mess around with the first unless specifically asked! All I do know is if we lost by 1 point, my team would have killed me.)

Luckily however, my team (including Ashley, and friends Olly & Lee, and Duncan & Sabine) worked very well together and we were able to answer such diverse questions as:

• Who directed the documentary 'When the Levees Broke', about Hurricane Katrina?
• Which writer was recently exposed as having been a member of the Nazi party?
• Is Barry Bonds a Giant, a Padre, or a Dodger [ok, we had a bit of an advantage here!]
• What Siberian Lake holds 20% of the earth's fresh water?

Oh, and a bunch of other cricket-related questions, which fortunately I managed to write down correctly.

So, yay us, and we already look forward to being back next year to defend!

Record-breaking day

Forget the 4-minute mile... a far more important barrier has just been broken, by yours truly. Ok, the importance is strictly personal, but I'm still extremely excited to report I FINALLY broke a 30-minute 5k. 29:48, in fact - a feat that caused such emotion when I crossed the finish line & looked at my watch that I burst into tears! A bit of an over-reaction, I agree, but still, can't argue with the response...

Why was I running at all on a fine Saturday morning (23rd of September, 2006, by the way, not that I'm memorialising this day toooo much)? In aid of Trees for Cities - yes, another charity run, the Tree-athlon, to be exact. I didn't hit anyone up for money this time, figured my entry fee had to count for something.

It's really just a step along the way to the Nike Run, which is now only 2 weeks away. I've not been training nearly as much as I'd like, and as I swore to do, but I have been going out a couple of times a week, which, combined with dancing once a week (have I blogged about that yet? Don't think so... topic for another day) - has I guess raised my fitness a tiny degree. Let's hope that sustains me through 10k on the Oct 8th. Watch this space!

very dangerous...

Eek - I just discovered that CyberCandy, a store selling American candy like peanut butter M&Ms, sweettarts, and other delights has just moved from a side street I could never find, to a very-out-in-the-open location, that's far too easy to find!

I'm just hoping immersion therapy (that is, getting sick from all the candy I'm suddenly gorging on!) will be the best cure... (says she, popping yet another liquorice Jelly Belly)

I confess...

Ok, I give in. As much as I try to deny it, I am indeed media-celebrity obsessed. Z-list? No matter. My proof? Last night I was out to dinner, and who did I spot? Big Brother winner Pete. Yeah. Practically George Clooney and Madonna together in terms of stardom. This week at least. Kind of. Well, as far as Heat Magazine is concerned.

And what did I do? Dither for 20 minutes to everyone else at dinner about why I was too chicken to take his picture. And THEN I walked by him for a completely legitimate reason, on the way to our table. And I oh-so-slyly had my mobile out, nonchalantly 'checking my texts' while oh-so-surreptitiously angling my camera. And then I flaked. And just smiled and said hi to him, and he said hi back, and probably thought I took his picture anyway, and I DIDN'T. So the grand result was nothing, nada, zilch. Except my feeling of slight embarrassment for caring so much. And in front of colleagues as well.

Ah well - I should just embrace it. Maybe I should be a paparazzo. Except I need to remember to actually take the picture next time.

Magical Mystery Tour - part II

When last we saw Stefanie & Ashley, they were trapped on the Hastings Pier, being forced to eat jellied eels and play crazy golf in the rain... did they escape to go on to new adventures the next day???

Of course we did - and without the eels or golf.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny, how lucky were WE?! So I packed up my shiny new backpack (except mine is red), and off we went. Up the Hastings East Hill - you could walk, but we took the railway, to get some great views of the town (it looks a lot better with some distance!)


Then, off we strode to Rye, some 11 or so miles away. The first few miles were quite steep (think cinque terre) but then after about mile 4 or 5 it leveled out, and we had a lovely stroll in the sunshine, through fields, by canals, hill & dale, over the river and through the wood... We stopped in Winchelsea for a late lunch - with a pyschological advantage of it being about 3/4 of the way through the walk, so the last bit was easy-peasy.
Winchelsea was "soooo cuuute" - really, it was, and we ate at a charming classic pub, the New Inn, for some hearty walkers' fare. My big question, however, is how to pronounce Winchelsea. Is it Win'chel-sea', or Win'-Chel'sea. I think the former, but have heard more people say the latter. And the oracle that is google had no light to shed.

The walk ended in the old town of Rye, "medieval gem", doncha know. Where we wandered around for a few hours, saw the castle, and also the home of Henry James, and had tea at a cool boutiquey hotel, where yes I did feel a tad out of place in my tee-shirt & backpack, despite its shiny newness.

Sadly, the weekend had to come to an end; Monday bank holiday we slept in, but did have to check out & head back to London. At least it rained again, so made going back to work a little more palatable!