Taekwon-Dodo

Back in training

2006-06-13T12:55:00.000+01:00

After injuring my soleus muscle (the one that runs between the two heads of the big calf muscle) hill running in Canterbury, I am now cautiously starting training again. I have to admit that it was very tough not being able to run - psychologically I have changed my lifestyle to accomodate it, and I found myself at sixes and sevens without it, and physically I found myself restless and gaining weight.

In an effort to avoid over use injuries again I have slowed my training pace down to 5 min/km (was previously frequently training at 3min 50sec per km). This slowdown drops my heart rate down to 134 bpm (which is around 70% of target heart rate), as opposed to 160 (85% of target heart rate).

I still am going to take a while to get my mileage back up - I aim to do around 60-70km this week running, and 250km on the bike, and build back up to 120km running - following the 10% per week increase maxim. This will be switching between increasing mileage and increasing intensity - both of which are important. I will do my first speedwork at the track next week, starting on 8*880s once a week, with a target of 2min 50secs, and building gradually to twice weekly (tempo, fartlek, hills and intervals - alternating as needed), and easing back into 2m 30s per 880 yards (800 meters).

The main reason for writing all this on my blog? To remind me not to overdo it again and fark up my legs again!

Canterbury Half Marathon

2006-05-29T10:17:00.000+01:00

What a race! This was an incredibly hilly course that challenged all runners (I think the final field was nearly 600). As always I didn't start to strongly - something I need to train myself out of - but after a mile I had settled into about 20th place, where I stayed for the next 4 miles, running behind a very fit looking guy who I swear I have run against in some of my London races. By mile 4 another racer who had been trying to overtake me for over a mile finally got his way, and held his lead for about 800 meters, putting me back in around 21st place. However, no-one can accuse me of not being competitive, and I tucked right up behind him so that he could hear my breathing and footfall, and slowly increased the pace; in doing this I gave him the choice of going faster, moving out of my way, or letting me crash into him. He chose to move faster - but found very quickly that thepace did not suit him, and so as he flagged I overtook him and found myself back in my original position, with the familiar runner about 200 meters in front of me. I turned up the pace and moved out of my aerobic pace into my anaerobic pace, weighing up the risk of building up surplus lactic acid early in the race against the risk of getting stuck in the position. Within a minute or two I had closed the gap, and remembered listening to the commentators of the London Marathin this year onthe BBC, who recalled their coaches saying that if you catch someone up just go straight past them, it takes advantage of the head of speed you have developed, and delivers a psychological blow to the other racer who finds they cannot match your pace. I did exactly that, and powered straight past the competitor; the next time I saw him was as he crossed the finishing line!

My new targets were two runners about 400 metres ahead of me, who were fairly well matched. I couldn't take either of these guys out until we were on a long flat - having reconnoitred the course the day before I knew a long 1 mile flat was about two miles ahead of us. Once we hit the hill leading to this flat I again slipped into anaerobic running, peeling off the metres on the hill whilst the other two guys slowed down. Whilst a dangerous tactic this was the best time to close the gap, and indeed it was so successful that I overtook one of the runners on the hill! This chap stayed close behind me for the next mile or so whilst I worked on the next runner; a competitor that almost broke me! No matter how hard I worked on closing the gap he seemed to anticipate my move, and maintained a healthy distance ahead of me. Worse, he was actually increasing the gap! As sign of desperation I started to road weave - taking the corners on the inside to try to cut off a few meters from my run. This tactic seemed to work, in conjunction with an energy boost (took a carb gel), and I finally took the guy out on mile 8. I was now getting very tired, and had built up lactic acid in my thighs and calfs, and to be honest was struggling. A crowd of supporters on th eroad side shouted "Go on Clapham!" which spurred me to run harder when really I should have pulled back a bit to recover. This spurt nearly cost me the race as I hit mile 10 - which was a very steep 1km hill. This hill proved to be a lesson in mental toughness as my body screamed for me to walk it, and the only thing keeping me going was sheer stubbornness. All through the climb I plodded up this hill - barely able to put one foot in front of the other, whilst all the time I knew that the runners I had already taken could be fresher and stronger than me, and take me on this hill. Luckily I was spared that fate and I breached the top of the hill without incident, and had a clear downward slope for the next miles, with another runner about 800 meters ahead of me.

It was at this point that I somehow got a mad idea; to catch the runner ahead of me! Tired as I was I took the most dangerous gamble of this race. I increased my pace to around 18km/ph - well into my anaerobic levels and started to close the gap. The runner kept looking over his shoulder as I closed into him, 700 meters, 600 and so on. As I closed to 20 meters I huge wave of energy hit me, and I upped the pace to 20kmph, breaking the runner and building a large distance advantage pretty quickly. How I kept that pace up for the last two miles I will never know, but I did, and finished about 1 minute ahead of this runner, who afterwards said that he just had nothing left to give, he tried to catch me again, but was spent!

All in all this was a tough race, made more difficult by warm weather, forgetting to wear my watch(!) and by the fact that I have a stinking cold! I wated to finish in 78 minutes, and come in the top 4, but I didn't. I did give my all, and ran a strategic race. Once the results are posted I will put them up - I suspect that I was most probaly in the top 15 in around 84 minutes - but that is just guess work!

Quis custodiet?

2006-05-26T09:59:00.000+01:00

being an avid Watchmen fan, I have always liked the famous quote from Juvenal's Satire VI:

"Quis Custodiet, ipsos custodes?"

What tickles me pink is that this is often used to question our trust in military and police power. Juvenal was actually using it in a far cruder context, as per the below:

"audio quid ueteres olim moneatis amici, 'pone seram, cohibe.' sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes? cauta est et ab illis incipit uxor. iamque eadem summis pariter minimisque libido, nec melior silicem pedibus quae conterit atrum quam quae longorum uehitur ceruice Syrorum"

"I hear all this time the advice of my old friends--"Put on a lock and keep your wife indoors." Yes, but who will ward the warders? The wife arranges accordingly and begins with them. High or low their passions are all the same. She who wears out the black cobble-stones with her bare feet is no better then she who rides upon the necks of eight stalwart Syrians."

Tired, aching and very happy

2006-05-22T07:45:00.000+01:00

What a wonderful experience the Greenbelt relay was! The Clapham Chasers submitted a team of 11 runners, 7 of whom arrived on Saturday morning for the event (two others drove themselves later that day, and the other two ran two legs each on Sunday). Before I get going with the race description i should acknowledge that the race photos I have linked to here are copyright material of the Bushy Park Time Trial group, bptt.net - and I have not had a chance yet to ask permission to reproduce them on my blog. I will send a mail today, but should the btpp.net guys want me to remove them then please let me know and I will take them off immediately. The same goes for the Box Hill photo - which is copyright material of the stragglers.org - the race organisers; the stragglers deserve a big thank you for all their hard work - thanks guys!

Stage: 1
Runner: Neil A
Distance: 12.8 miles (18.02km)
Difficulty: 5/10
Finish Time: 1hr 08m 39s
Finish Position: 5th

Stage 1 kicked off with Neil A (Team Captain) running Hampton Court to Staines, a 12.8 mile run along the thames. Neil was due to run two legs on Saturday, but still gave his all to this stage, coming in 5th (place to be confirmed once the results are posted online - all legs are out of 30). This was a great start to the race and set us up nicely for the rest of the day. Once I get some more details from Neil I will post these up as this race set the tone and pace for the rest of the day! A photo of Neil running through stage 1 is below:

Stage: 2
Runner: Will
Distance: 9.7 miles (15.6km)
Difficulty: 6/10
Finish Time: TBC
Finish Position: TBC

Whilst Neil A was running from Hampton Court, Mike, Myself, and Jeremy (guest runner for the club who had contacted the race organisers and asked if any teams had a spare place - and we did!) drove off to the beginning of Stage 2 - our first deviation from the plan (we were supposed to go straight to stage 3 which is where I was running from). This was to drop off our bags into the other car - which would be picking each of us up from our runs. Stage 2 was Staines to Boveney, and was being run by Will - another of the clubs speedier runners who, like Neil A, was due to complete two legs on the first day. Having duly found Will, Justina and Andrea (the Italian Stallion) we dropped bags, went for emergency dumps at MacDonald's, and sped off to the beginning of Stage 3. This meant that we didn't get to see Will start off, but I am sure that he was quick off the blocks! Will was also running a difficulty 6 (out of 10) stage, with the course presenting 9.7 miles (15.6 km) with the first 40% of the course being along the Thames towpath, and the last 60% along roads and paths. Again, actual results will be posted on here once I get them off the website (once they are published). Again, once Will sends a race log I will update this - but a picture of Will mid run is below:

Stage: 3
Runner: Neil B
Distance: 11.2 miles (20.5k)
Difficulty: 5/10
Finish Time: TBC
Finish Position: TBC
Speeding off from Staines, Mike headed off for Eton, where my first stage was due to kick off, starting at Boveney church and finishing at Little Marlow. Passenger navigation was slightly iffy, and we ended up taking a fairly circuituos route through Windsor (where a quick trip the wrong way up a one way street sharpened the mind and navigation skills!), but we still made good time to Boveney. This small village lies west of Eton, and is beautifully located on the Thames. The weather, which had been unsettled for the past three days, had left the Thames path fairly muddy, but gave the field of runners little cause of alarm as the sun was doing its level best to peek out every now and then. Before we started the run we were told that conditions were more like a autumnal cross country than a summer run, which proved in the end to be very true. Still, the marshal gave the off and we all started what was to prove to be a great and fun run along the thames. Although I started off relatively quickly in fifth place, I was quickly overtaken by a runner from the Stragglers (I think), then by another from the Stock Exchange, and then by one from Britsh Airways! Aargh- had I gone off too quickly? Feeling foolish for having gone off so quickly I dropped into a steady pace with a competitor from the Dulwich Runners; a strategy that allowed me to recover a bit, and also to replan my race. Unfortunately, after about a mile the Dulwich runner got a coughing fit and had to stop, so I was off again on my own, although not for long - as a racer in yellow and black livery came up from behind and overtook me! From fifth I was now back at ninth, and only about halfway round the course! Resolving not to drop back any further, I increased my stride to keep up with this new runner - no mean feat in four inches of mud! Still, over the next two miles I gamely paced behind this runner, and as he started to make progress on the BA and Stock Exchange (LSE) runners, so did I - the race was back on! As we broke the 7th mile, I put on a spurt and overtook the yellow and black clad runner (was he a Straggler.org runner?) and started to put some pressure on the runners from BA and the LSE. However I didn't get to overtake them until we took a turn away from the river at 7.3 miles - but I saw my chance and took it, and as we hit tarmac, I lengthened my stride. Within a mile I had widened the gap between myself and the other two runers to about 100 meters - and could now see three of the front four runners ahead of me. A quick change back onto the thames tow path at mile 8 - and I knew that I only had 3.2 miles to go - which is just over 5km (a distance that I am very familiar with!) and so i decided to open up my stride again. Of course, that last 5.14km was to prove very tough, but all the time I could see myself closing on the lead group, until a Marshal shouted "400 meters to go!" - I was nearly finished; both in terms of distance and energy! I kept up the pace of the next 250 meters, and saw the fourth place runner cross the line - and decided that I would aim for a sprint finish. As I opened up my stride to the fastest i could possibly go I remembered all the pictures that have been taken at 10k finish lines recently as I sprint, with a cross between a grimace and a gurn on my face, and so I tried to relax my facial muscles so that I didn't look quite so much of a fool this time. I also scanned the crowd at the finish line for my team mates and spotted Andrea, Neil A and Justina near the back just as I crossed the finish line! Knackered, elated and not really knowing quite what was going on, I had finished fifth, 11 seconds behind the fourth position runner, with a time of 1hr 8min 39secs. This meant that I had been running each mile with an average of 6mins 8secs per mile, or 3mins 49 secs per km. That works out at 1hour 20mins 26secs if you take that upto a half marathon - over cross country! We will see how that works on road next week in Canterbury... The obligatory shot is here:

That's it for now - stages 1-3 posted, with another 19 to go! I will post more later today, and hopefuly will have more information from the other CC runners, who each will have there own stories and battles. I also will post my personal battle on stage 19 - which was difficulty 9/10, and involved running down this:

Results are in

2006-05-16T21:00:00.000+01:00

The results of the Clapham Common 10k are in - I came in 15th with a time of 36'45" (not 36'44" as I had thought). I am content for the moment.

On another front; I was run over today - my front wheel is fragged, but I am fine. Basically a complete tosser decided to overtake me, in the rain and make a sudden left turn, and so took out my front wheel. Luckily I was only going arond 15kmph, and he was at around 10kmph (when he was actually turning) so I had time to jump clear. London - not a cycle friendly city. Partly my fault for not taking my usual Cycle Network route, which is low traffic and so would not have these problems. Instead I was on Shaftesbury Ave, opposite forbidden planet, outside Pasta Cafe, so busy and full of idiots. C'est la vie, n'est pas?

Clapham Common 10k Results

2006-05-14T14:16:00.000+01:00

Just finished the second installment of the Clapham 10k (first was in March, with a time of 41'11", and 50th out of around 320). Provisionally my time is 36'44" this time round, and my position was (I think) 18 out of around 300. It was a really tough run as my fainting and shin splints have kept me out of training for nearly 2 weeks - with only cycling to keep me fit. Plus I have put on 1.5 kg. But, to say I am really happy to have broken 37 minutes does not describe the feeling - I was aiming for 37'45" and finished a minute under. Elation!

Next I will try to break 36' - although I suspect that will be tough; the next race in this series is July, which will likely be hot, whereas today was cloudy and cool - perfect running weather.

So - for the rest of the month I have the London Greenbelt Relay (2 day cross country team event) and the Canterbury Half Marathon (target time 1hr 20m).

On an aside, I suspect that the acupuncture and praying for my shins to stop hurting (no kidding, praying the Lord's prayer as I was running - and it did stop hurting) both helped me today, so thanks to the Chinese dude who stuck pins in me, and thanks to God (Kanga - stop cringing!) for answering a very heartfelt prayer.

Yet another aside - congrats to Justina (from the Clapham Chasers - the club i run with) on finishing first female with around 37'56" (I think), and to Neil A who finished around 8th with 35'44" - a great day to be a Chaser!

Another Online Journal

2006-05-12T19:20:00.000+01:00

Ok - so my fitness tracing is at www.coolrunning.com as previously posted; now my diet is here. Obsess, obsess, obsess....

wah - u really very siao running now!

2006-05-08T15:37:00.000+01:00

Kanga made me laugh with this comment, as when you find something you enjoy, and are relatively good at, you tend to go mad for it. I remember when we were doing Taekwon-Do that she was naturally very talented at it - and was, to borrow a phrase; "really very siao" for it.

But yes, I am happy to admit that I really get a buzz out of running, especially the competitive aspect. I love beating another racer, and I also love the challenge of being beaten (and fighting another day!). But, most of all, I love competing against myself, constantly seeking to raise the bar, and to shave my time nearer to my (secret) target. It is a great way of developing focus and confidence, and a good way of meeting new people of all walks of life and ability.

Kanga - as an aside I am really looking forward to you moving over. I hope to move house before you arrive - the target area is Kingston on Thames. Try looking on google for UK rentals in Kingston upon thames. Very nice leh!

Race Fixtures and Results

2006-05-07T17:43:00.000+01:00

This month is the real start of my season, with a full calendar:

07 May 06: Sutton 10k ---- Result 38'36" (new Personal Best)
11 May 06: Assembly League - The Dome 5k
14 May 06: Clapham Common 10k Series
21-22 May 06: London Greenbelt Relay (355 km 2 day event - 11 member team)
28 May 06: Canterbury Half Marathon

Makes me tired to think about it - looking forward to seeing how it all goes!

Anyway - late addition to the post, checked the men's team results from today and we came fourth out of 27 teams, which is pretty good, and I came 42nd out of 409, so I am still just sy of the top 10% on the field.

For a giggle see this and check the pictures for clock time "38:34" to "38:37". I was determined to close that gap, and I nearly got him!

Training is yielding results!

2006-04-25T10:47:00.000+01:00

The training regime (cycling and running daily) is beginning to yield more results - I was doing intervals at the track this morning before work, doing 800 meter intervals with 2 min recovery between sets, and recorded the following splits:

Interval 1: 2:42:15
Interval 2: 2:49:54
Interval 3: 2:53:88
Interval 4: 2:50:60
Interval 5: 2:52:74
Interval 6: 2:52:98

Obviously I caned the first one too hard, but I pulled back to my target 2mins 50secs pace fairly well for the others. Using various pace calculators that baseline on intervals, I get a predicted finishing time of around 35 mins - which is unlikely in my next race (two weeks time) but, with training at this level I think a July race in the sub 37 minutes is possible.

Races in May:

7 May: Sutton 10k
14 May: Stage 2 of the Clapham 10k Series
22-23rd May: London Green Belt Relay (team event)

The weather here is getting really nice and warm, and as I am out cycling and running for about three hours each day, I am getting pretty tanned! Also had a great cycle on Saturday - preceded by a 10k run. The cycle was 110km - fantastic!

Endorphin addict?

Interesting Blog

2006-04-24T14:12:00.000+01:00

I saw this blog on the BBC website - it is a homeless woman living in a car in london. It is a powerful and moving diary, well written and in many respects feels like a perverse view into one persons dissolution and deletion from Society.

Croydon 10k Results

2006-04-09T20:49:00.000+01:00

I ran the Croydon 10k today - finishing with 39:48. That put me at position 56 out of 714 runners. All in all I am pretty happy with this - it is my personal best on a challenging hilly course.

My target (now that I have broken 40 mins) is to break 38 mins, which means shaving 12 seconds off each kilometer - which is a lot more difficult than you would imagine....

A God of Peace?

2006-03-17T19:34:00.000Z

A question that vexes me fairly regularly is how so many Christians and much Christian Literature can talk of a God of Peace, and a God of Justice without seeing the obvious contradictions. I understand the roots of these beliefs fairly well, in both New and Old Testament traditions. In the New Testament, the most famous Peace quote is Romans 15:33:

"Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen."

And in the Old Testament we have Isaiah 2:4:

"And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war."

Now, famous Justice quotes (I prefer to think of them as retribution quotes) are found in both the NT and OT, with Romans 6:23 being the famous NT:

"The wages of Sin is Death"

Whilst Exodus 21:22-27 furnishes us with the OT reference:

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"

The vexation is that peace and justice, in the Christian tradition are, in my opinion, based on the notion of a Transcendental justice, that results in a Godly peace. That is, if you follow God's Law, you shall have peace. If you do not follow God's Law, then you shall feel the meting of His Justice. This is not the fuzzy 'God is Good, God is Love, God is beauty praise Him!" found in Christian Hymnals. This is the God of Abraham, the God of the middle east. In truth, an Islamic fundamentalist in many ways more truly embodies the Christian notion of God, as revealed in the Bible, than most Christians.

This is a topic I could explore at some length - but the idea is not to preach, but to provoke and challenge people to examine their assumptions in faith, to not just accept Brother John/Sister Mary's teachings, but to think for themselves, using the bible as the cornerstone for the analysis of faith. In doing so, maybe people may be shocked at what they are subscribing to. Or, worse still, maybe they won't be.

05 March Run

2006-03-05T13:59:00.000Z

05 March Run
Originally uploaded by taekwon-dodo.

A very frustrating morning as my running GPS ran ou of battery after 9km! However, I have use MapSource to restructure my route and my heart rate timer to restructure my entire time out - which was 3 hours 25mins 21 secs including my walking from Putney back home (the missing part on my running map) The route on the map is 25.9 miles - just shy of a marathon - and I most probable took 25 mins to walk home - giving me a marathon time of 3hours. Later I will go out and cycle the route with my Garmin - as I did not think I had run more that 18 miles - and am a bit suspicious of the whole thing - as this puts my current time at my June/August target!

As it is I have logged this in coolrunning as 21 miles based on input from serpentine running club which lists the Putney Bridge to Kew Bridge and back again portion of this run as 13 miles. My house to Putney Bridge, via Battersea Bridge is 8 miles - which, at 21 miles is more like the 18 miles I expected (and puts my avg pace at 5.19/km which is my long distance pace - so seems more likely)

26 Feb Running

2006-02-26T15:00:00.000Z

26 Feb Running
Originally uploaded by taekwon-dodo.

Having got back to the UK I have been trying to push my distances out a bit more for running, as well as doing intervals and fartlek to improve speed. The London cityscape slows me down as it has it's share of hills and wind, but I think by the end of this year I should have got my 5km run under 20 mins and hopefully get my 10km into the under 37mins area. Meanwhile - today I ran from my house to my office - and then turned around and ran back - for a total of 27km. In fact it should have been 30km but I had to walk the last three km as I could feel the first rumblings of calf damage - plus some rubbing injury in a sensitive male spot. Anyway - here is the pace a heart rate graph for today. A slow run into the wind for the first 19km, but a satisfying run never-the-less.

I am now posting all day to day running stuff on www.coolrunning.com - for the terminally bored you can view my stats - my userid is NeilBurton37 and the public password (the one you use to view my stuff) is "gothedistance" (obviously sans quotation marks!)

Lazy Christian Thinking - Biblical Refutation Part 2

2006-02-15T09:51:00.000Z

As promised - I am continuing my look at common examples of poor bible understanding by many Christians, as well as just bad editorial in the Book itself. My aim, as previously stated is not to denegrate Christianity - but rather to refute scriptural literalism, and to show it for what it is - poor, lazy thinking.

Matthew 1:1 - 18

I am going to paraphrase this as it is a long Geneaology of Jesus of Nazareth, which has a primary purpose of showing that Jesus was descended of David. This is important, as God made an oath to David that his descendants would forever hold the rightful ownership of the throne of Israel. The three important bits I want to look at are:

Matthew 1:1

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Matthew 1:6

Jesse the father of David the king. David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah

Matthew 1:11

Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile

Ok - so 1:1 and 1:6 fulfill an important task - namely to establish Jesus as a Davidian descendant, and further, as a descendant of Solomon. The first lineage (Davidian) is important as in Jeremiah 30:7-9 God makes a crucial promise regarding the Messiah (from the Hebrew "Moshiach" meaning anointed):

'Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob's distress, But he will be saved from it. ' It shall come about on that day,' declares the LORD of hosts, 'that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves.'But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

This is taken, by both Judaic and Christian tradition (which are of course the same in this matter) to mean that the annointed King of Israel, the Messiah, will be of David's line. It is to satisify this promise, or covenant, that Matthew goes to great lengths to show Jesus' lineage is Davidian.

Secondly, Matthew states that Jesus is descended from Solomon. This is extremely important because of 1 Chronicles 22:9-10, which states:

Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies all around; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days: he shall build a house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.

So, God's oath to Israel, and David is further explained to mean that David's line, through Solomon shall be the rightful holders of the throne of Israel. Now, we can begin to see why Matthew goes to such great lengths to establish a geneaology that descends from Solomon!

Now, having gone to such great lengths to establish the royal line, I want to draw your attention to Matthew 1:11:

Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile

Jechoniah was the King of Judah at the time of the Babylonian exile. He was also, by Matthew's own admittal, an antecedant of Jesus. And so now comes the important linkage - Jeremiah 22:30:

Thus says Yahweh, Write you this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.

This text is talking about the wicked Judahian King, whose line God curses to never more hold the Jewish throne. The name of this King - Jechoniah.His father - Josiah. His reign - the exile into Babylon.

So - if Jesus is indeed a descendant of Jechoniah, then he can never hold the throne of Israel. And if he can not hold the throne, he may never be anointed. In other words - he cannot, by Jewish tradition and law, and by fulfillment of prophecy, be the Messiah!

Matthew has proved quite succinctly, that Jesus is not the fulfillment of Toranic or Talmudic prophecy. Whatever else he is, by Matthews report, he is not the Anointed King. Therefore, scriptual literalism must, by definition, be based on a false premise. The Book cannot be 100% literal truth if it contains such glaring contradictions. It *must* require interpretation. Otherwise Christianity is based on some very shaky foundations; which - by the way - is the core Jewish objection to it - that it is interanlly inconsistent with jewish tradition, scripture and law.

Rampant Hypocrisy

2006-02-14T03:49:00.000Z

The BBC reports that "In Islamabad, President Pervez Musharraf said newspapers that printed the cartoons [of the prophet] were "oblivious" to the consequences for peace and harmony in the world.

"I don't see how any civilised person can take the issue of freedom of press to hurt the feelings of such a large population of the world," he told visiting journalists.

"Whether an extremist or a moderate or an ultra-moderate, we will condemn it." "

Where were the vocal condemnations, the street protests, the uproar, when Islamic militants were beheading people in the middle east. When Al-Jazheera showed these horrific images on TV, when suicide bombers blew up the twin towers, or four lads from the north of England decided to simultaneously kill people on the tube and bus networks. The reactions are not equal or proportional. Much as muslims may hold the Prophet to be sacred, we hold life as sacred. Respect must run both ways, and the fact that it hasn't for the past 70 years has led to this current problem.

As Iain Banks' main protagonist in "Dead Air" sardonically points out on his radio show; western nations do not force visitors to wear mini skirts and boob tubes, yet middle eastern nations enforce female visitors to cover themselves up. Cultural respect cuts both ways - and yet, when it comes to the Arab/Muslim world, it doesn't.

This is not a hate post. Nor is it a diatribe against the Muslim faith. It is merely a post pointing out that:

"Why do you notice the sliver in your friend’s eye, but overlook the timber in your own? How can you say to your friend, "Let me get the sliver out of your eye, when there is that timber in your own? You phony, first take the timber out of your own eye and then you’ll see well enough to remove the sliver from your friends eye"

Matthew 7:3-5 (scholar's version)

Which D&D Character Are You?

2006-02-12T03:24:00.000Z

I Am A: Lawful Good Elf Ranger Druid

Alignment:
Lawful Good characters are the epitome of all that is just and good. They believe in order and governments that work for the benefit of all, and generally do not mind doing direct work to further their beliefs.

Race:
Elves are the eldest of all races, although they are generally a bit smaller than humans. They are generally well-cultured, artistic, easy-going, and because of their long lives, unconcerned with day-to-day activities that other races frequently concern themselves with. Elves are, effectively, immortal, although they can be killed. After a thousand years or so, they simply pass on to the next plane of existance.

Primary Class:
Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.

Secondary Class:
Druids are a special variety of Cleric who serves the Earth, and can call upon the power in the earth to accomplish their goals. They tend to be somewhat fanatical about defending natural settings.

Deity:
Mielikki is the Neutral Good goddess of the forest and autumn. She is also known as the Lady of the Forest, and is the Patron of Rangers. Her followers are devoted to nature, and believe in the positive and outreaching elements of it. They use light armor, and a variety of weapons suitable for hunting, which they are quite skilled at. Mielikki's symbol is a unicorn head.

Find out What D&D Character Are You?, courtesy ofNeppyMan (e-mail)

Lazy Christian Thinking - Biblical Refutation Part 1

2006-02-12T02:32:00.000Z

Whenever I hear pastors and priests sharing their world view (as I did on TV today), based on biblical or scriptual literalism (a very new, nineteenth Century phenonoma), my blood boils. So, I am going to start an analysis of common Christian misconceptions, based on flawed and poor understanding of the Talmud, Torah and the new Testament.

The Virgin Birth: Matthew 1:18

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost"

This is Matthew starting to prepare a thesis that the Virgin Birth (not to be confused with the immaculate conception of Mary, which I will cover another day), is a prophetic fulfillment of Isiah 7:14:

"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

All well and good, or so it would appear. But, let's gather context to Isaiah 7:14 and try to understand whether Isaiah is making a prophecy concerning the Christ. Isaiah is actually responding to the King of Judah, Ahaz, who is ruling one of the two Jewish kingdoms of the time (Judah was ruled by the descendants of the Davidian line, and Israel (the other state) was ruled by the descendants of Saul) - King Pekah ruled Israel. Pekah had made an aliiance with Rezin, the Assyrian king, and was preparing to wage war against Ahaz, via a consolidated Israeli/Assyrian march on Jerusalem (the Judan capital). Ahaz, fearing defeat, was deeply concerned, and Isaiah reports of Ahaz and the Judan people that "their hearts were moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind." Isaiah 7:3.

To allay the fears of Ahaz, Isaiah assures him in the name of the Lord that these two kings will not succeed against him; and asks Ahaz to seek a sign of the Lord (Isaiah 7:11 "Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above"). Ahaz however, is not stupid, and is aware of the various prohibitions against testing the Lord, and declines Isaiah's offer (Isaiah 7:12 "I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord").

Isaiah, sensing the wisdom of Ahaz' position replies in verses 14-18:

"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings. The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; the king of Assyria. And it shall come to pass in that day, the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria"

It is clear from context then, that Isaiah is telling Ahaz that a sign will be given, of biblical and epic proportions (a virgin birth!!), and that the child resulting from this sign will be a son; and that this sign will be an omen of success to Ahaz, for before this child will know the difference between wrong and right, the Kings of Israel and Assyria would have failed and both would no longer be kings ("the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings").

So, in summary, Matthew 1:18 is based on a deeply flawed understanding of Isaiahian scripture, and is the first irrelevance within the Christian belief structure. What is singularly worrying about this, is that the Virgin birth is a central tenant of the forgiveness of sins (via the man born of woman, without original sin), and therefore part of the grand design of Christian redemtption - whilst being based on poor theology! Needless to say, I will tackle this later on.

I hope that this is interesting to at least some readers of this blog, and is not inflammatory or offensive. It is just that preachers of all faiths have such power to shape our thoughts and beliefs, that it seems critical to analyse the validitity of their arguments and, when they are clearly wrong, to expose them.

Big brother

2006-02-02T22:16:00.000Z

Firstly - how many pages link to you? Try (obviously replacing the URL) in Google:

link:monster-ru.blogspot.com

Secondly: Follow this link

Over and out

For the sake of shame; China take a bow

2006-01-31T13:17:00.000Z

I wish that I could honestly write that I do not react with some vigour to television reportage; unfortunately, in writing that, I would be lying. So, it is easy to imagine my reaction to the prospect of China blocking any UN security council action against the Sudanese Government as castigation for the atrocities committed in Darfur. To summarise:

One third of the population homeless (2 million people)
Estimated 300 000 killed
Janjaweed effectively government sponsored genocide engineers
Disease and starvation rampant

The reason to block any sanctions - Oil. China (and to a lesser degree Russia) have substantial investments in Oil and other commodities in Sudan, and don't want to risk upsetting either the government or trade. Shame on you China. Shame. It looks like you are truly set to take your place as a new America on the world stage.

For four

2006-01-28T11:45:00.000Z

Kanga tagged me...

Four jobs you've had in your life:

- Janitor at a high school
- Chef in Japan
- Call centre operator for BT
- Enterprise Architect

Four movies you could watch over and over:

- Preaching to the Perverted
- Tampopo
- The Matrix
- The Lord of the Rings (All three considered as one homogenous movie)

Four TV shows you love(d) to watch:

- CSI
- Battlestar Galactica (the new one - not the camp one)
- Newsnight (with Jeremy Paxman)
- The Outer Limits

Four places you've lived:

- Oita, Japan
- Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Jalan Elok (Orchard Road), Singapore
- London

Four places you've been on vacation to:

- Tokyo, Japan
- Koh Samui, Thailand
- Arnhem Land, Australia
- Jukkasjärvi, Sweden

Four places you'd rather be:

- Amsterdam
- Singapore
- Tokyo
- Sydney

Four of your favourite foods:

- Lincolnshire Sausages
- Miso Ramen
- Steak
- Samy's Curry

Four websites you visit daily:

- mail.yahoo.com
- google
- news.bbc.co.uk
- monster-ru.blogspot.com

Four tagged:

Afraid it dies here - I have a limited pool of BlogBuddies, and they have all done this already. Dear Tag, RIP.

Abortion test case - another can of worms

2006-01-23T13:03:00.000Z

Reading this on the BBC has raised a few interesting questions. The Crown Government has successfully argued that parents have no right to know if their daughters, under the age of 16, are seeking terminations or treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. The most interesting of the published comments came from Philip Sales (presumably QC), who is reported to have argued that:

"The UK has very serious problem with high teenage pregnancy rates - and confidentiality was a key component of government policies to reduce conception rates and improve sexual health."

Now, in a country that officially does not have abortion on demand, this seems very like a backdoor policy to reduce teenage pregnancy via abortion; education on conception and sexual health being the other twin pillars of a triumvirate birth reduction strategy. It also would seem to be based on the notion that the state: the health care services: and the minor, are the only morally and legally involved entities in the information flow. These seems to be counter-intuitive in a state where parents can be issued ASBOs (Anti Social Behaviour Orders) for their children's behaviour, and can also be imprisoned (yes, sent to gaol) for their children's truancy.

I would argue that if Government policy is premised on parental responsibility for their children, then this self-same policy should preclude the exclusion of parents from the information loop. It is patently absurd to argue that in a country where a minor cannot have a tattoo without the active collusion of a parent, it is perfectly acceptable (in law) for the same child to have a termination outside of the cognisance of their parents. I can accept that the parents may not have the right of decision, but they should be empowered to help their daughters deal with the possible traumatic aftermath of their decision, and be enabled and empowered to provide their duty of comfort and care to girls who have, legally speaking, been raped.

A Lovecraftian excuse to party?

2006-01-18T15:39:00.000Z

Today at 0445, I awoke; which, considering the time of day, was in itself nothing short of miraculous. However, my arousal on this occassion (as is so frequently the case in pubescence, and yet so rarely so in adulthood) was with purpose and vigour; I was to travel to that Dutch city of renown: Amsterdam.

Amsterdam, as a former occupancy of mine, holds a certain frisson, an electric thrill awakened by memory, and nurtured by a nostalgia that I rather suspect will persist to my termination. Even on days such as this, when the stated function of my travel is work, I am at the mercy of this City's playful ministrations. As my plane descended from cloudy skies, my portal revealed a yawning vista that lacked even the mildest of pimples, moated by a legion of canals, eliciting a tremor of excitement from those lepidopteran that reside in my gut. My somewhat obvious state of agitation at a return to my former home prompted a train of thought on memory, which, apart from being a sideline from my narrative, might have a more generalised value.

Often memory and the reality that it entombs are at such great variance that to call one the capture of the other is to entirely miss the purpose of both. Memory is a hit of heroin; it is the cotton wool padding of a smack induced euphoria. Memory protects us from reality, it enables us to take the breathtaking and make it commonplace. Yet the perversity of memory must be its uncommon ability to take the habitual and inflate its place in our consciousness to that of the superlative. As I sit here, writing this, I wonder if my mind is not playing tricks on me; if Amsterdam might not be all that I remember, if it is not actually a lighthouse guiding us away from the rocks of European drudgery: In short, is Amsterdam just another city?

Before I type another letter, or carve another rune, I am going to go out and taste this city, compare its flavours with those in my head, and thus objectively decide: "Is Amsterdam fun?"

Sweden northern lights

2006-01-11T23:33:00.000Z

Dare I say 'nuff said?

Excuses for image quality can be found in my flickr comments

Jonathon Livingstone Seagull

2006-01-02T00:01:00.000Z

seagull_stockholm_working
Originally uploaded by taekwon-dodo.

This gull was flying around outside our hotel in Stockholm, and provided me with a great opportunity to test out my 70-300mm lens and see how the auto-focusing held up with a relatively fast moving subject at around 200 metres distance. I was particularly happy with this shot and have photoshopped it to add some vignetting.

Holiday finished

2005-12-30T11:20:00.000Z

After a lovely break I am finally back in the office, although the European weather has seen fit to delay my return to the UK; so I am working in Amsterdam today whilst Kanga goes to view the Henri Cartier-Bresson retrospective exhibition at Foam. All-in-all I have really enjoyed this holiday, the first for a few years, and was glad to have booked a non-standard break. Stockholm proved to be a truly beautiful city, with an extremely picturesque old-quarter, and, largely underground, a modern multitude of malls. The Swedes themselves proved to be a contradiction of great customer service, weighed against incredible lack of civility and manners; perfunctory politeness such as opening doors or saying "Tack" (thanks) was completely absent from our interactions with the general Swedish population. The Ice-Hotel was pretty amazing, a testament to either: mankind's never-ending quest to create and build, or his drive to accrue money. Either way, we enjoyed ourselves immensely, Kanga took lots of 'photos, and I saw the Aurora Borealis ('photos to follow once I am back in the UK).

It seems somehow trite to condense the experiences of the last ten days into a small post on this blog, and so I will try to spend some time over the next two to three days compartmentalising the trip into discrete blocks, that can be posted with supporting 'photos. That being said the trip was fantastic; it was restful; it was needed.

CS Lewis Quote

2005-12-16T12:35:00.000Z

"He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it hath already
committed breakfast with it in his heart"

Fantastic

Back to School

2005-12-14T21:57:00.000Z

Just occurred to me that I hadn't blogged about next years return to school. I am starting my MSc in Software Development in May with the Open University - hopefully the first step towards:

A) A better career
B) A PhD

Ok - B is a bit ambitious, but it is a start ;-)

2 Days to go

2005-12-14T13:27:00.000Z

Well - two days of work before the festive season begins. a break that i need.

Thanks God for Jesus

Cold today

2005-12-06T18:57:00.000Z

Chicago at 6am this morning was 5 degrees........FAHRENHEIT!!

To those who never had to grow up with Imperial measurements thats -15 Celsius.

Even with boxers, trousers, and two coats my nuts were freezing. I think that is the coldest ambient temperature I have ever experienced. With the wind chill it was likely down to -20 to -25.

I LOVE IT!!!

Are Americans the new Victorians?

2005-12-06T00:24:00.000Z

It struck me today, as I was returning to the hotel, how the grandiose gothic architecture of large American cities evokes in me the feelings that I have always imagined Victorian architecture would in visitors to London during the mid 1800's. The architecture of Victorian London was designed to impress upon the visitor the natural superiority of the British, to dwarf them physically and to belittle their sense of self. Conversely it was designed to bolster the sense of self importance, of belonging to something greater than the common man for the gentleman member of Victorian society, It was even designed to say to the poorest member of society - "You are part of this". Admitedly, in their case it was to re-inforce their sense of failure, of failing society (through the poor house), but still, the effect was there. The story of Dick Whittingham reinforces the idea of London being a place where the very streets cry out the superiority of the British so it takes little to imagine how much more impressive it's buildings were.

And so it is with America. Gothic, thrusting, bulging buildings designed not for function but for effect. They scream "we are superior" to every visitor, they are the physical manifestation of the American traits of loud, brash insensitivity. They are certainly in poor taste - the last great cultural revival to use gothic themes to assert national superiority was the Third Reich. And yet many of these buildings are from that period, the 20's and 30'. I wonder whether the buildings reflect the modern American or vice versa.

---------------------------------------------

It is certainly interesting to be here. As a people the Americans are so internationally unaware, and yet they dominate the international scene. Today on the radio a caller was bemoaning the fact that the Department of Homeland Security's seal imposes the US Eagle Seal on a Star of David - hinting at the "zionist conspiracy" (FWIW - I worked out what he was on about - the wings, head, branches and tail feathers make the points of a Davidian star if you stretch the imagination a bit - see the seal here). Of course the irony that the USA is the biggest single supporter of the State of Isreal was lost on the caller. The next caller was bemoaning the fact that the third world doesn't want to engage in fair trade. This uninformed caller obviously has never heard of how the US subsidises it's farmers, and then exports it's heavily subsided goods (such as cotton and maize) to third world countries who have been forced to stop subsidising their own farmers by the American led IMF. This is obviously a new definition of fair that I wasn't previously aware of. It is staggering how people can not know these things. Outside of these borders these are the political hot potatoes that are being tossed in the newspapers, on the TV, the Radio and the 'net. It is so frustrating.

-------------------------------------------------

Generally my trip here has, as any trip to the US does, made me angry about the sheer volume of the politically uniformed population. It appears to be a very vocal majority. A majority who have made criticism of the State a thing which is labelled as un-American. Do they not realise that this is the very defining characteristic of their nation, without which the USA would not exist. Have they never read the letters of PUBLIUS? The federalist concerns vis a vis the British state concieved the nation. The war of independance birthed it. Criticism of state is key to what Hamilton, Madison and Jay were trying to communicate. Whatever happened to this popular need to challenge the state?

Today most Americans cannot see beyond their own borders to understand the immeasurable harm that their ignorance inflicts upon the world. The average American seems to live in a Utopian world that denies the dystopia that their lifestyle inflicts upon the rest of the world. Don't get me wrong - I am not anti-American. There are intellectual giants here, and political heavy weights. It's just that the majority of people don't question, don't think. In a horrible reversal of Romans 8:36 They can be accounted like sheep leading the world to slaughter.

This years Mock Turner winner

2005-12-05T18:27:00.000Z

"Foiled"
Matthew John
2005

Copyright presumed to belong to the BBC. Image displayed without permission and will be removed if requested.

You work in customer services? Really?

2005-12-04T22:26:00.000Z

Ok - Chicago is -3 today which for me (North European that I am) was fine. Not too cold at all. The trip from O'Hare to the Wyndham (the relatively swanky hotel) was good. The hotel was fine, until that is I wanted to use the WiFi.

Like most corporate lackeys, my laptop is shutdown so WiFi will not work. This is not a problem, the hotel has little APs to attach to your RJ45 LAN port so that is good. What sucked was that I could not get my laptop OR my XDA Exec to connect. So, I asked front desk for support, which sounds like the start of a Gerry Seinfeld joke. The girl could not help, and refered me to WayPoint - the hotels network provider. Thinking I would try to help I checked if I could get a connection elsewhere on the laptop - which I could. Armed with this info I went back to the desk, who offered to replace the AP!

I explained in noddy terms that this proved there was no WiFi coverage in my room. The girl expressed doubt as WayPoint provide the network infrastructure! Aaargh pet hate! I suggested that I was sure I was right, and better qualified to analyse the root cause of network problems than she, and have stomped off for a coffee.

Unable to connect in room (or even see the SSID) whilst being able to elsewhere in the hotel means that my room is the issue. In the words of Terse:

"Sheeesh"

Dear God!!!!

2005-12-03T22:58:00.000Z

Ok - thanks to this site it appears that the temperature in Chicago tomorrow is going to be between -7 and -12 Celcius.

Oh. My. God. That's ridiculous. Just as well i checked - it is time to re-pack with more jumpers and vests!

Off to Chicago

2005-12-03T15:34:00.000Z

Well tomorrow morning I am off to Chicago for three days then when I get back there is only 7 working days until my break. This year has just flown by - it is truly terrifying

Oh also the last post i made (now deleted) was suppose to be in draft.....so is blogger's draft feature screwed?

'tis the season to be snuffly - sniffy sniffy sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff!

2005-11-30T20:48:00.000Z

Ah sinusitus after a cold - now I know I am back in the UK! Joy of joys.

On a more positive note - I am getting 30 mins guitar practice each day and feel progress is being made is unlearning my bad habits and reverting to more traditional Classical techniques (right hand alternating index and middle for every note - except when playing i, m, a, correct placement of left hand thumb, guitar placed between legs resting on the left leg, use of foot stool etc).

Another 7-10 years and I might actually get somewhere!

Trends

2005-11-24T11:49:00.000Z

Over the last three months my commitment to blogging has appeared to wane somewhat - and in-evitably readership of teh blog has slipped. From the heady heights of hundreds of hits per week I am apparently down to 56. Seeing this made me question why my posting has gone from daily to twice monthly, and I have reached the following conclusions:

1) As I don't really go out and socialise much these days (living thousands of miles away from your friends of the last 7 years has that effect) and thus actually have less gossip and anecdotes

2) Since I got my hernia my exercise regime has stopped - so I have no tracking of progress against goals to report

3) Since leaving Amsterdam my major sources of work stress have gone - so I have less to bitch about

4) Getting up at 0530 to cycle to work means that by the time I get home of an evening (around 8pm) I am knackered and have little time to read, paint, draw, play warhammer, take photos or indeed do any of my relaxation hobbies. So - I have nothing to post on these either

Basically it seems pretty self evident to me that over the last 6 months my life has become somewhat insular and withdrawn from the wider world. A year or two ago this would have prompted hasty and rash calls for affirmative action - the purchase of a new army to paint, or start a new photo project. Possibly I would have added another few kilometres to my daily run, or set a target to reduce my body fat another percentage point or two. Now, a few years older I realise that it is the small changes that make the difference. Big plans inevitably lead to big failure and disappointment. Small incremental change is the ordre du jour.

So the small changes I am making are:

1) I am back to cycling to work. Maybe not everyday - but whenever I can (British weather permitting)
2) I will try to paint at least one figure per week from my Lizardmen army
3) I will start doing weights again at home - but not to excess
4) I will start running again two to three times a week - but no marathons or even half marathons until my hernia is completely repaired
5) I will try to enjoy some of the small things that most ppl take for granted - starting with the pub. As a non-drinker the pub is a place of angst for me as I would love to drink - but I know exactly where that road leads. Daily hangovers, zero savings, bar tabs, poor work performamce, beer belly, shakes, smoking. So - once a week I will try to get out to a pub, play a few frames of pool, have a few coffees, read a book and go.
6) I will try to slow down. In everything I do I seem to adopt a frenetic pace - drinking, eating, running, cycling, reading - everything. I am always in a hurry to finish what I am doing and do the next thing. The ONLY exception to this is cooking - which can never be good and rushed. So, I will try to take my time and enjoy all things as much as I do cooking

lastly - but not least - I will blog at least once per week. This should be easier as Christmas and all the related festivities of the season arrive - as well as kanga!

Ok - hopefully I will be more present in the blog-sphere and I also i hope to catch up more with all the SG chaps. So far T is on MSN - anyone else?

herniascar

2005-11-07T20:57:00.000Z

herniascar
Originally uploaded by taekwon-dodo.

Not being a doctor I am somewhat limited in my ability to comment - however I doubt that after 10 days my hernia scar is supposed to look like this. I have a hospital appointment tomorrow and am hoping for the best....

Rediscovered Joy

2005-11-06T16:33:00.000Z

Whilst strolling through town today I decided to buy an A5 sketch pad with pens and pencils. Sketching faces, normally contorted in pain, anguish and misery were great passtimes of mine when I was a bairn, with usually the rules being that the face had to portray one particular emotion, and the sketch had to take a maximum of 10 minutes. The results of my first attempts in yonks are:

A Perfect Christmas Present for the Photography mad NIECrew

2005-11-04T02:02:00.000Z

All I can say is that WR, W, TYM, K, D&DD, G, B, S, heck, hot dang the whole lot of you should be looking here. Only reason I didn't selfishly just do this as a Christmas pressie for each and everyone one of you is that you need the photographers permission.....darnnit!

Follow up

2005-10-30T16:06:00.000Z

On Friday night my Hernia was operated on by Mr. J Scurr at the Lister Hospital, Chelsea Bridge. Initially I was expecting a Laparoscopic Herniorrhaphy, which is the technique commonly referred to as "key hole surgery". However, after checking into the hospital I was told that I would be having an Open Herniorrhaphy. This is surgery done the traditional way, that is via incision. This meant that once again I had to shave my groin (which I have had to do for my Ablation therapy) and then made my way to anesthesiology, escort by two nurses, for my GA. My anesthesiologist inserted a needle with a one way valve into the rear of my hand and proceeded to inject a large volume of anti-biotics (with the number of MSRA cases in the UK I was glad for this), followed by the actual GA. As usual I felt the icy cold sensation of the chemical moving through my artery and then I was under.

I awoke approximately 90 minutes later without any nausea or grogginess, although I suspect I was a little high. There was no significant pain and all in all I was quite happy. The nurses wheeled me back to my room and I fell asleep again. I was awoken at 2000 for dinner, by which time a very mild discomfort in my groin was telling me that I had indeed undergone surgery. The anesthesiologist dropped by to check on me and told me that a local anesthetic had been applied to my surgical site and that I could expect this to wear off around 0100 - so to make sure that I medicated with pain killers. Taking this on board I asked the nurses at 2200 for painkillers - which eventually arrived at 0012. I took these, but I had missed the boat, and awoke again at 0200 in significant pain, with nausea and hot sweats. Fortunately my symptoms seemed to spur the nursig staff into more action and I was given a raft of meds, which knocked me out until 0700.

After checking out I was unable to get a taxi (none around) so had to bus - with two changes and approximately 1km of walking. This took me two hours to do what is normally 20 minutes, and was painful and difficult. getting home I slept, ate and slept some more. All in all, I have found that a hernia operation is more painful than I expected and is certainly more debilitating. If there was not online shopping via tesco.com, and friends to help I would have been in significant trouble - and would have had to have asked my Mum to pcik me up and take me to Canterbury.

Today I am more mobile, although still hunched over and slow. I will not leave the house until wednesday, by when I expect to be fully ambulatory, as well as having a dental appointment for four fillings. I have showered and checked out my scar - which is of course the second hernia scar at that site (previous one was from surgery 32 years ago). I can't wait to start running, cycling and doing weights again - but I have been advised to do no cycling for two weeks, no running for four weeks, and no weights for six weeks. Obviously there is a grey area where "interpersonal affection expression" is concerned.....

To finish, I am glad I had the operation, and am looking forward to a week of rest at home. I would have prepared better for it (booked taxi, filled up freezer etc) if I had understood the impact of this operation on my movements, but am looking forward to being active again!

Gherkin Plasma Attack

2005-10-22T18:17:00.000+01:00

Gherkin Plasma Attack

I was unable to resist posting this very Dr. Who style view of the Gherkin....

Extermiate! Ex-ter-min-ate!

Gherkin Lighting

2005-10-22T18:09:00.000+01:00

Gherkin Lighting

This is the famous Gherkin in London taken on the way from the office. A few more piccies of this are on my Flickr page - obviously with differing volumes of PS'ing....

Bali

2005-10-02T05:46:00.000+01:00

Shock, disgust and indignation moving toward prejudice, aggression and hate were my original feelings over yet another terrorist attack - the results of which I have stayed up all night watching on BBC and CNN. These have given way to thinking and doing my best to achieve some form of empathy for the perpetrator in an attempt to understand why they would commit such a random act of violence against their fellow men, and (not counting the tourists - who undoubtably were the intended targets) their brothers and sisters in Islam. After a few hours of thought I suspect that my initial feelings are what the bombers are aiming for - a fractured world of them and us based on hate, mutual revulsion and a complete lack of sympathy, empathy or understanding of each others values systems.

It was in reading some of Thomas More's "Utopia" during the non-Bali news that it became clear to me that we have an obligation to think and never to accept things at face value. He was refering to the mechanisms of state and the nature of government and it's role in our lives - and this is appropriately enough what the bombers are ostensibly fighting against. They are fighting against the imposition of government by proxy (via economic leverage), primarily by the rich, white west. If, in reacting with understandable horror and disgust we abandon reason, and allow emotions to rule our reactions then the bombers have won. However, if we think and apply cognitive process, and apply the results of this process in an attempt to remove the reasons for Jihad/War/Terror, then we may convert these armies of dread into paper tigers.

Machiavelli in Il Principe suggests all manner of ways of controllong people, and their reactions to circumstance through manipulation of fact, fiction, and emotion. The terrorists are using similiar techniques to polarise the global population along lines of religion, wealth and ethnicity. We have a duty to fight them with the best tools available to us (not necessarily the easiest tools). Debt relief, investment, fair trade, good governance, education and respect. If we can win the hearts and minds of the common man through treating him fairly and with dignity, with respect for his beliefs and moral structures, rather than through unfair trading, the law of the gun and (possibly unitentional) prejudice (whether that is ethnic, religious or monetarily based), then we cut the roots of anger and foster mutual understanding. The terrorist won't disappear entirely, a small minority of people will always find a cause to kill for, but his ground swell of support and ability to disappear into the masses will start to evaporate. And much like a fish in a drying up lake, terrorist networks will start to choke and die.

If the above is true, then we need to consider how we can start to treat people, whether they are black, white, brown or yellow, with equality. We need to re-priotise, and rather than spending $200 Billion on the articles of war ($200 Nillion being the projected dollar cost for the US in Iraq - and that excludes the other members of the "Coalition of the Willing"), we need to consider how else that money might be better, and more productively spent. Lets face it, the G8 has offered (without consulation with the world bank!) to write off $40 Billion of debt - by using future aid to pay current debt. How much better spent would that $200 Billion have been in writing off debt, building agricultural, industrial, civil and governmental infrastructure as investment? It seems self evident to me that investing $200 Billion in helping people improve their lives would have a far longer reaching positive impact on reducing terrorism than spending it on Patriot missiles, RPG's, Stingers and M16's. Weapons, once unsheathed, are no longer investments in deterrance. They are an unregainable cost - that rarely show a good return on the inital capital investment - not so investment in people.

In conclusion I find it astonishing that the US, indeed the world, has still not learnt the lessons of Vietnam. US National Intelligence Estimates prior to the collapse of the French colony (as early as 1956 during the Geneva Conference!) pointed out that control of the fundamental commodities of life was the key to success in South East Asia. The provision of the most basic staple, rice, was more powerful than political propoganda or strength of arms. The peasant farmer would not raise up, or more importantly support an uprising, against the hand that fed it. Eisenhower ignored this and paid attention to Diem's misdirection and wayang (Opera) and ended up in a war it could not win, against an enemy that, although brutal, paid attention to the maxim that dogs do not bite the hand that feed them.

It's not too late to apply this lesson to current global policies, all it requires is the political will to change policy, and pressure from us, the masses. To follow the reasoning of Socrates, and apply it to todays tragedy, no one knowingly does a bad thing - it is merely the lack of knowledge and a common reference point that turns our terrorist into another man's freedom fighter. So let's all acknowledge the problems, find a common point of reference and try to change the world.

Monnikendam - Migrating Birds

2005-09-25T22:44:00.000+01:00

Originally uploaded by taekwon-dodo.

This is what prompted me to start my "Autumn in Flames" set. Since I was a child, the sight of the migratory birds commencing their annual journey to Africa has always been confirmation of autumn starting. As usual the birds have beaten the trees to show autumn is here - the trees are just now beginning to go brown, whereas these chaps started the journey south two weeks ago!

Monnikendam Sunrise

2005-09-25T22:27:00.000+01:00

Monnikendam Sunrise 2
Originally uploaded by taekwon-dodo.

The beauty of fishing is that you get to see things that others may miss. This classic early autumnal sunrise was taken at Monnikendam, and started a great day in which I caught nothing and in that most zen frame of mind that all pragmatic fishermen have, was content and fulfilled.

Today I also went fishing, also caught nothing, and am also happy. I have been out for a coffee with Katja, cycled around 40km, and feel that I have not wasted the day. It's a shame I have work tomorrow - but not long now until I can take a holiday!

Peace - the DoDo

Booker Prize Countdown

2005-09-14T10:00:00.000+01:00

October 10th looms large on the horizon, and the annual madness (in the English reading world) should have started on 8th September with the announcement of the Booker Shortlist.

This year the bookmaker's favourite is "Arthur and George" (Julian Barnes, Jonathan Cape) which is based on the (shock! gasp!) real life story of that most famous of authors' (A. Conan-Doyle) attempt to overturn a wrongful conviction. Although Barnes is the favourite, I can't help but suspect that this (as in so many other years) will turn out to be wrong. Please, do not misunderstand me - I love (but am not "in love with") Barnes and I have done for a good 14 years. But this year I think that the prize will go to Zadie Smith for "On Beauty"....

On Beauty is a literary rimming of EM Forsters "Howards End", and revolves around the life of Howard Belsey, who is English and unhappily married to Kiki (an American), and the changes that his stagnant life receives when his eldest son falls in love with Victoria (who is the daughter of Monty Kipps, a right wing politician). The story follows the changes that unfold as these two families find themselves thrown together against the backdrop of war and the beautiful pastoral scenes of rural America. It has drama, war, love, lust, middle aged mediocrity, and is written by a woman.

The "other runners", to completely not pay dues to 4 literary greats, are:

Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
Ali Smith - The Accidental
Sebastian Barry - A Long Long Way
John Banville - The Sea

I will be reading Ishiguro this week and posting my opinion (which, like a sows ear is worth nothing) - and aim to get through Ali Smith next week, quickly followed by Barry and Banville.

So - lets get geared up for this annual event and see who actually wins!

As an aside, the peoples prize is currently running as follows:

Banville - 9
Barnes - 35
Barry - 9
Ishiguro - 26
Ali Smith - 26
Zadie Smith - 7

But it is early days, and everything is up for grabs. This week I will write a quick tool to grab these stats off the Booker prize website and produce a realtime graph of the voting pattern....technology and literature meet!

Song of the Pig

2005-09-13T15:22:00.000+01:00

According to the BBC, Xiang Xiang (香香) is making it big in China, thanks to 163888.net who have been running her song "Pig's Song" 猪之歌. This song has been hugely popular in PRC with "one billion downloads" (said in Dr. Evil's voice) across China, Malaysia and Singapore. With 1.3 billion living in China, and around 20 million (ethnic Chinese) across Malaysia and Singapore, and only 102 Million online in China - one wonders how kiasu people must be? "Wah - got pig song one! Must download to iPod, handphone, pc and send to all my buddies! So cuuuttee!". I can hear it now.....

So to all my non Singaporean/PR/or Chinese guests, here are the lyrics to this little oddity.....in English (hey I have been practising my "other languages" and signed up for school (to do Mandarin in London - Eek!) but no way am I man enough to do this!). If you want to hear it, just go to mp3 - sina and search for 猪之歌香香 - it's fansss-tastic!

Pig, you have two holes on your nose
When you catch cold, you are snorting
Pig, you have black eyes which we cannot see beyond
Pig, you have two big ears
And you cannot hear that I'm cursing you silly
Pig, you have a curling tail which you cannot run without
Pig head, pig brain, pig body and pig tail
You are a good baby who eats everything
Everyday you won't wake up till noon
And you never brush your teeth and you never fight

Man - it moves me in ways I didn't believe possible...quite how I leave to your imagination!

How do you see me?

2005-09-03T22:28:00.000+01:00

It is patently not possible to see ourselves as others do - as in the act of trying, our own colourations and prejudices are applied as a template that robs us of the original perception. I can no more empathise with anothers view of me, than they can empathise with how I see them.

And so humanity continues to spiral uncontrollably, locked in mutual incomprehension, the same template observed in the macro dooming us to repeat in micro like a parts of a vast mandelbrot set.

Foxglove?

2005-08-30T11:18:00.000+01:00

IMG_1341
Originally uploaded by taekwon-dodo.

I was out for a walk on Sunday early morning in Canterbury, Kent and came across this dew laden flower (which I think is a Foxglove). The way that the light caught the water, which had become trapped at the rear of the glove was really startling, and spurred me to capture this on film.

On another note, I am trying to identify all the flowers I have taken - so if anyone is good at naming flowers pls go over to my flickr page and add comments...

Thanks

The DoDo

Frustrated!

2005-08-25T14:24:00.000+01:00

I have decided that I need a holiday - my nerves are frayed, my skin is grayed, and my angry frustrations are publicly displayed. I have had enough of the constant off loading of work from the project manager, who seems to be running with a "I'll take the glory, and you take the gore" approach to project management. Which, ordinarily is all I would expect of a consultant - it does their corporate image no good to admit defeat or error, and so they are subliminally indoctrinated whilst they sleep with blame avoidance strategies. But in this case it is really too much - especially when I am asked to account for not planning for events that I wasn't even aware of! HEELLLOOOOOO - I am not, to my knowledge, psychic nor have I been elevated to demi-godhood, so it does seem somewhat unfair to expect me to have the powers of either. I believe that is is fairly rare that I dig my heels in and become obstreperous, but in this instance I am very, very sorely tempted.

On a more positive note I am off to Blighty tomorrow to see ma famille, which should be a great opportunity to relax, unwind, unburden myself of my woes, and take some photo's of beautiful Kent. I might even take a fishing rod with me and go Pike hunting on the Stour (or I could even buy a new rod.....YUMMMY). I am taking monday as a work at home day - my mothers home rather than mine, and I am anticipating a warm 21-24 degrees - not hot, just nicxe after the 14 degrees we have been having in Amsterdam.

I have just finished parts 1 & 2 of "The Last Mythal" - but it appears it may be some time before part 3 is release - dagnabbit! However, in teh meantime I have started reading "Orcs - Omnibus" by Stan Nicholls. I am on the first few pages but so far it seems rather humourous with a relatively fast moving plot. Readers reviews on Amazon lurch between 1 star and 5 stars - so it's obviously a love it or hate it book. I will be interested to see where I lie....

Anyhoo - enough of my twaddle - it is time to depart from the office and go to a cafe, sip coffee and play chess - or atleast work my way through the rest of my chess strategy primer, "Winning Chess Strategies" by Grand Master Yasser Seirawan

iPod Mini

2005-08-17T22:36:00.000+01:00

After my iPod mini was returned from Apple and is no longer under warranty I have done the unthinkable and dismantled the bugger and fixed it myself. The clicker wheel is now working fine and I am confident enough to purchase the DIY battery and HDD upgrades available on the web.......hmmmmm 18+ hour battery and possibly a larger HDD - for less than 100 USD......yummy

BTW - Unless you are very open to screwing up your mini I would not recommend trying what I did. Suffice to say step one is:

1) Take a screw driver and slide the blade between the white plastic and the mettalic cover at the top of your mini. Pry the plastic off. Repeat for base.

Hm, that was easy...NOT. But the techy gadget man in me that is buried and hidden so deep could not resist!

Warhammer Images Uploaded

2005-08-17T21:54:00.000+01:00

Noise Marine

Well I have been busy and completed my skinks (lizardmen army) and am now on my Saurus. I have also started work on my swarms and am still doing some NoiseMarines.

Take a look - give comments (30 Pounces, Terse, Kanga and all the other gamers especially). Oh - expect more additions to the etymology this weekend and possibly the 69 collection......

Cycling

2005-08-11T21:54:00.000+01:00

After work today I went for a walk in town and got my haircut, which as always was a very relaxing experience, and also, as usual these days, the hairdresser assumed I was as gay as Socrates (i.e. very). Anyway, this is always quite funny when it happens - especially as the poor chap said to me (in a conspiratorial whisper in my ear):

"And the worst thing about them (straight men) is, that these days they go to the gym, are vain and wear our clothes! Honestly darling, it's so bad you nearly can't tell who is gay these days!"

Of course I laughed with him, although for slightly differing reasons!

Anyway, after I finished I went home, grabbed the bike and went from Amsterdam to Uithoorn and back again by following the River Amstel. I suspect that I may have actually done 60 - 70k as I cycled back into amsterdam, and then went to Rai, then down to Oosterdock, and back up through town to Marnixstraat - but the GPS ran out of battery at 50km so I won't know until Saturday when I will do it again, with new batteries. Assuming that it was 70 then I am not far off my 100km target in 3 hours, which coincidentally is the distance from Canterbury (my Mums home) to London......anyone care to guess what i am thinking of doing next month.....

Once the hernia gets sorted out, my running will resume - I am still managing to cycle 20-30km per day, so I am not getting unfit, but I do miss my 15km runs to Amstelveen and back :-(

Anyway - I am off to paint some skinks then sleep - I have to be up in 8 hours to cycle 13 k to work!! :-)

Taekwon

PS I have loaded an e-bible on my PDA and am working through the new testament. I suspect that my Grandmothers death is prompting all sorts of questions, and the answers, well who knows what they will be or where I will find them? However, I am applying those skills learnt as a child at school, and that these days see me through work daily - namely to research a wide base when investigating a problem - so I may have the bible, but I also have some philosphy texts, and pop culture books. Now, lets see where this takes me.......

violet_flower_small

2005-08-07T23:03:00.000+01:00

violet_flower_small
Originally uploaded by taekwon-dodo.

Ok - first photo from Flickr going over to the blog. I am sure that it may not be technically competent but there is something beautiful about this flower - it's simplicity is it's beauty in an almost austere, protestant manner. The raindrops just finish it off (it started to rain as I took this) - if they don't show up on this blogged version please feel free to hop over to flickr to see the original!

Sleep, politics and the weekend

2005-08-04T12:03:00.000+01:00

I am currently suffering from lack of good sleep. My eyes are heavy and dark, and a feeling of lethargy has stolen over my limbs. It is of course ridiculous that this should be happening to me - especially when the cause of the tiredness is that I can't sleep well as my wife is not in Amsterdam. To explain, Kanga has been here for the last three weeks, and my night-time routine has inevitably adapted to having her around. The house and the slaapkamer seem empty, and sleeping alone has become difficult. I no longer have the lullaby of her snores to escort me to the sandmans realm, and I wake at the slightest noise. Of course, I will get used to this again in the next few weeks - but by the time I have adapted once more, Kanga shoul dbe moving here again. This time with the Finn and Belle monsters.

Perhaps re-starting my exercise regime will help - it stopped due to my hernia, but this appears to have calmed down for a while and so maybe light exercise (such as walking, cycling or even a mild jog) will be ok.....

I did mention that politics was on the cards today, and indeed it is. A new colleague of mine, Julian, stood as the labour candidate for his local constituency in the last general election, and lost (he lives in true blue Essex - which only has three labour MPs out of 17 constituency MPs). Anyway, seeing as he has a deep interest in politics, we started discussing Singapore. These were the questions I was fielded:

1) Is Singapore a Democracy?
2) Does Singapore have Corporal punishment?
3) Does Singapore have Capital punishment?

I must admit to being more than a wee tad surprised that a potential MP would ask these questions. Lets face it, Singapore, although small, is a strong regional player in some areas, and has globally highly ranked economic pointers in:

1) Ranked first in the World Economic Forum Global Information Technology Report 2004-2005
2) Ranked seventh in the Global Competitiveness Report 2004-2005
3) Ranked second by the IMF for economic freedom
4) Ranked first for Exports - Commercial services by IMF

Now, the current economy may have been somewhat moribund for the last three-four years, but that is hardly unique to the little red dot. Apart from China, this has been consistent throughout south east asia, with recovery only recently beginning to show in Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Japan to name but a few are still in the doldrums.

It makes me concerned that a potential MP could have such gaps in their international knowledge. I know that I can give a high level overview of many Asian, African, South American, North American and European economic states, justice systems, and current political states. Thats what reading the paper daily, watching BBC World, CNN and other current affairs/news programmes does. I have no burning political ambitions (although I am sure I could do a better job than many politicos) but at least I bother to find out what is happening around the world, and what is happening in major countries globally.

Anyway - enough whining. tomorrow kicks off the weekend and I am going photographing on Saturday. I am thinking that a trip with a borrowed tripod to an insect zoo or butterfly house could be fruitful, with teh macro lens. Or possibly a cycle ride out to a nature reserve and try to get the local wildlife captured "on film". Whichever I do I will upload to Flickr on sunday night - so be prepared to pass Judgement!

Canon

2005-07-28T13:11:00.000+01:00

I had a big post on this but IE crashed so I am putting a short post instead.

I have purchased a Digital Rebel XT
Complete with
EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6
1Gb CF Card (80x)
256 CF Card (out of the box)

I would like to buy the EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM lens - but will need to save for about four months to buy this - maybe I will see if the family can club together with Ru for Christmas and then I can top up to help out.

I also have CS2 installed and am looking to sit the ACE exam for Photoshop in November - but thats very much my kind of thing as it is a shiny new software toy.....

So - get ready for my p-poor images to get uploaded to Taekwon-DoDo and I look forward to ridicule as I try to get upto speed.

Shoes

2005-07-28T11:18:00.000+01:00

Total number of shoes you own:

Ten (I think)

In order of frequency of use and year of purchase:
One pair of brown work shoes from Van Lier (2005).
One pair Converse 2004 John Lennon Limited edition pumps (2005).
One pair Adidas cross training shoes (2004).
One pair Adidas running shoes (2003).
One pair flip flops (2004)
One pair Doctor Martins tan desert boots (2005).
One pair Adidas tennis shoes (2003)
One pair black Loakes (formal dress shoes) 2004
One falling apart pair of Tan DM shoes (2000)
One pair ripe cherry brogues (2001)

The last shoe you bought:

Doctor Martins tan desert boots bought in Londion for GBP40

How many shoes do you have under your work desk:

None - I do have a pair in my locker though

People I'm passing this to:

Will have to return to this later - work calls

All's well that......

2005-07-22T23:50:00.000+01:00

Ok

I dumped here, and then i dumped it all out on my Mum, then next day asked her not to worry about it.

why?

Her Mother has just died. She has enough on her plate - so cut her some slack. And the rest of the family. Do what Nan would have wanted. Achieve some peace.

Night all from a hotel room in London where I am feeling at peace with myself and the world.

Thanks for all the messages of support - from some pretty unexpected quarters too!

Annoyance

2005-07-21T22:55:00.000+01:00

I can't help but feel that I am being an emotional child about this - but the whole situation since the death of my Grandmother has me in various states of annoyance and outright bloody anger. Let me list my grievances in the hope that writing them down will somehow prove therapeutic:

1) Prior to the death, as I am sure I have mentioned to various poor souls, I went to see my Grandparents. I asked to see my Grandmother who was bed bound due to the cancer. I got to say nothing that I wanted to (or even needed to) as my two aunts and mother were hovering around. Wasted an important part of the visit for me - although hopefully this was not the case for Nan. On my next visit said aunts and mother apologise and all is well, I get the time with both my Grandparents and say my goodbyes as I want to.

2) Grandmother passes away and I am told that a latin reqieum will be held at 11am today. Last night my cousin Hannah tells me this is no longer on - in fact it was cancelled several days ago. Thanks all for fucking telling me. I am obviously in the circle of trust. I can actually understand this happening - and reading my post a second time feel I should add that this is an annoyance but only that. It was a human mistake.

3) Yesterday my Mum, two aunts and two uncles lock themselves away in a room all night (just as they did last time Ru and I visited). At 11pm I am asked if I would like to take the communion offering up with my youngest cousin Lorna. Yeah right - bearing in mind my opinions where the Catholic church is concerned (which admittedly do pendulum somewhat), and my opinions about being shut out of the whole process so far, was it any surprise when I replied - "Thanks, but no thanks".

4) My Mother decides that I have not been supportive of her. Not sure what she wants - I have had around 4 calls from her in 4 weeks. I have called her over 13 times (checked my mobile log). The math speaks. Plus, lets be honest - my mother and her siblings have made their opinion of how this works abundantly clear - they want to be left alone in their conclave - so leave them alone I shall.

5) Having said to Mother that Ru will not be taking eucharist, and neither will I as I do not practise Catholicism, imagine my surprise when the priest offers blessings to non-Catholics and those non-practicing Catholics who will not be taking communion. Now, if I DON'T want eucharist what on earth makes anyone think I want a blessing!! This was obviously a word in his ear from someone in my family and set my bloood raging. Helped stop any tears though at the funeral as I was too angry to be sad. Also meant I didn't follow the service as my usual negativity towards Catholicism boiled over to vehement hatred. Seriously understood for the first time the concept of drawing strength from negative emotions - that rage kept me going.

6) Went to the burial, where my uncle Paul asked me to help guide guests - which I was happy to do. So, I stood there at the cemetary gate and directed people towards the grave. Whilst I was doing this they went ahead and FUCKING buried her. Never rang me to ask me to rush or anything. This was the worst thing and I will not, in the forseeable future, forgive this. They were so rude to do this. It is extremely hurtful - a call would have taken 10 seconds. Thats what I am worth apparently - not even 10 seconds of time.

I did write more - but in all honesty I deleted it because I do understand how all this happened. Everyone was upset and looking out for me was hardly going to be on the list. But it does suck and I am unhappy, sad and damaged by it. Nothing more i can say.

Back again after a brief hiatus

2005-07-14T12:08:00.000+01:00

After my travelling having stopped again, and Kanga arriving in AMS I thought it was time to update my blog. So far July 2005 is turning into a fraught and upsetting month. The following is a breakdown of the month so far:

6/7/2005 - Went to see my Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and of course my Mother. My Grandmother was awfully poorly, and despite all my efforts to the contrary I ended up shedding tears. In typical fashion my Gramdmother was strong and comforted me, as I wept for the loss that I was anticipating.
7/7/2005 - Was in London for a meeting at Liverpool Street and got caught in the confusion and panic that the bombings caused. A kind concierge at the Sheraton - Belgravia helped me get a taxi to heathrow - which only cost GBP65!
8/7/2005 - Ru arrives in AMS
13/7/2005 - Norah Docherty (nee Herne), loving Mother and Grandmother passed away at 1105. Goodbye Nan, you are bitterly missed and much loved by all, and especially so by me.
15/7/2005 - Culmination of 10 months work as we launch the product that I work on. This represents 1870 hours of my billed hours!
20 or 21/7/2005 - Requeim Tridentine Mass to be held at Herne

So, all in all this is not the best Month I have ever had - but I am relieved that my Grandmother has been granted freedom from the horrible pain she was in, and that she is in a better place. For those that pray a quick thought in your prayers for my Grandmother, and my family would be much appreciated.

Business Lounges in JFK

2005-06-23T20:53:00.000+01:00

A quick glance to my right, where my iPod - last seasons must have accessory that even this season is proving to be hot and possibly hip - is charging after a prolonged period of procumbence tells me that the time is 02:59 and I am listening to Polaris by Zero 7. Neither is in actual fact a statement of subjective truth, as it is not 02:59 in NYC, and I am not listening to Polaris. In fact, I challenge anyone to listen to the track, which in all fairness is a modern remix of some 70's funky lounge sounds with some slow jazzy beats and modern synth sounds. It is the epitamy of the bland, nameless branded music that gets played in 90% of trendy wine bars, piped in the background to not offend, to cover the awkward silences as the beautiful people realise that good looks really are only skin deep.

Luckily for me, I am neither in a trendy wine bar, or possessed of the sort of good looks that require me to worry about the thickness of my dermis. Rather I am sitting in the business lounge of American Airlines in Kennedy Airport, Brooklyn. This particular lounge is a hybrid of a late 80's prairie dog cubicle and 70's disaster movie airport lounge, with 7 foot high partitions around my laptop cubicle that are tastefully fitted out with sombre green panels, a dark bluey green carpet, and a dim desk lamp. Surronding me are the animated corpses that pass for international business travellers in all countries, sitting ram rod straight, gesticulating to one another with half empty gin and tonic in hand and free pretzels in half full mouths, sitting in judgement on todays news, on the downward close on euronext, and on the trial of sharing the air with economy passengers. Somehow I feel like an inflitrating fart that has been slowly slipped out by a senior traveller to the sudden embarrassment of all who are proper.

Prior to the ascent into the dizzy social heights of the lounge I disrobed from my business uniform of suit and dress shoes, and threw on a tee shirt, cardigan, chinos and flip flops. My casual attire has engendered a distinct frostines in the butch and chunky woman sitting on the sofa in front of my cubicle, and she has assumed the look of a guard, placed there to ensure that I do nothing to pierce the bubble of unreality that has built in the room. Somewhere beneath the cod like jowls that hang from her jaw I am sure I can see a slight twitch of tension. Could I break and burst through like a toddlers sticky finger in a soap bubble, freeing them from the banality of their lives, shocking the orange UV lamp tans from their skins like a surgical lazer through a bad tattoo, or is the effect of caffiene once again building up in me?

I swear that it is difficult to tell not only where I am, and what I am doing, but also what I am. My notepad, which has accepted my scrawl for the whole day with a patience that can only be called saintly, tells me that I awoke at 5am in Chicago, and left for O'hare at 0545. I arrived in NYC at La Guarda at 11am NYC time, having already done 3 hours work at the airport and on the plane. Apparently the inbred security guards felt that my luggage needed to be brutalised like a kissing cousin, as they violated my luggage lock, and rummaged their paws through a weeks worth of skids and stains. I wonder if they wore rubber gloves as they stroked and stoked their way through 5 days of Calvin Kleins or if they slipped off the glove like the perverted doctor in "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" so that they could part open the flaps of my case with their bare flesh, and worm and wiggle their digits into the used warmth of my pheremonal baggage interior, hoping to catch a whiff of scent to store away in their bestial memory for careful and selective later use?

So, a quick one hour journey through Queens, and into downtown manhattan brought me to my work at Goldman sachs, where I put in another 6 hours. A manic trip, in yet another manic taxi, complete with cloned indian taxi driver who seems to have learnt English perfectly, apart from the phrases "please turn up the aircon" and "please turn off the radio", and finally "please stop talking on your mobile whilst driving" ensued, with once again the whole discussion vis a vis tipping being a priviledge to reward good service, not a right confered at birth, and enshrined in the sacred texts of each major world faith, and most minor sects too erupting at payment time.

Suitably disgorged from my carriage I made my way here, to my green cubicle, where I dare not sleep in case I miss my flight. Once I am on the plane, and have had my dinner (at 2000 EURO a ticket, I am damn well eating the product that is put in front of me), I will get my alloted 4 hours sleep before we touchdown at Heathrow, where it will be 11am. From there a mad dash to my London office via the delightful Heathrow Express, and the less delightful Tube will ensue, after which I am slated to have meetings until 4pm. Once the second hand clears 1601:01 I escape to Canterbury until Sunday - when I will return to Amsterdam.

With all the above its a wonder I am not a complete basket case writing non-sensical ramblings into a psycho-babble therapy log to a group of imaginary readers - heh, but come'on that would just be crazy!

Jet lagged at 1642

2005-06-21T22:42:00.000+01:00

Have you ever noticed how jet lag is a sympton of the modern condition (whatever thats supposed to be)? Take me today or, for that matter, take me yesterday. I flew 8 hours to Chicago and did not sleep in the plane - neglecting to account for the fact that Chicago is 7 hours behind Amsterdam. So, every hour spent reading the history of the Peloponnesian war (and what a history it is - full of intrigue, politics, betrayal, alliances, honour and acts of despair) was an hour that was in physical fact, only 8 minutes long, proving that time is not only bent but twisted in humour as well. So when I landed at O'Hare, only one hour of real time had elapsed, whilst my body was convinced 8 hours had slipped through my hourglass. To cut a short story shorter, I ended up in bed at 9pm, crammed and crowded with coke and coffee, unable to sleep. When I finally slipped my neck into Morpheus' noose it was only to wake to vivid dreams at 2345, 0221, 0356, 0440 and finally at 0545. The dreamscapes were surreal, full of pain, loathing, misfortune and other, less pleasant things. For a while I suspected I was losing my mind, until I realised that all that had happened was I had lost my location in time and space. My mind may well have known it was in Chicago, but my body disagreed, and my soul was still lost somewhere in that 7 hour time lag. Suspecting that all I needed was a brisk run I ventured out into the strange and unfamiliar metropolis that I was in, and joined the herd performing it's daily migration along the shores of lake Michigan. My lungs apparently also no longer felt any need to co-operate with my body, as they wheezed and lowed there way through the miles, doing their level best to convince my fellow sycophants of health that I was not part of the pack, not one of the herd. Still, eventually they calmed down to a dull rasp like that made by my grandfathers bellows when I was a child and he would stoke his barbeque to a white hot heat that would have Alberich crying with envy, and they decided to service my oxygen depleted body, allowing me to complete my 7 mile run in a time that could only be considered superb by a geriatric paraplegic. As a reward I took a rest on the beach, where some considerate soul had left an anonymous sharp shiny and steel something in the sand, just waiting to prick my leg and draw a bright bead of blood, giving me the gift of excitement and anticipation as I go back to Amsterdam on Sunday where a small blood test will be in order.

So, punctured in flesh and wounded in spirit I made my way back to the hotel to perform the daily drudgery that defines us all, washing in tandem with the other 400 guests with the branded soap and named shampoos that so enrich our exterior, whilst carefully adding nothing to our interior. Ablutions completed I followed up with a breakfast bar of protein, and bowls of fruit accompanied by zero fat yoghurt, as image is all when you have no imagination, and left with a spring in my step, and an autumn in my heart for a work which was but a $15 ride across town.

And so dear reader, I sit here, on the 17th floor of a building that has a view that Helios would have given up his chariot and team for, and lament the fact that today, life is indeed a bowl of peaches. I just wish that someone had told me that the beaches had been dropped, bruised and left out in the sun to become blown and wasp ridden. Much like Cayce Pollard (Pattern Recognition, William Gibson) I am waiting for my soul to transmigrate the atlantic and find me in Chicago. I find myself hoping that when it arrives I have not left for NYC, for I fear that if it seeks me there it will surely miss me, and will have to cross the ocean again to find me in London, or possibly Canterbury, where I am will be visiting my ill, and suddenly old Grandmother. Don't mistake this post as sad, or even pretensious - for it is neither. It is just soulless.

Things I miss....

2005-06-17T23:41:00.000+01:00

Being half the world away from my wife there are certain things that I miss - and two in particular have surprised me greatly. Before detailing them I should point out that I am hardly a touchy feely person - in the literal sense of being tactile and needing to feel the touch of humans to express my emotions. In fact I am not a particluarly passionate person in any kind of emotional or even physical way either. I don't like to touch people or to have people invade my space. I will walk away from conflict rather than address it - sometimes to the point of cowardice. I know these things and accept them as part of who I am. So, getting back to my initial point, what has surprised me is missing two things that don't naturally come to me. The first is a passionate kiss - you know the type, full on silver screen kiss that hints at possibilities just waiting to be realised. Think Bollywood Shilpa Shetty kissing Manoj Bajpai in Fareb, or Audrey Hepburn melting in George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

There is just something so special about a kiss that I didn't appreciate until they weren't available "on tap".

The second thing is hugging and cuddling. Never been into it in a big way previousy, but sitting alone night after night in front of my laptop, or reading a book, or even watching a film, I miss the opportunity to snuggle and show affection. As said, never been into it, but now appreciate it more and understand better what it communicates to sit closely with someone for prologed periods of time.

So there they are - I have to go to bed now - I have another race tomorrow and I intend to WIN!!!

Post for the Kanga-Roo

2005-06-15T10:42:00.000+01:00

KangaRoo - this image is all for you!

Ho hum

2005-06-08T16:32:00.000+01:00

Evenin' campers - how y'all doin? As ya may be able to tell from the goddamn awful drawl I'm preeeeparin maself for a trip to the good ole US of A.

Shucks - I think I will switch back to the Queen's Tongue

Latest update is that I am back to doing some travel again after a few months off - this time out to Chicago for four days, and New York City for one day. I can't extend my stay in NYC as my Grandmother has called a family dinner the 26th June, and I would not want to miss the chance to see all my family (NYC is going nowhere anytime fast - I can't guarantee the same for my relatives). I am super excited about going to Chicago as there are some great running routes there along the shore - I have identified a 9.5 mile run, which should be fun before work! NYC will unfortunately be a 24 hour trip (possibly only 12 hours grrrr) so no running - if I could have stayed the weekend I think a run around crack, I mean mugging, DOH! I mean central Park would have been tempting.

Kanga should be over again soon (YAY!) and all in all life is looking rosy. Hence, I am watching over my shoulder for the crap that is bound to come along and ruin it all!

Taekwon

Neil

PS: Latest news on the losing the fatty me - weight has stabilised at 66kg, 28" waist. Body fat has stabilised around 11.5-13%. Daily exercise is 22km cycling, bi-daily is weights at the gym, and tri-weekly is TKD. Running is phasing back in after a 4 week break for cross training purposes. Running will be at 5 times a week - just having difficulty fitting it in!

And still not a drop of alcohol has passed these lips.

Etymology

2005-05-30T13:22:00.000+01:00

I have been having an interesting read of the etymology of some of the fruitier words in the English language at the BBC. I have to say that the origins of Sweet Fanny Adams were completely unknown to me and were quite interesting in a macabre manner.

Oh - this week marks 120 days with no alcohol at all. Soon I will hit the 6 month mark - WOW!!!

AMC Results

2005-05-28T18:12:00.000+01:00

Are here. Open "6 kilometer totaal" and look for Neil Burton...........

Ongelooflijk!

2005-05-27T08:58:00.000+01:00

Hmmm - this warrants a post as babel translates Ongelooflijk as "Incredibly". Here babel actually does something that many dictionaries also do; they mis-translate the word. "Ongelooflijk" is from the root noun geloof: belief. "On~" is similiar to the English prefix "Un~". "Lijk" as a suffux often (but not always) means ~ly - for example, friendly is vriendelijk or vriendschappelijk.

So - in summation Ongelooflijk correctly translates to unbelievably. Unbelievable is Niet Gelooflijk. Incredible, as an exclamation, is more akin to "Geweldig" - the adjective "terrific"

There end-eth my Nederlands showing off for the day - and also endeth the pain of typing with a fracture :-)

My first fracture

2005-05-26T15:10:00.000+01:00

Ok - yesterday my bike front tire hit a square of wood and lost, tipping me over the handlebars at 36kmph. needless to say, in the resulting contest of strength between me and the road, I lost (although it was a close run thing). Consultation with the good chaps at the AMC (of the run fame) revealed a suspected fractured scaphoid of my right wrist, and i am now wrapped up in a cast, and have to wear this for the next week. Then i have another X-ray next week, to confirm the fracture, and if this is negative, an MRI. If the MRI is negative then I am free. If any of these identify a positive fracture I have 3-6 months in a cast.

Fantastic. I also have a possible fracture of my left hands lickle finger.

A quick check on the internet indicates that the scaphoid is a bugger to heal - but someone else I know who had both scaphoids fractured got better by doing high reps of low weights to encourage blood flow to the joint. i will not try this until after next weeks X-Ray, and will stick to cycling in the gym, and low impact jogs.

I am a bit depressed by all this, and in discomfort. i recently restarted TKD AND GUITAR. bugger, bugger, bugger and buggery. I hope beyond all reasonable hope that this is just a really really bad sprain.

Podcasting

2005-05-24T19:37:00.000+01:00

Rocks my little white ankle socks off! Forget all the crap there is - I can get my Radio 4 podcasts and listen on my bike on the way to work. I also can load my favorite rss streams onto my PocketPC for something to read later in the day!

Fantastic

6km Run

2005-05-24T08:33:00.000+01:00

Wahj - the run is held at the AMC - which is the Amsterdam Medical Centre and is a charity race for fighting disease and poverty in some parts of Africa. They have a 6km, 10km and 21km circuit. I did the 6 km race and in future will try to do the 21.

Urgh Argh Star Wars III

2005-05-24T08:22:00.000+01:00

In the words of Michelle from 'Ello 'Ello - "Listen carefully - I will only say this once"

I was not content with Star Wars III. The story was tiresome in parts, and the sheer quntity of panaromic shots of various planets/starships was overwhelming. De Heer Lucas could have done with snipping off 20 mins of footage in the production room to make for a tighter film that flowed with pace.

And Yoda - if one more yoda-ism you make, myself kill i must

Scenes that made me giggle:
Darth Vader stepping off the platform in his shiny new black suit in a very Robert de Niro-esque manner (think RdN in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein)
Straight after the funny step of the podium he asks how Padme is - and when Darth Sidius tells him he has killed her, his roar of anguish is pure comedy. Think Noooooooooooooooo aarrrrrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhh uuuuuuurrrrrggghhhhhhnnnnnnnnnn

Race Results

2005-05-22T18:27:00.000+01:00

Hi all - long time with no posts. I have been following the "if you have nothing to say, say nothing" axiom.

Anyway, I am very very pleased with my performance this wekend in my 6km race at the AMC. My official time will be out in three weeks when all the chips (that one attaches to your shoe) are returned and analyzed, but my unofficial time is already in. This was taken by the Uhuru Martial Arts club secretary (I was in their team) and was clocked at 28 mins 57. By any estimate this is a good time - and I suspect the actual time will be 28 mins 20 something secs as the above time is from when we started running - not when I crossed the start and finish line (I was no where near the front)

For those not into running (Ru et al) last years womens winner was with a time of 29.49, and the male winner was 24.27. I believe I was in the top 20 out of 300+ so that is a result!

My next race is in a few weeks - so I will be working out a training plan. I will either do the 6 again or mabe the 10. If I do the 6 I am going to aim for 26 mins, now that I have a basic idea of what I can do if I put my mind to it!

So thats all - I have a post on SW III RotS which I just saw, but that can come tomorrow.

Tata - Taekwon

Time to revitalise

2005-04-21T12:54:00.000+01:00

My poor old blog, my presence in the ether, has been slowly decaying until my very digital being is a mere 1 enshrouded within a stream of 0's. This must change. I have been attributing this to the fact that blogs are hardly bleeding edge, they lack the grit that the true techno warrior needs. There is nothing inherently sexy or bold in writing into electronic limbo, whereas there is something of the Nietzian Uberman about belonging to those who, in a purely electronic sense, have. Having the ability to write code on multiple platforms, in multiple languages, at multiple layers. From 4GLs, down to assembler. On Linux, Unix, Mac and Windows. Happy in CICS, z/OS, MVS, or AS400. Surrounded by gadgets that affirm who I am, my place in the techno-oligarchy, symbols of status and power in a world where both the new nobility and the anarchists who seek their downfall sit in darkened rooms designing and coding the next killer app. Where todays revolutionary is tomorrows tyrant. Deciding if I am one or the other. Knowing that pasty white skin can be as much a badge of pride, a medal of honour, as a tan. Tans are easy to get - 12 minutes in a solarium can achieve those - wherease only weeks or months of vitamin D depleting life in an aircondioned room in front of a screen can achieve the true pallor of the 21st century soldier, armed with keyboard, mouse and WiFi (with WPA of course) as weapons and diet coke as fuel.

So here I am. A member of the Penguins New Model Army. Be afraid, be very afraid. Unplug your DSL, encrypt your WiFi, do not broadcast your SSID.

Ok - it is confirmed 2 litres of diet coke in 45 minutes produces feeling of Megalomania in me - Muuuaaahhahaaahahahaha!

Funny pic from taiwan

2005-04-20T09:11:00.000+01:00

Hmm - are suspicions about mainlanders rising? Is there an insinuation regarding mainland Chinese and dogs?

Argh - I may have been bitten!

2005-04-11T14:12:00.000+01:00

Hmm - having Kanga in town may prove problematic - playing with her D20 (or is that a 20D!) is infectious and habit forming. I am beginning to wonder if I should by a digital SLR also........

On the work front I am really busy, having managed to push through the UAT infrastructure build last week, and now preparing for the PRD build. On top of this I am fighting to get some pre-release versions of CA software, trying to get a batch scheduler built, having to go to the UK on Thursday & Friday, supporting the testing that will be going on, and still trying to find a way to clear the 1083 unread emails in my inbox......

I tell you - I don't know how Sean, KJ et al (being the various PMs I have been dealing with) manage to keep all these balls in the air. I struggle, and although getting better, still have problems.

On a happy note, the transliteration software is PoC'd and works!! So my design is validated......

Happiness achieved.

Hi all

2005-04-07T10:06:00.000+01:00

Well - things have been a bit quiet from me recently as work has been super busy. Kanga is coming over to AMS tomorrow (0550 am ) so all I can say is yippee kai yay!

The blog posts will pick up as Ru and I report in - noticed my stats dropped to 62 visits last week - hmmm - guess I shoudl update the blog more often!

Reading: Chapterhouse: Dune
On the iPod: Victor Hugo, Salsa P'America
On the PC: Rome: Total War
On the DVD player: Lone Wolf and Cub
Weight: 68kg
Body Fat: 13%
Daily Cardio Burn: 1 hour (800 calories)
Average Running Pace: 13kmph
Amsterdam Temp today: 9 Degrees
Travel (two week projection): London, Palemero (Sicilly)

Over and out

Ohhhhh - WJ - please recommend a good book on Roman Tactics (I am gettin gcreamed in Rome: Total War as I have no idea what the core strengths and tactics of the various units is!)

Lets see how ths looks by the end of this year

2005-03-23T08:56:00.000Z

Thanks to Wahj for the link (where oh where did you acquire/source it from?)

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Not sure why we have "vertaling Duits Nederlands" (means "Translate German to Dutch" in Dutch.......)

Thanks YM but I think I will pass.....

2005-03-23T08:49:00.000Z

I was reading Tyms blog where she invites us to:

"Say what you will about our government"

Thanks, but no thanks - I am not sure I quite believe one can do that yet... :-P

Stir, stir, stir the pot of malcontention

2005-03-23T08:31:00.000Z

To all in SG who have recently purchase Macs - let me stir the pot. Slashdot have an article today citing the increasing incident of malware on Apple's OS X platform, as it increasingly becomes a target due to the number of people who have been buying the platform for 'style over function'

Bomb primed and waiting for explosion...... :-)

Skype upgrade

2005-03-17T13:09:00.000Z

Ok - so now Skype have voicemail (which for 5 euros for 3 months I have bought on trial) and now they have InSkype - where you get a telephone number people can reach you on - currently with UK, France, HK and US numbers. I would like the UK number - as this would be very useful for me when I am dealing with family etc in the UK and I hope they bring out SG numbers - this would make it very cheap for people in SG to call me too! I am also considering buying some skypeOut credits to try VoIP to GSM quality

Reading:

Neil Gaiman - Shoggoth Old Peculiar (ok - read that last night, it's only a 10 min read)
William Gibson - Pattern Recognition

Listening to:

Moby - Hotel
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Counting Crows - Films about Ghosts

Travelling to:

UK
Sweden
USA

Starting:

Dutch Lessons

Playing:

Rome - Total War (Wahj - the best reason out to have a PC somewhere!)
Warhammer 40k - Dawn of War

Streaks

2005-03-08T19:30:00.000Z

Streaks on tank update - Wahj, what I am finding is that as I paint the tank my paint is going on leaving streaks, instead of a nice smooth matt finish. I am so used to painting small minis that painting a big tank is a whole new skill set. Any tips?

Off to the UK

2005-03-08T08:42:00.000Z

Morning all - just a quick note to say that I am off to London today and will be back in AMS tomorrow.

Various Updates:

-- Joined the gym near my house. Very gay, so safe times to work out are 7am and 10pm as there is no bugger about. Literallly
-- Getting through the painting of my WH40K Emporers Children army, but I am having problems with streaks on the tanks. Wahj - any helpful hints? I have watered the paint right down, and also tried thick.

Thats all for now

Tata

Snow

2005-03-02T16:35:00.000Z

1740 in Amsterdam on this day 2/3/2005 there are about 3 inches of beautiful, white, fluffy snow

I love it.

Reading:

Book 5 of the Malazan Book of the Fallen - Midnight Tides

On the iPod:
Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
Chevelle - Wonder What's next

Eating:

Fruit and Protein Smoothies
Wholewheat pasta
Cajun chicken
Salad
Brown Rice

Buying:

Camera for Kanga

Thank you Ladies and Gentleman.....

2005-02-25T23:56:00.000Z

Ok - I have long wondered where the majority of the readers of my blog are, and now I know. I also have a breakdown by OS - and have 40% win xp, 10% win 98, 40% mac 2 linux/unix and 8% unknown. The readership (as it is) looks like the following:

Who are my American continental readers? I have nooooo idea! Welcome whoever you are. My next task is to breakdown by OS and location - I think 100% of Mac will be Asia Pac :-)

Interestingly enough 32% of readers use Safari and 28% Firefox. IE6 trails at 24%. with Netscape making up (in various versions) 15% and Mozilla 1%.

Ranked 60 in my list of referring web sites was "Byakhee Byakhee lyrics" - hhmmmm more Cthuliods out there.....

Anyway - my geekiness (and tiredness) is showing in this post too much - it is time to leave. One last fact 61% of all visitors to the DoDo were from com.sg domains, and 1% from sg educational domains, and 1% from France (Nardac - you have to increase Frances representation!)

Ok - time to sleep

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz - taekwon

Long time without posting

2005-02-25T10:41:00.000Z

First things first:

Congrats to YM on the acquisition of her Mac. May you both have a very happy iLife together and spawn a large collection of iThings

Apologies to Nardac who has skyped me many times yet we always miss each other. I am afraid I have a bad habit of leaving my laptop on and logged in even when I am out - and always forget to change my Skype status. Try again next week?

Best wishes to Karen - who is not, to my knowledge a blogonaught - it is her 34th birthday this monday

Second things second:

Good luck to Kanga who has submitted a portfolio for Objectifs (or is that Objtectives?). I hope you get in - better get your Leicas serviced!

And Lastly:

I have just got back from Lugano in Switzerland, and am about to leave for the UK - hence the bullet post. I am in Amsterdam for the next two weeks, after which the travel starts again.

I am off skiing in a few weeks in the French Alps. If at all possible, once Kanga is back in Amsterdam I intend to take us off to Lugano (which was very nice, in an old persons kind of way), fishing in south Europe and late in the year off to Sweden for a stay in the Icehotel .

Hope that everyone in SG is fine - and hope to see at least some of you in the summer - come on, a free holiday in Europe beckons (airfares not included)

Taekwon

Long distance running machine

2005-02-16T06:20:00.001Z

This morning I added around 800 metres to my run by going up to Overtoom, and down to Stadhouderskade, and then looping around the far side of the Heineken factory. And my time......29'55", which is an improvement on yesterday.

I now need to go and buy wholewheat pasta today as the runs are a bit more difficult du to my low carb diet. As I have another 15km on Sunday I feel the need to pasta up to build some carb reserves...

YM - if you and T feel like a Euro holiday, drop over to 'Dam - then I can drag you out for a good long distance run :-) Oh, and hate to be contentious, but apparently the human body is designed to be a long distance running machine

Running update

2005-02-15T09:40:00.000Z

Sunday I arrived back in NL at 0550 after a good flight, where not a word of English was spoken. I was there talking to the Stewardesses in Nederlands with my "Niet kaas", "Ja kipfilet" and "Mag ik water " - oooh it was good.

On a funny note there was a Scottish guy in his 60s on the plane, who had obviously thought himself so cunning that if you showed him to a hound he would be chased. He had booked a business class seat for himself and an economy for his wife. The plane was mainly empty, so he asked if his wife could be upgraded, for free. Unsurprisingly, the bursar saw straight through his ploy, and said that they would upgrade her for 800 (EUR, SGD I amnot sure), instead of the usual 1600 upgrade fee. He was a very unhappy bunny and refused to pay, and said that the airline should be ashamed keeping him seperated from his wife on a half empty plane. Did he miss the point? He kept himself seperated from his wife by his booking choice. What a tight arse.

Anyway at 8am sunday I did a 15km run from van barelestraat to Amstel Station, then to mauritskade, to centraal station, to kalverstraat, to prinsengracht, to leidseplein, to vondel park to my house. 1hour 15 minutes total - which is not too shabby. Plus it was snowing and hailing the whole way! I actually thought it was a shorter distance, but having checked with maps it was 15....

I am also back on the Abs Power Diet, after reading a mens health article. As I am not drinking alcohol again, and am running 6k every morning (today was 29' 12"), plus doing crunches etc, I am getting back into shape pretty damn quickly. My weight is back to 68kg and my body fat is at 15%. My target is to be running 21 km (half marathons) once a fortnight by june, and to get my abs sorted by may (3 months). I also want up my daily run to 10k by June, giving me a total of 330km per month, as opposed to my 180km per month currently.

Kanga should be joining me sometime soon - if the travel calms down. Current plans (for Kangas benefit) are:

Week ending 20 Feb: Switzerland
Week ending 27 Feb: Athens, Bucharest, Vienna
Week ending 06 Mar: Prague, Warsaw
Week ending 13 Mar: ??
Week ending 20 Mar: Vienna

After that I am back into uncertainty again........

Dublin done

2005-02-01T23:56:00.000Z

Dublin is done and Singapore is on Friday. In between now and then I have a tonne of work to do, and can effectively write off tomorrow as a waste as I am flying from Dublin to Dam. So I better be damn productive on Thursday.

You know you are up late when your colleagues from SG are signing into Messenger at the start of your day, and you are still sitting doing work in a hotel room in Europe. It is 8am in SG, 1am in NL and Midnight here in Eire. I am currently on NL time (I think).

Travel plans need to be compiled for Feb and March. I think that Romania, Poland, Czech Republic, Greece, and Austria are all in line for late Feb, and Lisbon, London, Bucharest and Athens for March. Plus I have my SG trip and a couple of trips back to the UK in Feb. April is looking likely for Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. If I can I am going to see if I can get out of some of these trips - otherwise I will never get my actual day job done.

Just been reading T's blog. In the words of Stan "The Man" Lee, 'nuff said.

Day three of no alcohol has been and gone now and I am re-adjusting to life in the Sober lane. Mornings are once again getting easier.

Reading:
Memories of Ice - Steven Erikson (Part 3 of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series)

Listening to:

Spem in Alium - Thomas Tallis
Handel Harpsicord Suite Number 5
Serse (Xerxes) - Handel (Opera/Aria)
Linkin Park / Jay Z mixup

Top Software:

WeightMania 1.5 Pro
BBC Ticker
Gaim
FreeRAM XP Pro

Taekwondo Patterns:

Restarting at the basics with Chon-Ji, Dan Gun and Do San to follow

Plans:

Short term: Stay dry, get on top of work, get down the gym in 6 hours
Medium: get to SG, manage my finances, restart TKD
Long: Clear debt, sort out crazy life, spend more time with wife, see more of friends and family

Dry again - day one

2005-01-30T08:58:00.000Z

I have decided to go dry again and try for five months this time (made 4 last time). Today is day one - so 30th May is the target. This means back to diet coke!

The hype on Skype

2005-01-29T15:05:00.000Z

All in SG - it is rare that I plug software however I am going to break my habit. www.skype.com. Internet telephony that works pretty damn well on computer to computer and quite well on computer to phone. It is available on Mac 10.3 or better (Panther) so I am guessing T and Wj can use it, whilst Kanga will be able to once she upgrades. I am using to communicate with other friends and family as the call is free for both parties.

So lets talk sometimes instead of just blogging. Drop me a mail when you have it installed! BTW - obviously available also for Windows so any lurking windows users (YM.....) can also use it......

Yikes - Six days to improve my time!

2005-01-29T10:42:00.000Z

Ok - I have just run a 7km route in 44.55 - yikes, how have I slowed so much! Well, I know the answer to that, I have not been running everyday, I have been drinking alcohol too often, and I have not got used to running at 2 degrees. I am setting myself 6 days - until next Friday to bring this down to 42.00 - which is more in line with toomanythoughts 6km in 35. Jeez louise, I was running 10k in 52 mins just 3 months ago......grrrrrrrr

Not long to go

2005-01-28T11:01:00.000Z

Well - Friday is here once again - with only 7 days until I return to Singapore. It has been 3 plus months since I left, and in that time I have flown over 100 000 miles (no joke - my KLM and SQ airmiles exceed 100 000!), have seen some of Sao Paolo, Madrid, Lisbon, London, Amsterdam and have been involved in talks with people that I didn't even know existed 4 months ago. But all in all, I still miss my somewhat more relaxed life in SG. I miss going to the gym at lunch time, popping down to Bojangles or SODS for a beer or diet coke. I miss my dogs and I miss my wife (that thing about last not being least applies here).

Don't get me wrong - I am not complaining. I am well remunerated for my time. I do enjoy the travelling. The work is exceedingly rewarding and challenging. My house is beautiful. But I have lost my centre, that which provided stability. Not having a stable, reliable and predictable environment is not as easy as I had thought. Not drinking has proved nigh on impossible, as the thought of sitting in hotel rooms, alone, watching TV in portugese or Spanish (unless I watch bbc non stop) just doesn't appeal. Not being with your wife adds untold stresses to both yours and her life - whilst asking Kanga to relocate to Amsterdam - when I am rarely here - just doesn't make sense. Marriage is about union - not division. Yet how can I - at 31 - turn down any of these opportunities? Opportunities that will help make our lives fiscally easier as we grow older?

When, at 25, I arrived in Singapore, I was not a career man. I wanted to have fun, and do just enough work to get by. Somewhere along the line I seem to have acquired ambition and drive. I find myself actively thinking about moving, in the words of Aslan "onwards and upwards". I wonder what I have sacrificed in order to make room for these new motivations......hopefully not the things that made me what I was, and what, I hope, I still am.

Anyway - enough musing. I will be back for 8 days, and look forward to seeing you (very Tiny Tim here) "One and All". I hope that Terse (et al) will be available for a beer - and I won't ask about anything you don't want to talk about. Just a quiet pint, a few hands of darts and possible a few frames of pool. In return I promise not to bore you with talk of work.

Friends, Travel and updates

2005-01-17T23:32:00.000Z

Just a quick note to say that I am back from Brazil and am now in Madrid. It has been a busy few weeks, with around 20 000 miles under my belt - which seems quite a bit, and indeed feels it too. I am not too sure how on earth the stewardesses manage to do this! My travelling will calm down for a while soon, with London, Dublin and Singapore coming up in the next three weeks. I am looking forward to coming back to Singapore (6/2/05) for CNY and a chance to see my wife, my friends and my dogs. I hope that Terse will be back from Aceh by then, and am taking this opportunity to forewarn Wahj, K, YM, Gerard, Yv etc that I am hoping to all go out to for dinner and beer.....

Kanga has told me that she has fractured her foot - and would like to thank all those who have helped her as she hobbles around.

My exercise regime after Christmas is back on track, with running daily and gym twice a week. Only trouble is that the Gym is not ythe one that I am paying to be a member of - rather it is hotel gyms!!

Anyway - looking forward to getting back to SG for CNY, and looking forward to seeing my wife and all of my friends there - you know who you are. Consider yourselves warned.....

Three minutes silence

2005-01-05T12:28:00.000Z

We just have had the three minute European silence to honour the tsunami dead and during the silence I must confess that I thought "why?". Not "Why did it happen" but "why the silence?". Instead of marking this horrific event with silence why not all donate 5 euros to the relief fund? Why not do something rather than showing respect by doing precisely nothing? If everyone in western europe who earns more than 40 000 euros per year gave 5 euros to the relief fund then I think we would have close to 1 Billion euros to donate. That would help.

And whats up with steven spielberg announcing that he is donating 1.5 Million dollars to the relief fund? Hello! Grandstanding is sooooo uncool. Mr Sielberg - try donating in private.

On a less ggrrrr note - I am resuming my TKD training on Jan 15th, and am joining up at a gym tonight. I have been drinking over Christmas but am jumping back on the wagon once kanga leaves for Singapore (Friday). My target is to stabilise my weight at 70 kg (currently I am 68kg) and maintain my current body fat of 15%. I was actually looking through some old posts from July last year, when I was 72.5 kg and 25.3% - I have come some way since then but don't want to lose more weight! Now I just want to gain some more muscle mass.

Anyway - hi to all in SG. Congrats to G&HK on their marriage - and look forward to seeing you all in March/April for a beer/dinner/karaoke/whatever.

Out - Neilus

Happy new year all!

2004-12-30T15:10:00.000Z

Ok - the blog has been quiet as I have been busy - and remain so. However, Happy New Year to all in Singapore and indeed to anyone else reading this. Normal service will resume post 1/1/2005

Merry Xmas

2004-12-22T14:49:00.000Z

Just read on news.bbc.com that the X in Xmas is not, contrary to popular belief, a modern invention, but rather at least 1000 years old. The X is the Greek Chi and used to be represented by XPMas - or Chi Ro Mass, the Greek for Christmas!

The things you learn from the internet!

BTW - Nardac, we will be in the UK for Christmas day, but back in Amsterdam for Boxing day. Do you fancy meeting up in late Feb when Kanga is back in Amsterdam (she is returning to SG to warm up in Jan/Feb). Thought we could dine in Paris.....but no seafood!

Cold and wet

2004-12-14T13:43:00.002Z

Amsterdam is cold and wet today and I have a sympathetic spot on my face. Kanga arrives in about 15 hours, and I have a work drink tonight (more sparkling water for me!)

The week is looking good indeed

Oh, and I am off to Lisbon next monday so need to decide if Ru is joining me, and am off to Brazil in January. maybe.