Archives
July 30, 2007
Geraint Thomas Finishes Tour
He's the man! Geraint completed the Tour de France on Saturday. Awesome.
He told the BBC, "Everyone dreams of riding down the Champs-Elysee and finishing the Tour, I'm happy to get here but feeling it."
"I don't think you can imagine how hard, fast and chaotic it is out there until you actually do it."
From the BBC website.
Star Wars Characters
Jack's loving Star Wars at the moment:
"Hey look Dad, I'm Bib Fortuna.
Stormtrooper. (Lazy costume).
Star Wars baking. Notice Chewbacca, a couple of Darth Vaders, and a Boba Fett.
July 24, 2007
Recent snaps
Spot Jack.
Jack's office.
Mirror, mirror on the wall.
Lollipops for all.
Dancing with Megan.
July 23, 2007
Spying Squirrels
Not only have man-eating badgers been released into Iraq by the British, but apparently hi-tech squirrel (cyborg?) spies have been released by foreign intelligence services into Iran. I say "cyborg" because the translated text reads, "Fixing GPS devices, bugging instruments and advanced cameras in the bodies of trained animals like squirrels, mice, hamsters". Hardware inside the animal?
"A few weeks ago, 14 squirrels equipped with espionage systems of foreign intelligence services were captured by [Iranian] intelligence forces along the country's borders. These trained squirrels, each of which weighed just over 700 grams, were released on the borders of the country for intelligence and espionage purposes. According to the announcement made by Iranian intelligence officials, alert police officials caught these squirrels before they could carry out any task."
July 16, 2007
Gez Tour Photos
Check Flickr to see photos of Gez in his Tour de France debut.
July 13, 2007
Friday 13th
I didn't realise it was Friday 13th.
I left for work attired for light drizzle, as forecast. Just after it began to chuck it down I punctured. Rear wheel, of course. Finding no sharp bits inside my tyre I started to replace the holey tube with a (hopefully) leak-free one, but two dogs ran up to me, one barking at me and one pissing on my bag. Ace. Once I'd cleared the dogs out and finished fixing the wheel, soaked through, I started to continue towards work but naturally that tube went down too.
I rode the flat tyre back home to my garage, found a couple of tubes that needed fixing (no boxed ones left) and got the puncture repair kit out. I stuck the third tube of the day into the tyre and pumped it up to a gentle 85psi, and had a look for nicks and cuts in the tyre itself. Just as I found a weakness in the sidewall and a bubble of inner tube pushing out it exploded, deafening me and making my ears ring. Ow!
Definately time for a cup of tea and a change of clothes. I drove to work today.
July 12, 2007
Plague of ferocious badgers?
Quote of the week, from UK military spokesman Major Mike Shearer:
"We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area."
Full man-eating badger article (BBC News).
Also, "One housewife, Suad Hassan, 30, claimed she had been attacked by one of the badgers as she slept.
"My husband hurried to shoot it but it was as swift as a deer," she said. "It is the size of a dog but his head is like a monkey."
"Sattar Jabbar, a 50-year-old farmer from Abu Sakhar, north of Basra, claimed he saw one of the badgers eat a cow.
"It tore the cow up piece by piece. I tried to shoot it with my gun but it ran away into the orchards," he said."
Awesome.
July 11, 2007
July 10, 2007
Exam day
This morning we set up the final anatomy exam for the current 1st years. If they pass this, that will be the end of their anatomy teaching for their "undergraduate" medicine training.
July 09, 2007
Moving Office
I'm almost moved into my new office now, but I'm still surrounded by boxes. You may have guessed that my gadgetry is all wired up of course. No phoneline though...
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Folly Farm
We went to Folly Farm on Saturday with friends, and Jack had a superb day out.
JCB? Child's play.
Toy diggers.
Go Karts! 8mph!
Sheep.
Pig.
Goat.
Jack also went down the helter skelter several times and insisted on going on the big wheel. Thrillseeker. There's a 15 minute video of all this on his website, if you have access.
July 06, 2007
Moving Office
Why is it going to be good to have my own office?
- easily speak to students in confidence
- noisy stuff: I can make phone calls, speakerphone calls (Skype), record podcasts, play music, etc without interrupting Jo's work
- more easily arrange small meetings and impromptu meetings
- more space
- I won't have my back to the door
- I can make my own mess without worrying about inconveniencing Jo
- I can stretch in the morning in my sweaty bike clothes without disgusting my room mate (!?)
To be honest I hope I'll still be in and out of Jo's office every day. I think the way in which we work will change again, hopefully towards both getting *out* of the office more.
July 05, 2007
Welsh Tour Rider
The 94th Tour de France starts on Saturday, and it starts in London. Freakier than that, the Tour de France - the biggest and most important cycle race in the world - will start with Geraint Thomas from Cardiff within the peleton. Crazy.
Geraint used to ride with Cardiff JIF, a club I was attached to for a while. I even have a video of the lad winning the Welsh cyclocross champs and giving me a very shy interview afterwards.
Have a read of this Cycling News article for more.
Good luck Gez! We'll be watching you!
July 04, 2007
Fishing
I think it's time to take him to a lake to fish. Do under 5's need a rod license?
July 02, 2007
Wedding photos
Those of you at Sam's wedding saw me snapping away and want to see more of those photos. Sorry, too lazy. I'll see if I can get around to adding some more to Flickr later this week. Goddammit, I need to buy Aperture to speed up this crap.
New Office
I'll be moving into my new office next week. Maybe if I don't tell anyone where I'm moving to I can have a few quiet Mondays...