Fergie or Halle?

You can tell from this post that I'm not concentrating on training enough...

Simon and I recently exchanged vitally important comments regarding Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas and Halle Berry. So I've opened a poll (look right).

The simple question is - Fergie or Halle?

Please vote (in the poll on the right!) If Fergie wins, I'll buy Simon a pint.

The only rule is - one vote per person, and Simon & I can't vote.

Swim Lesson #15

24/10/07

A deliberately shorter than usual 500m warm-up, to save my poor weak arms for the main set.

Main Set

• 4 x 100m on 2:50
• 4 x 100m on 2:45
• 4 x 100m on 2:40
• 4 x 100m on 2:35
• 1 x 100m on 2:30

Started of at about 2:11-13 /100m then increased to 2:07-11 once warmed up, then tired to 2:20-ish.

100m breaststroke cool-down then stretching by the pool.

TOTAL 2,300m

A much better performance than the previous week. Need to stretch arm/shoulder muscles more often.

Taking The Piss

So......now even making a light-hearted comment about a common characteristic of a particular race is "racist".

Halle Berry (see previous post) has caused a big fuss by her "anti-Semitic" remark during an interview that a digitally altered photo of her with a big nose makes her look like "her Jewish cousin".

The irony is that her comment was inspired by a Jewish colleague of hers that made an almost identical comment backstage before Halle went on air!

If I was Jewish I'd like to think I'd be embarrassed by the fuss being caused. God help us all of taking the piss out of someone is suddenly racist and there's an international outcry.

The Wonder Of Nature

If I was asked to do a presentation on Wonders of Nature, this would be in it...

2008 Here We Come

I've signed up for my first race of 2008 - the Pacesetters GE 30km in January.

This year's event was my first run over 15km (I did the 20k) and so 2008 will be my first time at the full distance of 30km. I then plan to do my first marathon in KL a couple of months later.

I've also re-jigged my weekly training schedule to squeeze in more hours and km's by making the most of the wasted time spent sitting in some kind of vehicle. So, with the help of Jackie and a neighbour to take the boys to school in the mornings, I'll be able to run to/from work 3 times a week instead of once...thats 42km! ...and I hardly eat into any "family" time. Some good planning is required though!

I've also started cycling to and from my weekly Tuesday night ride to give myself a 57km ride instead of a measly 26km. Mind you Jalan Tun Razak at 7.30pm is a bit hair-raising!

The Big Day

Here's a couple of snaps of my little Sis' big day on 6th October, at Islington Town Hall...

That's weird - I'm sure Lucas was with us all the way up the stairs - so where is he?

Presenting...Mrs & Mrs Newbold!

Highs and Lows

HIGH - I ran 14.2km from work to home on Friday night. Although it took me 8 mins longer than before, it was my first run over 10 minutes for 7 weeks so I was happy I had the will power to do it. I ran really slowly but still needed to stop a couple of times for a total of about 5 mins. IN the last 30mins I was pretty tired and dehydrated. Much more fatigued than before my break. I plan to do that twice a week.

LOW - I woke up too late on Saturday to ride to work. My plan now is to use this short ride to do some strength training. Lucky this week on my 07/08 Training Plan is still "preparation" (mental and physical!).

LOW - Liverpool snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

LOW - England lost the rugby. Its difficult when the ref and the video ref are playing for the other team.

HIGH - went to the MotoGP on Sunday. The 250cc race was great, with 4 riders forming a pack towards the end. I correctly predicted that one of them would crash about 1 minute in advance! Lorenzo was crowned World Champ and he put on gold boxing gloves and a cape. The MotoGP race wasn't a great one but it's quite a thrill when they all start together - it is as if God is tearing the air apart.

HIGH - no jam on the way back!

LOW - I woke up late and missed the start of the F1. Sounds like Hammo messed up at the start.

LOW - Spurs were hammered by the Geordies last night. What a bunch of LOSERS!!!!!!!!!

Showtime

These are two of my fave films...as recommended to my Sis when in London recently. If you've been in Malaysia for the last 2 years you might have missed these. V for Vendetta was shown but wasn't advertised much, and Sideways wasn't shown I think.

In Sideways the acting is so good you won't think they're acting...

V for Vendetta is based on comics, and is by the Wasckckckckowski Bros. (Matrix guys). Portman gets her hair shaved and does a reasonable English accent...

The Amazing Race Asia 3

Dear General Public, In order to avoid wasting our own valuable time, and that of thousands of applicants, we have decided that from now on only the following persons should apply to be on any of our shows. This also applies to Fear Factor and all other "reality" shows:

• Models
• Actors / Actresses
• VJ's
• Fitness Instructors / Personal Trainers
• Singers
• CEO's / Senior Management of a company involved in Leisure / Entertainment / Media / "Fashionable" Industries such as I.T.

As well as the above, you must have a Body Mass Index of less than 20 and be what most people would consider as "good-looking". Women with large surgically-enhanced breasts are strongly encouraged to apply. Applicants with dental "issues" will not be entertained.

Yours sincerely

Itsallabout Sexreally
CEO, "REALITY" TV Shows Inc.

Marc & Rovilson - both TV hosts!...and one of them is also a model!

Aurelia (L) is a model!

Jurgen & Horst here just missed out!

On The Other Hand...

When ranting and raving about certain things I always think that I should have something positive to say, so here goes...

The Malaysian Polis get a bit of a hard time from the public and the press most of the time but I must confess that my experience of lodging a police report at the Balai Polis Trafik in KL the other day was not bad at all. Apart from not knowing what to do to start with, once I'd found out it was pretty plain-sailing, and the 4 officers I dealt with were perfectly pleasant.

So...kudos to PDRM!

Hugh Laurie

26 hours on a Jumbo recently afforded me the opportunity to finally get a glimpse of Hugh Laurie doing an American accent in "House". I'm a great fan of Laurie (A Bit Of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves & Wooster and especially Blackadder) and it's always intriguing to see British actors leading American series.

...and I wasn't disappointed. I managed to watch about 6 episodes and they were pretty good, although they all follow an almost identical format. I can see why he's won acting awards for it.

I wonder how many people who watch House are aware of Laurie's acting in Blackadder 3 and 4. Here's a clip from Blackadder 3 from 1987 - wow! - thats 20 years ago!. You will notice Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson) in there too. Life would be much less bearable without Blackadder, a truly classic British comedy.



Three cheers to Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Tim McInnery, Miranda Richardson, Rowan Atkinson, Miriam Margoyles, Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, Richard Curtis, Helen Atkinson Wood, Tony Robinson!

Gore

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of attending Universiti Hospital Emergency unit and the Balai Polis Trafik in KL, due to a daydreaming helmetless motorcyclist sliding into the front of my car in the morning.

At both locations I was truly delighted to be faced with numerous vivid and beautifully prepared boards displaying a variety of images of horrifically injured motorists, mostly dead ones. I am sure that the young kids looking at the photos enjoyed them as much as me.

I'd like to know what the purpose of these displays is. Are the families of the people in the photos asked for permission? I doubt it.

The evening before I was asked if I would like to look at photos of Nurin's post-mortem on someone's mobile phone. I declined the kind offer.

As I write I recall the numerous emails that my previous secretary used to send me containing graphic photos of people eaten by crocs, or people who's arm had been chewed up by some industrial machinery.

Then there's the quite literally never-ending stream of horror/ghost movies at the cinemas and on TV. I have complained to Astro about previews of horror movies being shown at all times of day and on almost any type of channel. Cinemas also show gory trailers. Once there was even a prop in the KLCC cinema lobby where there was a bloodied baby in a cot. If you approached it, it would suddenly pop up and frighten you.

I am no psychologist, and I grew up in the UK where we are fairly well protected from gory images (The BBC rarely shows anything remotely unpleasant and the papers never do), but I really can't understand the purpose of displaying gory images - will it encourage people to drive more safely? I am also puzzled by what seems to be an almost childish fascination with death, to the point of prying on others misfortunes for some kind of kick. I really cannot comprehend what goes on in the mind of an adult who chooses to keep photos of the post-mortem of an 8-year old girl on their phone.

I also don't like young kids being exposed to it. Lucas was petrified for weeks after watching a DVD, that I believe showed a beheading, at a friends house. Another 5-year old friend of his has a folder of XBOX games including lots of graphic and violent games.

Oh well, that's my rant for the day. C ya!

On The Way

When is "On the way" o'clock?

A few days ago I exchanged SMS's with someone who's arrival time I wanted to know.

• The first two answers were "On the way".
• The third SMS asked me why I was asking (the reason was that they were already over 2 hours late for an event that my wonderful missus had put a lot of effort into)
• The 4th SMS gave me the answer to my original question!

Hope for Heroic Hammo

Good luck to Lewis this weekend, hope you stuff Droopy and the Ice-man!!

Lewis

Alonso

Raikkonen

I also hope for....

• England to beat South Africa
• Liverpool and Chelsea both to drop points
• A podium place for Shahrom in the Duathlon World Champs
• Bettini to NOT win the Tour Of Lombardy

England in October?

Ice creams in a sunny Clapham Common in South London on the day we arrived.

Arizona? Nope - Teasles in Bedfordshire, England.
Nice blue sky, and a nice photo if I may say so myself!

Uncle Paul shows Lucas how to drive his "gay" (according to him) Audi convertible.

Me driving the said gay car.

Cool dude Lucas chillin' in an S-class on the way to Auntie Vicky's wedding

Hey! - This is the place we see on TV on a Saturday night!
Yep - it's Craven Cottage, home to Fulham FC.
As you can see, Lucas was pretty excited.

Fulham 0 - 2 Portsmouth.
2 goals scored right in front of us, and I even had the chance to catch the ball
after an off-target shot, but the guy in front of me stood up and got it - damn!

Swim Lesson #14

17/10/07, Bukit Jalil

Warm-up: 8x100m = 800m

Show coach what state I'm in = 100m
With/without pull bouy = 100m

Main Set:
4x100 - 2x200 - 1x400 = 1200m (400m = 10:00)
3x100 - 1x200 = 500m, at which point a sympathetic coach let me stop!

(was supposed to do 2 x 1200!)

Cool-down 100m breaststroke

Stretching

TOTAL 2800m

My first swim in 6 weeks and what a shocker it was! I managed to do a few strokes with a good technique in my warm up but my main set was a nightmare. All my muscles felt tired. My shoulders were hunched and I had zero power. In my last 200m I felt like I was sinking. My 100m time varied 1:59 to 2:30. Simon and Christopher kept overtaking me and eventually Coach Peh relegated me to the cripples lane to ease the traffic!!

Now I know that a 6 week total lay-off isn't such a good idea. In my Tuesday night 51km ride my HR was way higher than usual on the hills.

Gnat West

The title of this post is a tribute to an advert I once saw in Viz magazine, for a bank called Gnat West. The ad was based on ads trying to attract students to open accounts. The accompanying text was something like "No Job? Then F**k Off!".

I don't like Nat West today. They've just charged me RM266 because a cheque I issued caused me to go overdrawn for one day. So I'm writing to them to ask nicely if they can refund the charge. Little do they know, if they decline my request, that I will charge them RM350 for wrongly debiting my account with someone elses monthly pension payment earlier this year. So they will actually owe me money. If they refuse to pay, I will close all my Nat West accounts, and good riddance to them!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh that feels better!

Presenting....Pantai Sewage Treatment Plant

The biggest and most advanced STP you have ever seen - now open in KL (almost!)...

My office is the building with the grey roof, bottom right.

The lovely STP, the tunnels leading to which I have helped build since 2004!

A Bride Sues Her Florist Over Pastel Hydrangeas

Firstly - apologies to all sensible Americans, this doesn't refer to you.

Apart from George W Bush, another National embarrassment must be the never-ending stream of outrageosuly stupid and frivilous lawsuits in the US that are reported around the World. People around the Globe must really wonder what goes on in the mind of your average US citizen when they hear about lawsuits such as the one below. Shall I follow "suit" - sue my secretary for wasted time and neurological trauma caused by spelling mistakes - sue the parents of the baby I looked after the other day because he farted and caused me significant olfactory distress? Can Americans not solve problems amicably? Who in their right mind spends $27k on flowers when there are kids starving in the World? It is f'ing obscene. Don't forget the lawyer who sued his dry-cleaners for $$$millions (he lost).......read on........

The wedding bouquet has barely faded and already an Upper East Side bride has regrets — not because she married, but because of the flowers.

The bride, Elana Glatt, says her florist committed a series of faux pas at her wedding on Aug. 11. In the most “egregious,” Ms. Glatt says in a lawsuit alleging breach of contract, the florist substituted pastel pink and green hydrangeas for the dark rust and green hydrangeas she had specified for 22 centerpieces.

The florist, Stamos Arakas, owns Posy Floral Design at 145 East 72nd Street. He said that he and his wife, Paula, had done their best to match the color of the hydrangeas with a picture Ms. Glatt had given them, but explained to her that because of the vagaries of nature and the lighting at the reception, the colors might not look exactly the same.

Not only was the color wrong, Ms. Glatt said in the lawsuit, filed on Friday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, but the hydrangeas were wilted and brown, and arranged in dusty vases without enough water.

Their pastel colors clashed with the linens, favor boxes, wedding cake and décor at Cipriani 42nd Street, the luxurious restaurant where she and her husband, David, held their reception, Ms. Glatt said.

“The use of predominantly pastel centerpieces had a significant impact on the look of the room and was entirely inconsistent with the vision the plaintiffs had bargained for,” Ms. Glatt, a lawyer who practices under the name Elana Elbogen, said in the lawsuit, which she filed on behalf of herself, her husband and her mother-in-law, Tobi Glatt, who paid for the flowers.

Elana Glatt said they had reluctantly paid for the flowers in advance, with a cashier’s check for $27,435.14. She accused the florist of a “bait and switch” scheme, and asked for more than $400,000 in restitution and damages for, among other things, “unjust enrichment” by the florist. In a litany of “distressing and embarrassing” offenses, the lawsuit says the florist substituted cheaper orchids than promised in the bridal bouquet and provided the equivalent of $5 roses from a street vendor, but charged $55 to $65 for those arrangements.

Elana Glatt yesterday said, “It was a lovely wedding,” except for the flowers.

Back To It

I finally ended my 42-day total training break this morning. A quick ride from HOA up to G. Sempah and back, followed by a 10 min easy run but with a couple of short sprints to shake the cobwebs off.

Message for little sis, still on a beach in Brasil - where's my suit bag?

Message for Mum - how much whiskey should we soak Xmas cake fruit in?

Chrissie's Waterloo

192 years after The Duke, the English whipped the French again (at Rugby last night) and another British Wellington achieved a great victory, by winning the Ironman World Champs in Kona..

Chrissie Wellington wins in Kona

Classifieds

WANTED - a pair of used Look Keo pedals, as cheap as possible. Any type of Keo pedal in any condition, as long as they work properly! Leave a comment with contact details if you know where I can get a pair from.

Rant Rant Rant!

Excuse me for ranting, but I am jetlagged and exasperated at what's gone on (or perhaps I should say hasn't) at work since I've been gone.

I've just had a letter from my sub-con stating that one of his manholes has been buried under a layer of tarmac.

Can someone please tell me at what point in the 21st Century will people stop burying manhole covers under tarmac? Are they blind or totally stupid? What goes through their mind when they cover the manhole? Does anyone realise the time and cost incurred by manhole covers being covered?!??!?!?!

God please help me!

I'm Back

I'm back in KL after 10 days in England. I didn't do any running! Will get a long run and ride in this weekend though I hope. Here's a few things that struck me during my holiday...

Orange street lights

Fit, healthy-looking dogs of all shapes and sizes

Exceedingly polite shop assistants

Being asked if I want a bag instead of automatically being giver one

Natural air-con all around

Lots and lots of cyclists in London, riding all sort of bikes

The opposition political party all over TV and the papers

The PM being given a hard time by reporters on TV

Non-cartoon kids TV

A guy with jeans worn so low he had to walk like a penguin to stop them falling down

Digital TV, with loads of really crap channels!

RM5 for a newspaper, RM70 for a couple of sandwiches etc... for 2 in London, RM210 for a taxi from Central to South London, RM150 for a 2hr bus journey, RM3 minimum charge for a public payphone call, RM80 for a 30min train journey

Big fat mozzies in my Mums house - in England- in October - wow!

Drivers who are considerate towards pedestrians and other drivers

Buses driving slowly in slow lanes

Lots of Range Rovers

People wearing long-sleeves and warm clothes

The wide and wonderful variety of people in London - a thousand different sizes, colours, hairstyles, fashions, languages, and probably 3 or 4 different genders!

568ml beer cans!

Super-cheap clothes in Tesco!