Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July!, originally uploaded by evens.john.

Just got back from an awesome trip to Boston with Kristal, Chris and Rowie for Independence Day. Chris really wanted to make an appearance on my Blog, so here he is!
We:
Took a tour of Richmond

Went Canoeing on the James
Shot handguns at the range

Drove to Boston
Ate Thai food

Heard the Declaration of Independance
Saw the USS Constitution fire a 21 gun salute
Went to the original 'Cheers' bar
Went round the corner to 'Sevens'
Walked down the Esplanade
Played Uno in an Irish Bar
Ate Fried Dough
Watched the Fireworks

Visited the NE Aquarium
Ate Dim Sum in China town
Tried bubble tea
Toured Beacon Street
Ate wood oven baked pizza
Drank in the Replica 'Cheers' bar
Drank some more in a cool bar with live music
Got lost on the way back to the Hostel

Visited the MIT Museum
Visited the Harvard Natural History Museum
Ate all we could eat at Fire and Ice
Sat in a park

Drove back to Richmond
Stopped at the Statue of Liberty

The Photos are on my flickr.

Churrascaria

OK, time for a food post.

Since Kristal and I moved in together we have tried to limit the number of times we eat out each week. The effect of this has been to greatly expand the variety of dishes we prepare at home. Especially with the new grill, we have been dining in style at a fraction of the cost of restaurant fare. While I occasionally miss the popcorn shrimp at Outback, $10 of steak from the grocery store and a bottle of marinade will feed us for dinner and the next day's lunch and taste just as good (if not better). The only establishment we frequent now is our sushi restaurant (where we are considered patrons). We have discovered the secret to getting a lot of food for a small price, and rarely buy alcohol there (the tea is too nice).

Last night, beyond our wildest expectations, we weren't in a sushi mood. There was nothing to eat in the house save ground beef. Searching the internet was turning up few possibilities for new places to visit, and we ended up driving around Innsbrook in search of a place I thought I saw once...figuring we'd end up a Cheesecake Factory (their extensive menu is bound to have something that tickles our taste buds). In our meandering we came across the Ipenema Grill. It looked....expensive. But for whatever reason our curiosity get the upper hand and we started on a wonderful adventure of meat.

I have no idea what they eat in Brazil. The images that come to mind are beaches, slums and the rain forest. None of those landscapes include a restaurant of any kind. It turns out that the most popular style of dining is the Churrascaria. The service is Rodizio - a kind of all you can eat buffet, in which the meat is circulated on giant skewers by a team a waiters wielding equally huge carving knives. The Prix fixe was reasonable, so we agreed not to bolt for the door...

Before you accept any meat, the practice is to visit the salad bar (also providing side dishes). In hindsight, it is unsurprising that the food has a distinctly Mediterranean flavor; after all, Brazil was colonized by Portuguese, Italians and others, including some of Middle Eastern origin. For whatever reason, it felt slightly Greek, perhaps because of the ubiquity of olives!

On returning to the table, one flips a small acrylic sign from red to green, and the men arrive bearing carnivore heaven. The host mentioned ten type of meat. I tried to keep track, but as the meat-coma set in and my cognitive powers receded, counting to ten became a bridge too far. This is as much as I can dredge from my subconscious: smoked sausage, chicken wrapped in bacon, sirloin, tenderloin, pork ribs, lamb, and the roasted pineapple. All the meat is cooked in a South American barbecue style known as Churrasco, originating with the Gaucho cowboys. As far as I can tell, the key to everything Brazilian is lime juice. Everything was incredibly moist, tender and tasty.

I have to try a local beer whenever I can, and Ipanema offered Xingu. All I'll say is I may never drink another Guinness. Well, of course I will, but every time I do I'll think of Xingu.

New Rubber

The 8000 mile service is complete! I did the oil, filter and plug changes myself, then took it to the shop for new tires. I was thinking about saving up for some pimpin' Metzeler touring rubber, but then found a large chunk of metal embedded in my rear tire and had to accelerate the process. I think the stock tires will do just fine.

Garden Update

Tomato Flower, originally uploaded by evens.john.

We have flowers on our tomatoes and zuccini!

Motorcycle News

I dropped a bike for the first time in my life on Saturday. I had to work in the morning, and was in a rush to get out of there! In my haste I lost my balance backing out of a parking space on a slope. I've always said that I'm the type of person who know when an accident is unavoidable and concentrates on minimizing the consequences. True to my form I made virtually no attempt to keep the bike upright, instead my focus was trained on putting my machine down gently. The outcome? It landed on the clutch lever which bent like so much cheese then snapped neatly in half. No paint damage. No broken mirrors, no scratched mufflers. I was still pretty mad at myself. It was scorchingly hot and I was stripping off my gear as I tried to stand the bike up. In the end I relented and sought help from a petite workmate who in fact made all the difference. After pumping the gas out of the flooded cylinders and carbs I was back on the road. Holding on to the clutch at a red light was agony, but the bike shifted much better having more lever travel.

I picked up some sweet chrome levers off eBay, and fitted they this evening. They look pimpin'! However, I'm now back to rough shifting as the lever hits the bar. I've adjusted the cable as much as I can without the clutch slipping, so I'll just have to see how it goes.

Gas Grill!

To celebrate my being in the USA for two year, Kristal acquired me a gas grill. A work friend of hers had no further use for it, so it came for free. It wasn't in very good shape, so I sanded down all the wood and metal, stained or spray painted as appropriate and generally cleaned it up. The worst job was getting the spider nests out of the gas lines. Apparently no one sells pipe cleaners anymore (people just buy Drano) so I had to buy a 99c wire bristle toilet brush and make a few alterations. After much sweat and bloody knuckles I finally had it clean enough that gas didn't get backed up and create a fireball around the taps!

The weather is awesome for grilling right now. Yesterday was burger night - tonight we had sausages. Maybe tomorrow I'll do chicken kebabs....

Anyone remember the Baywatch episode with the ladybugs?

Last weekend we took a trip to Sandbridge and got attacked by ladybugs. At one point I had three all sitting on my at once. The water was cold, and the sand kept on blasting us, but we had some killer seafood for lunch and I found a cool shell (a fairly intact Conch).
I thought you'd all like to marvel at me doing a Baywatch impression (minus the yellow floaty thing).

Costco

Yesterday we made our first purchases at the Mecca of excess known as Costco. My place of work offers cheap membership each May. Although we got the cards a few weeks ago, and had gone in to take a look around, it has taken us this long to summon the courage to actually buy anything. I think I found the deal of the century in a set of Floor Mats for by truck that came in at $13. We don't have to buy ground beef, yogurts or Snickers bars for a while!

SFG Update

I can't really tell one plant from another, so I had Kristal tell me exactly what we had and I wrote it all down. The box on the left was planted from seed, and the right box was planted with starters.
For the purposes of web accessibility I should have created a table using html table tags. But I was lazy and did probably the worst thing I could've done. I turned an Excel file into a JPEG and posted the information as an image. Al Gore (the de facto creator of the internet) would be horrified. I added some poorly drawn grass to try to convince myself that an image really was the most appropriate format in this context, but I know in my heart that I guilty and not even providing alternate text can atone for my sloth.

Updating my blog

I hope you all like the new more personal blog banner. I created this guy when the Simpsons movie came out. It was a pretty good representation of my facial hair situation at the time. Anyway, I found him in my picture folder and though he would do a good job of welcoming readers to my blog.

I have high aspiration of updating my blog template. I need to upgrade to Blogger's new templates, but that would involve resetting the various colour and font changes I have made. At the moment I am still unclear as to the advantages of the new templates. Since I barely find to time to write posts, I dread the prospect of spending hours working on my template just to have it look identical to the current incarnation. I'm so out of practice with HTML that editing is a process of trial and error. I was trying to remove the padding about the banner image today, but can't for the life of me find the appropriate line of code to change. It isn't helped that the Blogger templates are written with some form of style-sheet that is unfamiliar to me.

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I took the plunge and the new template editor is much easier to work with. It took about 10 minutes to make some colour and font changes, reinstate my banner and enact a few other minor edits. My only disappointment is that clicking on a colour swatch to select a text colour is much less satisfiying than locating to appropriate line of code and editing the hexadecimal number.

George

George, originally uploaded by evens.john.

Kristal and I visited Crump Memorial Park this evening as I'd seen some young lambs there last weekend. We also walked around to see the pigs. A couple of volunteers arrived to tend to the garden, so we got a formal introduction to George and Martha (the pigs!).

The park garden grows the usual vegetables and of course tobacco, which is cured in the only surviving tobacco curing shed in Henrico county, also located on the property.

Square foot gardens

garden 026, originally uploaded by evens.john.

Due to our limited yard space, patchy knowledge of gardening principles and abundance of creativity we are attempting to grow our vegetables in square foot gardens. We picked up a ton of dirt on a recent trip to Mathews, and threw it in a 4x4 box. Apparently the grid is also very important to the method of the SFG. Today we picked up some starter plants for Home Depot. We have a second box which we will try to start plants from seed! Watch this space and I'll let you know if we manage to grow anything!

Earth Day

Great Horned Owl, originally uploaded by evens.john.

Save the planet or I'll set my Great Horned Owl on you! Make no mistake, this guy could really ruin your day - look at the size of those talons! Unfortunately he's not my Great Horned Owl to boss around. That job belongs to Quinn from the Wildlife Center of Virginia, who introduced us to this beasty and two other injured bird from his collection at the Henrico County Earth Day celebration.
That's right, it's Earth Day (officially 22nd April), and Kristal was on the clock manning a booth to promote DCR Natural Heritage and the protection of rare species in the Henrico Area. I helped he set up the display, then wandered off to watch this guy pull Red-Tailed Hawks out of a hat. Well, there was only one hawk (and two owls), and they were in cages not hats, but it was still freakin' awesome! Especially when our friend pictured above tried to fly away and half the front row suffered cardiac arrest.
Also presenting was 'Keep Henrico Beautiful' (who I quizzed about recycling at work) and the James River Advisory Council. I talked to the gentleman at the JRAC stand for some time. He had been stationed in the UK with the USAF when he was younger, so actually knew where Reading was, which is always nicer than meeting somebody who went to London once. He told me a lot about volunteer opportunities on the James River, as well as fishing lessons, which I'd definitely like to try.

Texas

I took three days off work to visit Martha and Graham while she was in Texas. The Lone Star State definitely went far beyond my expectations. Although I only had a short time and stayed around the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, we saw so many different environments. Both cities had very clean downtown areas with great bars and restaurants, lots of plazas and parks. We visited McKinney Ave. in Dallas for some lunch when I got off the plane. With a tram running up and down the street, it kind of reminded me of Sheffield.
Then we went to see the spot where JFK got shot. A little way down the street there is this strange monument memorializing the man. Even after reading the accompanying plaque, we really had no idea what any of the elements were meant to symbolize. As I said, there is an abundance of plazas and parks in both towns, so we walked around downtown Dallas to visit various points of interest. One park is home to a herd of life size brass longhorn cattle and their brass cowboys. Next door is a Civil War cemetery - I couldn't believe I'd traveled 1100 miles across the country and still hadn't escaped the Confederacy!
After we'd done Dallas, we headed back to Ft. Worth. The way back to Graham's apartment we passed through the Stock Yards, so stopped to take a look around even through it wasn't on the itinerary until later in the week. It's really a cool place: the streets are paved with bricks and all the saloons and general stores have wooden porches over the sidewalk. We kept missing the cattle run, but by all reports it wasn't that exciting. Some of the shops form a railway station for the steam train from Grapevine. Although most of the shops are tacky (with cowboy gear that was made in Taiwan) at the very end we found this awesome spice shop which sold every type of spice plus different salts, meat rubs, curry blends and teas. I picked up a few ounces, hoping the sniffer dogs at the airport wouldn't get me! We were getting thirsty so we popped into the White Elephant Saloon were a very curt barman who didn't understand half of what we said ended up giving us free beer. Time had gotten away from us, so the stores I wanted to go in for cowboy boots were shut, so we made haste to H3 Steak House for just about the best Ribs and Steak I've ever tasted in my life. Granted, the place wasn't cheap, but I think we all agreed it was worth it, and did our best to clean our plates.
We pottered back to Graham's apartment and after a brief respite, decided that we needed to walk off dinner a little. Graham wanted to show us this great pub that has a lot of beers on tap, so we took the scenic route to downtown through the water gardens. At the Flying Saucer, I tried a local brew IPA, which was pretty decent, but we were all dog tired after one pint so called it a night.
On Tuesday we headed out to the West of DFW. The main plan for the day was to visit Possum Kingdom Lake. I'd been told that the landscape started to resemble a desert very soon after leaving the DFW area. I didn't find it to be so. The ground got sandier, but there were plenty of hardy trees and prickly pear cacti. It's definitely Ranch country, with the stereotypical iron archway incorporating the ranch name over every driveway. Cattle, horses and to my surprise goats were present in large numbers. We stopped for some lunch at the lake, and watched some boys jump in, then climb straight back out of the cold water! The next attraction was to be Dinosaur Valley SP near a great barbecue joint, so we set off along some scenic roads towards Glen Rose. Our route took us through Granbury, which had the cutest town square. This quaint ice-cream parlor caught our eye, and with the temperature pushing 80 we indulged in a round of root beer floats. Martha put 'Twist and Shout' on the duke box, then we headed out again in the heat.
Dinosaur Valley was one of the highlights for me. Down in the Paluxy river, all these dinosaur footprints have been exposed in the layers of rock. At first all I saw was round holes that could have been anything (but were apparently sauropod prints). Then as my eyed discovered the three toed prints of the Acrocanthosaurus, it was suddenly the coolest thing on the planet! Plus the park is really pretty - we took a stroll down the river trying to spot a snake or an armadillo.
Unfortunately the barbecue place we wanted to eat at was closed, so we made our way back to town to find some dinner (with a brief stop to change a flat tire caused by a four inch bolt embedding itself in the right-rear). The BBQ joint in FW was classic (their motto was: "Life's too short to live in Dallas"). It was counter service and the meals were served in polystyrene trays and consisted of a huge pile of meat, sauce, beans, 'slaw, potato salad, two slices of bread and half a raw onion! The beers came in frozen margarita-style fishbowl glasses. Another fantastic meal at the opposite end of the price range!
Wednesday was kinda short. Graham had to get a new tire, then we went back to the Stock Yards so I could get some boots. After that it was time for me to catch my flight back home.

Window Boxes

Germaniums, originally uploaded by evens.john.

Today before embarking on a manly motorcycle ride, I set up the window boxes on the front of the house. The gentleman at Inside Out on Brook Rd suggested Germaniums, offset with the ivy. I also made a box and a pot with some pink and white Dianthus.

Town and country M/C ride.

View Larger Map
I'm having fun with Google Maps - I like being able to plot a route so I can see where I've been a share it with other people. Today, I set out with the ambitious plan of taking a Northerly route to the Pamunkey river, then heading South to Route 5 back to Richmond. However, in between leaving later than planned, being completely lost most of the time and the weather taking a turn for the worst, I traced a slightly shorter route taking in some of the countryside of Hanover, before visiting part of the city that I normally steer clear of (but is interestingly historical).

First bike ride of the year

View Larger Map
Spring is here and we were given two hours early departure from work on Thursday for our Spring Holiday (aka Good Friday). I was worried that the river would be too distant to comfortably reach by bike from my new place. However, I think I've found an OK route that gets me off the main roads as much as possible. My legs were feeling the burn by the time I'd made the return trip. The way back was predominantly uphill of course.
The River was looking pretty healthy. I'm not used to seeing it neither really low, nor swollen and full of debris. Last year was a year of extremes. While I sat on a rock and had a mid-ride banana, a fat, juicy crayfish climbed right up onto the rock in front of me before being swept away by the current.

Kyle in Japan

My good friend Kyle has just arrived in Japan to start a year teaching English. Please go check out his blog - I'm sure it'll be amusing!

Barry

I'd like to introduce you all to Barry, the latest addition to our family. Barry came from one of our friends who had found him as a stray living behind and Italian restaurant. Although she'd had the cat for several months, she never got round to naming him as she didn't intend to keep him - he didn't even have a name, so I christened him 'Barry' (although K insists it's 'Bear-y').

Barry came with a litter box, his favourite brush and lots of toy mice, and after a tortuous 45-minute car ride from Petersburg locked in a cardboard box, he seems to have settled in well. He is always looking for a way to sneak outside, but we're keeping him in for a few months so he doesn't run away.

The bath tap seems to be Barry's favourite feature of the house - he can frequently be found scratching against it, and likes it if we turn it on just a little so he can play with the drips. He also enjoys the bay window, and sleeping at the foot of the bed. As far as we can tell, he's happy with his new home - and we are happy to have him!

Finding my way back onto the interweb

I'm back online now that Verizon high speed internet has been hooked up. I have of course set up a wireless network, which so far has worked flawlessly. From previous experience I knew to avoid combination modem/routers supplied by broadband provider, and Belkin products. I picked up a D-link router from Target, followed the step-by-step instruction and was surfing in 10 minutes.

Organizing Verizon was a bit of a nightmare. At first we thought we were getting a good deal on their 'FiOS' fiber-optic package. Then the deal expired. Then in transpired that FiOS was not available on our street, so we got regular broadband. We were told the DirecTV came with the package, which we didn't really want, so we'll be getting satellite TV from the Dish Network, because their DVR is cheap. I bundled my cell phone into the Verizon deal to try to make it sweeter, but ultimately we still end up paying through the nose for a home phone that we don't want but have to have. Verizon set up their recorded help-lines so that you can't get anywhere without entering a home phone number. So annoying.

Blogging from Panera

Since we're yet to get internet set up in our new home, I'm surfing for free at my local Panera bread. The service is very good - shame about the coffee.

New Home!

Front, originally uploaded by evens.john.

As promised to many, here are the photos of our new place. Isn't it pretty? We've begun to move things in, but probably won't take residence for about another week. This is now my fourth abode since arriving on foreign shores, and hopefully I will be able to stay here longer! I promised my Grandparents I would stop using them as a post office, too, so email me for my new address.

PPD Prom

PPD Prom 033, originally uploaded by evens.john.

Hooray! Finally something worth blogging about. Last night was our work holiday party, colloquially know as PPD Prom, since it's held so long after the holidays. They still insisted on putting up some lame Christmas decorations. It was a lot of fun, especially since J-No, Brian and Raz were in town, and because there was an open bar. The food this year wasn't very good. There wasn't even any dessert.
We've had so many new people start this year, and I had a good time getting to know them a bit better. Aside from almost burning Amanda's house down, I think we avoided any major mishaps. I'm glad its just once a year though; I can't party like I used to!

Toyota Tacoma

Tacoma 005, originally uploaded by evens.john.

Welcome to my first post made from Flickr! Although I'm still composing the message in my Blogger dashboard, hopefully the links in the caption will help guests to view more photos of the same subject. Please give me feedback on how it works for you.

Now on the the meat of the post. Since my readership is probably mostly British, I guess I'm going to spend most of my words justifying my choice to buy a pickup truck (or simply 'truck' as they are known here). While defensiveness will probably be seen as an admission of guilt, I think it's best that I address the principle concerns.

Size

Richmond, Virginia is not Chelsea, London. Space is not at a premium. I don't have to negotiate narrow, crowded streets near schools, so there is no reason to limit myself to a small car.

Fuel Economy

Since it's a brand new vehicle, it actually make pretty good miles. The EPA estimates 29mpg Highway (that almost 35 miles to an Imperial gallon). Plus, I still have the motorbike, which regularly gets 40-50mpg, so don't worry, I haven't become a Global Climate Change Denialist yet!

Ride Quality

Yes, the suspension is as stiff the proverbial Englishman's upper lip. But since Virginia's roads are in such as state that the Governor tripled speeding fines to pay for repairs, it's nice to be in something with good ground clearance.

I look like a Redneck

I know. And I love it. I've already started dressing accordingly.

Science, Evolution and Creationism

The National Academy of Science has released a booklet aimed at persuading educators to keep Creationism out of the science classroom. You can download a pdf of the full version for free if you don't mind giving them an email address, or there is an 8 page summary which cost nothing at all!

I'm going to try to wade through the entire thing, but I've heard either document gives a worthwhile introduction to evolutionary theory. Personally I think everyone should try to at least grasp the basics of science, so I recommend you take a look.

Feeling Blue, Going Green

Despite the title, this post has relatively little to do with low self esteem or attempts to be more environmentally responsible.

How my hair turned green

This year Santa brought me several hair related gifts. You may well ask why someone with as little hair as me would need such items. My favorite gift is a new pair of professional hair clippers. The gift I was initially most excited about getting was some blue hair dye. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Since the pattern of events leading to my green hair is fairly obvious, I'll concentrate on what I'll do differently.
Firstly, I won't be using a bleach kit that I found at the back of my bathroom cupboard next the the radiator. As a chemist I should know better than to expect good results from Peroxide that's been sitting around awhile. Secondly, only if the colour removal goes to plan will I continue to the next stage. Thirdly, in any case I think it's a good idea to wait a few days between bleaching a colouring, to get as much bleach out of the hair as possible. And finally, I'll locate a hairdryer before starting the whole process, so that if I decide that the application of heat is necessary, I won't be left running around wondering how I can live with two girls and still not be able to find one.

Happy New Year!

As with the red, my excuse for turning my hair green was the beginning of a brand new Year. I had a hard time convincing many other people that the goal of New Year's Eve is to go and stand around outside on one of the coldest nights of the year with a crowd of other nitwits. Cary Street was hosting it's 2nd annual standing-around-in-the-cold festival, so I was determined to attend. Despite the State of Virginia's draconian Alcoholic Beverage Control laws, I managed to enjoy a cold beer, while standing around in the cold. Bizarre country rock bands played songs for us to stomp our feet and rub our hand together to. Local nitwits included street preachers, libertarians and girls with a hypothermia-inducing dedication to fashion. The nitwits got a little out of control near the end, so we retreated to a side street to watch a small lighted ball go up a pole, triggering four indoor fireworks to announce the arrival of 2008. After that a middle-aged man exhorted us to make education a priority this year (we promised we would), then we made our way home.
Enjoy MMVIII

Another Parade

It's fantastic living between Monument Ave and Broad St, because you never miss a parade. I've no idea where they announce these these things. Usually the only warning I see is that the 'No Parking' signs go up. But apparently everyone else knew about it because they've turned up in droves to watch Scooby-Doo and Odie go past. I guess most of the on-lookers have kids in a High School band. Not sure what's Christmas-y about a guy with a Devil mask on!

Christmas Tree

Yay for Christmas Trees. Here's ours.

Judgement Day

I finally got around to watching the Nova documentary Judgement Day, investigating the attempt to introduce Intelligent Design to the classroom. There was a lot of hype about the program. While Intelligent Design advocates claimed that the show contained errors and was biased, the anti-ID camp reveled in how stupid it made the creationists look.

In fact, I thought it was a refreshingly balanced piece of journalism. Several members from each side of the case, including individuals from the Dover School District, members of each council, expert witnesses and the judge himself were given opportunities to express their point of view. The narration never ridiculed or belittled any contributor, expect perhaps towards the end when it was clear that the ID proponents had lied, held misguided opinions of science and were motivated by religious zeal, despite continuing to claim that their aim was the improved scientific education of American children.

Really this whole debate highlights the scientific community's failure to educate the general public about our understanding of genetics. Unfortunately, some of the best explanations for the lay person were penned by Richard Dawkins, who has unhelpfully assumed the role of self-proclaimed anti-Christ.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

I'm still working on how best to link from this blog to one of my albums on Flickr.

[edit]I've added a link to my Flickr photos to my sidebar. Enjoy! [/edit]

Keeping up with information technology

There are many options for managing digital information, and I am resolving to find the best solutions and use them properly. I have several criteria.

Looks

I know this sounds shallow, but in my experience, if I don't like how it looks, I'll never be happy with it. Things seem to work as good as they look; if the designers couldn't get it to look good, they probably couldn't get to to work either. I recently had some soft saddle bags stolen off my bike, but I'm not in the least bit bothered because they looked a bit crap, and thus didn't work very well. I hope the new owner enjoys them. I'm going to buy hundreds of dollars of Givi hard luggage instead because the Italians design things that look sexy.

Time

I don't mind spending a lot of time on IT, since it's an important aspect of my life. But I'm not going to waste any time. I want to be able to designate shortcuts. If I have to perform a task repetitively (like renaming photos) I want to be able to do it easily.

Cost

I don't mind spending some money on IT, and I'll willing part with cash to do what I want to do, but hate having to spend moolah to have something I didn't want in the first place. In fact, I'll even pay money to not have things I don't want. Which brings me on to the final point.

Order

I'm a messy person, but when I decide to clean up I demand the right tools for the job. I want to be able to turn off the things I don't like. I want to organise items by dragging them to my desired location.

The good:

• Flickr
  
• Panasonic DMC-FX01
  

The bad:

• Photobox, Snapfish etc - too many special offers, not enough organisation
  
• LG Chocolate - bought it cos it looks good. Hate the menus, broke the touch-buttons and the sliding mech, camera quality, music and in-call sound quality all poor.
  

Certain things are on my brown-list. Blogger, because I think there are probably more suitable platforms out there for my style of posting. Hotmail, because it has become over protective. iTunes seems to have a lot of the same annoyances as Windows Media Player did (I thought it'd be a lot better), but since I despise Media Player 11, I think iTunes will survive.

Flickr Account

I have decided to invest in a Flickr Pro Account so that I can try to keep my photographs more organised. Windows XP explorer isn't really designed to allow tagging or long descriptions of pictures, and won't easily organise by time taken. Plus a hard disk isn't sufficiently permanent for me. No, I don't back-up my files.

So far, I'm enjoying Flickr. It's a pretty interface, which I think is important for displaying photographs. I'm finding it easy to use so far, but there are obviously a lot of features still to investigate. I noticed Blogger will let me create slideshows from a Flickr account, so I'm going to try to set that up. WTS

Science Post - Stem Cell Research

My Uncle was asking me about the recent breakthrough in transforming adult skin cells into embryonic stem cells. Specifically, what is the role of retroviruses in performing the transformation.

To answer the query, I'm going to first direct you to pharyngula for a comprehensive summary of the latest article.

If you don't have time to wade through that posting, here's the short version:

The researchers have discovered the 'reset switch' for cells. This switch consists of four genes. To activate the switch, the researchers used retroviral transfection to insert multiple copies of these genes into a cell, along with 'promotors', which ensure that the genes are activated. As pharyngula explains, is not a particuraly elegant solution, but allows the researchers to demonstrate the effect of the genes. A better solution will involve a technique to activate the natural copies of the 'reset switch' genes already in the cell.

Retroviral transfection has been the foundation of gene therapy and other gentic research since the early 1990's. The technique itself is not new, just it's application.

Asheville, NC

Kristal and I took a long weekend vacation to Asheville to check out her old college and generally enjoy the mountains. For some reason, Blogger isn't letting me upload photos right now. On one hand, this is a shame, because I took some stunning photos of awe-inspiring mountain landscapes (the leaves were beautiful), but on the other hand, I have so many photos it's almost impossible to choose which to post!

We stayed at the Inn on Mill Creek. We got a free upgrade to a room with a jacuzzi tub, which was the most relaxing experience I can remember. The innkeepers are a young couple who have owned the property less than a year. They have fostered an atmosphere that is less stuffy than many B&Bs. We really enjoyed staying with them. The place is about two miles down an gravel track in the woods - great for star gazing. They have a dammed lake which runs a fountain a mile down the hill. Cool place.

We crammed a ridiculous amount into a two night stay. On Friday night we hung out in Black Mountain, having dinner at the Cellar Door (Kristal had fresh mountain trout - I had Ostrich!), then moving on the the Town Pump for a few local beers and music by a ridiculous Heavy Metal/Blugrass band.

On Saturday (after Belgian Waffles for Brekky), we went to check out Warren Wilson Collge. It's a crazy place. This small campus is nestled in small valley with acres of fields for crops and livestock, and fantastic views of the mountains. The students help on the farm, plus run recycling schemes, bike shops, blacksmiths - you name it: they do it themselves. Kristal took a look around the science building (nostalgia alert -- university science labs!), and we even broke into her Tardigrade lab to see what was up.

After that we hit up Chimney Rock and Mt Mitchell. Chimney Rock was crawling with school parties, so we did the main event and peaced out. The observation tower at Mt Mitchell was closed for refurbishment, so we didn't get the best view, but it was cool to be up that high (6,578 ft) where it got icy.

In the evening we headed into Asheville town centre. Everyone was pretty laid back, which I thought I would find refreshing, but instead I was annoyed at the lack of efficiency in the restaurant! What have I become!! In the end I chilled out (a Metropolitan helped), and we went to see Darjeeling Limited (funny Wes Anderson flick) at the local two screen theatre.

Finally on Sunday we caught Linville Falls and Grandfather Mountain on the way out. We didn't really know anything about Grandfather Mountain, and even asked the Assistant and the gate why we should pay $14 to get in! But it turned out to be a highlight. Halfway up they have a nature exhibit with Black Bears, Cougars, Deer and Eagles and a good museum showcasing the flora, fauna and geology of the area. Then at the top there is the 'Mile High' Swinging bridge, which was built at almost exactly one mile above mean sea level. Once over the bridge the 360 degree view is breathtaking. So, it was totally worth it.

Overall, it would've been nice to do some more hiking at the places we stopped at, but in the end, time didn't allow. Hopefully I'll get my photos online at some point. Western NC is definitely worth seeing.

Rain

We finally got some rain. It's been on and off since lunchtime today, and is forecast to continue through until Friday. The Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service sets river levels at more than 8 feet by then. It's certainly a welcome change in the weather, and a chance for me to try out my rain gear. Here is proof that I put my personal safety before image. I can only imagine how the yellow jacket and my red bike compliment each other. I have a cover for the bike now too, from E-bay. Saddle bags are on order from Chase Harper. Now all I need is some boots, a windscreen, and GPS. PS, my birthday is in a month. Christmas is just around the corner.

Folk Festival

The National Folk Festival was held in Richmond this year for the last time before it makes it's tri-annual move to another city. So, we thought we should check it out. It's a mixture of music and crafts, and one of our friends was volunteering with a group that fairly trades ethnic craft goods, called ten thousand villages. To be honest, I didn't find the event terribly interesting, and it was hot and packed full of people. This dude with an autoharp was cool. And I met a horse, which afforded the opportunity for this shot of me looking like a country boy. That in itself makes it worth me posting.

Anniversary Antics

Kristal and I recently celebrate one happy year together. She impressively constructed me the quilt picture above in complete secret. It's beautiful, double sided and very cosy! In return I helped her buy a new sewing machine. Actually, it is my sewing machine and she's just borrowing it until I learn how to sew. I has around 70 different stitch settings, and features one-touch thread routing and needle threading. Basically, I though sewing machines were kinda dull - I was wrong. They're dead cool and I own one.
We spent the day putting together a scrap book using photographs from the past year. For the first time I actually printed a decent quantity of my digital pictures. I have a HP Deskjet and was printing on Office Max photo paper, and they came out looking relatively professional. Some hues seemed to take longer to dry than others, so we ended up with a few smudges but nothing serious. The book will be a nice memory.
For dinner we had another attempt at making Sushi, but over-confidence got the best of us, and it didn't work out as well as our first effort on Valentine's Day. Still, you can't beat fish. And rice. Cucumber. Avocado. Soy Sauce.Wasabi.Ginger.

The motorcycle diary

It's about time I published the full story behind my return to two wheels. Here it comes...
On Friday 9/14 John's car had a bit of a sideways adventure courtesy of a flat tire, wet weather, poor American road design, lack of roadway maintenance and many other factors other than driver error. Unfortunately, the adventure was cut brutally short by a crash barrier. I emerged unscathed and surprisingly exhilarated. Mostly I was happy to have not collected any other vehicles, having traversed two traffic lanes. The other good news is that no friendly state troopers stopped by to decide I deserved a trip to court.

I called Kristal, and she and her housemate Sara came out to pick me up and call a tow truck. This 21 year old comes out, reversing 200 yards up a on-ramp shoulder to reach us, and jumps out of the truck wearing flip-flops. It turns out her ripped a toenail off while riding a quad-bike barefoot, and shoes are too painful. Despite all this, he does a good job of getting my car back to Kristal's place, whereupon Sara (who is a paediatric nurse) jumps into action to re-bandage his toe so he doesn't have to work in flip-flops in the rain. Kristal gets some hot cocoa on th go, and soon the drama of the night is behind us.

I had to go into work on Saturday, so didn't get a chance to take care of my car. In any case, I've had my eyes out for a bike ever since I got my license (well, really since I arrived in the USA!). I took a ride on a BMW F650 but it wasn't really what I was looking for, and had too many problems. On Saturday at work, I found a Honda Nighthawk posted on the Norfolk Craigslist. Having already missed out on some good deals, I immediately fired off an email to register my interest. That interest was piqued when I saw a picture of the bike. I arranged to view the bike straight away. On Sunday, we drove down to a place just outside Williamsburg. The owners of the bike were selling everything to go travel in their RV for a year, so I got a great deal. The bike has only seen 6000 miles in 12 years on the road. It rides exactly how I want: not too sporty, but with enough power to be comfortable on the highway, and unlike American cruisers, it has been designed with some attention to handling.



I'll want to find a windscreen and some luggage for it, then I'll be off on some adventures (in a strictly forwards direction) while the weather is still fine. Kristal has a helmet so she can ride on the back. Pan Am anyone?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, YEAH!

Motorcycle License

Over the weekend I took the Basic Rider Course offered by the MSF. Involving one evening of classroom tuition and two afternoons of practical training, it provides the participant with a waiver for the DMV written and skills tests. Basically, you take the course and they hand you your license at the end. You gotta love motorist education in the USA.

This morning I took the waiver into the DMV so they could reissue my license complete with the 'M'-class. Now I am able to go test ride some bikes. I've been agonising over what bike to get for a long time. My dream bike right now is a Suzuki Bandit 1200. Fitted with some luggage, it is apparently a good two-up sports-tourer, plus I think they look great. There was one for sale in Fredericksburg, very affordable, but it sold this morning. I was totally gutted. Hopefully another will come my way soon.

The bike of my wildest dreams right now is a Triumph Tiger. However, these are almost impossible to find second hand. Um, which would mean buying a brand new bike, and I'm not to sure about spending that much money. But watch this space!

OBX - Part the third

For our Labor Day holiday we went camping in (you guessed it) the Outer Banks. This time we stayed at the National Parks campsite in Frisco, returning to the NPS after a terrible experience with KOA last time. When we arrived, they had just three sites left, and when we went back to the office a short while later, they were full, so we were lucky to get a spot. Rather disappointingly, the beach near the campground is open to offroad vehicles. This has become common on the East Coast under the present Administration, and is a bit of a shame. Although there are regulations these are not adhered to by a small minority who are too stupid or too selfish to respect common courtesy. Ultimately, I'm disappointed by anyone who is too lazy to leave their vehicle in the parking lot and make a short walk to the beach. If all they want to do is tailgate, stay in the parking lot!

But what did we expect, having chosen to visit on Labor Day weekend! We enjoyed ourselves all the same, playing travel Scrabble at the campsite, and enjoying a nearby beach that didn't allow ORVs. We ate surf and turf on the first night (I grilled steak and shrimp on one of those one-use barbeques), and ate at the Froggy Dog the second night. We also bought some beach chairs and a body-board, which we come in handy on future trips.

Highland County

My Aunt and Uncle invited me up to the house they are renovating in Highland county. In fact, they invited a bunch of friends and relatives and put us to work tearing out fireplaces and rotting floors in return of food and a place to pitch our tents. I think we managed to work for one afternoon. The rest of the time was spent swimming in the creek, or fooling around on this Honda Trail 70.

It took Kristal and I just over three and a half hours to drive out there, including a couple of stops. She kindly let me drive her PT Cruiser over the mountains. I loved it. Manual transmissions are few and far between in the States, but it really does the job on the twisties! Also, it has arm rests, so on the Interstate you really feel like you're cruisin'. The only problem was getting down the rocky driveway to the house.

The place is a bit of a dump. I don't think the owners would take offense to me saying that. But the location is great, and it has a lot of nice features. From the outside it almost looks like it just need a new coat of paint. On the inside, they are basically stripping most of it down the the original walls or the frame. There have been so many alterations on the place, not all of which were performed by professionals, but I'd say that adds character! We did what we could, and all foolishly volunteered to do another weekend of work soon.

It was also great to catch up with the friends and family in the county who I haven't seen in a good seven years or so... I'd forgotten what characters George and Peggy were - it was so fun to see them again. David is running to a position in local government, so it was interesting to chat to him about the challenges and opportunities facing the county. Julia scolded me for not visiting sooner and insisted that I could arrive without invitation! To other people who were there: you are also all very nice!

blog layout changes

Hopefully regular readers will have noticed a few changes in the appearance of my blog. It's been a while since I 'studied' HTML programming, but making changes to existing code is fairly simple, especially with a bit of trial and error. I was finding it hard to write much, knowing that the blog displays in such a narrow column. I've widened the width of the main section. Please let me know if is isn't displaying correctly, due to low resolutions, for example. Also please tell me if the text is too wide to read comfortably - if so I may get really adventurous and try to format posts on two columns! A few colour changes here and there also help make my page a little more individualized.

Nickel Creek

Nickel Creek are the definitive 'Newgrass' band, and one of K's favourite performers. Their farewell (for now) tour came to Innsbrook After-Hours on Friday so a few of us grabbed an early sushi dinner and went to check it out. Four some reason they are touring with Fiona Apple, doing bluegrass renditions of her hits as well as a few other covers and a bunch of their own material. It's kind of a new genre to me, but it's a lot of fun to listen to. I'm considering getting myself a mandolin...

A trip to Mathews

You can take the girl outta Mathews, but you can't take Mathews outta the girl. With that in mind I thought it would be nice for my family to get a glimpse of where K was from, so we took them out to Mathews for a day. Plus I think it's a cool place with fun things to do and great people to visit, so I'll take any excuse to get myself invited out there. We got together a couple of canoes and paddled out into the bay to work up an appetite. On our return, the crabs were boiled to perfection, along with corn, tomatoes, potato salad, apple pie and cookies - fabulous country fare! The meeting of respective parents seemed to go well - birds formed the common interest through which new friendships could be forged. Good Times.

At the Beach

On Wednesday Kristal, myself and the family took a trip to Sandbridge beach. We got great weather for it - you might say a little too good as everyone came away with at least one spot of sunburn. We did all the things you have to do when you go to the beach: build a sandcastle, jump waves, take a walk down the beach, throw a frisbee and eat an ice-cream. Yup, I'd say we about covered it!

At the River

One of the best things about Richmond is the river, and no visit would be complete with spending some time horsing around in the rapids. I took Dad and Martha down to Belle Isle to take a dip in the refreshing waters of the James. Somehow, they'd never been off the southside of Belle Isle, so I took them across the police access bridge then we jumped rocks back to the old powerstation dam. Despite low water levels, the hollywood rapids are still fierce, so once we found ourselves getting complacent of the strength of the current we knew it was time to move on.
We went for lunch at Padow's deli and Dairy Queen then headed over to pony pasture. Unfortuantely the weather started to turn and by the time we arrived a good storm was brewing. We walked out on the rocks a little ways but as the lightning strikes drew closer it seemed unwise to enter the water, so we called it a day.

My Family Arrives

Mom and Dad flew in Yesterday, and Martha arrived today. All had smooth flights. Tonight everyone converged at Sulgrave Road to greet the weary travelers. I counted seventeen including Smoky the dog! It's great to see my family, and I can't wait to finish the work week and begin to show them around the life that I have carved out for myself in Richmond.

The Finals

The Sharks have made it through to the finals, finishing top of our group (Click here for standings). We expected our last game to be our toughest opposition, and played hard with no substitutes to get the win. Now it's on to the knockout stages next week. Hopefully I'll be able to play, but with my family in town I'll have to see how my schedule works out. Click here and scroll down to see the fixtures.

Punk Rock Warlord

I just picked up the Soundtrack to the upcoming film, "the future is unwritten", about the life of Joe Strummer. Joe was with the Clash, later formed the Mescaleros, and DJ'ed a radio show on the BBC world Service from 1999-2002. The album showcases some of the music Joe would play on his show.

I've always enjoyed Joe's musical endevours. He writes songs about stuff that really happened to him; other people write songs about cool stuff they wish would happen to them. Genre isn't really important. Honesty is.

Soccer Schedule

We played the Costa Ricans tonight @ Indoor and were defeated 8-1. A bit disappointing, but as usual no one stayed in position and we didn't talk to one another...

We only have one indoor game left now, on Wednesday at 10pm.

My Outdoor games are as follows:

Date	Time	Location
Jul 11	6:00	7A
Jul 12	7:10	8A
Jul 19	7:10	3A
Jul 24	6:00	3B

The 'A' and 'B' are just used because we play on half of the field. So if the location is '3A', just find field 3 at Striker park and we'll be there.

Night Fishing

Eileen and Anders took Kristal and I night fishing on Friday. In the photo we are setting out on the Pamunkey River just before sunset. It was a really beautiful evening. Later, the stars and the lightning bugs came out. Anders talked to the owls a lot (they been reading too much Harry Potter).

As for the fishing, we we not so lucky. No fish we caught, and we lost one line in the trees, one when the line touched the lantern and burnt off, and another snagged on a branch at the bottom of the river! Still, had a great time, and as long as Anders doesn't think we're cursed, we'll try again another day.

Indepedence Day

This year I decided not to kick up any fuss about the fourth of July. I barely heard anyone call it 'Independence Day', which just goes to show that nobody remembers why they're getting the day off work. Ray invited a few of us from work around to his new house for a cook-out. His dog, a beagle by the name of muddy, ate my potato salad. I feel like the balance of the universe was restored when one of our fireworks almost killed Ray and Muddy! To pass the time 'til it got dark, we played 'Would you rather...', which involved me getting in rather heated arguments with Amanda about how much saliva there is on a cows tongue (among other, more intellectual topics).

I was home in time to watch the fireworks at the Diamond (the baseball stadium is just a few blocks away, so I had a good view from the top of my fire-escape). They didn't start until around 11pm. Apparently the neighbours were complaining about the noise. Again, I think it's rather sad that on such a significant national holiday, some people can only grumble that the fireworks were too loud! It's the kind of thing you expect to happen in England!

Indy Car

My uncle Ben got Kristal and I some tickets for the Indy Car race at RIR last night. The video posted above is not my original footage, but pretty much captures how the race proceeds for 250 laps. However, it was better than NASCAR for the following reasons.
1. It features a smaller field of cars, so it's easier to keep track of what's going on.
2. It's faster - if you're just going to drive around in circles, at least do it at 170mph.
3. Diversity - the current leader is a Scot of Italian descent, and there are four women drivers.
4. They run on Ethanol!
The evening starts off with the usual military posturing - a jet fighter flyby and three paragliders, one with a huge Stars & Stripes tied to his leg! It was pretty cool. We ate the worst cheeseburgers I've ever tasted, washed down with crisp, refreshing Miller Lite. I bought a T-shirt, which I will wear with Pride to work tomorrow!

Soccer Update

I played my first game with the 'Sharks', in the Richmond Strikers' Under 40's League. The game was a bit of a pushover, since the other team were unbearably slow. Hopefully more worthy opposition awaits us. The League is set up in two groups of six teams, with the top teams in each group entering playoffs towards the end of the season. It's a seven-a-side game format with rolling subs. The field is a bit larger than the indoor arena I've been playing in, and of course there are no walls, so you have to play a bit more intelligently!

Talking of Indoor, 'Old School' is in its second session. We definitely started to improve at the end of last season, and this session it looks like the other teams in our league are closer to our level. Hopefully the days of Nine - Nothing defeats are behind us.

Last week my Grandpa and friend James came to watch us play. It turned out to be one of the scrappier games we've played. For some reason everyone was on edge, so our rather easy victory was marred by a couple of outbreaks of unsportsmanlike behaviour. This week was a bye week for us, so maybe by next week everyone will have calmed down!

Kyle's Lake House

This weekend was spent down at Lake Gaston. We did a bit of fishing (I caught a crappy), messed around on the jetski (my bum is sorely bruised after being towed in a poorly designed inflatable), and generally lounged around in the sunshine. Above Kristal, Anders and Eileen are preparing some canned corn bait. Fifty pound carp were the quarry, but sadly none were caught.

Groovin' in the Garden

On Thursday I spent a relaxing few hours taking in some live music at Ginter Botanical Gardens. A mere $15, the show was opened by Chuch with Son Volt headlining. The genre was described to me as 'Country Rock', but really the styles leaned more in the direction of contemporary American rock, in my opinion. Despite Son Volt being the main attraction, I thought Chuch did a nicer job of putting on a show and interacting with the crowd. Maybe I'll pick up their record. It's about time I stopped listening to British rock bands from the seventies and got myself up to date!

An Englishman in America

Kristal kindly indulged me in all things British yesterday, cooking Shepherds Pie (made with lamb!) and apple crumble. It was delicious - dibs to M for providing the recipes. Also provided were Boddingtons, Hobgoblin, Guinness and some kind of Irish Raspberry Cider. Yummy! And as a present, K gave me a Union Jack, which already proudly flies on our balcony.

One Year in the USA.

Today officially marks the end of my first year abroad. I don't recall the exact moment that the airplane tires touched down on American soil, but I do remember pulling up to the back of my grandparent's house at around 3AM on the morning of the 2nd of June 2006 and realising that my adventure had begun.

Looking back through my blog archives brings warm memories of new experiences enjoyed with new friends in new places. It's been a fun year, and perhaps it's time for me to talk in a more conversational tone about my journey so far.

For some reason I feel a weight of expectation as I begin to type. Since I imagine that the audience of this blog is composed primarily of friends and family back home, I sure everyone is hoping for me to announce my imminent return to the Isles. Well, you'll just have to wait and see. Those of you who prescribe more strongly to the xenophobic tendencies of the British are no doubt waiting for a lengthy tirade focusing on the stupidity, narrow-mindedness and unchecked consumerism which I may have witnessed over the past twelve months.

Really all I want to say, though, is that I'm having a really good time! I'm so happy that my attempts to run away from real life have been so blissfully successful! My existence is unblemished my the proximity of anything resembling an authority figure. Money comes, and money goes. I have no immediate plans to make anything of myself.

Thank you for reading. I really miss every one of you terribly, and hope dearly that you can come and visit soon ;-).