ARGH! IT'S JAMBO!

The people ran in fear from the ghastly spectre that was the-artist-formerly-known-as-Big-James. A very drunk Jambo was on the loose...





It is of course possible that Little James was actually advertising anti-perspirant and the images are in reverse order...

"Look, no sweat patches!"

"Oh my!"

"Gee whizz!"

"Kiss me now!"

P.S. I saw Marc Warren in town today. Most well known for Hustle, but I thought of Band of Brothers. Best... series... ever...

It's the End of the World as We Know It

Quote of the moment:
"...Training camp... Please can you make plans to come back early after Easter... I suggest we start training on Thursday the 20th at the latest..." - Pest. Hurrah for BUSA Regatta being the weekend after we get back. There will apparently be socials (plural!) though.

It's the last day of term for me, effectively, because on Sunday I depart to Shrewsbury for a week of fun with tripods, optical levels, theodolites and similar.


A theodolite, for the uninitiated.
Lots of fun little dials to play with.

I therefore miss: the rowing ball, the rowing AGM, the inaugural "Welsh Boat Race" (Cardiff vs Swansea, who don't have their own 8 boat. The result is rather predictable), the free (sponsored) bar afterwards and also various other non rowing-related fun things. Thought I missed the Engineering ball too, but turns out I just got the wrong Thursday and it was last night. Tragedy.

bobblog

Quote of the moment:
Stop that!
What?
Thinking!

Bob has a blog :D

Oops

Quote of the moment:
"Happy birthday to you..."



Yup. My blog reached the ripe old age of 2 on Sunday. It was her birthday too, but that's obviously much less important.

Did You Know?

Quote of the moment:
The Himalayas cover one-tenth of the Earth's surface. - BBC News Magazine.

Dan Brown is Evil

Quote of the moment:
"Like Gary Glitter in a sweet shop, you too can have your pick of kiddy treats in London's theatre world." - Lastminute.com advert.

Opus Dei are probably pushing for the burning of Dan Brown as a heretic and I'm inclined to agree. I succumbed to the new Potter-style fever at last and bought The Da Vinci Code (£3.21 in Tesco). It stole my sleep. Stole it, I tell you. I started reading about 1am and finished about 7am. Damn book. Burning the heretical document gets my vote offertory donation.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

The apple cryptex answer was OBVIOUS. Jeez. Rosy flesh, seeds in the womb and being the supposed start of original sin. C'mon. Newton just confirmed it. Also, faffing about with the backwards writing. OBVIOUS. I could read the first line backwards while walking towards the mirror, which was the obvious reaction on seeing it. PUH-LEASE. Atbast did have me flummoxed though. More of that complex stuff was required.

Oh yeah, and I got the uranium/a-bomb/hiroshima/nagasaki atomic number link instantly in Digital Fortress, so spoiler for that too if you thought it was only Da Vinci Code spoilerisms. Didn't know one was just a dirty bomb though, so kudos for that geekery.

Additionally, Dan Brown failed to spot that there's a big M in the Last Supper for MAN-BOOBS, not Mary Magdalen. Man-boobs, as possesed by the MALE disciple on Jesus' right. At least, I think that's the line the Vatican should take. Stop bullying John for his obesity you meanies, etc.

Final Thought:

Pain is good. Through pain we shall achieve redemption good race results. A good mantra to repeat when on the rowing machine - except that mantras are Buddhist and therefore heretical. Tsk tsk.

RIP Fat Will

Quote of the moment:
Imperial: 13st 12lb (196lb)
Metric: 88kg

That puts my BMI at 24.2, making me "Normal" for the first time since before I bummed my knee aged 15, when I was 14st 7lb. BMI is blatantly crapola, but it's on my side now so never mind. W00t for me and w00t for the gym scales. I went yesterday during the England-France rugby match, because it would be emptier than normal. 31-6 to France, so I didn't miss much.

I've just been introduced to the marvels of Lost... not that I hadn't seen a couple of episodes before, but I borrowed the "First 12 episodes" box set and got through 5 on Saturday night. I was quite suprised therefore to find that my "Architectural Engineering" lecture this afternoon was taken by Locke...

Lo! (Pan)

Quote of the moment:
"Chuck Norris destroyed the periodic table because he only recognises the element of suprise" - Text to Gair Rhydd. Go watch the Ultimate Showdown. NOW. Catchy tune-age and Lo-Pan. What more could you want?



A random package in the post turned out to be a t-shirt from a Gair Rhydd competition. Yay for free stuff. This week's edition features the Taff race on the back page, and even stretches to a mention of the novice men's boats. It talks about how we beat loads of experienced crews because we were first and second in a novice catergory of two. Impressive stuff.

No seniors in circuits last night, so we did half an hour and then played netball, under two uber-competitive novice women team captains. Most excellent.

The Procrastinator's Creed

Quote of the moment:
1. I believe that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already.
2. I shall never move quickly, except to avoid more work or find excuses.
3. I will never rush into a job without a lifetime of consideration.
4. I shall meet all of my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.
5. I firmly believe that tomorrow holds the possibility for new technologies, astounding discoveries, and a reprieve from my obligations.
6. I truly believe that all deadlines are unreasonable regardless of the amount of time given.
7. I shall never forget that the probability of a miracle, though infinitesmally small, is not exactly zero.
8. If at first I don't succeed, there is always next year.
9. I shall always decide not to decide, unless of course I decide to change my mind.
10. I shall always begin, start, initiate, take the first step, and/or write the first word, when I get around to it.
11. I obey the law of inverse excuses which demands that the greater the task to be done, the more insignificant the work that must be done prior to beginning the greater task.
12. I know that the work cycle is not plan/start/finish, but is wait/plan/plan.
13. I will never put off until tomorrow, what I can forget about forever.
14. I will become a member of the ancient Order of Two-Headed Turtles (the Procrastinator's Society) if they ever get it organized.

Still suffering from sticky keys, altoug it seems be wearing off for eeryting except , , and enter :p Race yesterday went well apart from te final section out in Cardiff Bay, wen te water was uber coppy and we were knackered. eld off te 1st 8, toug teir time was still better of course, and despite being in te leakiest bat tub around we still owned te snior womens 8 (as we sould), so a definite improement.

Bol'l'ovck;s

tan#go sprayin#g evcerywere n#ear deask; = major l'aptop probl'ems. tis is after givcin#g it a few ours to dry out. peraps sme more, toug m n#ot opeful'.

This Just In...

Quote of the moment:
"If you hurl hard enough, you can puke poo." - Prill

In honour of the racing season getting underway, Pest has produced a new training schedule. It takes us up from an arts student's lectures worth of training time to a decent degree's worth (although not quite my 20 hours):

At least:

7 hours out of the boat

5 hours in the boat

3 hours travelling

N.B. Thus far I've spent 1 minute on a crosstrainer.

In other news:

• There was snow on the ground this morning and it snowed while I was rowing this afternoon.
  
• The Queen attended the official opening of the Senedd (new Welsh Assembly building) was was therefore present for the inaugural parade of the Royal Welsh Regiment, one of whose two predecessors my dad was in, both deliberately placed on St. David's Day for uber-Welshness.
  
• It being St. David's day (the patron saint of Wales) I wore my England rugby shirt.
  
• James Blunt is the first UK musician to top the Billboard 100 since Elton John with Candle in the Wind in 1997.
  
• I persuaded my camp to let me go home a week early to be back in time for resits, so I'll have something to look forward to when devoting ridiculous amounts of time to rowing.

Leek Pancakes

Quote of the moment:
"Popular children's show Rainbow is to return, 14 years after it was taken off TV screens." - BBC News.

We had snow today. Hurrah! Midway through Soil Mechanics our lecturer suddenly said "Oh, it's snowing!" and couldn't get quiet for the rest of the lecture because of people talking about getting home in the snow. By the time we got outside, of course, it had stopped.

I got home from pancakes tonight to find that the kitchen was full of my flatmates and associated hangers on being cooked pancakes by Claire and Jenny from next door. How awesome! I was pressured into having one to prove the rude comments by the others wrong, but I got the first one made from the second batch of batter and it was awesome.

In other news, the same lecturer told us that a load of (mostly) castles are offering free entry tomorrow because it's St David's day. Hopefully leek will be predominate in tomorrow's supper. Mmmm leek. Sadly Cardiff Castle isn't one of them. Spoilsports.