weigh-day friday

Honestly – I’m surprised I haven’t put a stone on – the week in the US was really tough for me, big portions, dressing on every salad and excuses to take a beer or two. Plus I  only got to work out twice while I was there because of some crazy early starts. So, I got my head down this week in the gym and have put in 4 good workouts (only missed yesterday due to a full day in London). Weekend at Mums should be OK, I have to resist the beer in the pub – but I plan to go running for the FIRST TIME EVER.

Next weeks travel schedule looks ideal – I should be in the gym 4 days out of 5, and I have no evening temptations lined up.

So – I end this week two kilos lighter than my last weigh day – next weigh-in will be 13th July

home

Back after a fine week in Seattle – strange week, feel like I did very little work – and now I have the inbox from hell to pay me back for time spent in offsite meetings, awards dinners and ‘morale’ events.

Suitcase issues aside, it was pretty good – weather was lovely and Seattle  life is always pretty good fun for me…some nice meals, catch up with my team mates and some tourity thing sin the mix.

Full set of photos over here on flickr. I only took my point and shoot, and not my 350d – so no miracles should be expected.

Now I need to go and fill out the huge form to claim some expenses from British Airways!

sixteen

So – this was supposed to be a cool thing showing 16 random books from my website…but it broked my RSS feed, so I’m removing it till I understand what the fudge is going on!

the ideal condition – paul hartnoll

 Its been ages since anyone released an album that I wanted to write about, and suddenly three or four have arrived at once. I was eagerly awaiting an album from either of the Orbital brothers, and finally ‘The Ideal Condition’ from Paul Hartnoll has dropped.

Orbital were one of my all-time favourite bands – combining tough electronica with beautiful melodies, and straddling the line between Dance and festival still rock music perfectly. Seeing them live was an extraordinary thing, and I still love listening to their albums now.

The Ideal Condition is a slight departure from that – reducing the electronica down to an almost film-score like atmosphere, and delivering some really beautiful soundscapes. Added into the mix are some real vocals (including Robert Smith) and a more song-like structure to the material. Its a stunning album, that restored my faith.

treeware – online

We have bunches of books at home…loads and loads of dead trees stacked on neat looking shelves around the house, thanks to Sandrine we have many books in French, and I’ve always been an avid reader – so we’ve accumulated a small rain forest.

I’ve always wanted a list – mainly so I can track the books we’ve lent out to people, but also so that I can just set back and see the body that we have collected.

I stumbled across Librarything some time back – and bookmarked it so that I could come back to it in the future, but now we’ve got most of our books online.

I’m really pleased with how it looks – and we’ll be adding as we go.

Our library is here.

(Does anyone know if theres a Library thing for CD’s?)

smoke, lights AND bubbles

Sitting at 38,000 feet seems like the perfect place to reflect on my first trip to the new Wembley Stadium – on Saturday we went to see Muse live, supported by Dirty Pretty Thing, the Streets and Rodrigo Y Gabriela.

We rolled up at about 6pm – and found it easy (but expensive) to park – short walk into the stadium, followed by 5 of the longest escalators I have ever seen, we had seats in the top tier but not far back from the stage – so we had a pretty good view. Dirty Pretty Things were just finishing – with ‘Bang, Bang you’re Dead!’ After a short wait, The Streets took to the stage, sounding altogether a bit lost in the massive space, I also thought they looked a bit out of space amongst all the satellite dishes and strange decor that was ready for Muse. Mike Skinner tried some rabble rousing singing, channeling Freddie Mercury in between the hits.

About 8.40 – the lights dimmed (and it was just getting dusky) – and classical music struck up, with Muse emerging from under the floor (probably near the center circle) and parading back to the stage flanked by a troop of guys in what looked like chemical hazard suits.

And then – all hell got let loose…

Anthem after anthem, hit after hit…2 hours of bombastic space-techno-rock. Superb drumming, fearsome guitar playing and great vocals added up to one of the best live experiences I’ve ever had. The lights and effects coupled with a brilliant show and 70,000 people were completely enthralled.

Highlights for me : Plug in Baby, Take a Bow and the crazy scanning satellite dishes that had huge spotlights in the middle of them.

My gallery of photos from Muse at Wembley on June 16th is here.

lightning strikes twice

I’m starting to think that British Airways have a vendetta – twice in two long-haul trips, they have managed to ‘misplace’ my luggage.

I arrived at Seattle at 5.30ish local time yesterday afternoon, and whilst waiting in line for immigration I heard my name being paged in the baggage arrival hall below – I immediately got that sinking feeling after having the same thing at Dusseldorf a couple of months ago.

Finally got down to the BA agent, who told me that my bag didn’t make it onto the plane and I should expect to get it when the next flights arrived, on Monday (today) – so now I’m waiting.

Of course, that started a panic last night of trying to buy some emergency toiletries (man, they have strange deodorant here in the US) – and this morning I had to come in late whilst I bought some underwear, socks and a clean shirt.

Now my fingers are crossed that it arrives this evening!

three interesting facebook blogs

Blogs seem to be popping up everywhere to keep a track of whats happening on Facebook (and its platform) – its early days, so I’m not sure how they’ll fare – but here are three of the first I’ve seen:

• facereviews.com – reviews all of the applications that are currently being launched on facebook
• allfacebook.com - the unofficial facebook blog – although I suspect they all are apart from this one
• insidefacebook.com – which claims to track all the latest news and apps in the facebook world

Oh, and if you are wondering what facebook is – where have you been? Facebook is the latest social network phenomenon, adding users like its going out of fashion. I tell everyone its like a myspace, without the ugly.

I’m over here on Facebook – add me as a friend if you want!

Life rules

Now – theres some instructions I’d be happy to follow…want more?

Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
Being not truthful works against me.
Helping other people helps me.
Organizing a charity group is surprisingly easy.
Everything I do always comes back to me.
Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
Over time I get used to everything and start taking if for granted.
Money does not make me happy.
Traveling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.
Assuming is stifling.
Keeping a diary supports my personal development.
Trying to look good limits my life.
Worrying solves nothing.
Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
Having guts always works out for me.

Taken from : ChrisGlass.com

my saturday timetable…

14:45                     Gates open
16:30 – 17:15      Rodrigo Y Gabriela
17:45 – 18:30      Dirty Pretty Things
19:00 – 20:00      The Streets
20:30 – 22:30      Muse

Very excited to go and see Muse at the wonderful Wembley Stadium tomorrow…this should be a pretty good day out, luckily Wembley is mostly under cover, because the weather looks really mixed.

Never mind though – I’m sure we’ll all be nicely dry and warmed up by 8.30!