Fording the... ox?

So, now that Tim is living in Oxford, I had a sufficiently good excuse to go and visit, and so I did so last weekend. The weather was rubbish, the company was good, and the town is quite pretty, in a more spread-out way than Cambridge. We went to see the science museum (which had lots of surveying stuff), and otherwise just wandered around the place. Um, not sure what else to add to that really.

We came second!

I don't have photos to post yet, but there are more details and pictures at http://www.challenge24.org/2009/blog

And the contest was... was... I still don't know!

There were technical problems (a fair number of them) during the contest, so the closing ceremony is only at 12. And since the scoreboard was one of the casualties, we still don't know how we did. But talking to one or two other teams, it sounds like we did reasonably well. Details to follow.

Also, I have now been awake well over 24 hours, with more to come. If you feel yourself going a bit squiggly and turning into a 6-foot chicken, do not be alarmed - I am merely hallucinating.

Hungry in Hungary

I'm sitting in Budapest, in preparation for a 24-hour programming contest. And lunch on the plane was a small ham sandwich, so I'm feeling peckish. Um, I don't really have much to add to that for the moment - more news once we've actually done the contest and done some touristy stuff. Tonight we're just going to crash and get a good night's sleep.

Don't let it snow...

... I want my flight to leave on time. So yes, life has been exciting, since yesterday England suffered about 10cm of snow, which apparently is the most in almost 20 years. So needless to say, they're totally unequipped for it, and large parts of the transport network including Heathrow ground to a halt. Fortunately, today had no snow that I've noticed and bright (if anemic) sunshine, so it looks like I'll be catching my flight in spite of the 3.5-hour journey from my house to Heathrow (normally it would be around 2.5).

This seems like it's going to be the things-falling-apart trip. Apart from the transport system, I opened my suitcase up to put my warm things in it just before checkin, and when I came to lock it up again I found that my lock had turned into a collection of bits on the floor. All very educational, but not much fun right before flying into Joburg airport which is notorious for baggage theft. So, any luggage thieves reading this: there is nothing valuable in my luggage. I promise. Don't bother.

Then after that, my watch started falling apart as I was checking in. Fortunately the pin didn't fall out and I was able to stick it back together.

Let's hope nothing else falls apart, like the plane, or my presentation on Friday.

The smallest park in the world

I've just got back from Portland, Oregon, from a business trip. I knew absolutely nothing about it before leaving, and I started with assumption of a typical American sprawl with end-to-end freeways and strip-malls. In fact the central part where I was a very pleasant surprise - good sidewalks, very short blocks, a river with a nice green bit next to it to walk along, etc.

It also features the smallest park in the world (Mill Ends park), which I thought was suitably amusing:


I only had one morning of free time (the rest of it being spent in the hotel eating too much food and trying not to get sucked into pointless arguments). Apart from the park, I went to Powell's book store, which is as large as the park is small. Just the SF/F section was about the size of a small public library, and I discovered a lot of books I'd never heard of, and bought a few for an insanely low price.

It burns us!

For those of you who don't already know, I've spent the last 11 days or so in Cape Town. The first morning I walked outside, squinted, and went "Ah, so that's what sunlight looks like." It made me realise just how sun-starved I've been in the UK winter.

It's been a great time here, and I've been out or seen people almost every day. Sadly, tonight I return to the land of clouds, roundabouts, pubs and 700-year old architecture.