Summer is here!

I couldn't confirm this until today. We had great weather on Friday and yesterday. I thought, well, let's wait for the third day to confirm this. Yes, summer is finally here. The temperature has soared to 28 deg C with the highest recorded at 30 so far. But 28 deg C here is different from Malaysia's because of the humidity.

Today is also the London Triathlon , and I think it's just perfect for that with this weather. Taking part in a triathlon here is more expensive than I thought. First of all, it is compulsory to wear a wetsuit to participate and this means extra cost. For prospective participants like me who doesn't have a wetsuit or left most of his stuff in his home country, there is a starter kit. The cheapest one would set me off £695 (RM4900). That's reasonable considering that the kit includes a road bike, a pair of Asics running shoes and a wetsuit. But as a student here, that's still too much for me. Like any other major races in London, this triathlon goes through a balloting system which means that you have to be chosen to be able to participate even if you could afford the entry fee of £74. I don't think I will complain anymore with RM60 (£8.50) entry fee in Malaysia, even if that's 1-to-1 comparison.

After having a "chocolate cake gathering" at a friend's place, I took off to Jesus Green Swimming Pool resenting the fact that I couldn't participate in the London Triathlon. The weather was also perfect for that! To my surprise, the pool was inundated with people and I had to wait for half an hour for the crowd to thin off. Before that, someone in the gathering was asking me, "Wouldn't it be crowded today?"

"Nope. Because the pool is big enough to cope with large crowds. Besides, it's more like a serious pool than for people to have fun", I answered confidently.

Looks like the weather has beaten me to that. Nevertheless I swam 1800m in a crowded condition and managed to avoid all swimmers in my direction. Triathletes will attest that one of the greatest challenges in the swimming event is to avoid the hundreds of swimmers around you and managing space to overtake others. Jesus Green seemed easy. First of all, the water was clear! Maybe swimming in a crowded condition is a good way to practice for a real triathlon race.

I just hope the weather stays like this for the entire month. Or at least a week if that's too much to ask for. I can now do more hard core training for my next triathlon race! People like Raymond who's reading this, be very afraid......I will beat your time soon!

UK Farewell Dedication

It has been the best one year I had in my life studying with the brightest and smartest peoples from all over the world. It is not only a wonderful experience but a great honour to get to know all of you. This video presentation is dedicated to you who appear in it! Hope you enjoy it.

Special thanks to Chris Roe for introducing me to a cool software to make all the funky stuff in the video.

Desert-ation

Working on a 15,000-word dissertation is like solitary confinement. There are two persons in me. The first person turns to hypotheses and anecdotal findings, while the other challenges all those assumptions and analyses and tries to make sense if they deserve a place in the dissertation. Insanity beyond the point of no return? Sometimes I think I am in that direction but how could I not if no one else is doing the same dissertation as I am and have no one to turn to.

I have also been trying innovative ways to make it less painful by switching locations to write; sometimes in the department's computer lab, sometimes in a train, in the plane or even in a restaurant! However, most of the time I'd end up in my room.
New places give new inspirations but moving around can be tiring and cumbersome if you have a laptop like mine that'd make you feel like you've done 15 sets of 20 on a dumbell, by the time you reach your destination to start writing again.

Cross-activities? Well, I do take a break to go running, swimming, a stroll at the park or a big cookout with friends.

I just can't wait for this to end. But the other person in me is also dreading the end of student life. Bidding farewell is always a difficult thing. The two persons in me are now lost at this crossroad. However, they agree that life has to move on.

Weather Talk

The papers here have been reporting about the recent floods in the unusual parts of the country almost everyday. Floods in Gloucester, Tewkesbury and Oxford (where "that other university" is located) would take up the first few pages in the dailies.

Yesterday two Fellows in my college were "debating" over an article about climate change;

"Today these scientists are saying that global warming is making heavy rain fall more frequently across the world's temperate latitudes. But less than a year ago, they said that the summer this year will be hot and dry and it will be normal occurence in the next 40 to 50 years. They just can't make up their mind as to the effects of global warming!"

"It is not possible to say whether this is a result of climate change or not...but we do know that, in general, warmer climates experience more intense rainfall. Our current wet summer is associated with a jet stream that is further south than normal."

Marks and Spencer's Chief Executive Stuart Rose once said, "Weather is for wimps" after a string of retailers blamed unseasonable weather for their travails.
Recently it was reported "Weather ends the boom times at M&S"
Why? The wet weather caused sluggish sales of their summer clothes.
Rose quipped, "We sold more brollies..."

Other retailers are complaining that their summer stocks for BBQ equipment and food have been dampened by the wet weather.

Not all are losers....

Domino's Pizza reported increase in its half-year profits. "More people are picking up the phone than their BBQ skewers during this wet summer."

Sales in Halfords, the car parts-to-bicycles retailer, rose as motorists were forced to fit new wiper blades during the wet weather.

Opportunities in the face of adversities. Win some, lose some, there are always trade-offs. That's what I've learnt in Sustainable Development.

Think Simply

Yesterday I read in the FT that Walk Disney would be phasing out cigarette smoking in its films.

This morning, a 10-year old wrote in response to the article, "Sir, ...This will make it much more difficult to tell quickly who is the bad guy in the story."