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"Here's a song for every man..."

The kid is back! Back in England, and back in red hot scoring form! 2 games of football tonight, and a goal in each! First game was a 2-0 victory for Hotshots over rivals Defford. Great team performance and we were never in danger until late in the game when they hit the post. I helped out another team in the second game and we lost 3-1, a bad reflection really on a good performance! Had football training from 9pm to 10:30pm in the pouring rain, not much fun but it was good to be back and kicking a ball around. Tomorrow's morning run is going to be interesting, hope my legs can take it.

So - I flew back to England a little earlier than expected (Sunday) to get home and get fitted for a suit and start taking care of things for the wedding. I've got a couple weeks rest then I think I am due back out in Canada. Don't know what's going to happen on that front. I'm not due at work for 3 weeks other than to drop off some kit and data for people to do various things with.

Our landlord visited us today and we signed a new lease for the house that will last for 12 months. I've also seen the new "breakfast room" that's getting built onto the kitchen and it's fair to say the room is huge, gonna be the biggest in the house and it's big enough for a pool table. Yahtzee!! We'll have to get one....

"Found a head and an arm in a garbage can.... Don't know why I'm here"

So - no updates since Monday. Sorry about that. Not much has been happening. Until last night! Karen hit the big 40 last night, so we went to Osaka's for a meal, and then for drinks at a couple places downtown. First we went to the Oddysey - to watch a drag show (yes, it was *that* kind of club). It was an interesting *cough* experience to say the least. The girls all had a wild time even if us straight guys that went felt a little "strange". After the show we went to the Roxy and that was cool. It's a little venue where they have live music and the band rocked.

Wednesday was the annual Chief Pilot's Meeting at the River Rock Casino. I was invited along to answer any techincal questions about FOD Radar. It was a very interesting and informative day - learning more about the airport and their future plans and some of their procedures. I would have watched the Liverpool game (Liverpool 2 - Middlesborough 0) but of course I was tied up with this conference all day.

As I type the Canucks are playing Dallas Stars in their playoff series. It's a close game, 0-0 at the end of the second period. If the Canucks win, they go through to the next round with a 4-1 series win. Go Canucks Go!

The Vancouver Sun Run people released some more info and put all the results from the race online - you can get your pace in miles and km now. I was running at 5.26/km and 8.45/mile which is slower than I can do in the gym - obviously the hilly course and traffic jams (of people!) have an impact but also stamina plays a part. I think with training I could do the run in 45 mins or less... that would be great!

My finish photo is also online here but I don't know that I'll order it!

PS - it seems not as many people read this blog as I thought... my comments feature is criminally under used!

"I never said never ever.....You took the words right out of my mouth...."

Ow! My legs! So, the Sun Run 2007 is complete. It was a lot of fun but so much harder than I thought. I had to walk somewhere around 8km because I started to get a blister, but managed to run the rest of the way. So, the result! Well out of a massive 54,317 people - I managed to come in at:


Yahoo! I am made up! I wanted to come in under 55 mins because Eddy and Shane (who I ran with) had done it in that time last year so it seemed a good benchmark. We also wanted to finish in the top 10,000 people. Eddy finished a few mins in front of Shane and I, who crossed the line a few seconds apart. Excellent result - although I am paying for it today - don't know which leg muscle hurts the most! In a few days there will be a picture of me crossing the finish line hopefully. Don't know what it looks like yet, but I imagine I'll look like a right bag of sh*t.

The day started early - at 6:45am - when Eddy and Shane picked me up from outside the hotel and we drove downtown to find a parking spot. We were at the start point by about 8am after meeting Eddys brother and his friend. I also met up with Jen (from the airport!) and Darrin who were doing the race with a load of people from YVR. We went into the cages to wait for the start and at around 9:15 we set off. I stayed on Eddy's shoulder as far as I could - dodging through the hundreds of slower people that were setting off! He was setting a faster pace than I thought - and I eventually lost him around the 6km mark as we went across Burrard Bridge. I didn't know it but just after I lost sight of him, he slowed down and only finished a few minutes in front of us. The stretch from Burrard around to the 8km mark was hard work and I could definitely feel that I needed to do more distance training. The first 3km were easy but then I started to find it hard to breathe and keep a rhythm (probably because in the gym I only run for 20 mins at a time!) As I got towards 8km, I felt that I just needed to stop for 30 seconds to get a quick breather and try and refocus. No sooner had I stopped and started to take deep breaths, Shane came running past and tapped me on the shoulder. This was brilliant because he was the pace-man I needed to keep me going. I set off again and we ran the last 2km together (including a crazy last minute sprint finish to the line!) and we finished only a few seconds apart. Thankfully because Shane kicked it and upped the pace in that last 500m, we finished under 55 mins. That was our aim and it's really pleasing to have done it in my first real run and with not-the-most perfect training.

So - after the run, we headed into BC Place stadium to meet up and discuss the race! The sponsors had fresh fruit, water, and bagels/yoghurt all for free so you could restock energy and fluids while stretching out the tired muscles. We stayed an hour until everyone had rested and then we went to a little place on Robson for a lunch and a celebratory drink - I had lasagne and a Guiness which tasted sooo good!

The rest of the day is a blur of hot-baths, showers, muscle stretches, and 5 minute power-naps. I was more tired and achy than I thought I would be, but I am still pleased that I did the race and even more pleased I could beat my goals. The only downfall is that I didn't raise any money - thinking back I should have got myself sponsored.

At 6:30pm the Canucks started their third game against Dallas Stars and after regulation the game was tied at 1-1 with both goaltenders having blinding games. In the first period of overtime, Taylor Pyatt popped up with the winning goal to give the Canucks a 2-1 series lead! Great stuff!

"Better than watching Geller bending silver spoons"

Well, today is the day, and mum is the word. At 7am, I am heading into downtown to face the wrath of the Vancouver Sun-Run 2007. Those of you who are good with song lyrics might understand the revelance of today's opening song line! I found out that Eddy from the Foggy Dew is doing the race too so he is going to meet me in the morning and we are going to drive down there.

Today I went to Richmond Centre and bought some running shorts for the race. They seem pretty comfy and will hopefully stop any chafing incidents! I am hoping that I can do the race in under an hour but I really don't know what to expect. Eddy did it in 47 mins when he was training, and 55 mins last year after a night out drinking! So my aim is to do it in 55 mins, I've been getting myself into shape and eating and drinking the right things and doing some intense cardio - just a matter of what sort of stamina I have got!

So - other news - woke up Saturday morning to watch the Man City vs Liverpool game and it was a non-event. Liverpool didn't play well and didn't deserve to win. They ended up drawing 0-0 and it was a waste of time watching it. I hope they buck their ideas up for the CL semifinals! The Canucks had their second playoff game against Dallas and lost 2-0 so the series is now tied at 1-1. The next game is tomorrow. The Anaheim Ducks are doing well, winning their playoff series 2-0 so my hockey pool pick is looking good...

I bought some more tunes from iTunes - getting back into Incubus - picked up a few of their albums. Unbelievably, since July, I've spent £250 on albums on iTunes which is a record for me. Annoying to not actually physically own the disks and artworks as well but in the age of digital data I guess it's gonna become more rare that you actually get the disk or dvd or whatever it is that you buy....!

" I was down at the New Amsterdam... Staring at this yellow-haired girl..."

Yesterday was a good day of sport. Liverpool beat PSV in a dull game to win 4-0 on aggregate and go though to a semi-final against Chelski! Best of all I will probably be back in England for the home leg so for once this season I get to go to a Liverpool game! Yarrr!

After the Liverpool match I got a phone call - Neil from the Foggy Dew had a spare ticket for the Canuck's first playoff game against Dallas Stars! Yarrrr again! Karen was going to go but she had other commitments so Neil asked me to go instead. Everything started well with the Canucks going into a 4-2 lead but Dallas got it back to 4-4. It turns out that overtime in the playoffs is not the same as in the regular NHL season - They keep playing until someone wins with a "golden goal" so after the 3 regulation periods of 20 mins, they go to 15 min periods with 15min intervals in between. The two teams were very evenly matched - the end result being that we saw an extra 3 periods of overtime, and didn't leave GM place until 12:30am, having arrived to watch the game at 6:30pm! Henrik Sedin popped up with a minute to go to score the winning goal to give the Canucks a 5-4 victory, and a 1-0 series lead. The next game is on Friday!

I have got my confirmation through for the Vancouver Sun Run on Sunday, so sometime either Friday or Saturday I have to go downtown to BC Place and pick up my running pack (t-shirt, number, and transponder) ready for the race on Sunday... should be fun! I'll be getting lots of rest in between now and Sunday, that's for sure! 10km will probably be the longest I've run at once!

"I guess this time you're really leavin'. I'll let your suitcase say goodbye..."

The patterning exercise is over. In the words of Bhudda, "thank f**k for that!" It was a nervy time - I don't know why. I have done patterns on the North runway a lot, but the South just seemed to make me nervous. It went without a hitch but took longer to deploy that I would have liked (17 mins, sportsfans!) because 2 of the 3 crews had never done this sort of work before. We went reasonably slowly to make sure we were in the right place and had a few hiccups and reversing of trucks here and there...! The collection was done in 7 mins which was very good - but picking up is the easy part. The results were ok, too - so a good night all round. We managed to get clear and hand the runway back to the airport 5 mins before our timeslot was up so everybody was happy.

We headed to the Flying Beaver afterwards for a celebratory coke and a salad. Stayed for about 40 mins then back to the hotel to write up the night's events. I'm currently sitting here listening to the iPod and thinking I might actually go to bed early again. It's been a long day!

"I'm a cold heart breaker, fit to burn..."

Today is pattern day! Tonight we get to go out on the South runway for an hour and deploy the test pattern. I'll be glad when it's over!

Last night, we took a trip to the casino again. I am happy to report that this time I actually made some money rather than losing it all - made $100 on slot machines, and $40 playing roulette :) A lot better than the last time I went!

I had an idea for the NHL playoffs at the Foggy Dew - similar to what we do when the world cup is on - for $10 people got a random pick of one of the teams in the playoff and the person who has the winning team gets all the cash! So there is $160 in the pot for the lucky winner. I drew Anaheim which isn't a bad pick. Buffalo are the favorites and Jenn got them! Everyone seemed to want a team so it was good to get everyone gee'd up for the playoffs. They start tomorrow night. The Canucks are playing Dallas Stars.

Liverpool are hosting PSV in the return leg of the Champion's League tomorrow. I am hoping the game goes by without any scares... PSV have some more injury worries and have bought some young kids in their squad so I am hopefull Liverpool can secure the tie.

I bought some more tunes off iTunes again - Big Country Live (which I actually own at home somewhere!) but it's a great album so I had to buy it. I also bought the best of Dire Straits for some of the guitar work. Gonna get cracking on the guitar again when I get back to England.

"I've never seen you look like this without a reason"

Happy Easter! Had a busy but nice few days - yesterday I had a really nice easter dinner with Jax and her family. We played Bocce Ball (extreme outdoor bowls :P) and had a long game of Horse Racing. I lost $10, and Jason walked away with $25 winnings. All good fun. I'll definitely have to make a game-board when I get home and have a few sessions of it going somewhere.

So - Friday - went to work, nothing much happening. We delayed our pattern exercise until Tuesday this week. Friday night I went to the Turtle as per tradition and got the Taco salad which I've now decided is the best around. After that I went back to the Dew for Anna's "Leaving Work" party. A whole bunch of people from the Mayfair golf course came in for drinks because Anna left to get a new job. There was a band on too. They were ok, not the best that has been there. Rob (barman / duty manager in the Dew) has started calling me Dr Atkins (due to the dieting and only drinking a few vodka/waters now and then). Karen made a sign to reserve us a table - "This table is reserved for Dr Atkins" so everyone got a laugh out of me all night - good times.

Saturday morning at 7am was the Liverpool game. Luckily we got a 2-1 against Reading who played well. It means we open up a little bit of a gap on Arsenal (who lost 1-0, and could only draw 0-0 today!) for 3rd place. No way we can catch Chelsea or United unless they lose all their remaining games and we win all of ours :p

Slept in a little on Sat, then headed into work for my customary weekend check on how things are going. I hit the gym afterwards and then headed to the Turtle again for the UFC fight. As I've said before, I was not really into the UFC but when you start watching it, it's hard not to get sucked into the atmosphere etc.

So yesterday was easter day and I got up first thing and had the decision - gym or work - ended up going to work (good excuse not to go running!) and then got home from there and got a bit of shopping so Jax and I could make the dessert for the easter dinner.

At work today and not much is happening - the airport is busy with people coming home from easter breaks but the system is doing fine. Going to the gym later on to lift weights and do more running ready for next weekend's Vancouver Sun Run....

Oh - for all the avid readers - I added the ability to add comments and leave messages... at the end of each post is a link - if you click on it you can leave a "sweet message"...!

You'll also notice the layout of the site is a little bit different and the colours and such have changed. I accidentally lost my own template so I'll be repairing this one and making some changes here and there over the next week or so....

"I been lookin' all my life, waitin' for the perfect time..."

Well, last night I watched "Blades of Glory", and it was much better than I thought it would be. Went to the gym yesterday lunchtime and did some hill-running on the treadmill in preparation for the Vancouver Sun Run next week. It's fair to say I am fairly apprehensive about it. I just hope I can do the 10km in around an hour. That is perhaps optimistic, but we'll see.

After the gym it was back to work for a while, then I went to the Buck & Ear in Steveston with some of the guys from the airport. We watched the Canucks lose 3-1 to the Avalance, and then headed to Silver City to watch the movie. We had to wait for the 10:40pm showing but even then all the seats were sold. Not surprising, like I said, it's a good movie.

I watched Snakes on a Plane the other day - and it's pap! I can't believe they actually made it. It has some lines in it that make me laugh but on the whole it was just a shoddy shoddy corny and cheesy movie! It killed a couple hours though I guess.

Liverpool are playing Reading tomorrow, it starts at 7am, so I'll be taking it easy. It's Friday so the chances are I'll go to the Turtle for dinner, then probably spend the night watching movies or playing on the PC before getting an early night. I'll go into work tomorrow as normal for a couple of hours, and sunday too - although I am invited to Jax' place for easter dinner which will be cool.

Off to the gym now to do some more hill running, and chest and shoulder weights... good times!

"They took all the trees...and put 'em in a tree museum"

PSV 0 - 3 Liverpool! Great result for the Reds today away in Holland. PSV were not a good side and hopefully Liverpool can complete the job in a week's time and get into the semi's of the CL. I went downtown to watch the game at the G-Sport bar with the LFC Vancouver Supporters club. No beer of course because I was back at work straight after the game!

The weather today is amazing, very sunny and bright, and I actually sat out on my balcony for a time today. Once it starts to warm up a bit more, this is going to be a nice place to be - I sense a hot summer like last year.

The Canucks are playing Los Angeles Kings tonight at GM place. As per tradition, Liverpool won today, so I am positive that the Canucks will lose tonight. It always seems that if one of the teams I support wins on a given day, the other team loses. We'll see I guess...

Going to the Turtle for dinner - chilled shrimp salad methinks - and then heading to the Dew to watch the hockey game. Will be getting an early night tonight as tomorrow is a big day at the airport - we are closing the south runway to do some testing.

I updated the photo gallery with pictures from Sean & Kari's birthday party on Sunday night, and added some people to the rogues gallery of people i've met on my travels over here...

"Would you give blood... if you had any?"

So, a prize to anyone who knows the song from the lyric above. Strange day today - it almost snowed last night, after a week of bright sunshine. The weather is very strange in Vancouver, that's for sure... Had a busy day yesterday, the day started off with a visit to the mall to get a few things, then in the afternoon a really nice memorial service for Mrs F who sadly passed away last week.

Yesterday was also the birthday meal of both Sean and Kari who had birthdays on Friday. A whole gang of us headed down to the Sandbar on Granville Island for a meal. The food was very good and a great time was had by all. I had the steak and prawns, but in fact tried a little bit of everyone's food - we were all swapping - and it was all really good. Kari had a pork chop that must have been 3 inches thick. I tried oysters too and to be honest I don't know what people rave about, it was like chewing sea water! I took some pictures of course - they'll be put in the gallery as soon as I get my camera back - after the meal some of the group headed to the Wild Coyote for "after dinner drinks and dancing". I thought better of taking my camera there so gave it to Karen for safe keeping. I'll get it back later on, and get the pictures off it. I ended up staying withe the guys for literally 2 drinks before I had to head home (after all, Sunday is a schoolnight), and I was tucked up in bed as they partied into the night...

Work wise - things are quiet. I think most people back at home are off this week for the easter break. No such luck for me - I'll be in as always and on call to the airport. Wednesday this week is the long-awaited South runway closure which should be fun (as long as everything goes ok!). Tomorrow is Liverpool's first leg game against PSV in the Champions League quarter finals. Not sure yet whether to go and watch it downtown with the Vancouver Supporters Club, or just listen to it on the Liverpool website. Either way, we are hoping for a good victory so we can get them back to Anfield and complete the job and get into the semis vs Chelski!