Beanz Meanz Heinz

Hamster Derby Day

"Derby"
Der·by     /ˈdɜrbi; Brit. ˈdɑrbi/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[dur-bee; Brit. dahr-bee]

However you pronounce it, my lovely little dwarf hamster, Nancy (sister to Ewok), competed in her first yesterday - and over there ~~~> are the photos to prove it.

Enjoy!

Tampa Triumphs

As promised, a summary of the Paddlefish's jaunt to the US Dragonboating Nationals in Tampa last weekend - now that my hang-over from the final night's partying has subsided some... A visual summary is still all I'm up to - probably killed a few too many brain cells :)

On the left, Rachel and I giving Jen a big shoulder swing - probably not the most appropriate warm-up ever, but certainly fun :)   

and on the right, the wonderful Tampa Streetcars, with Carolyn trying to look all dressy with her hand-bag (you're not fooling anyone Carolyn...)

So we finally get out on the water (after having  found and consumed some very fine Mojito's via the Streetcar) and had races all day Saturday and Sunday (and some 1,000m races for real die-hards on Friday... I'm not that silly).  Happily the final result was this pretty gold-medal for winning the Silver Final in Club Open competition (not part of the qualification for the Sydney World Championships, alas, although I'm still holding out a vague hope of getting onto a team that's going next year... watch this space!)

And of course, what P'fish weekend would be complete without the mandatory post-race stupidities?!  This time outside by the conveniently located Hooters restaurant (the occassion on which the amply endowed Hooters Girls greeted and cheered the Breast Cancer Survivor teams could fill an entire post - no 3 posts - alone.  very awkward).  And then the sunset from my hotel room - I'm not going to divulge any details of events beyond that ;)

More (sensible) pictures over at the Paddlefish Blog

and for an idea of the beyond-sunset happenings: Paddlefish Party Album (from our monthly birthday celebrations - at my place in August)

New Photo-album (and brief explanation of absence)

So, there's a lovely new photo album for you to enjoy over a glass of ice-tea, or whatever else happens to cool you down in this heat-wave weather (both here in the US and the UK... maybe Al Gore has a point)

Anyway - it's photos from Jeff and Mel's wedding weekend.   And lovely they looked too, although these are mostly the goofy behind-the-scenes type pictures.
Take a look ~~~~~~~~>

Oh, and my excuse for online absence:  It's Too Darn Hot!

The natives invade!

The natives invade the dock...

A particularly jovial and skantily clad group of teenagers decided to share the dock with us at the end of practice the other night. 

Interesting. 

Especially the body-fat to swimming-costume-coverage ratios...

Sunny weekend

I made the most of a happily warm weekend here in the 'Burgh... biking around some new neighbourhoods for interest's sake. (see photo album on the right ~~~>)
The pick for today's jaunt was the back streets of Bloomfield, which I pass regularly on the way back from Dragonboating, but very rarely actually take the time to look at.  (to be quite honest, I'm rarely afforded the opportunity to look at anything other than oncoming, inward turning, speedily swerving, over-size traffic... to take my eyes off the road would be folly.)

It's a neighbourhood full of character - some Polish and Italian elements dominate the high street (pictured below on the wonderful Google Earth map) - but the most striking thing is how very Pittsburghian it feels.  There's not just token 'Steeler's Super Bowl Champions' signs up in windows - you get the sense that the signs in (almost every) window here have been here for a long time.  These are true Steelers fans.  And the same goes for all the other bits and pieces around the housing.  People in Bloomfield stay in Bloomfield, it seems.    

Disney Fireworks

A little prelude to the photo-album and video footage of our trip to Disney, courtesy of my camera-phone... :")

Blogging Lethargy

Apologies for the sporadic postings to the blog of late - that's usually a sign of one of two factors in my life:

a) I'm extraordinarily busy (ergo I'm a very important person... *ahem*)
b) I'm getting fed-up with computers

In this case it's a little bit of both a) and b), and I promise I'll try to remedy it on the 'morrow when I'll have more time and hopefully more motivation.

In the meantime, I have put up a new photo album showing bits of the 'Burgh in the snow that's now settled itself in for the long haul :) ~~~~>

Jocelyn Margaret Vivian

Almost forgot to say, I'm an uncle again!*

Congratulations to my Little Big sister, Sarah and her hubby Stu :")

Jocelyn Margaret Vivian

(yeah, the poor thing has three first names...)

My sister, Sarah, looking absolutely delighted!
I'm just itching to get back home in January to see her...

*Should just clarify that the 'again' doesn't imply that I'm no longer Luna's uncle... au contraire - now I have TWO wonderful neices to spoil every time I go home!

weekend frolicking in Chi-town

One of my friends from Bristol, Euan, is probably the perfect mixture of 'English bloke' and 'gentleman' - a good guy to have around when drunkenly supporting the England rugby team as well as a jolly good egg *.  Add these ingredients to a cold December weekend in the Windy City and you've got a lot of fun and a lot of good photo ops :")

There's a whole day of photos over there on the side bar ~~~>

All of that frolicking has really started to get me in the mood for Christmas... only 20 days to go folks! Here's a few other Christmas Countdowns to keep you amused for the next 20 days:

• worried about inncoulation? go to this NHS website
• It's actually too late to start dating for Christmas 
• If you really want to know how many seconds are left until Christmas, click here 
• and if you're worried that you'll not be getting any presents - write a letter to Santa!

* I'm using the phrase in the full, Victorian British, sense - I only know one person who actually uses "good egg" and not only remains straight-faced, but truly means it - the inimitable Michael Selby

Slipping into winter

It's the beginning of December and we're now seemingly deep into winter, likely to suffer only sub-zero (≤32˚F) temperatures between now and the end of March...

The change in seasons has happened remarkably quickly (and apparently late this year), as documented by some of my camera-phone pictures:

November 5

Trees on Fair Oaks Street, opposite my flat

November 20
Later in November, the trees in Schenley Park are still just about holding out.

November 25

Less than a week later, Pittsburgh is covered in a couple of inches of snow - just in time for Thanksgiving - here's the Heinz Hall garden viewed from the street: