Beanz Meanz Heinz

Also where I've been, and where I want to go!!!

22 countries visited... just 9% of those listed on the site.  Lots of traveling still to do!

create your own visited countries map

Some audio blogging

in my laziness towards posting (I blame the weather...), I'm searching out new and amazing means for speeding up my blogging process.

Alongside mobloging and email blogging, here comes audio-blogging.  Something like podcasting, just not quite so intimidating for me :)

You can even leave me a voice message (Mum, Dad, Sister's - this one's for you!) over there on the right-hand side-bar; "Leave me a voice message" bit. I think this may be my new favourite pastime!

Click here if the player below doesn't work

Conspiring World

There are a number of things I've been meaning to post about in the past few weeks, but a certain lethargy has enveloped me - until today...

today was the sort of day that blogging was made for - in the not-so-enjoyable sense.

I should have realized from the moment I woke up and the one toilet in my apartment was 'indefinitely-occupied-by-roommate'.  Never a good sign when I was already running late.  A few missed buses and a argumentative tirade of emails later and I suddenly find it's noon and I've achieved very little.  Some days just go that way.  Of course, once begun (quitting my nice warm - if hard - bed), there wasn't much turning back, but I'd say there were at least 6 moments in the day where I truly desired to be back in my duvet, with perhaps the addition of a cat or two...

6 hours later and I'm still in the office, finding out that I had to redo a whole bunch of work because I'd been given wrong information - frustrating, but then, what else should one expect on a day when the world is conspiring against you?  And then in a beautiful sort of symmetry, I ended the day on the receiving end of some argumentative email and manage to miss my bus to Dragonboat training. 

                         grrrrr...

BUT. It was at this stage that I a) decided to roll with the punches, and b) remembered that today is Ash Wednesday, and that somehow I shouldn't be overly surprised - after all, it's not the sort of day you generally spend in celebration.  (that was last night, at a wonderful Fat/Shrove/Pancake Tuesday Party at a friend's house... mmmmmmm... grits and jambalaya!).

SO. The remainder of the evening has been spent in reflection.  Wondering what I might choose as an appropriate Lenten sacrifice and also what ever happened to the last set of resolutions I made.

WELL.  I think I've arrived at something suitable - and it's already had a happy impact on my first day of lent, giving my day a less conspiratorial conclusion (I'm blogging, aren't I?!). 
This year, I'm giving up... *drumroll*...
Unplanned TV.
Now I know what you're going to say - "that's a cop-out" etc. etc. but here's how it works.  I don't see TV as the root of all evil, and, in fact, there's quite a lot to like about it - but, what I do want to escape these next 40 days is the meandering sort of watching that I'm horribly guilty of.  With this in mind, I'm restricting myself to one hour, MAX, a day, and no channel-surfing.  I'm only allowed to watch a program that I intend to watch (Grey's Anatomy, Family Guy & Sleeper Cell are the only shows that spring to mind).  This all happily coincides with the 2006 TV Turnoff week (April), so I'm willing to bet there's something fated in my lenten vows.  There it is, out here on my blog and thus horribly unavoidable. 

I'll let you know how it goes come Easter-tide!

Happy Hamster

I've been blog-browsing again, and just came across a wonderful little site, detailing the adventures of E-kww-sqqqq (or "She-Who-Must-Find-Out"). 
It is simply wonderful - so I'm going to share the opening paragraph in the hope that you'll go and waste an hour of your life with the happy ponderings of Shirley (the other name...):

"I guess I should begin my blog by telling you a little about myself. My name, E-kww-sqqqq, means She-Who-Must-Find-Out, and I am quite good-looking. I inherited my mother's dark, expressive eyes and have no idea of what I might have inherited from my father since my mother never got a clear look at him. My hair is tawny with white patches, and my figure quite elegant. Modesty must give way to truth, so I will add that my curiosity and reasoning ability have made me a Exceptionally Intelligent Hamster." (from: http://www.cafebongo.com/shirley/index.html)

Take a read of Cafe Bongo

Interesting article

In last week's Guardian. 

It seems that a lot of countries are worried about losing their culture to a kind of US cultural imperialism that tags onto the current dominance of US capitalism.

The Unesco convention, naturally, is not looked on too favourably over here.  I'm yet to make up my mind on the issues involved, though the following article seems to lay out the arguments well:

The pleasant part of having your wisdom removed

• Friends who can put up with you when you're shockingly intoxicated with anesthetics and dropping everything everywhere (including phone) - thank you Rachel!
• Other friends who can put up with the multiple phone calls whilst still drug-induced, in amazingly fruitful attempts to find Rachel's number (only to be found on aforementioned phone) and retrieve phone ... thank you Elsie, Omer, Regan :)
• Wonderful girls by the name of Sarah who buy last minute flights to come and look after whingey, whining, moaning boyfriends - and put up with all the above male maladies... Thank you Sarah.
• The first time you get to bite something solid again - It has taken me 5 days, but it was well worth the wait!  Thank you Shelly for the provision of scrumptious Walkers shortbread direct from Scotland

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

waiting rooms...

... are really rather intriguing places - I arrived for my operation half-an-hour early, so had the chance to read and, unexpectedly, observe :) 

• Slightly over-size guy (and by that, I mean hight, not girth) walks in with his wife who doesn't seem to speak any English.  But he doesn't seem to speak her language either... definitely married, or at least, he told the nurse that...  Mail Order Bride? (can't quite believe that website exists....)
• Particularly buff-boy comes stagerring out of the surgery a few minutes later.  This guy was built (rugby/American Football player style), but he was completely out of it - so it took both his mother and the surgeon to prop him up and drag him out.  Let me tell you, this is not the most reassuring sight before one is due to go and have the same thing done...
• But best of all, was the t-shirt sported by a slightly plump guy (this time I do mean girth) - I was  desperate to take a picture with my camera-phone but, alas, didn't get the opportunity, so here's a version from one of the many websites selling the same t-shirt (and once again, I can't quite believe that that many websites have customers enough to sell to).  His version was actually lime-green, and, well DISGUSTING.

This all occured before the operation.

Needless to say I remember absolutely nothing from after the operation.  I'm also still very much drugged up and somewhat out of it, but happily free of any wisdom I used to posses :)

Reflecting on life

The orchestra is on holiday this week, and I imagine a lot of us - both musicians and staff - will be using the down-time from rehearsals and performances to reflect on life:

On Monday we held a memorial service for Martin Smith, who died just over a week ago.  Martin had, until the day before he passed away, been an integral musician in the orchestra, a fantastic horn player, a respected professional and, by all accounts a great man. 

Bike Culture*

*not the mould that grows on the pedals and seat, rather the general way of life as a bicyclist here in Pittsburgh...

Three separate incidents on the winding and hilly Pittsburgh roads have driven me to write something of a rant about what it's like to bike here:

1. Another lady on her phone in her over-size soccer-mum SUV swerves to miss me...


2. Someone from the back of a packed car rolls down the window and shouts out "40 year old virgin!"


3. I catch up with a bike messenger at the traffic lights and get asked if I want a job :)

One disappointing, one very amusing and one rather flattering. It's amazing the diversity of approaches that people have to us non-car lifestyle folks.  I get a lot of positive response from people when they happen to note that I bike everywhere rather than drive.  I'm guessing there's a certain amount of incredulity - especially in such a hilly place as Pittsburgh - but there's also a degree of respect, which is much appreciated by me.

I do wonder, though, whether these same people would fall into scenario 1 or 2 above?

To the third incident I have to admit a certain level of pride - I'd love to have a day as a bike messenger.  I'm not sure if I'm nearly hip enough, nor as fearless in the face of daily brushes with death, but it'd be fun none-the-less. I have a feeling SUV lady already thinks I am a messenger, or at least an impediment to her dominance of Pittsburgh's roads...

If you haven't seen it yet, by the way, Forty Year-old Virgin is a must see.  The protagonist is a man after my own heart, biking his way merrily around the world!

An attempt to balance out that last post

Here's the link to donate to the American Red Cross who are, by all accounts, doing amazing work in difficult conditions.

It struck me as odd, to begin with, to be donating money to help the richest country in the world, and then I realized that it's simply the right thing to do.  That charity shouldn't be dependent upon the recipient.  I have a feeling that, given the opportunity, the Good Samaritan would have helped more than just the poor 'untouchables' on the side of the road...