Polo Day!

The Conor O'Brien Track Club (Andrew Stillman, John Bleday, Peter Dolan, John Fisher, and team owner Conor O'Brien) boarded the team bus ('97 Blue Volvo) and headed down to Rhode Island for a little Polo Action. This weekend was the Pearl Cup and featured top ranked Newport Polo Club facing off against a team of I think a few Orthopedic Doctors or something? I don't know? We may have missed the first hour, but we still managed to witness the last 3 chukkahs. (Chukkahs, to the lay person, is the name of the 7 minute periods in a polo match). What an exciting 3 chukkahs! Dr. Dave led the Newport Polo club back from a 7-4 deficit to ultimately win the Pearl Cup 11-8. Great job team!

Dr. Dave's biggest fans!

Obi finally got the chance to meet Heather! It was his dream come true!

Lincoln Woods

Andy Stillman and I loaded up the car with Water, chalk and a crash pad and headed down to Lincoln Woods State Park in Rhode Island for some sunday bouldering. The "Bouldering Map" they provided for us was actually just a map of the state park with the picnic areas numbered, so Andy and I were just going to have to figure it out ourselves.

Andy and I mapping out the best way to the top of the boulder.

Stuck between two friendly boulders.

So close Andy!

Well the beginning was easy, but not too much I can do from this position...

Andy decides its time to take off his sneakers. He forgot his climbing shoes on his car in the driveway. Unbelievable.

Climb that crack Andy!

A Country Walk Through Sussex

In 2000, the United Kingdom passed the Countryside and Rights of Way Act. This gave the public permission to walk on any uncultivated land in the country. Basically, you can walk wherever you want and no one can do anything about it. On a beautiful Thursday in March, my friend Andy Stillman, his cross country teammates Andy and Jared, and myself woke up at 6:30 to take a train out to Glynde for a 14.5 mile country walk. This walk took us on footpaths, parks, three English villages that all had less than 400 residents, farms, peoples backyards, a golf course and even to the English channel before terminating in the city of Seafood. I mean Seaford. (Kind of a joke throughout the day)

To get to Glynde (Its pronounced like it rhymes with find or mind) we needed to transfer at Lewes (prounouced Lewis. Someone needs to teach the British how to spell). We asked the man working at the Lewes station which platform went to Glynde and how many stops we rode the train for. When the train arrived at Glynde the doors didn't open. We repeatedly pressed the "open" button but to no avail. We found the conductor who issued us new tickets to ride back to Lewes and then take the next train going to Glynde. He seemed very disappointed in us and assured us it was our fault. We took too long getting off so the doors locked. That wasn't the case.

As we stood on the platform at Lewes, waiting for our second train to Glynde, the guy that helped us earlier walked by and seemed completely confused. He then circled
around, walked by again and asked "Where are you fellas going?"
"Glynde"
"I just put you on a train to Glynde! What are you trying to do? Ride the trains all day for free? You need to buy new tickets right now!"

I explained our situation and showed him the tickets issued by the conductor. He still seemed angry. Why would we waste our time riding the trains all day for free? Our hour detour wasn't all bad though. We were able to get a cup of "The Universe's Best Tea" served by Victor from Switzerland. He was a little screwy, and had the poems he had written taped to the wall of the store. What a guy though, what a guy!

It took us no longer than 15 minutes to get completely lost. The detailed directions said to go up the driveway of the Prescott House, but we figured the Backswell house was close enough. We figured the guy must have made a typo in his directions. Nope. About 45 minutes later we decided to go back to sqaure one and start over. So here we were two hours behind schedule and 14.5 brutal country miles ahead of us.

The walk was awesome. We chased sheep as we walked through people's farms, hopped barbed wire fences, went through hundreds of "kissing gates", touched the English Channel, got some ice cream and even ate at a pub that first opened in the 14th century. While an amazing day, it was exhausting. We left my flat at 6:45 AM and returned at 10:30 PM. I would estimate that we walked at least 17 miles.

Cliffs of Dover

My friend Pat and I took advantage of one of our days off from the office to travel down to Dover and hike along the famed White Cliffs. We met at the Waterloo train station early in the morning and boarded the next available train to Dover.

This train had twelve cars and we just happened to sit in the last one. Once the train got moving Pat took a little nap and I put on my ipod and just zoned out. I decided to un-plug and do some reading about an hour into the ride and heard this announcement as the train pulled into the next stop: "Just a reminder that at this stop this train separates and only the front four carriages will be going to Dover." Oh boy. Pat had also just woken up and we bolted off the train and sprinted towards the front. We ran for 150-200 meters and jumped into the 4th carriage just as the "doors are closing" announcement was being made. Close call.

We grabbed a quick lunch at a small pub in Dover and then headed to the tour information building to get some directions. The man in the tourist info place seemed a bit out of place. He wasn't very friendly, nor was he very enthused about the cliffs. Not sure why he decided to work at the Dover Tourist information building. He told us that he wouldn't recommend hiking to the cliffs because it was really muddy at this point of the year and that instead we should go to the Prince of Wales pier and look at them from afar. Screw that, we came here to hike the cliffs.

On our ascent of the hills we came across the Dover castle. Probably the coolest castle I have seen in the UK. We tried to go in the back without paying but whoever built that castle was very thorough with their fortification.

We continued towards the cliffs and about a mile and half or so we finally got there. The guy was certianly spot on about the mud, but it was worth it. It was slightly raining and very peaceful because there wasn't anyone else in sight. We then hiked about a mile along the cliffs just enjoying the view. It is always nice to get out of the city and remove myself from the craziness that is London.

The Castle as we got off the train in Dover.

We stumbled upon this on our way. This is dedicated to the first trans-english channel flight and this chalk outline is where the plane landed. It seemed like a decently big accomplishment but for some reason there wasn't even a sign leading off the road to it. It seemed strange until we realized it was a french pilot. I am surprised they even put this much effort into recognizing the accomplishment. We knew we were close because there was no way this thing had landed too far from the channel.

We finally arrived at the cliffs and you can see the castle in the distance.

Pat sitting and taking it all in.

Is that Johnny Depp I see over there in France?

Pretty cool tv in the town centre. Czech Republic vs. Slovakia. Come on Pat, we are going to miss our train!

Wales

Last Friday my friend Rob and I woke up and thought "Hey, lets take the bus to Wales today." Off we went taking the 9:15 bus from London-Victoria to Cardiff University. Fortunatley the bus was not crowded and I was able to sleep during the three hour and fifteen minute ride.
We got off the bus and had seven hours until our return trip was scheduled to depart. We really had no idea what to do so we decided to grab some lunch. I can't recall the name of the restaurant, but easily the best fajitas this side of the 15th west parallel. Some fat guy wearing a dress came up to Rob and I minutes before leaving the restaurant and asked if we wanted to play Bingo. 10 pound buy-in. Never would have guessed this fat cross dresser wouldn't even be in the top 5 weirdest people we would meet that day.

My boss had told me that Cardiff was the city to go to if you "wanted to feel attractive", meaning everyone else was really ugly. I was looking forward to seeing attrocious looking people everywhere we went, but there really wasn't any noticeable difference from any other city I have been to. Major let down.

Our first stop was to Cardiff Castle. Pretty much everywhere you go in this country there is a castle. And to be perfectly honest with you, once you have seen one castle you have seen them all. Regardless, Cardiff Castle is apparently a "must-see". It was during our exploration of the castle that we first met these crazy french people. They were all dressed in wacky outfits and strange hats. I found a guy wearing zebra print pants, a pink shirt, a "cat in the hat" hat, and shutter shades and asked him about his groups "crazy outfits". Apparently they were street musicians and their outfits help them get attention from passerbys. No luck finding ugly people, but we were having no trouble finding strange people.

We walked a few blocks to "Millenium Stadium at Cardiff Park", which was built in 1999 to host international Rugby tournaments, including the Six Nations tournament. Rob asked if it was possible to get a tour and lucky enough the last one of the day was leaving in one minute. Wales' national team was playing Scotland's national team the next day so we were very lucky to get into the stadium. However unfortunately, because of the big Rugby match the next day we couldn't get in the team's locker room. Still, the stadium was really cool and we went into the "Presidents Box" where I sat down in the Queen's seat.

Last stop was to Cardiff Bay. Really nothing to say about Cardiff Bay. It was a bay. In retrospect, not worth the cab fare.

Before we left we had a quick dinner in a pub and things were already getting rowdy. It was only 6PM but the Scottish Rugby fans were already out and drinking in full force. I have a feeling that the next two nights were wild, especially after Wales won. On our way back to Cardiff University to get the bus we met our French musician friends. We snapped a quick photo for memories and continued on our journey. I Hopped on the bus and back into London just in time to meet my family as they arrived at their hotel.

Cardiff Universty. It seems like a nice school to me.

The line was too long. Next time.

Who needs the Dollar Store when you can go to Poundland?

Some guy in a parachute randomly flew into the stadium during our tour. Luckily I was quick on the draw and was able to snap a photo.

Haha this was funny. This was inside the castle. There were guards in each room making sure no one touched anything. However, a woman with a young child asked the guard where the "loo" was and he left the room to lead her in the right direction. I quickly gave my camera to Rob and hopped at the head of the table. I accidently pulled the table cloth towards me when sitting down. If you look closely, you can see some of the table not covered. I was trying to fix it when the guard returned to the room. We just walked away.

In front of the main tower of Cardiff Castle.


Our French musician friends.

The coolest thing at Cardiff Bay

Surrey XC League Championships

My first cross country race since 2007 and oh boy was it a tough one!



The race was out at Guildford and I had no mode of transportation. The coach offered to pick me up at the Wimbledon tube station as he was picking up another athlete there as well. Turns out that other athlete was Paskar Owor, two time olympic 800 meter runner from Uganda. He has been trying to get into the British Army and has been running in the UK for almost a year. Despite his accomplishments, Paskar refused to take the front seat because I had longer legs. I felt very awkward taking shotgun ahead of an olympian, but whatever.



It was an absolute stunning day, 55 and sunny. Eventhough I was incredibly nervous, it felt so great to be getting ready to race again. It has been far too long. There were only two divisions at the meet, U17 and Mens. No U20. So I was going to be in the race with the big guns. While it was a gorgeous day, the course was not in good condition, especially in the woods. Weeks of rainy weather led to deep mud and no traction. It did not help that I raced in track spikes rather than cross country spikes. This was not only my first cross country race in three years, but it was also my first 8 kilometer race ever. The inexperience certainly showed. I went out hard and paid dearly.





A nice view from about an hour before the race.

It was nice to get out of the city for a day.

After the race.

I am way too happy minutes after finishing an 8k. Bed head too.

I took a picture of the last 600 meters right before we left. Brutal finishing stretch.

A good day at Guildford.

Strap On The Fanny Pack...

Fridays have become my designated tourism day. Its when I explore the many museums, historical sites, etc that Great Britain and London have to offer. Here is a few photos from the places where I remembered to Bring my camera:

The British Museum

Here is the entrance to the British Museum. This place was overwhelming, it would take multiple visits to see everything.

"He was a hardworking farm boy. She was an Italian Supermodel. He knew he had only one chance to impress her. Introducing Rosetta Stone version 3. The fastest and easiest way to learn Italian"

I thought the lobby to the British Museum was just as cool as most of the displays.

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle is where the Queen chills on weekends. I wonder how often she plays wiffleball on this sweet field?

The garden.

Is it just me or does this guard look like he is fourteen? He had to be a rookie. I was able to make him smile with one of my best jokes. Possibly a highlight of the day.

Stonehenge

Take note of the audio guide around my neck. This was given to everyone so that some british guy could tell you everything they were still not sure about Stonehenge. If you looked around the monument, everyone was walking around with the audio guide up to their ear and it made it seem like everyone was on their cell phone. I thought it was hilarious. "Hey brah, whats up? I'm at Stonehenge... No I can talk"

Our tour was given 45 minutes at Stonehenge. 45 minutes to look at stones. With not much else to do I took a ton of pictures. I thought this was a pretty good photo, until I went into the gift shop.

This crow was just staring at me! I had to take a picture.

The City of Bath and the Ancient Roman Baths

The city itself was b-e-a-utiful. The cookies on the other hand, not so good.

Just some 2nd century Romans hanging out around a natural hot bath.

Can you picture hundreds of naked Romans relaxing in the bath after a long day?

Things That Are Underrated, Part II

Just a brief list.


1. A Cappella

What’s cooler than A Cappella? A Cappella group names. “Logarhythms” “Here comes Treble” “Crescendudes” “Shirley Tempos” Hahaha I love it. My caroling group likes to go by “The Whistletoes”.

2. Men have walked on our Moon

Those guys can beat any story. “You know you mentioned driving on the Autobahn, that reminded me. Once I was driving in the Sea of Tranquility in my lunar rover, and I too was worried about our speed until I remembered ‘Wait, we’re the only ones on the Moon!”

3. Blind People

I have so much respect for people with disabilities, but blind people especially amaze me. If you don’t think getting around without sight is impressive, try walking around with your eyes closed.

4. Public Transportation

Great way to get around town and a better way to meet fascinating people. Inexpensive as well.

5. Bubble Wrap

Not only does bubble wrap protect your precious family heirlooms, riding your bike over sheets of bubble wrap is great fun.

6. The World Population

It’s almost impossible to grasp the concept of a million, let alone 6 billion. You know what would be wild? To meet the ten people in the world who look the most like you.

7. Toast

Toast shouldn’t be at all tasty. Its just heated bread. But a well decorated slice of toast is a great part of a complete breakfast.

8. Low cost of postage

It only costs 44 cents to take something from my mailbox and bring it 800 miles to someone else’s mailbox.

9. Playing Catch

No one wins, no one loses. It’s just a great way for father-son bonding, spending time at the beach, and breaking in that new baseball mitt.

10. Hangers

Only when there are none left, do you appreciate the usefulness of hangers. Hangars, on the other hand, are overrated. Why can’t you just keep the planes outside?

Tesco Groceries

So today I went grocery shopping. I made a list that included ingredients for breakfast, dinner, and some snacks to nibble on. Choosing what type of cereal to buy was going to be very important. Unlike at home, the type of cereal that I bought was going to be the only type I could eat. Also, with no one else eating from this box, I was stuck with this brand until the crumbs at the bottom. Since I didn’t recognize many of the brands, I went the nutritious route with Honey Monster Sugar Puffs. We shall see how it goes.

I really don’t know if the stuff I bought it going to be yummy. I think it’s safe to assume it won’t be good. I tried coming over here with the mindset that food outside the United States wasn’t “worse” it was just “different”. That’s just not true. I ordered a “Bacon and Egg Bagel” Sunday morning and you want to know what they gave me? They took egg salad, mixed in cut up pieces of bacon, and spread it on my bagel. That is NOT a bacon and egg bagel. That is gross.

So apparently you need to bag your own groceries. I put all my items on the belt and stood there staring at my coins in attempt to figure out each piece’s worth*. I looked up and the cashier was ready to accept my payment. I then glanced to the right and saw all my food piled up and plastic bags on the belt. I tried to bag my groceries as quickly as I could so the food from the man behind me didn’t get mixed in. I felt like quite an idiot. Lesson learned.



*As I stood there staring at my British coins I thought about the US currency system. So we have a one cent penny and a one dollar bill. A five cent nickel and a five dollar bill. A ten cent dime and a ten dollar bill. A half dollar coin and a fifty dollar bill. A Sacagawea dollar coin and a one hundred dollar bill. What is the deal with the 25 cent quarter and the twenty dollar bill? I am certainly not suggesting we make a change, but merely curious of the reasoning behind this difference. Could it be that Andrew Jackson is only a fifth as influential as Ben Franklin? The metal in quarters is too valuable to only be worth 20 cents?

So I hopped off the plane at Heathrow International with a dream and my cardigan…

Everything was going well until I got to immigration. “What’s your reason for coming to the UK?” I gave them my passport and told them that I was doing an unpaid internship and that I would be staying for 10 weeks. I was expecting him to stamp the passport and life would just move on. Not so fast.
“You need a Visa, do you have one?”
“No, I am not getting paid, it is an educational experience so I do not need a Visa. Or at least this is how the situation was explained to me.”
“I’m sorry sir, can you just sit down over here please? I will be back.”

Alright, so I sat down and started playing Brick-Breaker on my “service-less” Blackberry. About 45 minutes later a woman came over and asks me to come with her to retrieve my luggage from the baggage claim. We then brought my bags into this special room where she told me she was required to examine the contents of my luggage. This woman then proceeded to go through all of the stuff I had packed. I was very confused. I then had to sign all these forms and we had to count the amount of money I had on my person (I forgot to mention the dollar t-shirt, uh oh!), and fill out information about all of my credit/debit cards. “Sir, I am going to bring you back to where you were sitting, and then you will be met by a security guard and taken to the Immigration Detention Center for interrogation and investigation.” Wait, seriously?

So this guy comes over and takes me to the Immigration Detention Center; a not so friendly place. First they took mug shot photos of me, both sitting and standing. Then they took my handprints, each finger print and then I had to roll my fingers on this screen to get all the possible partial prints. Maybe a little over the top? I then was taken to another room where a guard with rubber gloves gave a very invasive body search and then sent me into the room where I was to be detained.

This detention area was just a lovely room. A bunch of chairs all chained to the floor, a t.v. behind what appeared to be bullet-proof thick glass, a table with a few books, and a pay phone. When I asked how long I could be detained for the response was “I can’t be sure sir, could be one hour, could be five hours, maybe even ten. You will be served a hot meal around noon and 5:30 if necessary. It is at this point that I release that I might be in a less than ideal situation. Honestly, I felt sick to my stomach. One of the most miserable moments of my life. What the hell is this bull shit?

About fifteen minutes later the door opened and the guard brought in another man, who I later found out was from Uganda. This guy was wearing a button down shirt, a blazer and a nice pair of jeans. He was also very dark skinned and appeared to be in his early thirties. The guard told him he could sit wherever he would like. In a deep African accent he said “I’ll sit with my fellow comrade right here.” He seemed like a nice guy. Here’s how our first conversation went. “So, why are you here?”

I told him how I didn’t really fit any of the Visa qualifications, and I was told I didn’t need one. Now they are not letting me into the country.
“Those bastards! They should just let you in.” I couldn’t agree more.
“So, how about you?”
“Well, I have been working in England for over a year now, but I forged my documents coming over here. They finally found out that my papers were illegitimate, and now they are deporting me. These people make me sick. They are treating me like a terrorist. I’m no fucking terrorist, I am a man who went looking for work to feed his family.”

I honestly wish I talked to this guy more. I probably could have learned a good amount. However, at the time I felt like a was literally going to throw up. This guy from Uganda was telling me stories about his home when he was called back by one of the guards. When he returned I asked him what that was about. “They asked if I wanted a trial. I told them ‘Fuck that, send me home.” What a guy!

It gets a lot less interesting and a lot more confusing after this. Basically I got called into the interrogation room and had a very intense discussion with the immigration officer. We argued for a while and I may have shared a few too many negative opinions about the UK. Whatever. I am in my flat in London as Visitor. They called the Parliament’s office and told them it was illegal for me to work. So I do not have an internship anymore.

Ill share more with you later. I am going to bed!

2010

What will happen in 2010? A new year brings a clean slate and endless possibilities. Will Lebron leave Cleveland? Will this be the year I beat John Fisher’s Tetris high score? Will Wile Coyote finally catch the Road Runner? Can I quit smoking? While there are so many uncertainities, here is a brief list of things to look forward to the next year.

January 26: Barry Manilow is set to release his much awaited “The Greatest Love Songs of all time”. Will it include Usher, Lil Jon and Ludacris's “Lovers and Friends”?

Feb 7 Superbowl XLIV: Brady and Bellicheck get number 4?

February 12-28 Winter Olympics in Vancouver: Four long years later and the question on everybody’s mind: will Germany repeat as Bobsled gold medalists?

February 14: Bring in the year of the Tiger. About time we ended the year of the Ox.

March 13: Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. Hopefully it will happen.

March 26: T.I. is to be released from a Federal Correctional Complex. “Baby you could have whatever you like (as long as it doesn’t involve us leaving this house, because I’m on house arrest)”

March 31: Peter Dolan’s 19th Birthday: Any new privileges come with being 19?

April 11th- Final round of The Masters Golf Tournament. Will Tiger rejoin the PGA for the biggest tournament of the year?

May 21: John Bleday graduates from high school. Well, let’s not count our chickens before they hatch.

June 18 - Toy Story 3 opens: A Disney Pixar Movie is to Peter Dolan as the Twilight Saga is to middle school girls.

June 11th- July 11th World Cup: I love athletes competing for their home countries. Purest form of sport.

July 11th- The last chance to see a Solar Eclipse until 2021. Unfortunately, it’s only visible in the South Pacific.

Late August: I start school and cross country at Harvard. oh yeah, I forget about this sometimes.

September- Australia is said to begin its ban on incandescent light bulbs.

December 22nd- I officially declare this date to be “National Caroling Day”.

December 31st: The best year ever unfortunately comes to a close.

Christmas in the City

Christmas must go on! Despite over 12" of snow falling throughout the night, John Fisher, Maggie Fisher, Anna Dolan, John Bleday and myself piled in the Four-Runner to weather the elements and spread Christmas Joy to over 2,000 inner city children. Christmas in the City is a massive Christmas party at the Bayside Expo Center full of food, games, music and of course, Santa. If Santa was going to make it all the way from the North Pole, then we certainly had no excuse.

We were assigned to the "Casas Esperanzas: Latinos y Ninos" shelter. The shleter name was a little unnerving seeing how none of us are competent spanish speakers. Luckily for us they turned out to speak English. Phew! By the time all the volunteers showed up, one shleter leader found herself with 3 tables, and zero volunteers. Pete, John and John to the rescuse. We jumped ship, leaving our new friends at "Casas Esperanzas: Latinos y Ninos" to help the "Finix House". John Bleday and I stood at the front door with our "Finix House" signs for about 80 minutes until we were told that the families from Finix House decided to follow suit of their volunteers and stay home. Back to Casas Esperanzas.

The music started and oh boy did the party pick up. Everyone had a great time playing catch, chasing each other, or just dancing. Fish had the privelege of being told by a seven year old girl that he "sucked" and everyone had a blast throwing things at Bleday. Good stuff. My claim to fame with the kids was being the guy that would make a "hoop" with his arms so they could slam dunk. Give a few of those kids a contract. I was impressed.

After the meal we were approached by a man with a headset (this guy means business) who asked us to follow him. "Are we going on the stage?!" I asked enthusiastically. "No, you are going in front of the stage. We need some security for Santa." Nothing screams security like three cross country runners wearing holiday sweaters. The Boston Celtics' Dancers accompanied Santa on stage and when I waved to them, five of the seven waved back. Not too shabby.

The "elves" finally arrived with the presents and everyone was super excited. A seven year old boy named JJ asked if I wanted to play with his new stuffed animals with him. Do I! I was only hoping he would ask!
-"So JJ, whats the name of your lamb?"
- (First he said that it was a monkey, not a lamb. Sorry, but he was wrong.) "His name is Jeff."
-"Cool, whats the name of the shark?"
-"He's Mike"
-"He does look like a Mike. What about the lizard?"
-"Jake."
-"Good call. Whats the name of your snake"
-"Danger"



The snake's name was Danger. Awesome.


John Fisher doing his part and setting some place settings prior to the arrival of guests.


Those rolls look delicious don't they? They weren't.

While waiting for our shelter to arrive I finally met my hero: Buzz Lightyear! Great moment or greatest moment? He wasn't very chatty.

John Bleday holding his handmade sign for the Finex House Shleter. If only they showed up...


Bleday looking for a ball to play catch with a little girl.

Quite possibly the two happiest volunteers of all time.

Fake snow fight!

My pal JJ dancing with his sister.

Luckily those little girls were there to teach me how to dance.

Finally, time to open the presents! Way to help out John-O!