Cooper River Bridge Run 2007

With the weekend approaching, i found myself with a sense of trepidation (and a little dread) as with it came the 30th Annual Cooper River Bridge Run - a 10K run that starts in the Mount Pleasant side of the Cooper River and ends in downtown Charleston taking in the Ravenel Bridge on the way - for pretty much the middle 2 and a half miles of the race. Having decided way back in September that i was going to run this year, i had done quite a bit of training to make sure that i was actually able to run the required distance and also did a few runs over the Bridge itself to get used to the incline (i believe it's 4% uphill for a mile or so). Of course, i hadn't been able to put the two together but i figured that i would be okay on the day itself. With an 8am start for the race, and shuttle buses leaving downtown from 5.30am to 6.30am only, it meant that an early start was a pre-requisite and so i ended up in bed at about 10pm on Friday night, ready to get up at around 4.30am in the morning. Staggering out of bed at this time (and being regarded with a bemused look by the cat), i managed to wake myself up before heading out. Naturally, reaching the appropriate point at the start (I had put myself in the 50m to 1h group) meant that there was a good hour or so waiting around for things to happen.

Anyway, long story short, the start came around and everyone crunched up even more (35,000 people is an impressive sight, i can tell you) for the gun and then we were off. After spending the first mile or so to the bridge dodging people (very annoying as some of the slower runners and walkers had pushed their way to the front), the bridge came around and EVERYONE slowed up. Despite having a stitch develop on the way up, I was happy that it disappeared soon enough and i was able to complete the rest of the course pretty well. Crossing the line at 47:53 and placed 1465 overall (out of 35000 is rather good i think), i was pleased to see that my chip time (the actual course time as measured by an electronic chip that was triggered and stopped by the start and finish lines) turned out at 47 minutes exactly. I think i'm going to run again next year (despite the fact my legs are going to kill me tomorrow) although i plan to run a bit more consistently throughout the year. And i am definitely putting myself in the next category up - hopefully being able to avoid all the hold-ups and dodging. All in all, a fun - if tiring, event.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

This afteroon, I attended an interesting discussion on the US 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy with regards to homosexuality and serving in the forces. The crux of the policy is that you are welcome to serve in the forces, but if you are found commiting a homosexual act (which includes telling someone that you are gay) then you will be discharged. The other side of this, as well, is that the commanding officers are not allowed to forcibly interrogate someone about their sexuality. Essentially, this discussion came about because a couple of senators are attempting to get the policy repealed whereby it ceases to be an issue and an opposing senator stated something along the lines of 'The military cannot condone anything it sees as immoral'. It's certainly been a matter of heated debate over a few years since the policy first came into force (during the Clinton Adminstration).

On the one side, I can perhaps see some of the arguments that would be used in support of the policy - along the lines of 'It's a predominantly single sex environment so there would be considerable more opportunity for sexual encounters to arise'. There was one officer who has suggested that comfort and trust was the important issue i.e. many people feel uncomfortable around gays, and don't trust them. And you need trust in the forces' and so on, and so on. Now these are valid points of view - although certainly on the trust thing i would have more trust for someone who is open and honest, instead of someone who has to hide and be secretive. However, I feel that it's somewhat flawed. The forces generally frown on sex and sexual acts between people serving period, so why the specific need for a policy singling out homosexuality? Certainly, there are current estimates of 65,000 gays serving in the military (and i believe that it's an underestimate at that). Bottom line is, if there are people willing to serve, protect and die for their country why ostracize some of them?

Wedding Shower

Sunday rolled round last week and, with it, an invitation to yet another party - never let it be said that scientists don't know how to have a good time!! The occasion this time was the impending nuptials of a colleague Norma to her fiance Andy. The wedding itself is taking place in Norma's home country of Argentina and so, in order for us all here to have some kind of a celebration, a 'wedding shower' was organised. Taking place at a workmate's house (Nabil and his wife Kelly's place in North Charleston), the stage was set for a pleasant Sunday afternoon gathering and, indeed, was as it turned out to be. Naturally, the weather was immensely co-operative in providing what felt like the hottest day so far this year (and I mean low 80s and sunshine. At the end of March. God, i love living in a semi-tropical climate!). One rather amusing highlight of the afternoon was a game that started early and progressed throughout the afteroon whereby everyone was given a peg on a part of their clothing. The aim of the game was to try and get as many pegs as possible from other people - and to do this, you had to get them to say 'wedding' whereupon you could remove all the pegs that person had. Suffice to say, this led to some VERY amusing attempts to get people to say 'wedding'. Naturally, the bride-to-be was one of the two top prize winners - mainly as absent-minded people forgot about the game (after one or two glasses of wine) and happily chatted to Norma about the wedding ceremony and such. Anyways, a fun afternoon all round - and Best Wishes to Norma and Andy for the future.

Pulling Out

Okay, so my original intent for this post was a general rumination and pondering of the recent developments over here with the passing of a bill by the House of Representatives whereby all American troops would be removed from Iraq by the fall of 2008. Basically, this was going to be a diatribe on the fact that the bill itself contained all sorts of 'pork' (as they call it) in that a lot of money allocated in the bill was for things that matter to a lot of people - and if their representatives want to do their job properly would HAVE to vote for it. It was also going to cover, what i think, is the lunacy of the idea (whilst I do agree that the Iraqis need to have more control of THEIR country, I also think that the US made it's bed over there and they have a responsibility to lie in it, and see it through rather than pulling out just cause they're sick of it - for once, on this front, Bush and I are somewhat in agreement). Anyway, after having posted this subject and 'COMING SOON' nearly a week ago, i've just grown so tired and weary of having the whole thing being repeated, and discussed, and criticized, and idolized, and God knows what else on CNN that i've just had it up to here with it all. In short, it's been done to death and i think that in the few sentence above, i've summed up my position quite succinctly. So i'm going to leave it at that (and i'm sure you're all glad as well!)

Sake It To Me

After the Ceramide conference in California, a former visiting post-doc, Hiro, returned to Charleston for a week or two to tidy up some experiments for a manuscript that he and a couple of others had written based on the work he had done in Charleston. Hiro works for the National Brewing Institute in Japan and, as a consequence, is very interested in yeast research - particularly with regards to lipid metabolism within various strains of yeast. Anyway, being from Japan and being a scientist means that Hiro is used to working long hours (they say it's even worse there than here in the US). However, with only having a limited time in Charleston before he had to go back home, it meant that he worked even longer hours than normal. Thus, it was no surprise for me to stroll in at my usual 7-7.30 am (I prefer to be in the lab early and leave a bit earlier if i can) and find Hiro there, nor for me to walk past his temporary desk to see him slumped over asleep.

Anyway, today was his last day in Charleston - he is flying back to Japan tomorrow - and so a group of us (20, no less) went out for a dinner at a local Chinese restaurant - Palais De Jade (I may have mentioned it before). The last few times we've been there, they didn't have an alcohol licence and so we couldnt have a beer or glass of wine with dinner. This time, though, it's different and they do, and they also has SAKE, much to Hiro's delight. Suffice to say, it was the drink of the evening and lots of interesting discussion was had on sake, the process of making it, the ways they're trying to produce different flavours and a lot of Japanese customs and traditions. Such as, if your employers (or, indeed, anyone of a higher status) buys you a drink, it is rude to refuse it. Now this sounds like a place i could live! Anyway, here's to you Hiro! Long may you continue producing sake.

Fun With Flights

With having two visits to the UK in the next few months (one at the end of April for my friend Phil's wedding, one in August/September for my cousin's and brother's wedding - not to each other i add), i've spent an awful lot of time recently browsing the numerous travel websites out there in search of a reasonably priced flight back over the Atlantic and have come to one conclusion. These days, there just aren't any. Actually, that's not strictly true, if you hunt around a lot, then you can get good deals but, to be frank, i haven't got the time or the energy to do just that. Okay, well maybe i have the time on occasion but it's such a grinding task that leaves you with your head tangled in knots over airport changes, times, different time zones, connections and any number of other things. Of course, the fact that i've now joined a specific Air Miles program doesn't really help matters much, despite the fact that it doesn't really limit my choice of airlines (there is some Skyteam alliance thing whereby a number of airlines all give air miles to the other's members as well as their own).

Anyway, after spending much time going cross-eyed and banging my head against a brick wall, i finally managed to sort out flights for my trip back home in August (the flights for April were booked sometime ago and were a bit less of a headache). Some reasonably extensive searching and cross-referencing allowed me to book flights separately from Charleston to Boston and then to London Heathrow (instead of my usual Manchester) via Paris Charles De Gaulle (which should no doubt be an experience). Okay, so there's an extra change in there but it gives me a couple of extra segments for the air miles (they're important) but also a few extra miles as well. Plus, it was $200 cheaper than the best alternative i could find through the various travel websites. I guess it just goes to show that shopping around doesn't hurt. Now all i have to do is survive my brief stay (a couple of hours) in France. Shouldn't be TOO difficult for an Englishman!

Happy St Patricks Day

To all Irish, Irish-American, Semi-Irish-American, Possibly-Irish-American, Wanting-to-be-Irish-American and Pretending-to-be-Irish-American-to-get-drunk-today, a very happy St Patricks Day to you.

I advise going to this link:

The St Patricks Chin Song

A colleague at work forwarded it to me. It's kinda freaky but also very funny. Now i'm off to kiss me blarney stone and drink some guinness. Top of the morning to ya! :-)

Surveying

There is something of a reputation in the States for pretty high standards of customer service - largely, as it seems, they usually hold true to the adage of 'The customer is always right' as opposed to 'the customer is right when i WANT them to be right' that seems to be followed in a lot of UK shops (along with the 'The customer is an irritation to my standing here doing nothing' that goes hand in hand with it). Generally, i haven't had too many complains about the staff over here - apart from their tendency to harass you when you're just really just browsing and that they carry on conversations with colleagues either around you, or sometimes through you. But, hey, those things are rife in the UK in places as well (apart from the harassing maybe). However, one thing that i don't think has caught on fully in the UK yet is the chance to offer feedback - often by the placing of customer service forms in prominent places in the shop.

But, of course, here in the US, things go even further than that. A few times, now, i have been to a variety of shops for various services and then received a call a day or so later from a representative with a 'follow-up' survey as to how my 'shopping experience' was. Not only does this come down to phone calls, but also e-mails as well. I got an e-mail from the hotel where i stayed in California (where the conference was). Not really wanting to bother with it (it seemed to be rather length), I deleted it only to receive another email (deleted), a third email (deleted) and finally, after getting a FOURTH email within two days, I caved in and filled in the survey. I just wish there was a question about 'How did you find the subsequent email harassment for this survey? a) satisfactory, b) very satisfactory, c) who cares, cause we're not gonna look anyway. And that's the$64,000 dollar question really. Do these surveys actually go somewhere and get analyzed meaningfully? Or do they merely get glanced at and ignored. The cynic in me says the latter, but i'm not sure what everyone else thinks. Maybe i should take a survey of my own to find out...

Lost In Time

One facet of my recent California trip that was a new thing for me was the fact that I was going to be travelling within the same country, yet was going to be in a completely different time zone - losing three hours in the process. Or rather gaining them, depending on your perspective. Thus, the joy of jet lag was awaited - although as usual was far worse for me coming back to Charleston than when flying out to San Francisco. The analogy I usually give is that in living three hours again, for your body, it's really just like you're staying up late, and then still getting a full night's sleep. The bad thing with coming back is when you have your day considerably shortened (it's even worse going back to the UK when your whole night becomes condensed into a 6-7 hour flight). This whole thing probably explains my grogginess this week.

Anyways, to top all of this off as well, the administration over here passed legislation recently to extend the period of Daylight Savings time (or British Summer Time as it is known in, well, Britain). I'm not 100% sure of the reasons - i think that work efficiency or something factors into it along the line, but it got somewhat lost in the rest of the explanation. Suffice to say, this last Saturday at 1.00am, the clocks were moved forward 1 hour. Now, add this to the fact that it was the last night of the conference, we were all getting up relatively early for our flights back to Charleston AND we were going to be losing an additional three hours as well, then it's small wonder that our bodies didn't know if they were coming or going. Certainly, i have been sleeping a little longer than normal since coming back (always a good thing!). Of course, this now means that I am currently only 4 hours behind friends and family in the UK at the moment - at least until they put their clocks forward in, I think, a week or so. Confused much? No, me neither.

Asilomar

And finally, some shots of the Monterey Bay area - where the conference proper was held. The venue was a place called Asilomar - a proper conference ground venue next to the town of Pacific Grove and close to Monterey. As you will see, there was a beach a short walk away from the grounds. Enjoy.

A shot of the beach from the conference grounds

Close-up of the beach and lovely choppy ocean

Part of the conference grounds in the California Sun

Looking across Monterey Bay from the Aquarium

Another shot of the grounds - note the sea in the distance

A sunset shot taken on the last evening. Awwwww

California Dreamin (2): The Golden Gate

Of course, no trip to San Francisco would be complete without a closer look at one of the famous landmarks here: The Golden Gate Bridge. For me, whenever I think of the Golden Gate Bridge, it's usually in reference to the James Bond film 'A View To A Kill' where Bond and the villain have a fight on top of one of the Bridge cables. Very impressively done. Anyhow, the bridge is a Suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate - the entrance from San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. Costing over $27 million dollars, the bridge was constructed from January 1933 to April 1937, opening in the May of that year. Given that this was during the Great Depression, the bridge was sometimes thought of a a beacon of hope that the US would recover from it's economic slump. It is sometimes also cited as an example of US determination - essentially, if they can build a bridge like this during the Great Depression, then the sky is the limit. For me, I just think it's an incredible structure - very recognisable and more a feat of engineering. Whatever you may think of it, it's certainly worth a look.

A view of the bridge from Pier 41

Approaching from Route 101

Crossing from South to North

Your humble author, at the North side

The Bridge from the North Side

Pretty impressive, don't you think? If there was one thing that i wanted to see whilst in San Francisco, this was probably it.

California Dreamin...

As mentioned previously, I was heading off to a conference this Wednesday - taking place in Asilomar, California - close to the Monterey Bay area (about 100 miles SE of San Francisco) and was looking forward to seeing some of the California scenery and, of course, a bit of San Francisco. Naturally, lots of photos were taken, so here are some of San Francisco for your perusal. Enjoy!!

Downtown San Francisco (in the California Sun)

Alcatraz - out in the bay

San Francisco is famous for its Sourdough bread

One of those famous San Francisco hilly streets.

The San Francisco Bay Area - breathtakingly pretty

The San Francisco Sea Lions - Pier 39 on Fisherman's Wharf.

More to follow later in the week.

Magnolia

With the lab having it's first, for some time, potential post-doc candidate visiting, you can imagine that a lot of us were interesed in taking the opportunity to go out for dinner or lunch on work - a chance to try some of the nicer restaurants in town and not worry overtly about the cost. Fortunately for me, I was given the opportunity to go out to dinner and had selected a restaurant in downtown Charleston that has a reputation as being one of the nicer places in Charleston to eat whilst not being ridiculously extortionate. The place is called Magnolia and is one of three restaurants owned by the same people - they have one that is slightly cheaper and one that is more expensive. Now, having said that the prices aren't too bad, it can also be said that it would be extremely easy to drop a large amount of money there - a glance at the wine list reveals a good number of bottles of over $100 and much much more. Fortunately for us, our tastes aren't THAT expensive, so the main concern was whether the reputation afforded the restaurant was accurate or not.

I'm happy to report that the food certainly did live up to the word of mouth. The style of cooking is something of a Southern cooking that has been given some upscale dressing - basically, it's high class Southern food (even with the grits, i might add) that works very well I think. I'm not sure if i would rush back to the place again, given that there are also a couple of other places in the vicinity that do a similar style of cooking for a slightly more reasonable price (it was no surprise to any of us that we were right at the limit of our budget). However, overall, i'm happy that i have had the chance to eat here, and would certainly go back. Provided someone else is offering to pay!!!

Baby Shower

Saturday arrived and with it, the chance to attend a celebration at the house of Yusuf (my boss, and chair of Biochemistry) and Lina. The occasion was for Chiara and Maurizio (they of the great parties) who are expecting their first child in a month or so. Thus, a baby shower was arranged - somewhat akin to a small gathering where the soon-to-be parents are given a whole lot of advice by other parents, as well as being given the necessary items required.

Chiara and Maurizio were somewhat happy to be partaking as they, by their own admission, completely unprepared for the arrival of their bambino (they are having a son). Once the nibbles had been eaten, and the champagne drunk, everyone gathered round as they went through all their gifts and, all in all, it was quite overwhelming for them - with both getting a little teary overall. The highlight of the afternoon, though, was the game we played whereby we were given a list of attributes (height, weight, hair, eyes etc) and had to guess who it was that Chiara and Maurizio wanted their baby to take after. Suffice to say, the biggest argument was as to which soccer team they wanted their baby to support. I think they're still 'discussing' it.

Return of the Returns

In order to determine which of the 1500 tax forms we have available for use, please answer the following questions.

1)a) Are you human? If the answer is yes, please go to question 2.
b) Please list your kingdom, phylla, class, order, family, genus and species. Then go to table SP1 to find which form you must use. If you are a blind organism, please refer to our braille tables.

2) Are you a) American - if so, give yourself a pat on the back and pick form EZ - 'cause we know how hard it is for you to fill these things in.
b) Not American - if so, you should REALLY consider filling in the mountain of paperwork it takes to become a citizen cause, you know....well, you just should, ok. Anyway, you have to pick another form - one that's gonna be confusing as all hell, cause it's in American.

3) If not American are you a) European, b) Asian c) Australasiasiasi....obsessed with barbeques d) Mexican (please enclose a bottle of tequilla with your form as proof), e) English but liable to be mistaken for all of the above and more? This won't affect your form, we just want to know where you're from so we can decide how closely we're going to check your taxes.

Once you have found your form, please fill it in as accurately as possible.

1) Please write your annual income. If this is above $96,000, please enclose at least 1% for 'administrative costs'. If this is above $150,000, add an extra 1% for 'charitable purposes' If this is below $20,000, you should get another job and see us again next year.

2) Please write the number of dependents you have. This means children or the elderly. This does not mean cats, dogs, fish, orangutans, fleas that you may have for lack of washing or tapeworm - unless it's above 5m long, then we can call it a 1/2.

3) Multiply the number of dependents you have by the number of days till your next birthday and subtract the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Divide by your total number of digits and limbs, and then multiply by $5,500 to get your total tax free allowance. If this is above $5,500, subtract the appropriate amount to get it to $5,500 and write the difference in the 'charitable gift to Federal government' section. If this is less than $5,500, then great.

4) Subtract your allowance from your gross income and then add on the date that you're writing this out in simple form i.e. January first means add on $101, February first - $201 etc. multipled by the number of beers you can drink without falling over. If this is more than 12, please donate 15% of your income to Alcoholic anonymous and enlist immediately.

5)Calculate how much tax you should have given us from the Tax tables provided. Then calculate the difference between how much you owed and how much you gave. No matter what sign this comes out as, make sure that the government always takes less.

6) Send us your cheque. If we don't get it by April 1st, we'll send some guys round to break your kneecaps. If you're lucky. Otherwise, we'll just drop a laser-guided bomb on your house and release a statement that it was a stray missile from Iraq. Or something.

Disclaimer: The above is intended to be a humorous look at the filling in of tax returns over here in the US and absolutely does not represent the true process at all. In reality, it's much worse than you think!

Remember - Tax return deadline is April 15th!!!