In the Teapot

Today I wanted to go in the city center to buy some chocolates for my trip in Poland next week, as a thank you present for Kaja’s family, but I was not happy about the tube idea… Sooooo, I cycled it!

Well, the initial idea was to go there and back, but I went for a bit longer ride, discovered Hyde park from the inside at last, got lost around Earl’s Court, eventually finding my way back around Hammersmith, and then went to Richmond to see Maria, Stefanos and their friends for a coffee a the terrace of their usual spot

Overall: 45Km in 4:30min, in the traffic, stopping for shopping and for some food, and for a loooong coffee

As I said in my previous posts, I would have photos! Here they are!
But this time, I also have videos! Thanks a lot Stefanos!

(Please note the voice of my dear that shouted and lifted me up each time I passed!! )

As promised, here are the photos of our summer holidays with my sugar in the magnificent region of the Loire Valee in France. (click on the picture)
Lots to see, lots to learn (especially me given my passion for history at school ) and lots of good things to drink…

5 days of sightseeing, exhausting for both of us on many aspects, but so great to be back there after all these years. Last time I was there, I was a kid and did not really care about history. It is nice though to see that with a different eye nowadays, and with a sweet company around

PS: the ‘tin can’ is still holding but a bit of air con would have been appreciated down there :p

Yes, it’s official! it’s done! My sister is not a miss anymore!

look at the selected photos:

That’s the time I finished my sprint triathlon in last week end!

Race was on Saturday afternoon, and Kaja and I were watching anxiously the sky in the morning as some rain was scheduled. It was sunny at breakfast when the load of pasta went in my stomach

But unexpectedly, the weather forecast was right! Clouds came along. More and more of them, and we caught rain on our way to the event. Nice…

After arriving there, mounting the bike, going for racking and finally going to watch the other competitors from the previous waves, the rain was light, then heavy drizzle, and then pouring down for a while… I really thought it would be tough and slippery on the bike, and honestly quite dangerous. But I was there. Not a time to have second thoughts! I was finally living it! I was ready anyway and with the most important sweet heart in my life next to me sending me the ‘wow’ looks that I love above everything. Sure you can’t deceive that!!

Maria and Stef joined just before I went for the swim assembly, and as expected, they had a laugh at my wetsuit outfit :p ahah, yeah I know it looks funny! But no time to chit chat, I needed to go meet the other guys of my wave.

And they were… a lot! 339 people starting at the same time, no less!! That’s a BIG group, trust me! And remembering the start of my >> previous tri, I had a few doubts about the swim being as smooth as I would hope for.

Anyway, the little funny race director sent us down the stairs to get in the water, all rubbered up in our black outfits, swim caps on, heart beating hard, and adrenaline levels build up to summits!

Water… cold for a minute, not THAT dirty (isn’t it Maria ) and… 338 other guys around me… Ok, I backed off until the complete back of the pack. I’ll catch up on the bike!

HOOOOONNNKK!!! And here we go… guys not moving? Ok, no probs, I’ll pass… I kept a steady rhythm during all the swim, and it felt ok. Not blistering fast of course, but ok. At least I know I had some energy left for the rest of the race! This time I did not have to slow down, and I finished the swim happily!

Out of the water, sprayed by some stupid water hoses (as if it was not raining enough!) and opening my eyes, I see my love and my friends shouting ‘GO MAAAAATTT’ at me! How great is that!

Just time to remove the wetsuit and put it in a bag, and I was running towards my bike, ready to get to the slippery bit. Just the time to put the helmet on, grab a bit of suger kick and run towards the exit. On the bike… Some funny guys telling ’slow down its slippery’ (as if I would care! I am racing here!!!) And then a blast.

20Km under the rain, in the water lifted by the guys in front, absolutely soaked from top to bottom, but enjoying the hell out of it. Feeling like a proper racer, burning out some energy, passing people, yeah! Being in front is what matters! passing… passing and passing… No one passed me, that must be a good time I am doing!

‘YEAHHH GOOOO MAAAAATTTT’

The guys and my love are here! They actually are shouting louder than anyone else! God that feels soo great! Come on, lets show them I am going for it!

second lap and they are still shouting! God that’s pushing me well!

Bike in… ‘please slow down’ (no way ) running to get my running shoes, wet feet, absolutely soaked, slippery surface in the building… Socks on wet feet (sooo hard to do!!) and run…

Hey! The guys are here again! Hello hello!!!

Some music on the way.. no time for a dance :p Now I feel my legs! normal! Still 4k to go! 3k… back in the building for the end of lap1, I hear someone shouting but do not see them. I guess it’s the time I start to see the end and need to concentrate really.

2k left… still passing people. Legs start to tell me to stop. NO! another 1k to go! and sprint the arrival!

Unlike last time, I could not get my exact time straight after, but I had done it.

I finished the goal I set myself almost a year ago! In a good time, and in rain!

split times:

swim (750m) : 19:31
Transition1 : 2:39
Bike (21km) : 37:20
Transition2 : 1:33
Run (5km) : 21:32

Total: 1h 22min 15s

which ranks me 155 out of 1405 contestants in this distance!!! Yepeeee!!

But if there is one thing I will remember the most and that cheers me up the best, its the support of the guys and the face of my sweet heart when I got out of the water, way ahead of what anyone expected! (including me)

Thanks guys!
Thanks my love, you really are the best!

… photos to come soon …

Its been a while now I didn’t write anything in here.

too many things to do, too many things to think about and too many questions with too little answers to keep the wheel rolling.

Stressed at work to finish work packages on time, to catch up on lost time to a stupid hot potato game where people could not work with each other.
Stressed at home to move flats and the load that was inside.
Stressed in life after its wave of very bad stuff, bad feelings and bad thoughts, literally sunk me for some time.

The work stress is over now, and it is a bit more relaxed over there. Still loads to do, but its gratifying sometimes to be busy and to be given responsibilities. I love it now.

I have moved flats and its been quite some work. You don’t really realize how much you can store in a year and a half when you have some space to do it! It’s kind of incredible. And moving all the crap is tiring. For this, there is still loads to sort out, clean and throw away. (yes, I will do that!!!)

More than that, holidays came along, expecting some relaxing time with someone I care a lot for, but it also brought its load of questions, worries, even anger at times, and too little answers came to calm it all down fully.

The storm is not over yet. It has been changing size, aspect and color, and it brought rain and thunder, a huge amount of them. The rain is gone now. Only a few lightnings are left, firing here and there.

Firing to remember that this is no game to play, and that the initial sparkle is still there somewhere, waiting quietly to be renewed, to be grown again and to be taken care of.
Firing for me to spend energy elsewhere than in thoughts, and to keep me going in the right direction.

Firing to keep the sparkle alight.

Thanks Christophe!

The building of the gliders is arriving to its term! Yes! It is true! they are almost done! Difficult to believe I know, after all that time! If you remember well, I launched the ‘challenge’ more than 2 years ago (shit! that long time!! o_O) as it was on February 27th, 2006!!!

I didn’t have a lot of replies unfortunately, but I am very happy with the ones I got, and I decided on the winner! They were all great, but there are other factors than just pleasing the eye, in which the trade off between graphical design and easiness of realization is the most important one.

I am pleased to announced the winner is Kekil who was also the most productive one! Thanks to her! I adapted the design slightly though to be able to save some weight on the final gliders as the white color is much lighter than any others.

If anyone had some designs ready or almost ready, please please please send them anyway! I ‘ll be more than happy to present them here and maybe use them on another project soon! (Well, soon is relative given my pathetic build speed these days!)

Cupil’ and Cyt’Go will hopefully be finished before this summer and fly then. All the pictures and a build thread will be available, along with the plans and instructions for the ones in you that want to build their own Watch this page!

Many thanks again to everyone!

Thanks so much to Lolo, I received yesterday this great tee shirt! The envelope even had a jivaro stamp! That’s great news! The Jivaros are alive, and I really hope to meet them soon for a good flight session!

A few weeks ago I felt like I needed to do something about all my training. Not increasing or anyhing, but i though it was time to put everything together at last! So I registered for the Eton super sprints last sunday.
Well, super sprint is rather big word, because compared to the standard sprint, only the swim is shorter. I had to do 400m swim, 20km cycle and finish with 5km run.

The date came and I went for it!

To be honest, as it was all new for me, I expected to be very slow, way after the hard core dudes that were there, because I decided that would be just a test, to see how it would go. yeah, right!

Putting on my wet suit just before going, I didn’t know what to expect. On the ramp to get into the water, expecting an icy swim, I was pleased to feel that it was not THAT cold. Well, 16 degrees water is all relative, but with a wet suit and after 2 minutes, I was worrying about other things: the 100 guys swimming around me!

A brief instant I really wondered what the hell I was doing in there, floating in the middle of 100 rubber bodies with funny fluorescent green hats. Half of my body was crying for an early retreat, but the other half was pushing me towards the start lane…
GOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

The horn shouts to go! Alright! Dude you are not moving.. out of my way! Hey! Put your elbows elsewhere but in my face! MOVE! gasp.. gasp… Shit! I’m in… F*** impressive start with all that water , all these people around, and a water where you can’t see further than your hands…
Well, it was a god start, felt good for about 80m and then… impossible to breathe anymore… What the hell? I can do 1km in the pool! even in this wet suit! What is happening to me!
… Impossible to breathe properly… reverting to breast stroke… reluctantly, but still moving forward… doing a few front crawl strokes from time to time for more than half the distance.

Past the second buoy, I had to do something, this was getting pathetic! Ok, concentration, short breathe, short strokes, let it glide in the water… let it glide… look where you are going… LOOK!!! Ok! Ok! I know! Ok, going in the right direction now… God it seems still so far from here! It looked short from land!! Ok, almost there… a few more strokes! Good… Be careful on the way out, you might faint or feel weird… Here!! Ground! Stand and run now! HOP! Ohhh, noo, it feels good! COME ON! MOVE! RUN!

The exit of the water was easier than I thought and I found my bike easily. Damn wet suit! stop sticking to me! HA! got it! helmet! Sun glasses! Bike… run! … and on for 20km now… run… run.. jump on the bike… pedal… right foot in the shoe… velcro strapped… pedal… left foot in.. strapped, and POWER! POWER! POWER! Find a good gear.. yeah this seems easy! Ok, better more power than spin. We’re not on holidays here and we’ll show these fishes how to bike fast! 29km/h 31… 33.. 35 good, steady now… On the tri bars.. feel the wind… Shit! That wind! So annoying!

1 lap… 2 laps… Coming through!! Move out of the way! … passing them.. hey! another Robocop passing me on his space ship… God these guys are fast! Nice bike though! (one day maybe…) 3 laps… starting to get stiff here, f** it, almost there! nice pace, no change of gears, no change of position… it feels good…

Last straight… remove right foot from the shoe… pedal… left one now… the line! Jump before or after? - to the spotter: BEFORE OR AFTER? *BEFORE* … jump.. run!!! shit.. where are my shoes!… HA! Dump the bike on the rack… remove helmet… Socks now (yeah, I need some to run… :p I have baby skin on my feet ) all set! Go!

Now was what I expected to be the hardest but… hey! I can run! wuhuuu! run… steady. argh. It took me 200m to get into the run, but then, all fine. Steady pace. I know I am a metronome… steady… lap one! yeah! 2500m to go! It feels good! 1200m! Last straight! SPRINT! gahhhhh!

I’m alive yes! Time! where is the clock! The time! You have the time? *3:50pm* thanks… o_O could it mean that… Nooo… not with a swim like this!

But yes! checking my time in the official board, I was delighted to get this:
Swim: 10m 1s
Transition 1: 1m 6s
Bike: 36m 51s
Transition2: 1m12s
Run: 21m 46s

Total: 1h 10m 59s

Rubbish swim (even though not too bad strictly speaking!), but an average bike speed of 32.5 Km/h and a very good run as well!
I didn’t win anything, but it was excellent! I have lots to do for the swim, now I want to cut it by LARGE! I want less than 7:30 min swim at least! I need practice, but its going to be good until august and the London Tri!

Guy A, travelling in a hot air balloon, realizes he is lost! He decides to lower the balloon and check if there is anyone around who could help him out… He sees guy B and lowers the balloon even more so that he can ask him for some help…

A: Excuse me…could you please help me… I promised a friend to meet him at a specific location about an hour ago … but I haven’t got a clue where I currently am…
B: Well, u r in a hot air balloon, at about 15m high, 38′ east and 23′ north.

A: Hmmm, may I ask u something… r u by any chance a computer scientist?
B: Yes I am… how can u tell?

A: Well, u just gave me a ‘technically’ correct answer but I still have no idea of where I am, or what to do with the info u just provided me, I m still lost and… At the end of the day… u didn’t actually help me at all…
B: Hmmm, r u a manager?

A: Yeap, … but how do u know?
B: Well, u have no idea of where u r or where u r heading to, u r up there because of your big bubble, you gave a promise to your friend without even knowing whether u could keep or not AND u r asking people below u to sort out your problem. On top of everything, u r currently in the same position as before asking for my help… but somehow this is now my fault!

(thanks Maria. I totally agree with this given the current situation )

Today is another official day: the flat hunt is back on

Basically, we fixed the date of our move out from the current flat: 19th of July. So I am in quest of a 2 double bedroom flat in the same area, on a budget and with lots of space :p (yeah, good luck, I know )

Apparently, the market has opened up a little bit since last time I checked, so it should be alright to find something. Making it a home is something else, but let’s cross our fingers that it’ll be fruitful!

Following the training post last time, here are my latest kit acquisitions for my race(s). A nice wetsuit to go against the cold temperture of the water (maybe not in August…) and some profile design carbon tri aerobars so get a bit more streamlined on the long flats along the race.

The most impressive about the wetsuit is that even if it is not a top of the notch model, I already increased my speed hall a lot in it. And I mean HELL a lot! I usually swim 1km in around 30min. With the suit? 22 min… Thats soo great news! And it makes me float as well! So now I don’t drown and I can swim 1k in 22min. What a progress in just a couple of months!

The aerobars have dictated a slightly different riding position, but feel nice now and comfy. I might have a little problem with an over-hard saddle, specially on the tip where I spend most of my time… Not for now though… just checked the prices of saddles… No way! Not for now at least!

I registered for a super sprint triathlon next week end but I am still waiting for my official registration! 400m swim, BUT, the same bike and run than the London one in August! So it’s going to be a good test and a good practice!

As Chabi pointed out in his comment, I ‘found a use’ for the blog again.

Well, after yesterdays break-in, I decided to give the whole server a massive clean/update session.
I spent most of my day updating all packages, from php to mail clients and libraries, and I cleaned completely the websites directories from duplicates and non necessary data.
I also found that my old site has been heavily spammed too with stupid links in the comments, so I cleaned it out too. Well, that’s what happens when you leave an open form online without captcha or way to ensure the submissions do not come from bots.

I simply removed all the forms… full stop. Anyway, that site will go some day too as I plan to build a portfolio of the sites I am building for others. it’s been 3 years it’s running and had no design updates, and as being my first ever live website it’s quite poorly coded, so the white sheet is the best solution!

Yet another project on the list, but the new one is going to be much simpler in terms of coding, but I’ll definitively give it a professional development cycle… one day

I received the invitation for my sis’ wedding! How cool is this thing!! And you know what? YES, the drawing are all her’s! check the website as well and leave her your greetings, they’ll both be happy!
http://annemickael.ekynoxe.com