A quick and timely brief.

The weekend before last: Blue Mountains. More on that later.
Last weekend -
Friday: 22km of mountain biking with the AMB team. Resulted in serious incapacitation and served as a reminder of why I do not exercise.

Lincoln Hall, the editor of Outdoor magazine (also my boss in a way) reached the reached the summit of Mount Everest on Thursday morning. On Friday, he was reported dead after suffering breathing difficulties just minutes after his summit. He was dead, and his team had to leave him there because there was no way to bring him down. I was so sad, because I've been looking forward to hear his stories. He lived in Singapore for a period of time and apparently has a lot to say about the place. It's also a sorrowful event when any man with a life of passion leaves. They're a dying species.

Saturday: Lincoln Hall is alive. As it turns out, a new group of climbers saw him alive, gave him oxygen and tea, and brough him to the base camp. Read more on: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/05/28/1148754872626.html?page=2
I spent my day lazing around, relaxing my sore muscles and butt. Mountain biking is very harsh on your bum bone, and it doesn't help that I haven't got much flesh to ease the impact from the rocks and... hills and... ... Thinking about it is making my arms hurt.

After spending a significant amount of time in front of FoxTel and getting pampered by Henry (with food, drink, clean floor, clean laundry, a blanket for the couch...), we went swimming. He was convinced that swimming would help ease the post-exercise pain. Two minuses is a plus, and I did feel better. Sort of. So much better that today we are going swimming after work. Our gym is located just below the Harbour Bridge, so if we swim in the Olympic size outdoor pool, we're technically swimming under the bridge. Unreal.

Sunday: Woke up at 5am, at the airport by 6. Plane departed at 7am, and before I knew it I was on a commercial airline, making my way to Brisbane. I'm not going to further comment, save to say that I hate commercial airlines and made Henry promise he would never take me on some budget airline. Horrible!
Reached Brisbane at 8.30, took a $35 cab to the convention centre. Set up for the Snow Expo. Started at 10, ended at 4. Met Nat at 5 for a very lovely dinner at this rather intrinsic place called Three Monkeys. It had divine cake - Nat's NY cheese cake was... delish.

Back in a cab at 6, at the airport at 6.30, plane left at 7pm. In Sydney at 8.30pm. Henry picked me up and for a little drive. We were trying to find a place for me to drive (safely), but instead found ourselves at the Taronga Zoo. We spotted a few wild rabbits and after parking outside for about 5 seconds in an attempt to 'hear' the animals, we drove off to a harbour bay near Kirribilli and listened to the fishes jumping around, admired the city line, and tasted the wind. Henry did some of his... 'stunts' with his car (he was driving this Ford ... pick-up thing with some powerful engine or whatever) which resulted in me feeling sick. We sped home (in the most comfortable fashion), watched Alan Partridge, and went to bed.

Monday: Back in work at 10am. I am actually feeling rather perk and am looking forward to swimming tonight. The weather is cold, and in 45 minutes I'm having a 'welcome lunch' with the publishing director. That should be swell.



As I'm posting this while I'm at work, I shall add some pictures later on when I get home. The Blue Mountains entry needs an entire entry to itself, so I'll get started on that when... well, when I have the time/energy/drive/want to.

Noise: The Mr. Brown show podcast.
P.S.: In other news, my NY story is out on sale in Elle Singapore! And in case you're wondering, the pictures are tiny because they were taken with my camera and it's not some... professional camera. Just a humble, scratched and dented $700 Canon. Hmm, maybe I just didn't adjust it to take bigger sizes. Nevertheless, get your copy.

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