London Mystery Walk

Saturday I was supposed to attend the Exploriens Lewes Castle & South Downs walk but I overslept (I blame the jaunt to the Mile End Climbing Wall the night before) so rather than do no walking at all I joined Anna B and Magda H at the London Hikers Westminster Mystery Walk which was meeting at 3pm (far more civilised) by Covent Garden tube.

It was a good sized group at about 35 (plus the odd party crasher like myself) a few of whom I of course already know from other walks/hikes. We headed off from M&S, with the first stop at Bow Street Magistrates Court.

Bow Street Magistrates Court is famous in particular for the Bow Street Runners but I leave it to the reader to click through for further info. Our guide explained to us that the reason the lights outside of this police station are white instead of the usual blue dates back to Queen Victoria finding the blue light upsetting because her Prince Albert died in a blue room. ::shrug:: I'm dubious.

Anyway, the Magistrates Court is across from the Royal Opera House and there is a lovely statue dedicated to all of the ballerinas.

We then went west to Lazenby something or other. Alley I suppose. It was interesting because there were original gas lamps there which are run off of the methane that is bled form the sewer system.

We then went down past the English National Opera toward Trafalgar Square, passing London's narrowest Alley along the way.

Thence to Trafalgar Square where we heard a bit about the history of the square and Nelson's Column. I had had no idea how recent all of it was/is!

We then went up Pall Mall a trifle, passing the British Council and the touring statue of Yuri Gagarin (with a very strange Moebius orbit thingie).

We then walked up by the Royal Society to hear the story of the statue to the Duke of York as well as the statue of Florence Nightingale. And some mulled wine.

Then it was across the Mall to Horse Guards.

At which point the battery on my camera died so I had to resort to using my iPhone. :-(

So a quick wizz past Downing Street to the Cenotaph.

Down past the Foreign & Commonwealth Office

Past the memorial to the Terrorist Attack in Bali and across the road to the Duck Pond House

Then down to Westminster Abbey

Through the Dean's Yard, the around the back to the Houses of Parliament.

Then off to the Silver Cross Pub for drinks and a pub quiz. Not the lengthiest of walks but it was ruddy cold and I was aching from climbing the night before so probably just as well, eh? I'd also say this walk was more touristy/history than mystery but hey-ho. Still good to be off the sofa and out with mates.

Health Prep - Blood Results Are In

OK so I have some issues with my health that I am trying to address before I go back to EBC. Here's the sitrep...

Back - After the fall in Phakding last November my back is slowly healing. I've been going to the Back Clinic at my local hospital for treatment. I'm not too convinced that it's helping much. I think what's making it get better is just time and gentle exercise/stretches. I'm told by the guy that my L5 S1 is damaged. Who the hell knows? I think they are all shysters but at least it's on the NHS. Anyhoo, I went climbing with some friends on Friday and I'm really aching all over so I think I'll try to incorporate this into my weekly routine to build core strength. It was good fun and it's cheap enough plus I think it's a sort of natural progression from the hiking thing.

Crohn's - Thanks to my friend Ivan (who has a promising future as a Jewish Mother), I have been nagged into yet again seeking treatment for my Crohn's. To this end I made the journey to East Acton to meet with a specialist from Imperial College London at Hammersmith Hospital. He ordered blood tests and I am scheduled for some nuclear investigations to check my bile and (oh joy) a colonoscopy (the less said abot that the better).

So far only the bloods have been done but the results are interesting with a CRP level of 7 (VERY high), and low iron and Vitamin D. The Vitamin D thing is probably because it's winter time and I've been working from home plus I'm fairly careful about wearing sunblock. My trip to Marrakech next week should sort that out. The low iron is of more concern, particularly with a return to altitude looming. Low iron translates to low oxygen levels in the blood, a problem that will cause fatigue at sea level and will only be exacerbated at altitude.

I haven't yet had any feedback from the doctor about supplements or injections or whatever the anaemia but at least in this household red meat and liver are going back on the menu (we had cut back out of environmental concerns).And I will keep a bag of frozen spinach in the freezer so I can nuke some to accompany my dinner each evening.

I guess what I'm saying is that it might not be a bad idea to see your doctor and get your bloods done as part of your prep for a trek of this type.

Smoking - The big elephant in the room is my smoking. I've downloaded an app that's supposed to help me wean myself off the fags by tracking my smoking. Not sure precisely how that's supposed to help. ::shrug:: What I need is something that not only tracks my smoking but gradually extends my time between smokes, sounding an alarm when I can have my next one. If anyone feels like finding or making one of those for me it would be much appreciated. I haven't found one and wonder if there could actually be a gap in the market? In the meantime if there is any progress on this front then I'll post it here.

Using JIRA and Confluence to Work From Mt. Everest

Nice blog post about the trek from my one and only corporate sponsor - Atlassian. I think they ought to do a special Angry Nerd shirt for me with the bird wrapped up in a down jacket and hat on top of a peak.

In other news, I have just ordered a Teach Yourself Nepali program. Honestly, I just want to learn some basic vocabulary before I head out there again. Just to be polite, you know?For example, I know some numbers, days of the week, etc. but I need a bit more than that, eh?

And finally, I have bought, received, charged, and will be testing some powercubes. I got a big 8000mAh and a smaller one at 2600mAh. I'm planning to use the bigger one for my kindle and camera and the smaller one for my iPhone. I should almost get 1 full charge for both kindle and iPhone from the big beast and 2 from the small one for the phone if my calculations are correct. I have to say they look dead sexy and I only hope that they work as well as they look!

The Perfect Presentation Template

So I've started working on my presentation and found the perfect slide template in Open Office

Anyway, writing has begun even though in many ways I'm still composing my thoughts. Nonetheless, I need to at least throw enough together for the 30 minute presentation in New Orleans. That one needs to be business oriented then rejigged for a longer 90 minute more technical presentation. Plus I may be presenting at 2 other conferences this year so who knows what length and audience those will be but it's all good publicity for The National Museum of Computing so it's worth it.

Which reminds me to remind you, please donate to TNMOC. All donations go to the museum! Here's a link to further info about the education program at the museum that I am raising money for - Computing in Education.

Planning for return to EBC

So a little over 3 months from now I'll be flying out to Nepal again. Which means that my obsessive planning for the next trip has officially commenced.

Topics I'm thinking about include:

Photography - R got me a very nice camera for christmas so I need to get at least another lense and maybe a carbon fibre tripod

Language - Have ordered a basic book on the Nepali language. I'd like to be able to do a bit of bargaining, order in a restaurant, etc.

Fitness - Have had my back problem diagnosed. But that doesn't fix it. Need to work on my back while also getting into shape for the trek.

Writing - And I need to start pulling together my notes to write an article and presentation on the Managing from the Mountaintop thing as I'll be speaking at AIIM 2013 as well as ACCU 2013

In other news, I met up with Sushila (and her very patient and well-behaved son) while I was in NYC. We did some shopping and I got a steal - a pair of blue  Spyder snowpants with cute suspenders for $100. Then we were off to Woodside where we had tea before I was given a tour of the neighbourhood (fascinating) and then dinner at the Himalayan Yak (I recommend the Sherpa Stew). I must remember to get a date from Really Wild for which day I'll fly into Lukla.

And finally, I must post the photos and recipe from when I made momos!

Please vote for which topic you think I should cover first.

Back Problems

So my back is still not right from the fall in Nepal. And still waiting for a referral from the NHS. :-( I'm tempted to go for private care but how the heck do I know if a chiropractor is good/honest/legit? I confess that my default position is that they are all shysters and I worry that if I walk in as a cash customer, that they'll think "I've got a live one here!".

Useful advice in the comments please!

Thanksgiving in Namche -or- Cooking with Altitude

On Wednesday the 21st I was having lunch with the Girls atThe Nest (I recommend the chicken sizzler) when it dawned on me that Thanksgiving was the next day. So I rather glibly said "Oh! We need to do Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow".

Next thing you know, advertising was up and Sushila and I were scratching our heads trying to figure out what we could make.

My initial thought had been that we would buy a bird and have it slaughtered but those birds are really too rangy and are better for the pot than the pan. So instead we bought 2 frozen chickens. The problem then was how to defrost them when the ambient temperature is below freezing. In the end, we sat them in a sun well for a few hours.

And then poured boiling water over them and turned them every so often for an hour or so.

Once they were mostly defrosted, the next challenge was to butcher the beasts. I asked for butchers shears but was handed a huge cleaver and a ghurka knife. So rather than be a danger to myself and others I handed the birds and knives to the kitchen girl.

She then proceeded to pull out a small block of wood which she placed on the floor then she perched the carcass on the wood and I pointed out to her where to cut. I swear to you we washed the chicken pieces very well after this procedure. Then dried them well. I sliced up some limes on the baking tray then placed the chicken pieces on top, rubbing in salt, pepper and chilli powder.

Then popped into the oven at 240C for 1:15 minutes. This had to be done in 2 batches as we had so much chicken and such a small oven. Plus as soon as anything is cooked it starts to freeze so the idea was to precook everything and then heat it up again just before serving.

Other dishes prepared included sauteed chinese cabbage.

With fried SPAM.

And mashed potatoes. They were a challenge as well since the girl had never heard of them and we didn't have proper ingredients other than the potatoes themselves.

Of course it didn't help that by the time the potatoes were cooked and peeled they were freezing cold again. Anyway, while I had the girl mashing away I added 2 cans of canned cream, then melted and added a packet of something halfway between butter and margarine. Then we switched places with me mashing/whipping while she made powdered milk which I then whipped in. I'll be honest - it tasted a bit odd but I knew I would be deglazing the chicken pan to make a proper gravy and that will hide a myriad of sins.

We also cooked some of the local sweet potatoes and I made up a batch of honeyed carrots. Sushila made a big salad with lettuces, tomatoes, and radishes from her greenhouse that she served with fresh garlic croutons and 2 apple pies were baked.

All that was left was to set the tables and call in the guests.

I, of course, made my usual little speech about the true meaning of Thanksgiving and everyone tucked in. It was all well cooked with a crisp and yummy skin on the chicken, noone got ill, and we proved that it could be done - Thanksgiving Dinner at Altitude with Local ingredients.

The big lesson, I think, is that when cooking at altitude everything will take longer and need a higher temperature to cook.

I'd also like to say a big, grateful thank you to Sushila for allowing me to take over her kitchen and for putting up with my madness. ;-)

Final note: I am also cross-posting this to my family cooking blog at Tales from the Kitchen Table