On waterfalls...

... a quick dissertation.

Ok, there have been many huge rainstorms. I have enjoyed them. I have sat out in a couple with a tiny canopy made of a tin tray to cover my tiny paraffin burner and my bag of marshmallows. Obviously, this had to be weighed down with rocks to prevent its removal by the surrounding squall. And, also obviously, cooking marshmallows in a thunderstorm while unable to see properly due to the water streaming into your eyes is the BEST thing ever.

These storms however have swollen the river to the point where Ithaca Falls (which, I was considering doing without a rope back when the water was low) I now can't even get close to doing, even with a rope (which wasn't long enough, the falls is more like 160ft than 105). So, that didn't happen. Ah well.

I did however got wicked heatstoke from the long climb down to the top of the falls. Which has lead to two days of D&V and a fair amount of pain. Which was not fun while watching MacBeth outdoors (Shakespeare in American? Hilarious) But that's all fine because it cleared up in time for...

...Me to present a nature documentary. I spoke abotu 10 minutes on dragonflies which, I'll edit down to two or three for a BBC showreel (read "Give to Shamini, so she'll get off my back"). While doing so I found a huge snapping turtle in the pond. The pond which I was standing in without shoes on. So, me being me, I caught it and talked about it on camera. And suddenly felt like Steve Irwin. So put it back.

Which leads me to here. I have jsut got back from the last pool above Ithaca Falls, where my friends (a bunch of very hot young people) and I have been swimming and jumping off waterfalls entirely naked for the last two hours. I managed to make myself a lifejacket using my backpack and two air...er...bladders, so the swimming was fun, but I'm sure I looked daft wearing my trainers, socks and backpack.

But hey, I was the first to stand on the end of a rock, jutting out of the face of these falls and howl at the night sky. So, that was worth every second of it.

G

Speedypost...

...nothing to say. Check out this little vid I made of a thunderstorm.



Grey

They who dare...

I have a plan.

Which for me is pretty novel, I've always been a just do it sort of a fellow.

But I went here:












And I looked over the 105ft precipice:



And I thought about this:












But, then I also considered this:










But then I thought about this t-shirt:














So I went to eBay and bought these two:












So, I have to rig a way to lash them to me and then expect scrapes and a very happy smily Greg.

A Meal Of Mostly Broccoli

Broccoli is *not* a lactose free option. However, it is incredibly tasty so I had my steamed broccoli with salad and saw that it was good.

In other news, some of these photatoes from New York are turning out pretty well. So that's good.

We've also just had the Merck guide to surviving Job interviews and Careers in Industry. So I'm whacked from that. But they have high hope for us as a group.

That's about it for today. Why am I telling y...

...oh wait!

That is not it at all! Today has been a fecking momentus day! It jsut slipped my mind for a sec. Today is a turning point for my knee pain. Which I realise I haven't told you about, but that's because someone else's mum told them and they told me that if you don't have something nice to say you shouldn't say anythign at all.

But now I do.

So, my knee (right knee for you *fact* seekers out there) has been pretty sore since I crashed off my bike doing silly speeds about 7 months ago. It's been grinding a bit more than usual and the kneecap has been sore to touch. So, I've been taking it easy (Guen? Shhhh.) and not doing weights (*cough*) or planning really long rides (*cough*) or sprinting against the buses (*cough*).

But since I arrived here and have been without a bike, the muscle mass has just fallen off me. Hooray! says I, for it'll make me a more energy efficient cyclist for my Ithaca, NY to Charlottesville, VA ride. But no! Without the added support from my daft quads my knee has been getting really really really sore. Like walking up stairs sore. Which really started to worry me, 'cos as you know a lot of my plans for the future involve a bike and a track.

Anyhow, to cut a long story shorter, I finally got and fitted my new carbon seatpost today. And believe me long seatpost is looooooooooooooooong. So my knee got a full flex physio workout this morning and now it feels A. Mazing. Like 60% better. In a day.

So that is why I'm feeling chirpy.

Later folks.

G

Photo for today:


(click for largeness)

Ladies and Gentlemen...

...may I present. My view of New York City.

(Click to enlargenate)

Ok, fine, so it's been a while.

Bugger off. I've not been writing because I've been busy. Also, because the temperature has gone up so far here that the top of my thermometer exploded like in the cartoons showering me in broken glass and red ethanol. I've been having stitches.

Ok, so that didn't happen. What I'm saying is there have been mitigating factors.

Lots has happened. The most fun of which is, while walking in the Cornell river, I got something thrown at me from one the bridges (bear in mind that this is a gorge and the bridge is like 30-40m up. So it hit the water with quite a splash). It turned out to be an orange. So I ate it.

The important bit is this: Oh My God. It was possibly the best orange I have ever eaten. Seriously. I'm not sure if it was the meteoric impact with the water breaking up the long chain carbohydrates into short chain sugars, or if it actually was divine providence (for not a minute before had I licked my parched lips and pronounced: I could really do with some fruit).

So, yeah, that was fun.

The research is going really well and the three proteins I've tested have turned out to be crap, good and "really pretty good" at binding to their intended ligand. Which is nice. I think I might go back to formula though and combine the two point mutations from the two that worked into one, genetically engineered, super spider er... protein.

In other news, I am now in NYC. Which is large and doesn't quite live up to the hype, but I shall tell you more about that when I'm not just about to go out for breakfast.

Later

Greg