On Easter Sunday we woke up at 4:30am to go to Red Rocks which is an amphtheatre built into the foothills to the west of Denver. There we enjoyed a service where the sun broke the plains ahead of us halfway through the service. It was an impressive (if blinding) sight and one worth experiencing. We then headed home, napped for a couple of hours and then hung out with Sarah and Ethan the rest of the day. Playing lots of Settlers of Catan, watching British Touring Cars and eating roast lamb. A good day.

This year Beth and I both once again completed our Count Your Blessings challenge. It was another though provoking activity and it allowed us to raise money for a good cause. Over the last seven weeks the thoughts for the day led me to raise £30.05 for Christian Aid which we will send to them by cheque. It was a worthwhile thing for us to do as it is a chance to take stock.

Last week I raised an additional £6.20 which brought my total to £28.10

And onto the final thoughts:

Monday 25

Children born into poverty are almost twice as likely to die before the age of 5 than those from wealthier families.

Give 5p for every birthday you have celebrated.

Tuesday 26

One in three girls in Niger are married before the age of 15, and 75% are married before the age of 18.

Give 50p if you have attended a wedding in the last year where the bride and groom were over the age of 18.

Wednesday 27

Child marriage often leads to early childbirth, the leading killer of adolescent girls in Africa. 

Pray for safety for all the young girls in the world who will give birth today.

Thursday 28

Maundy Thursday

Worldwide, around 215 million children work, many full-time.

Give 10p for each child in your family who has time to play.

Friday 29

Good Friday

For the first time since poverty trends began to be monitored, the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen in every developing region.

Give thanks and praise for the progress that is being made on ending poverty, and for everyone who is involved in this effort (that includes you!).

Weekend 30 & 31

Easter

In 2012, Christian Aid partner Ekta Parishad organised one of the biggest non-violent campaigns the world has ever seen. 60,000 people set off to march over 200km across India to hold the Indian government to its promises to protect the land rights of poor dalit and tribal communities. After 10 days, the march ended when the government agreed to the marchers’ demands. This momentous achievement could lift 400 million landless poor out of poverty in India.

Give thanks for this wonderful outcome and pray that the Indian government holds true to its promises. Pray for all those in the world who don’t have legal rights to their ancestral land.

Week 5's theme is a week for our precious planet.

Week 4's theme is A Week for Women as we lead up to Mothering Sunday this coming weekend.

Monday 4 March

70% of the world’s poor are women.

Give 10p for every woman in your family who has a job.

Tuesday 5 March

Every day approximately 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries.

Give 20p for every pregnant woman you know who received a decent standard of medical care in the last year.

Wednesday 6 March

Women make up 64% of the world’s illiterate. 

Have a look at one of your bookshelves. Give 10p for each book by a female author.

Thursday 7 March

In India, tens of millions of women face discrimination and abuse for being single, porced or widowed.

Pray for fair treatment for women everywhere.

Friday 8 March

Women own only 1% of the world’s property.

Give 10p for each woman in your family who owns property, either jointly or by themselves.

Weekend 9 & 10 March

Mothering Sunday

Golbibi Kohsani, a 20-year-old mother of two from Afghanistan, has received a loom from Christian Aid partner RAADA to enable her to make an income from her skill at weaving traditional Afghan rugs. It takes her about 3 months to finish a carpet which she sells for about US$60. The carpets are made from wool from her own animals, and the extra income means she has more money for her family.

Give thanks for mothers and carers throughout the world who work hard to look after their families.

Visit christianaid.org.uk/motheringsunday for a thought-provoking Mothering Sunday church service plan, featuring more on Golbibi (pictured).

This week's theme is Food and Justice.

The theme this week is Peace and Reconciliation.

Monday 18

At the end of 2011, an estimated 42.5 million people were living in a place to which they had been forcibly displaced due to conflict or persecution.

Give 10p for every year you have lived in your current home.

Tuesday 19

In countries torn apart by war but now at peace, such as Angola and Sierra Leone, Christian Aid is helping communities to rebuild their lives and to work towards peaceful, long-term development.

Pray for lasting peace and reconciliation for communities recovering from conflict, especially those in the news at this time.

Wednesday 20

Four out of five refugees are hosted by developing countries, many of whom provide refuge despite their own national challenges, including food and water shortages.

Give 20p for each time you stayed with family or friends in the last year.

Thursday 21

Sudan’s civil war claimed more than 2 million lives, mainly due to hunger rather than as a direct result of the combat. Fighting disrupted farming, and raids by combatants took the little food farmers had left.

Give 20p for each conflict mentioned in the news today.

Friday 22

At least 37.6% of the world’s population live under authoritarian regimes.

Give £1 if you did not use your vote in the last local or general election.

Weekend 23 & 24

Colombia has the second highest number of internally displaced people in the world. In the last 25 years, the armed conflict has forced more than 8% of the population off their land. Christian Aid partners, local communities and their leaders, like Misael (pictured) risk their lives to speak out, calling on the government to protect their lives and their rights.

Pray for safety and strength for people all over the world who face violence and persecution for taking a stand against injustice.

Once again Beth and I are not giving things up for Lent, instead we are completing Christian Aid’s Count Your Blessings where they give a thought for the day while also raising money for a good cause. I will once again be keeping track of our progress on the blog.

The resources are available here: http://www.christianaid.org.uk/getinvolved/lent-2013/count-your-blessings/resources.aspx

Wednesday 13 February

Ash Wednesday Around 24% of children of primary school age in sub-Saharan Africa and 7% in Southern Asia do not attend school.

Give 30p if there is a non-fee-paying primary school where you live.

Thursday 14 February

Children under-five of educated mothers — even mothers with only primary schooling — are more likely to survive than those of mothers with no education.

Give thanks and praise for your education and for the doors it has opened for you professionally and personally.

Friday 15 February

Illiteracy affects more than 120 million young people globally, compounding the disadvantages they face in life.

Give 20p for each favourite childhood book you can still recall well.

Weekend 16 & 17 February

If you don’t know your legal rights, you can’t defend them. In São Paulo, Brazil, tens of thousands of people live in unsafe housing. Those who complain to their landlords risk immediate eviction. Christian Aid partner Gaspar Garcia runs a human rights centre (pictured) where tenants can go to receive free legal advice and to join forces with others in a similar situation to demand change and to face their landlords together.

How many of your human rights can you name? Give 10p for each one.

In my first four months in America I lived based on the NFL schedule. Sunday, Monday and Thursday if there was a game on then I would be in front of a TV either in the Blomberg basement or a local bar. Now, with the NFL season all but over other things have to take up my time. 

This term Beth has no classes on Thursdays, she also declared at Christmas that as a present she wanted experiences instead of stuff. I also had the feeling that perhaps I had spent a little too much time down in the basement reading business books and working on little web projects. We therefore decided to head on out into the world and visit a museum or factory or interesting thing of cultural significance on Thursdays.

So far, we have had a great time going to three nearby places. First we went to the Coors brewery in nearby Golden. We also walked around the historic town the same day (Golden is tiny). Next we went to the Argo gold mine in Idaho Springs, taking in my favourite Colorado restaurant, which serves buffalo, at the same time. Then yesterday we a tour of the Hammonds Candy factory in north Denver. The machines in action in that factory were pretty impressive and we learned how candy canes and lollipops are made. Unfortunately they also had a shop where we may have spent a little too much. 

It is great because we are actually getting out of the house and experiencing things that we otherwise wouldn't. We have the next few weeks planned already as well with a tour of the Denver Mint, Coors Field (the baseball stadium) and Sports Authority @ Mile High (home of the Broncos) coming up. 

The rest of my week is filling up nicely as well. Monday is reserved for website work at the moment, Tuesday and Friday I work and then go to the gym and Wednesday I spend the morning volunteering with Denver Seminary's IT department. We have also successfully continued pasta Monday's in Denver and tend to get around eight people along each week. All is going well.

10. Worms Revolution - PC

9. Catherine - XBOX360

8. Fez - XBOX360

7. Mark of the Ninja - PC

6. Mass Effect 3 - XBOX360
The first two Mass Effect games were my Games of the Year and the first game was my game of the last decade. Mass Effect 3 was therefore a bit of a letdown. It wasn’t just the terrible ending, it just felt dull compared the supreme second entry. The series went further away from its RPG roots as the series progressed and ended up mainly as a Shooter. This diluted what made the series interesting in the first place.

5. Thomas Was Alone - PC
A nice little Indie game that makes you care about little blocks with its charming narrative and fun puzzle gameplay

4. Trials Evolution - XBOX360
I loved Trials 2, the only problem was that it was single player, Trials Evolution added an exciting multiplayer that had my friends and I chuckling away. The user made multiplayer tracks just added to a great experience.

3. Spec Ops the Line - PC
A great narrative makes some for some occasionally iffy shooter mechanics, you want to keep playing to find out what happens next.

2. F1 2012 - PC
The third time is a charm for Codemasters’ F1 series, the first game was good because it was the first entry for years. The second didn’t really hold my interest as it largely fixed the bugs from the first game while confusing with an odd menu system. The third game does away with the menus altogether and seeks to just get you racing quicker. The controls take a little getting used to but once you do they feel pretty tight. I am enjoying this game.

1. Max Payne - PC
After LA Noire lost me with its narrative and repetitive gameplay Max Payne did a great job of building my trust in Rockstar again. The controls are tight and exciting, the narrative is interesting and keeps you playing and the bullet time effects are great fun. All that plus it is a great game to look at and has a lot to offer. It is my game of 2012.

image from Rockstargames.com

Sports in 2012 - Or how to not mention the Olympics

Team of the Year - Chelsea. For knocking Barcelona out without leaving their own half and then winning the Champions League using the same tactics.

Sportsman of the Year (on two legs) - Andy Murray. For crying at Wimbledon and then winning the US Open. We all love him now.

Sportsman of the Year (on two wheels) - Bradley Wiggins. For winning the Tour de France. Special mention to Sky Sports for an excellent series about Team Sky, never realised you could lean on the support car if you were feeling a bit tired.

Sportswoman of the Year - None. Sport and Women should not mix, it messes up their hair and makes them perspire.

Overseas Sportsperson of the Year - Peyton Manning. For a great return in 2012. Probably won't win it in 2013!

Overseas Team of the Year - Spain. For winning Euro 2012, bet no one saw that happening.

Other notable events in 2012
Good
AFC Wimbledon stayed up
Bad
AFC Wimbledon only just stayed up

Good
Managed to stay awake for the Superbowl
Bad
New York Giants won it

And Finally (I know I said I wouldn't mention it but it has been impossible to avoid)

Good
Team GB won lots of medals and apparently some were won by GIRLS!
Bad
As predicted lots of empty spaces - not that I'm bitter about not getting any tickets

If you want to be a web developer it is not enough to simply know PHP (or ASP.net if you go that way). It is important to also know which skills are most in demand for a web development role.

I decided to find out so did a search for PHP on a variety of UK based recruitment sites. In total I tallied 60 positions for their required/optional skills and ordered by the number of times each appeared.

Here are the top 10 skills that you want in 2013 if you are to be a PHP developer, the percentage is the number of jobs that ask for the skill:

1. PHP – 100% (kind of makes sense a PHP developer would need to know PHP)
    
2. MySQL – 78.8% (By far the most popular of the database options, only alternatives mentioned were SQL and PostgreSQL each under 10%)
    
3. HTML – 73.1% (Helpful for putting that PHP onto actual web pages)
    
4. CSS – 71.2% (Make those web pages look pretty)
    
5. Javascript – 69.2% (Add some function to those web pages. Most of those mentioning Javascript also mentioned jquery, two mentioned mootools)
    
6. LAMP – 28.8% (Creating sites on Apache Linux)
    
7. OOP – 26.9% (Object Oriented Programming, most did not mention it by name but mentioned frameworks like zend, symfony, cakephp etc. I also tallied these individually but each reached under 10% with Symfony and zend each getting 7%)
    
8. Subversion – 21.2% (The oldest of those generally used still rules the roost, GIT was the only other one mentioned with 9.6% of the ads asking for it)
    
9. AJAX/JSON – 19.2% (allowing us to send and receive data in the background of our web pages)
    
10. XML – 17.3% (XML is another markup language that enables things like rss feeds and is both human and machine readable)

Just below these ten we have mentions of actual products with Wordpress, Drupal and Magento developers all in demand.

Number eleven though is something you either have or you don’t… communication skills. Good luck shy guys.

While this is a small sample set gathered over a single day in January 2013 this top 10 makes a lot of sense. Only one job asked for any type of certification (and they said they would pay for the applicant to get it if they were successful but lacking it), several asked for degrees but were generally unpicky about the subject, the majority asked for experience. Get coding!

Business Creation

Go It Alone by Bruce Judson
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
The Knack by Norm Brodsky & Bo Burlingham
Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson
Escape from Cubicle Nation by Pamela Slim
Bankable Business Plans by Edward Rogoff

Value-Creation & Testing

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
The New Business Road Test by John Mullins
How to Make Millions with Your Ideas by Dan Kennedy

Marketing

All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin
Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout
Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got by Jay Abraham

Sales

The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy
Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff
The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes
Value-Based Fees by Alan Weiss
SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham

Value-Delivery

Indispensable by Joe Calloway
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu Goldratt
Lean Thinking by James Womack and Daniel Jones

Finance & Accounting

Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs by Karen Berman and Joe Knight
Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits by Greg Crabtree
The 1% Windfall by Rafi Mohammed
Accounting Made Simple by Mike Piper
How to Read a Financial Report by John A. Tracy
Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson

The Human Mind

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Brain Rules by John Medina
Making Sense of Behavior by William T. Powers
Driven by Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria
Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales

Productivity & Effectiveness

Getting Things Done by David Allen
The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz
StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath
Bit Literacy by Mark Hurst
10 Days to Faster Reading by Abby Marks-Beale

Problem Solving

The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch
Accidental Genius by Mark Levy
Learning from the Future by Liam Fahey & Robert Randall

Behavioral Change

The Power of Less by Leo Babauta
The Path of Least Resistance by Robert Fritz
Re-Create Your Life by Morty Lefkoe
Self-Directed Behavior by David L. Watson & Roland G. Tharp

Decision-Making

Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions by Gary Klein
Smart Choices by John S. Hammond et al
Ethics for the Real World by Ronald Howard & Clinton Korver

Communication

On Writing Well by William Zinsser
Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds
Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath
The Copywriter’s Handbook by Robert Bly
Show Me The Numbers by Stephen Few

Influence

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson et al
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

Negotiation

Bargaining For Advantage by G. Richard Shell
3-D Negotiation by David A. Lax and James K. Sebenius
The Partnership Charter by David Gage

Management

First, Break All The Rules by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
12: The Elements of Great Managing by Rodd Wagner & James Harter
Growing Great Employees by Erika Andersen
The Essential Drucker by Peter F. Drucker

Leadership

Tribes by Seth Godin
Total Leadership by Stewart Friedman
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan by George Bradt et al
The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig

Project Management

Making Things Happen by Scott Berkun
Results Without Authority by Tom Kendrick

Systems

Thinking in Systems by Donella Meadows
Work the System by Sam Carpenter

Analysis

Turning Numbers Into Knowledge by Jonathan Koomey
Marketing Metrics by Paul W. Farris et al
The Economist Numbers Guide by Richard Stuteley

Statistics

Thinking Statistically by Uri Bram
How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff

Corporate Skills

The Unwritten Laws of Business by W.J. King
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
The Simplicity Survival Handbook by Bill Jensen
Hire With Your Head by Lou Adler

Corporate Strategy

Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies by Nikos Mourkogiannis
Competitive Strategy by Michael Porter
Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
Seeing What’s Next by Clayton M. Christensen et al

Creativity & Innovation

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
Myths of Innovation by Scott Berkun
Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter F. Drucker

Design

The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
Universal Principles of Design by William Lidwell et al

Consulting

Getting Started in Consulting by Alan Weiss
Secrets of Consulting by Gerald M. Weinberg

Personal Finance

Your Money or Your Life by Joel Dominguez & Vicki Robin
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley & William Danko
I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
Fail-Safe Investing by Harry Browne

Personal Growth

Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale
The Art of Exceptional Living by Jim Rohn
A Guide to the Good Life by William Braxton Irvine

2012 was a fantastic year for cinema. In 52 weeks I managed to see 27 films and I generally enjoyed all of them. That makes a top 10 difficult to accomplish. Beth may have struggled to think of more than six great films but I had an initial shortlist of 15 that needed to be trimmed.

Without further ado here is Beth’s list:

10. Woman in Black
9. Avengers
8. Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists
7. The Lorax
6. Skyfall
5. Lincoln
4. Hobbit
3. Brave
2. Les Miserables

1. Trade of Innocents
This was not an easy film to watch – it should not be. I picked this film as my number one because I believe it is the story that most needed and deserved to be told. Though fictional, it could be the true experience of thousands of girls around the world. Trade of Innocents explores sex-trafficking in Cambodia, through the story of a couple working to rescue and rehabilitate girls, and their dealings with local corrupt authorities, impoverished families, and rich tourists exploiting the sex trade.  It calls to our attention the slavery that still exists around the world, and even in our own neighborhoods. Hopefully this film will break your heart.

And now my list:

10. Skyfall
9. Lincoln
8. Wreck-it-Ralph
7. Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists
6. Avengers
5. Les Miserables
4. Dark Knight Rises
3. Hobbit
2. End of Watch

1. Django Unchained
I got to go to an advance screening of Django in early December and it was everything a Tarantino movie should be. Copious violence, fantastic screenwriting and some superb acting. There was not a weakness in the cast and I found the movie very entertaining. In a year with the Hobbit, Les Miserables and Batman – films I loved every bit as much as I expected to – it is great that End of Watch and Django were even better.

As usual my other lists will be coming soon with film later this week and games next week... sport will turn up at some point too.

When the opportunity came for us to take a year out while my wife completed her masters in America I decided it was a good chance to catch up. In my little basement in Denver I have been setting myself the task of filling in these knowledge gaps that have developed over time. A lot of this will come from learning by doing and a lot of it from reading.

The key areas I am looking to improve in are as follows:

1. Web Design: My websites are never the prettiest. I understand that and want to fill in the gaps so that they can look better. I will be doing this through reading, trial and error and by trying out some online code schools like codecademy, codeschool and treehouse.
2. Leadership and Management: I have been running a small business for three years but have no real management training. My goal is to work through Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman along with as many other business books as I can. I will read relevant biographies and case studies of businesses and people in my sector. I will then put these lessons into action with my small company.
3. Mathematics: I always enjoyed maths in school but I was also aware of the growing holes in my knowledge as I worked through the curriculum. For example, until a month ago, I could never do long division or long multiplication. I feel that filling in these gaps and expanding my knowledge will help me down the road with my programming. I will use Khan Academy to work through these gaps.
4. Computer Science: I did an A Level in IT but a lot of the syllabus was poor and outdated. It also didn’t dwell deeply on how a computer does what it does and I want to learn that. I have enrolled in a couple of edx classes to help me along this learning path.

I have created a new category on my blog so that you can track my progress, I will be putting reviews and brief notes of the books that I read, links that I find helpful and other information that should allow it to be shown what I am learning along the way. My aim is to come back from America knowing more and with a renewed hunger to never stop learning.

While the risk of injury in motorsport comes from the vehicles themselves, in other sports it comes from the act of playing the game itself. If you don’t stop the opposition in their tracks in American Football they will just keep running past you, in ice hockey it is also part of the game. This leads to hard blows to players’ heads. A blow to the head is never good news though and the NFL has been forced to come to terms with this. The movie primarily focusses on American Football but points out that concussions can come from practically any sport (the film dwells on women’s soccer for a while). Head Games is detailing the work done by Chris Nowinski and his team at the Sports Legacy Institute in Boston as they continue their research into how to find signs of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) - which can lead to symptoms of dementia - in people still living. Previously it has only been possible to have access to, and find signs in, the brains of the deceased. The film points out that unsurprisingly getting repetitive blows to the head is bad for you and the fact is brought home by showing us a former NFL player who can no longer recite the months of the year between January and June in order or remember a six digit sequence of numbers. The film also shows a study that NFL retirees have 19 times the risk of dementia of a normal member of the public.

The movie stops short of telling people not to play these violent sports but does suggest that perhaps parents should think twice before letting their children play, or keep playing after having a concussion. Head Games makes its points well and there is still a lot of research to be done by this relatively young team. If the movie is able to get a debate going and help make these sports safer then it has done its job.

It is obvious that after spending the nineties denying the effects of head shots, the NFL can no longer ignore the facts regarding concussions. For the past couple of seasons the rules have begun changing to start to minimize the risks and stop potential damage to the league’s reputation. As younger players start seeing the men they idolize clashing heads less often the hope is these changes will filter down. One thing to note is that concussions take a long time to heal, the NFL currently takes players out of the game but more often than not they are back the following week. The league perhaps needs to look into increasing the time that these players sit out before returning.

It may look like the league has been neutering the show but if it means one fewer suicide and more players retiring in decent health then it is surely worth it. What does this mean for us in the British leagues? We need to acknowledge that the problem is out there. Make sure no player enters the game with a concussion. If we see a player take a blow to the head then make sure he is fit to re-enter. While I have seen few, if any such hits in the British game it should still be a point of emphasis for coaches that players should not go in with, or aim for, the head.

As the movie points out one concussion is really too many.

Trailer for Head Games:

Anyway, it was another title for king Vettel, Red Bull once again supplied him with a car with which to take the title. The difference between Red Bull and the rest definitely came down this year and they started the season with the second or third best car out there. Alonso's achievement was far greater though, in the first race of 2012 the Ferrari car was the eighth fastest out there. By season's end it was still only third and yet Alonso took the fight to Vettel, losing out by just three points in a tense final race. Consistency was Alonso's game and he drove a near perfect season in a middling car.

So to my end of year rankings:

1. Fernando Alonso /
2. Sebastien Vettel +1
3. Lewis Hamilton -1
4. Jenson Button +5
5. Nico Hulkenberg +5
6. Kimi Raikkonen +7
7. Felipe Massa +12
8. Sergio Perez -2
9. Mark Webber -1
10. Nico Rosberg -6
11. Kamui Kobayashi +1
12. Paul Di Resta -1
13. Michael Schumacher +1
14. Bruno Senna +9
15. Timo Glock +1
16. Heikki Kovaleinen -9
17. Vitaly Petrov +4
18. Daniel Ricciardo -1
19. Charles Pic +1
20. Romain Grosjean -15
21. Pastor Maldonado -6
22. Pedro De La Rosa =
23. Jean-Eric Vergne -5
24. Jerome D'Ambrosio RE
25. Narain Kathikeyan -1

To me Alonso was clearly the best driver all season long. Hamilton drove better than last season and was largely let down by the team with reliability problems and issues with pitstops throughout the season. He drove fast but not necessarily intelligently and as it stands Vettel and Alonso are better drivers than he is. Grosjean and Maldonado both slip as each was involved in too many incidents, Maldonado because he is malicious and Grosjean because he is careless.

My big hope for the offseason is that both Kobayashi and Kovaleinen are picked up by teams for 2013, both deserve their drives and make F1 a little bit better. I am also pleased to see that Massa is back to where he needs to be in terms of pace finally, it appeared that the new Ferrari deal he received lightened his load and allowed him to concentrate on the driving again.

As the penultimate Grand Prix of 2012 was in Texas I was able to watch both morning practice and qualifying on Saturday morning while talking to my parents who are in New Zealand. Then after lunch Beth and I drove north-west to Dinosaur Ridge which is located in the foot hills outside Denver.

In the 1900’s they found a lot of dinosaur tracks and bones in them thar hills. The walk was pretty good, it started with a pretty dull steep elevation increase but eventually led to dirt tracks that went along the top of the hill. These were great but made a little worse by the number of cyclists using the narrow trail and dog walkers. From the top we had a great view of Denver, and of Bandimere Speedway, a drag strip a mile away. More enticingly I could make out their kart track and was able to work out the layout.

On the way back down the ridge it was decided that we would go down to the track, see what their prices were and then see if there were spaces. So once we made it back down the boring long road (obviously now downhill) we drove the short distance to the track and found out that they had one more session for the day and it had spaces. Due to the falling temperatures Beth decided she would not partake but gave me the all clear. (it was $35 for 10 laps which is rather pricey at £2.10 a lap compared to the max of £1.50 a lap we pay in the UK).

I suited up with everyone else for a ten lap session. I got chatting with a guy named Sam who had also been karting before. They let people leave the pits in pairs about five seconds apart and I was in the fourth group. By the end of the third lap I had overtaken everyone else but it turned out that Sam was around my pace, as although I had passed him he was on my tail. The two of us were clearly faster than everyone else. The karts were single engined so were slower than I was used to and so there were only two spots where I even had to slow around the kilometer long circuit.

We pushed on getting quicker and quicker, eventually I caught some backmarkers at a bad spot and Sam was able to sneak past me. I followed him home over the remaining two laps. Afterwards we chatted, he was able to take one of the corners I slowed for flat and I managed to take a tight chicane that he slowed for flat. His line would give a bigger advantage as it led to a long straight so I assumed that I probably lost on the fastest lap count. We eventually received our times (11 drivers):

Jonathan – 58.072
Sam – 58.080
Third – 61.029
Fourth – 63.199
Last – 84.691

I beat him by eight thousandths of a second, I guess we were fairly equally matched. We resolved to meet up and go again sometime and swapped numbers, hopefully that will happen. Couple of other comments, it’s a fast and exciting track, I got black flagged on my third lap according to the timesheet, I never saw a black flag and have no idea what I supposedly did, must be a phantom call? Beth also said the guys owning the track came out and commented on how fast the two of us were going.

Beth and I headed home via the biggest liquor store I’ve ever seen and soon after getting home we went out again and bought two adorable dwarf hamsters for $7 each. We named them Mika Hakkinen and Kamui Kobayashi (names Beth’s idea). We played with them in the evening.

On Sunday I went to church with Beth and then watched the first five laps of the Grand Prix before meeting Ethan and heading to the Broncos vs Chargers game. As a Philip Rivers hater and Broncos lover it was a great game for three quarters. Unfortunately we eventually gave him two touchdowns in the fourth to make him look less crap but it was enjoyable and yet another home win. We headed back to the Blomberg’s via Papa Murphy’s, a pizza place where they make it and you cook it (making it cheaper than ordering). We got a double decker five meat pizza that totaled 4800 calories, we were eager to eat it but it took thirty minutes to bake. Eventually we tried some and it was fantastic, neither of us was able to get much past a quarter each though. Sarah came over and watched the second half of the Steelers vs Raiders game with us and then Beth showed up with Leslie Ward our university friend. We all ate in the basement and watched the football.

When that was over I introduced the natives to Formula One and we watched the first 24 laps of the race before Sarah and Ethan headed home. We finished it then next day and it was great to watch Lewis win. A fantastic weekend. It set up what was to be a great thanksgiving week but more on that later.

More pictures in the gallery.

I was excited to be a part of a film festival, even if its scope was not that major, it has now been around for thirty five years. It gave me a rare chance to put my degree to some vague use and also to get out of my basement for an extended period of time.

Due to my lack of guaranteed vehicle access I eventually got placed on the volunteer check-in desk, which was fine by me. I got six six-hour shifts to work on during the ten day film festival which would allow me to balance the festival with other commitments. The day before the festival started I met with the Charles at the Denver film theatre, on what is billed as Colorado’s longest street, next to a Tattered Cover book store. Tattered Cover is a book store with character and is one of my favourite shops in the world.

Anyway, I met with Charles and he explained my role, I would be signing in and out volunteers and answering their questions. The signing in and out would be done on an iPad and it was a nice simple job. Sounded fine to me, plus I would get four movie tickets for each shift I did that would be redeemable for a year.

I began my shift on the second day of the festival, I drove to the lightrail station and took it all the way downtown to 16^th Street which is a great pedestrianized high street in the center of Denver. I made my way to the cinema and found my spot. While there were long periods of inactivity (sometimes three consecutive hours) and the desk was situated a floor down from the main festival, it was good fun. I got to meet a lot of lovely people, including those on the customer services desk (such as artist Susan Goldstein who has been involved in the festival for all but one of its 35 years) next to me. I also got to sample the filmmakers lounge next door and was able to get free food and drinks from there each night. I also thought I was putting my tickets to good use. I got tickets to four films: The Revisionaries, a documentary about the Texas State board of education pushing their agenda of creationism and other nonsense; Polski Film, a comedy from Poland; Virgin Tales, a documentary about girls brought up with chastity promises; and John Dies at the End, an Indie film starring Paul Giamatti.

Unfortunately I was not to go and see any of those four films. I missed out on The Revisionaries on the Tuesday night of the festival because I was going to take Beth and we would have gotten home late, with Beth having an 8am class the next day. I missed the other three because on the Wednesday morning, with half my shifts complete I got food poisoning.

I am now fine, I put it down to some slightly undercooked chicken on Tuesday night. The illness wiped out the remaining three shifts I had at the film festival though and meant I wasn’t able to see the remaining movies either. Even so, I greatly enjoyed my three shifts at the festival, it felt like I was able to use the knowledge from my degree talking to the other volunteers and I met some lovely people. The illness meanwhile meant I wasn’t able to do anything for four days. I felt better in time for a trip to Skyfall on Saturday evening. By Sunday night I was completely back to normal, I lost five pounds but I’m back in action.

I also got featured in their volunteer spotlight: http://denverfilmsocietyvolunteers.tumblr.com/

The tablet itself is a nice piece of kit. The hardware seems sturdy and the stand does not feel like it will snap off easily, I also love how easy it is to connect and disconnect the keyboard from the device. Surface is well featured with usb, microsd and a port that will allow you to connect it to monitors and televisions. There are two downers though, the first for me is that the device is too heavy. I disconnected it from its keyboard and played with it off the desk for a while and it was giving me a bit of an arm ache. It was noticeable that the device was heavier than an iPad and less comfortable to hold. The other downside comes from the keyboards. The first major issue is that to use the keyboard functionally you need the device on a table. If you place it on your lap the stand will not be stable and it will be a poor experience. The second issue is that the colourful surface touch covers are horrible to use. They are pretty much flat and there is no movement or feedback when you press a key. It makes it very difficult to discover if the keys you are pressing are actually registering and it was not enjoyable. Fortunately Microsoft also offer a black keyboard cover that has a much nicer keyboard and although the level of travel is still small you have a much better idea of what you are doing. I could get on with the black keyboard, I couldn’t with the coloured ones. Spend the extra money… The final thing I will say on hardware is that Apple have gotten me used to the dimensions of the iPad which made the RT feel very wide and thin, this made it feel strange in the hand. The advantage of this is that it means that video tends to fill the screen.

The tablet I played with did have some videos preloaded and they predictably worked well, the store on the device also seemed to be offering movie rentals at very decent prices as well. The music player didn’t seem overly well laid out and it was hard to hear the sound quality in the store, even with sound all the way up I could hear nothing. The supplied apps were generally pleasing, calendar, contacts and mail all have a nice clean feel and I would be happy using those. The image features were pretty standard and the inbuilt cameras seemed ok for what they are. The sample pictures and general colour display on the device did not seem as vibrant or enticing as on the iPad though. In terms of the general Windows 8 interface, it is starting to win me over as a tablet and phone layout. It has the ability to display information easily and once you get used to where things are I would rate it as better than the iOS grid. It took me a while but I also worked out some of the gesture controls that are not standard on other devices, for example swiping from off screen to bring up the open/recent apps on the left or the search/settings on the right. It took me a while to work out how to control IE but swiping from the top/bottom does the trick. These gestures work well once you know them and it made the experience easy to control. What was less impressive was the responsiveness of the tablet. Sure it runs apps and all of that fine, my problem was a more base issue of the device not picking up what I was tapping on. It occasionally took me two or three attempts to open an app, the worst was trying to play music which took me a while to get working. A delay and a lack of feedback to tell me if something was in the process of opening did not help.

So overall I enjoyed playing with the surface. Would I buy one? No, but the interface is up there with android as my favourite. I am sure that Microsoft will fix (or already has fixed) the responsiveness problems I faced but there is a more general issue of the device being too heavy and being impractical for lap usage. I guess that means that I am giving the interface and OS a plus mark for use on tablets, especially given the bonus of the integrated windows desktop experience and office suite, but I am not sold on the surface hardware. Time will tell on how the competition stacks up in the RT marketplace but if I had to buy a tablet today I would be going android.

Image from the Microsoft Surface website

The title for this post makes me think of inception. When I arrived in America Beth wanted to book a little get away for the two of us. For me this trip to America feels a little like an extended vacation mixed with learning so this trip seemed like taking a vacation within a vacation.

Anyway with a lack of sporting events last weekend due to the NHL lockout we decided to go to a ski town in north Colorado called Steamboat Springs. The downside of this decision was that it was about three hours drive away but it was heading through the mountains so it was to be an attractive drive.

It turned out that the drive was very pleasant and I drove us the whole way. I was also able to knock twenty minutes off the expected journey time provided by google maps. We stayed at the Steamboat Hotel because it was cheap and had breakfast. We could have gotten into the more expensive hotels as it was the offseason but the breakfast swung it for us.

On arrival we went for a walk around the town, working out our way around. We found the town ski jump in operation even without snow. I don’t think that is something I would ever have the balls to try - too many opportunities for broken bones – so I just admired the folks with the bravery for a while. We also walked past the town rodeo which unfortunately was closed and continued down the main street where pretty much of interest was situated.

For dinner that first night we went out to Big House Burger on the edge of town which served great

 homemade burgers, we both went for the buffalo option. On the way back we stopped at the hot springs in town for a little swim, it was great as the temperature outside the pools was very cold. On returning to the hotel I still didn’t feel like I was on holiday but that we had just travelled three hours for some reason.

The following morning we found out that the hotel no longer offers breakfast. When we complained they told us that, oh, we can go and get breakfast next door if we want to. So we did but felt mislead by their ad on hotels.com and by their in room literature. In the adjoining ranch we found maps of the surrounding area and planned out our day.

We drove about five miles out of town to the top rated hike in the area called Fish Creek Falls. You basically start at a waterfall then walk two and a half miles (all of which is up a mountain) to a second bigger fall. It was a lovely if strenuous walk with great views of the surrounding area, we hung around at the second falls for about twenty minutes before starting our much faster descent. When we were finished we ate our packed lunch and headed to the out-of-town Strawberry hot springs. These were much bigger and better than the in town springs offering a more natural feel. We enjoyed our afternoon there.

In the evening we found Beth’s favourite pizza place Beaujos in town. I’m still not sold, I think their pizza needs more tomato sauce. I then fell asleep watching football (the real English football but starring subpar American teams).

Sunday we hiked the mountain to the West of the city, the walk was straight up the whole way but gave us views of the town below and the surrounding area, well worth it. In the afternoon we went to the small (largely dead) botanical gardens and ‘Johnny be goods’ diner in town. For dinner we went to a Thai restaurant serving great food and then went back to the town hot springs. The drive home the following day was much the same as the one there.

I definitely grew into the holiday spirit as the weekend progressed. I suspect this was helped by not bringing my laptop along with me. We both had a lovely time even though Steamboat was clearly between its two seasons. There was not yet any snow on the ground but neither was there anything growing. This may have lowered the prices for us but it also meant there was no green around, just brown. The town and countryside were still pretty but you could tell we came at the wrong time of year to see them in all their glory. It was a nice getaway and we did some good walks and ate some great food. I also clocked up another three hundred miles of America driving. All in all a successful and enjoyable trip.

So we arrived in Denver with no church to go to. This needed rectifying. Fortunately Beth waited until I arrived so that we could make the decision together. So over five Sundays we tried four different churches. Two of these were Methodist, one was Presbyterian and one was Anglican. So, all were my non-happy-clappy style of worship.

We started off at Wellspring which is an Anglican church  which is part of the Rwandan mission to America, and about 15 minutes’ drive from Casa de Blomberg. I was rather jet lagged as I had landed only the previous day and while the worship band isn’t something I’m accustomed to, they did a decent job. I still get a little annoyed when there is a different tune to the one I am used to but I am just difficult like that. The two best things about the church were the sermon, which was part of a series working through the beatitudes and was one of the best sermons I have ever heard and the chairs… which after a flight were very nice and comfortable, thank you very much.

After the service people were friendly and I got to chat to a lot of Broncos fans. I also got on well with a couple from seminary that Beth knew, we went out to a waffle place in downtown Denver and it was a nice way to feel like we fit in.

The following week we went to St Andrews Methodist Church which is just over a mile from the Blombergs’. This should have been in my comfort zone, being Methodist and all, but it wasn’t really. The church was too big, for one thing. The sanctuary was spread very wide and thin. There was a choir which was nice. Between us signing in as guests and leaving the service they had put together a welcome pack with directions to our house stapled to it and a loaf of bread inside. That’s neat… but a little creepy. The service itself was good with a strong sermon, not as good as the prior week but still good enough to keep me interested. Music came both from the choir and an organ as well and was good. There was also a fantastic view from the church of the mountain range. It was a nice church but a little too big and scary for my liking. It also has a giving kiosk, which is an credit card machine in the lobby for your donations...

Week three we headed to another Methodist Church, this time Trinity in Central Denver. Due to its location it was never seriously in the running for our church pick but I had enjoyed a previous service there so it was nice to visit again. Trinity is the oldest church in Denver (despite only being founded in 1859) and has a nice atmosphere to it. Trinity also had a choir and looks more like the Methodist churches that I am used to from the inside. The music came from their big old organ and was nice. We also got to talk to the preacher who was friendly. As I said, distance was a bit of a problem. We took the lightrail (Denver’s interconnecting train network) downtown which took about 30 minutes and then walked to the church another five away. Not too bad but not something for every week, if we wanted to feel like we never left England this would be the Methodist Church for us.

Finally we went to Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church about 25 minutes East of the Blombergs’. This church has a rather large plot with half as the sanctuary and half as teaching rooms. We arrived early and went to the young adults’ class. It was very enjoyable and we met some lovely people. It was also well structured by the girl who was running it and had a similar vibe to an Ichthus meeting. After the class we went to the sanctuary for the service. I was surprised having seen the size from the outside that there weren’t hundreds of chairs inside and that the alignment of the chairs was odd. The various sections of the congregation were not focused on a central point as you might expect but instead we were looking at the worship band and not the preacher directly. This detracted from my focus on the worship. The service was nice enough, I will admit to checking the time a little as we were heading to the Broncos shortly after but I still enjoyed it. In the end though it would have been the class and not the worship (with a band including a banjo) that would have swung it for us.

So there we are, four churches. I decided that we should try Wellspring again, to see if the sermon could match the first and to also make sure that it wasn’t jet lag talking to make me like the church. It turned out that my initial thoughts hit the mark, the second sermon was close to the first in quality and the worship was very pleasant so after a short chat Beth and I decided that it would be our church.

Saturday night we went to a young adults group run by some 20-somethings from wellspring. We had a good time and got to meet a lot of other people who have come to the church in the last six months. It was a nice way to get to know people our age and feel justified in our decision.

Then on Friday we went to a mosque with some Denver Seminary students. I couldn’t convince Beth to become a Muslim, so Wellspring it is. Seriously though, it was a very different experience and I was surprised by how close the religion is to Christianity on a lot of subjects. I am glad I got to try a service there and thank both the mosque and Denver Seminary for the opportunity.

That would be a fair summary but it is a little more interesting than that. So what have I been up to? This post got a little out of hand so here are some quick links to sections: sport, adventures, fitness, friends

Watching sports

Well I landed on a Saturday night around 6pm and fell asleep by 9pm. The following day, Beth took me to a church called Wellspring and we then went out for waffles with some seminary students, which was nice but I wasn’t entirely awake. Then in the afternoon Beth and I took a bus downtown to watch Denver play Pittsburgh in their home opener. My tickets at Mile High are high up but also fantastic and it was a great game to get things started with the Broncos pulling out a lead late on and getting an unlikely first win for Manning on a very tough schedule. People have been predicting great things for this Broncos team and after five games while we have some very good players, other teams are clearly better. We also got dealt a tough hand with our schedule this season. I see a 2-3 start as a positive beginning as they could easily have been 0-5. Anyway, we left the Pittsburgh game, got on the bus and I promptly fell asleep. It would take me a week to get over that. On the Thursday we went to ‘old chicagos’ a fantastic pizza place near the Blomberg’s house and watched the Bears @ Packers, I fell asleep in the second quarter, at about 8:30.

We have continued the pasta night tradition over here. We have had people over for our favourite Monday meal every week since we arrived. A week after arriving we had Beth’s friend Sara, who stayed with us in Canterbury once, and her boyfriend Ethan over, there was also a Broncos game to be watched, this result was not such a hoot. Payton Manning threw three interceptions in the first quarter, majorly putting the Broncos on the back foot against a better Falcons side. The team rallied in the second half but the hole was too great. That said, the food and company were as usual great and Sara makes a mean apple crumble.

The week after that it was back to Mile High with the wife to watch Denver take on Houston. Houston are possibly the best team in the AFC this year and so I was not surprised when we lost. The Texans highlighted again major holes in our defensive secondary that will likely hold us back this year as we get deeper.

During the week I then got to watch two baseball games. The Colorado Rockies had a dire 2012, nearly losing 100 games (98). Still it was exciting to go and watch them, even if the weather was poor enough at the first game that they gave us free tickets to a second. It was also good to watch this side that has done so badly pick up a couple of wins to help the close to their season. The weather for the second game was much better and as the final home game of the season it led to a lot of free stuff. Everyone got a t-shirt and a voucher for a free ticket the following season.

Then that Sunday I took Beth’s best friend Jenna to the Broncos vs Raiders game. The crowd was the loudest I had heard it and the Raiders were fairly useless, our boys walked all over them and we ended the day 2-2. The following week we were destroyed by the Patriots but the less said about that the better.

Adventures

Nine days after arriving in Denver, Beth and I drove to Mount Evans. I had been there before on my first trip to Colorado and got altitude sickness at the peak. It also held the title of best cheesecake I had tasted. On our return it was snowing so the peak was closed but we could get half way up and enjoy the snow and excellent views. We also walked around a lake near the visitors centre and got more cheesecake. Unfortunately it wasn’t as good this time but the mountain itself was wonderful. Having driven us there Beth suggested I drive to lunch. I had driven a little since arriving but only around the neighbourhood. I took over from halfway down the mountain, to Idaho Springs, where we ate at the amazing buffalo restaurant. I had a very nice buffalo burger and Beth had stew. From there I offered to drive all the way home and we arrived successfully 45 minutes later.

The following weekend we ventured to Pikes Peak, famous for its hill climb. We originally thought we might take the train up but it was $35 each. In the end we drove and enjoyed plenty of fantastic views (that said how racers drive it in 10 minutes is amazing). It turns out I am not beyond altitude sickness though. Once we passed about 12,000 feet I started feeling light headed. At the summit (which some maniacs had cycled to) I wobbled around a bit, not really enjoying the view until we came down.

It turns out that coming down the mountain is the hard part, at least on your brakes. We were stopped at the check point because our brakes were 400 fahrenheit and after I took over I drove very carefully as we could smell the brakes cooking. We stopped again near the base to give them more time to cool (you don’t want to lose your brakes when the bushes on the side of the road are actually the tops of trees). We had a walk around part of another lake and then pulled over a couple more times on the final stretch to give them more rest. Once we reached the bottom we decided I should drive all the way back to Denver. This journey gave me a lot more driving confidence. It turns out that driving in America is easy, if you ignore the decisions other drivers occasionally make and don’t mind stop signs and red lights every minute or so.

The following week we returned to my favourite views in Colorado which can be found at Daniels Park, about five miles from the Blombergs’ house. From there you can see the Rockies from Pikes Peak all the way north, and often see Buffalo roaming too. It’s a lovely place to go.

Keeping fit

I have a dream of coming back from Denver healthier and weighing less than I did when I headed over there. I figure this would put me in the minority of travelers to America. The Blomberg’s were kind enough to get me a gym membership when I arrived here and I have been putting it to use, going at least once a week to the gym a couple of miles from their house. Beth and I also bought ourselves bikes to use here and I have been using that to get me around locally ever since. It also helps that the local cinema is a walkable mile and a half away and that the train station is about 30 minutes cycle away. Every little helps and I have so far built up my arm muscles and lost about five pounds.

Friends

When I first arrived, I was worried about how I would make friends cooped up in the basement. It turns out that Beth was able to meet some nice people at seminary and that the friends she already had around here are pretty great too. We have met some wonderful people at the churches we have visited and had nice times on pasta nights. It is going well so far.

So…

My time here has been great so far, I am keeping busy, getting exercise, occasionally leaving the Blomberg basement, eating well and having a lot of fun.

My thanks as always go to Craig and Fran Blomberg for letting us stay in their house and I hope that we are not being too much of a bother to them. 

For once the flight went ok. I am usually not great at flying. While I am not particularly afraid of the plane crashing, I just get really bored and its not a pleasant experience. I usually find I run out of things to do after about four hours. This time I alternated between reading and watching tv shows and that made it go fairly quickly. Eventually we arrived in Denver.

I made the walk from the plane to customs at my usual high speed to try and get further forward for customs. In the end I was maybe thirty back in the queue. Eventually I got to the front of the queue and the moment I was dreading arrived. I explained why I wanted to come to America and was sent through to an interview waiting room where I was left sitting by myself. I then had to wait until the rest of my flight got through customs before an officer appeared to interview me.

I convinced the lady officer that I had money enough to survive on and that I wasn’t coming in to work and she was satisfied by that. In the end she got hung up on the fact that I had booked a flight that returned me in May, eight months from my flight date. She kept telling me that the maximum stay I was allowed was six months. Apparently I should have asked the guy at my interview in May how long I could stay for. I told her that I assumed because I had a year’s visa I would be able to stay for as long as I wanted in that period. Then she asked why I applied in May and only just got around to coming to America, I explained that I didn’t know how long the process would take and so wanted to get it done early. She then reiterated that she could only give me six months and that I really should have asked at the interview. I was thinking, well its two in the morning where I come from so I’ll just take that and go. She stamped my passport and I was allowed into the States with a leave to remain until early March. I’d already read that you can apply for extensions to that so I figure that is what I will do in January. Or I can just go to Canada for a few days or something.

My bag was waiting for me as I had been held up about twenty minutes and then I met my wife through customs. We headed back to her parents’ house stopping at Chipotle for burritos on the way. I explained my visa to her parents on our arrival and we agreed we would aim to extend it (it would only be an extra two months after all). The important thing is that I was in and the adventure could began.

And on the plus side they didn't ask if I was a member of the nazi party or if I had recruited child soldiers. Nor did I tell them that my furniture storage contract is null and void during either a civil or nuclear war...

The following weekend Tamara invited us and our Canterbury friends around her house for dinner. It was a lovely way to send Beth off with her flight the following day and we stayed late. it was off to Heathrow the following morning. We had planned that Beth would be flying out three weeks ahead of me so that I could tie up some loose ends. It was an emotional farewell and I decided to head to Horsham to see my parents afterward before returning to Canterbury late for my final two steward duties the day after.

I found us several houses to view between Horsham and South London and we set aside a weekend to view eight of them. In the week leading up to the viewings, however, seven of them cancelled due to offers or being taken off the market. In the end, we headed to Merstham in the rain for our one viewing of a three bedroom house. When we arrived we knew before even going in that it wasn’t for us. The house was in desperate need of repair and wasn’t what we had in mind when we thought of our first house. The viewing itself only confirmed that. We decamped to Nymans where my Mother works and decided that maybe we should give America a go.

Beth had long wanted me to experience living in America before we settled in the UK and now she had her chance. I started research into visas that would see us through the year abroad and quickly found I had only two options. The first was permanent residency which would allow me to work but it was a nine month process which would have meant arriving in America around December,

 far too late. The other option was a B2 visitor visa which would take a couple of weeks to get but would not allow me to work, that ended up being the obvious choice.

We decided that we wanted to travel September to May, with Beth staying an extra three weeks on either side so she could do extra summer courses at the end. This would also give me a chance to start looking for jobs and housing when I got back. I applied for my visa quite early, around the end of April, so that I would not be tempting fate if my application failed on the first attempt. The first stage went fine and I was offered an interview at the end of May.

That weekend turned out to be good for American Football reasons as well. We made a couple of days of it and headed up to London after church on Sunday to watch the London Blitz’s unbeaten streak come to an end against the London Warriors in a low scoring 

7-3 match. We then had dinner in Chinatown and stayed overnight in a hotel near Earls court.

Early the next morning I checked I had the correct documentation (I took bank statements from two countries, proof of Beth’s course acceptance, our marriage certificate, business partnership stuff, an email from Drew at BAFA National Leagues saying he was happy with the idea and both our passports) and then headed to Grosvenor Square. We arrived about 30 minutes too early and sat underneath a statue of Eisenhower. Eventually I joined the queue to get in, I went through airport style security and then was sat in an airport style waiting lounge (minus anything to do). There were two stages of the interview, for the first, my number was called within ten minutes. They basically took some of my documentation for assessment and then sat me back down. For the second part, I had to wait two and a half hours. I passed the time reading empire magazine and fretting. Annoyingly for the second part numbers were not called in order so you couldn’t really go anywhere in case you missed your number being called. Each time there was a beep and a number everyone’s eyes flew up to the screen to see who it was. Eventually I got called, almost in numerical order, only a couple of higher numbers went through before me and I headed for the counter.

1. Canadian GP
   Montreal has long been my favourite track, it is the most enjoyable for me on any racing game with its mix of tricky chicanes, long straights and hairpins. It helps that the real life racing at the circuit tends to be superb and it is exciting watching to see who will make a mistake going into the final corner the 'wall of champions'.
   
   
   
    
2. Belgian GP
   F1's classic circuit is still fantastic with the brilliant Eau Rouge still the best corner on the calendar. Unfortunately the track has been neutered further in recent years. I have seen some great races there as well with last year's race definitely up there. Hakkinnen taking Schumacher in 2000 being the one that sticks clearest in the mind. That said, I've always been poor round here on games...
   
   
   
   
    
3. Monaco GP
   The racing might not be exciting on this circuit where passing is impossible but it is always a tense race to watch where an accident could happen at any time. This year's race might be remembered as a procession after the fact but during the race we had six of the world's best drivers duking it out for the win just waiting for one of the others to make a mistake. Watching the best drivers on edge round the streets is always awe inspiring.
    
4. Brazilian GP
   This little circuit in Sao Paolo more often than not produces stonking races, so the infrastructure may have some issues (see advertising boards falling on the circuit during one qualifying session) but this track works so well as the climax to a season. If the championship is coming down to the wire you know the final race will live up to expectations (see Hamilton's title win or Schumacher's 'last' race in 2006).
   
   
    
5. Indian GP
   So its a new track, as soon as I played it in F1 2012 I loved the layout, it really flows beautifully. The first race there did not necessarily live up to the billing but give the track time.
    
6. Japanese GP
7. British GP
8. Singapore GP
9. Australian GP
10. Chinese GP
11. Malaysian GP
12. Hungarian GP
13. Italian GP
14. German GP
15. Spanish GP
16. Abu Dhabi GP
    This track showed a lot of promise but despite the glitz and glamour the track layout is just uninspiring. The flow of the corners lends itself to dull racing.
     
17. European GP
    I have never clicked with the Valencia track, it just doesn't work for me. The racing has also been dull with the only exciting moments the track has recorded coming in the 2010 race with Webber's flying lesson and Kobayashi overtaking Alonso in the closing moments. 
     
18. Bahrain GP
    Political troubles do not help this track which already battles with a poor layout and perennially dull races. Kill it.
     
19. Korean GP
    The Korean track has had a troubled existence, first its miles away from the majority of the South Korean population, second it was still being completed during its first year. Add to that the circuit's inability to decide what track it is, some sections are wide open, some sections would be at home in Monaco with the walls close in. Then you have that daft chicane at the end of the second straight. To this track I say meh, should be better.

1 Fernando Alonso +1

2 Lewis Hamilton +4

3 Sebastien Vettel -2

4 Nico Rosberg /

5 Romain Grosjean NE

6 Sergio Perez +3

7 Heikki Kovaleinen -2

8 Mark Webber +2

9 Jenson Button -6

10 Nico Hulkenberg RE

11 Paul Di Resta -4

12 Kamui Kobayashi -3

13 Kimi Raikkonen NE

14 Michael Schumacher -3

15 Pastor Maldonado +10

16 Timo Glock -1

17 Daniel Ricciardo /

18 Jean-Eric Vergne NE

19 Felipe Massa -6

20 Charles Pic NE

21 Vitaly Petrov -5

22 Pedro De La Rosa -3

23 Bruno Senna RE

24 Narain Kathikeyan /

I think Alonso deserves to be top of this pile for what he managed to achieve with what was an underperforming Ferrari early on. Hamilton meanwhile has been consistently fast this year with the only faults committed by his team. We have also seen two overperfoming youngsters in Grosjean and Perez. Both have had fantastic starts to the year and both appear to have bright futures. I am less impressed by Maldonado, he moves up 10 places thanks to his superb drive in Spain but his personality still hinders. His move on Perez in Monaco stops me from taking him seriously and I still blame him for a similar move on Hamilton at Spa last year. He may be quick but he needs to temper that with a hold on stupid outburst.

Meanwhile right at the base, I am starting to wonder if Bruno Senna is capable at this level, he is not doing well at all in that Williams. If I had to drop three drivers from F1 at this stage of the season it would have to be Karthikeyan, Senna and Massa.

April 2 -- Beth: Going to ASDA tonight to shop for living below the line. Just wondering what the official rules are on dumpster diving behind ASDA..

Anna: Even if its not in THE rules there's other rules that should prevent that! :-

Beth: If I'm living in extreme poverty, I don't see why I can't take a packaged pizza out of a bin when the shop throws it out. There are people around the world who live ON landfills!

Anna: That's true and I commend you, but I meant legally!!! Don't get yourself arrested before you leave the country!

Beth:  If there is a law that says I can't eat waste food and I believe that law is wrong, I will practice civil disobedience :P

Craig K:  I actually think it is legal to take from the bins if you can do so without going onto private property...

Fran: Forgive us our trespasses takes on fresh meaning...

April 3 --Emily: I think this is such a neat idea. Not sure how you managed to purchuse some of that for so cheap though! Only 30 pence for bread!? Crazy! I don't think there is anyway I could buy food that cheap here. Even considering the conversion rate. Good luck!!

Beth: It would be interesting to try this in America - I'd check what the official rules are for the amount in dollars. A friend last week said to me, "oh, but a pound goes so much further in Africa." But I don't think that's true. Because that pound would not just go towards food, but also medicine, petrol, rent, school fees, cleaning products, clothes, and everything else you might have to buy.

April 3-- Beth: decided not to weigh myself this week and find out if this challenge causes weight changes because a) it's a fast, not a diet, and the distinction is in my attitude, and b) people living in poverty don't have the luxury of deciding their ideal weight or dress size; they're just trying to keep alive and healthy!

Vicki: And they don't have scales!

April 4-- Beth: Haven't felt hungry yet. Don't know what Jonathan Little was so worried about :P

Jonathan: I'm starting to see steaks floating past my eyes

Beth: the restaurants in town are emanating delicious scents...

Craig B: I hope you don't start to look anorexic!

Beth: don't worry about me, worry about the people who aren't just doing this for 5 days but for their whole life!

April 7-- Beth: really looking forward to roast dinner tomorrow! Eating the same thing every day this week has been tolerable but boring. I'm aware of how many little snacks and cups of tea and treats I haven't been able to have. I'm glad I could see the end in sight; if this were for the rest of my life it would be pretty bleak.