Boca Raton *junket*

It's a picture of the morning catch of four dolphin fish and 2 kingfish… this morning's fishing escapade! I also landed a barracuda and a silky shark, both of which had to be returned to their ocean homeland :(

I was just off the coast of Fort Lauderdale and it was my first ever game fishing *junket*… alas, with the 4-5ft swells I spent the first 30 minutes of the trip regurgitating last night's steak dinner. Eeuuww!

However, my contribution to the *chum* seemed to awaken the fish, the catching of which became a welcome distraction to my weak sea legs. We had about 6-8 lines in the water at any point in time and it was a ballet-like scene as I ducked and dived on deck to avoid entangling lines with fellow fishermen as we reeled in our bounty.

I was too quick to judge… this has to be my photo of the day… a portrait of Donald Trump that was hanging in his Mar a Lago mansion in Palm Beach…

“Anyone for cricket?”

Sentinel 2007

Wow… it was fantastic to see so many Lombardi jerseys out on the course today… and all of them were smokin' fast! Great to see Paul, Andy, Ray, Greg, Charlie, Tricia and Elizabeth tear up the course!

My race was an *on again, off again, on again* event this week… depending on which day you asked me. My mood was moving in line with work and the financial markets. Thankfully, the markets closed up on Friday… so I guess I was racin'…

My day was eventful before the gun went off. My pre-race preparation was cavalier at best, having decided to sleep chez moi on Saturday night. A distracting locale! I was throwing race gear into my backpack at 10pm, forgoing the *laminated tri-geek checklist* that I created for such occasions. I woke at 4am on Sunday, scoffed down a yoghurt (who eats yoghurt pre-race?) and then set off for the drive to Santa Cruz. It was just as I was cresting the Santa Cruz mountains on highway 17, I realized that I had left 2 key items at home… sunglasses and my bike helmet! Oops! $7.99 plus tax at the Chevron gas station solved the sunglasses problem but WTF was I going to do about the helmet??? I broke the news to Katie as I arrived in transition and she leapt into action to beg, steal or borrow me a helmet, securing one from Olympic Club swim coach, Scott Williams. I would have made a great spectator but I really appreciate Katie and Scott's efforts to make me race J

The race itself was fairly uneventful… no kicks to the head in the swim… I hammered for all of 5 minutes on the bike and then came to my fitness senses, and notched the wattage down… I was *as pokey as they come* in transition… and the run was *hang on for dear life* by mile 3 as I had somehow skipped the 4 th triathlon discipline, "nutrition".

Results – not as shockingly bad as I thought they would be! 12 minutes slower than the last time I raced Sentinel, but good enough for lucky 13th place, racking up 7:40 min/mi on the run and over 20mph on the bike. I even had a swim that was middle of the pack!

Fleet Week in San Francisco

Some photos taken from my friend's deck... the Blue Angels aerial display...



That's water spray...

River luge... Tahoe 2007

I just returned from a week of swimming, biking and running in and around Lake Tahoe in a desperate attempt to get in shape before the triathlon season is well and truly over... I was doing pretty well, training hard, sleeping lots, managing my nutrition... that is until my friend, Wendy, showed up and slowly led me astray from my more serious demeanor. What fun!


Here are some pictures from the trip. I swam across Donner Lake - a repeat of last year's swim but this time was 5 minutes faster, in spite of the choppy conditions. A long swim is never the highlight of any trip or race for me but the Saturday that started with a 3 mile swim only got better as the day progressed! After a hearty bagel sandwich for breakfast/brunch, the gang went for a ride. As we rode through Tahoe City, a jolly nice man tagged onto our ride... and I recognized him as Conrad Stoltz, Xterra triathlete. The South African accent is hard to hide. Thankfully, he jumped on the front and dragged us all back to Truckee, even pulling Wendy and I up the steep slopes of Northwoods Blvd!



Post-ride, we rounded up a small group to head over to the Truckee River for some impromptu rafting... poor's man's rafting consists of heading down the river on some $5 lilo's... I christened the sport *River luge-ing* and I'm pretty sure that I won the race down the river :)

We headed over to Tahoe City mainstay, Sunnyside, for a view of Lake Tahoe over Saturday night's dinner! Here's me with Wendy and Megan.

Sisters...

A picture from my youngest sister, Jill's, wedding. Youngest to oldest, l-r.

I love Lucy

I often joke that my life is a *comedy of errors* that I somehow muddle through with the support of fantastic friends, family and a variable sense of optimism. I manage to clinch some small success every now and again such that I can shrug off most roadblocks within the hour, day or week. I confess that I did go through a 3 week funk last summer but that has been the extent of my *depths of pessimism*… well, that is aside from an entire year of listening to The Smiths’ song “Asleep” when I was 17, and crushing on a boy that never smiled.

This past weekend challenged my sense of optimism in multiple ways… from the minor to the dramatic to the sentimental…

Saturday morning – Show up at Hertz location at 6am to pick up rental car… they don’t have one so I have to wait one hour
Sunday afternoon – Ride my bike for an easy four hours but am unable to walk by the time I get off because my shins are so sore… new injury? Ugh!
Monday morning – Walk over to street location where I parked the rental car, only to find the passenger window was completely smashed in. Four hours of “please hold” and filing administrative reports at Hertz, police station and with Visa
Monday evening – I remove my Tiffany heart necklace (given to me by my sister on her wedding day 15 years ago) and by sleight of hand drop it down my bathroom sink
Tuesday morning – wake up with a sore throat and really bad headache… first signs of a head cold!

Thankfully, today I was back in the office (how much trouble can I cause there) and despite the head cold deteriorating, the day was uneventful. This evening I was blackberrying a colleague/friend about work stuff, our upcoming trip to Hawaii and my weekend of woes…

Read on for the aforementioned email exchange… apologies that it’s long!

Tim: Feeling any better or are you legitimately sick?

Jordan: I’m sniffling, blowing my nose and swallowing hard? How about you? Btw, have you talked much w/[XYZ] since she got the feedback on the equity trading role?

Tim: I spent about 10 mins w/ her on Fri after she heard that she probably won't get it (which in Sobel-speak means absolute 0% chance). She seemed bummed, of course, and concerned that she doesn't have a path to anything else. My advice to her was 1) get/stay committed and 2) to talk w/ you.

Jordan: Running out the door but I want to run some things by you about her sitch, if you're willing to be a sounding board? We did have a long chat today.

Tim: Sure, of course. I don't have any voice at all, though (literally). I can mostly listen or you can jot thoughts down in email. Or we can talk when my voice is better (a day or two, I hope?).

Jordan: Sure. Let's catch up in Hawaii. I just spent a couple of hours packing and now I am completely exhausted! This cold better be short-lived!

Tim: You fly Thurs? If you have the optimism to pack, planning to race, you are better off than me. And we know what happened the last time you raced sick. :-)
If you aren't getting a car, you are in luck. I'm picking up my San Diego friend, Tim (Flood), who gets in at 11:08. Happy to get you at the same time. We have a minivan.

Jordan: Thanks for the offer but I’m getting a car. Also, I'm just jotting some thoughts down on XYZ... Not sure if I should email or just use as talking points when we catch up...

Tim: We can talk. Probably easier. I just spoke w/ Mark. We may come over from the airport for a bit on Thurs. That might be a good time. Or if you are going to Sandy's Sat night dinner at the Hilton.

Jordan: Not going to Sandy's dinner...Mark and Jay want a chill dinner at home. Fine with me. I'm going to run errands when I land, get my bike tuned, go to Safeway and buy myself an M-dot necklace (lost my precious Tiffany necklace down the sink this weekend!)

Tim: Down the sink? Another soap opera moment. What with the car trials, now this and the injury/illness?!? What are you, the English Lucy Ricardo?! We may overlap on Thurs. Or, maybe after the Fri am swim. Or sometime around registration or bike check. You'll be up our way a couple times. Hang w/ us for lunch, or we may have an early dinner on Fri.

Jordan: Yeah, shitty friggin' weekend! I've had that necklace 15 years...classic tiffany heart. Who is lucy ricardo? What about sunday? Post-race?

Tim: That is a bummer. Did you try removing the p-trap? It likely would've been caught there. Might still be there, seriously. Sure, post-race, or awards ceremony (assuming you go). Lots of time. Lucy Ricardo... Of "I Love Lucy" fame from the '50s. Always had stuff like that happen.

Jordan: What's the p-trap?

Tim: Does your drain pipe go straight down from the sink? If so, pull the drain plug up and shoot a light in there. You might be able to see inside the bottom of the p-trap.

Jordan: It goes straight down and then is u-shaped and turns backwards towards the wall.

Tim: The "u" is the p-trap. See how it would use gravity to trap water? See if you can look directly down it w/ a flashlight.

Jordan: There's water down there, hard to say if there's anything else...how would I dismantle it?

Tim: Depends on the plumbing used. Really old stuff is tricky. '60s and later is better. New stuff is cake. Is it white plastic (pvc) black plastic (abs) or metal?

Jordan: hmmm, doesn't exactly screw off at the intersections of the pipe joints either...prob a good thing by hand!

Tim: It doesn't have to handle any pressure, just water. No need for them to be super tight. Thus the cheap pvc is ok to use. Metal fits looser and is harder to do. It likely uses rubber o-rings in the joints to prevent leaks. You need a plumber or a handyman. I'd do it for you if close by. The good news: it ain't goin' anywhere if it's still there.
Try this. Unwind a coat hanger. Bend a hook in one end. Fish it down there and see if you can hook it. This may work.

Jordan: Better yet, I'll try and call Manuel (the handyman) to see if he can stop by tomorrow.

Tim: The coat hangar could well work, or let you know if it is for sure there, and take you 2 mins....

Jordan: Genius...

Tim: Did it work?!

Jordan: Yep... Coat-hanger clutched the charm necklace and a few stray hairs (gunk) from the jaws of the p-tube!!! So I have to buy you a mai-tai or three this weekend!!!

Tim: P-TRAP. :-)

I'm very glad. All this construction knowledge in my head is rarely useful at work. Made the sore thumbs worth it!

Jordan: Makes me reconsider the benefits of a guy around...

Tim: LOL. Some things are better outsourced... Bedtime. May we both wake healthy tomorrow.

American Irony

Is there any irony in the fact that on the same day (today) that I submitted my Labor Certification/Green Card application for permanent US residency, I received a letter and award from USA Triathlon to let me know that I achieved *All-American* status in 2006?

having it all... or not

the following came about in an email exchange that i'd been having with a dear friend... i sent him a snap email voicing some frustrations i'm having in my current *world* and then we went back and forth until i finally wrote the following

i've been struggling in the last few weeks because i spent 5 months in london, desperately wanting to be back in san francisco... and now that i'm back i'm not particularly happy. it's driving me a little batty... i suspect that the unhappiness is being generated by my usual *tricks* of trying to run before i can walk... basically, impatience.

don't get me wrong, i am deliriously happy that i am here in sf. there is nowhere else i want to be living right now, i am excited to be back among my friends, and for the most part i am enjoying the new job... but there are several underlying things that seem to be frustrating me.

work - i am not yet in control or on top of things in my role. this issue will just take time and requires me to build my confidence in the role, seize control of projects etc. my current annoyance is that i become bitter/frustrated when i can't get out of the office when i plan to because something comes up. i have a huge capacity for work but i have a hard time working from 5am and then not getting out of the office until 4-5pm, even if i had planned on leaving at 3pm. i guess i need to just leave and then pick things up again later in the evening... as well as try to eradicate the guilt i feel when i leave the office at 3pm!

training - i am desperate to get back in shape, especially on the bike, but also swim/run. i'm getting in some decent training, 8-10 hours of riding/week plus 3 hours each of swim/run. however, it's going really slowly... and i'm sick of folks not realizing that it will take me some time. maybe it's in my head (it's not, i'm a data geek, remember), but i am not getting stronger in leaps and bounds... it is miniscule increments. it feels like everyone expects me to be back riding with the group again, and are shocked when i roll off the back fairly easily on hills. how long does it take to come back from a 6 month break from riding? i guess it's a lot longer than 1 month... will i even be in shape for IMK?

romantic - let's not even go here... this has been a non-event anyway since i got back from london since the above two have taken precedence and i have not met anyone or even attempted to... however, i want to give it more of a priority in 2007, i'm just not sure how i can do so. i've never had a successful relationship when i've tried to *force it*, as it were. i prefer the attitude of just letting things happen, though that is counter to my natural disposition... so in that scenario, if i do meet someone, i don't appear interested initially, but i end up behaving like a knucklehead (technical term!) if i begin to like someone. this is not making any sense, huh? the other frustration is that, if i'm going to do the work/training to a level that makes me happy, then how can i put any focus on this...?

friends - this is the *deliriously happy* part... but my frustrations at the above 3 things will start to bleed into my friendships and drag them down if i can't figure out a way of managing my life and lifestyle without feeling bitter about the compromises and lack of control...

Tucson, Arizona

I spent last weekend in Tucson, Arizona, trying to ride myself into some sort of shape... riding my bike has felt pretty awful since returning from London, but I'm trying to convince myself that it will just take a long weekend of BIG rides to get my butt a little more comfortable in the saddle. We shall see what happens when my legs absorb all the *work* I did last weekend.

The Oche...

Well, the US embassy has failed to return my passport so I continue to be a *prisoner* in my own country… thankfully it’s more of an administrative prisoner than anything else… but it is frustrating! I stopped working in the London office last Wednesday, thinking that my passport HAD to arrive no later than the weekend. Unfortunately, the US embassy seemed unsympathetic to my weekend plans of cycling the entire length of the California coast and so I remain stuck in England. As well as leaving the office last week, I left my apartment in London, so I’ve been *holed* up at the Metropolitan hotel all week, ordering eggs benedict from room service for breakfast, eating at Nobu for dinner and climbing the walls of my hotel room in between the two meals! After three days at the Met, I decided to relieve the pressure on the expense account and take the train home for the weekend to visit the family, including my little 5 week old niece, Grace.

Just to give you some insight as to how desperate I am to get back to California… as if the above description is not enough. I am spending my Sunday evening watching the World Darts Championship, televised live from a cabaret venue (basically a large pub) in the South of England. The two contenders for the World title are two British 50 year olds with beer guts that a pregnant woman would be proud of… To reach the hallowed oche (pronounced ocky – the mat where darts’ players stand – 9ft from the board) they have out-thrown a bunch of other Brits, plus the odd Dutchman. Two nations universally known more for their beer-guzzling than athleticism… Ill leave you to make the connection. Globally-speaking, the World Championship is to Darts, what the World Series is to Baseball, a local affair! That is not the end of the American sporting comparisons, as our darts world title contenders are dressed in shirts that any local bowling team in the US would be proud of… probably even more proud when they realize that the sponsor logos are almost exclusively beer companies!

My godparents are also visiting for dinner but I am playing the outcast role (that I have always played) in the family by eschewing my father’s menu of chili con carne on a baked potato, with rice (seriously – rice is considered a vegetable in this household), and made myself some baked chicken in tomato sauce and salad, swilled down by some NZ sauv blanc that my dad picked up from the local offie (colloquialism for off-licence sales). Thank goodness he picked up two bottles ;-)

Emailing equation

I came across an equation the other day that seeks to *quantify* the volume/frequency that friends will email you... I believe that you can use it for friends, family, boyfriend, manager, etc. but I have to thoroughly test it since there are limitations and/or enhancements that are probably necessary. Although it is specifically formulated for people you are particularly close with, and so if the person actually does not have much of a reason to email you (say the person is Brad Pitt, for instance), then you have to factor that in.

How Often X Person Will Email Me =[(Hours of Time Online + Amount Slept)/Job Fun] – [close friends within a 20 mile radius – number of significant others] = the number of emails you receive.

Let’s practice. I’ll use myself as an example so I don't make my friends feel so bad about not emailing me!

Hours of Time Online: 11 (10 at work and 1 at home)
Amount Slept: 6.5
Job Fun Factor on a scale of 1 to 3: 2.5
Number of Significant Others: 0
Number of Close friends within a 20 mile radius: 1, (Mary)

[(11+6.5)/2.5] – [0-1] = 8. I should be sending ~8 emails a day to my friends.

Try it, I'm sure you'll find flaws. But it is kind of genius. One enhancement I might consider embedding into the equation would be some sort Blackberry multiplier, for those friends that are Blackberry-enabled...

The goose is getting fat...

This past Saturday I attended the annual Serpentine Running Club Christmas Dinner... it was only the second year that they've hosted this black tie affair at the Hilton in Kensington, but I think that still deserves the title of *annual*! Above is a picture of myself with some of my dinner and dancing companions for the evening, Russell, Ben and Dean (l-r).

The remainder of the weekend was spent recovering from the excesses of the preceding week... 3 consecutive nights of client/work events. The highlight was probably the canape and wine tasting evening hosted by Michel Roux Jr., the celebrated head chef of London's Le Gavroche restaurant.

While I am desperately miserable that I remain in London with no visibility into the timing of my return to San Francisco, I am beginning to adopt a better workout routine while I'm over here. I think my coach, Chris, was probably right when he told me that my body needed a solid break after racing 4 ironmans in 2 years! Well, after 3 months in London of little activity, and lots of eating and drinking, the proverbial goose (JC) was getting fat as well as out of shape and was not very happy about it. Last week I realized that I was ready to get back into training... serious training. It's not just a question of wanting to work out more and/or wanting to feel toned again, what I truly miss is that sense of accomplishment after a tough workout... but I also miss the training partners I have in SF. Too inumerable to mention but knowingly or otherwise, they encourage me to push myself to the edge and beyond of what I think I can achieve.

I also want to give a big *shout out* to friends that ran the xmas relays in SF this past weekend, especially to Dirk Vlieks, who ran a 4.5 mile relay leg just 6 months after suffering a brain AVM, and having had ~6 brain surgeries since June. Way to go Dirk!

Roman Holiday

I managed to steal a couple of days away from the office and headed to Rome to meet up with Ray and Peter for a long weekend. We were treated to some balmy temperatures (for late November) and wonderful Roman sunshine. Unfortunately we were a week too late to attend TomKat’s wedding but we did eat and drink and eat and drink in style! I’m still recovering (feeling the weight) from all those extra calories, drinking and late nights.

One could speculate that the weekend’s excesses played a direct role in *feeling under the weather* this week. I made an early exit from the Goldman Sachs xmas party last night, decided not to set an alarm today and finally woke up at 8:30am! I called the office and croaked to my colleague that I would not be going in today. I can’t believe that this is the second time I’ve been sick in just 3 months of being in London! The city does not like me? The cold, wet weather does not agree with me? Thankfully I had the last two episodes of Prison Break Season 2 to keep me occupied while holing myself up in my little basement flat!

By late afternoon I developed cabin fever and found myself offering to take my landlady’s dog, Ruski, for a walk around Hyde Park. The pooch is a newcomer to Maddie’s house - she picked up the one year old husky from the pound just two weeks ago – and it was the first time that I had walked him. The dog was completely disinterested in me (and humans more generally) but turned into a raging, uncontrollable hound at the sight of any sort of wildlife… other dogs, squirrels, birds, ducks and especially swans. Oh why did Jordan decide to walk Ruski the Husky around the Serpentine (lake in Hyde Park)? At the first sight of the white waterlogged birds, Ruski yanked on the leash with all of his 90lbs and dragged me along at sprint speed, headed straight into the water. Before I could get him back under control, I was ankle deep in the murky Serpentine waters and the lake had become a cacophony of duck and swan songs! Then it started to pour with rain…

Casino Royale... Shaken and Stirred

I’ll start by sharing my favorite line from this week’s new James Bond movie, Casino Royale.

Waiter: “How would you like that martini, sir? Shaken or stirred?”
007 James Bond: “Do I look like I give a damn?”

Well, after this week in the office, I probably could not give a damn how my martini is served. Though the *roughing up* that I endured was more mental than the physical sort that Daniel Craig faced! Between the exhausting job and a couple of work-related soirees, I’m too exhausted this Saturday evening to do anything but download and watch the latest episode of Prison Break and watch the “exciting, live results show” for Strictly Come Dancing.

In case I have not mentioned it to you all a thousand times already, I somehow lucked into the hottest ticket in London for 2006 – an invite to the Royal premiere of the new Bond movie in London’s famous Leicester Square.

I’ll stop well short of writing a movie review, as you can get that at http://www.nytimes.com/, but I did enjoy the flick, all 2hrs 10mins. But I will confess to being highly uncomfortable sitting in a movie theater for over 2.5 hours wearing full black tie garb and 3” heels. It didn’t stop me from grabbing a whole bunch of candy (white mice and cola bottles) and popcorn, but swilling it down with champagne seemed rather out of place!

Going back to the pre-movie paraphernalia (let’s face it, the premiere has nothing to do with the movie itself!), here’s my tidbit… The plebes (myself among them) were supposed to take the *pink carpet* to the theater and leave the *red carpet* to the Royal party, movie stars and other A-listers… but a quasi-menacing security guard has never stopped me. I snatched the arm of my young analyst from BGI, Spencer, and dragged the startled slip of a boy on a lap of the red carpet, to the confusion of the paparazzi, who clearly could not place us but flashed their light-bulbs anyway!

That’s pretty much my story for the week… Sunday beckons and I need some sleep before my morning swim and run, an afternoon of laundry and reading the paper followed by dinner with a college friend.

London redux

Okay… it is undoubtedly time that I give London its dues and come up with a list of things… redeeming qualities… stuff that I missed while in the US but did not realize… the list also acknowledges that I’m not moping around while I’m back home, rather that I’m having a jolly ole time!

10. BBC News. I enjoy listening to the news again… it helps that I went to university with one of the top newscasters
9. European accents. I can’t go anywhere without hearing French, Italian, Spanish… Russian, Polish, Russian, Polish… London is so Eastern European!
8. The landscape and architecture. What other city could I go for a 6mi lunch run along the river and see every possible tourist sight in the city?
7. Strictly Come Dancing – my favorite British TV show
6. Eye candy… there are a lot of jaw-droppingly handsome men walking the streets and working with me in London!
5. British sports - I have been so psyched to watch the smorgasbord of sports on telly - rugby, football, snooker (yeah, I know), Formula 1, cricket
4. Branston Pickle and Picallili – curiously British pickles that I can buy for a $1 (instead of $6/jar in the US)
3. Guy Fawkes’ Night bonfire and fireworks (11/5) – a British reminiscence of a failed terrorist act to blow up parliament
2. Being the foreigner… no one believes I’m British… it gives me an edge!
1. The rest of Europe… actually, I have not ventured outside England yet but I am soooo looking forward to a Thanksgiving trip to Rome!

Sick as a dawg

Okay, this is a cheating entry... I'm copying and pasting from an email that I wrote to friends.

Apart from being *sick as a dog*, there’s not much to report about my last week or so in London. I just bailed on my plans for the evening (with my old boss from JPM New York, John, who has been living in London for several years). I’m not sure that I will even go to the office tomorrow. Two different people commented how bad/tired I looked as I left the office this evening. :-( I have so much to do… and I don’t get paid if I don’t go in…

Last weekend, I went home to my parents’ house for the weekend since they were taking care of my niece, Alexia, for a few days. I hung out with Alexia all weekend. She loved me for 24 hours and then *cooled* towards me for the second 24 hours… she was basically playing me off against my father for attention. Apparently, she cried after I left and told my parents how much she loved me and was missing me already! Hilarious and intriguing to see her emotions play out. The downside of the weekend was that my parents managed to give me their colds!

I’ve not done much socializing in the past week or so since I was at home in Derbyshire and then sick all week. I did grab a drink with a Stanford alum on Tuesday evening. He works for McKinsey here in London.

Apologies if the next *blow by blow* of an athletic episode is too girly… By way of background, Paul (let's call him PB for anonynimity's sake?) is the guy that I developed a crush for… but discovered last Friday evening that he has a (cute) girlfriend. I am seeking a new crush… but I was psyched that he asked me to run with him!

There are two equity traders in the office that provide me daily eye candy in my work environment. Well, actually, there are three cute guys on the entire trading floor but the third guy is an obnoxious, fixed income Portfolio Manager for who I have developed a strong dislike. Anyway, back to my equity boys. TL (married Aussie) and PB (Brit w/ gf) run *together* every Thursday. This week they invited me to run with them. It's a 6.2mi loop from Tower Hill westwards to Westminster, across the Thames and back along the south bank to Tower Bridge and the office. However, upon induction into the routine, I discovered that the guys don't actually run together... PB sets off about 8-10mins before TL and the latter usually catches PB during the last couple of miles or so. I set off with PB and it was a reasonably comfortable pace (but not a stroll in the park). There's foot traffic and stairs but we were basically on a 7:30min/mi pace. I was chatting w/ him and his breathing didn’t appear labored or anything. Anyway, we ran the loop and TL caught us at the last traffic light from the office - 100yards from the finish. I stopped my watch and told PB that it was 48 minutes. He looked shocked and then a huge smile broke across his face as he told me that I had dragged him to a PB by a couple of minutes! As I left the building this evening, TL was walking back to the tube station with another colleague, Simon, who he introduced as the Head of equity trading (his and Paul's boss). As TL introduced me, Simon commented: "So you're the girl that crushed PB on the run today. He claims that you were running easy and could have run quite a bit faster!" I guess it's hard to replicate the scene but it was funny for me to hear that our lunch run became a *topic of conversation* on the trading desk in the afternoon, enough at least for his boss to hear about it. I've also been *welcomed into the fold* for subsequent runs/swims! London gets more fun by the day!

It seems like I may not make it to the office tomorrow (but I’d like to go but…) so I’m not sure what the weekend will bring. A Canadian friend has invited me out tomorrow night to some swanky, new private club… and then on Saturday, I’ve been invited to a Fireworks’-watching cocktail party hosted by my landlady’s daughter. I just hope that I feel well enough to make the most of the invitations!

I left my heart in San Francisco

I was thinking today about the things I miss from SF… here’s my top ten…

10. Crunchy Almond butter from Wholefoods
9. The corner store that is open until 2am… which sells Haagen Dazs ice cream (I have a drunk sweet tooth!)
8. Tivo and 250+ TV channels
7. My bed… in particularly all the pillows that I end up spooning at some point in the night
6. Viactiv calcium chews
5. Free samples in the grocery stores
4. Crossing the GGB with my biking buddies
3. My 5 minute commute to/from the office
2. My discount at Lombardi’s… I bought a new pair of sneakers this weekend and they cost me $200 (vs $100 at Lombardis)
1. The no smoking ban in all bars and restuarants

There are advantages to being in London… and England more generally. That may have to be the topic of my next list… a top 3 or maybe I can stretch it to 5?

Day trader

I'm starting to settle into something of a routine here in London as I get up the learning curve at work and life. The US embassy's consulate office is currently *reviewing my case*. I was REALLY hoping to hear something today but I think things are delayed because of this week's Columbus Day holiday.

In the meantime, I just sit and wait… as well as work my ass off. It’s hard work but I’m having fun. I'm being teased by my colleagues on the desk for flirting with our European counterparties... I seem to be able to get a quarter of a point better pricing if I'm trading with a couple of French guys at Citigroup and Morgan Stanley who both know that I speak French and insist that I speak French with them!

But it’s taking me a little while to get used to the 12 hour days (shocker!), plus the 1-1.5 hour commute but it just means that I don’t have time for triathlon. I’ve been running a decent amount but not so much swimming. I swam once with Matt Dixon’s brother, Peter, (another elite swimmer!) but I ended up getting home too late in the evening to do that on a regular basis. Today I came across a couple of guys in the office that swim at lunchtime so I’ll try and tag along with them for a few sessions. It's an Aussie and a Brit that did Ironman Switzerland last year... I had already checked out the Aussie as the cutest guy on the floor... but he's married! The Brit was also cute... until he spoke and I discovered he has a really strong Essex-boy accent…

Londinium

I still have a week of *vacation* before starting work next Monday. Though I’m excited to start work… call me crazy? Reality is that I have a week of *reacquainting myself with life in England*… I seriously feel like a foreigner here! I don’t quite speak the language, I don’t quite know where I’m going, I don’t quite have a job, I don’t quite have a coterie of friends…

I also received an email from my manager here in London inviting me to a black tie (work) event this coming Friday… guess what, I don’t quite have an outfit. I brought a long black (really tight) dress over from SF in case I’m here for a xmas party… but I’m not sure that this particular dress will be quite etiquette for a work event… plus it requires me holding my stomach in for an entire evening in front of future colleagues! Ugh!

Swimming across a lake...

What better way to begin a week of *Endurance* training than by swimming across a lake? I've never swum across a lake before... not even a pond! The 2006 Endurance Performance Training Center Summer training camp is being held for the second annual year in and around Donner Lake. The start of this year's training camp happened to coincide with the cross-Donner Lake swim - 2.7 miles, end to end! A fantastic way for a group of triathletes training for long distance triathlon to log some serious open water swim miles in a stunning fresh water mountain lake. Though it was quite a trip to begin a swim race by sighting on a mountain!