Owls Count

This past weekend I travelled down to near Brighton for the SE Sprint and Relay Championships. We stayed at Blacklands Farm Campsite, which had basic toilet and shower facilities and a large camping field. The weather over the weekend was reasonable, except on Sunday morning there was a thunderstorm that started just after we had finished packing the tents up!

The orienteering was based on the University of Sussex. A big benefit to this was that we had access to the university sports centre. This meant I could have a shower before travelling home - much nicer for me and the other train passengers.

A couple of weeks ago I travelled to Chicago for Terminus. The Narrate Conferences team put on a terrific event - combining an extensive academic program with wizard rock, Quidditch, and fan exploration.

I was out to meet with friends and also was one of the volunteers - registration and information were my main areas, but I also spent my usual Saturday out on the Quidditch pitch. This year we drew amazingly straight pitches, which impressed those who could see them from the higher floors of the hotel. While out in Grant Park we also watched the people setting up for the Chicago Distance Classic Half Marathon. I did not present this year and, due to a combination of factors, got to see very little of the academic programming.

WordPress 2.6.1 has been released. Upgrade went smoothly and everything seems fine - if you do notice a problem with the site then let me know.

I got back from nine days in Chicago on Wednesday. While there there was an impressive thunderstorm. I’ll post more about my Chicago trip at some stage.

As I live in Reading I usually fly out of Heathrow or Gatwick airports. Both of these are busy airports and, often, flights are delayed and the queues long. To go to the British Orienteering Championships we were flying Bristol to Inverness. Both are small airports and it was so much easier and peaceful. I may well have to look at flying from such airports in the future.

While in the Inverness area we ate our evening meals at the Snow Goose. If you happen to be in that area then I can recommend the place for good food and friendly service.

Terry Pratchett is one of the best selling UK authors. During my teenage years his books were some of the few I read. Recently he announced that he is suffering from Alzheimer’s. Recently he pledged $1 million to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust.

In response to this pledge a group of fans have created the site Match It For Pratchett, which is looking for fans to pledge money to help match Terry Pratchett’s $1 million (£500,000) donation to Alzheimer’s Research.