Thursday

I awoke early and finished my packing. It was then off to the train station in the freezing weather we had last week. A train to Gatwick, bags dropped and security cleared.

At that point I had about two hours to my scheduled departure time. Those two hours came and went with no update on the flight. Eventually they told us there were plane problems and that we would be leaving about two hours late. Luckily I had some food on me and ate that while reading.

The flight was fairly boring. The films and tv were either uninteresting to me or were stuff I had no desire to watch again. Consequently I finished my first book of the trip and made a big dent on the second.

On arrival to the US it took ages to clear the checkpoint. When I finally got to the front of the queue I mentioned that I was there to run the Disney Marathon and my paperwork was quickly dealt with – I do not know if there is a link.

As I was staying in a Disney resort, Wilderness Lodge, I then reclaimed my suitcase, walked it through customs, and gave it back to the airport people for them to pass on to the Disney people for it to be transported to my hotel. I found the Disney transportation and got on a bus with some other marathon people.

Checking into the hotel was fairly quick, though it seems that Disney finds the idea of friends sharing a room impossible as I had to act as if I were the person who had booked the whole package to get through the system. Originally I was meant to wait around for some of the rest of my group to turn up and then go to dinner with them – however, being several hours late, they were already at dinner and I was not hungry. Instead I unpacked, waited for my suitcase, and unpacked some more. Eventually the other people all showed up and we decided that it was time to get some sleep.

Friday

We had intended to get up early and be at the expo when it opened. However the late arrival of various people meant that we slept in late and then went and had breakfast. After breakfast we took a while to find the expo transportation buses, rather than the normal Disney transportation, as they went from a different place.

The expo was surprisingly non-busy and they had plenty of volunteers to speed you through. We quickly claimed all our race numbers and chips. Then we went off to the other building to collect race packs and shirt. We wandered around the expo for a while during which time I purchased nothing and lost the other members of my group. On being unable to find the others I went back to the hotel and rested for a while.

The others found me again back at the hotel and we then decided that we would play miniature golf for the afternoon. We proved how poor we all are, with not one of us making par! I was joint winner though.

We ate dinner at Trail’s End Buffet at the Fort Wilderness Campground. The food was good, but not ideal for those trying to carb load for the half marathon the next day. I amused the rest of the group by having a boel of ice cream toppings/sprinkles without the ice cream.

Then it was back to the hotel and off to bed.

Saturday

This day was the first of the two early starts. The three friends I was sharing with and the three friends in the adjoining room were all off to run, so I was up early as well. They all went off and I then had breakfast.

An inspection of the course map showed that the half marathon people would pass nearly outside my hotel, so I had devised the plan of going out to support everyone through the four and a bit mile point.

Getting to this place involved a trip across a car park and a walk down an unlit road, but it was a nearly full moon so this was not that problematic. I met with some others who had also done the same trip and we eventually went to stand on the grass far enough after the four miles drink point that we would not get covered in discarded drinks.

The leaders went through in just over twenty minutes and I stayed until the sweep cyclists went through nearly ninety minutes later. I saw all of the people I was with but only one of them saw or heard me!

I went back to the hotel for a nap and then waited for everyone to return. People arrived back in groups with lots of smiling. Showers were partaken and then we had some food and went off to Animal Kingdom for the afternoon. We rode on the Yeti (aka Expedition Everest), Dinosaur, and went on a Safari.

Then it was off to Il Mulino, at the Swan, for a good meal of pasta. It was a shame that the service was so slow, including over thirty minutes between us handing over payment and the payment being complete. This meant that I got back to the hotel later than intended. Clothes were laid out and then it was time for sleep!

Sunday

Walt Disney World Marathon

Monday

This day did not start early. It also did not start with people springing out of bed. Eventually we all managed to get up and eat a little food. Then it was off to Epcot. By now we had decided that the Disney bus system was against us – no matter where we wanted to go the first ten buses arriving in our resort were going elsewhere.

We started with Soarin’ and Mission: SPACE. Then we proceeded to walk around the world – or at least Disney’s version of the world. For having run round various bits of Epcot the day before I was really struggling to recognise any of it – apart from that large golf ball.

We stopped for lunch in Le Cellier, in Canada, and watched the 360 degree videos of Canada and China. There was also a brief stop in the UK area to give me a chance to mock.

As the day went on my feet became progressively more sore. Walking was difficult by the end of the day and I was glad when we finished up and returned to the hotel. At the hotel we stopped in the bar for a light snack and a drink – for some this would prove to be a bad choice.

Tuesday

This day started in the middle of the night – something eaten during the day gave two people food poisoning. The non-ill were unimpressed and the ill even less impressed with this. However, the combination of runners snacks and drinks meant there were ample recovery products in the room!

The ill were left to recover while the rest of us went to the Magic Kingdom. Having struggled to recognise Epcot the day before I had nearly as much trouble working out where we had run in this area. Later in the day I asked another marathoner about the castle and was told that we had run through it – which surprised me as I could not even remember seeing it! I guess I do not take much notice of my surroundings while running.

We wanted to go on Splash Mountain but it was closed, so we started on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. On this ride I somehow ended up with my very own child – a 8 year old boy I would guess – to go round with. Having finished riding I gave him back to his father.

Then it was on to The Haunted Mansion, back outside to find more of our group who had arrived later, before going back in The Haunted Mansion. From there, in some order, we did Space Mountain, had some lunch, rode and got stuck in “it’s a small world”, Pirates of the Caribbean, Stitch’s Great Escape!, The Enchanted Tiki Room, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. I cannot put them into order as we went round in no particular order and crossed back and forth a few times.

My feet started to hurt at some point, but much later into the day than on Monday. We saw the tail end of the parade before returning to the hotel and finding the ill were much improved and thinking about food. We were going to eat in the Wild Canyon Cafe but they had an hour plus wait on tables, so we grabbed some quick food instead. I also did most of my packing before collapsing into bed.

Wednesday

This day started at a reasonably early hour, so that we could get in the Animal Kingdom soon after it opened and give the two of us who were leaving plenty of time before we had to leave.

We started with an early Safari – if you are visiting this area do the safari early, as more animals are out and about at this time of day. I was taking it easy, as it would be a long day, so, while the others went on Expedition Everest several times, I had a cuppa (there is a decent tea place somewhere in this park!) and read a book.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then went on DINOSAUR. When we had been on this a few days earlier one of the group had let out some impressive screams, so, naturally, we took her on it again! There was less screaming than the first time, but that was because she rode with her eyes closed for most of the way. Our group ride photo shows five of us looking straight at the camera and one person, face hidden, turned away from the camera.

Then it was onto It’s Tough to be a Bug! – yes, we love our 3D adventures. After this it was time to go and get wet on the Kali River Rapids. It appears that my Ron Hill cycling jacket is one of the most effective ways of keeping dry on this ride, though I still had some water drip down the neck onto my back. There was just time for the other person who was leaving to have one last ride on Expedition Everest then the two of us said bye and went off back to the hotel.

I finished packing before walking down to wait for the bus to the airport. It was quite odd just walking out of a hotel without having to check out. More book reading was done on the way to the airport. I checked into the flight fairly quickly and then went and had a smoothie. Through security and I found somewhere to sit for a while.

The flight home was reasonably peaceful and I even managed an hour or so of sleep. I had picked a seat fairly far forward, so I was off the plane quickly and through passport check. Sadly this proved to be pointless – I had to wait ages for my luggage to turn up. Then it was a train and taxi to get home, before the usual post-holiday unpacking, laundry, food shop, etc.

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.

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.

e.maps – This site has a selection of web maps. I particularly like the World Web Map, which is a world map based but with the countries replaced with internet sites.

Map of The Internet – This shows how cities are connected.

Map of the Internet: The IPv4 Space, 2006 – Noticed this linked in the comments to the previous link. This is a map showing the allocation of /8 subnets.

There were three games yesterday. New Zealand started impressively against a reasonable Italian side. Australia ground down Japan in the early part of the game, before running away with it in the second half. England played poorly against a highly motivated USA. Playing as they did yesterday England have no hope of retaining their title.

Today sees Wales and Scotland play, against Canada and Portugal respectively, and also Samoa against South Africa. For those in the UK wishing to watch: ITV is covering the games.

Tomintoul

My day started with a trip over to Tomintoul to visit the Whisky Castle. There I tasted a few, before picking up a bottle from the Blackadder group.

Sprint Race – Kinguisse

More photos from the sprint race.

This was my worst orienteering of the week. Both my running and navigating were poor. The photo in the middle shows me walking away from four – I took quite a few seconds to actually spot any route to five. For the second long leg, going to thirteen, I noticed several other people on the long course going in a direction I could not see a route for – totally missing a gate back onto the roads. Worse than just not noticing the gate, and better route, was then running off on the wrong road.

I did a quick check through the map and found only a few sites I use regularly:
Google/GMail/Calendar/Docs
Livejournal
BBC
Facebook
Amazon
Flickr

There are a handful of other sites I read the feeds from, but remembering exactly which they are is difficult.

Sweden was good and I will write about it at some stage. Also found time to read the new Harry Potter, along with many others at the campsite!

Also while out in China we visited the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, some of the Ming Tombs, and some other areas in and around Beijing. The hotel we were staying at was a spa resort, so we were able to relax in the spa pools and get a massage. All in all a fairly good trip, even if the smog did get a bit much by the end.

Tomorrow I am off to Bulgaria!

My main reason for going to New Orleans was to attend Phoenix Rising, though meeting lots of friends came a close second. During the conference I presented twice, played as a Snitch mover on the Quidditch pitch, and was [a small] part of the organising staff.

Transformation: From Fan to Fandom
This was one of the keynote presentations, in which Henry Jenkins, Melissa Anelli (of The Leaky Cauldron), Jennie Levine (of The Sugar Quill), Catherine Tosenberger, and myself discussed from both an academic and a practical standpoint, how an individual fan experience is turned into a collective fandom experience through the growth of online fan communities. I am used to presenting in university lecture theatres and hotel conference facilities. Here I got to present in an aquarium! A rather appreciated change. I felt that the panel went well.

You Only Think It’s Magic: Operating a Fandom Website
Amy Tenbrink and myself discussed various operational issues connected with running fandom websites. During this presentation I could not read my notes – not that there were many of them! Amy talked well and I was able to interject with some good points. The audience, though small, asked several interesting and discussion provoking questions.