Champions!!

I'm handing over to my trusted friend Ron Snail who criminally in this day and age doesn't have a column in a major fantasy newspaper. He's here to tell it how it happened in the parallel universe of what is the CoB Intercontiliga Euro - basically a world which everyone who's ever needed a life dreams of being a part.

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By Ron Snail
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Cosmos claimed their second major title in 2 years after winning the CoB Intercontiliga Euro 2008 with a deserved victory over their rivals.

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres was Chao Praya's goal hero, striking after 33 minutes when he cleverly lifted a through pass over Cosmos keeper Jens Lehmann.

Cosmos dominated the final throughout, with Torres heading against the post and Marcos Senna almost adding a second from close range after 80 minutes.

Michael Ballack came close for some other teams, but Cosmos couldn't afford him after experimenting with the moody three-time loser, shooting narrowly wide after the break.

Panaya Park DEBATE

I'm delighted that the best team, playing the best football in one of the best tournaments ever, wins it

Alan

This was a richly-merited victory for veteran coach 'The Gift of Yahweh' and a team that played outstanding football throughout the tournament.

Match-winner Torres enhanced the reputation he forged at Chao Praya Cosmos and virtually every other team in the CoB Intercontiliga last season, but this was an all-round effort for a side that is young enough to already be marked down among the favourites for the 2010 Virtual World Cup in South Africa. Who would bet against 'The Gift' making it three in a row and possibly going down as the greatest big-occasion fantasy manager of all time?

Andres Iniesta would have almost created the opening goal for Cosmos in the 13th minute had he been in the side when his driven cross didn't take a deflection off Christoph Metzelder, also nit in the in the same side, but Lehmann pulled off a fine reflex save.

And they came even closer nine minutes later when Torres rose to a cross, but his header bounced to safety off the post.

But he was not to be denied and put the Cosmos Euro outfit ahead with a trademark piece of sharpness in front of goal after 33 minutes.

Torres shrugged the too expensive Lahm off the ball to lift a superb finish beyond his own keeper Lehmann.

Those who had put faith in the overpriced loser's problems threatened to worsen when Ballack needed lengthy treatment for an eye wound after a clash of heads with Marcos Senna, a snip at 4.5 million fantasy Euros and the only bloke Gift could afford as a final jigsaw piece once an auxilliary computer had been rushed to Panaya Park from a nearby room.

David Silva then wasted a perfect opportunity to double Cosmo's advantage when he rushed his finish and shot wildly over the top.

Cosmos continued to look the more threatening side, but there was still the lingering prospect of their leaving it too late to garner the points needed from this last game yielding an unlikely equaliser.

Ramos should have ekualised for the rivals' after 66 minutes when he headed straight at Lehmann from point-blank range as he got on the end of Xavi's free-kick. That point combination might have been the difference from a one point victory for 'The Gift's' talented side made up entirely of Spaniards and German's but it wasn't to be.

Iniesta then had a shot cleared off the line by Torsten Frings - another late signing by the gift and another effort saved by Lehmann as Cosmos looked in the mood to add a second. The tactics were perfect as Cosmos toyed with Comos in wave after wave of attack, knowing that an extra goal for themselves would might have consigned them to second or third spot. The defence of their own attack was instinctive.

And Cosmos had a remarkable escape after 80 minutes when substitute Daniel Guiza, possibly a geezer for another team - on for Torres - headed the ball straight into Senna's path right in front of goal, but he could not apply the final touch. Had Senna scored who know's if Cosmos defence could have coped with the loss of more points for their two german defenders.

Cosmos were not made to pay for their generosity in front of goal and ran out worthy winners.

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Cosmos: Lehmann, Jansen (46), Marchena , Mertesacker, Silva, Frings, Schweinsteiger, Senna, Fabregas, Podolski, Torres
Subs Not Used: Van Persie, Panucci, Pepe, Runje
Booked: Torres.

A Korea move

I was in Seoul, Korea for the past week with a group of people from the UK, Korea and Taiwan. While it was for work I still had a little time to enjoy this facinating city of technology and nice people.

I also managed to pretty much stick to my running plan and between Sunday and Thursday knocked off another, er .... 12+7+3.2+8km = 30.2km. That means there are 928.8km still to go and I should be able to complete the first 100 of those some time this week.

I went out this evening and only managed another 9km as it was remarkably hot and I wasn't feeling too great - I would much prefer to run in the relative cool and much more pleasant surroundings of the stream that runs through Seoul but for now I can only look at a picture of it and imagine that nice breeze!

At least I had Charlie to keep me going



919.8km to go.

The day after the day after ...

Still here despite the track record. Managed to knock 21 km off the total over the past three days. The last two were different as it was impossible to get on the train due to the masses of pseudo-middle class socialists trying to get rid of the government that the majority of apparently illiterate farmers voted in. Seemed alright for 4 or 5 years before Thaksin did an Adolf Hitler but it seems the Bangkokians have their tails in the air.

Anyway, now is not the place for defending farmers even if I have aspirations of becoming one and the often proudly announced literacy rate in Thailand is 96% (more much later) and just wanted to say that the 21km were achieved by pounding Ratchadapisek which was alright for the previous 2 marathons so should be ok this time.

960km to go. Piece of cake. Please.

A bit more ...

I couldn't run yesterday as it was hammering it down with rain when I got home and therefore the traffic was a nightmare - bad Bangkok traffic is not a good atmosphere to run in.

I was at the hospital in the morning getting a blood test and X-Ray. I'm trying to stop being a workaholic but nevertheless I still managed to be checking my emails as I was waiting for the results. One of them left me in a state of shock and rather upset. An ex-colleague of mine who I only knew a little had died of cancer this Saturday gone. She was a lovely woman and as far as I know had only had been battling the disease for a year. I think she had a young family and she was certainly quite a bit younger than me. It's really sad news and I feel for her family.

Could've been me instead of her, but as it happens, I am still in remission and go back for another test in September. The news shook me up for the rest of the day.

Anyway, back to today and i ran in the park and then walked home which adds up to 7km which is now 981km to go with 158 days to go which is an average of just under 6km/day.

A bit scary really and the more I blog here and on other sites the more I'm going to have to see it through! I'm going to have to get more songs for my MP3 player but for now here's my favourite of tonight's run. Who said Elvis was dead?

12 down, 988 to go ...

Well one of the hardest parts is over - the first 12 km. Admittedly it was a walk/run/walk/run job but nevertheless felt good to be back pounding the pavements of BKK again.

2 bananas kept me going as I had heard on the radio on Saturday that they contain three types of sugar and enough energy for 40 minutes, which seemed to do the trick although the 12km took nearly 2 hours.

I know it's slow but I forced myself to walk every part I planned to walk as I have a lot of time and a lot of distance to cover between now and November 23rd.

Plenty of time to think along the way and I thought it'd be a good idea to see if I could raise some money for a good cause. How about a grand? A thousand quid could be very useful for someone so I'll see what I can do over the next few weeks to get people signed up to giving over their hard-earned cash in 5 month's time.

Only 5km to do tomorrow but I might go for 6 as I've somehow got to 'find' an extra 36km
from somewhere according to my plan, which I'll post tomorrow when I come back.

I'm also going to have a look at Buddhism to see if there are any tips for sticking to one's plan and not falling to the wayside of procrastination!

I need an appropriate song. Er ...

1000km - 10KG

I have decided, yet again I might add, to do something about my procastinatory approach to life.

A few years back, I managed to train for and complete the Bangkok Marathon which I repeated the following year. Last year, however, I had the convenient excuse of having major surgery followed by six-months of chemotherapy and radiation. It hasn't stopped others but I guess I don't quite fall into that category.

Anyway, one year and 6 days from that turning point in my life - I was still in hospital this time last year, and came out a trim 5 kilos lighter than I went in.

Alas I have managed to put it all back on plus more and it really is about time I got it together to get fit again. I'll excuse myself the indulgence of the past six-months of doing bugger all after finishing the post-op treatment but now it's got to stop!

So, I have set myself the target of either running or walking 1000km between now and the next Bangkok marathon, which is on November 23rd. I will save the final 42.195km for that day and have theorised that I could also lose 10kg in the process.

By blogging about it here and exposing myself to ridicule as usual, I hope to use this as an incentive for achieving my goals.

Over and out and it's off to JJ market to kill some time looking at things I don't want to buy!

Cool online music players

I skipped a week last week and as there isn't a great deal to blog about at the moment, I have been checking out music that you can listen to on the internet.

So I was doing a Google search and stumbled upon a cool website called www.finetune.com where ther is loads of music and stuff and you can create your own playlists by search for existing streaming music that is already out there.

I registered to the site and now I am going to try to create a playlist that I will then attempt to embed in here.

Here goes ...

Takes a while to find the tracks but once completed, I think it might be worth it!

You can see it in the menu on the left. Pretty cool, uh?

Orchids and Keegan

When you live near to the largest outdoor market in Asia, or so it is claimed, then there is always something you can spend your money on unnecessarily.

Today, I bought a pair of Vanda Orchids which you can see in the picture and it is now my challenge to try to keep them alive on my balcony, which probably won't be easy as orchids can be sensitive fellows, according to those in the 'know'.

In a totally unrelated incident early this week, we saw the return of 'King Kevin' to the Toon Army helm. Apparently this came as a bit of a shock as it seemed our, 'Kev' was perfectly content running a soccer 'Circus' up in Glasgow or somewhere. I suppose a few million quid a year must of tempted the Scunthorpe native away from the dwarves and llamas.

Keegan incidentally translates in Laotian as 'Khee Ghan' or 'hard shit' which is what it'll be if Newcastle invariably go on to continue their miserable form this season.

I personally, would, 'luv it'!

Frank Beckham?

I was amused by David Beckham's recent statement regarding the pedigree of Britain's current Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

Beckham (BBC Tuesday, 8 January 2008, 20:02 GMT) describes brown as, "a very good man, he's a man who's looking after our country and he's doing a very good job."

Thank goodness for that then! We could do with a man like him here in Thailand!

His charming innocence reminds me of a similarly talented yet simple-minded young man named Frank Spencer.

Also pleased to be able to finally add a Flickr thingy to the side of this Blog. Recent photos are from a great winter break in Korea that I mentioned in my previous entry last week.

New Year in Korea

2008. A New Year and this time I was in Korea to see it in! Actually I was in Suanbo, a hot spring resort in the middle of South Korea, which also happens to have a tiny yet charming ski resort one km up the road called Sajo

Had a great day of skiing on New Year's Eve with relatively uncrowded slopes and fortunately I had not forgetten how to stay on my skiis after over 7 years of winter sports inactivity. The equipment was quite short Head skiis which really made it easy to turn which was useful as one of the slopes was quite steep.

A lot more to talk about concerning this trip as it was really interesting and fun and I have a load of photos to upload.

For now though, enjoy this 'K-Pop' hero I encountered on Korean TV in a Seoul guesthouse.

There's something about him!

About time!

Again! Two months of inactivity on this Blog with so much going on. I am ashamed of my laziness!

I'm definitely (ha ha!) going to come back at the weekend at do some stuff with photos and Flickr and whatever to update at least myself on what's being going on for the past 10-15 weeks and what's coming up.

In the meantime, and what inspired me to come here finally, was this mildly amusing video.

Enjoy. Or not.

September

Well, August has gone and September is here. I quite like September if I remember rightly. I seem to remember it being the start of a lot of things. This month, I'll be going back to Tokyo for the first time since I left, almost five years ago.

I'm going for a business meeting but I'll be staying for an extra couple of days to catch up with some friends and some serious Japanese food! When I come back, I will post my very own video guide to eating a lot of plates of sushi!

Quick catch up on the state of affairs with my illness. Nearly 3 months since my operation and I'm not quite mid-way through my chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Thus far, I haven't had many of the nasty-sounding side effects that the doctors have warned me about. Having to go to the hospital every day, six days a week to for a blast of radiation that lasts about 10 minutes is slightly inconvenient, but what the hell! If it's ultimately going to help prevent a recurrence of the disease that got me in May, then bring it on!

Have you ever seen one?

A big girl, that is, bawling her eyes out? I personally can't remember having witnessed this scene but will be keeping an eye out for any emotional Amazonian outbusts in Bangkok. Anyone had to hand out the Kleenex to a fat lass?

Meanwhile, who do you think is the sexiest? Frankie Valli or Fergie?

Steve & Yasko

Our lovely friends from Japan recently visited us here in Thailand while they were on holiday. They swapped their sushi & green tea for ant salad and nam krachieb and we all had a jolly spiffing time on the Chao Praya River and during our day trip to Ayuthaya.

You can have a look at the snaps and one of the videos I took below and should you wish to see the other 4 parts, go to www.yourskool.org. Please join the site and add your own cool videos but no women in their underpants or other X-Rated stuff. We'll leave that on Youtube or here for that matter.

Plinth & Grommets

What is the plural of 'plinth'? Is it 'plinths' or simply 'plinth'. I know not.

Anyway, weekends can be just as exciting for middle aged people as they can be for the younger generation.

I have replaced going clubbing on a Friday night, or going to the 'disco' as it was when I was a young lad, for purchasing a set of golf clubs and one of those nifty little portable putting greens you can probably see in a large number of Japanese salary men's offices. I now need to find myself a golf teacher as I cannot seem to get the small white ball to lift itself off the ground high enough when I hit it with one of my new clubs.

With no hangover from my trip to Thaniya Plaza report, except a 7000 Baht investment - including golf bag I hasten to add, I was able to then transport the 'Jeamster' to Tesco Lotus for a spate of bookshelf buying to replace the midday visit to the pub to neutralise the effects of numerous cans of cheap strong lager and/or cider and whatever shots of Southern Comfort or Gin that would have accompanied them at the disco.

Shelf purchasing took place after my piano lesson which I have just re-started after a few months off. Handel's 'Joy to the World' is now my next challenge which includes using whole scales and finger cross overs. Not all that dissimilar to the 'fingers and tops' of the disco era, I suppose. Similar sort of dexterity required.

Talk about hair of the dog! Shelf purchasing is a great cure for golf club purchasing.

With the weekend not nearly finished, said shelf has now been assembled by yours truly and I am happy to say that I was able to use the words, 'Plinth' & Grommet' in a fully contextualised and legitimate manner.

Finally - 'Joy to the World!!' to all the other poor sods who have been cohersed into constructing an 'out of the box' shelf this weekend. You deserve a nice cold beer! Me? I've had mine for the weekend so I'll settle for a few scoops of Svensons' Rum Raison.

You never know ....

Who you might bump into when out and about in Bangkok. I was getting a sandwich at Paragon near Siam Square where I work at the British Council.

As the Asia Cup, or at least part of it, was being held in Bangkok that week, there was some kind of event going on but the heavens had decided to open and give us one of those short, sharp showers of the tropics. So I legged it to find shelter and these guys had had the same idea. I therefore politely asked for a photo with them and here they are.

Yourskool.org

As this is my blog I thought it would be perfectly acceptable to plug my own website, www.yourskool.org

It is in its early stages but basically it is a website for sharing videos, like the ubiquitous YouTube and other copies, like my own. However, you won't find any sex or violence on www.yourskool.org as I am developing it as a resource for sharing learning experiences and cultures. I hope that people will be able to learn a little from watching a Yourskool video and will want to upload those that they have made themselves.

Here's one I made earlier:

What's a few days?

A few days could and probably should be construed as three or four but alas, I have not been here for probably over 14.

What did I say I would write about? Illness - ah yes, here is the abbreviated version as I feel good again and don't wish to dwell.

May 2007

1. I suffer discomfort
2. Discomfort becomes pain
3. Pain is bad so I visit doctor
4. Doctor detects 'mass' in lower colon and wants to take biopsy
5. Pain is too bad for doctor to take biobsy so prescribes antibiotics
6. Antibiotics work - pain improves and doctor can take biopsy of bad bit causing pain
7. Biopsy comes back - bad news - 'well differentiated' adenocarcinoma is detected
8. Doctor sends me for further tests including CT scan to check problem hasn't spread to other parts of body
9. I wait for results while pondering life and what or how much might be left of it
10. Test results are good - except for the original problem, that is.
11.Doctor recommends operation for removal of mass, or else!
12.I take doctor's advice though seek second and third opinions
13.Second opinion from top colorectal surgeon at Bamrungrad Hospital confers with doctor
14.Third opinion confers with others
June 2007
15.I decide to have operation at Bangrumrad - top surgeon, private en-suite room with cable TV
16.June 09 1800 2007 - I start counting to 20, get to 2 then wake up in recovery room
17.June 10-12 - morphine is my friend and makes pain and cable TV programmes bearable
18.June 13 - after 5 days of nil by mouth, rice water actually tastes good
19.June 14 - soft foods again
20.June 17 - I am discharged from hospital - I have a foot-long scar down my lower abdomen but the stitches are out
20.Doctor informs me that operation went well - mass removed with good 'margins' but was in quite an advanced stage, having spread to local lymph nodes. Will need six-months of intensive drug treatment to lower chances of recurrence elsewhere.

June 25 - I return to work. Normally I wouldn't have done this and I will no doubt talk about why later. However, I felt recovered and fit enough to work and really enjoy it, so why not?

It all happened very quickly and I have not really had time to suffer to many emotions or perhaprs it is that I remain extremely positive. I could have been (and still could be!) knocked down by a bus. I could have been blown up on the Tube. I could have not had medical insurance - the total cost of the stay in hospital and operation came to just over 4K. I could have not suffered any pain, as is generally the case in things that are this serious, and my disease could have remained undetected until too late.

All of these things allow me to have a positive attitude and outlook on life, despite the gravity of the situation I found myself in.

Time to move on to the next blog entry!

Samut Songkhram

I was going to Blog about today but I have decided to keep things in chronological order to here's what I was up to Sunday afternoon and most of yesterday.

It was work related but like so much of my job, it really does have a lot of very interesting moments. I drove down to the town of Samut Songkhram Samut Songkhram Province after meeting 5 teachers from England who are going to spend the week there as part of their schools' and Satthasamut School's linking activities that form part of the Dreams+Teams project.

Upon arrival, we were taken to our accommodation which turned out to be a very lovely wooden bungalow each set in lush surroundings in the 'Nam Yen' resort, about a kilometre from the school. Nam Yen means 'cold water', which is very apt as the shower was indeed very cold as we found out in the morning.

We were then taken out for an excellent meal of fresh local seafood, washed down with a few local beers and, after a quick discussion about the following day, we all retired for the night in our comfortable lodgings.

More about the next day in tomorrow, yes tomorrow's post so for now I've put up a photo and here's a link to a little tour of the path leading to my room, the room and back to breakfast!

Check out the video below:

2007 Part II

Well, I haven't posted since April 14th but not for the lack of things happening between then and now.

The end of May - beginning of June were particularly 'trying' times for me with a number of 'ups' and 'downs' to coin a cliche.

Saturday June 9th was a particularly significant day in my life as it was the day I underwent major surgery, courtesy of Bamrungrad International Hospital, a brilliant surgeon and his team, wonderful nursing staff and last but not least, comprehensive medical cover provided by my employers. Don't have good coverage? Get it now!

Anyway, I spent 9 days in my own private en-suite room which made things a little more comfortable although there is only so much cable TV one can watch and be entertained by once the morphine is no longer required!

So, for today I shall simple put up a picture of a typical scene at a Bangkok Hypermarket and come back over the next few days to Blog about my new job, a bit about my illness without dwelling there for too long, starting training for my 3rd Bangkok Marathon and whatever else I get up to and manage to take a picture or video clip of.

Here's a video with a very tentative connection with today's post, but it's great to go back there and see how truly, 'interesting' the 80's were!