Rio to Host 2016 Olympics October 2, 2009

I’ve visited Rio de Janeiro a couple of times, first in 1994, and again in 2008 (I have family there – and thanks to Facebook and other social media, we’re now able to keep in touch!). As I was aiming to visit again in less time than 14 years, what about 7 years… just in time for the Olympics (always wanted to see the Olympics – maybe I’ll have enough money to pay for a ticket by then!).

I only hope that Brazil can truly afford to host the Olympics – it appears to have been problematic (financially) for recent countries hosting it (including London) … and in Brazil it’s a well-quoted “fact” that 95% of the wealth is owned by 5% of the people… and of course vice versa. Brazil has enough poverty problems without this adding another layer, so I really hope that this boosts Brazil’s economy (and it is encouraging that the Real introduced as currency in 1994, was still going in 2008, and not looking close to collapse!)

Trip Advisor: "Cities I’ve Visited" July 11, 2009

• View my profile (There’s an error message keeps apprearing on this post, but this link seems to work fine for me!)

I could eat nothing but pizza for a year March 30, 2009

Haloumi Cheese, Zaatar & Tomato Pizzas by avlxyz

No need to edit the default title!

Italian: pasta, pizza, gelato all with in many different (and delicious) flavourings… what more could you want! Well, maybe to find the real cuisine rather than whatever I could afford for 2-3 Euro last summer: http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-330501.html

My bucket list starts with: Visit Canada March 27, 2009

Visit Canada
Canada looks a beautiful, friendly country, and all the Canadians I’ve met (and shared rooms with on my travels) have been lovely! I read all the Anne of Green Gables novels when I was younger, and have always wanted to go and see Prince Edward Island… also want to get the train across to the Rockies, see the bright lights of Toronto, ski in Banff, and just take in the beautiful landscapes… while trying out some daft activities and taking a million photos no doubt, see: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/drbexl/ for evidence of that!

Publish my PhD as a Book
I will never feel like I’ve finished my PhD until I see my name on the spine of a book in the bookstores. There’s plenty of interesting material in my PhD (see http://www.ww2poster.co.uk), lots of interest in it (see the recent furore over ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’: http://drbexl.blogspot.com/2009/03/keep-calm-and-carry-on.html). Originally I intended to call my book “It’s Up To You” after a poster which takes the Kitchener “Your Country Needs You” as a design inspiration, but now Keep Calm and Carry On seems far more appropriate, as I’m particularly interested in why such images still resonate over 60 years later). At my PhD viva we spent most of the time discussing turning the thesis into a book (would probably take around a year on top of a steady job), and the book proposal is in process… meantime, travelling and job-seeking have rather taken away from that!

Visit Israel
OK, so it’s another “visit somewhere”, as the remainder may be… I want to take a trip to Israel with http://www.oakhall.co.uk. I know loads of people who’ve been and they all say the same thing… really tiring, but completely awesome and inspiring (well, that describes pretty much any Oak Hall trip that I’ve been on!)

See a Formula 1 Race live
I used to follow Formula 1 avidly, watching heats, races, repeats, highlights – you name it, and reading all the magazines. I then realised how much of my life this was taking up and pretty much went cold turkey. However, getting to know Emma @ Manchester we chatted about Formula 1 lots, and I would still like to go to see a live race… not sure where yet. I have stood on the starting grid and podium at Albert Park in Australia, and may watch some of this weekend’s… if only to remind me of the time I spent in Australia (and there’s somewhere else to go back to!)… I had a day’s race car driving experience: http://www.bex-lewis.co.uk/career/big_achievements/drivingexperience.htm, whic was great… bring on the skid-pan racing next!

Run the London or New York Marathon
I’ve done a couple of 10ks, and would even need to build back up to that length at the moment, but I’ve always wanted to run the London Marathon (although sometimes I think the New York would suit my traveller mind more). I have actually completed a full-length marathon event: http://www.bex-lewis.co.uk/career/big_achievements/moonwalk.htm, which is maybe almost harder than a daytime marathon, but still, running a marathon beckons…

Seat me next to the irritating talker, please March 17, 2009

What This is About:
Just stumbled across ‘Plinky’, a site which provides random questions, to which you can provide an answer in any way you choose (and it just demonstrates the different ways in which people’s minds think!). I linked it to this blog, and next thing I know, it’s posted what I’ve written… (and the prompt acts as the blog title) that’s one way to get creative with the blogging (was actually trying to work out how to post the days tweets as a blog, not worked that one out yet!). Unfortunately it doesn’t post images or give an option to add labels/keywords, but I can (and am) re-editing afterwards to add those elements, although where possible leaving the article as is! Done a couple of entries, but don’t want to a) use them all up b) overwhelm with entries!

The Upload from Plinky:
Talk, talk, talk…

Sitting in silence ALL day would drive me completely up the wall, although if they distracted me from taking photos out of the window they’d be in trouble! I’ll pretty much talk to anybody and can find interest in most conversations… although the irritating voice may get to me in the end… maybe I’d have to try and pace my conversation to theirs!

You Only Have One Life: Live It Well March 17, 2009

It’s such a pain not having a functional (internet) computer at home, can take a little while to get around to these things, and fit them around the sheer volume of work that is currently coming in! Living by my mantra of if you’re going to do something, do it on time and do it well… keeps getting me more work! Just got to keep believing it’s going to keep coming, although am putting my best foot forward for a full-time post also!

One Life Live
A great event hosted over the weekend at Kensington Olympia! I’ve been looking forward to going to this for months, having pre-purchased my ticket via Psychologies magazine (and then getting special offers from several other RSS feeds I subscribe to – hey, you win some, you lose some!) ages ago!

The event was structured into a number of zones:

• New careers & Learning
• Free Time
• Be Your Own Boss
• Health & Wellbeing
• Travel & Career Breaks
• Sustainable Living
• Life Change
• Volunteering & Fundraising

Hmmmm
I LOVE learning, so I checked out a bit of that, wandered around the ‘be your own boss’, but I’m aware (but haven’t quite read) most of that literature, and of course was checking out the ‘Life Change’ areas, but as always, I gravitate towards the travel and volunteering sections… very inspiring to see the ways in which you can combine travel with so many other things… I may return with specifics of companies, but right now I need to learn how to use WordPress!

Sponsorship
As I said, interested in the volunteering section, so put my actions where my feet were, and signed up to do The Big Sleep Out at Winchester Cathedral on 15th May: http://www.justgiving.com/drbexl