Porters

It is impossible to write about Kilimanjaro without writing about the porters (and guides and other members of the support staff) as they are such a defining part of the experience.

It's a legal requirement in Tanzania that you cannot go up Kili without a certain number of guides and porters per person. I'm not actually sure what that number is, but suffice it to say that it is non-zero. This has a couple purposes: 1) it employs locals, thus stimulating the economy and 2) makes sure that idiot tourists don't go up the mountain without adequate preparation and then use up valuable local resources requiring a rescue, or die and generate bad press. For our hike we were told that for every one of us, there were 3.5 people supporting us.

To understand the porters, it is probably helpful to go through a typical day of our hike:

We'd wake up early to the sound of one of the kitchen guys at our tent (Jeremy or Elias), asking us if we wanted tea or not. While their English was much better than our Swahili, attempts to order tea with some amount of sugar and/or milk for two different people often led to fairly entertaining exchanges which only sometimes resulted in both parties actually getting tea in the style they preferred. As the temperatures got colder the higher we got, this hot cup was a much appreciated incentive to get out of our warm sleeping bags.

Next came a different fellow to offer a hot bowl of water for washing up "Water for wash!" We were on that mountain for 8 days without a shower, and no matter how many baby wipes we used, hours and hours of hiking left us filthy by the end of each day. Hot water for wash was a neat luxury.

We packed up our kit, separating out a day bag which we would take with us during the day with the layers of clothing we thought we'd need, water, and snacks, and packed everything else into a bag which the porters would take. While we had breakfast in the mess tent, the porters started to break down the rest of the camp. We set out after breakfast and would be passed by a continuous stream of porters zooming by us in order to have camp set up by the time we got there. In the narrower parts of the trail this led to a constant call of "Porter!" from the people hiking in the back of the pack as we hiked along - an exhortation to move aside and let pass the fellow with the much, much heavier load whose passage ahead of us would only make our lives better at the end of the hike. They balanced the loads on their backs or on their heads or both, and despite the difficulty of their job tended to have a friendly "Jambo!" when they passed.

The same porter would carry our main pack through the entire hike. Mine was called Mishek and he not only carried my pack, he would also meet me when I got to the camp in the evening, take my day pack off me and guide me to whatever mysterious location my tent had been pitched at. When there I would find that he had also taken my air mattress out of my main pack and blown it up. Given that I really didn't want to expend the air when already short of breath at high altitude, it was an appreciated service. Not everyone's porter did these things, and while one may say that he just wanted a bigger tip, I was very happy for the trade.

It was all told very humbling - lest we think we were doing anything particularly impressive in climbing Kilimanjaro - seeing firsthand the work that these guys did. They practically ran up the mountain in gear far worse than ours and under loads much heavier. In fact, some of the guys on our hike claimed to have made return trips of 8 hours (8 hours! It took us 8 days!) on the mountain. And these are not sherpas. I don't think they are literally evolutionarily adapted to the work, and generally they live at relatively low altitude themselves. Arusha, the main city nearby is only 4,100 feet or so, or 12oo meters. Sometimes they get altitude sickness like everyone else, but don't tend to have any medicine for it or for the symptoms. From what I gather, accurate or not, including tip they might make $100 for a week long trip up the mountain.

At the end of the trek we had a formal tipping ceremony where we handed over the cash, and they actually all sang for us, and Mishek, who was a super-cool sort of dude, did a little faux break-dancing. Since I don't have the video I took on account of the whole stolen camera thing, I'll just link to the song. It doesn't quite sound the same as when 60+ burly men sing it on the side of a mountain.

Kilimanjaro redux: part 1

I have arrived home in Seattle, and as I'm still sick and jet-lagged I have a fair bit of time to go into detail of what really happened on Kilimanjaro while laying around recuperating. As I'm doing this from memory and no notes and no pictures to refer to, I may not line everything up exactly correctly, so please forgive any seeming inconsistencies.

From day 1 I was sick. Before you start climbing you go to one of the gates and register. At these gates they weigh the packs to make sure the porters aren't overloaded, and they also have various rules and words of advice posted. There was one that said literally "If you have a sore throat, do not proceed past 3000 meters." I read this sign while sucking on a throat drop, in the early stages of what turned out to be a hellishly nasty cold, or probably the flu which I presumably brought with me from Egypt. I turned to the doctor and she said, more or less, that I should ignore the sign and hope for a recovery. After all, having made it to the point, I wasn't exactly going to turn around due to a tickle in my throat.

Day 1:

Day 1 was supposed to be an easy 3-4 hour hike to camp. A gentle introduction to hiking Kilimanjaro. It didn't quite turn out that way. The first rains of the season came and washed out the dirt roads to the starting point. As we couldn't drive up, we ended up adding 1-2 hours of hiking time just to get to the starting point, and past that point everything was a muddy morass, slowing us down for the rest of the way. We ended up pulling into camp after night had already fallen. Fortunately about a third of us, including myself, were paranoid enough to have our headlights with us in our daypacks, and we were able to provide enough light for the entire group to keep going. All told I think it was more like 6 or so hours of exhausting slog through the mud.

Day 2:

Day 2 was meant to be the first hard day. Having barely slept the night before and already being under the weather, I found the statement to be well-deserved. The last hour or two I was fighting back nausea and once I got to my tent I almost immediately dove back out again to puke out lunch. Spoke to the doc - not altitude sickness, but rather a combination of exhaustion and illness. Camp at the end of day 2 was the first time since arriving in Tanzania that we actually saw the summit, and the reaction was a near universal "You've got to be shitting me!" as it looked so immense and so distant that the concept of being on top of it within a few days seemed laughable.

Day 3:

Day 3 was supposed to be an easy day. Again, this day took much longer than expected, and I felt so terrible by the end of it that the concept of it being the easy day had me beyond dispirited. Mid-way through we had an optional acclimitization hike to a higher altitude, which I attempted and immediately gave up on, opting instead to hang out with the people suffering from altitude sickness and other forms of distress. During the last stretch of the hike back to camp, I took the opportunity of someone else's need to stop for medical reasons to once again puke out my lunch. I had taken an anti-nausea pill donated to me, but that went out with everything else. Once again spoke to the doctor, once again concluded it was exhaustion/illness and not altitude sickness. Despite the fact that to all appearances all my ills had nothing to do with the altitude, I decided to start on the altitude pills (the brits called it Diamox, but it was the same drug my travel doc had prescribed me) more or less against the doctor's advice that it wouldn't help with any of my actual issues.

Day 4:

Day 4 was meant to be another hard day. We hiked up to 4600 meters before going back down to more like 3800 to camp. And perhaps it was the Diamox, or perhaps it was the fact that I'd got a good night's sleep for the first time since we began, or perhaps it was something else entirely, but I felt great aside from the crazy face-tingling caused by the Diamox. We sent someone from the group who had MS and dislocated knees, who 2 months prior hadn't been able to walk but ambitiously took Kili on anyway, back. The doctor asked me if I'd like to go back with her as I'd been feeling such shit, but as I for once was feeling ok I opted to press on. At this point in the hike, the physical and mental strain was increasingly apparent in an increasing number of people and there were literally people in tears at points. Interestingly I could see that my conditioning seemed to have been as sufficient as I could hope for - my legs were totally fine and not particularly tired or achy by the end of our hikes. I was constantly out of breath, but that was partly altitude and partly the inability to do any high-impact training for a month or so prior to setting off due to my knee issues.

The rest of the days to follow, as well as more about things not immediately involving my physical well-being during that time

Safari

The safari started on a terrible note. While we were sitting in traffic in Arusha someone ran up to the car, reached through the open window to where I had my camera in my lap reviewing pictures I'd taken, grabbed it and ran off. So there went my camera and the almost 3,000 pictures I'd taken over the course of the last month. I won't lie - if someone had offered me a plane ride back to Seattle at that instant, I would have taken it without hesitation.
But life goes on. The camera is gone. The pictures are gone. I'm fine, and everyone else in the car was fine. The tour operator got the police report filed so I should be set to make an insurance claim when I get back. That won't give me the pictures back, but nothing can. Life goes on.

The safari itself was pretty amazing. We stayed in "luxury tents" and I was fairly concerned after driving mile after mile on dirt roads that were so bad we literally off-roaded for better driving conditions, that I'd be pulling out my smelly kili sleeping bag and sleeping on the ground in a hovel. Couldn't be farther from the truth. It was like a tropical paradise, with the bar looking out over herds of zebra and palm trees. Amazing.

http://www.tanganyikawildernesscamps.com/camps/maramboitentedcamp/accommodation/



The safari covered Lake Manyare, Tarangire, and Ngorongoro crater (though there was some sketchiness regarding whether they were going to take us to Ngorongoro or not that worked out fine in the end). They each had their ups and downs. Tarangire was amazing for the masses of animals we saw. Herd after herd of elephants, and hundreds of zebras and wildebeests amassing at the river for water. We actually got out to eat lunch, and there was something surreal about eating lunch on a tree root looking at a herd of elephants 200 feet away going about their business. Ngorongoro is an enormous crater (I couldn't believe the scale when I saw it) with tons of animals in a confined area that just can't get out. I was expecting to see maybe a lion or two if we were lucky, but not only did we see multiple groups of lions, we were actually lucky enough to see a lion take down a wildebeest, which was pretty wild.
There was something freeing as well about being on Safari without a camera. You just have to sit there and take it in and not worry about the pictures you could be taking since you can't take any.

All told, I'm ready to be done. Not sure I'd do another safari but it was certainly an interesting thing to do while I'm here.

Today has been lazing by the pool. The hotel they took us to back in Arusha is in a shady part of town. Basically they said don't leave the compound. After the camera incident and being told that if we'd given chase we might have been killed, I'm pretty ready to take that advice. I changed my tickets to not have an additional day tomorrow, so when the ride to the airport gets here in a few hours I'll finally be on my way home!

There and back again

I am alive and (more or less) well. Made it through the long slog to summit night, and made it part way up the summit, but due to illness I did not, alas, actually make it to Uhuru peak. I'll elaborate more on this in a few days when I'm home and have stable internet access, but for now suffice it to say that for better or worse, I'm done with Kilimanjaro.
Safari for a few days now, and then home at last!

At the foot

At a lodge at the foot of Kilimanjaro. The mountain's been clouded over, so shockingly I''ve not seen it yet. Tomorrow we start the climb. It's real now.

Cruising along

In Aswan on the last night of a Nile Cruise. The things you see on these cruises put the antiquities in Cairo to shame, but mostly it's just a very different experience. No time to post or ability to post pictures at the moment, alas. Tomorrow I leave Cairo and Saturday morning I meet up with my fellow hikers in Nairobi assuming all goes well!

wedding recap

The invitation said 8pm. People here told us to expect something more along the lines of 9 or 9:30, more or less. In truth the wedding started closer to 11pm, with food coming out at 2am and the party shutting down at 5am, and was worth every moment of the wait. Bagpipers and belly dancers and amazing food and a poolside view of the Nile at night. It was very probably a once in a lifetime experience and I feel very lucky to have had a chance to be a part of it. As the only other wedding I've ever been to was on a goat farm, I feel like I'm getting a pretty unusual data set to extrapolate from.

Today we saw the oldest synagogue in Cairo. Apparently that’s next to the spot Moses got pulled out of the reeds 5,000+ years ago. You can’t go 10 feet in that part of town without passing over some spot where the major players of the Bible were hanging out. Dear lord.

Wedding Day

Today is Noha and Javier's wedding - the reason we're all in Egypt. Most of what I've learned to expect is that there wil be dancing until there's food, and then there will be more dancing. Not to start before 9:30pm and unlikely to end until 2am. There is some worry about sandstorms destroying the wedding. Fingers crossed on that front.

Yesterday we went to the Citadel (historic fortress/mosque) and the Coptic Quarter (Christian part of town). As our guide kept reminding us, Egypt is about 87% Muslim and the rest are Christian, so going to see the religious sites is kind of a must do. At the Citadel they didn't seem to care if women covered their heads or not (we did as we're not jackasses), which surprised me, but they almost made me put on an extra robe over my clothes even though I was covered from head to toe, because my pants were slightly sagging when I walked by the guard and my belly was showing momentarily. I found that fascinating. In the Coptic quarter we were in churches that were 1600+ years old, one supposedly built over the place Jesus and fam hid when they fled to Egypt 2,000+ years ago. I knew Egypt had old stuff, but it had not really occurred to me that included things since the pyramids. Talk about history. That just makes all those centuries old churches I've seen in Europe seem kinda...well...new.

And of course, speaking of traditions as old as time, yesterday was when we got the heavy handed introduction to what we termed the "shakedown" where we got taken by our tour guide to the places to buy all the tourist swag. Since we did actually buy stuff I'm not sure whether that made the shakedown more or less ok. The day before we'd gotten our first shakedown - a "tour" of a "school' where ten year olds were hand making oriental rugs. Interesting to see and also a bit sickening. A big rug was quoted at $5,500 before haggling. Given that they explained it would have taken ish 2,000 hours of effort and you know the kids aren't seeing the profit, it's kind of astonishing that was a touristy thing to swing by. Today we got a mini-shakedown just walking down the street from the hotel. Everyone is trying to sell you something all the time. It's impressive. Still, most of the "negative" things I've seen in Cairo pale in comparison to the equivalent I saw in Mumbai. I realize though that I'm far more sheltered here than I was there.

Most surreal moment of the trip so far has been driving an hour+ out into the desert to a gated community to see how the ultra-rich of Cairo live. Lush garden + pool + several story mansion where we awkwardly ate sweets and listed to some hired musicians, far, far, far away from the noise and crowds of the city. It was nice, just a bit surreal. Getting away from the noise and crowds is no small achievement. I can see why those who have money to burn do it. Javier tells us that Cairo is the loudest city in the world, and I can't say I have any reason to doubt him. Even conversations seem louder here. I can't tell if it's just a culture that likes to argue with each other or if everyone is angry all the time or if what sounds like shouting to my english-inflected ears is actually the norm.

I finally acquired an Egyptian phone number, though surely it would have been more useful to me earlier in the week. Better late than never, right? My number is 0194884393. No idea if that is all you need to dial or not. But I have a ton of minutes so feel free to reach out if you need to. As long as you remember it's a 10 hour time difference from Seattle. If you want a post card from some part of this Africa trip, let me know!

Also, while it turned out I had 45 free internet minutes A DAY (I thought total) and I wish I had known that earlier, after today I'm not really sure what my internet situation is going to be like. I do have a phone from which I think I can at least kind of get online so at minimum I should be able to check in every once in a while.

Touristing it up.

We’ve spent the last couple days sight-seeing. Today was the big day – the pyramids of Giza and Sakkara, and the Sphinx. Poor Judy seemed to melt in the desert, as expected. I confirmed that I have inexplicably inherited high heat tolerance from my Polish roots and Seattle life. I was a little hot. Alas, I’ll have no tan when I get back – between the outfit and the SPF100 sunscreen (I’m allergic to everything else) I’ll be as pasty as ever.
Oh yes, also rode a camel. That was mildly terrifying, but it was certainly an experience.

I'm in love with Egyptian food. Noha tells me we have no Egyptian restaurants in Seattle. That's quite a shame as everything I've had has been wonderful. Of course, Noha has been handpicking the restaurants and the menus, often with an eye to my garlic desires.

No phone yet. Also, may not get photos online any time soon, but rest assured many are being taken.

Cairo Time

After a long day's travel I've arrived in Cairo safe and sound and tired as you'd imagine. So far all we've done is check into the hotel and meet some of Noha's friends for dinner. We're at the Cairo Sheraton so we're not hurting for comfort. The city is hazy like I wouldn't believe - it's smoggy but I think a lot of it is sand that literally strips away the exteriors of buildings that aren't made of super hard stone. Other than that, I seem to not be as overwhelmed by chaos as the locals expect from Americans. The driving is no crazier than Buenos Aires. Tomorrow when we're less travel-weary and jet-lagged, we'll go sight-seeing. Pyramids and all that good stuff that one does when in Egypt.

On the eve of departure

When faced with clear empirical evidence, I'm forced to admit it, I'm apparently a terrible blogger. Suffice it so say that I've done a lot of fundraising, done a lot of training, and the moment has finally arrived. In about 6 hours I'll be getting on a plane heading to Cairo, where I'll be spending a week seeing the sights and then attending a wedding. The next week I'll be doing a Nile Cruise, and after that comes the big adventure - Kilimanjaro. If I have internet access at any point, I'll attempt to be better at blogging. After all, it's the African adventures that are the most intriguing part of this whole process.

By the by, for those who are interested, I raised over 2800 GBP. With the switch in trek my new goal was actually only 1975, so I blew that goal out of the water! Thanks everyone for your support!

Progress!

I bought my tickets. Things are starting to get more real, more immediate. I'm also starting to get nervous. Hopefully this is all a good sign.

I owe a long gym post coming up with the May recap and June works - I've been working out (though sickness has stolen a few workout days). I simply am once again behind on recording it.

Things apparently got complicated

It turns out that being forced to switch treks was more significant than just a change of dates and people I'm climbing with. The financial structure appears to have changed as well, and I finally had a conversation with the folks in the UK to confirm how this works.

Before I had a goal of 2500 GBP, but if I raised 4000 GBP I would pay no actual trip costs except plane ticket myself, and the amount I payed was on a sliding scale based on how much between 2500 and 4000 I raised. Thus, there was incentive for every dollar raised up to 4000 GBP

Apparently the sliding scale no longer applies. This is kind of a big deal, because the new structure is raise 2420 minimum and pay an additional 695 trek costs, or raise 3975 and pay no trek costs. No sliding scale. As you may have noticed, 3975 - 2420 is a lot more than 695 so this is actually a pretty expensive switch. I've already made my 2420 goal. I can close out my fundraisers, accept the fact that I'm paying an additional 695, and all the excess just is extra cash for VSO (which is of course not a bad thing) or I can try to push hard to get from the roughly 2600 I have now to 3975 in order to not pay any trek costs. But until I hit 3975 - 695 = 3280 that's the much more expensive option. In other words, if I fail to meet that goal I'd actually costing myself money to take that option. In theory I'm not actually supposed to be able to switch from one to the other but they'll let it slide since my circumstances are a bit odd. Now I just have to figure out how I feel about the rest of my fundraising efforts.... It's all going to a good cause but it's a bit hard to want to take on the sheer effort involved when it might mean that most of what is happening is that it, if I'm lucky, I'll have spent a lot of time fundraising in order to spend about the same amount of money out of pocket.

The money is still going to VSO and being used for good work, make no mistake. This is just a calculation of whether it really makes sense for me, under the new structure, to continue putting a lot of time I could otherwise use hiking and getting ready for Kili in setting up new fundraising events now that I have met my minimum mark and raised thousands of dollars for charity.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

It's no monster truck rally, it's the Princess Bride! On the Big Screen! With Rodents of Amazingly Unusual Size! All this can be yours at the Grand Illusion (1403 Northeast 50th Street) on Sunday May 23rd from 1-3:30m for the cheap, cheap price of $7, or the even cheaper price of $5 if you're in Prince Bride related costume. That even comes with popcorn, so how good a deal is that?!

Yard Sale Success

Today was the Wallingford Yard Sale (a route of houses, heavily advertised, with yard sales raising money for John Stanford School) so naturally I took advantage of the day when everyone would be yard saling to have my own. I've been steadily trying to sell all your generous donations via used goods stores, craigslist, etc, but today was all about the standard yard sale. And what a beautiful day to sit around drinking tea, reading a book, and selling stuff to passers by.

It went great! One early buyer got my hopes up with lots of purchases, making me quite apprehensive when things slowed down heavily until lunch time, but around lunch we made most of our sales in a couple hours. That included one woman from Argentina who basically bought me out of all the donated tiny sizes of women's clothing from my mom and Noha.

All told just today I raised over $187 by reselling stuff that other people were trying to get rid of anyway! I also still have a bunch of stuff left, and plan to get more donations from people as they're moving/cleaning out their spaces so I hope to do at least one more. In other words, it is not too late donate to the garage sale efforts. I've raised over $380 from reselling donated items. Continued huge thanks to everyone who has been funneling things to me, and please keep them coming!

Better about going to the gym than blogging about going to the gym

Fortunately if one had to choose either going to the gym or blogging about it to do, going to the gym is pretty unambiguously the higher priority. Still haven't hit my overall goals for gym attendance but April was an upswing and hopefully a good trajectory.

Also! I went for a run with Aurana around Greenlake. Ok, so we didn't jog all 3 miles straight but we did commit to meeting up 1-2 times a week to do it, and agreed that running with a buddy makes it way easier. I'm also excited to note that we agreed to tackle the bleachers at Greenlake - I think I need to start reminding my body what it means to go Up Up Up Up Up.

So here's the stats to close out April and start out May:

April Gym Visits: 8
Long walks: 4

Visit 1:
Miles jogged: 1
20 @ 45 lb chest press
30 @75 lb leg extension
30 @ 105 leg curls

Visit 2:
Miles on elliptical thingo: 1
Miles jogged: .85
30 @ 45 lb chest press
30 @ 90 lb leg extension
30 @105 lb leg press

Visit 3:
Miles on elliptical thingo: .9
20 @ 60 lb chest press
35 @ 90 lb leg extension
20 @ 120 lbs leg extension
70 crunches

And starting off May:
May Gym Visits: 1
Runs: 1

Miles jogged: 1.68
20 @ 45 lb chest press
30 @ 90 lb leg extension
25 @ 30 lb and 10 @ 45 lb shoulder press
30 @ 105 lb leg press
80 crunches


Cumulative Stats through April (I really need to figure out how to get a counter widgit)
Gym visits: 19
Hikes: 1
Long Walks: 4

As you wish!

Change in plan! The people have spoken and, as you wish, it will be the Princess Bride at the Grand Illusion (1403 Northeast 50th Street) on Sunday May 23rd from 1-3:30m

Yes, it's this classic as you've never seen it (well, at least as I've never seen it) - on a big screen surrounded by dozens of other fans. This movie has it all! Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...

This is a fundraiser! Tickets are $5 if you come as someone from the movie, or $7 if you don't. That being said I'd encourage that not everyone come as the Dread Pirate Roberts.

Why? As many of you may know by now, I've signed up for the crazy challenge of climbing up Mount Kilimanjaro in September and raising money for a British charity called Volunteer Services Overseas (http://www.vso.org.uk) on the way. The money I'm raising is going to fund projects such as HIV education efforts and giving people the knowledge and tools to build secure livelihoods.


Free popcorn comes with your ticket! You're welcome to bring any other snacks you want.

You're also welcome to bring drinks. There will be some wine and possibly other beverages on hand that may or may not contain iocane powder. Beverage donations are happily accepted, the better to allow people to build up their tolerance.

As this is a fundraiser I'm trying to fill every seat, because every ticket sold means more money going to the charity. So PLEASE RSVP. Tell your friends! Tell their friends! Just let me know how many people are coming. I'd love to fill all 70 seats in the theater.

TL;DR? The Princess Bride at the Grand Illusion, in support of a great cause. Tickets are $5 or $7 depending on your attire and come with popcorn. If you can donate beverages, let me know. RSVP and tell your friends!


If you can't attend but are interested in donating, you can do so online at http://original.justgiving.com/jessicablat

Finally hit 3/week

Tuesday, Friday, Sunday. Finally I went to the gym 3 times in one week. Since that's my general goal that shouldn't be remarkable - it's remarkable I hadn't hit it yet. Ah well. With everyone moving (my mother, girlfriend, and good friend) at once, things have been busy. Still now that I've finally hit my 3/week and seen it can be done, I hope to continue the trend.
I screwed up my foot mildly - it's already getting better but because of it I decided to use my running time this week doing ellipticals instead due to the reduced impact. While I found the exercise to be as good or better a workout as running, I also found it much easier to maintain the effort for longer. I may start doing this more often with running being a more occasional part of my routine.

April gym visits: 5
Long walks: 2

Some gym stats:
Visit 1: ran some, didn't note the distance
30x45 lbs chest press
15x75 lbs and 15x90 lb leg extension
30x90 kb leg extension
70 crunches

Visit 2:
1.35 miles on elliptical (26 minutes)
30x45lb chest press
30x90lb leg extension
60 crunches

Visit 3:
1.35 miles on elliptical (26 minutes)
30x30lb shoulder press
30x90lb leg extension
75 crunches

Also! Donations have continued to pour in for the Summer of Garage Sales. I have a ton of stuff to try to sell, but can and will always take more. Today was a milestone as today proceeds from sale of donated items passed $150!
And in more fundraising news the May Movie will be Army of Darkness at the Grand Illusion. Exact date is still TBD for now.

Quiz for a Cause

Had a fun night at the Blarney Stone courtesy of Jon and Geeks Who Drink. Not the biggest fundraiser ever but a relatively low-effort one at which people had fun. Raised $174 for VSO.


April Stats:
Gym visits: 2
Long walks: 2
Miles Run: .83 (was running on a tight schedule)
...some machines

Pub Quiz! For a Cause!

Pub Quiz for a Cause (proceeds supporting Voluntary Services Overseas) is less than a week away!

That's right, it's on Monday, April 12th at 8pm at the Blarney Stone at 1909 3rd Ave. Entry is $5 per person - part of that will go toward a cash purse for the winning team and the rest of will go to charity.

That means now is a great time to figure out who you know that could best fill out your pub quiz team due to their deep knowledge in the domains of trivia you yourself lack, and recruit them. If you've never done a pub quiz before, read here to learn more about what to expect: http://www.geekswhodrink.com/blog/index.php?p=26&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Teams are normally three or four people. Up to six is ok and less than three is also perfectly fine. If you don't have a pal or two who are interested in coming, let me know and I'll help lone trivia-goers team up.

In addition to offering a cash purse, we have some great prizes available for the top teams and the second-to-last team all on the theme of eating, drinking, and being merry with extra cash in your pocket. And of course, we'll be simultaneously raising money to support a great charity that does important work in some of the world's poorest nations.

Hope to see you Monday! Let me know if you have any questions at all. Bring your friends to share the fun! Bring your enemies so you can taunt them about your superior skills! Bring your coworkers as a way to blow off steam after a long day in the office! Bring someone you'd like to know better! Basically, invite anyone you've ever met!