fast, then slow

Booyah! 5k @ 23:12.09, which totally rocks, but better still was the full 8.58k: 40:18 (my stopwatch stops recording fractional seconds past 30 minutes, I think). I am WELL pleased with that.

lessons

lesson learned, but forgotten: strategically-applied bandaids mitigate chafing. remembering this after 1k isn't the best of timing.
lesson learned, and remembered: shower gel containing mint particles is not the best thing to put on said chafing.

bad science in canvassing

It's election season over here: the longest running Dáil in Irish history is shutting down and being replaced on May 24th. Various parties are, as expected, promising to do more and more for less and less: more police, more hospital beds, more investment in education, all with lower taxes and increased tax relief for various things. The Progressive Democrats, the current "junior" party in the incumbent coalition, are claiming in their election manifesto that every time they've been in power, tax rates have gone down dramatically, and therefore the right thing to do for lower taxes is to put them back in power again. They've even got a nice graph to illustrate their point. Of couse, what they're not mentioning is that they've never actually held the Finance portfolio at any point.

Irish Traffic Navigation System

(as described by The Panel members)

"turn left. at. the bridge. turn right. at. the bridge. *pause* I don't. know where. we are."
"turn right where O'Neill's shop used to be. D'you remember?"
"Have you not been here before?"
"Ask. the man. for directions."