Yeah, not quite. So as anyone who has been subject to me for long enough will know, I love football. Not soccer, the European sort, but good old fashioned American football. Why? I mean, it is quite a slow game and there is this wonderful NFL invention called the TV time out. The answer is that it is the most strategic game I know, by a VERY wide margin. For better or worse, I actually really, REALLY enjoy explaining football to people who don’t understand it. This is much better when you are watching a game, either with TiVo or on a computer so you can pause the game and make people think about it … what would you do on second and long? Third and 1 in the red zone? Do you go for it on fourth down or not?
Well anyway Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday. The Super Bowl was broadcast starting at 1:30am Monday morning so needless to say, I did not watch it. But it figured in a number of my discussions over the weekend and then during the work week as I specifically tried to stay away from hearing the outcome so that I could watch on my computer. I was quite amused that the Monday morning sports clip on the radio contained not a peep about the Super Bowl. There was rugby, local soccer, European football, the race car driver whose hand was nearly severed, and the Ryder Cup. Full stop. It’s amazing, actually, how something that can be so important to so many people in one part of the world is completely ignored by another large section of the world. I suppose things like Bollywood and the Rugby World Cup are other examples.
Then again since the Pats weren’t in the game I didn’t really care that much anyway. Shame, I’m still smarting that they lost to the Jets. Well, there’s always next year and in between the Celtics and the Flyers.
The weekend I had was incredibly chilled, save for that I sprained my ankle Sunday morning but I’ll get to that in a bit. Saturday dinner at Carne was as good as always; I have now eaten there three times and have yet to walk away in any way disappointed. Although the first time with the Henley crew was still the best because the food and wine was free.
Sunday, Sunday. Sunday began bright and early with a lovely walk on Camps Bay beach (Lion’s Head was shrouded in cloud anyway), and all I will say at this point is that I think I get far too much credit for the simple knowledge that mid-field and 20 rows up is the ideal place to watch a sports game. But hey, some people are impressed by my ability to drink beer. Feeling like I’d been awake for about 6 hours at this point I went off to get bendy at yoga, and then I immediately met up with a crew to hike to crystal pools. Now I hadn’t planned very well because I didn’t allocate time to eat breakfast in all of this, and so I was munching biltong, almonds, and dried cranberries in the car ride.
When we parked I proved yet again what a klutz I am (so much for the CrossFit competencies of balance, agility, etc.!) when I managed to sprain my ankle walking down the road. It wasn’t bad though so I did the hike anyway but I wasn’t able to jump off any cliffs or even swim very much because the ankle was tender. And I fell down about 6 more times because my ankle just couldn’t take normal movements. Still, it was great fun! Afterwards, we sampled “the best” fish & chip shop around, although we all had very paleo non-battered, non-floured, fish.
Then I iced my ankle about 10 times.
This work week has been quite busy and stressful and it’s only half done. Other than the usual activities, I had, in no particular order, the return of our Hub host, several hours of presentations at the V&A Waterfront, a number of tours of the Hub, a mini-management team meeting, a visit to Mama Rosie’s GrowZone, and filming of a video about the Hub. Guess that’s the big stuff. Then this evening I was busy refining a proposal to government (love how they meet on Monday, don’t give you feedback until after COB on Wednesday then you must revise the document ASAP … well, no different than any other startup I suppose), and working on sales collateral. A special thanks to Kate Mosteller who imparted some kick-ass marketing and competitive positioning wisdom to me in the Exit41 days.
Speaking of Exit41, some big layoffs there recently. This is my old company. Interesting times, certainly; I don’t really have access to the inside scoop and what I do know or have heard is obviously not for public consumption but it’s definitely interesting to watch your old company from afar.
Strange week; my friend from America gets in Friday so this week I had tried not to plan too much and so of course wound up working too much. Monday afternoon at the V&A I had the strange distinction of bumping into someone in the halls who swore she knew me (turns out she recognized me from the Trail Series!), and then had a stunning evening with one of my friends from the gym sitting on the patio talking about work, work permits, mutual friends, CrossFit, and a host of other things. Part of this conversation was discussing what I was just musing on in my last blog post about how we are often the last to see in ourselves the behaviour that we see in others. This is coming up as an extremely recurring theme this last week or so for me. I wonder if I have some huge blind spot that someone is going to point out soon and I am just becoming prepared?
I finally watched the Super Bowl Tuesday night. Steelers, Packers, and an incredibly good game, as I had heard. Thanks to Tim for first of all downloading the game, and secondly for providing me with some tasty home brewed beer (ok, yes, I had smuggled in some key ingredients, granted). But football without beer, well, it just wouldn’t be quite right now would it?
In other news my ankle was nearly healed by Tuesday, and swelling almost gone by Wednesday. Apparently if I were a super hero, my super power would be fast healing.
• “What happens now, do you move on to the next level?” “It doesn’t work that way – this isn’t a computer game!” – Dan, Ellie
• “There’s nothing average about you.” – Jobst (this was meant as a compliment but came out more like “you’re not at all normal”!)
• “There is no emoticon for this.” – Wayne (when I told him I twisted my ankle)
• “I tell you this, I’ve been here many many years and that’s what I’ve learned – everything happens for a reason.” – Jacques
• “Alcohol and spreadsheets do not mix. Trust me.” – Ellie
• “A double-headed phoenix.” – Peter
• “Coffee, muffins, yes. Torture, rape, no. Not on a Friday morning at least, I’m not really a morning person.” – Jacques
• “Just because you’re rationalizing doesn’t make it wrong.” – Ellie
• “… teams called the Packers and the Steelers? I mean, it sounds like a shipping company!” – Jaco
• “Don’t get me started.” “HAHAHAHAHAHA!” – Ellie, Jaco
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