UlaanBaatar-Day 2

5pm - Walked back from meetings in the parliament in a mix of freezing rain/snow under black clouds - temperature approximately -7 degrees.
5.30pm - fell asleep.
8pm - Woken by phone call summoning me for dinner and it's bright and sunny outside.
Conclusion: bizarre country.

UlaanBaatar-Day 1

I have to say that Ulaanbaatar is not the most beautiful capital I've ever been to. OK, let me rephrase that, it is probably the ugliest by a long way. My last three trips (to Sana'a (Yemen), Rangoon and Kabul) were cities that looked like Paris in Spring compared to UB. Sure it has its charms (if you like soviet apartment buildings and statues of Lenin) but its not going to win any Prince Charles architecture prizes. The addition of green space might of helped, or that crazy new fangled fad of pavements, ah well it may just be the jet lag making me mean. But, if Mongolia *is* indeed the most beautiful place in the world then the countryside must be pretty terrific (this, I can believe).
I managed to bump into a small demonstration in the main square with compelling pulsating soviet style nationalist music but I have no idea what it was all about. Was the man waving the Green Tree flag from the Mongolian Green Party? Is there a Mongolian Green Party? Are they as powerful as their German comrades? (I can answer one of these three questions).

To be fair the Mongolians have been very friendly and relaxed. They even laughed with me as I ran my 4 miles through the car fumes and debris amidst the thunder storm. One check in the good things about UlaanBaatar column maybe the fact that the police wear high heeled boots and skirts (but of course I didn't notice).

My conference doesn't start til Wednesday so tomorrow I will endeavor to explore further (if the arctic rain eases off).

Sunday 4am-Beijing Airport

Relaxing with a latte a dsl connection at a cafe in Beijing airport. Strangely enough the Mongolian airlines staff with their funny hats and jet black horses won't let me check in yet.

The genius of Beijing being 12 hours ahead is that you don't have to change your watch.

I shouldn't have checked in on Henrik. While I was flying over Siberia he managed to shoot a 6 over par in Memphis and is now almost last...I can't turn my back for a moment!

Updates from the land of Ghenggis Khan to follow.

Fleeing to Mongolia

Off to Mongolia this morning (as one does). Two hours to Chicago, 17 to Bejing and then a few more to Ulaanbattar. I shall endeavor to blog when I am in the land of ger and yaks.

Bjornstad-Friday Update

In the conditions, Henrik posted a very solid even-par 70, which left him +4 for the Fed-Ex Memphis PGA tournament, tied for 65th and through to weekend play and a check on Sunday. Again he found the water (leading to a double bogey) but three birdies and some long early putts kept him in the game. He is showing poise, maturity and the return of his putting touch. I hope that he climbs the leaderboard over the weekend and earns enough to catapult him forward from his 100th position on the money list.

Fed-Ex St.Jude Classic Leaderboard

Daw Suu Kyi to be released tomorrow?

Will Daw Suu Kyi be released tomorrow?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5019024.stm

Not that it would be enough for us celebrate on the streets (the tatmadaw are quite likely to let her out for a few months and then come up with some other ruse to return her to Inya Lake when they realise that she remains an icon to the Burmese).

Above is a photo I took of the back of her house (across the lake from the Sedona Hotel) in August of last year. Suu Kyi's house is mostly hidden by the trees in the right side of the frame.

Henrik-Thurs Fed-Ex Classic Memphis

It was the hardest day on the tour so far for all the players. Only 23 (out of 150) golfers were under par. It was gusting wind enough to put the Penzance lifeboat back in dock. Littlebear shot a 4 over par 74 which sounds bad, but he had some amazing up and downs and sank some great putts. In some ways it was one of his best rounds of the season. He held it together and is just one shot off the cut line. I think he needs to shoot at least a 69 (-1) today (Friday).

Southern Sudan

Susan in Southern Sudan sends some pictures of a porridge line and school in Eastern Equatoria which the quiz night's have raised some money to help out in a small way (and hoping to do more).

Taylor Wins-Justice is done

You all know my irrational passion for McPheever but it was just and right that Taylor won. Both will do just fine professionally and Taylor, on average, was the better performer. I'm guessing it wasn't even close last night. Well done Taylor! I shall now miss Tuesday's with John but I'm sure we can find a new sliver of high culture to obsess about on a weekly basis.

Hippo's Soccer Season ends

The Hippo's last match was Saturday bringing to a close another successful season (about 5-1-2 by my estimation). The last game was a thriller with my team managing to pull out a 3-2 victory in the dying minutes. Even sweeter as it was the best goal of the season -- Phil played an inch perfect ball over the back four to the goal line, I crossed to a crowded box and John scored with the most terrific header in the top right corner.




All very satisfying.

Quiz Night

In a tight battle the Eastern Euro/Pakistani grad students team beat out the American/Argentinian/SouthAfrican grad students to take the mugs in the #5 Mosley-Reynolds quiz night. Around 30 quizees joined us at the treehouse and a significant number of those actually enjoyed themselves.

The borders round proved pretty easy but Layna's Flora and Fauna round was clearly a killer.

$160 raised for a Burmese refugee school in Chaing Mai (Thailand).

Henrik-Saturday Update

Bjornstad held it together in the third round of the Colonial in Texas. A solid 69 (-1) with a few great putts and par scrambles. He is now tied for sixth and two shots off the lead with the final round tomorrow. A top ten finish will be fantastic if he can hold it together for one more day. But is it too fanciful to hope for Henrik's first PGA tour victory on my birthday!?

Sunday Melt Down

Well, tis was not to be. Henrik Bjornstad blew up big time shooting a 76 (+6) in the Colonial final round and slipping all the way back to -2, tied for 4oth place.

We shall not focus on the negative, rather delight in the fact that Henrik shot his best round of the season (64) on Friday, was in contention til this morning, and made some money. This all bodes well for next week. I am off to Mongolia on Saturday but I'm sure they follow Henrik in Ulaanbaattar too!

Maddy-Atticus sporting achievements

Playing at short stop Atticus had a terrific pop up catch and scored the only run of the lightening called Braves v. Brewers game last night.

In her Tuesday track meet with the wonderful Chapel Hill Pacers running club, led by layna's icon (Olympian) Joan Nesbit-Mabe, Maddy posted an 8.01 minute mile (beating her previous record by 16 seconds! (Sub 8 is only a stride away).

So proud of both of them.

Oh Happy Day!

Henrik's best round of the season! A stellar six under par 64, one bogey, and seven birdies, and puts sunk from all over the place - littlebear's best putting round in the U.S. without a doubt. His first nine was a creditable 35 (-1) but then he played the first nine (his second) in 30 with 5 tough birdies.

He has shot up the leaderboard to a tie for 8th and is three off the lead at -7.

Let's hope he can hold it together for the weekend.
A pic of the treehouse on this fair summer's evening to celebrate.

Henrik versus Me

Okay, a new competition to watch as American Idol goes off the air. It may not have 50 million viewers as yet but I have high hopes that it will spread like bird flu among the viewing public on both sides of the Atlantic (and of course in Palau which remains one of my chief constitutional design cases for my new book Doctors of Design, Sultans of Systems: Seeing the ailing nation through the eyes of the medicine man (forthcoming when written)).

The competition is this - each week I shall post my score and Henrik has to beat it in his Thursday round. Now Henrik is a lot younger (do I hear 'a lot better/more attractive'?) than I so we shall play with our handicaps. I play off 6, and Henrik (being a professional) I estimate plays off +2 (that means he should shoot two under par for a given round). Therefore on a par 72 course I should shoot 78 and Henrik should shoot 70 - if we did it would be a tie. If he shoots 9 or lower than I then he wins that week.

Now there are some obvious riders:
1. Henrik doesn't know we are playing (advantage Henrik, less pressure).
2. Henrik plays courses which are much longer, much harder, and much more tricky than I do (advantage me).
3. I only have to play in front of three people max - [oh hold on, so does Henrik -- Ola, Jan-Erik and the guy from the country club in Charlotte] (its a wash).
4. Henrik gets to practice all the time whereas I only get to practice 3/4 times a week (advantage Henrik).
5. Henrik isn't unhinged (advantage me).
6. Henrik rarely gets to take mulligans under official PGA rules (advantage me).



So, we begin:

Me:
May 17, 2006
Course: Chapel Hill Country Club, NC
Par: 72
My score: 78 (+6)

Henrik:
May 18, 2006
Course: Colonial Country Club, TX
Par: 70
Henrik's score: 69 (-1)

Ooohhh so close. Unlucky littlebear.

Reynolds 1
Bjornstad 0

Better day for Henrik

Good scrambling, great putting and a more confident mind set gave Henrik a one under par 69 at the Bank of America tournament in Fort Worth TX today (Thursday). Another good round tomorrow and he should make his first cut in a month.

Leaderboard here

Katie vs. Taylor

The 33% three way split between Katie, Taylor and Elliott was remarkable. That's 17 million votes each and glory or disaster was only measured in the thousands. While I expected Elliott to go the closeness was a surprise - he was a stellar participant and no doubt he will do just fine for himself.

Much as I adore Katie I have to be honest and say that on the basis of the competition so far Taylor deserves to win. When he's in his Joe Cocker, Bruce Springstein, Doobie Brths zone he is terrific.

Vegetable Garden Armageddon

The insurgency began slowly. A dislodged corn leaf, a nibbled pumpkin seed, a loose sunflower sprout discarded.

I strung around rope and hope to deter the deer from leaping but they sent in their quisling minions under the cover of darkness. Perhaps they are rabbits in disguise as hares? The black and tans of the rabid raccoons or is it the Ghengis Squirels who torment the Cardinals at the bird feeder? Who knows? But what I do know is that the conflict has moved to high intensity and the insurgents are winning.

Pumpkin seeds have been ripped from where they nestle, sunflower sprouts do not last the night and then yesterday the final coup de grace -- the rebels devastated the month old corn rows. The crime scene photo above is the only one I could show - the others were just too upsetting for young eyes.

So what is to be done? The evil attack furries just seem to go for the pumpkin,sunflowers and corn. Any advice on my defensive strategy now? I am at a loss.

Bjornstad-maybe next week

Cest la Vie. Henrik didn't make the cut for the third week in a row. He never recovered from a double bogey on the first hole of his second round and ended up with 73-75 for +8 mssing the cut by a full seven shots.

http://www.henrikbjornstad.no/wip4/

Littlebear says hes just not feeling right - thnking to much, not letting himself flow into the game and having a tough time with his confidence on the greens.

Next week it is the Bank of America Colonial Tournament in Ft.Worth TX.

I feel like HB needs a solid Thurs-Fri and a cut made to regain his fragile confidence.

As ever, I remain loyal.

Another tough day for littlebear Henrik

Tournament: Byron Nelson in Texas
Round 1 score: 73 (+3)
5 bogies 2 birdies.

Once again Henrik struggled with his putter. Averaging 2.2 putts per green in regulation and hitting only 50% of the greens in regulation. He usually averages 1.7 putts (which is still only 110th on tour) 2.2 would put him dead last among all players on tour - so today was a poor putting round even for Henrik.

To make the cut tomorrow I guessing Henrik needs to shoot 68 (-2) or lower - we keep the faith!

Idol - A great injustice has been done.

It takes a lot for me to say this but Katie should have gone. It was quite remarkable that Chris (of the three remaining guys) should have got the lowest number of votes. The last Carolinian falls :(

My new hypothesis is roughly this: Chris and Katie have core constituencies that are less vulnerable to mood swings in public opinion; Taylor has a core that is a little more open to fluctuate depending on his performance on any given Tuesday; while Elliott has the most elasticity in his vote share. All that means that Chris's rocker constituency maxed out when it came to a four way race and despite how good he was he didn't have the base to keep him in. Katie could sing poorly and her base kept her in at third. Elliott has to sing well (which he did on Elvis week) to supplement his smaller core and remain in the hunt.

Think of it this way - let say 70% of voters are 'core' and always vote for their candidate ('yellow dog idols'), while 30% vote on the basis of performance on any given week (rational idols).

This week the 'core' voters might have looked like this:

Katie: 30% (21%) of core - 10% (3%) of float = 24% overall
Taylor: 25% (17%) of core - 30% (9%) of float = 26% overall
Chris: 25% (17%) of core - 20% (6%) of float = 23% overall
Elliott: 20% (14%) of core - 40% (12%) of float = 26% overall

Thus Chris is last despite winning twice as many of the performance based votes as Katie.

If this were true, and Chris's core voters equally scattered to become core voters for the remaining three, it would suggest a core that broke down the following way next week:

Katie: 40% of core (28%)
Taylor: 33% of core (23%)
Elliott: 27% of core (19%)

If the yellow dog core voters remained 70% of the total then Elliott would have to take about 12% more of the floaters than Taylor to beat him and around 30% more than Katie to beat her. Clearly it is possible but for Elliott to stay in he needs to sing better than taylor and MUCH better than Katie. (Although I'll grant that Chris core voters are more likely to defect to Elliott or Taylor than they are to switch to Katie).

Still, I am predicting a Taylor-Katie final two.

'Littlebear' - Henrik & I Story

Ola blogs about Henrik and I...can anyone translate from the Norwegian?

http://www.vgb.no/4

A little Norwich Good News

Very exciting news that Robert Green is in the World Cup Squad as England's third goalkeeper. As Sven has decided to take only four strikers (one disabled [Rooney], one injured [Owen], one freakishly tall [Crouch], and one who hasn't played football before [Walcott]) its highly likely Robbie Green will be playing up front by the end of the tournament.

Thank you Sven.

Provisional squad:
Robinson (Tottenham), James (Manchester City), Green (Norwich); G Neville (Manchester United), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Terry (Chelsea), Cole (Arsenal), Campbell (Arsenal), Carragher (Liverpool), Bridge (Chelsea), Beckham (Real Madrid), Carrick (Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Jenas (Tottenham), Downing (Middlesbrough), J Cole (Chelsea), Lennon (Tottenham), Rooney (Manchester United), Owen (Newcastle), Crouch (Liverpool), Walcott (Arsenal).

Standby:
Carson (Liverpool), Young (Charlton), Reo-Coker (West Ham), Defoe (Tottenham), Johnson (Crystal Palace).

Henrik Bjornstad, I presume?

Last Thursday I drove down to leafy Charlotte NC to see up close for the first time the object of my obsession, Mr Henrik Bjornstad, professional golfer, carpenter, Norwegian. The Quail Hollow Golf Club home of the Wachovia Open is a really lovely mix of lush green fairways, heavy woods and ponds. It was about 90 degrees in the shade and I'd smartly left my sun block back in the car in the park and ride a good 15 miles away.

Hendrik was teeing off at 1.50pm so at about 12.30pm I made my way to the driving range where golfers and their entourages were warming up. I found Henrik in the middle and stood behind him for about 10 minutes watching him power crisp irons to a green apparently miles away. Then I befriended Ola, a journalist from the main Norwegian newspaper VG whose fun job is to follow Henrik around to satiate the insatiable Norwegian desire for Henrik updates. Then thrill of thrills Henrik walked over to say hi and after a brief discussion with Ola in Norwegian (where I'm pretty sure I picked up the phrases "American fan" "blogger" "be careful, could be a stalker") the Bear-man himself shook my hand and thanked me for coming to see him. I then joined the Norwegian crew (initially four of us: Ola, the 'Team Norway Golf Coach' Jan-Erik, and a Norwegian tennis pro at a Charlotte Country Club) to walk Henrik around the course. It was *so* much fun and the Norwegians really made me feel like part of the pitt crew holding a backstage pass as part of the entourage.

Henrik and Jan-Erik http://www.vgb.no/2273/perma/59569

(credit: Ola Stenberg)

Henrik didn't have the greatest day scoring wise but in parts he hit the ball very nicely. He is incredibly focused on the course, showing that renown Norwegian stoicism that drove Thor Heyerdahl to naviate the globe in a tea-cup and their cross country snow-swushers to dominate all before them. He was level par on his front nine, hitting from tee to green solidly but not able to make any putts. Sadly he then let it slip on the second nine dropping 4 shots and shooting 76. He may have been somewhat distracted by the club assistant pro he was paired with who managed to hack his way around to a horrible 84 on the first day, and an amazing 88 the next day (frankly, with my 6 handicap, I could have given this guy a game).

Even though he didn't play so well it was still a delight to walk around and see Bjornstad play -- much better than following the little red man on the PGA's tourcast website. After signing my hat Henrik even had the class to apologise to me for the way he played at the end of the round...how often does Vijay or Sergio do that!? As I said, "Henrik, I am loyal...I'll be as supportive when you shoot 76 as when you shoot 59" - well it may not be strictly true, but you get my drift.

(Above: Apparently the 'best' pic Ola took of me at the tournament - if this is the 'best' I am hugely worried about the level of stress I am under).

Crucially, I have great new nuggets of information for the Bjornstad files.

1. His nicknames are 'littlebear' and 'uncle henka' (not clear which is to be used by non-family members)

2. Henrik has a webpage:

http://www.henrikbjornstad.no

and a blog!

http://www.vgb.no/2273/perma/59569/

(Yes, I realise its in Norwegian but I'm working on translation software)

and his own wikiepedia entry:

http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrik_Bj%C3%B8rnstad

3. If you can cope with the Norwegian there appears to be real time updates by Ola on the VG website

http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=115516

Next week Henrik is playing at the Byron Nelson Championship in Texas...lets hope after two missed cuts he can make one. I think by far the chief area for improvement is his putting. He really has great skill and distance from tee to green and even when he is slightly offline with his drives he can still usually muscle the ball out of the rough to the green. But his putting average of 1.78 per hole ranks his 110th on tour and you just get the feeling that his confidence on the green is not quite where it could be. My prediction is that as soon as uncle henka gets on a putting streak and feels like he's going to make those long putts he will start to do very well. We live in hope.

Forget Paris-IDOL

No surprise that Paris was in the bottom two but I think Elliott should have really gone first. Paris is a great singer (as shown in her second song on Tues) but she was really caught inbetween a teenage persona and adult vixen, neither quite worked and thus her likeability was ultimately not high enough to carry her into the top four.

I have to believe Elliott is next, but if he steps up next week and someone does poorly, it is anyone's guess.

Still hoping Katie makes it through to the head to head....the Mcpheever is now more of an long term illness than bird flu.

American Idol-5 remain

An up and down show last night, the judges patter is getting tired and Ryan needs to do something new with simon, he's losing me.

Elliott: Pretty mediocre this week, first song was too trembly, second was too boring and unfamiliar. Is it finally his week to go home? For someone who looks like a Mossad agent he's gone a surprisingly long way.

Paris: First song was really a bit weird but the second one was very strong. I thought the second time at bat kept her in the competition. Plus the SNTV electoral system which discriminates against minorities (when there are multiple candidates and they are splitting the vote) doesn't hurt her when she's the only African American left in the race.

My Katie (shown): Alright, so I'll admit, the first song was not great - was she nervous? Lost Focus? Who knows...but what i do know is that she doesn't look like Phil Collins...Phil Collins is not what I think of when my katie appears (self-censoring here). But the second song was SO good. Well sung, sassy, different. If she goes tonight I'll be shocked.

Chris: Look (said in a very South African way) This is what he does - he does hard/classic rock and he does it well. If the constituency is there he's not going home.

Taylor: "Play that funky music white boy"? Well, he got away with the first song and then (despite much nervousness on our part) he performed the only major Beatles song to be written by George Harrison very nicely. Quality entertainment.

Paula drunkeness meter: Blue-Not high

Who is going home?: I have to say Elliott, but who knows at this stage.

Peace in Sudan?

It's been almost two years now since I was last in Kenya floating around the fringes of the Sudan peace talks and advising the SPLM on democratic design/election issues but since then very little has changed when you look at the reality as opposed to the pact on paper.

The appalling destruction of humanity and livelihoods in the West (Darfur) continues virtually unchecked, the south remains a pandora's box of challenges, while there are growing tensions between Khartoum and the Beja in the East.

Having been there, and being so close to decisions being made about the future of the country, this of course makes me feel so exasperated. In there photo above are Lam Akol and Riek Machar of the SPLM - we worked closley together on their ideas for how the Sudan should be politically arranged but Darfur was a subject off the table. Today Lam is the Foreign Minister of the Sudan (in the new power sharing government) while Riek is the Deputy President of the South. I have *no idea* what they are doing behind the scenes but I do hope that they are pressing as strongly for minority rights, inclusion and decency in Darfur as they did when they spoke to me so passionately about the rights of African-Sudanese in the South and pockets of Khartoum.


Behind the scenes the Bush administration has just as much influence over the SPLM as you might expect, and while the southerners are only one part of the jigsaw which leads to overall Sudan government policy - they are now a part. So let us hope that they can help Bashir and his thugs realise that the space for them to behave without regard to law or morals is getting smaller (even if that space for evil has not been completely as yet).