I'm going bananas in the fight against leukaemia

As I'm sure you all know, I completed my first marathon this spring. This fall, I'm running a half marathon to raise money for Leukaemia Research UK. (Their running team is known as the Banana Army. I don't know why, and I don't really understand it, but that's where the title of this post comes from.)

You may have already received a plea from me, in which case feel free to ignore our sadly neglected blog until Meg writes something new. Or, read on to find out how you can help...

I'd love to raise £300 between now and October 5, 2008, so I'm running a little contest. Details can be found at my donations page: http://www.justgiving.com/meganhall.

As of this writing, I'm nearly half-way there thanks to donations from Mom & Dad, Grandpa, Kate, Mikaela, and Meg. I've gotten commitments from a few other people that will definitely get me to >50% - but I can still use your help getting all the way there!

If you're inclined to support me, I'd be thrilled and honored. Even $1 will get you an entry to the sweepstakes! And if you should happen to find yourself in London on October 5, I'll be wearing a bright yellow t-shirt and would love to high-five you on the way to the finish line.

Red Bull Air Races

We have also recently gone to the Red Bull Air Races. This is really cool, and if you have a chance to check it out you definitely should. Pilots flying <20 feet off the Thames between big air-filled pylons at 200+ miles per hour. Pretty incredible. Sometimes they'd misjudge the pylons and fly into them - they were made of special parachute-like material that was designed to explode or disintegrate in sections on impact to stay out of their propellers. Then the crew would stitch a new section back on and fill it full of air again and it would be back up in less than 5 minutes. Really spectacular.

For your viewing pleasure:

Update

I know, I know. No updates makes Megz bad cross-Atlantic bloggers. Sorry.

First, something fun to read today, following on from my last love of science post: How to define a gram.

Quick update: Since our last post, we've been to

• Edinburgh

• Glastonbury Music Festival (pictures still stuck in a different camera)

• Cape Cod for our god-daughter's baptism

• Meg also went to Germany to drive the Nurburgring

Meg's brother Rob and his wife Hilary are here visiting this week.

We're both crazy about/with work so apologies for lack of posts. Love to see you.