Green Smoothies?!?

118 188 recently launched a service in the UK whereby you can ask any question by text message and they will send you an answer. Any Question Answered (63336) have been doing this for years.

Today, I had a question. (I have been experimenting with alternatives to coffee in the morning)

I just bought a freshly-made smoothie this morning. It contained red berries, juice, yoghurt and an energy shot. It was pink/red but now it has changed green. Why?

Both sent me an answer within a few minutes, but you can see the quality of the answers really varies:

118 118: If you refrigerated the smoothie, the color might not change but if it does, that indicates that it already passed out. Thank you!

63336: Fresh cut or mashed fruit oxidise rapidly in the air. Depending on the initial mixture can go brown or greenish colour. Lemon juice would slow the rot.

Passed out??? That's not even proper English! (neither is color). Dubious.

Very impressed with 63336's answer though. Explained the problem, and gave a solution. I'm off to tell Pure California to put some lemon juice in their smoothies...

Bit of a random blog, I know. Have been enjoying things far too much to blog :-)

I built an awesome path (challenging and rewarding, painful afterwards), went on my first stag do (crazy and great times with old friends) and may or may not have participated in a "very irresponsible" party on the tube ahead of "them" banning alcohol on it (one of the most random nights of my life). Tomorrow I'm going back to school.

Yes, I am working too :-)

Maybe the smoothie was going green to celebrate World Environment Day.

London, Induction Week, Roundabouts, Barcelona and Urban Golf

Wow, it's been quite some time. How things have changed.

This is going to be one of those "compress everything into one big post" things, just to warn you!

A joyous train journey – with all my valued possessions crammed into two very large suitcases – saw me make the move to London on March 7th to embark on the great career.

And it started off pretty great, with a week-long induction welcoming the ten of us into the Business Technology Consultants programme. There was lots of corporate branding, several Vice-Presidents, lots of chocolate and coffee to fuel us and (of course) some great team-building activities. By the end of the week I knew I was in the right place – a very valued business unit and intimate community within Capgemini with loads of opportunity to develop and find my place in a company that is innovating, progressing, growing and leading.

Then the shock of the first assignment as all of us were whisked away to the small town of Telford – roundabout capital of the world – for our first taste of the consultant lifestyle of long train journeys and living in generic hotels… and working long hours on a high profile and very time-critical project for a very big client. It was a lot of fun, and a good chance for us to bond further as a group, within the confines of our generic hotel in our generic business park of course. Although we did make a few notable forays outside, including one to marvel at the very first iron bridge in the world (in a town coincidentally called Ironbridge) and enjoy some fantastic Thai food.

And I spontaneously spent a weekend in or near Barcelona, mainly to piss someone off by missing their phenomenal party, but also to see a whole load of AIESECers who’d come over for Iberoamerica's regional conference. Best moment was arriving at the hotel at midnight and being greeted very loudly by 20 Venezuelans most of whom didn’t know I was coming :-) Great stuff.

They've come a long way. Last year we were less than half that number at the conference, and the AIESEC Venezuela was officially "on alert". So I felt very proud that those two things had turned around and the country is now a full member once again, and to hear about the successes of some of the accounts that I had started. It was really great to be in that atmosphere again, but I also know it was the right decision and it was time to move on.

It was really fun exploring Barcelona – it's a really vibrant city with a very nice lifestyle. I do miss the adventure of life in another country a little. I think it's the uncertainly, not knowing quite what to expect, being surprised by things. That happens less in London.

But it does feel good to be living here. There's a lot going on. I've had a lot of fun doing all those typical touristy things with various visitors from around the world. Last weekend Drew and Lina came to visit. The highlight was definitely Urban Golf. What an idea! Right in the middle of Soho, you can find yourself anywhere in the world playing golf. Naturally, we chose Pebble Beach, California. The idea is you have a big projector screen, and a set of very nice (and real) golf clubs and a bunch of balls to whack right into the screen, where they magically turn into virtual balls in a kind of Wii-like experience but on a much grander and more realistic scale.

At one point Drew did manage to get a ball to rebound off the roof and hurtle towards our table – where it could have caused havoc and only narrowly missed about three glasses. Apparently nobody's been injured "yet". I'd certainly feel much safer if they provided helmets. They should also give you 3D glasses and have a small fan to simulate the fresh air that I think is quite an integral part of the golfing experience. Golf carts would be a plus too. Man, it could be so much better! Anyone else have experiences with unusual sporting locations or novel simulation ideas? Or slightly crazy things to do in London?