November Review

The November review a bit late.

This might be the last lockdown notes:

• First week reaching zero, everyone off to the beach !
• No masks and no fines, not very fair for anyone fined in the past
• The new medical term is people 'shedding' the virus
• Or a clever way to keep our streak of zero days going
• The latest estimate for a vaccine available in Australia is March
• Spent six months in lockdown then a vaccine shows up sooner than expected
• The 'experts' are back to making up random reasons for restrictions
• Victoria mask changes depend on what happens in NSW and New Zealand
• Which is strange because neither of those places have mask rules
• The new favourite headlines:
• The first fortnight without a case since March
• The longest streak without a case since X
• I think we get it by now
• Meanwhile Europe and USA are hitting new records each day
• They have no plan besides getting a vaccine to end the carnage
• A fresh outbreak in SA
• Most states quickly shut their borders again
• Victoria was the last to react - and we still haven't been allowed in SA yet
• The latest incremental change to rules
• Only exemption for masks is if you're outside and not in a 'crowd'
• Continue to justify a rule that no other state has now, or has ever heard
• But 25% office workers are expected to return to work regardless
• 25% seems pointless, just makes meeting more difficult to 100% online
• Great timing for summer - travel in the heat *and* wear a mask all day
• Every day hear about the poor city cafes
• Borders gradually opening to Victoria again, at long last
• Stamp duty cuts to help real estate
• House prices have barely decreased
• The one industry that doesn't need help

Back to the usual.

Still no running events on the calendar, but I was able to buy some old race photos during a sale - City 2 Sea 2014 and Townsville 2018 to remember the good times...

I just managed to record a new PB for 10km, 37:34 is slightly ahead of two 'official' race times, one was definitely short at 9.84 kilometres and I was slowing down at the end. The only other exciting thing is getting close to retiring a few more pairs of old shoes to exchange for some new ones, just a few more weeks to go. I ordered one new pair of Nike React Infinity Run which are claimed to 'help reduce injury'.

City 2 Sea 2014

The sharemarket had the best month since 1988. I made a whole $2000 due to A2 Milk dropping and Afterpay keeps bouncing up and down...

The NBA draft and offseason transactions are underway, before the restart in late December. It seems like a lot more change occurred than usual, but the number of terrible new contracts remained. There's probably no sign of a Seattle team coming back for the moment, not sure if I can support Kevin Durant with Brooklyn. And despite a bad start Manchester United aren't too far behind the top of the Premier League table for now. With a game in hand they might be back to their 'usual' fifth place.

There's nothing much to report in the to do list at the moment:

• Holiday
• Is it safe to book a short holiday yet ?
• Is everything booked out already ?

Been as busy as ever at work but might have an easier period for a couple of weeks up to Christmas. It was looking like a lot of weekend work was going to be required, but ended up only being one day so far.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None
• Music
• None
• TV
• Survivor South Africa season 6
• Only half way through, better than Australia and NZ
• The Purge season 2
• The first season was alright, this one was a disappointment
• 3 out of 10
• The Stranger
• Quibi series - 13 short episode about the length of a movie
• The story was just ridiculous
• 2 out of 10
• Wireless
• Quibi series again
• A college kid trapped in his car in an ice storm
• To pass the time they show his phone activity - face time, social media, etc.
• The problem was the guy was just non-stop messing around on his phone
• What a surprise when his phone battery runs out at the worst time
• 4 out of 10
• Video Games
•  Xbox One
• Fallout 4
• Finished off the main storyline with different endings
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• The horse is just so slow travelling across the map