Sunday, February 14, 2021

2020 Review

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The middle of February seems like a good time for a goals and yearly review.

These were the goals I put down before ten months of quarantine happened, so this will be interesting.


  • Blog (25%)
    • 16 out of 50 - there wasn't much to write about...
  • Car (100%)
    • The old Mitsubishi Lancer engine died before I got to offload it
  • Fitness
    • Bike (0%)
      • For much of the year we had a 5 km and 1-2 hour outdoors limit, so not ideal to start bike riding
    • Run (25%)
      • A good year in running given the circumstances
      • I have a daily running streak still going from March 3 to February 14
      • 5 km - around 18:00, not sure I can claim sub 18 minutes though
      • 10 km - around 37:30 in a race, best time with an accurate course distance
      • 21 km - no races
      • 4300+ km - well ahead of 3000 km
      • 5 of 10 new parkrun events - got halfway there before March
      • 1 of 5 new race events
      • 0 of 2 new interstate events
      • 0 of 1 new international events
    • Weight (20%)
      • 74 kg all year instead of 75 kg, not getting much closer to 70 kg
  • Food (0%)
    • Haven't really made any changes
    • Too many lockdown donuts - actual donuts
  • Holiday (5%)
    • This will be on hold for a while now
      • 0 of 1 interstate holiday
      • 0 of 1 international holiday
    • Managed to reach South Australia just before the end of the year
  • House (1%)
    • You'd think this year's business and job impacts would slow down house prices, but no
    • I have some preferred locations, not much of an achievement
    • Should be able to manage a deposit and home loan with the current ultra-low interest rates
  • Money (100%)
    • Shares
      • A rollercoaster ride
        • Lost 40% in 4 weeks
        • Back where it started in another 12 weeks
      • Somehow finished with a 50% gain
      • Investment loan would be negative overall, was forced to sell some
    • Super
      • Up about 10% including new contributions, a bit less than the previous year
      • Hard to really make sense of that given the extra amount invested
  • Music (20%)
    • 1 of 5 events
      • February - The New Pornographers
  • Reading (0%)
    • None
  • Sport (0%)
    • AFL - none in Victoria
    • NBL - Sydney made the NBL finals
      • But coincided with restrictions so it wasn't an option to attend a match in Sydney
  • Study (0%)
    • 0 of 1 exam certification
  • To Do List (0%)
    • Nothing of major significance besides this list
  • Video Games (40%)
    • Nintendo Switch
      • Setup and finished some games
        • New Super Mario U Deluxe
        • New Super Mario U Deluxe - Luigi U
        • Super Mario Odyssey
        • Zelda - Breath Of The Wild
        • Zelda - Link's Awakening
    • Xbox One
      • Finished some games very slowly
        • Fallout 4
        • Forza Horizon 3
        • Red Dead Redemption 2
  • Work (75%)
    • Got a promotion finally
    • Spent the whole year on one project, but generally enjoyable
    • Not being expected to travel to work 5 days a week was a good side effect
    • Currently undecided about long term goals, with the same company or elsewhere


A few favourites from the year:
  • Movies
    • Knives Out - the only movie I got to watch at a cinema
  • TV
    • All Or Nothing - both Philadelphia Eagles and Tottenham
    • Better Call Saul
    • Fear The Walking Dead
    • Rosehaven
    • Ted Lasso
    • The Last Dance - great NBA footage
    • The Last Man On Earth - sometimes great, sometimes not
    • Utopia

That's it for last year...

Sunday, February 07, 2021

January Review

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 The monthly review is running late already.


The lockdown notes.

  • Some lockdown fun for everyone last month
    • Brisbane 3 day lockdown
    • Western Australia 5 day lockdown
    • Victoria 0 day lockdown
      • Some other rule changes instead - but no panic buying at least
  • The immediate changes were each due to one case of the virus in a hotel quarantine worker
  • Just starting to discuss regional quarantine locations now - seems a bit late
  • Constant media attention on the Australian Open situation
    • I don't see it's much different to other international 'travellers' returning home
  • Some dramatic differences in crowd sizes and rules for cricket and tennis
    • The government just say 'based on health advice' and provide no further explanation for anything
  • Every event or situation is still described as 'like no other'


I haven't had the best start for the new year of running, with a sore right hamstring hanging around for a few weeks now. I was going well just prior to that with some new parkruns, and even managed an 18:03 on a slow course with several u-turns. I finally managed to finish a parkrun with 58 seconds on the clock to complete the 'bingo' set - there's still lots of other challenges to do next. For once I didn't buy any new shoes, just got some more socks and running sunglasses, but it hasn't been a very hot summer this year so I might not get much use from them for a while.

For the first time in a while I had a reasonably good run with my shares, rather than the usual up and down and ending up in the same spot. I also temporarily reached a major milestone for my account, although that is before considering any loan and tax deductions. Once again I tried to participate in a capital raising, only for it to be oversubscribed and only get 25% allocation.

It looks like the Manchester United run might be over in the premier league, and be more likely to finish second at best now. In better news at least Tom Brady has made it to the NFL superbowl with Tampa Bay, although I don't like their chances. I'm not sure yet which team I will support after Brady retires.

The to do list:
  • 2020 running review done
    • Haven't done the other 2020 + 2021 articles yet
  • Running Calendar
    • Nearly impossible to even plan interstate events right now
    • So far just registered for one Victoria event

Been busy at work again as we approach a return to the city offices. The best situation will be if we aren't forced to be back 100% or thereabouts, and if we don't have to wear a mask the entire time. It seems a bit pointless going to the office just to wear a mask all day, not sure how that helps anyone.


That's it for this month.
  • Books
    • None
  • Movies
    • None
  • Music
    • None
  • TV
    • Cobra Kai season 3
      • Not much happened compared to previous seasons
      • 6 out of 10
    • The Mole Netherlands season 13
      • I might have mentioned my thoughts on The Mole previously
      • It's always a bit frustrating as other contestants can also fail on purpose
      • In addition, the show will purposely avoid including anything too incriminating
      • 6 out of 10
  • Video Games
    • NES
      • Zelda 2 - Resurrection Of Ganon
        • A good quality 'hack' of the original game
        • 6 out of 10
    • Xbox One
      • Final Fantasy 15
        • Haven't played much so far, but don't really enjoy the battle system
      • Red Dead Redemption 2
        • Finally finished
        • The long epilogue with another character was good