November Review

This is the November review, almost another year over.

A long list of running notes this month:

• Orakei Bay parkrun
• A new location the day before Auckland half marathon
• Auckland half marathon
• Covered in the Auckland 2025 report
• Aurora parkrun 18:15
• Good on a slow course with wind and rain, and the week after a half marathon
• Melbourne half marathon
• The ballot was open with another increase to $190
• I didn't register and will look at other options, depending on my winter holidays plans
• Aurora parkrun 17:45
• A much better time than the previous week, but working hard on a slow course
• Berwick Waters 17:30
• My best time for the year
• 2XU Wellness Run 10km
• Happy to finish under 36 minutes for only the second time
• Could have run a bit faster in the last kilometre
• Purchases
• Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 3 in Auckland - only $110 but was size 14 rather than 13
• Nike Vaporfly 4 - discounted to $175 and immediately felt much better than the Vaporfly 3
• Adidas Adios Pro 4 - $175
• Nike Vomero Plus - $200 but had a work gift card so effectively free

The bad month for shares finally turned up, in particular technology shares were down 15% in three weeks. A lot of end of year expenses are still coming through with even more next month:

• Air conditioner replacement - $3500
• Car insurance - $1100
• Parramatta half marathon trip - $750
• RACV - $150
• Shoes - $300
• Tax return - $1300

Nothing much happening for sports and I'm still weeks behind in NFL highlights. I missed the whole regular season of Gridiron Victoria due to lack of information online, I can't even find out where the final is being played yet.

The to do list has a bit more activity this month:

• Holidays
• Auckland report
• Parramatta weekend booked for June with a half marathon
• House
• Attended a few houses for private sale - very expensive
• New air conditioner installed before summer arrived
• Running
• Booked Run For The Kids 14km - end March
• Booked Ballarat 10km - end April
• Booked Parramatta 21km - mid June

I've been busy at work still towards the end of the year again. For December I'm planning to do the Advent Of Code again, since it's now only 12 days instead of 25.

That's it for this month:

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None
• Music
• None
• TV Shows
• None - many in progress again
• Video Games
• Nintendo Switch 2
• Donkey Kong Bananza bought - don't own the console yet
• Steam
• Command And Conquer ultimate collection bought for $10
• Xbox One
• Call Of Duty - Black Ops Cold War
• Finished the game on regular - the campaign was much too short
• 4 out of 10
• Call Of Duty - Modern Warfare 2
• 65 GB + 130 GB installations - but at least it worked on the first attempt

Auckland 2025

October 31

November 01

November 02

November 03

November 04

November 05

October Review

A bit late again due to holiday.

Nothing for miscellaneous so straight into running.

• KM Reedy Reserve parkrun 19:30 with lots of leg issues carried over from last month
• Second and final half marathon training session was not ideal
• Dandenong Creek trail closed for a fun run
• Sore hamstring
• Strong winds
• 4:10/km average with a few hills
• Dorset Recreation Reserve parkrun 22:30 jogging before the half marathon
• Melbourne half marathon
• Had to drive in to the city due to trains not operating
• Jog through the city to the start for warmup
• Goal was revised to about 80 minutes
• Started working hard at 8km and leg was a bit sore at 12km, but managed to recover
• Due to a bit of extra watch distance only had 60 seconds to make it around the MCG lap
• Came in with about 10 seconds to spare
• Both quads were sore for a whole week
• Marriott Waters parkrun 18:00 legs almost back to normal after six days
• Berwick Waters parkrun 18:15 a bit slower before another half marathon training session
• One more half marathon training session at about 4:15/km to discover any problems
• Still restricted to jogging the rest of the weeks
• Purchased a cheap pair of Asics Novablast 5 for $115 for daily running

I had a surprisingly good month from my shares with almost every company going well, except for a big drop starting to accelerate at the end of month. Still lots of major expenses keep coming up so I'm not saving much money.

• Tax quarterly payment $1750
• Tax return $1250 - next month
• Car insurance $1100 - next month

Not a lot happening in sports, and I'm already running a few weeks behind in NFL highlights.

The to do list has been a bit quiet as I was preparing for my short New Zealand holiday.

• Holidays
• New Zealand remaining bookings and payments

I've been quite busy with work things for once. I finally scheduled the Java 17 exam and just barely passed. In addition to work I've had to spend lots of time on my end of year review, which is finally over now, and attended a conference.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• Black Phone 2
• Had a few good horror moments but otherwise too slow
• Strange direction for the second movie, was just like A Nightmare On Elm Street
• 6 out of 10
• Music
• None
• TV
• None - many in progress
• Video Games
• Nintendo Switch
• Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 purchased
• I own both on Wii already but haven't played the second
• Xbox One
• Call Of Duty - Black Ops Cold War
• Got one more level done after finishing exam and holiday tasks

Auckland 2025, November 05

My alarm was set for 7:20am to allow time for running and breakfast before a 10am checkout and 10:10am train. I could have wasted a bit more time and got a train 30 minutes later, but didn't seem worth the risk of a delay and missing the bag drop deadline.

For the morning run I didn't want to run on concrete again so crossed over to the opposite side of the road, which eventually turned off inland after 4km. My legs were a bit more tired after yesterdays longer run but still got through 11km.

Packing was a bit rushed as I kept finding more things I'd forgotten to account for, but just managed to squeeze everything into both backpacks. Getting down to the train station there was major issues on the southern line that I was planning to take to the bus interchange. Nothing seemed to be happening so I went across to the eastern line which also seemed delayed, but at least it seemed like a train was about to depart. In the end I was only about 10 minutes behind schedule getting to the airport.

The check-in area was empty, but when trying to do the last step of the bag drop my backpack placed in a container wouldn't move forwards onto the conveyor belt. I had to get a staff member to come over and do a manual override, so I hoped it would still make it to the other end.

Before going through security I stopped for a Tank juice in the small food court, probably like a smaller version of Boost juice. On to security and once again my passport failed to scan and I had to go into the manual line. That was still a quick process but the security check was very slow, so there was about 75 minutes until take off by the time I was waiting at the gate.

There was just enough time to eat some snacks and write up the notes for my last day before getting prepared for boarding. For this flight I didn't think I'd booked an exit row but maybe a row with extra leg room still. Unlike the previous flight this one actually had a business and premium category.

I was one of the last on the flight according to the announcements about which rows were allowed to board, except when I got to my seat almost everyone around me was already seated. The flight went pretty quick again with no delays. The meals again included a default vegetarian option which was macaroni cheese, but I didn't like getting another garlic bread roll instead of plain one.

After landing somehow my passport worked first time at the gate, but luggage was really slow like usual. For maybe the first time ever I walked straight on to a waiting Skybus, and because it was nearly peak afternoon time a train was only a few minutes away too. I arrived home at about 5pm Australia time, having left the hotel at 10am Auckland time or 8am Australia time.

Steps = 17,300 with 10.95 kilometres running

Auckland 2025, November 04

My last whole day in Auckland already. After breakfast I got ready for a short bus ride out to the zoo on the western side of the city. With a short walk from the bus stop I arrived not long after opening at 9:30am.

At the entrance the ticket prices were reduced by 20% as some areas were closed for construction. I started in the African Safari area which was the best, but didn't have the giraffe, ostrich, or zebra. I did get to see the cheetah, flamingo, meerkat, and rhino, but failed to spot the lion in it's enclosure.

The New Zealand section was disappointing, I expected the kiwi would be the highlight but none were visible in their nocturnal house. The penguins were also absent, and and I only saw one seal. The East Asia section was next, with some orangutans at the top of some incredibly high poles, and a few tigers, but I couldn't find the red panda.

The highlight of the South American section was the Galapagos tortoise, there was also many small varieties of monkey but were a little hard to find. Finally was the Australian section except the Tasmanian devil was closed. The other highlights were the emu and kangaroo, although I've seen lots of those before.

That was the end of the zoo tour, which had a pretty good layout to avoid going around in circles. The enclosures and other structures were also above average, it's just a shame a few were offline. I ended with a quick trip to the gift shop and then walked back to the bus stop. While waiting for the bus there was some strange Melbourne style trams going around the park exterior, one said Orrong Road and another Glen Iris.

Back on Queen Street once again I stopped in for some food and drink to take back to the hotel for lunch. I noticed my head was still feeling quite sore from the cave exploring yesterday. I didn't have any other specific activities for the afternoon, but also needed a bit of time for packing before the morning. My flight wasn't until 1:30pm but I didn't want to be rushing everything right before hotel check-out.

I decided to get my run done a bit earlier, but it was still quite warm in the afternoon. After about 6 kilometres going east I turned around, as with yesterday it's a good route except the 1.5 kilometres each way on hard concrete. I did a couple of extra kilometres at the end for 14 kilometres in total. On the way back to the hotel I picked up a yoghurt from Woolworths and an ice cream from this great Japan Mart across the street which I hadn't been to until now.

For dinner I just watched some more TV shows then figured out how to pack everything in my bags. I couldn't get everything done since I still needed my running shoes tomorrow, and more dirty clothes, but it looked like it would just fit. I had to get a bit creative putting rolled up shirts or shorts inside of each pair of shoes, which was now three extra pairs instead of two.

For the morning I was thinking of going to the airport early then across to the nearby outlets, including Nike, but decided my bags were already too full. I just got in some more rest for the evening since I had quite a long day of travel coming up, even with the help of the time zone.

Steps = 22,400 with 14.25 kilometres running

Auckland 2025, November 03

My alarm was set for 7am but I decided to rest a bit more rather than go for a run in the morning. After having breakfast at 8am I walked down to the ferry just before 9am since they said to arrive 30-45 minutes early, but that was unnecessary since it was very empty.

The ferry departed on time at 9:30am and after a stop at Devonport made it to Rangitoto Island a bit after 10am. I set out on the track to the summit which was well marked and said it was 2.2km and 1 hour to the lookout. It felt like quite a long walk and more than 2 kilometres, and was steeper towards the top, particularly the sections with stairs. The view from the top was good and was facing towards Auckland luckily, with just a few trees partially blocking a bit of the view.

On the way back down I made a detour to another place called lava caves, which suggested it was related to an old volcano eruption. The cave was quite small and very dark so you could hardly see where you were going, it was also very low and narrow in one place where I smashed my head on the ceiling. I didn't notice anything special about the cave though, it just looked like any other to me.

Those were the two main places to visit, so I made the long walk downhill to the ferry with a bit under 30 minutes to spare, but better than being late. The ferry was a bit late to turn up, then went via Devonport again and I was back on land at about 1:15pm. First I checked out a big food court near the harbour but didn't find much, so decided to try Burger Fuel across the road instead. They had two vegetarian options, but one was a horrible mushroom burger so that was immediately ruled out. The other came with beetroot, which I asked to be removed, then I found out the burger was still loaded with beetroot when I got back to the hotel. It was a shame as the rest of the burger was quite good once I'd scraped off all the beetroot and tried to reassemble it.

Back at the hotel I watched some TV shows and checked in on work quickly while eating my burger and fries. Before heading out again I also checked in on my shares and made a few trades, so by the time I was ready to go it was already 3pm. I didn't have much else planned since I intended for today to be about recovery, and also wanted to try a bit of running before dinner.

I visited the Real Groovy music store again and bought a key ring and pin as gifts. Further up Queen Street I also went to a couple of other souvenir shops, and bought a gift magnet and a replacement Christchurch magnet. After a quick trip to the Nike store, then the supermarket and finding very little food I went back to the hotel to change for running.

The walk down to the harbour was 500-750 metres and then I could start my route east. It was a good run for about 2 kilometres then it became concrete footpath for 1.5 kilometres, then it was better bike path surface again. In total I ran for 11 kilometres and felt pretty good except for some slight soreness in the bottom of my quads just above the knee. Trying another Woolworths metro on the way back I still didn't have much success.

Back at the hotel my head was still sore, and I realised I had some dried blood where I must have cut my head in the cave earlier. There was too much hair in the way on the top of my head so I couldn't get a good look at the problem though. Since it was after 6pm I sat down for some food and more TV shows on computer for the evening.

Steps = 27,000 with 11.1 kilometres running

Auckland 2025, November 02

I slept alright overnight and only woke up a few times, perhaps because I wasn't nervous at all for this race. At 5am I got up and managed to eat a couple of race energy chews and a bit of Gatorade, which is more than I can usually manage before a race. Since my right foot had been quite sore for the last few days I decided to gamble on the new race socks that were a bit thicker and hopefully more supportive. I've also had some right glute and hip issues for close to two months but it's finally been starting to improve.

I decided to leave the hotel at about 5:30am to be ahead of time for the 5:45am ferry and the three that followed it. Once I got to the ferry building there was already a huge queue in each direction extending for about two blocks. I overheard one person say the line exploded after a train full of people just arrived. After finally reaching the back of the queue the line was inching forward slowly but regularly. I only got on to a ferry at about 6:10am, which was supposed to be the last one, so they must have ended up running more services than advertised. It was amazing to see people just showing up at 6:05am when the last ferry was due to leave five minutes after that.

The ferry trip was quick but standing room only, so my legs were a bit tired from standing on the spot for nearly an hour. At the Devonport end it was easy to get to the section at the front for people under 90 minutes, and there was an open road ahead for a quick warmup.

The race started and I purposely went conversative at the start, knowing the first 5-6 kilometres had a lot of hills. Checking my watch splits I was staying under 4:00/km and my legs weren't feeling too bad. After 6km I expected a flat section most of the way the bridge, but there was actually lots more up and down until about 10km instead.

Finally we could see the bridge at 11km but still had a very long few kilometres to finally get to the bottom of it. The bridge was quite steep and lasted a bit longer than I thought, but I managed a fairly steady pace and then sped up on the way down, close to 3:30/km. I knew there was another surprise hill just after leaving the bridge and that turned out to be very steep too.

By now the slow marathon field ahead was starting to build up, so I had to dodge across the road a little. After being way ahead or behind on my watch compared to each of the course markers it was suddenly a perfect match again at 18km. I had a slow 19th kilometre but thought I'd still be close to 82 minutes depending on how much extra distance I had to do at the end compared to my watch.

I finally caught one more person, who I'd been following almost the whole race and sped up just a bit to around 3:45/km again. My watch then split at 21 kilometres but I was still a long way from the finish line so I realised my 82 minute goal was probably done. Coming into the final straight there was only 3 seconds to spare, so even a sprint wouldn't have helped and I finished about 5 seconds behind. Since my goal was to have a fun race and not injure myself it was a success, and the new socks and sore foot had no further issues either.

I got my medal then walked back to the hotel to check the results. There was no link on the website yet, but I was able to modify the 2024 link and found I'd finished in the top 50, and third for age category.

After getting changed and a quick breakfast I header for a train to Onehunga to visit the outlet shops. I figured after a hard day of running it would be good to sit on a train for a while. At the outlet shops they sadly didn't have Nike anymore, but had Adidas, Asics, New Balance, and Puma among others. In Puma first I saw a clearance pair of Deviate Nitro Elite 3 for $275 but with an extra 50% off. This is the same shoe I'd just worn for this mornings race, but size 14 instead of my usual 13. I decided to think on it and continued shopping.

At New Balance I didn't find anything, but got casual shorts and a running shirt from Asics, and running shorts from Adidas. Heading back to Puma again I tried on the shoes again and figured they would still be good enough to risk for training sessions, maybe with thicker socks. The price of the shoes ended up being just $118 in Australia dollars.

After a stop at Chemist Warehouse there was just enough time to walk back to the station to get the two trains to Auckland Central again. On the way to the hotel I got another burrito from Taco Bell which was good, but the cheese quesadilla was average.

While having lunch I checked the race website again and there was still no results. However on the same page I saw there was prizes for top 3 in each age category available after 11am but it had to be collected on the day. It was after 12:30pm at the whole place shuts down between 1pm and 2pm, so I had to jog down to the finish area again and find the information tent.

Luckily the online results were correct and I receive a bronze medal for third place, and they also said results were available via the mobile app instead. On the printed out results I saw a lot of people still hadn't collected their medals yet. After taking a few photos it was another walk back to the hotel to drop off my medal and write out my notes for the morning.

Feeling a bit rested I went for a walk uphill to the south end of the city. The first store I visited sold lots of vinyl records but also had a section with lots of assorted small games, toys and other merchandise. There was lots of interesting stuff but I didn't buy anything yet, and I'm already going to struggle to fit everything in my backpacks due to buying another pair of shoes.

I continued up past some games arcade until I reached Aotea Square and turned around. My legs had been feeling good earlier, but my feet and left shin in particular had now been through enough. There was a place going out of business selling Asian toys, but it all seemed to be generic stuff. After a quick trip to Woolworths I headed back to the hotel to rest and have dinner. Due to the time zone difference I could finally watch Match Of The Day now, as it wasn't close to ready at lunch time. I also watched a replay of the Noosa Bolt 5 kilometre race on YouTube.

Steps = 33,700 with 21.75 kilometres running

Auckland 2025, November 01

The room was a bit noisy overnight due to general hotel noise and a main street nearby, but overall not too bad. My alarm was set for 7am so that I would have enough time for a 10 minute walk to the train station, and made it with plenty of time to spare. The train trip was just one stop for about 5 minutes, then I was able to follow people to the nearby parkrun starting location. It was quite a unique place for a parkrun, starting and finishing on the middle of a footbridge elevated over the bay.

Soon after we set off half of the footbridge was closed so there was a narrow section until we got back onto land. The course had a lot more hills than I expected and some were quite steep although didn't last for long. My legs felt quite bad at the start but got better as I went along and finished in the top 20 at about 22:30 for 5km.

A quick walk back to the train station and then to the hotel to get ready for the free breakfast. The options were a bit more limited than a usual Holiday Inn Express but I got some hash browns, mango yoghurt, muesli, orange juice, and plain croissants.

After breakfast I headed down to the harbour for the race check-in. It wasn't too busy and was well organised, the first stop was to collect the race bib and free hat, then another area to collect a bag with a few free items like bagels and gels. The bagels needed to be toasted so I had no idea what I was going to do with those.

At the expo they had the Asics merchandise first since they were the major sponsor, and they had a special collection of marathon and half marathon tops with every participant named on the back. I thought that was a bit unique so got a regular t-shirt version, since it seemed better than the rest. Moving on through, one of the stores had the Australian shyu socks, where they match the colour schemes to some of the common racing shoes that are currently on sale. I got a pair to match my light green / blue Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 3, as well as some energy chews. I wasn't sure if I'd wear those socks tomorrow or stick with my better known Steigen pair, which are also a close match colour wise. On the way out there was also free Rokeby milk and Red Bull cans, and a long line for free barista coffee.

Heading back to the hotel I stopped at the local Pop Mart store to see if they had anything special for New Zealand, but it all looked quite standard. After dropping off my race stuff I walked to the local Countdown supermarket, which is sadly now just named Woolworths. They had the Anzac flavour of Mother Earth muesli bars which was good, as they don't sell them in Australia. Most other things were similar to Australia, so I just got some bread and drinks, plus a visit to Dunkin Donuts on the way back to the hotel for lunch and rest.

By the time I finished lunch it was 1pm but I didn't want to have a big and exhausting afternoon. I started out at a local games and collectibles shop which had quite a lot of stuff, but nothing I was desperate to buy. The next stop was a souvenir shop which had some good quality magnets with a buy two get one free deal. Then another stop at JB Hi-Fi to see what they had, but the collectibles section was very small. Finally I got some more food and drink at New World and then back to the hotel as my legs were starting to feel a bit tired.

I spent the rest of the afternoon resting and watching some videos on Twitch and YouTube before trying to sleep early ahead of the upcoming morning race.

Steps = 13,500 with 5.0 kilometres running

Auckland 2025, October 31

I left home very early at 6:45am for the train, getting to the airport at 8:15am for a quick check-in where my large backpack weighed less than 4 kilograms on the scale. There was still nothing to do in the international terminal after passing security, that was after having to get my passport manually inspected.

I tried to access a work website from my computer but the corporate login kept getting denied with every web browser and browser extension attempted. I thought I'd forgotten to submit part of my end of year review, but it seemed I couldn't do anything about it now, so instead I just downloaded some TV shows while I waited. The rows of seats at the departure gates are still terrible, every time someone moves the whole row of seats shakes violently.

I already had a quick breakfast before leaving but the departure time of 10:30am was a bit too early to consider buying lunch before boarding. Not packing any snacks for the flight might have been a mistake though, as it would be at least 2:30pm Australia time when landing. Since the flight was only 3.5 hours I just opted for economy class and an exit row for a bit more leg room. Once onboard I wasn't planning to do much besides listen to some podcasts and countdown the time remaining anyway.

The boarding process was a bit less chaotic than usual and we departed on time. I slept for a while before a lunch service came through that seemed to take forever, but at least they had a default vegetarian option on the main menu. Once lunch was cleared I listened to a podcast for an hour and then we were close to landing, but the last half hour always seems to take forever.

Yet again my passport didn't work at the electronic gate so I had to go into a manual queue, but luckily there was only two people in front of me. The luggage came within a couple of minutes, and although the quarantine line moved slowly there wasn't too many people ahead of me.

Outside the terminal I easily found the bus stop and only had to wait 5 minutes since it runs every 10 minutes. There was a lot of traffic on the road but we had a dedicated bus lane to avoid the worst of it, then only had to wait another 5 minutes once getting off for the connecting train.

Both the bus and train accepted credit cards which was good. The train had less than 10 stops to make but they were quite far apart and the train was not going particularly fast, so it was a long journey. Overall I still made it to the city centre a bit ahead of schedule, at about 6pm New Zealand time or 4pm Australia time, about a 9 hour trip in total.

The hotel wasn't far away from the station and I spotted a Burger Fuel, New World supermarket, and Taco Bell along the way. Once I had completed check-in I got changed for a quick 6 kilometre run along the harbour. Going west was a bit crowded and not the best choice of the two directions, I got a brief look at the preferable east side before finishing. Walking back through the city there was a lot of people getting ready for their Halloween events also.

On my way back to the hotel I used my watch to buy a drink at the supermarket and some food from Taco Bell, and they added in a free taco but it had meat. Back at the hotel I had a quick dinner while watching some of The Amazing Race then checked how my shares finished the week, with no surprises at least.

It was already about 7:30pm by now and I had to be prepared for the 8:00am parkrun in the morning, with a train at about 7:30am. However since my legs were feeling alright, and it was technically only 5:30pm Australia time, I went back out again to New World for some snacks and drinks for the fridge. I also stopped in at the nearby Dunkin Donuts but they didn't have much left at the end of the day.

Steps = 13,400 with 5.7 kilometres running

September Review

A bit behind schedule and a lot of running notes to get through this month.

Starting with miscellaneous and city protesting has started getting out of hand. On one weekend there was four protest groups on Saturday and two more on Sunday. Despite the mostly good intentions the line has blurred between right to protest and shutting down the main city streets each weekend.

Starting with running with dot points again:

• Three parkrun volunteers for the month - still a bit behind my target of 50 out of 500
• Lots of new parkruns in Victoria have opened over the past year that I haven't visited yet
• Berwick Waters parkrun 18 minutes after battling a sore upper left leg for a week
• Marriott Waters parkrun close to 17:30 was the first really good run in months
• My left leg still wasn't good after a whole week of jogging
• Then I also developed a tight back from some nerve irritation
• Run Prix 10km race
• My first race in nearly three months
• Under 36:30 was good while still battling a sore back and leg
• Dorset parkrun 19:30 easy effort
• My lower left leg kept collapsing during the five kilometre warmup jogging
• It seems likely to be related to the nerve problems with my lower back, very scary
• Finally got a chance to do my first (and maybe last) Sunday half marathon training session
• Averaged 4:00/km but my hamstring was sore again when I tried to speed up later
• Been getting lots of emails about running events for next year already
• New Geelong marathon festival in September
• New Hervey Bay marathon festival in June - but very expensive domestic flights
• Shopping
• Another pair of Puma Magnify Nitro 2 for just $70
• Cheap running sunglasses for $50 - but had heaps of reflection from the inside lens
• Nike running sunglasses for $150 - smaller fit than my Smith pair but otherwise not bad
• Nike Alphafly 3 discounted - another option for half marathons if Asics are uncomfortable

The summary of running is I've been battling a variety of injuries with only one week until Melbourne half marathon now, so I don't have a lot of confidence in being able to run at maximum effort.

In money events the shares have had a surprising run of small gains without a major collapse, even with a US government shutdown. It's a remarkable recovery from where things were at after February. It feels like I'm just slowly inching towards having enough money to consider a house purchase.

Some more large bills popped up, with another $3000 due to the tax office next month:

• Car GPS replacement $250
• Home insurance $400
• Sports apparel $750 as above

A few things to talk about in sports for a change:

• AFL grand final
• Won a ticket in the ballot for a second year in a row
• It was a better match until the last quarter when Geelong fell behind
• NFL
• Weekly highlights have started again but I'm about two weeks behind
• NPL Victoria women's final
• Attended the grand final match at Bundoora
• This time my inherited team due to proximity - Box Hill - managed to win

The to do list is actually quiet compared to all the other events:

• Holidays
• Still got a month to organise a quick trip to New Zealand
• Have to work out plans for 2026 around my running schedule
• House
• May need to arrange for an expensive new air-conditioner to be installed before summer
• Running 2026 plans
• Have to start mapping out a plan already, but much similar to previous years
• Gold Coast registration opens in early December

Things are much the same at work and fairly quiet in general. I need to commit to the final Java study and take the exam in early October.

That's finally it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None
• Music
• None
• Tool and Wolf Alice attending summer festivals but no side shows
• TV
• 007 Road To A Million season 1
• Too easy to progress, just had to navigate to a destination then choose from three answers
• At least the last episode became a bit more difficult
• A second season just launched, which is hopefully better
• 5 out of 10
• Video Games
• Xbox One
• Call Of Duty - Black Ops Cold War
• Took forever to install but worked with no problems
• Only played the first level so far