For the first time all year I think I'm injury free, now to see how long it lasts - hopefully I can continue running through summer at least - if it ever arrives. To prepare for the half marathon at Melbourne Marathon I gradually increased my distance training each weekend and mixed in a few fast runs at Lilydale Lake. I'm still a long way off my best but slowly getting better. At the very end of the month I drove up to Bendigo for the third year of the Bendigo Bank fun run, but didn't race very well.
- Melbourne Marathon
- 1:31:05, just missed my target of 1:30:00 due to strong wind
- Bendigo Bank
- 40:49, a full two minutes slower than last year, died going up the hills
- Still 6th place overall somehow, just missed 5th (net time) by under a second
I meant to start saving some money but put it all into shares yet again. I bought Money3 and RXP this time, they lost a chunk of money the very next money but then started making some decent gains. The last week of the month was a disaster everywhere through, I think I lost 1% or more every day - might need to sell some of my shares and lock in the gains - the few that haven't lost money that is. I also plan to make a graph of my total after each week, since the basic website doesn't offer any such facility.
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the AFL Grand Final this year, and had a great seat in the row front - of the upper level. This was by far the best game yet of all the grand finals I've had a ticket for, and it was great to see the Western Bulldogs finally win.
My to do list has seen a bit of action, but everything seems to be left half done which is a problem.
- Bike
- The new 2017 models have been released now
- Made a short list, probably looking at $1000 to $1500 - once I get paid again
- Car
- Reviewed my short list again, probably down to four cars
- Ford Focus or Mitsubishi Lancer probably
- Subaru Impreza is the next choice, then Subaru Liberty possibly
- Holiday
- Booked in a short - not cheap - holiday for the end of the year
- Study
- I plan to start studying for the Java 8 Exam soon
- I did the pre-assessment test at the start of the book, only got 8 out of 20
- A lot of the questions were tricks so I'm not too worried about that
- USA DV Lottery
- I registered for the lottery just for fun, you don't hear anything until like June 2017
I've almost got my work situation sorted out now. Before accepting the new job they increased their offer without me doing anything, so that was a bonus. My last day of work should be November 4 and I'll start the new one soon after that. I'm a bit disappointed I couldn't make this position work as it was a lot of effort to get settled in, but the job wasn't really going anywhere in the long term.
That's it for this month.
- Books
- Finders Keepers by Stephen King
- The second book in a trilogy following Mr. Mercedes
- It had very little connection to the previous book though
- 5 out of 10
- Movies
- Doctor Strange
- Not another Marvel movie...
- I watched this at Bendigo to kill time, it was too long
- 4 out of 10
- Train To Busan (Korean)
- Pretty cool zombie virus outbreak thing on a train trip
- 7 out of 10
- Music
- I got a Grouplove ticket for January since I missed out in August
- TV
- Containment
- Not bad, but it only had one season but didn't really end with a conclusion
- 5 out of 10
- The Strain - Season 3
- It seems to just keep going with no result now
- 4 out of 10
- Video Games
- PC
- Quake: Episode 5 - Dimension Of The Past
- It was quite difficult, even on medium, with limited ammo and health
- Too bad they didn't make more missions
- Too bad nobody plays multiplayer anymore, instead of these crap new games
- 7 out of 10
- Xbox 360
- Final Fantasy XIII-2
- Just a couple of hours
- Every time I come back I've forgotten all the controls
- I still don't like the real-time battle system, too limited