2016 Review

This is the 2016 summary at last, I'll try not to reference any 2017 events.

• Blog
• Only 29 updates for the year, down again from 62 the previous year
• Having a holiday for two or three weeks would have helped to fill that gap
• I need some topics other than monthly updates and the now occasional baking
• Car
• I used to talk about this always but left it off my 2016 plan
• I would like a car with better acceleration, so far reliability has never been an issue
• I do still update my short list sometimes as prices change
• Fitness
• Certainly not my best year all around
• Bike
• Become a low priority due to injuries
• Running
• I almost made 50 park runs by the end of 2016, including several new courses
• I have a goal to finish top 10 at each event - except Albert Park perhaps
• I mixed up my training with a few new courses for weekend running
• No new personal bests for the year, no surprise there
• I will have a separate post with more running facts for 2016
• Swimming
• A big failure that I hardly did any
• Triathlon
• Obviously not attempted given the above
• Weight
• Not helped by injuries, I seem to be stuck around 75 kilograms forever
• I'm not sure if the gall bladder surgery has caused issues with weight loss or just bad eating
• Holiday
• Probably my biggest disappointment of the year due to two job changes erasing all plans
• The short holidays I did have were:
• Adelaide in August
• Shepparton in August
• Bendigo in November
• Cairns in December
• Money
• House
• I didn't make a plan, but the ever increasing prices are certainly depressing
• I need to think about a plan that includes:
• Location - close to work
• Location - good area for running
• Price!
• Size
• Shares
• I am enjoying investing in the market, despite having mixed success
• I invested a bit more than I intended, about 80% of my available funds
• I haven't been tracking long enough to know the change from year start to end
• Super
• Not an immediate concern, but my total increased by $34,000 or 16.7% to $237,000
• At the moment the supposed goal is anywhere from one to two million!
• Music
• I don't think I even saw one band of the year, since they tour so rarely now
• Reading
• I already compile a list of all the books I finish but don't include the dates
• I finished about 13 from occasional train reading, when not listening to sports podcasts
• Study
• Nothing for the year, seems to be a bit of a trend with these topics
• With new work projects coming up I think I will have new subjects worth studying for now
• TV
• Some of my favourite shows for the year:
• American Crime
• Better Call Saul
• Black Mirror Season 3
• Blindspot
• Making A Murderer
• Murder In The First
• Silicon Valley
• Survivor
• The Real World Road Rules Challenge
• Video Games
• The best games I played during the year:
• PC
• Quake: Episode 5 - Dimension Of The Past
• Stardew Valley
• Xbox 360
• Forza Horizon 2
• Work
• I changed jobs twice in the year, when I'd only changed once in about 13 years before
• I got a good pay increase after all the change, but lost all annual leave entitlements
• The first job was a disaster but the second is much better so far

That's it for the year at last then. Now to do the 2017 goals.

Canberra 2017

March 11
March 12
March 13

Canberra 2017, March 13

Lots of rain overnight but it stopped just in time for the Sri Chinmoy 10km race along Lake Burley Griffin. During warmup I checked out the big hill just before the end of the first kilometre which looked a bit scary. The race start was delayed by 10 minutes so I was starting to cool down already.

Once we started one elite runner took off way ahead of everyone else, except a small kid tried to race him for the first 200 metres before failing. After getting over the first big hill there was many more hills than I expected, so I was pretty much gone by the 5km turnaround. Jason was ahead in 3rd and I was just inside the top 10. My times died badly in the last half, also not helped by running into the wind, a disappointing time of about 40 minutes for 10km.

The race start.

Down the last hill.

We just got back to the hotel for check-out time, then the long drive home to Melbourne. Made it to Gundagai for lunch and refuel about 12:00pm. Another stop for drinks at Wodonga at 3:00pm. I was feeling pretty good most of the way surprisingly but my back really started to tighten up the last few hours, particularly while driving. Possibly eight hours in a car is pushing the limit.

Another stop for fuel just before entering Melbourne. I spilled fuel all down the side of the car trying to get the hose to reach, since the car in front had stopped just past the pumps after refuelling to go back into the store again. Finally back home at last just before 7:00pm.

• 7 out of 10
• Good
• Free admission to places
• Lake and mountain tracks for running
• Not much traffic
• Bad
• Highway navigation
• Nike factory outlet
• Missed Out
• City centre
• Mount Ainslie
• Mount Stromlo
• National Arboretum
• Parliament House

Canberra 2017, March 12

The next morning my legs were still dead after a hard week of run training, and sitting in a car all day can't have helped either.

The first stop for the day was the AIS outside of the city. It would have been much harder to get around if I hadn't just purchased a GPS, as there are a series of highways, bridges, ramps, overpasses etc. to make sense of. We got the ninety minute public tour of the AIS, only there were no other people on the tour, which is always awkward...

Should have taken other photos...

The tour guides were alright, one guy was a runner and the other a swimmer. The tour started in this sports activity and memorabilia room, then walked around to see AIS arena, volleyball, gymnastics, weights, basketball and swimming I think. It was a bit disappointing there weren't any athletes around training in any of these places.

Back into the city for lunch then down to the Royal Australia Mint - since it was free admission like most places in the city. This was just a self guided tour of the factory and had a lot of coins on display. The gift shop had a lot of expensive collector coins for sale, but no good coin-related magnets.

Weird looking bus stops, looks like something from The Flintstones.

They only make coins, and nobody likes having too many coins.

Over to the Old Bus Depot Markets before it closed, navigating the nearly dead empty streets of South Canberra again, maybe due to the long weekend. I got some food from a couple of bakeries but the rest was all crafts and jewellery.

The DFO was not far away from the city but also surrounded by farm land which is a fair representation of ACT. They had a Nike store with many more shoe bargains than the Victoria stores ever have  - literally hundred of 12 and 12.5 but no size 13 anywhere. All I got was a discounted running shirt since I didn't want to come away empty handed.

Another drive across the city to Black Mountain. Given the race the next morning it didn't seem like a good idea to park at the bottom of the Botanical Gardens and hike to the top for a couple of hours. At the peak was the Telstra Tower observation deck - I didn't even get a shareholder discount for entry. The view over Canberra was good because the tower is a little bit outside the city, the strong winds outside were also good on a dry, hot day. The other bonus was finding a magnet on the way out.

The big city.

Canberra 2017, March 11

The mini Canberra trip started with a detour to Craigieburn - spelt about the same if you rearrange the letters. To be more specific, we arrived at Highlands (never heard of it) in time for the 8:00am parkrun. This course was first time I've done three laps, only jogging but finished in the top five.

Back on the road properly by 9:00am headed for Canberra. A quick stop near Euroa and then to Wodonga (not Albury) for lunch - a good time to stop as I was nearly falling asleep at the wheel. It looked like the whole town was being rebuilt as they had frames for large buildings all over the city centre. At at minimum it looked like they were building a KMart and a new Coles and Woolworths to replace the old, outdated ones - still branded as Safeway, shareholders would not be happy. The city centre was pretty good and the highlight was the world's biggest rolling pin on top of the bakery.

Every cafe should have a big thing.

Into NSW at last, had to stop at South Gungagai to avoid running out of fuel, then through to Canberra the rest of the way until about 4:30pm. After finding the hotel at the second attempt, got some dinner at Manuka then drove up to Anzac Parade before it got dark.

Australian War Memorial.

New Parliament House.

Anzac Parade.

February Review

This is the February review, still before the yearly updates since I had no internet for weeks when I was planning to write them. The only improvement on the horizon is 'cable quality' NBN in my area too.

Might as well start with running like usual. I've been travelling around for some new park run events at Albert Park (Nitro Athletics special event) and Karkarook (best time in more than a year). One real race for the month was the half marathon at Warburton also. I took the first half easy at about 4:25/km but was able to overtake a lot of people during the long up hill stretch. I raced the down hill and rest of the way home quicker than I planned and ended up inside the top 20 in about 1 hour 31 minutes. I've registered for a few more races in the coming months including Great Ocean Road, Red Bull Wings For Life and Run The Rock.

Karkarook.

Warburton.

My shares have had yet another bad month, I think I've made almost no gain since August except for dividends, seems like the only way to make money right now is to buy property...

I drove up to Kinglake to watch the final stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, although you only get to see a few seconds of each lap, at least they have TV screens and live commentators for the rest of it. I took a day off work to watch the NFL Superbowl since the New England Patriots were playing again. It was looking like a disaster at half time before an incredible comeback and overtime win. Having watched two superbowl wins and losses for New England now I think I've had a pretty good run compared to most other supporters.

The to do list was surprisingly difficult to contribute to without any internet connection:

• GPS - finally got a Tom Tom unit for the car for upcoming running events and park runs
• Holiday - I need to find out what time I can take off, then I'll start a plan

No major changes at work recently, still not sure when the project will end but it's looking like the end of May at the earliest, hopefully it doesn't extend much further than that but I'm pretty sure it will miss the deadline.

That's it for another month:

• Books
• The Talisman by Stephen King
• Only 10% through a very long book
• I didn't realise it was an old prequel to Black House
• Movies
• 30 for 30 - This Was The XFL
• An interesting look at the XFL since I didn't know much about it
• 7 out of 10
• Patriots Day
• Not sure how much was made up, seemed far too convenient sometimes
• 6 out of 10
• Music
• None
• TV
• How To Get Away With Murder - Season 3
• A bit better than season two which was terrible
• Took a while to get going then was almost over already
• 6 out of 10
• The Real World - Season 32 - Seattle Bad Blood
• The bad blood idea was pointless, not a great cast
• 6 out of 10
• Video Games
• PC
• Megaman 2.5D
• Some levels are way too difficult
• No save point after beating all the bosses, haven't finished it yet
• 5 out of 10