November 01
November 02
November 03
November 04
Monday, November 11, 2019
Thursday, November 07, 2019
October Review
This is a quick October review, a bit late due to holiday, should do a short report soon.
Had a good month in running I suppose. Had my last big training session before Melbourne Marathon but my legs were really sore for about a week and a half afterwards, I squeezed in one good parkrun at Wyndham Vale about 18:20, but then had to rest almost a full week before the race. Lucky it was just enough time to recover for race day and managed a small PB - more details in the report link.
I had a good break after the marathon too, and after a slow start back to running almost got 18 minutes at Lilydale Lake, but just missed again! Bought some new socks and shoes as well - one Pegasus 36 and one Pegasus Turbo, haven't tried them yet. Now have to schedule in some more races to train for and get a good running schedule worked out at work from a new location.
No biking.
Nothing interesting with shares, due to work I've had a bit less time to follow, I know my biggest three investments must be down 25% for their recent high which really hurts.
Nothing much to report in sports at the moment, the New York Yankees just missed out on making the MLB world series and the NBL has just started, but not been to any games so far. The NBA has started too and finally this season there is a bit more of a change to the team rosters, should be a less predictable season that the several previous.
A few things going on in the to do list:
That's it for this month.
Had a good month in running I suppose. Had my last big training session before Melbourne Marathon but my legs were really sore for about a week and a half afterwards, I squeezed in one good parkrun at Wyndham Vale about 18:20, but then had to rest almost a full week before the race. Lucky it was just enough time to recover for race day and managed a small PB - more details in the report link.
I had a good break after the marathon too, and after a slow start back to running almost got 18 minutes at Lilydale Lake, but just missed again! Bought some new socks and shoes as well - one Pegasus 36 and one Pegasus Turbo, haven't tried them yet. Now have to schedule in some more races to train for and get a good running schedule worked out at work from a new location.
No biking.
Nothing interesting with shares, due to work I've had a bit less time to follow, I know my biggest three investments must be down 25% for their recent high which really hurts.
Nothing much to report in sports at the moment, the New York Yankees just missed out on making the MLB world series and the NBL has just started, but not been to any games so far. The NBA has started too and finally this season there is a bit more of a change to the team rosters, should be a less predictable season that the several previous.
A few things going on in the to do list:
- Car
- Some idiot ran into my car and I'm still waiting for the police to investigate
- I was on a busy single lane road so drove ahead to park, the other car just drove off
- For the first time ever I had car trouble
- The car temporarily didn't start so had to get it towed back and fixed
- Despite this I'm still undecided about Lancer Black Edition, but they are nearly sold out
- Holiday
- Got a short trip organised to Brisbane for the Melbourne Cup public holiday weekend
- Parkrun
- Looking at the possible options for the extra Christmas and new year events
- Many courses still haven't put their information in
- Tax Return
- Finally done after ANZ share investing provided a summary
- Have like $50,000 in capital losses waiting to apply, but still have to pay back over $1,000 this year!
 |
| Mostly minor damage to bumper and headlight cover |
The new work project has been alright. The office situation is not the best, but the work should be fun, looks like I could be until either July 2020 or early 2021 is a second possibility.
That's it for this month.
- Books
- None - got some new Stephen King waiting
- Music
- None
- Movies
- El Camino
- A bit disappointing compared to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul
- 6 out of 10
- Haunt
- Started good for a horror movie but lost momentum
- 4 out of 10
- Metallica S&M 2
- Too much messing around besides the live music
- 5 out of 10
- TV
- The Hunting
- Good short fiction series on SBS about teens putting photos on social media
- 6 out of 10
- Video Games
- Xbox One
- Forza Horizon 4
- So many events keep getting added to the map
- Some fun side events, but too many of the standard race types
- The changing seasons is interesting, but winter is annoying
- 7 out of 10
Monday, November 04, 2019
Brisbane 2019, November 04
Had a later start, wasn't sure if I was going to run in the morning but decided to give it a go.
I started from the Botanical Gardens and went across the bridge to South Bank and back. The surface wasn't great, most of the way it was just hard footpaths. So not a great run but actually started feeling better at the end, usually I never do more than six days of running in a row but this was seven.
Hotel breakfast again, but no yoghurt!
Since I was quite tired I decided to do a bit less for the day, even had time for a quick overdue haircut on the way to Myer Centre so see what movies were showing. I wasn't really interested in Joker or another Terminator, so picked Ready Or Not instead. It seemed like a bit of a copy of Get Out, but not the worst.
Got some lunch and walked over to Roma Street parklands. A better city park but a lot of hills. Probably the hottest day and just a lot of fatigue had built up from the previous days, so had to stop for a break a few times.
Walked back to Queen Street mall and then got a train to Fortitude Valley. The good thing about the trains is most seats face one way, so you aren't squashed in directly across from someone like the stupid Melbourne trains.
There wasn't much going on at Fortitude Valley, although it's only one stop from the city centre. It supposed to be Chinatown, but didn't find one Asian bakery. Found a place with the best selection of USA soft drinks so far though.
That was about it for the day, back to the hotel to pack for an early flight home...
25,000 steps including 10km running.
And then got a text message at 5:30am saying the plane was delayed 1.5 hours! Which was then changed to 2 hours after I left for the airport. Add another hour for the daylight savings difference, and I didn't end up getting home until 4:00pm, almost an entire day gone.
I started from the Botanical Gardens and went across the bridge to South Bank and back. The surface wasn't great, most of the way it was just hard footpaths. So not a great run but actually started feeling better at the end, usually I never do more than six days of running in a row but this was seven.
Hotel breakfast again, but no yoghurt!
Since I was quite tired I decided to do a bit less for the day, even had time for a quick overdue haircut on the way to Myer Centre so see what movies were showing. I wasn't really interested in Joker or another Terminator, so picked Ready Or Not instead. It seemed like a bit of a copy of Get Out, but not the worst.
Got some lunch and walked over to Roma Street parklands. A better city park but a lot of hills. Probably the hottest day and just a lot of fatigue had built up from the previous days, so had to stop for a break a few times.
 |
| Roma Street parklands. |
Walked back to Queen Street mall and then got a train to Fortitude Valley. The good thing about the trains is most seats face one way, so you aren't squashed in directly across from someone like the stupid Melbourne trains.
There wasn't much going on at Fortitude Valley, although it's only one stop from the city centre. It supposed to be Chinatown, but didn't find one Asian bakery. Found a place with the best selection of USA soft drinks so far though.
That was about it for the day, back to the hotel to pack for an early flight home...
25,000 steps including 10km running.
And then got a text message at 5:30am saying the plane was delayed 1.5 hours! Which was then changed to 2 hours after I left for the airport. Add another hour for the daylight savings difference, and I didn't end up getting home until 4:00pm, almost an entire day gone.
Sunday, November 03, 2019
Brisbane 2019, November 03
Back on another early train to Toombul at about 6:30am. I mapped out a route on the Kedron Brook bike way which also included some wetlands, although the wetlands were only a couple of kilometres each way of the 17 kilometres return trip. Sometimes I could run on the grass next to the bike path but often it was too step.
Back to the hotel for breakfast, about the same as the previous day.
Got a bus from the city to Mt Coot-Tha through the suburbs. I got off at the last stop which was the lookout at the top of the mountain, good views of Brisbane. There's quite a few tracks to explore around the mountain but I'd already run in the morning so started on the downhill track to the botanic gardens. The path down was paved stones, a lot better than concrete. There was supposed to be koalas around but didn't even see one.
Had about 45 minutes to look around the botanical gardens, otherwise was well over an hour between buses. Some good variety in this place, much better than the city version, except these was some bad looking spiders in all the trees along the paths. Some of the better places were cactus land, Japanese garden, Bonsai house and kind-of rainforest.
Got some lunch back in the city, stopped off at the hotel to watch the end of an NBA game and download Match Of The Day for later - 1 MB per second is unheard of in a hotel.
Walked to the city ferry terminal, thought I just missed a ferry, which was correct, but was also at the wrong terminal. If there's two piers next to each other on Eagle Street, maybe don't name one of them Eagle Street pier.
The end of the ferry was also the start of the river walk back to the city. It's like a foot bridge along the river, a good idea except more concrete! Too tired to walk much more so got the ferry in the opposite direction which went across to south bank and then finished at the north side, closer to the city centre.
The public transport card doesn't seem to be great value, no daily limit and you only get a discounted rate after eight trips in a week, except it resets each Monday which was no use for me.
35,000 steps including 17 km running
Back to the hotel for breakfast, about the same as the previous day.
Got a bus from the city to Mt Coot-Tha through the suburbs. I got off at the last stop which was the lookout at the top of the mountain, good views of Brisbane. There's quite a few tracks to explore around the mountain but I'd already run in the morning so started on the downhill track to the botanic gardens. The path down was paved stones, a lot better than concrete. There was supposed to be koalas around but didn't even see one.
 |
| The lookout. |
Had about 45 minutes to look around the botanical gardens, otherwise was well over an hour between buses. Some good variety in this place, much better than the city version, except these was some bad looking spiders in all the trees along the paths. Some of the better places were cactus land, Japanese garden, Bonsai house and kind-of rainforest.
 |
| Some plants. |
Got some lunch back in the city, stopped off at the hotel to watch the end of an NBA game and download Match Of The Day for later - 1 MB per second is unheard of in a hotel.
Walked to the city ferry terminal, thought I just missed a ferry, which was correct, but was also at the wrong terminal. If there's two piers next to each other on Eagle Street, maybe don't name one of them Eagle Street pier.
The end of the ferry was also the start of the river walk back to the city. It's like a foot bridge along the river, a good idea except more concrete! Too tired to walk much more so got the ferry in the opposite direction which went across to south bank and then finished at the north side, closer to the city centre.
 |
| The river walk. |
The public transport card doesn't seem to be great value, no daily limit and you only get a discounted rate after eight trips in a week, except it resets each Monday which was no use for me.
35,000 steps including 17 km running
Saturday, November 02, 2019
Brisbane 2019, November 02
Had to set my alarm too early at 5:30am, but wasn't feeling too tired in the morning. The reason for the early start is the parkrun starts at 7:00am in Queensland due to the temperatures.
The trains to my destination Zillmere were only running every half hour which didn't really coincide with parkrun, there were closer options but it's the only Z parkrun in Australia so had to cross it off the list, and the course looked good too - grass instead of the usual concrete for most suburban locations.
I decided to arrive 45 minutes early instead of 15 minutes, which was a good idea as I was able to do a longer warm up and figure out the course. It was a lot of open grass fields, so it was a little more complicated than the usual course.
From the start some guy took off way ahead - like usual I thought I was due for another second place finish - 17th firsts and 21 seconds in total, not as bad as I expected. However I managed to jump into the lead during the first kilometre and finished about two minutes ahead, so nothing to worry about. I think I might have cut one corner a little, but the watch recorded 4.98 kilometres.
Had a bit of time for cool down before the train back - it's definitely good to check the trains times first, saves waiting around at the station for 20 plus minutes. The buffet breakfast at the hotel was not bad, some good muesli and mixed berries with yoghurt.
Just enough time to get another train to Toombul then a short bus trip over to Brisbane Airport DFO. The DFO wasn't quite open yet so checked out the Woolworths for any different products. Nothing much except a new range of Oak flavoured milks had been released, the Chokito one was decent but ridiculously packed with sugar, far too sweet.
The DFO was open, started at the Nike store of course. They had three different colours of Pegasus Turbo but 12.5 was the largest. Found some regular Pegasus 36 for half price though so worth the trip. Didn't find much at the other stores so got the bus back.
Had only done a little bit of walking, but my left shin was already really sore. It's a constant problem I have on every holiday from too much walking, always the first place where pain starts. So took a break and found some lunch in the shopping centre, then walked across the road to Kedron Brook. It's part of a long bike track but looked like it had some potential for running also.
After lunch went back to the hotel on the train to drop off the shoes, but the TV remote wasn't working! I was only stopping in for a few minutes anyway so asked the reception to have it fixed.
The hotel was walking distance to the CBD, so just did a bit of exploring for the afternoon, since I haven't been to Brisbane in more than 20 years I think.
The city seemed to have a few more older buildings maybe, like the Anzac Square and City Hall. Stopped in at a few shops in Queen Street mall and found a magnet eventually.
Ended up at the 'city' version of botanic gardens - lots of runners but no tan track, so a bit disappointing overall. An observation already, hundreds of people on rental scooters everywhere, and they can go pretty quick too so you have to be careful. I'm guessing they work better in Brisbane as the city is smaller and a bit less congested, and there is a better path around the outside of the city to use them on.
I walked across the pedestrian bridge to South Bank, which I found out later was part of the city parkrun course - doesn't seem like it would be a very good route though. Had a bit of rain so stopped for another rest which was long overdue, then found a banana stand and Ahmet's Turkish restaurant!
Finished walking along South Bank which seems like a good place, man-made beaches and swimming pools and lots of restaurants. Back across the bridge at the other end to the CBD again, most shops were starting to close.
I found a Mexican restaurant near the hotel, ordered a burrito but they put the sour cream 'on' the burrito and the guacamole beside it. Worst constructed burrito ever.
Got back to the hotel with some time to rest and watch some NBA and NBL on TV.
32,000 steps including 10.25 km running
The trains to my destination Zillmere were only running every half hour which didn't really coincide with parkrun, there were closer options but it's the only Z parkrun in Australia so had to cross it off the list, and the course looked good too - grass instead of the usual concrete for most suburban locations.
I decided to arrive 45 minutes early instead of 15 minutes, which was a good idea as I was able to do a longer warm up and figure out the course. It was a lot of open grass fields, so it was a little more complicated than the usual course.
From the start some guy took off way ahead - like usual I thought I was due for another second place finish - 17th firsts and 21 seconds in total, not as bad as I expected. However I managed to jump into the lead during the first kilometre and finished about two minutes ahead, so nothing to worry about. I think I might have cut one corner a little, but the watch recorded 4.98 kilometres.
 |
| Zillmere parkrun. |
Had a bit of time for cool down before the train back - it's definitely good to check the trains times first, saves waiting around at the station for 20 plus minutes. The buffet breakfast at the hotel was not bad, some good muesli and mixed berries with yoghurt.
Just enough time to get another train to Toombul then a short bus trip over to Brisbane Airport DFO. The DFO wasn't quite open yet so checked out the Woolworths for any different products. Nothing much except a new range of Oak flavoured milks had been released, the Chokito one was decent but ridiculously packed with sugar, far too sweet.
The DFO was open, started at the Nike store of course. They had three different colours of Pegasus Turbo but 12.5 was the largest. Found some regular Pegasus 36 for half price though so worth the trip. Didn't find much at the other stores so got the bus back.
Had only done a little bit of walking, but my left shin was already really sore. It's a constant problem I have on every holiday from too much walking, always the first place where pain starts. So took a break and found some lunch in the shopping centre, then walked across the road to Kedron Brook. It's part of a long bike track but looked like it had some potential for running also.
After lunch went back to the hotel on the train to drop off the shoes, but the TV remote wasn't working! I was only stopping in for a few minutes anyway so asked the reception to have it fixed.
The hotel was walking distance to the CBD, so just did a bit of exploring for the afternoon, since I haven't been to Brisbane in more than 20 years I think.
The city seemed to have a few more older buildings maybe, like the Anzac Square and City Hall. Stopped in at a few shops in Queen Street mall and found a magnet eventually.
 |
| A.N.Z.A.C. |
Ended up at the 'city' version of botanic gardens - lots of runners but no tan track, so a bit disappointing overall. An observation already, hundreds of people on rental scooters everywhere, and they can go pretty quick too so you have to be careful. I'm guessing they work better in Brisbane as the city is smaller and a bit less congested, and there is a better path around the outside of the city to use them on.
 |
| Kangaroo Point cliffs. |
I walked across the pedestrian bridge to South Bank, which I found out later was part of the city parkrun course - doesn't seem like it would be a very good route though. Had a bit of rain so stopped for another rest which was long overdue, then found a banana stand and Ahmet's Turkish restaurant!
 |
| South Bank. |
Finished walking along South Bank which seems like a good place, man-made beaches and swimming pools and lots of restaurants. Back across the bridge at the other end to the CBD again, most shops were starting to close.
I found a Mexican restaurant near the hotel, ordered a burrito but they put the sour cream 'on' the burrito and the guacamole beside it. Worst constructed burrito ever.
 |
| What is this? |
Got back to the hotel with some time to rest and watch some NBA and NBL on TV.
32,000 steps including 10.25 km running
Friday, November 01, 2019
Brisbane 2019, November 01
A weekend to Brisbane is all the holiday I could arrange at the moment.
Finished work a bit early, train to Southern Cross and bus to airport. Did not regret driving as the traffic was not going anywhere during the late afternoon.
Had about an hour to waste at the airport, not too bad. The plane was expected to be delayed 15 minutes, then more delays due to high winds and limited runways. In the line for the plane I realised I had forgotten to pack one thing in a hurry, the USB drive with some shows to watch on the tablet. I suppose there could have been worth things to forget.
So finally left about 30 minutes late, and a new great plane story, stuck between two tradies. I'm not sure if they purposely picked the aisle and window, otherwise it's quite a coincidence they would be in the same row. So add to this to the list of annoying things on a plane flight, two idiots having a conversation over you.
One good thing about Brisbane, it has an airport train! It only leaves every 30 minutes in off-peak times, which is not ideal, but better than nothing. It took about 25 minutes to get into Central Station, which is probably no quicker than the Melbourne Sky Bus at that time of day.
I had a short walk to the hotel, no problems, so just the usual then - about 7 hours to complete a 2 hour flight and connecting travel.
The hotel seemed decide, a good collection of Fox sports channels and they didn't even cheap out and skip ESPN.
Finished work a bit early, train to Southern Cross and bus to airport. Did not regret driving as the traffic was not going anywhere during the late afternoon.
Had about an hour to waste at the airport, not too bad. The plane was expected to be delayed 15 minutes, then more delays due to high winds and limited runways. In the line for the plane I realised I had forgotten to pack one thing in a hurry, the USB drive with some shows to watch on the tablet. I suppose there could have been worth things to forget.
So finally left about 30 minutes late, and a new great plane story, stuck between two tradies. I'm not sure if they purposely picked the aisle and window, otherwise it's quite a coincidence they would be in the same row. So add to this to the list of annoying things on a plane flight, two idiots having a conversation over you.
One good thing about Brisbane, it has an airport train! It only leaves every 30 minutes in off-peak times, which is not ideal, but better than nothing. It took about 25 minutes to get into Central Station, which is probably no quicker than the Melbourne Sky Bus at that time of day.
I had a short walk to the hotel, no problems, so just the usual then - about 7 hours to complete a 2 hour flight and connecting travel.
The hotel seemed decide, a good collection of Fox sports channels and they didn't even cheap out and skip ESPN.
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