NYE 2019

Last post for the year, and for the decade.

Bad dreams

Not really a nightmare as such, just a dream that was a bit unpleasant.

At the airport, trying to get on a flight and every little thing that could cause a delay, caused a delay. Ended up doing bulk running chasing the plane on the taxiway.

Only just woke up and I feel utterly exhausted, like I'd just finished a marathon.

New PB on deadlift

We've shifted focus a bit from pure cardio to more strength-based training. As a result, we do more "pick up something heavy, then try and pick up something heavier" sessions.

I'm pretty tall, but I've never had a lot of upper body strength. Part of the training regieme involves deadlifts, which I never did much of.

On Friday, I managed three sets of 10 reps at 60kg (olympic bar plus two 20kg plates). I could probably do more as a single lift, but the objective is to do sets of ten, which makes sense to me.

Never mind that one of the skinny females then used that combination as her starting weight! I'll still take my new pb, and keep working on improving it (hopefully without damaging my knees... )

Gone analogue!

For that retro feel!

My previous watch was on the way out. The watch itself was fine, but the band had previously perished and the replacement band that I jury rigged to put in there was a cheapy which was on the way out again.

Since it wasn't worth spending money on buying another band, and the sockets where the band mounts were getting damaged I figured it was time to get a new watch.

I was looking at buying another cheapy from a local store or online when my wife surprised me with a watch. It has an analogue face instead of digital. Digital is my preferance (probably just me being lazy) so using analogue is a touch more effort - but got a new watch!

Ugh... worst feeling eva

Setting an alarm for the next day for work.

We were away for just over five weeks, and although it was busy, it was a different tempo to normal work. And change is like a holiday, right? Anyway, back to regular schedule from tomorrow.

So have to set the alarm again...

Back home

After about five or so weeks away, now back home again. <3

Was good to spend time on the road driving (though the seat did get quite uncomfortable after a while), was not so good spending time in the dirt and being grotty.

I took some writing stuffs with me, in case I wanted to write things down, but got down exactly zero words. Didn't help being constantly distracted...

But the important thing is I'm home again.

Three out of three, done!

I was nearly devo earlier on today when I thought the neck of the guitar was bent!

I ended up looking on eBay at replacement necks (around $60) and kit guitars (about $160) but then started looking if it was possible to straighten a bent neck.

After a bit of mucking around, I worked out the tension bar in the neck (which keeps the neck straight against the pull of the strings) was done up too tight, and that was why the neck was bowed.

It might even be the reason why the previous owner threw the guitar out (I picked it up off the side of the road three years ago). So I scored a bass guitar for about $24. Sweet!

Three out of three, but...

The good news is the strings for the bass guitar arrived. And they're the right length! #Winning

However, I stuffed up with the nut (the little bit at the end of the fretboard which holds the strings up). The one I ordered is too short, so the strings rub against the frets, producing a most unpleasant sound. #NotWinning

I'll have to rip that nut off and order a new one, which probably won't arrive until after I head off interstate.

A bit disappointing, but should only be a minor hurdle (assuming I don't break anything getting the old nut off).

Two out of three

Project Repair The Bass Guitar is proceeding well, I have two of the three components I ordered in hand (tuning knobs and nut, waiting on strings). None of the parts are the right part, but they'll be 'good enough' parts, at least enough to get noise out of it.

For a total spend so far of around $20, I'm hoping to end up with a functional (if ugly) bass guitar. I'm not counting the files, they're tools that I'll be able to use on other projects.

I'm not planning on joining a band or playing in public (or playing properly if I'm honest), but I'm hoping it'll satisfy my creativity itch. And if it doesn't, then at least I'm not too out of pocket.

Test drive

Not something I do too often, but today I had a chance to take a PT Cruiser out for a test drive.

Very nice car to drive, they nailed the gearbox on this one. Was able to do a bit of city driving just using first and second (less gear changing ment less effort and stress driving in city traffic), and long legs for driving on the highway. Was comfortably doing 100km/h in fourth, with fifth gear still in reserve. I'm a tall person, so I appreciated the headroom.

What I didn't like was the placement of the window controls (all four in the middle of the centre console) and the dim setting on the dash / radio were too dark. Not sure if this is a setting that can be changed by the user, but it was dark enough that I essentially just had a blank, black screen that couldn't be read.

Admittedly, when I turned the headlights off and they went back on normal settings, they were bright and easy to see. But for safety, I drive with the headlights on and in sunny conditions, couldn't make out the screens.

Also, I definitely didn't like the layout of the engine bay. I had to replace the battery (hence the reason for taking it out for a drive), and it was very awkward and required other parts to be removed in order to remove the battery.

One of the main reasons I dislike cars designed by computers...

Back home

Back at home again, so much warmer!

Been back about a week or so, didn't have much to write about. I've finally gotten around to ordering bits to repair the bass guitar. We picked it up off the side of the road in  ... uh ... 2016? A while back anyway. Missing a few bits but the body and neck seem straight. It has one string on it and when I tested it, it seemed to be working.

Spent about $22 so far, so that's not too bad an investment. Until I get these bits on, I won't know for sure if the guitar is good or not. If it isn't, I'll re-assess and decide if I want to put more money into it or just walk away.

I'm trying to sell the acoustic guitar, so if that sells, that'll cover some of the cost and also free up a guitar stand (reducing required expenses).

Fingers crossed!

Krispy Kreme

Landed in Adelaide about a week ago and noted that there was a Krispy Kreme donut stand in the lobby. Thinking about it all week, get back here and order a box to take home for the family and get told they accept card only, no cash.

Oh well, maybe next year. #SadPanda

Radelaide

Down at the south end again, at least only for a few days this time (about six days total including travel time).

Travelling is fun, but it is better when it is for fun with family, instead of for work with time away from family. Oh well...

Focus Group

After 12 years or so of filling in surveys, answering emails and following dead ends, I finally got to be a part of a focus group. :)

Admittedly, it was about political stuffs, but I got to be a part of it and I got paid! Also admittedly, not that much - but I'm not complaining. Was a bit different, was a bit of fun, was a little boring... but it was something I'd been trying to get into for over a decade.

Scratch that off the bucket list. :D

New swimming PB

I'm not the best when it comes to swimming, in fact I'm usually one of the last ones finished. So I'm not usually a fan of swim sessions.

Today I managed to do twelve laps of the 50m pool (jump in one end, swim in various strokes to the other end, then get out and walk back to the first end).

That's 600m in one session. Whoo!

Car window

The drivers side window wasn't winding all the way down, and every indication was that it was getting caught on something.

So when I finally had the time, I pulled the door trim off and had a look. As suspected, the bottom edge of the glass was catching on a cable that had come loose.

Once I had that cable re-secured, the window was able to move freely again. Most annoying thing was that I didn't take a phot while the door trim was off. D'Oh!

New PB

On arm curls.

Did a weights session this arvo, got up to curling 15kg on each side. Got 5 reps a side - whee! Not too bad considering that I hadn't done a weights sesh in a while.

Aargh! Re-measure

Dagnabbit! I had a track measured out for 2.4km runs, or at least I thought I did. A while back I measured a route out using Google Maps and it seemed about right. Then I checked it again on GM and it looked like I measured it wrong by about 100m.

Today I measured it using one of those gps-enabled running apps on my phone and it added yet another 100m onto my route!

But the odd thing is that my time was way over what I normally run... does that mean the "official" 2.4km track at work is wrong?

Might need to measure that one with my phone to compare.

Getting on top of it...

...paperwork that is.

Been quite busy at work, trying to do my job and do courses as well. First two weeks was a lot of running back and forth but now that I'm mostly on top of it, the pressure is off a bit.

Now to stay on top of it...

Stabby stabby

Great start to the weekend. Somebody stabbed holes in a couple of our tyres. Off to the shop to get them replaced...

Another dog

We got another dog today.

Tracking

Went out and bought a measuring tape and this morning my waist came in at 95cm. Not sure what exercises to do this week, had been planning on doing more swimming but it's a bit of a hassle driving out to the pool.

But I definitely need a haircut. And a shave!

First big effort

Kicking the year off to a good start, had to go and scope out a 5km hiking path nearby. Instead of driving over, I jogged the 3.5km from my place to the start, walked the 5km track and then jogged the 4km odd distance back to the house. Two hours total, not a bad effort.

However, I've just been told the full track is 10km total, I only walked half the required distance. *sigh* Guess I'll have to do the other half tomorrow...

Fitter?

Can't track fitness without having some metrics to quantify. The two markers I'll be using (at least to start with) are overall weight and waist size.

Overall weight can be a bit misleading due to factors like hydration level, meals and the fact that muscle weighs more than fat. So I'm mainly just tracking that as an easy marker. Before the holidays, my "official" weight was 83.52kg (I had a medical assessment). The best time to weigh oneself is at the same time each day, and in the morning is probably best, before a meal.

Weight: 86kg
Waist: ??cm

Note to self: get a cloth measuring tape!

Also, just got back from holidays, so my weight is going to have gone up anyway due to holiday calories and lack of proper structured exercise.

Only just got back and it would be easy to just pike out since it is after noon, we've been travelling all day and we're tired... but no time like the present!

Start of 2019

I only managed 41 posts to my blog in 2018. That's well below my peak of 116 in 2015 (but well above my lowest of 4 in 2014!)

Projects for 2019: my Mum gave me a nifty little camcorder for Christmas, so I'm going to be trying my hand at doing a vlog on YouTube because I can. What I won't be doing is advertising it, I doubt anybody will be too interested in my ramblings. I have a plan to build a mini clapper board when we get home in case I need to sync sound and video.

Writing I'm going to be trying to work on. I don't get as much satisfaction out of it as I would have thought, which is probably why I don't do as much (or sit there staring at a blank document when I try).

Drawing I'm going to see how I go; it is one of those things that I like doing sort of, but don't have the passion to do it enough to get better at it. I used to be pretty good when I used to draw all the time as a kid, but lost the skill when I stopped.

I want to get some kind of physical hobby. I like the idea of painting but would much rather do it digitally as there is no "undo" with real paint if I stuff it up, plus I can't afford paints and stuff. I like working with my hands and making stuff, but I don't have the space to set up a workshop (or money to buy tools and materials). I really like remote control and would love to get into remote control cars and tanks and planes and stuff... but don't have the money for it (I'm seeing a trend here). RC cars need repairs and maintenance when they crash, planes need to be pretty much rebuilt or replaced if (when!) they crash, other rc stuff get really expensive the more rare they are. An rc sub would be awesome, but there aren't many places it can be used.

We'll see how I go. I don't do new years resolutions, this post is just me writing down things I'd like to do. But this is going to be a busy year with work, so it will be interesting to see how much (if any) I actually manage to get done.