Sunday, April 29, 2007
Interesting observation
It is nice to see someone jump into an existing online community and call things as they see it and that they aren't afraid to step on toes and that they do it in such a way that isn't offensive or rude, but through thought out replies. In a way it shows quite a healthy level of self confidence which is great to see, and the fact that they don't have to feel they need to big note themselves or bully/degrade others is also nice and refreshing.
Fresh Bread
This afternoon I had the urge to make a loaf of freah wholemeal bread! I think all the talk on Friday night about bread makers had planted the seed of the thought. Unfortunately I didn't have any of the ingredients to make bread, so it ended up costing me about $20 to get the flour, yeast, baking tin etc that I needed, but now that I have it all I have all the ingredients needed to make about 10 loaves.
It has been so many years that I had made bread! I tried googling for a recipe but they were all just a bit meh, so I took the gamble that either the side of the flour packet or the side of the yeast packet would have a bread recipe on it, and the yeast one did.
I think next time I will let the bread rise for a bit longer and maybe have this oven on 220 degrees and not 230, but the result was a fantasic loaf of fresh wholemeal bread and a delicous smelling house :D
Now I have the ingredients I have to try and make bread more often because it really isn't difficult, it just takes time for the dough to rise and then to cook. All up I spent about 10-15 minutes of actual work over a 1hr 30 to 1hr 45 time frame - so worth it! I may even experiment with fillings and diffferent kinds eventually.
It has been so many years that I had made bread! I tried googling for a recipe but they were all just a bit meh, so I took the gamble that either the side of the flour packet or the side of the yeast packet would have a bread recipe on it, and the yeast one did.
I think next time I will let the bread rise for a bit longer and maybe have this oven on 220 degrees and not 230, but the result was a fantasic loaf of fresh wholemeal bread and a delicous smelling house :D
Now I have the ingredients I have to try and make bread more often because it really isn't difficult, it just takes time for the dough to rise and then to cook. All up I spent about 10-15 minutes of actual work over a 1hr 30 to 1hr 45 time frame - so worth it! I may even experiment with fillings and diffferent kinds eventually.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
What a view
Had a beautiful ride down Beach Rd this morning as part of the monthly BBC brekky ride. Just a 30km ride to Black Rock and back, but it was just an awesome morning for a ride. There was no breeze, the sun was breaking through the clouds and the view of the Bay at that time of the morning was just lovely. The boys set a nice pace that I could comfortably keep up with, and I almost kept with the wheel infront on the inclines too, so I didn't drop backwards. I also did a turn at the front for a bit and they didn't complain at all at the pace - the boys were being nice this morning and was helped that SC aka Mhayli wasn't at the front with Parawolf setting the pace ;)
The last few weeks I have been doing the weekend rides again and been doing 50-60km rides which is helping me get back a bit of fitness which is great cos I can notice an improvement. It was just lack of doing the longer rides that has affected me a bit, it is amazing how a few weeks of not doing this can have quite an impact. I think I need to increase my commute and throw in a boulie lap or two into the mix during the week as well.
A massive thanks to Christine also for bringing in her old PS1 for me :D At this point it is a good thing, but who knows, if I get horribly addicted, it may be a bad thing :D I can't plug it in though until I do a few things around the house like clean my bike and do some homely duties.
I have a dilemma - do I try to have a long afternoon nap in the hope that I can stay up late tonight to watch the world cup final or so I just soldier through and see how late I can stay awake for?
The last few weeks I have been doing the weekend rides again and been doing 50-60km rides which is helping me get back a bit of fitness which is great cos I can notice an improvement. It was just lack of doing the longer rides that has affected me a bit, it is amazing how a few weeks of not doing this can have quite an impact. I think I need to increase my commute and throw in a boulie lap or two into the mix during the week as well.
A massive thanks to Christine also for bringing in her old PS1 for me :D At this point it is a good thing, but who knows, if I get horribly addicted, it may be a bad thing :D I can't plug it in though until I do a few things around the house like clean my bike and do some homely duties.
I have a dilemma - do I try to have a long afternoon nap in the hope that I can stay up late tonight to watch the world cup final or so I just soldier through and see how late I can stay awake for?
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Not well
Urgh to eating dodgy chinese food. I had to go to work this morning to get something done as I couldn't do it from home due to our lan/internet not working properly. I was going to go home as soon as I had completed what needed doing, but I started feeling better. I had a little bit of food for lunch and then started feeling blergh again so went home. I had actually considered riding, but decided that if I got worse then I would have to PT it home and that was not a great thought, so I drove instead - glad I did.
I got the lan/internet working and then had a 1 hour nap... lunch has quickly revisited me again so it looks like something is still a bit NQR... I also think I may be running a temperature
I got the lan/internet working and then had a 1 hour nap... lunch has quickly revisited me again so it looks like something is still a bit NQR... I also think I may be running a temperature
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
The Project
The concept is simple - make a home made work stand that I can mount my bike on to have it at the right height for when I clean the bike and when I want to do any maintenance on it. The key points are that it has to be easy and simple so that anyone can make it and it had to be cheap! I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do, but I needed help in actually making it happen and I knew the staff at Bunnings would be able to help.
I began by giving Abbotsford Cycles a call and seeing if they had any crappy old quick release skewered hubs. I knew that I could get a proper QR skewered mount, like the kind used on roof racks or utes for $50, but that didn't really fit into the cheap part of this project. Abbotsford Cycles had an old QR hub and skewer, so after work yesterday I stopped past and got what I needed for only $12! BARGAIN!
Once I had ridden home and showered I then went to Bunnings. I ended up spending 1 1/2 hrs there and I had 5-6 different staff members help me at different times with different things and even a customer, who was a biomechanical engineer, offered some input.
Whenever someone new helped me I told them that I was wanting to make a bike stand for my bike with the following: Minimum length of 65cm (the length between the front forks and the rear of the bottom bracket), no wider than 8cm (the gap between the smallest chain ring and the crank on the other side) and I needed a clearance of at least 15.5cm to be able to spin the cranks. A few of them struggled with the concept to begin with, but they soon caught on and were extremely helpful.
The first thing I needed to get was a foldable workhorse. It was important that the legs could fold down so it made storage easier. The only problem with this was that the workhorse was 9cm wide and didn't provide the 15.5cm clearance for the cranks that I needed due to the legs - I figured I could move the legs, but that didn't solve the problem of it being too wide for the space between my triple chain ring and opposite crank (a double chain ring might not have this problem though).
Some of the idea's that were bounced around were making the concept of an easy to make at home workstand not so easy. Ranging from attaching a metal pole at the rear of the work horse and then getting a bracket machined so that it was smooth to hold the bottom bracket. Another idea was to nail a bit of wood at the back of the work horse, like the pole idea, and then attach a hook of some kind to it which I could then rest one of the chain stay's on and cover the hook in felt so that the metal wasn't in direct contact with the bike - these idea's were all too complicated and sounded pricey - the two things I wanted to avoid!
In the end I went with my own idea of getting bits of wood that were the required width and then getting them cut the required length so that I could stack them on top of each other to make to then make it the required height I needed. I ended up getting 5 bits of wood, 700mm long with the dimension of 70x40mm.
I then needed to find a way of securely attaching the hub to the wood. Once I had again explained the concept to the guy, he came up with the suggestion of using a conduit mounting saddle. He showed me on the wall of the building what they were and it looked like a great idea.
Last but not least I then needed to get the screws (I nearly forgot these -oops-) to be able to join the wood together and to join it to the work horse - oh and to also screw the mounting saddles down.
This morning I called my sister and organised for me to go over there to assemble everything - I needed to use their drill as I don't have one. I packed the car up with everything that I had purchased, as well as the bike, and off I went.
Once I got there we got everything together in the back yard and got to work. It was actually a lot easier putting it all together than I thought it would be. I measured up the work horse so that the wood would be in the middle of it and then off we went screwing the bits of wood on top of each other. I purchased 5 bits of wood, but I realised that I only needed 4 as I wasn't taking into account the height of the wood on the work horse itself. Once we had screwed 4 bits of pine on, I put the bike on there to make sure that the cranks had the clearance needed and they did so I didn't need that extra bit of pine.
The next bit was to secure the hub to the wood. My BIL reckoned I would only need one of the mounting saddles, so we screwed it all in place with only one of them, but this didn't work. It was too loose and wasn't secure, the bike could have easily fallen off and who knows what could happen to it if that happened. We unscrewed it and then re-screwed it on with the other mounting saddle and this proved to be very secure and exactly what was needed - like I had come up with in the first place.
All up I spent the following:
1 x Quick Release Skewered hub = $12.00
2 x Conduit Mounting Saddles @ $0.57 = $1.14
2 x Packets of chipboard screws @ $2.95 = $5.90
1 x Saw horse = $19.80 (most expensive item)
5 x Pine wood 700x70x40mm = $6.30
Total money spent - $45.14, time to assemble it all 10 minutes max, making your own home made bicycle work stand - priceless :D
The stand I have made definitely fits into the category of cheap and easy to make that anyone could do - I love it! :D
More photos
I began by giving Abbotsford Cycles a call and seeing if they had any crappy old quick release skewered hubs. I knew that I could get a proper QR skewered mount, like the kind used on roof racks or utes for $50, but that didn't really fit into the cheap part of this project. Abbotsford Cycles had an old QR hub and skewer, so after work yesterday I stopped past and got what I needed for only $12! BARGAIN!
Once I had ridden home and showered I then went to Bunnings. I ended up spending 1 1/2 hrs there and I had 5-6 different staff members help me at different times with different things and even a customer, who was a biomechanical engineer, offered some input.
Whenever someone new helped me I told them that I was wanting to make a bike stand for my bike with the following: Minimum length of 65cm (the length between the front forks and the rear of the bottom bracket), no wider than 8cm (the gap between the smallest chain ring and the crank on the other side) and I needed a clearance of at least 15.5cm to be able to spin the cranks. A few of them struggled with the concept to begin with, but they soon caught on and were extremely helpful.
The first thing I needed to get was a foldable workhorse. It was important that the legs could fold down so it made storage easier. The only problem with this was that the workhorse was 9cm wide and didn't provide the 15.5cm clearance for the cranks that I needed due to the legs - I figured I could move the legs, but that didn't solve the problem of it being too wide for the space between my triple chain ring and opposite crank (a double chain ring might not have this problem though).
Some of the idea's that were bounced around were making the concept of an easy to make at home workstand not so easy. Ranging from attaching a metal pole at the rear of the work horse and then getting a bracket machined so that it was smooth to hold the bottom bracket. Another idea was to nail a bit of wood at the back of the work horse, like the pole idea, and then attach a hook of some kind to it which I could then rest one of the chain stay's on and cover the hook in felt so that the metal wasn't in direct contact with the bike - these idea's were all too complicated and sounded pricey - the two things I wanted to avoid!
In the end I went with my own idea of getting bits of wood that were the required width and then getting them cut the required length so that I could stack them on top of each other to make to then make it the required height I needed. I ended up getting 5 bits of wood, 700mm long with the dimension of 70x40mm.
I then needed to find a way of securely attaching the hub to the wood. Once I had again explained the concept to the guy, he came up with the suggestion of using a conduit mounting saddle. He showed me on the wall of the building what they were and it looked like a great idea.
Last but not least I then needed to get the screws (I nearly forgot these -oops-) to be able to join the wood together and to join it to the work horse - oh and to also screw the mounting saddles down.
This morning I called my sister and organised for me to go over there to assemble everything - I needed to use their drill as I don't have one. I packed the car up with everything that I had purchased, as well as the bike, and off I went.
Once I got there we got everything together in the back yard and got to work. It was actually a lot easier putting it all together than I thought it would be. I measured up the work horse so that the wood would be in the middle of it and then off we went screwing the bits of wood on top of each other. I purchased 5 bits of wood, but I realised that I only needed 4 as I wasn't taking into account the height of the wood on the work horse itself. Once we had screwed 4 bits of pine on, I put the bike on there to make sure that the cranks had the clearance needed and they did so I didn't need that extra bit of pine.
The next bit was to secure the hub to the wood. My BIL reckoned I would only need one of the mounting saddles, so we screwed it all in place with only one of them, but this didn't work. It was too loose and wasn't secure, the bike could have easily fallen off and who knows what could happen to it if that happened. We unscrewed it and then re-screwed it on with the other mounting saddle and this proved to be very secure and exactly what was needed - like I had come up with in the first place.
All up I spent the following:
1 x Quick Release Skewered hub = $12.00
2 x Conduit Mounting Saddles @ $0.57 = $1.14
2 x Packets of chipboard screws @ $2.95 = $5.90
1 x Saw horse = $19.80 (most expensive item)
5 x Pine wood 700x70x40mm = $6.30
Total money spent - $45.14, time to assemble it all 10 minutes max, making your own home made bicycle work stand - priceless :D
The stand I have made definitely fits into the category of cheap and easy to make that anyone could do - I love it! :D
More photos
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Excited anticipation
Tonight I spent about 1 1/2 hrs at Bunnings and was 'helped' by about 5 different staff members in assisting me to get the majority of the goodies I need for what I am going to build tomorrow! I am excited about making something useful! I will provide all the details, including photos, tomorrow! My fingers are crossed that it actually works!
Too close for comfort
Riding home last night from my Monday night meeting, it was about 6:40pm or so, and I was going down Cotham Road Kew towards the junction, a car was wanting to go from one side street to the continuation of the street on the other side of Cotham Rd. He speed up to cross the road as there was a gap in the traffic... except for me! I missed being T-boned by a matter of about a meter. I was so lucky, it really got the heart going.
At the last second I saw the car flying across the road towards me and I powered on for about 1-2 pushes of the pedal and managed to get out of the way of the car cos there was no way I was going to stop in time when I was already doing 35km/h. I think it scared the driver as well as when I looked back at the car he had stopped part way on Cotham Rd.
I think I am going to go buy some more blinkies - can't be too sure/safe/lit up.
Last night I managed to get a solid 8hrs sleep! I don't know when that last happened. I regularly seem to wake up through the night but then fall back asleep but that didn't even happen last night and I didn't even need to get up to go to the loo like I normally do - amazing!
I didn't gain any weight this week, which is good considering I drank more than I had planned to for the week - this week will see a loss though.
At the last second I saw the car flying across the road towards me and I powered on for about 1-2 pushes of the pedal and managed to get out of the way of the car cos there was no way I was going to stop in time when I was already doing 35km/h. I think it scared the driver as well as when I looked back at the car he had stopped part way on Cotham Rd.
I think I am going to go buy some more blinkies - can't be too sure/safe/lit up.
Last night I managed to get a solid 8hrs sleep! I don't know when that last happened. I regularly seem to wake up through the night but then fall back asleep but that didn't even happen last night and I didn't even need to get up to go to the loo like I normally do - amazing!
I didn't gain any weight this week, which is good considering I drank more than I had planned to for the week - this week will see a loss though.
Monday, April 23, 2007
The room without a view
It quite often gets to me that we don't have any windows in my office building. Well, we do have some, but they are at either end of the building and at one end the blinds remain closed due to sun glare and at the other end you can't see much anyway.
It is such a beautiful sunny day outside and it is a horrible waste not being able to look out at the sun shining and the blue sky - it can actually get quite depressing. Just being able to get a glimpse of the outdoors would be nice.
It is such a beautiful sunny day outside and it is a horrible waste not being able to look out at the sun shining and the blue sky - it can actually get quite depressing. Just being able to get a glimpse of the outdoors would be nice.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Channel 7
I can't believe that due to Channel 7's commitment to telecast a football match, they forced a V8 Supercar's race to finish early! If they can't handle all their commitments then they shouldn't have made them to begin with. The Age has an article on it here. The fact that they feel that they can do this is beyond words. So many things matter on a round/race win - championship points and sponsorship to only name two - hrmmm
Friday, April 20, 2007
Supplementary
In the past week at work I have recieved a promotion AND a Being Your Best Award - an internal way of saying thank you to colleagues for doing a good job, which came with a $100 wish list voucher! It really is a great place to work so I really hope they come to the game when ti is the EOFY remuneration review time.
Contractual Issues
My manager (Tina) is on leave for a month, so today I spoke to Caroline (her manager) in regards to my contract. The only changes were to my bonus and to my job title. Caroline claims that the lack of payrise stems from the manager in NZ (3 above her and second to the CEO of TNZ). Supposedly no promotions are meant to be awarded at all at the moment. The reason they awarded the promotion now was to reward my good work and to increase the STI part of my bonus so that I would receive at least some kind of increased monetary reward for this year.
I mentioned to Caroline that I have been doing a fair bit of research in the current market in regards to salary's for my kind of work and that according to that, for my previous title, I am actually paid a considerable amount less than a junior can expect! I have actually worked out that to be near the bottom range of the market for my new job title, I would need half my wage on top of what I am currently on. She told me that she fully appreciates my 'situation' and that I am at the top of the list for the EOFY remuneration reviews. I also let her know that I am worried about missing out and that I have been burnt in the past by similar situations. Caroline let me know that not only herself, but Jayne Skeggs and Chris Baker both tried their best to get this through and it just couldn't happen.
While this isn't the result I was after, I have said what I needed to say and I am OK, to a degree, with the reasoning. It will really all come down to what the result is in August in regards to this as to whether I stay or start looking elsewhere for work.
I mentioned to Caroline that I have been doing a fair bit of research in the current market in regards to salary's for my kind of work and that according to that, for my previous title, I am actually paid a considerable amount less than a junior can expect! I have actually worked out that to be near the bottom range of the market for my new job title, I would need half my wage on top of what I am currently on. She told me that she fully appreciates my 'situation' and that I am at the top of the list for the EOFY remuneration reviews. I also let her know that I am worried about missing out and that I have been burnt in the past by similar situations. Caroline let me know that not only herself, but Jayne Skeggs and Chris Baker both tried their best to get this through and it just couldn't happen.
While this isn't the result I was after, I have said what I needed to say and I am OK, to a degree, with the reasoning. It will really all come down to what the result is in August in regards to this as to whether I stay or start looking elsewhere for work.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Tonight's Randomness
I have really been stressing the past few days about my new contract at work. I have spoken to a few people about it and they said that I shouldn't sign a new contract about my promotion unless it specifically mentions a pay increase. If the pay increase doesn't start till July 1st then that is OK, but I was warned not to leave it to the end of financial year review for it. Unfortunately I don't think that I am going to have any choice in it. The choice though will come in a few months when the EOFY reviews are done and then it will be decided if I start looking for work elsewhere or not.
I rarely go to the movies. In fact, I don't know what the last movie I saw at the movies was! I wouldn't mind seeing the new Marky Mark movie Shooter - I should find someone who wants to go see it.
I think I need a hobby or something to keep me busy during the evening's at home and the first thing I thought of was knitting, but I don't really know how to. Lately when it has gotten to 9:30pm or so I have been so bored I have gone to bed. Unless one of my favourite TV shows is on then I lose interest in it really quickly... although that transplant show last night on Ch 10 was really interesting..
Tonight for dinner I decided to have a bit of a snack dinner - cheese and wine, really good for weightloss - NOT! Ahh well, these things have to happen from time to time.
My housemate ended up saving some of the bath water, from the full bath tub, she saved half a bucket of water - yup, that's right, after her being in it for maybe 2 minutes (before she got hungry and needed to get out to eat) she managed to save half a bucket of water. Mind you, this was over 24hrs of the water sitting in the tub. She claimed that it was too much effort to have a shower instead of a bath - well she would have saved a heap of water if she had had a shower!
I have commuted 4 days in a row this week! Tomorrow I will be driving to work though, a day of rest to try to rest the legs for Saturday's ride. Last night I decided that this morning's ride to work would be a go hard or go home kinda ride. From the moment I rolled out of the driveway I went hard! I know I could have gone harder and faster with fresh legs but I went as hard as I could today. I couldn't have gone faster today, I really put my all into it and I managed to beat my (non wind assisted) PB by 57 seconds! Go me!
I think I have a pimple forming in my nose - grrr
I rarely go to the movies. In fact, I don't know what the last movie I saw at the movies was! I wouldn't mind seeing the new Marky Mark movie Shooter - I should find someone who wants to go see it.
I think I need a hobby or something to keep me busy during the evening's at home and the first thing I thought of was knitting, but I don't really know how to. Lately when it has gotten to 9:30pm or so I have been so bored I have gone to bed. Unless one of my favourite TV shows is on then I lose interest in it really quickly... although that transplant show last night on Ch 10 was really interesting..
Tonight for dinner I decided to have a bit of a snack dinner - cheese and wine, really good for weightloss - NOT! Ahh well, these things have to happen from time to time.
My housemate ended up saving some of the bath water, from the full bath tub, she saved half a bucket of water - yup, that's right, after her being in it for maybe 2 minutes (before she got hungry and needed to get out to eat) she managed to save half a bucket of water. Mind you, this was over 24hrs of the water sitting in the tub. She claimed that it was too much effort to have a shower instead of a bath - well she would have saved a heap of water if she had had a shower!
I have commuted 4 days in a row this week! Tomorrow I will be driving to work though, a day of rest to try to rest the legs for Saturday's ride. Last night I decided that this morning's ride to work would be a go hard or go home kinda ride. From the moment I rolled out of the driveway I went hard! I know I could have gone harder and faster with fresh legs but I went as hard as I could today. I couldn't have gone faster today, I really put my all into it and I managed to beat my (non wind assisted) PB by 57 seconds! Go me!
I think I have a pimple forming in my nose - grrr
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
A bit of control
Today on the commute to work and home from work I decided it would be a recovery day. I reckon my HR would have averaged around 130-135 on the way to work, but I can't say for sure because after resetting my HRM I forgot to actually start it - oops!
When I got home tonight I decided to go for a walk - I haven't done this in about two months or so I reckon and it was great! The sun was shining, I was listening to my iPod, it was all good :) A nice 40 minute power walk after a 30 minute ride is nice.
A few people were doing dinner tonight, but I couldn't afford to go cos I have a farewell lunch tomorrow at work. Yeah, I could put either one on my CC but I am really trying hard not to use them. Instead, I cooked up a pot of WW points free soup, but with kidney beans and had a nice juicy steak for dinner :D YUM!
As much as I love it, I need to learn to not add chilli to everything, or to limit how much I add. Chilli in corncakes wasn't such a grand idea.
I am thinking I should buy some hot horse radish though to have with my red meat instead of chilli - mmmmm :D
When I got home tonight I decided to go for a walk - I haven't done this in about two months or so I reckon and it was great! The sun was shining, I was listening to my iPod, it was all good :) A nice 40 minute power walk after a 30 minute ride is nice.
A few people were doing dinner tonight, but I couldn't afford to go cos I have a farewell lunch tomorrow at work. Yeah, I could put either one on my CC but I am really trying hard not to use them. Instead, I cooked up a pot of WW points free soup, but with kidney beans and had a nice juicy steak for dinner :D YUM!
As much as I love it, I need to learn to not add chilli to everything, or to limit how much I add. Chilli in corncakes wasn't such a grand idea.
I am thinking I should buy some hot horse radish though to have with my red meat instead of chilli - mmmmm :D
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
-blink-
My housemate is so strange - she doesn't think its gross or disgusting to leave used bathwater in the bath tub for several hours/overnight/days before she uses it to water her plants - while living in a share house, but it is for me to cut my finger nails and put them inside a plastic container take away food container and put the lid on it and leave it on the table next to my arm chair. It is a sealed container!!
If anyone see's it the same way as my housemate can you please try to explain it to me, cos I just don't get it.
If anyone see's it the same way as my housemate can you please try to explain it to me, cos I just don't get it.
Weapon Of Mass Digestion
Righto, time to jump onto the bandwagon in the support of this little cute car!
It is the new Diesel Fiat Punto, the first time a new Fiat has been available in Australia for 18 years and it is running in the Targa Tasmania Rally which starts today.
This car is so unique that they had to give it its own classification - what a way to ensure a win! :D
Monday, April 16, 2007
Yawn
I can't stop yawning! It probably has a lot to do with the fact that between 1am and about 5am this morning I lay in bed wide awake, unable to sleep. It is so frustrating when you are just lieing there, wanting and needing to sleep, but just unable to do so. As a result today I feel quite exhausted! The commute to work this morning was really quite sluggish and not helped by the southerly hitting me in the face. My legs might also still be a bit tired from my 5 days in a row - they will get used to that though and I had a protein shake this morning at work to try to also help with it.
Fingers crossed that it stays a southerly breeze today!
Fingers crossed that it stays a southerly breeze today!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Too far
Just because you put a smiley face on the end of a nasty comment, doesn't mean people aren't going to take it seriously and not take offense to it, especially when you give the feel of it being nasty and you are just putting the smiley to try to disguise it.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
5 in a row
This morning I got up just before 7am (a sleep in!) and got ready to head off for the Cogs Girls skills training session. They start at 9:30am in Hampton and I had decided that I was going to ride down there to get some more km's into the legs. I ended up leaving home at 7:45am and got there at 9am - a lot quicker than I had expected, but then I had a nice tail wind and was doing 30-35km/h down Beach Rd.
As a part of the session we were going to do a 30km ride to Mordi and back, but due to the northerly wind, we headed to Port Melbourne instead so that the group could make the most of the tail wind on the return. On the ride to Port Melbourne the group, when working well, was easily managing 30+km/h speeds into the headwind which was just awesome. It really is great fun to be a part of a working bunch taking rolling turns at the front of 10-20seconds each time.
Once in Port Melbourne I decided that after getting some food I was going to just head home as I was already half way there. Two other girls decided that they were going to also head into the City so we went off down to Todd Rd and down the path under the Westgate Bridge which goes past The Punt and then onto the city from the Docklands side of the world - I would never have known that was there! While riding through the industrial area's down there, the three of us were managing to keep the speed up to around 30km/h or so and I was feeling quite strong. We didn't do rolling turns as such, but did take turns as being part of the pair in front while someone got to rest behind. We all agreed with the comment that if we were on our own we wouldn't be doing the speed we were, but together we found we could.
Once in the city the three of us went our own ways and I headed straight for home.
Stats:
Distance: 61.83km
Calories: 2259
Avg Hr: 138
Avg Sp: 23.1
Max HR: 172
Max Sp: 41.7km/h
Today's ride means that this is my fifth day in a row of cycling, something I have never done before, so I am very proud of myself! My stats for the 4 days of commuting and today's ride all together are:
Stats:
Distance: 147.3km
Calories: 5328
Avg Hr: 142
Avg Sp: 23.2 km/h
As a part of the session we were going to do a 30km ride to Mordi and back, but due to the northerly wind, we headed to Port Melbourne instead so that the group could make the most of the tail wind on the return. On the ride to Port Melbourne the group, when working well, was easily managing 30+km/h speeds into the headwind which was just awesome. It really is great fun to be a part of a working bunch taking rolling turns at the front of 10-20seconds each time.
Once in Port Melbourne I decided that after getting some food I was going to just head home as I was already half way there. Two other girls decided that they were going to also head into the City so we went off down to Todd Rd and down the path under the Westgate Bridge which goes past The Punt and then onto the city from the Docklands side of the world - I would never have known that was there! While riding through the industrial area's down there, the three of us were managing to keep the speed up to around 30km/h or so and I was feeling quite strong. We didn't do rolling turns as such, but did take turns as being part of the pair in front while someone got to rest behind. We all agreed with the comment that if we were on our own we wouldn't be doing the speed we were, but together we found we could.
Once in the city the three of us went our own ways and I headed straight for home.
Stats:
Distance: 61.83km
Calories: 2259
Avg Hr: 138
Avg Sp: 23.1
Max HR: 172
Max Sp: 41.7km/h
Today's ride means that this is my fifth day in a row of cycling, something I have never done before, so I am very proud of myself! My stats for the 4 days of commuting and today's ride all together are:
Stats:
Distance: 147.3km
Calories: 5328
Avg Hr: 142
Avg Sp: 23.2 km/h
Friday, April 13, 2007
Recognition
I normally leave work by 4pm and sometimes earlier. Today at work we had out monthly BBQ and I decided to hang around a bit for that and it doesn't start till 4:30. At about 4:10pm Tina (my manager) called my mobile phone and said I had to dial into a teleconference meeting right away and that Caroline (her manager) was also going to be in the meeting as well as Brad (the other person in the Test Practice). The first and only thought that went through my head was 'faaaaaaaaaaark cos people have left they are going to outsource the department and I am getting a redundancy' - it was the only logical thing I could think of. Once I dialled into the meeting I got the impression that Brad also thought the same thing was happening.
How wrong we were! It was a meeting to inform Brad and myself that due to all the fantastic work that we have been doing we are both getting a promotion!! OMFG!!! I have never had a promotion before, plenty of sideways steps and increased responsibilities, but never an official promotion! My title at work now goes from Test Analyst to Test Lead :D It also means a change of remuneration banding, but due to being in the last quarter of the FY we can't get this until the EOFY. Also, part of the % of our annual bonus will be increased, which will be prorated for the last three months of the FY, not sure if the pay will be backdated though.
To say that I am suprised and excited at getting this and being recognised as an important and valued employee is an understatement! This kind of thing rarely happens within the company - heck there are developers that have been there for 10 years and never promoted to senior developer! I really do have a great manager now! :D
WOW!! GO ME! :D :D
How wrong we were! It was a meeting to inform Brad and myself that due to all the fantastic work that we have been doing we are both getting a promotion!! OMFG!!! I have never had a promotion before, plenty of sideways steps and increased responsibilities, but never an official promotion! My title at work now goes from Test Analyst to Test Lead :D It also means a change of remuneration banding, but due to being in the last quarter of the FY we can't get this until the EOFY. Also, part of the % of our annual bonus will be increased, which will be prorated for the last three months of the FY, not sure if the pay will be backdated though.
To say that I am suprised and excited at getting this and being recognised as an important and valued employee is an understatement! This kind of thing rarely happens within the company - heck there are developers that have been there for 10 years and never promoted to senior developer! I really do have a great manager now! :D
WOW!! GO ME! :D :D
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Bits and pieces
My housemate bought a new mac laptop of some kind... after years of bashing mac... I can't wait to hear the complaints, they have already started. She also left out some kind of dip overnight and has put it back in the fridge to eat again... even though she was worried about eating 3 day old curry - it makes no sense to me!
I took my bike off to my LBS where I bought it from to get it and myself put on the trainer to try and sort out my saddle height issues. It has now been lowered 13mm from where it was for the HHCCC and a further 5mm from where I had it at! No bloody wonder that I a) had sore knees on the HHCCC and b) had rocking hips a week or so ago.
Work this week has been busy which is good, although one total nuff nuff got me really really agro but I got it sorted. He had agreed a week ago to help with the testing, but then on the day said he was too busy - WTF?? After I asked someone else to do the work he suddenly was able to assist... talk about trying to have a power play or some kind of control or something - wanker!
This morning I had issues with the gears on my bike big time. When I would take off from the lights and I was standing up the chain would slip massively. I mentioned it on The Forum and also to a guy at work and thanks to both of them I got it all sorted and now have a bit more of an idea about how to to the cable adjustment which is good. I also lubed my jockey wheels as they started squeaking this morning!
I got strung out by a friend sending a sms to update their phone number but sending it from the new number! Durrr! hehe got it all sorted in the end though.
Tonight I had a bubble bath using a bubble bath bar from lush - mmmm smelly and all good! I find it funny when you fart in the bath... it makes such an odd sound reverberating off the metal of the tub! hahaha
I am planning to ride to work again tomorrow - another 4 days in the one week!! I will take it easy though as I think that I am going to try to do a ride to Black Rock and back home on Saturday, about 60km's... although this isn't definate yet. What is for sure is that I need to start getting the distance of 60-80km's into the legs to start building up for the ATB in October.
I took my bike off to my LBS where I bought it from to get it and myself put on the trainer to try and sort out my saddle height issues. It has now been lowered 13mm from where it was for the HHCCC and a further 5mm from where I had it at! No bloody wonder that I a) had sore knees on the HHCCC and b) had rocking hips a week or so ago.
Work this week has been busy which is good, although one total nuff nuff got me really really agro but I got it sorted. He had agreed a week ago to help with the testing, but then on the day said he was too busy - WTF?? After I asked someone else to do the work he suddenly was able to assist... talk about trying to have a power play or some kind of control or something - wanker!
This morning I had issues with the gears on my bike big time. When I would take off from the lights and I was standing up the chain would slip massively. I mentioned it on The Forum and also to a guy at work and thanks to both of them I got it all sorted and now have a bit more of an idea about how to to the cable adjustment which is good. I also lubed my jockey wheels as they started squeaking this morning!
I got strung out by a friend sending a sms to update their phone number but sending it from the new number! Durrr! hehe got it all sorted in the end though.
Tonight I had a bubble bath using a bubble bath bar from lush - mmmm smelly and all good! I find it funny when you fart in the bath... it makes such an odd sound reverberating off the metal of the tub! hahaha
I am planning to ride to work again tomorrow - another 4 days in the one week!! I will take it easy though as I think that I am going to try to do a ride to Black Rock and back home on Saturday, about 60km's... although this isn't definate yet. What is for sure is that I need to start getting the distance of 60-80km's into the legs to start building up for the ATB in October.
Monday, April 9, 2007
hrmm
I came to this realisation a while ago, I don't actually have anyone that I confide in. I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing but for now it is just a thing. I don't I have anyone that I feel the need to call when something good or bad happens. Like I have said, sometimes I think I am more male than female... but only in certain aspects.
I have been wondering this past week if I am emotionally disconnected from being able to love. I feel emotions for sadness and happyness - like I cried while watching one of the stories on The Good Friday Appeal about a little girl with cancer at only 6 months old, but I feel like I am almost unable to feel love.... I know that I am not incapable of feeling love, I am sure it could just be because there hasn't been anyone in my life for such a long time and it is almost foreign. It sure would be nice to feel wanted and loved. I am wondering if I somehow subconciously shut down my feelings to avoid any possible pain, half the fun of falling in love is the start when you get those butterflies in your stomach and you can't wait to see them and when they call you just get that buzz and when you think of them you can't help but to smile - I just don't know, but the easiest answer is probably that I just haven't found that connection with anyone for a long time. This then makes me wonder how someone people always seem to find someone that they click with or love and I haven't for many years. there has been the odd person or few over the years that I have cared for, but none that I can say I loved, who made me feel like the only person in the world.
In other news, my big toe knuckle on my right foot is sore from all my walking... damn not having full movement in it.
I have been wondering this past week if I am emotionally disconnected from being able to love. I feel emotions for sadness and happyness - like I cried while watching one of the stories on The Good Friday Appeal about a little girl with cancer at only 6 months old, but I feel like I am almost unable to feel love.... I know that I am not incapable of feeling love, I am sure it could just be because there hasn't been anyone in my life for such a long time and it is almost foreign. It sure would be nice to feel wanted and loved. I am wondering if I somehow subconciously shut down my feelings to avoid any possible pain, half the fun of falling in love is the start when you get those butterflies in your stomach and you can't wait to see them and when they call you just get that buzz and when you think of them you can't help but to smile - I just don't know, but the easiest answer is probably that I just haven't found that connection with anyone for a long time. This then makes me wonder how someone people always seem to find someone that they click with or love and I haven't for many years. there has been the odd person or few over the years that I have cared for, but none that I can say I loved, who made me feel like the only person in the world.
In other news, my big toe knuckle on my right foot is sore from all my walking... damn not having full movement in it.
Easter
I have had a really great 4 day weekend! Friday I sat around the house not doing much at all. I brushed my teeth before heading out to meet friends for some food etc and a chunk of my top left wisdom tooth fell off from along the gum line leaving the nerve exposed! Not Happy Jan! I still managed to go out and eat some dinner by eating on the other side of my mouth, but it did really put a big dampner on the evening. As a result I needed to ring up and try to get someone else to cover me for a WW shift on Sat morning while I headed into the Dental Hospital. After a 3 1/2 hr wait and $135 later my tooth was all fixed.
After scooting home, throwing some clothes in the car I then headed off for the 2 1/2 hr drive to Yarram in Gippsland. Had a massive Saturday night down there at my friends parents place and the pub - So many hot young guys! I umm -cough- got seperated from my friends and managed to find my way back to their place on my own at about 2am -grin- and managed to get about 5 hrs sleep which resulted in me feeling really tired for the majority of the day. Went and had lunch down at Port Albert - gotta have fish and chips when down there - it is so fresh, its great although the 30 minute wait wasn't as great, but worth it.
On the drive home I had to stop at a servo and get an iced coffee to try and keep me awake, while I was OK when I pulled over, I knew I needed some caffeine to prevent me getting really sleepy on the drive.
Today was such a beautiful day. I felt the need to exercise but I wasn't in the mood to go for a ride or to the gym so I decided to go for a walk towards the city. I ended up catching up with a few friends and probably walked somewhere around 15km all up by the time I got to the city and then walked back to where my friends car was parked in North Carlton. It really was an awesome way to spend such a lovely day with great weather andI will definately sleep well tonight!
After scooting home, throwing some clothes in the car I then headed off for the 2 1/2 hr drive to Yarram in Gippsland. Had a massive Saturday night down there at my friends parents place and the pub - So many hot young guys! I umm -cough- got seperated from my friends and managed to find my way back to their place on my own at about 2am -grin- and managed to get about 5 hrs sleep which resulted in me feeling really tired for the majority of the day. Went and had lunch down at Port Albert - gotta have fish and chips when down there - it is so fresh, its great although the 30 minute wait wasn't as great, but worth it.
On the drive home I had to stop at a servo and get an iced coffee to try and keep me awake, while I was OK when I pulled over, I knew I needed some caffeine to prevent me getting really sleepy on the drive.
Today was such a beautiful day. I felt the need to exercise but I wasn't in the mood to go for a ride or to the gym so I decided to go for a walk towards the city. I ended up catching up with a few friends and probably walked somewhere around 15km all up by the time I got to the city and then walked back to where my friends car was parked in North Carlton. It really was an awesome way to spend such a lovely day with great weather andI will definately sleep well tonight!
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Improved
The urge to want to kill anyone I had to speak to has reduced greatly. I am still not in the mood for people's shit, but now I know why I am in this mood it helps me be more aware of it and deal with it.
I still feel a bit NQR, but I am no longer feeling nauseas although I am still feeling shaky and still bloody tired
I still feel a bit NQR, but I am no longer feeling nauseas although I am still feeling shaky and still bloody tired
Grumpeh
I am not in a people mood today. I am very tired and just not in the mood to deal with anyone and I can just see myself cracking it with someone at some point today.
I am going to put my headphones on and just plug away at my work. I might even ignore the internet for a while
EDIT: I have worked it out... my foul mood is sponsored by the letters p, m and s
I am going to put my headphones on and just plug away at my work. I might even ignore the internet for a while
EDIT: I have worked it out... my foul mood is sponsored by the letters p, m and s
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Stuff
I hate it how just because it is the holiday's all the TV shows show repeats...
Today, Sydney was nice, not hot, only a tad humid... was OK. I got to the airport for the flight home 75 mins before the flight, so I decided to do the only appropriate thing - buy the paper and sit at the bar till my flight was ready :D
I found out today that not only am I the test lead for the AUS side of the Trans Tasman project with our owners, Telecom New Zealand, but I will have someone covering the New Zealand side of the project reporting to me.
I met my boss for the first time today, I speak to her practically every day, and have so for at least the past 6-10 months, but have never met her cos she is in Sydney and I am in Melbourne - having lunch with her today was great!
Today, Sydney was nice, not hot, only a tad humid... was OK. I got to the airport for the flight home 75 mins before the flight, so I decided to do the only appropriate thing - buy the paper and sit at the bar till my flight was ready :D
I found out today that not only am I the test lead for the AUS side of the Trans Tasman project with our owners, Telecom New Zealand, but I will have someone covering the New Zealand side of the project reporting to me.
I met my boss for the first time today, I speak to her practically every day, and have so for at least the past 6-10 months, but have never met her cos she is in Sydney and I am in Melbourne - having lunch with her today was great!
Monday, April 2, 2007
A cycling journey
One of the guys on The Forum just came back from a cycling tour of Tasmania with his wife - here is his photo story of their holiday - it is sensational
Sunday, April 1, 2007
The simple things in life
I love it how you can pick a good chinese restaurant/take away place from its appearance. The ones that are plain and old school with barely any decorations and that look old are the best ones to get food from - YUM!
Awake
I got a txt message at 8:30 this morning... Sunday morning... 8:30 - ARGH! It wasn't even anything informative/useful. If it was a Saturday and it woke me up, not so much a problem, but there are time boundaries on a Sunday morning that shouldn't be broken unless you specifically know the person will be awake.
Now I am awake and didn't get a sleep in cos I had a late night.
Now I am awake and didn't get a sleep in cos I had a late night.
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