luckycanuck

I seem to get tired on the weekends.

I sold a third of my stake in KKT on Friday.  It was the first sale I've made in some time.  I intend to hold the rest of it but I wanted to realise the gain (it has doubled in three months) and have some more cash on hand as I expect volatility to continue.  There may be some other sales next week and with the dividend payments that will be coming in over the next few weeks I should have enough cash on hand to remain flexible and to be able to take advantage of any opportunities that crop up over the next little while.  VMG also issued a supplementary prospectus and I will be getting one option for every two shares I hold and will have two years to exercise them.  More opportunity.

I took Friday off gym wise and watched some DVDs that Coffee Snob loaned me.  A British series about being a political advisor, that reminds me of things that I didn't like about being a political advisor.  I spoke to a couple of agencies and will be getting a bit more active in looking for work.  There are quite a few options I will be looking at.  I know that it's a good idea to "recharge" as some of my friends have said, but having time off doesn't seem to be doing that.  I still feel detached, so part of me thinks I might as well feel detached and get paid.  I've not been to therapy for a while and I don't feel like I've missed it.  I like my psychologist, but I'm not sure what the therapy is meant to be doing.

YW: Tiretiretiretiretiretiretiretiretire! I went to town on the big tractor tire.

5 rounds - 6 tire flips across the room, 20 tire pushups, 6 tire flips back, 10 sledgehammers left and right.
5 rounds - flip to one corner, 10 tire jumps, flip to next corner, 10 tire pushups, flip to next corner, 10 tire situps, flip to next corner, 5 sledgehammers left/right
10 rounds - drag tire 10m, 5 burpees.  (Oh man dragging a heavy tire is HARD!)

Then a long sweat in the sauna.

TW: Legs - Squat practice up to 120kg with a towel wrapped around the bar.  I'm getting more used to this.  Max weight leg presses, max weight openers, max weight closers, overhead squats (I succeeded at 40kg this time) calf extensions.  Then another long sweat.

Last night I was at a birthday BBQ where I was a hero for bringing haloumi.  I watched a very disappointing Wallabies outfit lose to Ireland and decided that I have had enough of Channel Nine.  I am boycotting them until the end of the World Cup.  They delayed their broadcast of the game to show the NRL playoffs, refusing to show the Wallabies on another channel.  Then when they did show it, they interrupted the game with ads every ten minutes or so.  (Something you can't do with a live broadcast.)  They padded a two hour broadcast up by half an hour at least.  Channel Nine, you are out.  This evening I went to the pub to watch the close of Wales v Samoa and enjoyed Canada v France.  It was a much better game to watch, and I did ten pushups for every point the Canucks scored, so it was a better workout than the Wallabies game.

We have Roxy's family dog in the backyard, and I just came back in from playing with Smock.  We had a real battle of wits going on.

Also, we have upgraded the internet to get ten times the data for a pittance more.  Much better.

I stayed in Canberra this weekend.  Dad left on Saturday morning and I was going to go up to Sydney to take him to the airport but I was going to see him again soon anyway, and in the end staying in Canberra was a better choice, especially given that I leave next weekend.  I'll  have enough going on without driving up and back to Sydney.

On Friday I got home from work and Malice, Roxy, and Helga were into our dress up box.  As soon as I walked into the room I was in a very good mood.  They got a pair of bunny ears and a pink feather boa and fairy wings on me, which I wore in my typical masculine fashion.

(Picture to come... hopefully.)

We then made plans to go out to a friend's house for cocktails they were having, and I quickly went from "extraordinarily good mood" to "periodically rocking with stress" just before we left the house.  It was aspie time and there was a minor freakout.  The evening had gone from being spent with people I know and like to being in a foreign and far more complicated environment.  I did go with them, and felt a bit stressed in the early stages of cocktail night, but eventually relaxed a bit.  I did spend more than my share of time outside alone on the balcony where there was nobody to talk to.  (I decided that aside from my housemates, I wasn't all that interested in speaking to anyone else.)  I did have a mojito for the first time in my life (and possibly the last as I'm not really a cocktail guy) and I chose not to go out to a bar in the city with everyone afterwards.

On Saturday, there was footy to be played.  It was Politicians v Press in a pretty fun game.

(Team photo to come... hopefully)

The Sydney Swans donated their training tops for our team to wear, and I discovered after the fact that the guy who normally wears number 8 (chosen by me because it is 2*2*2 and therefore one of my preferred numbers) is the same height as me, but is 17kg lighter.


(Not pictured, Luckycanuck)

They put me at a key position at centre half forward and I nearly managed to kick a point in the first half but the play had already been whistled dead.  The Australian Capital Territory Minister for Sport kicked all three of our goals in a match that ended Politicians 3.2.20 Press 1.4.10.

I also got to use my rugby tackling skills to good effect and caused a couple of turnovers, one of which led to a goal about ten seconds later.  I wasn't allowed to play in my rugby boots as they have metal studs, but a borrowed pair of more appropriate boots were found just in time.

Later that night the girls came to the pub where we were having drinks after the game, and after I went home for a shower, I joined them at a pub frequented by university students.  I was at least a decade older than most of the people there, and Helga's assurance early in the evening that I would "pick up for sure" was ultimately unfounded.  It was really not my scene.  Coming home and having sausages and poached pears in mulled wine made by Malice was much nicer.

Today I picked up an electrical adapter for my trip to America and went for a big session at the gym.

TW: Tabata "Pushing".  Bench press, wall ball, dips, kettlebell swings, pushups, corner presses.  Then practicing thrusters to improve my form and my willingness to go deeper in the squat part of it, and later 100 more pushups in the sauna.  HOORAH!!!

I think I may do tabata workouts for pulling, legs, and core for the remainder of the week.

Also, the housemate formerly known as Malice really doesn't like the name, so I think I'll change it.

I'm wearing my Canada ice hockey top as an homage to my home and native land / terre de nos aieux.

I actually prefer The Maple Leaf Forever to O Canada.  It's less vague and more self assured.
( Cut for Patriotic Singing )

My car was in for a service today.  It's been very reliable and smooth recently.  It generally gives me very little trouble, and the same can be said about my mechanics.  Many people think are mechanics are a crooked bunch, but I think mine are pretty good.  I've never thought they were taking me for a ride, and they've advised me that work didn't need to be done when others thought it did.

The Tough Bloke challenge is in Sydney this weekend, but it is fully booked so I will have to wait until next year.  The Mud Run, however, is in December.  A 12km run through mud and obstacles?  Oh yes.  I will be in it!

TW: 10 dumbbell shoulder press and 10 marine pushups - 5 rounds, 10 wall ball presses and 10 handstand pushups - 10 rounds, 50 clean and press, 50 15kg weighted pushups.

Then 30 minutes in the sauna and a long shower ending with cold water at full strength.  Then feeling high.

I got a very good response on the snarky e-mail I sent Friday regarding the sound at the rugby.  Apparently they turned the sound on about 60 seconds after I left.  Still, the fact that there was even a question was surprising to me.

Saturday I slept off much of the last week and then went to the gym.  I've not had a good workout for a while and I wanted to get back to the gym with a vengeance.

YW: AMRAP 10 dumbbell swings, 10 handstand pushups for 10 minutes.  Then deadlifts and shoulder presses, 40-10, 30-20, 20-30, 10-40.  I was getting very lightheaded towards the end.  I hadn't eaten for a whle and think my blood sugar was low.  One of the trainers said I looked like hell.  Perhaps he was right.

I spent the rest of the evening visiting bakerypenguin  and watching a documentary on an insane Dutch man who ran a marathon wearing only shorts and sandals in -16 degrees in Finland.  He seemed a very unpleasant person, and his wife was about the most tolerant person I've ever seen.

I shopped on Sunday.  The shake up in my career prospects has inspired me to look professional, so I picked up some new whirts for work, but true to type, I got things that I can get away with not ironing.  Because I am a lazy man.  Also the fact that I got them considerably cheaper than I would have at Myer or David Jones by going to Trade Secret is a bit of a bonus for me.  I find it very satisfying to think that I have gotten a bargain.  Ripping off the retail industry (in a legal way) is fun.

TW:  I was more prepared today, and had a big session.  Floor wipers, push ups, bench jumps with a 10kg medicine ball, pull ups - sets of 30, 20, 20, 20, 10.  Then row 400m, 40 leg presses - 5 rounds.

I was just floating around on an endorphin high afterwards and had a good long sweat in the sauna.  I'm back!

Perhaps the beard I have grown over the last week (on account of the stitches) has had a Samsonesque impact on me.  Does anyone have any Philistines they need someone to slay?



Tonight dinner (an enormous chicken parmagiana and a lovely Matilda Bay dark lager at the Durham which generally has a diverse and varying range of beers) was had with Gundachick who is now unemployed.  There was career talk aplenty.  I'm feeling much more confident about my prospects than I was when we last spoke.

I managed to get up early this morning and went to church in Reid for a sermon being extravagant rather than calculating when it comes to matters of faith.  That's a tricky proposition.

I dozed off upon returning home whilst watching Insiders.  The new neighbours had a house party last night (without informing or inviting us) and were carrying on until about 2am.  Lucky I can sleep through about anything and I'm on the far side of the house from them.

I made it to the gym at long last, and des;ite feeling a bit of a crick in my back when leaning forward, I finished.

TW: 150 shoulder presses, 50 bench presses, 100 chest contractions reaching a new highest weight.

I got home after a moderate sweat in the sauna and went out for a training run.  I initially intended to do Mt Ainslie but turned off and did a lap of the lake and then a lap of Parliament.  All in all I ran for 1:22:15 straight and felt pretty good excepting some tightness in my left hamstring.

My cooking repetoire is generally a bit limited.  I subscribe to the bachelor school of cooking which means I cook such that there is as little effort and as little washing up as possible.  Tonight, though, I tried something new and made a stir fry with oil, onion, carrot, pumpkin, peanuts, rice, and soy sauce.  It went quite well and I still have leftovers for tomorrow night.  Still, I don't think I'll be on Masterchef any time soon.