RejectReality

On Friday, I received my very first Blogger’s Prod™ (and hereby declare ownership of this term should it not already exist). Any bloggers that are reading this would know the gentle nudge you receive from friends when they want something to read and your blog has not been updated anywhere near frequently enough.

Oh well

Truth be told, the last two weeks have been absolute chaos, primarily because I had completely forgotten how much starting a new job throws you around. To really throw myself completely in the deep end (because I’m not known for doing anything less), I’ve not only started a new job, I’ve also started work in a different IT discipline to what I’ve done in the past and joined a new company.

To give some history, it was roughly 2 1/2 years ago when I started my last position where I was in the deep end – I’m now starting to remember those days quite vividly.

Still, the experience has been good so far and I’ve learnt heaps. Now I’ve just got to keep the momentum going, get my head back in the books and hopefully catch up on some sleep…. sometime.

Other events that have occurred in the last two weeks:

• I celebrated another nail being put in my coffin. Damn, 27 feels old
• I hit 100 k’s ridden in a week (103, actually )
• I found out how far out of practice I am at Quake 3 (although the after-work tournaments should fix that relatively quickly)
• I saw Stealth (not bad, although I would consider it a rental) and the Dukes of Hazzard (well worth it!)
• I knocked off 1/2 a semester of CCNA coursework in just over a week
• I’ve learnt exactly how bad the state of internal wiring in some buildings is, especially for DSL lines (and don’t get me started on DSL end-user hardware )
• I’ve reaffirmed my rather average experiences with Linux over the years are still valid, even with one or two of the latest-and-greatest out there.

I think that will do for now – more as I can remember it (and after I grab some sleep).

speedo,
originally uploaded by RejectReality.

Here’s the end result of week 2 of my stupidity on two wheels (and now with evidence!).

I’m a little in two minds about this – I’m happy that I’ve hit 85 k’s (especially given I’ve been doing this for only two weeks), but slightly disappointed that I didn’t hit 100k’s due to taking a day off.

It seems I’ve just given myself a target to nail this week

PS – for those that are desperately worried about the state of my derrière, I believe it’s starting to come out of the coma now. With any luck it will be no longer suffering from shock in the next week or two.

It’s been one week of getting off my ass and doing some exercise, and I can honestly say I’m surprised.

After picking up a bike speedo and measuring my course, I’m doing much better than I thought I was. The trip around the neighbourhood is clocking in at just over 3.9 k’s a lap (now extended to 4 just to make round numbers).

The all important numbers:
20 laps in total for the week (2 laps on Monday, 3 laps every other day) = ~80k’s

From nothing, to 80 k’s. In a week.

Holy crap! How the hell did that happen?

PS – that really explains why my ass is killing me

I was listening to Dave Slusher’s latest Evil Genius Chronicles clambake on the way home from work today where he was talking about working in IT and not exercising enough, leading to the obvious conclusion of gaining a couple of pounds. He has made a resolution is to hit the gym and the pavement to start doing something about it.

Funnily enough, I’m in the same predicament. Being a sysadmin (well, at least for a little while longer ) where shift work, on-call and weekend work is the norm, I can honestly say that the past five years with near-zero exercise has not been kind. It’s high time I got off my ass and do something about it. With thanks to one of my best mates, Euge, and his ability to find bargains better than most girls I know, I’m now the proud owner of a nice shiny new bike to get my ass moving again and me back in some semblance of shape.

If you’ve ever seen a fat guy on a bike before (especially one that hasn’t been on two wheels since he learnt to drive ten years ago), you can probably imagine the comedy gold that has been ensuing. I’ve scoped out a route around the back streets of my suburb that’s good for around two or three K’s a lap (memo to self: pick up a bike odometer and measure the route) – a couple of laps of that each night, aside from nearly killing me at the moment, is a damn good start.

Dave: If you ever read this, good on ya! Touch base with me once you reach your target – there’s a really tacky Aussie trinket in it for you to say congratulations and thanks for the last 9 months worth of entertainment I’ve had listening to your podcasts.