Today was a good day.

I had a bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast.

I had a massive huge Harvey Beef fillet for lunch (medium rare, HUGE).

I bought a Kawasaki GPX250.

I sold my car.

In that order.

Steve sent out an email the other day about the Freeway Bike Hike, asking if anyone was interested in joining him and a few others. Although I said I'd regret the early morning start on Sunday, I threw my lot in with Steve, Elissa, Anne, Darrell, Jay, Daniel, Luke, David and some other guy from EY. Apparently the total turn out was a record 7011 strong.

30km is further than I've ridden in one hit in a long time. I used to ride the 40km track for the "Walk against want" back in high school, but the short rides into work (4.6km to be exact) doesn't come anywhere near close. I was glad that it was over, but I'd do it again in a second (or maybe after my legs have recovered - maybe Wednesday). The ride itself started at Belmont Park, then went through the Graham Farmer freeway tunnel, then north up the southbound side of the Mitchell freeway all the way to Joondalup.

Highlights included: losing track of the entire group 20 metres from the start (some guy apparently blocked them off by stopping and answering his mobile phone right at the gate); weaving through all the people in the tunnel (top speed 46.3km/h!); racing ahead with Daniel (yeah okay that might have been as much fun for the others); all the downhill bits; overtaking heaps and not being overtaken much at all; the final uphill climb near the end (yes I really did like that bit); and the finish. Daniel and I did it in about 70 minutes (lots of stopping and waiting) - slightly quicker than the category we were in (group C - 75 to 85 minutes), so we were happy about that.

We hung around Joondalup for about an hour, lounging around trying to work up the energy to catch the train back to Perth, spending the time downing bottle after bottle of Mizone (of the flavours we could stomach anyway). After arriving in town we dumped our bikes at my work and then headed into town for some lunch, then made the trek back home on bike. It was the final ride that did me in. I got home and collapsed in front of the fan until I could will myself to get a shower.

I'm so doing it again next year. And maybe ride back home from Joondalup too. If I'm masochistic enough.

I've been told by people who don't read this that I should blog about my haircut.

I got my hair cut 2 weeks ago.

There, happy now?

Nothing major, just trimmed about a foot off, so its nice and short when I tie it up. It's really good for riding, as it doesn't get stuck behind your backpack or stick to your back. And its manageable enough that I can wash it without fuss. I think I'll try to keep it around this length from now on.

Someone else got their hair cut recently: David from work shaved his head for the "Shave for a cure" cancer charity last Friday. I'm not entirely sure if really wanted to do it or not: he made the silly comment that if everyone in our team put in $10 each, he'd do it. We all reached for our wallets without thinking, and he made a sad face at us. Short hair looks good on him though, but I had to do a double-take this morning when he tapped on my shoulder - I barely recognised him! I'm told I'm not the only one...

About this time last year I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. My car had broken down, work was shit, work was having issues paying me on time, I was having financial issues, and generally things weren't looking good. A lot has happenned since then. I've knocked off a significant amount of my debt (and paid my HECS debt off), changed jobs, fixed my car, and things are looking pretty good!

The end of the work year culminated with a series of per department parties, which our team managed to get invited to. In particular, I enjoyed the joint Network Services and Applications gatherring, as most of the corporate staff were there. It really struck home how much I'd missed the people from iiNet, and even though there were some that really shat me off, all in all they're fun and intelligent people to work with. I felt happy to be part of that again - remarkable considerring how I felt when I left.

Later this month I'm heading to Sydney for an Iaido and Jodo seminar (which I'm quite excited about) which I'm really looking forward to. I really regret missing last years seminar, as I've only heard good things about it. It''s a shame that Michele won't be able to join us, but at least I'll have Marcus to keep me company.

This year is starting off well and promises to get better.

I found out that earlier in the month my cat Borris had died from old age. He was taken to the vet on Tuesday December 6, 2005, and was put to sleep. That was his 16th birthday.

Rest in piece, Borris. You'll be missed.