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.

So now I'm the tardy one, not updating in over a month. Fair cop, 'guv. So what's been on the go since the last update? Here's a brief rundown in something vaguely resembling chronological order:

A few of us went and saw FourPlay at the Fly by Night again. They were awesome, just like last time (except last time Peter didn't crack his cello - he didn't look happy about that at all). Sandy piked at the last minute, but that didn't stop her from getting Emiko to make Peter sign a shirt for her. He went the extra mile and wrote a haiku. I also picked up their "TheJoyOf" cd, the one I didn't have already. Shenzo threatened to sign it "to Susan" again, but luckily it escaped untarnished!

We found a fantastic new restaurant in North Bridge called "New Orleans". We stopped there by chance, and decided to give it a shot for dinner. Run by some people we suspect escaped from a devastated city after the flooding, they serve up a fine selection of Creole dishes that leave you wishing you weren't quite so full. Quite probably some of the best food I've ever had the chance to try, and at a very reasonably price too. We went back a couple of weeks later and I'm sure we'll be heading back there again and again.

We had a killer meal at the Oyster Bar in South Perth overlooking the Swan river (if that's your idea of fun). I ate too much and spent even more (but not as much as some others), and I'm still not sure if it was worth it. Their steak wasn't very good - I feel cheated. Although I haven't really been a big fan of oysters in the past, I have to admit they were pretty nice. I think I'll have to go back for more of them, and not try to order for variety.

We had a quick game of Trivial Pursuit at Darrell's, playing the 2006 genus. Our team didn't win, but at least Marcus and Darrell got their piece of pink pie! Dunja, Steve and Elissa's team won, but I feel luck was on their side when it came to the easy questions. I mean, c'mon! "What is the name of Google's email service?" "What is the name of the internet search company, who's name is the same as a one followed by 100 zeroes?"

Joey celebrated his birthday in style by having dinner at Seizan Japanese Restaurant in town. 25 or so people stuffed into the party room. They should have closed the sliding doors - we made too much noise. There was karaoke afterwards, but we didn't stay long 'cuz we were tired.

The office provided an almost perfect venue to watch the Red Bull Air Race. As our window overlooks the river and Langley Park, we got to watch them setting up, doing practice runs, time trials, etc. There was no productivity that week. Strangely, its more interesting to watch than Telstra Rally Australia. We're all looking forward to next years event.

Michele cooked us all a fabulous meal at Marcus and Michael's house. The meal was to wish J a happy work trip to Brisvegas for the few weeks she was there (any excuse for a meal, really - she's back already!). Michele cooked all sorts of Japanese dishes, and when I wasn't busy pre-washing the bowls and chopsticks I helped by standing around looking bewildered. Uber scrumptious. I even tried Natou!

We spent last weekend at an Iaido and Jodo seminar at Kent St high school. Budokan Academy arranged for Oda Sensei and Nagayama Sensei to come down from Japan for a week, and Dr Lee Sensei also came by. Together they spent the weekend beating us into shape, clarifying and refining our techniques. It was extremely worthwhile, especially since I won't be able to make it to the national seminar in January. Unfortunately I had been feeling off-colour since the Friday before and it caught up with me on the Sunday afternoon, but I did enjoy what I was able to participate in. They're trying to make this a regular event, so hopefully they'll be back ext year too.

Sadly, Rebecca is leaving us for greener pastures. She's moving to Melbourne for work and play. We sent her off with a meal at Mathilda's in Vic Park (nice place, check it out). She'll be missed around toe dojo, but no doubt she'll be living it up in Melbourne (on the other hand, that means she'll be a Victorian).

Michele had her birthday last weekend! Yay Michele! Yes, the same weekend that we spent at the seminar. Celebrations were held in a mass birthday gathering last Friday, where we also celebrated the birthdays of Darrell, Jono, Luke and Yen. One big happy birthday party at The Blue Duck in Cottesloe. Jono and I got her a placeholder present of "Chess inna Tube" while her real present came from Sydney.

Yesterday saw the beginning of the Day Light Savings trial in WA, and what better way to start that by waking up at the equivalent of 5am to attend a grading. I wasn't attempting anything but was there to watch Michele. Although she was a bucket of nerves, she passed her ikkyu in Jodo and yonkyu in Iaido convincingly. Yay Michele!

So that's about it for now. Christmas is coming up soon, and that means there's some annual leave coming. I'm sure to have more to talk about later.

What's your South Park character?

In other news, when Peter (from work) stopped by on Sunday before we all headed out to the Duck Stein for Niall and Leesa's wedding celebration, he got curious about the contents of my sword bag. So I then started getting it all out to show him (hey, he asked!). As I started to take my sword out, both he and Jono moved to the other couch, away from me.

Why does everybody keep doing that??

Jarrah was celebrating her change of job at the Belgian Beer Cafe. It was good to catch up with her and her better other half, Brettski (as well as Sven, but more on that later). Its not often I get to catch up with those guys, and I always wish it could be longer. Seeing her in "business attire" was kinda funny too :P

The problem with the infrequent catch-ups is that you lose common ground for conversation, and once you've done the usual "so what have you been up to then?" type pleasantries I'm sorta lost for anything to talk about (I don't have what people would call 'good social skills'). Except the common ground that we all have - work. Sure, the purpose of tonight's celebration was work (Jarrah is celebrating a change of job), but still, as we were leaving Brett mentioned that I should update my blog more often so he could read about me bitching about work :P And it's true, I do bitch about work a lot. I don't mind that, but I sometimes worry that I'm being seen as someone who's always bitching about it - a thin line sometimes.

I think that bitching about work is not a bad thing, if you have the right frame of mind about it. I use this space as a place to let people know what I think of things. If something is on my mind and is pissing me off, I will probably say something about it here. Usually, if work is going well, or I've vented in some other forum, or nothing much is really happening, then I won't mention anything. It's kinda cathartic to put it all down on the digital landscape, and it gives you an opportunity to come back later and see how your perception of things changes over time. Sometimes the things I write here are more for myself than for other people, but I don't mind others seeing my thoughts: I am what I am, and what I think is a big part of what makes up me. (Whether or not it's just a bunch of pretentious wank is another story).

But for now, I can stop my bitching about Curtin. I've had my rants and tantrums, bitched about it, etc etc. But I handed in my resignation today. iiNet invited me to apply for a programming position in the Applications department, and after going through the interview process offered me a job.

Over the past year and a half I've had a lot of time to reflect over my previous employment at iiNet, and the things that caused me to leave. I think that the problem was two fold: I didn't fit with the way that iiNet worked (in my area, at least); and I couldn't handle not fitting with iiNet. No matter how I want to put it (the technical aspects of my reasoning at the time, the project work what wasn't proceeding, etc), that's all it boils down to. It doesn't mean that either one of us is more right or wrong than the other, but we're just different (although I still have opinions about that for some things).

People don't normally change much over a year and a half, or even up to 5 years. But I feel that I have, at least a significant amount for me. I worry that I'm not making the right choice to move back to iiNet, but I'm still going to. I want to. I've regretted not taking the opportunity to move into that team when I had the chance, and I feel that I'm in a much better position, mentally and emotionally, to approach the problems that really bugged me last time I was there. I reckon I'll still bitch about "My Crap Job" - that's just what I do. I think it helps me sort out what I feel about the situation. It helps me be more honest with myself, in turn allowing me to be critical of myself with a view to improving things. And even though I'll probably end up bitching about stuff, I'm looking forward to the challenges, both personal and professional, that are going to come from this job.

So yes, the Bitching Will Continue Until Morale Improves. You don't have to worry, Brett, I'll still be bitching about my job once the New Shiny Job Smell wears off :)

Don't you love it when two blog posts you were going to write come together nicely as one?

So that was my birthday... Pretty uneventful, but that's how it should be.

The thing with birthdays in our family is that everyone suddenly starts hounding you for birthday ideas. The problem is, and I've said it before, I don't really want or need anything that I haven't already gotten for myself, or that I really need. I tend to make do and forget about it, or go and get it for myself. That said, I do have some ideas, but they're usually pipedreams or big expensive items that noone is going to get me in a million years :P I did manage to score some impressive loot though.

The other aspect of Birthday Hounding is the organisation of an Event. This was done by Michele for my close friends. We went to this mob called "K on Hay" in town, formerly known as "Kilo". Nice place - cheap menu, decent food. Add great friends in there, and it's Fun All 'Round. I had to organise my own birthday family diner though. After a bit of discusion, I ended up suggesting dinner at my place, and we ended up making some home made pizza. Very tasty, and I've still got some in the fridge :) It was nice spending the Friday and Saturday evenings together with family and friends.