Month: January 2012 (page 2 of 6)

Weekend in Photos

My new haircutWeekend in Photos
It’s been a busy couple of days. It all started on Thursday when I went to get my hair cut and coloured. My normal stylist Katherine at Broadway Hair Lounge was on vacation, so instead I got the lovely Ruth. Ruth was fantastic! We did a whole head of foils, most blonde but with some darker brown throw in as well (to help even it out closer to my natural colour). Then she gave me a great cut. I love it, and judging by the comments on Facebook, everybody else did too!

Friday was momentous. It was my last day at work at Mobile Embrace. Can you believe it’s been three years? Three years since I got laid off and then got a new job two days later. I don’t even look like my security pass anymore! My friend Kunaal organised a lovely lunch for me at Bibim to mix, a nice Korean restaurant on William Street. Fifteen of my co-workers came along, which was very touching. I managed to get all my work done and handed over, and then it was time to shut down for the last time! Sean even made me an artwork to commemorate the occasion. My new job starts Monday morning, and I’m looking forward to it…

Old and new   Lunchtime   Shutting down

Saturday morning we were up bright and early for the first ever official St. Peters Parkrun. This is a free weekly timed 5K run that takes place all over the world. The Snook and I rode over on our bicycles, which marked the first time we’d ridden to/through Newtown. There were 60+ runners all gathered for the run. I saw my friends Paul and Adina from Dailymile, and Miss Fee joined us as well. We took it very easy, doing 2:1 run/walk intervals around the course and finishing in 38:45. (My knee is still a bit dodgy.) It was great fun! We’re hoping to take part each week. Paul took some fantastic photos of us during and after the event. We then had a nice ride back to Chippendale to recover.

Running   After the run

And today brought even more bike riding! We rode our bikes to St. Peters again for the free City of Sydney Cycling Confidence course. There were seven of us plus two instructors. We had a quick chat inside about “theory” (such as where to ride on the roads, how to communicate effectively with drivers, how to be a gracious cyclist) and then a basic skills check out in the parking lot (braking, signaling, changing gears, etc.). And then we were off on a tour of Sydney! We took back streets and bike lanes through Alexandria, Waterloo, Redfern, and Surry Hills. At various places we stopped to talk about traffic situations and to practice drills on the street. We also had a rest stop in a park, complete with snacks. I finished the course feeling a LOT more confident about riding in the city, and I definitely recommend the course to anybody in Sydney! We’re already booked into the Bike Maintenance course in three weeks.

Bike course tour

Lord V reads slashfic

Hahahaha… Some Bravo TV talk show host got Ralph Fiennes to read Harry/Voldemort slashfic. Too funny.

STAR TREK CATAN?!

STAR TREK CATAN?! – That’s brilliant! Definitely putting this one on the Christmas Wish List.

When Talent Can Easily Find New Opportunity, How Do You Retain Talent?

When Talent Can Easily Find New Opportunity, How Do You Retain Talent? – EXACTLY. This issue has been pretty relevant to me in the past few weeks…

Stormtrooper cake

Stormtrooper cake. This is surely the greatest cake ever created. LIFE-SIZED, PEOPLE! (Link courtesy of Kunaal.)

Road rage

Road rage is in the news. Boofhead Shane Warne had a run-in with a cyclist and is now bitching on Twitter about how we should all be licensed. (Of course, Warnie’s version bears little resemblance to the cyclist’s.) I was also shocked to read about this incident in New Zealand where an American cyclist was knocked off his bike and punched in the face.

I was just saying to the Snook last night that I actually felt safer riding down the lane with traffic than I did on a bike lane or shared footpath. Now I’m not so sure.

The Fixie Bike Index

The Fixie Bike Index – LOL. An attempt to quantify the “hipster-ness” of various American cities by looking at second-hand bike listings for fixies.

AFP has formed a supergroup to play the entire Violent Femmes first album this weekend.

AFP has formed a supergroup to play the entire Violent Femmes first album this weekend. – What does it cost to fly to Tasmania? I NEED TO GO TO THERE.

CultureLab: Touching the crocheted clouds

CultureLab: Touching the crocheted clouds – Math + nature + craft + textiles + Roald Dahl reference = WIN.

The Illusion Knitting of Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer

The Illusion Knitting of Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer – Wow. This blows my Autobots logo out of the water. I wonder if they machine knit them?