Catchup

I can't even remember the last time I wrote something but looking at the dates, its been over a month. Crazy how time flies. A lot has happened in that time. The delta variant of COVID-19 has exploded somewhat in Sydney. There have been a few close calls in the Central West with a delivery driver travelling around a few towns and causing snap lockdowns of those regions. While one 'hotspot' location was a servo on the edge of town, luckily no local cases were reported.

That being said I have now received my first Pfizer vaccine shot. Pretty slick operation that had going on but we had to wait 15min out on the front verandah in the cold and then they had the heating turned up to the max inside so it was a bit of a shock to the system. When Wife was telling me where we had to go, she joked that it looked like it was in the carpark of the local Red Rooster restaraunt. We joked that it sounded like someone was handing out COVID-19 vaccines from a dodgy van in the car park of a fast food place. Thankfully Google maps was slightly off, the building was down the road from Red Rooster and it was a little bit more professional.

The spread of the Delta varient has also meant that we are now working from home again. I don't mind this so much but it has also lead to the cancellation of a few of our hockey games and training sessions which when combined with increased amount of time I'm sitting on my butt at home, I would have to say the scales have been trending in the wrong direction recently. I really should get back into the habit of getting on the training bike in the morning. I recently purchased a weights belt so I'm hoping that will inspire (and support) me into getting back into doing some weight training. I'm a little aprehensive about it to be honest as I ruptured a disc in my spine last time I got serious with weights and ended up in pain for months while the leaking gel put pressure on nerves in my lower back. I was enjoying it up until that point.

Given the pandemic status I also thought going ahead with the Olympics was a pretty silly idea but I have really been enjoying watching it on TV and online. With so many events its great that you can filter recordings by sport type - I have really been enjoying the hockey, both the Australian mens and womens teams have had an amazing run so far - undefeated as of writing this so here's hoping they can carry that through the pool matches and into the medals.

I was also contacted by an academic at the Uni and asked if I would give a presentation on Project and Event Management in information organisations. So I totally caved and agreed to do a guest presentation to two classes. I was also asked to do another guest presentation on supervision and management in information organisations - I did this last session so it seems no good deed goes unpunished! It is only a half hour talk and while it is a bit of time out of my evening (and I don't get paid or anything) I do enjoy having the opportunity to engage with students. I would have to say I suffer from impostor syndrome though so I get nervous everytime before speaking - and especially if there are any questions! I've also been asked to do a presentation in an upcoming vendor conference. Never done that before so again while its only a short half hour presentation via Zoom with 3 other presenters, the nerves are starting early!

While one of my friends weddings was postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions in Sydney, another of my mates is getting married later in the year. So many plans of visiting friends have been put on hold due to restrictions so I am really hoping this doesn't get postponed and we get a chance to all see each other again. Really looking forward to it!