I guess i'm not a blogger any more.

There was something extraordinary about blogging and being part of a world-spanning conversation. I put real effort into being entertaining and informative and shared my ideas and learning from yours at a deeper level than any casual conversation. Then we all moved to Facebook, but its short format discouraged the deeper conversation we had enjoyed and encouraged short attention span wall/war scrolling. Almost all of the 30 or so people who formed the community I was a part of have ceased blogging; I still know a few of you in person, a few are active on FB, some have sadly died, and others have faded into busy lives, the ven diagram of our acquaintance having drifted. If anyone ever reads this and wants an update - my children have grown and are now adults: one seeks a future in aerospace, and the other in politics and international relations. My wife, to whom I am still enthusiastically and ecstatically married, has climbed the corporate ladder and sticks executive sutch and sutch in front of her title. And me - I'm still interested in bugs, rocks and flowers. The arthritis I was diagnosed with in my 20s has been held at bay for 30 years by various drugs. Still, it has continued to smoulder, and its effects are accelerating beyond what even modern medicine can keep in remission. I am no longer interested in the grind and pressure of IT management. Since my last post, we have travelled the world, lived in different cities, raised children, and enjoyed life unreported here. I founded an IT startup and became disenfranchised by the cost of success. I have dabbled with alcoholism and (attempted) to learn languages. The covid slowdown allowed me the opportunity in my 50s to reflect on my future and reframe my life. I have returned to uni and completed yet another master's - this time to become a teacher. I plan to spend my long retirement teaching maths and physics to little turds that don't care about their future. I still plan on finding interesting bugs, rocks and flowers. Wish me luck. Steve

An Uncle, again

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle again; my sister in law has reproduced.



I seem to have forgotten to post anything over the last year, well, perhaps once or twice. What would you want to know.

Life is rolling along, The kids are growing up:

Having birthdays:



My little man has had his first day of school:



Mum's thinking of leaving this:

to come here:


The Arthritis has been a right pain in the arse, and spine, and ribs and and and.. I've just had a big enough round of x-rays to sun tan my innards and will be off for another MRI next week to try and understand what the fuck is going on. The last ones didn't show much except that I am possibly a hermaphrodite - who knew.

91km Bike Ride.

Starting from Marsfield at 6:30 AM

- Down to Browns Water Hole

- Kissing Point Road

- North Turramurra

- Bobbin Head, a big gorge with a 4km climb out

- Suburban roads to Galston

- Gaslton Gorge, a big gorge with a steep 4km climb out

- around the back of Dural

- Down to Berowa Waters, my top speed on a bike ever down the hill, but as with all hills you ride down ...

- Cross the river on the car ferry and then up up up out of the gorge.

- Back to Bobbin Head (via Mt Kur-ring-gai and Mt Colah just for laughs)

- Bobbin Head gorge again this time in the other direction.

- Back through North Turramurra - Kissing Point Road

Its the first big ride I have done in decades, and I did it on a mountain bike - with knobbly tires. Only the second time I have used cleats - the one other time was in the gym on a stationary bike. I ate like a horse about half way through, drank 4 liters of water and finished about 2kg lighter than when I started so I must have sweated 6L. Average speed was around 21 kph, 11 on the climbs. Total vertical was about 1km. The trip home from Turramurra was slow and my legs felt like wood. I was so exhausted I was swearing under my breath with every pedal stroke.

I still had to mow the lawn and do the gardening when I got home.

I slept well.

Today my bum, or rather the inside of my upper thighs is a little sore, as are my hamstrings behind my knee. Other than that I feel like I could do it again.

Suburban Recovery

I know I should be posting about the ski trip but I couldn't let my lovely wife's attempt to park the car in the garage go un-commented.

Perhaps we should let the pictures tell the story:


Ended up ripping a 10cm gash in the tire wall. These are armored tires mind.

Ten Years

It's our tenth anniversary today.

Where has the time gone?