Merry Xmas to the fern clan. We got a baby girl for Xmas (2 days before) so this might be my last post for... how many years!!? Probably should be posting gibberish at some ridic hour of the morning!

Man, I dodged this thread near the end of last year. Wasn't in a great space and took a while for that to become apparent, where I couldn't fool myself about being extra stressed or it being a temporary thing. A holiday break helped but any hols with young kids is just a different type of busy lol. Still a great change from work and the daily grind.
Plans on the go at work to move some stuff around - but the usual lack of competent folks (who aren't already overworked) to delegate to will make that hard to manage. Kids are great, aside from Mr 2 being weaned against his will (I mean, who turns down boobs!), and the wife and I are good.
We've got some medium sized reno's planned but I keep looking at new jobs or wondering about a break then re-entering the job market. But I think that's more to help me focus on what I like about my current mahi. On a good day I'd be a fool to leave and on a bad day I just feel crushed under the pressure. Luckily I have far more good days than bad ones

That quote from @antipodean really resonated with me. What the fuck are we doing if we can't find some pleasure in the here and now. Easier to say than do, but I'm going to try and focus on that through 2022. But my short term goal is to get my thicc self back the gym. Exercise = happier Paekakboyz. No question.

How good is that pic!

Second half issues started when we swapped out our entire front row. Those guys had another 5-10 and I would have been tempted to go deeper with Taukei'aho - he was matching Ardie's energy with ball in hand.

Fuck me, 50 seconds and a guaranteed loss on debut for Periofeta?! that is beyond cruel.

@catogrande I feel that's not the first time you've trotted that scenario out...

This really pisses me off - weak sauce 'reasons'. Ignoring that Sami was on fire and hoping the combo approach would see a full front row change work out. If both props had niggles then why put them back onfield after a 10min break ffs? I know they were probably getting some treatment but that doesn't stack up imo.

The comments on Perofeta are infuriating - “Again, Stephen was a guy we really wanted to get on, we think he can inject stuff into our attack with his footwork and his second receiver role. But it was a game that didn’t quite flow that way.”

You fuckers put him on with 55 seconds to go. That is the dumbest shit I've heard and makes him look even more foolish. Yeah we thought this guy could really help crack open the game, but we waited till the game was all but over so we could really surprise the Pumas!! They didn't see it coming, suckers!

oh... wait.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/300672879/all-blacks-coach-ian-foster-defends-timing-of-substitutions-in-another-test-loss

@JC Bro!! I've just got my 23andMe results back and we are totally related! I mean, what are the chances!?

Now I've been thinking about going electric...

@Higgins don't worry, England will still do a few victory laps 😁

@MiketheSnow such a pity she's passed away... next week.

@canefan surely there are many attempts ongoing to get a bead on Putin. The way he holds power makes it hard to get a handle on what the people around him actually believe. Also hard to tell if foreign powers are lining someone/s up for a takeover versus just zapping Putin and seeing what happens.

They appear to be struggling to organise and equip the latest conscripts let alone ramping things up to those kind of numbers. That would be literally feeding humans into a meat grinder, or freezer if you consider how gnarly winter conditions will be.

But his speech is terrifying. But will I care (as a Russian fulla) that much when I've been conscripted and am learning more and more about how the war is going?

@antipodean just wait for Russian to accidentally nuke them instead of the Ukrainian forces

@canefan hard! dude does not miss a trick aye. He actually makes entertaining ads which is almost unheard of these days.

@Kiwiwomble he's a bloody genius when it comes to this stuff. I'd put money on this happening and even more on it being fucking awesome.

6 point fucking 6 percent! No more sniffing pies for you brah!

I think you have plenty of scope to increase the eats and throw in some treats lol

Chest and back tonight. Kept it pretty light on bench and man I am feeling it now. Did a bunch of back and chest work plus some arms and a bit of overhead pressing. Tried out a new seated row attachment and a different one for wide grip lat pulldowns. After a quick google it turns out they are made by Komodo. Pretty cool and quite a different set up to the traditional barbell.

The lower ones were the seated row attachment. You can flip it over and almost do a bicep curl type row, or the more usual grip set up.

@kiwiinmelb doesn't hurt that Reece came on and made an immediate impact. It was great to see Jordan playing well and looking more confident. But having all 3 of our main wing options playing well adds that extra spice.

@Rancid-Schnitzel it's also a reminder to think about how you communicate and how you (as in both of you) communicate in your relationship. I've had a big reminder of that lately and things are much better across the board. Not fucking easy though. Great couple of posts bro btw - must have been really hard to walk away from that relationship and good on you for having the gumption and self-knowledge to know it just wasn't going to work.

@MiketheSnow goddammit 😂