The Big QuestionsjawaproMon 18/10/2010 02:20 PM
Too many big questions going around in my brain at the moment. Not the sort of life-changing questions that most people would thing of as ‘big’ - but they’re big enough for me.
I’m currently trialing Jason’s Nokia N97 because he wants to sell it. I’m quite keen on getting a Next-G phone that will allow me to do data - and I’m still very set on getting a proper qwerty keyboard, so it suits me quite well. Jason’s keen to sell it because he’s spent his life’s savings on an iCrap notebook and is feeling the pinch. I don’t really want to enable that sort of stupid spending, but the phone is appealing. If I was going to go on a plan, it’d be stupid because I can get a brand new Nokia N97 Mini for $0 on a plan - but I don’t really want to spend $50 a month on my phone. Currently I spend about $10 a month. If I add $10 worth of data, that’s still a lot better than the cheapest plan.
But should I be buying a second hand phone that’s already slightly out of date and preloved? I’m not sold yet. Especially as any money I spend here means less to spend elsewhere.
Like on my Pajero. I’m planning to replace the suspension under it to help with handling - on road and off. I’m also trying to decide how I’d like to set it up. As a 4 seater, it’s got no space for carting stuff. Might be ok for day trips - but as a camping bus it’s pretty much useless. The most logical solution would be to rip out the back seats and have plenty of space, but that means I can only take 1 extra person. Half the fun of camping is going with a bunch of mates - so that’s a pain. So the compromise would be to take half the back seat out and go with a 3 person rig. So I’m trying to work out what I’d need for camping and if it’d fit like that. It might not be obvious by visiting my house - but I like to have things organized. The more important a thing is to me, the more organized I try and make it. Just check out my Lego drawers and my LAN box. So I’m trying to work out how much camping gear I’ll need and how best to store it so I can build some shelves and things to keep it all organized. Not easy when you’ve got the spatial awareness of a gnat.
Then comes Brickvention. Gotta find somewhere to stay for the weekend that won’t cost more than my mortgage. I’m bringing along three of my cousins who are probably broker than I am - so it makes it a struggle. Any suggestions on cheap places to stay near the Melbourne CBD?
And the supposedly epic weekend adventure we’d planned for the coming Saturday is looking far less epic as everyone is bailing on it. My friends are about as useful as a dishmop when it comes to organising things. Turkey’s mob are trying to organize their annual Devonport invasion - but trying to organize that many conflicting schedules is proving a headache. Glad I’m not in charge of that one. I seem to be the only one who’s not busy this time of the year.
Anyway - that’s my daily moan. Thanks for reading.
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Wheels....jawaproSun 10/10/2010 07:09 PM
Ok - so the picture is of a Subaru under a Ford flag. There’s a reason for this odd pairing…
First up, it’s Bathurst. As always, I’m a Ford supporter in the Ford vs Holden rivalry. It was a great race, but unfortunately the Holdens were victorious this year, lead by the Triple-8-Traitors. In the past they’d been driving Fords, but this year they were in Holdens. Doh.
In other news, my Subaru has gotten new wheels and rubber. The wheels were Dad specials from ebay, and the tyres are brand new Pirelli’s. Makes it look and handle a lot better. Removed all the shuddering from the steering too - should have done it ages ago.
So it was a fairly car-centric week for me.
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Been a while...jawaproMon 04/10/2010 07:36 PM
Dunno about you - but I think it’s time that Neptune got a new scratching post.
He’s sort of scratched this one to death.
Anyway - been a few weeks since I posted. That’s cause I’ve been busy.
The first week was flat out at work. In 5 days, I worked the equivalent of 8. Starting at 10:30 in the morning and finishing at 6:30 the following morning is a LOOOONG shift.
That weekend was spent mostly sleeping, but I did go out to Wynyard with the guys to check out the Save-A-Buck second hand shop. It was a good trip, except that some fool stole my esky. Fortunately I hadn’t actually bought it yet, but I was still pretty mad.
The next week was a bit less hectic at work (only a bit) and was also Convention, so I spent a few late nights up at Ulverstone judging for that. If you don’t know what convention is, I won’t bother explaining it here.
I also spent some time looking around at camping gear trying to work out what would be the best way to set up Oscar to allow easy camping, and still take a couple of passengers. Shortys are brilliant, but until we develop Tardis technology, they’re not so good in the storage department.
I also worked out that the best esky I could find size-wise was the one that was stolen from me at Save-A-Buck. You can’t buy anything quite the same at the moment.
This weekend we went down to Hobart/Taranna. Dad dropped his motorbike to be repaired, and we went to the official grand opening for the new Hobart Church building. After that we headed down to Taranna for the night. The smell of pine, surf, and sand makes it feel like holidays If holidays had a sent, that’d be it.
Anyway - that’s got us caught up again for now. Roll on Bathurst!
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Tripod RescuejawaproThu 23/09/2010 10:16 AM
I can't entirely blame Tim for leaving my tripod on the top of the Gog Range. I guess I was equally at fault for not checking it was in a car somewhere.
Anyway - on Tuesday I took an extra long lunch break and drove back up to the Gog. Tom came along for a ride as he hadn't been able to come on the weekend. Its a much faster trip up when you don't have to clear the track :)
Up the top of the Gog, right where Tim left it, lay my tripod. I'm still not 100% sure if the tripod is worth more than the fuel to drive back up there or not - but hey, it was a good excuse to get back out there. Lovely spot.
There's another track that goes along the top of the ridge to a couple of tarns (mountain lakes) right on the top of the ridge. I've been eyeing the track on Google Earth and think we should give it a go. It'll mean clearing more trees - but I'm sure we can find a decent chainsaw somewhere this time....
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Camping at the GogjawaproTue 21/09/2010 11:56 PM
Gale force winds, trees blowing over, snow on the Midlands - let's go camping!
Jason and Bec decided it was high time we all went camping, so organized a trip for last weekend. Little did they know that Thursday last week was going to be some of the worst weather of the year.
My workmate lives in Paradise, and we were going camping just up the road from his place. On Thursday he’d had trees come down, his neighbours had lost sheds - things were just plain scary.
So camping we went. We arrived in the dark to a warzone, with trees down everywhere. The wind itself was gone, but the damage remained.
After the first track defeated us, we found an alternative and after a few hours of clearing tacks and getting lost, we arrived at the fabled camp site. A very nice one too - down by the Mersey River.
Saturday dawned nice and cheerful. Hard to imagine how awefull it had been only two days earlier. Then again, it’d be hard pressed not to be cheerful with such a good mob of friends.
We decided to try to get up to the top of the Gog Ranges (Mount Gog?) and headed up the track. Once again this mean lots of clearing, and as I was in the lead, I did most of it. The Human Bulldozer they called me.
Eventually we came to a section where even my bulldozing skills and Jason’s toy chainsaw couldn’t overcome.
Yes, there’s a road in there somewhere.
We retreated to the camp for lunch, while Tim and I raided the Sheffield Shed for some supplies. We came out with an axe each and a pair of bow-saws.
"You have my chainsaw"
"And my bowsaw"
"And my Axe!"
So with the new weapons and some reinforcements (James joined us) we attacked the track again.
It’s amazing how quickly we got through it all. Wes and James double-teamed the log and were chopping fast enough to make David Foster proud. Add to that the bow saws and even Jason’s toy chainsaw, and the logs didn’t stand a chance.
And then it was time to call for the Human Bulldozer again to get them off the road.
After that obstacle, the rest of the track was easy. We arrived at the top in time to catch sunset.
The group shot (minus Ek and Brooke who were apparently sulking in Jason’s car.)
High Res version here. Why? Cause it’s a nice photo. That's why.
The view at Sunset was awesome. You can see the Strait from here!
So it was a descent in the dark to the camp site - and another great night.
If anyone remembers Around the Twist, they’ll probably know what I am talking about if I say "Without my Pants". Well - after it came up somehow, for about an hour everyone was ending their sentences with ‘without my pants’. Pure comic genius!
Saturday night was cold. Enough so that I woke up and put a jumper on. Anyone who knows me would know that that means it’s cold!
Sunday was great again though. We didn’t do much, just took things easy.
On the way home Tim managed to run into his Bullbar driving along the road. Not sure how he managed that, as it was still attached.
He had to stop and pull it back into shape.
All in all - an almost perfect weekend.
The not so perfect part?
Well remember when we were on top of the Gog Range? Well, Tim borrowed my tripod, and when we were leaving, he packed it up, and then left it there!
Granted, I left it there too - but he was the last one using it and I didn’t realise it was missing until I got back to Devonport. Doh!
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