Tidbits — Getting Out There

Setting up iPad blog authoring workflows

Sun, 27 Sep 2026 13:12:00 +1000

Sitting here at my local laundromat trying to set up a blog authoring workflow on my iPad using Working Copy and iA Writer. The biggest issue I’ve had so far is not wanting to pull a few GB of images down from the GitHub remote, but still wanting to post an image via Git LFS.

Will update with my progress and may write up a blog post about how I set it all up at the end…

Sharks of Lost Island documentary

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Just watched Sharks of Lost Island on Disney+. It was a little ‘American’ in parts — what I mean by this remark is that American documentaries tend to overexaggerate how dangerous a reef shark is, etc for ‘dramatic purposes’ that aren’t truly needed for a good documentary. Sure they have teeth and might bite. So might a poodle. Nature is inherently beautiful and fascinating and awe-inspiring. It doesn’t (and shouldn’t) need fast racy music and suspense to grab viewers’ attention. I find this style most prevalent in documentaries made for the American market and hence my remark.

That said, I watched this doco for two primary reasons:

I love fish, sharks and underwater footage; and
I have been intrigued for years about Pitcairn Island and its centuries-old history and troubles with modern day sexual assaults and culture.

On these points the doco doesn’t really disappoint — the sexual assault stuff is not mentioned, of course, being out of the ‘scope’ of a nature doco — and the viewer is treated to an up-close view of one of the world’s most remote, and difficult to reach, islands. At 45 minutes it’s worth watching just for these things. There was also a young bloke named Alan Turchik who was pretty funny, a kinda wet-behind-the-ears greenhorn on his maiden sea voyage who is all nerves and nerdiness and has to prove himself to the team after a mishap, which you can either watch in the doco or read about on the National Geographic blog. This was very interesting and endearing and something you don’t always see in documentaries (‘character development’ of doco crew).

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Am I just being too “male” when I find some sort of dumb pride in my surgeon telling me I’m overdoing my physical rehab? As in: Hell yeah, I’m walking the shit out of that shit! and treating it as some stupid confirmation of my toxic masculinity and toughness? 🏋️‍♂️🤣

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Just learned of the Brazilian goblin spider (predatoroonops schwarzeneggeri), named after Predator and Arnold Schwarzenegger because the scientists who discovered it were big fans of the movie, and also the male’s chelicerae resembled the Predator’s mouth. 🕷️🍿 The individual species of the genus are named after characters from the film.

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Awake all night, sleep all day, grumpy a lot, can’t entirely fend for myself and getting increasingly shitty about it: my surgery has turned me into a teenager! 🤣 Fun times…

Four weeks post-op!

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Still feeling very sore today, maybe due to the cold weather, however I remain very happy to reach the four week post-op milestone.

I’m hoping my surgeon will tell me on Tuesday that I can drive again, and especially get back to some light fishing. I’ve been following all the rules, doing all the rehab and walking, and now just want to start getting back to my regular life a little…

Parenting failure: when is it OK to admit I tried but no joy?

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Struggling to teach my kids some financial sense. Have tried many methods, philosophies, schemes and rules for saving, spending, etc.

Barefoot Investor for Families? Yep, tried it: great book, great advice, zero result from the kids.
Forced savings? Endless fights, tantrums, cheating and even stealing to get money to buy crap snacks down at the local low-price supermarket.
Showing our own budget and savings as examples? They don’t care at all.
Matching savings (dollar-for-dollar style idea)? Well, at least when they ignored that one I saved some money.
Asking a friend to “employ” them and then mandatorily saving half of the “wage”? They want to quit their extremely cushy job because they don’t get enough in their hand to pay for lollies.
Letting them blow the lot, then go penniless? They just beg/borrow from friends with a sob story.
Ensuring they have zero cash on hand when they leave the house? Again, they just beg/borrow from friends.

So totally and utterly frustrated, is it OK if I finally just give up and admit I’ve failed financially as a parent? When do you say enough is enough?