Camping On The Patio

My tent from Australia was part of my recent shipment. Today I attempted to set it up on the patio. A few interesting notes...

Do not store your tent out on the balcony if you're living near the ocean. The zipper will rust to crap, and you will spend an hour with WD-40, screwdrivers, pins, and eventually a Stanley knife. In the end you'll probably rip the zipper in two, like I just did. You may also need to repair the bag, preferably with Duct tape.

The photo here doesn't do it justice, but this tent has a lot of space inside. Theoretically it has enough space to sleep 3 people. It has front and back doors, and lots of ventilation. It also has a padlock on the back door... and I'll be buggered if I know where the key for that went to... :(

Read the instructions. I had a puzzled look on my face for 10 minutes before realising how this front section was meant to be assembled. The end result is pretty good though. I'm very much looking forward to some camping this summer. :) Anyone else interested?

Sandal Burn

It was bright, sunny and windy today, so I went kite flying again. I put sun-screen on for most of my exposed body parts, but forgot about my legs and, in particular, the top of my feet left uncovered by my sandals. This is going to be painful for a few days...

On the positive side, I ran into a new couple who had just bought a Nexus kite. Very friendly, and we got along well. They were struggling a bit having never flown a stunt kite before. I gave them some instruction, and soon they were flying my Quantum kite with no problems.

Unfortunately, the Nexus kites are ultra-sensitive and tend to need more wind, making them very difficult to control and prone to dropping from the sky. I honestly don't know why they are recommended for beginners. They are much cheaper, but so incredibly frustrating. I'm planning to buy a Prism Snapshot 1.4 (a small dual-line power-kite) to play with myself, and for others to practice with.

300 Posts Later

This is blogpost number 300 and, coincidentally, my 28th birthday. It's also the first warm long weekend this year and, for those who are interested, 789 days since I left Australia for Canada. So how have things changed since blogpost number 200? Things have definitely improved...

• I've just been treated to brunch and a birthday cake by my friends at work, plus long distance phone calls from family, friends, and Emily
• I've moved to a great new apartment in the West End
• I've got most of my stuff shipped from Australia
• I've started making non-work friends (yay!)
• I've taken up kite flying again, and having great fun with it
• I've submitted my thesis, and am in the process of nominating reviewers
• I've stopped working so hard
• I've started going out more
• I've started exploring more of Stanley Park (did you know that Lovers Trail is one of the rockiest in the park?)
• Best of all, Emily is coming to Vancouver very, very, soon

Yeah, life is definitely moving forward. I'm the happiest I've been since I got here, and some of the guys have noticed.

Bizarrely, one thing hasn't changed since blogpost 200 - I'm sunburnt again. We had a nice change of weather, I went down to the beach, and suddenly I'm (lightly!) burnt all over. That's what winter does to you.

P.S. I'll post a photo of the birthday cake later. Right now, I'm completely buggered from walking, cycling, frisbee, badminton, and just generally doing stuff.

P.P.S. Technically, my birthday was yesterday according to Australian time. It's not like "a year" is an accurate measure of time anyway. :P

Finally Moved In

Well, I finally have all of my stuff. After 2 and a bit years in Canada, my boxes from Australia have arrived. Thanks to Tom at work, we collected the boxes from the warehouse this morning, and I got to have fun opening them this afternoon. Some were very heavy and quite a challenge to unpack. (How do you get a heavy crate out of a big cardboard box? Cut the bottom of the box and let it fall out!)

So far, I've found a lot of books. Lots and lots of books. And DVDs. And CDs. Who knew I had a licensed copy of UT2003? And cookbooks? I need to get a second bookshelf, and soon.

I've found a lot of random memorabilia. There's the corkboard I've had since highschool, the pencil case I've had since primary school, lots of coloured tealight cangles, my pizza stone, a jar of vegemite (use by 2007...), a little lantern, a set of Chinese hand exercise balls, a miniature laptop desk ornament, a set of photo frames, my cap from the Logic Summer School, the book I was reading when I left Australia (!), all my old tools, lots of kitchen stuff, a LotR boxed DVD set and framed poster, and my undergraduate degrees... I need to hang up a lot of this stuff.

And there's lots of stuff I'd been missing. My Pound Puppies that I've had since I was really little (complete with a bandaid from their immunisation shots...), my body pillow to help my posture, a quilt cover set I'd worried was given away, and a big soft blanket for the Canadian winters. Plus there's my tent and sleeping bag, just in time for summer. :)

There's also a heap of shirts and other clothing. It all smells a little musty (hey, it's been two years) and will need a wash. I'm looking forward to using the bathrobe and wearing some of my old shirts again. There's also lots of other little souvenirs that I've picked up over my life, including random notes and cards and stuff.

I haven't finished unpacking everything yet. Still, I now have everything of mine from Australia (except for the stuff at Mum and Dad's house...). I have officially "moved" to Canada.

Broken String

There was a strong wind this morning, so I rode down to Sunset Beach to fly my kite. Noone else was flying kites, and this should've been a warning sign.

The wind peaked at around 40 kph, plus some slightly stronger gusts. My kite was howling, and the lines would squeal at times from the tension and wind. Still, I was having a great time, and number of kids and parents had stopped to watch. Unfortunately, my kite is rated to precisely 40 kph; while in a tight turn in the middle of the wind window, the right string snapped just near my hand. The kite then spun like a top on the left string until it hit the ground. Bugger.

So... anyone know how to fix Spectra kite lines?