HOTY Booking and a comarison of airfares

Just booked for Megan and I to go to Melbourne for the HOTY (Rowing).

A comparison of Airfares.


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Carrier	$	2 People	Total 2 people return
Qantas	$145	$290	$580
Virgin	$139	$278	$556
Jetstar
Base price	$65
Baggage 20kg	$18
Sit together fee	$11
Credit Card Fee	$9
One way per person	$103	$205	$410
Tiger
seat per person	$51
tax and fee	$10
credit card fee	$9
20kg bags	$20
	$90	$179	$358

Ended up choosing Jetstar & saving the 8.50 pp per leg credit card fee.
Tiger were quite up front with that fee.  Jetstar show it in the fine print when you look closely on the first page.  I was anoyed that Jetstar had a $11 sit together fee.  At first I could not get rid of it but when I did it turned out then you may not sit together.  It was not mentioned on the front page.

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The Jetstar change

Hi Edgar Thomson,
Since you made your booking, we have changed our flight schedule. Please be advised that your flight details have changed. We understand it can be frustrating when plans change, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. While we try to avoid any changes to our timetable, in this instance it was unavoidable. Please review your flight details below.
Booking reference: X4CNHR
Passengers:
Edgar Thomson
Megan Thomson

Date	Flight	From	Depart	To	Arrive
27Nov14 02Dec14	JQ 567 JQ 566	Brisbane Melbourne-Tullamarine	19:50 18:00	Melbourne-Tullamarine Brisbane	23:15 19:15

 The flight down is no good.  Arrive far too late.
Jetstar have an earlier flight but we will both be still at work.

Options
Jetstar - Dep 12:00 Noon Arr Mel 3:25PM - No Megan has work!
                      7:50pm   Arr Mel 11:50pm - Crap option
Tiger - No flights anywhere near a 6pm departure.
Qantas DEP BNE 6:00pm arr MEL 9:20pm  $239 x 2
Virgin DEP BNE 5:55pm Arr MEL 9:15pm  $149 x 2

Jetstar customer care (complaints department)  131538
17-9-2014 Spoke to
18-9-2014 Spoke to Marki who advised that because the change was less than 3hrs then I cant automatically get my money back.  One valid reason would be if I was attending a meeting and the later time would cause me to miss that meeting.  Have to provide evidence.
Markie said I had to submit an issue on line.
This is what I submitted


Booking Reference xxxxxx
The problem only relates to the Brisbane to Melbourne leg.  The return option offered by Jetstar is acceptable to us.
PROBLEM
Jetstar advised me that they have changed the schedule such that this flight no longer exists.
The options that Jetstar have offered are not acceptable.
WAS Depart Brisbane 6:05PM Arrive Melbourne 9:30pm. 
Jetstar Offer DEP BNE 19:50 ARR MEL 11:15.  This is too late. 
Jetstar also suggested an earlier flight however my wife and I will still be at work at that time.

Given that Jetstar are unable to supply the service that I purchased, I would like you to do one of the following:
OPTION 1 - There is a Qantas flight at 6:0pm.  Book us on that. - Jetstar Refused
OPTION 2 - Refund my money. - Jetstar Refused
OPTION 3 - Give me a single voucher for the value of the two tickets that I can reuse later - Jetstar Refused

and Jestar respond:
Thank you for your inquiry.
Our customer service team will contact you as soon as possible (within 15 business days).
If you have not heard from us within this time, please do not resubmit your enquiry. Please call our Contact Cent-re.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
10-11-2014 Phoned customer care 131538 again and spoke to "Adrian"
Before got to speak to a human I had to deal with a computer.  that was a annoyance in its-self.

Date	Flight	From	Depart	To	Arrive
27Nov14 02Dec14	JQ 567 JQ 566	Brisbane Melbourne-Tullamarine	19:50 18:00	Melbourne-Tullamarine Brisbane	23:15 19:15

Extend Windows Desktop to Android

I would like to use my android device as an extra monitor on my pc.


Splashtop
Downloaded splashtop from the play store.

http://www.splashtop.com/personal


OK so it works BUT my android device is small.  When I try and zoom the display using my finder and thumb, the gestures are transmitted to the PC and the contents of the active window expand.  what I want is to zoom in the android device.

Typing keys on the android device does not seem to show up on the PC.

Cant get it to appear as a second monitor.  Just as a clone of the main monitor.

Strength Fitness Warmup Stretching Rowing

Tonight I attended a seminar at Rowing Queensland on Injury Prevention for Rowers


These are my notes.  We were given hand outs:
1. Dynamic Warm Ups and 2. Flexibility Exercises.
If I can find links to PDFs then they can go here.

There are laminated copies on the fence at the side of the RQ gym.


1. FOUNDATION
This might be written as "Live your life for Rowing".  In tonights context this was get your posture right all day.  Don't slouch all day and then expect to sit up with correct posture in the boat for an hour or so.  In other contexts this would extend to diet, exercise, team work, attitude etc.  (That's why I would like to get coffee & red wine into the boat so I don't have to cut it out at home)

The correct posture is back straight, hips rocked forward.
To get it:
1. Over emphasise - sit up straight straight hips rocked forward. (you know like when you tried to impress the teacher)
2. Slouch down.  Backed curved.  Hips back.  Relaxed.  You know thats the way you always sit these days.
3. Find a point half way between those extremes and try to maintain that whenever you are sitting.  Even in boring work meetings or through a long sermon.

The correct posture is good because:
a) It transmits the force most efficiently from the leg drive to the hands holding the oar.  (If you back is slouched some of the energy will be absorbed => Less efficient)  This makes you go faster.
b) Less force trying to push spine discs out -> less chance of injury.

2. FITNESS & STRENGTH
His emphasis was on Athletic endurance rather than raw strength.  As I understood it the message was that you may be able to bench press a gazillion kilos but in a 2k race you need to repeat the action 250 times.  So in the gym this idea translates to do more reps with less weight.

Personally I suspect that for most of us doing anything is a good place to start.

The next part of this seemed to be to do exercises that mimic part of the stroke and strengthen for that.  For example, do step ups.  As you get better use a higher and higher step until the step is high and your knee is against your chest.  That mimics the catch and build the relevant muscles. (No cheating by jumping off the other leg)
Another example was squat jumps - mimic the drive.

ROWING  ROUTINE
Warm up -> Row -> Stretch

WARM UP
We should warm up (rather than stretch) BEFORE we row.
We should enter the boat warm.  The on water "Warm up" that we use should be considered a technical drill.  The idea is that if you are cold you will row bad.  And that it takes 10 good reps to counteract 1 bad muscle memory.  So if we do 100 cold less than perfect strokes in a on water "warm up" then we need a 1000 good strokes to fix the muscle memory.

He favored warm up being not on the ergo because sitting puts pressure on cold spinal discs and that is apparently bad.
Warm up #1 first preference was a 5 minute jog.
Then various other ones - leg swings, a thing called "Arabesque" to warm up the hammies.
Even Star Jumps - I can just see us geriatrics doing star jumps at 515am.

Dynamic warm up in one of the hand outs.

ROW
Well we do that but remember focus, correct posture and to always keep the boat level.

STRETCH
Apparently we should stretch when we are WARM and that means AFTER rowing and after exercise.  (I tend to stretch before rowing and then after rowing its off to coffee as fast as possible).
So while we have the post row chat (debrief) we should stretch.

Hold each stretch for 20 seconds.  Count it out as 20 seconds is a long time.  Apparently the muscles fight against the stretch for the first 10 seconds so the benefit only starts toward the 15-20 second mark.

Stretches in one of the handouts.

Dan wins 96.5 birthday boy

Dan won the birthday prize from radio station 96.5.
The prize is a cake from the French patissery at toowong.
What a selection.
We collected the cake after church today so that it would be fresh for dans party.
We ate it at kingston pk.
Yum

Dans 13th Birthday Party at Kingston Park

Daniels 13th birthday party.  He just wanted a small group of close friends.
Teal Will, Steven & Jeb.
We went gokarting at Kingston pk.  Crips it's easy. Once we got here they pretty much look after themselves.   I was able to relax and do nothing.  A hamock would have been nice.
Mind you it is little details that can add or subtract and I was very impressed with the way they welcome us. In particular we were assigned a "host" - Jenifer. She got the kids on a podium took a photo then showed us to a reserved table and then the thing that really impressed me was she took the kids right through to where they had to wait to get helmets and race.  Even at 13 done of them I think were somewhat cautious and her action got them to not the bullet.

Between races we cut the cake and "sang" happy birthday very loudly.

Dan BGS middle school celebration of the arts

Wednesday evening and Megan, Dan and myself drove into BGS.

Dan sang in the in auditioned choir.   He is front row right hand side end of row.

CPC did the AV. Megan knew the sound guy. They had lots of radio mics. These lifted things really well from an audio point of view. For example there were two kids at one side with violins. Other kids singing. When the two kids stayed to play we could hear them clearly but not too loud.

After the singing we went to the art gallery and Dan showed us his painting.

Macbook Air Power Adaptor Repair

Disappointing that the basic good design of the Apple Macbook Air is let down by poor quality of the the power lead.  Not just me but others have had the same problem.

The rubber on the outside of the wire is pretty poor.  It started to fray a long time ago and also there are a couple of places alomg the lead that are cracked.  Eventually the outer brad wore away.

Opened the case (look on youtube as others have posted handy video  on how to do that) and cut off the dodgy segment and re-soldered it.

Microsoft Surface Power Plug Pinout

I have a new post with more information here:
http://thomsoneu.blogspot.com/2020/05/rebirthing-surface-pro-2.html

The power adapter on Megan's surface has died.  I did not know whether it was the adapter or the main unit.  I could not measure any voltages on any of the pins of the adapter but I also had no data to indicate if that was normal.  Perhaps the adapter had to be connected to the surface before it sends out any power?  So I went to JB HIFI and plugged her Surface onto the power adapter being used to power the display unit.  Megan's surface booted and showed it was charging.

I therefore concluded that the problem was the adapter.

I figured just buy a spare.  Ah not so easy.  The JB Hifi fellow told me there were two types.  A low power version used on the RT and a high power version used on the Pro.  He he no high power versions and his computer showed neither did any other JB Hifi stores.  A quick trip to Harvey Norman showed the same problem.  Dr Google advised that the low power version can be used on the Pro Surface but will take longer to charge.  Back to JB HiFi and bought a low power version.

For posterity I measured the voltages on the pins.  Starting from the outside we have the - then +12.3V with the purpose of the centre unknown.  The two +12.3V pins are connected together.  Likewise the two GND pins.  ie you can measure from either ground pin to either +12.3 pin and get the required voltage.

A Taste of Moogerah - Parent & Son Weekend. Dan and I spent Sunday & Monday at the BGS outdoor education centre at Moogerah Dam. We did a number of activities that the kids get to do. Students go for 1 week each year.

Activities included climbing "Big John"(It's a tree), 250m long flying fox, walk up Mt Edwards.

For me the best activity was the Orienteering because I got to get lost and work out maps and so on with Daniel.

 In keeping with the experiential atmosphere we had to line up before dinner and also go for a 3km run this morning and that was an exhausting killer and just showed how fit the young kids are.

It was also interesting to go back and see the place. By good luck I was at BGS the year Moogerah opened (1976). That year we had wooden canoes that leaked. By the following year a new bloke - "Jimmy Johnson" had taken the reins. A few changes since 1976. The big brick fireplace had gone from the dining room and the dorm building has been extended with some extra accommodation, for teachers I assume, inserted between the dorm and the rest of the building. A large number of ropes course activities have appeared. I do not recall any of them being there when I was a student. Certainly not to the extent they are there now.

In talking to Dan, one of the highlights for him was climbing "Big John". Apparently he had baulked at it when he went with his class and so this was a great way for him to conquer that.

At the end we watched a promo for Duke of Edinburgh.

I just want to be a student again. So much to challenge and excite these kids. (BTW this update is post event because they sent us the same packing list as the kids get and it said "no phones". I figured had better comply lest I be made to stand outside in the cold or double dish washing duty or some equally dastardly punishment.)