Just another day in paradise

A nice day starting at 4:00am after a bad nights sleep.  I was tossing and turning and worrying abot stuff that I mostly have no control over and in many cases is none of my business.  This disjointed connection with life continued as a loaded clothes into the car and lost my phone.  I knew it was on silent so no point in phoning it.  I did not know whether it was in the car or not.  I drove the car into the carport so I could log my laptop onto the home wifi and then connected to my phone over the net to make it ring.  The ringing led me to where it had fallen in the front passenger footwell.  Finally left home delayed but the anoying bad karma of the universe continued - As I drove along I heard a sound.  The sound of glasses falling.  My glasses had fallen off the centre console and down beside te drivers seat.  No amount of groping could retrieve them.  I could feel myself getting just a tad angry.  Finally retrieved them.

5:00am: Rowing went OK.  We were down on stroke side.  And to start with a bizarre confusing new warm-up.  Full crew 1/4 slide square blade.  Half of us started at 1/4 slide and half started at the finish and rolled forward to quarter slide.

7:00am:  A nice coffee.  Wanted to stay off the food because we had the grammarians lunch on the schedule.  Parked down near the west end ferry terminal and caught a city cat into town.

9:00am: Boeing supplier briefing.  Met Mike Symes, Greg Delforce, John Logam, Seppo who turns out to have  Phd in antenna design amongst others.  After the meeting had a coffee and then walked on up to Wickham Tce

1:00pm: Grammarians lunch at The Services Club on Wickham Tce.

Around 4:30pm tried to book Uber but found the cc had expired and it took forever searching the net for instructions on how to change the date to the new expiry date.

Finally managed to catch an Uber back to west end.  retrieved ute.  Drove to Centenary.

6:00pm: Centenary rowing club coaches meeting.  We have to organise a regatta on 12-MAY.

8:50pm arrive home.  Megan is out.  Turns out she is at the park with Lucy but has kindly make Burritos and the materials are on the kitchen bench.  Put on some music and loaded the dishwasher.  made a burrito.

10:00 Pm beddie bys.  Rowing tomorrow at 0400.

Calston st Party

3DR drone mods

Trying to put a thermal camera on a drone.  The 3DR is a great platform with onboard Linux processor.  unfortunately no longer available.

The 3DR comes with a Pan Tilt gimbal to mount a Gopro.  It seems the balance has to be exactly right.  The thermal camera is a different share and is heavier than the gopro.  We tried making a bracket on the 3D printer to replace the GoPro bracket.  There is a PCB inside the Gopro bracket that seems to have accelerometers on it and so has to be a part of any new or modified unit.  Even though this moved the centre of gravity back, it's not right and more research is needed.  We have to ditch the 3DR gimbal and find something else.

Cg protesters

Cg leaving

Cg hat

Cgm

Cgn

Rowing Wiring

A continuous effort to keep the speakers in the boats working.

https://www.nk.com.au/products.cfm?id=40

Games Shapers Thankyou

Today had two events the Qld masters Rowing at Wyaralong and the thank you party for the Commonwealth Games.

After dismantling the boat and loading it onto the trailer I left Wyaralong at 3pm with google directing me to the Broadwater Parklands.  My initial plan was to drive to a beach and have a swim and then shower and change to wash away the rowing smell and sweat.  In the end I went to The Pavilion at Hollingdale park (Just beside the Southporrt Surf Life Saving Club).  This is one of those old surf side showerblocks.  After changing I drove back and luckily scored a park just next to the tram stop.  I then joined the crowd walking from the tram to the party.  There were also lots of people leaving. and a lot of people walking with me.  There was a band playing and it sounded great.

Traded text to meet up with Megan who had to check me in.

The initial letter of invitation advised food available for purchase.  This tight-ass approach apparently caused Anistasia to cringe and offer some government support.

As we entered we were each give $15 in vouchers plus an  ice cream voucher.  One could only use the vouchers for food.  Alcohol needed real cash.  Beer was $6 ot $7 and wine $5 so I think they had that at a reasonable price.
To me this seemed like a really good way to run things.

By the end of the night we'd had a good feed and Megan had caught up with other stage managers.

There were a few speeches and much better fireworks than either the opening or closing ceremonies.  

I reckon they should have gotten whoever organised this to organise the opening and closing ceremonies.

QLD Masters

Queensland State Masters Rowing Championships were held on the weekend of Sat 21 and Sunday 22 April 2018.

Just over a week ago I received a text asking if I would like to be in a last minute put together crew.  I said "yes".

The crew :
B: Peter Hastie
2: Evan Catlin
3: Mark Elliott
4: Bryce
5: Andrew Murrell
6: Neil Alcorn
7: Brett Cribb
8: Frank Thomson
C: James McPherson


Someone with a creative sense of humour named us the "Barbarians".

We had one training session on Wednesday and then two races on Saturday.  The training program is below.

I really enjoyed all three rows because even though we started off a bit ordinary, we continually improved.  In the races there was never that dead fade that happens when people give up.  The first race was rougher than the second.  in part because the water for the second race was calmer.

 

 I had no hat.  Brett loaned me one.  Turns out a special from a boys own adventure weekend that his and his mates went on.  An exclusive club.

I was entrusted and had to give it back at the end of the day.

Thank you Brett.






















This was the Wednesday training session

Barbarians Crew Rowing Training

Wednesday 18-4-2018 4:45am

Summary (See page 2+ for detail)

Pre row brief - Objective is to row in time

Launch

Warm up - Traditional in 4’s.  Start at finish hands only etc

Row in 6’s - Rate 16-20 - focus on timing, (Sequence)

Full 8 - Start at 16.  Build rate and power to 32. X2 or 3

Turn around

Starts

Start & 50 - Rate 33 drop to 28 at 40. X 2 Maintain split

Start & 50 - Rate 33 Drop to 28 at 10. X 2 Maintain split

Coffee

Detail version of the plan

Pre row Brief

Acknowledge we are an eclectic crew.  

The objective of today’s row is timing and balance.

At the FINISH

Sit up straight at the finish.  Heads up. Chin up. Pull Up. Look down the boat.  If you can see ears on heads in front on your outside then you are probably leaning away from your rigger.  Always sit up straight.

Request to Bow & Cox - Look down the boat and we will get some feedback from you in the breaks.

ON WATER

Warm up - Traditional in 4’s - about 10 strokes at each step - Start at finish hands only, then bodies, ¼, ½, ¾, full, Feathering, 10 hard.  The non rowing 4 need to sit up straight and sit boat up.

Row in 6’s - slow to medium rate (somewhere 16-20 rate)- meant to be easy.  The key objective is to focus on getting in time.
This should take us up near the old uni citycat terminal

Stop & drink & get feedback from bow and cox.

Full 8 - Row off as an 8. Rate 16.  After we get going, cox calls in build rate and power. Gradually build rating and power.  
Cox to call rating and splits pretty continuously.

Cox reminders:  Sit up straight at finish. Finish together, Square early, Quick catch no shoulder lift,  Legs bodies arms/

Starts

Need to talk to P2 guys as to their start.

For now assume

¾, ½, ¾, ¾, Full. Lengthen out.

During the first bit the emphasis is on the legs.  Backs don’t swing much (Do pull in with arms though).  In the lengthen out bit, the new thing is to bring in the backs.

Do one (¾) stroke.

Then two stroke start (¾, ½) and then three strokes and so on up to start plus 5 so as to include the lengthen out bit where the backs come in.

Start & 50 - Rate 33 drop to 28 at 40. X 2 Maintain split

This is simulating the first 500m of the race including the rate reduction that brings in the middle 1k

Start & 50 - Rate 33 Drop to 28 at 10. X 2 Maintain split

This is basically simulating the second 500m of the race practicing the rate drop and looking for the hang and swing rhythm to keep boat speed through that middle 1k.

During these long pieces, cox to call rate and split continuously.

Crew focus on smoothness and getting the legs down hard.  Listen to the split - Am I contributing honestly.

Feel for the run of the boat.

2018 Queensland Masters

Race Plan  21-4-2018

What	Focus & Coxes calls Call Rate and SPLIT pretty much continuously
0 Start Start ¾, ½, ¾, Full. Lengthen out. Continue full of tilt for 40 strokes Rate 32.	Squeeze Smooth In time
400  MIDDLE At 40 strokes drop the rating over 5 strokes to 28. The mental focus now must be on power esp in legs. Control your breathing Sit up at the finish Every 20 strokes we will have a 10 stroke effort followed by 10 strokes long and strong - Call Rate and SPLIT Sit up straight at finish. Finish together, Square early, Quick catch no shoulder lift,  Legs bodies arms/	Legs down Hard! Sit Back at the Finish. Hands away before you rock. Steady up the slide.  Feel the footstretcher under the balls of your feet. Square Early Quick Catches
250 from the finish Red marker. (This is past the headland)  Don’t go early! Increase rate slightly.  It’s 25 strokes to go.	Control breathing Legs Legs Legs

CG Beattie comment

In my opinion, the rot set in the moment the organisers even contemplated subcontracting the ceremonies. It demonstrated the typical Australian lack of confidence in our own capabilities.

This take no risk approach of abdicating responsibility leads to mediocrity as was perfectly demonstrated at CG 2018. But also with a gazillion cockups including the recent train purchases and the old amongst us might remember some flood gates for Wivenhoe.

We need to create an atmosphere where government purchases are biased toward locals. Can you imagine an American public servant buying anything except American. By contrast it seems in Australia it seems we'll buy anything except our own.

Commonwealth Games Closing Festival

I bought 3 tickets at $250 a piece.  Hmmmm

Jemma and I charged phones while we waited for Dan.  Megan cam out resplendent with radio talk-back and dark coloured blend in with performers "blacks"

Dan, Jemma and I took our places enthusiastically and expectantly.

As starting time drew closer we observed.... empty seats.

We had an athlete march in .... of sorts.  It was a shemozzle.  There was a person leading the procession and they lead them out to the toilets.  Soon some of the athletes realised the mistake and stopped following then the ones at the front had to do a U turn and push back into the parade.  About 2/3 of the way round, the parade came to a halt.  Blocked by a artificial barrier created by guides to make a path for dancers etc who would come and go from the central performance area.The whole thing blocked up until the aesthetes queued up in the "vomitorium" decided to turn to their left and fill the space at the top of the photo.

Then we all stood around....

They got as as an audience to rehearse a bit of a sing along and also a grand entrance where the mascot and a couple of dancers pierced a pathway through the crowd of athletes

GC2018 Festival

So awakening too early took me to the lounge to chill Infront of my 'puta.  (Megan left to sleep undisturbed).

Cat pestered and was rewarded with breakfast.

Returned to bed for a doze. Got up and made bacon and eggs.  Went and got haircut. Another doze.

We were supposed to come to the coast so finally Megan, Jemma and I got in the car.  We then remembered the windscreen wipers were in need of replacement.  Megan had bought new ones but they did not seem to fit (apparently).

Drove to Supercheap where a girl child completed the job for $3.

It was raining and the drive to drive to the coast seemed under powered.  Went to Harvey Norman and then JB hi-fi.  Looking at phones.  Dealing with salesmen reignighted the desire to go to the coast even though the forecast was for rain.

Windows can't Access Samba

Windows can not access \\192.168...
Check the spelling of the name. Otherwise there might be a problem with your network.  To try to identify and resolve network problems, click Diagnose.

Error code:0x80004005 Unspecified error

I can ping the machine and also using my web browser I can see a web page from a server on that same machine.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT I HAVE TRIED
1. CREDENTIAL MANAGER - No Entries
There is no entry for the 192.168.22.10 box.
There are entries for other file servers.

2. Turn OFF Windows defender firewall - fail

3.  Connect by Wired ethernet - Fail
I get a different error
"Windows can't find '\\192.168.22.10'.  Check the spelling and try again."
Ah but then found the wired ethernet was set as a public network.  Setting it to private resulted in getting the old "windows can not access..." error

AND THE SOLUTION
Start>Control Panel>Programs and Features
Click "Turn Windows features on or off"  (Left hand side)
Scroll down to SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support
Click the SMB 1.0/CIFS Client
Un tick SMB 1.0/CIFS Automatic Removal and
Un Tick SMB 1.0/CIFS Server
Note SMB 1.0 is apparently a very insecure protocol and should not be used.
Off to ask the network guy to upgrade the server

Stanthorpe text

It was not long after we left the suburban fringe of Warwick that the sound of the ute changed alarmingly.

We stopped and popped the bonnet and observed part of the exhaust pipe had a broken a weld.

We drove on and Jemma kindly and competently looked up exhaust and muffler shops in Stanthorpe.  She called a number and spoke to a fellow. Luckily as it turned out.  He explained that he normally does not work on Saturdays but had dropped back in to the workshop to collect something.  He kindly offered to meet us in half an hour.  We limped onward to Stanthorpe.

With the ute in the presence of an expert I was embarrassed by the condition of it.  Creeks and groans and oil leaks.  He pulled off the exhaust pipe and showed me the guts of the catalytic converter had fallen apart and a new assembly was required at considerable expense.  With no alternative, I agreed. 

CG2018 commemorative $2 coin

Easter jem text from FB

5:05 am opened one eye and I look at my clock.

I think we left around 6:30
Drove to Grantham where we dropped off a couple of Nutridose controllers.

8:10 Texted Lewis and advised ETA Warwick 9:20.  A pleasant and uneventful drive up the range and over to Warwick.

9:15 ish arrived at Lewis's to a closed gate and their cars on the nature strip.  An enthusiastic welcome by two very energetic dogs explained that.  I cajoled Jemma into opening the gate as I did not wish to leave the ute with all the stuff exposed in the back where a passer by might consider it a smorgasbord.

Upon entry to the house we discovered Claire cooking up some bacon and eggs.  Peter helping to grind coffee.  Although the dogs were excluded from the verandah the labrador kept finding its way in only to be taken out and the entry reinforced.  An old boney black cat joined us at the table and if no one was looking was happy to venture on.

Breakfast and coffee completed and we departed for Stanthorpe.

Jemmas post Messenger:
Arrived finally a few hours ago (after about 9 hours-I think- of travelling from Brisbane to Ballendean). Dad paid the mechanical fixings from his account and will re-emburse himself from Syndetic. Dad and I helped eachother out to set up our tents (I did it bare foot and my feet are now quite sore😔). I bought a pillow (it even comes with a sent :)) from the Regect Shop and I'm now lying on it resting. I believe dad is sleeping or at least dozing in his tent. There's a beautiful breeze at the moment, earlier I felt a couple of light spits/spray of water/rain but that was it. Quite pleasent here actually (I'm not playing around yet as I am internally quite tired). I think I can hear Rosemary up near the cottage talking to other adults (probably having some wine as the sun slowly sets). As I write this sentence, I'm pretty sure I hear Dad snoring from his tent a few metres down).
Enjoy the weekend, and, Happy Easter!
Jemma
Xoxo
😙😘😚

Easter 2018 - Good Friday Breakfast

Lewis, Claire & Peter

Easter 2018 ute exhausted