Straddie

A day trip to Stradbroke Island.

Frank, Phoebe, Jai, Amy & Fletch. 

Tesla to Cleveland and the cat to Straddie.

The three kids got a lift from Phoebe's brother and Phoebe and I took it bus. 

Angus & Lizzie Party

A very nice party at Angus and Lizzies place. 

To celebrate Angus winning best HOTY cox and their new house. 

Saw Maddie and Alice - Maddie coxed our boat two years ago and Alice coxed it this year. 

U16 social media ban

Nanny state and don't we just love it. 

The government removing individual freedom under the guise of safety. 

 Philosphically the government should not be protecting people from themselves.

I believe the government does have a role to play and that is to provide a balance on behalf of the people against the power of business. We understand that the social media platforms determine what is presented to users. The government should be requiring them to ensure that content is appropriate. As AI develops,  the task of curating the feed should actually become easier. 

Sunnybank Hills UC

The UC are closing Sunnybank Uniting Church.

I'm quite negative about this although I must say that I don't worship there and effectively it's not actually my business. 

The service included speeches from several people. Most reminiscing positivly about their lives here as a child or young adult. One fellow (Grant) gave a forthright description of recent [shitty] events. 

I'll have to ponder my opinion on this. 

I think the UC has some real systemic problems. I've obviously got my biases. I consider the UC was totally unprofessional in the way I was not followed up when my marriage failed. But I digress.

This lot have about 30 worshipping regularly. If they were young people, the church would be over the moon but because they are old, the church decides they are not worth anything. These are people who have given their lives to the church. The church fucks them over. 

On the building side, it feels like higher levels of the church are fixated on demolition and safety is being used as an excuse to close it.   This was hinted at when one speaker said that the remnants of the congregation were not allowed to get their own engineering assessment. Politics all the way.  

It feels like the UC is top heavy. Financially naive. Make bad investments at high levels and appropriate property to pay their bills. The difficulty being that so few people go to church these days. A few really big essentially independent churches are doing well and they attract the people while small local churches struggle and gradually fade. 

It's a pity that community seems to have evaporated.  

Park Run

Rocks Riverside parkrun results for event #595. Your time was 00:42:11.

Just me and Mags this week as Phoebe attending the closure of Sunnybank Hills UC. 

Ran the first 2.5km but not long after the turn around broke into a walk. 

I haven't done my usual Thursday run for several weeks. I'm fat. Didn't do park run last week.  General mental malaise. All contributed to a lack of drive.

Jemma returns

The high point was picking up Jemma from the airport. Her return from Europe. At her request we stopped into "The Norman" for a steak. 

BGRC AGM

move Glenrich to Byrnes 2

Equality

Been listening to videos on Jordan Peterson.

Some to do with "Equality".   Here i mean "Equality" to mean "Gender Equality"

A point that is part of the discussion is:  "Does equality mean equality of opportunity or does it mean equality of outcome"?

Equality means (to me) no social structures that favour one gender over the other.

Equality of opportunity means that people are free to choose without social structures biasing that choice.  I guess one would measure that by asking people whether they felt free to choose and whether past choices were ones they'd made v where they'd kind of been forced or corralled into a certain life path. 

Equality of Outcome being more like do we have equal numbers of women and men in each profession and do men and women in the same job get equal pay and do men and women spend equal time at home, cooking, cleaning, child rearing and at work. Do we have have equal numbers of women CEO's, engineers, nurses, soldiers etc. 

Interestingly, the more free a society is in terms of providing equality of opportunity, the less equal it is in terms of outcome.

The reason being is that in a society where one is really free to make choices, one is likely to choose based on underlying desires and personality traits and so on.   So if you are really driven, you might choose a path that has some uncomfortable challenges and competition for positions and some conflict along the way.  If you are more relaxed and value and enjoy socialisation, you might choose a path of relaxation.

Mags on Dave's couch

Hmmm. Visiting friends. Once upon a time Mags knew to stay off the furniture.  I've given up....

MONDAY NIGHT MENS GROUP

At Dave's place. During dinner I realised Mags was missing. I discovered the front door had blown open by one of the strong gusts of wind we'd been experiencing. 

I went out to the street and called loudly for mags.  

Suddenly I heard a voice in the darkness asking if I was looking for a dog.

The voice came from high in the darkness.  A highest Queenslander verandah behind a tree. 

I climbed the stairs and met the family mum, dad and two older teenage boys. Mags emerged from the group as they explained they'd given her treats and listed her on the local FB group. 

Having completed the conversation, we decamped to Dave's place and I locked the door. 

The next thing I observed was Mags taking up residence on the couch as we discussed our issues. 

Centenary Awards Night Dinner

SAT 29

Set up PA using the new mixer. 

Bluetooth connection shows up as BT SPEAKER and the associated knob is MP3 - both unhelpful. 

A nice night. The usual speeches.  Kids opportunity to dress up. 

Food was boxes from cosco and very good. 

Audio Mixer

Analogue Mixer

Bluetooth input

USB-C audio adapter

Every now and then I need a small mixer.   I have a 16 channel digital mixer however one needs a phd to operate it.   I need a small and easy to explain and operate mixer. In addition, as more and more phones do not have a physical audio connector, I need Bluetooth. 

I used to have one of these but I can't find it

this mixer seems to meet requirements 

Also need a USB-C analogue audio adapter in case people want to use a wired connection.

The Cost of Energy

 Cost of energy. 

 4-DEC-2025 UPDATE

Origin called with updated pricing

GAS 100.73c/da  3.365c/MJ ist 25MJ and 3.133 c/MJ after that
ELEC 112.871 c/day and 27.841 c/kWh

It seems that they wont give the lower rates to keep you.  You actually have to move.  Then they call you and make the offer.  Business v Loyalty - Amazing. 

25-NOV-2025 

Yesterday I called Origin to organise supply at a new place in Fairfield and the fellow said that I can't take my existing rates to the new place. 

The rates he offered were the same as the ones on the internet and significantly worse. 

I asked it to be escalated to the customer retention team. 

Meanwhile I had a look at competitors and the results are in the photo. Called Origin back to see whether the retention team were going to come to the party. I got "put through" and the new fellow said the rates were the rates and "you are more than welcome to move". So I moved to Alinta.

 

 

 

 

Rowing Gym

4:30 Alarm

5:00 Dep Corinda 

5:30 Gym

6:30 done

4 sets of 10 reps:

Leg press 70+70=140

Bench pull 12.5 x 2 -> 15

Romanian 2x20

Single arm push up on chair Frank12.5~~  others 15 

Lunges  17kg

Notes:

Bench pull now 15 x 2

Don't do more than 2x20 Romanian.  We did that one week and it hurt my back. The pain was if I turned and reached.  Say to lean across to open the passenger door. 

Spin down

Monday 24 November.

It's the first day after the business of the HOTY.

Decided not to do any exercise. Took dog for a walk. 

Sitting on my deck. 

Drinking instant decaf.

YouTube music playing random stuff from 60's and 70's.

Mags is mooching.

Broken whispy clouds in a mostly blue sky.

Magpies and other birds doing their things. 

Being apart was good as it reminded me of how much I love Phoebe. Even though I was surrounded by people I know and had a good row and social activities, I still thought of her and looked forward to holding her upon my return. 

Pondering what to do next:

Shower

Unpack 

Make bed. 

AC repair coming today. 

Viewing new place today. 

Men's group tonight I wonder if we will have a quorum. 

Purge un worn clothes

Should we get a Moving truck?

After all we are not teenagers any more. 

MOVING TASKS

ST LUCIA

Pick up fridge from Highland the.

GLENRICH ST

Move tub to lawn. 

Move fridge to carport (plug in)

THEN LOAD TRUCK

Work bench (under house)

Kayak 

Queen bed

Big table (may need to remove legs)

Couch.

Coffee table

TV (box is here)

Book case

Hutch side board thing. 

HOTY 2025 Race

SATURDAY race day

SATURDAY

 rise and shine. 

8:00 meet in the park. 

Warm up by running. 

8:30 hands on

8:40 Boat in the water

9:00 Race time. 

Only bare minimum in boat. Bags can be put in a pile at the park and Beesties brother will take them to the finish.

DERIG AND LOAD

remember plastic

PUB CRAWL 

Was a bit stop start

HOTY SUNDAY

ACTUAL...& PLAN

4:00 rise and shine 

4:40 check out.  

Reception 24hs

Walk to Sky bus

5:00 On Sky Bus

5:45 Arr airport

6:00 Bag drop

6:40 Boarding 

7:00 am lift off

8:30 arrive

Met Ian on the bus. 

STUFF FOR NEXT TIME

Comb

Back pack on Saturday. 

Don't bother clothes at Hawthorne (just put in back pack at City end).

Spare glasses in back pack. 

HOTY FRIDAY

7:30 breakfast 

8:20 walking back to hotel. 

8:45 walking to Tram 

9:00 Tram 75

9:20 Hawthorne rowing club

Rig boat. 

12:30 water

2:00 off the water at city. 

3:00 finished at Chloes

3:30 waiting for Tram 75 home

MORE DETAIL

Crew is:

1 Chris

2 Drew

3 Rob

4 George

5 Arnie

6 Mike

7 Kingy

8 Frank

C Alice

Woke early. 

7am Walked to Flinders lane and then up to Degraves Street. Initially met 7 and Cher. Shortly Therafter Arnie, Kingy, Chris, Mike & George arrived. We took up a couple of tables in the middle of the lane. 

I ordered a waffle halloumi which included bacon and egg and a coffee.  Eventually I only managed half the meal but I did order a second coffee. 

8:45 

I left the hotel and walked to Flinders st. Caught Tram 75.  A number of other grammarians joined a few stops later.