kjp

OK, so here goes for the past while:

The end of summer has seen the nights cool down a bit - needing a blanket. Over the past two nights I have been cold with that - so my "good" blanket will be coming out. I think I'm starting to get sick. This is bad and annoying at the best of times. It's particularly annoying as next week I'll be starting a few things. One of which is a Mandarin course (Level 1) at the Institute of Modern Languages. I'm shifting my body clock a bit for this - getting up 1/2 an hour earlier to be able to leave work to get there on time. I also don't won't to be sick for Tuesday (need my voice)...

This Tuesday (just past) was pretty cool fun. I shifted my RDO to let me go to Wet'n'Wild with a couple of people. Was good fun. Although it probably would have been better with a few more people. 6 would seem to be the ideal group size - lets you easily go on the 1, 2, 3 and 6 person rides.

I haven't been to Go in about 3 or 4 weeks. Staring next week it's doubtful that I'll be able to go at all for a while...

If you need to tune something and have a microphone plugged into your computer, then check out AP Tuner

Last Sunday I got my pack - Wilderness Equipment Frontier 2 (2003 model). It seems to be a very good pack - a good fit for me (especially considering my back length), comfortable, and have everything that I need. I'm planning to take it for a bit of a walk tomorrow (although it is a travel pack it should be fine for a bit of a bush walk or two). I need to remember the (suggested) order for putting the pack on:
* Make sure all of the straps are loose
* Put the pack on
* Position the lumbar pad to the correct position by doing the shoulder straps up
* Do the hip belt up
* Tighten the belt
* Tighten the hip stabilizers
* Loosen the shoulder straps. The weight of the pack should be on the hips now.
* Ensure that the shoulder straps are close to the shoulder by tightening up the top (shoulder) stabilizers.
* Do the chest clip up and adjust.

There's a good list of how to fit a backpack here and here. There's also an interesting article on Modern Backpack Design.

I need to remember to pack it so that heavier things are as high up as possible in the pack (counter to what I previously thought). It helps concentrate the weight through the frame to the hips - not onto the shoulders.

Last Sunday I checked out the "Backyard Photography" (Lord Mayor's photographic awards) at the Museum of Brisbane. I thought that the images weren't bad; but a lot of them seemed to be pretty similar - nice clean backyards with mum / dad and the kids and dogs. So, I put in a vote for one of the "dirtier" images.