patches

Just got back from a 10 day visit to the in-laws in Aus... which means I get to go 2 varieties of tool heaven! (Total Tools and Sydney Tools) 😍 I was very restrained though and kept my haul to just these 3 items... Knipex Carpenter's Pincers (got a bunch of nail removal in my next project, so thought I would do it properly), Titebond 3 (my favourite wood glue, and no, sniffing it doesn't do anything), and some Makita splinter-guard for my 3m track saw rail... ...and therein lies a clue as to why I was so restrained in tool heaven... it was because I'd already blown my tool budget on a new track saw, and the new splinter guard is to calibrate the old track to the new saw... ...and I betrayed team teal to join ze Germans The Festool TS 60K. I decided to "upgrade" my Makita 40V cordless track saw to something with a bigger cut capacity, a little more refined, and with some extra features. Going from cordless to corded is a bit of a downgrade, but as 95% of my work happens in the garage and connected to a dust extractor, having a power cord is not a major.

My in My in-laws have a country house in the NSW Southern Highlands. Don't think I've ever visited there and NOT seen a Sydney Funnel-web or 2 😖

Also keen on one of the middle-grounders. If money magically appeared in my account today, the Fuel EXe would be my pick Either that or the new Cannondale Morterra Neo SL, which is a full power, but supposed to be the lightest.

+1 for Oakley Prizm lenses I have a set of Jade Iridium Prizms in my Oakley Airbrake MX goggles, which I use both dirt bike riding, or when I wear a full face on the MTB. My guess is the same would apply for their sunnies The way the Prizm lenses highlight the contours in the trail, is awesome. Here's a rough idea to the application of the different Prizm lenses. Based on this the Rose Iridium are the most versatile. As for actual MTB sunnies, I have some Adidas photochromatics, but I generally don't like wearing sunnies on bikes, so I use safety-squints in stead 😅

Yup, the MTB motivation struggle is real. The best option... leave Auckland! 😅 ...I kid, but there's truth in it. Places like Rotorua, Nelson, Queenstown, and my personal favourite Christchurch, have stronger MTB communities and more accessible trails. That said, my passion for MTB died when I lived in Christchurch. Not because of any issues previously stated, but because I was lazy and the port hills climbs were killer compared to my low-effort Spruit strolls 😅... so I got into dirt biking and had the time of my life. But when I moved to Auckland, that died too (and for similar reasons to AKL's MTB shortcomings). Trails were few-and-far between, often involved a 40min+ commute to them, weren't free, and riding there alone wasn't as fun. So what do I see as the solution in my case (besides convincing my wife to move to the South Island)... the "the answer may surprise you!" [Classic Clickbait Hook] ... it's an eBike! Now before you vloek and spit on the floor in disgust,.. hear me out. Woodhill is fun, but driving when my commute time there and back equates to my riding time, the effort doesn't seem worthwhile. But if I could ride them hills for 3-4hrs, and relishing the flowy descents, I may find the drive and $15/ride more palatable. Also nothing like anew toy to motivate one, haha! Sure, I could improve my fitness and ride longer on my current bike, but getting that time-in-the-saddle while life happens is not that easy, especially when Auckland lacks backyard trails... and I'm not about to go roadie!

This popped up on my FB feed this morning, as a "memory form 8 years ago" Can't believe it's been 8 years since I embarked on my NZ adventure. The photo depicts the novelty of being able to load my bike on a bus as I commute home form work in Christchurch (I was lazy and didn't want to ride up Huntsbury hill, haha) I hadn't bought a car yet, so buses and/or bikes were my means of getting around. Fun times, great memories... some nostalgia I need to hold on to and revisit when I start feeling bogged down by the daily grind.

At first I was about to say "why do you need a tax person, the IRD does all the work for you!", but the I read the second half, and yeah, a lot more complicated than my cookie-cutter tax I have some Saffer friends with financial interest still in SA. They're not hubbers, but I can reach out to them and see if they have any trusted consultants or smart advice.

Started watching Shogun last week. Pretty epic so far. Only downside is there's a fair amount of reading required, (unless one can understand Japanese). https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2788316/?ref_=ttep_ov_i

Wow! That is a thing of beauty!

You can do anything, if you just believe!

Started the Masters of the Air mini series (9 episodes) on the weekend. First 2 episodes are up on Apple TV. Executive Produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, and follows the 100th Bomb Group in their B17 Flying Fortresses as a sort of "next instalment" in the Band of Brothers and The Pacific mini series trilogy (not that that's an official thing). But yeah, pretty awesome so far! Highly recommend for anyone that loved the other 2 mini series.

I made something similar but for my 3D printer itself, and to use up tired old squash balls.

In a bit of a lull at the moment after I finished For All Mankind Season 4 and Slow Horses Season 3. My fillers are The Orville and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Easy watching and pretty entertaining. I'm also kinda surprised though that Disney+ hasn't removed Always Sunny from their catalogue as it's very un-PC 😅

Anyone here used the Fringe Benefit Tax Exemption regarding bikes and eBikes? "Staff discretionary benefit – Bikes, e-bikes, and e-scooters Government recently passed a tax amendment bill, implemented from 1 April 2023, to provide for FBT exemption on employee work travel options relating to the purchase and use of bikes, e-bikes, e-scooters and public transport. For example, the exemption enables an employer to purchase a bike on behalf of an employee, and then deduct from the employee’s gross salary the cost of the bike. The employee then owns the bike once purchased, as opposed to it remaining a company vehicle. The bike should be primarily for commuting to work, however, personal use is ok so long as the primary reason for the purchase is for commuting. Note, the exemption doesn’t extend to any accessories, such as helmets, locks, lights etc. New FBT exemptions for bikes and public transport explained | Tax Alerts - April 2023 | Deloitte New Zealand)." I see schemes like Work Ride NZ facilitating this for employers and employees. I'm keen to find out more, as it may be a great way to save on an eBike or commuter.

Not sure if this has been posted on here before, but I found it pretty interesting and I figured @Wyatt Earp might appreciate!

That's crazy! I would never have thought there were fakes of Apple Watches, Garmins etc. Accessories yes, but the watches themselves... seems like too much effort. Although I guess the counterfeiter never intends to have it function like the OG (as evident in the case you mention). Crazier still that a retailer that most consider reputable is selling said fakes, granted this is likely unknown to them and they may just be facilitating sales for a 3rd party. On the topic of fakes... here's another one of the cheap aftermarket alpine loops. Paying R2200 for the original just seems insane! As they say..."how do you milk sheep? ...with Apple accessories" 😅

Hey! Where did you get that picture of me?

😂 sounds like it's calling you! If you don't mind running both, you could do what those YouTube reviewers do and use the Ultra 2 (or a Series 9) for daily, general use, and the Epix for events or more serious training sessions (where you won't mind wearing the strap), then use something like Training Peaks to aggregate the data from each. (I say that all as if I know what I'm doing, hahaha but that's just what I've seen the big boys do).

A couple of extra observations/thoughts... Charging Although the charging is pretty much a daily affair, in some ways I find that easier than my old Fenix (which was about fortnightly), as it's easier to remember to charge things daily (like your phone), than fortnightly, or as I used to do, wait until it's on like 2% before I realise it needs a charge, and likely just let it die as Murphy's law means my charger is wherever I am not. Voice Control Never been a big Siri user on my phone, but it's pretty handy when on the watch. Especially on the Ultra 2 and Series 9 where Siri is on-board and not solely dependent on phone/internet connection. I use it to set timers, dictate replies to text, or log data into apps. I have it setup so I push and hold the crown to use, no need to say "Hey Siri!", but I do still feel like a bit of a dork/trekkie using it.

Thanks! Here are some observations/impressions from a lazy-bugger! Granted the Fenix paired with an Android phone will do most of this (and many of these are not unique to the Apple Watch Ultra, so regular Apple Watch users would have this), but these are just the things I've noticed over that last week or so. General Comfortable on wrist with both the ocean band and alpine loop. Alpine loop probably wins for comfort but more finicky to put on. Have a trail loop on order, will let you know what that one is like Easy to operate. Touch screen is intuitive and pretty responsive. Only found it tricky when trying to swipe left/right or up/down to switch between screens, while moving (running... if you can call what I do "running") Occasionally a button gets bumped or the little one touches the watch face and apps get opened etc. I believe there is a way to have a "lock screen" but I think one sacrifices ease of use (or has to deal with the hassle of unlocking) if they opt for this Easy to manage settings and watch faces through Watch app on phone. Almost no need to ever go into settings on watch Battery life - This being a big point of contention as I know one can use the Garmin if they are stranded in the amazon for weeks, whereas the Apple is pretty much a "charge daily" device. My daily use has been: put on in the morning. Standard use all day, including about 1hr of workout time with GPS and GSM doing their thing. When I go to bed the battery is typically at about 75%. I could still wear it for sleep tracking, but as I don't like wearing a watch to bed, I just put it on charge. It charges in less than 1hr and a notification pops up on my phone telling me when it's charged. This works for me. May not work for those doing multi-day back-country adventures, or those that want to wear the watch 24/7 with minimal downtime. Smart Watch Seamless iOS pairing. Like seriously seamless. It just works Connectivity - my mobile provider here in Hobit-land allows me to add a GSM enabled smart watch to my unlimited mobile plan for a fee (7NZD or about R80pm). This means I can go out for a cycle/walk/run without the bulk or risk of a phone in my pocket and can still send/receive calls, texts, whatsapps and emails. Now most people leave phones behind for a reason so don't care about this. BUT another useful thing with the GSM connectivity is that I don't have to pre-download Spotify playlists. I can just stream the music while I'm out and about. The downside... this drains battery life faster. The upside, when the watch is in range of the phone again, the mobile data mode goes into standby. Apps - any apps my iPhone had that an Apple Watch version were automatically installed at setup. Any I didn't want were easy to remove through the Watch App on the phone. Haven't installed any watch specific apps yet, but I'm pretty sure one could get almost anything they want. The downside... most have some sort of paywall for all the features Automation - For those who have used Apple Shortcuts on their iPhone, this is old news... but for those that don't know, this is a very basic "logic builder" to automate certain actions based on a set of criteria (basically if-then). This couples with the Action Button on the watch (which can be used to run Shortcuts) can be very powerful. For example, one can create a shortcut that takes proximity to a specific location (ie. the gym) into account, and presents an appropriate action menu for that location. So if the current location is close proximity to the gym then the shortcuts in the menu will be the Start Workout for whatever activity one does at the gym (treadmill, squash, weights etc), but if the current location is close proximity to one's home then the menu can adjust to be control of smart home devices (door locks, lights, speakers etc). Another useful one could be to send an automatic "I'm in a meeting" reply to an incoming call/message by simply pressing the action button (no need to pull phone out and look rude), and by taking one's calendar into account. It can take some time to build these Shortcuts although it's not too complicated and there are websites (like https://shortcutsgallery.com/) where one can download premade sets of logic. Overall can be pretty darn powerful if one puts in the time to build some good ones. Health/Fitness I'm pretty simplistic in this regard, due to my non-competitive nature coupled with my laziness 😅 Activity Rings - I already had on my phone but paid no attention to it. With the watch it's more useful and I find it pretty cool. It's where daily goals for Standing (1min/hr), Exercise (minutes where heart rate exceeds a brisk walk) and calories burnt are all tracked. Steps are also tracked and play into this, and if one dives in there are some pretty interesting stats available, like step asymmetry (% stride difference between each leg) or "sturdiness" are analysed and tracked. I think much of this is actually done by one's phone being in their pocket. Again. probably nothing new for Android or Garmin, but my novice observation thought this was cool, and better than the simple step count my old Fenix 3 did. Heart Rate - Plenty of YouTube reviews on the accuracy, and generally it's supposed to be pretty good. The ECG function and detection of anomalies is a plus, although shrouded in plenty of disclaimers, classic Apple style. ECG's can be exported to PDF too to be shared with a medical professional Workouts - The app is pretty intuitive and does most of what I need. Some workout types are fairly generic, like Outdoor Cycle, which doesn't differentiate between MTB, road, etc. It seems pretty smart too as I was on a walk the other day with some friends. I forgot to start an "Outdoor Walk" activity, but after about 10min the watch took my elevated heart rate and movement into account and popped up with a suggestion asking if I was on an outdoor walk and if I wanted to track it. I confirmed and it back-tracked most of the previous 10min activity to add it to the workout, I thought that was pretty slick I haven't looked into it but there are plenty of 3rd party apps for the more serious athlete out there Aesthetics Whilst these are subjective (and I have openly admitted to preferring the rugged look of the Garmins), I have found that with watch face and aftermarket straps, the watch can transform for most occasions. I know the Garmins have face and strap customisation options too, but the retina always-on display from the Ultra is pretty sharp, so many apps with custom designed faces, and so many strap options available for dirt cheap (from places like Amazon or Aliexpress), plus the straps are super simple to change. It's like having more than one watch. I have created a bunch of custom watch faces, similar in appearance (simple and clean) but themed based on function, which I can easily flick through after tapping on the current face (no need to delve into the settings or use the phone app). For example: Here's what they look like IRL with an aftermarket black alpine loop (from Amazon) And here's another with an aftermarket titanium bracelet (also from Amazon) Anyway, those are just some initial impressions and observations based on my limited knowledge. Again, I know most other smart watches can probably do most of these things, but this may be helpful for those looking at the Apple. *Garmin Flame Suit On* 😅

I know, I know 😅

After inner turmoil, internet polls, and hours of YouTube research... I finally accepted that I'm not some avid adventurer, top tier athlete or GI Joe, but a desk jockey who occasionally does active stuff and might want some info on it... ...so I bought the Apple. Here it is next to my old faithful Fenix 3. I also ordered a bunch of 3rd party watch bands from Amazon to dress it for various occasions. So yeah, sorry to disappoint the majority that were voting for the Fenix 7x... maybe one-day when I find my competitive spirit again 😅

I remember when they were THE fitness watches, but I guess they've fallen behind over the years. Good to hear they're upping their game!

Yup, you're on the money there! Each year my wife asks me if I want a new Fenix for my birthday, and each year I say that I don't really need one and my old Fenix 3 is still ticking along. But when I saw the Ultra it caught my attention as it's vastly different from what I have. But I also thought that I might be missing a trick and as it's a costly purchase and I'm not 100% sold on the Apple aesthetics, it may be worth revisiting the Fenix or Epix, hence the poll. Any YouTube reviews just concludes with "it depends" and the reviewers use both watches. As I don't plan on buying both, I came here for some hardcore opinions, hub style! 😂

Heart says "buy expensive power tools", brain says "you'll only use them once a month, a watch will be used daily" 😅 As for ecosystem, is a mix based on work requirements. PC for BIM and engineering software. iPhone and iPad for LiDAR capability. I've only been on iPhone for about 2 years. Had just about every Galaxy S before that and only moved for the LiDAR (sadly no Android options there). Initially I struggled but used to it now. I guess the level of smart watch "connectivity" I'm after is pretty simplistic. Onboard Spotify and notifications for texts, calls, emails and calendar events. Being able to quickly reply to calls and texts with preset responses would be handy too. My Fenix 3 does most of that, apart from the Spotify and preset response thing (it also doesn't onboard HR), so I could just continue life as is and wear it to death, but after 8yrs, I feel like a change and could probably benefit from some smarter watch features... if I train myself to use them. At the end of the day, these are first world problems, but it's been good to hear the various thoughts on the matter 👍