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Pay no heed to critics

2021-05-14T14:15:00.001+12:00

No one errected a statue to one.

One of my favourite quotes.

Yet last night an old companion I thought to have evicted years ago payed a visit.

The self critic. This morning I gave this loathsome character some thought.

At some point accumulating grey hair and wrinkles. People started asking me for advice and I reminded myself of a good technique. If I presented my self to myself. I would probably say.

"Dan, you have just worked 3x months without a day off and have spent 2 weeks in solitary confinement. You should probably be kind to yourself.

The worst critic is the self.

ANYWAY. This very blog will change quite radically in the next few days. Please leave a comment at your own leisure when it hits you.

We have had a wee bit of a relative cold snap over night so this morning I have been rationalising my extensive wardrobe. One welcome possible change will be, being able to utilise this to its full capabilities. That said a good portion has been vacpacced for next summer. The benefits of doing such things as it reins in my al fresco tendancies that are potentiated by my son

I do have another FaaS crate in transit and will unbox this as some video content in the future. Do not know what FaaS is? Wait and see.

I did have a good idea for a tshirt slogan.

"Too young for Facebook. Too old for tiktok"

Merch idea for the xenials.

Testing Times

2021-05-11T13:23:00.003+12:00

So I had a good interview, I pressed flesh, asked intelligent questions and was offensively charming. The curveball was a test.

Let it be known. I HATE TESTS.

The test was written and practical. I don't know about you guys but my handwriting rapidly devolves into an unintelligible scrawl if I have to write more than my signature. Still, I took my time and was only really hampered by one element.

A simple solder job of an RCA connector and cable. Usually, I have my holster of small tools on me for work but I was left to use someone else's tools. My problems were not being able to get the collar of the connector over the cable. After cursing and muttering to myself at length. I did what all good ETOS do. I improvised, I desoldered and repurposed another more suitable connector and used that.

Technically this was cheating but it let me pass this question. The solution was actually to cut the collar short on the finest Chinese RCA connector.

It sounds like a lot of candidates say they can do everything. Sadly when presented with tasks the skills do not meet up with what is in a CV.

So I am grateful I have learned a little about a lot of things.

Fingers crossed I will be learning a lot more about a lot of things.

An Interview

2021-05-11T07:32:00.000+12:00

Wish me luck I'm suiting up.

More news after the break.

HVAC Less

2021-05-10T15:50:00.000+12:00

My ride out of MIQ was late. He does suffer from being terminally tardy so I was not crestfallen. It was an exercise in feeling awkward, standing outside the hotel I will never return to. I now have 3x hotels in New Zealand struck of my register of places to stay.

I am a product of the '70s and the north. It was quite common as a child to be left in the car whilst my parents were at social gatherings. When you have a small horizon you get to know it very well. The immediate becomes very intimate and comforting.

My hotel stays have become the same. Every little part of the hotel room is known well. Things noticed in a professional capacity and also on a cosmetic level.

Loitering uncomfortably outside I was struck by how quiet things are. That is not to say there was not an absence of sound. But there was an absence of vibration. The sound of HVAC. I first noticed this when I was waiting for my bus after landing in New Zealand but could not put my ears on it. I had had 3x months of HVAC and temperature-controlled rooms.

When this is removed, it's a little like having been to a concert and suffering from tinnitus. You know something is missing and wonder what it is. Having spent 30 minutes outside desperately trying to look like I was supposed to be there. I had my Eureka moment.

Thank you, Richard. If you had not been late I would not have realised this. I suffer from being perpetually early. How many revelations have I cut short?

Day 14

2021-05-10T08:51:00.000+12:00

I leave MIQ today. My imagination is in a celebratory mood. I have a good friend collecting me from the gates today. I woke up with this scene playing through my head. A soundtrack for release if ever there was one.

Day 10 insanity

2021-05-05T20:46:00.000+12:00

I have a confession. I did go a bit mad on day 10. I bought this for my impending Tesla.

If you plate it, it will come or something.

Day 10

2021-05-05T12:42:00.005+12:00

Having made a half-assed recovery from my suspicious illness. I remain in a self-ordained house arrest. I had 3 intranasal batterings before I was given a plastic freedom bracelet. The problem with the relative freedom is that it looks a little like this.

MIQ has gone through a lot of changes since I have been doing it. In my previous two sessions in New Zealand, we could leave our rooms whenever we wished. I do get the severity of the situation but walking around in circles is not appetizing. There are sometimes Army supervising. Not my cup of tea.

Feeling a bit like a white-collar criminal I spent yesterday day trading cryptocurrency. I made my usual daily wage before stopping. I do not have the patience to do this day in day out. Protip. It's gambling with a looser dress code.

I am very lucky I have windows I can open. This is a first. The nurses take my temperature in the doorway. I get good sunlight in the morning but I am really in a groundhog day loop of sorts. My day reads a little like this.

6:00 Wake up. Use coffee. Reply to messages received overnight.

6:30 Meditate.

7:00 Pre-workout.

7:30 Prison Workout

8:30 Breakfast.

9:00 Shower, what to wear etc.

10:00 Something from my to-do list.

12:30 Lunch.

13:00 Nap.

14:00 Spiralling vortex of Reddit, Youtube, Music, Parks and Recreation rewatch.

18:00 Dinner.

18:30 More of 14:00.

21:00 Sleep.

This regimen seems to be working OK. Day 10 has typically been a point of relative insanity and I feel perfectly abnormal. I have not resorted to gaming. I have managed to overhaul my CV into some semblance of respectability and have an interview for a conventional job next Tuesday.

There is a clamouring for purpose-built isolation facilities to be built. I am not sure what these will look like. I kind of envisage porta-cons in rows with small caged areas outside. The things we will do.

I do believe my lunch has arrived so I will leave you here. Thanks for reading an item from my to-do list.

One last thing. It turns out you can use Tequila to treat sore throats. It is an antibacterial and is delicious. The problem with it is that it may cause sore heads.

Rolling with It

2021-04-29T09:34:00.002+12:00

I have had a few thoughts percolating since last Wednesday when I had the spontaneous cessation of my work-related duties and contract unfold about 4 hours before I was due to disembark. Typically in times past, when something awkward has happened I have let the thoughts and feelings bubble away until I have the right words to explain. Certainly, it was unexpected, and the explanation given did not reconcile with actions or relationships.

Anyway, it was a fraught few hours as I packed up my things and said a couple of goodbyes to the few people that knew. Boats are the oddest of workplaces. They are a fully operational functionally dysfunctional family. A strange sense of relief enveloped me as I said goodbye to my cabin and office. I realised this shock was actually quite a blessing. My only regret per se is that I didn't get to say goodbye personally in a manner that respects my ex=colleagues.

This year has been a good one for me. I have been able to rededicate myself to a few practices that I lost in the mire of child-rearing and related confusions. Challenges and unexpected change are really just opportunities disguised.

COVID has changed yachting, I could count on one hand the times I have been on land in the last 3 months. Vaccines may change this but for the foreseeable, I will still be spending months of my year isolating which is where I am now.

My ever-evolving strategy for isolation suffered a bit of a setback this week when I became ill enough to complain to everyone I communicated with.

Man flu.

I do not think I have corona the symptoms are not consistent, but I have been dealt a bit of an odd hand.

I arrived at my hotel on Monday and was tested in the evening. I did not receive the results for this test before I fell ill. Was tested again yesterday, and will be tested again today. But until I get an all-clear I am hotel room bound.

This in itself is not an issue, I have a lot of important things I need to accomplish including the trivial factor of deciding what I want to do for a job.

If I have learned anything in my time in this form I can have most things if I set my mind to it. But what do I want? that is the question. I have had some cursory glances at more traditional land-based jobs but given my unique talents and lack of formal qualifications, I would really have to approach a company and tell them to make a job for me. Is that arrogant? Probably, but it's also honest.

I shall spend the next 10 days thinking about this and other matters. You as always will be the first to know.

A Special Message to my Email Subscribers

2021-04-27T14:56:00.001+12:00

Hello dear readers.

It is terribly nice how you have continued to get Dan Email Digests after all of these years. I picture you sitting down each morning in slippers, grasping a warm cup of something and wondering how after clicking the spam button over ten years ago these still arrive.

This blog is having a refit at the moment and it has somehow coincided with the Feedburner service having a google funeral in July. But do not worry. The ever enterprising Web Propellor head in charge of the refit has a plan that involves a Mailchimp.

I am not sure how this migration will unfold but if you receive an email from a primate do not be alarmed. It is me.

One Slick Pic

2021-04-17T13:07:00.000+12:00

Packing Heavy

2021-04-15T13:40:00.000+12:00

At some juncture in my evolution, I became a heavy packer. I accumulate stuff without much effort. A perpetual snowball adding more layers as I march along this thing called life. Version 44 of the Daniel McConnell experiment should know better, but here I am 10 days before I leave Mexico beginning a pre-pack.

A pre-pack is packing away everything I will not need in the next while. For reasons that escape me, I brought A LOT of clothes with me. Actually, I know why I brought a lot of clothes with me. Dressing differently each day in Quarantine helps to alleviate the feeling of entrapment. But my work life is largely uniform and some exercise gear. Quite why I brought 4 pairs of shoes is another question. I have been on land fleetingly and I did not feel wrongly hooved.

When one becomes ridiculously wealthy one has people to pack and unpack luggage. Each clothing item is steam ironed and hung. Accessories all find places and toiletries are organised. It's quite a process and as alluring as this sounds, I would find it very odd. I like most, find it strange to have someone take my suitcases at a hotel. Having someone pack and unpack for me would be embarrassing.

My packing manifest reads a little like this.

Laptop bag. Laptop. Travel adapters. Mouse. Passport and documents

Carry on suitcase. DJ Mixers. Keyboard. Sampler. Headphones. Small Laser. Microphone. Webcam. Cables galore.

Large Suitcase. Clothes. Tools. Hats. Books. Torch. Sunglasses

Duffel bag. Large laser. Swiss ball. Yoga matt. Toiletries. Defuser. Essential Oils. Speaker. 4x Pairs of Shoes. Soft Toy Dog (spot).

To the untrained eye, this all appears absurd.

Clearly, I am ready for the unknown and it is a heavy business.

A cave scribbling

2021-04-14T14:06:00.000+12:00

I had the pleasure of listening to Ricky Gervais describe Twitter as the internets toilet wall. It certainly looks like one every time I delve into it. What is even stranger is the Media uses tweets to create articles for people to read. Can you imagine 20 years ago a reporter writing an article on some malformed graffiti?

These are the days of our lives.

Anyway, here I sit chiselling away on my cave wall. There is a correlation between when I harangue people to read these musings and subsequent page impressions. There was also a lot more people visiting when I was prostituting myself on Facebook.

But those days are gone. I am excited about the relaunch of my little trove. It will be better optimised. Much like version 44 of me. I am somewhat lighter, wiser and more alluring. Largely this experiment was to create enough material for a book or to ensnare a benefactor.

Certainly the last three years I have gravitated in some interesting circles. Impressions have been made.

If you write it. They will come.

Bubbles and Twists

2021-04-14T07:45:00.001+12:00

In an undesirable plot twist my connecting flight from Australia to NZ has been cancelled with just over a week before I fly. There is just not a need for these anymore with the bubble between New Zealand and Australia on the way. This is sub optimal.

Luckily, the impending bubble has freed up a lot of quarantine capacity. So I will make alternate arrangements. I think I should be able to experience a wee bit of Mexico responsibly before I fly home. This will make my MIQ a little more tolerable and should garner a story or two.

Homeward boundish

2021-04-13T11:24:00.003+12:00

I start my journey back to New Zealand in nine days.

The global pandemic which ebbs and flows has altered my natural work rhythm. Given we isolate when returning to work and some of us isolate when we return home. 8-week swings have become 12 weeks. An ex-colleague and old friend Sam labelled an Engineers capacity to solve problems as a f**k tank. Over 8 weeks the f**k tank gradually empties. To fill a f**k tank an Engineer must have time off or go home.

My current work has been almost unreasonably busy. I have noticed a lot of my colleagues have had injuries, made uncharacteristic mistakes, been sick or emotional. A thick topical malaise permeates communal areas. I have counteracted this by keeping odder hours and minding my own business. Luckily I shall be able to retreat to New Zealand shortly.

I do have a slight bother. The very same pandemic has caused my living arrangements to be changing in the near future. I really have not given this much thought at all. I know I will have two weeks to come up with a plan of sorts.

My eccentric retirement plan was to erect a tower to live in. A Wizards tower. With the automation of lighthouses and a dearth of modern siege warfare, the uncommon tower has become as scarce as the wearing of capes. Something I would like to rectify.

I am not sure I am quite ready to live in a tower just yet but l have written it down. We will see.

A Sweet Spot

2021-04-13T10:38:00.001+12:00

I quite enjoyed looking at this palatial enclave.

$hoge

2021-04-12T14:16:00.005+12:00

About three weeks ago I made an investment in a dog with sunglasses.

Hoge is a cryptocurrency. It is a community-driven deflationary meme token. What makes it interesting, is that each time a transaction is made a percentage of the total is destroyed and redistributed to the people holding Hoge. This is me doing my bit :-)

I have been impressed with the progress and roadmap for what appears on the surface something quite comical.

Do your own research.

https://hoge.finance/

I am not a financial advisor but I am a Hoge Millionaire.

A Fresh Coat of Paint

2021-04-12T13:50:00.003+12:00

I have enlisted the services of a very talented Webspinner to zhuzh things up around here.

Initially, I was going to use something like fiver and find some random person who could make some improvements but it turns out I had someone far more capable only a single degree of separation away.

I will introduce you to said person after we launch.

Yesterday marked exactly 12 years of being away at sea for me. I went to sea to accumulate stories and accumulate them I have.

I look forward to sharing some more on a new platform.

An Elegant Solution

2021-03-06T12:55:00.000+13:00

After a wee bit of noodling and geeky things, I have managed to acquire a voucher for Managed Isolation.

I have never indulged in ticket scalping or the like but I guess this is the same sort of elation.

I can't help thinking that the system is flawed but with such flaws, people will exploit them.

Turns out a Wizard will arrive home on the 24th of April.

A wee problem

2021-03-04T12:04:00.002+13:00

Currently en route to Mexico, I felt it would be wise to investigate returning home. Working on board a boat is a terribly fluid experience so return dates often change. I felt with an itinerary of sorts formed it would make things easy.

Turns out it isn't.

Removing oneself from Social Media and abandoning most news sources had rendered me blissfully unaware of the Managed Isolation system changes and the almighty voucher. My first couple of times in MIQ were quite easy logistically. My boat booked me a flight. I arrived in New Zealand. I was bused to a hotel for a two week confinement period where I gradually went crazy and then was set free into the wild, COVID free.

The voucher system that was brought in to control a Christmas egress of United Kingdom expats has remained and COVID back home has exacerbated things. Compounding this problem are people.

Any IT system is ruined by people.

We currently have people using isolation in NZ as a backdoor to Australia. If they left New Zealand before August 2020 they do not have to pay for isolation in NZ. Everybody has to pay when they isolate in Australia.

We also have business people who are booking return multiple vouchers.

We also can't trust people to isolate by themselves. Something that would be quite easy for me in my new abode.

Which leaves people like me in a bit of a pickle.

I still have faith however and am reminded of one of my favorite LOTR quotes.

"A Wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."

A Funny thing happened at Aviation Security today

2021-01-21T18:58:00.000+13:00

With very few air travellers the good Security staff at Auckland International were a bit more chatty than usual.

I was asked where I was going.

"The USA."

Business or Pleasure?

At this point, I smirked 😏.

What kind of an S&M reprobate do you take me for?

That's quite a kink.

"Yeah I've got this fetish for wearing masks and leaving a relatively safe country and entering one with a raging pandemic and a very unstable political system so I can sit relatively safely in a hotel room gorging myself on overly processed food and subsequently annoying all of my internet friends for 2 weeks"

Oh and I have my Birthday on Monday.

I should have just said I was going to a birthday party. Fewer words but less of a tale.

Location Location Location

2021-01-16T18:29:00.001+13:00

I have been doing my yearly scrying and surprise it is a lucky year for Dragons although we must stay away from Angry dogs and mind our health.

Despite last year I still managed to travel a fair wad.

I don't see a quick exit from the new normal but I will make the most of it. Dog or no Dog.

Flying the Roost

2021-01-14T10:54:00.002+13:00

In one week I will fly to the USA and a two-week Isolation and work. It feels a little like when I left during the first outbreak with the gears changed.

I am also going to be flying into what appears to be an increasingly unstable USA.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at home. The longest stint since 2008. It has been a very special half summer to remember.

But I must do my job whilst I can and enjoy each day as it comes.

It's not a popularity contest

2021-01-02T15:44:00.005+13:00

A happy new year and stuff.

I had a very interesting and insightful one.

With less than 20 days to depart, I have a lot of invitations on my plate but I am being careful to manage my time and energy.

I have been able to invest a lot of time in my friends and family this time at home. It turns out I am mildly addictive.

No sooner have I departed then another invitation arrives or I get asked back.

I visited some friends on the 30th and I commented as much. K said it must be difficult being so popular.

It is my pleasure.

Flight mode

2020-11-22T14:03:00.002+13:00

I am a big fan of enabling flight mode when I am asleep. My meditation teacher turns his entire wifi off when we do a check-in. There is research to suggest WIFI has an effect on the way your brain operates. This weekend past I did something truly radical.

I used flight mode for a whole day.

My rationale was this. It was large friends and family bbq. Everyone that was important to me was right in front of my face. Cataloguing the gathering would only serve me to take me away from it. The only problem I struck was only taking one phone but I did crowd source some from some of the attendees.

Like their cancer-producing cousins' Cigarettes, I would hope cell phone use becomes like going outside for a cigarette. Germany has some interesting labour laws which make it impossible to receive work-related emails outside of work hours. Being instantly accessible does alter your immediate cognizance.

If you are worried about missing an important call you could get the same result by disabling mobile data and wifi. You will still get phone calls.

I have a wedding to attend this Friday and I shall be doing the same.

Boiling Frogs and other Nonsense

2020-11-09T12:19:00.006+13:00

Early into 2019 I really felt like I had clocked life. Then like all good movies something went wrong.

In the process of things going wrong, I learned a lot about life and myself in general.

I had my DNA sequenced. Sadly there were no strands of Alien DNA but I can categorically say I am 51% Western European this explains my affinity with parts of Europe I thought I had no connection with but could feel something. I am also 49% UK, Irish/Scottish/Welsh. No English, this explains why I find it *interesting* serving underneath them.

Anyway, during my spectacular birthday month, I was given some nail polish.

I used to wear nail polish about 20 years ago.

I got thinking could I get away with it at work if it matched the uniform.

Then I remembered if you want to boil frogs you do it slowly they dont even notice they are boiling alive.

On a Monday I painted my thumbs.

The next Wednesday I painted my little fingers.

And on the Friday I painted all my fingers.

Nobody said a word.

There is nothing wrong about feeling different. How you express this is up to you. I have some good stories.

I have new living arrangements. I believe I have told all people close to me what has happened. If you have to know more you can email me.

I am certainly enjoying having my own space. I guess I felt like a visitor at my old place.

Also, it is a sad fact that not many scientific discoveries have been found in a marriage.

2020 has made me very aware of time and how I best use it.

Stay subscribed.

I am my Magnum Opus.