What challenge for 2015?

Well, I cannot believe that it has been two years since I restarted this blog.  I know I was a little slack in updating it last year, but that is one of the things that I plan to fix this year.  Publish more!

So rather than do the usual 'resolutions' for the new year, I am going to set myself some challenges, and make them public so that there is some accountability out there.  Here goes:

Challenge 1: Read more books - real paper books.  Dig into some classic literature, as well as revisit some of my old fantasy genre collections and enjoy holding real paper in my hands and visiting other worlds in my head.

Challenge 2: Set up multiple passive income streams via the various app stores.  Get enough apps out there and selling at a steady rate so that I can have an income stream to meet the basic bills.

Challenge 3: As part of (2) above, I am going to try and write and release at least one app per month in 2015.  My objective is to release several into the wild and see if any take off.

Challenge 4: Write an eBook.  About my experience as a 'lone wolf' programmer.  I have been through the ups and downs for three decades now, so hopefully my experiences will be of use as a learning tool for another up and coming 'lone wolf'.  This is also a part of (2) above.

Challenge 5: Reconnect with friends again.  In the past couple of years, I feel like I have drifted apart from many close friends.  I need to step up and take an active role in re-engaging with old friends and enjoying their friendships again.

Game on.

Cyclone Tracy - 40 years on

I have been thoroughly enjoying reading the stories on Facebook from my friends who lived through the destructive forces of Cyclone Tracy, 40 years ago.  My contribution isn't as poignant or direct as some of theirs, but it has a (kind of) twist ending.

During that time, I was about 8 years old, and we lived in a small town called Taiping, in my birth country of Malaysia.  At that stage as a kid, I had never travelled outside of the country.

The day after Christmas in 1974, my family was over at a neighbours house having drinks to celebrate the festivities.  The grown ups however, were distracted and talking about this devastating storm called a 'cyclone' that had destroyed an entire town called Darwin in Northern Australia.  As an impressionable kid, I was quite shaken by the serious, grave tones of the adults, and I left the party early to run back home to our own house.

We had a huge map of the world taped to the wall outside the bedroom my sisters and I shared, and I went and found a map pin and scoured the whole map for this place called "Darwin".  When I found it, I stuck the pin into the map over it, and vowed that I would NEVER, EVER go to that place in the world as long as I lived.

Well, just 4 years later, we were packing all our worldly belongings (and getting rid of most of it) to emigrate to Australia...to... a place called Darwin.  A place which I have happily called my home for three quarters of my life.

The Old Airport

For years in my town, it was fashionable to hate the 'old airport'.  You know, that sweltering tin shed left over from World War II.  Apparently there were still bullet holes in the steel girders from the Japanese Zero's that strafed it.  The building served as our domestic and international terminal in our little outback town for many decades.

I remember back before they built the new 'modern' airport, you would *always* hear people moan and complain about the old one.  "Why don't they upgrade it?" they would ask.  "It's a travesty, and embarrassment to us, an eyesore".

So in the 90's, they did build a new terminal.  A big concrete soulless, unaesthetic monstrosity that looks as plain and ugly as most other airports in the world.

You see, I hate the *new* airport.  But I never really hated the old one.  Here is why.

Because on that one day in December 1978, when we migrated to Australia, I remember stepping out of that QANTAS 747 on top of the mobile staircase (no aerobridges on the old terminal), and feeling the humid heat wrap around me, I blinked and took a mental picture of this place.  The picture I took in my mind is actually quite similar to the photo above.  We must have parked in about the same spot.

I was only about 12 years old, but I remember walking across the shimmering heat haze of the tarmac, through a glass door to the immigration area.

There, we lined up behind one of the customs desk, and waited patiently while a *huge* man in a tight fitting blue uniform scanned our passports and paperwork and stamped them.  He was actually the first Australian person I had seen here since we arrived from Malaysia, and I was impressed and intimidated by his sheer size.

I remember his intent look as he processed our paperwork, and sweat rolling down his face as the overhead fans did little to alleviate the heat in that hot section of the tin shed.

Far from being scary, he actually turned out to be really kind as he looked at us, smiled and welcomed us to our new home.

After we passed through the immigration, my two sisters, my mother and I went to the public waiting area.  My dad had already arrived in Australia before us to set things up, and was going to pick us up soon.

My older sister and I were feeling rather parched in this heat, so we decided to buy a cold drink.  We carefully counted out the small amount of Australian money we had, and checked the price list above the only refreshment stall in the centre of the airport, and decided that we had enough money for two cups of orange juice.

As we approached the cheery young girl behind the counter, she smiled at us and said "Just a minute, I have to refill the OJ machine".  I watched her as she pulled the spouts out on several tetra pack juice cartons to fill the machine.

I was filled with wonder - I had NEVER before seen juice packs with the spouts that you could split and pull with one hand.  All the ones we had in our 'old' country had to be cut with scissors.  I thought this was the precursor to MANY wonders that we would get to see in this new land.

Then, my mother reminded us that we needed to get our luggage.  I looked around for the carousel, but could only see signs pointing to a fenced off area next to the car park.  We went there but it was empty.

Then I noticed that there was a tractor with several baggage trailers still near our plane, which was busy disgorging the contents of its hold onto the trailers.

Shortly after that, the tractor just drove into the fenced baggage area and the tractor driver parked and opened the fence gate so that we could all approach the trailers and pick our luggage off them.

Yes it was rustic, but it was also magical and quaint at the same time.  I had this combined feeling of dread and excitement at our new lives that were about to be rebooted here.

The old airport now stands silent, empty and abandoned, but it will always be a major milestone in my life, and for that reason, I could never bring myself to hate it.

Ten Months With No Hot Water

Ye Olde Heater...

Sometime in June 2013, I was working in my office when I noticed a puddle of water seeping in the doorway and running towards my amp and guitar collection.  After moving the valuable equipment out of the way, I went outside and noticed that our hot water heater, which was in an enclosure outside my office, had sprung a leak.

After shutting off the water and mopping up the mess, we called in two plumbers to assess the damage.  They both said that the heater, which was about 20+ years old, had split and needed complete replacement.  One quoted us $2200 for the replacement, and the other quoted $2500.  We also got a quote to change over to solar hot water, but that was around $7000.

Now, we had about $5000 saved away in a family savings account, but we had already decided that 2013 would be a year of seriously pursuing our artistic goals.  We had already earmarked  that money (1) for a portraiture course in August in Adelaide that my wife wanted to do, and (2) for a guitar building course in Melbourne in September that I was keen on.

We thought long and hard about this, then decided that we would defer replacing the hot water heater until the next dry season, about a year away.

This was despite the fact it was one of the coolest dry seasons we have had, and hot water was pretty much the only thing that could warm us up in the mornings and evenings.

But we gritted our teeth and persevered.  For arts sake.

Here is what we found.

SHOWERS

Time wasted in the shower was reduced markedly.  From an average of 10 to 12 minutes each standing under a warm cascade of water daydreaming, the family reverted to short, quick shower in the bracing cold water.  Shower times were down to less than 5 minutes as we got in, soaped and rinsed and got the heck out.

Our sons went from sometimes having 3 showers a day, to only having one a day.

This also resulted in the pleasant after effect that the shower and bathroom needed less cleaning due to less usage.  Towels and bath mats were also less in need of regular washes.

DISH WASHING

Now here is a funny thing.  I didn't actually realise that dishwashers have a built in water heater  (After all, we never had a dishwasher up until we moved into this house, which had one preinstalled).  For the first few months, we were hand washing everything, but only once or twice a day.

My wife would boil up a large pan of water on the gas hob and use that for the dishes.  Even after we realised we could still use the dishwasher for hot washes, she persevered with the pan heated water, and the dishwasher was reserved for weekend use.

This was probably my least favourite aspect of this experiment.  I HATE having the sink filling up with dirty dishes for a whole day.

The boys did learn to only use one cup/plates etc. during the day though, and wash them up, because they could not keep raiding the dishwasher for clean ones 10 times a day.

SHAVING

This was a challenge for me, because I like my hot shaves, so I used to co-ordinate my morning shaves with those mornings where my wife was heating up a pan for the washing up.  I used to grab a couple of cups of hot water to shave with.

This meant that we had to really time our activities so that we minimised the number of pans of hot water we needed to make.

After a few months of this, I just reverted to cold shaving, which wasn't the most pleasant of experiences, but I managed to do it.

CLOTHES WASHING

This was a simple remedy.  Our washing machine had a 'cold wash' setting, so we simply bought cold wash soap powder and ran with that.

It seemed to work better.  Things like the elastic on underwear etc. didn't seem to break down as fast as they did with hot washes.

ELECTRICITY

I monitored our electricity usage during this time, and noted and power usage dropped by around 40% during this time, which translated to around $400 on our quarterly electricity bills.

I put this down also to less electricity being used by not using the dishwasher as often, or not needing lights in the bathroom for as long etc.

Water usage was also down by about 30% over normal.

OVERALL ANALYSIS

It was an interesting family social experiment, and one that we all participated in with a little bit of reservation.  I am proud of our two boys for running with it and not complaining too much.  At best, they will realise that hot water on tap is a privilege not to be taken for granted.

As the weather cooled down this May 2014, we decided to bite the bullet and replace the hot water system.  We now have wonderful hot water available on demand again, and I won't kid you - it is very welcome.

But I won't forget our little lesson learned, and we still try and prioritise our time in the bathroom and be as efficient as we possibly can.  Hopefully we can keep in mind that this is a luxury that not everyone in the world can experience, and we will savour it a lot more.

FOOTNOTE: The old hot water heater is currently being converted into a 'nuclear tower' in the garden to be used for an upcoming Nerf battle.