#breadposting: the story so far

A loaf of delicious golden milk bread, with a freshly made ham cheese and tomato sandwich in the foreground. It looks succulent.

Lately I’ve been making bread.

I know people have been on this bandwagon since the start of the panini, but by bread making adventures are more out of necessity.

I like bread. But I’m not a big sourdough man. I want something light and fluffy to put cheese and cold cuts and salad on. Maybe a little peanut butter. But living in a gentrified neighbourhood, the options are stark.

The Aldi down the road is abominable. Bread from Aldi is made off-site before being shipped in, and in my experience it’s stale before it’s even put on the shelves.

The cheap Woolies bread is decent, but the store has staffing issues. Recently the sole baker went on leave. I don’t begrudge them that, but it meant there was no fresh bread on the shelves, and it had a flow-on effect to other supermarkets nearby. Fresh bread became impossible to get!

Empty shelves at Woolies: Our only baker will be absent until the 23rd of October. There will be limited range. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Another store: Dear customer, due to unforeseen circumstances the bakehouse will not have a full range of bakery items available. We apologies for any inconvenience. Thank you for understanding. Woolworths West Village Bakery Team.

Then there’s the French patisserie around the corner. I’ve tried their baguette a few times and it’s alright, but it’s crusty enough to cut your teeth on. I don’t like bread that leaves sore bits in your mouth for the rest of the day so it’s really only an occasional thing.

So at my wit’s end I’m making fresh bread.

Japanese Milk Bread

It started with a message from Ben (as it often does):

Milk bread is not the easiest bread, especially to start with, so I’m told. But I was sitting around at my parents’ place with an idle Thermomix and little else to do so I figured I’d give it a shot.

The tricky part of milk bread is the tangzhong, which is a paste of cooked flour and milk. Wikipedia says it improves the texture of the bread, and also “stabilizes the wheat starches in the bread, to prevent recrystallization” which stops it going stale.

The recipe had Thermomix instructions for the first steps. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the Thermie because the recipe paywall stuff is a nuisance when trying to find a recipe, and it’s kinda hard to deviate from a set plan. But this one was a custom, non-wizard affair so it was fairly easy to follow. The trickiest part was finding the “dough” setting — apparently it just spins the blades backwards rather than having a specialised dough hook.

As it was my first time making bread, and it seemed to take forever, because I was hanging on every step of the recipe. Peering at the Thermie waiting for the temperature to get just so. Waiting around for the bread to prove. I didn’t want to leave it, in case it grew legs and ran off.

But the results were great. The bread was true to its tangzhong: soft and fluffy and kind of set my bar high for the rest of my bread making career.

A loaf of perfect bread. It's got three domes, and is perfectly golden brown.

Making bread with a Ninja

At home I don’t have a Thermomix, but I do have a Ninja Foodi Power Blender and Processor System which comes with a dough hook. So I got myself a loaf tin, and tried to recreate the magic.

The Ninja was a bit fiddly on the dough setting. The program runs for exactly one minute and it rattled all over the bench so I needed to hold it down. It seemed super quick for a bread loaf so I ran it again and it went into some kind of shutdown protection mode, presumably because the motor was working too hard.

I later found out you’re supposed to manually break the dough up before running it again, which helps the food processor process it. But even with one and a half runs, the bread came out super impressive for a second attempt.

A very thick cut sandwich, with chicken, tomato, cheese and greens. — I don’t know about you, but a thick-cut milk bread grilled chicken burger is exactly the thing I want.

Soft white bread is too hard

Having mastered the milk bread, and truth be told gotten a little sick of it, I turned my attention toward white bread.

And so I set out confidently on my next bake. Little did I know it would be my undoing.

I don’t know exactly what went wrong, but it was probably a combo of:

I got scared of the Ninja dough setting burning the motor out, so I only did one run of the kneading. That’s 60 seconds, which is probably much too short.
It’s summer, and we’ve been in a heatwave so the temperature has been pretty high and they may have proved too fast.
I think I probably let them prove too long, because:

They immediately deflated in the oven. The first attempt came out like a long flat bread brick. It was edible, but highly questionable.

The bread is maybe 5cm high, if that. It looks dense, and unappealing. Looks a bit like it could knock you out.

The second time I tried to prove in the fridge to try to account for the heat variable. It didn’t seem to do much.

It didn’t really rise much in the fridge overnight, I thought it was supposed to? But it’s currently warming up again on the bench. I’m determined to make this work.

And to make matters worse, I took it out of the oven too soon so it was still raw in some parts. I’m not even going to show that one because it was a disaster.

Thankfully Shawn was here to help eat the edible bits. And it was tasty! But a fair bit of it went in the bin.

So even though that was only yesterday I thought I’d give it one more try. This time I:

Ran the dough through the food processor several times. It came out a much better, springy consistency.
Didn’t fuck around while proofing. I let it go for 30 minutes the first time, and another 40 minutes the second time.
Gave it a bit of a bash to make sure it wasn’t going to collapse before putting it in the oven. It stayed solid.
Got overly excited and underbaked the damn thing again lol.

Peering into the oven, we can see the bread rising and forming a crust. — When the bread *didn’t* sink, and started to crust up on top I was ecstatic.

It's a very light loaf, but it's a loaf! — When the bread *didn’t* sink, and started to crust up on top I was ecstatic.

So I sit here staring at my still slightly-flat loaf cooling on the rack. Apparently allowing the bread to come to room temperature rather than tucking right in “optimizes texture and flavour, and there are several theories as to why“. So I’m gonna leave it go.

Several hours later

I cut the bread and to my surprise it actually looks like bread.

It’s still a touch heavy, but the texture is about right. One jam and peanut butter sandwich later I’m content.

Two slices of bread are cut off. It's a fairly good crumb, with an even texture. It's about 70 cm high, and there's peanut butter and jam in the background.

I still don’t entirely know what went wrong with the others, but the extra kneading and possibly the quicker proving time made a difference. Next time I’ll just have to keep it in long enough for a bit more colour. And I think if I want it to be any taller I might need to multiply the recipe.

I’m not sure how to get it fluffier but apparently there are various types of tangzhong that can help get more moisture in, so I might try that next.

Anyway if you have any ideas, hit me up. I’m keen to hear your tips and tricks. You can reply to this thread on Mastodon or just shoot me an email.

24 November 2023

Gonna try Vodafone this year & I got a ticket

I now have the trifecta of wifi at home, work, and my parents place. So I just ordered the cheapest $100/year Kogan/Vodafone SIM and I’ll activate it when my Telstra prepaid runs out next month. You can’t beat those kinds of dollars.

I’ve been at my parents all week for assorted reasons. Just finished the drive home.

I got pulled over by a police man on a motorcycle on the way back and given a fine because my bike was obscuring the number plate. He didn’t want me to fix it or anything, just a fine. So that’s cool. That’s $125 bucks going towards… I don’t know, what does that even contribute to?

I’m exhausted. It feels like perpetual Sundays afternoon.

Some of my plants are dead, some of them are double the size.

I’ve collapsed on the couch, I fear I may never get up again.

Things are alright.

4 September 2023

First weekend of spring

On Saturday I woke up with a vague sense of unease and decided to fix it by cleaning the house. Kitchen, laundry, bedroom, floors. I didn’t have anywhere to be so as I noticed tasks I did them, and it left my place feeling like a great space to be.

It’s been feeling like spring for most of winter, it’s been a very mild one. But nevertheless the sun has swung around and I’m getting more light in my place now. I can leave my doors open (screens closed) to let air circulate, and the plants are having a great time.

It is a time of optimism and, well, occasionally having to put that climate anxiety back on the shelf. But largely optimism.

Riverfire 2023

I didn’t get up to much during the day but in the evening I decided to head out to watch the Riverfire fireworks.

It’s usually packed in South Bank and everywhere really, so I though I’d roll around on my bike and find a spot. Turns out the Kurilpa Bridge was open and you could just hang out and watch from there. I didn’t have an amazing view, but it was a nice $0 activity that took almost no effort on my part.

The crows on the Kurilpa Bridge. Someone brought a picnic mat, but quickly abandoned it to stand by the railing.

There was a small contingent of folks on the balcony at GOMA.

On the way home I stopped at the William Jolly Bridge because there’s a light installation underneath now. That night it was lit in rainbow colours and looked fetching in the eerie firework smoke.

Sunday funday with these idiots

Ben came over and we went to Banette, the little French bakery.

They revamped their menu and they’re providing table service now so it’s a proper place to dine out. I was really happy to see their sad and crusty Croque Monsieur from the hot box is now freshly made, along with a number of other breakfasty options.

So we had brunch for lunch. It was pretty great. I don’t imagine I’ll get this too often, but it was a decadent but not too heavy option and the greenery really rounded it out. I’m very pleased.

Mrs Crunchy with a fried egg and salad on a plate

After that we went on a nursery crawl and looked at all the plants.

I’m trying to be a bit frugal since I changed jobs and accidentally went 6 weeks between proper pay cheques, so I only picked up a couple of little friends and a colourful pot because I need to re-pot one of my plants.

But Mappins also has fish and they were very cute and I really wanted to take one home with me. That might be a separate project needing a bit more research, but I reckon it could be a good hobby.

A brightly coloured pot with a couple of grean leafies inside.

27 May 202328 May 2023

We spent the long weekend in Coffs Harbour

Shawn stayed at my place the night before, so we could wake up and leave first thing. The sun came up as we drove across the border to NSW, spreading sunbeams across the farmland and leaving misty gulleys where the light didn’t reach. The mountains were beautiful, but truth be told there wasn’t much to see from the highway.

We arrived in Coffs at about 9AM and made a beeline to what turned out to be the greasiest, fingerprint-covered Maccas I’ve ever been in. We got McMuffins and headed down the road to the closest beach we could find.

Overcast with patches of blue sky over Park Beach. Muttonbird Island in the distance.

I didn’t bring swimwear or a towel because the forecast was for overcast and rain all weekend. To be fair, there was a little bit of cloud when we arrived, but it cleared out soon enough to reveal blue skies and a high UV index that continued for the entire trip.

After McMuffins, sunscreen, going back to the car to fetch hats, and sitting on the beach watching the crabs for 53 minutes (according to my Google location history), we set off on a walk.

Coffs surprised me with the amount of walkways and free things to do. I’d only ever passed it from the train. It looked like a nice beach and a handful of banana plantations and that’s it. But the coastline is full of parkland and beaches, and all linked together with a nice wide path that extended further than we were willing to walk.

A concrete and steel bridge spans a tea stained creek, the beach in the distance. — This is the rail bridge where you see the coast for the first time, on the Brisbane to Sydney train. It’s ugly but I like it a lot.

We managed a couple of kilometres to the marina, and poked around the artificial breakwater before reaching Muttonbird Island

The island is attached to the mainland by the marina these days, but is still an important nesting ground for the little birds to dig holes in the ground and raise their chicks. There’s a designated walkway from one end of the island to the other, and signs warning you not to stray, lest you step on a sleepy bird. Or break an ankle.

Panoramic view from Muttonbird Island, over the harbour and mountains beyond

We didn’t see any birds, I think we were a bit late in the season. But I appreciated the cliffs, and sat mesmerised by the overwhelming power of the ocean smashing against the rocks. And there was a pretty cool ocean bird hovering in the air for most of the time we were climbing the island again to get back to dry land. (Black wingtips, not sure what it was.)

Our inappropriate choice of clothes made for an uncomfortable walk, so we started back to the car to check into the hotel. But we stopped at the surf lifesaving club for lunch first. I had a parmi and Shawn had a chowder.

I saw they had Schweppes behind the bar so I asked if they had Pepsi Max, and the man said no, but the other girl said she prefers Pepsi Max, and the man asked if there’s a difference and we both said YES! and he said maybe they should switch from Coke No Sugar.

This conversation continued every time I went to the bar, and also when he came around at closing time (2:30) to pack up the tables. We had a rapport.

Check-in was easy enough. The place was 90s vintage, but pretty clean and had an amazing view of the ocean, islands, heritage lighthouse etc. The lighthouse came to be my main wayfinding point throughout the trip.

The window between the bedroom and the toilet was an unusual choice, but we devised a roster system to prevent surprises.

That afternoon we sat on the balcony and ate far too much, watching the myriad of bird life screech and warble and do its thing. There were two tourist planes as best I could tell; one dropping off paragliders, and the other one just hanging around in the sky soaking up the sights.

The view from the hotel balcony, there are some other holiday units, but we're up high and can see the ocean over the top of them. There are two islands jutting out of the water.

The main gotcha was the lack of wi-fi. Despite the blinking modem on the counter, the lady at the front counter said it stopped working and they removed it from the listing. And lo, turns out I’d booked a place without internet.

That night we tethered to my one bar of Telstra and watched Miriam Margolyes reluctantly trudge around Australia and be grumpy in standard definition.

We decided we didn’t need to spend a whole bunch of money on holiday, so we stocked up on supplies and made sausage & egg muffins again for brekky.

We took them to Moonee Beach and grabbed hot chocolates from the cute coffee shack by the beach called I Bean There, and sat watching the surfers, dogs, and hilariously the kids trying to ride their bikes through the sandy creek.

I spilled chocolate all down my nice white shirt, but it mostly came out with wet wipes.

A disposable coffee cup printed with "Bean There" and a love heart. A pink marshmallow on top, and the beach in the distance.

Derpy man with derpy expression with brown drops all down his white tee.

After brekky we drove up to Korora Lookout. It’s a public access lookout with indigenous significance. There’s a little pedestal to read aloud the story of the area, and a cunty next door neighbour who’s planted bamboo along the edge of their property to stop people enjoying the view.

This was where I saw my first leech: a little inchworm-looking thing attached to the sole of my shoe. I knocked it off, and we both hiked our socks.

We walked to the second lookout, with a purpose built suspension deck that some dude thought would be funny to make swing while we were all standing on it. The views were amazing and I tried (but failed) to spot the train line into town.

A viewing suspension viewing platform juts out over the raingforest, with views of the town and the ocean beyond.

We stayed for a moment before setting off on a bushwalk into what I refer to as leech gully (side note, that’s what Indooroopilly means. It’s a corruption of the Yuggera language.)

We started trekking down the hill in a nice moist rainforest setting. We were planning to take the trail a couple of kilometres out, but as we descended and the path got thicker with foliage. The sunlight disappeared. Fern fronds brushed past our legs.

That’s when we saw them.

Mother and two kids making their way out of the forest, looking stricken.

“Turn back!” she said, with fear in her voice.

“The leeches have leeches!”

One of the kids had blood streaming down his leg.

We tried to make it to the next clearing, but I freaked out. Shawn wanted to go ahead, but I couldn’t enjoy a hike when there’s blood sucking parasites waiting to hitch a ride.

We turned back and took the shorter, better maintained path in a little loop back to the lookout.

From there we drove to Sawtell, stopping at a roadside stall to buy bananas, and enjoyed ate them at the lookout.

A friendly family of magpies came to us to beg for food so I threw them bits of banana peel and they seemed to enjoy it. The seagulls that showed up shortly after didn’t care for it at all and were FURIOUS we didn’t have chips.

There was a little path down to the beaches, but we only went about halfway and sat at a cute bench, watching the ocean and avoiding the walk back up the hill to the car.

A man sits by himself at a bench overlooking the ocean, on the side of a steep hill, with a paved path trailing into the distance.

The next day was a public holiday in Queensland, and I was scheduled to leave on the train to Sydney.

Shawn made up the last of our muffins while I showered and went to the jetty for coffee and a bit of sunlight. There were plenty of cute dogs and little regional planes to spot. But eventually it was time to head to the station.

An english muffin with sausage, egg, and greens.

The Coffs Harbour harbour. Is this what it was named after? The jetty stretches out past the beach and into the water.

I’d booked a first class ticket from Coffs to Sydney. Usually I book two, because I’m large, but I figured for the short journey I’d be fine. But a few hours into the trip one of the rail staff started hovering around, awkwardly looking at me.

I popped out an earbud.

“I don’t think I have to tell you you’re a big guy,” she says sheepishly.

“There’s another passenger getting on who’s seated next to you. So I’ve moved you a few seats back to your own seat.”

“Lol,” I laughed.

I swapped seats and the rest of the journey was pleasant, but uneventful.

The XPT train pulls into Coffs Harbour station, painted in yellow white and blue.

26 January 202328 January 2023

Homemade pesto, the new bike, book recommendations and bne.social – a blog

Tonight for dinner I made pesto pasta. It was made all the more delicious by the fact I grew the basil myself, in my own little urban garden, and made pesto from scratch.

My little garden has grown a lot since spring. With the new tower next door finally being built I don’t think I’m going to get any sun at all over winter. So I’m not sure how everything will go over the newly imposed seasons. But it’s best to remain in the moment and admire the basil, parsley, spinach, and multitude of chillis I’ve managed to grow.

A chilli plant. There are white flowers and little green chillis starting to grow. — My chilli plants have started to flower, and this one has little fruits forming.

So dinner was great and I feel very accomplished even though the pasta was store-bought.

Today was any other day. It’s January 26th and I made the decision to work today and take tomorrow off. Part tokenistic, part wanted the long weekend, and partly because I have a bunch of work on my plate at the moment and wanted a chance to get it done in peace.

But let’s not talk about work.

I wanted to write a little retro because it feels like I haven’t been up to much, but I know I have and wanna get it all down.

Time for a new bike

In big news I broke my bike. Snapped the frame nearly in two.

I faffed around for months before finally getting myself a bike fit and starting the process of building a bike that’s gonna last me the next ten years. Unfortunately we’re in a bit of a supply chain crisis at the moment, so looking at months lead time with no bike I picked myself up a cheaper single-speed to get me by.

It’s been an absolute treat.

A blue bike frame with a crack running horizontally above the bottom bracket. You can see through it. — The scary thing is I rode this home.

A black bike with neon blue rims in front of a garden. — The scary thing is I rode this home.

Truth be told now I have my single speed I’m not entirely sure what I want from my next bike. I know being a heavier guy I’m gonna destroy this one, which is why I want to build something more solid.

But I’m really loving the simplicity of the single-speed system, as well as how powerful it makes me feel climbing hills in entirely the wrong gear. It’s really good exercise. Follow me on Strava if you’re so inclined.

Reading is what?

Over the new year break I had a week to myself and I was driving myself up the wall. Not because of boredom, but with panic that I couldn’t work out what to do with myself. So I picked up a book.

A few, actually. I’ve been really enjoying reading again. This year I’ve gone through:

Tom Ballard’s I Millenial – I don’t even know how to summarise this one, other than to say it’s a neat summary of what led to our current day political clusterfuck through a socialist lens. It was a surprise, a joy, and led nicely into the next:
The Big Switch by Saul Griffith. It’s a pretty plainly laid out argument that Australia can take action on climate change right now with current technology by replacing all our fossil powered machines with electric ones, putting solar on our roofs, using electric cars to power our houses at night, and save huge amounts of money in the long run. Obviously there’s nuances, but the point is to go all in on the technologies we currently have, while we develop the solutions to the harder climate problems. And the government is listening.
I also picked up Stephen Fry’s Mythos which was interesting because I’d never studied greek mythology before, and it was an okay introduction to it. I found it a bit of a slow going, something about milllenia-old stories not having all the hooks of a modern page-turner. But it was interesting connecting the dots on concepts that trace back all the way back.

I think e-ink

After getting excited about it I put in an order for a Kobo reader from JB. The only ones in stock were all the way down on the Gold Coast so I scooted to the train just in time for them to call me to say there’s an error and they don’t have it after all.

A Kobo ereader on the couch showing Tim Richards Heading South book in black & white. there's a bright pink cable coming out the side.

So I sat with the thought and eventually talked myself out of the cheaper device and into the Kobo Elipsa, which finally arrived the other day. And honestly it’s pretty great.

I’ve got three books on the go:

Pictured is Heading South by Tim Richards. It’s a travel journal along the second-longest rail journey in Australia, from Queensland to Western Australia. (Fun* fact, the longest is from Queensland to the Northern Territory just due to the inefficient route, but that’s not as exciting)
At Tae’s recommendation I’m reading Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club. It’s funny, very easy to read, and I can’t wait to find out whodunnit.
I’ve also picked up the latest episode of Meanjin on a whim. I don’t know if it’s my usual style but I’ve been enjoying the short essays and different perspectives, and wanted to see how to transfer an ebook onto the Kobo 😆

The Kobo itself is great. I didn’t think I’d use the notetaking nearly as much as I have been, but it’s very slick. I’ve found myself making little checklists and notes that I’d ordinarily add to my phone, as well as keeping my workday organised. Maybe it’s a write-off!

Then there’s the social network

Josh and I have been running bne.social for coming up on a year now. I haven’t written about it yet even though I’ve been meaning to because I don’t know quite how to sum it up.

It’s basically like Twitter without the nazis and the queerphobia, and it’s run by volunteers around the world rather than being owned by one single billionaire idiot. It’s not without its problems but most people agree it’s a Nice Place where the interactions are genuine and it’s not filled with Brands.

I’d encourage you to hop over and make an account and hang out with us! We’re going to organise a meetup or Brisbane folks at some point, so don’t miss out.

A cartoon of a mastodon in a summer hat at South Bank as an ibis swoops in to steal a chip.

Yeah that’s about it I suppose

I dunno, things are good. There’s more I could write about; my perfection of the banana-blueberry smoothie, the way I’ve optimised the lighting in my apartment to keep my indoor plants alive, the absolute classic CDs I picked up at the lifeline bookfest.

But for now I wanna go read some more The Thursday Murder Club and go to sleep, cos tomorrow the long weekend starts and I have a bike ride to do!

1 January 2023

Happy new year

It’s 2023.

I like new years. I used to think of it as a sort of atheist christmas. But I think these days I appreciate the opportunity for reflection and realignment.

I haven’t had a lot of energy for introspection lately, which is a nice way of saying I am worn down and tired to my bones. Lately things haven’t been working for me, so the new year is a welcome mental reset. I have resolved to reflect more and be kinder to myself, and taking the first week of the year off work is a nice start.

Other than that I’m entering the year with a few little plans:

I want to go on a holiday. I was hoping to do that over the break, but domestic tourism is hectic and most things are booked out and too expensive.
After my old bike broke in 2022, I want to get my new bike built. Get back into an exercise routine, and take it on trips.
I want to save money and pay down my mortgage.
I want to work out what to do with myself.
And I want to try to blog more.

I think that’s a reasonable place to start.

26 June 202228 August 2024

My gear: how I vlog

People often (once) ask me what I use to create my videos. It’s been a bunch of different stuff over the years, but I think I’ve settled on a good setup.

TLDR: I reckon a good camera and a tripod/selfie stick is pretty much all ya need.

Sony ZV-1 Camera

This thing is amazing and I wish it existed when I started. It’s essentially the latest in Sony’s RX100 compact point & shoot line, but tailored for video. So it’s a massive sensor, zoom lens, integrated stereo mic and 4k recording in a tiny 300 gram package.

This isn’t the perfect camera. The stabilisation isn’t very good and the highest level crops in and makes the image less sharp, so I generally turn it off and take care with the framing. It also caps out at 30fps, so none of that sweet slow mo b-roll. Finally it records in h264 rather than h265, which is fine but the video takes up at least double the space.

But the image quality is stellar and I love it and I’m very happy.

Tripod/selfie stick

It’s easy to giggle at the sheer vanity of a selfie stick, but I am a vlogger after all!

The ones I’ve found the most utility from are essentially mini tripods. They combine a tripod base, telescopic pole, and standard screw thread (1/4-20 UNC) so I can mount pretty much anything from a microphone, my phone, camera or GoPro and stick it in place.

I’ve taken some variation of these around the world, from the windy cliffs of Lisbon to the window in Iceland trying to catch a glimpse of the northern lights.

The BK15 on the left is much more sturdy than the BK10 on the right. These days it’s my mic mount

I’m on my second one now, the Benro BK15 Selfie Stick & Mini Tripod w/Bluetooth Remote. I don’t use the remote, ever. But the stick is sturdy, doesn’t move from wherever you stuck it.

The BK10 started to flex on me after a few years, but the BK15 is the next generation and feels a lot more solid.

Pixel 6 (phone cam)

I was a big believer in using my phone to vlog. I can whip my phone out of my pocket and be recording in seconds. But the quality isn’t there.

I bought into the Apple hype and trialled a 12 Pro Max and it produced such god-awful video that I never released the vlog, destroyed the evidence*, and returned the iPhone for a refund.

I ended up getting the Pixel 6 which apparently uses some form of software HDR while recording video, but I wish I could turn it off because often the sky is blown out to a deep blue colour while the rest of the picture is heavily compressed and mushy looking. The stabilisation is super janky, and I’ve seen the stock standard stabe warp the image. AND I’ve noticed dropped frames in videos at 60fps. If you’re interested you can see all of this in action on my Australian Christmas video which is shot entirely on the Pixel 6.

I’m being hard on the video because it’s a selling point and it’s truly not good enough. I’ve had much better results out of Filmic Pro because it doesn’t use all the Pixel magic, but that’s slower and requires a lot more care to get a good shot.

But I digress! I use my phone from time to time when I don’t have my camera on hand. It’s not amazing quality, but it does alright.

GoPros for B-Roll

I also used a couple of GoPros, the Hero 7 is currently my main wide angle/action/time lapse camera. You can see it in action a fair bit on my Macleay Island video. I have a chest strap which I use on the bike, as well as a standard 1/4-20 UNC mount that I can use on the tripod. The built in mic is not great at all, so I mostly use it for b-roll and time lapses.

I also have a GoPro HERO5 Session which is a tiny baby, but only barely does 4k so I mostly use that for time lapses as well.

The GoPro Session 5 and Hero 7. The 7 is inside an Ulanzi cage on a small handle.

In the pic you can see the Ulanzi cage which holds the microphone adapter for the GoPro. I originally wanted to use this as a handheld vlog cam, and it might still be good for that on hikes and things because of the incredible stabilisation. But I haven’t really found myself using it and I wish the GoPro just came with a damn 3.5mm jack.

Other gear

Zhiyun Crane – I picked this up second hand on ebay but I hardly used it because it’s big and chunky and super slow to set up. But I used it recently at Botanica and I think I’m getting a feel for it. It’s great to stabilise the ZV1 when there’s a lot of movement, but I think it’s a special occasions kind of thing.
Zoom H1n – this is an excellent microphone. I’ve mostly been using it as my video conferencing WFH mic lately, but it’s a fantastic stereo mic which I use to capture ambience and sound floor for my videos. Or at least, that’s the intention, it runs flat really quickly on rechargeable batteries so I haven’t used it as much as I’d like.
Rode VideoMicro – a little shotgun mic I can mount on my camera. It’s good for talking-to-camera vlog style shots because it isolates my voice. But it’s only mono and I haven’t worked out the best way to integrate it with my workflow. Most of the time the built in ZV1 mic is more versatile.
DJI Mini 3 Pro – This is a new addition. There was one shot I desperately wanted to get in my Gympie vlog which was an epic drone shot of the Mary Valley Rattler crossing Deep Creek. I didn’t get that shot, but I did get the Mini 3 when it was released shortly after. I’m excited to play with it more.

Imagine this, except as a sweeping panoramic drone shot. “Gympie Mary Valley Heritage Steam Train” by Thirumurugan P is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

Davinci Resolve video editor

I switched to Mac in 2017 in part because video editing on Linux is an absolute nightmare.

I started out with iMovie which I used for all of my vlogs up until 2020. My first real full Davinci vid was last year’s Brisbane Festival roundup, which took a VERY long time to pull together while I learned how stuff works. Quite ambitious.

But I think I’ve gotten a lot better and faster at it.

Davinci Resolve edit window showing the media pool, effects, inspector, timeline, and a proto of me giggling at the noodle markets.

There’s not a lot of other software I use, but in the past I’ve used Krisp to recover bad audio, and I’m generally a fan of youtube-dl to rip old youtube vids of mine, ffmpeg to occasionally perform some repairs on a video, or Handbrake for tweaking the encoding. I also use rev.com for better or worse when I’m in a hurry and don’t feel like doing my own captions.

Honorary mention Pixel 2 XL (retired, 2018-2021)

This was my primary vlog cam for pretty much the entire time I was overseas. This was an awesome little unit. It couldn’t do much, but it was my first 4k camera and it’s what started everything!

One little gadget I used to take everywhere was the Windblocker. That thing saved my audio on countless occasions and if you’re vlogging with a phone I can’t recommend it enough.

After three and a half years, this thing was so battered around that I upgraded to the Pixel 6 on release day and gave this one away for free on Gumtree to a gentleman who seemed to really appreciate it.

A Pixel 2 XL on a bright background. It's showing the welcome screen after being factory reset. There are cracks all over the screen.

That’s about it

What’s your video set up look like? Is there anything I’m missing? Shoot me an email!

21 May 202221 May 2022

Remote work from the gay pub

Friday lunch at the Wickham, Brisbane’s local gay pub, is one of my favourite new traditions.

The exterior of The Wickham Hotel, a three story pub with palm trees out the front. It's overcast.

The neon flower lounge, surrounded by plants, a brown leather couch and a wall mosaic of pop culture

I’ve been intending to go on Fridays because it’s a great spot, there’s plenty of places to work, and it helps keep the lights on at a place that’s important to me. This is where I’ve met a lot of my friends, done a lot of growing as a person, and really it’s a nice spot to be.

It’s been wet, and I’ve had other commitments so I’ve only been twice in the past month but each time it’s been great.

Last night my friend R arrived after work and we stuck around for a few drinks which turned into a bottle of wine back at my place, where he stayed on the couch for the night (he lives on an island, it’s a trek).

For a person who “doesn’t drink” I have a low grade hangover this morning. Coffee is brewing now.

This is part of how I’ve been getting a bit more experimental with how I’m approaching remote work in a pandemic world. There’s a bunch of picnic shelters down by the river that I’ve been working at from time to time, and the local coffee shop has pretty good outdoor seating. Depending on my meeting load it’s not always possible to do, but I think it’s important to get out and be a part of the world.

15 May 202228 June 2022

The IPCC have shown us what needs to happen, so why isn’t this the climate election?

I’ve been struggling with the election. How are we avoiding the elephant in the room?

✅ We’ve committed to 1.5 degrees of global heating by 2050
🤔 To hit that we must peak carbon emissions in the next 3 years
👉 Even if we SUCCEED, 99% of coral reefs still die
❌ Labor and the Coalition really don’t have a plan?

This is an emergency.

We can fix this. But we must do it now. We must decarbonise. And we have to GUARANTEE coal and gas workers security, a chance to be part of that transformation.

Labor has some semblance of a plan, but also accepted half a million dollars in donations from fossil fuel interests last year, as well as committed to allowing new oil and gas extraction which would undo everything.

The central message of the IPCC report is clear: despite affordable renewable energy solutions being available now, governments and businesses are failing to act. Global greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025 and halve by 2030 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.
The IPCC said the dramatic reductions in the cost of wind, solar and battery storage technologies over the last decade meant they were already commercially viable and would be the key to decarbonising most of the world’s energy systems.
“It’s now or never”: new IPCC report issues warning to governments to speed up renewables transition – Climate Council

So while I’m buoyed by the possibility of a change in government, we must make this election count. It feels very much like our last chance.

Vote Compass has already told us that more Australians mentioned climate change as their number one issue than any other topic.

So I’ll be voting Greens and preferencing progressive parties to hold whichever govt to that standard. I think it’s the most powerful change I can make right now

If you’re not sure where to start, here’s a guide to parties & candidates in the election who’ve committed to actually doing something. It’s not everything, but imo it’s a good starting point.

Traffic light election guide. Vote climate one. Make climate the winner.

The other important thing to remember is even if your local member is an asshole, you can still vote for change in the senate

I lay awake some nights catatonic with the thought of what’s coming for us, and fuck, what’s already here.

But there is hope. We have a path forward in the IPCC report, we have most of the technology we need, and we just need to make it happen NOW. No more excuses.

Here’s the best summary I’ve found on what comes next ❤️

Update: climate won 😭

I think Scott Ludlam, former Green put it best:

'holy shitballs', tweeted at 9:37 on election night.

The Liberals were wiped out by a wave of Greens and climate-focused independents. There’s a lot of analysis, but ultimately this is a really hopeful result.

On election night the ABC ran this graphic, saying the number 1 concern for voters was climate change. Just makes you wonder why, in the face of it all, it was completely missing in the media campaign.

A TV on the wall showing the Australia Votes coverage with the caption 'Australians said climate change is the no. 1 concern at this election`. The graphic shows 25% of Aussies ranked it number 1, followed by 16% who said economy.

2 March 2022

Brisbane floods

Thursday

I saw a tweet earlier today along the lines of “I don’t like living in interesting times”, and I thought it was amusing. Referring to the alleged Chinese curse which from memory I don’t think is real, but is very clever nonetheless, “may you live in interesting times”.

Sometimes an idea will get stuck in my head, a wordplay usually, and repeat over and over until I put it into the world. Throughout the pandemic my little brainworm is a similar corruption, “you may live in interesting times”.

Among other world disasters, the one a little closer to home right now is the effects of La Niña on East coast Australia. Earlier this year the Bruce Highway was washed away by flooding near Tiaro, and just yesterday a freight train derailed on the north coast line when the track washed away. We’ve had a lot of rain.

Yesterday the ABC made passing reference to the Brisbane River catchment, which put me on edge. My place is in a low lying area and while I think technically it’s above the council’s flood level, I don’t especially want to risk it. I was pretty annoyed that it was mentioned in a single article with no follow up at all, so I suppose we’re probably not going to flood? I’m sure I’d know about it.

It’s been on my mind because I was planning to visit my parents this weekend, the weekend of my birthday. But between the rail catastrophe and breathless news reports advising people not to travel, I’m sort of thinking I’ll stay in after all.

Anyway, I’m doing fine. Just really aware of the emergency fatigue that’s probably got everyone to some degree.

So I’m sitting outside in the dark wearing trakky daks, hanging out with my plants. There’s the white noise of raindrops hitting the leaves in the garden and pattering down onto the courtyard. A streetlight across the road lights up the sheets of rain as they blow past. And occasionally a car will drive by and make the cosiest wet asphalt sound you can imagine.

I do like the rain.

It’s cosy.

Gezellig.

Reminds me of the summer storms in my childhood home, beating down on a tin roof so hard you could barely hear each other talk. Looking out the window at a wall of water while being inside, safe and dry.

We may live in interesting times, but at least there’s comfort in the familiar. I don’t know if I’m going to see my parents tomorrow, I suppose I’ll have to make that call to the QR support line. In the meantime, no point worrying right?

Friday

A screenshot of the message from QR travel: QJ11 Tilt Train 25 Feb is cancelled with no alternate arrangements. Another notification forecasts rain.

The train line is still out. Now the highway is out.

Deep Creek (ironic name, it was a trickle when I was there) has gone over the highway. This kinda blows my mind.

I know Gympie floods, I read as much when I visited last year. All the riverside infrastructure is concrete and brutalist to survive the water going over it.

At Alford Park, there’s a massive great flood marker showing where all the historic floods have reached. Pretty scary stuff.

Anyway, it’s just weird because that road bridge is SO high I would never have expected it to go under. At least that’s the decision made for me.

Undearneath the Bruce Highway bridge. It's suuuuper tall. There's old wooden foundations from what I can only assume is the old bridge.

Saturday

Sunday

I hardly slept last night. I kept waking up to check the river wasn’t lapping at my door. It wasn’t, but that just meant it hadn’t happened yet.

Tae lost power. She’s in a low-lying part of the neighbourhood. She came over to charge up all her bits and bobs and we watched TV and chatted for a bit. I fell asleep and slept for what felt like hours.

The rain still hasn’t stopped, so Tae decided to just make a run for it. I got drenched just opening the gate to let her out. I can’t imagine what it would be like riding in that.

The forecast is looking pretty grim, but the flooding is supposed to coincide with high tide tomorrow at about 8.

Monday

Tuesday

By the time I got up the street was already completely cleared. You wouldn’t have known it had flooded if it wasn’t for the people cleaning out the businesses that were inundated.

I was expecting to get out with my shovel picking up trash. But Peter told me the RCC Builders from the construction sites were all out cleaning up the streets in the early hours. I suppose it benefits them not tracking mud everywhere, but it’s such a nice thing to do. I’m very grateful.

The river is down about five steps at the end of my street. Enough to clear water from most of the streets around here.

Looking down a staircase into water and slick brown mud. There's still trees submerged, poking out of the river

I went for a little walk down Duncan Street way. I don’t know what to call that little precinct of West End but it’s the built up area, as opposed to the gritty sort of partially industrial area I live in. There were a lot of pumps running to pull water out of basements, and some that were completely full to the top.

Peter’s was full to the top.

He told me the building manager was here for the ’11 floods, and the painstaking lengths they had to go to to clean out the mud and debris from two levels of basements. I think the mud army can probably help, but it’s going to be days before that water clears.

His lift was out, and the emergency stairs led to deep water, so we had to climb a ladder from the lobby to get to the stairs, to get to his apartment. It’s the penultimate floor, which is ordinarily lovely, but absolutely destroyed me. I’ve been working on my cardio fitness, but apparently there’s still a ways to go.

I had my first hot shower in 2 days, and left a powerbank to charge, just in case. I also guzzled all the water in his jug because, as I realised later, I was super dehydrated from not taking care of myself the previous days.

It’s Tuesday afternoon and I’m surprised to find I still have ice cubes. Most of them are stuck together, swimming in a puddle in the bottom of the ice cream container where I store them. But there’s a few separate blocks. I scoop em out and put them in my glass of warm cola.

Later that afternoon Peter, the ghost of Adam, and I went to a town hall organised by Jonathan Sri and Amy McMahon, council and state representatives, respectively.

There was a free sausage sizzle and people sitting around powerboards charging their devices. Real disaster vibes, but I think folks were largely okay.

Jonno and Amy on the mic, next to a portable loudspeaker.

It was a useful meeting. But the message I got was that while the flood waters are still up and there’s not a lot we can do until they go down. I get the feeling everyone just wants to do something but we can really only wait until we know more.

As I was walking home past the gym I noticed the lights were on.

“Great” I thought, I can go there for a warm shower.

Then I realised the lights were on in my building too.

There were people milling around the street outside one a that was still dark. A lady was gesticulating at the utility closet that had been beeping for two days straight, so I went over and offered to let them charge their stuff at mine. Her kid proudly told me how they’d been using candles and a lantern, it was cute.

There’s a kind of survivor’s guilt in all this, I try not to indulge too much. I lost power for a couple of days, and the basement that I never use got flooded with 30cm of water. That’s nothing, right?

But then I realise I’ve been amped up on stress for the past week, I’ve lost the contents of my fridge and freezer, my backpack and a pair of shoes are ruined because they just couldn’t dry out, I’ve got loads of washing strewn all in the laundry because they asked us to conserve water before the power went out, I have a sunburn and a caffeine withdrawal headache because I regularly forgot to feed or water myself while everything else was going on.

I don’t need to feel guilty because I got my damn power back.

Wednesday

The dishwasher and washing machine are humming away. I appreciate the breeze from the fan. It’s 31 and partly cloudy. Humidity is cloying. But we’ll work things out.