RobiNZ Personal Blog

Over a century, and about a week, of memorials...

It's ANZAC day today and my Great Grandfather, Ernest Bock, was one of so many who went to war and didn't come back. On Saturday I attended the celebration of Paul Rodler’s life. A work colleague, friend, who drove to work on Monday 17th April and, after a tragic road collision, didn't come back. Although we both left TWG a few years ago still used to catch up occasionally. Last time, in early Feb, he gave me heaps (as was his style) for turning up to dinner on a bicycle, on my work bike/train commute, even more so when I... Read more →

My inadvertent long-term sleep experiment | Time Out 2021-22 After

I've been wearing a Samsung Active 2 Watch to track sleep for several years and inadvertently, combined with lifestyle changes, it became a sleep behaviour experiment. The Samsung Health app popped up a summary, 12 months of records from my year of mostly cycle touring, and I realised it could answer a question I had long wondered about. While the sleep records of a consumer device are probably not that accurate, given it has all been with the same device, they are likely consistently inaccurate so can still be used for comparison. My 'normal' sleep, or not... I've always been... Read more →

A year ago, today, life changed | Time Out 2021-22

It's strange how sometimes seemingly trivial things combine to change your life. A year ago, today, I had a lovely rich chocolatey breakfast, at 'La La Land' in Raglan, then set off to drive home from a weekend of cycling. Approaching Port Waikato the sun appeared, and I decided to do a short ride to burn off some of that breakfast indulgence. On that ride, I stopped to take a photo, looked at the road ahead and decided I wanted to keep riding. That led to a major change, a break from work, and cycling all over New Zealand. In... Read more →

End of Life Choice Act is now law

An important day in NZ today; End of Life Choice Act takes effect in New Zealand | Radio NZ The End of Life Choice Act has come into effect one year after nearly two-thirds of New Zealanders voted in favour of it in a referendum... The End of Life Choice Act 2019 gives me the right, with lots of conditions, to legally decide when I die. To be able to ask for assisted dying, a person must have a terminal illness that is likely to end their life within six months, and must be competent to make an informed decision.... Read more →

Remembering September 12 2001 | 9/11 in NZ

It may seem strange but I don't remember anything at all significant about September 11, 20 years ago. September 12 though... I'll never forget. New York, NY, USA | Tue, 11 Sep 2001 | 8:46 a.m. Auckland, New Zealand | Wed, 12 Sep 2001 | 12:46 a.m. I woke, as usual, about 6am, and turned on the radio to catch up with the news. Before long was, like so many, staring at the TV in disbelief. As it was a Wednesday, went to work but not as usual. Colleagues similarly stunned, reinforced by our office view of the Auckland CBD... Read more →

West Roast, Best Roast

There's a local takeaway place I go to irregularly, more often in winter than summer. Because I (still) use Quicken for managing finance it only took a couple of clicks to see over the last decade it's on average monthly, sometimes a couple of times a month in winter but with gaps of several months in summer. Run by a couple, open long hours seven days, the food is always good. The only reason for sporadic visits is I don't frequently eat what they offer, but what they do, they do very well. Last week I went in and was... Read more →

Memories of... | Antarctic Mission Log 20

This is written about a year after I boarded Ortelius. In the lead up to the trip I had heard, read, many people say that something about you changes after experiencing Antarctica. I thought twelve months would be sufficient to process what this trip meant but still can't express it. More than any other travel I've done, this trip changed me. It was a rare combination of places, people, and experiences I will never forget. The staggering beauty and isolation The people: fellow guests, the host, guides, and crew who made it possible Experiencing the locals in their element, all... Read more →

Antarctic sounds and not sleeping on ice | Antarctic Mission Log 06

Sometimes procrastination is beneficial. Had I written this post closer to the time, November 2019, it would have been very different. As I wrote the initial draft, several months later, some sad news further increased the significance of this remarkable experience. It changed what I had to write, adding another storyline which strangely paralleled aspects of the first. I have abandoned and revisited this several times since then. Not the usual writers block of what to say, more not knowing how to express an experience which was the culmination of a near four-decade journey. That is why (although backdated to... Read more →

Just a bit less of me

A “The Conversation” tweet about weight loss caught my eye yesterday. I know, thanks to an old blog post, in November 2006 I weighed 68 kg. I also know, thanks to another old blog post, I also weighed ~68 kg in 2013 but had been up to 75 kg sometime in between. I’m currently back down to about ~67 kg and wondered how their tips applied to what I have been doing over the past few years. Ten strategies to lose weight – backed by new research - theconversation.com Look up information on how to lose weight from sources you... Read more →

Cycle commuting vs driving

I like driving but was thinking in car tonight. When commuting by car/bus/train life begins when you get home. By bike as soon as you leave work.— Robin Capper (@robincapper) December 27, 2017 Read more →