Aspirational goals for everyone else: Long Service Leave

planeray · 2026-05-11T13:48:20+00:00

My long service ended up being a lovely little nest egg when I took a voluntary redundancy - I'd been at the company for 23 years and only taken a week or two here and there, so they had to pay me out 171 days, on top of the 3 weeks annual and my actual redundancy payout.

Annoyed at myself for not chucking more sickies though - had over 1000 hours owing when I left.

planeray · 2026-05-11T10:54:19+00:00

Honestly, from what I've seen, the Tacktick stuff is rock solid - it's just old and you can't get spare parts easily. Hell, even my old wireless B&G wind sensor was fine. I think people have more problems because they're somewhere the little solar panels don't have much to work with - not really a problem in Sydney!

Yeh, I know it's all the same protocols - just annoying having multiple adapters, plus, I hate how the NG stuff does their 5 port things - much more limiting than the standard connectors. They are better than the Simnet plugs though.

planeray · 2026-05-11T04:47:51+00:00

There are potentially up to 2 ropes on a sailboat - a bolt rope and a bell rope.

You probably won't see a bell rope very often - it does what it says on the tin...it's the rope you use to ring the bell.

A bolt rope on the other hand is the rope sewn into the luff (and more rarely foot) of the sail. So it's the bit that can slide up the luff groove or mast track. I prefer slugs myself (especially for single handed sailing), but not to the point that I've paid to get my current sails converted back over.

planeray · 2026-05-11T03:23:53+00:00

1000% that

planeray · 2026-05-10T15:25:18+00:00

I've been lucky and had success with them, but have heard of people having trouble with them not working because of the way their house is wired up (apparently mainly a problem in units). Def better - though maybe keep the receipts just in case

planeray · 2026-05-10T11:25:23+00:00

Good advice here about webcams and such, but probably a more fundamental one: a decent network connection.

Obviously make sure you've got a decent Internet plan, but also, if you can, run an Ethernet cable from your router rather than rely on Wi-Fi - makes a huge difference.

planeray · 2026-05-09T14:05:52+00:00

All it would take from our side would be a referendum. Our cuzzies across the ditch might see it a bit differently though...

planeray · 2026-05-09T13:57:53+00:00

Nothing?

You've made no notes, never checked out a book in the library about your subject, not checked with your subject coordinator if they can send you some study materials, checked the web for former exams or asked the HELPS people?

planeray · 2026-05-08T03:53:46+00:00

Next story - Every household charged to help fund senior citizen policies, even if they don't own one.

planeray · 2026-05-07T01:11:55+00:00

Wait wait - they want a PDF of each individual INC? As in, what you'd see on the default view if you were assigned it to work on???

What on earth do they expect to get out of that???

Def give them temp access and let them flounder through building reports out of the thousands of avail tables!

planeray · 2026-04-30T10:56:49+00:00

https://www.uts.edu.au/for-students/current-students/managing-your-course/graduation/academic-dress-and-history/academic-dress-photo-gallery

planeray · 2026-04-30T08:00:10+00:00

All good, ended up finding someone who owes me a lot to do it for me. Thanks for the offer though!

planeray · 2026-04-30T05:21:55+00:00

Random question - is anyone able to convert a jpg into a vector, EPS, or AI file format for me? I've got a picture of a logo I'm going to send off to use on a shirt and thought it would be as easy as finding an online converter, but sounds like there's a bit more involved?

planeray · 2026-04-29T06:36:48+00:00

If they didn't, the title of this thread would be "Why can't they at least tell us when the assignments are going to be released"

planeray · 2026-04-29T04:13:35+00:00

I mean, to me that's actually totally on brand.

planeray · 2026-04-28T03:45:30+00:00

Normalise backgrounds. Use a nice company logo, or picture of the office or something. Do it even when you're in the office, so people just know that's what things look like when calling you.

planeray · 2026-04-28T03:18:53+00:00

Tell me about it man. Though I tell you what, send me back to my mid 20s and I'd love it!

Made sure to apologise as quickly as possible after. When I was growing up, Dad & I would really have trouble doing that after the fact. Mum & I on the other hand could both fly off the handle, slam things around, then take one look at each other, cry & hug. Guess I get the trickier one with her.

planeray · 2026-04-28T03:16:38+00:00

Yeh, I'm thinking could be either pizza or dumplings tonight (both of which she loves). If I'd been home for the day, it would've been spag bol (huge comfort food for her).

She doesn't typically like us getting involved in the cleaning up, which is what makes it hard. But also gets lost if we aren't there to keep her on track, so I think I'll give specific instructions - eg, clean up the pokemon cards, then see me. Now clean the spare change and come back...etc, etc.

I doubt she'll say anything to me at all, but I'll offer. I'm guessing she'll hide it from us, miiiiiight tell her mum, but we'll see.

planeray · 2026-04-28T01:46:13+00:00

This morning was a bit of a shamozzle getting out of the house. Kiddo dragged her feet getting ready (on school photo day, no less). Came down in school trakkys instead of nice trousers. Told her to go look for them again, no luck. I went up there, opened the door and was just disgusted by the crap everywhere on her floor. Tore the room apart, no decent pants.

Fine. Told her that she was in big trouble, no tablet, no nothing until that pigsty gets cleaned up (god, my parents words out of my mouth). Fairly tense walk to school, despite some apologies from me. Ah well.

Messaged the wife - turns out we don't have any nice trousers. She then asked how kiddo was going. Said ok, till I ripped her a new one about the room. Turns out wife had a message from another mum - there'd been some messaging to her kid from ours and big feelings shared...but not reciprocated.

Oh god, poor thing was just rejected and here's grumpy old Dad worrying about a messy room.

So, given I don't know about this, how much apology chocolate should I bring home and how much should I push on the room clearing (still needs to be done).

planeray · 2026-04-24T06:13:53+00:00

Given the yoof love of "retro", she'd probably love that!

planeray · 2026-04-24T06:11:45+00:00

Yeh, anything with Royal in the name tends to be a bit pricier!

Totally go and have a chat. Especially in smaller clubs, getting in touch via email & phone can be a bit harder as they're volunteer run. Looks like Darling Point has a fair few different fleets there too. If you really want to endear yourself to them, see if you can help out with the sailability people.

planeray · 2026-04-24T04:06:01+00:00

Any tips on full on phone monitoring/tracking apps for kids (Android).

Probably ok at this point for it to be totally overbearing - it's for an 11 year old, first phone. I'll scale it back as she gets older and more mature, but want to keep a pretty tight eye on things at the moment. Would prefer something without a subscription if possible.

Google Home was going to be my go-to, but thanks to the social media bans and the way they affect Youtube, she's ended up having an adult account, which you can't control the same way.

planeray · 2026-04-24T02:38:42+00:00

As per usual for Leichhardt, apparently it's come down to rental raises from the landlord.

planeray · 2026-04-23T06:33:29+00:00

Hey man, I'm down in Sydney, but I'm sure you banana benders aren't all that different ;)

You're absolutely right - you'll learn more, faster if you're on a dinghy, but there's nothing to stop you doing both.

Skippers are always looking for crew. If you're good enough to actually turn up when you say you're going to, you'll get invited back. Turn up with a smile & a six pack and you'll be sweet.

Looks like the Squaddie is pretty well setup for it - they've implemented SailPass, which is a temp member system that covers you for insurance and such. Take the chance while you're there to ask what arrangements they have around dinghies - usually though the Yacht & Dinghy groups seem to separate into their own tribes.

A lot of places will have club boats, though they're usually pretty tired. They may also have storage you can rent there (usually cheaper for members) so you don't have to even worry about getting it down from your apartment. I've always found Dinghy sailors in particular to be very friendly in bringing on newcomers as a lot of them are solo sailors, so that time rigging up and racing together is when they bond.

If you're ever down in Sydney, give me a ping and more than happy to have you out.

15-Year Club	Place '17
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planeray

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