2022 – a year in review

If you say that right, it even rhymes!

2022, things change, things get back to normal.

About Bikes

MOTOGP! Finally. And the ride there and back was great, and the racing was excellent. I stayed in budget (very important this year). I camped, I had adventures… yup, read the two stories here and here. Was worth the wait. The only thing that didn’t work out was Jack Miller getting taken out by Alec Marquez at the new “Miller Corner”. I do think I will stick to my two year cycle and aim for 2024 for my next ride down. It’s at an awkward time of the year, work wise.

2022 Philip Island -Australian MotoGP

I hit most of the roads I had planned, changed a few over, mostly due to the bad weather.

My first night motocamping.

Otherwise the bike was a garage queen at least by comparison to how it (and my other bikes) have lived. It was lucky if it got a ride to the shops once a week. As the year finishes off, I think I’m in the market for a new battery. Even commuting is off the menu at the moment, as work is only 10mins away and I drop my two kids at school on the way.

I got a new bike… sort of. It was fun to build at any rate.

LEGO’s M1000RR

No bicycle riding to speak of really. Some fitness rides on the commuter.

Enjoying the sunshine and open space…. in the middle of the suburbs?

About Babes

Two girls in high school. Both doing well. One won a State Championship for her gymnastics so really well done there. Next year will be interesting as the other one can start learning to drive!

About Bytes

Nothing hugely dramatic here. My Surface is finally getting used a lot, I use as my school device and it’s been great. Except for a dead TypeCover. Replaced, but I am suspicious of the durability of this part.

I upgraded my iPad Pro 9.7 (v1) to the Pro M1 11”. It has been excellent, really nice jump in performance from my last one. They did eventually release an M2 version as I suspected, but it didn’t get the mini-LED display, so I don’t feel like I missed anything. Its keyboard cover has also deteriorated (common theme this year), there are some places where the soft covering material has worn through. It is still working, but has been put away and hasn’t been replaced.

The new PC has been working fabulously, though I really should step up the graphics card. Otherwise it’s been fast and reliable. I’ve since spent many hours using it for gaming, completing the last 3 Tomb Raiders and spending over 100hours in the Baldur’s Gate 3 pre release.

And I can play BG3 on the Mac too

The iMac also has been going well. It has also recently received a new keyboard, a Logitech MX Keys (not the specific Mac one). I’m really happy with this keyboard too.

Having all these devices has meant all my work is available everywhere. The school mostly uses Google’s environment so that was something to get used to. But with it all in the cloud (along with my OneNote) it’s easy to work anywhere. I also switched over to iCloud Photos and this has been working well too.

D&D has been fun all year. Wild Beyond the Witchlight finished up just a few weeks ago. That was a fun campaign for all. It’s been replaced by a journey in the Dungeon of the Mad Mage, which I am not DM, so currently I am a player in 3 campaigns (Dungeon, Strahd and a face to face home-brew) and not a DM anywhere. It’s so relaxed! Strahd is likely to finish up soon and the DM wants to put us in Spelljammer (D&D in space). I have never played in that environment, so I’m a little unsure. I’m writing my own home-brew adventure for when I get a DM slot again.

About Me.

My offical career change occurred in mid-April (not Christmas as planned), I stayed in order to finalise a couple of medical issues with work. Even though that was the offical date, I was on holidays from that work from Christmas until April and actually working as a teacher full time.

I am enjoying my teaching. My school has a really nice community working environment. There are some challenges, partly due to the children and partly due to my limited experience. However, the school has always been supportive.

The pay is a significant cut from my old pay, at least in these first couple of years. Once I complete my proficiency after two years it will jump up and be a lot closer. I don’t think it will ever surpass it.

To help make up for this, I have secured some part time work in my old career for the school holidays and that will be a nice bonus for me. It’s also a way to stay relevant and connected to that old career in case I am needed.

Next year will see me having my own class, and it looks like it will be a Year 5/6 one. Equally excited and nervous, but everyone at work assures me I will do a great job. That makes me feel very supported, but then also nervous that I don’t want to let them down!

My class, as it was handed to me… a blank slate.

2023, here goes…….

M1 iPad Pro 11”

Partly as a treat to myself for Christmas and for changing career, as well as spending some money my wife gave me and finally as my original iPad Pro 9.7 was starting to have battery troubles, I upgraded. I admit, I probably could have gotten away with a current Air, which is still a pretty sweet spot between price and capability, I wanted to go all out again.

So just before the back to school sales finished up, I bought the iPad Pro 11″, and the new Pencil. I already had the keyboard case (not the fancy one with a trackpad, you can’t fold that one right back to tablet format) as we had one that wasn’t being used in the house. Scored a free set of AirPods as well. Put them in the cupboard for when the battery dies in my current set.

Anyway, so I could have waited to see if Apple dropped an upgraded one this year, and I expect they will. But two things (apart from just plain impatience) were motivating me. One, I would want it when school started, and Two, if they did change the shape it would be another couple of hundred to pick up the keyboard case too.

That was then. It’s now Week 6 at school and the iPad Pro is proving a very useful device. Now I’ll admit, there probably isn’t much that I am doing that my 9.7 could not do. OneNote, Edge, Outlook, Google Slides and Docs. This M1 iPad is very smooth and battery life is wonderful. I rarely get below 80% a day. My 9.7 would have managed this back when I first got it (and it was second hand when I did) but now, about 6 years later, nope.

I do love that it uses a normal USB-C connector. I have a USB-C to HDMI cable which I just plug straight into the class displays to run my lessons. It saves problems with logging in and out as I move about the school. (I don’t have my own class, I teach the same subject across 8 classes). Again, the 9.7 with the adapter could do this alright too. But I can also connect memory sticks easily, which is new.

But I’ve found my Surface Pro has been cast aside by the iPad. Chiefly weight is the issue. The iPad, is close to half the Surface. Smaller too, but the screen is fine for me. So overall the iPad is less bulky. Add the protective case on the Surface and it is even more skewed to the iPad.

Compared to a MacBook, that I’ve never had, I think the touchscreen, pencil and tablet form are much more useful than the MacBook’s traditional laptop form factor. This is still where the MacBook falls down (and where the multitude of Windows based 2 in 1 ought gain something back).

By using cross platform software (OneNote, Outlook, Edge, Google Docs/Slides) I’m not tied to OS. So working at home on my iMac, at work on my iPad, upstairs with the Surface or (for reasons I can’t think of) on the gaming PC, I have access to all of my work, synced across the lot. Even if I do log into the Windows PC at work I can access everything. But I find myself using the iPad as my preference. I like it’s pencil the most.

One thing I haven’t tried is one of those paper-like screen protectors that a couple of folks at work use. I might see if there is one for the Surface, experiment with that. Or what about the Surface without the Type Cover and with the paper-like protector… hmmm

The couple of people at work (one has the 12.9” iPad) use Goodnotes instead of OneNote. For me, that means my Surface, my PC and my work computers can’t link to my work.

Oh, non work related – I did connect an xbox controller and the iPad Pro easily coped with a couple of games (Pathless & Genshin Impact). This is definitely something that the old iPad Pro 9.7 (and to be honest, the Surface Pro) struggles with.

Overall, super happy with the iPad Pro

Apple Watch – A review without one

I had no idea how much I used my Apple Watch until I didn’t have it any more.

Seriously… Oh, no I’ve actually had it a year.. for some reason I thought it was a few months.

No wonder it feels so weird when I didn’t have it.

Ok, so the other day I took the protective case off the watch after a gym session. The screen of the watch came with it! Very weird, considering the case isn’t stuck to the watch, it just fits over the top. So here I was with an Apple Watch that functioned perfectly, but the screen would lift off.

Off to the Genius Bar. They were happy that there was no sign of damage (the watch is in mint condition, except for the screen lifting off, no scratches, dings or cracks). They sent off under warranty for repair. Predicted turn around was 14 days.

With the couple of days in between (I think it broke Thursday, I went into the shop on Sunday. Now it’s Tuesday, over a week later) the total time without the watch is a massive 13 days so far.

With the mask on, I had to type my passcode all the time! I wasn’t able to just tap and pay with the watch (which is super convenient when wearing a mask or a motorcycle helmet). Alarms were more awkward and I would miss phone calls (I have never had a phone that I have reliably been able to hear or feel, even in my pocket). I couldn’t check things in class without pulling out my phone (a big no no in school, looks bad in front of the students or any parents).

Did you know there isn’t really a seconds display on a phone. You can see the second hand on the Clock app icon, but that’s it. Unless you download a new app. Really Apple, that’s ridiculous.

I just felt really lost without it.

But it’s back now. I don’t know if it’s a new or refurbished one. I’m pretty sure it’s not my own one repaired. And restored from backup and away we go.

I hope not to go through that again…

Review – Apple Watch

I feel like I’m late to the party, but I’ve finally gone out and joined the smart watch crowd. The main driver for me to be late is that many of the places I have worked over the past few years have bans on smart devices (along with all electronics) – either in particular areas, or in entire buildings. It was just easier not to have one.

But with teaching a watch is really useful. You know, for telling the time. For example, about 10 minutes before lunch starts, I need to ensure that some students are sent off to collect the lunches from the canteen. In one class I looked after, there were 4 clocks around the room – none of which were working.

I bought the 44mm Nike SE version. I plan to use it a lot as (drumroll) a watch (I know, crazy right). But besides that, as a teacher, being able to see incoming messages, and see my schedule without opening my phone are also a good thing. It’s a perception thing about being distracted by the phone, most especially when doing playground duty. A watch is less obtrusive.

Secondly it replaces the long dead Fitbit Charge 3 I had. Seriously, we’ve had 3 of these (paid for 2) and they last a year. 2 of the 3, the screen just went black. So the Watch becomes something to track my heart rate while running with the bonus of being able to have GPS and music without needing my phone. It doesn’t think that when I’m riding my motorcycle I’m doing 10,000 steps, 12 flights of stairs either, like the Fitbit would.

So that’s what I plan to use it for. And after 4 days, it’s doing all those well. You can even scribble responses back to people and it’s not too painful. Slower letter by letter, but then I was raised on the old multi tap SMS, so it’s okay. The Strava app works well and is simple to start tracking stuff. having the “complications” on the screen are a bonus.

I discovered Nike Training app, and am experimenting with that. In this case, the phone app and the watch work together. I guess in a similar way to the new Apple Fitness (which I will try soon) apparently works together.

The phone and watch also work together when using Maps for direction. Alerts, with sounds and haptic feedback along with text work in sync with the directions on the phone. Its quite handy.

Battery life – well so far in what is probably close to a “normal day” for me, which included a Watch/AirPod only run, was at 50% by the end of the day. I don’t know how long that would take to recharge, as I just left it overnight. Perhaps a couple of hours? I’m not worried about tracking my sleep as I experimented with that when I had the Fitbit and didn’t find it particularly useful. I know why I’m tired. I go to sleep late, have to always wake up at least once in the middle, and then always wake early. Just literally not spending enough time at sleeping. Getting to sleep is no trouble. So leaving the watch on the charger is no worries. I suppose some long haul travel might run it down, but then you’re likely to spend plenty of time in airplane mode (so battery saver) anyway.

The SE misses out on the always on display, but that’s almost never been a problem in a string of fitness/running and now smart watches that I’ve owned, so its the same there. It is quite responsive to movements to wake up, or a tap.

Overall, really happy with it.

NAS is restored…

After ordering the wrong HDD last week (I ordered 1TB instead of 2TB) I have received and installed the replacement HDD into the NAS. Overnight it has rebuilt itself and so is back ONLINE 🙂

Now that this is up and running I can restore the iTunes library that normally resides here. Not sure of the best way to do this. I only need to reimport the movie/TV shows as I’ve switched over to Apple Music (just to experiment).

Either I could reach back into the Time Machine backup and restore the old library files. This is what I have usually done. Alternatively I could reimport the files. I worry that this will lose all the info I have manually typed into the library. They will also ALL import as Home Movies, which will mean ages and ages of updating each one (imagine the TV Series)..

Think I just answered my own question.

Might sort the Time Machine Backup of this new iMac out first… what do you say? The fun never ends.

And its a great way to procrastinate TWO assessments…. errr????

[UPDATE]

Actually I think I have a better idea??? Perhaps this is an opportunity to update the NAS itself. I could suck all the data off it (it’s less than 2TB) and then upgrade the OS, wipe the pool etc. Clean it right up, while nothing is really using it.

Not sure…

 

Deed is done.

The decision was made, the transaction complete.

The iMac has been replaced with….

…..

….

 

…

..

 

another 27″ iMac.

Well I bet that was a surprise.

Can you tell which is which???  (ok the default wallpaper and the smaller keyboard give it away)

Went out yesterday and bought it from the Apple Store. Using education prices I got a discount and also a set of wireless Beats headphones. JB Hifi could beat the Apple Store prices, but not by much (about $50) but couldn’t throw in the headphones. I didn’t particularly want the headphones but since they are free and worth $400 (retail), why miss out on it. I figure I could use them with the iMac when trying to ignore the Mrs watching her shows on the PC next to me……

I picked up the base 27″ which means a 1TB Hybrid HDD and a basic i5, with a Radeon 570 card. A massive step up in performance when compared to my late 2009 iMac. Not going to win any races, but fine for me. Heck, now I have the first 4K (well 5K) display in the house (our TVs are full HD, not 4K). As long as I can study and I can run videos at full screen, I will be happy (actually I haven’t tested that yet).

First impression was – it’s lighter – I discovered as I picked it up to walk out of the store. Eventually, when getting it home my first impression was the screen is really nice. Initially the brightness was right up, but it was actually the fineness of text and lines of dialog and windows that made the biggest impression on me. When I eventually connected the Dell 27″ 1440 monitor I had with the older iMac, yes, the screen is much nicer in the new iMac.

Here it is, all set up as dual screen. The Beats are on the desk to the left of the iMac. This shot really hides the difference between the Dell and the iMac.

The next impression is speed. It’s certainly quicker than the older model. I have decided that once its all up and running and I can confirm that everything I want is either moved or backed up, I am intending to wipe and restore the older one. I’m sure it used to be quicker than it is these days.

I decided not to do a restore from the Time Machine. I thought, its time for a bit of a spring clean. So I’ve moved email and photo archives and my current study over and very little else. The rest is available either from backup, NAS or the cloud.

Several hours later I realised that I forgot to copy the iTunes folder and set that up on the to connect to the store on the NAS. Of course, this is after I packed away the old iMac. So now I have all my music downloaded from Apple Music and stored on this iMac, and a big folder on the NAS with nothing pointing to it. Might have to work through that in the next few days. However, I did learn about browsing my Team Machine backup so the old iMac can sit away getting dust as everything I would need is here on the backup disk…. Time Machine scores YET again (really, its one of THE BEST THINGS about OSX).

Of course, in the middle of all of this, one of the NAS drives has died, so I don’t want to do too much copying and working on the NAS until I replace the drive. Got a couple inbound at the moment. Half think I bought an extra last time, but can’t think where I stored it if I did.

Overall, its like the old one has just been refreshed. I don’t think Mrs has even realised, and probably won’t, until she spots the box from the new one under the stairs.

 

The iMac is in a medically induced coma…

I think that it is finally over for my long suffering iMac. I am considering some form of euthanasia for the poor thing. I’ve shut it down for now.

I’ve had it powered down as I was away for several days, however since restarting it, if left to its own devices it will reboot within about 15 mins. The heatsink (basically all of the rear of the aluminium casing) is very hot, even when all I am doing is some word processing and internet browsing. This is a symptom of the internal problems that are causing the trouble and has been steadily getting worse, certainly over the past 12 months or so. Still it’s fought on for at least 2 years since the problems resurfaced after replacing some internals some months before that (3 years ago maybe?). I suppose it has done pretty well for a 2009 computer.

For now I have returned to the PC, but I will need to replace the iMac. I guess this is the advantage of the way that study is accessed online these days. As long as you keep your work in the cloud, you can switch computers and devices as you desire.

Of course, it’s not all roses on the PC. For reasons I can’t figure out yet, it won’t let me upgrade or reinstall (as I uninstalled it during trouble shooting) Apple iTunes. Makes syncing with the various devices in our house, somewhat problematic. But there is no fear of a shutdown and the SSD is nice and fast….. again, this one is doing well for another 2009 computer, though with some upgrades about 4 years ago.

So a big purchase is expected shortly. I will also need to get a USB-C to HDMI/DP adaptor in order to connect the other screen to the new iMac as it’s currently connected through mini DP on the ’09 iMac. Extra dollars, I’m sure. On the plus side, through Apple Education pricing (which I should qualify for) I can get a set of Beats Wireless Headphones for nothing, worth about $400. Not something I would have chosen for myself, but if they’re giving them away…

With assessments due on Jan 8 and Jan 12 I really don’t need this!

AirPods – A Review

Like many people, I listen to music a lot. I listen in the car, on the bike, around the house (when I don’t get shouted down by the family), studying, walking around town, at work etc. And a fair chunk of that is using earphones. I’m no audiophile, so I’m generally happy with my normal earphones, which at the moment are the ones that came with my iPhones. They sit well in my ear and the cord is a nice length.

But the length isn’t always great, like when I’m working on a computer at home or at work. The cord dangles across the keyboard, or when it’s plugged into the back of the iMac it doesn’t really let me move about much.

So I thought about trying these AirPods out. I figured that as they also work with the iMac at the very least, it will make my study at home more pleasant. At work, I could use them to drown out all the other people’s radios and not have the cord dangling across my keyboard.

As I’m walking down the mall I unpacked the small box and was pleasantly surprised to find them partially charged, so they paired straight away and there I was, using them. I did feel a little self-conscious at first, but you have to realise this. If you put the normal Apple earphones (EarPods?) without the cord, next to the AirPod, they’re actually about the same dimensions, so they only look weird because there’s no cord, not because they are massive. And they are a LOT smaller than some of the Bluetooth phone earpieces that I’ve seen.

They have been really handy over the past month. When using them the range (as long as there are no walls in the way) is up to around 10m, which means I can move around the desk area, or the kitchen with the phone charging in one place, and listen to music without interruption. No cords to dangle over the keyboard or restrain your head.

Swapping between devices is probably the letdown. I vaguely recall Apple saying that they would swap automatically and they don’t. To be honest, I don’t know how you would implement that. Imagine you’re watching a video on your iPad and Facebooking on your phone. You probably wouldn’t want that pop-up video on Facebook to suddenly override the dramatic reveal in the movie.

But swapping is simple. Swipe up on iOS and then from the music widget select the little (almost looks like wifi symbol) and choose your headphones. A few seconds later you’ll hear a tone and the AirPods are now connected. Even on the iMac you select your Bluetooth drop down and connect to your AirPods.

I’ve set one ear to start/stop with a double tap and the other works on Siri. Voice clarity for someone on the other end seems pretty good, even on a busy street. Their volume level does seem a little quieter than the normal EarPods. Battery lasts for a while (several hours) and it’s only a short rest in the case and they have significant charge. I haven’t managed to empty the case yet, so not sure how many charges you’ll get out of that.

They are pricey, and I haven’t looked at any other Bluetooth headsets to compare.

Overall I have found the lack of cords as by far the best part of them. They are quieter with somewhat less bass than the regular iPhone earphones