Today I dropped the kids off with their Nanny and Poppy where they will spend the next week down the coast. It's school holidays and my wife and I both have to work and the kids love going down the coast. It's handy to be able to rely on the in-laws to take the kids for at least a few nights during the school holidays.
Tomorrow is a public holiday so I get an extra day off and as long as the weather is good I want to do some more work in the yard. Maybe give the grass a cut and get the last of the weeds out of the garden beds.
I weighed myself this morning before breakfast to get a true idea of how much weight I put on last week and how much harder I have to work to reach my goal of 90kgs by Christmas. I currently weigh 108kg so that's a gain of 1kg from last week.
My Dad is trying to lose weight too and he has a little competition going with his sister to see who can lose 6kgs before Christmas, I think he's going to struggle as he likes his food too much and he can't really exercise too well anymore. I don't want to end up like him, he's not too overweight but he's carrying more than he should.
I'm really going to make an effort to get the 10,000 steps in each day since the kids are away and I have no excuses not to push myself a little more when walking. I'll also be on call for the next week or two so I won't be able to have any beer either so it could be a good test to see just how much I can lose if I don't drink at all.
Bomber
no more excuses
Sunday, 30 September 2018
Saturday, 29 September 2018
Weighing In
I forgot to weigh myself this morning. I weighed myself this afternoon fully clothed including shoes and kevlar motorcycle jeans and I weighed 110kg, I'm guessing that I'm probably around 108kg and I'll double check tomorrow morning. I'm expecting to have put on weight anyway as I was travelling and celebrating with my sister the last few days.
I did start writing down what I had each day and added it to this post as the week went on, just to make sure that I didn't forget anything or any snacks that I may have snuck in. I don't think I'll do this forever, maybe just for a few weeks to see if there is any obvious correlation between my diet and weight loss (I mean there should be right?).
It will be interesting to see what makes the most difference, the steps or the diet as they say 80% of weight loss is diet and this should really show if that is the case or not. I may try and have a week with no beer. Then a week with no coffee and maybe a week with no extra walks after work, although I'm already struggling to get back into that habit.
Weekly Food Diary
Saturday
Breakfast - one toasted English Muffin and a large coffee with lite milk and one sugar
Morning Tea - medium coffee with full cream milk and one sugar. Large blueberry muffin and a choc-chip cookie (we had to change our standing lunch date with my Dad to a morning tea).
Lunch - A few of the kids hot chips, two large slices of left over pepperoni pizza, a two small pieces of garlic pizza
Dinner - BBQ Steak and a sausage with BBQ corn on the cob and some BBQ potatoe
Beers - 3 or 4
Steps - 6,352
Sunday
Breakfast - Four cumpets with margerine and a large coffee with lite milk and one sugar
Morning - Medium coffee with lite milk and one sugar
Lunch - two large slices of left over pepperoni pizza and two small slices of garlic pizza
Afternoon - Medium coffee with lite milk and one sugar
Dinner - Two BBQ Beef Burgers with lettuce, onion, cheese, special burger sauce, tomato sauce and beetroot on wholemeal rolls
Beers - 4
Steps - 9,827
Monday
Breakfast - Three Weetbix with light UHT milk
Morning Coffee - Medium flat with full cream milk and one sugar
Lunch - two left over beef burgers with cheese and burger sauce on white rolls
Dinner - Beef Stir Fry
Steps - 8,304
Tuesday
Breakfast - Three Weetbix with light UHT milk
Morning Coffee - Coffee bag sweet and condensed milk
Lunch - foot long steak and cheese from Subway
Dinner - 2 reheated frozen meat pies
Beers - 2
Steps - 6,475
Wednesday
Breakfast - Two crumpets with margarine and two slices of toast with peanut butter
Morning Coffee - Large flat with light UHT milk and one sugar followed by a medium flat white with light UHT milk and one sugar.
Lunch - "The Sutto" a large beef burger with potatoes and a glass of coke
Dinner - six slices of piri piri chicken pizza and three or four slices of garlic bread from Dominos Beers - 4
Steps - 2,292
Thursday
Breakfast - Two slices of multigrain bread with organic peanut butter with a medium coffee
Morning Coffee - Large flat white with full cream milk and one sugar
Lunch/afternoon tea: a varitey of canapés and one beer
Dinner - Garlic prawns on filo followed by Creole chicken on sweet potato mash followed by orange and almond cake with chocolate gnash and chocolate ice cream. 5 glasses of Jack Daniels and coke with dinner
Steps - 5,158
Friday
Brunch - Large flat with full cream milk and one sugar, two fried eggs with three rashers of bacon and three hash browns on toast
Dinner - Beef Stroganoff on rice
Snacks after dinner - 5 jelly snakes and 2 chocolate cookies
Beers - 2
Steps - 2,822
So next week I need to try and make sure that I hit my goals and get myself back on track. I feel like I've said that a few times but now it's kind of important before I start going too far the other way again.
Bomber
living large
I did start writing down what I had each day and added it to this post as the week went on, just to make sure that I didn't forget anything or any snacks that I may have snuck in. I don't think I'll do this forever, maybe just for a few weeks to see if there is any obvious correlation between my diet and weight loss (I mean there should be right?).
It will be interesting to see what makes the most difference, the steps or the diet as they say 80% of weight loss is diet and this should really show if that is the case or not. I may try and have a week with no beer. Then a week with no coffee and maybe a week with no extra walks after work, although I'm already struggling to get back into that habit.
Weekly Food Diary
Saturday
Breakfast - one toasted English Muffin and a large coffee with lite milk and one sugar
Morning Tea - medium coffee with full cream milk and one sugar. Large blueberry muffin and a choc-chip cookie (we had to change our standing lunch date with my Dad to a morning tea).
Lunch - A few of the kids hot chips, two large slices of left over pepperoni pizza, a two small pieces of garlic pizza
Dinner - BBQ Steak and a sausage with BBQ corn on the cob and some BBQ potatoe
Beers - 3 or 4
Steps - 6,352
Sunday
Breakfast - Four cumpets with margerine and a large coffee with lite milk and one sugar
Morning - Medium coffee with lite milk and one sugar
Lunch - two large slices of left over pepperoni pizza and two small slices of garlic pizza
Afternoon - Medium coffee with lite milk and one sugar
Dinner - Two BBQ Beef Burgers with lettuce, onion, cheese, special burger sauce, tomato sauce and beetroot on wholemeal rolls
Beers - 4
Steps - 9,827
Monday
Breakfast - Three Weetbix with light UHT milk
Morning Coffee - Medium flat with full cream milk and one sugar
Lunch - two left over beef burgers with cheese and burger sauce on white rolls
Dinner - Beef Stir Fry
Steps - 8,304
Tuesday
Breakfast - Three Weetbix with light UHT milk
Morning Coffee - Coffee bag sweet and condensed milk
Lunch - foot long steak and cheese from Subway
Dinner - 2 reheated frozen meat pies
Beers - 2
Steps - 6,475
Wednesday
Breakfast - Two crumpets with margarine and two slices of toast with peanut butter
Morning Coffee - Large flat with light UHT milk and one sugar followed by a medium flat white with light UHT milk and one sugar.
Lunch - "The Sutto" a large beef burger with potatoes and a glass of coke
Dinner - six slices of piri piri chicken pizza and three or four slices of garlic bread from Dominos Beers - 4
Steps - 2,292
Thursday
Breakfast - Two slices of multigrain bread with organic peanut butter with a medium coffee
Morning Coffee - Large flat white with full cream milk and one sugar
Lunch/afternoon tea: a varitey of canapés and one beer
Dinner - Garlic prawns on filo followed by Creole chicken on sweet potato mash followed by orange and almond cake with chocolate gnash and chocolate ice cream. 5 glasses of Jack Daniels and coke with dinner
Steps - 5,158
Friday
Brunch - Large flat with full cream milk and one sugar, two fried eggs with three rashers of bacon and three hash browns on toast
Dinner - Beef Stroganoff on rice
Snacks after dinner - 5 jelly snakes and 2 chocolate cookies
Beers - 2
Steps - 2,822
So next week I need to try and make sure that I hit my goals and get myself back on track. I feel like I've said that a few times but now it's kind of important before I start going too far the other way again.
Bomber
living large
Friday, 28 September 2018
Times Are Changing
I can't remember if I've mentioned it previously or not and I don't feel like going back and reading through my early posts to see if I did or didn't so I apologise if I'm repeating myself. Back when I first got the motorcycle, I did the sums and discovered that it would be more economical to sell the car I had and just use the bike for commuting everyday. I always knew that the day would come when I 'd have to get a car again so I could help drop off and or pick the kids up from school.
The only time recently where we've kind of wished we'd had a second car has been on the weekends when my wife is working and I take the kids over my Dad's for lunch. My wife doesn't want to walk home as her feet get really sore after being on them at work and I don't want to cut short the time I spend with my Dad so we sometime skip seeing my Dad or he comes and visits us. Last weekend we went over and had morning tea with him instead and we'll have to do the same this weekend. We're not about to go out and buy a second car just to go to lunch on the weekend.
During the week my wife was offered a new job with better hours. She would only be working Monday thru Friday from 9:30am to 2:30pm, so she could still do the drop off and pick up for the kids school but it will make school holidays a little more challenging to organise.
The new job and change of hours got us talking about what would happen if my wife went back to work full time. My wife was worried about the size of our garage as she didn't think we could keep everything we currently have in there and put a second car in there too. I said that we could always rearrange things and put some things back under the house. My wife also mentioned that she wouldn't expect me to get rid of the motorbike which was a pleasant surprise, I was sure she would say that the bike would have to go if I got a car again.
The down side of my wife returning to full time work would be that I wouldn't be able to take off mid-week for camping and filming as easily as someone would still need to do the drop off and pick up of the kids. I'm sure that there is a way we can make it work and it's still a year or two away but it would be sad to lose that time and I wouldn't be able to do as much with my leave as no doubt I'd have to take most of my leave during school holidays so I could look after the kids. The plus side would be that I'd just go camping with them instead!
Bomber
looking for silver linings
The only time recently where we've kind of wished we'd had a second car has been on the weekends when my wife is working and I take the kids over my Dad's for lunch. My wife doesn't want to walk home as her feet get really sore after being on them at work and I don't want to cut short the time I spend with my Dad so we sometime skip seeing my Dad or he comes and visits us. Last weekend we went over and had morning tea with him instead and we'll have to do the same this weekend. We're not about to go out and buy a second car just to go to lunch on the weekend.
During the week my wife was offered a new job with better hours. She would only be working Monday thru Friday from 9:30am to 2:30pm, so she could still do the drop off and pick up for the kids school but it will make school holidays a little more challenging to organise.
The new job and change of hours got us talking about what would happen if my wife went back to work full time. My wife was worried about the size of our garage as she didn't think we could keep everything we currently have in there and put a second car in there too. I said that we could always rearrange things and put some things back under the house. My wife also mentioned that she wouldn't expect me to get rid of the motorbike which was a pleasant surprise, I was sure she would say that the bike would have to go if I got a car again.
The down side of my wife returning to full time work would be that I wouldn't be able to take off mid-week for camping and filming as easily as someone would still need to do the drop off and pick up of the kids. I'm sure that there is a way we can make it work and it's still a year or two away but it would be sad to lose that time and I wouldn't be able to do as much with my leave as no doubt I'd have to take most of my leave during school holidays so I could look after the kids. The plus side would be that I'd just go camping with them instead!
Bomber
looking for silver linings
Thursday, 27 September 2018
Revisiting the Videos
Today marks two weeks since I uploaded the YouTube and Patreon intro videos and two weeks tomorrow will be when I uploaded the Motocamp360 titles. I shared the YouTube intro on the Motocamp360 Facebook page and of course here on this blog. I don't believe that I posted the Patreon video anywhere except on Patreon. The short little title video I only shared on here and I haven't posted it anywhere else.
The YouTube video currently has 35 views and three likes, I think my wife was one of the likes, I was another from my usual YouTube account but I don't know who the third was.
The Patreon Video currently has 2 views and they were both from the day I posted it, so it could well have been me checking that it worked on YouTube and testing the embedded video in Patreon.
The Motocamp360 title video currently has 5 views, again one or two may have been me but the others are definitely other people. Both the Patreon and Titles videos are "unlisted" on YouTube which means that they don't show up in any searches or on my channel to anyone, they can only be found if I post a link to them somewhere. That's basically how I'll run the Patreon videos, they'll be on YouTube and not locked down, so if a Patron does share the link then there isn't much I can do about that. If it becomes a big problem then I guess I can look at other subscription style video hosting options, but they also cost me money.
I'm still relatively happy with all the videos that I've uploaded so far but I won't really know if they are a true indication of what is to come until I start actually making more and getting better at editing them. Hopefully the dates I set earlier come to fruition and I can get out and start this thing properly.
Bomber
getting tired of waiting
The YouTube video currently has 35 views and three likes, I think my wife was one of the likes, I was another from my usual YouTube account but I don't know who the third was.
The Patreon Video currently has 2 views and they were both from the day I posted it, so it could well have been me checking that it worked on YouTube and testing the embedded video in Patreon.
The Motocamp360 title video currently has 5 views, again one or two may have been me but the others are definitely other people. Both the Patreon and Titles videos are "unlisted" on YouTube which means that they don't show up in any searches or on my channel to anyone, they can only be found if I post a link to them somewhere. That's basically how I'll run the Patreon videos, they'll be on YouTube and not locked down, so if a Patron does share the link then there isn't much I can do about that. If it becomes a big problem then I guess I can look at other subscription style video hosting options, but they also cost me money.
I'm still relatively happy with all the videos that I've uploaded so far but I won't really know if they are a true indication of what is to come until I start actually making more and getting better at editing them. Hopefully the dates I set earlier come to fruition and I can get out and start this thing properly.
Bomber
getting tired of waiting
Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Graduating Medicine
No, not me, I'm not graduating Medicine. My sister however, she is. Tomorrow is the end of 7 and a half years of study for her. She started studying medicine as a mature age student after her gap year in the UK turned into more of a gap career and she stayed over there for something like six or seven years. When she returned to Australia she wasn't sure what she was going to do and when she decided on trying to get into Medicine she spent a further three or four years applying and moving around to be closer to various universities until she eventually succeeded in securing a position.
I'm heading out tomorrow with my Dad to attend her graduation and see her officially become a Doctor. She still has to do two to three years in a hospital before she is let loose on patients by herself and then she can decide if she wants to specialise in something, or become a GP or, just stay working in Hospitals, or whatever other options are available to her. It's been a pretty hard slog for her and she's had some set backs along the way including a boyfriend who turned out to be more of a hindrance than a help and she stayed with him way too long after he became an unhealthy influence on her. Thankfully, when they did finally go their separate ways she landed on her feet and is now with a great bloke who seems to be good for her and my sister seems to be good for him. Together they are working on improving their situation and will hopefully end up purchasing a house together in the not too distant future.
I'm looking forward to being there when she gets the piece of paper that makes it all official and it's a shame that my Mum isn't around to see it as she would have been so proud of my sister. I think my Dad is pretty pleased with the way things turned out as his father, my Grandpa, was a Doctor so Dad will be happy that medicine is still in the family, not to mention all the free check-ups and bulk billing he'll be getting from now on.
Bomber
happy for my sister
I'm heading out tomorrow with my Dad to attend her graduation and see her officially become a Doctor. She still has to do two to three years in a hospital before she is let loose on patients by herself and then she can decide if she wants to specialise in something, or become a GP or, just stay working in Hospitals, or whatever other options are available to her. It's been a pretty hard slog for her and she's had some set backs along the way including a boyfriend who turned out to be more of a hindrance than a help and she stayed with him way too long after he became an unhealthy influence on her. Thankfully, when they did finally go their separate ways she landed on her feet and is now with a great bloke who seems to be good for her and my sister seems to be good for him. Together they are working on improving their situation and will hopefully end up purchasing a house together in the not too distant future.
I'm looking forward to being there when she gets the piece of paper that makes it all official and it's a shame that my Mum isn't around to see it as she would have been so proud of my sister. I think my Dad is pretty pleased with the way things turned out as his father, my Grandpa, was a Doctor so Dad will be happy that medicine is still in the family, not to mention all the free check-ups and bulk billing he'll be getting from now on.
Bomber
happy for my sister
Tuesday, 25 September 2018
Growing My Own Food
I spent most of Sunday in the garden, tidying up and potting some flowers and things that we'd bought at the nursery. I also decided to have a go at growing some of my own food from seeds. I've tried to do that before but it wasn't a great success as I the pots probably weren't in the best location and I forgot to water them too. This time I've moved the pots to a position that I hope will be a bit better and hopefully I can remember to water them more regularly.
I've planed seeds for lettuce, basil, chilli and rocket. I didn't have any other seeds so they will have to do. I'm looking forward to seeing if I can get them growing and having a go at eating them.
Also in the backyard we have an apple tree and a nectarine tree. Last year the nectarine had plenty of fruit and the apple had not one. I'm not sure what happened as we usually get heaps of apples. Unfortunately I don't do anything with any of the fruit that we grow, it just ripens on the tree and then falls to the ground or the birds get to it. Maybe this year I'll have a go at keeping at least some of the apples as I don't like nectarines and I don't know what to do with them if I'm not going to eat them.
Growing food in a vege garden is something that I really want to have a go at but we don't currently have the room. When the kids have grown up and we don't have the swings and trampoline in the yard anymore I'll probably make some above ground beds and have a real go at growing some food. Until then I'll have to be content with the small pots next to the garage.
Bomber
enjoying Springtime
I've planed seeds for lettuce, basil, chilli and rocket. I didn't have any other seeds so they will have to do. I'm looking forward to seeing if I can get them growing and having a go at eating them.
Also in the backyard we have an apple tree and a nectarine tree. Last year the nectarine had plenty of fruit and the apple had not one. I'm not sure what happened as we usually get heaps of apples. Unfortunately I don't do anything with any of the fruit that we grow, it just ripens on the tree and then falls to the ground or the birds get to it. Maybe this year I'll have a go at keeping at least some of the apples as I don't like nectarines and I don't know what to do with them if I'm not going to eat them.
Growing food in a vege garden is something that I really want to have a go at but we don't currently have the room. When the kids have grown up and we don't have the swings and trampoline in the yard anymore I'll probably make some above ground beds and have a real go at growing some food. Until then I'll have to be content with the small pots next to the garage.
Bomber
enjoying Springtime
Monday, 24 September 2018
Warming Up
It's really starting to warm up again, this week is meant to be great weather wise and daylight savings is only a two weekends away. I think it is meant to start on Sunday 7 October.
Term 4 for the school kids runs from 15 October to 19 December so this is my window of opportunity to head out motocamping and filming. I'm thinking I may try to take off from work Wednesday 24 October, Wednesday 14 November and Wednesday 12 December but it will depend on the the weather if I actually go on those days or choose a different Wednesday instead. That will give me six videos with some luck, but unfortunately there would then be a break due to school holidays before I would be able to head out again, maybe not until late January or early February.
I would need time to do the post production on each video to make it as good as I could so I may just decide to release all six videos in the six weeks leading up to Christmas, one each week. I could then really try and promote the first video knowing that there are five more coming up. The three next episodes should already be complete or at least in post-production by the time the first is released so I could include snippets of "in next weeks episode" or something like that. I could also advise that the first season is kind of the pilot season and that season two will start in the new year with more videos if the response to the initial six videos is positive enough.
I need to decide on which day of the week I release my videos, I don't want to be on a day where everyone else who does similar videos releases them, but being in Australia my timing is going to be different then the northern hemisphere anyway. I was thinking that maybe Thursday nights at 6pm could be a good time, that would allow time for people to watch after dinner on the night or any time over the weekend. I just watched a video that suggested releasing 3 hours prior to what you think but looking at the world clocks, 3pm is probably a better time all around, it means that it will be in time for watching on public transport after work or at home in Australia, 7am in time for the European so morning commute and the middle of the night in the US so it will be ready for them first thing in the morning.
Bomber
starting to lock in dates
Term 4 for the school kids runs from 15 October to 19 December so this is my window of opportunity to head out motocamping and filming. I'm thinking I may try to take off from work Wednesday 24 October, Wednesday 14 November and Wednesday 12 December but it will depend on the the weather if I actually go on those days or choose a different Wednesday instead. That will give me six videos with some luck, but unfortunately there would then be a break due to school holidays before I would be able to head out again, maybe not until late January or early February.
I would need time to do the post production on each video to make it as good as I could so I may just decide to release all six videos in the six weeks leading up to Christmas, one each week. I could then really try and promote the first video knowing that there are five more coming up. The three next episodes should already be complete or at least in post-production by the time the first is released so I could include snippets of "in next weeks episode" or something like that. I could also advise that the first season is kind of the pilot season and that season two will start in the new year with more videos if the response to the initial six videos is positive enough.
I need to decide on which day of the week I release my videos, I don't want to be on a day where everyone else who does similar videos releases them, but being in Australia my timing is going to be different then the northern hemisphere anyway. I was thinking that maybe Thursday nights at 6pm could be a good time, that would allow time for people to watch after dinner on the night or any time over the weekend. I just watched a video that suggested releasing 3 hours prior to what you think but looking at the world clocks, 3pm is probably a better time all around, it means that it will be in time for watching on public transport after work or at home in Australia, 7am in time for the European so morning commute and the middle of the night in the US so it will be ready for them first thing in the morning.
Bomber
starting to lock in dates
Sunday, 23 September 2018
Visitors to this Blog
I haven't given an update on how the blog itself is doing for a while so I thought I'd share some of the current stats. As I've mentioned previously, I have done nothing to promote this blog in anyway, I want it to be 100% organic in the number of views it gets and any shares, followers or other things will be purely off the merit of the
blog itself and the internet allowing people to search for things. I've set no goals relating to this blog apart from writing a daily post about something.
If you didn't know already, Blogger records different stats for users to be able to see how they are engaging with their audience.
Page views today 0
Page views yesterday 3
Page views last month 96
Page views all time history 251
Followers 0
Page views by Country
Australia 167
Portugal 47
United States 32
Unknown Region 3
Belgium 1
It's interesting for me to see these kind of stats and makes me wonder just what all those people in Portugal were searching for when they found my blog. I still have 0 comments on any posts at all so if you are reading this, it'd be nice to know in the comments just how you found this site and what you were actually looking for as I'm assuming that you weren't looking for me!
Bomber
still talking to myself
blog itself and the internet allowing people to search for things. I've set no goals relating to this blog apart from writing a daily post about something.
If you didn't know already, Blogger records different stats for users to be able to see how they are engaging with their audience.
Page views today 0
Page views yesterday 3
Page views last month 96
Page views all time history 251
Followers 0
Page views by Country
Australia 167
Portugal 47
United States 32
Unknown Region 3
Belgium 1
It's interesting for me to see these kind of stats and makes me wonder just what all those people in Portugal were searching for when they found my blog. I still have 0 comments on any posts at all so if you are reading this, it'd be nice to know in the comments just how you found this site and what you were actually looking for as I'm assuming that you weren't looking for me!
Bomber
still talking to myself
Saturday, 22 September 2018
Weighing In
107kg
I could possibly say 106.5kg but it was closer to 107kg. I wanted to put some effort in this week to not eat anything other than breakfast, lunch and dinner; And make sure I got over 10,000 steps each day. My motivation was lacking a little, so I didn't get all the steps I wanted and we bought a new coffee machine last weekend so I had a couple more coffees than I usually would. On Wednesday I had one beer when I got home as it had been a big day, Thursday I had one beer and Friday I had 3 or 4.
Hopefully I can step it up a little more between now and Christmas but as long as I'm losing weight I'm still happy, still, I did set myself a goal and I would like to give it my best. I was thinking that I should start going to the gym once a week and see how that works out for me.
Early on I said that I probably wouldn't start a food diary or weigh myself more often than once a week but I'm starting to think that I will start logging my food, just to see if I can see any difference week to week in what I eat and how it affects my weight loss. I'll probably just start by totalling it on the weekly weighing in post. So, next week there should be a list of everything I ate and drank each day at the end of the post as well as the total number of steps for the week, from Saturday morning (today) to Friday night as I weigh myself on Saturday mornings.
I bought some new sneakers last weekend and I think that they are giving me the start of some blisters near the heal of both my feet. My last sneakers were worn out and they gave me blisters on the outside of my feet near the base of my little toe on each foot. Maybe I'm just getting soft and need to get some better calluses on my feet.
Bomber
needing more motivation
I could possibly say 106.5kg but it was closer to 107kg. I wanted to put some effort in this week to not eat anything other than breakfast, lunch and dinner; And make sure I got over 10,000 steps each day. My motivation was lacking a little, so I didn't get all the steps I wanted and we bought a new coffee machine last weekend so I had a couple more coffees than I usually would. On Wednesday I had one beer when I got home as it had been a big day, Thursday I had one beer and Friday I had 3 or 4.
Hopefully I can step it up a little more between now and Christmas but as long as I'm losing weight I'm still happy, still, I did set myself a goal and I would like to give it my best. I was thinking that I should start going to the gym once a week and see how that works out for me.
Early on I said that I probably wouldn't start a food diary or weigh myself more often than once a week but I'm starting to think that I will start logging my food, just to see if I can see any difference week to week in what I eat and how it affects my weight loss. I'll probably just start by totalling it on the weekly weighing in post. So, next week there should be a list of everything I ate and drank each day at the end of the post as well as the total number of steps for the week, from Saturday morning (today) to Friday night as I weigh myself on Saturday mornings.
I bought some new sneakers last weekend and I think that they are giving me the start of some blisters near the heal of both my feet. My last sneakers were worn out and they gave me blisters on the outside of my feet near the base of my little toe on each foot. Maybe I'm just getting soft and need to get some better calluses on my feet.
Bomber
needing more motivation
Friday, 21 September 2018
Earning Money
Last week, I mentioned Mark Victor's Biker Bits Australia YouTube channel and how he is out riding around all over the place. Mark also has a Patreon page and I took a look at it and was blown away by how much he is earning each month from it. Mark currently has 151 Patrons and earns $997 each month just from Patreon. He has around 21,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, I'm not sure if he monetises his YouTube videos or not as I run an ad blocker, but his most recent videos have averaged only 3,000 - 4,000 views and he releases two videos each week, so lets just say 7,000 views each week, so he'd only be making less than $10 a week from YouTube on it's own.
Biker Bits Australia also has a store that he runs with his partner and they sell all sorts of biking related bits so hopefully that earns him a bit more too as what he earns right now wouldn't pay my mortgage and he does these things full time. What it does show is that consistancy and a decent following can pay off as if I was earning an extra $1000 per month I'd be laughing.
What did surprise me about how much Mark earns from Patreon is that he has 75 Patrons that pay him $10 or more each month and 57 who pay at $5 each month. They are some decent figures and it gives me hope that Patreon may actually be the best source of income for what I'm trying to do with the Motocamp360 business.
I looked a little further into selling on Amazon and they want $50 per month, that is not worth it for what I want to do. I can see that I'm going to end up with something that costs more than I really want to spend.
Amazon is $50 per month
Crazydomains.com.au is $40 per month for a site with a store/cart
Wix is $18US per month for an online store. I guess with Wix at least it is a full website so I could tie several things together, like a blog or something
Shopify starts at $9 per month for just the ability to sell but with no actual online store, you just use facebook or your own website or something, otherwise it's $29 per month.
a business account with ebay is $20 per month,
Maybe I could just use PayPal, I'll have to look into that a little more as it could be the easiest way to deal with this online store problem.
Bomber
doing the sums
Biker Bits Australia also has a store that he runs with his partner and they sell all sorts of biking related bits so hopefully that earns him a bit more too as what he earns right now wouldn't pay my mortgage and he does these things full time. What it does show is that consistancy and a decent following can pay off as if I was earning an extra $1000 per month I'd be laughing.
What did surprise me about how much Mark earns from Patreon is that he has 75 Patrons that pay him $10 or more each month and 57 who pay at $5 each month. They are some decent figures and it gives me hope that Patreon may actually be the best source of income for what I'm trying to do with the Motocamp360 business.
I looked a little further into selling on Amazon and they want $50 per month, that is not worth it for what I want to do. I can see that I'm going to end up with something that costs more than I really want to spend.
Amazon is $50 per month
Crazydomains.com.au is $40 per month for a site with a store/cart
Wix is $18US per month for an online store. I guess with Wix at least it is a full website so I could tie several things together, like a blog or something
Shopify starts at $9 per month for just the ability to sell but with no actual online store, you just use facebook or your own website or something, otherwise it's $29 per month.
a business account with ebay is $20 per month,
Maybe I could just use PayPal, I'll have to look into that a little more as it could be the easiest way to deal with this online store problem.
Bomber
doing the sums
Thursday, 20 September 2018
Location, Location, Location
Honeysuckle camp ground is where I said that I'd like to go next and I have a short list of other locations that I'd like to go to and try and make videos. I'm still planning on heading out mid-week to do these so I'm hoping that I'll have the places basically to myself so I don't feel like such a weirdo talking to the camera all by myself. It'd almost be preferable to have someone come with me to hold a traditional camera in my face as then anyone who did see me talking to the camera would get the idea. Now that I write that, I'm guessing that if I have the camera up on it's post and it's obvious that I'm talking to it, then hopefully I won't feel too odd.
As I said previously, Honeysuckle camp ground is where the old Honeysuckle Receiving Station was that actually picked up Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon and then passed on the signal so it could be broadcast around the world. Each location that I visit needs to have two things that I can do either at the location or very nearby if my plan is to work. So for Honeysuckle there is the old concrete pads where the dish used to be and some info that I can read out and I have some ideas for some fun shots that take advantage of the 360° camera and the bullet time feature that it has. The other thing I can do near Honeysuckle camp ground is to go and explore on foot Booroomba Rocks which are nearby and are meant to have an awesome view.
Another location that I'd like to visit is Mt Clear. Nearby is Brayshaws Hut and I'm sure that I can find a walking trail or something else nearby, but I need to find out exactly what I'm going to do before I head off. Maybe it's just cooking damper in the campfire, I kind of like that idea as it's something a little different.
I have a long list of about 30 locations but some of them are further than two hours away which I think will be the limit for most adventures. One that is closer is Talaganda State Forest, this place is a favourite for enduro riders so it may be a bit beyond me but I'd like to give it a go. The advantage with it being a State Forest is that it's free to camp and you can camp anywhere you like. For things to do in Talaganda there is the Captains Flat rain radar as well as some old ruins from an early mining settlement, so that should be a good location to try out and is really what I'm aiming for with the YouTube videos.
Bomber
time to get out that calendar
As I said previously, Honeysuckle camp ground is where the old Honeysuckle Receiving Station was that actually picked up Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon and then passed on the signal so it could be broadcast around the world. Each location that I visit needs to have two things that I can do either at the location or very nearby if my plan is to work. So for Honeysuckle there is the old concrete pads where the dish used to be and some info that I can read out and I have some ideas for some fun shots that take advantage of the 360° camera and the bullet time feature that it has. The other thing I can do near Honeysuckle camp ground is to go and explore on foot Booroomba Rocks which are nearby and are meant to have an awesome view.
Another location that I'd like to visit is Mt Clear. Nearby is Brayshaws Hut and I'm sure that I can find a walking trail or something else nearby, but I need to find out exactly what I'm going to do before I head off. Maybe it's just cooking damper in the campfire, I kind of like that idea as it's something a little different.
I have a long list of about 30 locations but some of them are further than two hours away which I think will be the limit for most adventures. One that is closer is Talaganda State Forest, this place is a favourite for enduro riders so it may be a bit beyond me but I'd like to give it a go. The advantage with it being a State Forest is that it's free to camp and you can camp anywhere you like. For things to do in Talaganda there is the Captains Flat rain radar as well as some old ruins from an early mining settlement, so that should be a good location to try out and is really what I'm aiming for with the YouTube videos.
Bomber
time to get out that calendar
Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Two months of Blogging
Today marks two months of daily posts on this blog. I don't really know how I've managed to do it but I have. I'm really starting to struggle with new ideas for posts as I've kind of got all the equipment I want and have a plan on what I want to do and how I think I want to do it. I'm now just waiting on the warmer weather before I can start heading out camping more often.
Still, I'm pleased that I've managed to keep on blogging and get the YouTube channel under-way but I'm not so happy that my weight loss has stalled. I really need to make sure that I'm getting at least 10,000 steps each day and avoiding the junk food completely, there's just no room for it in my diet if I'm going to have any chance of hitting my weight loss goal by Christmas. 28 kilos in 14 weeks, I don't think that I can do it as the best I've done so far is 1kg in 1 week and I often only get half a kilo in the week but I want to give it a real good go. I have to psych myself up a little and make sure that I'm really pushing myself and not taking the easy route.
I think I may have to start walking during my lunch breaks and I can do that without too much effort. I usually eat and work where I'm meant to be taking at least a half hour break so, I'll just make sure I get up at 12pm and go for a walk before I get my lunch and then I can eat at my desk and keep working. I'll probably cut down beer to just one day a week and if need be I'll stop drinking beer altogether.
Monday I got 10,000 steps whilst still at work and when I got home I still went for a walk ending up with almost 15K steps for the day.
Tuesday I didn't quite get to 10,000 and I had a burger and chips for lunch, they were from a cafe so hopefully a little bit better than Maccas or Hungry Jacks in terms of healthiness.
Today I got over 10,000 whilst still at work but I did work a little later than normal.
Bomber
feeling like a fatty
Still, I'm pleased that I've managed to keep on blogging and get the YouTube channel under-way but I'm not so happy that my weight loss has stalled. I really need to make sure that I'm getting at least 10,000 steps each day and avoiding the junk food completely, there's just no room for it in my diet if I'm going to have any chance of hitting my weight loss goal by Christmas. 28 kilos in 14 weeks, I don't think that I can do it as the best I've done so far is 1kg in 1 week and I often only get half a kilo in the week but I want to give it a real good go. I have to psych myself up a little and make sure that I'm really pushing myself and not taking the easy route.
I think I may have to start walking during my lunch breaks and I can do that without too much effort. I usually eat and work where I'm meant to be taking at least a half hour break so, I'll just make sure I get up at 12pm and go for a walk before I get my lunch and then I can eat at my desk and keep working. I'll probably cut down beer to just one day a week and if need be I'll stop drinking beer altogether.
Monday I got 10,000 steps whilst still at work and when I got home I still went for a walk ending up with almost 15K steps for the day.
Tuesday I didn't quite get to 10,000 and I had a burger and chips for lunch, they were from a cafe so hopefully a little bit better than Maccas or Hungry Jacks in terms of healthiness.
Today I got over 10,000 whilst still at work but I did work a little later than normal.
Bomber
feeling like a fatty
Tuesday, 18 September 2018
Planning the the video format.
I think I have mentioned it before but I would like a consistent structure to my videos if possible. My current idea is that each trip will make two videos, the first day will be part one and the second, part two.
Part One
- Riding along and introducing the video
- Channel title
- Riding and some more talking
- Setting up camp
- Doing something eg: fishing, riding, sight seeing
- Dinner (although that may depend on what I'm having and how it looks, the stuff I filmed on my recent trip wasn't good viewing).
- Bedtime/Sign off
Part Two
- sunrise at the camp site
- Channel title
- Breakfast with a chat about what I want to do that day
- Packing up camp
- riding with some talking
- stopping to do something eg: fishing, riding, sight seeing
- Riding and signing off
By having some sort of idea how I want the videos to be produced, I should be able to get the shots that I need to make the videos interesting. I did originally have a plan to make the videos at least 12 minutes long, but now I don't know if I'll be able to do that. I don't want to bore viewers and as long as the video is good and has enough content to actually engage with viewers then I don't really mind how long or short the videos are. I know I don't want them to be too long but If I can get them to somewhere between 6 and 12 minutes each, then I'll be happy.
Bomber
planning planning planning
Part One
- Riding along and introducing the video
- Channel title
- Riding and some more talking
- Setting up camp
- Doing something eg: fishing, riding, sight seeing
- Dinner (although that may depend on what I'm having and how it looks, the stuff I filmed on my recent trip wasn't good viewing).
- Bedtime/Sign off
Part Two
- sunrise at the camp site
- Channel title
- Breakfast with a chat about what I want to do that day
- Packing up camp
- riding with some talking
- stopping to do something eg: fishing, riding, sight seeing
- Riding and signing off
By having some sort of idea how I want the videos to be produced, I should be able to get the shots that I need to make the videos interesting. I did originally have a plan to make the videos at least 12 minutes long, but now I don't know if I'll be able to do that. I don't want to bore viewers and as long as the video is good and has enough content to actually engage with viewers then I don't really mind how long or short the videos are. I know I don't want them to be too long but If I can get them to somewhere between 6 and 12 minutes each, then I'll be happy.
Bomber
planning planning planning
Monday, 17 September 2018
Subscribers!
My son has watched my intro video a few times, he thinks it's pretty cool. My wife also said it's pretty cool and she subscribed to me too! Here I was getting all excited over a 1:38 intro clip and it was my wife and son LOL!
I'm not planning on doing any promotion for the channel until I have four or five videos uploaded and more actually planned. I'll then probably invite my facebook friends to like the channel and also some of the facebook groups that are motorcycling related and the Insta360 group too. Basically I'll go all out for one video and make sure that it's a good one. I may also pay for the facebook post to be boosted and the YouTube video too. I don't want to spam my friends with my channel but I need to start somewhere and start drumming up some subscribers.
I really want the YouTube channel to take off, actually, I might start calling it my Motocamp360 business as it is more than just YouTube, I want to get Patrons on Patreon and sell T-Shirts and maybe other motocamping related equipment too. I think I can set up an Amazon Store so if I start making my own t-shirts I may be able to sell them there and then be an affiliate seller for other kit like the cooking set up I use and other things that I take motocamping with me.
I guess I'm still stuck in the want, want, want routine that I mentioned in one of my early posts, but this is kind of different, I'm wanting things to change and I'm actually trying to do something to help make the change instead of just wanting to win lotto.
Bomber
still wanting
I'm not planning on doing any promotion for the channel until I have four or five videos uploaded and more actually planned. I'll then probably invite my facebook friends to like the channel and also some of the facebook groups that are motorcycling related and the Insta360 group too. Basically I'll go all out for one video and make sure that it's a good one. I may also pay for the facebook post to be boosted and the YouTube video too. I don't want to spam my friends with my channel but I need to start somewhere and start drumming up some subscribers.
I really want the YouTube channel to take off, actually, I might start calling it my Motocamp360 business as it is more than just YouTube, I want to get Patrons on Patreon and sell T-Shirts and maybe other motocamping related equipment too. I think I can set up an Amazon Store so if I start making my own t-shirts I may be able to sell them there and then be an affiliate seller for other kit like the cooking set up I use and other things that I take motocamping with me.
I guess I'm still stuck in the want, want, want routine that I mentioned in one of my early posts, but this is kind of different, I'm wanting things to change and I'm actually trying to do something to help make the change instead of just wanting to win lotto.
Bomber
still wanting
Sunday, 16 September 2018
Camping Kit Changes
Today I went through the camping kit and tidied it up after last weekends adventures. The tent needed some sand brushed off it and to dry out a little as it was a little damp when I packed it up. Also, when I packed up on Monday morning, I couldn't find the bag to put the fly in so I had to try and find that so the fly could be put away properly, I couldn't find it anywhere, I must have left it behind somehow. It had some pegs in it so it shouldn't have just blown away and I saw it when I first started packing up, either a bird or a person must have taken it, but I don't even know when they would have had a chance, weird.
Out of all the kit that I took, the only thing that I don't think I'd take with me next time was the large mesh ground sheet.I only took the large ground sheet last weekend as there was three of us and it goes really well under the large shade tent my mate has, it is far too large for just one person to need, I have a smaller ground mat that I used in front of the tent and that worked quite well.
I'm hoping to be able to leave most of the camping kit in the tail bag so it just becomes an easy job the throw it on the back of the bike and head off next time. The dry bag that I use on the rear seat had a few changes of clothes in it last weekend but when it is just one night it'll have probably a clean pair of socks and undies and that's about it. I could definitely fit everything that I'd want for several days with the kit I have, the only thing would be space for extra food but I think I can fit that in the dry bag without too much effort and there are always stores where you can buy tinned food, even if it is just from a service station.
I'm going to start looking at the calendar again and planning some trips, the next one that I want to do will be to Honeysuckle camp ground which has some amazing history, it is where the images from the first moon landing were actually received first and then passed on around the globe. There's no dish there now but there are some nice walks to some rocks with great views over the Brindabella Mountains.
Bomber
getting the itch again
Out of all the kit that I took, the only thing that I don't think I'd take with me next time was the large mesh ground sheet.I only took the large ground sheet last weekend as there was three of us and it goes really well under the large shade tent my mate has, it is far too large for just one person to need, I have a smaller ground mat that I used in front of the tent and that worked quite well. I'm going to start looking at the calendar again and planning some trips, the next one that I want to do will be to Honeysuckle camp ground which has some amazing history, it is where the images from the first moon landing were actually received first and then passed on around the globe. There's no dish there now but there are some nice walks to some rocks with great views over the Brindabella Mountains.
Bomber
getting the itch again
Saturday, 15 September 2018
Weighing In
108kg.
Not happy Jan.
So I guess I should have expected this, I haven't done any walking, I had Hungry Jacks for lunch on Tuesday and Thursday and I had some chocolate for desert a couple of times this week. It ends now, or at least it starts again now. I've got a cold and I'm still a little dizzy but I'm not going to let that be an excuse any longer, I need to make the effort to get out walking everyday and drink more water and eat less unhealthy food.
I had a play with some more of the footage and I've made a little video that I think that I'll use as the opening title in all of my videos. I'm happier with this video than I am with the intro videos and I may just re-do them if I feel inspired enough. It's funny how a week can change your perspective on things, on Tuesday I wasn't very keen to keep on trying to motovlog and I was thinking about giving up on this blog, but today I'm already looking forward to my next trip away and coming up with more ideas for things to try and film to make the videos more interesting.
With the title video, I think I'll edit in the location that I'm visiting in each episode so it will change slightly for each video. I originally wanted to do this sort of branding and then changed my mind, but playing with the videos I all of a sudden felt insired to create something. I hope I still like it when it comes time to use it in a video.
Bomber
needing to be better at getting better
Not happy Jan.
So I guess I should have expected this, I haven't done any walking, I had Hungry Jacks for lunch on Tuesday and Thursday and I had some chocolate for desert a couple of times this week. It ends now, or at least it starts again now. I've got a cold and I'm still a little dizzy but I'm not going to let that be an excuse any longer, I need to make the effort to get out walking everyday and drink more water and eat less unhealthy food.
I had a play with some more of the footage and I've made a little video that I think that I'll use as the opening title in all of my videos. I'm happier with this video than I am with the intro videos and I may just re-do them if I feel inspired enough. It's funny how a week can change your perspective on things, on Tuesday I wasn't very keen to keep on trying to motovlog and I was thinking about giving up on this blog, but today I'm already looking forward to my next trip away and coming up with more ideas for things to try and film to make the videos more interesting.
Bomber
needing to be better at getting better
Friday, 14 September 2018
A Longer Motocamping Trip
Mark Victor from Biker Bits Australia has been out doing what he calls "Rambles" all over the Australian countryside. My bike isn't designed for as off-road as he gets on some of his trips but with the right tyres on the bike it should go most places. I was watching one of his adventures where he went out to Birdsville and I think that I'd like to do the same. I started looking at just how far away that way and how many days it would take me to do that trip and I think that I'd need close to two weeks to do it, so just a little more than I should try to bite off just at the moment.
I then started looking at the map and wondered where else I could go that isn't as far away as Birdsville but still somewhere that would be an adventure to get to. I think I've decided on Bourke as the destination for my first multi-day trip. If I push myself I could probably do Bourke in one day but it would be better to do it in two, so a three night trip. Hopefully I could get kind of two thirds of the way to Bourke in the first day, that way I'd have a chance to look around when I got there on the second day and then head off in the morning of the third day and stay at somewhere about two thirds of the way back so the last day is a bit easier too. I think I'll set myself the goal of achieving this before the end of April 2019, it'll have to probably be in April or it may be too hot to travel out there, I may be able to go out in March but it's been pretty much like Summer for most of March the last couple of years. I'm not even sure what there is in Bourke, it's just one of those places that all Australians have heard of, maybe it's Opal mines or something like that but I think the Opals are in Coober Pedy. Don't know but all I know is that when someone is way out in the middle of nowhere, they often say that they are out the back of Bourke somewhere.
I do still want to get out to Birdsville, Coober Pedy or at least Cameron Corner but I don't want to set a time frame for them yet, I want to see how I go getting to Bourke, it'll probably be just one big trip away each year for the time being, two at the most.
Bomber.
wanting to taste red dust.
I then started looking at the map and wondered where else I could go that isn't as far away as Birdsville but still somewhere that would be an adventure to get to. I think I've decided on Bourke as the destination for my first multi-day trip. If I push myself I could probably do Bourke in one day but it would be better to do it in two, so a three night trip. Hopefully I could get kind of two thirds of the way to Bourke in the first day, that way I'd have a chance to look around when I got there on the second day and then head off in the morning of the third day and stay at somewhere about two thirds of the way back so the last day is a bit easier too. I think I'll set myself the goal of achieving this before the end of April 2019, it'll have to probably be in April or it may be too hot to travel out there, I may be able to go out in March but it's been pretty much like Summer for most of March the last couple of years. I'm not even sure what there is in Bourke, it's just one of those places that all Australians have heard of, maybe it's Opal mines or something like that but I think the Opals are in Coober Pedy. Don't know but all I know is that when someone is way out in the middle of nowhere, they often say that they are out the back of Bourke somewhere.I do still want to get out to Birdsville, Coober Pedy or at least Cameron Corner but I don't want to set a time frame for them yet, I want to see how I go getting to Bourke, it'll probably be just one big trip away each year for the time being, two at the most.
Bomber.
wanting to taste red dust.
Thursday, 13 September 2018
Goal Kicked
I have edited and uploaded both the intro videos. I had a lot more footage that I wanted to add in but time was getting away from me and I just wanted to get them done. I think that they are alright, I can always update them later as I get better at filming and editing. I managed to do some colour correction and enhancements using Davinci Resolve 15. So without further delay here is the first intro video.
That is the Patreon intro, but the YouTube one is the same footage, just a slightly different voice over.
That's a goal ticked off the list, it's about two weeks later than I'd hoped but that's OK, especially since I won't be going camping again until daylight savings and it warms up a little more.
Bomber
making videos
That's a goal ticked off the list, it's about two weeks later than I'd hoped but that's OK, especially since I won't be going camping again until daylight savings and it warms up a little more.
Bomber
making videos
Wednesday, 12 September 2018
Making the Intro Video
I've been going through all the footage from the weekend and have been trying to put together the intro video. I did one version but I'm not really happy with it so I'm trying to do another version but I just can't seem to engage. I've had a bit of a cold today and I am definitely a little under the weather. As soon as I have something I'll post it up here too.
I want the intro video to be something decent and not just something I've thrown together, it needs to represent what I am trying to do and put it in the best possible light.
Going camping has certainly taken some of the desire to "get out there" out of me, it's kind of like I've now had my hit so I'm good for a little bit. I'd started drafting another post about heading out again but it honestly feels to soon and I don't really want to think about it at the moment. I was watching another YouTuber last night and he was giving an update on what he was doing and what's coming up in future episodes, he's already got 7 motocamping videos that he is working on uploading and is hoping to get another 3 done by the end of his camping season. So 10 videos in total. I don't think he splits his videos up like I'm planning to so that's 10 nights of camping that he's managed to get in, that really is quite an achievement and his video editing skills are just awesome so it makes me want to try harder.
I really think that I may have bitten off more than I can chew at the moment, I didn't really know what I was in for and now that I have a small idea of what will actually be involved, I'm starting to make excuses to myself. I will wait until daylight savings starts before I head out again but that's only 3 weeks away so I need to start planning. I have an idea of where I want to go and it's kind of a cool place to visit. I need to work out just what I want my videos to be about and if I want to talk at all or do voice overs. I wasn't comfortable talking when I was camping by myself so I either need to make sure that I'm a little more remote, or decide to just do voice overs later. Hopefully it becomes more natural with a little more practice.
Bomber
talking to myself
I want the intro video to be something decent and not just something I've thrown together, it needs to represent what I am trying to do and put it in the best possible light.
Going camping has certainly taken some of the desire to "get out there" out of me, it's kind of like I've now had my hit so I'm good for a little bit. I'd started drafting another post about heading out again but it honestly feels to soon and I don't really want to think about it at the moment. I was watching another YouTuber last night and he was giving an update on what he was doing and what's coming up in future episodes, he's already got 7 motocamping videos that he is working on uploading and is hoping to get another 3 done by the end of his camping season. So 10 videos in total. I don't think he splits his videos up like I'm planning to so that's 10 nights of camping that he's managed to get in, that really is quite an achievement and his video editing skills are just awesome so it makes me want to try harder.
I really think that I may have bitten off more than I can chew at the moment, I didn't really know what I was in for and now that I have a small idea of what will actually be involved, I'm starting to make excuses to myself. I will wait until daylight savings starts before I head out again but that's only 3 weeks away so I need to start planning. I have an idea of where I want to go and it's kind of a cool place to visit. I need to work out just what I want my videos to be about and if I want to talk at all or do voice overs. I wasn't comfortable talking when I was camping by myself so I either need to make sure that I'm a little more remote, or decide to just do voice overs later. Hopefully it becomes more natural with a little more practice.
Bomber
talking to myself
Tuesday, 11 September 2018
Motocamping, Ten Things I Learned
Going solo motocamping on the Sunday night opened my eyes to a few things. Firstly it's hard to film everything to keep things interesting. I had to remember to stop and film, I didn't know where the best spots to film were so I probably too way too much footage of boring parts of the trip.
Secondly, charge the batteries as often as possible. There were a number of times where I could have done some talking but either the camera was dead or my phone was almost dead so I couldn't record the audio to it. In the end I didn't do any audio at all and will most likely just end up using the footage that I got for the intro video and maybe for B roll stuff in the future if needed.
Third thing was that it still gets dark really early in September, I really should wait until daylight savings starts before I try and so this again. I ended up having dinner at 5:30pm as I wanted light to try and film it by and not just use the little camp light that I have.
Fourth, no one wants to watch an overweight middle age man heat and then eat a can of chilli, it wasn't a good look so that won't be going into the video.
Fifth, it was really cold, They said it was only going to get down to something like 6°C but it got down to 4°C on early Sunday morning. Early Monday morning wasn't as cold (9°C) but it was still cold to me, my feet froze, the rest of me was ok but I kept waking up because it was cold. I did forget to take a beanie which usually help to keep my feet warm but my sleeping bag has a hood that I had on tight and if it did work then I would have hate to have tried to sleep without it.
Sixth, 3 hours from home is too far for this video shooting business to work on a regular basis, 2 hours maximum otherwise I'm spending too long just riding and not even taking any footage.
Seventh, 2 nights will be tough, yes I did three nights but it would have been basically a 2 night trip as I stayed in the one place and didn't film much on the first day at the campsite.
Eighth, I didn't like filming at the campsite when there were people everywhere and I certainly won't be talking to the camera in the campsites, I think that I'll do more time lapses and things like that in the camp grounds.
Ninth, I need a better plan and need to stick to my plans. I forgot to do somethings and didn't feel like stopping to do others. I need to put the filming first on these trips and realise that if I want to make these good, then my actual enjoyment needs to come second.
Ten, I need to do more of it to get better at it.
Secondly, charge the batteries as often as possible. There were a number of times where I could have done some talking but either the camera was dead or my phone was almost dead so I couldn't record the audio to it. In the end I didn't do any audio at all and will most likely just end up using the footage that I got for the intro video and maybe for B roll stuff in the future if needed.
Third thing was that it still gets dark really early in September, I really should wait until daylight savings starts before I try and so this again. I ended up having dinner at 5:30pm as I wanted light to try and film it by and not just use the little camp light that I have.
Fourth, no one wants to watch an overweight middle age man heat and then eat a can of chilli, it wasn't a good look so that won't be going into the video.
Fifth, it was really cold, They said it was only going to get down to something like 6°C but it got down to 4°C on early Sunday morning. Early Monday morning wasn't as cold (9°C) but it was still cold to me, my feet froze, the rest of me was ok but I kept waking up because it was cold. I did forget to take a beanie which usually help to keep my feet warm but my sleeping bag has a hood that I had on tight and if it did work then I would have hate to have tried to sleep without it.
Sixth, 3 hours from home is too far for this video shooting business to work on a regular basis, 2 hours maximum otherwise I'm spending too long just riding and not even taking any footage.
Seventh, 2 nights will be tough, yes I did three nights but it would have been basically a 2 night trip as I stayed in the one place and didn't film much on the first day at the campsite.
Eighth, I didn't like filming at the campsite when there were people everywhere and I certainly won't be talking to the camera in the campsites, I think that I'll do more time lapses and things like that in the camp grounds.
Ninth, I need a better plan and need to stick to my plans. I forgot to do somethings and didn't feel like stopping to do others. I need to put the filming first on these trips and realise that if I want to make these good, then my actual enjoyment needs to come second.
Ten, I need to do more of it to get better at it.
Monday, 10 September 2018
Weighing In
So this is a little late but that's ok, I weighed myself on Friday morning before I headed off on my trip and I weighed 107.5kg. I weighed myself again today and I now weigh 107kg. I wasn't expecting that, I was honestly expecting no change or an increase because of the additional food and drink I had whilst camping.
I often feel like I'm making excuses in these posts for why I didn't lose as much as I was hoping, but I'm still happy with the result and at least I didn't gain any weight. The truth is that I started to fall off the weight loss wagon, I was drinking more beer and eating snacks in the afternoon and after dinner, nothing outrageous but some cracker & nut mix and on Saturday night I had a whole bag of buttered popcorn whilst watching The Mountain Between Us with my wife. I've also struggled to drink as much water as I should. I'm going to blame my knee and being dizzy but it's time to start getting back on track and making sure that I'm doing the right things to keep losing weight. The dizziness appears to to be getting better so break time is over.
I really enjoyed heading down the coast fishing with my two closest mates, one of them I hadn't seen in over 12 months. I'd never been on a chartered fishing boat before so that was an experience in itself. There were the three of us and three crew, the skipper stayed up the top of the boat most of the time and the owner spent most of his time fishing with us whilst the last guy did all the rigging, putting bait on and managed to fish as well. They had only just taken over the business and we were their first customers. It was pretty choppy out on the water and I struggled to stand up a lot of the time but I still had a great time. We all caught some good fish and no one got sea sick, so we're all pretty keen to give it another go some other time.
We did camp but had dinner both nights at the local golf club where we also had a few drinks and caught up on the on the stuff that we'd each been up to and reminiced about our child hood.
On Sunday morning I went around to my in-laws to see the wife and kids who'd gone down the coast too and after staying with them for about an hour I headed off north to go solo camping for the first time and to try and film something for YouTube. I'll go into more detail in tomorrows post but it was definitely a learning experience.
Bomber
glad to be home
I often feel like I'm making excuses in these posts for why I didn't lose as much as I was hoping, but I'm still happy with the result and at least I didn't gain any weight. The truth is that I started to fall off the weight loss wagon, I was drinking more beer and eating snacks in the afternoon and after dinner, nothing outrageous but some cracker & nut mix and on Saturday night I had a whole bag of buttered popcorn whilst watching The Mountain Between Us with my wife. I've also struggled to drink as much water as I should. I'm going to blame my knee and being dizzy but it's time to start getting back on track and making sure that I'm doing the right things to keep losing weight. The dizziness appears to to be getting better so break time is over.
I really enjoyed heading down the coast fishing with my two closest mates, one of them I hadn't seen in over 12 months. I'd never been on a chartered fishing boat before so that was an experience in itself. There were the three of us and three crew, the skipper stayed up the top of the boat most of the time and the owner spent most of his time fishing with us whilst the last guy did all the rigging, putting bait on and managed to fish as well. They had only just taken over the business and we were their first customers. It was pretty choppy out on the water and I struggled to stand up a lot of the time but I still had a great time. We all caught some good fish and no one got sea sick, so we're all pretty keen to give it another go some other time.
We did camp but had dinner both nights at the local golf club where we also had a few drinks and caught up on the on the stuff that we'd each been up to and reminiced about our child hood.
On Sunday morning I went around to my in-laws to see the wife and kids who'd gone down the coast too and after staying with them for about an hour I headed off north to go solo camping for the first time and to try and film something for YouTube. I'll go into more detail in tomorrows post but it was definitely a learning experience.
Bomber
glad to be home
Sunday, 9 September 2018
Stayed an Extra Night
This post was prepared in advance just in case I didn't get home in time to write about the trip down the coast or if I did stay away for the extra night.
I was chatting to my wife the other night whilst watching a bit of TV. Fast Ed from BHG was cooking down the coast somewhere with cows in the paddock, rolling hills and the sea in the background. My wife was like "I want to live there", so I said, "well, if the filming of me going motorcycling pays off, then I can do that from anywhere and we don't have to stay where we are now". She asked how that could make money and I said by selling merchandise and putting ads in the videos. She'd seem me previously looking at Spreadshirt, so I said we could also start a t-shirt business and if we sold enough then we could do whatever we wanted. The more I think about it, the more I think that making my own t-shirts would not only be more profitable, but it would be more rewarding. I'd like to think that if I was looking at buying a t-shirt from someone online, that something that they designed and printed themselves at home would have more value to me than something printed out commercially where I knew that they were only getting a couple of dollars for it and I was over paying for a cheap t-shirt.
I was again looking at Spreadshirt and created an account this time just to see what I could come up with. I didn't launch the shop as there is a discount that you can get for the first two weeks and I want that to be valid for if or when I actually have some subscribers who just might want to buy something. The cheapest black shirt with a white print is still AUD$19.49 + $11.99 shipping. It's such a rip off, you can get brand name clothes from discount chains for less than that. If I read it right, I'd get 8% of that sale (not including shipping) so $1.55, sure I didn't really do anything to earn that except put some designs up, but that's not really great profit and hardly worth it when you are trying to run a business. Just to pay for the hour or so I spent setting up the store I'd need to sell something like 20 t-shirts. I'm back to looking at making my own t-shirts and I think my wife is interested in making some of her own designs and trying to sell them too. I guess we could also look at tie-dying shirts too, they were all the rage when I was a kid so they must be coming around again soon.
Bomber
thinking big
I was chatting to my wife the other night whilst watching a bit of TV. Fast Ed from BHG was cooking down the coast somewhere with cows in the paddock, rolling hills and the sea in the background. My wife was like "I want to live there", so I said, "well, if the filming of me going motorcycling pays off, then I can do that from anywhere and we don't have to stay where we are now". She asked how that could make money and I said by selling merchandise and putting ads in the videos. She'd seem me previously looking at Spreadshirt, so I said we could also start a t-shirt business and if we sold enough then we could do whatever we wanted. The more I think about it, the more I think that making my own t-shirts would not only be more profitable, but it would be more rewarding. I'd like to think that if I was looking at buying a t-shirt from someone online, that something that they designed and printed themselves at home would have more value to me than something printed out commercially where I knew that they were only getting a couple of dollars for it and I was over paying for a cheap t-shirt.
I was again looking at Spreadshirt and created an account this time just to see what I could come up with. I didn't launch the shop as there is a discount that you can get for the first two weeks and I want that to be valid for if or when I actually have some subscribers who just might want to buy something. The cheapest black shirt with a white print is still AUD$19.49 + $11.99 shipping. It's such a rip off, you can get brand name clothes from discount chains for less than that. If I read it right, I'd get 8% of that sale (not including shipping) so $1.55, sure I didn't really do anything to earn that except put some designs up, but that's not really great profit and hardly worth it when you are trying to run a business. Just to pay for the hour or so I spent setting up the store I'd need to sell something like 20 t-shirts. I'm back to looking at making my own t-shirts and I think my wife is interested in making some of her own designs and trying to sell them too. I guess we could also look at tie-dying shirts too, they were all the rage when I was a kid so they must be coming around again soon.
Bomber
thinking big
Saturday, 8 September 2018
Being Prepared
If starting this blog, wanting to make YouTube videos and setting goals around both of those things has taught me anything so far, it's that I need to be well prepared. The more prepared I am the easier things seem and more I enjoy achieving my goals.
I'm hopefully enjoying myself down the coast and didn't get sea sick on the boat today, as again, I've written this post in advance. Hopefully tomorrow I can give you a full write up on how the trip went and if I managed to get any decent footage on the 360° camera. If I did get any decent footage I imagine that I'll still be working through post production tomorrow so you can expect something to be up during the week sometime.
Heading out with the camera having a flat battery, like I did last weekend, is not going to cut it when I start heading out for real. Also, not know what I'm going to say or do in advance will add significant time to the filming as well as the post-production and may end up making the videos feel poorly produced. The time I have to actually film is quite limited and the last thing I need to do is waste that time and feel like I need to rush.
A while back I mentioned that I had been preparing a list of locations to visit and things to do in each location. I've expanded that list to include the proposed scene listing for each video so I have some idea of what I need to shoot and when. I've even started writing a basic script for the intro and outro of each video as I want to have some sort of consistency with that. I'll need to add to the list the things that I need to take with me on each trip, I was planning on writing down things that I'd forgotten on the trip I'm currently away on so hopefully I'm doing that. I also want to cut down on the things that I don't need to take so anything that I don't unpack or really need could possibly be removed from the list.
Writing blogs in advance, even just getting them into a draft is really helping me with getting a new post out everyday. I often feel like I'm running out of ideas to talk about and then, all of a sudden, I have three or four posts drafted and ready to go. I like having the posts prepared in advance as it takes the pressure off of me and allows me to have a night or two off each week from writing. One of my goals is to be a better husband and father, so spending all my time at home in front of the PC isn't really going to be doing much for them.
As I'm away I also didn't do a weigh in, but I plan to do so tomorrow. It'll let me know if the trip was detrimental to my weight loss or not.
Bomber
writing lists and marking them off
I'm hopefully enjoying myself down the coast and didn't get sea sick on the boat today, as again, I've written this post in advance. Hopefully tomorrow I can give you a full write up on how the trip went and if I managed to get any decent footage on the 360° camera. If I did get any decent footage I imagine that I'll still be working through post production tomorrow so you can expect something to be up during the week sometime.
Heading out with the camera having a flat battery, like I did last weekend, is not going to cut it when I start heading out for real. Also, not know what I'm going to say or do in advance will add significant time to the filming as well as the post-production and may end up making the videos feel poorly produced. The time I have to actually film is quite limited and the last thing I need to do is waste that time and feel like I need to rush.
A while back I mentioned that I had been preparing a list of locations to visit and things to do in each location. I've expanded that list to include the proposed scene listing for each video so I have some idea of what I need to shoot and when. I've even started writing a basic script for the intro and outro of each video as I want to have some sort of consistency with that. I'll need to add to the list the things that I need to take with me on each trip, I was planning on writing down things that I'd forgotten on the trip I'm currently away on so hopefully I'm doing that. I also want to cut down on the things that I don't need to take so anything that I don't unpack or really need could possibly be removed from the list.
Writing blogs in advance, even just getting them into a draft is really helping me with getting a new post out everyday. I often feel like I'm running out of ideas to talk about and then, all of a sudden, I have three or four posts drafted and ready to go. I like having the posts prepared in advance as it takes the pressure off of me and allows me to have a night or two off each week from writing. One of my goals is to be a better husband and father, so spending all my time at home in front of the PC isn't really going to be doing much for them.
As I'm away I also didn't do a weigh in, but I plan to do so tomorrow. It'll let me know if the trip was detrimental to my weight loss or not.
Bomber
writing lists and marking them off
Friday, 7 September 2018
Wearing Different Hats
So, I'm away camping and no I'm not blogging whilst I'm away, I wrote this post prior to going away. I thought that I'd share with you some of what I've done career wise as I've done a fair few different things.
My first paying job was delivering pamphlets, that was a complete rip-off. I was a teenager and would spend a heap of time sorting and packing a bag to only make something like $14 for a weekends work. I reckon the person who was paying me was ripping me off. I never really counted that as a job, but I guess it was. When I was 17 I started working as a checkout chick at a Coles supermarket. I'd work a couple of days a week for 3 to 4 hours after school and another 3 or 4 hours on Saturday and Sunday. I worked for five years at Coles and ended up doing shift work, three to four graveyard shifts per week.
Around the time I finished school and whilst still working at Coles, I borrowed some money off my Dad and bought a mobile DJ business. I would DJ weddings, birthdays and school socials. It was good fun and I managed to start building the business. I think the DJ businesses time was limited as online music and iPods were becoming all the rage and people could download music and make their own play-lists without the need for a DJ.
I left Coles and started working in a pub, whilst still doing the DJ thing when I could. I ended up managing the pub, it was only a small place but I organised live music 5 nights a week, Wednesday was darts night and Sunday the pub was closed. At one stage, my Dad looked at buying the pub as he was worried that I would never find a "real" job. Together we decided that it wouldn't be a good idea and it's a good thing we made that decision. The owner of the building jacked up the rent and the pub closed. The old publican and myself started working on a business plan to open a new pub but that never eventuated, instead we started a live music booking agency and started running blues and roots musicians up and down the east coast of Australia as well as looking after the cover bands that played in the local pubs, at one stage we had something like 15 different venues in Canberra that we organised bands for. That business was ok but neither of us were any good at managing our money and some of our artists weren't very good at paying us what they owed us. I was still working in pubs at night and at times I'd open my wallet to pay our staff member out of money I earned the night before pulling beers. That was enough for me, I closed the business and almost went bankrupt from all the unpaid bills.
My first paying job was delivering pamphlets, that was a complete rip-off. I was a teenager and would spend a heap of time sorting and packing a bag to only make something like $14 for a weekends work. I reckon the person who was paying me was ripping me off. I never really counted that as a job, but I guess it was. When I was 17 I started working as a checkout chick at a Coles supermarket. I'd work a couple of days a week for 3 to 4 hours after school and another 3 or 4 hours on Saturday and Sunday. I worked for five years at Coles and ended up doing shift work, three to four graveyard shifts per week.
Around the time I finished school and whilst still working at Coles, I borrowed some money off my Dad and bought a mobile DJ business. I would DJ weddings, birthdays and school socials. It was good fun and I managed to start building the business. I think the DJ businesses time was limited as online music and iPods were becoming all the rage and people could download music and make their own play-lists without the need for a DJ.
I left Coles and started working in a pub, whilst still doing the DJ thing when I could. I ended up managing the pub, it was only a small place but I organised live music 5 nights a week, Wednesday was darts night and Sunday the pub was closed. At one stage, my Dad looked at buying the pub as he was worried that I would never find a "real" job. Together we decided that it wouldn't be a good idea and it's a good thing we made that decision. The owner of the building jacked up the rent and the pub closed. The old publican and myself started working on a business plan to open a new pub but that never eventuated, instead we started a live music booking agency and started running blues and roots musicians up and down the east coast of Australia as well as looking after the cover bands that played in the local pubs, at one stage we had something like 15 different venues in Canberra that we organised bands for. That business was ok but neither of us were any good at managing our money and some of our artists weren't very good at paying us what they owed us. I was still working in pubs at night and at times I'd open my wallet to pay our staff member out of money I earned the night before pulling beers. That was enough for me, I closed the business and almost went bankrupt from all the unpaid bills.
It was around this time I met my future wife. I started doing more shifts in pubs again and also spent some time in a computer repair shop. I was kind of odd as the computer repair shop was in the old shop that we started the booking agency in, just a few doors up from where the pub I used to manage was. Canberra is really a country town pretending to be a city.
I started looking for work again after a few months and got a job full-time in retail. I guess it was my first proper job since Coles that paid properly including super, annual leave and sick leave. After being there three years, I'd worked my way up to being assistant store manager and was being sent around the country to help out at other stores. I got married and I wanted to earn more money so I left retail and started working in information technology. I worked for one company for around three years and then changed to my current company where I've been doing the same job for the last seven years.
Now I'm essentially starting another small business, but this one is more of a hobby and unless it can exceed my current salary then I'll keep my full-time job. I guess if I start making more than half my current salary, I could look at going part time, but that would be a big decision to make.
I started looking for work again after a few months and got a job full-time in retail. I guess it was my first proper job since Coles that paid properly including super, annual leave and sick leave. After being there three years, I'd worked my way up to being assistant store manager and was being sent around the country to help out at other stores. I got married and I wanted to earn more money so I left retail and started working in information technology. I worked for one company for around three years and then changed to my current company where I've been doing the same job for the last seven years.
Now I'm essentially starting another small business, but this one is more of a hobby and unless it can exceed my current salary then I'll keep my full-time job. I guess if I start making more than half my current salary, I could look at going part time, but that would be a big decision to make.
Bomber
hopefully having fun at the coast
hopefully having fun at the coast
Thursday, 6 September 2018
Ready to Roll
The bike is loaded up and ready to roll in the morning. I'm not sure what time I want to set off just yet, it takes about two hours to get where I'm going but I do want to stop and film some ride bys and the memory card isn't big enough to just leave the camera filming the whole time, the battery wouldn't last that long either, it's only meant to last 70 minutes.
The forecast for the weekend is that there is a chance of showers but that can also be a good thing as it means it probably won't get as cold over night, only down to around 10°C, hopefully it doesn't rain too much, or if it does rain it's overnight.
Last weekend I was wondering what my sleeping bag is actually rated to, so I took a look at the bag to see if there was anything written on it, that's when I remembered a mate saying that I should buy a compression sack for it. I took a look on eBay and found one for fairly cheap and it arrived this week. I've had this particular sleeping bag since I was in my late teens and I always thought it was a down sleeping bag. It turns out that it's not down, it's two layers of 200gsm siliconised, high loft, hollow fibre. I'm not really sure what that means but by googleing around a little I think it would be rated to somewhere around -12°C or at least it was when it was new. That doesn't mean that I'll be comfortable at -12°C, that just means that I shouldn't die. What it does mean is that anywhere down to 0°C I should be fine in. I was a little concerned about going camping so early in spring as the mornings can still be really cold with the occasional frost. The sleeping bag is still in really good condition, I think my Mum and Sister did a really good job when they got it for me.
I've got Monday off too, so if the weather is nice and I really feel like staying an extra night, I just might do that, in fact, I've pretty much convinced myself that I'll try and come home via Araluen and stay at one of a couple of campsites along the way. Hopefully my camera battery and storage card can handle it all as I'm going to try and make the Araluen camp the first official video of Motocamp360.
Bomber
tomorrow it could start
The forecast for the weekend is that there is a chance of showers but that can also be a good thing as it means it probably won't get as cold over night, only down to around 10°C, hopefully it doesn't rain too much, or if it does rain it's overnight.
Last weekend I was wondering what my sleeping bag is actually rated to, so I took a look at the bag to see if there was anything written on it, that's when I remembered a mate saying that I should buy a compression sack for it. I took a look on eBay and found one for fairly cheap and it arrived this week. I've had this particular sleeping bag since I was in my late teens and I always thought it was a down sleeping bag. It turns out that it's not down, it's two layers of 200gsm siliconised, high loft, hollow fibre. I'm not really sure what that means but by googleing around a little I think it would be rated to somewhere around -12°C or at least it was when it was new. That doesn't mean that I'll be comfortable at -12°C, that just means that I shouldn't die. What it does mean is that anywhere down to 0°C I should be fine in. I was a little concerned about going camping so early in spring as the mornings can still be really cold with the occasional frost. The sleeping bag is still in really good condition, I think my Mum and Sister did a really good job when they got it for me.
I've got Monday off too, so if the weather is nice and I really feel like staying an extra night, I just might do that, in fact, I've pretty much convinced myself that I'll try and come home via Araluen and stay at one of a couple of campsites along the way. Hopefully my camera battery and storage card can handle it all as I'm going to try and make the Araluen camp the first official video of Motocamp360.
Bomber
tomorrow it could start
Wednesday, 5 September 2018
Camera Case
I bought a case to keep all the camera kit in and boy was my wife unhappy about it. I guess I'll have to really lay off on all the purchases for a while. The box that the Insta360 One came in was really good, it has a place for everything that came with it. I was thinking that I may just be able to find some Tupperware to put the box in and that would do. Then I bought the waterproof case and the Android adapter, not to mention the other camera mount, the microphone and the flexible phone tripod that will also fit the Insta360 One. The case I've bought fits the existing box in it as well as all the other bits and pieces, there isn't much room to spare on the top but there is a second layer underneath if I really wanted to cram more stuff it.The pluck and pick foam in it is pretty good but I've seen on YouTube that you can spray it with Plastidip and make it a little more permanent. I'll see how things go for the moment and in the future I may end up spraying my case too. I'll probably have to do that if I want to use the second layer.
The case is a little bulky but it seems really strong and is meant to be waterproof so it should hold up fairly well and it means that I can store the camera kit safely in the bottom of a cupboard instead of it taking up prime real estate in my clothes cupboard.
I think I'm done with my purchases until I subscribe to Epidemic Sound and I'll only do that when I'm ready to start releasing content.
Bomber
picking fights with the Minister for War and Finance.
Tuesday, 4 September 2018
The Loadout
On the weekend I managed to sort out all my camping kit. I listed everything in the kit the other day so I won't spell it all out again now, but I'm really starting to look forward to catching up with my mates, doing some fishing and telling some tall stories. Getting everything out and making sure it works is kind of fun but also kind of a pain, setting up a tent just to take it down again is never fun, except when I'm using my instant tent. Unfortunately the instant tent is too big to fit on the back of the bike otherwise I'd be using that for motocamping. At a real stretch I could possibly tie it to the side of the bike somehow, but it'd have to go on the chain side and would probably get chain lube on it (the other side has the exhaust on it).
I keep everything in a plastic tub in the garage so it's easy to find and store at the end of a trip. Looking at it, it all seems larger than I remember and that's not a good thing as now I want to try and buy smaller kit. The main thing that seemed larger than I remembered was the air mattress, it's probably about the size of a self-inflating one that is about 2cm thick but it is heavier. The weight doesn't concern me too much as the bike is doing the hard work, but the size could be smaller. The mattress is awesome though when inflated and as long as it doesn't get a hole in it I'll keep using it.
I'm definitely not taking the poles for the fly if it's not raining. I've never stayed a the place that we're going to so I don't know if there will be a tree I can tie the fly to or not so I really need to take the poles if I want to use the fly. There is a fly on the tent but I don't think that the tent is really all that waterproof. I did spray it down with scotchgard so it's hopefully better than it was when I bought it.
I can see that I'm going to have a shopping list of things to buy if I start to make any money from the YouTube endeavour.
Bomber
already finding ways to spend money I don't have
I keep everything in a plastic tub in the garage so it's easy to find and store at the end of a trip. Looking at it, it all seems larger than I remember and that's not a good thing as now I want to try and buy smaller kit. The main thing that seemed larger than I remembered was the air mattress, it's probably about the size of a self-inflating one that is about 2cm thick but it is heavier. The weight doesn't concern me too much as the bike is doing the hard work, but the size could be smaller. The mattress is awesome though when inflated and as long as it doesn't get a hole in it I'll keep using it.
I'm definitely not taking the poles for the fly if it's not raining. I've never stayed a the place that we're going to so I don't know if there will be a tree I can tie the fly to or not so I really need to take the poles if I want to use the fly. There is a fly on the tent but I don't think that the tent is really all that waterproof. I did spray it down with scotchgard so it's hopefully better than it was when I bought it.
I can see that I'm going to have a shopping list of things to buy if I start to make any money from the YouTube endeavour.
Bomber
already finding ways to spend money I don't have
Monday, 3 September 2018
Do I need a Website?
Whether I need a website or not is something that I've been asking myself recently. With the Facebook page, the Patreon page, the Instagram account and the YouTube channel I don't really want to have another thing to update and look after. If I do want to sell merchandise though, I'm going to need to put it online somewhere, even if I used something like Spreadshirt to make and distribute t-shirts for me, people would still need to visit that site to buy them. Spreadshirt by the way, looks a lot cheaper than some other options, If I buy 10 shirts of various sizes I can get them for under $15 each, the cheapest t-shirts you can get from somewhere like K-Mart are about $5 - $10, they have some 100% Australian cotton ones for $8 so I guess I can still make them cheaper but it'll depend on how much the screens and ink actually cost. I'm not sure if I'll make my own or not at this stage or not because of this. I don't really want to go out an buy a heap of stuff and then end up not selling any t-shirts.
You can't seem to sell individual merchandise items on Patreon so I'd need to use something else. There is a site called Shopify that I think starts at $9 a month but I don't really want to be paying a monthly fee as that will eat into whatever little profits I do make. I'm already going to be paying for music and that's more than I really want to pay in the first place (even though I know it is good value), I need to be making something before I start spending lots. Wix is something like US$16.50 per month for a site with a shop so that's not going to work either. The more I think about this as I write this post, maybe I'll just have to set up a private seller eBay store but I'm not even sure how that'll work as the cheapest business store is $24.95 per month, may be Shopify is the best option if I get into selling merchandise. I may just be able to research into using PayPal and doing my own site, or in a post on Patreon or something, or a dedicated website that ties it all together somehow. It's too confusing and I don't think I've answered any questions.
Bomber
not quite an entrepreneur (yet)
You can't seem to sell individual merchandise items on Patreon so I'd need to use something else. There is a site called Shopify that I think starts at $9 a month but I don't really want to be paying a monthly fee as that will eat into whatever little profits I do make. I'm already going to be paying for music and that's more than I really want to pay in the first place (even though I know it is good value), I need to be making something before I start spending lots. Wix is something like US$16.50 per month for a site with a shop so that's not going to work either. The more I think about this as I write this post, maybe I'll just have to set up a private seller eBay store but I'm not even sure how that'll work as the cheapest business store is $24.95 per month, may be Shopify is the best option if I get into selling merchandise. I may just be able to research into using PayPal and doing my own site, or in a post on Patreon or something, or a dedicated website that ties it all together somehow. It's too confusing and I don't think I've answered any questions.
Bomber
not quite an entrepreneur (yet)
Sunday, 2 September 2018
Testing Out the $2 Mic
Happy Fathers Day. My kids spoiled me and got me a heap of cool stuff as well as a little box of chocolates. I did eat one of the chocolates but I think I'm going to try to ration myself to one per day.
I managed to head out and test the new $2 mic this morning before my wife had to go to the doctors as she's been really sick with a cold and she has to work this afternoon. I attached the mic to the outside of my helmet just on the underside near my chin. When just sitting on the idling bike the audio is pretty good, but as soon as I start riding it goes to rubbish. You can only just hear me as there is a lot of wind noise. These was also some electrical buzzing, I don't know if that was because my phone case interferes with how well the mic plugs into the phone, or if it was caused by some sort of electro magnetic field being generated by the bike. I think I'll try the mic actually stuffed inside the padding of the helmet where the bluetooth mic is, that may get it out of the wind but it'll probably still pick up the noise of the helmet. If in the cheek pad doesn't work I'm going to have to attach the mic to the inside of the chin bar somehow or come up with a different way to to the talking part. There are a couple of Motovlogging channels where the voice over is obviously done in post-production and it works quite well, so I may have to do that, or at least a little bit of each. I'm not sure how I feel about sitting at my desk recording audio as my house can be quite noisy at times.
To see how I'd go talking whilst riding, I tried just to run through what I'd say in an intro to a video. I was trying to be enthusiastic and not ramble on too much and boy was it harder than I thought. I couldn't get out what I wanted to say without being a little disjointed and I kept making mistakes. I know it sounds weird but I'm going to practice my talking and riding skills on the way to work each day and try and get the basic intro down and memorised so it sounds more natural and less disjointed.
I did take the camera out with me as I wanted to try and get some shots of me riding past the bike, this was meant to give me some idea of how far back the camera would actually pick me up and what the audio is like from the camera with it just sitting on the side of the road. I'm still a little paranoid that someone will steal the camera if they see it just sitting there so I don't want to get too far away from it if I can avoid it.
You'll notice that I said that I wanted to, well, I made a rookie mistake and the battery in the camera was flat. I'm pretty sure I charged it up after last time I used it but I must have turned it on in it's case or not turned it off or something like that as it was turning itself off as soon as I turned it on.
Bomber
talking to myself
I managed to head out and test the new $2 mic this morning before my wife had to go to the doctors as she's been really sick with a cold and she has to work this afternoon. I attached the mic to the outside of my helmet just on the underside near my chin. When just sitting on the idling bike the audio is pretty good, but as soon as I start riding it goes to rubbish. You can only just hear me as there is a lot of wind noise. These was also some electrical buzzing, I don't know if that was because my phone case interferes with how well the mic plugs into the phone, or if it was caused by some sort of electro magnetic field being generated by the bike. I think I'll try the mic actually stuffed inside the padding of the helmet where the bluetooth mic is, that may get it out of the wind but it'll probably still pick up the noise of the helmet. If in the cheek pad doesn't work I'm going to have to attach the mic to the inside of the chin bar somehow or come up with a different way to to the talking part. There are a couple of Motovlogging channels where the voice over is obviously done in post-production and it works quite well, so I may have to do that, or at least a little bit of each. I'm not sure how I feel about sitting at my desk recording audio as my house can be quite noisy at times.
To see how I'd go talking whilst riding, I tried just to run through what I'd say in an intro to a video. I was trying to be enthusiastic and not ramble on too much and boy was it harder than I thought. I couldn't get out what I wanted to say without being a little disjointed and I kept making mistakes. I know it sounds weird but I'm going to practice my talking and riding skills on the way to work each day and try and get the basic intro down and memorised so it sounds more natural and less disjointed.
I did take the camera out with me as I wanted to try and get some shots of me riding past the bike, this was meant to give me some idea of how far back the camera would actually pick me up and what the audio is like from the camera with it just sitting on the side of the road. I'm still a little paranoid that someone will steal the camera if they see it just sitting there so I don't want to get too far away from it if I can avoid it.
You'll notice that I said that I wanted to, well, I made a rookie mistake and the battery in the camera was flat. I'm pretty sure I charged it up after last time I used it but I must have turned it on in it's case or not turned it off or something like that as it was turning itself off as soon as I turned it on.
Bomber
talking to myself
Saturday, 1 September 2018
Weighing In
108kg.
WOOOT! it's the first day of Spring!
I've been a bit of a slacker this week and haven't been walking. I've started taking a once daily multi-vitamin with breakfast but I've also been stacking on some nuts in the evening, I know I shouldn't have but they were there, my wife had bought them for me to try and I was getting bored with being boring.
I started the week a little dizzy still and went to the doctors on Tuesday after work to get more dizzy pills and see if the blood tests shed any light. Wednesday I walked down to my daughters school for Dads and Lads night, we had a couple of sausage sandwiches, played a little bit of French cricket and she showed me what she'd been up to in class the last few weeks. Thursday I just really didn't feel like walking and Friday it was raining and cold so I didn't get out then either. I think my slacking off is reflected in the small amount of weight loss that I got this week. I must admit that my joints feel better, maybe I was over doing it with walking everyday, maybe I need to walk every other day and do something else on the alternate days. Still not sure about any of this exercise business really, but I still am keen to keep losing weight.
Next week I'm going to try and do much better, I'm going to have to, as I don't know what I'll be eating and drinking next weekend when I'm away camping and fishing and I really don't want to gain any weight. I'm not sure if drinking beer is having any effect on the medication that I'm taking for dizziness, I'm going to test it out this weekend and if it makes me really dizzy again in the morning like it seemed to last weekend, then I won't be drinking on Friday night as I don't want to be dizzy get sea sick on the fishing boat, maybe the dizziness will be counteracted by the rocking of the boat 😝
Hopefully it's not raining tomorrow so I can head out and test the microphone, I don't think I'll test the camera again with it, I'll just try and concentrate on the audio and try a few different positions to see what give me the best outcome. I tried at home with recording to my phone and it seems ok, maybe a little quiet but as long as the quality is good, I can handle it being quiet as I can always boost the volume in post. I've got a couple of options for cliping the microphone to the helmet and also to my collar so fingers crossed I can find something that doesn't get too much wind noise. I'm still waiting for the dead cat which will hopefully reduce any wind noise that I do get.
Bomber
still losing weight, just not so fast
WOOOT! it's the first day of Spring!
I've been a bit of a slacker this week and haven't been walking. I've started taking a once daily multi-vitamin with breakfast but I've also been stacking on some nuts in the evening, I know I shouldn't have but they were there, my wife had bought them for me to try and I was getting bored with being boring.
I started the week a little dizzy still and went to the doctors on Tuesday after work to get more dizzy pills and see if the blood tests shed any light. Wednesday I walked down to my daughters school for Dads and Lads night, we had a couple of sausage sandwiches, played a little bit of French cricket and she showed me what she'd been up to in class the last few weeks. Thursday I just really didn't feel like walking and Friday it was raining and cold so I didn't get out then either. I think my slacking off is reflected in the small amount of weight loss that I got this week. I must admit that my joints feel better, maybe I was over doing it with walking everyday, maybe I need to walk every other day and do something else on the alternate days. Still not sure about any of this exercise business really, but I still am keen to keep losing weight.
Next week I'm going to try and do much better, I'm going to have to, as I don't know what I'll be eating and drinking next weekend when I'm away camping and fishing and I really don't want to gain any weight. I'm not sure if drinking beer is having any effect on the medication that I'm taking for dizziness, I'm going to test it out this weekend and if it makes me really dizzy again in the morning like it seemed to last weekend, then I won't be drinking on Friday night as I don't want to be dizzy get sea sick on the fishing boat, maybe the dizziness will be counteracted by the rocking of the boat 😝
Hopefully it's not raining tomorrow so I can head out and test the microphone, I don't think I'll test the camera again with it, I'll just try and concentrate on the audio and try a few different positions to see what give me the best outcome. I tried at home with recording to my phone and it seems ok, maybe a little quiet but as long as the quality is good, I can handle it being quiet as I can always boost the volume in post. I've got a couple of options for cliping the microphone to the helmet and also to my collar so fingers crossed I can find something that doesn't get too much wind noise. I'm still waiting for the dead cat which will hopefully reduce any wind noise that I do get.
Bomber
still losing weight, just not so fast
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