Quarantine - Day 4

I was quite popular today, lots of messages and calls... from work.

Oh well, guess it's nice to be needed? No doubt I'll be back in the madness soon enough.

Had the usual temperature check, other than that and the work related calls, it's been very quiet. Have loads of ideas for projects that I'd like to make, though none of them are very practical so I doubt I'll ever do them. But I'm itching to have a play with the welder. First time I've ever seen an ad on Gumtree for someone giving away free scrap steel and I'm stuck here. Next time, maybe.

Revisiting old movie

Currently re-watching Iron Man, which came out in 2008. I know it's a super hero fantasy movie and not based on reality. But the most unbelievable scene for me is the opening scene where they are riding in a deployed military vehicle which isn't chock full of random bags and gear.

Quarantine - Day 3

A bit quieter today. Had the normal visit to check my temperature and ask about how I feel but other than that, nothing much has happened. Did receive a message about my brain tickle - test came back negative, as expected.

I've got the aircon on 27, that's the highest I can set it to without it kicking over from cooling to heating. I don't want it too cold so I can try and acclimatise back to Darwin weather. No doubt I'll be spending a lot of time outside when I get back to work.

Quarantine - Day 2

Had my first brain tickler today. Can't say having the probe jammed into the back of my throat and up my nose is fun - left my eyes watery actually! I suspect this is going to happen a bunch more times before this is all over.

On the plus side, internet is available in my room now. I suspect it needed to be enabled and the mini router in each room susplies enough wifi for just that room. The walls are all metal (moveable mini buildings), and I can only see one wifi signal in the room. I think if I stood between two rooms with the doors open, I'd see two signals.

Not a theory I'm going to be able to test, I intend to have as little interaction with the other residents as possible - none at all if I can help it

At the moment it's not possible to receive things from home, so I'm stuck with the clothes I took down south. Not a huge drama, but I'm going to try and not use the laundry here. Mimimise the risk of exposure as much as possible. If I'm let out when the lockdown in Adelaide is lifted then it becomes a non-issue. If I need to do the full 14 days then I can wash clothes in the shower - though running out of laundry powder may become an issue.

Quarantine - Day 1

One of the new joys of travelling - pick the wrong dates and you get to stay at one of the many quarantine facilities for a few days, up to a fortnight (or longer if you want to be silly and not follow the rules).

I'd done a bit of travelling around since the pandemic hit but had gotten lucky so far. This is my first time being put into isolation. Fun to see that right at the front of the welcome pamphlet they have the numbers for mental health, beyond blue, suicide assistance and so forth. Guess sitting in a room for a few days is too much for some people.

Current tasks completed:
- submit induction form with emergency contact details and medical information,
- change the aircon from a freezing 20 up to 26, just enough to take the edge off the Darwin heat,
- square away my clothes and stuff, which was pretty easy considering I don't have much (and fewer warm weather clothes since I just came from down south),
- reprogram the tv as it wasn't tuned properly

Waiting to get a brain tickler (new arrivals are tested within 24 hours of arrival), reading through the rest of the information pack and then settling down for the next few days.

Vaccinamated, part uno

Got my first dose of the 'rona vaccine today. So for (about 5 hours) no side effects, so can't complain about that. The nurse did a brilliant job with the needle - barely felt it.

Winning!

Ouch, shouldn't have done that.

So ... had a drink of some juice earlier. Finishing off the dregs in a few bottles so I could put new bottles in the fridge to chill. Last one, had the first mouthfull and thought "that's a bit tangy, probably shouldn't drink that". Drank it anyway.

A few hours later, and my insides are definitely not happy. :(

Wher I Go

 No, that's not a typo in the title - Wher I Go (with only one "e" in where) is a variant on GeoCaching and a new (was new back in 2008) cache type - usually abbreviated as WIG.

The short version of WIG is that Garmin wanted to get some more markets for their GPS units, and a select few models had extra processing power. These were WIG enabled, and they could be used to play WIG "games". However, smart phones took off, the variety and options for apps exploded and Garmin quietly dropped the idea.

WIG is now kind of in limbo, hobbling along and not really getting support from anyone. Groundspeak (the company  that owns geocahing.com) is half-heartedly supporting WIG but it is difficult to create games. Instructions and support are scattered, there's a lot of old or outdated information and a lot of the instructions were in flash videos, which is no longer supported.

Just because I'm a masochist (and I can see a huge amount of potential), I'm going to be trying to build a WIG game or two, depending on how I go. I have a few ideas that I think would be much better cache experience than just a box in the bushes.

So far, I have been struggling to even get a game to play on my phone! Most of the games are location specific, but there are some "play anywhere" games. I've downloaded one, but it isn't playing nice with my phone. There is currently one one WIG in Darwin, and I'll need to try and play that one before I have a go at building one myself.

Goals:

• Complete a play anywhere game.
• Complete the Darwin WIG game.