Hi cycling commuter and weekend bike packer here, welcome to the club!

Before we start I just want to warn you that cycling, while a simple hobby is full of money sinks and gear envy. It’s very easy to spend 10x more for something marginally better, I only mention this now because it took me way too long to figure this out.

On to gear recommendations:

A good lock - this should be at least 10%the cost of your bike, also make sure to learn to lock your bike properly (not just through the front wheel)

Spare tube(s) - while I agree a patch repair kit is great to have, repairing a tube when you’re late, it’s cold, and miserable is a hellish experience. especially for newbies, id recommend carrying a spare tube instead and just changing that. That way you can patch your original tube in the warmth of your home with a cuppa, much better experience. Swap it back when you’re done and you’re gravy.

Gloves - Everyone falls. Everyone. Gloves not only make your ride more comfortable, but they also protect your palms on the event that you scrape them after a tumble (I write this with scraped palms after not following my own advice and falling last weekend)

A basic repair kit - puncture repair, tyre levers, pump, multi tool w chain break, zipties and a metre or so of duct tape

Sunnies - bike specific glasses are a scam (at least for beginners), just have a pair on the bike at all times. This will make riding at dawn/dusk and in the rain more comfortable. Id recommend polarized with a fairly light tint, too dark and it’ll be hard to ride in the rain with them.

A bike bag to store it all in - nothing fancy just good to have things off your body and on the bike so wouldn’t recommend a backpack. This is the first place where you can spend a lot of money, but a good bike bag is never a bad investment.

The more you ride the more you’ll come to realize what you need and don’t need, you’ll add a bunch to this list but I doubt there’s anything you’ll remove so it’s a good starting place.

I forgot about Chinese balloons lol, did anything ever come about after that one was shot down by the Americans?

Out of interest, what does you use? I have the Kensington expert but have been looking at the thumb operated options lately. Never had anyone to ask directly for opinions 😅

Thanks for that I forgot they had released a whole new game in between, hopefully winter sale has a decent deal and I can give it a crack

Remember to wait til the end of the day, that way you can get everything important done early in the day and then just coast into the holidays.

I haven’t actually tried mhw on stead deck, does it run well? I bought the game (having never played one before) on a whim and fun with it for a few hours, seems like a great handheld game if it runs ok

I remember signing up and putting a couple Hundy down at like 4 in the morning after a night on the beers, bit my finest moment.

Leveraging is definitely a whole other beast, glad there’s no temptation there

Your second paragraph feels like a personal attack lol

100% agree with your colleague here, work considerations end as soon as my personal time starts.

ACC are running their “have a hmmm” campaign which originally about “if something bad happens, here are all the things in my life which will be negatively effected” and it was a decent campaign.

Now the messaging has changed to “Hey if you hurt yourself, your workmates might have to work extra shifts” which is a decent consideration but seems really tone deaf without all the other life impacts. Like “Hey if you hurt yourself, you are hurting the company you work for” and tbh idgaf about the company I work for outside our contractual agreements.

I might be overthinking it but this new angle has really put me off their messaging, and I’m not even someone who actually likes my job.

So jealous! Hope the sun is warm and the breeze is refreshing whereever you may be right now :)

Sorry I mean you have two halves across the boat and another halves on the back

I might show my ignorance here but do you have 2 oars? Wouldn’t you only need one? Are they for different use cases or is one a backup?

I don’t think I could ever will myself to kayak in open water, but I’m very jealous of the adventure you’re about to have, the area and weather look stunning!

After sampling a fairly large selection, I have decided to make it my mission to find the best cheese and garlic naan in Christchurch. So far, the leading contestant is “Everest” in Woolston, which I bought on a whim one day.

If anyone wants to make any suggestions for contestants, please do!!

Today I will be telling my boss Im quting come Feb. It’s not a great time, but in my industry it never is, and I feel like giving more notice is better than waiting for a “good time”.

I don’t really owe them anything and my leaving isn’t gonna effect the behemoth of a company, but my boss has been very supportive and so I feel like I owe her atleast that much. The nerves are real though

Yeah I’m lucky in that regard too tbh, and am now in a position to see it from the other side, an applicant was declined which prompted this post, I know a lot of people who aren’t so lucky, especially if you hl can’t use your current employer or have a large gap in your work history you can’t or don’t want to explain

Most corporate types start with an online form of some sort, or will be completely online if timezones are a factor.

With regards to calls, ask your closest professional sounding friend to lie for you would be my go to

Protip for those job hunting: if you’re going to fake your references (and tbh you should), don’t do it from the same network. Even sending one while connected to your wifi and the other from your phone on mobile data should be fine (though different devices on different networks would be better). Also don’t do one and then immediately do the other.

The reason is software will show the IP address it was submitted from, and the time the link was accessed, if we get multiple from the same address or one is submitted and then the next is immediately opened then it looks pretty sus.

Last note, if you put a reference as someone overseas make sure you’re not submitting the reference at a weird local time. The amount of references where it is submitted at 2pm local time, but it’s a “British referee” is hilarious.

Best of luck peeps.

I’d love to, just so you know I’m afraid of the dark, tight spaces, and hate touching wet/slimy things… When can I start?