Car smash bike

A friend of mine was hit by a car this morning while bike riding. When I talked to them, they didn’t sound like someone who’d been in a traffic accident, they sounded like a victim of a physical assault. Putting contemporary cultural and legal idealisms aside, that’s what someone is doing when they smash you with 1.5-2 tonnes, GBH. The offender often takes on the role of the assailant too; anger, blame, fear of being caught/punished, etc. We might be cultured to believe that this is an accident, but reality always seems to push that aside while it is happening.

I’ve never hit anyone while driving a car, but I know what it’s like to be hit.

First is the terror. The terror are the moments of evaluation; will this kill me, wheel-chair me, brake my bones, or bruise and wound me. It’s not always obvious what the outcome will be once you realise you’re going to be hit. One time I imagined my death, other times I’ve known that this is just going to hurt... a lot... for weeks.

Second is the fall and the roll. Thankfully, this is fairly automatic. You’re still terrified at this point.

Third is the ground. The sweet ground. Not moving. Awaiting. You’re going to be okay. The terror has gone.

Fourth is the pain. When it comes - and it will come - it’s always worse than you first imagine it will be. I don’t know why.

Fifth is the fear. Not wanting to ride on roads again. Avoiding any situation that requires a car driver to act rationally. The worst thing about this state is that it eventually goes away.

(Some people skip steps two and three when they fall unconscious. But they know the terror. Some people skip all of these steps.)

I hope my friend gets better soon. It’s a horrible experience.

Ghost Bike

ToolTips and ShowDuration

This took me a while to figure out, so I thought I'd mention it for others searching. If you want to set a global ToolTip show duration in WPF, you can do it for each type of control as a style in the XAML file. E.g.

<Window.Resources>
      <Style TargetType="Label">
          <Setter Property="ToolTipService.ShowDuration" Value="120000" />
      </Style>
</Window.Resources>

This means that for the Window, all the Label ToolTips will remain for two minutes.

If you want good looking ToolTips, go here.

I Love a Big Australia

Big Australia: The most obess and 7th most empty nation-state on the planet.

Mt Ossa & Pelion East

A year and a half ago (dec 2008), my sister, dad and I climbed up Mt Ossa and Pelion East. It was a very good walk, though pretty tough. Pelion East was probably the more exciting of the two, with boulder clambering and a little bit of rock climbing. There was snow on Mt Ossa, however, which was a lot of fun.

Dad on top of Tasmania (Mt Ossa, 1,614 metres)

Igloo and the Icicles

The album cover from my album of 2000, Strange News from Another Star.

I still like it (the cover and the music). I remember spending many, many hours working on both. I should put the mp3s up as a torrent or something. From time to time I think about getting some music gear and having another go. I probably never will.

Djurite, May 2010

Sarah and I went to Djurite (Mt Arapiles) last week. It was a good week of climbing, eating, walking, and recovering. We didn't do anything particular hard (we were there to learn to lead climb), however, some of the climbs (Agamemnon and Muldoon) were quite scary. I mentioned it to a friend; he thought we were totally weak. I can still remember the feeling of looking down the 2+ metres until the last piece of protection and imagining what would happen if I fell. Even worse with Muldoon, a fall would have meant getting more than just a little freaked out. But I wasn't about to fall, I guess that's the important thing.

All the photos are here.

The schedule:

Monday

Conifer Crack, 80m 9 (lead, patrick)

Tuesday

Digeridoo, 35m 12 (lead, patrick)
Piccolo, 35m 11 (lead, patrick)

Wednesday

Revolver Crack, 20m 7 (lead, sarah)
Maximus, 13m 17 (top rope)

Thursday

Agamemnon, 40m 11 (1st pitch, sarah; 2nd pitch, patrick)
Muldoon, 42m 13 (lead, patrick)

Friday

Diapason, 55m 8 (lead, sarah)

Mt Barrow walk, 6/6/2005

Mum (and Dad) on the top.