Carrot cake!

So the carrot cake I made yesterday turned out pretty great. (Carrot cake is always better the second day, isn’t it?)

Photo of a moist, two-layer, half-eaten carrot cake with raisins and cream cheese frosting.

Yesterday, of course, we lit it on fire and celebrated :)

Photo of a man leaning on a countertop with his elbows. On the counter is a home made cream-cheese-frosted cake with several lit candles on it.

And I made the most of the sunny day in Melbourne with the daffodils and jonquils that Nadia grew for me for my birthday! <3

Photo of a man on a paved section next to a residential garden. The man is crouched behind four large planting pots with yellow and white flowers growing in them.

COVID-19 contact tracing at work

So I was at a Tier 2 COVID-19 exposure site in Altona North last week.

(Night time texts from DHHS? Not fun. Would not recommend.)

Screenshot of a text message received at 9:49pm that reads: “This is a message from the Victorian Department of Health. You are receiving this message because you have been identified as a Tier 2 contact of a person with confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) after recently attending Woolworths Supermarket Millers Junction, Altona North. WHAT YOU SHOULD DO: Get tested for coronavirus immediately and quarantine until you get a negative result. For more information on testing sites please visit” and then there is a URL.

I immediately checked the Victorian Government’s coronavirus public exposure sites page for confirmation of exposure and, sure enough, the Woolworths at Millers Junction in Altona North was listed as a Tier 2 site.

The exposure period was on 13 August from 6:30 to 8:15pm.

Screenshot of a website entry for Woolworths Altona North. The exposure period for this site is 13/08/2021 6:30pm to 8:15pm. The health advice listed is “Tier 2 - get tested urgently and isolate until you have a negative result”.

I then checked my Google Maps timeline to confirm that I’d been there at the same time. And, indeed, I had been there from 7:47 to 8:46pm on that day to do our weekly grocery shop.

I’d checked-in via the Services Victoria app, which is how they’d traced me. (Thank you contact tracers!)

Screenshot of a Google Maps timeline for Fri, 13 Aug 2021 that shows two entries. The first is for driving. The second is for Woolworths on Millers Road in Altona North in Victoria, Australia from 7:47 to 8:46pm.

I got that text last night, so early this morning Nadia and I went for a drive-through COVID-19 test in Newport.

Lots of other people were there to get tested too so the the whole process took us two hours! But we got through it in the end.

Photo of a large white tent set up in a parking lot with several cars queued up to drive through the tent. The car this photo is taken from is waiting behind an orange traffic cone well behind the queue that's in front of the tent.

Now normally COVID-19 tests take 24-ish hours to process. But given I’d been mandated by the Department of Health to take this test, it looks like they expedited mine.

So just before 1am tonight I was told that my test had come back negative. Yay!

Screenshot of a text message that reads: “Dear Ameel, Test on 20/08/2021. Result: COVID-19 virus was NOT DETECTED. Test performed by Aust Clinical Labs. Plus do not reply to this text message.”

Screenshot of a text message that reads: “Dear Ameel, Test on 20/08/2021. Result: COVID-19 virus was NOT DETECTED. Test performed by Aust Clinical Labs. Plus do not reply to this text message.”

So, phew!

Of course I do our weekly shop, well, weekly. And in Newport (which is the suburb where I live) there’s a sizeable COVID-19 cluster. Which means there’s a good chance this’ll happen to me again.

Fortunately, I’m careful, I’m fully vaccinated, and I wear a good quality face mask so the likelihood of me actually getting infected and then falling very ill is tiny. But, still, it’s not fun to be reminded (and then be able to document) your close calls.

Possum on a tree

Why, yes. that is a possum perched on the topmost branch of our neighbour’s tree. It’s keeping a close eye on Maggie, who is scent-marking her territory in the back garden before we get to bed at night.

Dark, desaturated photo of a leafless tree that’s next to a two storey house. Perched on top-most branches of this tree, silhouetted by the dimly lit, cloudy sky is a little possum.

Life, the universe, and everything

Emerging as the meaning of life, the universe, and everything on her 42nd birthday, I present to you Dr Nadia Niaz!

(Maggie is suitably impressed.)

Photo of a woman with long black hair. The woman is wearing a maroon and black sweater, black jeans, and black boots. With a big grin on her face, she is striking a post in front of the the door to a house. Standing at her feet and looking up to her is a red dog.

The final turn

There comes a time during every walk in which I make The Final Turn. That turn marks the farthest point from home I’ll be during my walk. Every step or turn after this is a step or turn going home.

Getting the first COVID-19 vaccine this morning felt like that Final Turn.

Close-up selfie of a bald man wearing glasses and a blue surgical mask. One the man’s black puffer jacket is a sticker that reads #JabDone. The man is holding up a small card next to this sticker that reads ‘COVID-19 vaccination hub record’.

When I get the second dose in three weeks I’ll probably feel like I do when I turn onto our street.

Two weeks after that – when I’m finally fully vaccinated – that’s when I’ll feel like I do when I close the gate behind me, turn off my stopwatch, and can officially say I’m home.

It’ll have been a long walk.

Photo of a residential street with tall trees, nature strips, and parked cars. Behind the building in the background of the photo is the rich golden glow of the setting sun.

Post-jab selfie

Are you *actually* vaccinated if you don’t take a post-jab selfie? :)

#JabDone

Close-up selfie of a bald man with glasses who is wearing a light blue surgical mask on his face. The man is sitting in what appears to be a large hall. On his black puffer jacket is a round sticker that reads #JabDone.

(To be fair there’s not much else to do while you sit around in the waiting area for 15-20 minutes post-jab in case you have an immediate adverse reaction to the vaccine.)

In case it’s not clear yet, Nadia and I got got our first doses of the Comirnaty vaccine (the one made by Pfizer) at the Melbourne Showgrounds vaccination hub early this morning.

An 8am vaccination booking has its pros and cons. Yes it’s cold and dark – particularly on a rainy day like today – but the queues are super short and the whole process is pretty quick. We parked our car at 7:49am, got processed by 8:18am, and made our way into the post-jab waiting area by 8:31am.

Photo of a large hall with several rows of chairs set out in a cordoned-off area. A pull-up banner in the foreground reads ‘COVID-19 vaccination hub’.

So to those of you over 40 in Melbourne who haven’t been vaccinated yet: come on down to the Showgrounds and get jabbed! (I’m sure the rest of you will get your turn very soon.)

Photo of the outside of a large hall. A large sign on the wall reads ‘COVID-19 vaccination hub’ and ‘Walk-ins are welcome’.

Checking out a lunar eclipse

When you’re not a regular stargazer you forget just how quickly Earth rotates!

Fortunately our telescope has an equatorial mount so we just had to keep turning one knob to have the moon stay in our sights during tonight’s lunar eclipse.

Photo of a woman standing outside at night looking through the eyepiece of a medium-sized home telescope. Her hand is on an adjustment knob at the side of the telescope.

Back to wearing face masks indoors

Working from the office today – with indoor mask restrictions back in place across Melbourne – is going about as expected. #tumbleweeds

Selfie of a man wearing business attire and a face mask. The man is standing in an open plan office with all the desks behind him unoccupied.

(To be fair there are about ten people working on this floor, they’re just mostly on the other side of the building.)

On the plus side I got to wear my all-blue work ensemble, including a blue face mask, so that was nice. That’s, like, the opposite of the regular pandemic blues :)

Mirror selfie of a man standing in a lift. The man is wearing business attire: black leather shows, a navy blue suit, a blue check shirt, a blue sweater, and a blue face mask. He is carrying a brown leather bag.

The walk to the train station early this morning was lovely too.

Selfie of a man in front of a public garden and netball court, both of which are empty. The man is wearing a suit, dress shirt, sweater, scarf, and hat.

And there’s still plenty of fruit left even at lunchtime. (Usually at least all bananas are gone by 10am.)

Photo of two wooden boxes lying on the counter of an office kitchenette. The boxes are filled with fruit: apples, pears, and bananas.

Importantly, I got to welcome my new team member on her first day of work. So that was the obvious highlight of the day.

So win some, lose some with the whole having to wear masks indoors thing. But that’s okay: health and safety first.

Photo of a sign framed and mounted on a portable stand that’s been placed in the middle of a corridor at the entrance to an office. The sign say “Please wear a mask at all times”. Behind that is another stand installation that dispenses hand sanitizer and says “Hand sanitising station”.

Afternoon break

It’s nice to take an afternoon break when you’re working from home.

Here are Maggie and I making the most of the only corner in our back garden that is still bathed in sunlight.

Selfie of a man and a dog sitting right up against a weathered fence on a bright sunny day. The shadows being cast by nearby objects are long, meaning the sun is getting lower in the sky and so it is late in the afternoon.

That’s not too different from this morning, tbh, when she and I lazed around in bed for a bit before starting the day. Evidently my thigh makes for a comfortable pillow.

Close up photo of a red dog lying on a blue bed sheet on top of a bed. The dog’s head is propped on to what appears to be the leg of the person under the sheet, who is also the one taking the photo.

Important update: both of us have changed position. She’s found another warm spot and I’m now sunning the back side of my head. #ManualRotisserie

Selfie of a man and a dog. The dog is lying on her side in a sunny path of paved residential driveway. The man is in the foreground and is looking at the camera. There is bright sunlight on the back of the man’s head.

We conclude the documenting of my afternoon break with the all-important cool down in the dirt. Though at least that’s something she’s doing all on her own!

Photo of a red dog sitting on a shady patch of cool, freshly dug-up dirt under a small tree on the side of a weatherboard house.

Commuting life

Back on the commuting life at Southern Cross Railway Station.

Photo of a train approaching its platform at a large train station. You can only see the lights and vague outline of the train that has just entered the covered portion of the station building. Another train is parked on the tracks next to the approaching train. A man in a silver puffer vest stands in the foreground, looking at his phone, while he waits for the train.

Autumn leaves

Autumn + neighbour’s tall tree + wild, windy night = (electric) leaf blower time.

Photo of a residential back garden showing a wooden deck, a pathway next to the lawn, and green grass growing in the lawn. There are yellow, orange, and red leaves scattered all over the ground. There is also a red dog sniffing around on the path.

That was a lot of leaves! (Also, I love electric leaf blowers so much.)

Photo of a residential back yard showing a large collection of red, orange, and yellow leaves that has been blown onto a cemented area next to a fence. Placed in front of these leaves is a black and bright orange AEG brand electric leaf blower.

There’s a lot you can accomplish during your working-from-home lunch break :)

Flowers!

I wasn’t feeling well last week so Nadia bought me a big bunch of flowers when she went down to the shops.

Cheered me right up too!

Selfie of a man – bald, bespectacled, with a salt-and-pepper beard, and smiling at the camera – standing on a deck outside a house holding up a large bunch of bright yellow daisies in front of his face.

Making your own mayo

One of the joys of owning an electric hand mixer is that it’s quick and easy to make your own mayonnaise :)

Selfie of a man looking into the camera holding a glass bowl filled to the top with pale yellow coloured mayonnaise. The man is bald, with a salt and pepper beard, and is wearing glasses and a dark grey hoodie. He is standing in a residential kitchen.

14 year blogging anniversary

It has been fourteen years since I wrote my first ‘technical’ blog post.

I say technical because I was posting occasional life updates on my personal website before then, but this was the first time I installed blogging software on my site and posted something through there.

An email from Fantastico alerting me that an instance of WordPress has been installed on my website.

Blogs are the best because you’re the boss

Blogs – and personal websites in general – really are the best.

Social networks, micro-blogs, and photo/video hosting sites are fine and all. But on all of those you’re at the mercy of the platform. The folks who run that platform (or the AI that moderates it) can delete your profile and your entire content history if they want to. And you can’t take all your content and migrate it to some other platform either. You’re always stuck inside their walled garden and they control what it is that you can and can’t do there.

On your blog (or website) your content is always yours. You can do whatever you want with it. You do have to manage the site itself, but these days even a minimally skilled user of the internet won’t find that particularly challenging. And, sure, more functional and nicer looking blogs will cost a little, but running a basic, decent looking site isn’t as expensive as you’d think.

Blogs aren’t what they used to be though

Of course the content of my blog has changed drastically since 24 April 2007. Back then I talked a lot more about random things going on in my life (hence the name ‘random tangent’), the things I liked and didn’t like, the movies I’d watched and music I’d listened to, and what my current interests were.

Most of those topics don’t warrant full blog posts anymore. A couple of photos and 2-3 tweets usually do the trick for me. Often just a simple retweet or quote tweet is pretty much all I want to say on a topic I’m not actively involved in. Also, with a retweet I can share other people’s point of view, not just my own.

What goes on my blog these days are the things I want to remember, process, and revisit in the future. Things I don’t want disappearing into the social media black hole that are then difficult to find later on. Things that, for one reason or another, matter.

So here we are, and here’s to another fourteen years.