u/ThatDamnRanga

Thankfully not literally.

Apologies if this is the wrong subreddit, I didn't see a related helicopter one.

Decided to resurrect my old T-Rex 500 that's been sitting in storage for over a decade.

Bought myself a new 5-blade head and 4-blade tail. (I have plans, they involve lifting things)

But we have an issue.

Despite having pitch-gauged every blade (only have my old analog gauge sadly) three times, I get a whopper of an oscillation as soon as any amount of power is applied.

I've weighed all the blades. The one genuine Align blade is 66g, the four aftermarket ones are 65, 64, 63 and 62g.

Is that enough mass difference to cause issues? I'm not sure I can fix that by adding tape to the light blades.

NZ has plenty of issues, but one thing that has been making the rounds across every social media platform the past 24 hours is the fact that we generally consider this thing..... "just basic courtesy".

The town in question (Whakatane) isn't without its challenges, but I think most of us (certainly me) in the same situation would find the phone call but funny as hell, and a high priority call to action. We gotta do this.

How would this go down in your part of the world?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360992653/only-nz-hospital-rings-wrong-man-collect-elderly-patient-he-drives-him-home-anyway

Obligatory cat tax included. He's 15ish. Up until a few weeks ago the only concern was minor renal deterioration.

​

Then something changed. He felt skinny, I checked, he wasn't eating and might not have been drinking.

​

Rushed him to the vet. They got him rehydrated, but he'd lost a lot of weight.

​

Took the "can't put a price on a life" approach. He's had the best care anyone in this city could give. X-rays revealed some fluid in his chest. Ultrasound revealed a ~2cm mass on either his stomach or liver.

​

The fluid was drained. No biopsy as the growth is hard to access. Tests came back. It's cancer. Not sure what type. Likely either liver or pancreatic.

​

The vet reckons they might be able to give him up to a year of good quality life.

​

So here's the problems. There's two.

​

- the meds

- me

​

​

- The meds leave him... Free of pain but stoned and wobbly. He can jump up on the couch. He can't make it onto the bed. He can't go outside (there are no predators to cats here), and he's very visibly frustrated by all of this. As I write he is currently sleeping in his travel crate by choice.

​

- me. I'm not really built to handle loss. And before you say "you shouldn't have got a pet then". I didn't by choice, my friend's mother was going to have a perfectly happy and healthy cat put down because they couldn't be bothered taking him with them when they moved country. I couldn't allow that. That was 5 years ago. But my mood is likely making things worse for the cat. He knows when I'm struggling, and potentially feels it's his fault... Which makes things worse

​

​

What do I do here? Any advice from folks who have been through this would be appreciated.

Try to pay for 15min? Computer says no, not enough time. Can't buy that

Next option, 30min? More than the minimum spend. Also there's a transaction fee on *all* transactions

Use the parking machine? They're on the same price scale... But now the minimum is 20 minutes at $1.20... also still has a mandatory transaction fee...

At this point, why not just, include the transaction fee in the price?

Edit: for the folks saying "use start stop"... That seems to be a fixed $9 charge.

Blocking the lane that forms one of two ways to access the carpark. Showed it to the store staff. Apparently it's one of the managers. In their words "yeah the staff use that sometimes as a park".

Edit: they sent two managers over to explain why this was okay and not blocking access at all. I put my shopping back and left 😂

First go at using the new path for an actual commute this morning. 19km from the Western hills to the South end of the CBD.

Heaps of people out there, and Bicycle Junction offering "Free Fuel" (donuts and coffee) at the Ngauranga end.

Easily double the usual number of cyclists in both directions from last week on the rest of the route. Plenty of people out there on foot too! Great to see!

Evening Update: Bit of a headwind this afternoon, but still a great ride. Disappointed to see someone decided that their 50cc moped counts as a bicycle though.

Just made the pilgrimage myself, less chaotic than I expected but still plenty of people. Definitely more than I'd expect to see on a commute trip.

If you're looking for a gentle meander, today is the day. If you're looking for a stress free bike ride, perhaps tomorrow.

It's a very nice surface, and nice to be close to the ocean, the bridge is steeper than it looks though!

Most folks were being excellent, but I did see some behavior that varied from clueless to antisocial:

- pedestrians meandering in the bike only section, darting out without looking and causing the occasional emergency stop for several folks

- tour de France larp peloton riding three abreast through petone station at 30+kph (it's marked as a slow zone folks)

- fully kitted out cross country cyclists riding directly into oncoming traffic (???)

- one parent and child taking up both lanes of the petone cycleway and screaming and kicking out at anyone who dared to try pass them in either direction.

I presume things will improve as the hype wears off, things will calm down a bit.