web-goddess

Month: February 2018

  • Ah, the sweet psychological manipulation of mentioning “You know, it’s pancake day” to your spouse in the afternoon. 🥞❤️

  • Shared today on Twitter

    RT @Amys_Kapers: So it’s taken me a little longer to get this done than I would have liked (by about 2 months 😐), but I’ve finally finished…

    Weekly Meetup Wrap – February 11, 2018 – featuring four meetups with talks from @alexandereardon, @ajainvivek, @thejameskyle, @TomerGarzberg, @SimonAubury, and more! @reactsydney @preactaau @WWCSyd https://t.co/MdwvpwAmsf https://t.co/F05qBxl7B2

    Happy Galentine’s Day! #ovariesbeforebrovaries 😂❤️ @emd3737 @knitterjp @unlikelylibrary @randomknits @lucykbain @hannahyanfield @lynnlangit @LJKenward @MichelePlayfair @mobywhale @GRobilliard @conniecodes @Amys_Kapers @Mandy_Kerr @the_patima @rosepowell and so many more… https://t.co/ZbOARCBsur

    RT @minxdragon: One of the best articles I have read on Artificial Intelligence and Intelligence Augmentation. There is so much great conte…

    @minxdragon Love it. There was a great example in @lindaliukas’s talk from #yow17 about using a neutral network to generate possible pattern names for Marrimekko designs.

  • Weekly Meetup Wrap – February 11, 2018

    My attempts to scale back my number of meetups and tech events in 2018 is not exactly going to plan. Six weeks in, I’ve been to 14 different events… which, if I extrapolate, puts me at 120 for the year again. Eeek. But yeah, another four this week!

    The first was React Sydney, kicking off 2018 in the new event space at Domain. Organisers Jed and Jess have done a great job building this community over the years. A large crowd turned up to hear from four different speakers.

    The first speaker was Alex Reardon from Atlassian showing off some of the performance enhancements that have been made to react-beautiful-dnd (a library for making beautiful, accessible drag-and-drop lists with React.js). With really big lists (like, say, 500 items), dragging felt sluggish and janky. Alex showed off a few advanced techniques he and his team used to get it feeling snappy and natural. At it’s core, Alex said, optimisation is “about not doing things you don’t need to do.”

    The second talk was from Ajain Vivek from Yahoo7. Ajain’s fascinating talk was about rethinking how the state of your app stored in an object tree inside a single store can be transformed to memory model. He started off by talking about how human memory works, and how that could translate to a storage model for React. He finished with a demo that earned him applause from the audience.

    The third talk was from Lucas Chen, visiting from Brisbane. Lucas walked us through what’s new in React 16 (aka React Fiber). In a nutshell, there’s been a full rewrite but the API remains the same. Ultimately that means not much has changed in terms of your code, but it got faster! He also gave advice on how you can prepare for future changes.

    The final talk of the night was a last minute addition from another Atlassian speaker – Jamie Kyle. (Coincidentally, Jamie is responsible for at least part of my Twenty addiction because he kept tweeting photos at me of screenshots where he’d scored multiple 20’s. 😂)

    Jamie demoed his new tool Unstated.io (“Because it’s a JavaScript library I had to buy a .io domain. That was a really good use of $65…”), a tool for sharing state between React components. Simple, short, and useful!

    My second event for the week was the Sydney Data Science Breakfast meetup. The theme for this meetup was “AI will take our jobs and that’s ok,” and as you might expect it drew quite a crowd!

    The main speaker was Tomer Garzberg of Gronade, reprising his TED talk from this past December. Tomer began by describing factories in China that are entirely dark with no aircon or running water, and where workers labour 24-7. The catch is that all of the workers are robots. This scenario is becoming more and more common, and soon even white collar jobs will begin to be automated away.

    After his entertaining talk, Tomer joined three others for a panel discussion: Michael Allright from The Minerva Collective, Tim Garnsey from Verge Labs, and Peter Xing from KPMG. The audience peppered them with questions about the ethics of machine learning and AI, the economic impacts of replacing humans with robots, and how individuals and companies should cope with the coming disruption.

    My third event for the week was a brand new meetup: Big Data: Engineers and Scientists. Preact Recruitment are hosting these events and they’ve definitely gotten them off to a good start. It’s always nice to attend a meetup in the beautiful event space at Campaign Monitor!

    The first speaker was Simon Aubury from IAG talking about using Kafka to build streaming data pipelines. This was similar to the talk I heard Matt Howlett give a few weeks back, but Simon included lots of architecture examples that really helped everyone understand why Kafka is so useful. He also mentioned KSQL, which is still in developer preview but has a lot of folks very excited about its potential.

    The second talk of the night was a counterpoint to the first. Raul Beristain from Vocus Communications spoke about SQL on Hadoop using Impala, and what are the pros and cons of this approach. Sometimes the data you’re saving isn’t going to be updated later – like support call logs – so you don’t need a system that supports those transactions.

    The third and final talk was by Campaign Monitor’s own Binzi Cao. Binzo spoke at length about Spark SQL and using it to build a rules engine. He showed off some great examples where Spark SQL can make your life easier, like normalising timestamps from disparate data sources.

    My final event of the week was a hands-on Scala workshop hosted by Women Who Code Sydney at Quantium. I figured after my three-day intensive Haskell workshop, I should keep up my functional programming studies, right? 😜

    There were so many attendees we had to split over two different conference rooms! Marina was our facilitator and walked us through some exercises to build a CLI party planner application. Happily, I found that my experience in the Haskell workshop really helped conceptually with some of the things we did. Where I got hung up was on the particular Scala syntax, and my lack of knowledge around functions available in the core library. (That went for everyone, though.) I did manage to solve the last one entirely on my own, which resulted in a happy dance in my chair! 💃

    Of course, it didn’t help that Quantium’s offices are amazing. They opened the blinds in the conference room during lunch, and WHOA. It’s a good thing I don’t work in this office. I’d stare at that view every day.

    Other Stuff

  • Shared today on Twitter

    @anthonypjshaw @DimensionData Ooh, cool! Have you got anybody who wants to give a talk at YOW! Data? We’re looking for speakers now! 😉 https://t.co/OgDDW2M0D3

    @anthonypjshaw @DimensionData @Pgray73 Excellent. Was trying to find a contact there to email to let you all know – then your tweet popped up. Perfect timing! 😀 (Happy to get a coffee anytime too if you want to hear more about this and other upcoming events.)

    RT @cjwerleman: Elon Musk is a total pig. I’ve often heard these things said about him, but you should be more outraged by the way he’s cel…

    @the_patima @AndyyHope I agree, but it’s not as easy at sounds. Melatonin is over the counter in the US, but prescription only in Australia. ☹️ (I buy as much as I can whenever I go back to the States.)

    @zoeydoesnttweet Very cute!

  • Shared today on Twitter

    I see now why they pulled the blinds. THAT VIEW! 😍 Meetings in this conf room most be very difficult, @QuantiumAU. 🌞🌊⛵️ https://t.co/A8N8Q1iL0n

    @starbuxman @QuantiumAU LOL. It’s our work in progress from this: https://t.co/9b9DJ78u5d

    @starbuxman @QuantiumAU @scala_lang Haha, not my work! I’m one of the students 😛

    @DanSiepen Thanks Dan 🙂

    My favourite part of this shitshow is how my mentions have devolved into two dudes fighting over whether Meetup supports social groups. 🙃 https://t.co/Mg6KuZ0Pin

    BEHOLD MY INTENSE SCALA CONCENTRATION FACE. 😂 https://t.co/f96Gnm1dmQ

    Current mood: 😂. #whatthememe https://t.co/ctq6z9nnpF https://t.co/KXAYyq6WKo

    Low point of the evening: asking Siri if Lake Michigan is an ocean. 😂

    RT @thebreeders: Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) wrote an essay about The Breeders and life and age and change – “Music slices you in time.” htt…

    RT @vmbrasseur: Today’s @exercism_io newsletter is all about giving & receiving feedback. It’s a must-read: https://t.co/9QlrVy4jOj

  • Current mood: 😂. #whatthememe

  • Shared today on Twitter

    RT @ValaAfshar: Advice I needed when I was young:

    1 read more
    2 write more
    3 networking is about giving
    4 practice public speaking
    5 learn…

    “Hey, do you work at Zendesk?! I love them!” Good marketing, @JeffreyTheobald. 😉❤️ @Zendesk https://t.co/bPCUa5qXvB

    @parisba ESTJ. (😜 to @The_McJones)

    @The_McJones @parisba That’s the approach I should’ve taken during the whole “ZOMG A TESLA IN SPACE” nonsense the other day. Will remember that next time. 🙂

    @The_McJones @parisba Publicity stunts = good. Littering as advertisement = bad.

    @The_McJones And it wouldn’t be as depressing as being told your personality marks you at out as one of “nature’s administrators.” 😐

    @The_McJones A lot of unpaid emotional labour, in my experience.

    @evanderkoogh @_zouhir runs the PWA group here – maybe knows some sources?

    @hitsthings @i386 Yes, but also THE WORST. I think it’s polite to try to pronounce people’s names the way they do.

    RT @aussielunix: Live in Sydney/Melbourne ? Do this free course ! The jobs have started to appear on LinkedIn in the last 2 months. Get in…

    @NatDudley I bought one today with sugar gliders all over it. In related news, we’re both awesome.

    RT @lynnlangit: 8th grader, Moti, live coding an @Android app in @Java for parent night
    https://t.co/OoWtQlGD37 https://t.co/Q7nHvuNbhK

    @thisismywww Would be nice if there were any source other than SpaceX themselves. But if true, I will retract part of my objection. I still think it’s space litter and a crummy commercial.

    FFS. Another woman I know just got propositioned through a tech group on @Meetup. GUYS – IT’S NOT A DATING SITE.

    @charis The organisers for @DDDPerth gave each speaker their own clicker! It was very thoughtful and appreciated. 🙂

    @charis There was a sponsor at @voxxedsingapore last year who gave out fidget spinners. Very popular, but probably annoying as everyone kept playing with them all day. 😂

    RT @jevakallio: At a bank trying to prove my address:
    CLERK: “We have a discrepancy here… Your name here is Jani Eväkallio but this proof…

    RT @AlexRoy144: REMINDER: @NASA sent a car into space in 1969.

    Then it landed. On the moon.

    Then it drove around. On the moon.

    #JustSayi…

    @twasink @thisismywww Yes, a gazillion people have pointed that out to me. I still think it was tacky, self-aggrandising, and overly commercial. YMMV.

    @corduroy @tjbyte @Meetup @3Easy @johnallsopp If it were me, I’d be all for it. Was reluctant in this case as it was a colleague and I don’t want to expose her to potential abuse.

    @JamesTechRec @Meetup I dunno. I suspect these guys know exactly what they’re doing.

    RT @mootpointer: @web_goddess @Meetup Seriously. It puts my rage at recruiters using it as a job board in perspective.

    Let me me clear: PR…

    @cathjones0 @Meetup LOL. Talk about setting yourself a challenge, mate. 😂 What an idiot.

    Another day, another “What’s it like at @canva?” request from a prospective job switcher. I get like one a fortnight. Eventually I’m gonna call in a referral bonus, @cliffobrecht @crankymate @themaninblue! 😜

    @rjchatfield @Atlassian BREAK A LEG!!

    RT @yow_conf: Melbourne, you KNOW our year-end conf sells out, so please! Get your tickets early.

    #yow18 Registration is already open: ht…

    @saberkite GO GO GO GRYFFINDOR!

    @saberkite https://t.co/L65JD2QJKw

    @glasnt Is that the one with the abominable snowman??

    @saberkite I’m too competitive. 😂

    @saberkite I tried to get @i386 to join me on a team for a HP trivia event here but I didn’t register us in time. The world will never know how awesome the Holyhead Harpies would’ve been!

    This is a fantastic event. Have you been thinking about mentoring? You should sign up. You don’t need to be an expert to teach someone who’s never coded. I ❤️ @NodeGirlsSydney. https://t.co/UHpjj6gEi8

    @frankarr That’s gorgeous! Congrats!

    @annie_parker @sallyannw I’ll admit to irrational curiosity too. 😂

    Spending my Friday night DMing with a tipsy @MichelePlayfair as we plot ways to support some of our younger sisters in tech… 😍

    @MichelePlayfair What, you that gif saved? You found it awfully fast! 😂

    @gilmae Same debate here. I’ve got it on w-g and RDF, but now I’m toying with whether to bother on https://t.co/d8LFjszP5y. 😐

    @gilmae He never reads Twitter anymore. 😂

    Somewhere @jedws is overcome by a mysterious happy feeling… https://t.co/vhB5qzeg11

    @jonoabroad @jedws I know, right?! I’m an FP monster now.

    @LJKenward @MichelePlayfair Were your ears burning? 😉

    RT @JanelleCShane: I trained a neural network to generate new candy heart messages – some more successful than others. https://t.co/tPZyGV3…

    BRB, have to embroider STANK LOVE on a pillow for @the_snook. ❤️😂 https://t.co/cWIwC7z0Jz

    SCALA! WOO! LET’S DO THIS!! @WWCSyd @QuantiumAU https://t.co/RQuRbWYyfS

    Kicking things off! @QuantiumAU’s own @ButenkoMe welcoming everybody. @WWCSyd https://t.co/W4Lm3ccUHd

    Ground rule: if you raise your hand to ask a question, the mentor will first ask you if you googled it. Teaching everyone what it’s like to be a real developer! 😂

    Incredibly honoured to be listed with such amazing folks! ❤️ Thank you… https://t.co/V4JDnZgLU0

  • Shared today on Twitter

    @TheRealBnut Its more the expense. $200 every six weeks when dudes my age wear their grey with pride. This is the year I say screw it. 😉

    Let me tell you about the customer at the knitting shop who called me “Krissy.” NOBODY CALLS ME KRISSY. 🤬 https://t.co/7unL4MQEhe

    @rosepowell Yeah! I’ve put my membership on hold right edit to upcoming travel. But it’s very good for the price

    RT @yow_conf: Last year, we offered #DiversityScholarships to #yow17 for the first time.
    Now we are expanding them to #YOWData and #YLJ18.…

    RT @alexbertanades: Last week one of my art teachers suggested I ‘dial down the feminism.’ Today I showed him my newest piece: https://t.co…

    @JennaGuillaume Were you carrying a jug of Lonely Girl Margarita Mix for One?

    RT @anne_theriault: Take the lady doritos. Take all the doritos and make them feminine-coded. Take them like we took the names Ashley and S…

    @misswired I think it’s because they have trouble coming up with names. @the_snook has used streets of Chippendale a few times in his brew titles. 🙂

    Big crowd as the inaugural Sydney Big Data: Engineers and Scientists meet up kicks off! @preactaau @preactaau @CampaignMonitor https://t.co/Aj3BDsicIB

    First talk is @SimonAubury talking about how @IAGAust builds data pipelines with Kafka Streaming. (HONK IF YOU ❤️ DATA PIPELINES!) 😂 @preactaau https://t.co/rrDwfHNEz6

    Real world data pipeline example from @SimonAubury. Hey, I spy the KSQL rocket there! (I heard @matt_howlett talk about that last month. Very exciting new project from @confluentinc!) @preactaau @IAGAust https://t.co/L6lUJ2wQiI

    For most companies, the data is less important than what it SIGNIFIES. That’s why KSQL is so cool – you can detect events in real time and do stuff with it! 🚀 @SimonAubury @IAGAust @preactaau https://t.co/wNNnt6n10T

    Second speaker is Raúl Beristáin from @VocusComm offering a counterpoint to the last talk – SQL on Hadoop using Impala. @preactaau https://t.co/vzel93OD6M

    “You may have heard the phrase ‘data lake.’ We were just talking about that. Everybody hates that.” 😂 @VocusComm @preactaau https://t.co/7vWyKFH94U

    Different business needs result in different data solutions. Sometimes your data doesn’t need to change (event logs, etc) so you don’t need support for transactions. @VocusComm @preactaau https://t.co/17G8fdFyIQ

    @duyenho Rooftop pool at the Old Clare? 👌

    @cprieto You should submit it as a talk for @YOWLambdaJam and come visit us Down Under. 😉

    RT @martinkrafft: Yeah, uh, we call that pollution, @elonmusk. You should be ashamed, not ventrilating. #FalconHeavy https://t.co/BVA2CAL1qk

    Final talk is by noted Scala fanboy and @CampaignMonitor’s own Binzi Cao talking about building a rules engine with Spark SQL. @preactaau https://t.co/D0H4gU5PkS

    @_SamCross My legs are still sore. 😐

    Spark SQL makes normalising timestamps from disparate data sources very easy. Okay, that’s cool. @CampaignMonitor @preactaau https://t.co/mTRROlClMV

    @rmoff @SimonAubury He’s sitting beside me. I’ll ask him in the next break. 🙂

    @Asher_Wolf I just met a young woman at a meeting who did speaker training that my company @yow_conf organised last year. She had to give a big preso afterwards at work and NAILED IT. She got a promotion. Her name is Hanieh and I’m so proud we could help her. ❤️ https://t.co/GOBiSArrv5

    @rmoff @SimonAubury Unfortunately no slides as they have to be vetted by corporate overlords. 😕

    @MsGenGeorge @JessicaCGlenn @Telstra Well done!!

    @aurynn @NatDudley Those are all good points I don’t disagree with. Just adding through that I regularly invite people to submit to our events, but that’s just because if I don’t, afterwards I hear “I didn’t know the CFP was open!”

    @aurynn @NatDudley So I email loads of folks I think might be interested to let them know – not because of any token minority status or anything like that. I just don’t want anybody to miss out!

    @aurynn @NatDudley I know a few different folks who are working on solutions for that. Hopefully one of them sticks.

    @i386 Only topped in annoyance by the Kiwi who called me, I shit you not, “KRUSS.”

  • Shared today on Twitter

    RT @anildash: Sending a Tesla to Mars is a wonderful milestone on the path to launching Peter Thiel into the sun.

    This was the deep-fried ice cream I had yesterday. It was very good. https://t.co/tTG26C155m

    @darthted @dp_lewis Not sure of context, but – ouch.

    @thisismywww Right, but shooting our crap into space just for the heck of it is kinda different. Would you support if it was Taco Bell sending chalupas or Gina Reinhardt sending rocks?

    @thisismywww I’m aware. I also believe that, you know, useful scientific experiments could have also made up that payload rather than an overgrown Matchbox car.

    Whoooo! First three speakers for @yow_conf data have been announced. @arburbank is coming back to Oz to speak (YAY!) along with @deanwampler and @cargomoose. 🎉 https://t.co/9b7M3C8n5Q https://t.co/bvwgUirNBl

    I’m got a meeting in Barangaroo so I arrived an hour early and I’ve been working from an outdoor cafe. It’s nice. Kinda weird though – everything is so shiny. Feels like Caprica before the Cylons hit it.

    @eleanorkh What’d you get??

    @eleanorkh Whoa, really?! I might have to pop in and see if mine has it!

    @eleanorkh I’m a sucker for a good red. Now if I could just find a mascara that actually stayed on my eyelashes!

    Mine is “Good Stuff”! Sometimes can also be used as evidence for a raise or promotion. 🙂 https://t.co/ZyX8bDvPP0

    @damncabbage I can’t make it tonight – but could you mention the open CFP for @YOWLambdaJam??

    @i386 @michaelneale @Apple Straight to the pool room? 😉

    @damncabbage @YOWLambdaJam @joshprice I’ll email you both!!

    @michaelneale @i386 @Apple I just asked Google Home that question. She’s replied, “Heaps of serenity!” 😂😂😂👏

    @michaelneale @i386 @Apple And then I asked Siri. No, Apple. Just no.

    @fbz 😂 Words to live by.

    @JessRudder I get that. I still think *something* useful would have been better than wasting the expense and effort to send useless junk to float through the universe forever.

    RT @JessRudder: @web_goddess 100% agree. Imagine how inspiring it could have been to school children all over the world if they got to send…

    @LoopdiLou @JessRudder LOL. Depressing but true!

    @ajainvivek @reactsydney My husband worked there about 5 years ago! All quite different now, I expect. 🙂

    You know, the last time I tweeted awesome crochet, @RoseRed_Shoes made it for me… 🤔 https://t.co/bxazu2JKpL

    I made a new dress! It’s got LITTLE PINK DINOSAURS all over it!! 🦖🦕❤️ (Petey Cat approves.) Pattern: Tiramisu from Cake Patterns https://t.co/TPFGpfwMyT https://t.co/t9fUhrC64g

    AND POCKETS, OF COURSE!!

    RT @SarcasticRover: Holy shit, my nerds… The #FalconHeavy can be BOTH an awesome achievement AND a shitty dick-swing. It’s okay to feel two…

    @stringy That was from Spotlight. 😂

    @mmastertheone Oh thanks!

    Blog post: I Rode a Share Bike So You Don’t Have To. Oh yes, I really did. (SPOILER: IT SUCKED.) https://t.co/ggJjDpqFiQ 🚲😡 https://t.co/dDLA3sz8rJ

    Honestly, if Elon wants to send some share bikes into the sun, I’m all for that. 🙂

    RT @j_s_n_d: Always store in UTC https://t.co/U60Cj7gXzW

    @RoseRed_Shoes But you’re the BEST AT IT, Jane! 😜

    @stibbons Ew!

    @RoseRed_Shoes JANE. https://t.co/x16V3L41oZ

    @stringy There’s one good Spotlight in Sydney, and I find something nice there everytime I go. The rest suck.

    @RoseRed_Shoes I went with 45C for front bodice based on measurements and 40 elsewhere. Front ended up a bit baggy; had to take in side seams 1/2″ from sleeve to pocket. Next time will use the 40C.

    @RoseRed_Shoes Also, the top of the waistband hit way too low. (It’s supposed to be at or above bust with expectation skirt weight will pull it down.) Had to unpick and lop off 1.5″ of both back and two fronts. I guess I’m short-waisted?

    @RoseRed_Shoes Instructions aren’t too bad. I think there were a couple things that I would have found confusing as a newbie but I figured out

    @RoseRed_Shoes My machine doesn’t have the lightning bolt stitch but it does do triple stitch (2 fwds, 1 back). Worked great, very stretchy. But slow going, and a real pain to unpick. Also used loads of thread – three bobbins!!

    @pj_Leward @corduroy Interesting. So Mobike have some with gears and some without? Regardless, the seat was still way too low for me.

    @ratkins @carlfish 😉

    @the_nathanjones Worse. A big chunk of metal doesn’t turn the whole thing into a goddamn commercial. If intelligent life finds our litter out there, they’re going to (rightly) think we’re assholes.

    RT @JennaGuillaume: This is great. “Have we just sent the equivalent of a dick pic into space?” https://t.co/brk8ecNcYY

    RT @daveaglick: Tried to make rocket ship pancakes for the kids in honor of #falconheavy. Presented without comment. https://t.co/7lmGKb0alO

    @mmastertheone You’re welcome! (My legs are still sore.)

    @TheRealBnut I’ve been slowly moving away from it, tbh. Tired of the upkeep!

  • I Rode a Share Bike So You Don’t Have To

    I’ve done my fair share of griping about the stupid share bikes littered all over Sydney.

    Yesterday though, I realised I had the perfect use case for one. The Snook’s office was having a party over at the Entertainment Quarter, and though it isn’t far from our house, it’s kind of a pain in the ass to get to on public transport. And sure, I could ride my own bike over there, but then I planned on having some beers and taking the bus back with the Snook which ruled that out. A one-way rental on a share bike seemed like the perfect solution!

    First things first – which of the (many) options to choose from? I googled “Sydney share bike review” and found this article in The Australian which indicates that Mobike (the orange and silver one) and Ofo (the yellow one) were the best in terms of build quality. I quickly installed the Mobike app. Next I grabbed my own helmet – no head lice for me, thank you! Then I just needed to locate the nearest bike. OH RIGHT, THERE ARE LIKE EIGHT ON THE FOOTPATH ON MY STREET RIGHT NOW.

    I used the app to unlock the nearest Mobike, which was painless and honestly kind of neat how it worked. Then I raised up the seat as high as it would go. Hm. First problem. This felt pretty low. (For the record, I’m 5’10” / 1.78m with longish legs. Tall, but not freakishly so.) I persevered though, and took a quick photo to send to the Snook (who was already at the party) to tell him to expect me in 25 minutes.

    SEE? I GOT ON!

    Then I headed off through Chippendale. About thirty seconds later, I went to change gears and discovered THIS BIKE HAS NO GEARS. The handlebar control that I thought was a gear shifter is just a bell. How can you offer bikes in Sydney without gears?? We’re not Santa Monica. We have HILLS. Oh, and did I mention this bike was HEAVY AS HELL? No way was I puffing through the back streets of Surry Hills on a too-small tank of a bike with no gears. I pulled over at the nearest pile of share bikes to chuck the Mobike and try another. I’d made it three blocks.

    After locking that one up, I switched to an Ofo (the yellow one). The seat went a little higher on this one. Still not as high as I need, but better. Also – it has gears! I felt optimistic. I headed off through Redfern and Surry Hills.

    Well. My 25 minute ride actually took me 35 minutes, and that’s not counting the couple of times I stopped for a drink of water. (It was a hot and sunny day.) Even with gears, that heavy-ass, still-too-tiny bike was murder on the hills. I even ended up walking it on a couple. I finally made it to the Entertainment Quarter though, parked, and staggered into the party – sweaty and dazed and in desperate need of a beer. On the upside, neither bike ride actually cost me anything as they’ve all got introductory specials on right now.

    Results of experiment

    Scenario: This was the most optimal use case I could think of for me to use a share bike – a short, one-way trip to a location inconvenient for public transport.

    Good stuff: It was free. The apps were easy-to-use for unlocking the bikes. (I didn’t bother using them to find a bike since, as I previously mentioned, THEY’RE BLOODY EVERYWHERE.) I didn’t have to worry about getting my bike home or making sure somebody didn’t steal it.

    Bad stuff: The bikes weigh a ton. They’re too small for people on the taller side of the bell curve. Some of them have no gears, and the ones that do don’t have very many, resulting in a painful, sweaty, very difficult ride. And then there’s the whole helmet situation (public lice helmet vs. no helmet at all), of which the only remedy is to bring your own (which you then have to carry around with you).

    So yeah. That was my one experiment on a share bike. Now we can shoot them all into the sun. 🚲🚀☀