The Jennings 3

I have been meaning to link to Steves site for a bit. Over Christmas our roving buddies Steve and Jem came to visit NZ for a few months and graced us with their presence (and presents) for a number of weeks. Steve has written up about his travels in the land of the long white cloud and it makes pretty good reading if you are planning a visit (Mum & Dad). Anyway - CLICK HERE and have a read if you fancy...

I saw a program on TV the other day about a guy that made little metal robots out of old bits of scrap. Sounded like fun, and Buster agreed, so we went to the scarp heap shop to see what we could find. The results can be another post when we have finished but whilst at the shop I lost sight of Buster for 5 mins. No big deal. He then came staggering towards me, arms out stretched saying 'can I get these dad?'. The answer was obviously yes - the lens in them is enough to go star gazing with but Buster has fun wearing them and bouncing off things. I appreciate it wont be doing his eyes any good but for 5 mins a day they have more than paid for themselves already. Lisa can always borrow them as a back up if she looses hers.

A couple of you will know that my most favorite bike in the World cracked recently (in 3 places). Gutted. The first one Andy hooked me up with met a similar demise so even though the NZ distributor replaced it for me I had pretty much lost faith in the build quality of this otherwise sweet machine. So - after a natter with the Mrs I decided to stick the replacement on Trade Me (NZ equivalent of E-bay) and go get something with a bit more pedigree. I have wanted a Yeti ever since Andy got one off a guy for painting his house in the states - it looked ace - so thats what I went for. I've only done 1 decent ride on the beast but it felt good - not massively better than my old one (which is no bad thing) but finish/quality wise it looks like a machine for life.

Buster has been going down to the BMX track since he was about 3 so we figured it was time for his first real race a few weeks back. He was racing in the 4/5/6 yr group so had a fair amount of competition but did great for his first go - the hardest bit was trying to help him balance in the start gate. Anyway - after taking a sneaky short cut in the first race (cant blame the lad) and being relegated to last he got the hang of it and had some good fun despite a few very nearer misses down the first straight - Lisa was feeling the stress. He 'podiumed' one round and eventually ended up 6th overall. He got a cool ribbon and a free chocolate bar - very pleased with himself. Seeing all the little nippers with their huge helemets on ripping round then shaking each others hands at the end was fun. Its winter here now so not much going on but come spring he is up for joining the club and going down each Sunday. As you can imagine I have started him on a strickt regime of protein shakes, bench presses and interval training.

Just a quick update cause I know things have been quiet for a bit. Anyway - both Mrs Jennings and I have got ourselves a new job, both of which start on Monday.
Lisa's is a kind of promotion, still working for the same team, but she is now in a kind of communication/organiser role for a new way of working between all the social service departments in the area. Less hands on, more co-ordinating and planning. Its also rumored to pay more so its all good.
I got sick of the guys I was working for so have lined up a plum job with a design/communications agency called Dry Crust. They mainly do local government internal and external communications stuff, but also have a cool website development team and do a lot of branding/adverts etc. It seems a nice place, all very laid back and 'creative' so I'm looking forward to getting started.
Thats it - all else is great. I'll post some other stuff soon and, yes mum, I'll put some more recent pics on Flickr.
Live long and prosper

Probably not much interest to those of you who aren't bike obsessed, but for those of you that are I have just got back from my maiden ride on my single speed mountain bike. The deal is that its a fully rigid, old school style, bike with just one gear (32x16). Some of the rides round here involve long fire road climbs followed by smooth flowing single track back down through the native bush. My full suspension is a bit of overkill so I figured, during winter, I would try riding a stripped down, back to basics, bike. Its super low mainteinance, keeps your reactions tuned in and is a good all round workout (you use a lot more upper body effort to get the thing up the steeper inclines). Anyway - we did a 3hr loop this morning (2 on single speeds and Glen on his full sus bomber) and it was great. Just like razzing round our local trails with Andy and John when we were kids. The effort involved was a bit extreme at times but overall it was great fun. Doing away with suspension made the downs a bit eyepopping at times but no crashes so overall I would give it a 9 out of 10. I'll still be riding the full suspension bike as a preference but I can see the new bike getting a lot of action on our night rides around the woods.

Out of interest you adjust the chain tension using an excentric rear hub that extends or shortens the wheelbase slightly. Its really simple but cool engineering. I borrowed it of a mate but it worked brilliantly and saved mucking around with tensioners or rear mechs.

I was walking through the supermarket the other day and came across the 'bargain' isle - and everyone knows I like a bargain. Anyway, standing proud on the shelf with 50% off was an cowboy style shooting game, just like when I was a nipper. The deal is that you shoot at the log and, if your aim is right, the plastic tin cans or bottles get flung into the air with a great 'pyowng' noise. As you can imagine Buster loves it, as do Lisa and I. Anyway, I was cuffed with the picture above - it took me about 20 shots to get one with teh can flying off. Sometimes the old games are the best (especially when they cost $20!)

I recently upgraded the lights that I use for mountain biking at night (thanks to my mate Steve who is an electrical engineer - he made them from scratch and just charged me the price of the parts) and wow, do they light the way! Buster didn't want to miss out on the fun so I have started to take him and Bones for night walks in the woods. Its good fun, and you sometimes get to spy some possums and owls. Its also helping Buster get used to tramping around the woods in pitch black without being scared, which is a bonus. The lights themselves are ridiculous, pretty much turning night into day. Winter might be here but, because its still really dry, it has opened up a few new activities to while away teh evenings.

I was having a trawl around Flickr before and stumbled across a load of images on Rock Balancing (click here). Looks like a fun way to spend 20 minutes - I'm off to build one (and try and get a picture before Buster and Bones get to work destroying it).

Much to the amusement of some of you back in the UK I am now a semi-obsessed fisherman. Rok n Roll eh!

The main reason I guess is having the opportunity to go and grab free fresh fish whenever I want, no permit, no stress, no clubs. Just get a rod, go down to the sea and get busy. Even if you're not catching fish the scenery (I mean natural rather than semi-clad!) makes for a nice few relaxing hours.

I must admit that for the first 6 months I had no luck (apart from in the Marlborough Sounds where you can scoop the things out with your bare hands) but recently, and since getting some local knowledge bestowed on me, I have really been pulling them in. The Red Snapper have nearly all moved off now for the winter but I have been catching a few decent sized ones just off the beach in my new rubber, chest high, waders. Oh yes.