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March 2

On This Day

Travels & Check-ins

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2025
Note
Lazy bourbon cocktail:
1. Fill a tumbler with frozen peach slices
2. Pour bourbon over the fruit
3. There is no step three
Jonathan's location at time of posting
LaCour walking 3.6 km/h 15%
Note
Beat the main storyline for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle today. The game is gorgeous to look at most of the time, but the gameplay was a bit lacking. Uncharted is much more fun.
Jonathan's location at time of posting
LaCour walking 3.6 km/h 15%
2024
Watching
Gold Rush
S14E23 "Winter's Reckoning"

Tony calls his son Kevin to help fire up nearly every plant he can, including Dredge #1. Parker squeezes every ounce of gold out of his Dominion Creek claim. Rick battles freezing equipment in his final bid for a comeback.

Watched on Trakt

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Note
Well, that was a boring race! 😂

Max spanks Checo and Red Bull is still way out in front. Charles has bad luck with his car (surprise, surprise…).

Frustrated for Charles, but happy with a 3-4 finish. Probably the best possible today.

🏎️ 💨
Jonathan's location at time of posting
LaCour Stationary -3.6 km/h 80%
2023
Watching
Taskmaster
S11E06 "Absolute Casserole"

Jamali decorates the caravan, Sarah is appalled by a kiwi fruit and, under severe pressure, Mike delivers a revelation so visceral that it leaves everyone in a state of horrified delirium.

Watched on Trakt

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Jonathan's location at time of posting
DesertSun Stationary 100%
Note
An update for my projector dropped with much-improved “enhanced blacks” and better handling of 24fps content (most movies). I also installed an HDFury VRROOM to enable the projector to handle LLDV Dolby Vision content with Dynamic Tone Mapping. Looks bonkers good!
Jonathan's location at time of posting
DesertSun stationary -3.6 km/h 46%
2022
Watching
Dune (2021)

Dune (2021)

Movie

Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence-a commodity capable of unlocking humanity's greatest potential-only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

Watched on Trakt

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Jonathan's location at time of posting
Stationary 70%
2021
2020
Watching
The Outsider
S01E01 "Fish in a Barrel"

When the body of an 11-year-old boy is found in the Georgia woods, eyewitnesses and physical evidence convinvingly points to local teacher and baseball coach Terry Maitland. Detective Ralph Anderson makes a very public arrest but is perplexed when Terry produces an ironclad alibi.

Watched on Trakt

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Jonathan's location at time of posting
LaCour Stationary 34%
2019
Watching
The Big Family Cooking Showdown
S02E08 "Episode 8"

This time, the Mistrys from south London take on the Whittakers from Lancashire, the Walker-Kings from Wandsworth and the Varmas from Walsall. All four families enter the Showdown kitchen totally unprepared for their first challenge - to make a £10 one-pot wonder with a surprise selection of ingredients.

Their second challenge is to cook up their family's take on fishcakes. Taking both dishes into account, judges Angellica Bell and Tommy Banks decide which three families can cook for them again in next day's heat.

Watched on Trakt

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Jonathan's location at time of posting
LaCour Stationary 42%
Watching
The Big Family Cooking Showdown
S02E07 "Episode 7"

This time, the three remaining families from previous day's heat face a surprise head-to-head challenge: one member from each family has to make a Tommy Banks favourite - chicken kiev. For the second task, the families are back together to make a two-course meal with goat's cheese and passion fruit as the star ingredients. The pressure is on as only two families can make it through to next Monday's play-offs.

Watched on Trakt

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Jonathan's location at time of posting
LaCour stationary 40%
Watching
The Big Family Cooking Showdown
S02E05 "Episode 5"

Tonight it is the play-offs. The four winning families from this week's heats now have to compete for just two places in finals week. First, there is another unprepared challenge to test their creativity in the kitchen - a surprise pick 'n' mix of ingredients that they all have to cook with. Then they are rustling up a family treat night meal and hoping to impress the judges enough to secure a place in finals week. On the menu tonight - duck, jollof rice, churros and chocolate and orange tarts.

Watched on Trakt

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Jonathan's location at time of posting
LaCour stationary 43%
Watching
The Big Family Cooking Showdown
S02E06 "Episode 6"

This time, the Bonehams from Weston-super-Mare take on the stylish Antonious from London, the competitive Bird family and the all-singing, all-dancing Fasayes from Kent. All four families enter the Showdown kitchen, totally unprepared for their first challenge - to make a £10 meal for a family of four with a surprise selection of ingredients. After cooking up 'breakfast with a twist' for their second task, they then face elimination, as only three families can make it through to next day's heat.

Watched on Trakt

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Jonathan's location at time of posting
LaCour stationary 43%
2018
2017
2014
2003
Article

Queenstown & Milford Sound

This past weekend was my last in New Zealand, so a large group of us decided to go all out on a four day road trip. We packed 15 people into three small cars and headed out of ChristChurch late Thursday afternoon. We stopped a few hours down the road at Lake Tekapo for dinner, and one of our cars (mine) had a dead battery, because someone (me) was stupid and left the lights on. After a few tries and a call to the roadside assistance, we managed to jump our car and get moving.

After several more hours of travel, our car then began to realize that we were running a bit low on gas (we had about a half a tank at this point, but you can never be too careful in a place like New Zealand). We drove and drove, but the further south that we traveled, the fewer signs of civilization we saw. Finally, we pulled into Cromwell, which is about 45 kilometers from our destination. We rolled into the gas station with about 1 litre of gas remaining in our tank as they were turning off the pumps, and they were kind enough to allow us to fuel up. Relieved, we arrived at our hotel in Queenstown around 1:30 AM, ready to sleep.

In the morning, we awoke refreshed and ready for a big day. Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand, with plenty of opportunities to skydive, bungee jump, jet boat, etc. In the morning, we elected to ride the "gondola" (a glorified ski lift) up to the top of one of the mountains to ride on the mountain luge. The mountain luge is essentially a concrete track that winds its way steeply down the mountain. Once you purchase a ticket, and strap a helment on your head, you can ride a small sled-like cart down the track at extremely ludicrous speeds. This was an absolute blast, and we all had a great time racing each other, getting into wrecks, and generally causing trouble.

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After our fun on the luge, we headed back down the mountain on the gondola, ate lunch, and walked around the town, which is absolutely beautiful. Queenstown is nestled in the middle of a bunch of beautiful mountain ranges, including one of the most stunning mountain ranges in New Zealand, the remarkables. The mountains are broken up by small valleys and lakes, which Queenstown sits in the center of. Pictures and words really cannot do this place justice — it is easily the most beautiful place I have seen in New Zealand.

At 3:00 PM, three of us were picked up at the information center by the Thermal Velocity bus to travel a few kilometers out of town to go hang gliding. As we drove up to the landing site, the drivers talked with us about the experience and generally got us all excited about what we were preparing to do. Upon arrival at the landing site, we met with our pilots, and watched them disassemble the gliders to pack them up for our trip to the launching site. We then rode in a bus up the mountain to a small parking lot, and were given a brief lesson on how to take off, land, steer, and be safe. The view from the peak was absolutely stunning, and I was truly excited, but a little nervous, before takeoff.

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My pilot, a swedish guy named Anders, and I were coupled together by a few carabeaners, and we took our position underneath the glider. We picked it up, aimed it at the edge of the cliff, and waited for some wind. On Anders' command, we began to run together at full speed toward the edge, and continued running for a few seconds down the steep cliff until the wind picked us up. I pushed my feet against the bottom of my harness, as instructed, and we were airborne. The feeling of unhindered and controlled flight was amazing, and not at all frightening. The glider can be controlled effortlessly by leaning, pushing, and pulling. We glided parallel to the mountains for a while, enjoying the view, and looking for thermal pockets to ride to higher altitude. Suddenly, we found a pocket of rising, hot air, and shot upwards. Now high above the ground, we headed slowly away from the mountains. Anders allowed me to pilot the glider for a few minutes, which was sort of scary, but very cool.

As we approached the landing site, I noticed that we were near the field in distance, but far too high above to land on it with our heading and speed. I asked Anders about this, and he smiled. He told me to push forward on the control bar as hard as I could, so I forced my arms forward, and our nose began to point directly upward. Anders took control, and we stalled, plummeting toward the earth, and then gracefully shot back upwards. We did a few more extremely exciting tricks, losing a lot of altitude, and then did a nose dive towards the ground, finally leveling off at the last second for a fairly smooth landing. What an amazing experience! We were only in the air for 15 or 20 minutes, but it was peaceful, beautiful, and exciting! Everyone should do this at least once. I have a roll of undeveloped film from a camera that was attached to the glider, and I will try and post some pictures as soon as possible.

After hang gliding, we met up with the rest of the group to talk about all of our adventures for the day, and then drove until late in the evening to Milford Sound. We stayed in a hostel that evening, and it was very sub-par, but was the only place to stay in the extremely small town. There were no good working phones, no electricity after 11:00 PM, and a single cafe to eat at. In addition, gas is only pumped a few times a day, so you have to be very careful and timely about your arrival and departure times.

In the morning, we drove to the harbor, and boarded a boat to take a 3 hour cruise. Milford Sound is actually not a sound, but a fiord that was carved out by glaciers in the last ice age. The result is a beautiful, very steeply walled mountain range enclosing a narrow channel of water. On our cruise, we saw dolphins, seals, an underwater observatory, and enjoyed the wonderful sights. Once we returned to the harbor, we set off for our next destination, Te Anui.

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Te Anui is a small town a few hours north of Milford Sound, and we checked into our hostel around 6:00 PM. We then headed into the city and ate dinner at a fantastic italian restaurant. I split an excellent pizza and a great pasta dish with a friend, and then we went out for a brief night on the town. Upon return to the hostel, we crashed into our beds, exhausted. This morning, we woke up around 9:00 AM, and drove 7 hours back to ChristChurch. It was an amazing weekend, and a great way to wrap up my time here in New Zealand! I still have a week left here in ChristChurch, and then I am off to Cairns, Australia and finally, to Japan!

I love you and miss you all!