Last update: 11th May 2025
About me
Zak's the name. I like the outdoors - running's my jam - trails and hills are my fav. I can keep a trot all day, more if I'm on a mish. I like to garden too, grow my own food, save a few bob. I do a bit of mountain biking, skiing and paragliding when time, money and nerves permit.
I grew up in Australia, but now reside in the Queenstown Lakes District in New Zealand. Traded the beaches for the mountains. I'm much more at home here. Recently became a NZ citizen and passport holder.
My career has predominantly been in geographic information systems (GIS), surveying, and asset management. In late 2024 I made a significant career shift into installation and upgrades of integrated home smart systems - audio, visual, security, heating/cooling, access etc. It's a new field for me, and I'm enjoying the journey.
I like computery things too - data vis, web building, coding, systematic trading, PKM, linux, de-googling, FOSS, permacomputing. I'm not great at any of them, but they're interesting and I enjoy learning about them.
About the site
I'm fairly new to this web building thing. This is a bit of a testing ground while I learn the ropes. At the moment I am using the zola static site generator and the neocities CLI utility to publish to Neocities. I am simultaneously learning about Linux and the command line on my old laptop, so most of this is built from there.
I don't write many deep things. It's more of a log than anything. And a place to tinker. It's varied, which I guess is a good reflection of who I am. It's nice to have a place to let rip anything I want. I don't expect everything to resonate with any one reader. That's ok. Maybe there's one or two things. I'm always keen to hear from folk via email. Reach out if you want a yarn.
Quick-posts
2025-06-04 18:49
Wet day today. Met before sunlight to carpool to job out of town. Bags of stone get lifted by crane up to the second and third storeys. There's ALOT o…
2025-06-03 20:23
Thought I'd post some random work things this week. Today we were told to go ahead and replace all the sparky's sensor wiring (the yellow cables) with…
2025-06-02 11:57
So I finally decided to rent my spare room out. Queenstown is a crazy place for rentals, especially now as the ski season is about to begin. I adverti…
2025-05-18 17:27
Came home with a random bunch of books from the bookfair today. $10 for a bag full. Found dad in one even - the 1977 New Zealand Rugby Almanack - has …
2025-05-16 17:19
This week was hard work - lots of cable runs through high ceilings. Tricky runs too with lots of walls already sealed - additional cables requested by…
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Blog
🗓️ Weeknote 2025-W22
2025-06-01 23:19
Some random front-of-mind pieces from my week.
🏃 Ran 15.8km / 259m profile - I really want to get my running mojo back. June is the month. I'm going t…
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🗓️ Weeknote 2025-W21
2025-05-25 13:10
Was noticing I was tired in the mornings from staying up late studying and/or tinkering so I've changed my routine up over the last few weeks. I'm n…
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Beeper, Facebook and old services
2025-05-25 11:59
I had been using Beeper on my Android so I could have Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and RCS/SMS messages all in the one place and not have to open all …
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Change default port on SSH server
2025-05-17 16:59
Background
I've heard it's a good idea to change the default SSH listening port 22 for machines running an SSH server for an added level of security. …
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🔗 Link Stash | 11 May 2025
2025-05-11 17:35
Fresh dump of interesting and/or useful web links I've found recently. Full link stash here.
260. Plantay - Videos
Dima has uploaded his VCV Rac…
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