How To Do Almost Everything 20-30

<< 11-19 | 20-30

20Lobby for change
1 | Identify your cause. If there’s a group already involved, join. 
2 | Start a letter writing campaign. Politicians and businesses take more notice of posted letters. Emails are far easier to ignore.
3 | Utilise social media to get your message out to the people.
4 | Make an appointment to have a meeting with those whose views you are hoping to change. Remember to stay polite and courteous.
5 | Stage an old-fashioned protest. Gather some like-minded folks, make some signs, think up a snazzy chant and situate yourselves appropriately.

21Create a secure online password
Think of a favourite song lyric eg: ‘You can’t touch this, stop... hammer time!’
Take the first letter of each word eg: Ycttsht
Replace two letters with numbers that look similar eg: Yc7t5ht
Add a random capital letter eg: Yc7t5Ht
You now have a secure password you can easily remember by singing the lyric.
22Put down a hangi
Find a sheltered spot to dig your hangi, as wind will cause trouble.
The hole needs to be at least knee-deep and roughly two metres in diametre.
Make a fire with long-burning wood, such as macrocarpa.
Heat volcanic stones on the fire for two to three hours before placing in pit.
Put your kai in steel wire baskets lined with cabbage or banana leaves or tinfoil. Meats go on the
bottom layer and veges on top.
Place wet sheets over the baskets and lower them into the hangi pit – ensuring the fabric doesn’t touch the hot rocks.
Put wet sacks over the lot, to stop dirt getting into the food.
Fill hole with dirt. Ensure no steam is escaping or your hangi won’t cook properly.
Leave kai to cook for three to four hours, dig it up and dig in.
23Make a kite
Fold a plastic rubbish sack in half. From the top, measure down 25cm and 50cm across. Mark a dot. Now go back to the top and measure 100cm down. Mark a dot.
Connect the dots to make a half-diamond and cut along the lines. Unfold. This is your sail.
Place a stick of dowel wood on the centre line of your sail, attached with strips of insulation tape. Place another stick of dowel between the two
"widest points of the sail, making a cross shape, and tape down at each end.
Poke a small hole in the sail where the two sticks of dowel overlap. Push your string through and tie a knot around the two sticks. This is your flying line.
Use the scrap plastic to make a tail that’s two centimetres wide and five times longer than the sail. Attach to dowel at the bottom of your kite.
Go up a hill and enjoy flying your new kite.
24Treat yourself on the cheap
Take a day off work on your birthday.
Brighten your day by buying flowers.
Buy your favourite magazine.
Take a relaxing soak in the bath, with your new magazine.
Go to a movie on a wet afternoon.
Put $20 a week aside for a meal out once a month.
Book a bach now, for a mid-winter weekend getaway.
25Find a pipi
Pipi like exposed sandbanks, in the middle of, or near the mouths of estuaries. Adults tend to be near or below the tideline; juveniles prefer sandier spots.
Look for little raised lumps of sand and dig – you’ll usually find them just below the surface.
Pipi hang out in bunches so, if you find one, you’ll find a few.
The daily limit is 150 per person and, while there isn’t a legal minimum size, 60mm long is considered the smallest you should take.
26Putt
The easiest way to improve your golf score is to become a better putter. Your ultimate goal is to sink the ball in just two putts.
First determine the slope of the green and whether the ball is going to break left or right. Uphill, putt harder; downhill, putt softer.
When aiming, many pro golfers like to visualise the ball dropping into the hole. Ideally, you want to hole the ball but, failing that, you want to get it as close to the hole as possible to set up an easy next putt.
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, with the ball positioned in the centre. Let your arms hang loose by your side.
Grip your putter where your hands naturally rest. Bend your knees, keep your head down and your eyes locked on the ball.

Stiffen your body except for your shoulders. Keep these nice and swingy. When ready to putt, rock your shoulders in a smooth, rhythmic fashion and stroke the ball cleanly.
Do not raise your putter any higher than your knees and be sure to keep a silky momentum to your stroke.
Your stroke should follow through the exact same distance as your wind-up e.g., if you pull your putter back 10cm, you should follow through 10cm after you stroke the ball. Remember to keep your head down for a few seconds after hitting the ball.
Practice makes perfect and the perfect part about putting practice is you can practise putting practically anywhere – your office, your lounge or, best of all, out on the greens.

27Tie the simplest tie

28Pack a bag
29Sew on a button
1 | Thread a needle and make a knot at the end of the thread.
2 | Check where the button should be, by lining it up with the buttonhole.
3 | Hold the button in place with one hand.
4 | From the back, push the needle up through the fabric, through one of the buttonholes and pull tight until the knot hits the fabric.
5 | Push the needle through another hole – if there are four holes, dive through the one diagonally opposite the hole you’ve come up through. You’re at the back of the fabric again.
6 | Push the needle through again, aiming for another hole – pull tight.
7 | Back you go, through the last of the four holes.
8 | Repeat this process, so that every hole has two lines of thread running through it.
9 | Finish at the back.
10 | Push the needle through a small piece of fabric and the collection of thread, back on itself to create a knot, and snip the thread.
30Make an emergency kitYour emergency kit needs to contain enough supplies to sustain you and your loved ones for at least 72 hours (three days). You need:
Three litres of bottled water per person, per day. Check this water every 12 months to ensure it hasn’t gone mouldy.
A good supply of non-perishable food i.e. canned or dried.
A can opener.
A small primus or
gas cooker.
A powerful torch.
A radio. Don’t count on your cellphone working.
Plenty of spare batteries.
A basic first aid kit.
In case you need to evacuate your home, have a ‘Go Bag’ ready. Inside should be toiletries, toilet paper, a blanket or sleeping bag, and a change of clothes.
Don’t forget to include supplies for your pets.
<< 11-19 | 20-30