The Home Straight

Christmas has come and gone, we are overfed and have had too much to drink! It has been very busy for us this trip which is good.

Overall the weather has been mild while we had a few showers on Monday. Otherwise it has been great.

We caught up with Arj's side of the family on Christmas night after a quiet but pleasant Christmas day. We were present when the Kate's kids opened their presents in the morning.

Later we enjoyed a quiet and tasty Christmas lunch together.

Boxing Day saw us make our annual trek to Barry and Rainy's down at Drouin for the day to enjoy great company, too many drinks, plenty of laughs and a great time. We did get home a little earlier than expected but I had cricket at the MCG the next day.

I managed to get into the MCG and the cricket for two consecutive days. It was a little on the cool side at the ground especially where I was sitting. I saw the great Sachin Tendulkar bat superbly for India and the two young Australian fast bowlers Pattinson and Siddle (both Dandenong boys) bowl Australia to a great victory.

On the Tuesday evening after the cricket I went back to St Kilda and met up with Trish, Kim and Alex for a lovely Malaysian meal. Trish and I baby sat the kids on Wednesday night after I got home from the cricket while Kate and Arj went out.

On Thursday I did NOTHING! I just sat and watched the cricket on TV and vegged out for the day! I needed a rest badly!

Here it is Friday and we are out for lunch and again for tea. We may be catching up with Kim tonight as well. Kate Arj and the the rest of us are going to a revamped "The Palms" which is a food court style restaurant. The food is usually excellent.

We fly home later on Saturday afternoon where we will be collected from Maroochydore Airport by my brother Geoff and his wife who will spend a few days with us on the Sunshine Coast.

Sleeping Well Nowadays

It remains quite busy. Wednesday saw me mow Arj's lawns while Trish got the vacuum cleaner out. Kate and Arj are flat out finalizing the school year so this was our way of helping out.

We went to our very favorite Vietnamese restaurant on Wednesday night with friends Eddie and Patsy and we were joined by our daughter Kim and her friend Alex. The food was sensational and at $20 a head no one complained. Trish and I bought 2 jars of the wonderful chilli oil to take back home with us as well.

Thursday was the last day of school for Kate and Arj so Trish and I had the day baby sitting. I jumped in the car and went to Bunnings and bought a new and stronger plasterboard anchor and managed to put the curtain rail back up in the bedroom we are using. Later in the morning all four of us went for a walk down to the shops about 1 kilometre away. This is tough work with one 6 year old and a four year old!

Then they played some more before we headed to the park to give the new scooters a try out. Then the four of us were off to Malaysia Garden restaurant for our tea. The kids just loved the curry and rice while Trish and I enjoyed the boneless chicken curry and the plate of Char Koay Teow.

The kids were worn out when we got back home so they were soon in bed. Kate and Arj arrived home well after 9pm following end of the work year festivities. We all slept very well.

Friday saw us catch up with Graeme and Pat in the morning, I gave Keith a quick visit in the afternoon and later on this afternoon we are catching up with Gordon and Anne.

Trish created a small website for Anne and got it all online for her so today's visit is 'payment' for services rendered. It seems we are off to a Thai restaurant.

Since we have been in Melbourne sleeping well every night hasn't been a problem for us.

This One Gave Me A Chuckle ....

Guy goes into a bar, there's a robot bartender.
The robot says, "What will you have?"
The guy says, "Carlton Draught".
The robot brings back the best beer ever and says to the man, "What's your IQ?"
The guy says," 168."
The robot then proceeds to talk about physics, space exploration and medical technology.

The guy leaves, but he is curious... So he goes back into the bar.
The robot bartender says, "What will you have?"
The guy says, "Carlton Draught".
Again, the robot pours a great beer and gives it to the man and asks, "What's your IQ?"
The guy says, "100."
The robot then starts to talk about V8 Super cars, MotoGP, CUB beers and Supercheap Auto.

The guy leaves, but finds it very interesting, so he thinks he will try it one more time.
He goes back into the bar.
The robot says, "What will you have?"
The guy says, "Carlton Draught," and the robot brings him another great beer.
The robot then says, "What's your IQ?"
The guy says, "Uh, about 50."
The robot leans in real close and asks,

"So, you people happy with Buckley as coach?

Busy Busy Busy!

There was even more last minute Christmas shopping Monday morning before we headed to Drouin for our annual Christmas get together with friends. 4 couples have been meeting every Christmas for the last 20 years or so for a lovely meal, a few drinks and a Kris Kringle.

We arrived there early to ensure we had a good chat with Russ and Irene. The car front wheel was slightly turned like in the photo. However I spotted short self tapper screw in the tyre soon after our arrival. The car was unpacked and I quickly slipped into Drouin to have the tyre looked at. The self tapper screw had pierced right through the tyre necessitating a puncture repair.

Back to the Christmas gathering for a chat and a few drinks. I also had in excess of 130 movies to copy over for Russell as well for his media player.

Other couples June and Keith as well as Carol and David arrived.

The meal was delightful and the beer was flowing freely. Then it was Kris Kringle time and gifts were swapped. We decided to stay the night rather than attempt the 50k drive home around midnight. This would also give us a chance to really catch up with Russell and Irene.

We eventually got back to Kate's around 3 pm. From there it was a quick bite to eat and then on to Charli's school Christmas Song Concert.

Bed will be a good spot later on this evening.

Great Weekend

We arrived in Melbourne to a pleasant day with plenty of Sunshine. We spent early Thursday evening with Chris and family but we were soon on our way in our "Melbourne" car well before 7:30 pm to head to Kate's which would be our base for our time down south.

Even that visit was short lived before we were on our way early Friday afternoon to Phillip Island and Cape Woolamai where we had rented a home for the weekend to house all our family, their families including the grand children.

It worked out wonderfully with plenty eat, reasonable accommodation and a beach within 2 minutes of the front door.

There was walking, swimming, beach cricket and heaps of eating and drinking. It was a very successful weekend and everyone seemed keen on doing something similar in 2012. The weather was high 20's so everything was just perfect.

We were on our way home mid Sunday morning but spent some time with friends Max and Margaret as well as Pat and Neelan. Each visit was only for a couple of hours but all was extremely successful.

We slept very well Sunday night before we were due to head off to Drouin mid afternoon on Monday. Trish has been busy doing last minute Christmas shopping and helping Kate out where ever possible.

Our 'Diary' is relatively open now with 'commitments' (must do's) out of the way!

Down To Melbourne Tomorrow

A gorgeous 27 or so degrees today with a coolish breeze and blue skies. The bags are pretty well packed now and everything is almost ready for tomorrow's departure. We are flying with Jetstar and are due in Melbourne around 3:30pm where Chris will collect us from the airport.

Trish is busy with Christmas Farewells today while I will finish up with left over Spaghetti Bolognaise and home brew for my evening meal! I have a few licks of my Chilli Oil from our favorite Vietnamese Restaurant in Springvale to 'finish off' with the Spag Bol so all won't be lost!

Our 'second' car is at Chris' place so we will fully independent once we get the car keys in hand.

I am not sure when my next 'blog' post will be as things look really busy for the first few days in Melbourne.

Getting Ready For Xmas

After the disappointment of the recent Test Cricket we have been into "Getting Ready To Go Away" mode. The house has had a clean, the pool filter has been cleaned as well, the lawns have been mown, I have had a haircut and I picked up my new glasses. Sometimes you reckon it would be easier not to go away!

The weather has been crazy hot and humid. On Monday it was hot but the humidity was 80% which is high even for here! It was up to 33 degrees as the day went on. The pool was 23degrees in the morning and around 28 later that afternoon. Today was 30 or so again but when the sea breeze kicked in it was a pleasant 27.

I rode this morning after some heavy overnight showers the previous night and got in my 12 or so K's.

Last night we decided to try to get people together for a Xmas outing up here. The preferred restaurant was closed so someone suggested we try another Thai one just down the road. It was closed for renovations! And it is school holiday time in this part of the world.

We finished up going to a little Chinese Restaurant under new management named the Bamboo Garden. The new owners had also owned a restaurant named "The China Flute". The food at the China Flute was pretty good and very pricey! The six of us decided to try the 'Under New management Bamboo Garden' and had a very very nice Chinese meal. We ordered well which made a difference, Pork with Ginger and Shallots, Salt & Pepper Calamari, San Choi Bow, Satay Chicken, Mongolian Lamb and it was all delicious. Everyone was very impressed at around $50 per double!

On the way home we passed some houses which have been decorated for Xmas. Some people go to a lot of trouble to get their homes sparkling with bright lights. It looks pretty impressive.

We fly to Melbourne Thursday morning making tomorrow our last full day at home. I will do my packing etc while Trish has her hair done, goes to a Stitchers Luncheon and then out with the Tourist Info group for her evening meal! I think she is looking forward to going to Melbourne for a rest!

Problem Solved

I have managed to solve the problem with my PC. I downloaded and installed a small program around two weeks ago called "Soluto". My PC takes a while to startup, mainly because I have so many things going on in the background such as calendars, weather conditions, start up menus, Mailwasher and a few more little utilities. Soluto would monitor these startup programs and tell me roughly how much longer the PC would take to start up.

I noticed Soluto had been 'crashing' a couple of times recently and telling me certain programs had stopped running. I uninstalled Soluto this morning to see if it was causing the conflicts on my PC.

I was right, after uninstalling Soluto I again tried to run ThumbGen and this time it worked. I am guessing there was a conflict there somewhere with Soluto and other programs which now has been solved. I was fairly happy all now seems to be OK once more.

Drinks was great fun on Friday night with plenty of great company, great food and cool drink. We stayed a fair bit longer than we had expected but enjoyed the evening very much. Earlier that day Trish had a great Xmas Luncheon with her Quilters Group. She arrived late for drinks and wasn't hungry or thirsty!

I had my Xmas breakup for Computer Club yesterday and again there was plenty to eat and drink. A couple of the members I help bought me a lovely pen as a thank-you gift. It was lovely!

Thunderstorms rolled through again late yesterday giving us 1/2 an inch of rain in about 15 minutes. Saturday morning had already been wet with steady rain and this morning there was a total of 50mls in the rain gauge.

I managed to get a bike ride in this morning despite the 80% humidity and temp in the mid 20's. There was some spots where there was seepage across the paths but that didn't deter me.

The swim afterwards was refreshing. The pool is quite full again and the temp of the water is around 23 degrees. This morning was hot and sunny but it is becoming more overcast now with a sprinkle of rain around. Rain and more storms are expected tonight.

51 mls Altogether

Wednesday was very cool here with one part of the state recording its lowest ever top temperature. Brisbane got to a very winter-ish 19 degrees when the average is around 30 degrees at this time of year. Don't let the blue skies in the photo fool you, we still had a couple of showers after I took this snap.

Thick clouds covered the sky with rain on and off throughout the day. The pool is full to the top again with some water draining out through the 'overflow'.

I still haven't been able to fix that small computer program on my PC. However someone else has exactly the same problem which makes me feel a little better. It will be just a minor adjustment which will most likely be fixed in the next program update.

The pool needed a bag of salt today but I knew it was getting close anyway. When we get a heap of rain and some water goes out through the overflow you lose the salt from your pool.

When the water was 'tested' a month or so ago the pool guy said it needed salt then. However the Salt Chlorinator has a built in low salt indicator and it hasn't been showing anything about the salt being low for some time. However this morning it was 'on' so the bag of salt was added.

A couple of passing showers is all we are getting today and the temp is closer to 24 degrees. I wouldn't want to swim in the pool right now as it has cooled right off. I haven't been on a bike ride for two mornings now because of the rain.

PC Won't Do What It Should!

After solving problems for everyone else I am now unable to fix something on my own PC. A couple of weeks ago I started using a program to add 'movie information sheets' to the new media player I have acquired. It has been working pretty hard and I have just about got everything up and running.

I was about to do a few more TV episodes on the media player yesterday and the program wouldn't run at all! It did nothing!

The program "Thumbgen" is what is called a 'portable' program. That means there is no need to formally install it onto your computer from a 'setup' program. It runs from its own folder but it does need something Windows things previously installed (called.NET3.5) which is already in Windows.

I jumped on the internet and found the 'Thumbgen Forum' and left my concern there in a post I wrote. This morning there is a reply from the guy who wrote the program! He wanted me to send him a copy of the log file. I did that for him this morning. I await his answer.

Meanwhile I have had trouble getting my 'old' PC to run. It just wouldn't go. The red light would come on for 10 seconds and then nothing! I decided to move the ram cards around from one slot to another. There are 4 slots and two x 1GB ram cards. I swapped them around, hooked the PC back up again and it worked. I have now installed "Thumbgen" on it and it works perfectly! I have a temporary solution to my problem!

Busy day yesterday (Sunday) with bottle washing. With 2 lots on the go I had a double bottle washing to do.

Our youngest daughter Kim has moved out of the shared flat she had been living in for over 5 years. She has decided to go out on her own and has a small 1 bedroom place in this block. It is about a 5 minute drive from her previous place. It would now be around 15 minutes walk to the main Acland St shops rather than the previous 5 or so minutes. We reckon she will be happy there. We got the photo off Google's "Street View".

We had a blustery cooler change come through yesterday. Today is a cool 24 degrees with a lot of cloud overhead. Showers should extend to rain Wednesday afternoon. We will have to wait and see though on any rainfall!

Cooling Off

After a blast of perfect swimming pool weather here, a cooler south easterly change Thursday afternoon has returned temps to the mid 20's with overnight mid to high teens.

The change came through late in the afternoon Thursday with localized heavy falls. Here we got a mere 7mls, enough to top the pool up a little, while at the Caloundra race course about 4k's away they got 29mls. Some areas of Caloundra lost power as strong winds accompanied the change while here at our place it wasn't much of an event at all.

We had the final Community Association management committee meeting on Monday evening which meant my Tuesday was busy getting the website up to date and writing letters or emails. It was Newsletter delivery day as well and I had to get out and deliver my 110 copies to local homes. Tuesday was fairly busy ... and hot.

With Christmas not too far away and our trip to Melbourne to be with the family, it is time to get my 'home brew supplies' up to date and ready for visitors who may come up in the New Year. I have two brews on the go which means double brewing, double washing and double bottling. It won't be too bad as I will be using large 1.25 litre Coca Cola bottles for the second brew. Both brews are bubbling away as I type. I will be washing heaps of bottles tomorrow.

Of course the First Test from Brisbane is on right now as well which keeps me fully occupied during the daylight hours.

A week or so ago I bought a new power board online at one of the daily 'specials' websites. It has individual switches and buttons which 'light up' when turned on. This one has a couple of USB power connectors as well for charging phones, keyboard mice etc. It has a RRP of over $120 but on special online it cost a little over $30. There is no shortage of individually switched power surge protected power points now. I especially like to 'totally' switch off my PC overnight so I find the individual switches excellent.

Trish has been busy with Stitchers and Quilters and other CACA Committee issues. She receives a couple of calls most days with issues or just a quiet chat.

Movies have been good this week. Last night we watched George Clooney in "Ides Of March". We have also seen "Albert Nobbs" and "Red Dog" this week. "Tyrannosaur" was another interesting movie as well. Most have "For Your Consideration" on them which means they are copies for judges at the Academy Awards to view prior to nominations.

I am about to get ready for Computer Club in an hour or so. I plan to be back home fairly early to again enjoy the Test Cricket on TV. There is plenty of sunshine today so we may even get a full day's play.

Husband Down!

A husband and wife are shopping in their local supermarket.

The husband picks up a case of beer and puts it in their trolley.

'What do you think you're doing?' asks the wife.

'They're on sale, only $15 for 24 cans he replies.

'Put them back, we can't afford them' demands the wife, and so they carry on shopping.

A few aisles further on along the woman picks up a $30 jar of face cream and puts it in the basket.

'What do you think you're doing?' asks the husband.

'It’s my face cream. It makes me look beautiful,' replies the wife.

Her husband retorts: 'So does 24 cans of beer and it's half the price.'

He never knew what hit him.


And now you can read our latest news in the post below ......

It Is Summer Time

Any further rain which was predicted over the weekend failed to arrive. We had clear skies and northerly winds. The temp hovered in the low 30's over much of Sunday making the pool the place to be.

Friday night attendance at drinks was down but that didn't seem to impact on the enjoyment. Ian and his wife kerry dropped around and we had a great night, possibly a little too good a night for Trish. She crashed early leaving me alone to watch a bit of TV. Trish had a quiet Saturday!

I went to Computer Club as per normal on Saturday and again dealt with a range of problems for members. We managed to solve most of them and had generally happy customers at the end of it. I took Ian with me and after I got him home I switched his anti-virus across to NOD32 which I think he will be happy with.

Most of the weekend was spent switching between cricket and golf on TV in the lounge room and then popping out into the pool for a refreshing swim.

New neighbours moved in to the house on the right as you face our home. They are a young couple with two boys. He is a former soldier who now works 'in the mines' out of Gladstone. He works 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. Gladstone is around 400k's north of the Sunshine Coast and is a major centre for the huge mining boom Queensland is experiencing right now. The mines is where the good money is to be made right now. They seem very nice. He is the first person living there in the last 5 years who owns a lawn mower!

I bike rode on Sunday and today with the pool being 27.5 degrees this morning.

Later in the morning I spent an hour delivering Community Association newsletters. The pool is beckoning right now as I type.

Cooler wet weather is expected after lunch on Thursday which just happens to be the first day of the first cricket test against New Zealand to be played in Brisbane.

Dummies guide to what went wrong in Europe. (And USA)

Helga is the proprietor of a bar.

She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar.

To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later.

Helga keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting loans to the customers).

Word gets around about Helga's "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Helga's bar.

Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in town.

By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Helga gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages.

Consequently, Helga's gross sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Helga's borrowing limit.

He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral!!!

At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINK BONDS.

These "securities" then are bundled and traded on international securities markets.

Naive investors don't really understand that the securities being sold to them as "AA" "Secured Bonds" really are debts of unemployed alcoholics.

Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb!!!, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices still are climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Helga's bar.

He so informs Helga. Helga then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts..

Since Helga cannot fulfil her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and Helga's 11 employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINK BOND prices drop by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank's liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.

The suppliers of Helga's bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms' pension funds in the BOND securities.

They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds..

Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers.

Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multibillion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from the government.

The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who’ve never been in Helga’s bar.

Now do you understand?

....... and my latest News From The Sunshine Coast Post can be read below ....

Water Diverter Wasn't Required After All

By the time the rain clouds had cleared from our area sometime early this morning it turned out we hadn't needed the water diverter after all to ensure the water level in the pool was topped up. The pool is now full and there are 77mls of rain in the gauge. The 3+" of rain we have had would have been enough to fill the pool without even contemplating using the water diverter at all.

After a fall of rain like that I usually don't bother to ride. The pathways usually have seepage over them which means you get spray all over your back and water splashes all over the rest of you. I did do around 12k's this morning on the bike and there wasn't one spot where any overnight water could be seen.

I guess it was so dry the water just soaked straight in! Our front lawn looks terrible. The areas of grass which are alive are a bright vibrant green this morning while the rest looks a dirty dead yellow color. Let us see what it looks like in a few days time.

With all that rain it is very humid right now, somewhere around 85%. This should lower as the day progresses and the surface water dries out. The pool looks OK though, it is a little under 27 degrees in there right now.

More rain is expected tomorrow.

I thought the joke below was quite clever!

Job Interview

Rain At Last

It took until Thursday mid morning but the promised rain has begun falling at last. It has been raining for around 90 minutes now and there are around 15mls in the rain gauge. Wednesday evening saw us get a minimal sprinkle, enough to wet the pavers but they were all dry again 5 minutes later. Brisbane got 1 ml yesterday afternoon while 50k's to the south west of the city they had well over 50mls.

With all this rain around it has been pretty sticky too. But right now it is gray, there is rain on the rooftops and it has cooled down considerably. The house is wide open allowing the cooler air to penetrate.

The last time we got any reasonable rain was mid October when we had 22mls. We had 6 mls around 4 weeks ago but nothing since.

The water diverter is now helping to top the pool up and it is almost 'there'. It was probably down almost 3 or 4 inches from the level it should be when it is 'full'. With it being so dry there was heaps of dust and dirt on the roof. This is what first goes through the diverter. I actually had to clean the diverter and the connections out as mud was restricting the flow somewhat. All is running well right now though.

I have getting my bike ride in each day and still maintaining around 12 or so kilometres each day.

On Tuesday we went to Maroochydore where Trish wanted some stuff for the Arts centre association. I bought another 'backup' cable for my recliner so I have a spare now. On Wednesday I assisted with the newsletter which I am handing over to another Committee member. He did most of the work but I finished it off. We will collect it on Friday so it can be distributed across the estate by volunteer deliverers.

I bottled another brew on Wednesday afternoon before a swim later in the afternoon. The pool is around 28 degrees most afternoons so it is delightful to have a quick dip and then sit poolside with a cooling frothy top in hand!

This morning a Community Association delegation visited the local Helicopter Training School for a chat and an update.

But today's rain is delightful, you can almost feel the air outside has been cleansed!

Finally we have watched a couple of decent movies. Last night we watched 50/50 about a young guy with cancer. We followed that with "The Debt", a thriller with Helen Mirren centred around a bungled Mossad raid. On Tuesday night we watched "The Help" which was excellent too.

It is approaching Academy Awards times so some movies marked "For Awards Consideration Only" are doing the rounds right now.

Possibly Some Rain Wednesday

It is now more than 5 weeks since we had any rain over 5 or 6 mls in a day. So far no rain at all has been recorded in November. But the forecast is telling us that we can expect 'periods of rain' on Thursday. We sure need it.

Every four days or so I need to top the pool up just a little to ensure the water level is high enough for the pool's skimmer box (and the filter pump) to work. The water diverter connected to a down pipe is turned on and the hose is poised above the skimmer box ready to pour any rain water into the pool!

The front lawn is yellow and crinkles under my feet as I walk on it. The pots get a small water from time to time to give any plants a 'drink' to keep them alive.

I have watched heaps of golf the last few day with the Presidents Cup live and in full on PayTV. Then of course once 6pm comes, there is live Test Cricket from South Africa where Australia is currently playing.

I did the Computer Club on Saturday which was as busy as usual. I washed bottles ready for my next bottling sometime this week and they are now ready to go.

Last night 8 of us ventured to the very local Indian restaurant for their $30 per head banquet. It was a huge success with everyone enjoying the food and having heaps to eat. Despite giving my home brew and red wine a 'nudge' last night I am moving very well this morning. I even got my 12 kilometre bike ride over and done by 7:45 am. It was nearly 26 degrees in the pool when I had a refreshing swim afterwards.

I see Pat and Graeme are safely back from their trip to the UK. Skype gives me reminders that they are 'online'. We will get all the news when we catch up with them on our next trip to Melbourne mid December. I have also heard from my brother that they will be visiting us New Year's Eve and will collect us from Maroochydore Airport when we fly back in after Christmas.

Great Deal On The Internet

As most of you know I spend more than several hours most days messing around on my PC. One of my first group of pages I visit is some selected "Daily Specials" websites.

Just "Google" these websites if you want to check any of them out or click on the links. They have new specials most days and all accept payment via "Paypal". I won't include a couple of other sites I get specials from as well but just note them as the ever popular eBay and my DealExtreme websites. I also like the Australian based "Umart" as they have an agency here on the coast where it is easy for me pick stuff up.

The sites I visit are "Catch Of The Day", "Zazz", "OO", "Ozbargain" "eSold" "Spreets" and "Shopping Square". There are more too such as Daily Deals etc.

If you Google Ozbargain you will get links to sub categories Electrical & Computer which I have listed in my "Favorites".

I like to listen to my radio in bed and have been wearing 'bud' earphones. Nowadays there is a newer kind of bud earphone which are very comfortable to wear. I decided I would like a set of the newer more comfortable headphones.

The little bit of online hunting around I did seemed to show that possibly a pair of "Logitech Ultimate Ears 200's" would be a reasonable choice. Officeworks have them in the current catalogue HERE at $29 per pair. Ozbargain had a link (HERE) to the "Logitech Shop" and their Christmas sale. They were selling UE 200's at 2 pairs for $12. They are plain wrapped but 'new'. This price included delivery.

I ordered 2 pairs for $12 on Sunday and they were delivered yesterday.

Summer Arrives

It has been warm here the last day or so. I have moved on from T-Shirts to Singlets and you are correct, it's not a pretty sight! Temps have been nudging 30 degrees the last day or so. As I have said previously, the hottest time of the day here is around 11 am, just before the sea-breeze comes in. Overnights have been in the low 20's. This morning I swam after my bike ride around 8 am with the pool temp 26+ and the air temp in our sheltered little back yard about 28 degrees.

As the photo shows, there is hardly a cloud in the sky. The photo was taken before 7 am this morning and shows the new development here with over 700 home sites to be built in the next few years. And there isn't a cloud in the sky.

There is still no rain on the outlook and giving the pool a little top up happens every second day or so. I was in the pool on 3 separate occasions yesterday. Remember you can click on one photo to see larger views of all photos in one post. Click on the cross in the top right hand corner to return to this page.

I continue to have a ball with the new WD TV Live Streaming Media Player. I have discovered 'Movie Sheets' and a program called "Thumbgen". Now when I click on a movie to play there is a synopsis of the story, the major actors, the duration and the latest IMDB rating. In the background is a screenshot from the movie as you can see on the photo left. I am enjoying messing around with it very much.

Tuesday we headed into the RSL for a $5 per person lunch. The RSL is not renowned for its meals so we were a little wary. It was basic 'pub fare' but not a bad sized meal at all for $5. I was planning on grabbing 2 lunches if they were smaller serves but I couldn't have eaten two serves.

You can see 'my' recliner chair in the photo left. I had again broken the cable (that is at least 3 times now) which runs from the handle to the release mechanism which extends the recliner. Previously I would ring a guy who would come and replace the cable for me at around $60 a pop. I called him a few times, sent him a couple of texts all without an answer.

The repair guy had previously told me they were straight forward to replace. I hadn't heard from him so I guessed he was no longer in business. I popped in to a local furniture store to check out where I might be able to buy a new cable. The guy gave me a cable, not exactly the same as the original but he believed it might work. I replaced the broken cable and "bingo", it works. That is another $60 I have saved!

Last night we watched an older movie called "A Time To Kill". It told the story of a negro father who shot dead the two guys who had raped his 10 y.o. daughter, left her for dead and the ensuing court case. We both enjoyed it very much. Samuel L Lewis, Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughy were in it. A great story.

Warm Days & No Rain!

This morning the pool was a gorgeous 25 degrees so after a bike ride it was just wonderful to flop around in the water for 10 minutes or so. It has now been so long since we had even a drop of rain, the pool water level needs topping up from the hose and the front lawn now crinkles under your feet! It is now 4 weeks since we had any rainfall over 7 mls.

As some of you know I need to be careful with my back. Every now and again it goes into spasms and causes me pain and grief! It has been perfect for several months now and yet I have continued to do all the things I shouldn't, mow lawns, vacuum the house/pool, lift heavy loads, brew beer etc. Then Saturday afternoon all I did was stand up from a chair and turn. I felt like I had been shot in the lower back.

Several inflammatory tablets later I was at least able to get around again. Each day it gets a little better but a trip for me to the Chiropractor has been booked for this afternoon.

Trish was flat out all weekend with another Craft Fair. As a Committee Member she was on duty for much of the time. She put a few things 'on sale' and has made around $150 for the weekend into her own pocket. This will pay for the materials she used with a little left over as compensation for the hours of work which went into it all.

Still not much to download from the net. I am really not interested in "Zombies Apocalypse" which scores 4.5 from Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB). Generally I only download movies which are 7.0 or better.

A movie we did enjoy during the week was "The Devil's Double", the story of Uday Hussein, one of Saddam's sons. A guy had been used as the Uday's double and was used to front the press or deliver speeches in dangerous areas while Uday remained in the safety of his own well fortified home. Uday is probably best remembered as a sex fiend in Iraq!

Not A Lot Of News

The photo to the left really says it all! Great days with temps in the high 20's, a little breezy but usually that is the sea breeze blowing in from the north-east.

Today was spent with a little downloading of movies and TV shows. It is almost the end of my 'month' and I have plenty of bandwidth left. A TV Series called Homeland is very popular in the USA right now and "Metacritic" (great website) gives it a very good score. I grabbed the first 6 episodes this morning and swapped them over to the new media player.

This morning I had my ride, a quick swim and then bottled my beer. It was perfect for bottling and got all my beer supplies back to normal. The fridge is well stocked and my supplies in the garage are back to 'normal'.

I am not a fan of Facebook but I kind of keep an eye on it about once a month. I spotted one of my friends from Melbourne had Glenn Lewis as a "friend". That name rang a bell with me. It goes back around 15 years I guess but Glenn was from the USA and attended an International School to School Experience Conference in Lucknow India. I was the delegate representing Australian ISSE schools.

It was Glenn who accompanied me when we were shown around Lucknow with Lt Col Percy Swing. Percy was an ex "Gurkha" officer and was working for the 'school' in India as an aide to the school principal, and had been charged with showing Glenn and me the sights of Lucknow. It was pretty hot so after a share of ancient buildings it was time for Percy to show us a spot where we could get a cool "Kingfisher" or two.

He took us to the Pink Pussy Cat Bar in Lucknow. I ordered three beers for us. Percy declined saying he was working and it wouldn't be right. We convinced him that the Australian tradition was when you were offered a beer you took it and joined 'the shout'. From that moment onwards we were all best mates. It was no longer "Lt Col Swing", now it was Percy, Les and Glenn!

A few days later Glenn and I were invited to Percy's home for a meal with Percy and his delightful wife. It was a wonderful night, a great meal and a friendship I will treasure for ever!

If my memory serves me right, Glenn and I travelled back to New Delhi by overnight train, another story that is!

Glenn and I have exchanged messages on Facebook so we will see what develops!

Looks Wet & Wild In Victoria

I had a Public Community Meeting to Chair on Monday night and we had around 50 people in attendance. There were a couple of contentious items on the Agenda which sparked some lively (if not inane) argument.

People naturally loved it and it was great to have a couple of people come up to me later and congratulate me on the manner in which the meeting was conducted. I must admit it took a little time to get to sleep that night.

Still warm sunny (and dry) days as the photo here of our very dry front lawn shows. We have a top forecast of 27 degrees today. We badly need a drop of rain, unlike Melbourne which seems to be getting lashings of it today.

We no longer bother watering the front lawn, instead we top the pool up a little during these dry periods of time. The pool will need another 15 minute top up tomorrow but hopefully storms and showers over the weekend will fill it right up again.

We caught up with another couple late yesterday afternoon for 'drinks'. They have been here on the Coast for around 12 months and Ian has joined the Community Association to help out and get to meet new people. It was a lot of fun and we shall be catching up with them again.

Everything else is going along as expected, daily bike rides, morning swims in the pool and then there is plenty of cricket on Pay TV for me to watch. We even have the Australia vs Sth Africa series live on Pay TV tonight.

I even found if you go to the Foxsports website, click on the cricket link and eventually through to Domestic Cricket and "Live Streaming" you watch the Sheffield Shield matches live on your PC. The picture isn't the best but still it is better than nothing.

Bottles were washed yesterday and I have bottling on the agenda for tomorrow.

All Quiet On The Northern Front

We have had lovely warmish days with temps around 26 or 28 degrees. This morning the pool was around 23+ degrees so OK for a quick swim after my bike ride. We could do with an inch or two of rain though. Warmer weather and no rain means the pool water evaporates a little more quickly

It hasn't been busy up this way at all, just the everyday humdrum of checking out what is available for download off the net and a visit to my 'usual' web sites. I updated some things on the BeCA website I look after as well.

I put a new brew on Thursday. The rubber seal between the lid and the barrel has gone out of shape so it doesn't fully seal to the whole 100%.

This makes little or no difference to the brew, it just means that it will need to be bottled as soon as it is ready!

Computer Club was busy yesterday as usual sorting out upgrading AVG, how to copy photos to a CD, how can I do this or that.

I spent a fair bit of time showing one chap who was keen to learn about getting movies off the net. I pointed him to a website I had put together for some good basic knowledge. You can see it HERE.

I did have a call from one of the older Computer Club members last night regarding a call she had received from "Microsoft" earlier that night. She had asked they call her back in 15 minutes after she had finished eating her meal. I managed to put her mind at rest saying it was a 'scam'. They tell you your computer is infected and if you pay money there and then they will fix it for you remotely! She was most thankful ... and relieved!

I caught up with one of the new BeCA Committee members for drinks Friday afternoon. They are relatively new to the coast and finding it a little difficult to get to know people. It was pleasant. Trish and I will most likely pop around there Tuesday afternoon for an hour or two.

Two doors up had a party last night. It was pretty noisy around here. Fortunately it was a coolish night (around 18 degrees) so we were able to shut the place up and escape the worst of it. Perhaps it would have been nice had we been warned. The worst can be the music's thump, thump, thump of the base but the music they played last night wasn't that sort of music. We locked the place up so any noise we could hear was incidental. There are benefits to being a bit deaf after all!

A Quiet Cup Day In Queensland

There is a bit of sun about today but not warm enough to see me jump in the pool. I even got some rain drops on the glasses this morning as I headed off on my daily bike ride. With a threatening sky I took a slightly shorter route. By the time I finished 11 or so k's the sky had cleared and everything was beginning to warm up.

I spent a bit of time on the BeCA website adding another post and had a quick check out of what movies there are to download. I am afraid movies such as "Apocalypse Zombies" don't do a lot for me. But that seems to be the standard fare available for download right now. No wonder I grab a heap of TV Series off the ABC's iView.

On stinking hot days we put an umbrella up in the 'back corner'. If you have a few people around you need to 'jockey' for position in some shade. We are considering buying a reasonable quality 3m x 3m "Gazebo" to set up in the back corner.

We took a few minutes this afternoon and checked out our local Bunnings and saw this on display.

It looked 'huge' in the store but we found it would fit OK. It needs to fit in over the pool filter cover so we need the larger 3 metre size.

The possible remaining hassle is that it takes 2 people to set it up. If we had a thunder storm beginning to rattle in like we do in this part of the world it would be great if it could be partially dismantled by one person. Not so sure this is the case with this model.

It seems pretty solid though and has all these supports in the roof to hold it up. It may well be a 2 person job to get it down. I would need to fasten it to the fence on two sides in case of windy weather. Velcro straps would probably do that job though.

After measuring things up it seems this model is most likely the one we will go for. It will give us plenty of shade on those very hot days.

I could then set the old umbrella up over the semi circle section of the pool and offer some shade for that area as well. Got to keep the home brew out of the sun!

During the afternoon we took 45 minutes and enjoyed the 2011 Melbourne Cup on TV. It was an exciting race this year with the winner getting over the line by a nose hair!

It Is A Very Ordinary Day!

The weather has turned 'Melbourne like' being grey overhead with a cool breeze and plenty of light showers. Yesterday was 28 degrees and just glorious, today is low 20's and miserable! The map left shows what was heading our way from the south west last night around 10 pm. By the time it got to us an hour or so later there was plenty of thunder and lightning but a only a measly 6mls of rain. It managed to put water back into the pool but not enough to fill it.

Trish had a great weekend, she and 5 other girl friends headed to Lake Coroibah north of Noosa. It was very successful for her, Monday was a quiet R&R day.

I hit the Computer Club and was as busy as usual. But I enjoyed it.

I spent Sunday on my bike ride, in the pool, a little on the computer but mostly on a chair in front of the telly watching cricket. There were heaps of runs scored but unfortunately Victoria lost out.

There is a new model of my media player out called the "WD TV Live Streaming" It retails for around $169 but several stores have it on special at $147. One of the forums I follow had people buying it for around $130+ after some haggling. Some people just told outright lies and purchased them for less than $120. I copied a couple of their receipts and took them with me to a couple of local electrical stores. After showing the guy both of my under $120 receipts he said he would check out the boss on a possible 'price match'. I told him I would be very pleased with $120! He came back, said the boss OK'ed it and I now own a new media player.

One of the guys at the Computer Club was in the market for an old second Media Player for the bedroom. I have one sitting here not being used. He wants it and will give me $35 for it. I take that off the new one I have just bought and it turns out the new one actually cost me $85.

I am happy with that!

The new model should have regularly updated firmware. It has 'built in' wireless so it easily connects to my computer in the other room and plays movie, music or photo files directly from my PC to the TV in the lounge room. Using some software I have discovered, it also accesses ABC's iView and other 'catchup TV, direct via the computer to my TV as well. The previous one also had wireless and it has gone onto Trish's TV in the 'sewing room' or second bedroom.

Time For An Update

The weather has been sensational the last couple of days, sunny and in the high 20's. The pool temp even nudged 26 degrees this afternoon but most times it is closer to 23 when I swim after my morning bike ride.

Monday was spent tidying up loose ends, a load of washing, mow the lawns, spray Ant & Cockroach killer around all the skirting boards, that sort of stuff. All the jobs were done and the place was looking OK for Trish's return from Melbourne late on Tuesday. I did have an 'emergency' Community Association meeting to chair Monday night but that went very smoothly.

As I have said elsewhere, we have a new estate being built just across the main road near our place. People are rightly a bit upset that there will be extra traffic and no extra entry or exit to the estate. Residents want a safe new exit, the developer wants to upgrade the current single entrance and thus save a lot of money!

Remember to click on even one of the pictures to see them all in a larger size. Then either click on the "X" in the top right hand corner or on "Back" to return to this page.

Trish flew into Brisbane on Tuesday and I picked her up around 5:30pm. It is a round 180k trip to and from the main Brisbane Airport. Things will return to normal when the budget airline "Tiger Airways" returns to service the Sunshine Coast. We phoned ahead to our 'new' nearby Fish and Chips shop and collected our order on the way though.

It didn't take long for things to get back to normal, Trish was at Stitchers by 9 am this morning and I was still on my bike ride. But the swim afterwards was great. It must have hit the high 20's this afternoon which was a little unexpected as cooler weather and thunder storms had been forecast.

With all the construction work going on around 100 metres away (see above pic) and with a prevailing easterly wind we have been getting some dust off the construction site. I gave the pool a vacuum this afternoon and then decided to clean the filter. As you can see from the photo, it is easy to see where most of the dust finishes up ... in MY pool!

After sorting out the filter and cleaning the pool it looked very tempting! It was a very pleasant swim for 10 minutes or so, the water at 26 degrees was delightful and the home brew "Black Ale" sitting on the edge of the pool was even better!

Trish has Tourist Information Centre tomorrow morning, Quilters on Friday and then she and several other ladies are off for the weekend. One of them owns a holiday spot beside Lake Coroibah just north of Noosa so about 5 of them are off together. Trish brought her weekend's alcohol supply home with her today, it looks like it will be a good weekend!

I might even shout myself a little surprise too while she is away!

The 'old' computer was playing up a bit, it refused to start up. I pulled the ram out, gave it a bit of a jiggle and put it back again. I would give the video card a jiggle as well, cross my fingers and after a day or so it was up and running again. However the PC's date had reverted back to 2002 each time I restarted it. Google was my friend but I had guessed the small battery on the motherboard had died. Co incidentally it is the same battery as I use in my bike trip meter and I had a spare. A few minutes later after replacing the battery, re jiggling the ram and and the video card it is working OK again!

Mate Wings His Way Back To Melbourne

I collected John from his Mum's place mid afternoon on Friday. John's Mum is beginning to show her age and is experiencing a few mobility problems. It may not be too far away from making a decision on her future.

We enjoyed a couple of quiet ales in our backyard upon our return and the weather was pleasant enough.

John is a steak and chips man and not used to extending his taste experiences. He has developed a love for peanut satay sauce he tells me. So my suggestion we head off to the local "Bombay Bliss" Indian Restaurant for our evening meal was taken with a little trepidation. John doesn't like any heat in his food so I ordered a mild Butter Chicken, a mild Lamb and Spinach and a garlic naan.

I have created a monster, John enjoyed his mild butter chicken so much he has demanded we must come to this restaurant again during his next visit. We finished with a taste of Chiken Tikka. He loved it all!

We managed not to over indulge upon our arrival home and headed off to the sack at a reasonable 10:30 pm.

It was a quiet Saturday morning as we tidied things up and grabbed a bite to eat before we went to Brisbane airport to catch his 2:20pm flight to Melbourne.

I had put a load off washing on during the morning so I wasn't too pleased as showers increased the closer I got back to the "Sunshine" Coast!

John Is At His Mum's

It has been great having a mate of mine, John Logan from Melbourne, spend a few nights with me. I collected him from Brisbane Airport mid afternoon on Tuesday and we drove the 90 or so K's north to our home. John had been allowed 10kg 'free' luggage on the flight up, unfortunately he had 12.5Kgs. He had to pay a 'late' fee of around $75 for his extra 2.5kgs above the limit.

I cooked steak for us for tea that night and we enjoyed quite a few home brew ales, possibly it could be said we enjoyed too many. Therefore Wednesday was extremely quiet, especially for yours truly! I wasn't a well boy at all.

We didn't do much, just lazed around chatted and walked down to the shops. It was a quiet and lazy sort of a day. I had to 'pinch' an hour and attend a meeting with our local MP on a community issue but the rest of the time was spent quietly (and soberly).

Fish and Chips for tea and early to bed for me was the rest of the day.

I dropped John at his Mum's place early this afternoon (Thursday). I will go back around there later today, collect them both and provide transport to and from one of the local Clubs for an evening meal. As I am driving I won't be indulging too much at all.

I will drop in sometime on Friday again and bring him back here for our last night before he flies home soon after lunch on Saturday.

It has been great for me to have him visit, especially with Trish currently in Melbourne. Trish is due home late on Tuesday.

Cooler Today

The sky has become overcast with the chance of a shower. So far today we have had a sprinkle which didn't stop me getting some washing done and dried.

The recent rain has helped Trish's cuttings to take root.

Lots of house keeping duties today, washing, beer bottling, collect Trish's library book and getting things ready for a friend John Logan who is flying up from Melbourne tomorrow soon after lunch. I will collect him from the Brisbane airport around 2 pm.

John will spend 3 nights with me and another night with his mum who lives about 20 minutes away.

The last couple of days have been spent watching cricket and other sport on TV. A normal weekend really!

The mailman left another package for me today. It is a large faced digital clock. Gee I enjoy that eBay and DealExtreme!

A Mere 7 mls of Rain

The photo of the dark storm clouds in yesterday's post left us with a mere 7 mls of rain. Other areas to the south of Brisbane copped it with heaps of hail and up to 100 mls of rain.

More storms are expected this afternoon but it is just on 3 pm here on the Sunshine Coast and the sky remains sunny with some build small up of cloud.

It has been a quiet day today. My major task was to prepare this casserole. It has been 'spiced up' with a desert spoon full of the sensational Vietnamese chilli we get from a restaurant in Springvale. As usual I have made 'too much'.

The pool was around 24 degrees this morning making my swim after the 12.5k bike ride very pleasant. There is both cricket and soccer on the sport channels tonight so I will settle back after my meal and take in the sport.

I have Computer Club back on again tomorrow morning.