Busy Monday!

My bike ride went for almost 13k's this morning.

Then I had a brew to get on followed by trips to the Chiropractor, the Audiologist and finally the family doctor has made for a busy day.

But more importantly, we received this link to photos from Kate and Arj in Saudi Arabia. (HERE). I hope you enjoy them.

In some ways, all the these issues are intertwined.  This will be my final brew for a couple of months for we head off overseas in less than two weeks, eventually catching up with Kate and family in Saudi.  The audiologist was to get the new hearing aid finally sorted prior to heading off away as is the visit to the doctor to get covering letters for medications and a final health checkup.

My swim in the pool each is getting shorter each time I jump in.  For the first time last night for a couple of weeks the ceiling fan in the bedroom remained off all night.  Today the top temperature is high 20's and overnight it will be around 20 or 21.

Yesterday we enjoyed lunch with friends here on the estate.  They put the final of the World Cup One Day cricket from Melbourne on TV so I didn't need to rush off quite so early.  The game was just as I like it, a good solid and straight forward win to Australia.  There weren't too many nerves or jitters, the whole thing was just plain sailing.

For good measure we have just begun working our way through the latest series of the US TV Series "Banshee".  It is so implausible with loads of action, attractive ladies and despite a totally impossible story line, is great fun to watch!

I am not sure it would get on to local F.T.A. TV in Australia, I don't think the censors would allow it during family viewing time!

I am beginning to dismantle the Waeco just outside the house's back door, getting ready for cooler times and for us heading away!

About To Enter The Home Straight!

Things are beginning to warm up now as we get closer to departure for our trip away.  We fly out in just two weeks.

Cash has been moved about into accounts and now is where it is meant to be.

I have dug out the "Bum Bag" ready for important documents.  This one is relatively thin and can be worn under any under garments secured around your waist.  We are starting to set up computer tablets with movies and music ready for the long long plane trips.  Our first leg is 13 hours I think, from Brisbane to Dubai.  We fly with Qantas/Emirates.

We have ordered a travel sim card for one of our phones, just in case of an emergency.  Once we have received it, it will be activated and I believe we get a UK phone number.  It has a US$50 credit built in which should be enough for what we want.

It cost us AU$24 so we shouldn't go wrong with it.  It is mainly for emergencies and text messaging.  The rates look pretty good but works along the line if you want to call someone, you call this number, then key in the number you want and you are connected.  It is similar to a phone card type of system.

Incoming calls to us are no charge while outgoing text messages are just a few cents.

We have been told there are heaps of free wifi places we can visit as well.  It is highly likely our bus and hotels we stay at will have free wifi.

We have been told it won't be so easy (or cheap) to access wifi on the ship.  We arrive at a new port almost daily so we can grab emails etc at free hot spots around where we land.

There has been plenty of sport still on TV here and the weather remains unseasonably warm.  Low 30's every day, humidity and warm nights.  A cool change is due tomorrow though with temperatures reverting to where they should be at this time of the year, high 20's during the day and around 20 overnight.

An advantage of the warm weather however is that the pool is maintaining its warmth as well.

Still Hot

It has remained quite warm here for the last few days despite getting to the end of the first month of autumn.  Low 30's each day and quite steamy has been the rule rather than the exception.  Another 31º is expected today.  The ceiling fan remained on "Hi" all last night while we slept.

We haven't caught up with friends John and Margaret for some time.  They get quite involved with family, their eldest daughter has had a brain tumor problem and it is nothing for them to drop everything and head off to help Natalie out from time to time.  John also loves his Rugby League and frequently heads into Brisbane on a Friday for the game.

But we caught up with them yesterday evening.  As usual there was too much to eat and drink and the 12k bike ride this morning was a little more difficult than usual.

I have most of my emails come through to my phone as a backup nowadays.  While we were enjoying our drinks an email came through from Kate asking if we were able to speak via Skype.  We have now put Skype on our phones as well.  Within a few moments we were sitting at our friend's outdoor setting, enjoying nibblies and drinks and chatting with Kate in Saudi Arabia via Skype on Trish's phone.  It was school lunchtime there and Kate was using some of her lunch time to chat with us.  Quite remarkable really.

Excuse the grainy nature of the photo above but when I took the photo with my phone the picture looked perfect to me!

On top of everything else we were without internet again for around 18 hours from Tuesday night to after lunch yesterday.  It took a couple of calls to the ISP to sort it out but we are back online again now.

It is two weeks tomorrow till we take off for our trip to Europe and Saudi Arabia.  Trish has been busy sorting out Euros and Sar (Saudi currency).  Other preparations are all well in hand.

Because of our imminent trip away for 2 months, our internet connections problem has been put on hold.  Our current ISP has given us a 1 month credit so that cuts down the expense while we are away.

All the telephony equipment here on this estate is owned by Telstra (the national carrier).  Whenever there is an internet connection problem my ISP has to liaise with them to make any repairs.  They just use a quick fix.  The most likely cause of the problem according to our ISP is that the wrong codes are being used for the connection.  One guesses if we were to change our ISP to the National Carrier, there is a good possibility our connection problem will go away!

We will sort that out upon our return from Saudi Arabia.

Arj has a new post on his Blog as well:  http://behindthekeyboard.global2.vic.edu.au/2015/03/24/banking-24th-march-2015/

Unwanted Record

Despite getting towards the end of March, yesterday (Thursday) was the hottest day on record for the Sunshine Coast for this month.  The official temperature was 36º but it was hotter in our small enclosed backyard.  It was too hot for the pool even, though a swim after 10pm last night was perfect.

The air-conditioning was extremely welcome.  They say it is slightly cooler today but I am not so sure.  Regular temperatures are due to return tomorrow.

Today Friday has been very busy so far.  We are having roadworks at the top of Bellvista Blvd.  We also have a school here which caters for 1400 children.  Around 2/3 of them come by car from outside our community.  With one road in and one road out, it gets pretty busy during school pickup/dropoff times as the photo I took this morning shows.

The Community Association has negotiated that roadworks would cease during peak times and whenever possible all lanes will be open.  It has been chaotic bedlam trying to get in and out during those busy times.  And despite the agreement it has been pretty much single lane during these times.

So I went up to investigate the situation myself this morning and had a vocal confrontation with the foreman there.  One lane was closed while they did some landscaping works!  Traffic was backed the best part of a kilometre down the road.  Cars were queued across roundabouts, people couldn't make turns and it was almost come to blows!

I rang my contact at Stockland (the developer) who immediately had someone sent down to sort the mess out.  I suspect the contractor will be hauled across the coals as well.  I have since had a call from the person responsible at Stockland with a sincere apology.

Then I had a call from my 'Internet Service Provider' who has been monitoring our internet connections and the dropouts we still get.  I told them I was thinking of leaving if the mess can't be sorted out.  I mentioned we wouldn't be doing anything until I got back from our trip, sometime early in June.

She gave us a month internet connection credit off our account.

Yet another fault will be lodged with Telstra (the wholesaler). I will get another call next week from her with a possible update.

We have Australia playing in a cricket match in an hour or so on TV.  I will enjoy a quiet ale as I sit back and watch.  We had Trish's 'discounted' RSL meal last night.  You get a $15 reduction during your birthday month so with the reduction the meals for both of us were around $35.  I had a few beers as well. So this afternoon's beer will be of somewhat medicinal value as well.

Wednesday Update

I had completed my bike ride by 7:30am this morning.  Trish was off to Stitchers at 7:45am and I am expecting delivery of a new set of reasonable quality in ear headphones for which I needed to be home to collect. 

The better quality ones just work better and the pair I have just bought online has its own volume control built in.  At around $50 to $70 from a local store to get them at $30 delivered seemed a good deal to me.

According to tracking advice they should be delivered any time.  So when the door bell rang at around 10am this morning I thought they had been delivered.

But I was mistaken, it was our Passports with the Visas to get into Saudi Arabia being delivered. They came back quite quickly. To have the visa approved is a major task completed.  Just to be on the safe side I have erased some parts of the visa photo above just in case there is a law being broken.

I have put a brew on and then washed bottles already this morning.

The World Cup cricket semi finals begin today so again there will be plenty of sport to watch today and for the next few days.  We (Trish mainly) are in the throes of sorting out how to organize our money while we are away.  It is a little over three weeks now until we head off.

My internet connection remains at patchy.  During downloads I probably suffer at least one drop out per day.  But now at least it reconnects again within 20 seconds.  If you weren't in the midst of a download you wouldn't even realize the internet had dropped out.

Fancy in a so called 'well developed" country such as ours we have to put up with 3rd world internet. Here where we live some residents can't get internet access as there just isn't the connection points available!

Saturday

It is just after 7 am on Saturday not long before I get ready to head off to Computer Club.  Things are getting back to normal now that the "Office" has been finished and the new furniture is all up and running.

There are a couple of final minor things needed to be done and these are being completed slowly but surely.  I did a little painting yesterday as one of the shelves on the wall shelving was a piece I had modified from the previous old grey table.  I needed a 100ml wide shelf to attach the switches to. 

Would you believe Bunnings don't sell a 900x100 white shelf?

It is relatively easy just to slide the computer desk out to get access to everything behind it.  I am delighted with the way that has worked out.

I still get the occasional internet drop out, but usually for no longer than 20 seconds before it now reconnects.  It seems changing the 'profile' to a more stable setting allows the modem/router to reconnect successfully.  By the time you realize it has dropped out, it has reconnected again.  Dropouts seem to occur when I am downloading!  I get about 1 dropout per day.

The internet connection still isn't right.  It used to be fantastic but now it is just OK.  The internet speed is the same but the connection just doesn't seem as solid.

We haven't seen a drop of rain here in Caloundra for three weeks.  But several very heavy showers came through overnight and there were 21mls in the gauge this morning.  So topping the pool up a bit from the tap yesterday afternoon was a waste of time and water!

I will most likely cut back on my bike riding just a little.  Currently I ride 6 days per week, weather permitting.  This week with a couple of heavy working days I didn't ride on those days.  I was a lot keener to get back on the bike again after that and the ride was a lot more enjoyable.

We have heard by email that our Visa Applications have been forwarded to the Saudi Embassy in Canberra for stamping.  This is another hurdle successfully crossed.  This time in 4 weeks we will be flying in to Barcelona!

Still heaps of sport on TV at the moment as well as lots of TV shows to watch which I have accumulated!  The sun is back out again here on the Sunshine Coast but the weather has been that little bit cooler.  Yesterday was around 30º and the ceiling fan didn't get turned on till just before lunch.  We slept last night without the fan going.

The forecast tells us to get ready for mid 30's again later in the week though!

All Done!

24 hours later and all is just about finished and under control!

The on wall shelving has been extended underneath and now the power switches etc sit just below the level of the desk.  This allows the other shelves to be lowered.  If really needed I could possibly add another shelf but there doesn't appear to be a need right now.

Much of the 'junk' is hidden in the filing cabinet.  Other bits and pieces I use occasionally have been put in storage boxes but still accessible. Other stuff is now stored on the bookcase.

Yesterday finished up being quite busy.  There is a local issue with the nearby school accommodating 1400 pupils and their parents bringing them in by car with only one road in and out of the estate.  There are double lanes at the main intersection with Caloundra Rd but these have been cut short due to roadworks.  The roadworks are to double the length of the left turn only lane and allow easier exiting from the only road heading out of the estate.  However during the roadworks construction, traffic leaving the estate during school pick and drop off times is horrendous.  The local Channel 7 News wanted an interview Wednesday morning which I did.

Then the Secretary of the Community Association and I had a meeting with the local MP at 11 am to discuss helicopters, roadworks and other issues affecting our residents.

Then it was back home again to cut up the old office table and put it all on the back of a neighbour's truck.  I reckon the total weight of the table was well over 200kgs.  The 3' x 6' table top was around an inch thick.  The side walls were the same and then we had the hutch on top!

Right now the timber has been cut into manageable sizes and loaded onto the neighbour's truck ready to go to the tip!

Today is rubbish collection day and much of the polystyrene packaging from the flat packs has been broken up and put into our rubbish bin.  We have so much to get rid of, some of the excess rubbish has to go into a neighbour's bin!

No ride again this morning.  Cutting up the timber and loading it onto the truck yesterday was the equivalent to a full week's bike rides I reckon.  I sure felt my age I tell you! The cooling swim and glass of cool drink afterwards was a life saver.

If there was only something I could do to tidy up those wires dangling under the table!

But the lawn did get mowed this morning.

The Best Made Plans

Plans to slowly and methodically update the office here at home went out the window with a phone call on Monday afternoon.  The table which was due for us to collect sometime next week had come into stock and was available to collect now.

This threw the slow and methodical plans out the window and it became a much more pressing situation to attend to.

The final outcome was not as I had anticipated.  Trish always has had a better eye for aesthetics than I have had.  I tend to focus on the practical and don't care what it looks like whereas Trish keeps the practical in mind but with a much better eye on how it would look when finished.

Just to compound the furniture change over issue, we have been experiencing hotter and more humid weather than is the norm every day this month.  The temperature has been above average by three or four degrees every day with a corresponding rise in humidity.  This has made dismantling and removing the old office table a bigger chore than we had first expected.

We completed dismantling and removing the old table on Tuesday morning.  It now sits in about 20 pieces in the sideway or on the front lawn. The new flat pack furniture has been constructed and is in place.  The stuff I store in and around the computer is still in boxes in the dining area. We have now become adept at putting flat pack furniture together and being able to decipher the instructions.

The finished office sure looks better.  I had hoped to have 'open' access to the telephone and power points but this has not happened.  The computer table has plastic slider feet and by leaving plenty of excess cord length with items connected to power boards etc, it is a breeze to slide the table out for extremely easy access to everything behind or underneath.

The shelving above the computer table requires some further fine tuning.  They are a little too high so I need a couple of more pieces to add underneath.  I will get them this morning and have that issue sorted by lunch time.

The wire hanging over the bookcase is the TV lead which will connect to a monitor to go on the table beside the bookcase.  But that will all happen over the next day or so.

I am having a day off bike riding today.  With the busy day yesterday in quite warm conditions, I reckon I deserve a spell.

Yet another quite warm day is expected today with the temperature to get into the low 30's again.

These temperatures by them selves are fine, the problem comes when you have to do stuff in small rooms or out in the sunshine.  But the pool is quite pleasant.

Hutch Has Gone

The office furniture they built 20 years ago was built to last.  It was sturdy, strong and very very heavy!

As you can see the hutch has now gone from the office table.  The office table was cleared of the printer, the laptop, the speakers, add on drives, PC monitor and phone.

A heap of junk as well as the keyboard and mouse were cleared as well.

We went to lift the hutch from the office table and quickly found it would be too heavy for us.  So we lowered it to the floor by slowly and carefully tipping it.  It finished up top down on the floor.

Like the flat pack office furniture we had bought recently, it was mainly kept together with these timber lock fasteners as in the picture here.  Out came the Phillip head screwdrivers and we undid the shelves, the side panels and the back.

Each section was then carried outside and down the side way where it will await stacking onto a trailer and off to the tip!

I am not looking forward to dismantling the table.  At almost 70 years of age I have decided this type of work is a bit difficult for both of us to do all on one day and in a rush.  We move slowly, doing a new stage each day.

The bookcase will go together tomorrow.

From the top photo, the fridge will come across to beside the window, the new table which is somewhat smaller than the current table both in width and depth will go along the side wall under where the map is.  The new 800cm wide bookcase will go beside the fridge.  The filing cabinet will roughly fit between where the current PC monitor is and the side wall (with the map).

According to my measurements this should leave the current wall phone and power points exposed and easy to get to.

My next step today is to Bunnings to purchase 2 x 4point power boards, each with an individual switches.  Bunnings have them at two sets for $20.  The individual switches give you great control over what you turn on and off.

I have become a bit of a stickler for turning my PC etc off at the wall overnight.

I enjoyed the sport on TV yesterday, the cricket was great to watch.  I did the usual 12.5k bike ride this morning and I was in the pool (27.4º water temp)by 8am.  By 9:30 am the hutch had gone and the PC was reconnected and back and running!

30º or so again today.  It was sweltering work doing the hutch this morning.  A change of clothes followed along with a long cool glass of water!

The Conversion Begins!

We are still married, though perhaps not quite as happily as before we put together this filing cabinet.

The instructions were OK but as with many of these flat packs, the wording and illustrations were ambiguous in places.

The instructions said two people and would take an hour to complete the construction.  It took us closer to two hours I guess but we didn't rush.

We are fairly happy with the outcome.

The other large package still to put together is a book case but that may wait a day or so before we tackle it!

Today we removed most of the stuff from the shelving from the hutch above where the PC sits.  Some of the stuff has been stored away in boxes and will come out again for the final office update when it will go on shelving still to be installed above where the PC will then go.

The remainder is either in the rubbish bin or stacked in the boot of the car ready as a donation to the Salvos or St Vinnies.

Tomorrow the top or 'hutch' will be removed and placed somewhere outside for a final pulling apart.  A local Bellvista organisation has a "Community Trailer" for free use.  I will grab it, load it up with the old office table along with some other rubbish we have been wanting to get rid of for some time and all will be taken to the tip.

All offers for the table I have made to neighbours and friends has been greeted with a polite 'No Thanks!"

I did my ride as per usual this morning and enjoyed a dip in the pool afterwards.  It was a little under 27º in the water.  Yesterday felt quite hot to us.  Neither of us were moving at full speed but we did have a great night at a local Chinese Restaurant with friends on Friday night. The few drinks went down well too.

Plenty of sport is on TV today so that will most likely finish the day off nicely!

End Of The Week

We are recovering from a record breaking day yesterday as far as the temperature was concerned.  We had our hottest day on record for March.  Figures have only been kept for a little over 20 years so it may not be that earth shattering.  But 36º in March is quite warm!  The pool received a couple of workouts as you can imagine.

A blustery windy change around 1am this morning signalled the end of the hot temperatures.

Trish is back safely from her two nights away with girl friends from Stitchers.  She didn't bring any left over wine back home with her but that wasn't a huge surprise.  They had a great time, just lounging about doing stuff and chatting away.

My internet dropped out again even with the new router and it took around 90 minutes to get it 'back' on Tuesday.  According to my supplier, the problem is either in my home or at the RIM (the local connection point).  Our RIM is most likely the only one which hasn't been upgraded here on this estate, all the others out here have.

I took some steps to have our home phone connections checked.  The guy I rang wasn't keen to come and do anything but he will come Monday if really required.  He asked me to disconnect everything from the line except my Internet Connection.  So there are no filters, no phones, just my internet plugged directly into the phone point. I was to leave it like this for a couple of days and that time is just about up now as I type.

I have also put the modem setting back to "Auto", a less stable setting.  I am just waiting for a call back from my internet supplier now to see if their records indicate any dropouts in the previous 48 hours.

I have collected two of the three pieces which make up the Office Furniture we have ordered.  The 'flat-pack' boxes are in the dining area (see photo above) awaiting screwdrivers and careful instruction reading.  When I ordered it on Tuesday I was told most pieces were near at hand, but they would just have to get the table in from another store and that may be up to two weeks away.

The other big news is that our Visa Applications to travel to Saudi Arabia have been sent off.  Saudi Arabia is one of the most difficult places to get a visa for.  You virtually have to be invited by someone who lives there before you can even apply.  We had to have our plane seats booked as well.  But all has been done, heaps of forms from Kate have been emailed through as well as originals of Kate's marriage certificate etc have been required!

We should get the completed visas back in a a couple of weeks.

And it was Trish's birthday on Thursday.  She has had her Samsung Tablet for a few weeks now so there wasn't a big present for her.  We tend to do things that way nowadays.

Monday!

We are supposed to be into Autumn right now but the temperatures here don't reflect that at all.  At one stage today was going to be 32 but that has been dropped back to 28 or so now.  Here it will be likely to get to 30.  A 32º is predicted later in the week.  The pool was a whisker below 28º for my post bike ride swim this morning.

I had my first bike ride for a week this morning.  The heavy head cold has knocked me about a little and I haven't felt up to it.  Yesterday I decided to bottle the latest brew so I did that.  I didn't feel like bike riding after doing that, I am just not quite 100% right at the moment.

I managed Computer Club on Saturday morning but left early because there was what turned out to be fantastic cricket match on TV.  And we have had plenty of pre season footy as well as the cricket on TV.

I gave the lawn a quick mow as well.

We have been considering what to do with this office.  The 3 piece office set goes off special this weekend so we need to decide.  We think we will go with it at this stage.  Most likely the bookcase will finish up in the bedroom and the el cheapo bookcase we have in there will be moved on.

I will put up some 'off wall' shelving above where the PC will be for things such as PC speakers, pens, scissors, glues, spare batteries etc. This means we only need to put up exactly what we need.  The shelving can be swapped around to any desirable setup as well.

We will need to order the three piece office package this week though.

Trish and a few of the ladies from Stitchers are off to a holiday place one of them owns on Lake Cootharaba around 50k's from here, just north of Noosa.  They will have a ball.  They get on well and will have lots of fun. The photo above gives you an idea of what a pretty place this is.

I have a BeCA Public Meeting to chair tonight.